RETURNING: The Middle: The Start of the Year of Sue

I can’t believe that this series is in its sixth season already! I’m glad that it still feels fresh, and the characters are developing appropriately, but I’m also pretty curious as to what sorts of trouble the Hecks will get into this year! It’ll undoubtedly be a big year for Sue, who I really hope will be able to leave the nest and go away to school when she graduates, but I imagine for Brick as well. The youngest Heck didn’t really come out of his shell as he entered middle school, but now that he’s had his own room for a year, he might be starting to become more comfortable in discovering his non-reading passions, which would open up new opportunities for him. I’d like to see Axl get a new girlfriend, but I bet he’s going to be partying it up now that he’s off-campus. For Frankie and Mike, I imagine it’ll be a lot of the same ol’, same ol’, but I imagine their wonky families will again pop in here and there.

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The Middle "Unbraceable You" (S06E01): Boss Co. did landscaping over the summer, Brick took up croquet, and Sue counted down until she could get her braces off. [haha, I like croquet.] Axl and Brick’s hobbies seemed to be fleeting however, though Sue’s determination comes through (as always). In fact, Frankie demands the orthodontist remove Sue's braces after eight years, and the Hecks celebrate with candy and popcorn for dinner. [I would expect nothing less!] However, a day or two later, Sue’s teeth begin to shift, and she has to get a retainer. [I thought retainers were kinda standard for people who had braces?] On the bright side, she sees it as being completely different and her confidence level goes way up.

Sue really needed a win, however, because school sure got off to a rocky start for her. Frankie was a week off in realizing when the first day was, causing both Sue and Brick to immediately fall behind. [um, Sue doesn’t have a countdown to school starting? Carly and Brad didn’t bother to figure out where she was?!?] While Sue is crushed that she’s missed so many sign-ups, Brick struggled to figure out what he’d like to carry his books in this year. He tries a dragging messenger bag, a guitar case, and a baby carrier before settling on a pizza delivery bag he found in the dumpster. [hmmm… intriguing little gag.]

Axl has his own coming-of-age situation when he beats Mike at basketball for the first time, causing a rift in the father-son hierarchy. Fortunately, however, together they can still beat other father-son duos. [I was half wondering if Axl set up that neighborhood game, so I was kind glad that it didn’t come off that way.]

RETURNING: South Park: Classic Comedy

This episode did not disappoint. The initial set-up was a little much, with gross name after gross name, but once the direction was clear, the humor bloomed. There were certainly low points, but the writing continues to be true to the characters' personalities, and that's what works best for this series. Plus, it's been a while since they had a get-rich-quick scheme, and those are generally goldmines.

also, um, so I've invested in several Kickstarter projects and never thought about how the website makes 5% on every funded project and does nothing but host the pages companies and individuals create to raise money. I am thoroughly impressed with Kickstarter at the moment!

Comedy Central

South Park "Go Fund Yourself" (S18E01): The kids try to come up with a Startup Company name that isn't taken yet, which is quite tough, resulting in them buying Furry Balls Plopped Menacingly on the Table, Inc. before realizing that Washington Redskins is available because the trademark got pulled. [simple is better!] The kids quit school to move forward with their four-point plan (Stat Up, Cash In, Sell Out, Bro Down), which begins netting them Kickstarter (to do nothing) investments. [haha, I love simple "plans" like that!] Dan Snyder, the owner of the football team by the same name, wants Cartman to stop using the name, but it doesn't make a difference to him. Neither does ISIS looking up to the Washington Redskins, so Kyle and Stan decide to start their own company under the lengthier name, but Stan soon wants to simplify again, and leaves Kyle.

Meanwhile, the NFL team owners agree to come together and force Cartman's Washington Redskins to change their name and logo, but Cartman unveils the Redskins head with a profile of male and female body parts. [figures.] In retaliation, the football team takes over Kickstarter, causing havoc the night before Cartman's company is set to receive their raised funds. [ha!] Cartman thinks Kyle is the guilty party, but Stan points out that they just need to start over so they all merge back together to try to become the next Kickstarter. But, GoFundYourself's model is that others do all the work and then just give them 5%. [so, effectively, worse than how Kickstarter works.] But, it turns around and bites them when nobody buys into it and resents the guys. 

NEW SHOW: How to Get Away with Murder: A Different Procedural

I decided to give this series a try primarily based on the cast and the title, which is probably pretty commonplace these days. There were some great things about the pilot and some really questionable devices that left me wondering how well the drama will go over with the general public. However, if I had to guess now, I’d say that Shonda Rhimes may have done it again, and we have another long-lasting procedural on our hands. The format for the show appears to be case-of-the-week, but with flash-forwards to events that tie in the characters and what they’re learning in class/the case to something mischievous. There’s a lot going on for a first episode, and it’s tough to keep some of the characters straight (for me, I especially struggled with Asher and Connor), but definitely worth the time.

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How to Get Away with Murder "Pilot" (S01E01): It’s the start of a new school year at Middleton Law School, where Professor Annalise Keating introduces her Criminal Law 100 course as “How to Get Away with Murder.” [this one of the many reasons I didn’t become a lawyer! I couldn’t imagine defending murderers I knew were guilty!] The first assignment is a case study, where each student will hear the defendant’s side of a story, then devise a unique one-minute argument to defend the secretary. The most promising students will then be offered the option to join Keating’s team and work on real cases alongside their classwork this semester. [kinda like on Legally Blonde!]

Students are told that the best ideas are to discredit witnesses, introduce new suspects, and bury the evidence by throwing too much other information at the jury. Given that, some of their ideas include trying to pin the murder on someone else, calling the death a client mistake, labeling it as an accident, trying to prove diminished mental acuity, stating lack of evidence, blaming the doctor, and claiming self-defense.

The top students quickly appear to be Asher, McKayla, Laurel, Connor, and Wes. The last one, however, is an odd choice, given that he didn’t have anything particularly innovative in mind, but when he went to run an idea by the professor, he accidentally learns that she’s having an affair with a detective. [he also learns she’s struggling with infertility, which probably could have been left out, at least for now.]

The case is going well until it comes up that the secretary didn't say that she bought aspirin the night before the murder, which is on security film. Keating calls the detective to the stand to ask about previous instances of doctored surveillance footage, while the students help out in other ways. McKayla calls every eye doctor and pretends she's an insurance person to find out that a witness is color-blind, which discredits what she saw. [I’m really not in love with that kind of tactic!] Connor picks up a guy at a bar to get information about the secretary. [also, an interesting way to get the email into "discovery." Can you tell I don’t really know my legal jargon??] Laurel tells Keating's associate, Frank, that she suspects the wife and mistress teamed up to kill the guy. In the end, Connor gets a trophy for helping the most, which he can “cash in” sometime during the semester.

Ongoing Story: On August 30^th, undergraduate Lila Stangard went missing for three days before being found in the water tank of her sorority. She was a student of Keating’s husband, a psychology professor.

Three Months in the Future: There's a huge bonfire in the woods, and four of the five main law students try to figure out what to do with someone they killed. They roll it up in a rug, narrowly escape police questioning, and decide to burn it, the body of Keating’s husband.

Girl Meets World: What's My Thing?

While I was excited to see the return to the subway that seemed like such a big deal when the series premiered, I wasn't thrilled that Jackee Harry was back in what seemed to be a different character entirely. Evelyn Rand is an important businesswoman who addresses the United Nations, while the unnamed character in the pilot "worked a 12-hour shift" possibly on her feet the entire time. Yes, these could be one in the same, and maybe that oddity will be explained in a future story, but I still thought it was odd and am curious as to whether it bothered others as well. That quirky continuity abnormality aside, I'm over here dying for Topanga to get a meaningful storyline, and I'd bet I'm not the only one, either!

Girl Meets World "Girl Meets Crazy Hat" (S01E10): The cute and quaint first: Auggie wants an allowance, and when he hints that he needs a specific amount of money, Topanga forks over a Hamilton, thinking that he wants to get her a birthday present. [are we hinting at an upcoming Topanga-centric episode??!?] Instead, he gets Ava some plastic jewelry, which further pushes her bossy ownership over him.

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Cory splits the class into two muffin businesses, with Riley & Farkle leading one while Maya and Lucas spearhead the other. [seriously? only the kids we know (and the teacher's daughter) get to be in charge??] Lucas believes in treating his employees well, having integrity, and using organic ingredients, but he's only selling 14% as much as Farkle, who is loading his customers with pure sugar in a cupcake image. [of course the Texas boy has more values than the son of a very wealthy businessman.] Farkle buys out the other company and begins downsizing, keeping Lucas as the face of the company. Riley and Maya are thrown out, and realize that the continuous rain is ruining everyone's week, so they come up with an umbrella-share non-profit. [I would understand Maya wearing a green garbage bag as a poncho, but Riley doesn't have a raincoat?? and it was totally unbelievable that a sanitation worker would just toss a 100+lb girl into the dumpster.] The girls' subway mentor, Evelyn, will fund the start-up costs, and they get to work putting the system into action. [I don't see that kind of thing working, but I'm not the eternal optimist a preteen is.]

A notable similarity to the original series: Cory struggled with finding his "thing" throughout Boy Meets World, with several episodes devoted to the topic. (I'm thinking of Season 5's "How to Succeed in Business" and Season 7's "The Provider" off the top of my head...)

New Season, New Format

We're changing up our episode recaps and remarks for the new television season, mainly to shift our focus to covering new series and specials before they air rather than after. We believe this will help you make more fitting choices as to what to watch, and it will also help out our subscribers not to receive as many articles about shows they potentially have no interest in, as our current lineup is very broad.

But, we're not dropping recaps with remarks completely. We will still cover pilots we deem promising, and we'll be writing about holiday episodes of those and of our returning favorites. Plus, we are continuing to cover some series in their entirety, particularly cable shows that are tougher for you to catch up on elsewhere. What does this mean for your favorite show? For all of the series we were currently recapping, here are their fates:

                                                      16 & Pregnant: regular posting
                                                      19 Kids & Counting: regular posting
                                                      2 Broke Girls: holidays and special episodes only
                                                      Bob's Burgers: holidays and special episodes only
                                                      Buddy's Bakery Rescue: discontinued
                                                      Cake Boss: regular posting
                                                      Cake Boss: Next Great Baker: fate to be determined if series is renewed
                                                      Falling Skies: discontinued
                                                      Girl Meets World: regular posting
                                                      Hot in Cleveland: holidays and special episodes only
                                                      Instant Mom: holidays and special episodes only
                                                      Last Man Standing: holidays and special episodes only
                                                      Little People, Big World: regular posting
                                                      Melissa & Joey: holidays and special episodes only
                                                      Mistresses: fate to be determined if series is renewed
                                                      South Park: regular posting
                                                      Switched at Birth: regular posting
                                                      Teen Mom 2: regular posting
                                                      The Big Bang Theory: holidays and special episodes only
                                                      The Exes: regular posting
                                                      The Goldbergs: holidays and special episodes only
                                                      The Middle: holidays and special episodes only
                                                      Under the Dome: fate to be determined if series is renewed
                                                      White Collar: holidays and special episodes only

what do you think of the posting schedule? sad to be losing regular updates? excited for more new program coverage? 

Teen Mom 2: Custody, Vacation, Court, Mistakes

I'm over here rolling my eyes at Jenelle's ridiculousness. Her responses to Nathan about wanting Jace to start school with Barbara, then move the next year sounded an awful lot like "my hands are full with the newborn; let's wait until he's toddling around to take on a school-age child at the same time." But, then, as soon as she gets jealous of Barbara, she does a 180 and decides to fight for Jace, even if it's not in anyone's best interest. Kailyn and Leah were pretty tame this episode, and I felt bad for Chelsea. She took her time getting her act together, but she is eons ahead of Adam, and I bet she regrets her history with him all.the.time. I am so angry over Aubree's poor little burned knee!

Teen Mom 2 "Wish You Were Here" (S05E24): It's July for Jenelle, as Kaiser was born on the last day of June. No easy answers for the timeline for Chelsea and Leah. It's June for Kailyn, as the family vacation is the week of Father's Day. [Father's Day picture below, as odd as it appears.]

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Jenelle: Kaiser is a couple weeks old, and Jenelle wants to take Jace overnight, though she and Nathan are both exhausted. [Jenelle should know not to offer to take Jace if she knows she can't handle the drive!] Nathan wants Jenelle to get custody of Jace, which Jenelle fights up until she learns Barbara took him to see the fireworks, an opportunity she wanted. 

Leah: More information must be gathered before the judge can make any decisions about child support or custody. A Guardian ad Litem has been appointed to communicate between all parties.

Kailyn: She tries to facetime with Isaac, but isn't always able to. Kailyn, Javi, and Lincoln enjoy time at the beach. Kailyn and Javi take a tour of the campus and learn about the Mass Communications program Kail is enrolling in. [I didn't know she introduced herself as Kail! I wonder if it is at all related to trying to distance herself from her reality television personality?]

Chelsea: She and her boss do makeup on-location for a wedding and then start to figure out what additional services they can offer. Adam gets arrested again, but Adam's parents are honest with Chelsea and she lets them keep Aubree for the remainder of the weekend. Still, Aubree rides a dirt bike with Adam and burns her knee. [OUCH! and no helmet?!?] Chelsea requests a copy of Adam's criminal record so she can keep track of his court dates. 

NEW SHOW: Blackish: The Urban Division

I’m not going to reiterate every other article about the pilot, but yes, I will agree that this new series could be the black family comedy that’s been missing from the broadcast airwaves for the past decade. It’s not the most cleverly written show so far (I think they missed a gag in putting Andre in a grey sweatshirt instead of a full-on hoodie), but there is definitely a foundation upon which comedic genius could be built. For starters, Andre is heading up a new division, so it’s only a matter of time before he’ll need to do some hiring. Similarly, I imagine it’ll be a point of contention that oldest daughter Zoey will consider elite schools while her parents may want her to think about attending an HBCU. But, let’s just hope that the series does well and gets chances to showcase some plotlines like those!

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Blackish "Pilot" (S01E01): An advertising executive and a doctor have four kids in their large Los Angeles home that contains everything any of them need. At work, Andre is promoted to Senior Vice President of the Urban Division, but he isn’t sure if the bosses are taking his contributions seriously, so he decides to test the waters by goofing off and doing a gag ad. [Chris is cool, Josh is annoying.] The whole situation makes him second-guess the way his children see the world, and Andre’s father’s input isn’t helping.

Freshman Andy plays field hockey, which Andre has a tough time accepting over basketball. [you know, the “blackish sport.”] The bigger ordeal, however, is that he wants a Bar Mitzvah for his 13^th birthday, freaking out Andre, who decides to throw an African Rites of Passage party. Dad comes around, however, and hip-hop bro mitzvah theme for his son. [so the kid was 12 when he started high school? That makes him two grades ahead for his age, right?]

RETURNING: The Big Bang Theory: A Shift in Status Quo

A double dose of the dorks should have been a great way to kick off the season, but I didn’t really see it that way. The first episode had to play too much catch-up, and the second really existed just to prove that things are tough when you’re not in your wheelhouse. I took Calc I, but no physics or engineering or programming, so my understanding of what my husband does is limited at times. Similarly, he can’t read music and has only read four or five of Shakespeare’s works, so he doesn’t get what I’m doing when I read a new musical or compare storylines to the Bard’s. So, Leonard and Howard constantly being at one another’s throats got old several seasons ago for me. It wasn’t even very exciting to see Amy not know what to do with her friendships cultivating independently. But, neither of these facts really matter, as I doubt these situations have really been resolved in any way…

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The Big Bang Theory "The Locomotion Interruption" (S08E01): 45 days after he headed off on his train trip, Sheldon was robbed and calls Leonard to get him in Arizona. [and, without skipping a beat, Leonard goes. Friendship is important, guys!] When Penny can't go, he asks Amy to make the six-hour drive with him, which upsets Sheldon, as he didn't want her to think he couldn't make it on his own. [Sheldon's Sherlock Holmes references were odd, but I thought that his wanting Amy to think he’s perfect was adorable!] However, the trip wasn't that hard - he never left the train stations and rode in the first-class cars. [I believed his coitus line for a moment!]

The reason Penny couldn’t accompany Leonard is because she has a job interview to become a pharmaceutical sales representative at Bernadette’s company, and although she's horribly under-qualified, she gets the job because she and the boss share a fear of Bernadette. [I found it hilarious that the funding for a drug she's working on has been pulled, but the boss can’t bear to face the pint-sized spitfire!]

Also, Raj had his windows un-tinted so people can see his hott girlfriend, and Stuart has decided to continue living with Howard’s mom, despite the fact that she no longer needs medical assistance. [I thought the exchange at Howard's front door was hilarious!]

The Big Bang Theory "The Junior Professor Solution" (S08E02): Bernadette thinks Penny should prepare for her new job by studying ahead, but the others don't think Penny would do well as a teacher's pet. [ha!] Penny decides to hang out with Amy sans Bernadette, and then Bernadette hangs out with Amy sans Penny. Amy is delighted that she’s getting one-on-one girl time, but when she herself tries to schedule the same, it doesn’t work as the others study without her. [I loved that Amy was outside the door!]

Mrs. Davis calls Sheldon to her office to say that he can change his field of study as long as he becomes a junior professor, which actually works out decently for him because nobody wants to take his graduate physics course. Howard enrolls, so Sheldon does his best to stump his friend, so Howard, in turn, plays a terrible student, shooting spitballs at Sheldon. Sheldon reports Howard to HR, Howard drops the course, and eventually Howard is even able to stump Sheldon with an engineering question. [so… if Sheldon isn’t actually a junior professor, does he have to go back to string theory?]