The '007 Trifecta

So I wanna fit in here in my inaugural year in blogger-ville, and everyone who is anyone ends the year with their faves list. I had to think about this. What were my favorite tv moments of 2007? What were those moments that made me go...did that really just happen?

Yes, these are the winners of the Watercooler Awards...or, to put it in a less politically correct way, I present to you, the WTF? Moments in Television of 2007.

**(And yes, these have spoilers, but if you haven't seen this by now you're never gonna!)**

#3 Flash Forward to Kate and Jack getting off the Island

Yes, Lost got off track, and even I admit that as next season looms, I've forgotten alot of the juicy details that I probably should be keeping track of to figure out this whole thing. But, one thing's for sure, I'm totally coming back to watch. We now know that Jack and Kate got off the island, but at whose expense? That's good stuff.


#2 Jack helps Tracy with therapy

Alec Baldwin as Jack 'role playing' the members of Tracy's family is everything I love about 30 Rock and more. Admit it, you watched and felt a little uncomfortable. Is he REALLY saying these things? This show gives me hope that the sitcom genre is not dead, just...better.


#1 The Sopranos Don't Stop Believin'

This finale of the Sopranos was one of the most brilliant endings in history. Didn't you yell at the holder of the remote in your house? What did you doooooo? Did the power go out? Love it or hate it, people are STILL talking about this...and that means great TV.


And don't worry, we've got plenty to look forward to in January of 2008 alone. Lost returns (I haven't missed castaways this much since Gilligan's Island went off the air). Celebrities go toe to toe on The Apprentice. I'm sorry, I meant "celebrities". And BOTH Sex and the City wannabe's, Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle are coming.

Happy New Year!!!!!

Putting their Eggs in Trump's Basket

For a second you probably thought Rosie and the Donald were having a love child. Now THERE'S a reality show in the making! But no, that's not what we're talking about here.

These are desperate times...at the networks. As the strike roars on, the original programs are almost all gone. So, NBC isn't screwing around. They long for the days when Seinfeld and Friends ruled the roost instead of clinging to Howie Mandel as their ticket out of bad-ratings-ville, but, let's face it, reality shows are now their bread and butter (this means you Biggest Loser!).

Actually, maybe bread and butter is the wrong metaphor here, but you get the gist.

Scrappy NBC announced Celebrity Apprentice was set to debut Jan 10th, so ABC thew up their last new Grey's Anatomy episode against it to well, excuse the phrase, cock block NBC.

Within hours, NBC moved up Celebrity Apprentice to January 3rd so their competition would be repeats. I love this! Good old fashioned network wars. In fact, by the time you read this, the schedule could've changed AGAIN. Whatcha gonna doooooooo, Donald, cry??!?!?!

In this corner, the Peacock. In the other corner, a Mouse.

Who is YOUR money on?

Teen Pregnancy is Having the Best Week Ever!

Ok, so I don't actually work for VH1, but the show is not on this week, and I feel compelled to carry on the torch.

Teen pregnancy is like, totally in y'all - so daddys, you bettah lock up your daughters cuz gettin' knocked up is all the rage.

First, JUNO is suddenly the film to see. This movie, about - you guessed it- teen pregnancy is already getting a zillion award nominations. People are TALKING about it, but that's nothing compared to....

Jamie Lynn Spears?!

So, um, yeah, Nickelodeon is in a bit of a PICKLE as to what to do about promoting new episodes of her squeaky clean show, Zoey 101. But, lest you worry about what Jamie will do for cash if Zoey is no more, no problem, y'all! OK! Magazine is gonna pony up a cool million for baby pix.

And on a totally RANDOM note, Blair from The Facts of Life has apparently weighed in on the subject, supporting Jamie Lynn's 'choices'. I have to admit, I wanna know how this goes. Is there a special media hotline for ex-stars? Who do they call to issue these statements?! Can I call this number?

Whatever. Anyway, this totally would never have happened to Tootie.

Sobering Reality

I'm having withdrawls. I need Scott Baio is 45...and Single to start soon.

I was hoping to get you (or at least, me) a sneak peek at season 2 because I think it's important to start building the excitement for season 2 NOW. Our dear Scotty just had a baby...let the hijinks ensue!

So many burning questions about season 2 - Will it be called Scott Baio is 46...and not really single? Will Renee still have that creepy haircut? Will Erin Moran be his nanny?

Well, no previews for you yet, but I thought you'd enjoy this little ditty - a clip from a 1980 afterschool special called "The Boy Who Drank Too Much".

There are so many things I love about this clip.

First, I love that the alcohol counselor could totally be played by Matthew McConaughey.

I love the girl over Lance Kerwin's left shoulder who is totally overacting behind him and desperately trying to emote and make this her big break as Lance delivers his speech.

I love that the name of Scott Baio's character in this is "Buff Saunders". Surprisingly, this NAME is the closest he's come to porn...well, unless they were rolling at the Playboy Mansion.

I love that Scott Baio's shirt is unbuttoned so far down it looks like he is auditioning for American Gigolo, which coincidentally came out the same year.

Cheers!


Unfortunately for Lance Kerwin, his tv career allegedly ended after...well...he drank too much.

McCarthyism

Andrew McCarthy is coming to TV.

Actually, turns out, he's been there for awhile. Imagine my surprise when I found out he's going to be on the upcoming "Lipstick Jungle" since I'd already seen the promo for it and didn't notice him. Has he gone the way of Jennifer Grey? Do you REMEMBER when she was on Friends as Mindy, Rachel's old friend and no one realized it was her because of that botched nose job? That's what I think might be happening with Andrew. He's been quietly on a bunch of shows and movies of the week-ish looking things over the years, apparently, and I missed them all. Hmmm. I smell a Nip/Tuck cameo, if ya know what I mean. Maybe it's just me, but that is NOT the same face of the brat pack boy I knew.

Which brings me to my next issue with the marketing of Andrew McCarthy 2.0. Whatever network exec is sending out the press release for this show is listing him as Andrew McCarthy from the "Joy Luck Club". When you think of Andrew McCarthy, do you think of the JOY LUCK CLUB???!

You might think, "His name is Blaine? That's a major appliance, not a name!"
You might think, chain smoking and breaking the shower with Ally Sheedy.
And, let's face it, you definitely think, "Weekend at Bernies".

But NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE is associating ANDREW MCCARTHY with Joy Luck Club. NO ONE I tell you!

Anyway, you be the judge. This show isn't coming out for awhile yet, but here's a peek at all-growed-up Andrew McCarthy. He's the one with that annoying girl that was married to Steve on 90210:


He did totally rock in Mannequin.

Knocked Up

Two little curveballs have been thrown my way this week regarding the paternity of a child.

Or have they?

Relax, I'm not on Maury, and I ain't talkin' 'bout no baby daddy of mine. I AM however, talking about two shows: October Road & Brothers and Sisters.

*SPOILERS*

First, Ken Olin appeared at the end of Brothers and Sisters this week. If you don't remember, he and Patricia Wettig (who plays Holli Harper) starred together on "Thirtysomething". His brief scene, where he drops in on Holli at her office featured a seemingly OBVIOUS moment where he sees Rebecca's picture and Holli seems to OBVIOUSLY brush off his inquiry about the OBVIOUSLY placed GIANT pic of Rebecca. Isn't it OBVIOUS? That Rebecca's dad is really Michael Steadman? (Sorry, that was a little inside for you boomer Thirtysomething fans.) So, what I mean is, Ken Olin is OBVIOUSLY her dad, right? Or is he? I venture to say that we'll all be kept wondering about this for awhile. I love a good red herring. Yum.

Meanwhile, over on October Road, we've been teased for a few weeks with Eddie Latekka's seemingly BIG SECRET in the ads. "We gotta tell him". "I have something to tell you and you aren't gonna like it". Whatever the BIG SECRET is, the tv people sure want us to think it's something huge. Is Nick Garrett really Sam's father? They've made it SEEM like that all season. OR, in a shocking plot twist, do they want us to think Eddie Latekka's the dad? And who exactly is the "THEY" that will be writing all this stuff given the strike??!

I digress.

I don't know who Rebecca's dad is. I don't know who Sam's dad is. But one thing I DO know is that babies sure are a groovy plot device. Remember how shocked you were when Rachel on Friends turned out to be the preggers one?

Listen, as long as there are movies and television, there will be plots spun around babies. Fake babies, kidnapped babies, lost babies, wanting a baby...but let's be honest, it's those mysterious baby daddies that always get us.

This means YOU, Darth Vader.

Yadda Yadda Yadda

Pop culture has yielded a whole lotta slang words and phrases, and many of them have come out of TV. The other day, I got to thinking, how DO these things catch on? Sometimes, it's unexpected (How YOU doin'?), sometimes it's just so DAMN funny it's destined to enter the lexicon (Stop looking at my VA JAY JAY!), and sometimes, well, sometimes a
BRO-MANCE is just a bro-mance.

But I wanna scream "Where's the beef?" when writers/celebs try to force these things at us, hoping it'll become the next "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis?"

On Oprah the other day, she did (shocker) a show on weight loss. On this show, she decided to deem these women "She-ro's". Get it? They are WOMEN and they are HEROES so they are SHE-RO's. What's worse is that she kept reminding us that this is now like, a thing, on Oprah. Heroic women are now called She-ro's. I'm not sure putting down that hoagie warrants heroism (some smaller pants, maybe), but all I know is I haven't found a made up word this annoying since Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw exclaimed that everyone's got S.S.B.

Oh, sorry...that's Secret Single Behavior for you amateurs. D'oh!

Oprah, you're so good at so many things - getting people to buy books, getting presidents elected... but let's face it, you're not getting new words into Webster's. Cross it off your to-do list.

Can you please instead focus your energy on something IMPORTANT?
If you could resurrect SNIGLETS, well that would be legen - Wait for it - dary.