Can we fire Chevy Chase?

"The hours are hideous, and it's still a sitcom on television, which is probably the lowest form of television," he told the Huffington Post UK. (via TV Guide)

I also think it is important to note that Chevy followed the above quote with, "I think the reason I have stuck around is because I love these kids, the cast - they are very good. It's not like I am working with the great innovators of all time, but at the same time, they are my friends." So at least he isn't a total jerk.

But, for serious? Can we fire Chevy Chase on Community already? He already totally mucked up the show by getting Dan fired + Pierce is my least favorite character.

Let me be clear in saying that I do adore Chevy Chase. I think 80s Chase was a total dreamboat. I just finally watched all of Fletch recently and got a serious girl crush on him. But Pierce Hawthorne is not that Chevy Chase. In no way, shape or form. He has funny lines from time to time... but in general, he's terrible. I get the character - an aging entrepreneur going back to school. It's actually quite logical. But they've just done nothing with Pierce.

Here are my three options to solve the problem:

1. Make Pierce graduate. Shocker! While everyone else is caught up in zombies, paintball and blanket forts, Pierce actually took extra classes and is eligible to graduate early. Goodbye Pierce!

2. Reinvention, version 1. Is there some way to show what could have been? And make Pierce into the Chevy Chase we all know and love? Some sort of flashback or flash sideways or alternate reality?

3. Reinvention, version 2. We've seen glimpses of 'evil Pierce.' You know, the guy who teams up with Chang. The one from the western paintball episode. The one that is 'out' of the group. Can we get Pierce as a villain? Can we get him teaming up with Chang or Goodman or something to bring the group down?

My Favorite Emmy's 2012 Moment

New Fall Show Review: Animal Practice

When the NBC Fall Trailers were released, I didn't even mention Animal Practice. You'd think a vet show would be an obvious choice for me, right? But there was just something about it that didn't impress me.

Then I heard it was the same monkey from the Hangover. And that it was probably going to be the one comedy that lasted of this season's crop of new shows.

So I gave it a go.

And wasn't impressed. I don't think I laughed or smiled once.

The main vet is just so snarky and rude - he isn't lovable. Even Dwight on the Office has his moments, right?  There are SO many comedies out now (Thanks, Modern Family, Glee, etc for resurrecting the sitcom), that you need to be really good to stand out.

And this? It just doesn't.

Maybe they need cuter animals.

New Fall Show Review: Ben & Kate

Caught the premiere (airing 9/25) of Ben & Kate online last weekend and it's secured at least a few more episodes of DVR space.

Made me chuckle more than a few times, has a nice storyline between brother and sister (the aforementioned Ben and Kate), some great supporting cast members in their friends and an iinsanely cute kid.

But hi, not sure I can handle Ben's teeth or Kate's unwashed, badly dyed hair.

Battle of the Seasons Premiere

I watched the premiere in parts - the first 18 minutes online during my lunch break, and the last hour-ish at home at midnight - so forgive me if these thoughts are rather fragmented. 

These people are young. Wes and Alton are like, 'my time.' I didn't even watch St. Thomas, so I don't know they're names. 

Could they really not find another 4-person season? Mixing Nany and Dustin with Alton and Trishelle is just weird when everyone else is from the same season. Could they really not find another season with 4 people willing to compete? 

Could we have tried....

A real Las Vegas 2.0 - Heather, Leroy, Naomi, Cooke, even Mikey? They weren't available?

Hollywood - Would have been awkward since Joey just died, but Kim, Nick, Dave, Brianna, and Brittani have all been on Challenges before. 

Sydney - Cohutta, Dunbar, Isaac, KellyAnne and Shauvon have all been on Challenges. And, come on, who wouldn't love to see a Wes and KellyAnne reunion?! 

Denver - Colie, Jenn, Davis, Tyrie? I just did the casting for you. 

Key West - Possibly the best possible casting for a battle of the seasons. Take your choice between Johnny, Tyler, Svetlana, Janelle, or Paula. 

*I chose not to go back further than this simply because the next older cast not represented was Philadelphia... and CJ looked old the last time we saw him. 

Dear Sarah and Chet, your strategy is ridiculous. The strongest guy and strongest girl should immediately make an alliance to stick together. Saying that you want to make it to the end with the weaker of the two guys on your team, when you are obviously a strong girl? That's stupid. 

Relationship update: 

Austin - Danny and Melinda, still divorced. The betrayal of Wes and Danny is apparently water under the bridge, though. 

Cancun - Jonna and Jasmine BFF? Weren't they just on Rivals?

NOLA - Jemmye gave Knight's clothes away after her cheated on her. But these two are adorbs. And so funny. And I want them back together. 

San Diego - Zach and Ashley are done-zo (and now he's hooking up with Jonna. That's going to end badly). And apparently Frank and Zach are BFF now, too?

Wes, it was nice to have you back.... I love/hate Wes. Love him for the drama, but generally hate him as a person. This season though, he's the only guy that really knows how to give a good interview, and thus, the only funny person (so far). His statement that all the new kids will listen to him because they are 'fans'? Awesome / awful. 

Albeit, briefly. Is it okay that I'm a little disappointed Wes went home first? I mean, you couldn't have written it better - 'strongest' and most experience player gets sent home early, leaving a divorced couple as teammates - but, like I said, he's a character. It seems odd to not have him around. 

Way to underwhelm us, FreshMeat. I wanted the mystery team - no matter who they were - to come in with a sense of entitlement, a sense of power. These people were never in a house or a bus or anything - Freshmeat contestants were chosen just to compete. I don't want them losing. I don't want them to have drama. I almost wish they didn't live in the house with every one. I want them to just show up and compete. Something more like CT and Tina were in the elimination rounds a couple season's back. I want enforcers. 

New Fall Show Review: Revolution

Revolution doesn't technically premiere until 9/17, but it was available OnDemand (and I think it is on Hulu too), so I figured I'd get ahead of the game and check it out.

Did you / do you like any of the following shows:
The Event
FlashForward
LOST
Alcatraz
Fringe
Terra Nova

If you answered 'yes' to any of those, you might as well give Revolution a shot.  It'll probably get cancelled (like 4/6 of those did), so hey, it isn't a big commitment anyway.

In case you missed the bazillion promos - basically we lose all power/energy. Like... no lights, no cars, and apparently, they don't even have pens (watch for the guy from Breaking Bad/Once Upon A Time writing with a giant pencil at one point).

And hey! We get this awesome shot of East St. Louis 15 yrs from now with busted up playgrounds!

Good try, Revolution, but East St. Louis already sort of looks like that. 

I know, I know. How does that make sense? If we know how electricity was invented - why don't we just reinvent it? If we know how wind energy works - why not just use that? It makes absolutely zero sense. According to my boyfriend, this is a show 'for people who don't understand science.'

I'm not too caught up on details. It's a TV show! Who cares! But my issue is this - it needs to be believable, if only for a little while. The first 40 minutes of LOST were completely possible. Plane crash on an island. Sure, a lot of people survived, but whatever. It's a show. It wasn't until the very last few minutes of the pilot that we heard the monster in the jungle. We were intrigued. We realized that wait - this wasn't just a modern day Gilligan's Island. This is something more.

Revolution just isn't smart enough. The comment 'this is a show for people who don't understand science' is a real problem. LOST pushed viewers. When it came out, TV was getting dumber and dumber. Reality was king. But LOST dared to be the thinking-man's show. It had literary references you had to Google to understand. It had Easter eggs hidden in nearly every episode. We saw all of its predecessors dumb themselves down to help the audience understand - Flashforward always replayed scenes that were referenced, instead of just hoping their viewers would remember what happened two weeks ago. Terra Nova blew its budget with 'cool' dinosaurs instead of focusing on plot and character. Revolution is heading towards the same fate.

We do get a lot of LOST-y feelings from the show. 'Juliet' plays mom to 'Charlie' and wife to 'Ben.' Hearing her say their names in the very first scene of the show made me feel like I was watching LOST all over again. The music sounds similar, there's a plane (and believe me, I searched for 'Oceanic' on the side) and it ends with someone sending mysterious messages on a computer that could have flew out of the Hatch when it exploded and landed in this lady's attic. I wanted so badly for her to respond to the final "So.... Now what?" message with "4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42."

BUT WAIT - mysterious messages? I thought they didn't have power? 

Oh yes, now you're hooked, eh?

New Kids on the (Glee) Block

Brody - I know another Glee hunk who made his debut singing in the shower! Hello, Finn 2.0! Brody's a tough act for me.... He comes off a little arrogant in the beginning (The 'yeah, I'm straight' comment), which is distinctly not Finn-like. But then he's all encouraging and sympathetic to Rachel... which is a little weird to me. He's a junior. Who met this freshman in the bathroom one night. And what? She's his protege or something? Why does he care? I'm a fan of his looks, and their chemistry, but not the character... yet.

Unique - I know he/she isn't technically 'new' but happy to have him be a full time member of the club, and, I'm assuming, a regular on Glee. He was my pick to win the first season of The Glee Project anyway. Now... when do we get to see Blake? And how do we get rid of Mr. Dreadlock-Dead-Eyes?

Marley (and mom) - First off - Marley is the new Rachel. She's pretty, dorky, and a helluva good singer. But what stole the show for me was that scene with the lunch lady / her mom. That.broke.my.heart. Ladies and gentleman - it's Kurt's dad + Coach Beiste combined. But is she always going to wear that hat? Because that's going to be an issue. I vote for a Sugar makeover!

Kate Hudson -She's a bitch yes, but we all know she's just doing it to make Rachel stronger. She's obviously not that bad ass considering she was so nice to that TA Benji, has a drinking problem and is eager to prove she's still got it. My question- if you were trying to hide your drinking from students, why make an elaborate blended Malibu drink in the dance room? Come on, Kate!

Jake - He's a good singer, and good looking... I just want him to be more than a furniture-throwing brute. And fast. Also, please tell me we get to have a Noah / Jake meeting?!

Kitty - Believe it or not, by far my favorite addition. TV Guide mentioned that Glee needed to show her soft side soon, or she'd become a villain like last seasons' Sebastian. I'm sorry, what's wrong with a villain? I loved Sebastian. I miss evil Terri and crazy Sue. Kitty is snarky and hilarious. Keep her!

... And where is everyone else?
The big question this season is if Glee can juggle McKinley and the rest of the graduated members sprinkled across the country. In the first episode, the back and forth between Ohio and New York worked fine. Kurt was still back at home, and his numerous and frequent (albeit phony) phone calls with Rachel kept the connection between the two cities relevant.

But what about now that he is in NYC too? And what about when we're flipping to LA or Louisville (or St. Louis) to see our other Glee alums? And what about people like Emma and Beiste that we didn't even see in the first episode?

Between that and all these new characters... I'm worried.

New Fall Show Review: The New Normal

The New Normal has three things I love:

Justin Bartha. My dream dog. And (spoiler alert!) my dream puppy.

So, yes, of course I'm going to watch it every.single.week.

Besides liking the concept, it also has that quick-witted, kind of silly, Ryan Murphy humor I (used to) love about Glee. Don't talk during The New Normal, or you might miss a great line from this stellar cast.

Justin Bartha, obviously an A+. Andrew Rannells is great. The mom/daughter duo is adorable and genuine (+ the Grey Gardens impression in the second episode rocks). Ellen Barkin is actually a lot.... meaner.... than I thought. I know she was supposed to be sort of racist/close-minded. But this is serious. And kind of scary. It makes me nervous.

Also, major kudos to NeNe of Real Housewives fame who is killing it on this show and on Glee. There IS life after reality!

New Fall Show Review: Go On

I'll be honest, I wasn't really impressed with the promos for Go On that were airing during the Olympics. It just didn't look.... funny.

But I've figured something out watching the first two episodes.

It wasn't funny because I didn' know these people yet. I hadn't fallen in love with the characters. But once you know 'em, you love 'em. 

And in that regard, Go On was smart. They got to the characters REALLY quick. Did I think it was a little odd that within minutes of joining his therapy group, Chandler Bing was leading them in a frenzied bracket challenge - dubbed 'March Sadness'? Yes, yes I did. But after that, I was hooked. I loved these people.

The second episode smartly shifted focus to the non-therapy characters - Chandler's assistant and John Cho (who, in my book can do no wrong. And he did FlashForward).

Go On, premiered during the Olympics to 16.1 million viewers and a 5.6 rating in the adults 18-to-49 demographic, and this week, pulled in a respectable 9.6 million viewers and a 3.4. (via TVGuide)

It isn't exactly LOL funny. (Although, it did get quiet a few chuckles out of my boyfriend.) But it's heartwarming and will make you smile and it doesn't have to be zany and quirky to be smart comedy.

Go On is officially on my DVR list.

Oh, and yes, I will continue to refer to him as Chandler Bing. Get used to it.