NBC News – Chuck

Just got word from the fabulous Television without Pity and (via TWOP) Entertainment Weekly, that we might be seeing the return of Chuck far sooner than the late Spring we originally thought.

In what is fantastic news for… well, pretty much everyone, NBC may move up the launch of Chuck to as soon as, oh, two weeks from now. That’s right — late October. -TWOP

But wait, there’s more. If Chuck does come back sooner rather than later, the chances of NBC ordering additional episodes beyond the 13 it initially commissioned increases dramatically. And they increase further if it performs solidly… which for NBC, at this point, means my cat, Mister Scooch, sits down to watch with me. (Seriously, anything above a 2 rating in the 18-49 demo should do the trick.) -EnetertainmentWeekly

Needless to say, I am very excited to see that young Mr. Bartowski and crew will be coming back to my living room. Based on the finale for season 2, this next season looks to head off in an entirely new and exciting direction. I hope that NBC realizes the mistake they’ve made keeping Chuck off the air and brings him back for a full season, ASAP.

Big Bang Theory – 3.02 The Jimmy Conjecture & 3.03 The Gothowitz Deviation

So I got behind, and have to do both of em together in order to catch up. What can I say?

First off: 3.02

Of all the episodes I’ve seen, I think this was probably the least funny one and certainly my least favorite. I think it basically has to do with the sudden transition to all the sex talk. It wasn’t the acting or anything, it was the story. Just didn’t hold water for me. I mean the A storyline was Penny and Lenard and the B storyline was a cricket? No thanks, not entertained.

But everyone is entitled to their weak episodes.

3.03 on the other hand, was fully back to the regular Big Bang glory. The dynamics are changing and I’m loving Sheldon’s reactions. I mean, the chocolate? Perfect. The water bottle? Even better.

The B storyline was pretty good too, although highly unusual for the gang to be split for basically the entire episode. Quite a shocker, but still enjoyed it loads.

Glad show got back on track.

Supernatural – 5.04 The End

These boys continuously pull out all the stops to deliver nothing but pure awesome..I mean it. I mean, first of all, Jensen had to pull of not one Dean in every scene…but TWO. This isn’t just a one scene thing, the poor boy.

Jared on the other hand, is really stepping up his acting this season. Not that he’s a slouch by ANY means, but this boy blew my socks off with his scene(s?). He was in all of like two, but they were absolutely amazing. He played them so perfectly that I was basically beside myself in awe.

Ben Edlund always delivers in his writing too. I mean, this guy writes some cracked out comedy and then turns right around with heartbreaking drama.

Zombieland

Directed by Ruben Fleischer. Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin.

So the previews for this movie display it as a sort of Shaun of the Dead in an amusement park, but it’s anything but that.

Yeah, it’s a zombie movie, yeah the basic idea is to watch a handful of people get chased around by zombies with lots of zombie killing and blood, but this was actually a really, really good movie.

For starts, the writing was amazing. So fresh and fun right from the start. The whole tone of the movie (which is clear from the beginning and carried well through) feels so much more original than anything I’ve seen in a while. Also, I’m pretty sure this film had the greatest B storyline, I have ever, EVER seen in a film. Frankly, I’m pretty excited to see the romance story line fall to the third place.

Yes there was a lot of violence, and yes there was a lot of language, but I didn’t feel that any of it was actually used for the sake of having language or gore. It’s definitely got it’s select audience, but I think it hit the ball out of the park in the niche that it was intended for.

I highly recommend this flick for anyone who loved Shaun of the Dead, who likes good writing, laughing, killing some zombies or Twinkies.

FlashForward – Pilot (1.01 No More Good Days)

So we start off right in the thick of things, upside down cars, blood, fire, people on fire…you get it. I see now why it’s being called the new Lost. Lost started off the same way, and also had Dominic Monaghan in it. There’s also the Kangaroo, which I’m going to equate to the polar bear of Lost. Now all we need is a random hole in the ground with a bunch of numbers.

It’s an interesting premise, everyone blacks out for a full 2.17 minutes (maybe these are the numbers?).

I really like John Cho’s character, he was fantastic in Star Trek and I’m excited to have the opportunity to see him every week. I’m not sure about his proposed story arc, but the idea that what was seen in the flashes isn’t set in stone is something I’m holding on to.

What is the most interesting to me is the concept vs the title. So everyone had a flash of a specific moment in time that turns out to be six months in the future. But is this a one time thing? Are they all going to black out again? That’s what I want to know.

Psych – 4.06 Bollywood Homicide

I’ve discussed this episode with a couple of different people who are serious advocates of Shules (The Shawn/Jules relationship for those not familiar with fandom terms). And while, I do approve of the Shules, I am not crazily obsessed with it. So while there were many amazing Shules moments and quite a few good Shawn and Gus exchanges, I really don’t think this was the most amazing episode ever. Sorry Shules fans.

It wasn’t, not good, it just didn’t hold up to the awesome that I got from Yips. So we had Sendhil, and we got the awesome intro. I feel like the addition of adding Hindi music throughout the editing actually kind of distracted me from the episode. I get what they were going for, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the addition.

Rachel Leigh Cook is doing a great job, to have basically jumped in (yeah, so she’s not there every ep) after 4 seasons, she’s fitting really well. Again, sorry Shules fans.

Best exchange of the episode: “I can’t see anything out of my left eye.”/”I see dead people.”/”Even the water is spicy.”/”Who does that?”

Supernatural – 5.03 Free To Be You and Me

I have always adored Jeremy Carver’s writing. I mean, this guy wrote the Christmas episode of season 3 which I’m pretty sure is one of my favorite episodes. Of course, he also wrote Family Remains, which was pretty much fail…But everyone has bad days, so I forgive him.

So, the return of Adrianne Palicki! I’m glad the show is able to keep bringing her back and using her in ways that I totally buy. Also, I loved the color scheme of that motel. Everything in muted greys and blacks and whites…and then the bright red sheet. The production designers always do a great job.

However, my absolute favorite…favorite, favorite thing, was the editing after the title card. The beautiful contrast of the boys as they are separated. It was heartbreaking and just so amazingly done that I want to watch that section over and over again.

Castiel had some great moments, even though I’m pretty sure that Misha got his hair cut just a tad too short. But this whole idea of Dean teaching him the ropes of being a human hunter. Most specifically lying, (because that’s what you do when you want to become president). Misha pretty much ruled at everything, deer in the headlights being my favorite.

Now as far as this whole Sam and Lucifer thing is going, I pretty much expected that from the premiere ep. And I’ll be honest, I’m kinda disappointed. I was excited when things didn’t go that way, but then Kripke turns it right back around and ends up going that way? Back to brother vs brother. Kripke is clearly setting it up to officially end when show is over.

Now what I’d love to see, is Ben come back. Remember 4.20? Being a vessel runs in the family, we covered that now that Sam is officially a member of the club. And I’m going to hold that 3.02 Lisa was LYING to Dean about Ben being his son. Soooo, Huzzah, a fun twist I’d love to see. XD

9

9 (2009) - Directed by Shane Acker. Screenplay by Pamela Pettler and Story by Shane Acker. Starring the voice talents of: Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Jennifer Connelly, Fred Tatasciore and Elijah Wood.

Sooooo, I’m sorry…but what was the plot of this movie? Blink and you’ll miss it…if it’s even there to see at all. This entire movie, while visually stunning is essentially Sam and Frodo’s Two Towers Movie arc. (Not the book, cause in the book, they actually did stuff.) There was virtually no character growth, and the while the premise looked amazing, I’ve been having a hard time trying to figure out what on earth the plot actually was.

The movie was however, visually stunning. I thought the animation was really well done and I quite enjoyed that aspect of it…if only there was a plot to go with it. Bottom line, don’t pay full ticket price for this movie, but do see it.

Castle – 2.01 Deep in Death

I adore Castle, and I think the Castle gang more or less came back with a bang. The writers were definitely walking a thin line with some of the morbid jokes, But I think they do it well (“Kind of like tea”).

This episode wasn’t so much about the crime that was committed, but more about the relationship between Castle and Beckett. Now, while there has been a hefty sampling of both in all of the previous Castle episodes, I feel as if there was more of a balance of the two if not a leaning towards the case. But somehow, I’m perfectly okay with that. We’ve got some great stuff going on between the two of them that I would have been disappointed to see it pushed aside in favor of the dead guy of the week.

Some of the writing/acting seemed a little odd/forced. Like the wife asking where her husband was. Well, he’s dead…so they took him out dancing. A better question would have been when she is allowed to go down to the morgue to see him. Would have accomplished the same awkward response from Beckett, without the forced acting and odd change in conversation.

Also, it seems awfully convenient that we reveal Beckett can pull off a Russian accent and understand it, mere moments before sending her in to use this skill. Granted, I think she full on rocked in there, just wish we had maybe got that info earlier (another ep would have been ideal, but earlier would have worked).

I have always loved the medical examiner Lanie Parish, hope she gets more screen time as the season goes on. Also, the daughter Alexis. Not sure what’s going on with her bangs though…personally, I’m not a huge fan of them.

However, the previews for next week, look EPIC.

Big Bang Theory – 3.01 The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation

Big Bang, quite literally came back with a bang tonight. After spending three months with no one but each other in Antartica, the lovable nerds are back!

This episode was incredibly Sheldon focused, which I adore. It was also another example of Jim Parsons’ awesomeness. Seriously. From his beautiful enactment as an emoticon (Colon capitol D), to his amazing delivery of the line “that was sarcasm” followed by the despair pertaining to Comic Con and Star Trek (if anyone can’t catch a break, I almost feel like it was him in that scene).

The Star Trek thing was even an amazing step forward for Penny, made all the more better by Sheldon’s reaction. Kudos for trying Penny.

Despite Raj and Howard’s focus in the story arc of this episode, they had great moments every time they were on screen. Howard’s attempt to be a Texan, Rajj’s zings at Howard and pity choke… It was really a great job from the cast all around.

On the note of Lenard and Penny, I was never really an advocate for that relationship anyways. It doesn’t feel natural out of the chemistry of the actors. I’m down with the writers using it to shift things up among the group (which are likely still going to be slightly shifted given this whole can opener thing). But frankly, I’m not expecting it to last, nor do I really want it to.

Can’t wait for the next episode. For now, I have my DVDs.