FOX cancels 'Terra Nova' but is it dead?

Though it's not really a surprise that FOX canceled "Terra Nova," it is surprising that they made the announcement without seeing what happens with "Alcatraz," "The Finder" or "Touch."

While there were some fundamental problems with the quality of the show, it was improving by the end of the series and there were some interesting questions set for next season.

20th Century Fox is now shopping the series to other networks and I would suggest BBC America as the top choice. They've shown a preference for sci-fi programming and have a lot of experience producing quality supernatural shows on a budget, which is "Terra Nova's" main problem.

For the mediocre ratings it produced, it was an extremely expensive show to produce (which is hilarious considering how few dinosaurs we saw.)

If they get the budget under control and find the right path storyline-wise, this could be an enjoyable show.

If BBC America, Syfy and the other obvious networks pass, producers may want to consider Tim's suggestion of taking the story to a comic book. No worries of budgets there, and series like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" have continued in comics to great success.

'The Finder' stays loyal while finding its own path

FOX’s new drama “The Finder” follows the exploits of Walter Sherman (Geoff Stults), a former Army MP who can find anything.

Though the series is a “Bones” spinoff, executive producer Hart Hanson and Stults feel that the show is unique enough to set it apart from its hit predecessor.

“It’s just fun and entertaining and that’s I think what our goal is. We’re just trying to have a nice 43 minute enjoyable show that people can tune in at any point and any part of the series and any part of the episodes and enjoy themselves and understand what’s going on,” said Stults in a conference call with reporters.

“The head of production at 20th Century Fox TV told all the line producers in order to prioritize what made it to the screen that they should ask their show runner what was first and foremost. And without a doubt I didn’t even have to think about it; it was entertainment; we just want to entertain an audience for an hour once a week,” Hanson said.

Like Emily Deschanel’s Temperance Brennan, Walter is a gifted genius with limited social skills. However, Walter’s lack of social graces are a byproduct of his PTSD.

“His PTSD, it manifests itself into a little bit of a, he lacks social grace. He’s a little paranoid. He’s not very trusting of people. And he isn’t the perfect dinner guest, but he’s fun,” Stults said. “If he’s thinking in terms of what he may say, he never intends to be insulting, but it’s just matter of fact to him.”

For Stults it is important to be true in his portrayal of Walter’s PTSD, while keeping some of the fun traits of his character.

“At the root of Walter, he’s a former military policeman who suffered a little brain trauma when he was serving in Iraq, so that’s what allows us the entry point into the series and also into Walter,” Stults said. “We certainly think it’s very important to hardenize it and in no way are we trying to make light of PTSD and those people that actually suffer from it because it’s a very real disease and a very real problem for our troops and other people for many other reasons. But it allows us this really interesting dramatic license too, it’s like the focal point for all these different things that Walter does.”


“The Finder” originally premiered as an episode of “Bones” where Walter was joined by Michael Clarke Duncan as his legal adviser Leo and Saffron Burrows as Ike the bartender. However, Burrows character was cut when the pilot was ordered to series and replaced with Maddie Hasson as juvenile delinquent Willa Monday and Mercedes Masöhn as U.S. Marshal Isabel Zambada.

Though “The Finder” is a “Bones” spinoff and is relying on its fans to help it gain success, the series is striving to stand out from its hit lead-in.


“Creatively this show stands on its own…it lives in the same universe as “Bones,” meaning that it’s a heightened reality. I hope largely humorous for people, we’ll make you cry; we’ll make you think a little bit of philosophy, a little bit of laughs,” Hanson said. “We are all trying to get the loyal kind of audience that “Bones” has, a nice chunk of people who followed “Bones” from time slot to time slot. If we can get a part of that audience on “The Finder,” then it benefits everyone.”

“We’re aware that we’ll be mixing, hopefully, obviously we’re going to be counting on some people coming over, Stults said. “We realize that there are some die-hard “Bones” fans. We realize that there’ll be criticism because we are not the same thing.”


“I guess we come from the same world…I actually called Bones the varsity team and The Finder is the JV team,” Stults said. “We’re born from “Bones.” We exist, “The Finder” and the 200 crew members of “The Finder” exist because of the success of “Bones” and David and Emily and the rest of the cast…so we really exist because of them and we’re grateful to that and we understand that without “Bones,” “The Finder” doesn’t exist, but yet we are different.”

“The Finder” premieres on FOX Jan. 12 at 9 p.m. following the winter finale of “Bones.”

'Terra Nova:' It's the end of the world...or is it the beginning?

Last night's spectacular two hour "Terra Nova" season finale (series finale?) had the producers throwing in every plot cliche but the kitchen sink. There was a civil war, an occupation, a rebellion, a bomb stopped at one second, a daring escape, a heartbreaking death of a main character, and the hero outrunning explosions.

We jumped right in with Taylor and the crew getting ready for an invasion from the evil empire. They've got almost every gun aimed at the Stargate waiting for the 11th pigrimage. Things run smoothly at first with normal colonists showing up, even Shannon son Josh's girlfriend Kara is among them.

Unfortunately for Kara the next person through is a suicide bomber, and just like that shit got real.

Actual hilarious texts between Tim and I during the show:

• Tim: So all season, every episode, they've gone on and on about bringing the son's girlfriend to Terra Nova. 5 minutes into the finale she arrives and is promptly killed.


• Steph: She showed up for like 10 seconds.


• Tim: All that time and effort wasted on plot.

So now without us getting to see the big war they've been teasing all season, the Phoenix Group has taken over Terra Nova. Their big masterplan is to strip mine the planet for its natural resources and send them back to 2149. Because starting over and doing things right is too much of a hassle?

More hilarious texts:

• Steph: Why don't they just go ahead and call the meteor unobtanium?


• Tim: They're going to burn everything down. Like they don't need plants in the future.


• Steph: Who needs oxygen?


• Tim: Yeah that totally wasn't the problem in the pilot.

Taylor's insane son Lucas is now running the colony, while Taylor and his men have disappeared into the jungle. Though he started off as the crazy scientist in the corner, it's worth noting that Lucas was a really great creepy villain.

For those of you wondering about Mira, she was sent on an errand to the Badlands and never showed up again for the rest of the finale. This made no sense since she had been running things this whole time and could have used her knowledge of the jungle to thwart Taylor's attacks.

But this is "Terra Nova," making sense is for TV shows without dinosaurs.

After some help from Jim on the inside, Taylor uses guerilla warfare and a montage to up his attacks against the Phoenix Group. Ultimately it's time for the Shannon family to get out of dodge. Unfortunately, Washington has to sacrifice herself to help them escape, in the process delivering a message to Taylor about how to defeat the evil empire.

Washington's death, while not surprising, was one of the few cliched scenes that still worked. She went out defiant, defending her people from tyrants as Taylor watched from the distance, finally seeing the man his son had become.

Her message was for Taylor to blow up the Stargate in 2149, thereby cutting themselves and the enemy off from the terrible future and finally getting a truly fresh start.

Even more hilarious texts:

• Steph: So they're gonna blow up the portal in the future and cut themselves off.


• Tim: The futuristic stuff was the best part, now it will be "Land of the Lost."

While Jim is in 2149 trying to blow up the portal (with a little help from a dinosaur), Taylor finally has a showdown with his crazy son. He beats the crap out of him saying he's glad his mother couldn't see what he became. Turns out all Lucas' issues are just manifestations of survivor's guilt over his mother's death.

Another round of hilarious texts:

• Tim: God, with these kind of daddy issues, you'd think this was "Lost."


• Steph: It's "Lost" with dinosaurs and lasers.
  

Once Jim blows up the portal and heroic outruns the explosion and the dinosaur back to Terra Nova, the Phoenix Group hightails it to the Badlands and the colonists return home.

They also figure out that there may be another portal in the Badlands, which is why the evil empire headed out there.

Though this show was stunningly ridiculous and contrived at times, there were flashes of greatness throughtout the first season. Amd the finale was actually entertaining and fun. I think FOX should pull a "Dollhouse" and order a surprise second season and give producers a chance to see where they can take it.

'I Hate' Fox's new 'comedy'

You may notice that the headline for this story features the word comedy in quotations. That's because while Fox's new show "I Hate My Teenage Daughter" is a comedy, it is almost comically unfunny.

The premise involves two former high school outcasts who've spoiled their daughters so much, they have turned into the girls who used to make their lives miserable.

Stars Jamie Pressly and Katie Finneran play the moms who are just realizing how far gone their daughters are. Chad L. Coleman and Eric Sheffer Stevens are the clueless ex-husbands/dads and Kevin Rahm is Stevens brother and the only adult who sees through these girls antics.

The main problem with this show is that none of these characters are remotely likable, meaning there's no one to root and therefore no reason to watch.

The pilot was seriously unfunny. The silence was deafening as I never laughed once.

Even more unsettling is the fact that this is such a strong cast with Pressly appearing on "My Name is Earl," Finneran in "You've Got Mail" and "Company," Stevens had an acclaimed run on "As the World Turns" and Rahm has starred in "Judging Amy" and "Desperate Housewives."

With all that talent, you'd think they could muster up a few laughs, and yet they don't. I found this particularly disappointing as I enjoy Pressly and Rahm, and loved Stevens on "As the World Turns."

Fortunately for Fox the ratings were OK with the show garnering 6.8 million viewers. (TV By the Numbers)

However, that number will almost certainly go down when "Happy Endings" returns to new episodes and "The X Factor" is no longer providing a cushy lead in.

Despite the not terrible ratings, this show is just to awful to remain on the air for long. Frankly it's embarrassing that it even made it past the pilot stage.

Why 'Glee' can't be fixed?

Originally this was going to be a blog all about how to fix "Glee" and return it to its former glory.

However, following tonight's episode "Pot O' Gold," it appears that the show can't be fixed and doesn't really want to be.

"Glee" started out as a fun comedy about a group of quirky outsiders who band together in the glee club to take on the world. Though they all fit certain high school stereotypes, the characters had heart and made viewers care about them.

Now tons of success and three years later, the show has become a parody full of caricatures. As great as she is, Jane Lynch is being wasted as Sue Sylvester. She shows up and yells insults at the kids, drops one liner about Matthew Morrison's hair and stomps away. Come on, she could do that in her sleep.

Also the musical numbers are starting to blend together. Sure the magnificent ones stand out, but those have become more fleeting in recent episodes.

The problems seem to start with the writing. The stories have become so over the top ridiculous that they're not even plausible by "Glee" standards. Not to mention the characters have either been written into a boring corner or made completely unlikeable.

Despite producers' assurance that the show is headed back to basics and will focus more on the core group this season, the series shows no signs of improvement. Even more disturbing, no one seems to be concerned with righting the plane. Everyone involved seems content to just ride things out until the bitter end.

With sub-standard writing and producers who seem more interested in pursuing other shows, the show will become the new "Heroes" even faster than expected.

'X Factor' finds its top 12

After what seemed liked an eternity, "The X Factor" finally made it to the live shows with 17 acts that needed to be narrowed down to 12. Which meant each judge had to cut someone from their category, or in Simon's case two someones.

The Groups


As the groups' mentor Paula's particular brand of crazy didn't take long to show up. Her song choices were nothing short of ridiculous. Unfortunately, The Brewer Boys became a casualty of her insanity when she gave them a mash up of Hall & Oates "Rich Girl" and George Michaels' "Faith." They sounded great on the Hall & Oates song, which made me wonder why she didn't have them do a medley if she was so desperate for a mash up.

InTENsity seems destined for a Disney Channel series about a group of friends who start a band and eventually all date each other. The problem with those shows and the group is that the members are interchangeable. If no one knows your name, will they vote for you?

Stereo Hogzz and Lakoda Rayne were fine but neither one of them will win the competition so who cares.

The Girls

I've been wondering all along why Simon chose Simone Battle to make it this far, when she clearly has cruise ship/theme park performer written all over her. Last night she wasn't even good enough for a Disney parade with that trainwreck of a performance. Tiah Tolliver also had a bad night and became the other girl eliminated in the least surprising moment of the show.

Here's the thing, Rachel, Drew and Melanie have been Simon's favorites from day one so it's absolutely no surprise that they ended up as his final three.

The Over 30s

Again, why Nicole gave a final spot to the ridiculous Dexter Haygood over someone who could have actually given a real performance and not a overexcited karaoke rendition of "I Kissed a Girl" and "Womanizer" is beyond me. He was mercifully eliminated.

The interesting question came when Simon asked if Stacy Francis was a church singer or a pop star? I see her as a church singer who can sing pop, but I'm not sure she can sell records in today's pop climate. If she went the gospel route, she could become a bona fide star.

The Boys

I have been anti-Brian Bradley since day one so it pains me to write this next line; he was actually good last night. As a matter of fact the boys were the only group with 100 percent good performances. L.A. Reid chose to eliminate Phillip Lomax after giving him a very cruise ship version of "I'm a Believer" to sing.

If he made his decision with his ears and not his wallet, he would have picked Chris Rene to go home. While Chris' story is heartbreaking and great, his voice was not better than Phillip's last night.

So after last night's eliminations the categories remain like this:
Groups: Lakoda Rayne, InTENsity, Stereo Hogzz
Girls: Rachel Crow, Drew, Melanie Amaro
Over 30s: Stacy Francis, Leroy Bell, Josh Krajcik
Boys: Brian "Astro" Bradley, Marcus Canty, Chris Rene

Next week will start the public vote along with the inevitable theme weeks. While theme weeks are usually predictable, they do show the weaknesses of the contestants and help thin the herd.

'The X Factor' ignites a new British/American war

Simon Cowell has finally brought his long running British reality hit "The X Factor" to the States, unfortunately all the talent was left in the U.K.

In a fun twist of fate, both versions of the show are airing concurrently with the Brits two weeks ahead of the yanks.

"X Factor U.K." just had its first week of live shows, while American "X Factor" is heading to judge's houses.

In a head to head comparison of judges, hosts and contestants the results are clear, this time the British are winning.

Judges

"X Factor U.K." went through a complete judging overhaul with Louis Walsh as the only returning judge. For most shows this would be disastrous, however, the change has breathed new life into the competition.

Pop stars Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos and Kelly Rowland bring actual credentials to a singing competition (something very rare) and genuinely care about the singers they mentor. They actually give relevant criticism that is helpful to the contestants and have a fun chemistry with each other. If you ignore the increasingly useless Louis, they're the best judging panel on TV.

At the other end of the spectrum is the "X Factor U.S." judges who, besides Simon, have not been very impressive so far. Paula is her usual ridiculous self, Nicole Scherzinger has lost any goodwill she built up on "The Sing Off," can't seem to say anything negative and cries at the drop of a dime, while L.A. Reid is constantly competing wit Simon to be the alpha male.

In the middle of all this the judges have forgotten that the contestants are the stars and constantly steal the spotlight.

Advantage U.K.

Hosts

This one isn't even close as the stiff and forced "X Factor U.S." Steve Jones can't touch the James Bond swagger of the U.K.'s Dermot O'Leary. Like Ryan Seacrest, Dermot is great at comforting contestants when they falter. He lets them cry it out, hugs them and lets them know it will be OK. To be fair, this is Jones' first season, so hopefully he'll improve, but right now Dermot is schooling him.

Advantage U.K.

Contestants

Until the finals of boot camp the American singers weren't very impressive, meanwhile the U.K. singers were spectacular from day one. Several immensely talented people were cut at judge's houses. Right now on "X Factor U.S." it's clear who the front runners are and short of a miracle they'll all make it to the live shows.

Misha Bryan took "Rolling in the Deep" and did the impossible by making it completely original and a new song.

The only American singer who approached that level of talent was young Rachel Crowe's rendition of "If I Were A Boy."

It's close but advantage U.K.

Since the British version is clearly better and more popular Simon should consider a crossover episode where the contestants visit each other's shows. Imagine the publicity and ratings that would generate.

'Glee' has hit 'Heroes' territory

Once upon a time "Glee" was a fun, heartwarming show about a group of misfits who sang and danced their way into our hearts. Now, it's this ridiculous parody of what it once was.

There was a time when the character's differences were celebrated, but last night Quinn was constantly berated for being different. Sure she was hanging out with a bad crowd, but did she really have to change her look back into the blond perfect princess to be acceptable.

Also, her scheming to get back her happy child from Shelby undercuts the maturity and selflessness of her original decision.

It was great to see Will call her on her selfish behavior and ungratefulness.

In a completely ridiculous, over the top moment, Kurt auditions for Tony "West Side Story" by singing Barbra Streisand's "I'm the Greatest Star." I'm sorry but someone as into musical theater as he is would never choose that song to audition with. He would know better and sing something from the show.

And I get that he's upset that Blaine is a better Tony, but shouldn't he be happy for the boy he loves so much.

At this point "Glee" has become a chore to watch and is only still palatable because of the musical numbers. Not since "Heroes" has a show gone from so good to so terrible so fast.

Every joke, so-called sweet moment and most of the dialogue feels forced. The really bad news is that the ratings have begun to reflect the diminishing quality of the series. Unless Ryan Murphy and Co. want to become the next "Heroes" they need to consider making some changes.

Everything else:

What is the point of Sugar and her anti-glee club? Cut this storyline now.

That Idina Menzel/Lea Michele duet was explosive.

Darren Criss is too talented for this sinking ship. "Something's Coming" was fantastic.

The casting session with Artie, Emma and Beiste was hilarious. The show needs more scenes like this. They are what made them a hit.

Jane Lynch brings the funny to the Emmys

As one of the stars of "Glee" Jane Lynch is known as the tough as nails Sue Sylvester. However, when she hosts the 63rd Primetime Emmys on Sept. 18, she will be much nicer than her famous character.

"I’ll say Jane Lynch will be nicer than Sue Sylvester," she said in a conference call. "Sue Sylvester would make the show explosive and you would walk away with a show you would never forget if it were Sue Sylvester, but it might be kind of war like and angry and violent. I think a show with Jane Lynch would be a lot nicer and easier to digest."

Since the actress is often asked to do such over the top comedy for her roles, she wasn't that worried about hosting the show.

"What I’m concerned about is I do well and don’t make a fool of myself. I trust my writers and everybody working on the show knows what they’re doing," she said. "I’ve worked with this crew on the Emmys last year, the Do Something Awards. Every time I’ve done an awards show, it’s the exact same crew. They know what they’re doing so I really feel like I’m good hands."

"I want it to be interesting and funny and also serve the purpose of the show, which is to honor television and people in it, and make sure we keep the eye on that. But the little bites that we get to do something fun and funny, I feel responsible that those need to be entertaining," she said.

Lynch has also enjoyed working with reality TV producer extraordinare Mark Burnett, who is producing this year's telecast.

"He has just been the best producer. There are things that creatively we wanted to do, and he said, 'Just do it,' and our people at Fox worked very well with Mark," she said. "We’re getting everything we want, and it’s just great. Not that we need like billions of dollars, but they have been really great in okaying our material and our little bits that we want to do."

Lynch is also nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, but her hosting duties have prevented her from being too nervous about the award.

"My nerves will mostly be focused towards doing the show. It’s almost a relief not to have to think about having been nominated," she said. "I’m very, very honored to be nominated and especially honored to be in the group that I’m in. I think they’re just amazing actresses and there’s such good television."

Although she knows a few of the show's previous hosts, she hasn't gotten any advice from them.

"I know Neil (Patrick Harris), and Ellen (DeGeneres), and Jimmy (Fallon), and Jimmy sent me flowers, but nobody has given me any tips," she said.

Lynch has made it clear that Sue and her track suits won't be making an appearance, but what else will viewers definitely not see?

"I probably won’t wear a tracksuit. I probably won’t do an elaborate dance number—what else won’t happen? I hope you won’t be bored," she said.

Lynch knows hosting award shows can be tricky, but she has big goals to make this year's Emmys memorable.

"I’d be lying if I didn’t say that, 'I want it to be the best award show ever,'" she said. "It’s such a coveted spot, and it’s like the biggest evening in television, so you want to do it justice."

"The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmys" air on FOX Sunday Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m PT.

'Dance' gets serious in Vegas

Now that the first round auditions have ended, "So You Think You Can Dance" heads to Vegas for the callbacks.

One of the things I love about this show is its attention to technique and its honesty that personality matters. The judges aren't afraid of eliminating early favorites if they don't live up to expectations.

They proved this by cutting 46 dancers right out of the gate, several of whom were featured heavily on the audition shows. Including Japanese hip hop dancer Hero and super cool, bow tie wearing, hip hop dancer Patty.

Since Vegas week is so all encompassing, I'll just highlight the best performances and emerging new favorites.

• I have completely fallen for the Professor. He excelled in all styles, was a constant gentleman and had a little flirtation with both Mallory sisters.


• Speaking of the sisters, while Sasha is the better dancer, Natalia has more personality and could be great with the right choreography. They're clearly setting up a final two, one spot moment.


• Unless they're hiding them, there were very few ballroom dancers this year.


• Though I don't like it when the show pushes favorites on me, Wadi Jones got increasingly impressive throughout the week.


• Debbie Allen should be a full time judge, because her critiques are honest and entertaining. "You got big dreams..."


• I appreciated the honesty the judges gave Alexis Mason by not keeping her around just because her sister is season five winner Jeanine.

Here are the dancers I definitely want in the top 20:

Natasha, Sasha, the Professor, Wadi, Melanie (Ginnifer Goodwin look-alike) and Clarice.

At two hours, tonight's "Meet the top 20" episode will be mostly filler, but I like seeing the dancers in their own style on the big stage before the competition starts.

Season two of 'Glee' comes to a merciful end

To say this season has been uneven would be an understatement. It's actually been more like a roller coaster. There were some really great classic episodes like "Grilled Cheesus," "Special Education" and "Original Song." However, there have also been epic fails like the post Super Bowl disaster.

Even the ratings reflect the downward spiral of the show, as the season began with 11-13 million viewers, but ended with 8-9 million viewers.

Following last week's beautiful "Funeral," the season finale was a chance to end the season on a high note. All things considered, the show was above average, but not an instant classic.

"New York" as the title suggests was all about the kids trip to the Big Apple for nationals. The episode opened with Rachel standing in the middle of Times Square lamenting that she had finally made it. The wonder of the group at being in the big city was well played and provided some nice moments.

The first number was a mash up of "I Love New York" and "New York New York" from "On the Town" and featured the glee club dancing around the city like they were trapped in a classic MGM musical. It was a fun number that felt more realistic than the usual "Glee" let's sing a song about our feelings moment.

The subplot was all about Will's Broadway debut in "CrossRhoades: The April Rhoades Story." This whole storyline fell flat and was really only an exaggerated reason for Matthew Morrison to sing a song from his abysmally selling CD.

Morrison performed "Still Got Tonight" which was OK, but sort of forgettable. The scene would have been more powerful if he sang a song that suited the moment.

Later, in my favorite moment Kurt and Rachel had breakfast at Tiffany's and talked about how they were moving to New York with Blaine after high school. If the characters really leave next year, this would make a great spinoff.

Anyway back to Kurt and Rachel, they followed up breakfast by sneaking onto the "Wicked" stage and brought me to tears with "For Good." I have to admit I love "Wicked" and am completely biased in favor of it, but this was a great number and saved the so far mediocre episode.

After another round of Rachel/Finn drama the time came for New Directions performance at nationals and in true "Rocky" fashion they didn't make it out of the first round and finished in 12th place. This result was not surprising and sets up the "Rocky II" comeback next year.

About Rachel and Finn, who ended up back together by the end of the episode, stop it. I don't care anymore and Finn has become such a d-bag that Rachel deserves better. I was so excited when she said her true love was Broadway, only to change gears after he kissed her onstage and ruined the group's chances of moving on.

After all the melodrama of this season, I really hope "Glee" gets its act together for season three and gets back to being the fun-loving show that I fell in love with two years ago.

The best of the rest:

• Love, love, love that Sam and Mercedes are secretly dating. They may be the only normal couple in New Directions.


• Brittany wants to be a bridesmaid at Tina and Mike's wedding and can't wait to see if they have an Asian baby.


• Again Cheyenne Jackson guest stars and doesn't sing. Really?


• Santana's post nationals, Spanish, Lima Heights rant was genius.

It's prom time for New Directions

Last night's episode revolved around the most treasured of high school experiences: prom.


Everyone was excited except Mercedes who didn't have a date and in a scene that truly broke my heart, confessed that she just wanted one night to feel like a princess. It was nice of the writers to show that underneath all her strong talk, Mercedes is just as vulnerable as the rest of the group.


She and Rachel decided to have a three way budget date with Sam that was so adorable. By the way, those were some kickass gowns they got from the $5 thrift store bargain bin.


Kurt asked Blaine, who had some bad memories of being gay bashed at his previous school, but decided to face his demons and go. Also, am I the only one who heard Kurt call him Blaine Warbler? Surely, he must have a last name and Kurt knows it? Is this just a cute term of endearment or did they really name the glee club after him?

The prom queen obsessed Quinn looked beautiful, but it was clear Finn wasn't that interested until she made her staircase entrance in the most perfect light imaginable. If prom queen were being awarded just for looks, Quinn was a lock. Of course, there's more to that story coming up.

So Finn, with the most gorgeous girl in school on his arm, spent the rest of the night overly concerned with Rachel and her ridiculous date Jesse St. James. If I were Quinn I would have dumped him on the spot.

Finn has really turned into a giant d-bag this season.

Speaking of Jesse St. James, his reappearance served no purpose except for a crazy good version of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." It's no secret that Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff are best friends. That connection and chemistry makes any duet they sing and instant classic and this acoustic, gospel tinged performance was no different.

Since New Directions was asked to play the prom, Will staggered the numbers so the kids could enjoy themselves. This gave everyone a chance to shine and was a welcome change from the way the songs are usually performed.

Puck, Artie and Sam started with a surprisingly OK rendition of the stuck-in-my-head-like-a-disease "Friday." I must say Sam and Mercedes were kind of cute, but he's too silly for her.

Then Rachel brought things down with a stellar take on Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts." Though this song fit Finn and Rachel's relationship, it's way too sad for a prom, it would bring the dance to a halt.

Luckily Blaine was there with Brittany and Tina to bring things back up with Black Kids "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You." This was the best number of the dance by far and showed how great Blaine would be with New Directions. How long before he transfers to McKinley?

Meanwhile, Finn has continued his turn to the dark side and attacks Jesse for making Rachel feel good for two seconds and have fun without him.

Finally, the big moment the show has been leading up to for weeks, the prom queen results. First, closeted gay bully Karofsky was crowned prom king and then Kurt was named prom queen. This humiliation was made more emotional by the fact that Kurt had been feeling good about going to the prom and not being an outsider. He thought people were over him and no longer cared.

There was also the impact of the scene earlier in the show when Karofsky finally broke down and apologized for his treatment of Kurt. It was the first time the true extent of Karosky's inner pain was shown.

Once Kurt pulled himself together, he went back in and accepting his crown with class and style, showing he would not bow to humiliation and hate. It was a great moment that illustrates "Glee" at its best.

More highlights:

• Sue's list of banned songs that mirrored fans least favorite numbers.


• Brittany dancing with everyone else's dates.


• The continued love of Breadsticks.


• Apparently being in glee club helps you figure out cummerbunds. As a high school band nerd, I endorse this fact.


• The prom was in the gym, very traditional and cool.

Coming up is the trip to nationals and Jesse becomes the club's consultant.

'Glee' gets a case of the Mac

For the first time "Glee" devoted an entire episode to a single album, the classic "Rumours" by one of my all time favorite bands, Fleetwood Mac.

Considering all the backstabbing and inter club dating, I'm surprised it took them this long to discover the similarities.

With so many fantastic songs to choose from, this episode could have been one of the strongest of the season. Yet, it got bogged down in high school drama. While the musical numbers were strong, (and let's face it, how could they not be) the rest of the show was uninteresting and uninspired.

I don't know what's going on with "Glee" this season but it seems to be two steps forward, four steps back. Ryan Murphy needs to be careful, because the show is getting dangerously close to "Heroes" territory.

Sue has become a caricature and half the kids have become unlikeable, which means once the musical novelty wears off, there's nothing left.

About that music, one of highlights of this episode was the return of Kristen Chenoweth as April Rhodes. Apparently her all white stage version of "The Wizard of Oz" was a bust, so she's back to convince Will to take her life story to Broadway.

Fortunately, she also sang a great rendition of "Dreams" with Matthew Morrison. Don't act like I'm the only one who grabbed a blanket off the couch and twirled around the living room, wait maybe that was just me.

In the end all the drama led to the revelation that Sam's family is having a tough time and is living in a cheap motel. It felt like a cheap trick to pull after all the relationship roulette. Especially since Sam has been an undeveloped character so far.

All in all the plot was uninteresting, while the musical numbers were top notch. However, if the show continues to stay unbalanced, it will become stale and predictable.

Musical Highlights:

"Songbird" displayed a vulnerability that Santana rarely shows. Naya Rivera is one of the unsung heroes of the show.

"Go Your Own Way" introduced Lea Michele's rock star side and had me wondering why she wanted that d-bag Finn. She's way too good for him.

"Dreams" was a perfect duet for Chenoweth and Matthew Morrison. Their voices blend beautifully.

'Glee' delivers a message of acceptance

The second season of "Glee" has been up and down. While the story of Kurt being bullied was beautifully crafted, Rachel and Finn's breakup and Will and Emma's relationship have been subpar.

It also seems like the other kids have been pushed aside for a select few. Well this week's much hyped 90 minute "Born This Way" episode not only brought the glee club back where it should be, it reminded fans why they fell in love with the show to begin with.


The story began with Rachel hurting her nose and considering a nose job. This revelation led to the club discussing the flaws they're ashamed of. This was a great topic that featured some real life conversations about body image and acceptance.

By far the best number of the episode was the mash of TLC's "Unpretty" and "I Feel Pretty" from "West Side Story." Rachel and Quinn blended the softness and vulnerability of their voices perfectly. The sadness of the song was heartbreaking.

The other musical highlight involved Kurt's inevitable return to McKinley. The Warblers showed up to say their goodbyes courtesy of Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" (a personal favorite of mine). It was a sweet, touching moment where Kurt was thanking friends who helped him out and accepted him when he really needed it.

The subplot revolved around the race for prom queen and what Santana and Lauren did to take down Quinn. Santana discovered Karofsky's secret and came up with a crazy idea of pretending to date each other in order to become prom king and queen.

Meanwhile, Lauren decided to dig up some dirt on Quinn and found out that she used to be a fat, glasses wearing outcast with the nickname "Lucy Caboosey." Unfortunately her plan backfired and Quinn became even more popular.

The whole show ended with the big "Born This Way" number, which, while not the best drove home the message of the show. It may have been a little schmaltzy but their are a lot of young fans of "Glee" who are looking at themselves in a better light following this episode.

'Glee' 'Night of Neglect' recap

If Gwyneth Paltrow ever decides she's tired of being a Oscar winning movie star, she should do "Glee" full time.

This week's show was about another neglected club, the academic decathlon, which surprisingly included Brittany. Good thing she's an expert in cat diseases. In order to send the club to Detroit for academic decathlon finals, the glee club held a fundraising concert that no one showed up to, besides Sue's newly formed Heckling club.

Meanwhile Holly and Will's romance was still going strong, despite the flirtation of Cheyenne Jackson. By the way Ryan Murphy, what's the point of bringing on Jackson if you don't let him sing?

Of course, you knew the minute Will found out Emma's marriage was over, so was Will and Holly. Unfortunately, this signaled the end of Paltrow's appearances this season.


As great as Paltrow was singing Adele's "Turning Tables," she couldn't steal the spotlight from the new diva-ized Mercedes. My favorite line of the night came when Lauren Zizes informed Mercedes that Mariah Carey makes appointments for 9 a.m and doesn't show up until 3 p.m.

Tired of being overlooked, Mercedes morphed into a diva who wanted to be carried in and could only dry her hands on puppies.

In the end, it was a perfect scene between Mercedes and Rachel were the former honestly wondered why Rachel was a bigger star, when Mercedes was more talented. Though they often compete against each other for solos and attention, the truth is no one else in the club can understand these two like each other.

All Mercedes diva antics paid off when she brought the house down with a blazing rendition of Aretha Franklin's "Ain't No Way." This number was the definition of show stopper and allowed Amber Riley to let go and display the depth of her talent.

The show has focused on moving the stories forward making it light on musical numbers in the last few episodes. What made the show so great and unique, was that it used the music to move plots along. Now the music is just a gimmick.

For example, the heckler plot was not needed. Take it away and fans could have enjoyed more Jenna Ushkowitz's take on Lykke Li's "I Follow Rivers." I get that the show needs to include story development, but sometimes the show wastes the talent of its young cast.

'American Idol's' shocking elimination

In a mind-bottling turn of events, front runner Pia Toscano was eliminated from "American Idol" this week. Pause for Tim's tears.

After a fantastic performance of "River Deep, Mountain High" showed that she could sing uptempo songs, Pia seemed like a lock for next week and frankly the finals.

The fact that she's gone while Paul and Lauren are still competing is confounding. It's anybody's title now so, while it's sad that she's done, the show is more interesting and unpredictable.

Christian Slater returns to comedy in 'Breaking In'

FOX's new series "Breaking In" is a comedy tailor made for nerds. "Reaper's" Bret Harrison stars as Cameron Price, a brilliant computer hacker who scammed his way into a full ride at college. He is found out and blackmailed into working for Contra Security, a company full of eccentrics led byu Christian Slater as Oz.

While "Breaking In" follows the normal office comedy cliches of the wacky workers and the over the top boss, it breaks out of the mold with the performances by its strong cast.

Harrison is instantly likable in the lead role, and is sufficiently normal compared to the rest of his co-workers. Alphonso Macauley stands out as Cash, the strategic expert with an 161 IQ. He is also the office's resident prankster and nerd. He first appears on screen dressed as Han Solo and makes hilarious pop culture references throughout the episode.

However, the show is stolen by Slater's Oz. He is mysterious and eccentric and provides Slater to use comedic skills we haven't seen from him in a while. While he is the most experienced cast member, Slater has high praise for his funny co-stars.

"I definitely felt like they were setting the bar very, very high and if I didn't show up and be as prepared as I could possibly be then I would definitely fall behind with the timing and comedic genius that they posses," said Slater in a phone interview.

Though he is known for playing eccentric characters, Slater said that Oz is different from anyone he's ever played.

"Well, I do like the fact that he's a eight moves ahead kind of guy. You know, he pretty much knows what the outcomes are going to be right from the get-go, which I really appreciated and I like," he said.

"Breaking In" may be a office comedy with the usual characters, but it's hilarious and entertaining and features Christian Slater sitting in Captain Kirk's chair.

The premiere airs April 6 at 9:30 p.m. following "American Idol."

'Original Songs' help 'Glee' return to form

Amazingly "Glee" has featured two solid episodes in a row, with last week's "Sexy" and last night's "Original Song" reminding fans why they fell in love with New Directions two years ago.

"Original Song" was all about regionals and the club's quest to write original songs for the competition.

The show opened with Quinn back in mean girl mode, trying to protect her relationship with Finn from his connection to Rachel. This storyline while tiresome provided one of the show's best scenes when Quinn informed Rachel that she had no future with Finn because she was destined to leave and they were meant to stay in Ohio.

Though she could have been a little more tactful, it did give Rachel the heartbreak she needed to write "Get It Right," a great Celine-esque power ballad that Lea Michele belted like nobody's business.

The other highlight was the advancement of the Kurt/Blaine pair, who sung a very sweet duet of "Candles" by Hey Monday and also kissed and made their relationship official.

Blaine told Kurt that he was the one he had been waiting for and then they kissed. It was very high school sweet, kudos to the producers for not leaking that scene.

The only part that fell flat was the judges, Kathy Griffin as a Sarah Palin clone, Loretta Devine as a stripper turned nun and of course local news anchor Rod Remington. The scene felt shoehorned in and just didn't work.

Plus, how dare the producers have Loretta Devine on and not have her sing? Can you imagine how great it would be to hear her and Amber Riley sing a duet?

It's a shame that with momentum going strong the show will be in reruns for a few weeks, but hopefully the high quality will continue when it returns.

'24' is back

Apparently the idea of having a firm ending is all it takes to re-energize a show. It worked on "Lost" and now "24" seems to be back on track.

The announcement that this would be the last season of "24" didn't come as a surprise to anyone, however, that guarantee has freed the show of expectations and allowed it to return to its former glory.

In last night's two hour installment Jack had to rescue President Hassan, elegantly portrayed by Anil Kapoor, from the terrorists who he gave himself up to. As Jack raced through the city chasing Hassan and his kidnapper, President Taylor was dealing with the revelation that two of her trusted aides had betrayed her and committed treason.

Cherry Jones has been spectacular in the last couple of episodes and should be a lock for an Emmy nomination. The showdown scene between Taylor and Rob Weiss should go on her Emmy reel with last week's stirring speech.

And of course back at CTU the walls were closing in on Katee Sackhoff's Dana Walsh. Dana has been working with the terrorists for quite some time and it was finally time for her to be found out. After Dana went all Starbuck on some guards and shot her way out, she was captured by her fiancee Cole Ortiz (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and said she would only speak with Jack.

Once Dana negotiated her deal, Jack went to the building where Hassan was being held, while the audience was shown the terrorists internet trial of Hassan. And just when you think Jack will burst in in the nick of time, it turns out the video was pre-recorded and Hassan was already dead.

The look of failure on Jack's face resonated so heavily that I remembered what a good actor Kiefer Sutherland is. The show ended with Hassan's family being informed of his death by President Taylor and the requisite silent countdown.

Last night "24" returned to the adrenaline fueled, breathless TV that it became famous for. I can only hope that it keeps the momentum going and finishes on a high.

'Fringe' is the best show I can't watch

As Tim previously mentioned I agreed to watch an episode of "Fringe" if he watched "American Idol." Since I'm a woman of my word, I sat down yesterday and watched "Fringe."

Let me first say that I have never doubted that it's a great show, I'm just unable to deal with the horrifically awesome ways people die on the show. Luckily Tim chose a not so scary episode.

The show was titled "The Bishop Revival" and revolved around a character who was using a mysterious chemical to kill people with specific genetic markers.

What I liked about it was the way it used the mystery to reveal deeper layers in the father-son relationship between Walter and Peter Bishop. They have a tumultuous past and though they have seemingly gotten past it, old resentments still linger below the surface.

I also need to take a moment and discuss how fantastic Joshua Jackson is as Peter. Like a lot of people my age I had a huge crush on him during "Dawson's Creek" so it makes me happy to see him still producing good work.

Overall I think I got the much better end of this deal, as I can honestly say that if the episode doesn't involve people exploding or liquefying I'll probably keep watching "Fringe."

Tim on the other hand has not become instantly hooked on "American Idol." However, there's always "The X-Factor," which premieres next year.