Over a Candle

* Betty White, after acknowledging Facebook’s role in getting her on SNL, calling Facebook a giant waste of time. (And her confession that, while she didn’t have Facebook growing up, they did have poking.)

* Betty White sharing her “Dusty Muffin” with the girls on Delicious Dish.

* MacGruber proposing to his grandmother (played by Betty White).

* Really?! with Seth, Amy, and Tina

* Wizard of ASS!

* CSI: Sarasota

* Happy Mother’s Day, Mother-F***ers

* Ah, “ascertain.” That used to be my stripper name!

Seriously, if you missed tonight’s Saturday Night Live with Betty White, you should definitely find it somewhere online and watch it. Who would guess than an 88 year old would swear so much?

So I’ve caught up on my Scrubs watching and have begun to form an opinion about the new season of one of my favorite shows.

After seeing the season 8 finale, I was really skeptical about a ninth season. I think the show ended almost perfectly. I really enjoyed the eighth season, which seemed to take itself a bit more seriously.

What I’ve always liked about this show was J.D.’s ability to reflect and the willingness to tackle more complicated subjects than your average sit-com. Into seasons 4 and 5, it seemed that J.D. kept becoming more and more a caricature of himself. The show itself was still dealing with interesting issues, but the characters were becoming flatter, more two-dimensional. The eight season seemed to recapture some of the original depth and charm of the characters.

They accomplished that, in part, by introducing new interns that required the main characters to mature and deal with these newbies as real teachers. We got to see all of our familiar characters grow into the prime of their adult lives.

Season 9 seems intent to continue that tradition. By focusing on a group of med students (being taught by some of the regulars from the first eight seasons), we get a return to the wonders, and hardship, of learning to be a doctor. It feels funny and fresh. We aren’t rehashing the same relationship difficulties that we’ve seen for years. These are new people, with new quirks. J.D., Turk, Cox, and Kelso are back, but they don’t take center stage as much.

I still really enjoy the finale that season 8 left us with. But I’m really getting a kick out of the new season. I’m enjoying it much more than I expected to. It’s a nice surprise.

Just a quick reminder: Season 9 of Scrubs premiers tonight on ABC!

I’m going to be in class, but I’m assuming my DVR is set correctly. If not, I will be sad.

It’s a good thing I’m on Facebook. I don’t know when I would have heard about this except for a post from the official Scrubs page on the social networking site. It looks like the fun isn’t over. I’m sure Ronni won’t be happy. But I’ve got another season of Scrubs to look forward to! I guess sometimes the television gods smile on me.

I’ll be very curious to see how the new roles of our main characters really play out. We’ll see if season 9 can manage to keep the same humor and energy that season 8 seemed to recapture.

Less than two weeks!

Scrubs – Season 9 – Press Release:

ABC ANNOUNCES THE SEASON PREMIERES OF ‘SCRUBS’ AND ‘BETTER OFF TED’

Back-to-Back Episodes of ‘Scrubs’ Air Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 9:00 and 9:30 p.m., ET; ‘Better Off Ted’ Premieres Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 9:30 p.m.

The hit half-hour comedy series ‘Scrubs’ will return to ABC this December for its ninth season. This irreverent and offbeat comedy will debut TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, with back-to-back episodes from 9:00-9:30 and 9:30-10:00 p.m., ET. On TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, the critically acclaimed comedy ‘Better Off Ted’ will begin its sophomore season at 9:30 p.m., ET, following an original episode of ‘Scrubs.’

‘Scrubs’ focuses on the unique point of view of Dr. John ‘J.D.’ Dorian (Zach Braff). Having left the hospital temporarily for a job at another hospital, he returns to Sacred Heart to teach med school. Together with Drs. Turk (Donald Faison), Cox (John C. McGinley), Kelso (Ken Jenkins) and intern Denise (Eliza Coupe), he is now professor to a class of brand new medical students Lucy (Kerry Bishe), Drew (Michael Mosley) and Cole (Dave Franco) while continuing his romance with the beautiful but socially awkward Dr. Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke).

It took too long to get to this last episode of Battlestar Galactica. That last hiatus felt like a killer. But it finally arrived. That maybe be the only bad thing I can think to say about it.

The end wasn’t as neat and tidy as they might have led you to believe it would be (“You Will Know The Truth”), but it was neat and tidy enough. They answered enough questions, showed you enough of what happened that most of the rest of the pieces either suggest themselves or don’t seem as important as they once did.

This was an excellent piece of television. It ended in just about the only satisfying way I could have imagined it ending. But I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t watched it yet.

For those who want to avoid spoilers, I just mention two things: In the fall, they’re releasing a two-hour special that tells the story (at least the opening story) from the Cylon’s perspective. That should be intriguing. And at some point (I didn’t catch a release) they are releasing a show called “Caprica.” They didn’t look to tie it in last night as tightly as they could. My understanding is that the show is supposed to follow two families on Caprica 50 years before the Cylons wipe out humanity. From the preview they showed last night, it looks like the story might show the origins of the Cylons.

Okay, now I should say a few things behind a spoiler curtain. If you’re reading this through my Facebook feed, stop! Now!:

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, we’re about six weeks into the new season of Scrubs. So far it has been terrific. This comes as a bit of relief to me. The seventh season was a bit uneven, I suspect due to the writer’s strike. There were still good moments, but it ended with a very odd fantasy episode. With the shift in networks, I wasn’t sure if it would feel like the same show.

The show this season has seemed really solid. Several of the characters have really developed and grown this season. Kelso and Cox have both really shone this season. And I have enjoyed the introduction of more three-dimensional characters as interns. (The previous class of interns on the show have been little more than scenery, which was fine at the time.)

The silliness that had become an increasingly larger part of J.D.’s character has also been toned down this season. I think this is another change for the good. And, despite my reservations, I don’t mind J.D. and Elliot having yet another romance.

It just feels like the show has grown up a bit and still maintains the charm it had from the beginning.

Definitely the best half-hour of television on right now. I’m just really happy to have gotten an eighth season of this show.

I had just enough energy (after getting almost no sleep on Thursday night) to stay up and watch the episode last night. I had none left to write about it. But now I’ve slept, and I’m ready to say some things.

Last night was a packed episode. Lots of pretty serious reveals. And we’re now left with the biggest question of all: where do they go from here? This episode was a terrific launch into the final episodes of the show. After being on hiatus for so long, I was afraid it would feel stale, but they certainly avoided those pitfalls. It looks to be a wild ride to the finish.

I haven’t used the spoiler-protection link in a while, but I feel I ought to in this case. So click through if you want to see more… Read the rest of this entry »

In case you’ve been living under a rock (or don’t watch Sci-Fi on a regular basis, which actually would tend to indicate you don’t live under a rock), the best show on television this decade (and maybe ever?) finally returns to television tonight. Battlestar Galactica returns from its interminably long hiatus tonight as the first of its final ten episodes airs on Sci-Fi at 10pm Eastern / 9pm Central.

The end of the “first half of season four” (which was over six months ago now) was a doozy. I, for one, feel like I’ve been waiting forever. Tonight is finally the night.

More later.

In just a few short hours (just over four by my count), we will get new episodes of Scrubs!!!

ABC has taken over the comedy and will begin airing new episodes tonight. It looks like they’re going to air two episodes tonight.

Given the rather odd fairy-tell story that NBC ended the show’s run on last season, it will be a welcome return for the show. Even if the show doesn’t last more than another season, I’m hoping for a better ending to what has consistently been one of the strongest comedies on television.

So fire up the DVRs! Cox, J.D., Turk, and the rest of the gang return tonight!!! I know what I’ll be doing.

I like NBC’s Heroes.  This season already is off to a great start.  I think, given how slowly they like to move the plots forward (and that they don’t try to have self-contained stories in a single episode), it really helped that last week’s premier was essentially two episodes.  It got things moving.

The show is often disturbing and always engaging.  Sylar, for instance, may be the best television villain ever.  He’s twisted, scary, relentless, and powerful.  Part of me just wants him killed so he doesn’t torment anyone else.  But it’s good comic-book fare to keep the really bad villain going.

Still, there are a couple of things I’m struggling with this season, and last night it really started bothering me.  This show is rife with adoption stuff.  

The big “reveal” so far this season has been that Sylar was given up for adoption by Angela Petrelli.  We don’t have confirmation on that yet.  She may just be manipulating him with that story.  Either way, it’s a bit disturbing to see adoption used that way.

More upsetting, though, is Claire’s on-going drama.  Her father brought in her biological mother to “protect” Claire while he’s out hunting the bad guys.  So far, so good.  But last night, we saw a lot of animosity between Claire’s two mothers.  This may be realistic, I suppose.  But it strikes me as bad form for parents to put their children in the middle of their own insecurities.  It feels as though Claire’s adoptive mother, especially, was trying to force Claire to choose between her and her biological mother.  There was a lot sniping and petty bickering, I thought.  It seemed rather crass.  

Again, I don’t deny a certain amount of realism in all of this.  I know some parents can be like this.  But I guess I like my comic book television shows with a tad less soap-opera style drama.  

Maybe I’m hoping for too much.  At the very least, I don’t like seeing Claire put through that sort of turmoil by the people are that supposed to be the adults in the relationship.