Facebook Cartoons Craze

It seems that many people are changing their Facebook profile pictures to cartoons they love, whether they are from movies (like Disney movies) or from TV.

Ern picked Hey Arnold (pictured), because Ern can still watch and enjoy that, to this day. Leeard refuses to play any Facebook games that are not Bejeweled Blitz (Ern and Leeard have a fierce-ish Bejeweled competition going, usually). Ern's sister picked Ahh! Real Monsters. We've seen some Disney princesses, Doug, Dragonball Z, and Rugrats.

We have not confirmed why people are doing this. It's either to promote awareness regarding child abuse or to celebrate your favorite childhood shows.

We wonder how long we are supposed to keep the pictures up. We wonder a lot of things about this new trend. We like the celebrities thing better, but this is cute too.

If you are reading and changed your picture, let us know what you picked.

Grey's Anatomy - Adrift and at Peace review

Yay! It looks like the end for Pathetic Cristina. She went fishing with Derek, learned to stop thinking and be Zen, and she caught a fish. Holding the fish (life!) in her hands for the obligatory Big Catch Picture, she realized that she had healed and wanted to be a doctor again. At least that’s what we go from her expression and Meredith’s voiceover as she hung the picture on the refrigerator.

This episode had unlikely people working together and hanging out. We had Cristina and Derek fishing. We had Mark and Callie hilariously bickering about their casual sex. We had Callie and Alex working together and making jokes. We had Meredith and Owen in the operating room together, fighting. And then after the operation, they were fighting. We can see both of their points a little bit. Meredith thought that Owen was an enabler. He married Cristina, so now Cristina could just live off of him and mope around the house rather than face up to her problems. Owen told Meredith that she shouldn’t hold Cristina to her standards. This is true. Meredith and Derek are so perfect right now that she shouldn’t be judging our new Resident Dark and Twisty Couple. But the rest of their arguments made no sense and seemed to just be an opportunity for the writers to have someone point out that Meredith is fearless. Meredith is “reckless” and Owen doesn’t want her around Cristina? Where did that come from?

Owen and Meredith have never gotten along, and we have no idea why. Think about it: When have they ever liked each other? Is Meredith not over the choking thing? Why on earth would she blame him for Cristina’s problems? Maybe Owen doesn’t like Meredith because she never gives him a break and hollers at him about personal problems in his O.R. while he’s trying to think and maintain his authority at the same time. We actually like that they dislike each other. Some of these doctors get along too well. In real life, personalities clash, and sometimes your best friend marries someone you don’t approve of. We just want the writers to give them real reasons to fight besides their gargantuan amounts of stubbornness. How about the fact that Owen dyed his hair blonde, ruining his entire head? Why hasn’t anyone yelled at him about that? When Lexie and the chief changed their head colors, they got crap for it.

What was with Teddy? She is so desperate that she asked some patient (Scott Foley) to marry her because he needs health insurance to live? Wow. Pathetic Cristina dies and Pathetic Teddy is born. Admittedly, this could have been a solid idea. Teddy marries a cute patient to save his life. Arranged marriages work all the time. It could have been cute. But we think the scene was poorly written, and Teddy came off as crazy. That was so awkward. We guess the guy is going to say yes though.

Why does Bailey always get asked out by young, hot, tall men? She always gets a guy who looks like he stepped out of the pages of a men’s magazine. It’s unrealistic, and not just because she looks like a little brown mushroom. It’s unrealistic because hot, nice, smart guys are pretty rare for just about anyone.

We can’t believe Callie shut the door in Arizona’s face! Nooooo. Arizona is going to have to work hard to win Callie back, because Callie’s heart is cold and closed right now. We can’t believe she didn’t take Arizona back after Arizona left her fancy Africa job for Callie.

This was the last episode until January, and that’s like four weeks later. The preview of next week excited us. We can’t believe we have to wait this long. At least we got a Mark and Lexie kiss to tide us over. Lexie looked really cute in this episode.

We wonder if Bailey will be over the fistula thing by next year.

Funny episode, for the most part. And we’re glad Alex returned to peds.

Episode grade: B+

The Vampire Diaries - The Sacrifice recap/review

This episode wasn’t as jaw-dropping as episodes of this show usually are. Sure, we had our weekly dish of hot guys, a few twists, some heat between Damon and Elena, and a bit of drama, but we weren’t awed. Also, one of us thinks that Ian’s acting was odd this episode. He overplayed Damon’s mischievous intensity. After three weeks of missing this show, we were expecting more for our patience.

Elena woke up in the middle of the night, because she heard Luka's father snooping around her house. When she got up to investigate, all she found was Alaric walking around in his boxers with a bowl of chubby hubby (have you ever noticed that ice cream on TV is ALWAYS Ben and Jerry's?) Lucky Elena. We would like to wake up to half-naked Alaric any day. Looks like he and Jenna are getting on well. Meanwhile, Team Salvatore was visiting Katherine in the tomb. They were after the moonstone, which Katherine unsuccessfully tried to barter for her freedom. We guess she's decided that starving in a tomb is not a fate better than running from Klaus.

The boys showed up at Elena's to tell her their plan. They were going to have Bonnie open the tomb so they could go in and get the stone. Elena was still spooked by what Katherine had told her in the last episode: that Klaus would take any resistance out on her friends and family. Elena went the Salvatore house looking for Rose, and found Rose in her lingerie, still keeping Damon company. Elena got Rose to take her to Slater’s apartment, so that she could get information from Slater. They found Slater, the “vampire almanac,” dead, staked through the heart. They also found his idiotic girlfriend, and she helped them get into his computer system. Elena found out who Slater’s contact to Klaus was, and she immediately sent him a message announcing her intention to surrender and sacrifice herself. Rose was horrified, and we weren’t sure why. It would solve all of her problems. In any case, she called Damon.

Jeremy, wanting to save Bonnie from the dangerous over-exertion of opening the tomb, stole some of the magic Katherine-paralyzing ashes Bonnie had made for Stefan and Damon’s use. He headed into the cave with his supernatural ring, disabled Katherine, got the stone. The time he took to find the stone gave Katherine the opportunity to wake up and bite him. We can forgive him for this stupid lollygagging, because he had the sense to toss the moonstone out of the tomb whilst being chewed on by the villainess. Stefan, Damon, and Bonnie headed over to the tomb, but Damon was called away by Rose, and he disappeared. Stefan and Bonnie found Jeremy held in the tomb by Katherine, being toyed with. She could kill him over-and-over because of his ring. Horrified, Bonnie tried to open the tomb. Bonnie channeled energy from Luka, a trick he taught her earlier in order to bond with her. We guess he didn’t anticipate that she was a power thief. Even with the extra juice, Bonnie failed, got a nosebleed, and passed out. Useless. Katherine opened the loud hole in her head for another bite of Jeremy, and Stefan rushed in, threw Jeremy out, and trapped himself in the tomb with a very happy Katherine.

Damon showed up at Slater's apartment, and he was not onboard with Elena’s plan. Klaus's goons appeared to take Elena, and Rose bolted. Elijah, who had tracked Elena down with help from Luka’s warlock father, also arrived. In a surprise twist (man, there are tons of those on this show), Elijah killed Klaus’ men by ripping out their hearts. Apparently, he wants Elena safe and (seemingly) isn’t working for Klaus.

Caroline and Tyler bonded when she helped him to prepare for his first full moon. They found Mason’s diary in the Lockwood cellar in which he chronicled all of his experiences with lycanthropy. Mason also left a video he made of his first transformation. Caroline and Tyler watched it together, and they found out that Tyler’s new curse will be horrifying, painful, and hours long. Tyler, understandably, flipped out. Caroline comforted him but was interrupted by Matt at the door. Matt told Caroline that he misses her, she smiled, and then Tyler stepped into the doorway. Matt looked sad. End scene. Uh oh. Obviously Matt is going to think that Caroline moved on with Tyler. It’s not like they can tell Matt the truth. But Tyler didn’t start reassuring Matt that there was nothing going on. There could be another decent love triangle forming here, in addition to the main one and the Bonnie/Luka/Jeremy one.

When Damon and Elena got home, Jeremy was there to tell them what happened to Stefan. If you didn't watch this episode, but you are following the show you might want to at least take a second to check out the last scene in addition to reading this recap, because it is going to be pivotal for our triangle. Elena rushed to the tomb, cried out for Stefan, but he wouldn’t come to the entrance to speak with her. Damon held the flailing Elena away from the entrance. When she realized that she was never going to get to Stefan with Damon in the tomb, she stormed out.

Stefan came out to speak with Damon.
Damon- "Of all the idiot plans Stefan...I'll find a way to get you out."
Stefan- "Keep Elena away from here. Promise me. No matter what happens, promise me you'll protect her."
Exit Damon
Katherine "That right there was the biggest mistake you've ever made."
We sure hope so.

There was lots of good Elena/Damon interaction, and we loved the ending, so we’ll give this one a B+.

Bones - The Twisted Bones in the Melted Truck recap/review

This episode opened with the spontaneous combustion of a truck as the sun rose over a field where it was parked. When he got the call, Booth was getting out of bed with Hannah, and they were talking about when she should meet Parker. Hannah was worried because she thinks she’s bad with children. We don’t trust people who are usually bad with kids. It’s a sign. Dump her already, Booth. Booth reassured her, but later on he revealed to Sweets that Parker 'hates' Hannah, in spite of not having met her. We feel the same way, Parker. Sweets tells him not to worry. By the way, if you’re a Sweets fan, this is a fun episode for him. Leeard is, Ern isn’t.

At the crime scene, Bones and Booth found a skeleton 'melted' to the dashboard of the car. Since melting is not something that bones can usually do, all the squints were intrigued. Back at the lab, Daisy worried about a psych evaluation that she had to pass in order the get higher clearance. This makes sense, because Daisy is a looney tune. She seduced Sweets into helping her in some very cutesie scenes. The couple is apparently very much together again. Daisy also assisted Hodgins in one of his infamous experiments. This one, unfortunately, resulted in a minor gunshot wound for him....Still, we love Hodgins’ experiments.

It turned out that the truck had magnesium scraps in it, which the heat from the sunrise caused to burst into flame. This burned the skeleton at a heat high enough to cause the bones to appear melted. Booth and Brennan visited the victim’s wife at a high school where she worked. While Booth interrogated her, Brennan went into the class room to question a suspicious looking student. The student was sleeping with his teacher, the victim’s wife. To make a long and very typical Bones story short, the kid’s ex-girlfriend, who Brennan meets in detention, was the killer. We suppose the fun of the Bones formula is guessing which minor character did it, but its wasn't too hard this week. But what is with the teacher/student relationships in our shows this fall?

Parker and Hannah's meeting went swimmingly once Hannah told Booth to get lost and leave her alone with Parker. When Booth reported this back to Brennan, her congratulations where mixed with some not-too-subtle jealousy. We spent the entire Parker-Hannah scene wanting Parker to tell her that he wanted his dad to be with Brennan. That would have been fantastic for the fans, and it would have thrown a wrench into this boring relationship. It would have been so cute if Parker could see what we see watching these people every week. Alas, the episode ended with Booth, Parker, Brennan, and Hannah at dinner together. Parker declared his affection for both Hannah and Brennan. Brennan invited them all to her house with a smile that quickly melted into a frown as she watched Booth holding Hannah’s hand. Well, we like where THAT is going.

Now that the Bones writers have put off teasing us with sexual tension, they've taken up teasing us with Brennen tension. When will she realize that she's in love with him? Has she already? Is she just too afraid of abandonment after her past? Does she think it’s too late since she stomped on Booth’s heart last season? We guess we will have to take what we can get, as usual with this show. We have high hopes for next week’s episode, which is rumored to be a psychologically probing Brennan-centric episode. Whatever realizations Brennan comes to about herself, they need to push her more closely toward Booth, stat.

It really has been too long. It's past the point of annoying.

Episode grade: B

Ann Ward is America's Next Top Model

We are angry at this season of America’s Next Top Model for being predictable throughout the entire season. We almost always knew who was going home. And last night, we knew who was going to win as well. The show makes it easy by what it shows in the girls’ interview clips.

Chelsey’s clips: Showed her talking herself up, talking about her own confidence, and talking about how much she wanted to win and how she should win. At one point, her voiceover said that she couldn’t imagine NOT winning.

Ann’s clips: Showed her confident, not crying (for once), and speaking with humility and a few “aw shucks, it was nice just to get this far" comments.

We could just see, via these clips, that the show was trying to make us root for Ann so that we would be happy when she did win. They have done the same thing in years past. Never, ever say something nice about yourself or talk about why you should win on this show, because they will take that sound bit out of the context of what was probably a reasonable speech (unless you’re Jade or Melrose), and air it if you are going to lose. Why? Because Americans hate arrogance in others (oh, the irony), and can’t stand to see someone praise themselves. Most people prefer false humility (this blogger finds that to be disgusting).

This whole thing made the winner predictable. No way would they show unflattering clips of the winner. No way. So we knew it was going to be Ann.

But the show actually got us onboard with its decision. We lamented that unconfident, pathetic Ann was going to win when Chelsey had more experience and wanted it more. But the judges made a great point: Ann is unique and has the potential to be a star, whereas the perfectly reliable Chelsey would end up another face in the crowd. That doesn’t scream “Top Model,” it just screams “Bookable Model.” We thought Ann would win so that Tyra could celebrate the different people, the underdogs, and patronize Ann to give her self-esteem. But the judges gave a reason why Ann was the best bet to being successful and famous. We felt really bad for Chelsey though.

Oh well. Ann was a worthy winner, photos-wise. We just wish the season had been more memorable and surprising. The only shockers of this season were the prizes and how much an awkward, funny-looking girl who reminded us of a female Lurch can be improved by makeup.

Season grade: B-

Also, can someone tell us why this is our most popular post of all time??? Weird.

Glee - Special Education review

Now that’s more like season one, Glee! The only thing missing was more humor, more lightness, and more (or really any) Sue Sylvester. Other than that, it was a sweet episode with drama, no WTF? moments (like the Beiste kiss), and devoid of a glaring theme. Next week, we go to a Christmas theme, so enjoy the goodness this week while it lasts.

The show must be reading what critics and commenters have written about Glee: That it focuses too much on its main players and doesn’t showcase the whole cast. For the record, it was never this blogger writing that. The show caved to these people by not having Rachel’s awesome voice solo at Sectionals. Giant fail. It should be Sam/Rachel with the opening solos, because we think they have the best guy/girl voices right now, but we guess it’s tradition to have a couple walk down the stage aisles for that cheesy opening. Quinn, Sam, and Santana had the major solos (although we heard you hit a power note at the end, Mercedes, you sly minx), and they all have nice voices. So it was … nice. Actually, Quinn’s vocals were too breathy and the song ("(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life") was forgettable. Santana’s cover of "Valerie" was better. We loved her headgear. Will’s best decision was to have Brittany and Mike out front busting moves.

In real life, Will would be an amazing teacher for doing this. School is about learning, finding yourself, and building confidence. Getting the kids to work as a team (even if he had to yell at them a lot and snap at Rachel) and share the spotlight is good. In REALITY, arts teachers have about two-to-three favorites they overuse, and they creepily hang out and joke with them. It's like a lame clique. Anyone in the high school arts knows what we are saying.

Everyone freaks out when Rachel is aggressive and goes after what she wants. Little known fact (for a reason, because it’s lame): Ern was in the show choir in high school. Don’t laugh. You had to AUDITION to get to wear those lame sequins and falls, and it counted as school credit. But if you wanted a solo, you had to fight for it. If you want to be successful, you have to push yourself out there. Granted, you also want to be classy, nice, and not tick off the wrong people, but that’s called maturity, and Rachel is 16.

Speaking of Rachel, we loved seeing this character get screen time after such a long absence from the story spotlight, even if it was only about her relationship with Finn. Ok, ok, it was about her trying to be nicer as well. And we have been rooting for the return of Puckleberry. But why did it have to be over even faster than it was last time? We felt so warm and happy inside when Rachel and Finn made up, and we shrieked when Rachel told him that she’d almost had her Berry Pucked. This couple was dragging down the storyline though. Even though they are cute, and we like them, we like this development. And we knew that “I’ll never break up with you” stuff was going to bite them in the butts. We wish Rachel hadn't betrayed Finn so harshly and selfishly, especially when everyone knows how sensitive Finn would be about this particular development. She needs a big storyline where she develops some compassion and love of others, because the only time we like her is when we feel sorry for her ... or when she sings. She needs some good traits. Why, after all this time, are they completely ruining, and sometimes dropping, this character? Her loyalty to Finn was one of her few redeeming qualities. Now what are they? Her haircut and being nice to Kurt?

We hope the Rachel and Kurt friendship sticks and develops. He seems to soften her, and maybe she can toughen him up. And they both need non-romantic friends right now. They were so sweet together that it made us sure that Lea Michele and Chris Colfer get along in real life. Kurt’s realization that The Warblers aren’t all that was interesting, yet annoying. The Warblers are all about fitting in (unless you are Blaine, the star) and not being bullied. New Directions is about standing out and sometimes being bullied for it. We liked Lea’s version of "Don’t Cry for Me Argentina" the best (the solo versions can be downloaded on iTunes), and we wondered why this show keeps giving Kurt women’s songs. His voice isn’t THAT high. He can do low too, and there are some great high guy songs out there.

Two songs we haven’t mentioned yet: "Hey Soul Sister" and "Dog Days Are Over". "Hey Soul Sister", sung by The Warblers, wasn’t nearly as impressive as "Teenage Dream", but it was better than the original Train song, which stays in such a high place all the time that it’s annoying. We wish they had done something else, because who isn’t sick of that song? "Dog Days Are Over" was better. We wish Tina’s voices was less bland and more distinctive. We never know when it is her singing. We like the original version of the song better, but this was cute. One of us wishes they had sung this song at Sectionals.

Brittany and Artie were adorable this episode, but in the back of our minds, we wonder how he could date someone that dumb. What, his handicap cancels hers out? Still, Tina needs to step off. Go enjoy your Asian kisses, Tina (LOL). And sorry Wemma fans, Emma is married, and Will is still wretched. Team Carl all the way. And Emma, what’s with the horrible Florence-Henderson-needs-a-haircut haircut?

We love the newest Glee club member, Laura, who had the laugh-out-loud quote of the night: “I’m not nervous. You know why? Because show choir is stupid.” And we loved that she rocked Puck’s world in kisses. Her laid-back, dry humor is just what this show needs at this point.

Poor Hipsters. They tried.

Episode Grade: A

Gossip Girl - Gaslit review

This Thanksgiving episode had a different tone that Gossip Girl usually has. It was more of a downer, and it was more talking than parties, fashion, bad behavior, and one-liners. Of course, it dealt with the aftermath of Serena being drugged and left in a hotel room by Juliet. It picked up on the morning after, where Dorota was encouraging Blair to bring Serena a pie to make up with her. It has been our show-long theory that Dorota is Gossip Girl, but it’s these moments that make us hope she isn’t. She is such a good confidante and mother figure to Blair.

Everyone was angry at Serena that morning, which is understandable, because they thought she had dropped out of Columbia via text after being mean to everyone. Is anyone else worried about Serena’s education? This poor girl is never going to finish college. Serena woke up after her involuntary bender and called 911 on herself. Juliet had almost killed Serena by overdose. (Ern’s annoying, almost-lawyer mind started running. Could she be charged with attempted murder?) Serena ended up at the Ostroff Center because people wondered if it was a suicide attempt. Serena had no memory of anything and couldn’t defend herself. She told Dan that all she remembered was going to the party intending to kiss him and only him. This led to a kiss, and we guess she and Dan are back on after all this time. They are stepsiblings, but we don’t mind. That’s just a label. They have already had sex anyway. Fluids exchanged/what’s done is done.

Vanessa’s revolting sense of style was back. Too bad, because the last couple of episodes have had her looking decent. Nate’s drama with his dad was lame, and we agree with Dan. He should have left their parents alone. You can’t fix someone else’s romantic relationship in real life. We like Nate’s dad with his short prison hair though.

Nice girl Jenny was back, and she acted like a mature and honest person, concerned for Serena and making us forget (a little) the horrible jerk she has been. When Jenny confronted Juliet, Juliet got more “evidence” against Serena. She took a picture of herself in Serena’s mask doing a line of cocaine and texted it to Gossip Girl. Wouldn’t Gossip Girl be suspicious of that photo that could be ANY blonde girl? But even Serena believed it and wondered if she had gotten crazy and forgotten about it. Now even Serena hates Serena. Poor Serena. Juliet got cowardly Vanessa to pin what Jenny knew all onto Jenny. We were surprised that Juliet’s brother had a problem with the drugging Serena plan. We are also surprised that Juliet took Lily’s money to keep quiet about Serena’s past. That’s an awful lot of serious crimes you are racking up, Juliet.

Chuck and Blair tried to play the scheming friends, chatting shallowly and amusingly away, and Chuck told Blair that it was too hard for him to play at being friends. Awww Chuck, you and your big heart. We get it though. After a breakup, people need time, or it’s just torture and they never get to let go of you. We’ve heard spoiler-y rumblings that Chuck will be getting a new love interest. CURSES. A) Chuck should only be with Blair and B) Isn’t it Blair’s turn to have a love interest who isn’t Chuck? Her last serious one was that dopey guy in the beginning of season two who was like a duke or an earl or something. Whatever.

This episode had a lot of whining and worrying about Serena, and it wasn’t as eventful as we had hoped. It was pretty talky. But it ended well. Jenny told Blair everything she knew about Juliet’s plan to take down Serena. Jenny is hated by many, but we like her, because she is believable b*tchy and compassionate depending on the situation and people involved. She always makes the show exciting. Blair, in turn, called Dan and recruited him as a partner in her newest revenge plan. We know that Dan is at his best when he and Blair team up for cattiness. One day, those two need to hook up, roll over and look at each other, groan, vomit, and then never do it again.

Episode grade: B

Boardwalk Empire - Paris Green review

Well, Margaret and Nucky broke up. We aren't sad/don't care. In fact, it would be interesting if Margaret turned on Nucky and took all the information she knows to Van Alden. Actually, we like this development. It makes the character of Margaret more consistent with the woman we met earlier in the show. It was strange that she would throw away her old character and fully accept Nucky and his lifestyle. Seeing it as a temporary slip makes more sense.

Jimmy met his horrible dad, the Commodore, and found out that his mother has been poisoning him. Does anyone else think that Mommy Gillian is the most interesting and capable character on this show full of interesting and capable characters? We felt bad for Angela getting left by her friend when she was all ready to leave Jimmy for Paris. She should have been able to get away.

But the watercooler moment of the episode happened at the end with Van Alden. Sebso, Nucky’s man on the inside who works for Van Alden, angered Van Alden by being a Jew. So Van Alden baptized him to death. Seriously, the man took Sebso to a river and tried to convert him, repeatedly dunking him and then holding him underwater. We don’t know who is more obnoxious, Van Alden or the show writers by making us sit through this. It was awkward and it upset us. It was kind of sacrilegious mixed with super weird. Also, Van Alden should know not to kill Jews. Seriously, that sort of activity is jinxed. If America ever sides against Israel, this blogger is moving to another country to steer clear of the poop storm that would fall. Look at Rome, Germany, Britain when it broke faith with Israel, Spain after the Inquisition, Greece after it desecrated their special temple in the ancient days, and Poland after the pogroms. They were either crushed or their power was significantly cut. It’s jinxed, we tell you. Be nice to Jewish people or be screwed.

But this Death Baptism was pretty stupid in our opinions. Like Van Alden would kill a man for no reason in front of a crowd of nicer Christians when they knew who he was. He’s not THAT crazy. To us, it was possibly the show’s worst moment to date. It was trying to be edgy and daring, but it was incredibly unrealistic. Sure, Sebso wasn’t a good guy; he sort of deserved death. But still … why bring religion into it? Hasn’t the crazed Christian thing been done to death? We WERE surprised that Sebso was killed in that moment though.

We are ready for the season finale and we know that it’s going to be wild and surprising.

One blogger's dad told us to stop being so hard on this show, so instead of giving it the planned C+, we will bump it up a notch. It was decent, after all.

Episode Grade: B-

Dexter - In the Beginning review

So Dexter and Lumen did it. Huh. No, they didn’t kill Jordan Chase, they had sex. You violence-minded cretins. You’ve got to get your minds in the gutter. Is anyone else kind of surprised? Dexter and Lumen didn’t really have any romantic chemistry. If it weren’t for the fact that she accepts him as he is and that TV always pairs single people together, we would be completely shocked. It came out of nowhere for us. Does everyone on TV have to end up together? It was nice to see an nonsexual relationship on TV between a guy and a girl. They are both so damaged right now that they probably don’t need to add a relationship to the mix. We DO like to see Dexter getting in touch with his humanity and connecting. In his voiceover, he said, “With Lumen, I'm someone different. In her eyes, I'm not a monster at all." But how can this end well?

Deb is getting closer to the truth every day, and we hope this season ends with her finding it. Her theory is that there are two vigilantes picking off all the guys who killed the barrel girls. Right on, Deb. This would be the best time for her to find out, since she is so mad about the barrel girls. If it doesn’t end that way, it will feel like a huge cop-out and teasing of the viewer. We like that Deb and Quinn can still be good partners at work even though their romantic relationship is currently busted.

Emily Birch was so pretty, but the fact that she was in league with Chase was très freaky. The dirty cop Quinn hired to spy on Dexter caught sight of Lumen in full killer gear, next to Dexter, practicing some knife work, and he caught it on tape. We wonder how the Dirty Cop thing is going to end. Maybe only Lumen will get pinched, ending Julia’s stint on the show and Dexter’s new relationship, which we are still unsure about a day later. We liked seeing her get her first kill and like it though.

We like where most of this is going, especially how close Deb is to finding out about Dexter's true self. She's been a good sister long enough. She deserves to know.

Episode grade: B+

Bridalplasty

There is a new reality show called Bridalplasty. Brides compete in challenges to win plastic surgery before their wedding day.

Dear Lord.

We may check it out, even though it sounds loathsome. It might be like a new Jersey Shore or The Swan.

People are stupid. And when people are stupid, it makes TV stupid.

The Problem with The Event?

Sorry The Event fans, the show will be pulled for three months after December, due to low ratings. It had strong rating in the premiere (it was a pretty good premiere, too), but interest has waned. We aren't exactly bawling our eyes out either. We think the show wasn't nerdy enough, and the revelations weren't original enough. LOST, the show The Event wants to be, had cutting-edge scientific theories and geeky time travel as its inspiration. The Event picked aliens. Ho Hum. That's not mythology.

The Event was advertised as a LOST meets 24. But it had not as much character development as LOST mixed with not as much tension as 24. 24 also had so many memorable scenes and moments. The Event is another show that needs to go scene-by-scene and make sure each one is important, creepy, or entertaining. It got hard for us to care after a while.

Our worry now is that TV execs will think that people don't want serialized television (TV like LOST, Breaking Bad, and The Vampire Diaries, that tell a long story that you can't easily jump into). We don't think this is the case, because people tuned in for the premiere knowing it was serialized. One of us strongly prefers serials to procedurals (like House, Lie to Me, and Bones, where episodes stand on their own), but they aren't as stable or financially beneficial for networks. Networks like procedurals because they are easier to deal with and sell for syndication. They don't have to be run in order on other networks once the show has passed. But we think the emergence of serials is what made TV good again in the past fifteen years or so.

Keep the serialized TV shows, but make them good and original.