Ugh -- Unsurprisingly, The Emmys Suck

Friday Night Lights and Battlestar Galactica, shows that I consider to be some of the best on television (top three), were not given the recognition they deserve.

FNL received a nod for "Outstanding Casting," yet none of the actors/actresses on the show were nominated for anything. Connie Britton is absolutely incredible, and it is a damn shame she was overlooked for a second time. Mary McDonnel and Katte Sackhoff, both from BSG, more than deserve a nod for actress, yet their names are missing as well. The only person nominated for best actress in a drama series who deserves to be up there is Glenn Close (the rest are...I mean, come on, Holly Hunter for Saving Grace??).

BSG is nominated for best cinematography, oustanding single-camera picture editing, sound mixing, special visual effects, some really strange award that doesn't really have to do with the show, and outstanding writing for the episode "Six of One". Yes, the writing nod is a good one. The rest are great for the people who do the editing and whatnot, but they aren't the driving force behind what makes the show so great. BSG should really be up there for Best Drama Series. Not to mention (as happy as I am that BSG got a writing nod), Michael Angeli, the writer of "Six of One," has not exactly churned out the best episodes the past few seasons. Just ask Jacob over at TWoP.

Now that I've cried injustice over two of my favorite shows, I just want to comment on the shows that were nominated for Best Drama. What is up with Boston Legal and House being nominated for best drama? BL's strange Emmy love is a well-documented phenomon, but I've got to throw out my 2 cents concerning House. Every episode is the same. Seriously, it's a procedural. The writers might churn out some great disease-of-the-week episodes, but I strongly believe that shows that truly put character above all else, shows that use character to drive the story and do it successfuly, are the ones that deserve the title of Best Drama.

Gossip Girl Merely Whimpers

I really had high hopes for tonight’s season finale of Gossip Girl. Up until the writer’s strike, GG proved itself week after week to be smarter and sharper than all other shows aimed at teens. It was a speeding sports car weaving through characters and storylines with a confident expertise, and you were more than happy to be along for the ride. But recently the show has had its problems, and while tonight’s episode wasn’t necessarily bad, it lacked the intensity and excitement that I expected a Gossip Girl season finale to bring.

Aside from the anticlimactic end of Georgina Sparks (it could have been soooo much better. And Chuck should’ve been there), there wasn’t too much I would say was “wrong” with the episode. Storylines played out plausibly, but there were no fireworks. Actually, there were fireworks in the Blaire-Chuck pairing, but the show made sure to squash that before the episode was even over. That is a couple with so much potential, but it wasn’t allowed to happen. There is some reason behind that decision though, I think—their relationship would be a lot of fun, but I have a feeling most of the fun would be during the beginning of their relationship, which the summer break won’t allow us to see.

The biggest development of the finale was the Serena-Dan breakup. Is it just me, or is Dan totally in the wrong here? He slept with Georgina less than 24 hours after calling it off with Serena. And then he has the gall to break up with her because she didn’t want to tell him a traumatic story from her past. Serena was stupid about it, but Dan really should’ve been more understanding. Regardless, I’m happy they broke up. They were a cute couple, but a) how would they go back to normal after all that had happened? and b) more romantic opportunities for Serena! Dan who?

I actually thought Lily was going to end the wedding when she and Rufus had their final encounter, and although that certainly would have made things more exciting, I’m happy the writers chose to keep them apart. Now we can have some interesting characters as love interests for Rufus, and then hopefully we’ll also get a fun affair between the two of them before Lily inevitably divorces Bart (and hopefully marries Rufus by the completion of the series).

The two pairings at the end of the finale were not particularly exciting. Dan and Vanessa are fine as a couple, but they are two characters I find less interesting than most. Also, the two of them are not from the UES, so if they stay together why keep them on the show? Honestly, I wouldn’t really mind if the two of them left.

Serena and Nate could be a little more fun than their poorer counterparts. I’m not exactly sure what the writers will do with their relationship, but I see potential. Also, Nate is probably going to have some issues with his father’s recent decision, which could make for interesting character development and storylines. It’s about time Nate lashed out.

And I totally called Jenny returning to popularity! Not the rich boyfriend I hypothesized, but I have a feeling her internship with Blaire’s mom will make her popular once again. Jenny will have access to all of the dresses she needs, and maybe she’ll wind up designing “the next big thing” over the summer. I’m not sure what will happen with her money problems (whether they’ll fix those or not), but whatever. And, of course, the final new playing piece in the future war between Blaire and Jenny is Blaire’s very own mother, Eleanor Waldorf. It looks like WWIII will be here sooner than we think.

Desperate Housewives Takes Desperate Measures

Normally I would’ve had no interest in last night’s Desperate Housewives season finale. Although I loved season 1, I had long past given up on the show by last night. Over time the show had seen a steep drop in quality, and I quit watching sometime during season 3. So why did I watch last night’s season finale?

Because earlier that day I noticed a headline on CNN (I also have no idea how CNN determined this was important news) that mentioned the show was jumping five years into the future. I’ve read that the majority of people don’t like this idea (one comment I read called it jumping the shark), but I personally think that it is the best idea Marc Cherry has had since the conclusion of season 1. The past few seasons have allowed the characters to go stale—hey, Gabby is selfish and shallow! Susan is just a few IQ points shy of retarded!—and it has taken its toll of the show. Combined with the show’s repeated failed attempts at creating an overarching mystery as interesting as the first season’s, these two problems are why I stopped watching the show. These problems are also what I believe the jump will do the best job of remedying.

Lynette: Lynette’s problem children are now much bigger problems. Although this road has already been tread by Bree, I’m sure that Lynette will take a very different approach to dealing with her kids. Hopefully we’ll get some great storylines out of it. Also, because her children are now older and will be played by older actors, this allows the writers to include them in the show a bit more. Side Note: when Tom was lecturing Lee and Bob I almost expected him to realize that he wanted a divorce. Seeing that Lynette’s children in the future already have problems, I’m glad that Tom stuck around.

Bree: Media mogul Bree might be what I’m most looking forward to. Bree definitely has the chops to survive in today’s cutthroat business world, and I’m very excited to see her venture into non-domestic or family related storylines. Also, Andrew is still around and looking exceptionally handsome. Please write some awesome gay storylines, Marc Cherry!

Gabby: Gabby may have made the biggest change of any of the four (well, five I guess). According to Eva Longoria, she doesn’t expect to remain frumpy for long, so I’m guessing her pulling herself together will be one of Gabby’s primary storylines next season. I’m interested in seeing what the writers actually do with her character—almost all of her storylines have something to do with her being pretty and/or rich, and they’ve taken both of these things away from her.

Susan: Well, it looks like someone hasn’t changed after five years. Couldn’t she have just, like, died or something? Oh well, at least Mike is gone. It’s really about time—that guy was the worst actor on the show.

Katherine: Eddie was always a notch below the other four in terms of importance. Is Katherine going to fill that position, or will she have screen time equal to the other housewives? That’s…pretty much all I have to say about her.

In addition to reinvigorating all of the main characters, the jump will also benefit the overarching mystery. Mysteries are the best when you can make as many characters as possible likely suspects, which is why new neighbors were never able to achieve the same level of success as season 1’s mystery (something Veronica Mars also suffered from). A five year jump will surely come along with a number of new characters, which means that the mystery has the potential of rekindling the magic of season 1. If Marc Cherry plays his cards right, he could very easily have a return-to-form with season 5, and possibly even surpass season 1 in terms of quality (although I highly doubt that).

Reality Wednesdays: ANTM and Top Chef are both awesome

ANTM

Fatima being the first to be cut? I’m down with that. Whitney winning over Anya? What the fuck? Whitney is gorgeous, funny, and intelligent, but she never really overcame the fakeness that far too often marred her otherwise good photos. Miss Jay (who I hate) may have thought she was powerful on the runway, but in my opinion Paulina was the one who truly got it right: she hammed that runway up like no other. Anya may have had less presence, but she actually seemed like a true model on the runway. She looked like a fucking goddess when she was standing up there with Whitney at the final judging. She also took amazing photos, and her personality was incredible. This show has never had someone with such an amazingly sweet and innocent energy. Anya could do couture better than Whitney, and she was far more relatable as well.

However, I can’t get too upset over the outcome. Despite the fact that I think Anya should have won, I think it’s great a plus-sized model won the competition. Our society is so hard on women to look like toothpicks, as Whitney would put it, and I think it’s a great message to American women that you don’t have to be anorexic to be beautiful (and Whitney is undeniably beautiful). Also, Anya and Fatima both took their eliminations with an incredible amount of grace, and I actually found their final confessionals to be inspiring. They both grew tremendously over the competition and gained a lot of confidence, and I have no doubt that they both continue to model successfully (especially Anya, who is so incredibly talented).

Top Chef

I looooved tonight’s Top Chef. My three least favorites were all in the bottom three, and their less-than-stellar personalities all made for a very entertaining Judge’s Panel. Lisa once again showed that she just isn’t a good chef, and was too defensive during judging. Calling out Andrew wasn’t very classy of her, but I do think she had a legitimate point: Andrew didn’t follow the rules. Spike, once again, was a douchebag. He was arrogant during judging; when they told him his food wasn’t good he shot back with, “in your opinion.” Well, guess what, Spike? They’re the fucking judges, and in the end it is their opinions that matter. Also, they know what they’re talking about, so don’t give them that shit. It was arrogant, childish, and immature. And get rid of that fucking hat already. To top it all off, he wound up in the bottom three with the advantage. As Antonia (I think) pointed out, his picking his ingredients in order to screw over everyone else just meant he hadn’t actually thought his dish through, and that screwed him over in the end (which he fully deserved). Being tricky isn’t going to win you this competition; first and foremost you have to be a good chef.

Finally, Andrew. If he was any crazier I would think he needs to be prescribed some kind of meds. He was even worse than Spike during judging, implying that he knew more about nutrition than the judges and blah blah blah. His speech at the end was also terrible. What the fuck was he even talking about? Pretending that you got kicked off because you played more honorably than everyone else is arrogant and stupid. I was also incredibly irritated when he decided that he went “against the grain” because he didn’t follow the rules. That isn’t going against the grain, that’s being an idiot. Losing your rule sheet and fucking up just means that he obviously wasn’t mature enough to take the competition seriously, and it was about time that he was sent packing.

Gossip Girl: Serena Does Not Understand the Definition of the Word "Kill"

Sometimes it sucks to be right. I was worried that “I killed someone” storyline would turn out to be something stupid, and yesterday’s episode was just that. Oh no, she gave an asshole drug addict who was trying to take advantage of her the line of coke (his own coke, by the way) that killed him. And then she called 911 and waited outside the hotel to see if he was okay. There wasn’t even any sex on the supposed-to-be sex tape! I thought Serena was supposed to be a real trainwreck before she went away (which she kind of was considering the fact that she fucked Nate), but she was pretty much a good girl during the entire incident that resulted in her leaving town.

In other sucky news, Vanessa and Dan are both retarded. Seriously, they learn that “Sarah” has been lying about her name and that all of her rich friends think she is an untrustworthy psycho, and then Dan gobbles up Georgina’s lame story about a stalker boyfriend. To Vanessa’s credit, at least she seemed to be pissed about Georgina’s deception. She just wasn’t pissed enough.

And then, then, to top it all off, Dan hooks up with the girl everyone has told him is an untrustworthy psycho the same fucking day he broke up with Serena because he thought she cheated on him. And he skips his dad’s biggest gig in years in order to hook up with said psycho bitch. What a fucking douchebag.

Also, why was Nate going to take the subway? Poser.

So what did I like about last night’s episode? Serena’s friends coming together to help her was great. On a show where the characters are constantly fighting and switching alliances, the fact that they were willing to put aside all of their differences to aid Serena was both touching and authentic. It was a testament to Serena’s genuine goodness that all of her friends dropped everything, including their mixed feelings for one another, all for her sake. Blaire is truly Serena’s sister.

Speaking of Blaire, her and Chuck were awesome last night. It sucks that they didn’t get to destroy Georgina is last night’s episode, but their I cannot wait for next week for them to do so. The fact that the two of them both went to Rufus’s concert with the sole purpose of destroying Georgina is the reason I love both of them (and the reason they should totally start hooking up! As I told my friend, their union would create a vortex of bitchiness and destruction more powerful than anything the UES has ever experienced). They’re obviously going to destroy Georgina because she harmed Serena, but we all know that the two of them will also derive a lot of pleasure from the process of the bitch’s annihilation.

Is there anything else I forgot to cover? Oh yeah, Lily cheats the day before her wedding. She and Rufus are so obviously meant to be together, I’ll be surprised if she goes through the marriage. Hopefully she does, because a cheating storyline would be a lot more fun than a real relationship storyline. Also, it would dirty up their relationship a little bit which I would really prefer. I’m not gonna lie, I found their storyline yesterday to be just a little too perfect for this otherwise sharp show.

Anyway, next week is the season finale! Ahhhh! How can I possibly survive this summer without Kristen Bell’s nonsensical voiceovers?

The Office Returns to Form

After what many have considered to be a lackluster season of The Office (myself included), tonight’s episode stood out as a return to the series roots. The episode contained itself to realistic situations ripe for comedy and pathos, favoring subtlety over the over-the-top approach it has been taking more and more in recent episodes.

The entire job fair storyline was great, beginning with Michael saying that he won’t have to worry about any kids who intern at the warehouse going to college, Jan’s search for a single sheet of Dunder-Mifflin paper, and Michael’s speech about the awkward guy he originally scared off being like the pretty girl with glasses in a movie.

Jim’s golf outing was also hilarious, pretty much because of Ed Helms’s Andy. There are times when I find Andy to be more irritating than funny, but tonight I found his antics to be hilarious. The “shortcut” he took? I burst out laughing.

Dwight and Angela’s awkward relationship was also highlighted this week. The Office’s success has always relied on its characters, so despite the fact that their scenes together were often wordless and humorless, the pathos they provided was a welcome addition to an episode that already had its comedy covered in its A- and B-storylines. Jan’s scene in her old high school’s art room was also heartbreaking.

Overall, this episode was a great installment of this inconsistent season, and hopefully next week’s finale will stay on course. (Which it looks like it will be from the preview, but who knows).

Gossip Girl: The Secrets of the Van der Woodsens

Wow. Was anyone expecting last episode’s finale? Gossip Girl continues to prove that it has the chops to continually surprise and excite its viewers, although Serena’s secret actually has me a little worried. The reveal definitely elicited the correct response from my friends and I when we were watching the episode (we were freaking out), but how they’re going to handle the secret is something I really hope the show gets right. The subject just seems like it could easily miss the heightened reality awesomeness the show has going for it and veer into stupid and/or lame territory, but overall the show has been pretty great, so I’m keeping my hopes up.

Maybe I’m worried because the show seems to playing things a little too fast and loose lately. Georgina winning over Dan and Vanessa so quickly is definitely pushing the limits of my ability to suspend my disbelief; Georgina must be one hell of an actress. Also, the scene where Dan tries to tell Jenny that he saw Asher cheating bothered me. I understand that Jenny was in her uber-bitch mode, but when Asher flat-out lied during the conversation Dan really didn’t see the need to just talk over everyone else and lay things out for Jenny? Even worse than those two incidents was the fact that Asher and little E not only kissed in public, but right in front of the school where Dan could conveniently see them. If Asher was really in the closet and actively didn’t want people to think he was gay (seriously, he dated Jenny for that sole reason), it makes no sense for him to make out with a dude in front of the school. That whole incident just smelled of lazy writing, which is just too bad considering the level of quality the show usually exhibits.

The last thing that bothered me (which Jace over at Televisionary was also bothered by) was how quickly the Asher storyline was over. I feel like the storyline would have been far more effective if it was divided into two episodes, with the first one dealing with Jenny learning about Asher’s sexuality and ending with the two making their deal to use each other, and the second part being Asher’s outing and Jenny’s social destruction. Anyway, I’m a little disappointed the war between Blaire and Jenny is already over, although I have a feeling Jenny’s dalliances with popularity are far from over. She seemed pretty definite about swearing off social climbing after Monday’s episode, but what if at some point next season she accidentally finds herself in a situation where she starts to become popular again? Maybe she’ll start to date a guy who drags her back into that scene (maybe even Nate?), and once she gets a taste of that lifestyle again she might not be so quick to turn away from it.

But enough of the negative. I love that Nelly Yuki is now a part of Blaire’s clique. I also loved the scene where Blaire tries to get Dan to work with her to destroy Jenny and Asher. Their relationship of simultaneous mutual disgust and respect makes for amazing scenes, and Meester and Badgley have great chemistry in their scenes together. I found myself wanting Dan to ally with Blaire just so I could watch more scenes with the two of them, but of course Dan wouldn’t want to actively work to hurt his sister. And, just to talk even more about Blaire, I am so excited to see how Blaire and Georgina wage war with one another now that Serena crumpled under the pressure of attempting to withstand Georgina one-on-one. I guess it makes sense for Blaire’s war with Jenny to be over, because its going to take everything she’s got if she wants to take down Georgina.

Overall, despite the incidents I touched upon earlier, Monday’s episode was another great installment in the Gossip Girl series. This show is continuing to prove that it is a strong contender for the title of best new show of the season, as well as just generally being one of the best shows on TV right now.