It was a strange week for ratings. Brett Favre playing against Green Bay made for a huge Monday Night Football (21.84m/9) audience on ESPN. And then the baseball playoffs ran through the rest of the week, calling a lot of the seemingly odd drops in viewers into question. Despite that increased competition, there was some good news to be had. The Biggest Loser, Bones, The Office, Lie To Me, Castle, and The Simpsons all managed to make gains week-to-week. Dollhouse also got in the game, stopping a four episode streak of series lows. On the other side, it’s starting to look like ER took all of it’s viewers with it when it left. The premiere numbers for Three Rivers were not good, and NBC’s dueling medical dramas continue to struggle. Read the rest of this entry »

The central plot of this week’s Greek was a “dry weekend.” The central plot. Yes, I know just how much these folks drink, but to make a weekend without alcohol into something akin to an almost insurmountable feat? I don’t care about the message it sends to the 18-22 year-olds watching right now; I just think it’s really pathetic.

Nevertheless, there were a lot of good moments this week, a clear sign that Greek is going strong into this season. I can only continue to guess that it was the existence of Max and Frannie that made last season worse, but I know there must be other things too. I suppose they’re more nuanced, though, like more appropriate stories for one character, or more humorous lines for another. Either way, it’s working. And on top of that we had some Dale and no Jordan this week! Perfect. Read the rest of this entry »

All right, everyone! I hope you’ve cleared your DVRs and TiVos of all those Housewives of Atlanta episodes, the selective Daily Show programs from three months ago, and all the Eurekas you recorded during the Viewer Picks marathon of a few weeks ago. According to my sundial, the Fall 2009-2010 season begins in earnest tonight. And, if you only own one digital recording device that can only mean one thing: DVR Emergency!

Yes, once again you need to peruse the TV schedules and select only those shows that you will absolutely watch sometime in the next nine months. This week is particularly bad since 1) a majority of shows are premiering, and 2) many of these shows are offering extended premieres to kick off the season. Other than Saturday, you probably won’t get a break from DVR scheduling either, thanks in part to all the summer shows still running on cable. Needless to say, the term “hosed” seems adequate.

Take tonight’s schedule, for example.

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I’m excited about just how excellent I’m finding Greek already this time around! Particularly after the disappointment of chapter four, but mainly just because this show being awesome is awesome. I’m loving things so far. I don’t know what last time’s bump was about, but it’s over!

I liked the structure of this week’s episode: two major story lines — Casey’s and Rusty’s — with most everyone else on the show feeding off of their plots. Then, of course, rounding out the hour was the continuation of some minor stories. But really, the funneling of most of the show’s resources into two main areas was done rather well.

I didn’t even realize that “Gotcha” was still going on, but apparently Rusty was still alive, and pulled off a stealth kill of Calvin. Which, by the way, freed the latter to pursue one of the few minor arcs this week. Meanwhile, Rusty landed Jordan as his next kill, and I knew at that point that she was the storied “Jackal.” Read the rest of this entry »

This friendship was a stroke of genius by the writers! As opposed to a few months ago, when Cappie and Dale were merely secret phone buddies, they are now not only confidants, but also the founders, and sole members, of Booktacular, their book club. Just awesome.

I love that Casey is apparently a girl that the pair “has in common,” and that they did battle over the Catholic recruiter chick (Got God?) — Dale interested in her religion, Cappie solely in what lies skin deep. The mere fact that Dale turned to Catholicism for his absolution, because their rites are stricter than his own … classic Daley. Read the rest of this entry »

Is this what we’ve come to? Have we so run out of plot for Casey, Ashleigh, and Rebecca that they’re reduced to recycled drama, and the star power of their guesting dads? I haven’t been loving them of late, but I was nevertheless greatly disappointed in this entire plot line.

Let’s set the stage a bit: Rebecca’s dad, the former senator Ken Logan (Thomas Calabro), has a tempestuous relationship with his daughter. Besides the very public and ugly revelation of his dalliances, there’s the life he’s led in secret all these years, that has very profoundly affected Rebecca. It was his womanizing before the women in his family, and that’s left Rebecca broken.

We know little about Casey and her dad, Russell (Jerry Lambert), beyond the visit the Cartwrights made to Cyprus-Rhodes in chapter two (even though this annual father-daughter weekend is supposedly a big deal, it didn’t happen last time around). And Ashleigh and her dad? If he’s ever been mentioned, I missed it. And, action! Read the rest of this entry »

Summer is coming to a close, which means two things. Many of the brilliant summer shows that cable gave us this year are over or close to, and its time for the fall premiers. Two of my favorite Virgin Diaries posts also found some closure, as Buffy finished high school, and Veronica just finished.

Defying Gravity

“Do you guys ever get, like really bad cramping when you clench your butt checks together like that?” — Wass

Greek

“He was a nerd but he was hot … it was just so confusing.” — Random ZBZ sister to Casey, about Max

“I had to fake a nosebleed to get out of there.” — Dale to Calvin, on how he supposedly escaped from Sheila at the party

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