Everything's Coming Up.... Seacrest?

GIF from ImageFlip. 

     In my wildest dreams, I would not have picked the overly obvious choice of Ryan Seacrest for my Live with Kelly! fantasy draft. But I'm also not the one hosting a live morning show. I did attend The Rachel Ray Show this Winter, so I have a slight bit of talk show audience street cred. I generally am not a fan of the 'Crest. He is just over-saturated and overconfident.  At one point in his career (recently), he was hosting American Idol, weekly and daily radio programs, and the majority of the E! reality programming slate. How does he keep up with the rapidly procreating Kardashians? This is Steve Harvey level of too many hands in the entertainment cookie jar. Something about him also reminds me of a dentist because of his overly perfect teeth. I think the teeth is what takes me into these 'meh' feelings. If I could replace him with any host options, I would choose Joel McHale (sworn Seacrest mocker), who is in danger of losing his current gig, known as CBS's The Great Indoors.

GIF from Fiphy

My Fantasy Draft:

1. Fred Savage        
      - See blog post here. I wanted him to get a win since The Grinder got cancelled.
2. Neil Patrick Harris                  
     -(Emmys, Tonys, etc... is there anything the man can't do?  He was born to host things and he looks good in a suit.
3. Mark Consuelos     - As Ripa's husband, he does banter night and day, but would the couple run out of things to chat about?

Vampires, Babies, and Another Day in Mystic Falls, V.A.

     I am hopelessly behind on The Vampire Diaries. Truth be told, I was over a season behind a few times for the first 4 seasons. We're only talking about 5-6 episodes now, which really isn't too bad. First, I  have to back up to comment on the end of last season. It's fine with me that the lead character Elena (Nina Dovarev) the very girl who kept the vampire diary, decided to leave. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it except that she is the main conflict of the show. Through each of the seasons, it has always come back to Elena. We need to protect her, we need to save her from herself, we need her to choose who she loves more... They have managed to move the season 7 story along dealing with the with the Salvatore brothers' family issues while also jumping forward three years so we have no clue what's going on.

Photo from "I Just Hate Everything" website*

     Where we left off. Elena died under magical circumstances  (like everyone else on the show) and she can't come back to vampire life until her witchy human friend Bonnie (Kat Graham) dies. Of course Elena wasn't the only one who died at that season finale wedding. Her pseudo father Ric (he dated Elena's aunt and he was married to her birth mom) lost the bride, his wife Jo, that same night. She was killed while pregnant with twins, and somehow their witch baby twins were placed in Caroline's womb. I learned a few weeks ago that Candice Accola (Caroline) is pregnant and gave birth in January.  Suddenly this plot twist gave the gang a new person to protect! Let's be clear, Caroline is way more of a badass than the whiny, needy Elena will ever be, so she won't be a victim for long. The real issue I'm facing is how Stefan could be so in love with Elena for years (they had multiple doppelgangers and Stefan was in lover with doppelganger ancestor Katherine since the civil war) and then he just jumped in bed with her BEST FRIEND. It's a little more nuanced than that, (he saved Caroline from her dark side after her mom died. Plus Elena went through a dark phase and chose Stefan's brother over him because she was going through something (a case of bad boy-itis). But in the simplest terms, Stefan basically put his life-altering love affair aside.

     Why did I tag this post as frustrated? I started watching episode 713 a few weeks ago and my on demand freaked out and wouldn't playback the episode. I tried again to bring it up and it didn't last. Finally I went back this week to catch up on episodes and I couldn't find 713 anywhere. This is crucially important because this is the episode where Caroline must give birth to the witch baby twins that are siphoning her magic. (Spoiler from the flash forward scene, the twins turn out fine!) My cable company On demand, Hulu and the CW website/app were all missing this episode. They had combinations of episodes 712, 714, 715, 716 but the vampire baby birth episode was oddly missing. I finally located it on Amazon and paid $1.99 to download and view the episode because jumping into 714 left me puzzled after a minute. Why were they getting the spun-off villainous Originals re-involved in their story. Why is  Cranky the vampire slayer  (new hunter Rayna) chasing Stefan Salvatore on a motorcycle? We will have so see how this unfolds now, but it's finally clear how Caroline ends up with Ric in the jump-ahead future. Once you have someone's baby for their dead wife, an unspeakable bond forms that just has to lead to love!

*For the record ANGEL only went into season 3 until it brought us a vampire pregnancy. #Darla

Poor Meredith Grey

     As the leading lady of Grey's Anatomy, Meredith Grey has been through a lot of terrible situations. When we first met the grumpy, friendless, brilliant, makes-bad-decisions while drunk surgeon in 2005, she was simply trying to get her Alzheimer's afflicted mother to sign over power of attorney. Compared to that piece of cake, Meredith has faced a significantly greater  hardship. On Thursday's episode, she got beat up by a patient that was in a fugue state from sedation. Mer had broken bones, a broken jaw, and hearing loss, among other problems (Season 12, Episode 9). She was watched over and cared for by her dear friend Alex, and at this point I think he should just be her new husband. They both have some pretty serious relationship issues and understand each other on a deep level. (Plus, in a weird alternate flash forward, Meredith was engaged to Alex, so I could see it working).  Here are Meredith's 35 greatest hits and struggles that led her to this moment:

1. Meredith gets caught caught having car sex with her boss's boss. (Season 1, Episode 5)
2. Meredith finds out her boyfriend's ex-wife is back in the picture. (Season 1, Episode 9)
3. Everyone at the hospital find out Meredith's mom has Alzheimer's. (Season 2, Episode 3)
4. Her one-night stand ends up in the E.R. with a sex injury. (Season 2, Episode 10)
5. Meredith has to hold a live bomb in a patient during surgery. (Season 2, Episode 16)
6. She has sex with her roommate George and feel terrible about it. (Season 2, Episode 19)
7. McDog is put down and Meredith must choose McDreamy or McVet. (Season 2, Episode 27)
8. Meredith's half-sister is admitted to the hospital. Family drama! (Season 3, Episode 10)
9. Meredith drowns and almost dies while rescuing ferry boat accident victims and her mom dies (Season 3, Episode 17)
10. Meredith gets a group of residents and meets another of her half-sisters, Lexie. (Season 4, Episode 1)
11. Mer and McDreamy's clinical trial succeeds, they get back together, and she makes breakthroughs in therapy. (Season 4, Episode 17)
12. Mer and McDreamy cancel their dream wedding to let Alex and dying Izzie (not really) get married. They sign a post-it note and call themselves wedded. (Season 5, Episode 22)
13. George gets hit by a car and dies. (Season 6, Episode 1)
14. Meredith's  no-good father comes into the hospital needing a liver transplant and she is the only match. (Season 6, Episode 4)
15. Meredith watches Derek get shot at the hospital and loses her baby. (Season 6, Episode 24)
16. Meredith discovers fertility problems, gets on Derek's Alzheimer's clinical trial, and her dad comes into the hospital again with a girlfriend younger than her. (Season 7, Episodes 14-16)
17. McDreamy and Mer adopt African orphan, Zola. (Season 8)
18. Alex and Meredith are in an ambulance saving a newborn baby when they get into an accident. (Season 8, Episodes 9-10)
19. Mer, McDreamy and most of the gang are in a plane crash. (Season 8, Episode 24)
20. Everyone is messed up (Derek, Arizona, Meredith, Cristina) or dead (Lexie, Mark) from the plane crash, but they get offered a lot of money from the hospital and end up becoming the new board of directors. (Season 9, Episode 3, 11, 15, 16)
21. Meredith finds out she is pregnant. (Season 9, Episode 9)
22. Meredith has to get back on a plane. (Season 9, Episode 17)
23. Meredith gives birth to Bailey in the middle of a blackout. (Season 9 Episode 24)
24. A 3-D printer becomes available for Meredith's clinical trial to make fake organs. (Season 10, Episode 8)
25. McDreamy takes a job in D.C. advising the president, and Meredith is not consulted. (Season 10, Episode 18)
26. Meredith says goodbye to bestie Cristina and discovers another half-sister (Maggie) that is working at the hospital. (Season 10, Episode 24)
27. McDreamy agrees to quit his new brain mapping job and come home to Meredith, and she convinces him they can make it work. (Season 11, Episode 1)
28. Meredith has flashbacks to her mother giving birth to Maggie and attempting to kill herself during the same time, which makes it pretty difficult for Meredith to let this go. (Season 11)
29. Meredith goes to visit McDreamy in D.C.  and chickens out. (Season 11, Episode 12)
30. Meredith calls McDreamy after an earthquake and some woman answers his phone. (Season 11, Episode 15).
31. Meredith and McDreamy patch things up. (Season 11, Episode 17)
32. Meredith freaks out after a plane crash in town and she can't confirm McDreamy made it back to D.C. for his final meeting to resign his job. (Season 11, Episode 20)
33. McDreamy dies...... and Meredith is relatively emotionally solid. (Season 11, Episode 21)
34. Meredith falls apart, disappearing for a year, having a baby, and avoiding contact with all of her friends. Alex finally lures her home and gives her back the deed to her house, which he bought back when she moved in with McDreamy. (Season 11, Episodes 22, 23)
35. Meredith is named Chief of General Surgery. (Season 12, Episode 2)

It's Jess Again!!!

I am so excited New Girl is back!

     I'm not sure what to make of season 5 so far. As we left off season 4, Jess's roommate Schmidt and her best friend CeCe proclaimed their love for each other (after dating multiple people and Schmidt rescuing CeCe from her arranged wedding in the season 2 finale). The first episode of season 4 was a great montage of the gang attending 10+ weddings and the season closed with Jess hanging a save the date for Cece and Schmidt on top of all of the other wedding invitations om the fridge. Suffering from a bit of my own wedding fridge fatigue, I loved the idea.

     We are now in CeCe and Schmidt's engagement and Jess, as maid of honor, unites the gang to throw an engagement party. she arranges for Cece's mom to fly in from India, not realizing that Big Mama P does not know that Cece has gotten engaged again, and to a white, Jewish Metro-sexual at that.  Jess's longtime ex and Best Man Nick, agrees to pick up Cece's mom and in typical new girl catastrophe, brings the wrong woman to the party. Jess, recovering from a broken leg and arm (perhaps a way to disguise her real-life post-pregnancy body?) tries to win over the crowd with Schmidt appearing with a Bollywood dance group, but Cece's mom does not give her blessing for the union.

     Determined to work with a small budget, we take a pause on the wedding planning to catch up on everyone else's lives. Nick and Schmidt now co-own the bar and Nick struggles to be taken seriously as a boss. Jess tries dating a boring guy because he has great parents, roping Winston into the scheme. By the end of the episode, Winston fakes a police stop to distract Jess's date while his parents Flip and Nancy try to convince Jess to marry their very boring son. Jess gets chosen for Jury duty just as she has the option to become acting Principal of her school. Cece and Nick try to work out their differences to make Schmidt happy, and Winston goes back to hanging out with his cat.

     I'm not sure if this season is a bit of a letdown with the departure of Coach, or if I'm just confused by all of the random stories and jumping around. With such a strong first episode, I was a little confused by the next episode, although I loved guest stars Henry Winkler and Julie Hagerty as boring Fred's (SNL's Taran Killam) parents. Maybe some plot lines on the show just getting a little too real? Only time will tell as we prepare for a nearly interrupted season!

Dallas, Re-imagined...Blood and Oil Do Not Mix

     I am very interested in ABC's new Sunday night soap, Blood and Oil.  Welcome to Rock Springs, Montana, a land of opportunity for some, and a land of drunken disappointment for others. I am excited to see Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford back on my TV every week.

    The first episode clearly showcased greed and its control on society. This is America baby, we're off  to the modern-day frontier- a town with the very rich, the warring Indian tribes, lots of land for sale, one hotel and bar (The Tackroom), and a clear need for a coin operated laundromat. As Crawford's Billy LeFever and his wife, Cody (Rebecca Rittenhouse) will soon learn, their dream of striking it rich as laundromat owners is not a guarantee for success. The couple are shown kindness after their car crashes and washing machines are damaged by the town's bar owner/real estate agent Jules (India de Beaufort, a notable guest star of One Tree Hill as a record executive), and a Nigerian couple (Kess and Ada) that hope to open a restaurant.

     The couple manages to buy a parcel of land from the town's old timer Clifton (Barry Corbin, a beloved basketball coach from One Tree Hill), and end up starting a friendly war with oil magnate Hap Briggs (Don Johnson). Hap comes with a lot of family baggage, including his screw-up son Wick (Scott Michael Foster of GREEK), and in episode two, we meet his business-minded daughter Lacey (Miranda Mae Rayo of Chicago Fire), both grown children from different mothers. Lacey continues to get involved with her father's driver, A.J., (Adan Canto) who has a secret to hide. Amber Valletta (Revenge and actually a real life model) rounds out the Briggs family as Carla, Hap's second wife and a former model turned shrewd businesswoman, who will do anything to protect herself and Hap's name. While Jules is happily seeing Wick, she reveals a past affair with an older man in town, who is Wick's father, Hap.  "EWWWW!"  as Jimmy Fallon says.

     What will happen once we see blood? Will Billy and wick learn to get along? Will Billy and Cody still like each other in a few weeks? Where is all of the untapped the oil located? Will Hap figure out about his son's attempts to rob him and start a fire at his oil rig? Stay tuned to see...

It's Time to Get Hulu: Where Else Can I See Mindy???

     Fox has sold The Mindy Project down the river, cancelling it bet keeping Brooklyn 99 and all of the guy-dominated animated show. Go figure about that choice. But have no fear, Hulu is now premiering the new season of  Mindy Kaling's show this week!

When we left, Mindy was pregnant and alone at friend Peter's wedding in Texas and her boyfriend Danny  jumped on a plane. Would they finally work out their problems once and for all? Not likely, as it looks like Danny has flown to India to see Mindy's parents. Other unanswered questions include:

• What will Mindy name her baby? 
• Who will replace Peter at Schumann and associates?
• Will the practice finally settle their grudge with the doula brothers?
• And will morgan ever do anythign right, like get back together with "cooler than thou" nurse Tamera?

Stay tuned!

A Note About The Future of Seattle Grace

Once again, I have to say I love this season of Greys Anatomy. It clicks. It's like looking back in time to earlier seasons. From Meredith's sudden need to get pregnant to Cristina's hard road away (and finally back) from being a doctor, it works.

From the moment last night's episode started, I knew Callie was going to be pregnant. With Mark's baby. I announced it at 9:01 P.M. At the end of the episode, she announced it her ex-girlfriend Arizona.

So now I predict this: Alex Karev will be chief resident.
It's been so Meredith/Cristina/April-type focused, I see Alex coming up on top!