WIR: The Unofficial Start of Summer

Week in Review takes a look back at the week that was on television by using short and pithy comments. Pretty simple formula, right? Enjoy!

MONDAY
Gossip Girl: I wrote about the season finale for the Observer. Just some addition notes: it looks like Michelle Trachtenberg is only signed on for three episodes at the start of season three, which is kinda disappointing. Not disappointing? That Serena will end up going to school in Manhattan. It looks like Josh Schwartz figured out how to make a teen show survive the college years: set it in New York.

Don't Stop Believin': Is Glee The Next Big Thing?

If you watched American Idol last night, chances are you caught some of Fox's new show Glee, which has being positioned as the television series that will replace oxygen in the near future. The only problem? It's not that good! (Though star Lea Michele is amazing.) I reviewed the pilot for the Observer.

After the jump, check out an excerpt!

WIR: Slumdunder Mifflinaire!

Week in Review takes a look back at the week that was on television by using short and pithy comments. Pretty simple formula, right? Enjoy!

MONDAY
Gossip Girl: A tale of two episodes: I wasn't particularly enthralled by the Gossip Girl spinoff stuff starring Brittany Snow, despite the fact that I loved Andrew McCarthy--you can read the full recap of Lily over at the Observer. However, I thought the scenes with our favorite Upper Eastsiders were above reproach: Senior Prom, Blair making jokes about "teen movies", Chuck being Blair's Fairy Godfather, Dan dancing like a dope, the Fountains of Wayne "Prom Theme" music cue. It was all fantastic. I'm really looking forward to this season finale on Monday.

He Who Will Save Us All: The Season Five Finale of Lost Recapped

"I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated" - Malachi 1:2-3

I guess after a season of fits and starts, my expectations that the season finale of Lost would be downright amazing were a little unwarranted. Silly me: I believed the hype; especially after reading dozens of interviews with Michael Emerson, wherein my favorite actor said "The Incident" would make viewers want to eat their own souls. Make no mistake though, this episode was a pretty huge letdown. At turns laborious and confounding, Lost is now on a path that I literally don't like all that much. If you thought an entire season of time travel was lame, wait until season six goes biblical. Because based on what we were shown in "The Incident", that's where things are headed.

To Boldly Go: Why Star Trek is the New Star Wars

A man in a suit.

If you're wondering why J.J. Abrams' Star Trek is so fantastic, look no further than that above statement. Unlike the Star Wars prequels, which were suffocated with a balled up sheet of green screen by George Lucas, Mr. Abrams went decidedly lo-fi for his $150-million-plus budgeted space adventure. During a key scene on an ice planet (that is in no way supposed to remind you of Hoth--or so hope Mr. Abrams' lawyers), Captain Kirk and Dr. Spock-from-the-future (don't ask) go looking for old/new friend Scotty and encounter his companion: a child-sized alien with eyeballs that look like small tongues.

WIR: Penultimate Week!

Week in Review takes a look back at the week that was on television by using short and pithy comments. Pretty simple formula, right? Enjoy!

MONDAY
Gossip Girl: The best episode of 2009. Reasons: 1.) Michelle Trachtenberg, swoon! 2.) Making Blair the "Danny Ocean" in the Poppy Montgomery revenge plot.

24: Talk about tuning out: I literally don't remember one thing that happened this past week.

If This Works, You Might Just Save Us All... If It Doesn't, At Least You'll Put Us Out of Our Misery: Lost Recapped

I'll be honest: for a penultimate episode of Lost, I was expecting more. But then again, "Follow the Leader" felt like a perfect encapsulation of season five--there were dead spots, time travel, awesome reveals and total head scratchers--so maybe it was an ideal penultimate episode after all.

That's not to say I didn't "like" the episode. It's just that this season of Lost has yet to find a compelling narrative footing. There have been no "we have to go back!" or "we have to get off the Island!" overriding objectives--a singular push of momentum to force everything along. Instead, season five has, at times, felt listless and, worse, bizarrely inert. We're heading into the finale and yet, to me, it seems like things have just started. And maybe that's because Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse used this season as a bridge between season four and six; an excuse to produce a bunch of high quality filler episodes, or, what amounts to a Director's Cut-version of a weekly television show. Sure there have been great moments and stand alone episodes that I've been floored by, but on the whole so much of what has happened hasn't moved me in the least.

WIR: It's Michael Scott!

Week in Review takes a look back at the week that was on television by using short and pithy comments. Pretty simple formula, right? Enjoy!

MONDAY
Gossip Girl: Three cheers for Michelle Tractenberg who assimilates herself so easily into the role of Georgina Sparks that it's really hard to tell if she's even acting. As she told People this week: "The nasty bitch is back in town ... I don’t take the nastiness off set, but sometimes when the paparazzi get in my face, Georgina comes out." Meanwhile, Leighton Meester continues to prove herself Emmy-worthy. The look on her face when Nate suggested that she take the subway was beyond priceless.