Writing Errors in House & How I Met Your Mother; New Paul Reiser

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Reviews & Commentaries for scripted shows this week include: The Simpsons, House, How I Met Your Mother, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Better with You, and The Paul Reiser Show. 

Sunday: 

The Simpsons "The Great Simpsina" (S22E18): It started with a cold opener today. [in fact, no opening theme was played at all!] Bart wasn't happy about picking peaches so he tried to daydream about school... and a pop quiz. [haha. stuffing peaches in your ears was weird. The crow poking the guy in the ear was crazy]."first I work, then I pay, then I have to eat fruit?! Why was I ever born" was really funny. TONS of peaches everywhere! Marge and Homer leave for a couples massage, and Bart and Lisa try to dump the peaches... they head for the dump but Bart unloads his on Jimbo and the other thugs to throw at people. Lisa gets lost and ends up in a magical mansion. [I liked The History of Cobwebs book being covered in cobwebs] The Great Raymondo lives there, and intrigues Lisa. [I really thought the crystal ball phone was funny, as well as the joke about Psychic Monthly not seeing his cancellation coming] It's predicted that Lisa will die of morbid obesity, LoL. Raymondo is on medical marijuana. Lisa asks him to teach her magic, but he thinks that magic is only for boys. She convinces him, though. [why IS there always a "Denver" version of things? and what does that refer to?] "Today's lesson: feed your props" ...otherwise the rabbit will die, LoL. Some random kid (son of a famous magician) tricks Lisa into telling him how the "milk can trick" is done. [the wand-remote trick was cute. plus, if that was the biggest trick, doesn't Lisa know everything now? why be that upset? and what's with all of the weird music this episode? and why steal coats?? The peach song in the end credits was funnier than the part they played in the episode itself]

Monday:

House, M.D. "The Dig" (S07E18): House pays off a cabbie in front of a NJ jail at 9am. Thirteen walks out of the gates and sees that House is her only option out of there. He hands her a martini (made from a travel bar set), she drinks it and passes back the glass. House drives while Thirteen looks out the window... the first words we hear him say are "what did you do?" and she did something but plead down to "excessive prescribing." House texts Foreman that he'll be out for three days. The gang tries to call it a long weekend, but House calls and Masters ends up making them work on a new case. [parts of NJ apparently require you to be off the phone while driving. and, judging by the exit we see them pass, a part of NJ that I drove last summer... and talked on the phone, LoL] House pulls into a mall and takes Thirteen to get some more clothes. [Thirteen is from West Virginia?] Taub is banging a new girl.Taub and Foreman show up at the patient's place and discover that he's a hoarder. No running water, gas, or electricity... but the fridge is hooked up to an external source. There's a cat in the freezer. Thirteen asks House to drive her to a random house for a "personal stop." She punches a guy at the house, and they drive on. The patient says that he uses bottled water and flashlights... and that he's "not a hoarder... just a major slob" which nobody believes... since the guy saves EARWAX! Thirteen doesn't believe that House and Cuddy were a couple. [I don't like looking at Thirteen without makeup.] Thirteen admits that she killed a man. [I don't like the scarf or the shoes on Masters] Foreman tries to hit on the girl that Taub slept with... then asks her straight-up what Taub's tricks are. Thirteen tries House's potato gun, and thinks it sucks. Chase and Masters go to the patient's place, where they find raccoon feces and a woman hiding under a tarp... [creepy!] turns out to be his wife, who is the hoarder. Thirteen gets really into building a better gun, and wants to utilize fertilizer... House calls her Kaczynski... [which is a mistake, since it was McVeigh who used fertilizer. Wrong bomber, writers!]. Chase catches Foreman checking out Taub's phone. House and Thirteen arrive to the competition in Schenectady. They meet Harold, who has a killer gun! House tries to talk her up, but it doesn't work... he's a smart kid! Foreman comes home purposely to find Taub making out with Rachel, his ex-wife. Thirteen is still trying to figure out how to improve the "spud gun." House talks of hiring Thirteen as an assistant, rather than a doctor. Thirteen's crime, more specifically: she had a guy with her who OD'd and died. It was her brother... and she euthanized him because of his Huntington's. Thirteen tells House the whole story, and she talks about how she's afraid that nobody will be there to do the same for her when she progresses too far. House has pretty much no reaction. House shot his rival with a potato, and got off with a warning. [LoL] Masters determines that the female patient has some sort of fertility problems... turns out that she had three miscarriages, which sparked hoarding. Her husband never knew. [why wouldn't you tell your spouse?] Taub tries to break it off with his wife again, but she doesn't let him. House takes Thirteen home, and says that she owes $87 for gas... and that he'll kill her if she wants when the time comes. She's speechless, then says that she'll see him Monday.
[Episode 150 for the series]. 

How I Met Your Mother "The Exploding Meatball Sub" (S06E20): Ted is still dealing with people protesting the tear-down of the Arcadia. Lily wonders how Ted can deal with Zoey being an exact opposite... he says that they like to challenge each other. [Interesting interpretations of Tommy Boy, LoL!] Ted reiterates how much Marshall hates his job. [I don't like Marshall's hair]. Marshall talks about wanting to take an environmental job again, and Lily gives him her report. Barney makes a joke about Spain... and a whole bunch of other countries mixed into one. [LoL] Marshall went into work with the intention to quit, but decided he didn't hate everything [and we hear a rendition of "I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLachlan] Robin makes a weird joke about kids with braces not being able to walk straight... and she coins the term, "graduation goggles," referring to a situation that you only love when it's over, LoL. Marshall does quit, and tries to get the other job at the NRDC, but it's been filled and he has to be an unpaid volunteer. [who gets invitations printed for a party that is taking place THE NEXT DAY??!?] Barney talks about his therapist for a moment... amusing. [Ted's Spanish was pretty bad... so bad in fact that you'd think he realizes it makes no sense] Barney got REALLY upset and trashed his office when Marshall wouldn't go to lunch with him. BUT, then he suggests that he and Robin go out for Chinese... which Barney has previously stated that he doesn't eat. [in Season 4, Episode 2, Barney says that he doesn't eat Chinese, Indian, or Mexican] Lily convinced Ted to go with her to the airport so that he could drive the guest back.. she's going to Spain!! Robin tells a harrowing story of her dad killing someone and how she helped bury the guy... only to reveal that it wasn't true. Barney then admits that he's upset Marshall left GNB because he can't pull a meatball sub prank if he's not eating at the same cafeteria. [Barney's revenge ideas were hilarious!] ...I guess Lily didn't go to Spain, since she's back at the apartment for the fundraiser. Marshall says that he's going to look for a job that pays, though he has had a really fulfilling week at the NRDC. [I was really rooting for Ted when he was ready to break up with Zoey, but those stupid "graduation goggles" got in the way again!] The "ten years later" thing with the sick Barney and the exploding meatball sub was weird. [Barney doesn't have medical insurance? he works at such a big corporation...]
[Season Finale May 16th]

The Secret Life of the American Teenager "Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner" (S03E17): Ricky's mom isn't thrilled that he wants her to live elsewhere. She doesn't have a driver's license. She tries to stay for a few months, but Ricky won't budge. [good for him!] Margaret (Ricky's foster mom) and her husband are Buddhist. Ricky's real mom is a lesbian, apparently [good. this show needs more sexual drama, hahaha] Ashley wants Amy to drive her to their mother's place so that she'd do the project for her... but she won't. George tells Amy not to help Ashley at all, since she either needs to do it herself or go back to regular school. Ashley calls Anne for help on her biology project (ecosystems). Jack and Tom talk about who is best for Grace... Tom says Grant because he hasn't had sex with her yet, and Jack has. Adrian tells Grace that she loves Ben but might not be "in love" with Ben. Leo tells Reuben that Ben wants to marry Adrian. Reuben wants them to get married right away, and Leo wants them to wait. Reuben is convinced that Adrian would say yes, and Leo makes Reuben promise that if Adrian won't say yes for sure, don't let Ben ask her [smart thinking, Leo! Ben is a fragile boy] Ricky tries to get out of bringing John to see Nora, but Margaret won't let him. Ricky calls Amy and fakes sick, canceling the night. Reuben tries to get Adrian to talk about her feelings for Ben, but she doesn't want to push it because she's afraid that Ben doesn't want the same future she does. Then, Adrian's dad fills in her mom... and Adrian calls Ricky. Nora calls Amy and tells her that Ricky lied about being sick because he doesn't want her to meet John. Leo and Betty wish Ben well, and Betty admits that sometimes you lie for your spouse, LoL! Leo admits to Betty that he feels like a failure of a father because Ben is going to be a husband and father at 17. Adrian's parents give Ben their blessing [I'm surprised that her mother gave in. And I'm also fed up with Ashley's English accent coming through. And Ashley's got big earrings on that don't seem to fit her] Her ecosystem project was kinda boring, but at least it made sense. Nora thinks that John is cute. Ricky is upset that Nora told other people about her sexuality before she told him. Nora's in her first serious relationship... with a public defender. Ricky wants to meet her. Ben rented out the taco place that Adrian wanted to eat at, and he proposes...  she says yes. [what??!? geez.]

Wednesday:
Mr. Sunshine (S01Exx): Episode 10 coming up. 

Better With You "Better without a Job" (S01E17):   Casey lies to Mia that she's not b!tchy, Ben lies to Maddy that the dinner she made was good, Vicki and Joel lie to one another about their sex life. [Starting out with a lie count was good... a little different than the normal parallel openers, but still funny] Casey wants to film the birth... Mia doesn't want that to happen. Casey looked at a stereo assembly manual when he was a kid. [LoL!] Maddy announced that she's likely to be made partner, but turns out that she's getting let go instead. Her boss makes some comments about how medical technology and nobody smoking is affecting the business. Casey and Mia want to sell the children's book that her parents give them, since it's worth $300. [dang!] Maddie tells her boss that she "doesn't accept" the firing, and thinks she still has a job, though Ben tries to tell her that it doesn't work that way. [only Maddie would try that, LoL!] Maddie really is fired, and she keeps it from her parents, though Casey, Ben, and Mia know, too. Mia admits to Maddie and Ben that they want to sell the book, and Casey tells them that he's started stealing other books to sell, too. [hahahahaha] Then it's Maddie's first day of looking for a job, and she's bright and happy and chipper... by day 3 she's pretty miserable. Day 8 finds her optimistic again, but day 9 reveals that word is out that she "didn't accept" her firing, and now nobody wants her. She has taken to watching television all day... specifically infomercials. [which she seems to believe are real shows] Maddie gets an interview, though she's slightly drunk when they call. Casey sells the book (The Little Brown Puppy) for $350. Casey decides to read the book, and it turns out that it's crazy racist, which is why it's such a collectible item. Maddie defines her biggest weakness as "not having one." [yikes!] She comes on a bit strong, and suggests that her weakness is not being able to stop talking. He offers her the job and she's supposed to go into the office the next day to discuss salary. Vicki and Joel get Mia and Casey a camera (floor model). Casey talks about having a dog growing up that hated Eskimos. Mia tells Vicki about how the book is racist, which she doesn't believe at first, but then is completely shocked about. A little girl and her mother show up to buy the book, and Mia makes the mom look at it, and then she wouldn't buy it. Turns out, Maddie's new job is for an ambulance-chasing-firm. [hahahahaha] Casey and Mia take a relationship quiz, where she learns that he was born in Texas and had a frog as a first pet. Ben and Maddie take a different quiz, where she gets upset. Vicki and Joel take yet another quiz, where their answers are the same everywhere... ultimately suggesting a specific cemetery in which to be buried. [creepy, but funny]
[May 11 season finale]

Thursday: 

The Paul Reiser Show "The Father's Occupation" (S01E01):    This is another random one I've picked up. I chose it because I really enjoyed Mad About You, another Paul Reiser show. It opens like Seinfeld did with Paul talking directly to the camera, kinda telling a joke. He's married with two kids. The opening shows photos and scenes of this life. The seems to have four male friends as well. Paul doesn't know what to list as his "occupation" on a form for his kid's school, so he tries out to host a gameshow... so that he'll have a specific application. [LOL!] One of the guys seems to have a giant warehouse that sells all kinds of things. The kids of Paul and his friends are all apparently the same age... they have the same class project (each kid gets a state). Apparently, all of the parents do the projects for all of the kids. Larry David might be up for the same game show, so Paul meets with him and they determine that it is the same show. Larry tells him he should be doing a rendition of Curb Your Enthusiasm instead of a game show. The questions that Paul uses for the audition are answered HORRIBLY. But, the show apparently does well. The guys complain about the kids' projects... and the Russian guy glues himself to the black guy's car. [overall, not a very exciting pilot. maybe next week will be more interesting]

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Off season/Coming Up:
South Park (season 15 starts April 27th at 10pm) 
Hot in Cleveland (June 15th picks us up at Season 2, Episode 11)
Futurama (Season 6, episode 14 on June 23rd)

Melissa & Joey (season 2 starts June 29th, 8pm)
Terra Nova (premiering in September)