by Amy K. Bredemeyer
Recaps & [Commentaries] for "scripted" shows this week include: Falling Skies, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Switched at Birth, Melissa & Joey, State of Georgia, Hot in Cleveland, Happily Divorced, and Futurama. Please note: spoilers abound, so don't jump down if you don't want to know what happens!
Recaps & [Commentaries] for "scripted" shows this week include: Falling Skies, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Switched at Birth, Melissa & Joey, State of Georgia, Hot in Cleveland, Happily Divorced, and Futurama. Please note: spoilers abound, so don't jump down if you don't want to know what happens!
Sunday:
Falling Skies "Grace" (S01E03): They've got an alien in a cage. Ricky's (Mike's son) cystic fibrosis seems to be gone. [interesting - the harness has healing powers?] Matt wants to learn to be a fighter, but Tom won't let him. Hal sides with Pope - Tom's not doing him any favors. Dr. Glass gives the alien some water. Harris wants to do a vivisection of the alien but Glass thinks that they should attempt communication. [I agree with Glass.] Ricky, Mike's son, has no memory of his father it seems. Mike tells the alien that Ricky is his son, and tries to communicate with it through some pictures. He then threatens to kill the alien and gives it a concussion. Matt is working on a radio project and he's getting static whenever the alien in the other room makes sounds, but they don't know of the correlation at first. When the injured alien awakes, he makes sounds that Ricky responds to, and Ricky puts the harness back on. [yikes!] Harris questions Ricky, who acts as an intermediary for the alien. Mike rips the harness off of Ricky. Meanwhile, Tom & Co are stealing motorcycles. Matt is now an assistant to Scott, the biology teacher. Everyone has fresh-baked bread that Pope made. There are lots of doubts, but Lourdes truly believes that God still exists, and it's a little contagious at times. [not as exciting as the previous episodes, but still pretty good.]
Monday:
The Secret Life of the American Teenager "One Foot Out the Door" (S04E05): We open with Amy and John arriving at Ricky's, and John might have a fever. Amy thinks that they should head to the emergency room, but Ricky thinks he's fine. Amy apparently never told Ricky that John has had an ear infection before. [really? how does that not come up??] Ricky calls the doctor's office and leaves a message, accidentally saying that Amy was his wife in his message. Amy calls him out on it and Ricky gets upset. Leo and Ben are having dinner together and Ben is reiterating his desire to not be married anymore. Leo also says that he'd be happier if Betty decides to not be married to him anymore. Ben still believes that Camille is in love with him. John keeps holding his ears and saying "oww" and Ricky believes that they should wait until the next day to take John to the doctor. Amy takes John to the ER anyway with Ricky tagging along. Adrian tells Grace that she needs to stop lying to herself. Adrian also admits that she had sex with Ben all weekend to keep him around. Ricky isn't on the pre-registration forms at the hospital, and he accidentally refers to Amy as his wife several times. Ashley calls George and tells him that she and Toby are hanging around unchaperoned at his Toby's grandmother's house. Since they're not out seeing America, George won't keep putting money in Ashley's account and tells her to get a job. [I don't understand what their rush was to get to Florida. Why aren't they out seeing everything??!?] Toby doesn't think Ashley could get a job. [haha. I might agree... it depends.] Jack's dad tells him that he's considering moving back, being a pastor again, and teaching a philosophy class at a nearby high school. Jack says he wants to move to Arizona. [I find this a little surprising... he wants to get away from EVERYBODY but his parents?] Grace and Daniel are officially boyfriend/girlfriend. Ben gets the idea that he can go to college far away to get rid of Adrian, but that isn't going to work - she'll go with him. Leo offers him the chance to work in the office instead of the butcher shop, but he doesn't want to. Leo questions whether Ben wants to work at all... maybe he just wants to live off Leo's money, but Ben denies it. The doctor called Ricky back and told him that they could bring in John in the morning, but they go ahead and stay at the ER.
Tom complains to Kathleen that he can't stay up super-late because of his responsibilities. He can't watch late-night television because the kids need to sleep. Adrian tells Ben that she wants to go to cosmetology school. Ben says that he supports her, and when she says she wants to go to NY, Ben is [waaaay] overly supportive. Madison tells Jack that she wishes they had never had sex. Grace says the same thing to him, and Grace tells him she feels the same way about Grant. John doesn't have an ear infection, and it turns out that he's only putting his hands on his ears and saying "oww" when they raise their voices. [interesting. good point. figures.] Daniel's a freshman in college, and Grace is worried that Grant or Jack will tell Kathleen. [haha.] Amy admits that Ricky is a good parent. Ben talks to Henry and Alice about Adrian's cosmetology spiel, and they don't buy it. The episode ends with Adrian calling the doctor and asking if it's too soon for her to try conceiving again. [yikes! I don't like where this is going! And I kinda see Adrian trying to play the sadness card to Ricky soon...] Switched at Birth "Dogs Playing Poker" (S01E05): We open with Ty and Bay making out in a pretty compromising position. They begin to undress, and she asks him if he has a condom, which he says he doesn't. She's shocked that he's not prepared. [just how sexually active is Bay?] Ty drives her home and Bay's dad comes up to the truck. There's a shorter opening title. [not sure how I feel about that.] Kathryn sees that Bay is just trying to see what her life could have been. The next morning, Kathryn tells Bay that she needs to bring Ty over for chili night. Daphne hangs out with Toby and he invites her and Emmett to poker, since she mentions that deaf people are really able to see facial tics and body language, and therefore realize bluffs. Bay wants to go invite Ty in person, and John drives her. While Toby and Kathryn are happy to read the article about the family situation in the paper, Regina and Adriana aren't as excited. Daphne tells Bay that she broke up with Liam, and Bay asks Daphne to come to dinner to act as a buffer with Ty there. John sees the article and doesn't like that it sounds as if everything is fine, and tells Regina and Kathryn that he is going to try to get a follow-up article written. Kathryn asks Regina to tell her more about Ty. He's part Cherokee, was raised by his great-aunt, and he's a great spades player. Kathryn asks Regina if she thinks Bay and Ty are having sex. [one the one hand, it's good that Regina and Kathryn are able to have such conversations, I guess. On the other, wouldn't that be just plain awkward?? Was Kathryn perhaps asking Regina if she was sexually active/promiscuous at a young age?] Meanwhile, Toby asks Emmett and Daphne to give him signals when the other poker players are bluffing, but Emmett doesn't want to cheat. They eventually come to an agreement because they're going to split their winnings. Toby tacks on that they're going to say that they're out playing miniature golf, which again flairs up Emmett's morals, and Daphne is a bit torn. [I love how there are morals on this show to a certain degree.] Kathryn tries to talk to Bay about sex. Bay warns Daphne not to go play with Toby because she lost a lot of money last year trying to help Toby out of debt. Daphne and Emmett didn't know it would cost money, and they find out that there's a $200 buy-in, which is covered by Wilke. The group has Daphne and Emmett agree not to sign during the game. The cheating is going well. Regina and Adriana show up for dinner, and everyone's wondering where Daphne is. Toby wants Emmett and Daphne to keep playing, but Daphne wants to leave because they're late and Emmett wants to leave because he's tired of being Toby's trained monkey. [LoL.] Toby admits that he's in some debt already, which makes Daphne stay. Bruce comes to pick up Regina. Ty got a GED and was in construction until he got laid off. He then announces that he's enlisted in the army, which shocks Bay, though John and Kathryn praise his choice. He leaves for basic training in just a few days. [really? are we writing him off already? I kinda liked the dynamic that Ty added to the show.] One poker hand gets incredibly out of control, with thousands of dollars on the table... Toby loses, as Wilke fakes the leg-bounce that Daphne was using to tip-off Toby. Toby thinks that Daphne lied to him on the final hand, and it seems he lost more than $4,000. [geez! spoiled kids never realize how good they have it....] Regina comes home and isn't surprised that Ty is going into the army - it's a popular thing to do in that neighborhood. Bay goes to Ty's to say goodbye, and though he's prepared, they don't have sex. Turns out, he was ready the other night too, but couldn't do it without telling Bay the truth about enlisting. Bay gets home and cries to Kathryn, and admits that they didn't have sex. Daphne tells Bay about Toby, and the episode ends with Toby taking some stuff to a pawn shop. [I thought for a minute there that he was running away from home, LoL!]
Wednesday:
Melissa & Joey "Don't Train on My Parade" (S01E14): Mel is exercising in the living room and Joe laughs at her. Mel's running in a school charity event coming up. Joe assumes that she wants him to train her, but she has already hired someone else. Joe does a Popeye voice. [this amuses me since I know Joey Lawrence does many voices.] Lennox is thinking about Beckett, and has him over to try to rekindle the friendship. Mel's ringtone is "Hey Ya." [LoL!!] Mel has to leave her training session early so she suggests Joe use the final 15 minutes. Lindsay shows him a stretch, then they're all over each other. Mel walks in on them and has a look of horror on her face. Later, Mel comes home and confronts Joe about his advances on her trainer. Turns out, they're dating. Lennox and Beckett are having problems being friends because Lennox now has a crush on the guy. Ryder is drinking coffee, and headed to watch the JV cheerleader tryouts. [random sub-plot.] Lindsay spent the night with Joe, and is too tired to really exercise with Mel. Beckett tells Lennox that he'd break up with his girlfriend if she'd date him, but will stay with the girl otherwise. [already a jerk for being pretty new to the dating world!] Lennox is worried that he'd leave her for someone better as well. He's only been with his girlfriend (his first) for a month. Lennox says no, so they're back to just being friends. Mel and Joe are having trouble sharing Lindsay, and Mel starts to break it off with her, but she tells her that she's just with Joe for the sex, and that she's planning to leave him for an ex. Turns out, both Mel and Joe dump her, and Mel asks Joe to be her trainer. [Looks like the episode where Joe speaks Japanese is going to air next week!]
State of Georgia "Flavor of the Week" (S01E02): Georgia and Jo are at a frozen yogurt place that they're loving. Georgia thinks one of the employees is cute and wants to go talk to him. Jo intervenes, reminding Georgia of several places they used to like back home that they had to stop going to because Georgia would date an employee and then it would end. [hahahahaha. this cracks me up! the "hut" things was kinda weird, tho.] Jo begs Georgia to let it go, even after the guy flirts with her a little. Jo is in charge of a project with the other graduate students in her department. Georgia and Brad make out at the condo. Aunt Honey makes references to being with George Clooney, Wolfgang Puck, and Denzel. [she's entertaining, but also starting to get on my nerves a tad.] Jo wants to figure out how to make the wonderful frozen yogurt, and gets the graduate students to help her. One of the guys goes to the professor and it's exposed that Jo's yogurt project wasn't commissioned by the department. She tries to make a case but the guys want to work on a space shuttle project instead. Jo offers a kiss to whoever helps figure out the recipe, and she follows through when the mystery is solved. Unfortunately, it turns out that Louis just bought the yogurt. [hahahahaha! I loved the ending where Jo bought pizza from "the gayest place she could find" so that there would be no chance they'd lose the place... Georgia responds by saying that she loves a challenge. Overall, I wasn't thrilled that there was not a big focus on Georgia's acting this episode, but I enjoyed Jo's storyline.]
Hot in Cleveland "Battle of the Bands" (S02E14): The girls want Bloody Marys so they order a pitcher of tomato soup with some additions - celery, Worcestershire, vodka, etc. All of the girls have always wanted to be in a band - Joy actually was a singer in a band as a teenager. [I find this amusing because her character Daphne on Frasier had been a television starlet as a tween.] Victoria wants to play the bass, Melanie will play guitar, and Elka will be on drums. [though it looks pretty fake when she's seen with them.] They sing "Some Kind of Wonderful" in their living room. They're going to enter a contest. Rick shows up and tells them that they suck. They keep practicing but they get worn out. Joy is the only one with energy. Rick then tries to woo Joy over to his band instead. She stays true to her girls, but after she tells them about the encounter, she decides to leave them, since they think she's a diva. The other three argue over who should become the new lead singer. Elka gets autotune mics and the girls decide to call themselves "The Autotuners." Melanie and Victoria get addicted to using the mics. Turns out, autotune is against the rules. [it surprises me greatly that they didn't think this was going to be a problem. Also, I kind of want an autotune mic now, haha!] The girls go on and Joy gets up there to help them out at the last minute. They get 3rd place, which was higher than Rick's band. Joy admits that she got greedy because she has always wondered "what if" she had stayed in the band. (She dropped out when she got pregnant.) [not as funny as last week's episode.]
Happily Divorced "A Date with Destiny" (S01E04): Peter finds Fran's old headshots and love letters from her high school boyfriend, Richard. She calls him up after Judy finds him on Google and they go out. Richard wants Peter to be his realtor for 30 units. Richard and Fran are already planning a trip together. Richard has a son who is gay, and they don't speak. He says that Fran can't relate to pouring your heart and soul into someone for 18 years and then finding out they're gay... but she can. Fran says that love is love. Fran then tells Richard that she can't be with him if he's prejudiced against gays. Peter consoles Fran, and they use Richard's open-tab at the bar as a bit of revenge. The end scene has Fran wanting to go into acting or voiceovers. [meh. needed more Cesar.]
Thursday:
Futurama "Law & Oracle" (S06E17): Fry is delivering a pizza and it's a crank call. again. Apparently it's been happening every week for ten years. [seriously? how naive is this kid??] He wants a promotion, since he's been a delivery boy for a thousand years. [but not really... wasn't he cryogenically frozen for that length of time?] Fry wants to become a cop. He enters police academy and soon becomes an officer. Leela and Bender are the new delivery people instead of Fry. [Nice Tron action. strange shout-out to Sunny D.] Before you know it, Fry has to confront Bender about evil plans. Bender goes for the Maltese Liquor, and since Fry knows Bender doesn't share, there was clearly a set-up in place.... and Fry ends up getting fired for tipping off bender. The Professor asks Fry to come back, and he promotes him to Executive Delivery Boy. [average. not that memorable, though possibly re-watchable.]
Wednesday:
Melissa & Joey "Don't Train on My Parade" (S01E14): Mel is exercising in the living room and Joe laughs at her. Mel's running in a school charity event coming up. Joe assumes that she wants him to train her, but she has already hired someone else. Joe does a Popeye voice. [this amuses me since I know Joey Lawrence does many voices.] Lennox is thinking about Beckett, and has him over to try to rekindle the friendship. Mel's ringtone is "Hey Ya." [LoL!!] Mel has to leave her training session early so she suggests Joe use the final 15 minutes. Lindsay shows him a stretch, then they're all over each other. Mel walks in on them and has a look of horror on her face. Later, Mel comes home and confronts Joe about his advances on her trainer. Turns out, they're dating. Lennox and Beckett are having problems being friends because Lennox now has a crush on the guy. Ryder is drinking coffee, and headed to watch the JV cheerleader tryouts. [random sub-plot.] Lindsay spent the night with Joe, and is too tired to really exercise with Mel. Beckett tells Lennox that he'd break up with his girlfriend if she'd date him, but will stay with the girl otherwise. [already a jerk for being pretty new to the dating world!] Lennox is worried that he'd leave her for someone better as well. He's only been with his girlfriend (his first) for a month. Lennox says no, so they're back to just being friends. Mel and Joe are having trouble sharing Lindsay, and Mel starts to break it off with her, but she tells her that she's just with Joe for the sex, and that she's planning to leave him for an ex. Turns out, both Mel and Joe dump her, and Mel asks Joe to be her trainer. [Looks like the episode where Joe speaks Japanese is going to air next week!]
State of Georgia "Flavor of the Week" (S01E02): Georgia and Jo are at a frozen yogurt place that they're loving. Georgia thinks one of the employees is cute and wants to go talk to him. Jo intervenes, reminding Georgia of several places they used to like back home that they had to stop going to because Georgia would date an employee and then it would end. [hahahahaha. this cracks me up! the "hut" things was kinda weird, tho.] Jo begs Georgia to let it go, even after the guy flirts with her a little. Jo is in charge of a project with the other graduate students in her department. Georgia and Brad make out at the condo. Aunt Honey makes references to being with George Clooney, Wolfgang Puck, and Denzel. [she's entertaining, but also starting to get on my nerves a tad.] Jo wants to figure out how to make the wonderful frozen yogurt, and gets the graduate students to help her. One of the guys goes to the professor and it's exposed that Jo's yogurt project wasn't commissioned by the department. She tries to make a case but the guys want to work on a space shuttle project instead. Jo offers a kiss to whoever helps figure out the recipe, and she follows through when the mystery is solved. Unfortunately, it turns out that Louis just bought the yogurt. [hahahahaha! I loved the ending where Jo bought pizza from "the gayest place she could find" so that there would be no chance they'd lose the place... Georgia responds by saying that she loves a challenge. Overall, I wasn't thrilled that there was not a big focus on Georgia's acting this episode, but I enjoyed Jo's storyline.]
Hot in Cleveland "Battle of the Bands" (S02E14): The girls want Bloody Marys so they order a pitcher of tomato soup with some additions - celery, Worcestershire, vodka, etc. All of the girls have always wanted to be in a band - Joy actually was a singer in a band as a teenager. [I find this amusing because her character Daphne on Frasier had been a television starlet as a tween.] Victoria wants to play the bass, Melanie will play guitar, and Elka will be on drums. [though it looks pretty fake when she's seen with them.] They sing "Some Kind of Wonderful" in their living room. They're going to enter a contest. Rick shows up and tells them that they suck. They keep practicing but they get worn out. Joy is the only one with energy. Rick then tries to woo Joy over to his band instead. She stays true to her girls, but after she tells them about the encounter, she decides to leave them, since they think she's a diva. The other three argue over who should become the new lead singer. Elka gets autotune mics and the girls decide to call themselves "The Autotuners." Melanie and Victoria get addicted to using the mics. Turns out, autotune is against the rules. [it surprises me greatly that they didn't think this was going to be a problem. Also, I kind of want an autotune mic now, haha!] The girls go on and Joy gets up there to help them out at the last minute. They get 3rd place, which was higher than Rick's band. Joy admits that she got greedy because she has always wondered "what if" she had stayed in the band. (She dropped out when she got pregnant.) [not as funny as last week's episode.]
Happily Divorced "A Date with Destiny" (S01E04): Peter finds Fran's old headshots and love letters from her high school boyfriend, Richard. She calls him up after Judy finds him on Google and they go out. Richard wants Peter to be his realtor for 30 units. Richard and Fran are already planning a trip together. Richard has a son who is gay, and they don't speak. He says that Fran can't relate to pouring your heart and soul into someone for 18 years and then finding out they're gay... but she can. Fran says that love is love. Fran then tells Richard that she can't be with him if he's prejudiced against gays. Peter consoles Fran, and they use Richard's open-tab at the bar as a bit of revenge. The end scene has Fran wanting to go into acting or voiceovers. [meh. needed more Cesar.]
Thursday:
Futurama "Law & Oracle" (S06E17): Fry is delivering a pizza and it's a crank call. again. Apparently it's been happening every week for ten years. [seriously? how naive is this kid??] He wants a promotion, since he's been a delivery boy for a thousand years. [but not really... wasn't he cryogenically frozen for that length of time?] Fry wants to become a cop. He enters police academy and soon becomes an officer. Leela and Bender are the new delivery people instead of Fry. [Nice Tron action. strange shout-out to Sunny D.] Before you know it, Fry has to confront Bender about evil plans. Bender goes for the Maltese Liquor, and since Fry knows Bender doesn't share, there was clearly a set-up in place.... and Fry ends up getting fired for tipping off bender. The Professor asks Fry to come back, and he promotes him to Executive Delivery Boy. [average. not that memorable, though possibly re-watchable.]
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Off season/Coming Up:
How I Met Your Mother (Season 7 September 19th, with TWO episodes!)
Two and a Half Men (Season 9 September 19th)
The Middle (Season 3 is back September 21st)
The Simpsons (Season 23 begins September 25th. In the meantime, go online and vote for what should happen to the Nedna relationship)
Terra Nova (premiering September 26th with a two-hour event)
House, M.D. (Season 8 starts October 3rd)
South Park (Season 15, Episode 8 in October)
Two and a Half Men (Season 9 September 19th)
The Middle (Season 3 is back September 21st)
The Simpsons (Season 23 begins September 25th. In the meantime, go online and vote for what should happen to the Nedna relationship)
Terra Nova (premiering September 26th with a two-hour event)
House, M.D. (Season 8 starts October 3rd)
South Park (Season 15, Episode 8 in October)
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