The Week Ending 10/13

Sorry I'm late, it's been a busy week.
And it has been a good week in TV viewing land for me. I added two saved shows to the repertoire, Pushing Daisies and Moonlight. And they were good. This week, I look to check out Life, at the request of MJRB. We'll see how that goes. As for this week in tv...
The Simpsons are always solid. I am going to start including Sunday in the previous week, because I usually do this Monday and it is just easier. Consequently, I have seen two Simpies this week, both of which were good. In the first, we had Maggie being weaned off her need for Marge's love and affection, resulting in an independent Maggie and a needy Marge. An interesting commentary on parenting, though I am not sure if it reaches a conclusion. We had a funny bit of inept parents on the computer... not sure how realistic that is... We also had Homer becoming a tow truck operator, ending up making a comment about overenforcing laws. Does it make sense? For those of us who might have exceeded the speed limit from time to time, maybe not. The next one had Steve Buscemi as a bank robber who turns Marge into his mother. Some funny bits, though nothing too memorable. Chuck was good again. There was a funny bit where Captain Awesome (sister's husband) teaches Chuck the tango. He later attempts to use what he learned only to discover that he only knows the girl's part. More funny gender bending from Chuck. (His partner was a notorious crook of some variety, despite numerous attempts to convince us that the nefarious looking man was the crook. She gladly led.) I still find it engaging. Journeyman went back to the earthquake World Series game and discovered that he could not successfully do things outside the scope of his mission, failing to alert the public about the impending disaster but successfully rescuing the single fellow he was after. The dynamic between he and his ex-girlfriend and he and his wife is a bit sketchy for me still. Will he end up with one or the other? OR not... Not a story line I am neccesarily fond of. I still like the main actor, though. I think he does well. Damages this week was good, though we see Patty looking like she is about to hire Frobisher's lawyer. He, meanwhile, is getting questioned by his own firm, where he is going to be shadowed by a partner on the case. I think this show is making some moves to hang on to some of the characters that have proven popular while resolving this case. I also think we see that Patty is surprised that Ellen is blamed for the murder, suggesting that she was not culpable, though that has seemed like what we have been leading up to. I am quite interested to see the upcoming season finale...
House was good this week. It involved a case that they did not solve quickly enough. The culpable intern, one I like, was concerned that she would be fired but House kept her, suggesting that she would never make the same mistake again, as it resulted in death. Foreman got fired from his job in New York. I would like to see him come back. Maybe dueling diagnosticians??? I caught up with Pushing Daisies this week and I like it a lot. If you haven't seen the previews, the main character can touch things and bring them back to life for a minute before he touches them again to send them back to death. If he doesn't, something else dies. I like the characters in the show. It also has a Lemony-Snicket's-style narrarator. It is cool and quirky. Chi McBride is one of the stars and he is very funny. He plays a PI who also knits. Think, a closeted Rosie Grier. Lots of little jokes and quips, dry humor kinds of things. I like this show a lot and hope it catches on.
Thursday was solid as usual. Michael Rappaport guested on Earl. He did a solid job as a former friend of both Earl and Joy. This one saw a lot of connections being made between the characters. This was not particularly surprising as it is a small town they live in and, I like it. I wonder if Rappaport will stick around... The Office was good, as always. Meredith and her cast, Andy and his trio/quartet by phone. Angela and Dwight. And the kidnapping. Office gold, as always, though I missed Jan. Grey's was OK. I like the sister. I like that they seem to be coming to some sort of resolution. I like Miranda and Callie teaming up (why was Miranda being sucha loser about it before?). I wonder what will happen with Callie and George. I like the idea of the woman telling her friends the truth and them coming back and giving her the business as well, but I thought it was a bit hokey to be drumming up all that hysteria about losing her tongue. She could still write, email, etc. It was not like she was dying, or losing all ability to communicate. I thought that was a bit lame. As for ER, it was ok. I certainly felt like we were about to hear that Morris's girlfriend was dead, but it was his Dad, whom we never knew. I felt like that was a bit of a setup, but who cares. This episode saw a lot of Abbie patting people on the back, giving the empathetic contact. I don't like Sarah, either (Stamos's daughter?). We'll see how that goes.
I watched three episodes of Moonlight and I like it. It is probably on the level of the hokey XFiles episodes. The main character is a Vampire Private Eye. I like him. He has been keeping a close eye on a girl his ex-wife, who turned him into a vampire, kidnapped to give them a family. He killed his wife and saved the girl from being turned into a vampire herself. The girl then grew up and became a reporter, who is now about the same age as him and they are becoming friends. In this most recent episode, she finds out he is a vampire. This is not a great show, but I am enjoying it, despite the main girl's distracting resemblence to Rachel Weisz. (For some reason, Chuck's sister's resemblence to Lucy Lawless is not as distracting, nor is Chuck CIA girlfriend's resemblence to movie Marsha Brady/girl from Dodgeball I think?) I like the secondary character of friend vampire, who is 400 years old and is not shackled by the scruples of the PI. I suspect the stories will fade quickly or become supremely repetitive, but right now, it's fun. I guess that's about it. Brad performed well on Last One Standing. He thumped some dude in Zulu stick fighting. I don't get why he didn't get to fight again, but, there you go.