Season Finale: Glee-"New York"

New Directions goes to New York on "Glee"
Credit: FOX

My thoughts on the season finale of Glee are after the jump.

Season Finale: Cougar Town-"Something Good Coming"

Trav and Jules share a cup of Joe on a Hawaiian mountain on "Cougar Town"
Credit: ABC

I know I've been bad about writing about Cougar Town since it returned from hiatus, but I've had a lot going on outside of the blog. I decided to not write about the show until after the finale with more general thoughts. My thoughts on the terrific season finale of Cougar Town are after the jump.

Season Finale: Modern Family-"The One that Got Away"

Luke shares his movie on "Modern Family"
Credit: ABC

After watching the very funny season finale of Modern Family, I'm in a similar mindset as when I stopped writing about the show back in April. I love the show and it has very funny episodes, but there's not enough there for me to review it each week. 

I loved the finale a lot. It was on the higher tier of Modern Family episodes this season. Both the comedy and the emotional moments clicked. There was a sweetness behind it that worked very well and made for an enjoyable half hour of television.

But that's all I really have to say. The show works for me on a very simple level and I enjoy it more if I don't think critically about it.

So, what did you guys think of the finale?

"House"-Season in Review

House drives through a window on "House"
Credit: FOX

Some brief thoughts on this season of House are after the jump.

Announcement: Summer 2011 Plan

I can't believe that I'm even typing this: The 2010-2011 broadcast season is almost over. (*) What that means is the broadcast networks hide in their reality TV holes and the cable networks bring out their big guns and take over the scripted game. I was just looking at the summer TV schedule and I put together a list of shows that I will be covering this summer. You can find that after the jump.

Lost-"The End": One Year Later

Everyone "moves on" on Lost
Credit: ABC

I wish I had time to put together a full post about my feelings on the Lost finale after having a year to think about it.

Personally, I loved the finale. Sure, it didn't answer all of my questions or explain every little detail, but I didn't expect it to do that. For me, it was a fully satisfying 2.5 hour telecast that kept me engaged the entire way. I still tear up every time that the final music cue turns up in my iTunes, when I think about the passing of the baton from Jack to Hurley, when I remember Sawyer and Juliet's kiss in the sideways, when I remember Jack and Smokey's final battle, when I remember the scene with everyone in the church, or the final image of Jack closing his eye.

Whenever I think of those moments I remember this show as one that took me on a roller coaster ride that had me hooked from the first turn. When it finally pulled into the station, I had no hard feelings, only thoughts of what a great ride it was.

Now, it's your turn. Has your view of the Lost finale changed over the course of the year? What moments remain your favorites?

Firefly-"The Message"

An old friend boards Serenity on "Firefly"
Credit: FOX

I continue my look back at Firefly with the episode "The Message". My thoughts on the episode are after the jump.

"The Big Bang Theory"-Season in Review

Sheldon, Penny, and Raj share an awkward dinner on "The Big Bang Theory"
Credit: CBS

(This post is the first in a series in which I write generally about shows that I don't usually cover.)

I don't write about the Big Bang Theory on a weekly basis because it's generally a show that I don't have a deep reaction to while I watch it. It's perfectly funny, but it doesn't give me a lot to say about it every week. Now that the season is over, I do have some general thoughts, which are after the jump.

Season Finale: The Office-"Search Committee"

Will Arnett interviews for the job on "The Office"
Credit: NBC

My thoughts on the season finale of the Office are after the jump.

Season Finale: Parks and Recreation-"The Bubble" and "Lil'Sebastian"

Ron Swanson lights an eternal torch on "Parks and Rec"
Credit: NBC

My thoughts on last night's of Parks and Rec finale are after the jump.

The CW Announces its 2011-2012 Schedule

Today the CW announced their schedule for the upcoming season. The theme of this schedule is "obvious". The schedule and an analysis of it are after the jump.

CBS Announces its 2011-2012 Schedule

Today CBS announced their schedule for the 2011-2012 season. I wanted to get the schedule online immediately. The post has now been updated with a detailed analysis of their schedule. Everything is after the jump.

Glee-"Funeral"

Rachel performs a solo on Glee
Credit: FOX

Some brief thoughts on tonight's Glee are after the jump.

Announcement: Old TV Watch Project-Summer 2011 Shows

It's time for me to announce the three shows that I will be covering weekly during this summer. In case you don't know, the TV summer technically starts on May 26th, after May sweeps. Because I will be covering fewer shows as they air during the summer (I'll have a schedule for those shows within the next week and a half) I decided to expand the Old TV Watch Project beyond one day a week. The three shows that I will be covering this summer are...

Season Finale: Chuck-"Chuck vs. the Cliffhanger"

Chuck and Sarah practice on "Chuck"
Credit: NBC

My thoughts on the season finale of Chuck are after the jump.

Season Finale: How I Met Your Mother-"Challenge Accepted"

Barney and Robin stop Ted on "HIMYM"
Credit: CBS

My thoughts on last night's How I Met Your Mother are after the jump.

ABC Announces its 2011-2012 Schedule

Today ABC announced their schedule for the 2011-2012 season. I wanted to get the schedule online immediately while I wrote my analysis of the schedule. The schedule and my analysis are after the jump.

FOX Announces Schedule for 2011-2012

Today FOX announced their schedule for the 2011-2012 season. I wanted to get the schedule online immediately so the analysis had to wait until later in the day. The schedule and my analysis are after the jump.

Firefly-"Trash"

Saffron makes her grand reappearance on "Firefly"
Credit: FOX

I continue my look back at the series Firefly with the episode "Trash" after the jump.

NBC Announces Schedule for 2011-2012

I wanted to get this schedule up as soon as I heard about it. The post has now been updated with a detailed analysis of NBC's schedule. You can find both after the jump.

Doctor Who-"The Doctor's Wife"

The Doctor meets the TARDIS on "Doctor Who"
Credit: BBC/BBC America

Doctor Who is a show that every time I watch an episode I think: Do I need to write about this? And that question is playing in my head after watching a very well crafted episode of the show by Neil Gaiman. In a quieter week where I have more time I would sit there and dissect how well executed having the Doctor meet the unsung hero of his life, the TARDIS, was but with the upfronts looming and a lot of other things going on all I really have time to say is "That was freaking awesome". 

I'll be back in two weeks with thoughts on the upcoming two parter.

But for now, what did everyone think about tonight's episode?

What to Expect this Week

This upcoming week is going to be a crazy week for television.

First off, it's upfront week for the broadcast networks. This is the week where all of the broadcast networks present their schedules for the upcoming season to advertisers. This is also where they unveil which pilots were picked up to series to these advertisers (although, that information generally leaks beforehand). I will have  every network's schedule as soon as they are announced along with a detailed analysis of those schedules.

The schedule is:

Sunday: NBC announces schedule

Monday: NBC upfront presentation; FOX upfront presentation

Tuesday: ABC upfront presentation

Wednesday: CBS upfront presentation

Thursday: CW upfront presentation

This week is also has a lot of finales, so keep you eye on your Facebook/Twitter feeds for up to the minute information and breaking news.

And on Monday, I announce the summer schedule for the Old TV Watch Project.

Parks and Recreation-"The Fight" and "Road Trip"

(Sorry, I lost the original GIF file that was attached at the top of the post)

My thoughts on this week's Parks and Rec double feature are after the jump.

The Office-"Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager"

Kathy Bates discusses some things with manager Dwight on "The Office"
Credit: NBC

My thoughts on last night's episode of the Office are after the jump.

The CW begins its 2011-2012 with CBS Pilot "Ringer"

Deadline is reporting that the pilot Ringer, starring Sarah Michelle Geller, has been picked up to series. The crazy thing is that the network picking it up isn't CBS (which developed it), it's the CW. This is a very interesting move because the pilot was developed at CBS. What probably happened was CBS didn't think it was the right fit for them, so they passed on it, and the CW jumped immediately to pick up the pilot. This should be a great fit for the new network, which is looking to get out of the ratings toilet.

What does everyone else think of this? Excited to see Buffy back on your TVs?

Update: The CW has also picked up the witch drama Secret Circle and the medical drama Hart of Dixie. They also picked up the unscripted series H8R


THE CW HAS ANNOUNCED THEIR FALL SCHEDULE

Season Finale: Community-"A Few Paintballs More"

This would have posted last night, except Blogger didn't want to cooperate (which means this was typed in Word and some formatting is messed up, Sorry!). Now, my thoughts on last night's season finale of Community are after the jump.

CBS begins its Pickups for Next Season

CBS has begun its pickups for next season by picking up the JJ Abrams drama Person of Interest and the Whitney Cummings /Michael Patrick King comedy Two Broke Girls.

The Eye has also cancelled Shit My Dad Says, Mad Love, and The Defenders

CBS HAS ANNOUNCED ITS FALL SCHEDULE

ABC Makes its 2011-2012 Pickups (and Cancels some Shows)

ABC has made calls to producers regarding which series they will be picking up for next year, and which shows they wouldn't.

ABC picked up 7 new dramas. These are: the remake of Charlie's Angels, the soap Good Christian Belles (formally Good Christian Bitches), the 1960s drama Pan-Am, the fairy tale drama Once Upon a Time, the new Shonda Rhimes pilot Scandal, the Count of Monte Christo like drama Revenge, and the drama The River. 

On the comedy side, ABC picked up the Tim Allen sitcom Last Man Standing, the much-talked-about comedy Apartment 23 (formally Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23), Chris Moynihan's Man Up, the comedy Suburgatory, and the cross-dressing comedy Work It. 

ABC made decisions on its remaining unpicked up shows. It renewed the comedy Happy Endings, the procedural Body of Proof, and the reality show Shark Tank. Other shows were not so lucky as ABC made a flurry of cancellations. These are: the sci-fi drama V, the family drama Brothers and Sisters, the comedy Mr. Sunshine, the other comedy Better with You, the superhero drama No Ordinary Family, the medical show Off the Map, and the cop drama Detroit 1-8-7. 

ABC ANNOUNCES ITS FALL SCHEDULE

NBC Makes their 2011-2012 Pickups (And Cancels some others)

I had a post up on Wednesday with the first batch of decisions (but it was eaten in the Blogger crash).

NBC has made their decisions on which pilots to pickup and which shows to Renew and Cancel. 

The network has picked up 5 new dramas. Among those picked up are the remake of the British drama Prime Suspect, the musical series Smash, the Inception-style cop drama Awake (which was known as REM in development), the 1960s show The Playboy Club, and the fairy-tale show Grimm. 

On the comedy side NBC picked up 6 new comedies. They picked up the multicamera sitcom from Whitney Cummings called Whitney. They picked up the comedy Up All Night starring Will Arnett and Christina Applegate previously in the week. Today they announced the pickups of Chelsea Handler's new comedy Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, the adaption of the British comedy Free Agents starring Hank Azaria, the romantic comedy Bent, and they also picked up BFFs. 

This makes a total of 11 new series for NBC, as they try to rebuild their network.

Among the pilot pickups, some shows were Renewed and Cancelled as well. Chuck was given a new season. Parenthood and Harry's Law were renewed as well. Outsourced, The Event and Law and Order: LA were cancelled. 

NBC HAS ANNOUNCED THEIR FALL SCHEDULE

It's Official: Chuck Renewed for a 5th and Final Season

Today NBC made it official, the little show that could has made it for a 5th season which will consist of 13 episodes. (I don't know if there's an option for more, but I'll let you know what I do). All of the Chuck fans out there should be patting themselves on the back, because your passion was heard again. 

Then a little bit later, the news broke that it would be the final go-around for this show. Even if it is slightly bittersweet, Chuck will get to end on its own terms. Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak get to end this show on their terms and we should get an ending to what has been what of my favorite shows of my lifetime. 

Who else is excited for next season?

FOX begins the Series Pickups and Series Cancellations for 2011-2012

FOX has begun order season by announcing the pickup of three new series for next fall. The New Girl is a comedy starring Zooey Deschanel as a school teacher who moves away from her town and moves in with three guys.  The Finder is a spinoff of the show Bones that stars Geoff Stults as a "finder" as well as Michael Clarke Duncan. Alcatraz is a crime drama from JJ Abram's production company set in the prison. The series follows investigators as they investigate the disapperance of 1960s prisoners. The show stars Jorge Garcia of Lost fame.

The network also cancelled the show Human Target. The show was rebooted this year but never really gained traction in the ratings.

Updater: FOX has also cancelled Breaking In after it failed to gain traction in the post-Idol timeslot.

Update 2: FOX has also picked up the comedy pilot I Hate My Teenage Daughter starring Jamie Pressly.

Update 3: The Chicago Code, Lie to Me, and Traffic Light  have been cancelled as well.

FOX ANNOUNCES ITS FALL SCHEDULE

Chuck-"Chuck vs the Last Details"

Sarah and Mary share a moment on "Chuck"
Credit: NBC

My thoughts on last night's possibly penultimate episode of Chuck are after the jump.

How I Met Your Mother-"Landmarks"

The most annoying (former) couple on television is on "HIMYM"
Credit: CBS

I'm really struggling a lot with my opinion on this episode. I really do love the tone of the show and I thought that this episode held it well. It had a lot of fun moments (including Robin's Angry Birds Rant) but there's one major thing that I can't get over. I hate the Zoey arc. I've written extensively in the past about this so I'm not going to waste my time writing about this episode because everything I have to say about this I have said many times before. I don't know how this show made Jennifer Morrison as unlikeable as she was on the show, but somehow they did. I'm just glad that this arc is over and next week's finale can move on to other, better story arcs.

What did everyone else think?

Firefly-"War Stories"

Mal and Wash get into a sticky situation on "Firefly"
Credit: FOX

I continue my look back on Firefly with the episode with episode 10, "War Stories" after the jump.

The X-Factor sets its Judging Panel and Hosts

Credit: FOX

I don't write about reality TV very much, mostly because I don't watch very much of it, but it's mostly because what I do watch is in a capacity where I don't want to be thinking at all. But I have to do a post on the X-Factor finding its final judge and hosts.

On the Judging Panal: Simon Cowell will reunite with Paula Abdul and they will be joined by Cheryl Cole and LA Reid.

The show will be hosted by Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones.

Press Releases announcing Paula Abdul's spot on the panal and the hosts are after the jump.

Doctor Who-"The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon"

Everyone is in the TARDIS on "Doctor Who"
Credit: BBC/BBC America

(I'd like to apologize for the delay on this review. Lots of other work got in the way of writing about these episodes. I contemplated not writing about them at all, but these are too important to pass over, especially because I won't be writing about episode 3).

It took a lot of thought for me to decide how to approach these two part episodes of Doctor Who. To maximize my enjoyment (and avoid a lot of hand wringing over the cliffhanger) I decided to watch the two hour premiere together, instead of in two pieces. My thoughts on these two episodes, which essentially told one story, are after the jump.

Parks and Recreation-"Eagleton"

Parker Posey causes some trouble in Pawnee on "Parks and Rec"
Credit: NBC

That was a damn funny episode of Parks and Rec. The ideas behind it involving the next town over (and expanding the world of Pawnee) and Ron's birthday were a lot of fun and very enjoyable. It was an episode that didn't elicit any sort of deep reaction that I sometimes have with the show, but it was a great hour that was a lot of fun to watch.

But I really don't have time to give this episode a full writeup so I'm going to do what I did with last week's 30 Rock review and write some bullets after the jump.

The Office-"Inner Circle"

The Inner Circle meets on "The Office"
Credit: NBC

I really don't know what to say about that episode besides that wasn't funny at all. I could go on, and on about how there was no point to Deangelo's character besides giving Will Ferrell a role on the show. I could go on and on about how they tried to create a character who had the elements of Michael Scott, just not the good ones. But I'm not because there's no point to me trashing this. It doesn't even deserve a full writeup (which is why I'm not giving it one). The only small saving grace was certain moments in the Ryan plotline made me laugh but the rest had me sitting there completely silent (and even slightly uncomfortable at times). The speeches that Deangelo gave were awful and unfunny. 

I'm glad that Deangelo is now off the show, because I don't know if I could have taken another episode with him in charge. Now, the show can move on from this mess and tell another story with another character. 

What did everyone else think?

Community-"A Fist Full of Paintballs"

Josh Holloway guest stars as Black Rider on "Community"
Credit: NBC

My thoughts on the first part of the Community season finale are after the jump.

Season Finale: 30 Rock-"Respawn"

Liz can never seem to get away on "30 Rock"
Credit: NBC

My thoughts on last night's season finale of 30 Rock are after the jump.

Welcome Back Cougar Town!

In this picture, from the April 20th episode, these three babysit on "Cougar Town"
Credit: ABC

I share some thoughts about Cougar Town after the jump.

Chuck-"Chuck vs Agent X"

The boys are on a mission at Chuck's Bachelor Party on "Chuck"
Credit: NBC

My very delayed review of this week's episode of Chuck is after the jump.

Glee-"Rumours"

The Glee Club performs a Fleetwood Mac number on "Glee"
Credit: FOX

My thoughts on last night's episode of Glee are after the jump.

How I Met Your Mother-"The Perfect Cocktail"

Robin and Lily plan a makeup on "How I Met Your Mother"
Credit: CBS

My thoughts on last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother are after the jump.

Firefly-"Ariel"

Simon and River try to escape from the hospital on "Firefly"
Credit: FOX

I know I promised this review earlier, but a lot of things got in the way so I had to delay this to the normal schedule. Anyway, I continue my look back on Firefly with the caper episode "Ariel". My thoughts on the episode are after the jump.