The Shocking Plot Twist in "Dramatics, Your Honor", 'The Good Wife' S5Ep15

***Warning: Extensive Spoilers Below***

I had the most peculiar reaction to the big plot twist on last night's episode of 'The Good Wife'. I laughed.

Did I find Will Gardner's sudden death funny? Of course not.

Characters have died on shows before, but typically that death is written and packaged in such a way that emotions are heightened and tears are falling before the character takes his last breath. The music. The slow pan. The tears of the other characters on screen. We, as viewers, are shoved toward devastation. A prime example of this is Mark Greene's death on 'ER', a death set in the beauty of Hawaii with the soundtrack of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'.


Last night's episode of 'The Good Wife' gave us something else. Shock.

And so I laughed.

Because I couldn't believe it. Because even as the screen showed us Will's desperate client Jeffrey eyeing the guard's gun, even as we heard shots ring out, even as Kalinda and Diane stilled in shock outside the courtroom, it didn't seem quite real.

Everything was fairly fine for the first half of the episode. And then it just wasn't.

This, I believe, was the Kings' point. Death doesn't always warn you. It's often brutal and sudden. Death isn't always an episode that threatens the main characters but then kills the supporting ones instead. In reality death can destroy people who are central to our lives and leave us alone in an instant.

The episode was made more powerful by the actors' reactions to Will's shooting. Even when Kalinda and Diane discovered Will's body, bloody and covered by a sheet in the corner of the emergency room, they didn't break down in tears. Emotional music didn't play. They just stared and then began to call the people who mattered.

This death wasn't designed to be overly emotional. It wasn't an episode of 'Grey's Anatomy'. Sure, I sobbed for Lexie and Mark and George.

But I laughed for Will. I stared at the screen in increasing shock. I, like the characters on the screen, could not believe he was really dead. Tears come later.

Twitter exploded in response. People refused to believe that he was really dead, a reaction that echoes death in the real world.

The show prepared itself beautifully for this genuine reaction by barely preparing the viewers at all. We had been forewarned that this episode was an important one and a plot twist, but it seemed likely that it would have to do with the Federal case against Peter of which Will's potential testimony was a key component. The promo insinuated that Will betraying Alicia would be the turning point of season five.

Instead, Will's death will impact every major player on the show, it also shakes up the main plot of the first half of the season. The federal case against Peter was the major threat this season, yet it was insinuated that Will's testimony was essential. What will happen to that plot now that Will is dead?

I think it's also interesting to note that the first person after Will's sisters that Kalinda and Diane thought to call was Alicia. Regardless of the fallout between Alicia and Will, it is recognized that she need to know immediately. She is essentially his loved one.

Throughout the show a recurring joke (and truth) has been that Alicia is a handholder. She understands clients emotionally and helps them get through court. Lockhart/Gardner lost that when Alicia left to start her own firm. Will has never, throughout the show's history, been portrayed as being particularly good at handholding.

What if Alicia hadn't left? Would she have recognized the emotional distress of the client? Would she have sat next to him and talked him through his panic? Moments before Jeffrey Grant shoots the gun we see him reacting poorly to the prosecution and defense arguing and laughing with the judge. He shoots, in part, because he is alone. In prior seasons of the show Alicia would have been next to him.

Speaking of Alicia's involvement, it will be interesting to see what degree of guilt she feels. As a gesture of goodwill and loyalty to Will she did not meet with Jeffrey's parents when they requested a second opinion. If she had, there's a likelihood she would have taken the case. That she would have been in that courtroom and been the one shot. Or that her very presence would have caused Jeffrey to react differently.

At the end of season three of 'Downton Abbey' we had a similar plot twist. The show seemed all happy and content and then Matthew crashed his car and died. But even that didn't have quite the emotional impact of this death. Of course it was shocking and done with little advanced fanfare. But still, as I watched Mathew joyously drive his car down on empty road for an extended period of time my roommate leaned over and whispered, "something bad is going to happen".

In this episode of 'The Good Wife' we saw the client reach for the gun. It put me on edge, waiting anxiously to see what would happen. But ultimately we saw nothing. The camera had cut away to the courthouse hallways, following Kalinda, and so we weren't in the room when the shooting occurred. That distance. Hearing shots but not seeing anything that was happening, made the moment all the more shocking. Sometimes less is more.

Grey's Anatomy S9Ep1: Going Going Gone Recap

'Grey's Anatomy' is back in an episode that's as good as it is confusing.

As a quick reminder, last season ended with a bang. Literally. A plane carrying a team of doctors that included Meredith, Cristina, Derek, Mark, Lexie, and Arizona crashed. In the sob filled finale, Lexie died while pinned under the plane. Cristina injured her arm, Arizona was bleeding badly from her leg, Derek had a damaged hand, and Mark had some serious internal injuries.

You'd expect the premiere episode to pick up right after the crash, but instead the episode leapt several months ahead.

SPOILER: Who Died in the Eighth Season Finale of Grey's Anatomy

SPOILERS Recap of Grey's Anatomy: Flight

I am completely in shock. Not only did they kill off a main character, but they did it in the first fifteen minutes! Lexie died while holding Mark's hand, and while he promised her that he really did love her (not just because she was dying). Shortly after that, Mark went into severe shock, presumably due to the massive blunt force trauma that he suffered on his chest. Everyone had been completely unaware of it, because he was walking around as though he wasn't injured at all. Meanwhile, Derek's hand was severely injured, and Meredith pulled it closed by weaving a safety pin in and and out of his skin. Thank goodness we didn't actually have to watch that happening.

The episode ended with a massive cliffhanger.

Grey's Anatomy: Flight (Promo & Mild Spoilers)

Warning: spoilers.
 
Scroll down to watch the first six minutes of tonight's 'Grey's Anatomy' finale.

Last week left off with several of the doctors getting on a plane. They were flying to another hospital to assist with the separation of conjoined twins. Initially it was supposed to be Cristina, Meredith, Derek, Lexie, Sloan, and Alex on the plane, but at the last minute Arizona was so mad at Alex (for deciding to accept a job at Hopkins) that she went instead. As we know from the promo, only Sloan appears to have escaped injury in the crash. Cristina has a dislocated shoulder, Meredith has a head injury, Derek's hand is injured, Lexie is trapped under part of the plane (and tachycardic), and Arizona has a severe break in her leg. The previews have promised us that "one will die"...which is a little unsettling to say the least.

'Castle' Does Film Noir

Let me just say this: 'Castle' does special theme episodes way better than any other show I've seen (sorry, 'Grey's Anatomy', you lose).

Tonight's film noir episode was much anticipated, and it almost lived up to its hype. To be honest, I'm not sure what else they could have done to make it better, but after all the built up anticipation it was impossible for them to achieve complete perfection.

That being said, check this out:

Real Film Noir

Castle Film Noir

The episode centers around the story of a present-day treasure hunter who is found murdered during his search for a necklace in the shape of a butterfly. Castle and Beckett discover a journal with his body, and it turns out it was written by a PI in the 1940s. Throughout the episode Castle imagines events from the journal, envisioning himself as the PI, and Beckett as the PI's love interest/a gangster's moll. The episode shifted back and forth between these distant flashbacks and the present day case.

The journal parts of the episode used a lot of film noir tropes, including a vaguely femme fatale character (Sally, who in an interesting twist is played by Molly Quinn, who normally plays Alexis), a controlling gangster, and plenty of traditional voiceovers and repartee. Even the use of the journal as flashback is a play on the use of time within traditional film noirs. Many film noirs play with temporal shifts, using both remembered and real time...and this episode of 'Castle' certainly did that.

My favorite part of the episode may have been near the beginning, when the writers gave film noir enthusiasts a laugh. Present day Castle started verbalizing his thoughts, like an onscreen voiceover, and suddenly interrupted himself, asking, "why am I narrating?".

Molly Quinn as Sally

 Boy, those 'Castle' writers clearly did their film studies homework.

Now that I think about it, you know what I could have used more of? Innuendo. After that visual innuendo (hand stroking) last week, you'd think they could have given us a little more verbal innuendo this week.

Perfect inneundo:




Come back tomorrow for my complete summary of "The Blue Butterfly"

'Grey's Anatomy' Proves that Hair Really Matters

I've already posted about last night's episode of 'Grey's' (S8, Ep13: "If/Then"), so I won't bore you with the details here.

What I want to talk about instead is hair styles. Namely, how crazy it is that simply changing characters' hair styles immediately changes their whole personae.

For instance, I loved Callie's new hair-do, but it certainly made her look way more suburban mom:

Meredith's lack of volume showed how deflated she was with her mother ordering her around:

Bailey's hair-style was a little juvenile, and didn't fit with the harder personality she has in current reality. In alt-reality, where she was under Meredith's mother's thumb, it was perfect:

Cristina's harsh bangs also suited her alt-reality persona, where she was considered unapproachable, and slightly evil:

Hair styles aside, the rest of the costuming was also very well done:

Meredith's day-clothes were almost exclusively pink, signifying how she is still very much a little girl who is controlled by her mother. Her pink watch, and shiny black shoes, reminded me of a suburban child, while her cardigan and button-down screamed preppy: 

 Alex was also screaming preppy with his belt, polo-shirt, and glasses. If they were trying to make Justin Chambers less attractive, they succeeded. If they were trying to make him match Meredith? Yep, that happened too. I think it was particularly well-done because he looked a little over the top, like a boy playing dress up. Considering the fact that he was faking his affection for Meredith (presumably, in part, to please her mother) this outfit makes sense.

Finally, I have to touch on those hideous scrubs. I worked in a hospital for two years, so I know what normal scrubs look like. And no, they don't look like the ones that normally appear on 'Grey's Anatomy'; those are clearly tailored for each specific actor. Still, these ones are especially ugly. And different scrubs for the men and women? That would never fly at any hospital I've ever worked at. Also, why do them at all if you clearly need to outfit Sarah Drew (Kepner) in the normal scrubs due to her real-life (hidden on the show) pregnancy? This is the one costuming decision I don't understand.

photos from givememyremote.com

Grey's Anatomy's "If/Then" Universe Mimics Reality

"...nothing is turning out the way I thought it would, it's like I don't even recognize my own life."-Meredith

Last night 'Grey's Anatomy' pulled a 'Fringe' and handed us an alternative universe. The writers clearly had fun coming up with if/then scenarios: Meredith was engaged to Alex, Dr. Webber was her step-father, Bailey was completely over-powered by Meredith's still-living mother, and Callie was married to Owen (with three kids!).

That being said, a lot of the alt-reality scenarios weren't that different: Addison and Derek, while still married, were on rocky ground throughout the episode. Mark Sloan even showed up at the end, admitting that he was the father of Addison's baby. Basically it was just a slightly alternative version of what happened in the First Season of 'Grey's'.

Other very familiar scenarios? Alex cheating on Meredith with Kepner. He's always been portrayed as a bit of a hound-dog, and having sex with colleagues in hospital rooms? Very 'Grey's Anatomy' Season One. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been wondering for a while if Alex and Kepner will get together, so seeing them making out wasn't a real surprise. They certainly have more chemistry than Meredith and Alex who, we all now know, should never, ever get together on the show for real. Seriously, no chemistry. At all.

Avery flirting with screwed-up/drug-addict/alt-reality Lexie was clearly a throwback to their relationship earlier this season, while the scene where Mark Sloan tried to save her life just made me wish harder for a Lexie/Sloan reconciliation.

At the end of the episode, we were left with the distinct feeling that lots of things were going to change, and that current reality wasn't too far away: Cristina knew Owen's secrets, and Callie was clearly attracted to Arizona. Also, Meredith and Cristina did shots of tequila at a bar (again, hello Season One!), and even quoted verbatim from the pilot episode. Oh, and at the very end of the episode, drunk Derek met drunk Meredith in a bar, and we all know where that led.

The episode concluded with Meredith's voice-over:
"Some things are going to work out as though they were destined to happen"

And that's fine. But, while the hour was fun for die-hard fans, I'm not sure what the purpose of this episode really was. Unlike on 'Fringe', this alternative reality is going away as quickly as it came. I do know one thing though, if the pilot episode of 'Grey's' had been this episode, I still would have watched the show.

'Grey's Anatomy': "

'Grey's Anatomy' is finally returning from hiatus tonight (ABC at 9/8C).

The episode is entitled "Suddenly", and I assume this signifies the fact that things are suddenly changing in numerous characters' lives.

Since it's been so long since the last episode (56 days!) let's recap: Teddy doesn't know about her husband's death, Owen and Cristina's relationship is on shaky ground since they disagreed about her abortion, Meredith and Derek don't know if they will get Zola back, and Meredith and Alex are still caught in a storm with a very sick baby and several seriously injured adults.

Here's the lengthier recap:
1) Teddy's husband needed immediate surgery, and she begged the new Chief, Owen, to let Cristina do it (awkward, since Owen is Cristina's husband).
2) Owen agreed with Teddy, provided that her husband's face remain covered so that Cristina did not know who she was operating on (again awkward, because Owen is Cristina's husband).
3) Teddy's husband died on the operating table, and Cristina was devastated (Owen, why didn't you see this coming? You're her husband!).
4) Meredith and Derek waited for news about their court case involving custody of their adopted daughter, Zola. It seemed more and more likely that they would not regain custody.
5) Meredith and Alex took an ambulance to a rural hospital to retrieve a baby who could only receive proper medical attention at Seattle Grace.
6) A huge storm raged outside, and the ambulance broke down on a curvy road. Shortly after Alex and Meredith had picked up the baby.
7) Because the ambulance was full of oxygen tanks, it could explode if hit, so Meredith and Alex argued about whether they should take the baby out of her incubator outside and into the storm.
8) The ambulance ended up getting hit by a car just as Meredith agreed that they should move outside.
9) The ambulance didn't explode.
10) Meredith and Alex were still spurred to move outside, and when they did they saw that they car that had hit them had rolled over, and ejected all of its passengers.

What might happen?
There's a chance that Cristina will ultimately blame Owen for allowing her to operate on Teddy's husband...and she may assume that part of why he caved to Teddy is that she is his ex-girlfriend.

Since Teddy's husband just died, and that will become a major plot issue, there's a chance that the writers might decide to give Zola back to Meredith and Derek.

And maybe the episode will try to be a little less depressing and allow the new baby and/or some of the ejected car crash victims to survive.

Oh, plus, promos have told us that Lexie (who was just dumped by her boyfriend because she's still in love with Mark), will be forced to work with Mark's new girlfriend on tonight's episode. Great.

The People' Choice Awards--will one show dominate?

When the People's Choice Award nominations were released this morning many of you may have noticed the obvious--several shows have the chance to win multiple awards. Now, I cannot be the only one who was completely bored at the Emmy's when 'Modern Family' won the first four awards. However, when looking at the shows nominated for People's Choice Awards there are some that really deserve to win, and some that really, really don't. Because of that, a show having total domination at this awards show may not be a bad thing.

Here are some possible domination scenarios:

'Bones' could win TV Drama Actor (David Boreanaz), TV Drama Actress (Emily Deschanel), and Best TV Crime Drama.
(To make it a family affair Zooey Deschanel's show 'New Girl' could also win for Best New Comedy)

'Grey's Anatomy' could win TV Drama Actor (Patrick Dempsey), TV Drama Actress (Ellen Pompeo), and Best TV Drama.

'Supernatural' could win Best TV Drama and Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show. 'True Blood' and 'The Vampire Diaries' could have similar sweeps.

'House' could win Best TV Drama and TV Drama Actor (Hugh Laurie).

'Glee' could win Best TV Comedy, TV Comedy Actor (Chris Colfer or Cory Monteith) and TV Comedy Actress (Lea Michele or Jane Lynch)
'Castle' could win Best TV Crime Drama and TV Drama Actor (Nathan Fillion).

'30 Rock' could win TV Comedy Actor (Alec Baldwin) and TV Comedy Actress (Tina Fey).

'How I Met Your Mother' could win Best TV Comedy and TV Comedy Actor (Neil Patrick Harris).

And, oh, look what can't possibly dominate: 'Modern Family' (nominated only in Best TV Comedy).

The most impressive sweep would clearly be 'Bones', since they could take away a total of 3 awards. Too bad they weren't cross listed in both Best TV Crime Drama and Best TV Drama ...then they could have gone for four! Guess they might have to settle for Emily Deschanel's little sister winning Best New Comedy. That counts, right?

The show with the best shot at sweeping categories is 'Glee'. Having multiple nominees in the same category decreases competition and should work to their advantage. The only way this might not be a good thing is if fans feel divided about which cast member they should vote for, and split the vote.

Response to "What a Woman Really Wants From a TV Show"

I recently read “What a Woman Really Wants From a TV Show” on Jezebel. I agreed with almost everything Dodai Stewart wrote.

1. I also miss having both physically and emotionally strong female leads or, as Stewart puts it, “kick ass female lead(s)”.
2. Unlike Stewart, I love a good procedural/medical drama (perhaps more than most), but I don’t think I can stand adding many more to the mix. I already have Law and Order: SVU, Bones, Grey’s Anatomy, Rizzoli and Isles, and Body of Proof. Please, no more.
3.  Two Broke Girls is somehow watchable, but parts of it are definitely racist. Really, really racist.
4. New Girl also has a few funny moments, but Jess as a character is not fleshed out.

What Stewart didn’t discuss, although she did mention it, is ABC’s newest show, Revenge. I’d argue that Revenge, perhaps more than any other show on the air right now, has a strong female lead.

Revenge is centered around Emily (Emily VanCamp), a young woman who moves back to the Hamptons to seek revenge on those who destroyed her father’s reputation. I won’t go into the complex plot right now, but I will tell you that there is one. At the same time, after watching an episode of Revenge it could easily be dismissed as a mindless sexy drama.

But Revenge has a one thing that other shows are missing: a strong female lead.

Emily’s character is intense, intelligent, and manipulative. She’s not necessarily likeable, but she’s a strong woman who successfully achieves her goals. She’s also beautiful, but for once beauty doesn’t make her an airhead, nor does it make her someone who only uses her sexuality to get what she wants. Her character is multi-faceted enough that she is able to use her beauty alongside her intellect, and she is also psychologically complex. That’s a refreshing thing to see on television. 

What's new on TV tonight?

Premieres of 'Community', 'Parks & Rec', and 'The Office' start on NBC tonight at 8 pm. After 'The Office' catch the premiere of 'Whitney'.

Also, 'Grey's Anatomy' is two hours long starting at 9 pm on ABC.

 And 'The Big Bang Theory' returns to CBS at 8 pm.

'Grey's Anatomy' Season 8 Sneak Peek Video

'Grey's Anatomy' Season Eight will premiere on September 22nd. Here are the two promo videos for the special 2-hour premiere ("Free Falling"):

Hurricanes & Television

In preparation for Hurricane Irene which is steadily heading our way, I decided to try to come up with a list of television shows/episodes that have dealt with natural disasters. Feel free to add to the list in the comments.
1. The easiest one ever...that television show called 'Natural Disasters'.

2. There was that season 1 'Dawson's Creek' episode with a hurricane. The most memorable part, if I remember correctly, was when Pacey went to the home of his teacher who he was having an affair with to help her put up plywood shutters.

3. '30 Rock' did it in their 5th season episode entitled "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning". Jack decides to prepare news broadcasts for every natural disaster possible. Watch it, it's funny.

4. The 5th season premiere of 'Grey's Anatomy' dealt with a serious ice storm. It was high drama (but it's 'Greys' so what else is new!) and two hours long.

5. In the 5th season of 'Friends' there was a big snow storm (anyone else noticing a pattern with the snow?!) and Phoebe's wedding was disrupted.

6. Last season 'Bones' had a great episode where Booth and Bones got trapped in an elevator during a power outage caused by a gigantic snowstorm. I highly recommend you watch "The Blackout in the Blizzard".*

*I'm coming up with two new lists related to 'Bones', one is a list of my favorite/must-watch episodes, and the other is a list of episodes related to Booth and Brennan's opinions about pregnancy and babies. Get excited.

Tracy Morgan ("30 Rock") consequences of homophobic rants

But Why Would You Say That?

Washington ("Grey's") & Morgan ("30 Rock")

Do any of you remember Isaiah Washington? I barely do. But just a few years ago he was the hot doctor boyfriend of Cristina (Sandra Oh) on “Grey’s Anatomy”. All of that changed when Washington left the show in 2007. He left amid controversy…controversy which he had caused. After news of homophobic slurs against openly gay co-star TR Knight began to surface ABC had little choice but to refuse to renew his contract at the end of the year. If they had actually fired him he would have left shortly after the incident, in the middle of production. The fact that this did not occur made many think badly of showrunner Shonda Rimes (perhaps somewhat unfairly, since it would have been almost impossible to rewrite storylines to explain Washington suddenly disappearing). Regardless, as the NY Daily News stated in an article that they wrote 3 years after Washington left “Grey’s”: “Homophobic comments make bad career moves”.

Because of this, Tracy Morgan’s homophobic ‘joke’ during a recent stand-up routine (which included graphic descriptions of violent actions again gays, and described how he would harm his son were he to state he was gay) seems not only offensive and politically incorrect, but downright stupid. Have actors not learned anything from Washington?

As news of Morgan’s ‘joke’ has spread many have called for him to be reprimanded by NBC. However, some differences do exist between the circumstances of Washington’s rant and Morgan’s graphic comment. Washington’s insult directly related to a fellow cast member (TR Knight) and consequently not only put him in a bad light, but also cast a shadow over the production of the show. Other people involved in “Grey’s” (most notably Katherine Heigel) began taking open stands, essentially dividing the cast and crew. This meant that Washington’s comment harmed both the public’s image of the show, and the continued successful production of the show.

Could Morgan’s slur do the same thing? Yes and no. He did not attack a member of the cast or crew directly, although I am sure that there are plenty of openly gay people who work at NBC. Many of these people were probably upset by Morgan’s comments, particularly if they work with him daily. Still, there was no direct attack.

Morgan also made the comment during his stand-up act, which was in no way related to “30 Rock”, Washington, in contrast, ranted while on the set of “Grey’s”, and is said to have actually grabbed Patrick Dempsey by the neck.

While Morgan did not act violently, he did seemingly recommend violent actions against gays. In a year that has had a number of high profile gay suicides, this could not come at a worse time (of course, there’s really no better time for it either).

Those involved in the production of “30 Rock” have all made official statements.:

As quoted by the Huffington Post, Greenblatt (NBC Entertainment Chairman) said the following:

“I speak for NBC and myself personally when I say we do not condone hate or violence of any kind and I am pleased to see Tracy Morgan apologizing for recent homophobic remarks in his standup appearance. We will always recognize an artist's freedom to express him or herself, but not when reckless things are said no matter what the context. Unfortunately, Tracy's comments reflect negatively on both 30 Rock and NBC -- two very all-inclusive and diverse organizations -- and we have made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated”.

Tina Fey, showrunner and star of “30 Rock”, also spoke up (again, this is from The Huffington Post):

“I'm glad to hear that Tracy apologized for his comments. Stand-up comics may have the right to "work out" their material in its ugliest and rawest form in front of an audience, but the violent imagery of Tracy's rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the GLBT Community.

It also doesn't line up with the Tracy Morgan I know, who is not a hateful man and is generally much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person.

I hope for his sake that Tracy's apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian coworkers at "30 Rock," without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with, or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket.

The other producers and I pride ourselves on 30 Rock being a diverse, safe, and fair workplace.”

I truly adore Tina Fey, but I was a little upset by her statement that Morgan is “much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person”. That sounds very much like an excuse…as though she is saying that his words don’t matter…and trying to joke away what he said. While I appreciate that Fey made an effort to quickly release a statement, I wish it had not contained that joking line (perhaps she didn’t even mean it that way, but that is how it comes across). It cheapens her to come to his defense. Also, just because she thinks he isn’t ‘active’ enough to commit a crime like the one he suggested, doesn’t mean that somehow who hears him is too inactive.

Regardless, it seems to me unlikely that Morgan will leave the show for good. He is a central character, and would be very hard to replace. His statement was also not made in a setting tied to NBC, and consequently it would be hard for them to directly reprimand him about it anyway.

They are probably incredibly pleased that “30 Rock’ will not be returning again until midseason (due to Fey’s maternity leave). My guess is that everyone at the network is quite happy about her pregnancy right now. Eight months gives the viewers a long time to forget.

*Morgan recently released an apology to the LGBT community: read it here.

Are They Leaving?

Which actors are choosing to leave their hit television shows?

Cuddy is leaving 'House'! Lisa Edelstein is officially leaving 'House' and will not return for next season. I am actually incredibly annoyed by this, because one of the only reasons I am still watching 'House' is because of the potential for a House/Cuddy relationship renewal (yes, I'm a "Huddy fan"). Olivia Wilde still has time on her contract, and that gives me a reason to keep watching. She and House are the only really interesting main characters, and now that I think about it, if they became involved romantically that would be a really interesting storyline.

Patrick Dempsey said in an interview with Italian Vanity Fair that he would be leaving 'Grey's Anatomy' at the end of next season. But he has recently stated that he was "taken out of context". I'm not sure how that's possible, but I do know that ABC was probably not pleased by his announcement. If people know that Patrick Dempsey is leaving they know that Ellen Pompeo will probably follow suit...and that will give people little motivation to watch next season. I'm wondering if that means that Patrick Dempsey has been ordered by ABC to muddy the waters about his choice to leave.


Read more about Lisa Edelstein's decision to leave 'House' here.

grey's anatomy season 7 finale: Unaccompanied Minor

'Grey's' Anatomy: The Seventh Season's Finale

what decisions the writers made and how they're flawed
evaluating "Unaccompanied Minor"
spoilers

All right, I suppose my last post proves that I watched 'Bones' last night instead of 'Grey's'. Honestly, it was kind of a toss-up, but I knew that the 'Bones' fans would be reacting like crazy online, and I knew there would be no way to avoid seeing the answer to the sex question somewhere. And boy, was I right. Almost immediately after the episode EW posted an article and the link literally contained the words 'pregnant'. I'm sorry EW, but placing spoiler alerts in your article isn't really good enough when you're going to give everything away in the title of your link...see-->http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/05/20/bones-season-6-finale-pregnant/.
All right, now that I'm done with that rant I'll get on to discussing 'Grey's'.

First of all, this is FULL of spoilers. So, if you don't want spoilers, don't read on. Seriously.

1. Meredith--She messed with the Alzheimer's Trial. That's an unrefuted fact. And, lucky for us Meredith is willing to own up to that. What she's not willing to own up to is the fact that it may not have been a good decision. This drives Derek crazy.

2. Derek--He finds out Meredith has screwed with his trial (and honestly, she really, really has, I mean all of his hard work is no longer scientifically valid). He says she's going to be a bad mother. Storms off. And refuses to answer her phone calls.

3. Alex--He was upset last week about Meredith's tampering with the trial and let his knowledge slip (drunkenly) to Owen. He is still pissed at Lucy (Understandably!). At the end of the episode Lucy tells him to ask her to stay and he says "go to hell". Thank you, Alex! After all if she had really 'agonized' about stealing that job out from under you then she wouldn't have to even say that to you. And what kind of a power trip is that woman on that she thinks she can screw up your life one minute and be the love of your life the next? I seriously dislike her character, and she has not done one thing to make her the least bit likable. Alex is getting drunk again at the end of this episode, which makes me wonder if the writers are setting him up for some sort of a depressed/abusing alcohol situation next season.

4. Owen--He's all kinds of wrong in this episode. First, Owen tells Alex he didn't get Chief Resident because he ratted Mer out. But we know that Alex did the right thing here. And isn't part of being Chief Resident doing the right thing? And disciplining your peers? (Avery even states this later in the episode). So why did Alex's slip cost him Chief Resident? Sure, he did it in a stupid way, but that's kind of beside the point. And Owen seems to suggest that being Chief Resident is a popularity contest, and that Alex can no longer do it because they all dislike him for what he did to Meredith. BUT Kepner is not at all popular (no one even congratulated her after she won!), and her peers don't think she deserved it...so I don't understand Owen's rationale at all. Of course, Owen's rationale is completely screwy the whole episode: see below.

How Owen's Anti-Women
When Owen finds out that Cristina is pregnant and that she doesn't want to keep the baby he goes off on her. Despite the fact that she has always, always said that she does not want children, he throws the whole 'marriage is a partnership' thing in her face. Owen, Cristina has always said she doesn't want children and you knew that when you married her. What? You think you're so special that your desires should have overpowered hers already? Plus, I don't even want to talk about your pro-life rant at your obviously emotionally distressed wife. What I found truly remarkable was the fact that Owen kept on saying that it should be their decision, when what he clearly meant was that Cristina should do what he wants. He kept on asking her to be quiet, and to listen to him. And she actually did (which is unusual for her, and shows that she does consider him). Besides, she clearly values what he has to say, because last week when he told her she was never going to be Chief Resident, and gave her a valid reason, she accepted it. She wasn't mad, she thought about what he had to say, and she agreed. But in this episode when she repeatedly came to him and said she had thought about it and she still wanted an abortion, he kept throwing "we're a couple, we should make decisions together" into her face. I'm sorry, but who is the one who will be carrying the baby? And whose career will be put on hold for nine months, and then really (to a certain extent) forever. Cristina points out that she's not coldhearted or anti-children, and that she knows that if she has a child she will love it (and consequently change her career path, life, etc.). And Owen laughs her off! Then, at the end when Cristina comes to him with tears in her eyes and says she is having the abortion he kicks her out! It would be one thing if Cristina had told him at some point that she wanted children one day and was then making this decision. She has always always said she never wants children, and Owen married her anyway. If children were so important to Owen he should have married someone who wanted them. What, Owen? You think that women can't have unchanging values or opinions? Oh wait, I forgot that women are idiotic creatures who have constantly changing life values, and who always do whatever their husbands want.

Problems with the Derek and Meredith Situation (Version 7.0):
I take issue with two things. For one, how does Meredith making a stupid decision about a research trial have anything to do with her being a bad mother? She says to Derek that he shouldn't see things in black and white, and that she agonized over the decision. Now, while I think we're pretty much all in agreement that she made the wrong choice, that doesn't mean that she's going to be a bad mother. Umm, Derek? Teaching your kids that decisions are hard and there isn't always an easy answer isn't exactly bad parenting.

And what I really don't understand is Meredith's reaction to their discovery: 'I can't tell you anything because if I don't tell you whose drugs I switched than it won't invalidate the trial'. Well, that would sort of make sense if this was a blind-trial (for those of you who aren't researchers...a blind-trial is when the physician administering the drug has no idea if it is a placebo or the real deal. This is helpful because later when he examines the patient and writes whether or not the 'drug' is working he is not biased by the knowledge that the patient did or did not receive the real drug). But we know for a fact that it wasn't a blind trial! Every time Derek administers the meds Meredith opens the envelope, everyone holds their breath, and then Derek reads whether he is administering the real deal or not. Which calls to question, who the hell designed this research study? Yes, I understand the random selection of who is receiving the drug so that personal favors/the person who 'needs' the drug more etc. don't play a role. But, honestly, if the study isn't blind I'm not sure how they can truly measure the progress of their participants. Sorry for that medical researcher's rant. Maybe ABC should hire me so that we can have a real discussion about how to conduct clinical trials! Also, Derek shouldn't be so upset at Meredith because his whole trial isn't valid anyway.

Bones Episode Review: The Finder aka The Bones spin-off episode

THURSDAY NIGHTS ARE THE BEST NIGHTS ON TELEVISION
and "Bones" really contributes to that excellence...normally...

Yay for all of you! Except you CBS, Sorry...

Thursday nights are the best nights on television, hands down. Seriously, can you beat a night full of "Bones", "Grey's", "The Office", "Parks and Rec", and "30 Rock"? Didn't think so. My only complaint is that several of these shows are on at the same time which makes later Hulu-ing/TiVo-ing necessary.

I've given you a full day to catch-up, so I really hope by now you've watched yesterday's "Bones". But, in case you missed it, I'll try to avoid too many spoilers. Basically Bones and Booth had to solve a murder (what else is new) and they were successful (seriously, I'm ruining nothing). What was interesting though was that they appeared in very little of the show. Why? Well, because Hart Hanson and his crew wanted to introduce us to their new show, which will be premiering on Fox in the not too distant future. The show has, rather obviously, the same name as this episode: "The Finder".

During this week's episode Bones and Booth were in Miami where the remains had been discovered. Apparently, Booth has an old army 'friend' (Walter Sherman) who is a finder. Weird that Booth has never, ever mentioned this guy before, huh? Guess you need plenty of army buddies for a successful spin-off series. He can, quite literally, located anything that anyone has ever lost. He was also brain-damaged in the war which causes rampant paranoia.

the new team of "The Finder"

Now, the premise of "The Finder" isn't all bad. Although I do have to admit that it's a bit too much like "The Mentalist" for my liking. Still, Hart Hanson seems to be skilled at making things appealing quirky, so maybe it will be a smash hit. When reviewing this week's "Bones" episode that's kind of beside the point. My biggest problem with the episode? It wasn't "Bones"! So much of it was focused on introducing Walter and his friends (who I assume will be the primary cast of "The Finder") that the tone of the episode was completely wrong. I felt as though I was watching a brand new show that just happened to have a tiny side-story which featured the crew of the Jeffersonian. It felt bizarre to say the least. I do have to admit that I'm often thrown by shows introducing their own spin-offs (I didn't like it much when "NCIS" featured the new cast of "NCIS: LA" much either), still I felt that "Bones" did a particularly poor job.

Oh, look, here we see Walter and Booth briefly interacting

We only saw Booth and Brennan briefly (which was just enough time for Brennan to appear more socially inept and vapid seriously this used to be an intelligent woman, why are the writers doing this? and for Booth to interact with her in a way that was somehow less charming than it used to be.) In fact, it seemed as though they were only there at the beginning and the end, sandwiched around the real story which focused on Walter and his cronies. And which was, essentially, the premiere episode of "The Finder". I understand that "The Finder" is a new show aimed at the same audience as "Bones", but when I sit down in excitement to watch the weekly episode of "Bones" I prefer not to be tricked into watching something else entirely.

And it seems like some other people agree with me, this week "Bones" dropped 9% from last week's viewers...

"Bones" vs. "Grey's"...all new episodes & sweeps

Do you watch "Grey's Anatomy" or "Bones"?
Here's when the new episodes are airing!
When they're both new, which one will you watch (take the poll)?

So, "Bones" is an all new episode tonight (the first of 7 new episodes!) and I couldn't be happier. In fact, I'm super relieved that I don't have to pick between "Bones" and "Grey's" (which is a rerun tonight). I've really liked the last couple of weeks where they've been alternating new episodes. It has almost lulled me into a 'awww, how sweet, Fox and ABC are taking turns' sense of calm. But, it's almost time for May sweeps, so pretty soon everyone's going to fight to the death cancellation.

I miss the good old days (of last season) when "Bones" was on at 8 and "Grey's" was on at 9. It was sooo perfect. "Grey's" had finally won me back (I originally quit watching around the 3rd season when Meredith was in her whiny look-at-me-suicide-who cares phase). And despite the disappointment of the musical episode I do care enough about Arizona, Callie, Mark, Lexi, and that baby that I'm willing to keep watching.


But just because I'm going to be watching "Grey's" doesn't mean I'll be watching it live. In fact, I'm really torn about which of the two shows I'll be tuning in during sweeps. I'm going to be watching the next two episodes of "Bones" (both new, while "Grey's" is still reruns) to see if there are hints of a Bones/Booth romance (and I mean a real one, not this game we've been playing for the last 3 years).
If Bones and Booth get together in any sense of the word, no way am I finding out about it online after the fact.

This happened once, will it happen again?

But then again, I don't want to miss the drama of Callie and Arizona's wedding either. And, lets be honest, "Grey's" is a little better at keeping it's promises than "Bones". At least Meredith and Derek ended up together, even if it took forever!

All I can say is, thank god "Bones" and "Grey's" aren't going to be competing again until they both have new episodes on April 28th. At least I'll have Hulu. Although I still think there's something special about the anticipation of watching a show when it first airs on television.

And not that it is in any sense a cancellation issue ("Bones" and "Grey's" are both way too successful), when April 28th comes I don't know what decision I'm going to make, do you?

Will You Watch "Grey's" or "Bones" on April 28th?

Sarah Drew, "Grey's Anatomy", "Glee", and Typecasting

Sarah Drew probably isn't someone you've heard of before. She's certainly not a household name. But she is someone who you'll be seeing a lot of this year. She's Dr. April Kepner on "Grey's Anatomy". Dr. Kepner is slightly nerdy, slightly childish, slightly whiny, and apparently a virgin. All of this is probably why I immediately recognized her when I was re-watching "Glee" last night. Sarah Drew (the actress who plays Kepner) was playing a nerdy, childish, whiny, definitely-a-virgin character named Suzy Pepper. Suzy was a student who had a massive crush on the teacher Will Schuster, and was competing with Rachel for his attention ("Glee" S1E10).

Drew is interesting because she graduated from a university (in my hometown!), and then almost immediately started doing voice-work and acting. In 2004, just two years after she graduated, she was in a 38 episode arc of "Everwood". She was also in 4 episodes of "Mad Men" and 2 episodes of "Private Practice". Her role on "Private Practice" is the most confusing, considering that the show often does crossover episodes with "Grey's", yet Drew plays different characters on the two shows.

All I can say is that Shonda Rhimes must really like Drew a lot. After her role on "Private Practice" Rhimes cast her in a new pilot ("Inside the Box") which never got the green light.

Another interesting tidbit is that Kepner's love interest on "Grey's" is played by Peter MacNicol. MacNicol appeared on the incredibly successful "Ally McBeal" as a character much like the one he plays on "Grey's": socially awkward and apparently appealing to attractive women (de Rossi played his love interest on "Ally").

So, are Kepner and MacNicol typecast at all? Possibly. But they're both appealing to watch, and so I don't think anyone will really care.

I can tell they have accents...

Foreign Actors Who Have Bad American Accents

Lisl: Me nightie's slippin'
Bond: So is your accent, Countess.
--For Your Eyes Only


I was watching "Private Practice", a show that I normally choose to avoid (I like "Grey's", but for some reason I find the drama in "Private Practice" grating, and their focus on psychiatrists completely unrealistic), and I happened to see that Alex Kingston was in it. Now, I am a fan of Kingston. I was a loyal "ER" viewer, and really enjoyed her performance as Elizabeth Corday. I also enjoyed the fact that she had a lovely and realistic (because it is real) English accent. My biggest problem about her performance on "Private Practice"? Her accent sounded wrong. She was playing an American, and spoke with an 'American' accent...but there was something slightly wrong about it. I can't even explain it, but every third or fourth word sounded off.





My friend H, who reads my blog but chooses to verbally give me comments instead of writing them (write some comments, people!) also pointed out that Simon Baker's accent in "The Mentalist" is pretty shoddy. Since I don't watch that show, and have only seen previews, I didn't realize that. So, I retract him from my prior post, and am now including him here instead.



Click HERE for the Boston Globe's grading of American accents.