Top 10 Of The Year: #10- Gossip Girl

You know, I’m more than a little surprised that this made my top 10 list of the year. But at the same time, I’m not. It was very close between this and fellow CW show Reaper for the number 10 slot, but Gossip Girl just edged it out. In my original review of the pilot, I acknowledged that Gossip Girl had some very good and some very bad things in it. Now, the reason that Gossip Girl is not only a solidly good show in my book, but also one that makes my top 10 is because it has corrected almost every one of those problems.

The first few episodes of the show, it seemed very cartoonish in a certain way. Everyone, even someone like Dan, seemed like a caricature. It was all outlandish and kind of fun but also, at least to me, not particularly engrossing or even faintly realistic. But, while there’s still a certain level of non-reality, the rest of the show, in the characters, their interactions, and the relationships, has made some really big strides in becoming grounded in reality. Dan is less of a know-it-all tool, Blair is no longer just a bitch, Jenny gained personality, and Serena has become miles more genuine.

And those were the ones I regarded as good in my pilot review. Chace Crawford is easily one of, if not THE most improved actor on primetime television. He was so, so bad in the pilot. Like, a disgrace to my first name (Yeah Nate!) bad. But, and I don’t know where this came from, he suddenly got good. Not decent, not acceptable, but actually good. He had charisma, he didn’t make me want to hit myself in the head, and he seemed realistic. Kudos, Mr. Crawford. Similarly, Ed Westwick took the absolute caricature of Chuck, and, while Chuck Bass is and will probably always be a caricature (Not that that’s a bad thing, in this case), Westwick has made Chuck probably the most entertaining character on the show. Similarly, I tore into the portrayal of the parents in the pilot, and they have significantly improved. They’re not quite as good as the parents were on The OC, but there are definitely signs of improvement.

While the show has improved miles since the pilot, it has still retained the really pleasurable elements of watching the show too, which is to say, the campiness and bitchiness is still intact. The war and escalation between Jenny and Blair was incredibly fun to watch, and characters like Chuck, even in his most outlandish brightly colored pant and ascot combination, is still fun to watch when he’s being devious.

Also, and quite possibly the biggest reason this show made the list, is that is has displayed an enormous amount of unexpected maturity for a show that focuses on teenagers, and spoiled teenagers to boot. In the recent post-strike episodes, the show has candidly focused on drug issues, relationship drama like cheating, coming out, and dealing with Michelle Trachtenberg in a much better and more insightful manner than I ever expected to see on a show like this. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

So congrats Gossip Girl, you’ve made my top 10. Lets keep the good work up (and don’t lose the campiness).

So You Think You Can Dance 5/22- And We’re Off!

Ah, Cat Deeley, how I’ve missed thee. Your bubbling British charm is a great way to start the TV summer. I don’t even care that you give us about 5 minutes of filler about past seasons and auditions and stuff. Since this isn’t a performance show, I’m just gonna mention anyone that stands out to me.

The Italian Gigolo (Or So I’m Guessing)- This guy seems to be a parody of the Italian lover stereotype, and he gets my notice for creeping pretty much everyone out, including Cat and the Judges. He has impressive control and some kind of awesome moves, but if he’s gonna keep stripping, I’d rather he not make the show. Also, Mia Michaels has an amazing Freudian slip on the word “successful” and makes me love her as a person as well as a choreographer. Also, he does appear to have humility. Or maybe not. He makes the choreography round

“Sex”- Can we ban him from my TV screen? At least the idol wannabe who suck can be funny. But this guy is just sad. And a little mean.

The Blind Girl- Good background story, baddish technique. Plus, Mia Michaels tears. But she doesn’t make it through. I don’t think she could have realistically made it any farther.

Blond Girl Swallowed By Large Amounts of Green Fabric- Oh wait, that’s Cat. Sometimes she’s really on with her wardrobe, other times, well, not so much…

Twitch- Yup, still awesome. Nigel tells him that if Twitch doesn’t make it through Vegas this year, Nigel’s gonna kick his ass. I have no doubts that he’s gonna be a member of the top 20. He goes straight through to Vegas.

Phillip Chbeeb- Also awesome. His body seems so ridiculously fluid at times, I’m wondering if he’s more than 98% water. Mia tells him that he’s one of the best breakers she’s ever seen. He goes to choreography.

William Wingfield (Pretty sure that’s his name)- The self-proclaimed “gypsy”. Pretty awesome body movement. Also interesting because he did it to a poem rather than music. Nigel wasn’t the biggest fan, but he was good enough to get to the choreography.

Day 1 Choreography Routine: Travis Wall, who so should have beat Benji in season two, is the choreographer. The Italian hustler gets cut, Phil and William make it to Vegas.

Day 2

Erica Gee- This is her third time trying out for the show. She seems to have good extensions. She’s decent to watch. She seems to switch styles a bunch of times though. The judges like her this time. She goes right through to Vegas.

Leonidas and Aliona- The first ballroom couple we’re shown. He seems to be the better one of the two, but the judges, especially good ‘ol pervy Nigel, are all turned on. Nigel, continuing the perv streak, comments about her legs as well. Mary is very pumped for a good ballroom couple. They both go straight to Vegas.

Victor Kim (Again, may not be his name. I kind of suck with names)- Very cool Asian breaker. He seems to be having more fun than anyone else, and he’s probably the most fun to watch as well. He makes it to choreography.

Gold Inferno- Oh, look, an idiot in a mask. He does jumpstyle, which appears to be a lot of practice on DDR. Not that I’m trying to say that what he does isn’t hard, but it seems to be DDR without the pad. It’s still better than what I could do. The judges don't see any improvement from last year. He gets cut. And it turns out he's a kind of arrogant d-bag too. And more than a wee bit creepy.

Asian Ballroom Couple- You don't really see Asian ballroom dancers on this show, so its a nice change. They seem to be pretty god, especially considering the girl is quite sick, it seems. The judges like them too, and send them to choreography with separate partners.

Kherrington Payne- That is an awesome name (but she loses points for the ridiculous spelling of her first name) She says she's a tomboy on the soccer field and a girly-girl otherwise. She seems fresh, happy to be there, and also seems to be pretty darn good too. Dominic from last season, who has been in the audience watching, is enthralled. The judges really like her. She goes right on through to Vegas.

Robert Muraine- Ridiculous popper. Amazing, amazing, amazing body control. He seems to have control of literally every bit on his body. He did a few things I didn't even think were physically possible. Nigel calls him his favorite dancer of 2008. He gets a ticket straight through to Vegas. He even hugs Nigel. Nigel plays along pretty freakin' well too.

Choreography Day 2- We’re not shown the routine, but Victor gets Cut, but the Asian ballroomers make it.

A Few Other Assorted Notes:
• I love Mia Michaels. Hardcore. Her choreography is always awesome, and she seems a heck of a lot more personable this season. And her Freudian Slip was great.

• It’s nice to see them brining back old contestants, like Travis and Dominic. Makes me wonder if we’ll ever be seeing some of these people again.

•I truly hope there are no more Schwimmer children waiting in the wings.

•Cat Deeley is really starting to battle Phil Keoghan for my favorite reality host.

Top 10 Of The Season: The Honorable Mentions

And thus begins my countdown of the top 10 shows that aired during the 2007-2008 TV season. Over the next, oh, lets say two weeks, I’m gonna roll out my list of the 10 best shows that aired during the 2007-2008 TV season. My family always makes fun of me because I love to make lists. So a) Suck it family, this is a proper forum for lists, and b) expect many more to come. As a precursor/note: I am very behind on Battlestar Galactica, am starting to catch up on the first few seasons of The Wire, and am not as great a TV fan as I should be, because there’s a large number of shows I just wasn’t interested in/couldn’t muster the strength to follow. So that being said, here are the five shows that just barely missed the countdown. In no particular order:


Dirty Sexy Money- If this show had had a full season, and had continued the steady progress it was making quality-wise, it very well may have made the list. But, with the writer’s strike, we only got around 10 episodes of this. I know ABC is planning a big relaunch in the fall, so at least that’s good. The show’s got a solid cast, good writing, and a few interesting enough plotlines to make it a favored viewing.


Psych- I love this show. It never fails to make me laugh. Shawn and Gus together are amazing. That being said, it’s not the highest quality show, which is why it did not make the top ten. I still love it though.


The Amazing Race- I’d probably rank Amazing Race among my 5 favorite shows on television. However, as much as I wish it wasn’t the case, this season just wasn’t up to snuff with some of the others. But I am very eagerly looking forward to the next one.


Reaper- Darn season finales and such. This show, while always having been funny and entertaining, has really been thriving creatively in recent weeks. The writing is, for the most part, sharp, and the actors all have great chemistry with one another. If the creative uptick had started a little earlier in the season, I have no questions that this would have made the top ten. But, I’m just happy it did, and that it’s coming back next season.


Brothers and Sisters- The Walker family is my favorite dysfunctional family on TV (and god knows there are lots of ‘em). Something about their dynamic, even though no family could ever exist like that and not end in one sibling killing everyone, seems real. Too bad this show hit a major sophomore slump this year. I love Rebecca, but this whole end-of-season storyline involving her paternity was useless. And really, really aggravating.

So those were the ones that just missed the list. If you, my (I’m guessing) one loyal reader, want to make predictions as to what actually made the list, feel free. I will tell you that there are two representatives from cable, NBC has the most spots with 3, and there’s only one network in the big 5 that didn’t make the list.

PS: I'd like to make a special mention of Doctor Who, which is a British sci-fi show about a time-traveling alien. If I was allowing foreign TV onto the list, this would have cruised to the top half of the list easy. But my list is solely American TV, so Doctor Who, even though you air on Sci-Fi in the US, I'm sorry.

Marc Cherry May Be An Idiot

So, I know I’m just an amateur TV blogger and I’ve never written a script worthy of any merit, but I’ve got to say, I’m pretty sure Marc Cherry is an idiot. For the most of you who probably don’t recognize that name, Marc Cherry is the executive producer and creator of Desperate Housewives, which just had it’s fourth season finale a few hours ago. Now, some of you may be wondering, or maybe even internally monologuing “But Nate, why is Marc Cherry an idiot? He runs a very successful show. He’s won a few Emmys. He’s very rich.” To which I respond, he’s an idiot because he just killed his entire shows momentum in one fell three-minute swoop.

Now, when I heard the news about Housewives jumping ahead five years, I was ambivalent but my curiosity was piqued. It’s certainly a ballsy move, one I have to give him credit for taking. But, as I was watching the finale, and I saw it jump ahead five years, well, I decided that it was finally time that I give up on this show. Because, well, frankly (and this is something I’ve been approaching for a while with Housewives), I really don’t care anymore.

SPOILERS ARE BELOW

There were a few interesting dynamics going into the finale. The Lynette and Kayla storyline had a few ways it could play out interestingly (Which it did not). The Catherine/Dylan/Father whose name is unimportant storyline had potential. But then, we get resolutions to every story line. And then we jump ahead five years. And Gaby has what appear to be two Asian children. And Bree has a cookbook coming out. And Lynette has a really bad hairstyle and at least one problem child. And Catherine is boring and Dylan is getting married. And then the biggest “shock” is that Susan is married to someone other than Mike.

To which I respond, Marc Cherry: I don’t care. That’s about as blatantly as I can put it. I have always hated Susan. Expect her to pop up on my list of my 10 most hated characters on TV (Which is coming soon). Catherine isn’t interesting because everything is good with her. Same with Bree. We always kind of expected one of Lynette’s kids to end up a bad seed so no surprise there. And Gaby has two Asian children, which is not particularly interesting.

So, yeah, Marc Cherry, not really the best move you could have pulled. You pretty much killed any story momentum coming out of the end of this season. I can assume you’re gonna address Mike’s leaving, but not showing any of how it happened doesn’t make me care about it. Gaby becoming a mom was a goldmine you could have used, but you skipped ahead to her being a loving mom. Not particularly interesting. Lynette’s kids, being problems, not really new material. And again, Catherine and Bree don’t appear to have drama, so there’s not a lot of interest going into it. So, again, Marc Cherry, you’ve killed all your momentum going into season 5. And, in doing so, you’ve finally given me an excuse to give up on your show.