90210: Worst. SAT's. Ever.

jpg"> (Dixon's awesomeness could not last too long. So now he is lame again.)

Things are pretty much not going well for anyone at West Beverly High right now, unless you count Navid, but things really only seem to be going well for him because he has no storyline whatsoever. (NOT COOL 90210!) For everyone else, there is a lot of a added stress to the whole "SAT's are coming up!" thing. There was also a lot of added dumbness in this episode. Such as:

Dixon. Oh Dixon, why did you even act kind of cool for five minutes in the last episode and make me think I could love you again? Dixon's total dumbosity was unparalleled in this ep. He lost $6000 to the guy who take that naked photo of Annie (real nice loyalty there dude, letting him play), believed some stupid story about how this idiot wanted to get into the school to 'decorate his girlfriend's locker' (yeah that sounds like it's worth six grand Dixon, sure.) stood in the middle of the damn school so that the security camera could get a real good look at his face, and then, to top it all off, TOLD THE GUY that his dad is letting them off so Dixon doesn't get in trouble. Way to ruin your Dad's career there, man. Nice job.

jpg"> (But how will you survive without college?! All you have are looks, money, and athletic ability!

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Also dumb? Silver. Let's see, Teddy is the son of a movie star, looks like a model, and plays pro tennis. I think he'll be okay without college! Really no need to worry that he's not studying for the SAT's or planning to go to college, because I think he's gonna be fine. Life has a funny way of working out for rich, gorgeous people who also happen to be incredibly athletically talented. One more thing. Not returning your boyfriend's calls because his ultra famous movie star dad didn't know he had a girlfriend...kind of an overreaction there. You probably could have fought it out with him before the SAT's, so as not to make both of you insane during a test that you seem to think is pretty darn important.

Annie. I guess she's over the whole "I killed a guy" thing and is onto being angsty about her parents AND Liam. Okay sure, that seems like a way bigger deal than being guilty of MURDER.


Harry Oh man. His dumbess abounds, because he is an adult so he doesn't even have the whole "idiot teenager" excuse. I'm sure not telling Deb about how he is risking his career to protect Dixon is really going to make that marriage even stronger.

Deb. Seriously lady, don't tell your husband you kissed a crazy-hot guy and liked it unless you just want to get a divorce.

One more, and you know I hate this but it's true. Liam. I have so many questions for him, including, 1. Why are you hanging out with Annie? 2. Why do you suddenly like Annie? 3. If you suddenly like Annie and can never love Naomi again, why did you fake that did an get back together with her? Also, why can't you forgive her again? 4. Do you not think stealing from your stupid step-dad is a terrible plan? He seems to be evil to the core, so I am sure he will have you boiled in oil or something when he finds out. 5. Really? You're not even a little suspicious about the whole "Dad was framed, just need a little seed money" thing? I mean I want your dad to be a good guy too but, come on! Oh Liam.

jpg"> (It is a rare thing for TV ex-con dads to go legit. Let's see it happen here, 90210!

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So basically, the only character who both had a storyline and didn't act foolishly tonight was Naomi. The poor girl admitted that she lied about that Australian teacher AND called herself a pervert (of justice) in front of the whole school. It was great. She promised to never lie again and reunited with Liam, and things were just going swimmingly! She was even getting everyone smoothies! But then something truly truly awful happened. JEN RETURNED. NOOOOOOOOOOO!


Next week: Spoiler Alert! I saw some awesome photos of Ryan Matthews, on the beach, looking bedraggled, covered in mustard, and possibly eating out of the trash! YES!!! You will be seeing those on this blog next week. Also, Silver meets Teddy's Dad, Ryan O'Neal. Like most dads on this show, he seems like a jerk.

Back with the streets I know; will never take me anywhere but here. Treme: Season 1, Episode 2: "Meet de Boys on the Battlefront."

This second episode seemed to be an episode about dreams thwarted, or at least tainted. We have Davis losing his job (a job which almost seemed to define him in the first episode, gone just a few minutes into the second), Janette having to beg her parents for a loan and still not getting enough to keep her restaurant or her ruined house together, Delmond having a great time in the city he abandoned only to get arrested for smoking weed, Sofie getting to come back to school in New Orleans at the expense of poorer kids, Albert getting a member of his tribe back but not before committing a shocking act of violence and most poignantly, LaDonna believing that her brother has been found, only to come face to face with the wrong David Brooks.

LaDonna's plight is one of the toughest to watch, because in her we see a strong woman trying so hard to hold so much together. The well being of her mother, her brother, her bar, her marriage and her kids are all on her shoulders, and in Khandi Alexander's performance you can see a woman who is bending but not about to break. In the scene where her husband suggests that she sell the bar and move to Baton Rouge it takes just a few facial expressions for the audience to see that this will not end well. She is not willing to give up her past or her home, no matter that right now her city is in ruins. Like many of our main characters, she is left, but not leaving.


We meet some new characters this week (Simon and Overmeyer LOVE their sprawling casts) in Sonny and Annie, street musician and possible con artists who seem to be getting a little sick of tourists and well wishers in their town. We also see some new sides to the characters we met last week, including a sweetness previously undetected in Davis (he really seemed to want to send those kids somewhere where they would have a good time!) and an intense anger and brutality in Albert. Dave Walker of NOLA.com is doing some very interesting annotations of each episode, and I really liked his explanation of Albert's actions. He mentions that depression and a kind of temporary insanity were rampant in the city after Katrina, and people often did things that they would not have done in normal circumstances. Something about reading his ideas on Albert's brutal beating of the thief made me feel a little better about it, and not so bad about how much I enjoyed his final scene, practicing with his lone tribe member. I am definitely a huge fan of Clark Peters, and I want Albert to be a man I can root for, despite this act of violence. I am sure it will not go entirely unpunished though. If I learned anything from The Wire it's that Simon and co. rarely let a bad or a good deed go unpunished.

This was a darker episode, but I must mention how much I am enjoying Wendall Pierce as Antoine. He's got this whole charming rogue thing down pat. Is it any surprise that a man who can flirt like that with his trombone has more than a few illegitimate children running around town? His odyssey to Bourbon Street and beyond for a paying gig added a nice touch of levity to the episode (loved his conversation with those Wisconsin kids!) as well as giving it that nice kick of music that is becoming this show's trademark.

But where is it all going? I am not sure yet, but I think I can see the hints of larger storylines on the horizon. We have Toni and Ladonna on a search for Daymo, about to embark on a mission through some kind of bureaucratic hell that may not have any kind of happy ending for them. Many of the characters, Janette, Davis, Antoine, Albert, and seemingly Sonny and Annie are just trying to find a way to get through the day and keep their lives, which are all in differing states of disrepair, together. Creighton is trying to tell his story, his city's story, without exploiting the less privileged people around him (which of course he can't.) At this point I'm not sure if there will be an overarching plot of any sort, or if this is just a story about rebuilding homes and lives and all the pain and messiness and beauty that comes with that. Either way, I am looking forward to what's coming next.

90210 Made me happy!

(One of things that made me happy about this episode of 90210...this picture of Liam.

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Oh man, I was so into this episode of 90210! Many things made me very, very happy.

Starting with...Scott Patterson, (Luke from Gilmore Girls!) as Liam's (Matt Lanter) Dad! Unlike his Mom, he is actually old enough to be his parent, and I loved him on Gilmore Girls, and he and Liam hugged and everything, so that makes me think he is going to be cool, despite the whole "just got out of jail" thing. I am so excited about this development! Yay Scott Patterson!

Other awesomeness? Dixon (Tristan Wilds) has finally gotten off the "Great Big Jerk Train" and gotten back to being totally adorkable! If Ivy (Gillian Zinser) wasn't totally smitten by his nerdy little dance to Bob Marley at that party, she has a heart of stone. Also, when he was teaching her how to DJ, that was pretty hot.

By the way, I kind of like how they are slowplaying Dixon's gambling problem storyline. I mean it's a dumb storyline, but at least they are just mentioning it once in a while and letting it gain momentum before everyone ends up staging an intervention or something.

Somehow, I was simultaneously charmed by how cute Navid (Michael Steger) was with Lila AND how they seem to be paving the way for Navid and Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes) to get back together. Michael Steger really does a great job portraying Navid's inherent sweetness without going over the top. I really do believe him as a genuinely nice guy, with just the right amount of geekiness, but not so much that you can't understand why these girls are into him. And since I wanted them to get married, I obviously want him back with Ade! Sorry Lila.

I am liking Ivy's mom a little bit more this episode, especially since she gave Adrianna such good advice at the party. And everyone loves a pothead!

I was also really excited that Naomi (AnnaLynn McCord) recanted before she ruined that poor teacher's life, though I was really confused how everyone found out so quickly. Did Liam have a glass on the door or something? And how did Ivy find out? I thought the show did a good job making Naomi sympathetic even though she had done something pretty awful. I will say this though, having Annie draw parallels to her own secret from Naomi's made me realize that they did not do a good job making Annie sympathetic. Maybe it's just the face. Though, Naomi was nostril flaring it UP last night. It's like these kids took acting lessons from Joey Tribiani or something!

I do think they are trying to make up for Annie's horrible "Jasper will never tell!" smile last week by showing that she is still feeling guilty and have stress dreams and the like. Still, she's pretty awful.

There were a few things that left me befuddled last night though, and one of them being Annie and Silver's "dress up like whores" outing to test drive the Mustang. That was the dumbest, most convoluted way ever to get Annie to have some kind of PTSD attack about hitting the bum. Since she was driving from Naomi's house home when she hit him, aren't there about a hundred easier ways to get her driving down that road again? And why would either of them think they are lost? Dumb.

(Annie, thinking about whether killing a homeless person is better or worse than falsely accusing someone of sexual harassment.

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Another was good ol' Ryan "Wake and Bake" Matthews. I feel like they don't know what to do with him, so they always have him sleeping with older women and flirting with substance abuse problems. I mean we never even got to see how his drinking problem was going, and now he's going to become a pothead?!! Or not, maybe just have a fun and functional relationship with Ivy's mom? I really cannot tell where this storyline is going. I like the character, so hopefully they will figure him out at some point. What about he and Liam being all buddy-buddy? Let's bring that back!

And even though I want her and Navid to get back together, I can't believe Gia cheated on Ade! I feel like their relationship was portrayed as really functional and mature, and Gia as totally into Ade as well as smart and funny and then BAM! One fight and she's hooking up with her ex! Gia, you used to be cool.

Next week: Teddy and Silver have a fight (sad face.), Liam and Naomi make up (fakely or something), and Liam and Annie have a moment (ewwww!). God poor Liam really has a thing for liars.

You're the shit, and I'm knee-deep in it. Treme, Season One, Episode One, "Do You Know What It Means"

Like his critically acclaimed “The Wire” (The best show that ever existed. Watch it!), David Simon’s “Treme” is not interested in holding your hand. The first episode had no “here are the characters, this is the plot” presentation, it plunks you down in the middle of these lives and asks you to make some deductions and figure things out. That’s right. It’s TV that asks something of you, of your brain and of your heart. Because the place it puts you is New Orleans, 3 months after Katrina. In scene after scene the questions “How’s your house?” and “How much water you get?” are asked and answered, with only a hint of the destruction of houses and people that went on. But even if life goes on for some, and the questions are casual, “Treme” shows us the pain and devastation of a city that was almost destroyed. When Albert Lamoreaux (Clark Peters) sees his house for the first time since fleeing the storm, it’s not just the water damage or the mud floor that grabs you, it’s the way you can look at his face and see that he is absolutely gutted. And then, in moments, his jaw is set in steely resolve, and it is clear, he’s not leaving.

Why? There are a lot of questions that we don’t get an exact answer to yet in this episode. We know that Albert is staying for practice, and that he is some kind of ‘chief’, but without doing the extra research on Mardi Gras Indians the exact ‘why’ still remains a bit of a mystery. Other questions? What does John Goodman’s character do exactly? Why does Davis (Steve Zahn) hate his neighbors? How are all these people intertwined?

Simon uses quick beats to define his large cast of characters. You see all of Antoine Baptist’s (Wendall Pierce) charm and hard luck the very first time he tries to hustle a cab driver out of a fare. He lives out of the city now, but he needs to get back in to play music, to make money, to see people. He is a man battling to get back to his old life, even if his old life means no more than not having to take a cab into town to scramble for gigs.

And it takes only three scenes, two of anger and one of love, to show the viewer that Creighton (John Goodman) and Toni (Melissa Leo) are pretty perfectly matched. A couple passionately devoted to the city and its people, and determined to use the little power they have through influence and money to affect some positive change. We also see that even in their privileged position, roadblocks are constantly thrown in their way.

We are given a few intriguing narrative threads to look forward to. One is LaDonna (Khandi Alexander) and Toni’s search for LaDonna’s brother Daymo, who has been missing since the storm. By episode’s end, we know that Daymo was in jail when the storm hit, and was moved by the sheriff’s department. We have a maybe love story between Davis and Jeanette (Kim Hickerson), the owner of a local restaurant. Another is Albert’s quest to get his tribe ready for Carnival, as well as an already intriguing father-son dynamic between him and his son. Clark Peters as Lester Freamon is one of my favorite characters on “The Wire”, so I for one am really looking forward to this story. With a cast this stellar, there is a lot to look forward to this season.

Though “Treme” is in some ways a story of Katrina, it is also a story of after. Of how people find joy and music and beauty in the bleakest of places. Of how home is still home, even if it’s nothing but the dirty remnant of the life you once had. It’s a story of rebuilding a place, and the rebuilding of people.

Melrose Place "Some Street in L.A." (Sepulveda actually)

So, I felt slightly less rage at this episode than the promo led me to believe I would, but there were still plenty of thing to make me feel ragey, such as:

-Jonah(Michael Rady). Pretty much everything Jonah did in this episode made me want to slap him. Slappable offenses include: acting like he has some great moral compass, bidding on stupid Riley (Jessica Lucas) at her stupid fundraiser, trying to shame Ella(Katie Cassidy) into acting how he wanted her to, not appreciating his great girlfriend, getting all warm and fuzzy about stupid Riley at the casting of his stupid movie, demanding that the studio sell him his movie back after he has one disagreement with the director (characterized as a "big fight" by both parties even though it was about two seconds long and as heated as Riley and bearded Billy Campbell making out) and then of course, having his dream come true and wanting to tell Riley instead of Ella, and then making an annoying puppy dog face at Riley and Drew (Nick Zano). Haaate. I am starting to dislike Jonah more than Riley to the point that I now want her and Drew to be happy so that she can rub it in his face. See what you've done to me Jonah?!! Now I hate you more than Riley!! (My hate for you is contingent on your actions, so you can still fix this. I will always hate Riley, no matter what.)

-Riley's totally bizarre fundraiser outfit. She looked insane.

-Why does everyone act like Riley is the prettiest girl in the world?!! Why?!

-I am mad that Ella didn't take Riley out on a date. That, I would like to see.

-Where did Riley get the money to throw that fundraiser in the first place?!

-I don't want to see any more of Drew's band. And obviously, neither did anyone else at that party.

-I can't believe they had that nerdy guy dump Ella. (In the Valley!) Isn't our girl going through enough here?!

-I hate that Ella didn't slap Jonah and make my dreams come true, but instead just acted incredibly cool and mature and then admitted to David (Shaun Sipos) that she was really into Jonah. And that she can't ever sleep with David again without being a jerk because Lauren(Stephanie Jacobsen) is in love with him.

There were some things I liked too though!

-First and most importantly of all, there were NO OLDTIMERS. I never thought I would say this, but I pretty much hate all of the original Melrose Placers and would be quite happy to never see them again. (Bummer for me.)

-David and Ella team up! They are hotness!

-Lauren gets through to David! Of course he understands what it's like to have to be constantly proving yourself worthy of your father's love. BOOM goes the dynamite Lauren, you're golden.

-David's restaurant gets a great review, with a little help from Ella and Lauren. I really do like that they are actually showing us that these people are friends instead of just telling us the way they were in the first half of the season. I also like both Riley and Ella's conversation with Lauren about her whoring ways.

-Drew isn't a psycho, he believes that Micheal's valve is killing people! Awesome! Take him down Drew!


Next week:
Ugh, Amanda's back. You are not revitalizing Melrose Place this time around, Heather Locklear, sorry to say. And if Riley doesn't shoot down Jonah, Ima gonna kill someone.

90210-"Sweaty Palms and Weak Knees"

What did I love (or get sweaty palmed over?) about 90210 this week, you might ask? Well let me see:

-The awesome "arty" picture of Annie in front of the Hollywood Sign that Jasper had in his room. It's totally normal to have a picture of your girlfriend making the ugly cry face in a frame!

-Speaking of ugly faces, Jasper sure made a lot of them during his suicide attempt!

-The fact that I was actually kind of interested in the Anne/Jasper plot for once! (Suicide always jazzes things up!)

-I loved that Jasper's obviously totally rich Dad told Annie that Jasper was really affected by his uncle's death. "We are fabulously wealthy, but we pretty much decided to just let him become a drunken homeless person while simultaneously letting our weirdo teenage kid hang out with him. How did this plan go wrong?!!" It is always such a shock when the drunk bum brother goes before the ridiculously affluent one.

-Gia and Adrianna! Still cute!

-Teddy and Silver! DREAMY.

-The fact that the only restaurant/club that anyone who goes to West Bev put up an incredibly huge and expensive looking set so that The Gloria Steinems could play one song, for their first ever show. They are going to be so disappointed when they start playing dirty rock clubs.

-That The Gloria Steinems have their own van. (I know the guitarist is supposed to be daughter of a famous musician but still...)

-That when Ivy's mom says she "knows" a guy, it means she's slept with him.

- I think Dixon got a haircut! Or something. He looks better to me for some reason.

-Dixon and Ivy's fake relationship! He got her a good present and everything! He's a way better fake boyfriend to her than he was a real boyfriend to Silver. Hmm does that tell you something Dixon?

What did I hate about it?

-No Navid. We saw more of his girlfriend than him! They better not be marginalizing him!

-Everything else about Ivy's mom. It was just a little too cliche, the whole "child is the parent, mom is sleeping with the teacher, don't call me mom in public" thing. Oh AND she's a record executive. AND she only wants to sign Ade, not the whole band. Wow, how original.

-It could not be more obvious that Annie didn't really kill Jasper's uncle. Because if she did, she would be the worst person in the world and totally unrootable. She's already awful enough, because she thinks she killed someone and is keeping quiet about it.

Things I am just not sure how I feel about:

-No Deb & Hot Yoga Guy (a.k.a. Lucky #3) - I am a little sad about the demise of the parents, I think, but I was super excited to remember over the weekend that Hot Yoga Guy is played by Greg Vaughn, who in addition to playing Lucky # 3 on GH, also played Cliff, Donna's firefighter goody too-shoos boyfriend on Beverly Hills, 90210!

-Naomi and Liam. I kind of like that Naomi is stirring up trouble, cause let's be honest, that's what she's there for, but I also like her and Liam together and hate to see her screw it up like this! He better run into the arms of Ivy when he finds Naomi is lying about the whole "Australian teacher sexually harassed me" thing. Also, I love that after assaulting a teacher the first thing that Harry does is ask Liam if has a good reason. Like, if he has a good reason it's okay to attack someone?

Next week:
I missed the previews because I was in the bathroom! Damnit!