The Real World Sydney: The New Girl

ORIGINAL EPISODES, WEDNESDAYS @ 10PM ON MTV

Fun times in the Real World House again! Well, not so much but at least Isaac is having fun with his new friend/girlfriend/sleepover friend Noireen. The two of them have no idea exactly what their relationship is or where it's going but they seem to really enjoy each others company. Isaac in particular is an entirely different guy when he's with Noireen and it's nice to see that he could be a good guy when he wants to be. To be honest, I didn't think Isaac had it in him to not only be nice but to smile and be happy. The guy has skulked around for the entire season and the only time we really hear him speak is when he's putting someone down.

This girl brings out the best in him and he should hold on to her as long possible. Sadly, he was a dumbass and brought home three girls from the bar the first night he didn't hang out with Noireen. I have absolutely no idea what he was thinking because they weren't even cool girls. Even more, why would he tell Noireen about it if he wasn't planning on anything happening with them AND he kicked them out. It was harmless and if she's not his girlfriend then it's good that he didn't do anything but he didn't need to say anything about it. True he was piss drunk which just goes to show why you should unplug all phones before drinking; drunk dialing is never a good thing.

The rest of the episode didn't contain too much drama (which is a bit disappointing since that's really why we all still watch). We did get to meet Ashli for the first time and you know what, she was no where near as bad as the producers made her look in the previews. I thought we were getting a new roommate who would be disrespectful to Shauvon and her pictures on the wall, that would come in and purposefully cause drama with Parisa, and who would purposefully try to get with Dunbar despite him being with Julie. In reality, she is none of those things and in fact tried to get to know Parisa who totally shut her out from the beginning. I don't think it's because Parisa is a bad person but rather she's trying to protect herself from being hurt by a new roommate. Sadly, this just won't work. I've been there before and totally shutting yourself out to a new person actually makes a situation worse and I think we've already seen that starting to happen. I feel bad for Parisa but at the same time she puts herself in situations where she's vulnerable to attack. I think she just needs to let lose, stop caring what everyone thinks, and also think before she acts. She has a tendency to do things without thinking about others feelings but then gets upset when they're pissed at her. Ashli seems like she could be an ally or at least a mediator between the old roommates feelings towards her and Parisa but the way Parisa is pushing her away will just make her an enemy instead.

As for the future, there are a few very interesting things we saw in the preview that I can't wait to see:

- Dunbar appears to cheat on Julie with Ashli!!

- Trisha physically hits Parisa and may get kicked off the show if Parisa decides she should leave

- Kelly Anne totally turns evil and decides to go after Parisa too
- Kelly Anne may be pregnant after sleeping with Cohutta this whole time
- Isaac has a thing where if he sees a black bird it means someone is dead and he does in fact see one. Whether its a real bird or not I don't know but it sounds as if someone in his life dies while he's on the show.

The future seems to be littered with intense drama and I can't wait to see how it unfolds. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Gossip Girl: Victor, Victrola

ORIGINAL EPISODES, WEDNESDAYS @ 9PM ON THE CW

Let's start with our favorite Upper East Side couple, Dan and Serena. You can already see these two falling for each other and quick. They've had chemistry since the very beginning and now that they can finally express it what do they do? Yup, they try to find some alone time. Too bad this doesn't really work out well for them with constant interruptions from parents, life, and a best friend that happens to be both a girl and in love with Dan. Except we know that you can't keep teenagers down for too long and Serena and Dan finally have their magical night. Before we get to that we should talk about the biggest obstacle to their night, themselves.

We actually learned a lot about Serena in all of this. It turns out that although Serena has a checkered past with Nate and some other ways that we haven't been privy to yet, she's never had a real boyfriend. Personally, I was a bit surprised at this. Given their lifestyle and what we know about her past I would have thought there would be a couple boyfriends mixed in there somewhere. Anyway, Serena was entirely too aggressive in getting things to move forward with Dan and this probably has a lot to do with her former lifestyle and the limited knowledge she has about relationships. This ended up hampering their progress rather than pushing it forward. Dan also has his issues, mainly with his virginity and unrealistic expectations about what he needs to do to make Serena happy. It was absolutely hilarious that he felt it was necessary to research pornography in order to figure out a game plan and hone his skills. In the end, Dan may have thought all of this was necessary in order to be the guy Serena wanted and Serena may have thought she needed to be aggressive to get the guy she wanted but as it turns out, they just needed to be honest, slow down, and be themselves. When they did this they realized they weren't ready and would rather take the time to fall in love first. I think this was the right idea and I'm glad to see them growing much closer together and they didn't need sex to do it.

One person who knew how to make his girlfriend happy but couldn't give it to her was Nate. He knows all too well that if he committed absolutely to Blair, gave her the family ring, and slept with her that she would be happy and no one would every question him. The only problem was that he doesn't love her anymore. I doubt he truly loves Serena though; it would appear to be a temporary infatuation resulting from his desire to get away from Blair. At the same time he needs to figure all this out, he also needs to deal with his cocaine addict of a father. I have to give it to Nate though, his masterful attempt at getting his father the help he refuses by getting him arrested was brilliant. I never expected that from him but it was interesting to see what he can do when he puts his mind to something. Unfortunately for Nate his father was also embezzling money from his company and his legal troubles are only now beginning. With all this happening he finally admitted he didn't love Blair. The consequences of this decision may be catastrophic.

I'm a believer that things only happen for a reason and sometimes those reasons are hidden. The consequences, however, are never hidden; at least not for long. So what's the consequences of Nate's decision? For one, Blair has gone off the deep end and become the wild child Serena took the crown for earlier on. And her first act as queen was to strip in Chuck Bass's new burlesque club and then sleep with him in the limo on the way home. Apparently though this isn't the end. Next week it seems that Blair may continue her wild child ways. It also seems that Nate may have cost his father more than his freedom but also his biggest client, Blair's mother. Where the consequences end who knows, but I have to imagine we're going to be seeing the repercussions for a while to come.

As for the rest of the episode, I'm not sure where to begin. It was craziness in New York and we had bits and pieces of numerous other stories thrown at us. Foremost is the relationship between Rufus and Lilly. If we start there I think I can hit all the other side stories in one because their connections appears to be influencing most everything else. These two are totally in love with each other even if they could never admit it and even if Lilly could never see herself living in his lifestyle. The fact that she would go straight to him upon learning of Bart Bass's activities on the side means a lot and really shows that she's not over him. Speaking of Bart Bass, his son Chuck really screwed things up for him with Lilly. His immature attitudes clouded his perception and while he believed his father was also seeing a young woman on the side he was really meeting with her as a potential employee to help develop new investments. By the time Chuck figured this out he had already let slip to Lilly is original belief and she went straight into the arms of Rufus. I can see Lilly continuing to date Bart as she struggles with her desire to live the rich life while clearly wanting to be with Rufus instead. It could turn out that she chooses Rufus but Jenny may have a little wrench to throw in the story.

Apparently, Jenny believes it's finally time for her mother to come back home. Sadly, even if she does I don't think she'll be able to save her parents marriage. Their mother had an affair, the details of which are still hidden from us but if she truly comes back down to Brooklyn I have a feeling we're going to learn all the sordid details and it's going to wreak havoc on the family's life. It could even have effects on Dan and Serena's relationship. And let's not forget about Vanessa. She's not going anywhere at least for the time being and a personal problem of Dan's that she could understand and Serena never could may just be the opening she seizes to get back into Dan's life. We're already starting to see the tension develop between Serena and Vanessa. It won't be pretty when it erupts in Dan's face and if Vanessa doesn't chill out he may just be forced to choose. If that happens it's not looking good for Vanessa considering the bond developing between Serena and Dan.

I would mention the story about Chuck Bass and the burlesque club but to be honest it's not only boring but extremely generic. He wants to impress his father except deep down he'll always be a perverted, party-obsessed teenager. And now he's sleeping with his best friends very recent ex-girlfriend. He has a lot to fix in his life and unfortunately we have to watch it.

This was a great start to November Sweeps for Gossip Girl. I'd like to see the writers cut out a few of the side stories though as the episodes progress and give us time to digest the big ones. The episode was just slightly too over packed and split our focus a bit too much. I have no doubt things will be fine in the next few episodes and I can't wait to watch everything unfold. Until next week, enjoy the review!

House: Whatever It Takes

ORIGINAL EPISODES, TUESDAYS @ 9PM ON FOX

This wasn't one of the classic "House" episodes but it certainly was funny. Is it just me or was House a lot funnier than usual? I love his sarcastic and mocking humor but usually it comes in small doses throughout the episode. It seemed that during this one the writers decided to take it to a whole new level and gave us Uber-House; a hyped up version of House that couldn't stop with the quick mocking lines for 60 minutes (or 40 if you take out the commercials). Not that I'm complaining much, I was laughing my butt off as he totally humiliated the other doctor with him at the CIA.

Anyway, House had a chance to be in the CIA. Well, sort of. He got to go on a black, stealth helicopter and try to save the life of a CIA agent who was the victim of an attempted assassination in South America at a government hospital. House spent his time there putting down the other doctor that was brought along and for a change, he turned out to be completely wrong with his diagnosis. But House ended up with the last laugh because while he was wrong he was also right. In the end his diagnosis wrong was but he was right that it wasn't what the other doctors thought it was. Turns out, he was in Brazil and had eaten hundreds of a native nut which caused the severe reactions he was experiencing.

The best part of his trip to the CIA was that House recruited a new doctor to his team. You may actually recognize her from her days on "ER" as Dr. Cleo Finch. So the beautiful Michael Michele is joining House's team. Here's the important question though: does this mean there will be one less spot for those on his intern squad? I would think so and this means that we have to start saying goodbye to some of these people soon. Foreman already took 15% of each of their salaries when Cuddy hired him and now House hired another doctor. There's no way they could keep all these other doctors around much longer. I think it's pretty clear that Olivia Wilde (Thirteen) is going to stay but I wonder how many others will make it through. Probably only one other if we're trying to make it a team of three. Anyone have any ideas on who the last person could be? My money is on the horribly mean intern or as House has her in his phone, "Cutthroat Bitch."

As for Foreman, he was left to lead the interns in solving the case of a female race car driver who just happened to pass out suddenly. The only problem was that with House gone Foreman felt he needed to prove he was as good as he believed. This is probably due to the fact that he's had such a hard time moving on since he was fired. Either way, he jeopardized the life of his patient while he tried to prove he was right. In the end, he ended up being right from the get go and had it not been for the rogue intern who tried to get money to cure polio by poisoning the patient in order to rig the test results, Foreman would never have jeopardized the patients life. He did learn an important lesson about being in charge and I have a feeling it's going to be an important tool for him down the road. I doubt this is the last time we're going to see Foreman in charge.

I should point out that Foreman was completely right to confront Cameron about interfering with his patient and his interns. She needs to move on or go back to House but she needs to pick one. At least she realized that after Foreman totally screwed with her mind too. I would like to see Cameron and Chase find a way back into the forefront of the show. They're on the fringes and I think it's a waste of great actors and great characters. I'm not sure what they can do since putting them all back under House would be weird at this point and I can't see any of the characters willing to except that torture.

I've been pleasantly surprised at how good this season as been given all the changes. How long this will last I can't say but for now I'm enjoying the new feel to the show and I think you might be too. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Chuck: Chuck Versus The Alma Mater

ORIGINAL EPISODE, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON NBC

This was probably the best quality episode of "Chuck" in its short life to date. Usually we only get corny lines and cheesy, predictable stories. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the usual "Chuck," in fact I happen to really enjoy this show. Tonight though brought us an entirely new type of show and I definitely enjoyed it. We saw Chuck struggle with his past and confront the issues he's been dodging since the day Bryce had him kicked out of Stanford. Emotional depth, growth, and humor permeated the characters tonight especially Chuck.

The simultaneous occurrence of two events forced Chuck to return to Stanford for the first time since he was expelled. First, the professor that accused him of cheating on the exams was running for his life from spies hailing from Iceland. Yes, apparently they have spies too. Turns out, his professor worked for the CIA, recruiting college students to the organization. This put Chuck, Sarah, and Casey on the mission to find him. Second, UCLA was playing Stanford in a football game at Stanford. Captain Awesome and his buddies graduated from UCLA and wanted to head down to Stanford for the game. Chuck's first inclination was to stay as far away from that as possible but later events forced him to head down with his sister and Awesome.

What were those events? Well, we finally got the story behind Bryce's betrayal of Chuck back in college. It seems that the professor recruiting Bryce the year earlier and was planning on recruiting Chuck as well. Bryce found out but wouldn't let it happen. According to a video Chuck found, Bryce thought Chuck was too good of a person for that life and that it would ruin him if he were recruited. There was no way to stop the recruitment except to frame Chuck for cheating and get him thrown out of school. That way the Professor couldn't recruit him since he was no longer a college student. So, Bryce wasn't all that bad after all. This is probably why Sarah loved him so much. At the same time Chuck found out the truth Sarah realized that the whole time she's been angry with him for betraying the government she should have given him the benefit of the doubt. He probably had a very good reason for doing what he did, they just couldn't see it right now.

I think this changes a lot about the show and really puts it on course for discovering what Bryce's reason was for sending Chuck the intersect. It also sets everything up for a showdown between Chuck, Sarah, and Casey and whoever Bryce was trying to stop. I'm sure it won't be easy stopping that person or organization but with the knowledge Chuck has stored in his head, he's got a pretty good shot. I have a feeling that by year end these three will be on their own fighting against the government or at least a section of the government that's operating illegally.

I thought the action scenes and gun fights at the end were pretty cool. This show has done a great job making the action scenes look realistic and fun at the same time. The writers on this show are excellent at using Chuck to interject comedic humor into all these scenes. The gun fight in the classroom was especially cool. I also loved when the college girl saved Chuck from the spy/assassin. This guy needs to learn to defend himself a bit; I wonder why it hasn't occurred to anyone that a little self defense training may go a long way in making all their lives easier.

There's just a few things I want to bring up about this episode before we go. Tang has got to go! And not because he's an evil, dictating Assistant Manager but because he is damn annoying. I understand this story was supposed to be somewhat humorous but they've completely failed at accomplishing this. It has totally turned me off to anything that's happening at the Buy More. Given that this is a good portion of the show they need to fix this or the ratings are going to suffer even more.

Also, the "O.C." reference during the Fingers of Fury war between Morgan and Lester was great! Lester got the "O.C" and responded "O.C. Season Two - underrated." Josh Schwartz clearly had a hand in this and it was a masterful sneak in by this great creator/writer. Season two was actually underrated.

One thing that annoyed me was the security system at the Stanford library. What kind of library not only makes you scan your ID just to get in but also brings up a large photo on the computer to a sitting librarian waiting to catch people who haven't paid late fees? That was absolutely ridiculous and really annoyed me.

This was a great quality episode from "Chuck" and I'm glad we finally got some answers about what happened in the past. I wouldn't expect to many more episodes like this though. Chuck isn't the type of show that could compete with other natural drama's. It has its own niche as a quirky, outrageous drama and that's where it can be successful. For now though I'll enjoy what we got. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Heroes: Out Of Time

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 9PM ON NBC

I have one thing to say right from the start, WELCOME BACK! Finally, a great episode of "Heroes" came on last night and I felt like it was a year ago when I was sitting on the edge of my seat wondering what was happening and what would come next. This is the kind of episode that made "Heroes" a household name and a fan favorite. I only wish the show hadn't fallen from this ledge and I only hope they can sustain this for the rest of the season.

Let's get into the nitty gritty now shall we. Lets start with Hiro. Thank the Lord he's back in present day. I was so happy to see him finally leave Feudal Japan. The story got old a very long time ago. But I will admit that this week was not too bad. The excitement and the action definitely picked it up a bit and I almost didn't remember how much I hated it. Basically, Hiro saved the day despite Kensei's attempts to kill him and take over Japan. Understandably, Kensei is hurt and feels betrayed by Hiro but I think Hiro was right when he said it was always in Kensei to be this way. In the end, Hiro blew Kensei up when he destroyed all the guns and the powder, or at least he thought he did. Hiro did the noble thing and said goodbye to his Princess despite being madly in love with her. The only problem is Hiro had no idea that he changed history despite all his attempts to fix what he had broken. I'll get to this a bit later but let's just say thank you to the writers for sending him back to the present day and move on.

While Hiro was finishing up his work in Feudal Japan, Nikki, Parkman, Suresh, Nathan and Bob and a big problem of their own to deal with at The Company. Maury decided to go after Bob at the facility but he had to get through everyone else first. Bob finally told Matt the truth about his abilities. He has every power his father has which is that he can not only hear what the brain is thinking but he can control every action the brain can control. This is a powerful ability and Matt needed to master it in very little time if he was going to save everyone including Molly. I think this is a great revelation and we're probably going to see some pretty cool things from Matt as he learns to control it better. It was great to see him figure it out for the time being at least and trap his father in the world he created in his mind. Ironically, its the setting of their old apartment the day Maury walked out on the family. I have a feeling he won't be trapped in his own mind for too long and when he gets out he's going to be plenty pissed off. At least Matt was able to save Molly and her powerful will probably come in handy as the dim future becomes a reality.

Just when you thought everything was over with these four we find out that the virus Nikki injected in herself does NOT have an antidote. Personally I thought this was a bit predictable especially after we saw the future in Peters story but I won't go on another rant about that. I'll let it be since the upcoming episodes she get pretty damn interesting as we find out more about the virus. I don't exactly understand why Bob thinks Claire's regenerative ability could fix this. It seems to me to be completely seperate from what you would need to cure a virus. I happen to think this was a cover and he has some other plans he's not letting anyone in on. It would probably be a safe bet that he wanted Nikki, or whoever was injected, to be incurable. Why? I have no idea. But I'm sure we'll find out soon. But seriously, what was Suresh thinking? Admitting to Bob that he was trying to take down The Company?! Is he really that thick? For a smart guy he's very stupid. If there's one thing he should have learned by now it's that The Company never lets you know their true plans and they are never for the greater good. He totally screwed everything up and he's going to regret his decision very soon.

Meanwhile, Peter got a look at the future which is VERY interesting. Apparently, 93% of the worlds population died from an outbreak of the virus. Unfortunately, the U.S. government (or what's left of it) deported Kaitlin because she didn't have permission to be in the U.S. This must be killing him and even worse he ended up travelling back to the present without her. I have to believe he's going to get her back but I doubt he'll be able to do it until he remembers who he is and how to use his powers. One important thing we learned is that the Outbreak took place on March 20, 2007. This was probably going to coincide with an episode around March this year but with the Writers Strike who knows when we'll actually see it. I'm curious to know how Peter's mother survived the outbreak when so many others died. It was good to hear from her though that Peter is the most powerful of everyone. It really instilled his importance to all the story lines and the fact that it's going to be him and him alone that can save everyone.

Also, if anyone watched "Alias" when it was on, you weren't too surprised at all to see Kensei back in the present as Adam. David Anders is actually playing the same type of character, which is a conniving, slippery, and evil man. I'm surprisingly alright with this because David is absolutely amazing at playing this character type and he brings such an amazing presence along with it. Soak up every moment of his devious activities because you're not likely to see too many actors who play an evil mastermind as well as David.

I do have a couple things I'm interested in: 1) The Company knew Peter was a live and they appear to be the ones who nursed him back to health. Why did they keep it a secret and why did they let him go free? At least Nathan knows he's alive now and will do whatever it takes to find him again. 2) Adam apparently worked with everyone in the Company and was sort of their leader. But he went rogue with plans of holocausts and genocide. I wonder what exactly his role was in The Company and whether he truly is at odds with all of them or just a few. Clearly, one of his main goals is going to be to kill Hiro.

Lastly, I need to say a few words about Noah, Claire, and West. West understandably reacted horribly when he found out Claire's father was the man with the horn-rimmed glasses. But he needs to talk to Claire. If he keeps using his abilities out in the open he's going to get into serious trouble. At the same time I think he's not out of the picture just yet. He has a knack for being nosey and he doesn't always know when to chill out and back off. I have a feeling he's going to try to get back at Noah before long. With Noah back in town and Claire refusing to move things should start to get real interesting. Noah seems to be losing it ever since he saw the painting of his death and he appears to be spiralling out of control. I'm not quite sure what I think is going to happen to them yet but Claire has to start getting involved in the main story lines soon.

Once again, this was an amazing episode from "Heroes" and I'm glad to see it back on top of its game at least for this week. Hopefully we'll get some great stuff next week and it seems like we might with a flashback to the time directly after last years season finale. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Journeyman: Double Down

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 10PM ON NBC

This was probably the best episode of the season for "Journeyman." It was intense, exciting, interesting and more importantly we learned about the character's pasts. I always find televisions shows and especially drama's significantly better when the story line's are emotionally charged. Tonight was certainly that and more. As Dan travelled back in time to save the life of a key government witness from a gang, he ended up becoming part of the problem too. The gang found his press pass and decided to eliminate Dan as well. Except if they eliminated his past self or changed to much of the past events his entire future could be gone, possibly even his own life. So Dan also became the life he had to change when he went back.

This scenario gave the episode interesting twist; not only did we have the usual stuff but we had the chance to see what Dan was like after Livia died and how he and Katie got together. It was pretty innocent if you ask me, Dan nor Katie did anything out of the ordinary that would cause you to think they were out to hurt Jack or screw him over. They simply fell in love. It was nice to get some information on this back story. I've felt a bit lost over the first few episodes, like I was putting faith in a lot of unknowns without any payoff. Thankfully, we started getting some of that payoff. Despite, my questioning of the strength of their marriage I think Katie and Dan could survive just about anything. They've been through hell and made it through so why can't they make it through this?

By the way, it was a very cool scene when Dan was fighting his past self. He almost got his butt kicked by himself which I thought was interesting; but then again his present self ended up knocking out his past self so I guess he did anyway.

As for Livia, it was interesting to watch her confront the reality of Dan being married to Katie. I didn't think we'd ever see her go to the present but it was great. You could really see the pain on her face and at the same time the fact that she knew there would never be anything she could do about it. She still loves Dan and I think she always will but she chose her path (or it chose her, however you may view it) and there's no going back; or is there? I have a feeling this whole trip to the present may be a hint that it's possible Livia may end up encountering the present day Katie at some point. I think this would be amazing and will open up a massive can of worms for Dan. It would certainly stir things up just a bit.

Now, for Jack. Understandably he's a bit cautious when it comes to Dan given everything Dan has done in the past. But turning him in to the FBI? Is he really that petty and cruel? I was shocked that he so willingly gave his brother up because he was hurt that Katie and Dan left them out of their secret. It's extremely immature and traitorous. I'm actually a bit annoyed that we have the government intruding upon the story lines already. These type of issue are usually more annoying than interesting (take for instance the storyline from "House" or "Charmed'). I hope they find some quality way of moving this forward and if it were my choice I'd have them out of the show as fast as possible. In the meantime, Dan needs to find a way to mend fences with his brother before things get worse. He needs allies not enemies. I don't know exactly how he could prove the truth to Jack (he's considerably more skeptical than Katie) but he needs to find a way.

This was a great episode, probably the best of the season so far. I suggest you watch before our shows stop running due the strike. Maybe you'll get hooked and start watching when things start up again. Until next week, enjoy the review!

The Hills: Young Hollywood

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 10PM ON MTV

The last couple weeks of "The Hills" has definitely not been the best we've seen from this show. Things seem to have calmed down and there hasn't been all that much drama. This could be deceiving as it could turn out to just be the calm before the storm. Next week brings us a Heidi-Lauren confrontation. This is really the first time all season they're going to have the chance to have an all-out, in your face blowout. It should be great! And it's about time too. Everything has been festering for so long and they know so many of the same people that I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner. Sure, there were moments and fights before but I have a feeling that none are going to compare to this.

Next week aside, this week we saw Whitney coordinate her first major Teen Vogue event. To be honest, I'm surprised she was given this much responsibility. Didn't she get promoted less than a year ago and isn't she basically just one step above Lauren's position of intern? Anyway, despite some minor setbacks and delays Whitney appears to have done an amazing job. She's also lucky to have Lauren helping her. The girl works really hard and knows exactly what to do and how to do it. It looked like there was a crazy amount of celebs at the event and they all ended up being happy. Congrats to Whitney and Lauren for a job well done.

I was actually hoping for some more drama from the night considering the event was taking place. The producers tried to trick us into believing there would be some but nonetheless things weren't that crazy. We sort of a had the usual minor drama with Audrina though. Justin still can't say that he's her boyfriend even when another guy is hitting on her and asking if she's single! What is wrong with this guy? I guess the overwhelming desire for everything to "be mellow" just always seems to win out with Justin. What's more frustrating is that Audrina thinks nothing of all this. She may complain and not love it but she always goes back. I don't get it, maybe someone else could explain this to me.

Meanwhile, Heidi and Spencer (a.k.a. Speidi) are up to their usual. It was Heidi's 21st birthday and you could only imagine the craziness that would ensue on such a day. But wait, we're talking about Speidi, of course she won't do anything other than hang out with Spencer on her birthday. Even her coworker Kimberly thought this was really weird. I mean who does absolutely nothing for their 21st except chill with their boyfriend/fiance? I guess when you've stabbed most of your friends in the backed, screwed over your coworkers, and alienated everyone else you don't have much choice than to only chill with your fiance. It's just sad really. I don't even get what they find so much fun about each others company. He gave her a crazy expensive gift (don't we all wish we had our parents millions to live off of) and then they sat there saying nothing while Spencer just played with his cell phone. Wow, someone please tone down the excitement!

I really hope the episodes start picking up soon. This being the last season I would hate for the show to go out on a boring note. It's been a great three season, lets hope they can bring it home for the end. Until next week, enjoy the review!

The Big Bang Theory: The Dumpling Paradox

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 8:30PM ON CBS

As the title of this episode suggests, dumplings played a big role in tonights episode. Well, not exactly although it played a role. Wolowitz took advantage of the loose pants on Penny's sort-of friend who was staying at her apartment to get laid. She totally used him to buy her things but he didn't care so long as he got to have sex with her. And to be honest I don't blame him, did you see her? She was gorgeous! Anyway, while Wolowitz spent the episode with Kristy the other three guys wanted to play the new Halo 3 video game. Except Sheldon, in his usual OCD manner, couldn't play with just three because you needed four players for even teams.

This led to the "Dumpling Paradox." Sheldon, Leonard and Koothrappali went to their usual Chinese Restaurant except Sheldon couldn't order the dumplings. It was tradition to order them except they came in fours and without Wolowitz they couldn't be divided evenly. This is a huge problem for Sheldon and typified the theme of the night where nothing went well because the group was uneven without Wolowitz. Penny took a surprising interest in the video game and ended up destroying Sheldon. I was laughing out loud as Penny single handedly took out Sheldon during her first time playing. As Penny was killing him Leonard said to Penny:

Leonard: "Penny you're on fire"

Penny: "So is Sheldon!"

Sheldon: stands there with a scowering look

But by far the best line of the night goes to Penny. Penny came back to the guys apartment asking if they could let her sleep on the couch because Wolowitz and Kristy were having sex in her room. When Leonard suggested they may not be Penny said:

Penny: "Look, I grew up on a farm. Either they're having sex or Howard's caught in a milking machine."

I never knew this before but according to Sheldon only invalids and women on Mother's Day can have breakfast in bed without being weird. I don't agree at all though. Breakfast in bed is great and eating breakfast while watching tv in bed is totally normal. Sheldon just happens to be ridiculously odd.

My second favorite line of the night took place at the Chinese restaurant. While Sheldon was annoyingly explaining his Dumpling theory Koothrappali said:

Koothrappali: "Not only are the children in India starving, there's an Indian starving right here."

So Kristy had her first Jew, Wolowitz got lots of sex from a girl way out of his league, and Sheldon was driven nuts by Penny yet again. Another excellent episode from "The Big Bang Theory." Before I end the review for the night I just want to point out how great Penny has been. She's gotten much funnier and the best example was at the end of tonight's episode. While the guys were playing the video game she brought home four gorgeous friends, entered their apartment and said she brought them all there to have sex with them. When noone responded she said "told ya." I love how well she's getting to know them and it's making for some incredibly funny jokes. Until next week, enjoy the review!

How I Met Your Mother: Dowisetrepla

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON CBS

This wasn't the funniest HIMYM episode but it was certainly enjoyable and entertaining, particularly the detective scene where Ted was attempting to figure out how the fight occurred between Marshall and Lilly. Why you might ask did Marshall and Lilly have a huge fight? Well, the two of them decided it was time to move out of the apartment and into a place of their own. Sadly, it was just a tad out of their price range; or what I should have said is, it was massively outside their price range. Marshall, still in the dark about Lilly's credit card debt, decided to buy the apartment. Predictably, when he applied for the mortgage he discovered the debt which led to World War III and Ted's detective adventure.

Speaking of the apartment, did anyone recognize the real estate agent? It was Janice! Granted it might be a bit hard to recognize her without the loud annoying voice but it was nice to see her

in a comedy again. Last time we saw her it was recurring spots in the later years of "Friends" and the early years of "Everybody Loves Raymond." Anyway, she convinced Marshall and Lilly to buy the apartment located in the area of New York City called "Dowisetrepla." What is that you may be asking? You're exactly right, there is no such place in New York. Except on this show and it did NOT work out well for them. Apparently, there's a sewage treatment plant located downwind from that area of the city but it shuts down on the weekends. Coincidentally, this is when they were brought to see the apartment. Downwind from Sewage Treatment Plant = Dowisatrepla. Big life mistake #3 from Marshall for sure.

Barney was absolutely hilarious tonight and up to his classic tricks. He found out the current owners of the apartment were overseas for the week and he used this to trick a naive woman into having sex with him there. He played it perfectly too. He got the keys to the apartment from the real estate agent and brought home the woman after he told her it was his place. They spent the night and after he convinced her to take a shower he leisurely walked straight out of the apartment. Terrible, terrible thing to do but funny for us.

I have to admit that Robin has been more tolerable lately although it felt like she's been out of place since the breakup with Ted. The writers (who are now on strike) finally got her more involved and the benefits showed tonight. She was integral to the storyline and was funny because of it. I actually really love the fact that she knows Ted so well and can use that to make jokes. It reminds me of "Friends" when the characters were able to reveal unknown and hilarious facts about each others pasts. Thankfully someone admitted it was weird that Robin and Ted still hang out. It's been lingering there for weeks but its as if everyone has been ignoring it. Most people couldn't be in the same zip code as an ex let alone hang out with them everyday but these two are managing to do it and I think we're all grateful.

Another quality installment from HIMYM. Don't forget to check out my friend's blog for more in depth information on the actors and little known HIMYM facts. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Brothers & Sisters: Two Places

ORIGINAL EPISODES, SUNDAYS @ 10PM ON ABC

Great guest star, Danny Glover! Mr. Glover made an appearance tonight as Isaac, a political strategist that doesn't mind getting his hands dirty and compromising his morals. Apparently, both Kitty and Robert have a past with him; neither all that clean. Kitty kept some information about a candidate of Isaac's a secret and called upon him tonight to return the favor when she needed to run damage control regarding her pregnancy. Unfortunately, Robert wasn't very happy when Isaac showed up. It turns out that Isaac worked with a candidate Robert ran against years earlier and days before a pivotal event while Robert was leading in the polls, a story was leaked "outing" his brother. Needless to say this killed Robert's campaign but more importantly, it nearly destroyed his relationship with his brother. If Robert could have, he would have kicked him out on his butt except he had no choice; they needed Isaac's "expertise" if they were going to survive the pregnancy scandal.

Isaac suggested a shotgun wedding at City Hall which turned into an all out wedding when Nora refused to allow Kitty to be married there. Personally, I love that she stood up for her daughter at a time when she wasn't thinking about herself. The scene where they fought in the office really impressed upon me just how lucky we are to see these two incredible actors working together every week. They are unbelievable at their craft and the fact that they work together makes it that much better. Sadly, the story didn't turn out well. Kitty found out she miscarried her baby during her first sonogram. The scenes with Calista during these moments were very poignant and incredibly emotional. Even worse is that Robert is hiding the truth from her; he never wanted the child to begin with. I get that he already had two and is running for President but he needs to be honest with Kitty. If they're going to be married this is a very huge deal and he has to tell her before it's too late. It would be unfair to marry her if she wanted kids and he didn't. It seems that next week he may finally tell her the truth, I just don't see how their relationship is going to survive if she wants kids and he doesn't.

Lina is a slut! Well, she's at least 3/4 of the way there. Not only is she sleeping with a married man but then she flirted with his younger brother and made out with him. Granted she stopped kissing Justin after a few seconds but she's entirely out of control. On top of all this, she certainly likes to party. She drinks her fair share and takes prescription medications also. Tommy needs to stop what he's been doing. Has he forgotten so quickly what his father did and how mad he was when he found out? This is no different even if his wife is treating him like dirt. Like father, like son I guess. The only problem is that he's definitely not as good at keeping secrets as his father. In this family there's no way he'll be able to keep this quiet for long and when it comes out it's going to blow up in his face.

We know how Justin is getting is pills now. Somehow he's getting the prescription under a fake name; Jose Suarez. How exactly they came to be in his possession is still a mystery but that's besides the point. He's fully addicted again and unless someone does something soon it's going to be a lot worse than before. At least Rebecca is paying close enough attention. Everyone begged him to take the pills so that he'd get better and it seems they all got preoccupied very quickly. It's a good thing Rebecca stuck around and knows the signs to look for. She was awesome when she called him out on it and wouldn't take any of his sly talk about why he needs to do it. During next weeks episode it looks like the family will finally confront him and it's not going to be easy but he'll get through it just like last time.

Kevin, while quiet the last few weeks, is slowly digging himself into a big hole. Not only is he friends with Scotty and having dinners with him every so often, but now he has him crashing at his place. I give him props for trying to be a good friend which is completely unlike the usually selfish Kevin, except it looks really bad. To an outside observer who didn't know any better it would seem that their lives are getting ever so close and given their past who knows what will happen. He's walking a very dangerous line and needs to keep some barriers permanent.

Meanwhile, Sarah is still being put through hell. Joe hasn't budged a bit on the custody issue and it's starting to effect Paige. She pulled a fire alarm at school and ran away from Sarah's house. To be honest, I thought Joe was going to stick it to Sarah when Paige ran away and he almost did. He started on his usual hurtful and blind rhetoric when Sarah began to cry and said this wasn't working. Something finally reached him and he agreed that there needed to be changes. So, Joe decided to give in and share custody with Sarah. This was the first good things he's done in months and this was definitely the best thing for the children. At least now he's being somewhat of a responsible parent. I really hope they start to work this out and things settle down because Sarah has certainly been put through enough. Joe has single-handedly turned her life upside down. If any deserves a break it's Sarah.

Another great episode from "Brothers & Sisters." I can't wait until next week and I hope that when they confront Justin he'll kick the drug addiction once and for all. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Las Vegas: Adventures In The Skin Trade

ORIGINAL EPISODES, FRIDAYS @ 10PM ON NBC

Well, I just have to say it, Mitch what were you thinking?! The man is in a wheelchair and he wants to fight Strip Club Bodyguards? You'd barely have a chance if you were able to walk! Still, it was very funny and it was nice to see Mitch getting some camera time outside of the surveillance room. So obviously there was a fight in a strip club to start the episode. This led to tonight's theme of "Free the Strippers." Well, not exactly; but after the fight, which all started because Danny was talking to one of the strippers who he grew up with, Delinda decided to organize a union for all Las Vegas Strippers. They wanted respect, better benefits, and child care. The only problem as Cooper put it, was credibility.

Delinda, without asking Danny, used his name as President of Operations at the Montecito to give the strike support. As Cooper said, the strippers lacked credibility because, well, they take their clothes off for a living. Danny lacked credibility because he was a no name Vegas resident AND he grew up with many of the strippers. So what does Cooper do? By the end of the episode he has a Nevada Congresswoman come out in support of the strike because she had been a stripper to put herself through law school. He also bought the strip club where the fight took place, hired new strippers (only the best since they were all on strike and he could choose anyone he wanted), and gave in to the union demands which forced all the other clubs to give in. So although Cooper remained a mystery up to this point we know that he is an incredibly intelligent businessman and NEVER does anything unless their is something in it for him. What this means as we go on is that the people at the Montecito better watch their backs and not put too much trust in him or they may get burned. He certainly isn't Ed and far from it.

Meanwhile, Piper (Camille Guaty) made a sex tape that was accidentally returned in a DVD rental box to the Montecito library. Unfortunately for her Sam's whale saw it and wanted to get with her. As it turns out, he really wanted to get with another girl in the video but for the entirety of the episode we got to watch Piper squirm and Sam take full advantage. Piper took full advantage of the stripper strike when Mike's friends came into town. They were three married guys who came to Vegas once a year to see strippers and get away from married life. When they went on strike we had many hilarious moments from these guys as they cried their way through the weekend. I especially loved when one of them tried to tackle Danny for taking away the girls. Piper came up with the genius idea that she would strip for them and take the money they would have paid the strippers. She made $4000 for like a half hour with them! Not too shabby. Personally I think Piper has been a great addition to the show and should be made a regular cast member. She's fun, hilarious, and entertaining.

My only problem so far is that Delinda needs to chill. Ever since Ed left and she got pregnant she's been liked hyper-Delinda. She's always running around doing something ridiculous and treating Danny like a two year old; which I sort of understand because the guy acts like it. His friend Angie (the stripper) had her some over his place and he did the whole "pull my finger" joke with him. This guy is definitely not ready to be a father; he's immature and irresponsible. I don't know how he runs the Montecito but at least in his personal life this is true.

Decent episode. As always "Las Vegas" is at its heart just a fun show. When it doesn't take itself to seriously it's great. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Grey's Anatomy: Kung Fu Fighting

ORIGINAL EPISODES, THURSDAYS @ 9PM ON ABC

They absolutely started this episode off perfectly! Richard got a trailer right next to Derek. Too funny. I can see Derek out there, fishing, and living in the wild but NOT Richard. He is 100% the opposite of the guy who roughs it. And it wasn't too long before he made that known either; he was already sick of eating fish for breakfast and immediately called together a Gentleman's Evening in order to shake things up a bit. In the end Haan ruined the Gentleman's Evening and made it a Gentleman's Evening plus one woman. Still, it was good for many funny jokes and moments throughout the night. At one point Derek and Sloan thought it was going to be a night of strippers and took a survey around the hospital to figure out if that was the case. Their friendship re-igniting has been great for the show. With the departure of Burke and Addison, a rift between the only two attendings, other than the Chief, would have been dull and boring. Besides, this turned out to be a very funny friendship and great for the show. I also loved that Gentleman's Evening turned into a night of playing Monopoly.

Now, I need to talk about something serious for a minute here. I fully admit that I was a BIG fan of George and Izzie hooking up. I thought it would be great, funny, and exciting. Somehow though this ended up not being the case. Instead, their relationship sort of creeps me out. I really don't know why just yet but every time they talked about sex or intimacy tonight I got this feeling that I just wanted it to stop. The writer's need to tone everything down a bit and get us used to the idea of the two of them together because right now it's just not working.

Speaking of Izzie she did an amazing job with her heart patient. No one in the hospital cares as much or thinks about the needs of any patient as much as she does and I only wish there were really doctors out there like that. We could use people with more heart. I don't know how the heart patient got through that surgery; if I had to sit there for 6 hours with my chest wide open while I was awake I think I'd go insane. Granted he did too, but he lasted a lot longer than I would have. The problem with Izzie now is that she's just plain going crazy in her personal life. Her freak out at the end of the episode was simply disturbing. Hopefully, she'll chill out a bit and we can enjoy her good work as a doctor instead.

Meredith on the other hand is fully in control of her life and emotions. Yeah right. I will give her some credit though. Ever since Derek told her he might not be there when she comes back to him she's been working hard to figure out what will make her happy. This is more than she's ever done in the past and most importantly she now realizes that she not only has a problem but that Derek is the best thing that has ever happened to her and probably ever will happen to her. For Meredith this is a huge step and while it may take a while for her to figure everything out this was important and is definitely bringing her closer to a stable life. The problem now is that Lexie isn't helping things. The last few weeks they seem to have made some progress but in this episode Lexie pretty much shot that all to hell when she woke Meredith up while she was naked in Alex's arms. Definitely not what you want to be doing if you're trying to get closer with your half-sister. Why she went for Alex anyway I'll never understand. He told her what he was about and she seems like a really good person. So why in the world would she go ahead with such a self-destructive situation? I guess I'll have to wait to find out more on Lexie before I jump to any conclusions.

Dr. Haan has already made an impact and watching Christina jump through hoops for surgeries is very entertaining. I'm glad things aren't coming so easy for her now and she has to work just as hard as everyone else to get ahead. I have a feeling she'll get the surgeries eventually though, she's just too good of a surgeon to be sitting on the sidelines for long.

I'd mention the patients who were fighting over the wedding dress/wedding prize except it was the worst storyline ever! Sadly, there are people like this all over the place. I understand wanting to win $100,000 wedding but the fact that they were willing to still hold on to the dress while bleeding and severely injured was just ridiculous. That's all I'm going to say about that one. But I will say that the guy who fell 12,000 feet, because his parachute didn't open, and survived, was incredible. You hear about stories like that all the time and it was a good side story here. Brought out a lot in the doctors and the fact that they shouldn't hide their feelings so much; they should be brave when they have the chance.

Great episode this week and this is a good sign for the quality of the upcoming November Sweeps. We still have a lot to learn about some people and others have a lot to learn about themselves. I can't wait until next week! Until then, enjoy the review!

Smallville: Lara

ORIGINAL EPISODES, THURSDAYS @ 8PM ON THE CW

Best opening scene so far this season. The last hours of Krypton flashed across the screen and Kara spoke with her father Zor-El for the last time before she left for earth. Zor-El wanted Kara to go and protect her cousin except he left out why. I will admit that although visually cool, it could have been a lot better. The fall of Krypton must have been amazing and I felt the visual aspect of it and what we were should could have been much more intense. Sadly, we never had another opportunity to see what occurred but for what it was it was alright. The fact that it was the best opening scene of the season speaks more to the lack of quality previously seen this season than to the greatness of this one.

This episode found Clark butting heads once again with his cousin Kara. He was able to track her down in Washington D.C. after there was a report of a "missile" nearly colliding with a commercial jet. Kara was careless and didn't notice a large airplane heading straight for her and she narrowly missed it. Predictably, she wasn't looking forward to seeing Clark and threw him threw a large metal door when he wouldn't let her leave. Kara was in Washington tracking down the Crystal from her ship except it had already been stolen from the secret laboratory before she got there. A big revelation tonight dealt with the Crystal and with Clark's past.

We got numerous flashes of Kara's past visit to earth when the government agent detained her using Kryptonite handcuffs. His machine that uses meteor rocks through I.V.'s and electrodes, forces the person to relive memories and reveal them. Kara didn't remember anything she relived because Zor-El had blocked all these memories. It turns out Zor-El was in love with Lara, Clark's birth mother. Kara came to earth to escape the wars for a bit and met up with Lara on the Kent farm. Lara was checking it out to see who the future parents of her son would be. While there Zor-El came to visit and was like a jilted lover. He refused to accept that Lara didn't love him and was having a baby with Jor-El. This, it seems, previously resulted in Zor-El attempting to kill Jor-El; hence the lack of trust on Jor-El's part. The secret was that Zor-El enclosed Lara's DNA in the crystal as well as significant Kryptonian knowledge. So now we know why the Crystal is so important and can't fall into the wrong hands. Imagine what Lex could do with something like that.

What I didn't see coming was that Clark secretly stole the Crystal!! He's usually not that sneaky and even if he is he usually tells the people close to him. Instead he kept it a secret from everyone except Lana. This may turn out to be a mistake given Lana's recent personality changes. The Crystal is being hidden in his barn and with Lana the way she is I can't imagine it's going to be safe for very long.

Lara seems to be adjusting very well and very quickly to life on earth. Her vocabulary is extensive and already she's using slang words. More interestingly, she even knows the subtlety's of human ego and personality. She knew exactly how to approach that nerdy lab worker and seduce him. I didn't think she knew about this weakness already but it just goes to show how smart she is and adaptive. She's certainly going to be a force to reckon with as time goes on. Although I think her biggest weakness is her immaturity. She has shown many times before and tonight as well that she has a bad temper and the attitude of a teenager. If she's going to survive and keep those around her safe she needs to grow up and control her emotions.

Meanwhile, Chloe is finally catching on somewhat to Lana's changes. If anyone won't be duped by her new person it's Chloe and she really needs to do some more digging. Lionel was right and Lana is fully crossing that line which is very hard to come back from. Her actions are Luthor-esque and I think Chloe may be the only one who could bring her back. Clark I doubt could do it because she won't trust him; she'll think he's biased because he loves her.

Speaking of Chloe there's still a lot of tension between her and Jimmy. It's very awkward and I thought it was insensitive for him to discuss Lara with her. They were together for a while and had a very deep relationship. This has to be killing Chloe especially with the knowledge that Lara is a supergirl and that she just broke up with Jimmy.

This was a very good all around episode and significantly better than last week. I'm looking forward to this continuing through November Sweeps and hopefully the rest of the season if the strike doesn't last too long. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Pushing Daisies: Girth

ORIGINAL EPISODES, WEDNESDAYS @ 8PM ON ABC

This was yet another great installment from "Pushing Daisies." Quirky, odd, ridiculous, weird...all words people have used to describe this show but at the same time most people are drawn to it. It's inexplicable yet satisfying. I love the quirkiness and the non-traditional aspects of the show and this week was no exception. Tonight, the group (including Olive for the first time) has to find the serial killer whose going around trampling Olive's former horse jockey friends with a horse. Apparently, Olive used to be a popular and famous horse jockey who was involved in a covered up murder. One of her biggest rivals fell off his horse during a big race and was trampled to death; or so they thought. Turns out his saddle was tampered with which caused the fall but the the 4 big jockeys, including Olive, vowed never to speak of what they knew and they burned the evidence.

Unfortunately, someone figured it out and started hunting each of them down one by one. This is where Ned, Emerson, and Chuck came into play. Emerson was hired by Olive to find the killer so she wouldn't be next. Interestingly, Ned spent most of the time away from the group in this episode. I thought this was great because we finally had a chance to watch the other three characters interact without Ned, who is the centerpiece of it all, around. I was surprised at how great they all are together and it reinforced my intuition that this show is great and is going to be around for a long while. In particular, I was surprised at how well Olive and Chuck worked together. They have an interesting chemistry and an oddly funny one. I think Olive finally forgave Chuck for stealing Ned (at least somewhat) and they've found a friend in each other. How could you not forgive Chuck? She's always happy and friendly; you can't possibly stay mad at her. Sadly, Olive took an opportunity at the end of the episode when Ned saved her to kiss him. He didn't kiss her back and instead went after Chuck to see how she was. This hurt Olive but maybe she'll finally move on.

Ned, meanwhile, was on a journey of his own for most of the episode. He was reliving his past; the time when he was abandoned by his father. He returned to his old home that hadn't been sold since his mother passed away. It was empty and dilapidated. But he would sit where his old bed was and stare at the ceiling, thinking about his life when he was younger. In the end, he revisited Chuck's Aunt's who told him the truth about his father. That everyone in the town never spoke about his jackass of a father but only about how wonderful Ned turned out. This changed his life and I think he finally moved on from how his father treated him.

I love the fact that Chuck and Ned are having some normal couple issues. Their relationship is so odd but in the beginning they sort of ignored everything. They sort of took it for face value that they couldn't touch but could be alright in everything else. Well last week and this week they realized that in the end touching is just one aspect of the relationship and they were still going to have other normal problems. This week Ned didn't want to let Chuck in on his feelings about his father and where he went all day to think about it. Obviously, Chuck felt shut out and wasn't too happy about that. They sort of worked it out in the end but he still didn't let her in. Clearly, they still have a lot of work to do on top of the no touching issues.

By the way, it was hilarious that Ned put a highchair between him and Chuck while they were sitting in the Pie in the Hole booth. I don't know if you noticed it but it was so funny. Olive as a horse jockey was hilarious and it was great that the writers used her lack of height in real life as a legitimate storyline.

This show is great and if you haven't been watching you should start as soon as you can. Until next week, enjoy the review!