A Note About Linus Van Pelt

Poor Linus. That kid stood out in the pumpkin patch all night waiting for the grat pumpkin and what did he get? Sally's sympathies, a few stray pieces of candy from Lucy, and a few "good griefs" from pal Charlie Brown.

Rock on Linus, for your continued speeches about hope and perseverance. I salute you this Halloween!

A Note About the Guts of Meredith Grey

Photo note: I created this list for my friend to use at Halloween a few years ago when she dressed up as Meredith Grey. Many of these things still apply today. In homage to our favorite miserable doctor, check out her to-do list above.

A Note About Sesame Street and Old Spice

I was so thrilled to finally read the EW bullseye, where I discovered there is a video of Grover doing the "Man your man could smell like" commercial. So enjoyable. I also highly recommend the video that shows both versions (the Old Spice commerical and the Grover one) with switched audio. Isiah Mufasta sounds so funny with the Grover voice!

A Note About Celebrating Halloween Part 3: Buddy Sitcoms

FRIENDS
Season 8's "The One With the Halloween Party."
Arm wrestling, Ross dressed as "poop" and Phoebe falling in love with her sister's fiancee. The only Halloween episode, unless you count Rahel dressing up as a cheerleader to impress "Joshua" and Monica's work at the 50's diner.
Will and Grace
Season 1's "Boo Humbug."
Karen and Jack are left with kids and meet drag queens on Halloween. Honorable mention for season 5's "It's the Gay Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

How I Met your Mother
Season 1's "The Slutty Pumpkin"

Ted invokes Linus as he waits for the pumpkin he loves before and Barney coins the phrase "Space Suit Up!" Season 5's "Revenge of the Slap" had a quick Halloween scene where Barney is dressed as Borat.

See more sitcom Halloween memories here.

ADDENDUM: Last week's Halloween episode of COMMUNITY. A zombie infestation takes over the Halloween dance and everyone ends up dosed by the FBI so they don't remember.
I also loved the new Halloween-themed How I Met Your Mother. Something about the morning after "Halloween Parade" drove me to laughter tears over and over again.
And COUGARTOWN's "You Don't Know How it Feels" was part sappy sitcom and part Halloween greatness. It gets my stamp of approval for guest star Ken Jenkins (lovingly known as Dr. Kelso from SCRUBS) and my costume stamp of approval for Lori and Ellie dressing up as each other (and Travis dressing up as a badly-tanned Andy at the end). Grayson also dressed up as Prince, the artist formerly known as...

A Note About Celebrating Halloween Part 2: Teen Dramas

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Out of the 3 Halloween episodes (and Buffy vs. Dracula, which I consider in the same league), it was a tough choice to choose the best. An oldie but a goodie, I went with season 2's "Halloween ", where Giles's old buddy Ethan Rayne comes into town and casts a spell, turning most of the characters into their Halloween costumes. Princess Buffy and Army Commander Xander offer plenty of humor as they are completely clueless to the whole "demons are real" idea. Best line is from Willow's, "You couldn't have dressed up as Xena?" Honorable mention to season 4's "Fear, Itself" where a spooky frat party is haunted by a 6-inch tall demon that feeds on fear. "All the Way" in season 6 was also nice but so Dawn-centric.

VAMPIRE DIARIES
Season 1's Halloween episode (yes there was also a season 2 one but I haven't begun season 2 yet) was a great and solid start for the diaries. "Haunted" unleashed newborn vamp Vicki on the Mystic Falls Halloween party, where Nurse Elena ended up covered in blood and regret.

ANGEL
In a show all about a vampire, the first and only Halloween episode came in season 5's "Life of the Party." Empathic Lorne is sleep deprived and everything he says begins coming true at the Wolfram and Heart office Halloween party.

CHARMED
The most clear Halloween themed episode of Charmed came in season 3's "All Halliwell's Eve." The sisters (Elvira, Butterfly Princess and Glinda) get transported back to the 1700's where they have to use old school magic (apples and brooms) to protect the birth of their great grandmother and the first witch in their family's line. Leo dresses in his old WWII army uniform as well! Honorable mentions to two unofficial Halloween episodes, season 5's "Sympathy for the Demon" where fear demon Barbaras attacks the sisters fears, and season 8's ep where Billie fights crime dressed as a slutty superhero.

FELICITY
Season 1's "Spooked" picked up with Felicity getting close to Ben because they were robbed together. Then Ben gets distant -I know what a shocker. COSTUME highlights: Julie as Catwoman, Elena comes dressed as a SUBWAY employee, Felicity is the Bride of Frankenstein, and Ben shows up as a duchey stockbroker. Honorable mention to the "Twilight Zone" themed "Help for the Lovelorn" in season 2 and the episode where Meghan wants Sean to go to a fetish club. Best line: I think I just saw Ben making out with the pink power ranger." -and not referencing Amy Jo Johnson's Julie- the actual pink power ranger.

DAWSON'S CREEK
The one, and only, Halloween episode of DC came in season 6. So be default, "Living Dead Girl" wins. Dawson throws a Halloween party and thinks he sees the ghost of a dead girl.

A Note About Fall Music I Can't Stop Spinning: Animalism in Music

I've noticed an increasing about of songs coming out that really relate to animals. Not the fuzzy love and uicorn types, but the bear your teeth, run throuigh the wind, howl at the night version. Here are my top 4 animal themed songs.

4. Animal Song- Savage Garden
It's an oldie (from 1999's Affirmation), but a very spiritual song about the free spirit. Running through the jungle with the wind in your hair and the sun at your feet never sounded so good. The rythmic drumming in the background takes on a tribal nature AND sounds like footsteps.

3. Feral Love- Wakey! Wakey!
From their recent album (Everything I Wish I Said Since the Last Time I Saw You- great title!), is more than a standard "lamenting about a former love track". It's got a dark and twisted "my love was taken away from me in a hunting incident" feel. Wakey! Wakey! frontman Mike Grubbs was also a guest star on One Tree Hill last season playing the Tric bartender. They played some really great tracks from the band during the later part of last season.

2. Portions for Foxes- Rilo Kiley
I didn't discover this fabulous song (from the 2004 More Adventurous release) until about four years after it was played in the Grey's Anatomy pilot (When Meredith drives through Seattle to the hospital), but I fell in love with it. Nothing like a bad romance (yes I went there) to leave you as as portions for the foxes.

1. Animal- Neon Trees
I went through a recent weekend of hearing this song over and over, but having no idea about the artist, song title, or most of the exact lyrics were. Try doing a web search for "Take a Bite of My Heart Tonight" and see what I'm talking about. After a lot of searching I finally found this track (from the 2010 Habits release), which is getting some great radio play. I'm pretty sure their song was on some CW show recently.

A Note A'bout the GREEK

First of all, strange weather going on...

That being said, happy belated birthday to Katy Perry and happy wedding to her and Russel brand. In a twisted kind of celebration, I finally saw "Get Him to the Greek" tonight. Interesting movie, although we turned on the subtitles because RB was "pre'ty bloody 'ard to 'ear," but then again, so was Diddy. This is definitely not a family movie,(even if you are forty) and other than the overall idea that Mr. Snow (Brand) needed to get on stage at the Greek theater, it wandered all over the place. The promos definitely hyped it up to look like more...

A Note About Post #50!

There have bene 50 posts realized (actually written and published) since that April night I started.

Cheers!

A Note About Celebrating Halloween Part 1: 90's Family Sitcoms

In honor of Halloween, I'm doing my most (and probably only) Halloween-themed event this weekend. Here are my five top sitcom Halloween episodes of 90's sitcoms. Check back for the five best Halloween drama episodes.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch
(Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 - but not 7)

A show about a teenage with has tons of Halloween-themed episodes, which makes the selection tough. (While the WB-year episodes in the later season weren't always filled with the best of storylines, and Season 7 was again basically lost season, there is some great material). Season 2's "A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It" is the best, where Sabrina's first mortal Halloween party turns into a disaster, complete with possessed furniture and a river of candy corn. "Good Will Haunting" from season 3 is also a great episode, where another haunting happens at Sabrina's house, during a Halloween double-date (by a creepy possessed doll).

Boy Meets World
(1,2, 5, 7-only in theme)

Point of contention here because Season 5's "And Then There Was Shawn" is not actually a Halloween episode, it was done in February of season 5 on top of the the Halloween-themed "Witches of Pennbrook." but has always been discussed among my friends as the best Halloween sitcom episode. This is my choice, with its "Scream" "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "South Park References." During detention (and during the legendary Cory/Topanga breakup), Shaw, Cory, Topanga, Angela, and a guy named Kenny get sentenced to a horror of detention. Must see line: "We'll always remember he (Kenny) was that tall," where a pencil drilled a hole through Kenny's skull and into the wall and "It's against the Geneva Detention Convention." Jennifer Love Hewitt guest stars as Jennifer Love Fefferman (aka Feffy, who falls in love with Eric before death by library books. "Witches" gets an honorable mention for Jack dating a creepy witch girl (played by Candace Cameron (Bure) of Full House, and a guest appearance from Sabrina.

Home Improvement
(Halloween themed episodes in seasons 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8)

The Taylor clan was long known for elaborate holiday themed episodes including Tim's annual Christmas roof decorating and Halloween scare-offs. Season 3's "Crazy for You" is my favorite, where Jill takes a (successful) try at out-pranking her husband, the self-titled "King of Pranks." Tim believes he is being stalked at his Halloween party by an obsessed fan, Rose, who is actually Al dressed up like a woman. Jill recruits Al, Heidi, Wilson and others to pull off the elaborate prank. The Taylor boys also dress up as the Three Stooges, all as Moe. Great Jill quotes include "Death was a popular costume this year. Black is very slimming," and "The only costume that was left was this or Bob Vila." Honorable mention goes to season 7's "Night to Dismember," where Mark and a friend make a creepy film for school and worry his parents, playing the youngest of three sons on a killing spree.

Step By Step
(Halloween episodes season 4 and 7).

Season 4's "Something Wild" is one part Halloween and one part geek trying to be cool. Mark meets a punk girl (JJ Jenkins- the hottest girl in the 8th grade) that tries to turn him bad. He ends up leaving his family's party to throw eggs at a house (with a Mohawk). Cody also grows the world's largest pumpkin. Great Al line, "Great. Mr. Wizard is in heat." There's also a great scene where carol comments on her daughters' Halloween costumes, Karen the mermaid, and Dana the lady in a suit (she was dressed as Hillary Clinton). "Dream Lover" in season 7 (the lost season after it moved to CBS) was pretty lame. No honorable mention, just an acknowledgement.

Family Matters
(Halloween episodes seasons 2, 4, 6, 8, 9)

Now the season 8 "Steevil" episode gets a honorable mention for showing Laura cut up in the kitchen cabinets, but I'm picking the season 6 episode "Dark and Stormy Night" where Steve tells Little Ritchie a scary 1800's story about the Von Winslow Family. Check out Nana Winslow as Raggedy Anne and Eddie and Waldo as Siamese twins. Plus, Steve says "Didst I do that?"

A Note About Post-Teen Dramas

The more I watch OTH, the more I find myself thinking to the 2008 web/tv hybrid "Quarterlife." Like a much better and "real" version of My Generation (really??!!- that show only lasted three episodes?- shocker!- I was bored 45 minutes into the first of the one and a half episodes I watched.)

Back from that sideline, Quarterlife was one of those great shows about post-teen life that never got the potential to thrive. There was a scary sense of reality to that show that was so relate-able for me even though I was several years shy of the true quarterlife. AND it was created by the people who created Thirtysomething, which was in the 80s and was about people in a slightly older age bracket- but tackled the same themes and identity.

Now we don't all have those high and mighty One Tree Hill problems, like giving up a career in basketball or having your second kid at 24/25, trying to save your fashion empire, a parent that was sent to jail for corporate fraud, or recovering from a fatal shooting, but then again OTH has always taken the everyday problems and stretched them a little (Lucas's dad blackmailing him to move in because he has to lie to him mom about heart problems, Peyton dating Pete from Fall Out Boy, Uncle Keith getting shot by his brother, Brooke's parent moving out to Cali, starting Clothes over Bros- and really aside from Dan, Karen, and Deb, were anyone's parents really ever around)? But nonetheless, the issues deep down: love-sense of identity-family-friendships-and basketball, have always been relate-able.

Strangely, I've noticed the plots of Mouth and chase both being very real. Mouth losing his job and doing his sports podcast (like from treehillhoops.com back in high school), and Chase managing the bar and his relationships with Alex and Mia (it used to be an all ages club when Peyton started it). And Haley dealing with the death of her mom has also been real- for me- it got a little too real-(see the episode where she jumped in the pool- she was so out of character I thought she was being called Peyton!).

So the quarterlife crisis is alive and well . . .
And Thirtysomething was really the grandmother of all post-teen angsty drama (see example: Garden State)

A Note About Online Voting

I hate voting.

I hate blogger. Deleting two entries in the last ten minutes.

I hate voting for people's choice awards. There are too many nominees for nominations and too many categories.

A Note About Book or Movie

In my first installment of Book or Movie, I'm bringing up "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" and "Charlie St. Cloud."

But my post got deleted.. twice. So Basically I thought both books were worse than the movies.

PLAYLIST
The straight-edge wannabe punks from Nick and Norah were making my physically ill with their wanton sexual desire and indecisiveness. Where the hell did Caroline go? Norah is such an irresponsible friend. And the whole movie plot of trying to find the late night concert given by "Where's fluffy" was sadly lacking in the book's plot. In face, the book barely had a plot. Two kids like each other, pretend to date, and spend a whole night worrying if their hangups can get the best of them.

CLOUDY
The last five or so chapters of Charlie were unrealistic, dumb and way too in touch with one's inner sensitivity to be written by a dude. Sam the ghost shows up in adult form? He tries to use his wind-liness to help Charlie find Tess? Lord give me strength. And charlie became a paramedic and sat at Tess' hospital bedside for days and months. If I woke up form a near-death boating accident, I would want the weird dude to get out of my hospital room. Zac Efron made that movie have life.

A Note About Predictability and Games

Last night I played one of the most engaging tv-centered games I've seen in a long time. Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, I played Hawaii 5-0 Bingo. Filled with predictable and time-honored plot twists, I think I hit bingo about ten minutes into the show. Thanks CR for the great find!

Last night included these bingo scores:
1. Apple product placement
2. Book em danno
3. Grace Park undercover in a skimpy outfit
4. Scott Caan hates his demonic ex-wife
5. Morally ambiguous overweight Hawaiian fella
6. Scott Cann proclaiming love for his angelic daughter
7. Bad guys are part of terrorist cell - this is a pretty common plot twist
8. Daniel Dae Kim lurks in shadowy surveillance van
9. Alex O'Loughlin breaks police brutality laws
10. Alex and Scott flirt shamelessly

sadly there were no boat chases, helicopter rides, car crashes, or Danno saying "Back in Jersey." But surely, next week will cover those.

I really do love 5-0. But I have to ask, why is there no spot on the board for shameless chevy promotions?

A Note About Seeing the Footage on TV

This past Friday night, I saw the episode of Blue Bloods I watched being filmed! -Refer to my September 16th entry about seeing Blue Bloods filmed.

The episode was about an off-duty officer who is shot in a diamond heist. During her family's grief, the NYPD and the Reagan family's quick time frame to catch the criminals and bring them to justice. Commissioner Dad, officer Jamie, Detective Danny, prosecutor Erin, and even retired commissioner grandpa worked on the case.

Here is my horrible cell phone photo from the set.

A Note About Dancing with the Animals

First of all, I think theme nights on reality contest shows are completely overrated. Second of all, when they involve the theme songs of old tv shows, I am far more repulsed than nostalgic. There is a difference on American Idol (for example) of doing a theme "Songs from Musicals" rather than a narrow theme like "Songs from Jekyll and Hyde." Which, is beautiful music, but has no place on AI.

Back to Dancing's asinine theme of tv themes... While Bristol Palin is not the best dancer, and man, had she had her dirty laundry aired, she's been giving it a try. I personally favor Jennifer Grey (nobody puts baby in a corner), but I haven't been following all that religiously. Tonight, Bristol and her partner danced to the theme song to "The Monkees", and they wore monkey suits. Not only is that a cheap trick, but they looked ridiculously stupid.

And as expected, Florence Henderson, AKA Mrs. Brady, danced to "The Brady Bunch" theme song.

A Note About Why I Love Jimmy Fallon

While jonsesing for some new "Robert is Bothered" clips, I found a new jimmy Fallon video where he mocks the Bieb-ster. Love the dance moves and ignoring calls from Alan Greenspan.

A Love Note About Noah Puckerman

WHERE IS PUCK???

After last week's sweet rendition of "Only the Good Die Young," I was thankful Puck was given his due on Glee. But, false alarm, it may have been his swan song. Puck was sent to juve, as most juvenile delinquents are. This brings up the important question: What's happening to Noah
Puckerman. According to imdb.com, Mark Salling is listed for the 2010-2011 season of Glee.

I could not find any news about Salling leaving Glee, other than his second album just coming out (yay!).

On a related note, it was nice to see some of the lesser-sung Glee kids get a chance this week - Mike Chang, Santana, and Quinn - (hasn't sang a stand-along song since she auditioned for Glee club). Strangely, sue Sylvester was not in the episode at all.

A Note About Smelling the Subway

In recent weeks, I've noticed a spike in subway stations being show in TV. My fundamental position is that if you cannot smell the dinginess of the subway - the pee, the homeless people,- then you are not doing your due diligence to your pre-show research.


Blue Bloods- the second episode, which featured a gruesome string of subway murders, looked like a real subway. Ok, so they do actually film in New York, so they have that advantage. But the subway looked like a Subway. A dirty, urine-covered subway. Huzzah!

How I Met Your Mother- In the quintessential "New York" episode, I commend this show, which is not shot in New York (its outdoor streets are fake Hollywood sets) for its real-looking subway. When Lily deciphered the muffled subway conductor's voice, it was a true New York mement. And the subway did not look like it smelled like urine, but it had implications of being a real subway.

Nikita- The NY cat-and-mouse thriller had a subway scene in its second episode, a traditional shootout in the 34th street station. This station was real looking, but way too squeaky clean for Penn station, and it looked nothing like the real station. Props for the real wooden seats!

Covert Affairs- This was in D.C., but the pilot episode ended with another shootout in the subway. It had no implications of urine smell, a way-too-clean subway.

A Note About Why I Love iTunes

As of yesterday, iTunes is offering $0.69 downloads. Head to the music page and check them out.

Categories include 80's music, 90's music, rock, country, pop, alternative, one-hit-wonders, and classic songs.

A Note About Faith

In a GLEE episode directed the themes of religion and prayer, it was natural to expect songs such as "Losing My Religion" and "What If God was One of Us" (shout-out to the great show that was Joan of Arcadia). And of course there was the delightful version of Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young," sung by Puck (Mark Salling), who has been pretty quiet this season.

But in a crucial mistake, GLEE missed the most important song of all. Any guesses. Well, if the episode is all about faith, it might be a good idea to include a song by George Michael.

Any guesses now? No, not his delightful Wham! classics :Careless Whisper" or Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. Not the sweet songs of "Last Christmas." Not "Freedom" or "Father Figure," although you are guessing closer.

Drum roll please.......

FAITH. Remember Faith? The song was even redone by Limp Bizkit, and is one of the few Fred-Durst songs I can tolerate listening to today. And yes, the verses have little to do with someone being in the hospital, but the central message of the song is "I Gotta Have Faith." Kinda sings to the theme of the show, doesn't it?

A Note About I-Raining....

Again, I cannot believe I'm watching 90210. This epic episode has stolen cheesy plots from everything. and the dialogue?? appalling.

HERE IS THE WORST OF THE EPISODE:

NEWSFLASH: Teddy is gay.

OTH Boy Auction flashback: guys in fire uniforms dancing and being sold off to their classmates. Well, I think they wore basketball uniforms on One Tree hill, but close enough. They looked like they were posing for a 98 degrees poster circa 1999.

Liam has a half-black brother? Please no! No more fake half-siblings allowed.

Adrianna is still selfish? Nothing new here.

Fight in the school! Really? Saved By the Bell.

Teens selling their eggs for money cause mom is broke.

Creepy older women stalking high school boys.

The spread of the HIV.

At least the teacher is still somewhat hot..........