MagneticMediaFed

I’m trying to adjust to a new work schedule and so my daily television regiment has been thrown for a loop. (Eight to five? Have to wear a tie? What kind of madness is this?) And since I currently don’t own an actual set and have to wait for content to be loaded online I’ve been at least a day behind on everything. That being said, I wanted to make sure I hit a few points before the weekend:

• Gossip Girl — OMFG. There are cliffhangers, and then there are CLIFFHANGERS. In a way I’m surprised this wasn’t the season finale, but I’m also completely relieved. Since the strike-break, this show has gone from being more or less awesome to unquestionably fantastic.
• Reaper — Speaking of a post-strike resurgence, this show has completely solved its problem with being wildly inconsistent (and sadly predictable) in terms of storytelling and it doesn’t hurt that its also funnier than its ever been.
• Top Chef — Love Stephaine. Love Richard (which is odd since I used to hate Richard… though I still find his hair objectionable on every level. Love Andrew. Like Spike. Like Antonia. Dale? Well Dale is in a gotsa-go situation. I mean Jesus Christ man, RELAX!
• 30 Rock — The Jack in Washington plot line was perhaps the funniest thing that show has ever done. (The rest of the episode wasn’t so bad either.) “It’s not a leak, you can see the report.”

Diabolical!

I can’t think of a character on a major network television series initially established as being so sweet but ultimately being so evil. I’ve seen the opposite. HRG on Heroes comes to mind. But Jenny Humphrey’s free-fall from poor teenage decision-maker to ruthless seaword feels unprecedented, and puts a mainstream, mostly teenage audience in the position of not having black and white lines drawn for whom we should be rooting. While watching this week’s episode I think I switched allegiances three or four times before ultimately just siding with mutual-assured destruction — ethically dubious, perhaps, but way more fun.

I should also note that seeing this show, the first time since leaving New York, I was reminded of words I used to live by: Not going to Butter is way better than going to Butter.

Amen!

I suppose this is a post reminding everyone that Gossip Girl returns to The CW tonight for a string of new post-strike episodes beginning at the startlingly early time-slot of 8PM. Tonight we’ll presumably see: Dan and S get into some sort of fight that will be resolved in about 45 minutes; Jenny continue to fall down the social rabbit hole; Chuck do something manipulative; Nate act boring; Rufus act a little mid-life-crisis-y. I also predict someone will get a critical piece of information via text-message.

But that’s a lie, the real reason for this post is just so we can all gawk at the above advertisement one more time. I know we’re in a recession, but whoever designed that ad needs a serious bonus. The not-quite-as-cool video ads after the jump…

(more…)