Fall into Television (Week 9)

Update: Now I'm only partially deaf in my left ear. This has become the least informative blog ever.

Anyways:

• How I Met Your Mother: Woooo! No, seriously, I love an episode that's a great return to form, and this one finally got it down after a very strange and rocky early season. A real plot structure, consistent call-backs, a funny (and true) new lingo thing, Barney being awesome, Robin getting some good lines, and an hilarious Swedish Collective that I want to have as my new best friend. ("This is a waste of time. PUSHUPS!")
  
  When this show is on its game, it just blows my mind sometimes.
  
  
• South Park: Not as awesome as last week, but still great. Man, I love love love me some goth kids. I can't explain it, but they crack me up on a very deep level. Especially the one with the hair fringe who is always flipping his head. I thought the Butters storyline was a little stilted though, which sort of slowed down the entire episode.
  
  Ah well. Too bad the season's already over. Still, it's keeping pace in my mind as one of the few consistently good shows left. Here's looking to next year.
  
  
• Grey's Anatomy: So it was just an elaborate ploy, was it? Have a couple of good episodes to get me tentatively back in and watching, just so you could spring the hands-down worst plot point I've ever seen in my entire TV-viewing life? Izzy just had sex with a ghost. No, really. Sex. With a ghost.
  
  People, I cannot deal with this.
  
  
• Survivor: Holy crap. There are really no words to explain exactly how satisfying that episode was. I... no really, I'm not sure I can say anything that can contain my emotions as that all played out. And it wasn't even like normal Survivor, where they try to throw in some misdirection so that you aren't sure who's going down at council - they straight up told everyone that the racist asshole was going home, and he was going to get punked doing it. And then they showed it in glorious detail. I'm in awe.
  
  In no particular order, the rest of my thoughts:
  
  - Even though I have no particular love for Sugar, that was some amazing acting she did there when she was pretending to Bob that she didn't have the idol. I mean, Oscar-worthy. I'm now totally on her bandwagon, although I'm pretty sure there's no derailing the Ken-train at this point.
  - I sort of hate Crystal, for being both a downer and completely inept at challenges. But her shouting her vote out at council was possibly the best thing in an episode that was full of so many great, great things. That's going to be her legacy, and good for her. Awesome.
  - And now I know it's totally passe and not germane to the subject at hand anymore, but how cute were cleaned up Charlie and Marcus? Okay, seriously, I'll stop. Probably. (But aww!)
  - I cannot believe that Jeff threw the fake immunity idol into the fire. What a tool. That thing was awesomely constructed. Bob's like a craftsman. Too bad he's on the very wrong side of a very smart alliance. Here's hoping that his crazy ploy from the preview actually works.
  

• The Office: Whoa, and again we remind ourselves that it's just a TV show, it's not healthy to get so invested in fake characters. Because no lie, my heart was practically up in my throat when Jim was showing Pam the house. I don't know that I would have survived if she wasn't happy.
  
  In other news, let's hope they get Toby back on the right track, after seriously sending him to a real creepy place at the end of the third season. Also, I'm sort of really glad that Ryan's gone. He was getting out of control, plot-wise.
  
  
• 30 Rock: Oh 30 Rock. This is why you complete me. Even in an episode that makes basically zero sense, you still make me laugh in that really inappropriately loud and unexpected way. Steve Martin continues to be completely underrated in my mind, until I see him in something and again marvel that he's a really good actor (see: Shopgirl).
  
  Also, the return of "Yes, Hornberger!" might very well have been my favorite line of the night. Scott Adsit always adds such perfect little grace notes to the episodes. (see: "But you were going to take me hat shopping!" from last season)
  
  
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: So I have no idea which episode I'm supposed to be on, since I missed a few weeks there, but let's go with the one that I remember: That Liberty Bell episode was undoubtedly the worst episode of the series to date. The only funny scene was the opening bit with the George Washington painting, and even that was a little overdone. The whole thing just made me exhausted.
  
  
• Amazing Race: Damn damn damn damn. I bet Sarah and Terence are tearing their hair out right now, knowing that the Frat Boys are still in this race going into the final four, and they got stuck with the one misplaced elimination episode in this stretch. I have no explanation for how those boys continue to race - they have no skills at tasks (roadblocks or detours), money-management, team work, or travel. They just have the luck of the bumbling. It's exhausting, especially when the previews hint that next week a team loses their passports, and thus falls out of the race. Meaning that yet again they could quite literally luck into the final three, which is almost always a tightly scripted foot-race. Makes me crazy.
  
  But lets focus on the good: Nick, while cocky, was unbearably cute in his Birthday shirt. Dallas and Toni are very quickly climbing the ladder towards being my favorite team ever. I really like how, even when he was basically screwing up the flour task by overexerting himself, it was because he was pushing to get a win for his mom. It was almost touching. The local flavor characters this year have been uncommonly good - the sewing guy from a couple of weeks back and this weeks baker lady in particular. "Not very fit, this one." I just about died laughing.
  
  And even though they are driving me mad with worry that they're going to knock out Toni/Dallas, I will give the Frat Boys the laugh of the week: Dan's inability to have even a semblance of rhythm is just about the funniest thing to ever come out of the Amazing Race. I thought he was just joking and goofing off at first, but no, that was actually him trying to march. Unbelievable.
  
  
• Things I Missed: Ugly Betty. Which is just nuts, because I needed to watch Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty online, and since Grey's Anatomy came up on the player first, I clicked it. And I was so disgusted with the ghost sex, that I stopped watching online TV entirely. Sorry Ugly Betty. Blame the doctors. I'll try to catch up later this week.
  
  Ugh. Ghost sex.
  

RECAP

Best Episode of the Week:
Survivor - Nothing Tastes Better than Five Hundred Dollars

Best Line of the Week:
How I Met Your Mother: "Yeah, she doesn't look woo-ish." / "Maybe she only observes the high holidays, like Mardi Gras and Spring Break. Maybe she's just a cultural Woo."

Best Moment of the Week:
Survivor - Every single thing that happened once they started voting until the end of the show.

Most Disappointing:
Grey's Anatomy - Dead to me.

Most Anticipated: I'm going to lie here, and not talk about how the previews for How I Met Your Mother prominently involve a naked Neil Patrick Harris. Instead I'll say Amazing Race, and the final culling to the Top 3. May death come quickly to Toni & Dallas's enemies!