Finally! A great Gossip Girl episode!

I've been waiting all season long to thoroughly enjoy an episode of Gossip Girl, and last night, it finally happened! I'm not sure if it was the roaring 20s theme of Chuck's party, the fact that his bar was named Gimlet, or Dorota's increasing amount of screen time - but I loved it all.

Ok, except for one thing - I'm still not quite sure I buy into the whole "Chuck called the cops/Blair called the paparazzi thing". I mean, I get that it was an interesting twist that they knew the cops would be coming ahead of time (since they called them after all), but I'm still not sure why that was better than just waiting for the cops to bust up the party themselves? Plus, do busted parties/clubs ever get GOOD attention? Maybe I'm not saavy enough with the new club scene, but I'm not sure I get that. AND, I'm kind of against the whole underground speakeasy bit. It's overdone in New York and has sort of lost it's intrigue (at least for me), so I'm not sure I'm loving where Chuck's "secret keys" idea is going.... BUT, that's it for my complaining, I swear!

Now for the good stuff - Serena's job as a PR person. I LOVE seeing her 'working the door' and in other less glamorous roles than she used to be in. She still dresses as fabulously (although I'd love to go ONE week without being blinded by boobage), but it's great to see her doing real work. And oh my gosh, was she really going to complain about having to deliver James Franco's underwear?

As for Chuck and Blair - there was a serious lack of chemistry/excitement from them these past several weeks but I think last night's episode got them right back on track: working together instead of against each other. "Chair" is at it's best when they are scheming against other people and I'm hopeful about where the writers will take them. Plus, it seems like they have the steam back in the relationship. Side note: do rich men in New York routinely present their ladies with gigantic boxes with beautiful dresses inside? I mean, really people, does this happen? It happens ALL the freaking time on GG, and Petrovsky did it for Carrie on SATC. I just don't get it, how do these guys know their ladies sizes? Ok....clearly I'm wayyy over-analyzing this, but it's something I've wondered for awhile. Regardless, Chuck seemingly has great taste in 20s flapper dresses.

Lily and Rufus - they were adorable. It was nice to see them not bickering for once, and the way Lily paid for trick-or-treaters to come by just to make Rufus happy was so in keeping with her character but still incredibly sweet. Rufus' love for all things Halloween was also adorable (and those "KISS" jack-o-lanterns were amazing!) and it was nice to see them apart from their children for once.

Queen J - I am SO pumped for where this storyline is going. Jenny is completely dead weight on the show when she's being nice and behaving. Her character only brings something to the table when she gets spunky/b*tchy, and that certainly emerged last night. Having her cronies dump yogurt on her own best friend/BROTHER's head was downright cruel, and her attempts to hide behind the fact that she 'has to be that way at school' are not impressing anyone (except Lily!?). I really hope they continue down this path with her, and hopefully this will give Eric more than a tangential role on the show.

Ugh, I don't have much to say about Dan and Olivia. Olivia annoys me less than I thought, Dan finally doesn't look icky this season, that's about it. OH but Nate's reactions to Dan watching Olivia's film were hilarious and priceless. Maybe the show should continue to relegate Nate to serving as comic relief since his stories this season have been D-U-L-L.

Anyways, here's hoping that GG continues on this upward trajectory!!

Private Practice - Is anyone still watching this? Because I'm considering breaking up with it...

Yesterday afternoon (after the Longhorn's messy victory over the Sooners - woo!) I sat down to catch up on Thursday night's Private Practice episode, and 50 minutes later I felt like I had completely lost my football high. This is the third straight episode in a row (and there have only been three so far this season!) where I felt bummed out after it ended. Now when the season ended last year with the gruesome, horrifying steal-the-baby-out-of-Violet's-womb storyline, I figured we were in for a dark period before things turned light and happy again. But for some reason, even in its darkest moments, Grey's usually manages to make me laugh (or at least chuckle), cry (of happiness and sadness), and feel hopeful of things to come. Private Practice just isn't doing it for me.

Let's dissect some of the current storylines:

1) Addison - I'm so so so over Addison's pining for Noah. Seriously, the whole storyline upsets me not only because of the whole 'man emotionally cheating on his wife' thing, but also because it has made Addison completely moody and glum and depressing. She is the REASON I decided to give Private Practice a chance and she's just completely miserable right now! Not to mention it's completely killed her rapport with Naomi, which used to be another highlight of the show.

2) Violet - I get it, she went through complete trauma, but how long are the writers going to deem an appropriate amount of time for her to be grieving before she gets back to her normal self? Any less than 6 months to a year will seem unrealistic, but any more than a few more weeks will bore me to tears. They're going to have to tread lightly on this one. Also, I feel for Violet and the whole giving up her baby storyline - it makes sense to me and it's an interesting angle, but I'm also not sure how they're going to resolve this. Pete raises the baby and then Violet changes her mind and then asks for the baby back? Pete raises the baby and then Violet changes her mind and her and Pete get together? This seems messy all around...

3) Pete/Sheldon - I'm so glad the paternity issue is FINALLY resolved, but after leading us on about this for almost a year, it was resolved with absolutely no fanfare. It was so predictable, there was nothing very exciting tied to the reveal, and what does this mean for Sheldon now? My guess is that he'll slowly be faded out which is unfortunate because I found him amusing.

4) Sam - Sam is a certified hottie, and him and Naomi need to be together. This whole storyline with Bailey just bothers me and seems to be setting him up to take a trip to Seattle Grace as a cardiothoracic surgeon. If this happens I will surely stop watching PP altogether. The show is sooo not worth it without Taye Diggs.

5) Cooper - Cooper is one of my favorite characters and one of my favorite things about him was his relationship with Violet. Now that that's gone, I'm trying to get behind him and Charlotte but I just can't do it. His gesture at the end of this past episode (asking her to move in with him) was cute, but I still don't like the two of them together.

6) Dell - Where the hell is Dell? I could always use more Dell...

So tell me people, are you guys sticking with Private Practice to see if it emerges from the Dark Ages? Or have you long ago given up this Shonda Rhimes spin-off?

Recapping The Office Wedding! (a few days late, I know)

I've been meaning to do a post about Pam and Jim's wedding on The Office since Thursday night but things obviously get hectic over the weekend (especially with gamedays and what not!), but four days later, I'm still completely in love with the episode "Niagara". The opening intro had me chuckling out loud and the final montage had me wiping the tears. All in all it was one for the books - awkward moments, hilarious moments, sentimental moments, cheesy moments, all wrapped into one fantastic package. Of course I'll admit that it wasn't the PERFECT episode (I mean really, does any show have perfect episodes - oh wait LOST and the West Wing do...just saying..), and it had the usual bloated feel that all hour-long episodes of The Office have, but all in all I think it totally surpassed the immense hype that was leading up to it. Instead of doing an indepth recap though, I'll leave you with my top ten moments from "Niagara".

10. Michael's painting for the bride and groom, and saying that he had a second nude one at home for himself.

9. The intro with all the puking and Creed eating noodles - absolutely revolting and hilarious

8. Meemah solidifying her opinion about Pam's pregnancy based on the fact that she was forced to watch Bruno in her hotel room...amazing

7. Dwight's three wolves shirt

6. Dwight kicking Isabelle in the face during their aisle dance

5. Jim's rehearsal dinner speech: equal parts sweet and awkward

4. Kevin's TISSUE BOX shoes!! HAHA

3. The entire cheesy/hilarious/sweet 'Forever' Montage - particularly Jim and Pam's waterfall nuptials

2. Oscar's vogue moves while coming down the aisle...HAHAHA priceless

1. "Plan A was marrying her a long time ago...pretty much the day I met her..."

Alright, folks, I'm sure I'm leaving out many other stellar moments but point them out to me in the comments!

'Man Shops Globe' Premieres on the Sundance Channel

A few days ago a friend and I had the opportunity to attend an event for the new television show 'Man Shops Globe' at our local Anthropologie store. The show follows Keith Johnson, global shopper for Anthropologie stores, as he travels around the world in search for unique and exquisite goodies. The concept is pretty awesome: Keith Johnson has the coolest job in the world, (as the show never fails to remind us), and he literally travels the globe in search of fantastic finds to decorate and sell in Anthropologie stores nation (and soon to be world) wide.

At the event we were able to watch the premiere episode, which took place in France, and overall I had mixed feelings. On one hand, Keith Johnson really does have the coolest job ever. What I would give to spend my life in antique markets around the world seeking out incredible works of art and furniture. On the other hand, though, the show left something to be desired. I can't quite put my finger on it but something about the people on the show felt a little impersonal. I wanted to know a little bit more about them, and what drives their tastes and purchases. Also, every time they made a purchase I wanted to know more about the item, or see it more closely. Maybe it was because most of the conversations were taking place in French, but I just felt like I wanted to know more! It's also possible that I just didn't find the furniture and art in France to be all that intriguing.

I think there are good things in store for this show though - in the coming episodes Johnson travels to South Africa, Turkey, India and a bunch of other places. All of these sound extremely promising, and as an avid Anthropologie fanatic I will surely continue watching! The first episode aired last night and for future episodes tune in on Wednesdays at 9pm CT (10 Eastern) on the Sundance Channel!

Comcast in talks to purchase NBC Universal?? Nooooo!!!

The Wrap broke the news yesterday that Comcast was in talks with General Electric about buying NBC Universal from them. My immediate reaction to this is horror.

I know, I know, it's almost impossible to imagine a world today without major media conglomerates, and I'm ok with that - but the thought of a cable company owning a content provider upsets me a LOT. I'll just go ahead and say that part of why this upsets me is because it's NBC. I hold a special place in my heart for the peacock network and believe that they often value their content more than their ratings, unlike their peer networks. Regardless, the thought of any cable company owning a broadcast network is disconcerting. Cable companies, for the most part, serve the purpose of delivering content to their viewers - not creating content (and the little content they do create is pretty worthless). I really believe that it is good for these two acts to be separated and that any cross-over could stifle creativity. Even more worrisome is the thought that Comcast could potentially prevent other cable companies from having access to certain NBC content.

Also, there may be certain FCC implications with all of this. I'm not sure what exactly the FCC's rules are for cross-ownership of cable and broadcast, but given the FCC's relaxing of cross-ownership rules in general lately, it seems like this may not be an issue? I plan to look into the regulatory aspects of this more because frankly, I find it fascinating, but regardless of all that, I am really not pleased with the potential for this deal to go through! Here's hoping The Wrap has their information incorrect....but, honestly, is it only a matter of time before cable providers and content providers are one and the same!? UGH!