Friday... Psych

Rachael Leigh Cook is guest starring on Psych.

This is a most pleasant surprise!

Chips Ahoy!

I watched a game show called Duel tonight. I've played something similar online before, but I'm not sure what the name of the game I played was.

It's an interesting spin on a trivia game. You have 10 chips. For each multiple choice question, you can cover as many answers as you have chips to play it safe. If you use four chips, you'll get it right and lose three of them. Once your chips are gone, you lose. Or something like that.

So if you know the answer, you can use one chip while your opponent might not know it and play four, losing three of them. After beating a person and given an opportunity to double your money with only one chip and one choice for a question, you can quit or take on another opponent.

I don't think it's going to take off like some of these prime time game shows have been lately (I really wish they'd get Jeff Foxworthy off the air), but it's another one that's funt o play along with at home.

I was going to play a game at ABC.com but I don't want to register.

Friday... Amnesia

So, I watched Amnesia. Not a bad show. Dennis Miller is a lot funnier and more likable when he isn't trying to show off his intelligence. "What, like I've had so much experience feeding men?" is a lot funnier to me than all his analogies that I don't get. He still gets to do his thing at the beginning of the show a little bit, so everybody wins. It was a fun watch, and nothing much else is on Fridays, so I may watch again. I sure as hell would rather watch that than Jezebel James (See below...).

Friday... The Return of Jezebel James... Episodes 1, 2

I was going to quote a line from this show, but I can't remember it. The mother, played by Dianne Wiest, mentions something about a friend having cancer, not being able to talk about it, and THEY PLAY A LAUGH TRACK.

Oh, this laugh track was as overused as text messaging by teenagers. (Hahaha!) Many have looked forward to this show only because of Amy Sherman-Palladino, who had success with Gilmore Girls. They thought another show with quick, witty banter between two female characters would obviously be just as good. To put a laugh track into that banter is insane. (Hahaha!) Even The Big Bang Theory does a better job of smart writing in a sitcom. This show does not have it. The second episode was worse than the pilot, which did an okay job of establishing the story. However, the lead up to this show and the delay from the strike led to many commercials giving away most of the jokes.

The main character (Sarah, not Jezebel. Jezebel is fake) is in a sex-only relationship with a guy, and I would not be surprised if this show falls into yet another sitcom trap and has her fall for this guy, who doesn't know of her plan to have a baby.

I'm saying ten episodes. I'm not sure how many have been produced, but I don't like it's chances. It can't even be as good as Cavemen. (Hahaha!)

Friday... Psych... Ep. 2-01

A new season!

I wasn't thrilled that they did yet another American Idol parody. A first for them, sure. But you'd think after six years, people would get tired of the original so much so that they wouldn't feel the need to parody it. Especially with the nasty "Simon" and the drugged up "Paula."

At least they kind of made fun of themselves doing it, too. "See that guy? He's not black, he's Latino. THAT'S different!"

The best line actually came from Lassiter. I don't even remember the entire line, but "rabbit-punched me in the sternum" was in the middle of it, and I didn't hear the rest over my own laughter.

Someone once commented that Dule Hill reminded her of the Tigers' Curtis Granderson. I so see it!

Friday... Psych... Ep. 1-12 "Cloudy...Chance of Murder"

Ok, how weird is it that Season 1 started in July 2006, and it's still going on? Granted it was on a 5-month hiatus, but sheesh. Another reason why USA is a weird, weird network. How does it survive on three new shows a year and 500 movies? They can't be getting good ratings. I digress.

I've never heard of James Roday before this show, and I don't think I've seen him on anything else. But he's brilliant on this show. He reminds me of Jim Carrey, but with a quicker wit.

I also love courtroom plots. I don't watch Law & Order because they spend too much time on the streets questioning people who say "I don't know. But here's someone who might." So anyway, this guy in a courtroom is gold. I was glad he actually was able to get up and play lawyer rather than just helping the actual lawyer the whole time. But that guy was pretty good, too. He reminded me of Tom Lenk. I'd love to see an entire show with this kind of character as a lawyer. I think they did make one, actually. But I don't think it was a comedy. I'll have to look into it.

I watched this on Saturday night and I'm posting this on Sunday evening. so sadly, some of my favorite lines I wanted to jot down here have escaped my memory. Although, this one is good:

Hornstock: My firm doesn't really believe in...
Shawn: Winning?
Hornstock: No.
Shawn: Mermaids?
Hornstock: No.
Shawn: The Minotaur?
Hornstock: Me.

I realize I spent more time talking about the show itself than the episode. Basically, Shawn thinks that a teacher is wrongly accused of murdering a television weatherman. And as usual, his instincts are correct. He sees her pick up a piece of trash while walking out of the courtroom, and since she didn't have to do that, something doesn't seem right about her being a killer.

Friday... Monk... Ep. 5-14 "Mr. Monk Visits A Farm"

I like Monk, i really do. But as they make more and more episodes it just seems all the same. I liked when he made a little progress toward something, like his wife's murder case. But now he just goes somewhere where he is uncomfortable and solves a lame case. This one was especially bad since they didn't even have many suspects. We all know who it was from the get-go. Well, that's not fair. A lot of times they will show the murder in the teaser before the credits, and it's a matter of watching Monk solve it rather than a whodunit. And sometimes I like that. Anyway, about the episode.

When I say it was bad, it wasn't so much the episode. It was fairly funny, and there was the added sympathetic Randy Disher story. Randy messes up a lot though so until he mentioned it was his uncle who died, I didn't really get why he was taking it so hard. He asks Monk to come and see if he can find out anything in case his uncle was murdered. Which of course he was. And Monk has to take "a bus? a bus? to a farm?" It's funny when Monk almost turns down cases because of his fears. Although lately they seem to be focusing more on that, rather than the subtlety of his affliction and how it affects his work. Although he was counting the chicken feed instead of just throwing handfuls in, which was funny. I always hate the part of the episode that they've shown in the commercials. especially with USA, because they over-advertise their own shows and they show the same 20 second clip about 8 times an hour. And hell, I don't even know who the hell Brooke Adams is. Why should I care she is guest starring? (Oh. Now that I look her up, she is Tony Shaloub's wife. I guess that explains it!) Which also explains the joke about him being married, and his wife being dead. to which she has mixed feelings about.

So anyway, Monk solves the case and uses Randy's sleep-hypnosis self-help tape to tell him what happened to he can solve the case and become a cop again. which gives him faux confidence that he can solve cases in his sleep. So at least we know we won't be seeing a Super-Randy case solving machine. But my question is, when messes up again, what's stopping him from quitting again? Oh well.

Monk thought he got high. I usually get really annoyed at any marijuana related jokes, since I have a strong opinion on it not being this fun thing everyone sees it as. But him handcuffing himself to a tractor and going insane about how he's getting the munchies was kind of funny. Only because of his character.

On a side note, I hate TV.com's cast list. They still list Bitty Schram, but don't list Emmy Clarke, the girl who plays Natalie's daughter. They don't seem to like updating.