A look back at the best and worst in the past week of TV, as well as a sneak peek at what’s to come.
Highlights
1. “Lost.” Oooooh, this is getting good. Every week brings new revelations and new mysteries. This week we saw Jack and Locke evolving in polar opposite ways, almost swapping personalities. What is Ben up to anyway? Jack and Sawyer got beaten to bloody pulps (Jack’s smackdown reminded me of “Planet of the Apes”) and Juliet showed she could take a punch too. I don’t quite trust Eloise — I think she and ’70s Widmore are up to something — and the whole H-bomb thing blows my mind. You know you’re in a bad situation when the solution is to detonate a hydrogen bomb and blow yourself up. Meanwhile, over in Dharmaville, I was beginning to think Sawyer and Juliet were actually going to get away and live happily ever after (silly me), until Kate dropped by, becoming the third wheel to end all third wheels. Awk-ward. Lucky for them it’ll be a short submarine trip.
2. “Scrubs.” The season — and maybe series — finale was completely satisfying. The first 40 minutes were good, not great, but that final 20 or so minutes with J.D.’s goodbye to the hospital hit all the right notes. It was sentimental, funny and touching, and I loved the musical accompaniment, a Peter Gabriel cover of The Magnetic Fields’ “Book of Love.” It was enough to make one shed a tear. (Not me of course, because I’m a dude and only shed tears for sports milestones.) I really hope this was the end of the series, going out with a bang rather than limping through an unnecessary season without its stars.
3. “Rescue Me.” Lots of great moments (Garrity’s cancer? Yikes), but Sheila’s monologue at the end was one of the most gripping moments in the series’ history. After years of being a basket case, almost played for comic relief, Sheila finally had a moment of perfect lucidity and vented all her 9/11 torment and fears and frustrations in one devastating and heartbreaking moment. That was Callie Thorne’s Emmy clip.
Lowlights
1. ABC programming. For putting the final episode of “Better Off Ted” on Tuesday instead of its normal Wednesday. I had no clue it was even on. I still need to track that down on Hulu. So was the penultimate episode of “Scrubs” on Tuesday too? Because I never saw the one where J.D. actually decided to leave Sacred Heart. Will networks ever learn that nobody will watch a show if they don’t know it’s even on? A little consistency and consideration in scheduling is all I ask.
2. “Amazing Race.” Just because I was super bummed that Jen & Kisha got eliminated instead of Cara & Jaime. Jaime was still acting like a terrible person (surprise, surprise), and I really thought the Cheerleaders were done. But Cara rocked that gross-food eating challenge like a maniac without a gag reflex. If only there could be inter-team swaps — I’d totally root for Cara & Margie, and throw food at my TV when Jaime & Luke popped up.
3. “My Name Is Earl.” I don’t know why I even watched it, it was so boring. I think I’m officially done with this show, it’s just run out of steam. I did like Tim Stack’s shoutout to the late, great “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose” though.
Looking forward to. . .
1. “Lost” (9 p.m. Wednesday). The season finale that’s probably going to leave me a quivering ball of goo. I’m expecting nothing less than a complete and utter mind-blower.
2. “Amazing Race” (8 p.m. Sunday). It all comes down to the final leg in Hawaii (mehh, I was kinda hoping they’d end up on the West Coast mainland again — Hawaii legs never seem to be very good). I’m pulling hard for Tammy & Victor, but I’m really afraid Margie & Luke will win. I shouldn’t count out Cara & Jaime either — oh God, what if that edit two weeks ago (where they were all excited to FINALLY win a leg, only to be told no, they weren’t done yet) was a setup to them winning it all? Ugh, that would kill me.
3. “Gossip Girl” (8 p.m. Monday). This is the ’80s flashback episode that was supposed to spin off a new show. But now it sounds like the spinoff is dead. (More on that later.) Either way, I’m curious to see their trip back to the ’80s. It’ll also feature a performance from No Doubt, though they won’t be playing themselves. Should be cool.
As a completely random aside, writing this post has been slow going because I’ve been splitting time blogging and glancing up as I watch “The Secret of My Success” at 2 a.m. For some reason, I’m always compelled to watch that whenever it’s on. It’s one of my favorite underrated ’80s flicks. A young Michael J. Fox, great soundtrack, totally predictable plot. . . . it’s very comforting. Whatever happened to Helen Slater anyway? Ehhh, she was probably buried under an avalanche of shoulder pads.
