Modern Family

It used to be that I watched a lot of television shows. With the exception of Saturdays, there was at least one show I would watch (or at least record) on the lineup for each night of the week.

Then we had Nora. I've given up a lot of TV since Nora was born.

There were shows that I was getting bored with anyway, and once we had Nora, it wasn't worth wasting the time on them anymore. My television "commitments" were pared down to a select few--House, Top Chef, and Grey's Anatomy. That's it.

I've been watching all of the same shows for years now. I guess that's part of the reason it was so easy to give up most of them, as it's really the same shit over and over. I haven't taken on anything new in forever, and haven't really been interested in doing so, even as people rave over all of their new favorites.

One night, Michael and I settled in to watch a movie we rented (I can't even tell you what it was), and the usual promos came on. Movie promo after movie promo, blah blah blah. But then an extended preview came on for a television show--I was officially introduced to Modern Family.
I had heard people talking about this show, but people talk about a lot of shows. I've tuned into some of the ones that are supposed to be the absolute best, and I've always been disappointed. So I never gave Modern Family much of a thought--until this promo I just happened to see before a movie, that is.

I laughed so hard at the few minutes of clips from the show, I knew I had to start watching. I started DVRing the new episodes shortly after the second season began, and I have to say, I *LOVE* this show. I look forward to the new episodes every week. We've also been renting the first season discs through Netflix, so we've been enjoying those episodes as well.

So what makes the show so great? Well, for starters, I can't name a character I don't like. The entire ensemble was perfectly cast, from Ed O'Neill to Ty Burrell to Eric Stonestreet and Julie Bowen. I love them all.

The show is brilliantly written. The writers pull things from their real lives and make them hilarious. It's not always laugh-out-loud, pee-your-pants funny, though. Sometimes, I chuckle or shake my head at the comedy, but there are times when I'll find a scene so funny that I'll catch myself laughing about it days later. For example, Mitchell calling 9-1-1 in a panic. When the operator answers, "9-1-1, what is your emergency?" he replies, "We locked our baby in the car!! People are judging us."

You have to see it for yourself, I swear. And give yourself more than one episode to fall in love. I think I watched two or three before I started to really appreciate it all.

For those of you who already watch... Any favorite episodes, scenes, or quotes you want to share?

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Crybabyitis

After 20 seasons, "Survivor" is still on the air. Somehow, some way... it keeps people coming back for more. Someone has to be watching it. Actually, considering the show's success, I'm guessing it's a lot of someones.

Alright, alright... I'll confess.

I'm one of them. I just can't help myself.

Surely I'm not the only one. Anyone else out there care to admit that they are still into "Survivor"?
I started watching during the first season, when I was a senior in high school. It was on throughout the entire summer, and I distinctly remember sitting down with my entire family to watch it every week. The finale was on shortly before I left for college, and I was pretty much hooked.

At some point along the way, I did give it up for a while. There have been a handful of seasons that, for one reason or another, I couldn't get into and skipped watching altogether.

Still, when you've watched as many seasons as I have, it's always great when they do something like this season--Heroes vs. Villains. I loooove when they bring back all the old players to do it again.

The first All-Star season (back in 2004!) was one of my favorite seasons ever. I had never seen Boston Rob before, since Marquesas was one of the seasons I didn't watch. But in All-Stars, I quickly grew to love him as he controlled the game, continuously managed to get people on his side only to back-stab them later, and somehow managed to make Amber fall in love with him in the process. In short: a great, great player. I even went on to watch Rob and Amber compete on "The Amazing Race," rooting for them all the way.

So you can imagine how pleased I was when I saw that he'd be coming back for Heroes vs. Villains. And tonight, Rob was particularly glorious. A couple of my favorite Rob moments:

"Again, again, again... I'm on the buffoon tribe."

"When I finally came to, I had a moment of clarity. And that was: stop trying to be the good guy. Because I’m trying to be so good, I physically made myself sick. Just do what everybody wants you to do and be the villain. The doctors checked me out, basically told me I have the flu and a little bitty case of crybabyitis. But now I gotta start smacking ‘em into shape."

This one from Courtney gave me a chuckle, too: "Boston Rob is the bright shining star and he gets so frustrated with these fools. I hope he doesn't drop dead in the next few days because we will all die!"

I've definitely been finding myself rooting for the Villains, even though I can't stand half the people on their tribe (Jerri, Randy, and Coach--although I have to admit that Coach has proved to not be nearly as annoying this season).

Also, I've been surprised how my opinions about some of my "favorites" are changing. Take James, for instance. I loved him in his previous seasons, probably because he is so adorably dumb. But last night, he was ridiculously hot-headed, and although I didn't disagree with him, his temper was a little much. Rupert has been pathetic and annoying as hell. And although I really liked Sugar during her season, I was not sad to see her be the first to go this time around.

Anyway, only two episodes into the season, I'm excited to have all of the familiar faces back in the game, and can't wait to see how this all shakes out.

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So Long, Conan

I know I already bitched about this a couple of days ago, but I couldn't help but comment again, now that "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" is officially a thing of the past.

When we got home from having dinner with friends last night, I was too tired to stay up and watch the last episode of Conan. However, I definitely didn't want to miss it, so I made sure to DVR it.

Tonight, as we ate dinner, we watched Conan's last show. Throughout the whole thing, I couldn't help but feel really sad. Especially toward the end when he got all teary and explained what the whole experience meant to him, and how grateful he was for his staff, crew, and fans. Maybe I'm overly emotional, but I was pretty damn close to tears myself!

I was going to post a video clip from the last show, but NBC's "share video" function isn't working. (Surprise, surprise. Can they do ANYTHING right?)

I found myself remembering back in the spring, when I was sad to see him leave New York and his late show. But it was different then, because we knew we'd still be seeing him on TV. Now, no one can be sure where he will end up.

I hope to see him back on the air--somewhere, somehow--in September.

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Conan Rules, Leno Drools

I'd like to tell you all that I predicted this. And I sort of did.

You see, I knew that Leno's primetime gig was never going to last. Still, I could never have predicted what a clusterfuck of a situation this whole thing would become.

Conan has effectively been thrown out on his ass for no reason at all, except that Jay Leno is a selfish douchebag. It is being reported today that Conan has officially signed paperwork that releases him from his contract with NBC. And so it's over. OVER FOR NBC, anyway. I hope that Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" and the network burn to the ground. I don't watch anything else on NBC, and I have never been so grateful to not be supporting a particular network.

NBC's treatment of a man who was a long-time, dedicated employee is completely sickening to me. I know it's not the first time someone has been wronged for the sake of "business," but the way this has played out has been ludicrous.

The worst part of it all is that Conan O'Brien is truly a class act. I loved his statement released earlier this month, when all of this controversy really started to pick up. I especially loved the end (after several paragraphs of expressing his disappointment and explaining his position):

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.

LOVE.

Conan has handled himself with grace and poise throughout the whole process during which NBC completely screwed him over. (To be fair, he does get $45 million out of the exit deal. Not too shabby!)

Most frustrating is the fact that everyone knows that NBC and Jay Leno are wrong... except NBC and Jay Leno. Jimmy Kimmel made an absolute fool out of Leno (on Leno's own show!) last week. And then, just this morning, I saw this clip on Michelle's blog:

Perfect.

Here's hoping Conan ends up with a much better gig and Leno falls in the ratings (AND off the face of the Earth).

TEAM CONAN, baby. TEAM CONAN.

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Will no one retire?

There's someone else who needs to learn to let go: Jay Leno.

I have NBC on my TV right now, and I couldn't help but notice the permanent "Jay Leno, Monday Sept. 14th" advertising on the lower left side of my screen. And I found myself asking, Does anyone really care?

I used to watch Leno sometimes when he was the host of The Tonight Show. I didn't think he was the best thing since sliced bread, but I also didn't really have any problem with him. But when it came time for him to retire, I was ready for him to retire. Plus, I really like Conan and I was looking forward to him taking the earlier spot (you know, so I could maybe watch him every once in a while).

When it was announced that Jay Leno would not only be coming back to TV, but coming back EVERY.DAMN.NIGHT.OF.THE.WEEK, during primetime no less, I found myself giving that idea a big ol' W-T-F. Because seriously. No one wants to watch Jay Leno every freaking weeknight at 10 p.m. I normally avoid speaking for everyoneontheplanet, but in this case, I think it's appropriate.

Bottom line: I give it until November sweeps, tops. Leno's a goner.

P.S. What is it with these people and not wanting to retire? If I had their money, I'd have retired at least 10 years ago. Too bad I can't strike a deal with them--They work, I'll play. Everyone wins.

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Top Chef - Las Vegas

Photo Source: BravoTV.com
Now I know the end of summer is really near. Why? Because Top Chef is back! As far as I'm concerned, there are only two things to look forward to about end of summer:
1) Football, and 2) The return of good TV.

And Top Chef is kicking it off in style, because they're in Vegas!

I'm not even sure why I love Top Chef. It's certainly not the food, as I'm a picky eater and there's no way I'd eat half the stuff they make. But for some reason, I still love watching them make it all, and of course, I enjoy all the drama that comes along with the competition.

The first episode is always interesting because all of the chefs are new and I don't have opinions about any of them yet. This is about to change, because I'm going to turn on the show and let them make their first impressions.

I apologize in advance to anyone who doesn't watch and therefore, doesn't care, but I'm going to blog as I watch the show (I've got nothing better to do tonight!). Let's see how this goes, shall we?

Oh, and just a warning... if you haven't watched but plan to, and don't want any spoilers, you should probably stop reading now, eh? Don't say I didn't warn you.

First of all, yayyyy Vegas!

OK, I'm about 10 minutes in now, and I still don't know anybody's names. But holy tattoos, Batman! Seems like there are a lot of inked people this season.

I love Tom Colicchio. That is all.

Showgirls? Seriously?

Time for a relay race! Eeeeek, blood already. OK, what's up with the woman who has no idea how to shuck clams? Why wouldn't you speak up instead of screwing your team over? So stupid.

Jesse's pierced face is distracting. I like listening to Mattin talk. I'm digging the brothers (are they twins? I can't tell them apart!).

Interesting quickfire, but let's get to the elimination challenge. Guest judge Wolfgang Puck. Awesome.

Whole Foods. The guy who is sticking his nose right into the fish, and opening and sifting through the salad greens, is freaking me out. Gross. Did that Puerto Rican dude just ask the employee if they carry cigars? At Whole Foods? HA.

I always like the frantic kitchen scenes. It's interesting to see them experience the time crunch for the first time. They always under/overcook everything, don't get it plated, etc. So many mistakes.

GAIL! Gail is back this season. Thank the lord. That replacement judge last season, the one with the absolutely horrible similies and metaphors? HE WAS KILLING ME. I *heart* Gail, though.

Wolfgang Puck just said he'd like to throw a guy into the fryer. Hehehe.

How is spending 27 days at sea traveling from Haiti to the U.S. a vice? I don't get it. Is this girl kidding me with her bacon doughnuts? Apparently the judges agree with me, as Wolfgang just launched a piece of doughnut at a cameraman. I love it. Oh, and that chile dish looks absolutely disgusting. That group bombed.

They called the winners for each group; I'm kind of surprised by them. This Jennifer woman is off to a strong start, after winning the quickfire and making the top four in the elimination challenge. Touchy-feely-with-the-food-in-Whole-Foods guy (who I now know is named Kevin) is the winner this week. Hmph.

Now for the bottom four... not surprised by any of the people who landed there. I think disgusting chile girl is going home. I love the pressure the judges put on all of the chefs, and how honest they are with their critiques. They aren't holding anything back, even at the beginning. Awesome. Is Jesse going to cry?? Please, woman. Hold it together.

Deliberation is done; time to get down to business. Who has to pack their knives and go? Annnnd... commercial. Of course.

And we're back. DISGUSTING CHILE JENN! I called it, although I think it was pretty obvious. Her dish didn't even look like it was real food.

And so wraps the first episode of Top Chef - Las Vegas.

At the beginning of every season, I find myself missing some of the personalities from the last. This time around, I'm missing Fabio and Carla. But as always, as the episodes go on, people eventually grow on me and make it an entertaining season. The first few episodes are always a little awkward because I can't remember names and don't have anybody to "root" for yet. I'm sure that'll be changing soon.

So, now that the premiere is over, tell me... Who's watching? What did you think? Who are your favorites (so far)?

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Me llamo Jessie.

OK, so I am a little late posting this. Sorry about that.

As it turns out, someone did get the correct answer. I laughed out loud when it came through on my BlackBerry. Why? Well, because it was the very first guess. Way to go, Music! :)

Looking back, it was probably way too easy, since the Jessie-gets-addicted-to-caffeine-pills-and-has-nervous-breakdown episode is probably the most famous Saved by the Bell episode EVER. But, whatever... it was fun to make you guess anyway! Thanks to all those who participated.

So yes, we condensed the script (and cut scenes) and translated it into Spanish. One of the highlights was the exercise video that the girls did--"Go For It!" (or whatever it was actually called). Because OF COURSE we recreated it. It's funny, because I still know the chorus in Spanish. I was walking around last night singing it to myself. Amazing what the mind remembers, huh?

Here's a crappy-quality YouTube video of the original SBTB video:



And yes, most of you guessed correctly that I played Jessie Spano. My other two group members had to play both a guy AND a girl role. Kristen played Slater and Kelly, Krista played Zack and Lisa. Screech wasn't in our version of this episode. Since Jessie had such a central role, I couldn't play any more than the one role since Jessie was in practically every scene! Hilarious memories. I so wish I had photos and/or video to show you guys. Or, actually, I guess I'm grateful I don't, because I'm sure it's pretty damn embarrassing.

Here is the famous "I'm so excited!! I'm so excited!!" scene, aka the "THERE'S NEVER ANY TIME!!" scene:



Also done in Spanish, of course. I think my "pills" were tic tacs or something. :)

When we presented our video in class, everyone loved it. After the projects had been presented, we had a ballot we all filled out to pick our favorites in a number of categories--sort of like a classroom version of the Oscars or something. We won in several categories, including "Best Picture." :)

And to think, Spielberg never called. Huh. Imagine that.

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Zack Morris

A short 15 years after the last episode of Saved by the Bell aired, Zack Morris is back.

He may be older, not as cute, and missing some of his sidekick friends... but make no mistake, he's back. And it's hilarious. Don't believe me? You'll have to watch this:

(If you have issues viewing the video embedded in this post--I had trouble in Firefox--you can view it here.)

The huge cell phone KILLS me. Oh my lord.

If you loved Saved by the Bell as much as I used to (who am I kidding, I still watch it some mornings), I hope you found that as enjoyable as I did. Every character and episode that they referred to? Um, yeah. I knew exactly what they were talking about. Even the freakin' Zack Attack song!

Funny related story: In high school, for an assignment in Spanish class, we had to pick a story, a movie, or an episode of a television show and a) condense the script into a 10 minute performance; b) translate that script into Spanish; and c) act in and produce a video of said performance. The project groups were made up of three people; I was in a group with two other girls, Krista and Kristen. A lot of the other groups chose fairy tales, and I think one may have done The Breakfast Club. But we wanted to do something we knew no one else was going to do. So we decided to act out a Saved by the Bell episode.

Can you guess which episode we chose? ...

...

... Well, I wasn't really going to make you guess, and was just going to finish this story right away, but hey... why not make you guess? Come on, Saved by the Bell fans... make me proud with your knowledge.

If I had a prize to give, I'd give one, but since I can't think of anything, well, this is just for fun. But go ahead! Guess. Bonus points if you can guess which character(s) I played.

I'll make the reveal tomorrow afternoon, so get your "entries" in ASAP!

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Goosebumps

Let's kick off the weekend with something uplifting, shall we?

I see it as my personal duty to ensure that everyone I know has seen this.

I had seen bits and pieces of this on the news early this week, and I thought it was a great story. But it wasn't until I watched the full thing while eating my cereal on Wednesday morning that I came to fully appreciate it.

I sat there and watched in awe as Susan Boyle was instantly judged by the show's judges and its audience, based solely on her appearance and her age. I was actually kind of disgusted over the looks that were shown on people's faces.

And then she began to sing.

Instant tears welled up in my eyes, and I got goosebumps all up and down my arms. Even the little hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Amazing.

By the time she was done, I was full of pride for this woman. Not only had she just gone out there and done a bang-up job singing one of my favorite Les Mis songs, but I was so happy that she had proved everyone wrong. Sweet, sweet victory from this "ugly duckling" who no one ever expected to be wowed by. But she did it, and she did it amazingly well.

Frankly, I was proud of the judges for owning up to their first impressions of her, and apologizing for it. Well, except for Simon Cowell. I don't watch American Idol, so I don't have a lot of experience with him, but from what I've seen... you can't expect much from him. I think his reaction to Susan's singing was about as nice as he gets. So, whatever.

I hope Susan continues to tear up the stage for the rest of her competition. Beyond that, I hope all of her dreams come true. Go get 'em, Susan!

Now I'm going to make a complete 180 and talk about politics. It's related to this post because to me, it's a second piece of really good news that came out of this week.

I'm excited that yesterday, Governor David Paterson introduced legislation to legalize gay marriage here in New York State. There is a loooong way to go with this, but at least he got the ball rolling. Governor Paterson is throwing his weight and influence behind it, and I hope that he's able to get the State Senate to see that there really is no debate. It's not a question of should they or shouldn't they, it's a question of right or wrong, and so far, New York (and most of the rest of the country) has been wrong. MAKE IT RIGHT.

I'm appalled that we are still dealing with issues of equal rights in 2009. Really, I am. I'm sad that it took several other states to get New York to start this process. We're New York, for crying out loud! (Although I look at California, a state I also have high expectations of, and I remember Prop 8. I still can't believe it happened.) But right now, I don't care how or why Paterson made his decision to do this; I'm just glad he did. COME ON, NEW YORK. Don't let me down.

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After

You saw the before.

Here is the after:

Hell yes. It's about time. Really, until now, we had no idea what we were missing.

We have been researching and looking at HDTVs for several weeks. Our plans to buy were put on a serious hold when everything went down with Tessa's health, but now that she is fine we decided to start to move forward again. After a lot more research and a lot of shopping, we made the plunge on Thursday night and brought it home. My first Thursday night lineup was amazing in HD. :)

Then, last night, we brought the new stand home and put that together. Got everything hooked up again and organized... and the upgrade gets a serious thumbs up from us.

We love it. Merry Christmas to us!

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Before

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Oh, Tina Fey

How I love you so.

In case you missed it, Tina Fey returned to Saturday Night Live last night to play Sarah Palin. I never watch SNL anymore, but since Obama was scheduled to appear (I didn't realize he had cancelled due to Hurricane Ike), and there were rumors swirling that Tina Fey would be back for Palin, I knew we had to tune in.

I was not disappointed.

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin: They resemble each other as it is, so it was pretty uncanny to see her with clothes, makeup and hair like Palin. And the accent and mannerisms--she did them so well! And of course, a practically 9-months-pregnant Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton... always gotta love that as well.

(Ugh. I had a YouTube video embedded here, but no sooner did I have it up that it was taken down at YouTube. Damn you, NBC, and your copyright claims. But you can watch the video here at NBC.com: Sarah Palin & Hillary Clinton Opening)

I'd like to think that this stuff is funny, regardless of your political beliefs. I mean, even if you love Sarah Palin--"I can see Russia from my house"--that's still funny, right? I hope so. I'd hate to think people take this stuff too seriously.

I'm looking forward to more SNL. Well, political skits anyway. I'll likely be DVRing so I can fast-forward through all the crap to get to the good stuff. I hope Tina Fey comes back a few more times as Palin. It was too good to not do again!

I was a freshman in college during the 2000 election, but I recorded (on VHS!) SNL every Saturday night just so I could see the political skits. Will Ferrell as George Bush and Darrell Hammond as Al Gore. Those were the days.

Remember when SNL was actually funny? I barely even know any of the actors that are on there now. It's a bummer.

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Seriously? Seriously.

*sigh* Another reason I love fall... good TV comes back.

Oh, Grey's Anatomy, how I love thee. I was disappointed and kinda "over" the show all last season, but with the finale, Shonda Rhimes redeemed herself and I am now back to being a fan.

So, with that said... have we all seen this new promo?



I should have seen the Rose pregnancy thing coming. I'm pissed at myself for that one. There was no way he was going to be able to get rid of her that easily. Meh, I hate her.

The person that put this up on YouTube was kind enough to slow-mo (at the end of the clip) some of the more important snippets that we were shown. That guy on the gurney, bleeding? That is most definitely DEREK.

More evidence? My interpretation:

The chief yelling at Meredith, "You're here because I ALLOW you to be here!!" is not about her working there, no, no. It's because Derek is the patient and he's not shuffling her off to the waiting room. He's allowing her to stay outside his room.

And depressed-looking Mark? He's worried for his dear friend.

Meredith screaming? I think we get the picture.

I'm not dumb enough to believe that Patrick Dempsey could be leaving and that they'll actually kill off Derek. Especially not in the first episode of a season. And I'm mildly annoyed that they already did this "near death" thing with Meredith and Derek in season 3, only it was Meredith who nearly kicked the bucket.

But you know, it makes for some good drama, and it should ultimately give me some nice lovey-dovey moments between the couple I have so wanted to be together for so long. And from what I read at the end of last season, Shonda Rhimes plans to let Meredith and Derek be happy this time around.

So what do you think?

As a side note... Tonight, I realized I won't be able to watch the premiere when it airs. At that time, Michael and I will be heading down to the Poconos for a long weekend with my family and some family friends. Since I'll be in the mountains and out of touch with reality anyway, this is totally fine with me. I'll just be setting my DVR and watching on Sunday night when we return.

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