Favorites: Doogie Howser, M.D.

This is turning out to be a really fun series to write. I've even started writing my Frasier one, which won't be posted for several weeks, as I'm currently in Season 8 of making my way through from start to finish. Today, I chose Doogie Howser, M.D. to write about, which is intriguing to me because I didn't see it in first-run at all. I watched the entire series on Hulu during the week after my surgery in 2008. I'm kinda glad I waited to watch it, since I have such admiration for Neil Patrick Harris after his work in Assassins, How I Met Your Mother, and Dr. Horrible, for starters.

I chose today to do this specific entry because I "called" NPH last night during the Super Bowl. Twice. Yes, I got a Barney Stinson message, and I allegedly have a date with him at 3:45am on Monday, October 12th, 2016 at MacLaren's. I have no idea how many people called in, and I do look forward to a joke about it showing up on tonight's How I Met Your Mother (even though it's apparently a Valentine's Day episode). It was a fun little thing to do, and very Barney, haha.

Anyway, back to Doogie. Season 4 is easily my favorite, even if it contains those really strange literary/historical episodes that are just plain weird. The pilot episode is an interesting start, as is the premise of a child prodigy doctor who eventually ends up wondering if medicine was actually his calling. Here we go:

Season 1: Use a Slurpy. Go to Jail. Doogie and Vinnie are held hostage in a convenience store. Link to Hulu ep.

Season 2: Car Wars. Doogie wants to buy a '57 Chevy, but his dad doesn't think its a good idea. Link to Hulu ep.

Season 3: Doogstruck. Vinnie and Doogie are driving through the desert to visit Wanda. But the car breaks down and Doogie meets a new woman. Link to Hulu ep.

Season 4: Doogie Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Doogie moves into an old, crappy loft instead of a nice condo. Vinnie's parents are divorcing. Link to Hulu ep.

Meet Josie Duggar!

Sunday:
The Simpsons
: back. Burns fought for the Nazis?? Twizzler ball was gross. The people around Homer in the store made a funny train. But I'm still really confused as to why the line at the convenience store was so long... and the cops not going after Homer because he was "going so fast he doesn't have time for a ticket." Marge's little ditty was lame by herself. hahaha, the home of the ruler that tells you how tall your robber was, hahaha. the gifts were super awesome, especially in how they were hidden, LoL. Lisa's little side plot was kinda cute... old people and wiis, haha. But the end to it with the workers ruining it sucked. The flowers were cute. Cool that we got to see Coldplay for a minute. I thought that the weird guy who crashed his car was random, but it was later pointed out to me that he was a fan-created character... so I'm not sure if they really just killed him off after just a few seconds, or if he'll be back. Kinda a shame if he's gone already.

Family Guy: Mayor West's branding on Meg was disturbing. I wasn't a big fan of the graphicness of the bull raping Peter. Who the H3LL does a penpal project with a prison in high school??!? The fly trying to get out the window was pretty funny.

Monday:
How I Met Your Mother: I couldn't believe how poorly Ted handled having a student with a name like "Cook Pu." :( Ew on the toothbrush issue. I liked the Barney/Ted, Pitcher/Catcher jokes. Nothing too notable about the rest of the show.

House, M.D.: Interesting that Foreman's brother is working for House, haha. And the opossum in the bathtub was crazy. Is it just me, or is Wilson's acting fading? Maybe it was just the role he played in this episode. There were some bad (read: racist) jokes in this one, too. And what's up with House's morals this episode? Like with the army kid. geez. How do you make someone else's sprinklers go off, LoL? I couldn't believe how Foreman spiked the kid's water!! Where did his ethics go?? Lucas is so weird... and made such a good point. I couldn't believe that the kid was willing to lose his foot so he wouldn't have to go back overseas. This is why you never sign up for the armed services in the first place... they lie and you get screwed.

Little People, Big World: we're off for a couple months.

Cake Boss: Sunday Special: 30 pounds of butter and 60 pounds of cream cheese in a batch? Um, I think my husband would love this cake, LoL. 2400 half sheets is 12,000 pounds of cake.... good gracious. I wonder how he's connected to the Johnson & Wales in North Carolina... maybe it was at the suggestion of the locals at the convention. Olive Oil, Tomatoes, Onions, Basil... sounds good to me! But why is Buddy making sauce?? I love how they got in a fight in front of the Amish horse and buggy guy. It was cool to see Frankie in charge, meeting with a customer, etc. Wow, Buddy was gone for like 4 days on this... that's a while! 20 people took 6 hours to stack it??!? I hate Mary, she's always ruining stuff. 50 YARDS of fondant?? I can't even begin to imagine driving 175 miles per hour!!! LoL on Buddy's really generic pep talk on fixing the front of the car. I kinda thought they should have used cereal treats in the beginning, LoL. If all the cakes have to be ordered like 3 weeks or more in advance, was this mannequin cake a last-minute deal or something?

Regular Monday: the aquarium people really had no thoughts, LoL. "vanilla with.... vanilla?" as if she was afraid to say that, LoL. The 3D model looked pretty cool. Buddy and Frankie in the shark tank was interesting. I've swam with sharks before (Big Pine Key, FL), it's definitely the experience of a lifetime! ... 110" by 40" .... why so big?? Especially since they have to build it in the oven room to do this... isn't that problematic, like the fondant and stuff would melt?? I'm finally getting a handle on everyone's names, not just the main few, LoL. The isolmalt is always cool, and the coral looked pretty sweet. It took me a little bit to realize when Buddy meant by "turtle cake turtle" LoL, but once he started making the caramel I figured it out. How did they make the baby carriage cake without any of the other guys seeing it? We know they're a nosy group, LoL. This really was one of the most amazing cakes I've ever seen. "600 pounds, easy" ?? I can't seem to understand why they use such heavy props and tables... there's gotta be a better way to do those things, LoL. It's interesting that this time Buddy pointed out how great it is that there's a ton of kids in the family so the bakery can live on... but other times he's said how he'd never want his kids to live the lives of bakers.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager: how come we never hear the random kids saying things about Amy? Everyone knows she had a baby at 15, so there's bound to be comments by others, regardless of how much you want to pretend everyone's okay with it. The idea that all teenage girls carry around a condom in their purse is ridiculous... but omg is it actually true?? Have things changed THAT much in ten years?? How can Amy have no feelings left for Ben? They were really close for a long time, who gets over that so quickly?? Ben's house has a SCREENING ROOM?? This house must be much bigger than previously thought. Glad that Betty is back, it was weird to have her missing from the storyline for a few episodes. Do teenagers in California really all have to drive themselves places? Nobody is allowed to carpool? So weird. And strange for a state that is so obsessed with emissions and the like. It's getting extremely annoying how much everyone lies in this show. Lust is also getting in the way... the pizza boy instantly being in love with Ashley is stupid. Ashley's really good about not putting herself alone with a boy in the house, impressive. Ricky's place looks much bigger than before, not sure how he got so much room already. Maria last week and Grace this week? What the heck is up with Ben??!? OF COURSE Jimmy sees the condom, that's what happens. That's a good reason NOT to have a condom in your purse!! Wait, this Jesse kid can drive with three other people in the car? If he's 18, I'm surprised that Lauren's dad is letting them date. And when will Molly Ringwald lose the bangs? She's way prettier without them. Alice and Henry/Hank stayed out ALL NIGHT with a chauffeur? geez. Why are there so many "A" names on this show?? Alice, Amy, Ashley, Adrian, Anne... kinda obscene. And Amy thinking it's unfair for Ben to go out with Grace but it's okay for her to go out with Jimmy is stupid. Boys get passed around, fact of life. Adrian has a very strange outlook on her parents getting married. But they're weird by themselves, LoL. And why didn't Adrian call her parents and tell them she was spending the night? That would have stopped them from being angry in the morning, and it might have gotten her a ride home that evening to stop Amy from being angry with her and Ricky. And, of course, Moose impregnates a dog. What are the odds, haha? But, why was the woman upset that the dog wasn't neutered? Obviously, her dog (or her sister's, whatever) wasn't, either. And so it's certainly a mutual fault in that case.

Tuesday:
Table for 12: this is off-air again, and there's not even any showing up in the next two weeks... I don't get why they don't show the reruns of this show during the day like they seem to with many of the other TLC shows.

missing the eps "summer," "busy day," "jumping in," "brace yourself," "back to school"

19 Kids and Counting:
Sunday Special: I love the new beginning. Some of the kids look like they've grown up a LOT since last season's start. The older girls seemed to have a good understanding of everything that was going on, which was good (and almost impressive). Poor Anna is looking exhausted, makes me wonder how much Josh does to help her with their daughter. Interesting that the older kids (minus Josh) still all went on the trip. It really demonstrates their leadership in making it work. But being out of the country when their mother was doing so poorly must have been hard. JimBob is looking like he put on weight again.

Normal Tuesday: Started on December 10th, with a very similar intro as to the Sunday special, really emphasizing the NICU and seriousness of it all. It was a little more involved, but a lot of the same footage was used for the first five minutes or so. This was also the first episode I ever watched in HD... JimBob's face isn't that pretty, LoL. Michelle's hair in 1994 was crazy, LoL. Interesting how they went from everybody buys everybody to grouping Secret Santas... Older Boys, Older Girls, and the younger kids. I was curious as to where Joy would go in this mix, but the question was answered when she said she was in charge of buying for Michelle. know that the parents call them "little kids" and "big kids" but when the announcement went over the intercom that "whatever little kids are available..." I was a little surprised... but at the same time, I call my siblings (collectively) "the kids" when I'm talking to other people, but not to them! LoL. Jill wanted the policemen's signatures?? What?? Jana straightened her hair... interesting change. Did Michelle and JimBob even get a chance to see Jordyn for her first birthday?? And they admitted to lying to their parents, haha... they said they would say they were going to do interviews, and they'd go take pictures, haha!!

Also caught "Duggar on a Diet," thanks to my DVR. :) It was interesting that the camera guy's daughters were there. I finally saw the infamous scene where Michelle fed Jordyn while the baby was lying down... I still don't understand that decision, but I don't have 20 years of experience feeding babies, LoL. Jim Bob saying over and over that Michelle told him it was time got annoying. Jana joined "years ago" which was interesting, makes me wonder how she paid her dues, since it's not cheap (we heard the woman tell JimBob $10.50/week with discounts), and she doesn't have an outside job that we've ever heard about. I also wonder if maybe Jana originally joined to have some "alone time" with mom, haha.

now only missing "Duggars in the Sky"

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Off season:
Jon and Kate Plus Eight: still missing the finale, "It's a Crazy Life, But it's Our Life," but since the show isn't running anymore, I decided to list it down here, instead of on my already-full Mondays.
Wipeout (summer 2010)
The Goode Family (watch it Monday nights at 10!!)
Lincoln Heights (no information available yet)
South Park (two more seasons are contracted, no start date yet for season 14)

Oscar Nominations & Thoughts

I did this last year, and it sparked some interesting conversation and deep thinking, so I figured I'd do it again. The nominations came out this week, and it's very different, since there can now be 10 nominations
Keep in mind that I see a lot of movies that don't get nominated for squat, so my commentary is different from others you'll read, I'm sure.

Best Motion Picture of the Year :
- Avatar
- The Blind Side
- District 9
- An Education
- The Hurt Locker
-
Inglourious Basterds
- Precious
- A Serious Man
- Up
- Up in the Air
Last year at this point I hadn't seen any of the nominees. At least I've seen 3 this year, and am actively trying to see 3 more. I'll pick Avatar... you know, since that's the "obvious" choice.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role :
- Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
- George Clooney for Up in the Air
- Colin Firth for A Single Man
- Morgan Freeman Invictus
- Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker
Haven't seen any of these, but I love George Clooney and he's been getting good reviews, so I go with him.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role :
- Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side
- Helen Mirren for The Last Station
- Carey Mulligan for An Education
- Gabourey Sidibe for Precious
- Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia
I did Netflix Julie & Julia, but I don't think it's gonna win the Oscar in this category. I'm torn between voting for Sandra Bullock or Gabourey Sidibe, since both roles have gotten a lot of press for the actresses' efforts. I think I'll push a little more for Sidibe, since I actually don't care for Bullock, personally.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role :
- Matt Damon for Invictus
- Woody Harrelson for The Messenger
- Christopher Plummer Hoffman for The Last Station
- Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones
- Christopher Waltz for Inglourious Basterds
I'm not thrilled with these options. at all. I vote for Matt Damon because he's generally some good eye candy. ;)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role :
- Penelope Cruz for Nine
- Vera Farminga for Up in the Air
- Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart
- Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air
- Mo'Nique for Precious
I never realized that Mo'Nique didn't use a last name. And I hate that. So she's out. I go with Anna Kendrick because (like I mentioned last year) I hate Penelope Cruz. And I'm not familiar with who Farminga is. And I know there's been some confused folk over Maggie's nomination.

Best Achievement in Directing :
- James Cameron for Avatar
- Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
- Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds
- Lee Daniels for Precious
- Jason Reitman for Up in the Air
Um, James Cameron. Duh.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen :
- The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
- Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
- The Messenger (Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman)
- A Serious Man (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen)
- Up (Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy)
I go with Up. It was a very cute storyline, and even if I didn't agree with everything in the film, it was well-done.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published :
- District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell)
- An Education (Nick Hornby)
- In The Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche)
- Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)
- Up in the Air (Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner)
I go with Precious, since it's gotten a lot of press in EW about the novel, etc.

Best Achievement in Cinematography :
- Avatar
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- The Hurt Locker
- Inglourious Basterds
- The White Ribbon
I haven't heard of The White Ribbon, and Harry Potter never wins anything. So, Avatar it is.

Best Achievement in Editing
- Avatar
- District 9
- The Hurt Locker
- Inglourious Basterds
- Precious
I chose not to pick a winner last time, since this is an area where I am unqualified to render an opinion. But, this year, I'm taking into consideration some advice that I received. I'm thinking about pacing within the film, and how abrupt scene changes are... and with 24 frames in a single second of a movie, that's a LOT of potential editing. I'm not going to go with Avatar, since nothing stood out for me in that. And I hated Inglourious Basterds too much to consider it for anything, really. So, blindly choosing here... District 9.

Best Achievement in Art Direction :
- Avatar
- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
- Nine
- Sherlock Holmes
- The Young Victoria
Again, I love this category. I vote Sherlock Holmes, as it intrigued me more than Avatar did in this area.

Best Achievement in Costume Design :
- Bright Star (Janet Patterson)
- Coco Before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)
- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Monique Prudhomme)
- Nine (Colleen Atwood)
- The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)
Again, this is a category where I'm definitely qualified to judge, but I haven't seen any of the four films (and have never heard of Bright Star or The Young Victoria). I don't even remember trailers for any of the films except Nine, so I got with that by default.

Best Achievement in Makeup :
- Il Divo
- Star Trek
- The Young Victoria
I choose Star Trek, again by default. I've not heard of the other two, let alone seen anything about them.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score :
- Avatar (James Horner)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
- The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders)
- Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)
- Up (Michael Giacchino)
Sherlock Homes, an easy one. Love Hans Zimmer, loved the soundtrack in the film.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song :
- The Princess and the Frog - Randy Newman ("Almost There")
- The Princess and the Frog - Randy Newman ("Down in New Orleans")
- Paris 36 - Reinhardt Wagner & Frank Thomas ("Loin de Paname")
- Nine - Maury Yeston ("Take it All")
- Crazy Heart - Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett ("The Weary Kind")
Tricky one. Haven't heard any of them in full, but I like the commercials that include "Down in New Orleans," so I am choosing that one. Plus, I love New Orleans. :)

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing:
- Avatar
- The Hurt Locker
- Inglourious Basterds
- Star Trek
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Um, this one is hard. I actually saw four of these. Star Trek comes to mind, but not sure why. I thought Transformers was good in sound, but maybe notasmuch.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing :
- Avatar
- The Hurt Locker
- Inglourious Basterds
- Star Trek
- Up
This was another category that I abstained from choosing last year. But this year, I vote Up. It needed a lot of work in this area, I think, and it was well done.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects :
- Avatar
- District 9
- Star Trek
Avatar is gonna take the cake on this one. Easy. I'd be super-surprised if it did not.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year :
- Coraline
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- The Princess and the Frog
- The Secret of Kells
- Up
Um. shhhh. don't tell anyone, but I've only seen one of these. But I'm voting for Fantastic Mr. Fox, since that is the one out of this list that I still reallllly want to see.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year :
- Ajami (Israel)
- El Secreto de sus Ojos (Argentina)
- The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
- Un Prophete (France)
- The White Ribbon (Germany)
From last year: "I don't really do foreign films. Every one I've seen (with subtitles), I've hated. And I'm talking films like Pan's Labyrinth and Amelie, both of which ended up being loved by so many. Yeah, I can't stop hating them. And that's all there is to say about that."

Best Documentary Feature :
- Burma VJ
- The Cove
- Food, Inc.
- The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
- Which Way Home
I'm going with Food, Inc. as I've heard great things and it's on my Netflix list. ;)

Best Documentary Short Subject :
- China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
- The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
- The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
- Music by Prudence
- Rabbit a la Berlin
haven't heard of any of these, but The Last Truck sounds like it would be an interesting subject, hehe.

Best Animated Short Film :
- French Roast
- Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
- The Lady and the Reaper (La Dame y la Muerte)
- Logorama
- A Matter of Loaf and Death
I choose the last one, based on the title, and the fact that it's Wallace & Grommit.

Best Live Action Short Film :
- The Door
- Instead of Abracadabra
- Kavi
- Miracle Fish
- The New Tenants
um, I have no idea. Instead of Abracadabra sounds like fun.

Let's see if I can do better with these selections this year... after all, I only got 10 out of 24 last year, so let's go for half, hehe.

Favorites: Saved By the Bell

In the Saved by the Bell canon, it is understood that Good Morning, Miss Bliss takes place before the main show, regardless of the fact it's a different school in a different state, with mostly different kids. So, I count it with the four seasons of the show (don't let the DVDs lie to you and say there's 5 seasons, that's NOT TRUE!), and the College Years season. But NOT The New Class, because although it has Screech and Belding, it's a different show. Today we look at my favorite moments with Zack, Kelly, Jessie, Slate, Screech, and Lisa. I think these choices are sorta average, so please comment on your own faves!!

Good Morning, Miss Bliss: Let's Get Together. Toward the end of the series' run, this episode focuses on the friendships of Nikki and Zack and of Miss Bliss and Tina. Tina gets dumped and moves in with Miss Bliss, getting on her every nerve, while Zack and Nikki have a class project to do but struggle in working together. I love Zack's quick thinking in the end, genius. Whole episode here.



Season 1: The Friendship Business. This one got replayed quire a bit, I feel. It's the one where the class has an assignment to create and sell products. Friendship bracelets and buddy bands are all fun and games... until Belding starts sporting one. Great conniving in this one, and a good representation of how the characters fit together. Whole ep.

Season 2: The Babysitters. Kelly has to care for her baby brother, so she takes him to school with her. Let's not judge. It's yearbook photo day, so the gang keeps handing off the baby as each needs to be in various class and club photos. Of course the baby gets lost in the shuffle, hehe. Whole ep.

Season 3: Cut Day. There were a lot of memorable episodes in this season, but I always love watching the wool get pulled over Belding's eyes. Zack having to get to and from campus each class period is ridiculous... I think that adds to it. Can't find zilch on this one, tho!!

Season 4: Screech's Birthday. Another one devoted to pulling one over on Belding... this time the girls act as a single student with multiple personalities, Screech becomes an arrogant hall monitor, and Screech's robot talks. In full.

Saved by the Bell: The College Years: Rush Week. The guys want to get into the same fraternity, while Kelly and Alex girls hope for rival sororities. But that's not in the cards, as the girls get into second-choice houses, and the guys won't join unless all three get in. Can't find this one online, either.

Junk this Week, too

Sunday:
The Simpsons
: nothing new since there was playoffs.

Family Guy: nothing new due to playoffs.

Monday:
How I Met Your Mother: not this week.

House, M.D.: strange opening with the two people both having strange problems. The woman threatening to sue Thirteen if she didn't knock it off was shocking, and the fact that her forearm broke so readily was scary/freaky. The patient made me so angry for the way she treated Thirteen. It also seems that Foreman has aged a bit... he's really unattractive now. I don't think it was Thirteen's place to question the patient's sister's choice to be a potential donor. Or tell the husband that she's putting on a show for him. It was also interesting that the old colleague of House's thought he was more of a bastard in med school than he is now!! WTF, he was WORSE??!? And why did Cuddy allow Thirteen to go back to working on this case??!? She should have stayed off of it, even if she helped to solve the medical mystery.

Little People, Big World: we're off for a couple months, I believe.

Jon and Kate Plus Eight: TRIED to catch the finale, "It's a Crazy Life, But it's Our Life," on my Netflix. But Season 5 on DVD is only 2 discs, and the last 4 episodes aren't on either. BULLCRAP. so I still haven't seen it. BOO!

Cake Boss: Hoboken doesn't have a movie theater? Weird... it's not a small town, LoL. EIGHT LAYERS?!?? And freaking Mary selling something that was ordered and having no remorse whatsoever. Dang they have a lot of shortening, LoL. The tension on this show is really starting to mount, I think. I can't believe the customers sometimes... like those movie theater people!!

The Secret Life of the American Teenager: awkward start with everyone running around calling people who are in the next room. Amy calling Ashley talking to Ben calling Adrian to bring Amy a glass of water... ridiculous. Adrian being fake is strange. Amy's scratchy voice is out of place. Grace's masturbation crusade is also ridiculous. And the "just say me" motto is weird. And since when does Ben care so much about the opportunity to have sex? And no boys sit two and two at a table that has four benches... c'mon now. And Alice is still calling Henry "Hank." And maybe things have changed DRASTICALLY in ten years, but when I was in high school, there was no discussion of masturbation, regardless of what you call it. Not to mention it wasn't something I'd ever even thought of at that young of an age. And since when does Amy work again? She hasn't in FOREVER, so I assumed she had given up on that. And as much as I like Shawn Johnson, she's a bad actor. She'd be good at public service announcements, but if this is the best she could do, yeesh. I do find it interesting that this is her second appearance, so I guess we're supposed to believe that she really is a student there, not just a passerby, LoL. And what's with the posters all over school?? The school has no problem with this? Especially when it's associated with the TAG organization, which is not part of the (public) school, but part of the church. At this point I don't understand why Mimzi was ever a character. She was talked about fairly often in the very beginning, and then seen, and then her hea;th began deteriorating quickly. Then there was no mention of her for quite a while, and then this season she's back and pretty much dying, LoL. And why was Adrian all over the place for "Constantinople" out of nowhere? We assume she can dance better than that, right? And why is Amy still calling Adrian for water?? And, OMG Lauren told her GRANDMOTHER about the masturbation campaign?? At first I thought maybe she was a young grandmother, then Madison said she was 89... geez. And when did Amy get so chesty? AND, I did NOT appreciate the symbolism of Amy slamming the door on the masturbation campaign at the end.

Tuesday:
Table for 12: this is off-air again, and there's not even any showing up in the next two weeks... I don't get why they don't show the reruns of this show during the day like they seem to with many of the other TLC shows.

missing the eps "summer," "busy day," "jumping in," "brace yourself," "back to school"

18 Kids and Counting: got kinda lucky this week. Now that I have DVR, I caught an episode I was missing. Next week the episodes start with 19 Kids and Counting.
In "Duggars in Dixie" the family headed to Pigeon Forge, TN. I love packing just like Jinger, LoL. John David had some witty lines. Michelle referred to Josiah as "Siah" to one of the littlest kids... strange nickname, I thought. And I'm tired of seeing that brown shirt with white stripes, I feel like most of the boys have that shirt, LoL. The Zorb balls were interesting.

list of missing: "Duggar on a Diet," "Duggars in the Sky"

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Off season:
Wipeout (summer 2010)
The Goode Family (watch it Monday nights at 10!!)
Lincoln Heights (no information available yet)
South Park (two more seasons are contracted, no start date yet for season 14)

Fonts

This is kinda not exactly television-related. BUT, let me stress that I love looking at the logos of show titles, since they're often done in a special font, or at least in a steady color scheme. Simpsons and Brady Bunch come to mind for starters. Plus, Frasier had a different colored title every season, which is how to tell them apart really quickly in reruns. But let's look at a list of fonts today...

I am kinda a font freak. In the late nineties I would scour the 'net for the most accurate font to express my personality. Then I'd have my closest friends get it too, so they could read it in AIM (well, technically AOL IM back then, LoL). In college, I couldn't stand the look of the standard, Times New Roman font that I had been required to use on science fair projects (which was pretty much the only thing we had to type in high school, aside from Extended Essays and World Lit papers). So I used Arial. For everything. It's generally accepted by professors, although I did have a classmate in graduate school question my choice.

Honestly, serifs bother me. Those are the little tags on the tops and bottoms of letters in a TNR-esque font. And I hate them. I think they're annoying and ugly. Verdana is my font of choice in a non-professional setting, although I do use comic sans in IMs. (and yes, most of my blogs have serifs because I have been using the default forever, LoL.)

Anyway, the "periodic table of fonts" has recently been brought to my attention several times, and I decided to make some comments about it. At first I was appalled at the focus on popularity as opposed to order. But, the author of the short article does mention that he tried, but it really wouldn't suit his purpose.

Now, let's review his ordering (which was based on several lists)...
#1 is Helvetica. um, what?
#6 is Garamond. If I have to use a serif, I try to get away with this one. ;)
#7 is Times. ::eye roll::
#12 is Lucida. ridiculously useless font.
#17 is some awful thing called Trinite. way too much serif.
#18 is Syntax. Remember that awful font? from back when you still had a printer that spit out accordion paper?
#26 is Thesis. no lie. and it's only been around since 1994. how much do you want to bet someone found a way to create a font that takes up slightly more space per line without anyone noticing... resulting in a few extra pages over the course of three chapters... I'll have to look into this...
#29 is Clarendon. It's a nice font in general, but it's difficult to find the right occasion to use it.
#33 is the oldest font in the book. Gutenberg B-42. it looks just how you'd imagine it might.
#50 is Century. fairly common, but still ehhhh.
#63 is Courier. Yes, it's butt-ugly, but how did it end up so low on the list??
#96 is the newest font of the bunch... 2002's Neutraface, a sans-serif. Tied with #71 Prokyon, another sans-serif. AND #62 - Fedra, another winner (aka sans-serif).

Favorite Episodes: Boy Meets World

This is, perhaps, my favorite show from my teenage years. You could argue that I talked more about Home Improvement, but I think the golden comedy and character dynamics in this show really made it the best. It lasted for seven years (from 6th grade through 2 years of college, although it's obvious they skipped a couple years in the middle), and could have gone a little further. It ended extremely abruptly, and tried to wrap up storylines in strange ways. But that's beside the point... instead, let's focus on favorite episodes!! [Seasons 4 & 5 are my favorites, so it was really hard to choose in those categories!!]

Season 1: Killer Bees. Cory really has no interest in school most of the time. But when the prize for the Geography Bee winner is the chance to be a batboy for the Phillies, Cory does his best to out-smart the class geek, Minkus.




Season 2: Me and Mr. Joad. I love this episode for the scene where Cory and Shawn lead a walk-out, then start singing a song about unions in the cafeteria. But the whole premise of the episode is rather great, and the start to awesome Mr. Turner episodes. No full clips... not even a clip just from this episode... but this video does have part of the episode, from 6:22 onward, with the song in the last 20 seconds.


Season 3: Rave On. Cory and Eric get together to throw a rave... at the same time as their parents' 20-year anniversary party. They make it all work, but there's definitely some funny issues at stake! No full clip on this one, but here's the parts with the Monkees, LoL.


Season 4: yep, I'm cheating. Because both the funniest and most heart-touching episodes are in the same season, I'm gonna put both. I honestly can't decide which would be my runner-up overall. B & B's B'n'B: Perhaps the funniest episode of the entire series, Cory and Shawn turn Feeny's house into a Bed & Breakfast when he's out of town for the weekend. They actually manage to leave everything just as it was, despite so many slight mishaps during the project. Only the first two parts are on youtube, so you can't see how it ends, sorry!


Cult Fiction: My favorite heart-string-pulling episode of the series. Shawn gets wrapped up in a group that offers hugs... making him think he's loved. When Turner gets into a bad motorcycle accident, Shawn's afraid to be in the hospital room with him, but ends up having a heart-to-heart with God about life.




Season 5: It's Not You, It's Me. Cory and Shawn deal with the possibility that they might not go to the same college... and for Shawn that means he wants a completely different future. Meanwhile, at college, Jack and Eric decide to befriend the dean in order to create an easy way for themselves. This is a strange one, in that I found parts 1 & 3, but not 2. Go figure.



Season 6: His Answer. As Cory tries to cope with Topanga's proposal and a possible elopement, Jack and Eric get a female roommate whom they both have the hots for.




Season 7: Seven the Hard Way (2). A prank war has gone too far, causing Feeny to make everyone think about their futures if they aren't friends anymore. Everyone has a very strange outcome, and it's extremely interesting.