Premise:

Veronica has just come back from Iraq. Scarred by what happens she takes out on her friends and frequently a bottle of booze. She is a nurse who is surrounded by incompetent doctors.

Review:

This is bad. Don’t watch it. Mercy takes place in world where the doctors are incompetent and the nurses might as well be god. We are supposed to identify with Veronica Callahan (Taylor Schilling, Dark Matter), she is a total bitch but because she was in Iraq she gets a free pass. Her follow nurses is the sassy Sonia Jimenez (Jaime Lee Kirchner) and newbie Chole Payne (Michelle Trachtenberg, Gossip Girl).

It is predictable. The second she get back together with her husband the man she had a affair with in Iraq shows up. Half a episode in and we already have a main character cheating. Now normal this isn’t a problem but we don’t know anything about him, their relationship, and Veronica’s husband Mike is sweet he does everything to win here back. We have no reason to hate him and many to hate her.

This series was billed as being like Grey’s Anatomy but it about as good as it is right now. Considering how far Grey’s has falling it doesn’t give me much hope for Mercy. If Michelle is lucky there will still be a place for her on Gossip Girls cause this show is going nowhere but down.

Kurt takes center stage again. Today to make his father proud he decides to join the football team. Finn being the good guy that he is gets him a tryout as kicker. Surprising everyone he is actually good but only if he dances to Single Lady first. Finn learns that Quinn is pregnant (hot tubs are powerful and Finn is very potent or so she says) truthfully Puck took advantage of her one night. Finn wants to go to college so he can provide for the baby better but the only way he can go is with a football scholarship. After discovering what a library is for he finds out that all the best football player took dance and that the football team should try. Will can train them and get a few guys to join Glee. At Kurt’s first game he scores the winning touchdown. His dad cheers. He is lifted over the teams shoulders, it is just like Lucas (only without the depression that follows after seeing this film). Back home his father is proud of him. Kurt not able to live a lie anymore comes out to his father who already knows. Come on Kurt astronauts can see your gay. It is very sweet his father doesn’t care.

Kurt: I'm gay.
Kurt's Dad: I know. I've known since you were three. All you wanted for your birthday was a sensible pair of heels.

In this episode I wanted to slap Rachel. How many times can she quit Glee over not getting a solo? To boost Tina’s confidence Will gives her the role of Maria in the song Tonight. Rachel storms off in a huff. I am so sick of Rachel she believes that no one can sing better then her and that no solo is worth it if she is not singing it. Tina who we haven’t heard from since the Pilot does an awesome job at the song. I forgot how good her voice was. Will despite Rachel going to quit to get training from Sandy doesn’t bow down he lets Tina keep the solo.

Will’s wife Terri conspires with her sister on how to get a baby. The second she hears about Quinn you can see her mind working. By the end she has already bribed her way into her life with pre-natal vitamins.

At the end Rachel quits Glee. The club gets three new members from the football team. And Sue gets segment on the local news station.

Best Line:

Sue:(Discussing caning): And to the naysayers who say you can't strike children on their bare buttocks with a raw bamboo stick I say YES WE CANE.

Song List

Single Lady (Put a Ring on it) – Beyonce

Taking Chances – Celine Dion

Tonight – West Side Story

 Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven

The Star Spangle Banner

Looking Back – Kerry Muzzey

Premise:

Alicia Florrick life turns upside down when her politician husband Peter Forrick( Chris Noth, Sex and the City) goes to jail after a public sex and corruption scandal. Now after being a wife and mother for many years she goes back to work as a defense attorney.

Review:

Finally a female driven show I can get behind. I never understood why Sex and the City or Ally McBeal got all the glory for being female role models. The Good Wife features a strong woman who picks her self up after her husband’s scandal. Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies, ER) is struggling to build her reputation back up, flustered about going back to her job after 13 years, but has the strength within her self to succeed. Julianna Margulies adds a lot of nuances to the character. By the end you want her to divorce her husband and get together with her old college classmate Will Gardner (Josh Charles, In Treatment). Her ally is Kalinda Sharma (Archie Panjabi, MI:5) she adds a touch of humor with her dry delivers and helps Alicia Florrick win her first case. It is nice to see a real friendship between two women on TV.  No series is complete without a few villains here we have Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski, Mamma Mia!) as the main female lawyer, she doesn’t like her spot at the top being threatened. Then new guy Cary Agos (Matt Czuchry, Gilmore Girls) who is competing with Alicia for an associate spot.

The Good Wife is so far the best new drama. It has a lead we can root for and a strong storyline. Seeing Alicia develop into her own person after years of marriage and a scandal is very compelling.

Modern family is a mockumentry comedy about a multigenerational family. Each family is different and dealing with what life throws at them by mostly being awkward. This half hour comedy is laugh track free and in the vein of Freaks and Geeks every once in while you want to fast forward just to spare the characters humiliation.

The different families are a May-December marriage, an overwhelmed family of three, and an openly gay couple who just came home with their new adopted baby. Starting with Jay (Ed O’Neill, Married with Children) he has been married for half a year to his much younger wife Gloria (Sofia Vergara, Dirty, Sexy Money). Together they are raising Gloria’s son Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Jay doesn’t understand Gloria’s unchecked emotions or Manny being such a softie in his eyes. His children make up the two other families Claire (Julie Bowen, Boston Legal) and her brother Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Do Not Disturb). Claire has to deal with a childish husband Phil (Ty Burrell, Back to You) and her teenage daughter Haley (Sarah Hyland, Lipstick Jungle). They have two other children Alex (Ariel Winter, ER) and Luke (Nolan Gould) running around in the background. On the other side are Mitchell and his partner Cameron (Eric Stonestreet, CSI) who have just come home with their adopted daughter.

Together this family supports each other despite the differences among them. The lack of a laugh track is refreshing. While this show wasn’t my favorite sitcom of the new season it was enjoyable, funny, and made you want to fast-forward. Much like a real family it doesn’t shy away from the good or bad. Considering the other sitcoms ABC has green lighted e.g. Hank and The Middle ABC needs one good sitcom to come out of their schedule.

Last Time:

Castle snoops around in Beckett’s past and finds new evidence in her mother’s homicide. When he goes to her with the findings she becomes angry with him for going through her personal life.

Now:

Mal I mean Castle is having a photo shoot for his new book at the police station complete with some stripper cops. Beckett is being interviewed by a magazine about being the inspiration for Nikki Heat it goes well until they insinuate that Castle helped break a couple of cases. For once she is probably glad some dude croaked she now has away to walk out of the interview. Castle and Beckett both agree that he can work this case but then he can’t play detective anymore.

They get to the case to find that victim of the week (VOTW is dead in a tree but being a TV series he couldn’t just have attempted suicide he was strangled before getting tossed in a tree. By what is a tree doing there. This is New York City I thought that trees only lived in Central Park.
Castle and annoying interview lady (is she tagged along) ride with the body to the morgue. On the way they are high jacked by a gang who steal the body from them. They visit the VOTW’s family. He was of course the perfect husband and father, no one had a reason to murder him.

It’s family time of the show. Castle’s plan to fix everything is to be charming, who thinks this will work. He discusses the case with them isn’t that stuff confidential. Alexis want to go see Fame with her boyfriend.

They interview a co-worker of the VOTW we learn that he was laid off along with everyone else. We get a call the body was found again. We learn that his organ were cut out and was probably a drug mule. During the autopsy there is a weird indention around his neck.

They track down the drug dealers and haul them in for interrogation. We learn that he owed someone a lot of money. He got into gambling and now owes some Russians a lot of money. Castle goes to the poker game to learn which Russian killed the VOTW. Apparently there are many Russians with tattoos. Castle tells them about a book idea based on the murder.

A Russian with a prostituce finger tries to kill him but Beckett gets there in time by being a Russian girlfriend to save him. When Castle gets back home he has a heart to heart talk with his daughter “why can’t guys just say their sorry” these wise words make Castle go and apologize to Beckett. She forgives him continuing their partnership and the series.

Best Line:

Castle: You want me to put on some music? Whenever they do this sorta thing on
CSI, they always do it to music in poorly lit rooms...kinda reminds me of porn.

Song List:

Can I Get Get Get – Junior Senior

Highschool Hoodlums – The Datsuns

River To Your Soul – DJ Dimi

50-96 – Charles Fearing

My Fault Your Mistake – Lex Land
 

Last Week:

Bobby was paralyzed. Dean is the Micheal Sword. Dead doesn’t know if can trust Sam again.

Now:

Dean and Sam are at the hospital visiting Bobby when they get a call from Cas. Cas shows up to talk to them. Bobby wants Cas to heal him but because he went up against the angels he no longer has all his powers. Cas wants to find God to stop the apocalypse. Finally Dean’s necklace means something, it is a God finder.  

Rufus the ex-hunter from Time Is On My Side is getting shot at in the middle of River Pass, Colorado. He calls Bobby for help with a demon infestation. Dean and Sam head out to help only to find the only way into town torn up life the bridge from Evil Dead. In town they find Ellen. The survivors are camped out in a basement.

Dean and Sam head to the sporting goods store to get guns for everyone. Sam gets ambushed by two demons and is tempted to drink demon blood again but Dean shows up. Dean, Sam, and Ellen give the group demon killing 101 and plan their escape. Ellen wants to go look for Jo. Dean is still worried that Sam will fall of the wagon. Sam and Ellen go and look for Jo.

They find a house that has smoke coming from the chimney. There, Jo who thinks they are demons attacks them. Ellen gets away but they capture Sam. Rufus and Jo try to excise Sam.

Dean and Ellen reconvene back at the hiding place. Dean realizes that nobody is possessed but that one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse is here the one of war. Dean and Ellen go back and convince Rufus and Jo what is going on. They get into a shoot out with the survivors who don’t believe them.

Dean and Sam corner War and cut off his finger that has a ring that is controlling people. This breaks the hallucinations. Dean and Sam say goodbye and drive off.

They stop at a picnic site. Dean is worried about Sam and can’t focus on the job. Sam decides that he needs to take a break from hunting and clear his head after everything they’ve been through. Dean watch’s Sam as he hitches a ride out of town.

Best Dean Exchange:

Dean: God?

Castiel: Yes.

Dean: God?

Castiel: Yes. He isn't in Heaven. He has to be somewhere.

Dean: Try New Mexico. I hear he's on a tortilla.

Castiel: No, he's not on any flatbread.

In reference to Cas saying he needs to find god

Best Line:

Bobby: (to Castiel) When you find God, tell him to send legs.

Song List:

Long, Long Way From Home – Foreigner

Spirit In The Sky – Norman Greenbaum
 

Premise:

Billie (Jenna Elfman, Dharma & Greg) is in her 30s. After breaking up with her boyfriend James (Grant Show, Melrose Place) who didn’t want to commit. On the rebound she meets Zach (Jon Foster, Life As We Know It) a chief in his twenties. Things get complicated when she discovers she is pregnant with his baby. Now she must deal with her having a baby, an ex who won’t stay away, Zach’s immature friends, and her own crazy friend Olivia (Ashey Jensen, Ugly Betty)

Review:

Accidentally On Purpose is a mediocre sitcom. It got an occasional chuckle but most of the jokes fell flat. I’m not a fan of laugh tracks; if something is funny it shouldn’t have to tell you when to laugh. Jenna Elfman and Jon Foster are sweet together. Zach has more going on then the average mid twenty year old. He has goals and his own life. Billie has her job and friends. It is nice to see an almost couple have interests outside of each other.

The supporting cast never rises above the material given to them. I loved Ashley on Ugly Betty but here I didn’t find her funny. Really anyone that drunk or sleeps with all her co-workers would have been fired years ago. Grant Show is given the usual role of the ex who wants to commit only after breaking up.

All in all this if there is nothing else on I would watch it but I would never seek it out. There are better sitcoms out there such as Community and The Big Bang Theory.

Last Season:

Olivia finds William Belly in an alternative New York City. It is revealed that Peter is really from that alternate universe and that the real Peter died in 1985.

Now:

We open to a car crash. The bleeding man gets up and stumbles down a busy Manhattan street. He gets to some apartment building and sees a man in a hallway. Knocking him out he drags him back to his apartment. Going to a mirror he crushes in his own face and bringing out a strange devise that looks like a electrical cord he plugs one end into the mans mouth and then his own. Turning it on he molds himself into the knocked out man. In the background The X-Files is on TV. Back at the scene of the accident we learn that it was Olivia’s car.

Peter and Walter are going grocery shopping. He wants to make Peter custard for his birthday. Peter doesn’t like custard well not this Peter anyway. Before being a scientist Walter worked for the man who invented the Ho Ho. Peter gets his wish to leave the grocery store when he gets a call about the car crash. When we get back to the scene we are introduced to Agent Jessup this seasons new character. As Peter and Jessup argue the car turns on and Olivia reappears and sent flying through the windshield.  They bring her to the hospital.

The doctor pronounces Olivia dead but Walter refuses to believe it. Peter goes to a bar and runs into Broyles who informs him that Fringe Diversion could be shutdown. Peter goes back to the hospital to see Olivia. She suddenly jerks awake speaking Greek and doesn’t remember where she has been only that there is something important that she needs to do.

Peter goes to Boston but his id has been revoked. He meets Agent Jessup who agrees to help him investigate the car crash. They track down the man who was driving but find him dead in his home. Walter examines him. The morphing man enters a typewriter store (who knew those still existed). He is lead to a back room where he starts typing in a mirror reflecting the typewriter the keys start to type themselves and appear on the mans page. He must kill Olivia.

Peter shows Amy Jessup the lab and the cow (who is looking pretty thin). Charlie is visiting Olivia at the hospital. They swap stories about being injured on the job. Olivia is to nerves to load her gun.

Back at the lab Walter is doing the autopsy and instruction Astrid on making the custard. He is eating a twizzler with a gloved hand covered in human juice. They discover the holes in the palate of his mouth. We are introduced to another home movie of a woman who see’s into the alternative universe. Mostly about the solider that can disguises himself with a strange devise.

Broyles is in Washington trying to defend the Fringe Division. He meets Ms. Sharp they are now together. Even morally bankrupt characters need love to. Peter and Amy discover what have known along that Olivia is in danger.

At the hospital The morphing man attacks Olivia’s nurse and tries to kill her. Charlie, Peter, and Amy get there and run after it into the hospital’s basement. It jumps Charlie who fires shots at her causing Amy and Peter to find him.  

Peter goes and talks to Olivia about what she said to him before waking up. It means “be a better man than your father” and that he should keep his people close. Peter goes to Broyles and gives him the shape shifting technology to stop Fringe from being closed. They are done reacting. Amy delves deeper into Fringe’s history. Walter and Astrid throw Peter a party. Olivia loads her weapon. Charlie hauls a large wheeled crate to the furnace to throw in the real Charlie.

Best Walter/Peter Exchanges:

Walter: Peter! Peter! They said I can ride in the back with the body. Can I?
Peter: Sure. Of course you can. Stay out of the medications, though. Please.

Walter: You know, there's something you don't know about me, Son.
Peter: What's that? That once you enter a grocery store, you never leave again? Ever?

The Observer:

Seen in the background just after the car crash

Song List:

Can’t Find My Way Home – Blind Faith
 

Last Week:

Damon shows up to make Stefan miserable. Damon bit Vicki at a party. Elena invites Stefan into her home.

Now:

Welcome to this weeks victims (TWV from now on) say hello while you can. Once again the show abuses their fog machine privileges as a blanket of smoke rolls onto the campsite. Inside we are introduced to TWV, the man leaves the tent only to get his throat ripped out. Going to investigate she see’s his hanging corpse and runs for the car. Watch as she continues to pull on the handle. Lady if it didn’t work the first time its not going to work the fifth time. Damon leaps onto her crushing her body to the ground.

We cut to Elena and Stefan waking up. They now have ESP, it is the only way I can explain the same VO/diary entry. Elena feels good today good enough to spout off cliché things about sunshine and rainbows. Jeremy goes to visit his not girlfriend at the hospital. At school Elena and Stefan discus Wuthering Heights, which is suppose to be subtext to their passionate yet doomed relationship (heh The CW is trying to be deep). Bonnie still might be a witch. Jeremy goes and antagonizes Vickie’s boyfriend. After what must be the shortest period ever we see Stefan using his awesome vampire powers to overhear Elena and Matt, that a vampire was the one that bit Vicki. In a whoosh he is gone. Now Jenna is accused of being a bad guardian because of Jeremy’s acting out and drug use. Finally school is over. Wasn’t it fun?

Stefan and Matt are both at the hospital. Matt walks in to find Vicki freaking out he rushes off to find a nurse giving Stefan ample time to do some vampire voodoo on her to make her think she was attacked by a wild animal. Matt is suspicious and starts to follow him making Stefan duck into a donor room. Yea blood bags for everyone. To escape he jumps out of a window.

Thanks to some girl talk courage Elena decides to go to Stefan’s house. Where Elena commits some breaking and entering. Now remember kids guys love it when you commit felonies. She of course meets Damon instead. Before all of that we are treated to more of Jeremy acting out and Jenna trying to be a parent. God they are boring I might just edit the rest of them out. Well back to Elena, Damon is awesome but is interrupted by Stefan. He gives him evil eyes until Elena awkwardly leaves.

I said I wasn’t going to cover anymore Jeremy/Jenna story but  I lied she throws an apple at him. I would throw way more then an apple maybe a punch

Vicki has some dreams about here attack, Stefan didn’t do that great of a job at the vampire voodoo stuff.
It’s the night of the comet. We see Bonnie and Elena discus Stefan, Caroline see’s Damon again and heads toward him only to have him disappear in front of her eyes. At night Elena and Stefan watch the comet. He compares himself to it like the comet he comes home every 150 years (more deep subtext). She mentions that he never told her he had a brother. Which he totally did he just said that he didn’t have any that he talked to not that he didn’t have a brother.

Damon captures Vicki and undoes Stefan’s voodoo. We see them on the roof. How can no one else see this? Stefan jumps onto the roof to stop Damon from hurting her. Damon is awesome again. Seriously Ian Somerhalder is the best thing about this series. Stefan dares him too reveal who they are to the world but Damon back down.

At the café Vicki is fine. Bonnie gives Stefan Elena’s number and has a witch moment. Elena and Stefan verbally exchange diary entries and kiss. Caroline see’s Damon again and goes home with him. In the middle of sex he bite’s her. I bet she gets turned into a vampire.

Body Count:

4

Best Line:

Damon: "Not bad. Have you been eating bunnies?" after Stefan jumps onto a building

Song List:

Help I’m Alive - Metric

 Closer To Love – Mat Kearney

Hang You From The Heavens – The Dead Weathers

Heavy Cross – The Gossip

I’m An Animal – Neko Case

I Get Around  - Dragonette

Conductor – We Were Promised Jetpacks

Mud – Peaches

Interloper – Earliment

Gravity – Sara Bareilles

Anybody who has watched The Soup knows one thing that Joel McHale is funny and should have gotten his own show years ago. Well now he does, Community is a mix of The Office humor in a modern Breakfast Club setting. Seven Students at a community college start a study group and navigate themselves through Greendale Community College.

    Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) has spent life getting by on just his smarts. Once a lawyer he could talk himself out of any situation. When his law degree is discovered to be a fake he must go back to school. Jeff plans on coasting by his four years but ends up learning that he will have to stop being a selfish smart alec and actually work for once in his life. Joel makes you root for this unlikeable character. With his comic timing and witty delivers this character fits him like a glove.

    The supporting cast rises above the stereotypical community student they were giving. Love interest Britta (Gillian Jacobs). Her stereotype is a college drop out. Jeff’s sidekick the motor mouthed Abed (Danny Pudi). Pierce (Chevy Chase) the old guy trying to stay young. Annie (Alison Brie) the driven one. Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) the middle age divorcee. Last is Tory (Donald Glover) the jock. Working at the school is Jeff’s old friend/client Duncan (John Oliver). Each of the characters have much more then the stereotype they play and that is what makes this out of the many comedies this year actually funny. The characters don’t forgot what they learned, they change over time.

    Much like the office the comedy comes not from the characters being in strange situation but from the interactions between them.

Premise
The Beautiful Life is about a group of models living in New York City. They must weave there way through the cutthroat world of modeling.
Characters



Raina Mayer (Sara Paxton, Aquamarine) – Just started modeling and is the new IT girl. Comes across as being sweet but has a past because every nice girl has one



Chris Andrews (Benjamin Hollingsworth, The Line) – Is a farm boy from Iowa who gets discovered while on a family trip. The classic fish out of water story.



Sonja Stone (Mischa Barton, The OC) – Was the reigning model but now has to claw her way back to the top after disappearing for six months.



Cole Shepherd (Nico Tortorella, Make It Or Break It) – Is the top male model he has an attitude. There is not much else.



Marissa Delfina (Ashley Madekwe, Secret Diary of a Call Girl) – Is an aspiring model and Raina’s frienemy.



Isaac Taylor (Corbin Bleu, High School Musical) – Was a successful child model but is having trouble breaking back into the industry as an adult. He wants to use modeling to get a music career. From the lack of work he becomes the callboy of Jaime Murray.

Review

I liked the two leads Sara Paxton and Ben Hollingsworth were likable enough I wish that they were in a better show. The writing sounds hokey at times and the plots are predictable. We have the former top model with a secret and another who gets busted for dealing drugs. Who knew that a show about models would be boring well we did with a poor debut and Mischa Barton’s personal life is overshadowing the show. Nico Tortorella was fun on Make It Or Break It but here he had nothing to do but be snarky. When this show fails at least he has another to fall back on. Mischa who lost her acting talent back on The OC still hasn’t found it. Over all this show takes its self far too seriously and offers nothing new to the The CW lineup. With the awful ratings of 90210, Melrose Place, and The Beautiful Life we might see Life UneXpected sooner which judging by the previews could be the best new show The CW has this year.