Looking Ahead at 2018-2019

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Well, it's been a summer. There was a whole lot of nothing on television, aside from the Bates Family, the Duggar Family, the Roloff Family, and the newer addition to my reality followings - the Busby Family. Technically, there was also Trial & Error, but I'm behind in that because Spectrum is awful and we're on our third DVR box in two months. But, I spent some time last night going through the new shows for the broadcast networks and made some selections. because, you know, there's more to TV life than

ABC came in high, CW isn't even on the board, and FOX tanked. CBS and NBC are surprisingly equal, but we'll see how that pans out. I picked more shows this year than I did last year, but a few of them I really don't think will make it to Thanksgiving, so not much is lost in giving them a try.

What made the cut?
For ABC, I'm going with the soon-to-premiere Single Parents (a bit too much exposure, already, I think), A Million Little Things (it better be better than Friends with Better Lives), plus the farther out The Rookie (Nathan Fillion, anyone?), The Conners, Schooled, and The Kids are Alright (it seems that we're on an every-other-year-there's-a-Catholic-family-show module). As two of those are spin-offs, I'm not really feeling like my ABC selections are as high as they appear.

For FOX, the only thing I'm going to bother with is Rel, which starts tonight. It's about a guy who has to rebuild his life after a divorce, so it'll be a rough start, but Sinbad plays the protagonist's father, so that could be fun.

On NBC, the start dates are mostly soon. In September alone, I'll be checking out New Amsterdam (I'm a sucker for medical shows), I Feel Bad (I need more "mom shows"), and Manifest (it's going to be awful or amazing), plus later on there's Gilded Age (period show!), Abby's (this looks like a hot mess), and The Village (which, really, I'm only in to see Daren Kagasoff act again).

Rounding it out on CBS, there's the crazy (unscripted) Million Dollar Mile, the unlikely-to-work Happy Together, the reboot of Murphy Brown, the too-much-like-Living-Biblically-from-last-season God Friended Me, the is-this-Timeless-again? Blood & Treasure, and the Beth-Behrs-is-back The Neighborhood.

The bigger, scarier thing (if you can believe it) is that I have a TON of returning shows, which I don't think I realized back in Spring!
ABC: Fresh off the Boat, American Housewife, Speechless, The Goldbergs, Black-ish, The Good Doctor [only one new thing from last year remaining]
FOX: Bob's Burgers, The Resident, Last Man Standing (I don't think it'll be that good this time around, though...) [only one new thing from last year remaining]
NBC: This is Us, Superstore, A.P. Bio, Will & Grace, The Good Place (which I discovered online over the summer) [only one new thing from last year remaining]
CBS: Man with a Plan, How to Get Away with Murder, The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon [only one new thing from last year remaining]
CW: Jane the Virgin, Dynasty [one old, one from last year]
Other Networks: South Park (Comedy Central), Grown-ish (Freeform), Good Trouble (the Freeform spin-off of The Fosters), plus the aforementioned follow-an-atypical-family shows I enjoy. 

And, at some point, I still do plan to check out The Mick and Good Girls. So... yeah, there's a lot of television entertainment to be enjoyed this year. 

19 Kids and Counting: Josh, the Flea Market, and Jessa

The focus of this entire section of 19 Kids and Counting episodes has been the flea market and Josh's move to Washington, DC. Jessa's courtship was treated as an afterthought, thrown in after the final editing, if I had to guess. I think that the only reason the flea market thing was drawn out was so the producers didn't have to film a lot of JimBob's family and could instead focus on Josh's in Washington, DC. As I've hypothesized in the past, I think TLC wants to do a "Next Generation" series and is trying to test the waters on how an audience would respond to more of Josh, and perhaps Jessa as she makes her way out of the home. Why else would you do an anniversary episode that's half Josh AND a "Josh and Anna through the years" episode in the same season??

Oh, and again with the Two and a Half Men commercial! [local CW network]

19 Kids and Counting "Engaging Announcement!" (S07E18): The Duggars visit the Bates family on their way home from a speaking engagement, and Erin announces she is engaged to Chad Paine (who has 5 brothers and 4 sisters). She will marry in two months, so the women head camping to bond and chat about the experience, leaving JimBob and Gil with 17-18 kids. [haha, Justin "can starve" and Jackson "can cook."] 15 sleeping bags, 4 tents, and 10 lbs food are taken on a two-hour drive to a friend's private campsite. But, they didn't have instructions for the tents, so and one is mildewy, so they decide to just sleep on the covered dock and in the bus. The ladies do some water activities in the lake, then Erin recounts the story of how she and Chad meant and courted. [Erin's nails were a French manicure when the Duggars arrived (and in the scene where she got engaged) but they're pink at the campfire. did she re-do them or are these activities not actually from the same trip??] They met a little over 2 years ago at a Valentine's banquet, then they texted, and Chad asked Gil about courting Erin. When he was ready to propose, Gil and Kelly were the chaperones on the date, and Chad hired a horse and carriage. [was that Michaela curling her hair?] 

facebook.com/19KidsandCounting

Gil donates some junk for the Duggars' flea market, like a set of golf clubs, a tool, and a camp stove. Their idea of a meal includes 4 bags of corn chips, 48 oz sour cream, and 12 lbs beans for chili pie, plus cheese and lettuce, of course.

19 Kids and Counting "Duggar Challenges!" (S07E19): Marcus is almost three months old, and is pretty laidback. Josh and Anna have over some military friends, Scott (9 years serving) and Amanda (deployed in the DC area nights) Reed, plus two sons and Amanda's sister. They've been there 5 weeks, so they're also new to the area. Anna's menu includes grilled chicken, broccoli, asparagus, rice, chocolate chip cookies, ice cream. [what was she brushing onto that asparagus?? and if this is one of Josh's favorite meals, why was she unsure of how to prepare the chicken?]

Back in Arkansas, to prepare for the flea market, JimBob has the boys open up the pocket knives they bought and clean them up. Grandma even buys one. [I wonder if they remember to note that in the sales figures?] The girls decorate the ping pong guns. Then, JimBob invites John Reddish, an auctioneer friend, to come over and teach the family some auctioneering skills, as the Duggars have some large items that they want to auction instead of just sell at the flea market. They start with a tongue-twister: 'round the rough and rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran. [I do tongue twisters with my theatre classes, so I'll have to think about adding in this one for the older children!] Michelle winds up being the positive one, thinking they might even raise $10,000 from the flea market, compared to JimBob's $4,000-5,000.

19 Kids and Counting "Flea Market Finale" (S07E20): The kids suggest that they promote the flea market on the radio, and come up with a lot of ideas and logistics questions. The little kids make signs, the older girls bake tons of cookies, and JimBob continues to be paranoid that they won't be ready in time. [I'm with Grandma on this one... they should be better with their measuring!] Michelle continues to be confident, though she eventually calls Kathy Cheney for help, and she brings a small staff. The Carsons also donate their time. [haha that some of the older girls chose to donate shirts that the others weren't tired of, so there was some re-snatching!] Josh, Anna, and the kids come out for the flea market as a surprise. [I would have liked to see that car trip!]

There were five areas to the event: carnival, flea market, concession, bake sale, and auction section. [Joy, Jason, James, Jackson, and Cousin Amy all took turns in the dunk tank.] There were over 4,000 items for sale, and they can take cash and credit. Two hours in (of 6), they're just over $3,000 in sales. Two hours later, they reach $5272, so the clothing starts to go for half-price. [and is among the many items that were donated after the sale was over.] The grand total is $18,471.50.

They bought the $50 items a month ago, and Jessa starts selling the pocket knives for $2-3 instead of $5 each. The ping pong toys were all sold within three hours. Hanny gets started auctioneering to make people interested in a cute little kid. [she gets pushed into doing so much that she doesn't seem to be comfortable with... more than any other Duggar, I'm afraid.] But, there wasn't interest in the bows so JimBob bought them. [ha!] Jedidiah decides to start peddling the knives as he walks around, and the boys wound up with $122 in sales, while the girls ended up with $80. [at least they made a profit!]

Jessa is in a courtship where she's allowed to text, with the modern twist of JimBob and Michelle also receiving all of the texts between the two. [interesting. not a bad way to go, actually. I could be supportive of that idea in other scenarios as well.]

19 Kids and Counting "Josh & Anna: Our Story" (Special): The family has been in Washington, DC for 3.5 months now. Anna grew up sharing a bedroom and closet with four sisters, and hadn't planned on settling down young, until she met Josh at 18. They spent an hour on the phone at night, with different siblings chaperoning. [is she missing a bottom tooth on her right side? I think I've wondered that before but it seems especially noticeable in this installment.] Anna sees a video of fifteen-year-old Josh talking about marriage, and we learn that Josh and Anna only saw each other once during their engagement. [seeing the kids in 2008 talking about Josh and Anna was adorable!] They talk about how they prepared for the first kiss. [I had forgotten Josh sang during their wedding ceremony!] They were only apart a few hours during their entire first year of marriage, as they worked together at the car lot. [holy cow! that is so intense!]

Then, there's the review of each pregnancy and birth, pointing out that everyone was out of town when Anna went into labor with Mackynzie, and she progressed so quickly that she birthed at home instead of elsewhere. [yet Michelle had time to fly home??]

United Bates of America: Long-Lost Chickens

The Bates family isn't incredibly well-known, but if you follow the Duggars, you probably know this other mega-family. Gil and Kelly met in college and started their brood soon after graduation. The United Bates of America ran eight episodes last summer, but my DVR missed an episode, which apparently reran last week, so I finally saw it. The installment was much like the others in the short-lived series, with part of the episode devoted to a family project, another about day-to-day life, and another revolving around what makes a large family different from an average-sized family. It actually made me miss the Bateses, as they really are quite different from the Duggars, but an annual special is probably enough.

Credit: TLC / Charles Garvey

The United Bates of America "New Editions" (S01E05): The family decides to get chickens to provide them with fresh eggs on a regular basis. Apparently, they’ve had chickens before, but they made a mess being free-range on the property. [gross!] These chickens would be in a coop, so the first thing that has to happen is the family finds a spot to clear, then build a structure. [I thought it was funny that the kids kept disappearing on Gil. Also, the Duggars were there for MONTHS when the Bates family was building their house? This was a long time ago, but I don't recall the then-18-Kids-and-Counting episodes seeming to span that much time (announcement, arrival to help, some building, Wilsons also come to help, finished product, later visit, recap).] They spend over $200 in materials, but it all comes together in the end, and they get about four adult chickens and about twenty chicks. [won't that be too many birds running around when they're all adults??] 

Also taking place during this project is Carlin's 14th birthday, which is celebrated with balloons, roses, and a cake. [wow! flowers at 14!] Plus, a couple of the younger kids have cavities, and the family believes it’s because there’s no fluoride in their spring water. [I wonder if it's more due to the fact that there are so many kids now that it is difficult for the parents to supervise all the brushing...]

NEW SHOW: The United Bates of America

There's a good chance that you haven't heard of this show (a TLC series), unless you're a TLC junky or follow fundie families. If you are well-acquainted with the Duggars, you know who the Bates family is, that they live in Tennessee, and that they're somewhat less "privileged" than the Duggars, though both parents have college educations. As TLC sometimes does, they've sped through the eight-episode series in just four weeks, and some sort of system error caused myself and many others to not be able to see all eight episodes. Apparently, in changing around the dates and content (likely taking out Kelly's pregnancy announcement when she miscarried), DVRs didn't pick up on which episodes were "first-run" toward the end. I managed to get seven of the episodes, but from the looks of TLC's upcoming schedules, I don't know when I'll get the missing one ("New Editions," S01E05). When I do catch it, it will have its own post, I guess.

Well, some general thoughts... the family is pretty musical, so they sing their own theme song (I'm not sure if they wrote it or not). One problem I have with the show is that it assumes you know who the Duggars are, and that they're very good friends of the Bates family. I'm generally not a fan of things when they require you to know background from another show, regardless of whether I already know the other program or not. 

Credit: TLC / Charles Garvey

The United Bates of America "Love Times 21" (S01E01): Baby Jeb had fluid in his lungs and spent a week in the NICU. [I thought it was funny that Jeb left out how many children he had when he asked the nurse if his kids could look into the window of the NICU!] By his two-week checkup, he has regained his birthweight and is doing well.

It's Valentine's Day (or, "I Love You Day," as the Bates call it), which is a big deal for the family, as they don't get one another girfts for Christmas (because they get so many gifts from other people). [interesting family tradition.] Everyone draws a name to determine who they will be getting a gift for that year, but it's not a secret draw. [why not?] Each has $10 to spend, and you can't give hints to people over what to get you. They try very hard to keep all of the kids separate, though Isaiah does go on the same trip as Josie, for whom he was buying. [I wonder if they filmed all of the shopping trips and decided this was the best one to show, or how that worked.] They all decorate the house and plan to have a nice dinner. The family jokes about Erin not being able to cook like the other older girls, which she takes a little personally. [I thought that the "Cooking for Blondes" joke was a bit insensitive myself.] Gil and Kelly serve the spaghetti, and after dinner they open presents. [that Callie is so darling!]

The United Bates of America "Papa Bill's Farm" (S01E02): The family goes to visit Gil's parents in South Carolina for three days, which commences with the older girls packing and asking each child to bring down pajamas, outfits, etc. [very different system from how the Duggars pack!] The distance is about 3.5 hours, and they drive through Anderson, SC to see the college where Gil and Kelly started dating and the church where they were married. At Papa Bill's Farm (which has cows, horses, rabbits, and chickens), Gil's one brother and one sister and their kids are also there. Erin, Alyssa, and Tori take turns driving a tractor, then a bunch of the kids learn to plant corn. Jackson, in particular, loved it. [I'm such a worrywart... I can't imagine letting 6-7 of my kids ride in the scooper part of a backhoe-thing!] Beavers have dammed up some of the creeks on the property so a bunch of the kids try to help tear down some, though the beavers will return in a matter of weeks anyway. [I would totally try to set-up a camera of some sort to record the building of the dam, hehe.] This leads to a mudball fight of sorts, which Carlin tries to avoid. They play football and croquet, cook hotdogs over a fire, and reminisce over old times, including when Gil was a sports star in high school. [he had quite a few trophies!]

The United Bates of America "19 Kids, 1 Emergency" (S01E03): Erin, Alyssa, and Tori head off on a three-week mission trip to Peru, and Michaella is left in charge while Gil and Kelly take the girls to Memphis. Michaella also babysits/nannies for a little boy named Brady during the week, normally at his house but today at the Bates' house. [presumably, that's why she isn't going on the trip.] Josie, Carlin, and Katie act as "the older girls" in getting things done without the parents around. [that's a huge unmatched shoes bucket!] Kelly doesn't feel well when they get home, and Gil ends up taking her to the hospital with stomach pains. Her gallbladder has 14 stones in it, requiring surgery to remove the organ. It was three days into the older girls' trip, and they find out via email. The surgery is quick and goes well. The girls are back in a couple more weeks, greeted by the whole family at the airport and returning to balloons and a gift basket at the house. [it was heart-warming to see so much love when the family greeted one another!]

The United Bates of America "Practice Makes Perfect" (S01E04): Everyone gets new "assignments" each month or so, and each person is in charge of a room or hallways & stairwells, the cars, the yard, dishes or laundry (9-12 loads a day!). [the family doesn't sound like they particularly care for the intercom system that the Duggars installed.] Lawson does the grocery shopping because he's the only one who enjoys it. [... or he's the only one who can manage not to impulse-buy, LoL!] He goes a few times a week to do his best at getting deals. When he returns, some kids bring in the food from the truck and others put it all away.

Later, we see Gil and Kelly teach manners to some of the children, heading to a restaurant for dessert for a test. [interesting. though I didn't seem to see dessert in front of everyone when it was all over...] We also find out that Gil wrote each kid a letter over two days because he wondered what would happen if there was an accident on the job. [I can't decide what to make of this - part of me thinks it's really sweet but part of me feels like it's a death wish in a way... and it doesn't sound like he writes new ones every year, so how will the young kids feel about goofy letters after a while?]

The United Bates of America "19 in Training" (S01E06): [I would argue that some of the older children are no longer "in training" but maybe you say that until they're out of the house and married?] We see a typical day of homeschooling, which starts at four years old in the Bates household. Erin (who goes to Crown College because it's closer and conservative) gives piano lessons to many of the younger kids. Most of the kids have switched from piano to violin or guitar, but they all start on piano for theory. [a lot more sensible than the Duggars on violin, if you ask me. but it's not as showy, and we know how JimBob is about bragging.] Like the Duggars, some of the older kids are on the fire rescue squad, so they teach "stop, drop, and roll" and what a firefighter looks like. Kelly teaches some home economics, which Tori fights by saying she doesn't need to learn to cook because she's not married yet. [she's a bit problematic, that one.] They do up a batter, cut the chicken into strips, then fry it. [ need to learn to make fried chicken. sometime this winter!] Tori isn't a big fan of the process, saying that her "feller" better know how to cook, but Katie and Josie really enjoyed learning. Meanwhile, Gil teaches some wrestling to the boys, for physical education. [do the girls not "need" physical education and the boys not "need" home economics?]

Erin is in her third (full-time) year of majoring in music ministry and learning theory, accompaniment, etc. full-time. [after all of the drama that took place after Gil forced Erin to turn down a scholarship at a good school, I'm a bit unclear over how Erin has been in college for three years... anyone have more details?] Many of the Bates kids hope to go to college, and we see Tori perform for a chapel service at Crown.

The United Bates of America "Bates & Duggars Reunion" (S01E07): It's time for the Big Sandy, Texas homeschool conference, so everyone packs, which is a lot of work for Michaella, who coordinates all of the colors and clothing. After double-checking everything, they wind up loading the van at 8:30pm and taking off at 10:05pm, even though the plan had been to roll out at 4pm. Can't blame Michaella, though... see, at 9am, there were still nine loads of laundry left to be done! After a couple of hours on the road, Zach was following Gil and hits the van after they get off at an exit. [they never really describe how that happened...] The van Zach was driving is really torn up, so they remove the bumper in order to continue. At 3am they pull into Nashville and book four hotel rooms - Erin, Alyssa, Tori, Carlin, and Josie get a room, Zach, Lawson, Nathan, and Trace get a room, Michaella, Addallee, Callie, Ellie, and Katie get a room, and Gil and Kelly take Jackson, Warden, Isaiah, Judson, and Jeb in their room. [yeah, probably a good thing that they didn't book ahead of time because they'd have no idea where they'd end up at what time, LoL!] When the Bates pull into the conference, the Duggars let them know that they already have dinner prepared for them. [aww. that was nice!] The next day, it's International Alert Academy - everyone does different activities, and a lot of the older kids mention that you can meet possible mates there. [notably, Erin keeps mum.] The Bates family is asked to sing a song one night, but they hardly have any time to practice. Kelly and Gil tell the kids to smile if they don't know the words. [not sure what else you'd tell your kids to do... though I still think it teaches that not being prepared is okay... and what was with "the nails of our teeth" instead of "the skin of our teeth" ??]

The United Bates of America "Bates Plus 12" (S01E08): The Paines (with ten children from 10 to 27, with only four under 18) are coming to visit, so Alyssa decorates a room for them and puts in some gift baskets, of course. [I find this odd!] They all plan to ride a train (Blue Ridge Scenic Railway) and go white-water rafting (Ocoee Rafting) in Georgia, about three hours away. [really? this isn't something that Gil and Mr. Paine would have discussed ahead of time?? or was he just playing along like it was a surprise?] They enjoy the views from the train but don't like the volume of the horn. [29 kids and 4 adults isn't exactly accurate... many of those "kids" are "adults."] Erin is scared of whitewater rafting, so Gil tries to calm her. Of course, in true brotherly fashion, experienced Lawson freaks her out a little extra. Kelly and Josie were also a little scared, and Kelly struggled to comfort them through her own terror. Michaella stayed with the ten children who were too young (you had to be 12 years old to go), as she doesn't really like water. [she's kinda the fuddy-duddy in the family, huh?] Nathan rode on the front of the raft but fell off! In the end, Erin had a lot of fun. Gil hopes that maybe they could make this a yearly thing. [Some of the older kids talking about their romantic interests seemed a little off here... why were they not included with other episodes where this is already discussed?]

News Roundup: Information Overload

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

So much has been announced in the past 12 days! I can hardly believe it! What news are you happiest about? For me, it's that we finally have return dates for Melissa & Joey and Falling Skies!!

Renewals, Cancellations, & Scheduling:
FOX's Terra Nova was cancelled, which I, among others, saw coming. Netflix is in talks about picking up the series, but, let's not lie... it is a might expensive undertaking...

TLC has canceled All-American Muslim, citing poor ratings (which is true), though some wonder if it wasn't the negative backlash that the show received from many sources, including some pulled advertising.

The Discovery Channel has cancelled Man vs. Wild, seemingly because star Bear Grylls won't participate in other projects.

A third horse died during the production of HBO's Luck, which ultimately led to the early cancellation of the show.

Bravo's Love Broker has been cancelled after two episodes.

OWN cancelled The Rosie Show, which will tape its final episode March 20th, to air March 30th (at 7pm ET/PT). We saw this coming, given the downgrades the show experienced throughout the season.

FX renewed Justified for a 13-episode fourth season.

CBS renewed The Talk for 2012-2013. They also renewed NCIS, NCIS: LA, Blue Bloods, Person of Interest, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, The Good Wife, CSI, Hawaii Five-O, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours Mystery, The Amazing Race, Undercover Boss, 2 Broke Girls and Mike & Molly.

ABC renewed The Bachelor Pad for a third season.

NBC renewed Grimm for a second season

Lifetime has ordered another twenty episodes of America's Most Wanted, to continue airing Fridays at 9pm ET/PT.

TLC's My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding's second season will begin Friday, March 23rd, at 10pm ET/PT.

Showtime announced some return dates. Dexter will premiere its seventh season at 9pm ET/PT on Sunday, September 30th. Homeland's second season will follow at 10pm ET/PT.

CMT has a new series, Southern Nights, premiering Saturday, April 7th at 10pm ET/PT. It will bring together ten cast members from Sweet Home Alabama, and they'll live together in Georgia to create drama.

A&E's new series, Rambug, will debut on Saturday, April 28th at 10pm ET/PT. It will focus on a group of "hard-working, over-the-top Italian exterminators from Brooklyn who dress in camouflage and wage war on the city's nastiest critters."

ABCFamily's Melissa & Joey will be back for its second season on Wednesday, May 30th at 8pm ET/PT.

The History Channel's new half-hour auction show, Sold!, premieres Wednesday, April 11th at 9pm. It will be a ten-part series that goes behind the scenes, shows haggling, appraisals, and many other aspects of the business.

TLC's Say Yes to the Dress: Bridesmaids, will be back for a second season, beginning Friday, April 13th, at 9pm ET/PT.

HBO's Game of Thrones is back Sunday, April 1st, at 9pm ET/PT.

E! has a new show coming on Sunday, May 20th, called Mrs. Eastwood & Company, chronicling the lives of the Clint Eastwood family.

Cartoon Network's Adventure Time will begin its fourth season on Monday, April 2nd at 7:30pm ET/PT.

Weeds and Episodes will both be back on Showtime on Sunday, July 1st.

TLC has Mama's Boys of the Bronx premiering on Monday, April 9th at 10pm ET/PT. It's an eight-part series about five Italian-American men in their 30s who still live with their mothers.

HBO has a new comedy, Girls, beginning Sunday, April 15th at 10:30pm ET/PT. It will be about four twentysomething girls in New York getting through life.

FOX is no longer moving I Hate My Teenage Daughter to Wednesday nights, but will finish the Tuesday airings April 3rd, after which point the remaining episodes will burn off in the summer.

TNT has announced a bunch of premiere dates... Rizzoli & Isles is back for its third season on Tuesday, June 5th at 9pm ET/PT, Franklin & Bash will be back for its second season on Tuesday, June 5th at 10pm ET/PT, Dallas will premiere on Wednesday, June 13th at 9pm ET/PT, Falling Skies will begins its second season on Sunday, June 17th at 9pm ET/PT, The Great Escape premieres Sunday, June 24th at 10pm ET/PT, The Closer is back on Monday, July 9th at 9pm ET/PT, Perception begins Monday, July 9th at 10pm ET/PT, Leverage is back Sunday, July 15th at 8pm ET/PT, and Major Crimes begins Monday, August 13th at 10pm ET/PT, though it will regularly air at 9pm ET/PT.

The Katie Couric talk show, Katie, will premiere on Monday, September 10th on ABC.

One of the former stars of Toddlers & Tiaras, Eden Wood, will have her own show starting Monday, April 16th, called Eden's World, where she and her mom will enter pageants as well as help coach new girls.

Cast & Plot Updates:
Freddie Prinze Jr. has signed onto an NBC comedy pilot (still untitled), to play a guy who dumps his fiance and now faces her revenge.

Martha Stewart will guest on 2 Broke Girls on May 7th.

Stockard Channing and Kurt Fuller will play the parents of Mandy Moore's character on the ABC untitled pilot where Mandy Moore and her new husband will run a restaurant.

Nick Jonas will return to Smash for the season finale on May 14th.

NBC's Smash will have a Bollywood dream sequence for the song, "A Thousand and One Nights" on the April 23rd episode.

Shows in Development & Other Fun Stuff:
Nickelodeon's Figure It Out is coming back for 40 new episodes.

CBS' drama pilot, Quean, was deemed to be too similar to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so they changed "the lead's employer from a PI to a law firm, her boss from a white male private investigator to a black female lawyer, and the protagonist herself from a loner to a girl with a boyfriend." But, it still wasn't enough, and the procedural has now been scrapped.

The CW has three new reality series this summer - The Star Next Door, which will be a nationwide music competition series, Breaking Pointe, which will be a behind-the-scenes look at competitive ballet companies, and The Catalina, which follows employees and guests at the Miami hotel by the same name.

A huge "Roseanne" dance party is schedule in Chicago on March 24th.

A&E is partnering with Mark Wahlberg, among others, on an unscripted pilot (tentatively called Teamsters) It will "give viewers a first-hand glimpse of the most legendary union in the most aggressive and territorial city in America: Boston."

Mob Wives' spinoff, Mob Wives Chicago will debut on VH1 this spring.

GCB has been under plenty of fire since it premiered, perhaps most notably that Kraft pulled its advertising from the series.

Al Roker's company is backing Coast Guard Florida, a new docuseries for The Weather Channel. It will debut this October and 13 hour-long episodes are planned.

The Bates family just had a one-hour special on TLC, and now they're going to have eight half-hour shows on TLC, starting in June.

Fun fact: have you ever thought about the audience for Univision? Well, in 2011, they had a larger age-18-to-34 audience than NBC did on 267 nights! AND, last month, they out-performed one or more of the big networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) on 26 out of 28 nights.

Logo is going to have an all-stars edition of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Wallace, a series that is a historical drama based on the life of Braveheart, is being developed.

In 2013, History will treat us to Vikings, a scripted drama chronicling the "extraordinary and ferocious world of the mighty Norsemen who raided, traded, and explored during medieval times."

Hallmark Channel now has the rights to syndication for The Middle, and will begin airing the first 88 episodes in March 2014.

The CW now has a mobile app (apple and android) that allows you to watch full episodes of primetime series at 6am ET the morning after broadcast.

TBS has green-lit eight episodes of King of the Nerds, which will invite "competitors spanning the full nerd spectrum to come together to face challenges that will test their intellect, ingenuity, skills and pop-culture prowess."

Something Different: The Bates Family

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Now, for those who don't really follow the Duggar Family or know much about their ideals and values, it may make no sense to have ANOTHER family on TLC with nineteen kids. But, the families are different in many ways, and the Bates have been on the air before - albeit, via spotlights on the 17, 18, 19 Kids and Counting show(s). [I've written about the Bates family five times in the past, if you're interested - oldest to newest it's here, here, here, here, and here.] This family excels at their music (very few of the Duggar children actually play well), has parents with college degrees, and allows the children to have varied interests. Now, I'm no expert on the Bates family, but I am surprised that they decided to take on a show of their own (eight half-hour episodes will follow this first special). TheTalkingBox will cover the show, so be on the lookout if you decide that you're interested. Now, onto the family's first solo program...

The Bates Family: Baby Makes 19: JimBob and Michelle introduce this special, about their "best friends." [really? we're going to go with that? alritey...] The background on the family is shared... Gil and Kelly met in college, lived without heat to save money, and decided a couple of weeks into marriage that they'd trust God with the number of children they'd have, thinking they'd only have a few. [it interests me that they didn't talk about this BEFORE getting married...] In 2009, they renovated their home to 4,000 square feet, so they give us a tour. Like the Duggars, they store all kids' clothing in one room. They have four washers and four dryers, but they're still in use several hours each day. Four boys share one room, three share another. Seven girls share one room and three (Erin, Carlin, and Alyssa) share another. It seems that Callie may share a bed with Michaela as well.

We see part of a typical day, which includes an 8am is wake-up time. They use an intercom but sometimes they have to go shake the kids individually as well. They have private Bible Study, then do chores (rotated monthly, and Kelly helps out with laundry, among other things), then have breakfast. They do a character lesson. They practice their instruments - the kids go to nursing homes and hospitals to encourage people through song. [we don't really see how they handle other things, but I imagine it'll come.]

The special starts with Kelly being 27 weeks pregnant, and ends with her having baby Jeb Colton when she is around 37 weeks. In that time frame we see Alyssa celebrate her 17th birthday with family and friends, plus a day of hunting with her dad and Trace (a brother), with whom she is close. Alyssa does other "masculine" things, too, like help her brothers with Gil's tree service. [so another un-Duggar characteristic there.] We also see Gil & Kelly's 24th wedding anniversary, where they head to a cabin in the same area where they honeymooned. They eat at the same restaurant almost every year! This year, the kids join them after the first night, as the cabin is large. [they actually have compact sedans, which the Duggars don't seem to bother with. The kids also carry their own bags, so perhaps packing isn't done by a single person, either.] Additionally, the family decorates for Christmas, with Erin leading the brigade.

Now, back to the baby... Gil and Kelly want the suspense of not knowing what the baby is ahead of time, but Alyssa gets to know in advance (they've done this with others, too, with Michaela and Erin). [what's the point in anyone knowing if the parents don't know?] About half of the children have come early, so Kelly is ready ahead of time. She goes for a routine doctor's appointment with three weeks until her due date, but she goes into labor. [I've actually heard of this before, I wonder how common it actually is?] Michaela goes to pick-up Gil and they head to the hospital. Several of the older girls are there to witness the birth. (Actually, Kelly's first 14 children were homebirths! But now she even gets an epidural.) There was a cute scene where Gil and Michaela argue over who gets to be the first to wish Trace a Happy Birthday over the phone, as Jeb is born on Trace's birthday.

Here's a rundown of the family, and the descriptions are from Gil & Kelly:
Zach, 23, is a county commissioner. He didn't realize their family was "large" until they got to about 6 or 7 kids.
Michaela, 22, is a "homemaker."
Erin, 20, is a "music major." [such a pretty and talented girl!]
Lawson, 19, is the cowboy. [we know he has another job, tho, as he helps the family with money, or so the rumors go.]
Nathan, 18, is the preacher.
Alyssa, 17, enjoys photography.
Tori, 16, loves to play the fiddle.
Trace, 15, loves competition.
Carlin, 13, loves crafts.
Josie, 12, reads.
Katie, 11, loves animals.
Jackson, 10, is a tree-climber.
Warden, 8, loves football.
Isaiah, 7, has no fears.
Addalee, 6, loves to color.
Ellie, 4, enjoys tea parties.
Callie, 2, loves dolls.
Judson, 1, is all smiles.

19 Kids & Counting: Another Visit to the Bates'

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

This was a pretty straight-forward episode. The family was traveling back from Atlanta and stopped in Knoxville to visit the Bates family, who are expecting their nineteenth child currently. Between the two families, they have thirteen kids under 10 years old.

19 Kids and Counting "38 Kids & Counting!" (S08E07): [I got goosebumps hearing everyone sing "Amazing Grace."]  For whatever reason, we see the build on the Bates house AGAIN. [haha on JimBob thinking that they could do it in a weekend and it took a YEAR. The Gil Bates vs. Bill Gates things made me laugh, especially when they related it to richness.] The kids rode horses. Nobody leading that horse that Jackson and Johannah were on (helmetless) was a bit reckless. Other kids played foursquare.[ LoL on Jackson just trying to talk but not cutting off Hanny until she was done.] Tori taught a little fiddle - slurring & sliding. JimBob plugged Gil's tree service. [it's so frustrating when he promotes things...] JimBob rode a log being lifted by a crane. [Josie blowing kisses was just about the most adorable thing I've ever seen.]

We also got some background on Zach Bates, who is now courting Sarah Reith. Sarah is one of four children of a Missouri family, and she plays bluegrass banjo. On June 23rd, he brought cheesecake and roses. [It really looks like Zach loves that girl.] They've talked about it and have decided to hold the kissing until the wedding.

Fashion Cakes; Leah's Married; Jenelle Jailed

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Unscripted commentaries this week include: Cake Boss, 19 Kids and Counting, Teen Mom 2, and Wipeout.

Melissa & Joey are Here

by Amy K. Bredemeyer


Monday:
The Secret Life of the American Teenager (S03E11): Ben's fired... from his dad's shop. Half awesome, half sucky. The whole Lauren-Madison summers ruined because of meddling fathers really sucked. This is why you need to lie better when you make things up to tell your parents. Or, at least, make sure your fathers aren't friends!! The pajamas bar sounds interesting, but those two girls randomly taking out Amy was odd. What in the WORLD is with Anne's dress?? Leo had a really good point about Ben having sex with Adrian to get back at Amy and that had a bad result... so why marry Adrian for the same reason? Leo's looking really tan. Betty thinking that Ben KILLED Ricky was hilarious!! And then she was complaining about being hungry... the least of the problems in the household. And now Lauren's dad is talking to Ben's dad... more fathers talking = even worse. "We have the whole summer to have sex at med camp" oh geez.
[I believe the season mid-finale is September 6th]

Cake Boss (S03E14): National Train Day was May 8th, so last week's episode actually took place chronologically after this one, since it featured Mother's Day, LoL. The moving trains and the perfect dimensions was really different. Ralph's outfits still amuse me. All of the guys being upset about eating salads was funny. Mauro's son helping him out with exercising was cute, but a little staged. Danny & Frankie ordering pizza as soon as Mauro was out of the room was wrong. The firefighter thing was a cool cake idea. Joey doing some decorating was interesting. holy cooooooooooow... the train cake was 20 feet long! Joey looked like he saw the knocked-over cake coming. I'm kinda unclear on how the bagpiper fit in, LoL. Interesting plan to just take out a problem building when the cakes started having issues at Penn Station. AND they had to fix it without Buddy's help!

[I'm pretty sure I was in NYC that day. I'm kinda super upset that I missed this]

Huge (S01E08): Becca looked so sad when Amber talked about what a "loyal friend" Chloe is. It was interesting how Trent mentioned to George that he knew it was Alistair's birthday. It's clear that Trent wants Chloe to recognize Alistair, so that's intriguing. The skydancers thing made me smile. Nice plug for Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers. Kinda looks like there were some new extras. The look on Chloe's face when she found out that Alistair told Trent was vicious. The level of upset that the no-alcohol thing caused made me angry. Poppy having a bottle of liquor under her bed was wrong, and I was surprised she didn't make an effort to hide it in front of Amber. Poor Alistair... celebrating his birthday at the random board game event (not the board game part, but the fact nobody was really celebrating with him). Drunk Amber sucks at life. Alistair dodging the gay question was rough, and then telling Isnarski (sp?) that he likes someone else after the guy kisses him on a dare was REALLY rough. I love the random facts that we get from Wayne. Dr. Rand did it in the back of a car?? Geez. That being Alistair's first kiss is crazy... at least Ian tryied to help him out. The second meaning to the boating conversation was good, and I'm glad it went right over Poppy's head. Becca's strange hobbies are so quirky. I don't know how I feel about Alistair crushing on Trent.

Tuesday:
Melissa & Joey (S01E01 & S01E02): I like the "before a live studio audience" part, hehe. Melissa as a politician was interesting. Strange theme "jingle" for lack of a better word. "Lennox" is a strange name. Joey looks weird without hair... I wonder if they plan on keeping him near-bald... Mel wears some TALL heels! "Vagino-Americans" hahahahaha. "That porsche is mine... for ten more days," haha.

Yay for cool dim sum places. Remote control inflation... alritey then. haha on "I want a penguin!" The cigarettes-brand-loyalty thing was funny. Bulimia being the anthem at the prep school was funny.

I liked the first episode much better than the second.

19 Kids and Counting (S05E04): hahaha, "swing by the Bates' house" .... SO not "swing by" style, LoL. The Bates family attends church 3 times a week... interesting. I also love how the Bates know so well that the Duggars will show up at any old time... nothing set for travel times, haha. $400 for a family of 40... that's $10 apiece... but the kids should have eaten for like $5 each and there's a TON of them... I'm thinking they went somewhere little pricey, LoL. Hahaha, JimBob has no idea where his clothes are. The Bates' house is gorgeous now that they have those additions! Not gonna lie, I'm a little surprised that JimBob can iron, haha. The cross in the chimney stones was pretty. Thank goodness that child didn't open up that power tool box!! Nice that they left the "Duggar" mantlepiece for Michelle in the Little Rock house. You know, I kinda wonder if Priscilla also went because Jana is unmarried... JohnDavid can only keep an eye on her in co-ed situations. She and Priscilla can chaperone one another at pretty much all times. The elephant orphanage was interesting... I didn't know that like 4 people could ride an elephant at once. Weird that the cameraman felt the need to go in the water "on behalf of the family" LoL. I wonder if there's a camera crew there the whole time or what... I think 9 vehicles is a little much to transport both families, LoL. Parrot Mountain did seem like a cool place though, and I'd totally visit it if I was in that area. Interesting that the boom mic freaked out the birds.

Teen Mom (S02E05):
Catelynn: I'm a little unclear on why she called her therapist and only offered her first name... does that doctor really only have one Catelynn/Kaitlin/etc.? If so, I'm a little concerned, LoL. I didn't realize how much younger their child was... Carly isn't even a year old yet, but we know Sophia is at least 15 months. And Catelynn was really weird about the hug thing in the car. I'm over Ryan. I also don't know that I'd allow my phone records to just go into the river like that, not shredded or anything.
Maci: Kyle looks really old.
Farrah: the little Easter party was cute. Still not knowing how to write a check was not. So, of COURSE she has no idea to wait until the check clears before doing anything else. Seeing her try to make a diaper out of towels was weird. She has a direct person she calls for her bank? And she's wondering if it's fraud... so she must know that sort of thing exists... is she really going to think it can't happen to her? I can't believe Farrah was so rude to the person on the phone where the money was wired... it's not that person's fault that she did her job and gave the money to the person it was intended for. I wanna see more of Farrah sucking at life, LoL.
Amber: hahaha, this is the THIRD time Amber & Gary are engaged.

If You Really Knew Me (S01E05): Colusa High in California farm town. 350 students is it! Only 1 Black kid. New opening for the show was cool. The nerd had a sad first-day-of-school story. Highly unemployed area. Lots of parental issues in this school. At least we finally hit a low-crossing category: Jews. These kids' "what I'll do different" sound like crap. Finally, we have a pregnant girl. I like how we left out the baby daddy tho. As a whole, I'm starting to be over this show.

Wipeout (S03E12): New obstacle in the qualifier! Shake-a-lator looks a little easier this time around, since it has the balls on the edge... less likely to fall off, LoL. The unbalance beam makes for some funny wipeouts. Why in the world was the one person so censored?? Did her shorts just tear in half or something?? That giant ball in the second round was crazybig! and the fact that the first guy made it so fast was nuts! It seemed that everyone thought it was easy after that, as people crowd around to get over! Nothing exciting in round 3. The Wipeout Zone was only fairly entertaining this week, but I felt bad for the last guy doing the Zone, he lost on that last little part! ... and when I look over my thoughts on the past few weeks, I wonder if my interest in this show is waning...

Wednesday:
Hot in Cleveland (S01E10): [Season Finale] The intro with the rainy scene was neat on the show's logo. LOVED the Judge Judy comment. Joy's roots look strange. Nice hit on Lebron. Betty White and her phrases that she's "always wanted to say" were great. The fact that all of the stuff underground was stolen was intriguing. Sweet little Antique Roadshow moment. Victoria's collarbones freak me out. I liked how Joy kept putting on more goodies. So sweet that Victoria won the Emmy, but I couldn't BELIEVE that Susan Lucci was the one to accept on her behalf! The fact that they had the same dress on was the icing on the cake. The look on Betty White's face when the policeman started noticing all of the stuff (and subsequently her mug shot!) was priceless!

Minute to Win It (S02E07): Twin brothers. Dan in red, Shawn in blue. I wasn't a big fan of Dan asking his girlfriend down and then proposing between games.
Game 1: Drop Zone: hold string (that's attached to a pole and runs over three buckets) so it's tight enough for a ball to roll on. Let the ball roll down it, and when the timing is right, relax that string so the ball falls in the bucket. Do this for three different buckets. Dan goes for it. He has trouble with bouncing - some fall in and bounce out, others drop and then bounce in (which doesn't count... they have to land in and stay in). Shawn decides to take over, even though Dan said he'd try again. Shawn goes 3 for 3 and wins with 39 seconds to spare. He then kicks over the bucket of balls and picks a few up to throw to the audience! [I think this may be the first time (maybe second) that someone lost a life in the first game]
Game 2: Egg Dance: balance two round platters with eggs placed on them. Carry them over (keeping the eggs on them) and place them on a couple pedestals. The trickist part is that you have to pick up one tray, then go over and pick up another, so the balance changes extra. Shawn goes for it, and finishes with less than 10 seconds left.
Game 3: Blow Ball: a 16" pizza ban can hold 76 ping pong balls. Three are yellow, 73 are red. Blow off just the red ones. Dan goes for it. Shawn coached HARD. He gets it with 16 seconds remaining.
Game 4: Sharp Shooter: Fling rubber bands at playing cards held upright by clothespins. Shawn goes for it, and has an interesting strategy of putting the pile of rubber bands on the floor (instead of the pedestal), so he doesn't have to reach back for them each time. He gets the first two without too much difficulty, but the third gives him issues... he finishes with five seconds remaining on the clock.
Game 5: Speed Eraser: Bounce pencils on their erasers to get them in cups. Do it 10 times in 60 seconds. Dan goes for it. He's really on a roll for a while, but the last few give him problems, and he finishes with 3 seconds left.
Game 6: Drop Ball: a five-gallon water jug has a water bottle on top, and a golf ball on top of that. Swipe the smaller water bottle so that the golf ball lands in the water jug. You have to get 4 out of 7set-ups. Dan goes for it. He runs out of attempts. Shawn then gives it a try. He's super-intense and does it!
Game 7: Broomski Ball: roll a tennis ball at a broom to give it air to get it in a bucket. You have to do it into three different buckets (each further away and slightly taller) in a minute. Unlimited balls. Shawn goes for it, and gets two in the middle bucket pretty quickly. Then he gets two in the third basket. And he gets the third bucket with 26 seconds to spare. Not gonna lie, I didn't think he was going to pull this one off!

and, even though they previously said that they were there to go for the million, they walked with the $125,000.

Thursday:
Futurama (S06E10): Lella's freaking out over her eye was strange. The lead-up to needing to use math to figure out the mind-switching thing was weird. But, I didn't really like the mind-swapping to begin with. Okay, apparently they're actually body-switching LoL.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Off season/Coming Up:
Little People, Big World (season 6 starts September 6th)
House, M.D. (season 7 starts September 20th)
How I Met Your Mother (season 6 starts September 20th)
The Simpsons (season 22 starts September 26th)
Family Guy (season 9 starts September 26th)
Mr. Sunshine (new show, starts in the Fall on ABC)
South Park (have not yet heard, but I assume October or so)
Table for 12: (missing "summer," "busy day," "jumping in," "brace yourself," "back to school")
16 and Pregnant (unknown)
Kate Plus Eight (not sure when season 1 continues)

Ruling out another show

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Friday:
Monk (S08E09): in all the years that the show has been on, why hasn't Mr. Monk's birthday ever been a problem before? But seriously, poor Monk. The kids leaving the party after the entertainment but before the cake is seriously really sad, and it hurt me. :( Obviously, a lot of Natalie trying to throw Monk a party follows. Natalie telling Monk to choose between the port-a-john and the dumpster was funny. And I slightly thought it was a ploy for the party until the policeman got shot, then I freaked. Monk getting Cowboy Hank again made me happy.

Sunday:
The Simpsons (S21E04): the annual Treehouse of Horror episode. These are typically quite good, at least in my opinion. I loved the beginning with the costume changes - werewolf Harry Potter is hilarious. "you're a smart kid, bet you like ideas" LMAO. The funny definitions of "ding dong ditch" and "TP her" were amusing. Although my jaw seriously dropped when Bart pulled Hooper's head from his bag. Reverend Lovejoy's wife is Lisa's godmother?!? I know the Treehouse episodes are non-canonical in the sense that they take place in an alternate universe, but that's still an interesting thought. The communion joke was pretty funny, too. The musical number was a letdown this year, tho.

Family Guy: no new episode this week.

American Dad! (S05E04): I'm sorry. This episode was ridiculous all around. I think this will be the end of my American Dad! watching.

Monday:
How I Met Your Mother (S05E05): so this episode was really funny. I was a bit confused as to why Marshall and Lily are just a "we" now as opposed to the past ten years that they've been together and two years they've been married?? The Tantrum stuff was realllly amusing. "4 minutes" is all it took for Marshall to happy up in the car, haha. Why listen to the dog story without Lily?? not the best episode, since both storylines felt kinda rushed.

Lincoln Heights (S04E06): Poor Lizzie, still thinking about Johnnie Nightingale. Whatever happened to that lesbian friend of Cassie's - the minister's daughter? It got creepy when Lizzie kept trying to get in extra sleep so she could see Johnnie more. I love how the 7th Heaven Martin character has come back as a womanizer. I was quite impressed with the scenes where the family is just waiting on word from the Army. I'm trying to decide how cliche it is that Lizzie is falling for a white boy like Cassie.

House, M.D. (S06E06): I thought that the joke about Cameron in those pants was funny. That room was so Amber-centric it was creepy. I looooved: "Don't you have school?" "recess." hahahaha. The shot of Wilson talking to Amber before bed was really sweet... and sad. "Visiting hours don't apply to my patients," haha.

Little People, Big World: missed "Downhill Dwarf" and "Game Over"

Jon and Kate Plus Eight (S05E18): kinda whiny of Kate in the beginning to talk about all the trips they've taken this year. The butterfly thing was neat, and the girls with the birds and insects were cool. Jon and the rocket were boring, and the water balloons were funny. Reminds me of my brother and I not really getting into water balloons appropriately when we were around eight and five, respectively. Kate saying "rigmarole" was funny, too. "Kate the Dragon" was ridiculous, tho. Apparently Kate has no more fear of heights... since she mentioned that she'd even do this again, too. The fact these puppies air out of order is so annoying... like this episode is stated as taking place before school started, so why not air it before the "First Day of School" episode?!? I guess the filming is taking a nosedive tho, since next week seems to be only Kate in the show.

Tuesday:
18 Kids and Counting: well, I missed the new episode but did catch "Duggars and Bates Reloaded" (S03E05) It's really focused on the Bates family, and could have served as a pilot for them. It was a very nice episode, but it was strange that JimBob kept talking as if the visit was a surprise, but the Bates had planned on them coming... Kelly Bates' request of "more beds" was strange in context, but she meant for the company, which a lot of bloggers on the 'net apparently didn't understand, LoL. I could swear Jessa/Jinger wore eye makeup in the interview segment... I did finally understand why that remodel got out of control like it seemed on the other episodes covering this story arc, LoL. It never ceases to amaze me how little space some really large families make do with.

list of missing: "Duggars in Dixie," "Duggar on a Diet," and "Old McDuggar Had a Farm"

Table for 12: okay, still missing the two eps "hit the deck" and "ramp it up" but found out it's off the air until November 17th, so I have some time to catch up. kinda.

Wednesday:

South Park (S13E10): it was a pretty funny premise. At first I thought it would be like another Simpsons with the wrestling crap. But it turned out to be quite different, and the townspeople believing it all was hilarious. Maybe not as hilarious as Cartman's female alter-ego being addicted to abortions, but still.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Off season:
Wipeout (got renewed for summer 2010 and it's already filming with a NEW set. yay!)
The Secret Life of the American Teenager (January 2010)
Cake Boss (next week!)
The Goode Family (I still believe this has a chance to be picked up again)

less than a month until real tv starts again!

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Sunday:
The Simpsons: September 27th

Family Guy: September 27th

American Dad: September 27th

Monday:
How I Met Your Mother: September 21st.

Little People, Big World: October?

Lincoln Heights: September 14th. looking forward to this, and quite glad that it's running opposite dates of Secret Life, since my Mondays are so full as it is!

House, M.D.: September 21st.

Lie to Me: September 21st.

Jon and Kate Plus Eight: no new episode this week.

Table for 12: who knows.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager: Ricky and Adrian doubling with Amy and newboy Mark? AWKWARD. Grace is running and abstinence group? boring. Madison telling Grace to be fun? Out of character, but at least amusing. Madison's fake laugh? even worse. Lauren's parents allow her to wear that much cleavage to school?? I find that ridiculous. And Heather has a crappy attitude. that b!tch. How is Rumer Willis an offspring of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore?? Her face is fugly. Amy's outfits were a bit prudish as well. I don't like Bossy Adrian in bed. Amy's attitude also sucks, especially about her Dad... just because he doesn't live there doesn't mean he's not her father! George's lecture on family was pretty bad though... I definitely wasn't very open to hearing it, and I wasn't even the one being addressed. Griffin has TWO gay older brothers? c'mon now. Amy befriending Heather? A real sign of maturity, but out of character. We'll see more of the adoption process in the future, that's been confirmed... as had the fact that the setting is in California. I'd really like to know if the introduction of the dog was specifically to foreshadow Anne needing emergency help and the dog has to dial the phone. ::eye roll::

Cake Boss: off.

Tuesday:
18 Kids and Counting: so I was able to catch the new episode as well as one of the older episodes that I had missed during my July outings. The new episode was half about the Duggars trip to Amish country, and the other half was the beginning of their DC trip. The Amish part was interesting, and several of the less-outspoken kids got to explain what they learned (like the New Amish use electricity while Old Amish use batteries, etc). It was very brief, but still a nice representation of their trip. I can't believe they drove their bus around DC!! I was just there a month ago, and that place is nuts to drive anything in, let alone a gigantic bus! Good gracious. I can't wait to see the next one! Other thoughts... chronologically, we know that this episode is after the Bates' trip. I'm getting kinda tired of Anna's fake laugh...

I also saw the first episode of the Duggars-help-the-Bates-remodel series. I was astounded that there were 18 kids under 10 there when the Wilsons, Duggars, and Bates were staying at that house. Now I understand why there was so much talk about Tori Bates on the internet... she's really the most disrespectful of all the kids I've seen on this show! (except maybe Cousin Amy...) It's also weird that we see Anna's sister (Suzanna) in this episode, yet we don't hear about how she's staying for the summer until last week's episode (which I caught as a rerun over the weekend but I forgot to take notes so I can't comment on it). I'm still missing Duggers in Dixie, and another of the Bates episodes. Originally I thought I was missing Duggars on a Deadline, but now it might be Duggars and Bates Reloaded... I can't seem to find any defining features on either episode, so if you know of any, please inform me so I try to catch the correct ep!

Wednesday:
South Park: October 7th.

Glee: September 9th.

Wipeout: I loved the whirly big ball action in the first round. I don't understand why one of the contestants just "jumped off" the platform in the second round... unless she had a medical issue that couldn't be ignored for another three minutes, LoL! The pastor was kind of annoying in the third round, and it took a lot of faith in CursingGirl to let him go first on the triangles! There were some really interesting moves in the Wipeout Zone this time, especially since different parts of the course were the ones causing the contestants trouble. I was kinda weirded out when the one guy couldn't get the gauntlet to match up correctly... usually it's pretty straightforward. At least there were no quitters.

Thursday:
16 and Pregnant: off-season.

Friday:
Monk: Monk was more amusing last week, with UFOs and all sorts of people (including Stottlemeyer and Natalie) believing that Monk was from another planet. This week I'm out of town, so I may have to either change the dates of this entry (and run them Fri-Thurs instead of Sun-Sat), or just start planning on posting on Saturdays after I catch the new Monk.

The Goode Family: waiting to be picked up again.

I did catch the finale of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and it was amusing. The kid going for the million practically the entire hour was kinda annoying. But what was worse: the final question asked about LBJ's beverage favorites... aside from coffee, tea, and Coke, what would he get? apparently it was Fresca, not yoo-hoo or root beer or v8. When Meredith Viera came out as the celebrity contestant of the night, then sprung it on Regis that HE'D be the one playing, he was either truly surprised, or this was one of the very best acting jobs I've ever seen.

My husband and I are also watching Joey in the evenings. We are big Friends fans (he was long before I was), and we were curious as to how the spin-off didn't even last two seasons. We've seen nine episodes now, and they're kinda hit-or-miss. Joey lives in LA with his nephew, Michael. Michael's mother/Joey's sister is over often, and they have a friendly neighbor (Alex) who is also over often. The storylines are generally about Michael being an overprotected genius or Joey trying to get acting gigs. So far the best two episodes were the one where Joey is understudying three shows at once, and the one where they go to Vegas. Crappy episodes include the one with Joey in a book club, and the one where Alex's husband is not jealous of Joey. It's not magical, but it's not bad... I'll continue to report over the next several weeks as we watch all of the episodes.