Junk this Week, too

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

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. (S06E12): 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 (S02E15): 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 (S02E16): 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" (S03E03) 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"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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)

Favorite Episodes: Boy Meets World

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

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.

Just on Monday

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

for some reason, the only night that there was new things to watch was Monday this week. borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.

Sunday:
The Simpsons: no.

Family Guy: no.

Monday:
How I Met Your Mother (S05E13): lmao the best part was the first 10 seconds when they mentioned that you don't want to be in Times Square for New Year's Eve... which is TOTALLY AWESOME, btw. and haha, Ted could never take Marshall. lmao on Scott saying Ted teaches econ. hmmm... I am kinda torn over whether Lily or Marshall would be the reacher... and it's GREAT that there's a drinking game to Robin saying "but, umm..." hahahahahaha. Barney running out to "step 2" and sleep with Jenkins was classic. Is Ted no longer into being vomit-free, LoL? Marshall's freak-out when Jenkins kissed him was unbelievable! such great acting!!

House, M.D. (S06E11): this week 24 took over the slot, but I did finally see last week's...
Remy Beauregard?? Too bad I didn't know this when I wrote about worst middle names!! The codes for the drugs were cool. Wilson having the building think he's gay was really, really funny. House playing the flamboyant boy was also amusing. With the big gaps in this season's run, I've completely forgotten how/why/when House and Wilson moved in the first place! However, I somehow missed why it was that the gang wanted to convince Foreman that he made the least amount of money... I hate Foreman's conniving @$$ in the end, though. Interesting ethical debate... the drug dealer tried to save his friend by giving up the location. Yet, the sick guy has the opportunity to stop the dealer from being arrested by asking him to stay by his bedside... and he doesn't. oh, morals...

Little People, Big World (S05E20): awww. graduation! the photo montages were really nice. I thought it was weird that Zach's were more photo and Jeremy's were more video. The rain knocking out the power was potentially scary, but they seemed to be ready to make it work regardless. I wasn't appreciative of Matt wanting to slip in right at graduation and not stay "a full two hours." Amy was absolutely giddy that she was going to have front row seats to watch her boys graduate! The feelings that the boys had about their dad not being really there for photos or for graduation was kinda sad. I'm tired of every single comment Matt makes being "we're at a turning point and we don't know what's going to happen next." In the scenes from the next, the boys are going to Europe! so sweet! but APRIL is far away!!!

Jon and Kate Plus Eight: still missing the finale, "It's a Crazy Life, But it's Our Life." but it's next on my Netflix list, so hopefully I'll just catch it that way.

Cake Boss (S02E14): Sesame Street! omg what an awesome opportunity!! the short scene between Buddy and Cookie Monster was really fun. EIGHT.FEET.LONG. holy mackerel!!! the talent making the Muppet characters was ridiculously awesome. the overall looks was crazy crazy crazy amazing. SUCH SHARP DETAIL!!! THE FUR WAS SUPER!!! haha, 500-pound cake... just like a "boss" to compare moving it to moving dead bodies, haha. Stretch should've seen that water-pouring trick coming.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager (S02E15): love how it started with Adrian's violence and the whole "chupacabra" thing. What is Ashley wearing to school?? It's not the Homecoming dance!! Same with Adrian!!! Um, and the vest thing that Madison was wearing?? geez. Amy had some good acting during that scene where she told Ben to break up with her. However, the strange girls giving her sympathetic looks immediately after was strange. I love how nobody in school could possibly come up with enough money to fix the window, yet Ben has it in carry-around cash!! The fact that nobody will say the amount aloud was annoying. And how does TOM have that much?? AND "big bills or small bills" ?? The fact that Adrian and Ricky lying to one another gets them turned on creeps me out. That whole "breakup scene" (if that's what it was) between Jack and Madison was ridiculous.

Tuesday:
Table for 12: no new ep. but at least the fat family wasn't on.

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

18 Kids and Counting: no new ep. but they did run an old episode.

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

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Off season:
Wipeout (summer 2010)
The Goode Family (it's already showing the original run on cable late night, so let's hope for the best!)
Lincoln Heights (no information available yet)
South Park (two more seasons are contracted, no start date yet for season 14)

Soundbites of the decade

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

As with the various favorites of the decade, Entertainment Weekly also did a collection of soundbites. Many of these are not favorites of mine, mostly since I didn't like the movies or television shows that they came from. However, I copied over my favorites.

"Give me a scotch. I'm starving." -Tony Stark, Iron Man"Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig, does whatever a Spider-Pig does. Can he swing from a web? No, he can't, he's a pig. Look out! He is the Spider-Pig." -Home Simpson, The Simpsons Movie"I can't believe this. My uterus is an inhospitable environment? I've always tried so hard to be a good hostess!" -Monica, Friends"I'm one stomach flu away from my goal weight!" -Emily Charlton, The Devil Wears Prada

Favorite Episodes: Full House

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Round 2! Full House is probably the very first show that I ever completed seeing every episode of. It's also the first show that I religiously watched in primetime. I was only eight when I started my obsession with this show (and I'm one of the few who idolized Stephanie out of all the girls). Season 4 is definitely my favorite (um, the wedding episode is in this season!). So, without further ado, my favorite episode from each season:

Season 1: DJ Tanner's Day Off. This is the one where DJ and Kimmy skip school to get Stacey Q's autograph, but Michelle spots them and rats them out to Joey. Joey and Jesse don't want Danny to be mad at them, so they decide to go with a lie. But Stephanie blows that in front of Danny, and the truth has to come out. I'd never dream of skipping school to do something like that, and I think that's part of the reason this episode intrigues me so much.




Season 2: Middle Age Crazy. I love Jesse and Joey building the egg contraption with DJ. But I love even more that Stephanie imagines floating like an astronaut. And the singing while hula-hooping is cute. But when she marries Harry (only until suppertime), thing get... hairy. hehe.




Season 3: Back to School Blues. Poor DJ, starting junior high wearing the same outfit as a teacher! Where was she shopping, anyway???!? DJ is a bit of a square (as seen when she awkwardly invites herself to sit down at lunch the next day), but still. And I love watching little Michelle play Playskool Golf, hehe. (close runner up was Tanner Island)



Season 4: Secret Admirer. This one is really hard to pick, since I probably have eight favorites in this season. But Rusty was a great character (too bad he's only in two episodes), and the plot is pretty funny. It may be that I just like the run-around, LoL.



Season 5: Gotta Dance. In one of my favorite episodes of the entire series, Becky has a fun baby shower, Jesse bribes Michelle, Danny is living vicariously through Stephanie, and Stephanie takes the lead in a cool version of the Boyz II Men "Motown Philly" dance.



Season 6: Be True to Your Preschool. In perhaps what is a strange pick, Jesse lies quite a bit to get the twins into an excellent preschool. Kimmy, DJ, Michelle, and Steph play "Chinese Fire Drill" and get stuck walking home after they lock themselves out. Danny rides by on a bike and they're busted.



Season 7: The Bicycle Thief. In perhaps one of the more hilarious episodes of the series, Michelle thinks her bike is stolen, only to have left it at a friend's house. Each of the guys thinks they've found it, and before long the family is busy shuffling around stolen bikes while dodging the Neighborhood Watch and the father of the owner of the bicycle that Jesse took.



Season 8: Comet's Excellent Adventure. Michelle tries to walk the dog by herself, but he gets away. The girls roam the streets of San Francisco looking for him, and before long they even get on television begging for someone to return the pet. It's kinda fun to watch Comet hit some of the major Bay Area sights.



Thoughts? Agree/Disagree? I didn't put out a call for others' favorites this week so I have nothing to compare my choices to.

pretty much nothing was on this week. :(

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Sunday:
The Simpsons (S21E10): what the heck was with the taking back of toys and savings bonds? The "America's Next Krusty" thing was funny. That dress on Princess Penelope was verrrry Snow White. LMAO on the strap-on horn, and GROSS to kissing the unicorn/pony on the mouth. The second half of the episode kinda sucked.

3-D on Ice Special: I even had 3-D glasses to wear for it, thanks to CES. :-D However, the whole "on ice" thing was extremely up-played. And the 3-D thing was dumb. Boo. It was hardly a point at all! I loved looking at all the tattoos, LoL. The stories of how some of the voices were cast was interesting, too. 30,000 pieces of Simpsons memorabilia?!??!? The bear room was humorous tho. A great point was made that when Simpsons premiered, the problem was with kids talking back to their parents... now the problems are about sodomy jokes and the like. Another interesting phenomenon is the idea that people really bought into the three-eyed fish, hehe. I don't get the colored rat thing in Brazil... I probably would have edited out the "this is a big city... like Mexico..." lmao. The Groundskeeper Willie fight in Scotland is funny.

Family Guy: no new ep.

Monday:
How I Met Your Mother (S05E12): I have been looking forward to this episode like crazy! "almost exclusively" dates cute idiots is funny. The idea of the buttons from Barney's torn suit being used like "an organ donor" was pretty funny.Suit in an urn was even better. Ted kissing the urn was awkward. The rest of the episode didn't have that great of plot, tho.

House, M.D.: missed it and it didn't record (man we really need a DVR again, LoL)

Little People, Big World (S05E19): Zach's fear of being alone was sad. He doesn't want to deal with meeting new people, and just wants to hang at home. And it was interesting the Molly went with the boys when they registered. I'm glad that Jeremy admitted that they ended up choosing the community college because they were slacking on their plans for life. But the fact that Zach double-checked the spelling of his HOME STATE was really rather awful... like is he playing up the dumb or what?? The look of sadness on Amy's face when Zach admitted that his teacher said he might not graduate was so truly realistic... I can't imagine my heartbreak if I had a child on the borderline of failing his/her senior (or any, really) year.

Jon and Kate Plus Eight: still missing the finale, "It's a Crazy Life, But it's Our Life." but it's next on my Netflix list, so hopefully I'll just catch it that way.

Cake Boss (S02E13): BIIIIIIG pans for those cakes, LoL! The apple cake was interesting from the beginning. Leave it to Mary to go calling competitor bakeries! in the end it all worked out, but dang!

The Secret Life of the American Teenager (S02E14): I don't like Adrian without all her eye makeup. My husband said she looked like a camel. That was a lot of stuff to leave in the cart and just leave! "Nicolette" was a strange choice. Tom suckering Jack out of $55 was horrible. Grace and her mom still talking about masturbation is old. and still disturbing. The show is really starting to take a turn for the porn/soap opera, which stinks because I don't want to abandon it, but I might just have to.

Tuesday:
Table for 12: no new ep. they've decided to put on another "fat family" show instead. Um, that junk doesn't need to be in such a nice slot. Biggest Loser already exists. If you want to run this mess, at least stop introducing it in marathons! And how about a later night in the week? Or hell, even Sunday night? Or, even better, on something like Discovery Health, NOT TLC.

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

18 Kids and Counting: no new ep. same reason as above. ::sigh::

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

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Off season:
Wipeout (summer 2010)
The Goode Family (it's already showing the original run on cable late night, so let's hope for the best!)
Lincoln Heights (no information available yet)
South Park (two more seasons are contracted, no start date yet for season 14)

The 100 Greatest?

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

So Entertainment Weekly put out an issue back on December 11th that covered a lot of different "through the decade" overviews. One of the articles was "The 100 Greatest Movies, TV Shows, Albums, Books, Characters, Scenes, Episodes, Songs, Dresses, Music Videos, and Trends that Entertained us over the Past 10 Years." A lot of it I completely disagreed on, of course. But at the same time, there were things I couldn't agree with more. Here, I've reproduced only the ones I agree with. :) 32 out of 100, not too bad!

1. Harry Potter (Best Character) um, I was a little surprised that he came in at #1, but that franchise has made so much money because of that kid, I guess I believe it.
3. YouTube what a fantastic invention! I don't really remember when it entered my life, but I don't go a month without using it now! And, apparently a lot of people use it a heck of a lot more often than that!
11. Brokeback Mountain I won't lie, it wasn't as good I was expecting. But we needed it. And, "I don't know how to quit you" ... I think that phrase is applicable to a lot of different scenarios. I'm glad it's become well-known.
12. A Scoundrel named Capt. Jack Sparrow Those movies are soooo good. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the first one, and how much of a priority I now make the ride when I'm at the Magic Kingdom!
16. Facebook really? all the way down at #16? I would have placed it in the top 10, at least!
17. The Dark Knight I didn't have the love for this film that everyone else seemed to, but at the same time I thought it was good in spite of the fact that I'm not a big Batman fan.
21. WALL-E I really liked this film, as did so many others. But, it doesn't keep my attention enough to really watch it over and over, and that's what makes a good animated film.
30. An ogre named Shrek I think the parodies are what made this series. They're all okay, but the first one is just good.
35. Guitar Hero yeah, buddy! Clever idea and precise execution. The timing is so resolute it's almost mind-boggling, especially when you think back to Super Mario Bros. and making Mario avoid the swinging sticks of fire in the fortresses!
41. Children of Men now, I actually didn't like the movie. But I think it deserves a place because of its unique plot.
42. A matriarch named Madea I love me some Madea. She is so funny.
44. Brangelina I don't follow all the drama (because, really, it's so boring at this point), but I like them as a couple, and love them in Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
45. Gilmore Girls I was pretty psyched to see this on the list. Lorelai and Rory were such a perfect pair, it was sad to see their wit and pop culture references go.
46. A baby named Stewie I can't say I'm a big fan. But I know why he's up there and respect that.
49. Wicked (Best Stage Musical) um, there's a reason it's still selling out 100% of it's nearly 2000 seats eight times a week. And the fact that you can listen to the soundtrack every time you fly Delta is awesome, hehe.
55. Penguins (Best Bird) they were ALL OVER forEVER. Even that dumb cartoon with the disabled penguin named "Kevin" became popular. honestly, I haven't seen many of the now-famous movies... except what's probably the worst one, Surf's Up.
58. Wii awesome concept, great system, fun games.
60. Matt Damon as action star works out for him, probably much better than all those dramatic roles in the 90s.
64. Friends, "The One That Could Have Been" I actually don't like this one much. The personalities are just too different. But I know it's a favorite of many, and the concept is entertaining, if nothing else.
65. Twitter I initially hated the idea. Not sure why, since I always had involved "away messages" (remember when EVERYONE was on AIM??) and this is fairly similar. But, I came around. I've been on since summer 2008, and have over 2,000 tweets.
66. "Since U Been Gone," Kelly Clarkson she was good, the song was better. that is all.
73. How I Met Your Mother, "Slapsgiving" what a funny, funny idea. And the fact that they had an active online countdown for it was amusing (of course, this show often incorporates real media, but still). And, it is a classic Thanksgiving episode, after all.
78. A legal eagle named Elle Woods I had almost forgotten that this was less than ten years ago. I must have watched it thirty times, it always seemed to be in the DVD player at my now-husband's parents' house. cute film.
80. The Ocean's Eleven heist scene (Best Caper) I'm such a big fan of these movies. Just the best. which is kinda funny when you consider the fact that I didn't really want to see the first one... we went at the birthday boy's choice.
82. Prison inmates' "Thriller" video such a neat idea! As have been all of the large amateur choreographed pieces that have come out. but "Thriller" was an excellent choice.
87. Michael Phelps at the Olympics I usually don't watch swimming (but diving is cool), but with all of the Michael Phelps hype, I had to tune in for each of his races, and watch his (de)formed body win gold medal after gold medal.
89. Avenue Q Although I still haven't seen it properly (just clips and such), it really brought Off-Broadway back into the mainstage for non-theatre folk.
90. The Departed I'm actually not a big fan of this movie (omg it's long), but it's well-written and directed.
92. Mean Girls I'll never forget the first time I saw this movie... one of my best male friends in college and I went to an early screening and got our picture taken and everything, LoL. It is really meant for teenagers, but it's funny.
93. Ken Jennings on Jeopardy! this man was unstoppable! Amazing, he was. And it's really, really sad that not everyone recognizes his name yet.
99. Lolcats I was really late in discovering this one, but those dumb cats are super funny.
100. The kiss in Spider-Man only for its uniqueness will I agree on this one.

Favorite Episodes: Friends

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I considered continuing along the holiday line with Valentine's Day, but it's so far in the future I'd have to come up with like 30 episodes to highlight and I was afraid I couldn't do that many. Then I thought I'd do a week of Superbowl Eps and a week of Presidents' Day eps to cut down on the number of Valentine's episodes I'd have to highlight. But, honestly, I'm not really into romance, so I decided against focusing on Valentine's. Maybe next year!

But I did really enjoy picking favorite episodes with holiday themes. So I think the new Monday series is gonna be favorite episodes of various (ended) series. We're starting with Friends because I watched all of my favorite episodes last week in my really bad mood. I should mention that a) I'm not repeating any episodes I've already mentioned elsewhere on this blog, and b) I'm really going with my favorite FUNNY AND FEEL-GOOD episodes, which knocks out the cutesy/on-edge episodes, like "The One With the Prom Video" and ones that are just knee-slapping, like "The One Where Everybody Finds Out" and "The One with the Nap Partners"

Now, I should also mention that I've seen every episode of Friends, and my tastes differ greatly from others.... I know this because I asked some folks for favorite episodes last week and four people gave me great lists... only a couple of my choices appeared anywhere else, LoL (see Seasons 3, 5, and 6).

Also, there are some seasons where it was hard for me to choose (I really have 4 favorites from Season 10!! and like none from Season 3... my choice was a stretch), but here we go!

Season 1: The One Where Underdog Gets Away. Love when Ross freaks out over not knowing his parents' Thanksgiving plans. Love the beginning of how Chandler doesn't "do" Thanksgiving. Funny how Monica goes with three kinda of potatoes to make everyone happy. Joey's modeling and subsequent poster is hilarious. I felt so bad for Rachel as she tried to earn the money to go skiing and then missed her flight when they lock themselves out of the apartment. Hoorah for grilled cheese!




Season 2: The One With the Lesbian Wedding. (technically I mentioned this one before, but it was listed as my favorite episode here, and since it still is my very favorite, I'm keeping it). The possession of Phoebe is strange. Carol turning to Ross when her parents won't come to the wedding is sweet. Monica pushing the cute stroller down the aisle is precious. But the "now I've seen everything" is awesome.



Season 3: The One Where No One's Ready. I think some of the very best episodes are the ones that take place over very short periods of time. The funniest moments in this episode are back-to-back-to-back, and I'm tied between trying to fix Phoebe's outfit and Joey wearing ALL of Chandler's clothes.



Season 4: The One With Ross's Wedding, Part 2. Particularly the second part because Rachel's trek is my favorite part. First she decides to go, forgets her passport, puts the airfare on multiple credit cards, and meanwhile Phoebe tries phoning people to convince them to keep Rachel from Ross. And in the end, it doesn't matter... Ross loves Rachel anyway. oh, and side bonus, the start of Monica and Chandler!




Season 5: The One With all the Resolutions. I enjoy this episode because of the ironic factors. Great jokes to be made, and Chandler can't do it. Uber-juicy gossip, and Rachel can't tell it. Ross's pants scene has me rolling, and Phoebe's idea of just hanging around the airport until a plane is left unattended is classic.



Season 6: The One With the Routine. Usually I like several storylines, and this episode really only has two. But they're still so funny! Joey struggling with whether he's dating the model, Monica and Ross dancing like geeks to get on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve (which is kinda the same arc as Joey), and Phoebe, Chandler, and Rachel dealing with finding presents Monica bought them in order to buy suitable replacements. I love the note Monica left them about how Chandler would end up joining in! (The One Where Ross Got High is my true favorite, but I already covered it here)



Season 7: The One With the Holiday Armadillo. Santa Claus, SuperMan, and an armadillo costume make this one pretty funny. Monica kissing "Santa" is amusing. Ross' dedication to teaching Ben about Hanukkah is endearing, and I love how SuperMan flew all of the Jews out of Egypt, haha! Oh, and meanwhile Phoebe's trying to scare Rachel out of living with Joey.



Season 8: The One in Massapequa. Um, easy choice. Monica's speech. Ross' speech. Phoebe's date. Rachel and Ross' imaginary wedding. The attention to detail in a pretend ceremony is awesome.



Season 9: The One With the Boob Job. The Joey scenes make me laugh, particularly because baby-proofed items are really hard to open if you don't know how. Joey was good at covering how he guessed Chandler needed $2,000, but the reasoning he needed to give the same amount to Monica is hilarious.




Season 10: The One with the Cake. Love how Ross saves the day. Love how Joey gets put in charge. Love the wind-up toy contest. Love the videotaping messages. Love that we don't actually see Emma, haha! SO MANY GREAT ONES TO CHOOSE FROM THIS SEASON!!!

New TV for a New Year!

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I missed just about everything that did air since the 21st. But luckily that's not too much. I indicated new missing episodes, and am ready for everything returning Monday!!

Sunday:
The Simpsons (S21E09): boring opening this week, I was surprised they abbreviated it. The pinball thing was neat, tho. LoL on Marge finishing up her camera in the parking lot. haha "original octomom" haha. Nice joke on the Cathy comic. But Homer's drinking bacon grease was beyond disgusting. Bart's frying the lamb... hahaha. It's rather strange that so many people really haven't heard of Mitch Albom... I encounter them all the time, sad.

Family Guy (S08E10): I feel like there were a lot of low-blow jokes this week... like the girl that Peter wants to have sex with is supposed to be Tiffani-Amber Thiessen.

Monday:
How I Met Your Mother: next week. and it's the 100th episode. AND it's a MUSICAL EPISODE!!! Yay Neil Patrick Harris!!! (and the rest of the cast)

House, M.D.: next week.

Little People, Big World (S05E18): everyone was kinda taking Zach's hearing problem in stride. that was a pretty snazzy ball-in-a-cup that Amy had. I can definitely understand Amy's anxiety over the time. I had surgery done almost two years ago and went over the average maximum by quite a bit... my husband was definitely concerned. This episode was quite graphic, I thought. With all the previous surgeries that Zach's had and that Matt's had, I didn't really understand why Matt didn't go... to at least keep Amy company if nothing else! And Zach going to the soccer practice and running around was kinda strange... not suicidal but definitely self-harming, I'd say.

also finally caught "Downhill Dwarf" (S05E03) so I'm all caught up with this show now! It was really rather uneventful, except Matt wasn't tkaing his doctor's or wife's advice. Matt's pretty good on skis! do none of the kids except Jeremy participate in snow sports? It seems like the kind of thing Molly would enjoy. Matt flat-out asking Jeremy about Amy still caring about him was very awkward. And Jeremy took the question without surprise.

Jon and Kate Plus Eight: still missing the finale, "It's a Crazy Life, But it's Our Life."

Cake Boss (S02E12): a lot of wedding orders. I imagine that this one was taped during the summer and that's why, haha. WOW... Buddy got MAAAAD!! I would've been weirded out with the beer boot cake... it was ALL cereal treats! And now we know that the cakes are ridiculously large. The six-tier cake only needed to feed 300 people... ha! I also really thought that the sister-in-law's cake was ugly.

managed to catch up on the missing episodes as well.
"Pizza, Poochies, and Pop-in-law" (S02E07): okay, how much of a discount do companies get when the cakes are for fundraisers?? You know they can't be charged full price for those masterpieces... it wouldn't be smart for the company to spend that... especially all these non-profits and stuff. LMAO on the challenge, that was funny. The pizza cake looked AWESOME. It's really nice to see how much fun the guys all have working there. It's hard to find workplaces with that much camaraderie. Now, granted, these guys are mostly family... but still. Wow that dog cake looked like the real dog!! Such an excellent job on the face in particular!! It was funny that the little nephew Buddy got to make the deciding vote on the real pizzas.

"Golf Greens and Gravity" (S02E08): it was funny that all the guys went to play golf to get a better idea of how to make a fairway, etc. Good to know that modeling chocolate can get rid of seams, whereas fondant can't. I really want to give fondant a try! I don't have a clue how to start with that, tho, LoL. The concept of the solar system cake was pretty sweet... the execution was strange, I felt. It looked more like a marble sculpture than a delicacy. Oh, and the golf cake ended up being GIGANTIC!!

The Secret Life of the American Teenager (S02E13): the "scenes from the last" was waaaay too long. LoL on Ben using "in the summer" over and over. Alice's new hair is kinda unflattering. also not a fan of Anne's hair. or the extremeness of Amy's. And since when are Adrian and Grace in a class together?? And why would Grace talk that loudly and publicly about sex? There were like four eavesdroppers, LoL. Adrian dressed like her regular slutty self. Eleven people skipping school was also ridiculous. Who was the third group going after?? Who's this new gossip kid? And why is the new counselor so super corrupt?!? At a school like this, you'd think they'd hire someone more qualified. When did Ben get a car? oh, it's not his... haha. How does the counselor have all their cell phone numbers?? Oh yeah... all the kids got back to school at the SAME TIME?!??!?

Tuesday:
Table for 12: no new ep this week.

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

18 Kids and Counting: no new ep this week.

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

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Off season:
Wipeout (summer 2010)
The Goode Family (soon)
Lincoln Heights (no information available at this time)
South Park (two more seasons are contracted, no start date yet for season 14)

"Top 10 Most-Watched Shows of the Decade"

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

So with all of the holiday magic taking place in this blog over the past month, commenting on other television articles across the internet has fallen by the wayside. One came out at the very beginning of December that I wanted to talk about a little bit. Link to the original article.

So someone has taken the time to look at the top ten most-watched television episodes since 2000. Interesting idea, and I had not ever thought about looking into this. Some of these are really obvious, and others make very little sense to me... which is really what I wanted to address. (and I will be doing so in the opposite order of the original)

One thing before I start... I was really surprised by the dates... HALF of them are from 2000, and none since early 2007.

10. Spin City Michael J. Fox's finale regular episode (May 24, 2000). I think it makes sense that this one made the list, with 32.8 million viewers. Michael J. Fox was quite a beloved actor for this series and his other works, and with his health problems in the media, people tuned in to see what might have been his final performance.

9. Everybody Loves Raymond Finale (May 16, 2005). It's actually kind of a boring finale... Ray has to have a tonsillectomy and he brushes death. Now, it was a series finale for a long-running show, so of course it will bring a lot of viewers... but I've never understood why that particular show managed to gain such a following. And that episode wasn't even that good.

8. Frasier Season Seven Finale (May 18, 2000). It was the lead-in that brought an audience. After watching Niles pine over Daphne for well over half a decade, this episode brought people back to see how Niles would go on after Daphne was married... he manages to get up the courage to confess his adoration the night before her wedding. Heart-touching and heart-breaking all at once.

7. Who Wants to be a Millionaire week (May 3, 2000). I remember the early days of Millionaire quite well... it was a hot new gameshow when my now-husband and I began dating. And that's exactly why it makes this list... the hype was grand... the stakes were high... there was often someone from a town you've been to... it was the first major new gameshow in years... and Regis Philbin was the host. (Sidenote, did you see this craziness on Wheel of Fortune the other night??)

6. Grey's Anatomy Post-Superbowl Episode (February 5, 2006). Shows after the Superbowl often have large audiences, but bombs and lesbian scenes certainly helped maintain the football audience. I knew that this show had to come to fame at some point, and although I still pride myself on having never seen an episode, from the synopsis I can see why this one was seen by so many.

5. American Idol Season Six Premiere (January 16, 2007). This was the episode that introduced the world to Sanjaya. Apparently this was the height of the show's popularity (I only really paid attention back when Clay Aiken was the golden boy), and I think the author hit the nail on the head when he noted that each season brought more and more of an audience back then.

4. ER episode where Lucy dies (February 17, 2000). This was before I began watching the show religiously, so I can't quite appreciate why this episode was such a draw at the time. However, I always had a crush on Noah Wyle, so it's easy to believe that when he and Lucy were critically injured, it only makes sense that 39.4 million people would tune in to make sure that nothing happened to our beloved Dr. Carter.

3. Joe Millionaire season finale (February 17, 2003). This is the entry that surprises me the most. The show was an interesting premise at first, but who wants to watch people get lied to and then just stare at the reactions? The show pretty much died afterward. But yeah, I can see why 40 million people wanted to see what would happen when a fake-millionaire chose a wife and then announced his true identity.

2. Survivor: Borneo finale (August 23, 2000). D@mn Survivor. I had really hoped that it wouldn't make the list, especially so high up!! But it's here, and the popularity of reality television became real. I'm surprised that so many people bothered to watch this, but since the show was still young, the true appeal might have been the idea that the winner wasn't "scripted."

1. Friends finale (May 6, 2004). This comes as no surprise to me. The finale was actually the second episode I ever saw (but I didn't remember a minute of it), since my best friend and I were over at another friend's house and that person loved the show (and yes, I've told this story before). And possibly that's part of the key to why this episode had fifty-two-and-a-half million viewers... the show had been around for ten years, and its fame probably brought quite a few first-time watchers just to see what all the fuss was about (this happened the FIRST time 7th Heaven ended as well... people tuned in for the send-off, and those involved with the show misinterpreted this as genuine interest in the show, LoL).

No Time for TV!

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I missed just about everything that did air since the 21st. But luckily that's not too much. I indicated new missing episodes, and am ready for everything returning Monday!!

Sunday:
The Simpsons: nothing new this week.

Family Guy: nothing new this week.

Monday:
How I Met Your Mother: nothing til Jan 11th.

House, M.D.: no new ep.

Little People, Big World: caught "Married at Midlife" (S05E17) ... I thought it was strange that Matt was trying to win Amy back by getting them both new cars. I was surprised that Amy wasn't a little more perturbed about the scratch on the car... I think it might have been because she didn't pick it out or love it, LoL. I wasn't happy with Matt's "money's always going to be there" attitude and the idea that he's always going to be able to come up with an idea to make more money. And that Matt wouldn't get up in the morning if it weren't for his projects... he has a wife and four kids... :(

still missing "Downhill Dwarf"

Jon and Kate Plus Eight: still missing the finale, "It's a Crazy Life, But it's Our Life."

Cake Boss: nothing new.

Now missing "Pizza, Poochies, and Pop-in-law" and "Golf Greens and Gravity"

Tuesday:
Table for 12: missed it.

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

18 Kids and Counting: missed it

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

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Off season:
Wipeout (summer 2010)
The Secret Life of the American Teenager (next week!)
The Goode Family (January 2010)
Lincoln Heights (no information available at this time)
South Park (two more seasons are contracted, no start date yet for season 14)