The Crazy Ones 1x11: The Intern

What I Liked
-Zach and Lauren are "Young, hot pandas."

Only way more likely to have sex.

-Simon thought Andrew was Jewish and doesn't have time to change his plan when he finds out he's not. Curly hair + big nose doesn't necessarily equal Jewish.
-The first bad idea was Simon saying there are no bad ideas. There are a lot of bad ideas.
-Andrew drops his ice cream. It's so sad.

What I Hated
-Kelsi decides she wants the small room. Abrupt changes of heart that ruin plans have been done to death on sitcoms. TO DEATH!

Final Thoughts
I still don't know who Ashley Tisdale is. Mostly because I'm a little too old to have seen most of the things she's been in. At the end of the episode, in one of the outtakes, they show Sarah Michelle Gellar telling her to got back to the Disney hell she came from. That's cold. That's like Kendall on All My Children cold.

Although it's also been done to death, the horrible rich girl princess character in this episode didn't bother me. Whether that's more a function of the writing, acting, or directing, I may never know.

The Crazy Ones 1x10: Models Love Magic

What I Liked
-Simon wears the fantasy bra on his head. That's a problem.
-"Everybody likes pie except for terrorists and Canadians." Here, we like tarts.
-Bottom cleavage.

The third best kind.

-Zack can't pick up the models. It's so sad.
-There's a model book club. They're not illiterate, they're just models.

What I Hated
-Sydney mentions that Simon is literally distracted by shiny objects. It's not as funny if you spell it out.

Final Thoughts
Directed by Fred Savage. It's nice that he's keeping busy.

Bra security guy kinda sucks. He has one job: Watch the bra. And he doesn't even seem to really try to do it.

Do models really love magic?

Not the show's best effort. A lot of the episode seemed to revolve around having the models stand around in their underwear, and that's not all that interesting to me.

TBBT 7x11: The Cooper Extraction

Hey look, Kaley Cuoco's in her underwear.

What I Liked
-Without Sheldon, Bernadette never would've dated Howard, because he and Raj are kind of a couple. Makes sense to me.
-Everyone pees themselves in the world without Sheldon. The man is the source of bladder control for an entire universe.
-The guys all want to hear Amy's sexy story. Erotic fantasy stories are almost always more interesting than decorating a Christmas tree.
-Stuart inappropriately inserts himself in Amy's sad story.
-More Zack. Idiotic characters can be fun.

What I Hated
-Leonard says 'Welcome to the Thunderdome!' The Thunderdome has a very strict -if barbaric- set of rules, it's not some do-what-you-want devil-may-care land. Two men enter. One man leaves.

Final Thoughts
I've never seen It's a Wonderful Life. I've seen many spoofs, parodies, and ripoffs, but never the actual movie.

There are a lot of nerds out there who look like fat Leonard.

You don't want to know how many.

As far as Christmas episodes go, this one was pretty good. Not a lot of new ground was broken, but it had some good gags.

TBBT 7x10: The Discovery Dissipation

What I Liked
-Penny's jealous of Sheldon for being tall, thin, and famous. It's what all actresses aspire to be. Funnily enough, Jim Parsons is those things in real life, too.
-Sheldon gives Wil crap for his tweets, and Amy gives him crap for his web series about board games. That's what you get for quitting TNG.
-Kripke's superhero name for Sheldon: The Retractor. Not the best superpower in the world, but still better than Aquaman.

What I Hated
-Sheldon's yodelling. Why? Just why?

Final Thoughts
This is the second time they've had Ira Flatow on the show. I still don't know who he is.

It's rare for this show to reference something from a previous episode. Earlier this season, Amy went to work at CalTech, and they haven't spoken of it since. But I suppose something that could've potentially earned Sheldon a Nobel prize is worth revisiting.

Castle 6x10: The Good, The Bad & The Baby

What I Liked
-When Beckett says she wants to find out where the baby came from, Castle starts explaining where babies come from. Hee-hee.
-Alexis points out that if Castle and Beckett have kids, they could conceivably be around the same age as any kids she has. I just hope Pi's not the father.

What I Hated
-Ryan says he hears a quick-pick calling his name, but then chooses numbers from a piece of paper in his pocket.
-Beckett's not a baby person. Strangely enough a whole heck of a lot of people on TV aren't.

Final Thoughts
We haven't seen Pi in a while. I hope it's because his planet needs him.

This episode teaches us one thing: Greed is bad. Not that The Pardoner's Tale didn't teach us that already, of course. Anyway, had the thieves been willing to part with some cash, I'm sure they could've paid off the ball-choosing lady and no one would've ever found out. But their lust for gold was too great and it became their undoing. The same thing happened to Yukon Cornelius.

Castle is obviously supposed to be about the same age as Nathan Fillion, but I wonder if Beckett is the same age as Stana Katic. The characters are talking about having babies, and they're not even married yet, so the clock is ticking no matter how old Beckett is. But it's ticking faster if she's 38 than it would be if she were 32.

I'm not a big fan of baby-centric TV episodes. They've been completely mined out for content. There's the guy who loves the baby and the guy who doesn't like babies and the guy who thinks he's the master of babies who gets puked on. Sometimes those guys are all the same guy. The women -at least the ones who have more than a few lines- tend to be career-oriented and have no interest in the baby. That's probably a by-product of the fact that most women on TV have time-consuming jobs. Beckett sort of broke away from that mould, but not really.

Castle 6x09: Disciple

What I Liked
-Castle doesn't think romantic and Hobbity need to be mutually exclusive. I'm not sure many women would agree.
-Tech lady's still on the show. Maybe one day she'll get herself into the opening credits. And maybe one day I'll learn her name.
-Hey, it's Rack Bauer. Nice to see that she's getting some work.
-Ryan gets Esposito to share his feelings. It can't be all 'Brah' all the time.

What I Hated
-Lanie and Esposito are still banging on the sly. Exactly how long can two people be friends with benefits without finding other people to legitimately date?

Final Thoughts
So, 3XK may still be alive and may have multiple people working for/with him. It's a terrible shame that Castle and Beckett didn't shoot him in the face when they had a chance. Always shoot the super-genius bad guy in the face, kids. It's the only way to be sure.

The thing where there's a thriving business somewhere one day and there's nothing there the next day has been done to death. As has the thing where they have the killer in custody, then let him/her go instead of tossing him/her into a cell for 24h like they do with every random street punk they pick up.

Considering that there's at least one deranged maniac out there with a grudge against Castle and Beckett, you'd think that they'd consider retirement. How many Nikki Heat books does he really need to write?

Castle 6x08: A Murder is Forever

What I Liked
-They brought back tech officer whatshername. She's on the show a lot, but she's still not a very good character. It's not entirely her fault, though, the dialogue she gets isn't so great.
-Esposito considers taking the diamond and making a run for it. That's what I'd do.
-Castle makes a pun that would've made even David Caruso groan. They can't all be winners.

What I Hated
-The dudes who try to steal the diamond from Ryan and Esposito are wearing clown masks. That's so 2008.
-The cleaner has a magic shredder and a magic computer. It's really hard to permanently delete files quickly, and it's impossible to just shred something so it can't be reassembled... at least not with any technology you could fit in a portable device.

Final Thoughts
A diamond heist isn't this show's typical fare. Sure there was a murder, but they spent the bulk of the episode dealing with a big, shiny rock. Although it was somewhat novel, it ultimately didn't work for me, simply because most of the episode just didn't make any damn sense. You can't unload machine guns at two cops in the middle of New York and get away with it anymore. Bloomberg outlawed that.

TBBT 7x09: The Thanksgiving Decoupling

What I Liked
-An animal can be both sacred and delicious. Exactly. Just because something is sacred, it doesn't mean you can't eat it.
-Sheldon would love to go to Thanksgiving dinner, but it sounds awful. That kind of honesty would make the holidays a lot more pleasant for everyone.
-Bernadette with a marshmallow in her mouth.

It's a simple gag, but a good one.

What I Hated
-Sheldon compares himself to a slave... a lot. Not cool.
-Howard's stupid enormous belt buckle.

It's like he's the featherweight boxing champion or something.

Final Thoughts
Honestly, when I first read the title, I thought Penny and Leonard were going to split up. Then, as the episode went on, it seemed more likely. But they worked it out in the end, which is good, because they've already broken up a couple times, and doing it again would be boring.

Drunk Sheldon is best Sheldon. They should really have him drink more often. Maybe turn him into an alcoholic or something. It would give his character more depth.

It was good to see Zack back on the show. He's one of the recurring characters that I actually like. Not like Lucy or whatsherface in the HR department at CalTech. And I don't just hate them because they're women; it's because they suck.

I think this is the first time we've seen what the gang gets up to on Thanksgiving. Considering how much Sheldon and Leonard loathe their families and the fact that Raj's parents are in India, it makes sense that they'd spend it with Howard's mother. But I have to say that no self-respecting overbearing Jewish mother would let gout stop her from cooking on Thanksgiving. Of all the things this show does, that was probably the least realistic.

TBBT 7x08: The Itchy Brain Simulation

What I Liked
-Amy and Bernadette get their own drinks because Penny is slow. That's one of the perks of being friends with the bartender... sort of.
-Raj wonders why the key is always confidence and not love handles and flop sweat. A lot of men wonder that at some point in their lives.
-Raj loves Penny because she gets him dates. It's weird to love a woman who gets you dates with other women, but I suppose it's a different kind of love.

What I Hated
-They brought Lucy back. That was completely unnecessary; she was a terrible character, and Raj had achieved closure, more or less.
-The itchy sweater is way too itchy. Like ridiculously, comically so. But it wasn't funny.

Final Thoughts
It was a bit strange to see Sheldon actually be devious and vindictive. Normally he's above those sorts of things. Perhaps he's not a robot after all.

The Crazy Ones 1x09: 16 Inch Softball

What I Liked
-Andrew had to tell his girlfriend the truth, even though it was a lie. That's the best way to do it.
-Flizz.

Andrew's right, it's time for Rice Krispies to get a new mascot. Maybe tone down the outfit a bit first, though.

-Lauren's baseball outfit.

Time for a remake of A League of Their Own.

What I Hated
-Weird softball training semi-montage thing. Nothing about it was good.

Final Thoughts
Their first recurring villain (such as he is) has finally recurred, and it's TV's Brad Garrett.

Behold, the face of evil.

The cavalier attitude with which they approached the loss of someone's livelihood was a little distressing. I realize that it's just a TV show, but it sort of makes me wonder if the writers are living in that show business bubble where they don't understand how bad the economy is. Sure, it's fun to play softball and to joust on pocket motorcycles, but afterwards, someone's getting fired.

Sydney's just as appalled about it as I am.

This episode wasn't as funny as the previous one. I suppose there's not that much comedy left to be mined from softball.

The Crazy Ones 1x08: The Stan Wood Account

What I Liked
-The finger doesn't lie!

It sure doesn't.

-We finally meet the Lewis in LewisRoberts+Roberts. I was wondering when they'd get around to that.
-No one remembers Ike Turner for his song-writing skills. They shouldn't.
-Ed Asner plays the feeble old woman. Even at his advanced age, he can still act.
-There's a 'never mind horn' at the used car lot. You've gotta have some way to take it back when someone prematurely rings the bell.
-Brad Garrett driving a tiny car.

Ha-ha!

What I Hated
-They didn't show the new Mr. Finger commercial. That's all we really wanted to see.

Final Thoughts
Dang, Ed Asner is looking old and decrepit. I really hope he's still acting because he enjoys it and not because he can't pay his mortgage or something.

It's good to see TV's Brad Garrett back on TV.

This was the funniest episode so far of this series. I really enjoy it, which probably means it'll be cancelled at the end of the season.

Hawaii Five-0 4x08: Akanahe

What I Liked
-Four guys show up to kill Nick Jonas. About freakin' time.
-McGarrett tells Chi he has a very angry disposition. He sure does.
-Cat can't flick things up onto the big screen. He-he.
-The photo that comes up when Steve calls Cat is still goofy.

I tried to do that for my ladyfriend, but it wouldn't work. She's not terribly upset about it.

What I Hated
-Kono explains what a bullet will do to Sato's brain. That probably seemed bad-ass on the page, but it came off REALLY lame.
-The kids are getting naked on webcam. I don't need to see that. Also, Chi McBride really shouldn't have given his daughter her laptop back so quickly.
-A guy hacks his foot off to get rid of a tracking bracelet.
-The guys actually believe a kid can control a plane with a laptop. Computers are not magic, people!

Final Thoughts
So Chi McBride's character and McGarrett now have a grudging respect for one another. I was hoping they'd just kill Chi off, but now he has allies on the team and some kind of shady backstory, so he's going to be around for a while. Not that I'm against Chi McBride in any way -I've actually quite liked some of his work- but the character is unnecessary, and it seems a bit odd for the SWAT captain to suddenly be getting a lot of play when they went three years without mentioning the previous captain.

I really despise TV shows and movies that treat computers like they're magic. It's 2013, not 1991. Everyone and their grandmother has a computer in their pocket these days. Furthermore, while it may be technically possible to screw with a plane's GPS, there's absolutely no way to disable radio communications short of physically damaging the plane's hardware. It's a radio. You can build one out of crap you find lying in the street.

None of the three Bs were represented this week. Partially because Scott Caan wasn't even in the episode, and that kinda precludes any booking or driving of the Camaro. The lack of bikini babes is inexcusable, though. The only reason this episode doesn't get a single-star rating is because of all the violence done to Nick Jonas' face.

Hawaii Five-0 4x07: Ua Nalohia

Deputy Cat's beating dudes up and looking for info on Adam.

Dude gets shanked on his surf board.

Mary adopted a baby. And Taryn Manning looks kinda haggard.

Dead guy was undercover with the ATF.

Mary gets salmonella poisoning, so the boys play Three Men and a Baby.

Daryl Hannah shows up to play a sexy real estate agent.

The woman who was transcribing the guy's reports gave inside info to her boyfriend and they used it to rob the bad guys. Then they killed him when it looked like they might be found out.

Fortunately, there was enough info to take the bad guys down anyway.

Kono's been gone a long time, and the guys need help, so Cat becomes a full-time member of the team.

What I Liked
-"Hey, why is there a baby attached to your chest?" Chin gets straight to the point. I like that about him.
-Baby's first wad o' cash.

Time to make it rain down at gymboree.

-The baby keeps grabbing at Scott Caan's face, but he just keeps on acting like she's not even there. That's one of the signs of a professional. Also, it's one of the signs that you should never work with kids or animals.

What I Hated
-The guy followed a woman who was dressed all sexy-like and who he didn't know down to a basement just because she whispered in his ear. He deserved to get beaten and arrested; she was either a hooker, a cop, or she was gonna roll him.
-Even though we haven't seen her since last season, apparently Chin's been dating Leilani, and she knows him well enough to know that he always eats pancakes for breakfast.

It's bad.

-Chi McBride's character. He's around solely to be a grumpy antagonist for McGarrett, much as eight years ago he was around solely to be a grumpy antagonist for House.

Final Thoughts
Charlie's still alive. I really thought they had killed him off at the end of last season.

No Kono again, and now Cat's a full member of the Five-0 team. Looks like the rumours of Grace Park leaving the show might be true.

Kind of a mediocre episode that didn't have any of the three Bs. But at least it wasn't blatantly offensive, and they brought in Daryl Hannah to sex things up bit, which was nice.