If this is The New Normal, I'm all for it.

It's that time of year again, everyone is back at school and stress sets in about tests, papers etc. My stress level in the fall has nothing to do with school and is based solely on the fact that my DVR is jam packed and I can't find the time to keep up with it. 

This year the fall pilots are unusually strong. I actually haven't seen much that I haven't liked at least enough to catch the next episode and I'm really looking forward to writing about a lot of them. 

Sitcoms are especially likeable this year which I'm incredibly happy about because it is going to take at least three great shows to fill the void I will feel when 30 Rock is no longer on my television at the end of this season.

While I've loved a lot of new comedy pilots this year, "The New Normal", NBC's new show about a gay couple using a surrogate to have a child, is by far the best new comedy this season.  I had my doubts since it was developed by "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy (because I'm pretty sure that if for any reason someone wanted to torture me, making me watch episodes of "Glee" would be the best way to do it) but I was pleasantly surprised. 

This is one of the few shows that I think accurately portrays a gay couple ("Brothers and Sisters" also did a really good job with Kevin and Scotty) and really shows the challenges that unfortunately still come with being gay today while still making you laugh out loud at every turn. Andrew Rannells and Justin Bartha as Bryan and David have so much chemistry and you can't help but love them and want good things for them. Georgia King plays Goldie their surrogate, a newly almost divorced woman who moves to LA to escape a crazy grandmother and cheating husband with her eight year old daughter, played by Bebe Wood. The entire cast is outstanding but it's Goldie's grandmother, who follows her to LA played by Ellen Barkin that steals the show.

I don't know how they got Ellen Barkin to do a tv show, and to be honest I don't really care, the point is, she is amazing in this role. She is a bigot, she is mean, she says whatever she thinks, she is pretty awful, but she is damn fun to watch. Barkin plays the role of Jane so well that even when she is saying and doing completely ridiculous things, you can't help but like her a little...ok, a lot. 

The show is also written pretty flawlessly. Murphy and his co-creater Ali Adler have created a show that if watched by enough people could possibly (hopefully) incite social change. In one scene, David and Bryan are shopping at the mall for baby clothes and this causes some excitement and the exchange of a small kiss between the couple. A man with his wife and daughter witnesses the kiss and with disdain asks them not to kiss in front of his child. The scene is not surprising and reminds us that we have a long way to go in terms of equality, but the ability to see how it impacts David and Bryan is why this show is so important. To see how just one comment can cause so much pain and stress on two people who just want to love each other and be together, is eye opening and something people need to see. 

Please watch this show, I wish there were more like it. The cast is outstanding, the writing is poignant and hilarious all at the same time and did I mention Ellen Barkin?! 

Adler and Murphy have created something that is brilliantly funny while also portraying a healthy, functional relationship between two men, something that exists all over this country but not nearly enough on our televisions.  

If this is "The New Normal" I'm all for it.

Gladiators in Suits...

First "Crossroads", then "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice"...Shonda Rhimes keeps finding the way to my heart. I can't stop watching "Grey's Anatomy", no matter how hard I try, and Addison Montgomery flawed as she may be, has become one of my favorite female television characters of all time. I thought that after the major flop that was "Off the Map" that maybe Rhimes had lost her touch, I mean, if you can't make a series starring Matt Saracen work, it might be time to hang it up. Enter..."Scandal".

"Scandal" is good. The kind of good that starts with one episode but ends up taking up half your day. If the "West Wing" got "Grey's Anatomy" pregnant..."Scandal" would be their very entertaining, very dramatic love child.  It has all of the standard Rhimes staples...fast talking characters, drama, and strong women but other than that, it's hard to explain. 

Kerry Washington is flawless as Olivia Pope; the kind of woman that you instantly fear and equally respect. She employs a group of people reminiscent of the Island of Misfit Toys. One is the victim of an abusive relationship and another used to kill people in his spare time...many of them are lawyers, but don't call them a law firm, they don't like that, they prefer "gladiators in suits". This is where it gets complicated. I don't actually know what they are, what they do, or who lets them get away with it, but it is damn fun to watch. The only thing viewers know for sure is that Pope is one of the good guys. She and her team help people that need it, and make doing the right thing a priority...they make mistakes, sometimes serious ones but their hearts are always firmly in the right place. 


Scandal was a midseason replacement much like Grey's Anatomy's so it's first season is short. All seven episodes are available on Hulu Plus, trust me it's worth the $7.99, because with a monthly subscription you also have access to every episode of Community, #jackpot. 

Catch up on season one of Scandal before season two starts on ABC in September and let me know what you think!

There's only one Tree Hill...

Up until now I have reserved this blog for reviewing new shows and making incessant Friday Night Lights references. But something happened the other night that forces me to write an entry about a show that is anything but new. The final episode of One Tree Hill aired last week and it just happened to be it's 187th, which means it produced more episodes than Seinfeld, I Love Lucy, and the Golden Girls.  Some people will hear that and think it's ridiculous, but then, those aren't the people who have spent the past nine years with these characters...

One Tree Hill started out as a guilty pleasure for me- I was 22 when it premiered, and should have been far past the high school angst that Chad Michael Murray and crew were going through every week and truth be told I think I was just trying to fill the void that Dawson's Creek left in my life...hey, at least I'm not being dramatic about it. Alas, whatever the reason, I fell in love with this show. One Tree Hill was full of complicated simplicity (it's my blog, I'll use oxymoron's if I want to) that focused on universal things like friendship, loyalty, heartbreak, mistakes, love, grief and so many other experiences and emotions that are rights of passage in this thing called life. In nine years, we watched these characters go through things that we had gone through, or things we knew that we were sure to go through in the future. Even when the story lines got crazy (i.e. nanny carrie and the dog eating Dan's heart), we trusted that it would eventually get back to it's roots, and it always did.

It was a show that wasn't afraid to take risks. Beloved characters were killed off, main characters left and college was skipped completely by a five year time jump that has since been replicated by other shows like Desperate Housewives. It also took a risk and filmed entirely on location and on sound stages in Wilmington, North Carolina, helping the show to look and feel real and also supporting the economy in a small, beautiful coastal town. Hart of Dixie and Revenge both shot their pilots in the same small town but moved production to Los Angeles for the rest of their seasons. Scott Porter, who is currently starring in Hart of Dixie told me that they were going to do their best to make it look real, unfortunately, it's pretty obvious that they filming in Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls..soapnet...watch it...if you don't like it, I'm pretty sure you don't like me). Actors don't want to live away from Los Angeles, I get it, it's not convenient, which makes the fact that the cast of One Tree Hill not only did it for 9 years, but did it while they continued to rave about how much they love Wilmington, pretty commendable.

Almost every season of this show ended with a potential finale because the next was never guaranteed but some how, it lasted 9 seasons.  I think it can be attributed to an incredibly strong fan base and an incredibly kind cast. Every year, thousands of people flocked to Wilmington, NC to watch them film the show and to catch a glimpse of the cast. My sister and I vacation in Wilmington every summer and happened to bump into Sophia Bush at one of our favorite restaurants in town. We said hello and that we were fans of the show and then planned to continue on our way but Sophia treated us like we were long lost friends. We chatted with her for quite awhile and she is, to this day, one of the most interesting and genuine people I have ever met.  Throughout the years in Wilmington, I have had to opportunity to talk with a lot of the cast and crew and even show creator Mark Schwahn and each and every one of them have been nothing but warm, kind and appreciative. Knowing the caliber of character behind this show made me love it even more.

The finale was no exception to the love and appreciation that One Tree Hill shows to it's fans. It's not often that you love a show and think the finale is absolutely flawless (I'm looking at you LOST fans) and anyone that knows me knows that I can be extremely critical, however, I wouldn't change a single thing. The inside jokes (Felix), the nostalgia (the water balloons, predictions, flashbacks, Gavin DeGraw etc.), and the just plain happy ending were an absolute perfect way to say goodbye to characters that a lot of people have essentially grown up with. And, I'm pretty sure Mark Schwahn was trying to kill all of us with the cast sing along- I Don't Wanna Be...really?! It was amazing.

I'm not trying to preach that you all need to watch this show, because the fact is, not everyone should. Someone said to me recently that you have to be a really sentimental person to like it and I couldn't agree more. You have to be someone that often thinks about past memories, relationships, and heartbreaks  fondly, not because they were all wonderful, and definitely not because they weren't painful but because they are part of you, and you are grateful for that. It also helps if you are blindly optimistic enough (read: crazy) to believe that marriage in high school really can last forever...like I said it's not for everyone. :)

Thanks OTH for nine great seasons, we will miss you.