Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Grinchy Glee!


Okay, so let me just put this out there right away. I don't really like Christmas music. As a young misanthrope, I used to say that I hated Christmas music, but that's not really true. It's just as a person who loves music, Christmas music has always been my least favorite kind. There are so many schlocky, fakey, icky holiday songs out in the world, and they are so much harder to avoid than all the schlocky, fakey, icky regular music in the world. There are people who still haven't heard Justin Bieber, but there is no one that can escape twenty terrible versions of "Jingle Bell Rock" around this time of year. So with that in mind, now I shall tell you what I thought about an episode of Glee whose thin plot pretty much only existed so that the characters could sing Christmas songs.

Still, there were some things I liked! It's a Christmas Miracle!

-Last Christmas! It's only the BEST.CHRISTMAS.SONG.EVER! Wham! does it better though.

-Grinch homage! I felt like it visually looked great. Loved the scenes with Becky as the reindeer dog pulling the wagon. It really reminded me of the classic cartoon (not the terrible Jim Carrey cartoon!.

-Britanny. Loved it. Heather Morris has been doing great job all season imbuing Britanny's dumb/brilliant lines with a childlike innocence and it paid off in this episode. She was adorable as Cindy Lou Who in the Grinch scene.

-Artie's walking things! I cannot lie, I was crying a little bit. One thing that I really loved about that scene was the quick shot of Tina's reaction. It reminded us that they had a really sweet relationship going before she dumped him for Mike Chang's abs. (Not that she didn't have a good reason...thankfully they have pretty much dropped that whole "Artie as a misogynist" thing from last season.) I think Jenna Ushkowitz was wonderful in that quick scene, looking loving and grateful at seeing Artie up and about. It was a nice way to play the whole thing. I am not sure how any of this is going to play out for the rest of the season. (Will they just forget about it, using the line "I can't use them all the time" as a way out?) but it was touching for the holiday episode.

-I'll take Sue's turnaround, even though it wasn't really earned. Since it was right after the Artie scene, they kind of had me, so I thought that was sweet too.

-Quotes that made me laugh (out loud, I admit)

-I really really love Coach Beist.

-"I didn't know what it was. I assumed it was a Transformer."
-"It's unseasonably warm, actually, for this time of year."

Things I feel Grinchy about:

-Finn and Rachel. Ugh. Didn't they "officially" break up last week? Also, I didn't like the song she sang to him.

-I bet you a million dollars this exact Rachel and Finn plot will be played out in an upcoming episode. Minus Christmas trees, obviously.

-Okay, (and props to Kate Marciniec here) I didn't really care about Kurt and Blaine singing the sort of rapey "Baby It's Cold Outside" together.

-They 1. made me fear that Santana was going to cut her beautiful, beautiful hair and then 2. intimated that it wasn't her own beautiful beautiful hair. Not cool Glee.

-Um, I'm not really that into Christmas music and this episode had almost zero plot. So that was a bummer to me.

-I haven't hated Will for two episodes in a row and that just feels wrong.

Next week:
Nothing. American Idol is coming in January apparently. Yay.

90210 is making me root for cheating (teenage) couples!

Ade_90210.<span class=j

Adrianna and her ridiculous Christmas spectacle, which took place at her own giant house. With a skating rink.

Due to a tragic VHS (yes I said that, VHS) mishap, I missed last week's episode. From what I gather, here's what happened:

-Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes) continued to be awful.
-Naomi (AnnaLynn McCord) and Ivy (Gillian Zinser) became BFF.
-Naomi and Oscar talked/flirted.
-Liam (Matt Lanter) tried to help that annoying girl whose guest house he lives in out and got jumped for his troubles.
-Navid (Michael Steger) told Silver (Jessica Stroup) he had feelings for her. (squee!!!)
-Navid dumped Adrianna for being awful, but then got back together with her.
-Teddy (Trevor Donovan) and Ian (Kyle Ribako) went out on a date (squee!!!)
-Deb (Lori Loughlin) and Ryan Matthews (Ryan Eggold) can't deny their attraction or some such thing.
-Dixon (Tristan Wilds) and Annie (Shenae Grimes), though ostensibly the stars of the show, continued to be way less interesting than any of the other characters.


So onto this week's ep!


Adrianna has officially transformed into the most terrible person ever. Most of the time Navid is sitting near her and hearing her talk he can not even mask how nauseated he is by her every word. He honestly looks like he might throw up on her when she sneers through her teeth "This present is so hideous." while smiling at the person who gave it to her. Also, she bought a stupid McMansion house. I know I often harp about how they turned her complex and interesting character into a one dimensional idiot with no feelings or brain, but to be honest, I just want to see her get SMACKED DOWN at this point, so I was totally psyched with Monday's developments. I mean Victor (you know you are awful when I am rooting for that guy over you) exposed her grave robbing to the press AND Silver and Navid totally made out. I was actually cheering as they kissed. Earlier in the episode, when Navid asked her if she had feelings for him and Silver unconvincingly said no and then Ade came down and displayed her horribleness for them once again, all I could say was "If I were Silver, I would have turned to Navid and said, 'Um okay, I don't feel bad anymore. Let's have sex right now." She is that odious. Also, let's be real, Navid and Silver are really cute together. And they're in high school, so whatever. Sorry, Fidelity Watchdog, that's just how it is.


Okay, so the other cheating couple I was rooting for? Annie and Liam. It does seem shocking that I would root for Annie in any way, but Liam told her he was in love with her, and I really just want to see him happy. Also, Charlie is totally weird. Something about that raspy way he talks creeps me out sometimes. And he probably murdered their abusive uncle and let Liam take the blame for it. Yes, I am still going with that theory. (Where is Deb throughout all of this? Her kids take in one of their friends who has no parents and has been beat up, and then her daughter proceeds to have sex with him and sleep in his bed all night long. Too busy getting busy with Mr. Matthews I guess.)
Dixon_Teddy_Silver.<span class=j



I was also rooting for the non-cheating but in-hiding couple, Teddy and Ian. Kudos to the CW for letting them kiss a bunch! I was psyched about that! Sometimes network TV can shy-away from letting same-sex couples show affection, so I was pleasantly surprised with these two. I loved that in the beginning of the ep., Ian was all like "sorry, I can't go back into the closet for you." and then as soon as Teddy was all sexily leaning over him at the party he was like "okay, I can be discrete for awhile, that's cool!" Yeah of course you can Ian, because you have eyes, and Teddy is brutally hot. They were of course, not being discrete at all, making out in the hallway at a party. Where Dixon saw, and looked very shocked! Dixon's usually cool about stuff, but he is kind of a bro, so I will be interested to see his reaction to this.



Hmm what else? Oh Ivy! The Ivy stuff was cute and sad all at once. Her crying to her mom (Kelly Lynch) that she just needed her to love her made me tear up a little. I could see that she was going to get her heartbroken by her deadbeat dad from a mile away, but it seemed realistic that it would take her awhile to figure things out. I'm glad she and her weird voiced mom who is a terrible actress worked things out! I also like her and Naomi as friends. Naomi has great friend chemistry with most of the girls on this show! (Though not, strangely enough with Adrianna, who was her best friend when the show began.) And speaking of poor Naomi, that final shot with Mr. McRapeyTeacher creeping in her room was pretty scary!


Viewer quotes:

"Okay, I am putting both Teddy AND Liam on my celebrity freebie list, right now." -S
"You would even root for me to make out with Liam?" -Sh. to his wife.
"Oh man, Teddy is losing his boner for Ian right now watching this." -K. watching Ian destroy some Christmas song at Ade's party.
"I don't usually like to root for infidelity but...YES YES YES MAKE-OUT YES YES!!!"-K


Next week: There is no next week! It isn't coming back until January 24! This means I'll be 30 before I get to watch 90210 again! Tragic!
But when it does come back, there will be more Navid and Silver making out, which is awesome!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Yes Glee, no 90210.


Because of a tragic VHS recording mishap, I didn't get to see 90210 last night. Sad face. Maybe it's on demand or something? I don't think it is. Sigh. I did, however, get to see Glee, so at least I can write about that, and please all you Glee-maniacs or Gleeniacs or whatever the kids are saying these days. Glee neither enraged nor thrilled me last night. It just kind of happened in front of me, and some things I liked while other things I did not. So, here goes!

Things I liked:

-Both the sectionals songs that New Directions did were great. I love anything that reminds me of Dirty Dancing, and Tina and Mercedes killed "Dog Days Are Gone"! Good stuff.

-The Hipsters singing "The Living Years" which I always mistake to be my brother Tom's graduation song, even though I am pretty sure it wasn't actually.

-Britanny and Artie! From the magic comb, to the 'adultery misunderstanding' to her telling him she was dancing for him, these two were hilarious and genuinely sweet all night. Maybe these two crazy kids really can make it work!

-Rachel and Finn getting "couples counseling". Jayma Mays was great in this scene! I loved her little "no no no no" to Finn as he was agreeing with Rachel that Santana is "super hot". (Agreed on that one Finn!)

-Also super hot? Puck. Just saying.

-The newest member of New Directions! "I'm not nervous. You know why? Because show choir is stupid."

-Will being non-awful AND yelling at Rachel for being a jerk. Best Will episode in a long long while.

-Rachel speaking and acting like a normal human being in her scene with Kurt. More of that please!

-Kurt having a tough time fitting in with The Warblers. They seem a little cultish to me.

-Emma marrying "the finest dentist who ever lived"!!

-That Tina refers to her boyfriend as "Mike Chang".

-"Asian kiss."

Things I did not like:

-Rachel/Finn/Santana/Puck. Actually, I was fine with it until the whole "Rachel made out with Puck" revelation, because that was dumb.

-No Sue! No one likes that.

-Emma making some kind of weird unsure face like maybe she is still in love with stupid Will. Um, you're married to John Stamos now, just shut up and be happy. Also, Will is gross.

-What was the point of the whole speech to Kurt about The Warblers needing to "fit in and not stand out" when they are basically just a backing group for Darren Criss?! He was standing out a bit, it seemed to me.

-The fact that this episode was just dropped on us without any build up whatsoever. Way to get me excited for Sectionals! I was not at all excited, because the fact that they were going to be competing soon was nothing more than a throwaway line in the last 4 "Kurt Hummel is the most amazing person ever ever ever" eps.

-The fact that The Hipsters were not played by the Young @ Heart Choir. Come on! They need to be on this!

-A tie? I mean I get that this is for dramatic purposes so there is more competing against Kurt, but man, they pretty much just beat one group. Not that impressive really.

-Are these people friends or do they hate each other? Because to be honest, I don't have any desire to cheer on a bunch of awful people who hate each other.

Next week:
Previews are like mind-wipes to me, so I cannot remember! Um, singing is my guess though.