“Do you think she has PTSD?” — “possessed” girl’s mother
“I’m afraid this could be more serious than just a menstrual disorder.” — Shawn, as grief counselor

Psych, as always, was stellar last night, and there were abundant quotables and a riotous homage to The Exorcist. It would have made a perfect Halloween episode, in fact.

But the real gem of last night’s episode was the extremely subtle shout-out to The CW’s two-season supernatural show, Reaper. The simple fact that Ray Wise played a devout priest was enough in and of itself, but there was a scene so reminiscent of the antics that Ray Wise’s Reaper Devil played on Sam that my mouth fell open before I started giggling.

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Yes, I know Reaper has been canceled (did you see all the CliqueClack team had to say about Reaper’s fate behind the scenes?) and instead of celebrating the moment when it became great, I should be sending socks to the head honchos at The CW or something, to try to get it renewed somehow. Well, I’m not an activist, and although I’ll miss Reaper, I’d much rather be grateful for the two seasons worth of fun that we got from the show then spend my time bemoaning its short life.

I liked Reaper from the get-go; I’ve always liked shows about the supernatural, especially when they have a sense of humor about them, and there’s no arguing this describes Reaper. From the crazy vessels (a Dirt Devil and a remote control monster truck!) and the antics of The Devil (played to perfection by Ray Wise) it was always an enjoyable romp.

The moment I knew this show was going to be gracing my TV every week, though, came at the very end of season one, episode five, “What About Blob,” when Sam’s dad tears out a page of Sam’s contract with The Devil and burns it in the fire. It was that exact action that Blew the Hatch for me.

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There’s some interesting stuff on DVD this week, some which I’d love to comment on, but haven’t watched yet, so can’t. Rest assured, I’ll be watching them at some point, but until then, you can check out season seven of The Shield and season two of Reaper and report back to me. Click on the pics below for the links to Amazon.

I do want to give special kudos to the Norman Lear TV Collection, a fab new set that includes 19 discs of classic stuff and six hours of bonus material. It’s the first seasons of All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons,  Maude, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (first 25 episodes), One Day at a Time, and Sanford & Son. It sounds like a must-have for any Norman Lear fan, and a good reminder of the vast number of shows Lear helmed.

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Just because most of your broadcast TV shows are gone for the summer doesn’t mean there’s nothing to watch. And you know we wouldn’t leave you hanging. So here’s a rundown of some of this week’s hotspots.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

• NBC thinks they know what TV’s 50 Funniest Phrases are, and they’re going to take 2 hours to make their argument. (Tue. 8pm)
• Pushing Daisies is back to wrap its second season, burning off its last few episodes before making way for Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money (Sat. 10pm, ABC)
• And you thought there was nothing on! It’s The 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee. What’s really said is how many viewers at home couldn’t hold a candle to the spelling skills of these kids. (Thu. 8pm, ABC)
• HBO offers Into the Storm, a follow-up to The Gathering Storm, chronicling the further “adventures” of Winston Churchill from ‘40-’45. (Sun. 9pm)

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The big news of the week was, of course, the upfronts. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW all unveiled their new lineups, and in doing so killed According to Jim, Cupid, Deal or No Deal, Everybody Hates Chris, The Game, Life, My Name Is Earl, Privileged, Reaper, Samantha Who?, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Without a Trace and The Unit.

• The CW moved Smallville to Fridays and is launching Twilight The Vampire Diaries in its slot. Also, Fox 1992 called and it wants its Wednesday lineup back.
• Fox is bringing SYTYCD to the fall to keep Idol’s timeslots warm until January, moving Fringe to take on CSI, and thinks a better Dollhouse lead-in is a couple of comedies; and one of them is ‘Til Death.
• CBS is spinning off NCIS: LA and bringing back Moonlight’s Alex O’Loughlin in a new medical show. They also stole Medium from NBC and are sticking it after Ghost Whisperer on Fridays.
• NBC has Jay Leno on… every night. More SNL Weekend Update on Thursdays, and timeslot-sharing shows, like Heroes Mondays at 8 in the fall, before making room for Chuck (YAY!) in January.
• ABC sticks with Scrubs, and a Wednesday with four new comedies and four old faces: Hank (Kelsey Grammer), The Middle (Patricia Heaton), Cougar Town (Courteney Cox Arquette) and Modern Family (Ed O’Neill).
• Even more not famous former Illinois governor Rod’s wife Patti Blagojevich is joining NBC’s I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.
• Shawn Johnson made the Olympic DWTS championship alumni association a trio.
• Despite being canceled, Earl is twit-titioning to save its life, and TBS may be interested in saving it.
• Reaper is seeing if they can go syndicated to stay alive. And with Tyler Labine starring in the picked-up Sons of Tucson, if it works things could get interesting.
• Kara DioGuardi showed up “bikini girl” on American Idol by outsinging her and out-looking-hot-in-a-bikini-ing her.

A few months back, I took cursor to digital paper and wrote an ode to shows that I’ve lost over the years. With yet another network television season complete, I believe it’s time to revisit that list, and add an addendum cataloging the massacre that accompanies the close of each season.

For all of you still out there fighting the good fight for these shows, this should in no way be seen as final. I’d love to come back and correct myself. So, keep sending those watches, bulletproof vests, lottery tickets, live butterflies, pitchforks, or whatever else you can think of. But, if this is the end, I figure now’s as good a time as any to pay my respects. And, if you’re wondering why the following’s light on the jokes … the fresher the wound, the deeper the hurt.

I’ve already written about the plight of The Unusuals. A lot of people have applied the show’s title to the conceit, and either used it as a pro or a con for what they see as different or ordinary, respectively. The only thing “unusual” about the show was the following: it was great from the get go. Sure, each character had a quirk, and there was an otherwise infrequently seen mix of excitement and comedy to the scripts, but what stood out the most for me was honestly how enjoyable an hour it was to spend in front of my television. I’d absolutely love to see it live to air another day (beyond closing out the episodes already in the can), but if it’s not to be, at least it went out as great from beginning to end. Read the rest of this entry »

Well it seems that during his off-camera time with Ruby, Sam has been working hard on honing his telekinetic demon-exorcising powers, and tonight we saw the payoff in a big, creepy way. No more nosebleeds and headaches for Sammy, no sir. And now he’s doing some Sylar-esque people flinging as well. Did I mention it was creepy? Poor Dean was a little too unconscious to see it, so of course Sam lied about it later.

At the very least, Dean is starting to bring it out into the open more often. We saw he’s still hurt by what Sam said to him when they were both under the siren’s spell, and Sam is still brushing it off. Read the rest of this entry »