finaly! ..& fun reading tv recaps

Monday 18 May & today Tuesday 19 May lot of tv happening. finales. and I take it the upfronts are this week (why the same week as finales air!?) so news breaking re fall schedules, new shows & renewals. when & if want to, plenty to catch up ~ look thr on tvtattle, plus Sepinwall & TunedIn.

specifically
to do:
more Lost reading ~ have only read some (#200-230 or so) cmmts at Sepinwall (christy)...
have read Tuned In cmmts on printout, up to #105 (wonder if still going at all?)
have read Doc Jensen recap at EW.
but!-- final Doc Jensen column tomorrow, Wed. ..focus re Juliet. + oh 5/29 says still has one more! last S5 column on the way, with the final Totally Lost installment for this year.
& LongLiveLocke recap by Friday. oh:
Long Live Locke: Thurs 5/14: If You Haven't Seen the Season Five Finale, Don't Read Any of This (180 comments): Hello my dear friends, I realized less than a half-hour into 'The Incident' that my final Season Five post is going to take me a loooong time to pull together, as in, more than a week. I may divide it into two parts (one for each hour). I'm just not sure right now. In the meantime, I'm breaking with tradition & have decided to share a few of my initial, not very well rationalized thoughts with you on this depressing Morning After. Some of you who've been with me for a while may recall that the only other time I've ever done this is when I thought Locke had been shot by Ben at the Skeleton Pit and I was positive he'd been killed. Therefore, my motivation for writing today is probably pretty transparent: I'm extremely upset that Locke appears to be dead again.
she mentions Kate's NKOTB lunchbox so I ggl to learn that stands for New Kids on the Blocke & was the time capsule she & Tom buried.

& via that ggl I come to this recap where I hesitate for a moment over whether I like the humor & then decide it has me at "they corrupt?":
Lost: Season Finale - recap by Gabe - Videogum: So, Jacob. He is real, and he is pretty cool. Even back in the 1600s he talks like a normal dude. One imagines that when that giant sailing ship landed on the old beach and everyone disembarked saying 'what hast thou to sustain our personage' or 'doest ye know wherein I can partake in a slumber,' he was like 'huh? Why don't you dudes talk normal?' Anyway, Real Jacob has a Real Nemesis who wishes he could Real Kill Him. But he can't. I don't know. Forget it, Jake, it's Shadow of the Statue Town. In any case, Jacob keeps bringing people to the island, but his nemesis, we will call him Boblo, wants to keep people away from the island because all they do when they get there is fight and destroy and corrupt (they corrupt?) and it always ends the same way. 'It only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress,' Jacob says. This, of course, sets up one of the classic narrative conflicts: Man vs. Nature. Man vs. Man. Man vs. Himself. Jacob vs. Fish. Jacob vs. Boblo.
I am already on the edge of my seat. What happens next?
Jacob, it turns out, has been there all along! BOOM GOES THE MINDAMITE. Here he is buying Kate a New Kids on the Block lunchbox. Here he is giving Baby Sawyer a pen to write his murder letter. Here he is congratulating Sun and Jin on their wedding in fluent Korean. Man, Jacob is the best. I wish he was my immortal friend. My favorite is when he gives Jack a candy bar.
... ... ... ... See you next year.
Posted by Gabe at 1:15 PM to Videogum in Love-Watching

check out other posts on this 'Videogum' site. recap of Gossip Girl finale also by this writer Gabe. yes his GossipGirl writeup is funny.
Gossip Girl: Season Finale - Videogum: What is THIS? [photo: Serena at graduatn w tassle in her hair] Everyone else has a graduation cap on, you special fucking snowflake.
funny anger ~ like Vice magazine Don't: "Nice purple tracksuit, you f-- b-----." to little baby!

I like high energy rush! reaction writing.

as also on this blog I came across recently via the blogger gnatalby's own cmmt on TunedIn LDG:
Slow Clap, Private Practice, I Didn’t Know You Had it in You - by gnatalby « Booze. TV. Food. How Do *You* Spend Friday Nights? | ..there is a special exemptn for cliffhangers that are batshit insane like this. Watched the season (but bafflingly not series) finale last night. Sam finally admits th he loves Naomi BUT! it doesn’t matter. Charlotte brings all sorts of fancy doctors to her practice BUT! as I mentioned is usurped by Naomi. She decides she really needs Cooper, who she’s been pissed at for taking care of Violet. Which is important BECAUSE! Violet, overwhelmed by proposals fr both Sheldon & Pete, as well as overwhelmed by her acceptance of Pete’s amorous advances, decides to head home early WHERE! Psychotic patient Katie distraught over her own miscarriage has injected Violet w a paralytic so she can CUT the BABY out of Violet’s massive stomach! I know I’ve said before that I loathe cliffhangers, but there is a special exemptn for when the cliffhanger is batshit insane like this. This is on par w Dr. Kimberley Shaw running out of th laundry room after wiring Melrose Place to blow, shrieking: “It’s not what you think!" [Pause, serene crazy smile] "It’s much worse.”

also, thinking re spelling "finally" for finale from a cmmt on TunedIn, this on a post re House, by
-lostepic: I have been watching House since the beginning. With that said it has gotten repeative w the overall continuous story. It seems repeative. Every finally has handled it by having sth serious happen to House and we dont know what the outcome is.
lostepic's style also seems a rush! of thought.

...so, eventually read more re Lost. esp Doc Jensen & LongLiveLocke belated thoughts on finale, the season.
---oh and look up web show AfterJudgement.com, wh article front page of WashPost Style sxn says in dual story lines along w 'Before Judgement' rivals Lost. title does sound like could have similiar concern w redemption, as a theme. ---

and meanwhile ~

#Dancing with the Stars finale reaction. (others bummed not Gilles.)
8-21: "Performance #10: Results" 2009.05.19
Pg: » 12

and...
other tele-v finale etc recaps & maybe viewing online, hulu or network site:

#Gossip Girl finale. try watching on CW.com ~ Laurel on Monday's tvpicks says she saw prescreening of & "kind of loved". so, watch. plus I liked skimming recap by Gabe, of above videogum site funny Lost recap. and at TWoP the writeups are by Jacob, right? wh may make attending to Gossip Girl worth it just to engage what he writes. so serious, really. re Weeds & now this. anyway read his recaps at TWoP:
TWoP: Gossip Girl 2.25 final The Long-Term Benefits Of Sunscreen { Recaplet } Gossip Girl gives everybody the best graduation present ever: complete disclosure, and the clean slate that comes after.
(could also read thr Jacob's prvs recaps. last week, re 80s flashback episode: TWoP: Gossip Girl 2.24 Your Money Or Your Life { Recap } Lily stresses about problems that don't exist, in two different decades simultaneously, but everything works out like by magic. Meanwhile, Blair owns Prom. oh I read & pgmrkd the recaplet & noted his identifying the many familiar guest stars: Gossip Girl 2.24 recaplet by Jacob | TWoP | ...and ran off to LA to be a tragedy. | Watching a girl on a show talk re "I need to figure out wh I want, wh I need" might be lame, unless y know she ends up Lily van der Woodsen, wh makes it incredibly sad.)


#24 finale. watch on hulu. (oh &~ cld also watch Fringe finale, from last week, I think shld be avail on hulu.) 24 is another case where worth lkg at twop recaps in any case, bcs By M Giant, whose writeups are likeable. he did the Six Feet Under series finale right? wh was a lovely recap for a lovely ending "when this show says the end".
TWoP: 24: Day 7: 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM { Recaplet } Spawn Kim is not the person you want to see when you are on your deathbed.
TWoP: 24: Day 7: 6:00 AM - 7:00 AM { Recaplet } Jack Bauer's unconscious, but he wakes up, just in time to kick some ass.
or I could eventually watch this whole season. nah probably no.
+ The Morning After: [24] Airport '09 - Tuned In – TIME.com | 5 comments: It is an annual irony of a TV critic's life that the networks program the most TV to watch in precisely the week that you have the least time to watch TV. This week, I'm busy with upfronts, which as always falls in the last week of the network season; thus, I'll be TiVoing season finales and probably catching up on them well into June.
Last night saw the season-ender of 24, among others. (Yesterday at Fox's upfront, Kevin Reilly casually dropped what may or may not have been a spoiler about the finale, while accused head-butter Kiefer Sutherland took the stage and made a self-deprecating joke about seeing us all at the bar at the after-party.) Did the last two hours make the previous 22 worth it?


#HIMYM finale. hmm, not avail on hulu? & CBS's player I hear d n work pleasantly. but that's okay, seen mention this was not all that good an episode. and I do not want to watch any discord with a goat. but ~ good that the one moment I saw switching channels was Robin saying to Barney "I'm in love with you." seems likely that was actually happening (rather than a sequence in his mind), which is great, her unexpectedly (to him & us) saying what he was gearing up to.
so, just read Sepinwall to see what happened & reaction:
How I Met Your Mother. "The Leap": Carter Bays Q&A | 53 comments
+ HIMYM Watch: Mosby'd! - Tuned In – TIME.com | 5 comments
+ twop recaplet. ok perused those.

so that was last night's finales, Monday the 18th.

and tonight, Tuesday the 19th, besides DWTS, also Mentalist finale & WithoutATrace finale. ~ read bit of twop threads or look up recaps to see how each of those ended the season.

plus, premiere tonight of
#Glee Hulu - Glee: Pilot - Watch the full episode now. I saw few mins, seemed likeable. int bcs rather diff premise (high school) than NipTuck. somewh ~ was it a cmmt on Sepinwall? ~ saw descriptn as Freaks & Geeks + High School Musical. I think F&G v good but d n love it as much as some, d n relate, maybe not dramatic th way I like? but I did love Busby Phillips there as Kim & her relatnshp w Daniel. and High School Musical has seemed repellant to me.
read this: 'Glee': Ryan Murphy Q&A Nip/Tuck creator gives the scoop on his fun musical new comedy. comedy but hour long right? on Fox. ~ fits w him still working on FX.
---update 5/20 + a recap has appeared, special (for this unusual premiere in May of show that will run in fall season). so read that: The Glee Premiere by Angel Cohn May 20, 2009 12:04 PM | Mondo Extra TV Show | TWoP
and look, TunedIn post up too (& prob Sepinwall has a blog post, linking to earlier nj.com column, right?) The Morning After: Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! -Tuned In - TIME | 11 cmmts
Fox has been promoting it and critics have been writing about it for what seems like years now, but last night the most important show in the history of broadcasting , Glee , finally debuted. You know I loved the pilot. you did? cool. I had imprssn ~everyone (Sepinwall?) was lukwarm on it. What did you think?
-chaddog: I think we can all agree that the greatest pilot episode of all time was the pilot for Lost. Correct? hee. & y sure why not. (also good: The Riches. great pilot. what else? well Nip/Tuck fr same guy debuting this show, that pilot was very good. Escobar. the alligator ending.) I mean, the Lost pilot had a huge budget, was 2-hours, was completely different than anything we'd ever seen on television before, and incredibly introduced us to so many well-written characters without resorting to stereotyping, etc; in short, a phenomenal pilot. So if Lost is the best most-perfect pilot ever, than Glee was very, VERY good. The central focus of the show was nailed perfectly as what it is: an activity that involves incredible talent (see the other school's amazing version of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab") but is also ridiculous & bizarre (see the lyrics to "Rehab," and the fact that those lyrics were being performed by a high school show choir in a bombastic Broadway-style musical song & dance number). The talent on the show, both musically & acting-wise, is clearly there: Matthew Morrison as Will nailed the conflicted aspect of his character (provide for his family or do what makes him happy); Lea Michele is simply phenomenally talented, but brought a little Tracy Flick to Rachel Berry ("There is nothing ironic about show choir!") while hinting at the pain that the ridiculing cheerleaders cause; Cory Monteith as Finn seemed to be channeling a meld of Chris Klein's "Election" and "American Pie" characters; Jayma Mays was adorable; and Jane Lynch simply steals every scene she's in ("Gotta do a phoner -- that's a phone interview -- with a major media outlet. I'll probably do it on my iPhone."). They even found time for a guest spot by Stephen Tobolowsky! For this show to be phenomenal, they have to progress into showing all of these characters as well-rounded people, albeit maybe a bit quirky in certain ways. Jessalyn Gessig, for example, is great, but I got no sense of why she and Will would be together. yes.I like Gilsig very much. from NipTuck. also seen as Tami's sister in FriNightLights. but here that was the main thing that bothered me, why is this nice guy married to this awful caricature of a woman? ok scene where he says she was his first girlfriend, in HS, used to be filled w so much joy, that helps. she is very funny: "But, Will, I'm on my feet four hours a day three days a week here. Then I have to go home & cook dinner for myself?"
...yes it was Sepinwall who gave negativish rvw:
What's Alan Watching?: 'Glee' review - Sepinwall on TV
In today's column, I review Fox's "Glee," which I wasn't a big fan of:
A climactic performance of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" holds up better over its running time, but it also feels like too much progress too soon for what's supposed to be a rise-of-the-underdog story -- as if Fox needed Murphy to give them a blatant feel-good moment for the promos and to hook the audience for this long break between episode one and episode two. I don't feel hooked yet, and likely won't, based on my feelings about Ryan's track record.
-The show seems to be a divisive, a lot of other people seem to really like it.
-I find my tastes usually line up with Alan, but not this time. I got the pilot screener last week and ended up watching it 3 times, and everybody I've viewed it with has loved it. I can't stand most musicals, but by operating under the "nobody burts into song" rule and spot-on casting, GLEE exceeded my expectations.


...&tomorrow? Amer Idol, not m int to watch, but will be in reaction.
also mentor movie meets dance movie Take the Lead airs. might see a bit of that w mom. I really enjoyed on the trailer! (on a dvd that I own, I think). **next post: 5/19/2009 11:58:00 PM

ps looking thru Sepinwall makes me want to note to remember other shows of int to watch or just read rxn to:The Office (hulu), esp the finale. Fringe finale (hulu), if feel like it. did sound int, read about it Tuned In & Sepinwall. parallel world, Walter kidnapping peter fr the other one.
and ongoing: Rescue Me (hulu): seems this is like a sitcom to me, enjoyable to see bits of, not compelling as drama enough that I initiate watching straight thru. In Plain Sight (hulu) : enjoy the ~lightness of it. watch when in mood, but no need make a point to see all.
what else, was there else. Medium (hulu): like In Plain Sight, an enjoyable mood, it's there if looking for something to watch while.
and oh yes: In Treatment. (not on hulu. hbo. ~just look at Sepinwall's tagged posts about it to see if int in S2 patients.)