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Once Upon a Time 1.10 – 7:10 AM Recap

It’s been a while since I recapped anything for this blog, but I’ve found that I missed it. Since I’ve fallen in love with Once Upon a Time, I thought I’d jump in and talk about that.

I always find it interesting how the world of TV works. This season we got two new shows with fairy tale elements to them. I watched them both for a couple of weeks, but Once Upon a Time is the one I stuck with because I like their twist on classic fairytales and I like how they parallel the modern, real world stories with the fairytale they are retelling. Yes, the Lost connections are everywhere behind the scenes, and since I didn’t like how that show ended, it does worry me some. I’m hoping since the guys behind this show weren’t ultimately responsible for Lost, I’ll wind up liking this one better.

Last week’s episode was the first miss for me, mainly because I just didn’t care about the outcome. We were focusing on new characters, and I’m more interested in the main cast at this point. So I was rewarded with last night’s episode in a big way.Read More »Once Upon a Time 1.10 – 7:10 AM Recap

Revenge 13: Commitment

I don’t know about you but sometimes I need a few days to recuperate from an evening of Revenge. This episode was pretty much mind-blowing. I didn’t do any yelping but I could have used about five other brains to help me figure out what the heck was going on. It was pretty much drama overload this week.

First, I have to give props to Nolan in this episode. In the opening scenes he basically says all the things I’ve been thinking. Like, doesn’t Emily care that Charlotte is her half-sister? And who does she really love: Jack or Daniel (or in some weird way, both)? I guess I can’t blame Emily for being so detached when it comes to the Charlotte news since she’s upset her dad didn’t share the news with her in his journal and because she has built herself up to go through with this revenge plot and that didn’t mean making friends and going soft when anything personal happened.

Emily’s initial order of business this week is to find Amanda (who just returned from her romantic Pacey-&-Joey style getaway to Atlantic City). She informs Amanda of Treadwell’s house being set on fire and tells her she needs to get out of town. Victoria is clearly the one who set the fire and she hates Amanda so she is going to place the blame on Amanda of course. Amanda seems convinced she can get through anything and take care of Jack in the process. (Emily predicts Jack may be in danger.)

In the meantime, Conrad has offered Declan a “scholarship” to Charlotte’s school so they can be oh-so-happy together. Basically Declan has to just pass the entrance exam and it’s a go. I know I always make fun of Declan but it would be nice if he wasn’t such a stereotypical wrong-side-of-the-tracks kind of character. (Think about it: Joey Potter was created much in the same vein but she never once acted like this.) After Conrad’s no-strings-attached offer (yeah right), the David Clarke interview finds its way to his table. (Funny how that happens.)

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Revenge 12: Infamy

Revenge’s corner of the Hamptons is a bit quieter since Tyler was forced out last week. In fact, my husband usually measures how crazy the show is by the amount of yelping I do in the next room, and Wednesday night, I was pretty much quiet (yet silently stressing while hating on “Amanda” and Jack). Until the end where I shouted: I KNEW IT!

Let’s just skip to the ending. Emily finds out that Charlotte is indeed the daughter of Victoria and her father. As in, Charlotte is her half-sister. For all of Emily’s smarts, I’m kind of surprised that she wasn’t savvy to this possibility. But there it is, straight from her father’s mouth.

To rewind a bit, with Tyler gone, the episode sort of goes back to its original format. Emily has her eyes set on Mason Treadwell, the writer of a book that cemented the fact that her father was guilty in the minds of many. Including hers as a young girl. Back then Mason was known as Leo, a reporter covering the trial. David Clarke trusted him to tell his story objectively. And at first, Leo tried. He interviewed little Amanda, who believes she had to tell that her father was guilty or they would lock her away too. Leo agrees with Amanda that David is innocent and asks her: “How would you like to help me rescue your father?”

Anyone who has watched one episode of this show can guess what happened. Maybe even half an episode. (Or anyone listening to the scary music.)

The Graysons. They happen to everything.

Instead, we see a young Amanda crying over Treadwell’s book, burning the picture of her father, and living for many years with the fact that her father was a killer. Fast forward a handful of years, and our Emily is rereading the book, with the knowledge that her father was framed, and she is ready to bring this guy down.

Can I just say I love Roger Bart? I know him basically as a Broadway guy but he did a great job playing this pompous, over dramatic writer type. Anxious for more work but with a little bit of a conscious.

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Revenge – Episode 1.11 “Duress”

Happy 2012 everyone! I don’t know a better way to kick off the new year then tuning into a new episode of Revenge! Especially when it features a mental breakdown of this guy:

Yep. That’s Tyler. The episode opens with him holding a gun and about to shoot one of the bunch — Conrad, Ashley, Charlotte, Declan, Jack, Daniel, or Emily — at Daniel’s “casual” clambake birthday shindig on the beach. And because Revenge wouldn’t be the show it is without them, we get a flashback to two days earlier.

Pretty early into the episode we see why Tyler appears as the uninvited “guest” at the clambake. Conrad agrees to fire him (especially if Daniel returns to work) and Victoria is going to kick him out of his beloved pool house (because she will basically do anything Daniel wants right now). Emily steals the infamous animal-shaped USB and his prescription pill bottle. She calls his doctor and finds out that Tyler has been under investigation for several weeks now. A few minutes later, she’s watching Tyler trash the pool house. Because the USB is missing and he doesn’t have any pills yet.That first (or last) scene is making so much sense now. But every time I think this guy is about to lose it, he gains composure some how. And then loses it again. Apparently, Tyler is under the supervision of his brother, who is a big doctor. Nolan calls him and arranges to fly him to the Hamptons to pick up Tyler before he does something dangerous.(Where has this guy been?!) On top of everything else, Tyler’s beloved Daniel calls Tyler a “pathetic parasite” and threatens to call the police on him. Tyler flees.

I’m going to wait to get to the good part.

Read More »Revenge – Episode 1.11 “Duress”

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition To End As Regular Series

It’s always a chicken and the egg question when a TV series gets moved to Friday night. Did the network place it there because that is the slot its numbers justified, or did the low numbers come from being exiled to the Siberia of TV, the Friday night slot. Suffice it to say that when ABC moved “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to Friday night the writing was on the wall that this would be its last season. Now Disney has made it official with the series finale airing on January 13, 2012.

The show that has impacted thousands of lives is going out with one of its largest projects ever, rebuilding seven homes in tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri. This won’t be the last we see of “EM:HE”, the crew will return from time to time with special episodes. Four are planned for the future.

I will miss the show, but have to admit that I haven’t watched the last few seasons. Something about the show became too formulaic and an emotional disconnect developed. Even the recent ‘Celebrity of the Week’ addition couldn’t build any excitement. We’ll see if the replacement show “The Secret Millionaire” can fill the void.

The full press release is below the jump:

Read More »Extreme Makeover: Home Edition To End As Regular Series

Once Upon A Time and Revenge Streaming Online as Holiday Gift from ABC

If you’re not watching ABC’s Revenge or Once Upon A Time because you don’t like to start watching a series from the middle of a season, good news — Disney and ABC have decided to stream full episodes of both shows throughout the holidays on… Read More »Once Upon A Time and Revenge Streaming Online as Holiday Gift from ABC

Revenge – Episode 10 – A few things….

Editor: Estelle is back with another amazing recap of ABC’s Revenge. I apologize for the tardiness of her post. It’s 100% my fault.

A few announcements before we begin:

  1. Victoria debuts a few new hair styles.
  2. It’s still summer in the Hamptons.
  3. These characters reign as “Best Dressed” on TV.
  4. Things are just as crazy, if not crazier, in the land of Revenge.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, this episode opens with Emily regaining control by practicing karate with Mr. T and divorce papers. It’s the beginning of the end of everyone’s favorite couple and Victoria seems thrown for a loop. Crappy for Ashley who is all dressed up for a breakfast and has suddenly has nowhere to go when Victoria doesn’t feel up to breakfast (or Ashley calling her “Victoria”). But Ashley is ready to suck up this morning and Victoria asks her to get Daniel back, which, of course, she can do. And now she can call her Victoria again.

We get the first of the awkward Ashley and Tyler run-ins when Tyler justifies his kiss with Nolan as him being ambitious and doing it for both of them. He invites her out to dinner that night – fancy place – and while she agrees, I’m not sure Ashley is on Tyler’s team like she used to be before.

Then there’s Jack. I thought he was a smart guy. But first, he believes “Amanda” when she says she is his Amanda from childhood. (Still not seeing the resemblance.) And then when Sammy the wonder dog can’t stop barking at her, Jack thinks the whole thing is a fluke. What? C’mon guy. “Amanda” also has blocked out her childhood and doesn’t want to hear Jack reminisce. I guess I can give her a pass on that one. Not too hard to believe that a person who went through what “Amanda” did might want to talk about anything.

Read More »Revenge – Episode 10 – A few things….

Revenge – Season 1, Episode 9

Hi Revenge fans! Turkey and travel delayed my viewing of this week’s episode but I have come out of my food coma psyched to talk about another crazy Revenge adventure.

While we are about to jump into December, the people of the Hamptons are still scheming through the longest summer in existence, heavy on the drama.

If you remember from last week, Emily/Amanda/Kara has not cooperated with our Emily and left for Paris. Instead, she has permanently attached herself to Jack and he likes it. (I guess you can’t blame the guy since he’s getting nowhere with our Em but really? Ugh.) Nolan spots her in town (on the Amanda boat) and immediately alerts our Emily.

Emily puts on her sweet voice and tries to get through to Kara. You. Cannot. Stay. But Kara is not having it. She’s tired of running and people not knowing who she really is. Now that she is Kara, things could work out! “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. You can’t stay,” Emily tells her sternly. Looks like their little alliance is not as strong as our Em once thought; Kara doesn’t need Em’s permission to do anything. She is staying.

Conrad decides to spice things up between Tyler and Daniel, proposing some “friendly competition”. Whoever is able to score an investor at Conrad’s lunch the fastest (for a $20M deal) will keep the full commission (and obviously have a leg up). Tyler is just about drooling over this opportunity, while Daniel is in. After just a week (or two — I’m not sure about the time period since the last episode), he seems to be enjoying this job. Tyler, on the other hand, continues his wily ways. It seems he stole Nolan’s credit card to buy himself and Ashley some Hamptons-esque attire for the luncheon. This guy is just a piece of work.

Read More »Revenge – Season 1, Episode 9