Pushing Daisies returned with a bang in its final episodes

by Jennifer Squires Biller

ABC, you wound me.

Just when I’d made peace with the fact that some of my favorite shows from last season won’t return (Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, etc.) you do the unthinkable. You air the first of the last few episodes of Pushing Daisies, and the entire episode is about Olive and Ned as a couple, a pairing I’d been rooting for since the show’s debut. Sure, the engagement was only pretend for the sake of Olive’s old pals, but I’ll take it. We even got a kiss, and at the very end Ned admitted he was jealous of Olive and her new guy. (Gulp.) Talk about a cliffhanger.

Were the Pushing Daisies people really going to pursue a potential Olive/Ned relationship this season? Oh, ABC, to be so cruel that you give and then take away. I’ve been preaching the Olive/Ned connection for months, and it seems that ABC may have realized that Kristin Chenowith and Lee Pace have undeniable chemistry.

The sad part is there are only a couple episodes left of the show, ever, as ABC put a fork in it. Perhaps if they’d jumped on the Olive bandwagon a little earlier, then the show would have scored a little better ratings. Or perhaps it wouldn’t have made a difference. But one thing is for sure: Olive and Ned, you will be missed.

Commentary with a Co-Ed: Friday night timeslot woes

by Ashley Gouveia

The television season is over and we are beginning to head into the land of seemingly never-ending reruns, but not before the networks announced their fall lineups. This begs the question, “Just where exactly our favorite shows are headed?”

It probably shocked a lot of you fellow tube watchers to find out that Ugly Betty and Smallville are both being moved to Friday nights. What were the networks thinking, and is this the kiss of death for these shows?

I think we have all had one of our favorite shows move to another night. That usually means that the network is trying to find a better spot for the show. It could also mean that the networks believe the show is on its last season and want to finish it off on whatever night is available. But a move to Friday nights is a sign of worry, more than any other night. Why is Friday a bad move? Well, the majority of the demographic that primarily watches these two shows is not home on Friday nights. The other bad thing about it is that even if the fans decide to record it, there is no way to show those numbers in the overall ratings. Do the networks even look at the TiVo numbers?

It’s a known fact that many shows that move to Fridays or premiere on that night don’t last too long. Remember the amazing Moonlight? Or more recently, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I was holding out hope that Terminator would not be cancelled but I knew that moving it to Fridays would not be a positive thing for the show. I know that Ghost Whisperer thrives on Friday nights, but that may be because it’s targeted for an older audience.

Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this past season of Ugly Betty, many thought that it lost some of its original charm. The ratings and the critical acclaim did suffer so is that why ABC decided to move it to its new time slot? Do they believe that Ugly Betty only has one more season left in them? I don’t think that’s true. I saw a lot of this show’s magic return in the season finale. If they fix some minor things, then Betty and Co. could live to see another season.

Smallville on the other hand is an entirely different story. This show has been on for eight seasons and many feel that it has worn out its welcome. It would seem that The CW would agree since they moved Smallville to Friday nights before an encore, (yep, encore), of America’s Next Top Model. Ouch! That move really doesn’t display much confidence from the network.

Do you agree that moving to Fridays is a bad sign for any show? Will you still watch Ugly Betty and Smallville at their new times?

Dancing with the Stars: Gilles Marini was robbed

No offense to adorable and talented Shawn Johnson, but Gilles Marini should have gone home with the mirror ball trophy this week on Dancing with the Stars. Marini was, hands down, the best dancer of the entire crop of celebrities each week. His performances were entertaining, sexy and passionate.

I guess I have to remember that this competition isn’t about the best dancer though. It’s about popularity. Otherwise, one of my favorite celebrities of the batch, Ty Murray, would have gone home weeks ago.

Johnson did an excellent job each week, especially considering her youth and the maturity that some of the dances required. Kudos to Johnson for her fighting spirit and technique, but I still preferred Marini’s routines each time, and so did the judges. So, I’m perplexed at how Johnson upset the leading scorer, Marini, to take home the trophy. It must have been the fans. She had a fan base from her Olympic gymnastics career that apparently gave her the popularity vote.

This isn’t the first time the best dancer hasn’t won the competition. Remember Mario Lopez? He didn’t win, despite being the best dancing celebrity we’d ever seen at that time. Instead, Mr. Personality Emmitt Smith took home the trophy.

Congratulations to Johnson and her partner Mark Ballas and to Marini and his partner Cheryl Burke for making it to the final. But, I want to give a special thanks to Ty Murray for giving us such an entertaining season. Since it’s a popularity contest, I almost wish he could have won, simply so we could have heard his final speech. If the bull-riding thing doesn’t work out, I think he has a career as a stand-up comic.

Earl, Privileged, Samantha Who? cancelled; Medium jumps networks

The networks are unveiling their fall lineups this week and several shows have been cancelled. First and most distressing to me is the delightful Privileged on the CW. It won’t get a second season I’m sorry to say.

Instead, the CW is opting for several new shows, including a Melrose Place reboot starring Ashley Simpson-Wentz. Yeah, I’ll be watching that. That was sarcasm in case you missed it. The CW is also jumping on the Twilight popularity surge and adding a show called Vampire Diaries about blood-sucking brothers and a show called Beautiful Life about young models living together. I ask you, do any of those shows seem better than the always consistently entertaining Privileged? Time will tell I suppose.

Over at NBC, My Name is Earl will end this season. I’m happy to see it go, frankly. It was a good show for a short period, but it seems the gross factor has increased exponentially each season. NBC also cancelled Medium, but CBS has picked up the show to air after Ghost Whisperer. Chuck and Law & Order have both been renewed. Also, because of the new Jay Leno show eating up so many hours of the primetime schedule, Friday Night Lights won’t air until the summer of 2010. Don’t get me started on how crazy that is. By 2010, we probably won’t remember that Coach Taylor was fired and had to take a job with the Panthers’ new rivals. Southland and Parks and Recreation have also been renewed.

CBS has canceled The Unit, Without a Trace, The Ex List, Eleventh Hour, Harper’s Island, Swingtown, and Worst Week. It has several new shows lined up for fall and midseason: Accidentally on Purpose, The Good Wife, NCIS: Los Angeles, Three Rivers, The Bridge and Undercover Boss.

ABC announced the cancelation of Samantha Who?, The Unusuals, In the Motherhood, Surviving Suburbia, Homeland Security USA, Opportunity Knocks, and Life on Mars, in addition to Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, According to Jim, Boston Legal, Dirty Sexy Money and Homeland Security USA. The network will add 11 new shows for fall: Cougar Town, The Deep End, Eastwick, Flash Forward, The Forgotten, Hank, Happy Town, The Middle, Modern Family, V and Shark Tank.

Goodbye Scrubs – not quite!

by Jennifer Squires Biller

After last week’s spectacular Scrubs season finale that took us on a walk down memory lane, I was sure we’d seen the last of the Sacred Heart gang. It appears I was wrong.

ABC has renewed the show for another season, despite that series star Zach Braff will only be on board for six episodes. Scrubs’ favorites Donald Faison, John C. McGinley and Neil Flynn will all be back, but not Judy Reyes, who reportedly will only be a guest star. Sarah Chalke is also in discussions, but has not committed to another season. Several interns from season eight will be back, too.

I’ll probably get plenty of hate mail for saying this, but I wish the show had ended with the finale we just saw. It was such a perfect bookend to the eight seasons of John Dorian’s trials and tribulations that I hate to see the show limp on in mediocrity without the chemistry of the cast that made it so special.

The finale was every thing a series finale should be, complete with a heart-tugging musical montage. It even answered questions we’d asked for years: Will J.D. and Elliot get together? (Yes!) What is Janitor’s real name? (Glenn Matthews or perhaps Tony or Tommy, if he was just playing with J.D.) Does Dr. Cox really like J.D.? (Yes, well, more than he does Hugh Jackman that’s for sure.) We saw a hallway of faces from the past eight years who had touched J.D. in someway, starting with the beloved Laverne. And we learned in J.D.’s fantasy for the future that Turk’s daughter marries J.D.’s son, and that they all spend holidays together along with the Cox family. OK, so maybe that was just a fantasy, but it satisfied most of the diehard Scrubbies. It was fantastic finale, and I especially enjoyed the cameo of series creator Bill Lawrence tearing down the “Goodbye J.D.” sheet. Bravo!

I’m a big fan of Bill Lawrence, so perhaps I should trust that whatever he produces next year will be equally as entertaining as the Scrubs I’ve loved for eight years. But it’s hard to imagine the show without all the players that made it sparkle. If Lawrence goes in another direction from the original – the way Frasier departed from Cheers - then perhaps the show could work. Then again, it could also be another Joey. What I do know is that after seeing the current crop of sitcoms that rolled out this past season, Scrubs is still better than anything networks are producing. So, I understand why ABC is hesitant to let it go.

Despite that the show was renewed, I’ll say goodbye now to the sitcom I’ve loved. Thank you Scrubs’ cast, writers, and Bill Lawrence for giving me a place to go to laugh every week and for the excellent music featured on the show. (A good portion of the songs in my iTunes account came from Scrubs, and I’m off to get the Peter Gabriel song that played in the final episode.) Goodbye Scrubs. You will be missed.

If you missed the finale or just want to see the beautiful ending, grab some tissues and hit play below.

Matthew Fox and Jimmy Kimmel duet

It’s no secret I have a little crush on Lost’s Matthew Fox. Because of that, I feel compelled to share this hilarious clip from his appearance recently on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

If you enjoyed Kimmel’s videos with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, then you’ll enjoy this. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check them out on You Tube.) This one is set to a great song. By the way, Fox is shirtless at around the three-minute mark. You’re welcome.

Commentary with a Co-Ed: Smallville finale disappoints

by Ashley Gouveia

If I had to use one word to describe last night’s season finale of Smallville it would be letdown.

What was that? When it comes to this show I have never sugar coated my feelings. I have been an extremely agitated, yet loyal viewer of this series. Through all the ups and downs, I felt hopeful that the writers would pull it together and pay off what the viewers have been waiting for. But this episode had so many plot holes I just can’t turn a blind eye. I guess I should start from the beginning.

Rokk, from the Legion, comes back from the future to tell Clark that tomorrow will be the day he dies. Okay, no shock there. Only the entire season has been building towards this epic battle between Clark and Doomsday. Everyone was waiting for it, and I guess we have to keep on waiting. I think I missed the battle because it was over within two minutes. We didn’t get to see Clark use any of his abilities while fighting Doomsday. He got smacked around a couple of times and then Clark “super leaps” Doomie into a building where it then explodes.

Fail.

I’m sure all of you Smallville watchers had heard the rumblings of a major character dying in this episode. Well, it was Jimmy Olsen. Who, by the way, is not really Jimmy Olsen. If anyone was not really his or her “character” he was definitely not the one I was thinking. I knew that he was not long for this world, once he found out Clark’s secret. Way to go, Smallville. It was like a blaring alarm was going off shouting, “He’s going to die!” Not a very stealth move. Apparently, Jimmy, or Henry James Olsen, has a little brother who we never heard about who likes to wear bow ties, too. At his brother’s funeral, Chloe gave him faux Jimmy’s camera. She said that maybe he would follow in his footsteps someday.

I have never been a fan of Jimmy on this show. I often found him annoying and whiney and his relationship with Chloe just sucked the entire life out of this show. However, Aaron Ashmore has been doing really well with his performances post breakup. Now that he is gone, I’m left wondering what the purpose was for killing him. Also, why did they completely forget about Davis’ human side and make him a Fatal Attraction wannabe?

Even when Davis was physically separated from the beast he was still a psychopath? It doesn’t really follow what we’ve been seeing this whole season. We saw someone who was fighting desperately against something he didn’t have control over. That was what made Davis Bloome so interesting. They threw away his entire appeal within a few lines of dialogue. What a waste.

Not only did Jimmy die, but Clark decided, after he resurfaced surprisingly unscathed post “the epic battle that never was,” that Clark Kent is also dead. He tells Chloe that his human side is his most dangerous, not his alien side. His connection to humanity is holding him back from the hero he is destined to become. He says goodbye to Chloe and walks away from her. Poor Chloe not only lost her ex but her best friend all in the same day. Not to mention that no one seems to want to continue the search for Lois any longer. Thanks to the Legion ring, she was sent to the future somewhere within the first fifteen minutes of the episode.

We all know the show has been renewed for season nine. Will you watch because of the return of Zod? What did you think of the Jimmy “twist?” Did anyone enjoy it? Sound off in the comments.

Commentary with a Co-Ed is a weekly column at Tube Talk new every Friday.

Glee sneak peak

There hasn’t been much lately to get excited about in the world of television. But FOX has come to our rescue, my fellow weary TV viewers.

Check out this clip of its new show Glee, set to debut May 19 after American Idol.

It’s a musical comedy that’s a little Freaks and Geeks and whole lot of funny. And this extended trailer is scored with a Journey song, so it’s a win-win. Take a peak and set your DVR. You don’t want to miss this one.

Watch Scrubs and win money

Is there anything better than watching TV and possibly getting paid for it? Nope. I don’t think so.

Scrubs fans, Comedy Central is currently giving away $1,000 every week night for the rest of May and all you have to do is watch Scrubs and enter for a chance to win.

Scrubs airs on Comedy Central at 7 p.m. ET and then again at 7:30 p.m. ET every weeknight. Here are the instructions on how you can enter to get the cash.

1. Just watch the 7pm/6c Scrubs episode any weeknight. During the episode you'll get a keyword(example: "achy") -- write it down!

2. Right after that, watch the following Scrubs episode at 7:30pm/6:30c and look for that episode's keyword (example: "groin").

3. Combine the two keywords to get the winning two-word diagnosis (example: "achy groin"). Each diagnosis is active for 24 hours until it expires.

Watch Scrubs every weeknight and enter all month long, but you can only enter once per day.
Enter here: http://www.comedycentral.com/sweepstakes/scrub_in_and_win/index.jhtml

OK, so get ready to have your funny bone tickled and perhaps your wallet a little thicker. Good luck, Tubers!

Commentary with a Co-Ed: Lost season ender

by Ashley Gouveia

The season finale of Lost is coming up next week and it promises to be an episode full of twists and turns. Sure, pretty much every episode of Lost could fall under that category. Nonetheless, this week’s episode was a great set up for the finale. Locke went on a power trip, Sawyer and Jack got the stuffing beat out of them, and Ben is actually funny. Weird, right?

The one element that I can always count on this show to have is an awesome, jaw-dropping, scratch-your-head-pre-credits moment. Before the title comes up and the eerie sound starts playing, I’m always left bewildered by what I just saw. This week, for instance, Richard told Sun that he recognizes Jack and Co. because he watched them all die. Huh? My thoughts exactly. Could Richard mean that Jack succeeded in getting the plane to never crash and they all disappeared Back to the Future style? Or did they all just get killed? I’m hoping for the first theory.

I thought it was quite amusing watching Locke go on his little power trip as new leader of the Others. He was sticking it to Ben whenever he had the chance, whether it be about his new power as leader or how Ben never saw Jacob. I couldn’t help but laugh at some of Ben’s lines during the scene when Locke asked Ben if he was going into the jungle with him. Who knew that Benjamin Linus could be funny? He mostly just creeps me out. The tone in his voice just had so much loathing towards Locke that it came off as hilarious.

Sawyer got beat up by the Dharma Initiative because their cover was blown. I felt bad for him and Juliet. They had some kind of resemblance of lives and then it was all taken away. Love them or hate them, but Sawyer and Juliet have some great onscreen chemistry. I was taken aback by Sawyer deciding to just leave the island on the submarine. His response when he took one final glance at the island was “good riddance.” Really? I didn’t think that he would leave Kate and the others behind. Poor Juliet’s fantasy of a life alone with Sawyer had blown up in her face when Kate showed up on the sub, and she knew it too. It looks like the big elephant in the room is going to finally be discussed next week.

Do you think that Jack’s idea of preventing the plane from crashing a good one? Or should he not mess with fate? I’m hoping next week we finally get an answer to whom or what is Jacob. Will Locke actually be able to kill him? Sound off in the comments.

Commentary with a Co-Ed is a weekly column at Tube Talk new every Friday.

Smallville preview: Injustice

Check out this clip from Thursday’s episode of Smallville. It looks like it’s going to be another great episode. I’d like to commend the folks at the show and the network because whatever changes they’ve made this year, well, the show is rocking.

I feared after last year that the show wouldn’t rebound, so thanks Smallville producers for proving me wrong.

The clip is Clark being all hero-y and saving our girl Chloe. Any clip that ends with a Chloe-Clark embrace is worth a shout out. Enjoy!