The Great Baby Debate

Hi folks! KT here again.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER:  4.07  “Not a Father’s Day”

Okay, all together now:  Awwwwww!

First, I want to offer my prediction on the Aldrin-Erikson baby situation.  Yes, the prospective parents have apparently decided that now is not the right time.  But this episode also warmed up those who needed warming up to the idea of having a baby around – all through the amazing powers of The Sock.  And given other recent news, I think Lily and Marshall are either going to change their minds or discover that Lily has gotten pregnant despite their plans.

This episode really did so much right.  I mean, I had to pause it in the first five minutes because I was laughing so hard, and that’s always a good sign.  Opening with a Star Wars reference is good.  “The cheerleader effect” is good.  Cross-dressing Jason Segal is really good.  Lily and Marshall commenting on the good looks of cross-dressing Jason Segal is comedy gold.  And this on the heels of “You hated me?” “A lot.”  “Awww!”  High five, writers!

I also liked that they brought up the baby issue through Barney instead of being brought up solely by Marshall and Lily.  The rest of Barney’s “Not-a-Father’s Day” subplot was standard Barney material, but it was solid and filled with some great moments: dancing through the streets, asking God to “hang on, bro,” Jason Segal showing up again as part of the second cheerleader effect.

There must be an unwritten rule (or perhaps a written one for all I know) saying that sitcoms require their characters to do ridiculously embarrassing things.  This is probably my least favorite aspect of The Sitcom – I’m all about the clever or witty or wordplay kinds of funny.  Physical comedy can be great, don’t get me wrong, but when it makes me embarrassed for the character, I just start to cringe.  This was Drunk Lily for me this week.  I see the comedy and the Lily-as-baby juxtaposition, but it wasn’t my favorite part of the story.  I just hope there won’t be repercussions for Marshall at work down the line.

I did like the lead-up to Drunk Lily, though:  her asking Ted and Robin to lay out the pros and cons fit all the characters perfectly.  The montage of Ted-as-a-Dad was an interesting contrast from some of the Immature Idiot Ted things we’ve seen in the past year or so – perhaps even a bit of a return to how Ted was portrayed early on.  Either way, the phrase “super corny dad jokes” was awesome.  I know so many dads (great dads! – don’t get me wrong) who have a personal arsenal of them.  (My mother has even quipped that my dad wanted kids so that he’d have someone to laugh at his jokes.  True story.)

I was happy to see the writers deal with Robin’s situation – again fitting it perfectly into the larger story while moving Robin’s personal story forward as well.  The contrast between Depressed Unemployed Robin and Depressed Unemployed Marshall of earlier this season amuses me – more or less the same situation, but the writers know their characters well enough to come up with distinct ways of coping.  Beer and ice cream and shooting cans on the roof:  yup, that’s our Robin.  And of course Lily would have offered her a place to stay, and of course Ted wouldn’t have been the first person Robin asked when she needed a place to crash.  But now that she’s at Ted’s, she’s not going to be out of that apartment in a couple of weeks.  Isn’t Ted’s birthday in March or April?

Speaking of addressing the various changes, we finally saw Marshall and Lily in their new place!  I was a little surprised that the narrator didn’t explicitly mention this, since I don’t think we’ve seen this set since they moved in, but I suppose it was obvious enough.

Marshall’s hair update.  It’s almost getting to where it looks okay long from certain angles, but I still think it looked better short.  Some angles it just makes his face look fat or something.

Last thing:  So much love for Drunken Barney singing “Cat’s in the Cradle.”  I love the song, and I love when Barney (or Marshall.  Or Robin) gets to sing.  And he’s got The Sock!

First daughters in Hannah Montana?

Well, they’ll go anywhere for a guest star. While Hannah Montana might not have gotten the California governor to appear in last Sunday’s episode (they had an impersonator for a joke–I’m not implying they asked him), it appears they’re going for other politically-inclined celebrities.

Yahoo is reporting that President-elect Barack Obama’s daughters have been asked to be on Hannah Montana. No word yet as to whether this is really going to happen, but it’s sure to shake some people up.

The episode would appear somewhere around April, which is also the time that apparently a Hannah Montana movie would be coming out (whether this is a TV movie or for the big screen I don’t know; this is the first I’ve heard about it).

I’m not sure what I think about this. I think it’s nice to know that guest stars go beyond the usual High School Musical group, but should Disney really go into the political realm?

I don’t know. I really just felt like sharing this so people can either sigh, squeal, or shake their heads. But anyway, those two little girls sure are cute, so whatever makes them happy!

One Tree Hill: For the musically inclined

ONE TREE HILL: 6.10 “Even Fairy Tale Characters Would Be Jealous”

I love One Tree Hill. The largest reason I love it is because it’s respect to music and musicians. This show really tries its hardest to promote music.

In last night’s episode, we had a concert that went out to the Marines. Now, I was a little disappointed because we saw no buildup for this concert. Suddenly, it was there. It was cool, but where did this idea come from? Did I miss it somewhere?

Anyway, we got to see Haley sing (and after the first initial measures of her song finished, I really liked it) and we saw the return of Mia! Oh Mia. Now, let’s go back to how OTH loves music. Last season, they promoted Kate Voegele like mad. She was a character. She had at least six songs appear on the show. And then they bid her adieu on her tour. All this made me…buy her CD! I supported the artist! And now here she was again with new stuff to make me want to…buy more! (BTW, a deluxe edition of her CD is being released if it hasn’t already, so keep an eye out.) Then we saw Angels and Airwaves, a band I’d never heard of, but big enough to grab viewers.

I love this promotion. It’s the same as when they’ve had past singers on the show–including Gavin DeGraw! Gavin has his big break with the old theme song “I Don’t Wanna Be” for the show. Then, throughout the first season, they continued to play music off his first album to promote him. But that’s not all. When his latest album came out last year, who made an appearance on the show? Gavin DeGraw. It wasn’t even plot-related. He just sat at a piano, singing “I Don’t Wanna Be” with the child playing Jamie (video at bottom of post). Then, if I recall, they incorporated his single into an episode. Talk about going back to your roots.

I love stuff like that. It’s just so respectful and great cross-promotion. Kudos.

Ok, plot. Sam’s ok. She’s still not my favorite, but I can tolerate her now. The issues with her and Brooke are evening out (I loved how excited Brooke got when she saw that she had a “happy teenager”–it was like she just saw her own daughter graduate kindergarten). I find it odd that having a teenager would change Brooke’s status as a candidate for adoption; more so, I would have thought the fact that she has no job would do it. Sure, she’s got money, but look at the economy!

(Bad joke? Oh come on, she probably bought that house while we were in the middle of the housing bubble… [Crickets] Got it, economy jokes = bad.)

More so, I’m really disappointed with the Mouth/Millicent/Gigi storyline. It’s just growing tired. Gigi seems to have lost anything that made her a redeemable character, which is sad since she was cute in high school. I just don’t believe her. And she’s getting those Nanny Carrie looks. Bah. Can we drop it soon? I liked seeing happy Marvins and Millies. They were our stronghold that brought people back from the bad side! Now, bring them back from the bad side!

Then there’s Julian, Peyton, and Lucas. I think this could actually be a good thing for their storyline. Not really a triangle but an obstacle. It interests me.

Oh yeah, and Q! Q was back as almost a spiritual guide for Nathan. What disappointed me is that he seemed back to his uber-cocky self. The Q before he turned nice. It bugged me and rubbed me the wrong way…but it worked. I’m really wondering what Nathan’s going to be doing now. Will he take risks, even if it leaves him in a wheelchair, or did he make his point that dreams change and can fall into dreams of watching your family live? I really wonder where he’s going to go.

And to be honest, it was nice to see Q again. Though there was no Jamie last night. Bummer.

And will someone tell me why Peyton’s brother keeps being brought around? I thought we were done with discussing parental issues, and there he was again. Could it be that we don’t see a happy ending for him? Maybe he’ll go off to war and not make it back? There MUST be a reason why he keeps being brought around, and not just for Peyton’s rant about their father or Sam’s relief about bad parenting. There has to be more. Otherwise…why is he there?

Sorry to end it on a bummer note, but I want to hear your thoughts!

Ok, cheer up. This is adorable.

Top Models get ‘Banged’

BIG BANG THEORY: 2.07 “The Panty Pinata Polarization”

Man, am I going to get some weird spam comments today. Not only is my title a little off-putting, but I have the word “panty” in my first line. Here comes trouble.

I thought last night’s episode of The Big Bang Theory was great. The great part, though, was not the main plot. Instead, it was the subplot. So please, let me venture into this a little more before I get into the Penny/Sheldon battle.

The obsession over America’s Next Top Model was hilarious. Because it wasn’t just nerdy guys wanting hot girls. They want to track them down. Howard’s goal to make one of them the future Mrs. Wolowitz was great (and the joke about them all living with him and the current Mrs. Wolowitz, his mother, even better). They trace the views of the outside of the house to get landmarks from episodes. They even get a satellite heading toward Russia to take pictures over the house! I love the way these guys think.

I especially liked that we actually got to see Analeigh and Samantha from this season of America’s Next Top Model. While most of the names mentioned were made up (say, Summer), they actually pulled from this season for some cross-network publicity. And let me say this: Thank God it wasn’t Elina or Marjorie.

It makes me wonder how these two were picked. My first inclination is to think that they sadly don’t win the competition, so they have time for an appearance. (I’m an Analeigh fan.) But then again, my hopeful side reminds me of Caridee, when she won an acting challenge and guested on One Tree Hill. Could that be what we’re seeing tomorrow? A challenge with a Bang of a prize?

Anyway, kudos on the sub-plot. Definitely cool.

As for Penny and Sheldon, it was ok. I enjoy seeing them interact–especially when we shock Sheldon out of his elements and habits–but I wanted something a little fresher. We’ve been seeing a lot of Sheldon and his quirks lately, and even EW is reporting that he’s the new shining star, but I just want to see some other character shine again. Remember in season 1 when we had a whole episode about Raj and his forced marriage? What about anything having to do with Leonard? I just don’t want to waste all the good stuff with Sheldon. I want to make sure that by season 3, we’re not bored with his idiosyncrasies. Spread it out.

Anyway, good show, nerds. The writers are doing a good job this season.