Alphabet’s blog

I'm not super picky when it comes to my tv shows.  Okay, I won't watch Grey's Anatomy or Lost, but I don't freak out because Glee is not realistic.  Which tv show is?

I do, however, have a slight problem when episodes are shown out of order.  With stand-alone sitcom episodes, you may not be able to tell which episode comes first.  Like I couldn't really tell that they swapped two episodes of Community (Advanced Criminal Law and the one prior, or something).

But when there's a clear progression, the episode order should be kept as much as possible.  Case in point: this week's episode of Modern Family centered on the first day of school.  In last week's epsiode, the kids were already in school - Luke and Manny got into a fight at school and their parental units were called in.

So why swap these two episodes?  My theory is that this week's episode is a weaker episode, and since the World Series was on and people were probably watching that, no one would complain about a weak episode.

It wasn't a bad episode, just not quite as funny as The Incident or even Coal Digger.  Also, the show feels disjointed when the families are separate.

And lastly, how come people on shows don't have jobs?  I mean, they do have jobs, but you don't seen them working, or even going to work.  Jay apparently owns his own business, and Phil is a realtor, so that could explain their more flexible schedules.  And apparently Claire and Gloria don't work outside the house.  But what do Mitchell and Cam do for a living, that they could take the day off to take Lily to the pediatrician?  (I love the doc's line - "I'm from Denver.  We didn't have pho."  And then she asked Mitchell to demonstrate how hard Lily hit her head - twice!). 

Just yesterday, I realized how well-adjusted I've become.  Or something like that.  Previously, the shows I watched were mostly hour-long procedurals/dramas - The Unit, CSI: NY, Criminal Minds, Bones, House, The Ghost Whisperer.  Few comedies - Big Bang Theory, New Christine, The Office.  

There was just something about the procedurals that made them interesting.  Maybe it was the fact that the story would resolve (for the most part) by the end of the episode.  Or that I was just in a miserable state of mind that misery found some company.  Also, there weren't very many comedies/sitcoms that were interesting.

This season, I'm less interested in procedurals (though there still are a few).  The majority of my shows are comedies and I like it that way.  It also helps that there are some great new comedies (Glee, Modern Family, and Community).  It's actually ironic, because work a few weeks ago was very very miserable.  Is it possible that because it was so miserable, I turned to comedy to keep my spirits up?

Who knows...

I had given up on The Office: just couldn't take any more of Jim and Pam together.  Together, they are just too smug, arrogant, and unstoppable.  It's super annoying. 

I skipped last week's episode (which I read was awful) but after reading a good review of this week's (The Lover), I decided to watch on Hulu.  Overall, it was a pretty funny episode - but I loved that perfect little Pam's world was turned upside down and all around.  I loved that Michael stood up to her and her bratty little whining - would have loved for her to have yelled at her more, and to have her actually be affected by it.

She is a brat.  Though I wouldn't want my mom dating Michael Scott (or any of my bosses, for what it's worth) - her mom is an adult.  She can make her own awful decisions.  It's pretty sad that Michael genuinely cares for Pam and Jim, because clearly Pam could care less for him.

Anyway, I'm starting to like the Erin character (new receptionist).  Initially I didn't, because she was new and taking over someone else's (albeit vacant) position.  But she is a bit clueless and naive, that it's endearing.  I liked how she had to ask Michael about putting candy on the counter and wouldn't even let Pam leave the candy there before she (Erin) cleared it!  She also is one for egging on others - she did so in the conference room (though I forget why) and she also did during the wedding episode where Andy was dancing and landed in the splits.

I've been reading posts, articles and comments online about Glee.  Though there have been praises for the show, there's also a lot of negativity about it as well.  Stuff like how the voices are auto-tuned in the songs (who cares?), how the guy who plays Puck should be playing Finn (uh, no) and how unrealistic the storylines are.

It's a comedy.  Does it have to be realistic?  Nobody watches Desperate Housewives and says "gee, that's so unrealistic!".  Yes, baby swap is preposterous - and your point is?  

And as for Puck as Finn, let's stake a look at the character of Finn.  He's the quarterback on an awful football team, he's a bit dim-witted (can't tell his left from his right; didn't know that you could borrow books from the library - all of them, except the encyclopedias; and thought he got his girlfriend pregnant because they made out in the pool).  He likes singing in the showers (who doesn't?) and enjoys singing in general because it reminds him of good times from his childhood.  He's never been trained to sing nor has he really danced before.

Then look at the guy who plays Puck.  Are we really supposed to believe him as an awkward football player that can't dance?  

I'd say Cory Monteith was an excellent choice to play Finn (no offense to Cory!).

Yes, Coach Ken - you, I mean, football is the consolation prize.  But we'll get back to that later.

Scene 1: Hallway
Episode 8 starts out with a slushie facial.  But who is the target?  None other than Finn Hudson!  Apparently, McKinley High's most popular couple, Finn and Quinn, have dropped to the lowest of the totem pole because of glee and because Quinn's preggers.  (What I want to know is why can't the nobodies give slushie facials to the people who
think they are cool?  Aside from the fact that they (the nobodies) aren't mean like that, that is.  Doesn't seem like any of the teachers care anyway).

Scene 2: Teachers' lounge
Newly engaged Emma and Ken approach Will as he's prepping his sandwich, with a tone of seriousness. 

Ken: We're going to Hawaii and getting married on the beach.
*silence*
Will: ...and you want me to come?
Emma: No, no, no.  I picked Hawaii because it's far away from everybody we know.

Apparently, they want Will to create a mash-up, using two songs of their choice (Emma - My Fair Lady's I Could Have Danced All Night; Ken - Sisqo's Thong Song).  Could there be two songs that are absolutely un-mash-able than those two?

And Will, Mr. Schu, really likes those chocolate chip cookies!

Emma offers (well, both of them) to pay Will for dance lessons and the mash-up, which Ken seems surprised by.  I would think that it would be better for him to make it a financial transaction. Maybe it's because he's poor and lives at the YMCA?  Luckily for him, Will decides it will be his wedding gift to them and declines the money.

Scene 3: Glee room
Quinn wipes slushie remanants from Finn's face, lamenting that they need to find a way to be cool again.  Meanwhile, Rachel, Kurt and Mercedes look on, concerned.

This week's assignment for them is to find an unexpected mash-up song to pair with Bust a Move.  He tells Artie to follow along on the bass and asks Finn to take the lead.  Finn can't because he has corn syrup in his eye - but he can still play the drums?  That doesn't make sense.  Will asks Puck but he (Puck) declines, so Will decides he has to show them how it's done.

Will has some crazy skills for a old (from their perspective) white dude!  Appallled by the song and dancing, Kurt mouths "oh my god", but everyone else seems to enjoy the song.  Even Kurt relents and starts shaking a tambourine.

Scene 4: Emma's office
This has to be one of the BEST scenes of this episode.  I knew I would have to rewatch this episode (not that I wouldn't already), natch this scene, because I missed a lot of lines because I was laughing so much.

Emma: ... how can I help you kids?  Is it, uh, too many friends on MySpace or ?
Quinn: I can't believe we're saying this... but we need some advice on how to be cool.
Finn: yeah... you must have picked up some ideas about what cool people do from watching them over the years... not that you weren't ever cool yourself.
Emma: *laughs nervously* yeah, well, um, well...

Quinn is convinced (or tries to convince them) that they've been dethroned because of glee.  Uh, how about the bun in the oven?  How do you think that affected your social status?

Emma: well, I don't really have any pamphlets on how to be popular.

Emma, with all her OCD-ness and dislike for the messy things, is still the voice of reason.  She tries to help them figure out why being popular is so important.

Quinn explains why being popular is so important - status is like currency, after all, and the two of them are like toxic assets!  Meanwhile, Emma is distracted by Will passing by as he mimics dancing and signals that he will meet her at 4 o'clock.  

Love how Finn turns around to see who Emma is looking at.  And you can hear the confusion in Quinn's voice as she's trying to explain (while Emma is clearly not listening).

Flustered, Emma suggests that they wear sunglasses, because sunglasses are so sexy.  After all, celebrities are always wearing them, even at night, and it gives them a sense of mystery.  You know, rappers.  Finn is enthusiastic about the idea - it makes perfect sense!  Finally, Emma snaps back to reality and tells them to be themselves.

Scene 5: Emma's dance lesson w/ Will
Emma wears her wedding dress (that her cousin Betty wore to her own wedding) to her dance lesson.  Modeled after Princess Diana's wedding dress, it has an insanely long train!  Emma thought it would be a good idea to wear it to the
lesson - Betty and her husband got into an epic fight at their wedding because he kept steeping on the train, and ended up getting divorced 3 months later.

Perhaps that should be a omen right there, Emma. Princess Di got divorced.  Your cousin got divorced.  Maybe this dress isn't the best idea?

Will starts playing The Thong Song.  This song is the most ridiculous song ever - catchy, but ridiculous.  If some guy started dancing around me to that song, I would be laughing/giggling just like Emma did.  What is she supposed to do during that song anyway?

Will nearly trips over her and they both fall over, ending up in an awkward situation.  For a second, I thought they would kiss, but they get out of the situation gracefully.  Nonetheless, Ken spies them through the window and gets jealous.  Hey, Ken, here's an idea - give up that song!

Scene 6: Football practice
Some of the guys give Finn a hard time about being part of Glee club.  Or as they call it "Homo Explosion".  Ken lectures them on being a team.  Coupled with the fact that he's jealous of Will, he institutes a special Thursday afternoon practice - which directly conflicts with glee practice.

Scene 7: Rachel's room
Rachel sings Christina Aguilera's What a Girl Wants while Puck plays the guitar.  Rachel and Puck?!  Then he suggests they make out and she agrees.  What?!

Apparently, after his mom lamented that he was no better than "them" on Schindler's List because he didn't date a Jewish girl, he has a dream that Rachel climbs through his bedroom window.  Well, it must have been a dream, because Rachel couldn't have climbed up the wall with no shoes on.  Yeah, that's it - if she had been wearing shoes, she totally would have scaled it.

Flashback to earlier - Puck approaches Rachel with a grape Slushie.  She thinks he's going to toss it into her face, but he actually brought it to her as a gift, to segue into asking her to work on the mash-ups.  Which is how they got to Rachel's bedroom.  (This confused me - I didn't get why he would make out with her, then she thought he would slushie-facial her - but I didn't realize it was a flashback).

Back to Rachel and Puck making out - she's imagining it's Finn she's kissing and she freaks out.  She tells him that she can't be with someone who doesn't have the guts to sing a solo.  This apparently is a tie-in to earlier, when Will asked him to take the lead in Bust A Move - I didn't make the connection until I rewatched the episode.

Scene 8: Glee club
Puck sings "Sweet Caroline", his tribute to a musical Jewish icon (Rachel).  Is Neil Diamond Jewish?  

Anyway, everyone seems to enjoy his song - except for Finn and Santana.  Finn notices that Puck is singing to Rachel (and she's totally enthralled by him - as is Quinn), and Santana looks disgusted, considering she dumped him because of his horrible credit score.

Scene 9: Hallway
Quinn and Finn make their way through the hallway, wearing their sunglasses as Emma suggested.  Finn thinks the sunglasses are working, until they run into a group of football players (maybe about 10 of them) all holding slushies.  Clearly he's never been slushie-facialed before (I hereby declare that a verb) because when they ask if he's thirsty, he says "sure, thanks!"  They slushie-facial both Finn and Quinn and warn him that he better show up to Thursday practice.  As the players walk away, one of them slips on the ice!  It's off-screen but just the sound and thought is hilarious.

Scene 10: Sue's corner
Rod, the anchorman, asks Sue out on a date.  He likes and need a woman with a little backbone.  I'm a little surprised that she actually said yes.

Cut scene to a great swing dance number by Sue and Will.  What - they're getting along?!

Rod is smarmy, but apparently Sue is in love after just one date.  She writes off the Sue that was set out to destroy Will and his glee club, and proposes to be a better person.  I don't really buy this "nice, in-love Sue".  I keep waiting for
the other shoe to drop - which it does, as she tells Will about Ken's ultimatum to the football players in glee.

Scene 11: Locker room
Will confronts Ken about the Thursday practice and ultimatum.  They both know that it isn't really about football.  Will thinks that Ken is mad that Will doesn't like his choice for a wedding song.  Ken tells him that it's about him being a consolation prize for Emma.  Will admits that while he hasn't intentionally encouraged her, he hasn't discouraged her either, and he won't let it happen again.  That's not good enough for Ken who still insists on the Thursday practice.  "We'll let the kids decide who's first choice... and who's the consolation prize."  Ouch.

Scene 12: Hallway
Rachel and Puck walk through the hallway, arm in arm.  She's totally boring him with her music talk but he pretends (not well) to care.  Then he gets slushie-facialed - looks like grape slushie again. 

Rachel helps Puck wash the slushie out of his hair in the boys' bathroom.  He apologizes for having slushie-facialed her before.  But he can't stand getting slushie-facialed so he's giving up glee for football.  Rachel concedes that they can't be together anymore and Puck laments that he can't be a good Jew.  Right.

Scene 13: Bridal shop
During lunch (they get an hour for lunch?  HS lunch was only 30 or 40 minutes for us!), Emma and Will go to find her a new wedding dress.  Never noticed that Jayma Mays's ears stick out slightly, but she looks like a Disney Princess!  (That's a good thing).  Emma and Will dance to the instrumental version of "I Could Have Danced All Night", while Emma sings along.  Will rushes off, partly because of the awkwardness of the situation, partly because of that showdown at 3:30pm (he explains the showdown to Emma).

Scene 14: Glee club
The non-football players (except Kurt) stare at the clock and wait to see who shows up.  Matt and Mike (the two football players with the fewest lines) show up and Santana and Brittany make a beeline for them.  Then Puck shows up and Rachel makes a beeline for him.  (My sister says that Puck seems like he wouldn't care what the football players would say, which may be true, but it really depends on whether he cares that much about football or not.  If the team was a better team - like they actually win - or something...).

Artie asks "where's Finn?" but no one (including Quinn) has an answer.  Cut scene to the football field - Finn has decided to choose football and is welcomed back to popularity by his fellow players.

Scene 15: Hallway
We see someone holding a slushie, walking through the hallway, and stops at Kurt and Rachel.  It's Finn and he's come to slushie-facial Kurt, though he doesn't want to.  Apparently, Kurt quit the team and it didn't help that he announced it in the showers.  Finn continues to hem and haw, so Kurt takes one for the team and slushie-facials himself.  Kurt tells Finn to think about whether his "friends" on the football team would do that for him.

Scene 16: TV studio
Sue, dressed up in a custom-made zoot suit, finds Rod and co-anchor Andrea making out.  Apparently, Rod was only interested in Sue for the dance competition (oh, I forgot to mention that earlier - Will was teaching Sue how to swing dance for said competition).  Hell hath no fury for a woman scorned - look out 'cause Sue Sylvester is back!!

Scene 17: Football field
Rachel finds Puck in the stands, watching practice.  She hopes he didn't choose glee over football for her because she doesn't think their relationship will work out.  Puck brushes her off, saying that he was going to break up with her anyway.  Besides, he can tell that she's in love with Finn - just as she can tell that he's in love with Quinn.  Rachel hopes that they can still be friends but he tells her they weren't friends before and walks off.  Will plays catch with Finn and tries to convince him to come back to glee.  Finn refuses - he doesn't think one decision will affect his whole life.  Uh, yeah, it does - like that teen pregnancy thing?  Depending on how you deal with it, it could affect your life dramatically!  Finn thinks it's true only if you invent some kind of zombie virue or something.
 
Scene 18: Locker room
Finn approaches Ken about having to choose between football and glee.  For being not the brightest lightbulb, Finn has his moments of brilliance.  "Leaders are supposed to see things that other guys don't, right, like they can imagine a future where things are better."  He sees a future where one can be in both football and glee.  Uh, considering their football team stinks?  I'm surprised they are even up there in the social stratosphere.

Ken relents and cancels the Thursday practices - because he has other things to do, like laundry.  He even tells Finn to tell Puckerman and the others.  Wow.

Scene 19: Hallway
Sue wants the set list for sectionals from Will.  She's back!  If the set list is one minute late, Sue will go to the animal shelter and get Will a kitty cat, let him fall in love with the kitty cat, then steal away into his home at night and punch him in the face.  I seriously thought she was going to kill the kitty cat!  But what does punching him in the face have to do with the kitty cat?

Sue finds Quinn still wearing the sunglasses and tells her to take off the sunglasses so she can see her eyes when she delivers the news - Quinn is off the cheerleading squad.  And she's a disgrace.

Scene 20: Emma's office
Will enters, leaving the door wide open (I guess so no one would think of impropriety).  He doesn't think the mash-up will work and Emma agrees.  Though they are talking about the songs, they are actually either talking about Emma and Ken, or even possibly Emma and Will.  In this scene, Will seems heartbroken and Emma seems unusually calm.  Until he leaves the office, though - and then Emma breakdown.   

Scene 21: Glee club
Finn rejoins glee and brings slushies for everyone!  Kurt says they're just empty calories and that they're called slushies because your butt looks like one when you have too many.

No one has completed their assignment (remember - the mash-up with Bust a Move?) but no worries, everyone is just glad that glee is back together again.  Except for Quinn who is upset over having to wear regular clothes.  And Artie, who states "I personally feel like a failure". Artie has some of the best throw-away lines!

After discovering that Will has never been slushie-facialed before, he gets pelted with 12 slushies!  I was thinking "take the straws out!".  He looks ridiculous with all that grape slushie everywhere!

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I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a big musical number - I'm still waiting for something a la Don't Stop Belivin'.  But the episode was great anyway.  Alas, no new episodes for three weeks or so...

By the way, notice that no one chose football because they actually enjoy it.  Finn chose it because he wanted to be popular and liked.  Puck chose it because he didn't want to get a slushie-facial each day (though later he switched).

I don't mind spoilers, to some extent.  I read tv blogs and I'm not one of those people who freak out when the headline reads that Jennifer Morrison is leaving House (I think that's pretty crappy to write Cameron out, but it's a tv blog, do you just want recaps?)

But to some extent, reading too much about Glee (my favorite show this fall) is probably not a good thing.  I like being surprised by the musical numbers and the situations.  I don't want to be ticking off each number and checking the clock to see how much time is left.  I do this, btw, check the time.  I was sadly disappointed there wasn't a big musical number at the end of Episode 8 (Mash-ups), though seeing Mr. Schu get a slushie facial was pretty funny.

Anyway, I don't really care that they got the okay to use Madonna's songs or that Adam Lambert may guest star.  Heck, I don't even care that Joss Wheedon may direct.  I don't care for any of them, but maybe Glee will change that... 

So what's with tv shows set in high schools (comedies mostly) and their Spanish teachers?  Is there anything inherently funny about a HS Spanish teacher?

Glee: Will Schuester (one of the leads)

Community: Ben Chang (okay, technically this isn't HS, but close enough).

Miss Guided: the guy who doesn't speak Spanish!

So I'm eliminated The Office and 30 Rock from my list of shows to watch.  The Office is just not doing anything for me (esp Jim and Pam) and 30 Rock never quite did.

I don't know how 30 Rock wins so many Emmys.  I dislike Tracy and Jenna, Jack is pompous but okay in small doses.  Liz is funny sometimes.  But I think the biggest issue (for me) is that a lot of it is a bunch of rich or famous people (them being actors on TGS) complaining and whining.  It's not funny.  It seems like they depend on Tracy and Jenna doing outrageous, stupid things, which Liz has to fix.  And that's the storyline every week.

So yeah, bye bye.  Which means the only show left on NBC that I watch is Community - which I watch on Hulu because they moved it to 8pm (which is opposite Bones).  Hah!  I remember when NBC was like the only channel I watched - how things have changed.  I might watch Friday Night Lights when it comes back, but I don't know - I think after a certain amount of time, a tv show gets stale...

And I don't know how much more of House I am going to watch - I love the interplay between House, Cameron and Chase.  Yes, I know that C&C have not been on much in the last couple of seasons, but I thought it was supposed to change this season.  Well, it sure did - Cameron is leaving!  With both Taub and Kutner gone too, I don't think I can stand watching Foreman and Thirteen.

CBS: The Big Bang Theory, New Adventures of Old Christine, Criminal Minds, The Ghost Whisperer
FOX: House, Glee, Bones
ABC: Modern Family (Hulu)
NBC: Community (Hulu)

Well, I have to say that it looks like CBS is a fan of titles with mostly three or more words, FOX tends to stick to one word titles, ABC has two word titles, and NBC is just all over the place (though most of their more recent shows have just one word titles).

I am in love with the show Glee. It's got to be my favorite show (along with The Big Bang Theory).

I've never seen High School Musical - I imagine it's like a movie-length SNL skit, where they break out into song-and-dance at the drop of a hat?  No thanks, I'll take my song-and-dance in measured doses, thank you.

Episode 1.06 (Vitamin D) was a great episode.  The songs on Glee really get stuck in your head, in a good way.  And I love the choreography.  I have to remember to record the show onto my computer so I can rewatch the musical numbers.  After all, what else did I buy a Pinnacle HDTV usb capture stick for?

I liked the boys' mashup (It's My Life/Confessions) a little better than the girls' (Halo/Walkin' on Sunshine) while watching the episode yesterday, but after listening to the girls' song a few times today and re-watching the clip, it's actually pretty cute.  I wouldn't have minded dancing in that number myself :)  Ah, dancing... sometimes I do miss ballet.  Other times, not so much.  Liked how they featured Matt and the other football player dancing during the guys' mashup.

I'm a bit torn by the love triangle/square between Will/Emma/Terri/Ken.  Actually, if you think about it, it's more like a rectangle because not all the sides are equal... While I think Will and Emma make a cute couple, one would wonder if they would work out.  Like Terri said, they only see each other (at school) for an hour a day or so.  What if they ended up finding out they have nothing in common?  Though I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with having someone at work who you look forward to seeing.  Well, I guess if you are married (like Will), it's not so simple.

And I'd like to think that Will has a bit more integrity than to just up and dump his "preggers" wife - I'd like to think that Emma appreciates that integrity as well - but you really do root for the wife to do something unforgivable (faking a pregnancy?) to "justify" Will leaving her.  Or she can leave him.  I'm not picky.

Having watched a lot (and I do mean a lot) of Chinese-language soap operas as a kid (because most tv dramas from Taiwan are soaps), I never root for the homewrecker.  But there are just a few times (I can think of one soap, and then Glee) where you really hope the "other girl" and the guy get together in the end.

As for the kids - they were awesome as usual.  Funny that Santana and the other girl (sorry, what's her name?) make fun of Quinn being preggers.  I guess they aren't really that great friends?  And Finn, as always, was funny.  So tired that he was annihilated on Level 2 of his XBOX game, and he was too tired to even care.  I'm a bit surprised, though, that he and his mom can afford Cinemax.  I thought they were poor?  Anyway, seeing Finn hopped up on decongestants was hilarious - very hyper, wide-eyed, smiley.  Atypical for him.

Wow, I typed this post really quickly, not that I don't type fast anyway, but I feel a bit spastic right now.  I think it's from watching the girls' mashup a couple of times too much! 

I'm trying to be proactive and organize my email.  I moved from Eudora to Thunderbird sometime in March but I imported all my old mail to Thunderbird.  And I created more folders than I used to have so I could sort my emails efficiently.

The only problem is that it's not really efficient.  I have to figure out which folder to put the stupid mail in, and do I need to keep everything associated with said subject in the folder, even if it's just a reply "ok" or "thanks"? 

I've decided to reduce the number of folders and use tags and searches instead.  But how many folders should I have?  One is too less - I have one folder alone with 4000 emails and it's a booger to access.  Do I do two folders - financial and others?  But does travel count as financial or other?

Arg... I wish I could just delete all the emails but what if I need it later?