Oscar Predictions From Someone Who Has Absolutely No Authority To Do So

Although the Oscars are focused on movies, they air on television, so I can easily talk about it here without any cries of "Off-topic!" from all my imaginary regular readers. The Oscars are an interesting awards show because everybody pretty much knows all the winners going in. I have only seen three movies (Toy Story 3, Inception, The Social Network) that are nominated for anything (well, anything major) but can probably still predict the majority of the outcomes. The King's Speech will win best picture. I would prefer The Social Network, which I thought was just a really, really well made movie, to win but since I haven't seem The King's Speech so I do not have very much room to talk. You never know, there could be an upset here, and I would love to see one. That way, it won't be so boring. Natalie Portman and Colin Firth (maybe Jesse Eisenberg) will win, no suprises there. I just hope the ceremony is put together better than last year's. Last year was just kind of a mess. From Ben Stiller's terrible "Look at me, I'm dressed up as those blue people from Avatar" and accompanying jokes, from not being able to actually see who we're remembering in the In Memorial segment, and that god awful twenty minute long dance sequence to all the nominated scores. And James Franco and Anne Hathaway are generally likeable people, so hopefully the hosting won't be a problem.

Erm....Review Roundup?

How I Met Your Mother: "Garbage Island"- Another so-so episode with a much better ending. Marshall and Lily's subplot was fun, as was seeing the captain again, but he changed character so many times throughout the episode that it was hard to identify him as a real threat to anyone. Regarding the ending, they appear to be writing Wendy out of the show as in the Future Airport (by the way, that far into the future, wouldn't Bob Saget make more sense than Josh Randor?), last time she knew, Ted was dating Zoey and I think we all know, that relationship probably won't make it out of this season.

Chuck: "Chuck vs the Masquerade"- This episode took us back into the overall arc, revealing Volkoff has a daughter. I thought the episode itself was fairly bland (minus the horse stunts, which were just abysmal) but set up a lot of potential for future story lines. I'm curious to see what's in the mysterious special ops vault in Castle and what secret team Casey might be joining. I also find it interesting that Chuck's words about becoming a spy may have turned Volkoff's daughter into the next Volkoff.

Raising Hope: "What Up, Cuz?"- This felt like an episode that shows this show has some serious potential, but sometimes fails to use it. Too much Maw-Maw, too many weird flashbacks, and just a completely ridiculous plotline (even for this show) just felt like the show was taking a giant step in the wrong direction, at least for this week.

Modern Family: "Regrets Only"- I enjoyed this one quite a bit. My previous complaints with the show still stand (Gloria has got to be one of the most obnoxious characters on television) but the plots at least somewhat moved away from 'wacky misunderstandings' to 'slight variants on wacky misunderstandings', which if that is as entertaining as this episode was, then I wouldn't mind, at least for a little while. However, the resolution to the Dunphy storyline was a complete disapointment, even with Hailey's excuse for not having a job tied in.

Community: "Intro to Political Science"- Community is a show hailed for its originality and originality in borrowing tropes from other media. But it seems like they borrowed too many tropes in this episode. It all just felt extremely familiar. Nice person decides to run for a government position at a place where it really doesn't matter, nice, yet tough, friend decides to run as well to show them what politics is really all about. That being said, the episode still had its high points. Pop, pop (gotta love Magnitude, although I can see his character getting wary rather fast), Britta being the only one rejected by the applause o meter, the Dean (and his 'sister's' Uncle Sam costume), Troy and Abed's election coverage, Jeff's Real World audition tape, and especially Abed's subplot, which was just completely original and really well done and suited to the character. Although I doubt it's in the cards, I'd like to see the secret service back again some day.

The Office: "Todd Packer"- Another detour on the "Goodbye, Michael" highway, this time with the return of his best friend Todd Packer. Packer was great, as usual, making off-color comments about all the employees and Holly was great as the suprised middleman. Even with episode like this and last week's, I don't really feel any momentum building towards Michael's departure, so perhaps it's meant to be suprised or perhaps it will start next episode (March 17...dear lord), but there's just not that much there right now.

Parks and Recreation: "Indianapolis"- It was funny. It was sweet. It was a little sad. I feel like I'm saying the same thing about every episode of the show, but it's always true. It was good to see Andy and April together, as it was seeing Ron in his own personal hell ("Give me all the bacon and eggs you have!"), and the cologne subplot was very amusing. This show just functions well on many, many levels.

30 Rock: "TGS Hates Women"- It was social commentary time for 30 Rock this week, tacking issues of female comedians. The cold open was very funny, as was the very end of the episode, tying it back in, and the guest writer was a very funny, albeit obnoxious character to see interact with the staff. Jack's subplot was very fun and holds potential for what I assume will be an ongoing arc (and for some reason, a teenaged girl seems like a much better rival for Jack than Devon Banks, despite the wonderful stylings of Will Arnett). The episode kind of abandoned the social commentary it seemed to be going for towards the end, though, even if the reveal of the fake personality was still very funny. It felt a little cheating.

No More Scores!

Having looked back at last week's While I Was Gone posts, I noticed that I forgot to include scores for episodes in all the post except for How I Met Your Mother, the first one I did. This made me realize that I do not want to do scores anymore. It's hard to take all the elements for one episode and put it into a simple number. My opinions of the episode should be apparent in my words, not just in a number. Things like How I Met Your Mother's "Bad News', where the episode was pretty standard but the ending was fantastic, can get a lower score when I have so many good things to say about a particular part of it. So I will still be reviewing episodes, I just won't be scoring them.

While I Was Gone: Fringe ("Reciprocrity", "Concentrate and Ask Again", "Immortality")

I feel like, because that arc is over now, we've lost the momentum we had the first half of the season. The episodes have become more standalone (something which has only hurt the show in the past) and it's unclear where we're going from here. I don't know exactly how I feel about the whole 'Peter has to choose an Olivia and that will save a universe" device and I feel like I won't know until this arc is wrapped up. It is interesting considering one was his birthplace and one is where he currently is, so it's possible he doesn't have a bias in the matter. The standalone case in "Immortality" told a much better story than the one in "Concentrate and Ask Again" and I very much enjoyed "Reciprocrity", but it just feels like the pacing has taken a turn for the worse and I'm just waiting for it to pick up again.

While I Was Gone: 30 Rock ("Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning", "Que Sopresa", "Double-Edged Sword", "It's Never Too Late for Now"

The concept of "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" (and the title, for that matter) was much funnier than the execution. It felt hurried, sweaty, and just completely unnecessary. "Que Sopresa" wasn't that much better, but did provide more laughs. However, both "Double-Edged Sword" and "It's Never Too Late for Now" were very good episodes. Canada jokes are always hilarious and Matt Damon was fantastic as always (loved his Guardian Owls act-along). "It's Never Too Late for Now" was very smartly set up for its final reveal and any time this show can throw some original music in, it's bound to be good (I mean, it was no Werewolf Bar Mitzvah, but hey, what is?).

While I Was Gone: Parks and Recreation ("The Flu", "Time Capsule", "Ron and Tammy: Part Two", "Media Blitz")

"The Flu" was probably the best episode of this show so far. I particularly enjoyed that Leslie, despite being deliriously sick the rest of the episode, was back to normal the second she got up on the podium and began speaking. It fits right in with her character. The rest was also great, especially Rob Lowe's now infamous delivery of "Stop Pooping". "Time Capsule" was the weakest. Will Forte was kind of obnoxious, the episode felt like it was running purely on anti- Twihlight jokes, I didn't buy that Leslie would try to do this so a guy could please his daughter. It just didn't feel right. Ron and Tammy two was like the first one: awesome. Ron Effin' Swanson with cornrows. What else needs to be said? Media Blitz was a good showcase for Adam Scott and was also just a very funny episode that helped make his character not as bland.

While I Was Gone: The Office ("The Seminar", "The Search", "PDA", "Threat Level Midnight")

Not a bad string of episodes at all, considering the state of the show the past couple seasons. "The Seminar" was pretty typical fare, but still enjoyable. "The Search" was the weakest of the bunch, saved only by the awesome subtle camera pan to see Creed's picture on the wall at the restaurant and Michael and Holly's scene at the end. "PDA" was perhaps the strongest episode this show has done in years. It was continually funny, the characters seemed themselves, I wasn't particularly annoyed by any one, and it was just overall very enjoyable. "Threat Level Midnight" was an episode that seemed to be done just to signal the fact the Michael will be leaving soon. I have a feeling it's very polarizing among fans, but I thought it was goofy fun. I enjoyed how nonchalantly old characters were brought back as well.

While I Was Gone: Community ("Celebrity Pharmacology", "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons", "Early 21st Century Romanticism", "Intermediate Documentary Filmaking")

So, the overarching plot of these episodes is basically "Pierce is a dick". And he is. It makes no sense why the study group would keep him around anymore and I really hope there's some sort of redemption or conclusion to his character, because, for now, it just doesn't make sense why he's still there.

"Celebrity Pharmacology" was, at least to me, by far the weakest episode the show has done in quite some time. It was still enjoyable, but the plot was weak, a relationship between Annie and Pierce isn't big enough to focus on for an entire episode, and  a lot of the jokes just felt forced and odd ("Dildomart"?). This was soon rectified as the next episode, "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" was one of the best. Pierce was a great villain (the problem isn't so much that him being an asshole is annoying to the viewer, it's that it doesn't make sense for him to be around these people anymore) and Fat Neil was a character that was easy to sympathize with. The Valentine's episode was still good, if not particularly memorable (except for Magnitude!)

"Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" was fantastic as an individual episode. Some might argue that it was an event episode, akin to "Modern Warfare", but the documentary format was just a storytelling device. I liked that, while it was used as a send-up of the mockumentary format (particularly, it seemed, of Modern Family, i,e. random shots of characters over a sentimental monologue) it was also used it to tell a very engaging and effective story. I quite enjoyed Troy's reaction to meeting LeVar Burton ("YOU CAN'T DISAPPOINT A PICTURE!" and the creepiest rendition of the Reading Rainbow theme song ever) as well as LeVar Burton himself ("More fish for Kunta"). The thing is, it felt like it was supposed to give Pierce redemption but it didn't. It made him even less likeable. Which is why I hope this wasn't supposed to be the end of this particular arc.

While I Was Gone: Modern Family ("Bixby's Back", "Princess Party")

Neither of these episodes were particularly good, something I've felt has been a recent trend. All of my thoughts about this show recently were summed up quite nicely in this post by Alan Sepinwall.

While I Was Gone: Raising Hope ("Romeo and Romeo" and "A Germ of a Story")

After a ridiculously long two- month hiatus, Raising Hope returned early February and seems to have resumed its increasing quality. It's still not a great show, but it is generally good and has its moments of greatness. These two episodes were good examples of that. It's a funny, sweet show. By far, the highlight of both episodes was Burt's jackass attempts in the second episode. My only real problem with the show is Maw-Maw has to be used more sparingly. Or just not at all,

While I Was Gone: Chuck ("Vs the Gobbler", "Vs the Push Mix", "Vs the Seduction Impossible", "Vs the Cat Squad")

This was an interesting section of the season for Chuck because the first two episodes were designed to be an end for the current arc and a series finale, as NBC had only ordered 13 episodes at the beginning of the season. The Gobbler was the most problematic of these episodes, it felt rushed and it felt the plot was collapsing on itself. The CIA helping Sarah break someone out of prison made no sense and was a giant plot hole and Volkoff was a little to quick to trust her. The next episode, originally designed to be a finale, was fantastic. It showed Chuck being able to take someone down without using the intersect, something the show has been missing, and provided excellent closure to all the characters (including my favorite Jeffster! moment of all time). And however made the decision to have the last shot be in the background was brilliant. As with last season, the two following episodes were intended to be light-hearted standalones and once again did a fine job. Fine enough that I can ignore the fact that Casey recovered way too quickly from falling off a building.

While I Was Gone: How I Met Your Mother ("Oh Honey", "Desperation Day")

So, it's been a few weeks. This is where I would make an attempt at a humorous comment about my reader in Alaska, but I have since been told that I am an idiot and that Alaska is part of the USA, which would be why the stats map shows me having a reader there. But I digress, I'll do an individual catch- up with each show as opposed to four week roundups because this is a lot more convenient. So, starting with How I Met Your Mother:

First off, Katy Perry cannot act. She was significantly better than when Britney Spears was on the show, but still felt like she was reading lines. You know, in the non-acting way. The clue homage was very cool (the more shows do subtle things like this, the more I love them) and Ted and Zoey, suprising absolutely no one, ended up together. I don't mind the two as a couple and I quite enjoyed the moment between when Zoey got her phone call and Ted got his. This led nicely into Desperation Day, which further built the relationship and gave us great closure on Marshall's father's death. And laser tag is the only way I could imagine Barney having a date on Valentine's Day.