The Entertainment Wrap Up - November 13, 2008 - My Favorite Friends Episodes, Lost Premiere News, Smallville, Survivor, Storm Chasers, CMA's, & More

Lost fans!! We finally know of a premiere date for season five!! So excited. Season five will premiere on Wednesday, January 21st on ABC with three hours of viewing. A clip show will take up the first hour followed by two episodes taking up the last two hours. No word yet on whether the 17 episodes will air straight through with no weeks off like last season. I am loving that they picked Wednesdays to air it on cause I have nothing to watch on Wednesdays.

Not a father’s day was a funny idea on this week’s How I Met Your Mother. The idea was Barney’s to create a holiday for guys who don’t want to be fathers and enjoy being single. That tied to the rest of the episode though with Lily and Marshall trying to decide whether they were ready to have a baby. Lily decided to let Ted and Robin be the ones to debate it since they had differing opinions on kids. Robin was against kids while Ted was for it. Even with her fear of kids, Robin started to soften on the concept of kids at the end of the episode. Marshall and Lily’s decision was made up when a very intoxicated Lily showed up at Marshall’s job during a presentation leaving him to have to balance the job and having to treat Lily like a kid cause she was so out of it. The answer to the kid question for now is no. I could see that changing in the future though.

I’ve converted several friends into Big Bang Theory fans and I’m thrilled about it. It is such a funny show!! I’ve said this over and over but I laugh at it more than any other show on TV right now. The war between Sheldon and Penny on this week’s Big Bang Theory was a great one. She was able to overcome Sheldon’s three strike rule against her and able to use a higher power to her advantage, Sheldon’s mother. Funny stuff.

Moving on to tonight’s Smallville. I really liked tonight’s episode but found it to be sad as well. Chloe continued to lose her mental war with Brainiac as her memories continued to be erased. She eventually forgot who everyone was except for Davis. Clark had the fortress return talking to Jor-El to help Chloe. What was Clark’s request to Jor-El? He asked Jor-El to return all of her memories except for the memories of her knowing Clark’s secret. He saw the responsibility and pressure that it put on her to protect his secret and he wanted her to live a normal life. Chloe returned to her normal self but without the memories of Clark and his secret. All I could think was how sad. I always liked that they had that bond and that it made them closer. It’s just sad to me that she won’t know it anymore. I do wonder if Chloe may get the memories of Clark back in the future. I’m trying to figure out where they might go with that story. However, Davis declared his feelings to Chloe including laying a kiss on her as he was convinced it was right after the fact that Chloe could only remember him at the end and didn’t even remember Jimmy. Add into this that it looks like Brainiac took over the fortress and the symbol of Doom appeared on the floor. The scenes from next week have the wedding taking place and, from what I could tell, a very real appearance of Doomsday. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the show has in store for us with the Chloe/Jimmy wedding. It also marks the return of Kristin Kreuk to Smallville as Lana will be in the episode as well.

Don’t mess with Naomi. That was the theme of this week’s 90210. She was looking to get even for catching Annie kissing Ethan. So, here is her checklist. Set up Annie’s birthday party. Check. Call, invite, and fly Annie’s ex-boyfriend out to Beverly Hills for the party. Check. Invite them out to dinner with the rest of the group to make them extremely uncomfortable. Check. Get Annie and Ethan to argue about it to separate them. Check. Make out with Annie’s ex after Ethan and Annie work things out. Check. Ruin Annie’s 16th birthday party. Check. Nice twist at the end with their brother arriving on the scene. Also in the episode, Ryan’s name was cleared when Kimberly was able to catch the drug dealer and had him arrested. Even with his name cleared, he still left town for the time being due to how much his reputation got destroyed over not actually doing anything wrong. Ryan is going to be a hot topic on next week’s show based on the previews showing Kelly and Brenda discussing him.

Tonight’s Survivor saw the merge finally happen. The reward challenge had the tribes brought together for the first time since Marcus was voted out which brought a wide range of big reactions. Fang was able to win the very cool slingshot golf challenge despite arguing between Randy and Matty over how to approach the last easy shot. They sent Bob to exile island and he was able to easily find all the clues but struggled on the last one. That was because the hidden immunity idol wasn’t there. Interesting strategy by Bob in deciding to make himself his own idol to try and fool the others. The immunity challenge had the announcement of the tribes merging into one. The challenge was a fire making one with the winner building one high enough to break the string. Susie was the first to get fire followed by Sugar. The battle was between them as no one else even got a fire started. Susie was able to win and take immunity. This set up a battle between the groups on who could get power. Randy was targeting Crystal as he has not held back in his feelings about her which carried over into tribal council later on. There were two groups of four trying to accomplish what they wanted with Sugar being the vote in between them. Both sides worked her and she wasn’t trusting anyone. Ken decided to try and get Charlie voted out due to him being mad about last week when Charlie stopped him from keeping the other hidden immunity idol a secret. Charlie was floored as was his group when his name started popping up on votes at tribal council. It came down to a 4-4 split with Crystal and Charlie while Sugar was the deciding vote. She voted Charlie and he was voted out of the game. Good episode overall tonight.

Nick and Starr continue to lead the way on The Amazing Race. I have been pulling for them as they are a very strong team. Plus, I’m probably pulled in for cheering for them cause I think Starr is cute. Ha ha. Confusion, paint wars, and major traffic jams were the issues on this week’s episode. The Holi Festival was the site of the first task for the teams to go through. Nick and Starr were the first to arrive and Starr got through it pretty easily. Very little paint on her but I can’t say the same for Nick who got blasted with it by the locals even though he wasn’t participating in it. The other teams made up for what Starr didn’t get including the other team members that didn’t actually take part in it. Kelly had a horrible time with it basically because of her going back and forth. You were able to look for the right envelope to bring back while Kelly was just grabbing a random one to bring back and see if it was right. She was covered in paint with how many times that she went back and forth. They arrived there in second place but left in last place especially after the fact that they couldn’t get a taxi due to how bad that they looked because of the paint. Yeah, Christy got the paint too. Most of the other team members got paint thrown at them as well. Nick and Starr reluctantly worked together with Toni and Dallas in the number finding task. Both of them were able to complete the task fairly easy. They battled to the pit stop fighting a major traffic jam. Nick and Starr finish first while Toni and Dallas finish second. Ken and Tina face their speed bump task and are able to get right back in the mix of it as Kelly & Christy and Dan & Andrew struggle to find the numbers. The problem? They were looking at the wrong ones. Dan and Andrew ask Kelly and Christy if they wanted to work together since both of them were having trouble. Kelly and Christy turned them down. Ken and Tina were able to finish and point out to Dan and Andrew that they are looking at the wrong numbers. Kelly and Christy finally figure it out on their own. Terence and Sarah are on a different task and were the only ones to choose the other task. They end up finishing third. Ken and Tina finish up in fourth. Andrew and Dan finish the task with Kelly and Christy not far behind. Andrew and Dan make it to the pit stop in fifth place with Kelly and Christy in last while also being eliminated from the race. Fun episode. Once again, here are the results at this pit stop. 1st – Nick and Starr. 2nd – Toni and Dallas. 3rd – Terence and Sarah. 4th – Ken and Tina. 5th – Andrew and Dan. 6th and eliminated – Kelly and Christy.

Reports today are saying that NBC has canceled two shows, Lipstick Jungle and My Own Worst Enemy. Lipstick Jungle was in its second season and has struggled in ratings this year. The show was recently moved to Friday nights which is never good. Friday is a bad night to try and draw viewers. My Own Worst Enemy is the new Christian Slater show that aired Monday nights at 9pm central time. Interesting to note that this is the second year in a row that the show airing Monday nights at 9pm has been canceled. Journeyman aired in that time slot last year and was canceled. Anybody for saying that it might not be the shows but the time slot? I'm still annoyed that a show with as much potential as Journeyman got canceled.

It appears that Fox has canceled Mad TV. I'm surprised to see that it was in its 14th season. I knew it had been on for a long time but had no clue that it was 14 seasons.

The CMA Awards were on Wednesday night. I watched very little of it but changed over every so often to see what was going on. I was trying to get caught up on my other TV viewing from the week. Here is a list of some of the big winners:
Entertainer of the Year - Kenny Chesney
Male Vocalist of the Year - Brad Paisley
Female Vocalist of the Year - Carrie Underwood
Album of the Year - George Strait - Troubadour
Single of the Year - George Strait – “I Saw God Today”
New Artist - Lady Antebellum
Vocal Group - Rascal Flatts
Music Video - "Waitin' On A Woman” - Brad Paisley with Andy Griffith
Song - "Stay" - Jennifer Nettles
Vocal Duo - Sugarland

This week's Storm Chasers showed how dangerous storm chasing can be at times. Basically, it showed what can happen if the storm starts chasing the chasers. The chasers headed over to Arkansas which is not normal terrain for the DOW crew cause of how hard it is to chase due to all the hills and trees. It limits them on their visibility. Reed and the TVN crew were familiar with Arkansas having chased there many times so it was mostly a normal day for them. Add in all those land factors and add in chasing at night and it posed for a very dangerous night. The DOW crew were in the middle of the storm and ended up having to run from a F3 tornado moving at around 55 mph that was on the ground right behind them. They could not completely get away from this fast moving storm with some of the crew getting caught in the middle of it including the medic and also the TIV. The TIV crew provided some incredible footage of them being stuck in this tornado as they set the clamps down on the side of the road to give them protection. It should be noted that this was the original TIV as TIV 2 had more mechanical problems putting it out of action for a while. The original TIV can only handle around 140 mph winds unlike TIV 2 which is built to withstand stronger winds. Reed and the TVN crew were doing the opposite of the DOW crew. While the DOW crew was getting away as fast as they could, the TVN crew was on the opposite side of it trying to chase it down. The combination of the speed of the storm and the lack of easier road access to chase it had it getting away from them. The DOW did get some computer data out of the storm but the most important thing was that the crew was ok. The tornado did a lot of damage to the area which is always incredibly sad to see. The footage of the baseball size hail was just amazing to see as the DOW team was getting pounded by it. Wow. If you want to see an intense episode, watch the replay of this episode when it airs. Incredible. The previews for this Sunday's episode show some intense storm chasing as well. I am so completely hooked on this show.

So, Sylar was basically created to be this monster. That was what this week’s Heroes basically showed. The episode took us back in time to find out what led up to the current events. Elle worked with HRG to learn more about Sylar or Gabriel at that time of course. The events surrounding Arthur were bizarre as well. I’m also thinking that Arthur meeting up with Hiro
isn’t going to be good for any of them.

Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. Madagascar Escape 2 Africa - $63.1 million. 2. Role Models - $19.1 million. 3. High School Musical 3 - $9.1 million. 4. Changeling - $7.2 million. 5. Zack and Miri - $6.2 million. 6. Soul Men - $5.4 million. 7. Saw V - $4 million. 8. The Haunting of Molly Hartley - $3.3 million. 9. The Secret Life Of Bees - $3 million. 10. Eagle Eye - $2.5 million.

I was wandering around on Hulu over the weekend and decided to watch the Treehouse Of Horrors episode of The Simpsons. First time that I’ve watched The Simpsons in a long time. I love the show but just never take the time to watch it for some reason. I laughed quite a bit at this episode. The spoofs were great stuff. Of course, I loved the Transformers stuff that opened the episode. My other favorite thing was the spoof on It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. If you didn’t see the episode, definitely head over to Hulu and watch it while it is still available.

30 Rock has been doing well upon its return this season. I have to think that Tina Fey on SNL as Sarah Palin has a lot to do with it. People are checking out 30 Rock as it did its highest ratings ever for its season premiere. Surely, tonight’s show will do good ratings as well with Jennifer Aniston’s return to TV in her guest starring role in the episode.

Something that I was hoping to do every so often was ranking my favorite episodes of some of my favorite shows. I thought it would be fun to do and look back on various shows. I figured that I would start with Friends but I also have Seinfeld in the works for the future. There are so many episodes that I love that it is hard to pick out ten. So, here we go.
My top ten favorite episodes of Friends.
1. The One With The Embryos. Yeah, I think this will have to go at the top of my list. I have actually watched this episode again lately. There are so many great quotes that come out of this episode. The episode is named after the story with Phoebe in this episode but, for me, this episode is all about the bet. Ross hosts a trivia contest between Joey/Chander and Rachel/Monica seeing who knows who better with the girls’ apartment on the line against the guys’ birds. I still laugh hard at this episode.

2. The One With The Football. The football game that took place all while waiting for Thanksgiving dinner. The gang ends up playing football when Ross and Monica’s competitive football spirit returns. The results end up with Ross and Monica getting ugly, Rachel going long, the boys trying to impress a woman, and Phoebe just having fun.

3. The One With The Prom Video. This episode provided one of the most famous scenes in the history of the show. I’m a big hopeless romantic so I loved the prom video stuff. Monica and Rachel find their prom video which consists of Rachel getting stood up while Ross comes to the rescue to take her to the prom. As Ross is ready to swoop in to the rescue, Rachel’s date shows up. Through watching the video, Rachel sees what Ross was going to do for her and it results in the kiss. Classic Friends moment. This episode is also famous for the “how many cameras are on you?” line from Chandler. Ha ha.

4. The One With The Blackout. I love this episode!! A city wide blackout results in different happenings. Rachel falls for an Italian guy after finding his cat roaming around in the dark. The two hit it off just in time for the lights to come back on to the shock of Ross. The other great stuff of the episode is Chandler being stuck in the automated bank vestibule with a well known model. His muttering of what is going on to Monica who can’t understand and then Joey who can understand is great stuff!! Hearing Chandler’s thoughts in his head on how he is messing this up provides for great comedy.

5. The One With Ross’s Wedding. I Ross take thee Rachel, I mean Emily. Ross and Emily’s wedding is set to take place in London. Rachel stays home to take care of the pregnant Phoebe after realizing that it would be awkward for her to be at the wedding. The result has fans all happy seeing Rachel leaving the apartment on her way to the airport. Rachel’s appearance at the wedding makes it go in a very different direction when Ross says the words “take thee Rachel” instead of Emily. This sends shockwaves including even back to New York where Phoebe is listening via phone. Plenty of funny stuff in this episode including Chandler and Joey sight seeing.

6. The One Where No One Is Ready. Ross is giving a speech at a fundraiser and the whole episode revolves around the rest of the gang getting ready for it. Chandler and Joey battle it out through the whole episode which revolves around fighting over a chair and wearing a ton of clothes. Rachel finally reaches her breaking point and decides not to go after being yelled at by Ross. Loved that moment with her just walking out of the room in everyday clothes making her statement.

7. The One Where Rachel Has A Baby. Rachel’s water breaks and it is off to the hospital for the delivery. However, things don’t happen fast as Rachel watches multiple moms go into labor while she waits, waits, and waits. The funniest part is the one woman who wanders into the room for about five seconds only to go right into labor. Chandler and Monica continue to try and sneak off hoping to try for their own baby. The episode left with the cliffhanger of Joey holding the ring up to Rachel.

8. The One With All The Poker. This is a fun episode. The guys and girls play poker. The girls are learning and get tips from a poker pro to try to get better. The game comes down to a showdown between Ross and Rachel. Rachel who is down on her luck ends up with the win after Ross lets her win wanting to see her have some happiness.

9. The One With The Halloween Party. Halloween consists of a party at Chandler and Monica’s. Phoebe meets the guy dating her twin sister. Rachel ends up being a pushover while handling the trick or treaters at the door. The episode highlight is a showdown between Ross and Chandler in arm wrestling. Neither of them can move the other one. Funniest line of the episode is Monica giving her explanation on Chandler getting the bunny costume saying it was either this “or no bunny at all”. Chandler responds with “no bunny at all. Always no bunny at all”.

10. The One Where They All Turn 30. This was a funny episode that saw Rachel turn 30 while the rest of the gang flashes back to their 30th birthday. Rachel is of course depressed while everyone tries to tip toe around her. One of the funnier parts is Chandler giving a very sensitive Rachel a joke card and Monica yelling at him saying that was why she does the greeting card stuff.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, November 18th. Bones (Season Three), Burke’s Law (Season One – Volume Two), Charmed (Full Series), Doctor Who (Season Four), Hannah Montana (Season One), Hawaii Five-O (Season Five), McHale’s Navy (Season Four), The Odd Couple (Season Five), SpongeBob SquarePants (Season Five – Volume Two), Star Trek (Season Three).

TV Lines Of The Week:
From The Big Bang Theory:
The guys watching America’s Next Top Model with Penny.
Wolowitz: “Oh look, there is the future Mrs. Wolowitz. Wait, that’s the future Mrs. Wolowitz with her head in the lap of, well what a coincidence, it’s the future Mrs. Wolowitz.”
Leonard: “Yeah and they can all move in with you and your mother. The current Mrs. Wolowitz.”

From Storm Chasers:
“We basically just drove eight hours to take a thirty second beatdown and run away with our tail between our legs.” – Danny from the Scout team after the DOW team had to retreat from a storm due to baseball size hail.

You Tube Video Of The Week: What if you could say that you beat Michael Jordan one on one at his own camp? This guy can say it. Funny cameo by Damon Wayans at the end as well. This is a fun clip.

Hope all of you have a great weekend!! Take care and God bless!!