Saturday Night Live – Recap & Review – Anna Faris

photo: nbc

Saturday Night Live
Anna Faris

Original Air Date: Oct 16, 2011

Len – Two Cents Reviewer
len@thetwocentscorp.com

It’s the Halloween episode of SNL (on hiatus until Nov 5), and the folks at Studio 8H give us both a trick AND a treat this week. The treat is that it’s much improved from last week’s dud; the trick is that you probably missed some funny sketches if you went to bed after the fairly lackluster opening.

Anna Faris is hosting this week, and I think she’s an underrated comedic performer. This is her second hosting appearance, so I’m interested in seeing how she does. Again, no sketch is left ungraded – and we’re not factoring in the quality from other seasons when doing the grading. (So no “Wayne’s World was an A, so anything not as funny has to be lower”.) On to the recap – post your TwoCents at the end!

CSI:NY – Recap & Review – Officer Involved

photo: cbs

CSI:NY
Officer Involved

Original Air Date: Oct 14, 2011

Maria – Sr. Reviewer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com

CSI:NY has a chilling opening. It isn’t sexed up. It isn’t flashy. In fact, it’s all rather blurry to begin with. We’re seeing things from Detective Danny Messer’s POV as he regains consciousness. He puts a hand to the back of his head and it comes away bloody. On the floor is a body, shot. Standing over the corpse is his protégé and friend, Lauren Cooper, with Danny’s gun in her hand! There’s one problem with that. The dead body doesn’t have a gun.

Fringe – Recap & Review – Subject 9

photo: fox

Fringe
Subject 9

Original Air Date: Oct 14, 2011

Rachel – Sr. Managing Editor
rachel@thetwocentscorp.com

I’ve been watching a lot of Celebrity Ghost Story lately. Maybe that is why the opener to this weeks Fringe freaked me out. Olivia’s alarm goes off at 6 a.m. and there is a presence, a field of energy, hovering over her bed. Naturally, she aims a gun at it and it dissipates. Then her alarm goes off again. At 6 a.m. Again.

Walter, who may have his own Celebrity Ghost Story issues, is trying to devise a Matrix-like stop-motion camera thing to capture the image of that strange man that has been haunting both he and Olivia. When she tells him about her ‘experience,’ he sends Astrid and Olivia back to the apartment to gather some atmospheric samples. While following their progress, Walter’s video feed goes all wonky and he sees/hears Olivia being attacked by the Energy and Astrid trying to save her. Funny thing… it hasn’t happened yet. Wait for it… there it is. The exact same thing Walter saw happens. I guess Mr. Ghostie has a two-minute delay.

Sanctuary – Recap & Review – Uprising

photo: syfy

Sanctuary
Uprising

Original Air Date: Oct 14, 2011

Tess – TwoCents Reviewer
tess@thetwocentscorp.com

“What’s it take to get a decent cup of tea around here?”, asked Helen Magnus at some point during the episode. I don’t know about you, but I think I need something stronger… or perhaps a few thousand cups of tea will do.

If last episode took us back on time, this new one brings us back to the present. I must confess I was expecting something to have changed but apparently, having made sure that the future’s path didn’t go much off course, nothing really did (yet, anyway). So we are basically back where we left off…

The abnormals want a new home and they seem to believe that the surface is the perfect place. Or at least that was what I thought… rumor has it that things are far from being that simple.

Blue Bloods – Recap & Review – Innocence

photo: cbs

Blue Bloods
Innocence

Original Air Date: Oct 14, 2011

FK – Sr. Editor
farrah@thetwocentscorp.com

“Why was Cinderella thrown off the basketball team? Because she kept running away from the ball.”

Remember how bad last week’s episode was? The writers must have taken last week off because this week was the exact opposite! Not only was the writing stellar but every character had a story that highlighted exactly why we love them. And they didn’t exactly crossover each other, either!

Danny and Jackie dealt with a random shooting of teenagers which brought out Erin’s worries for her daughter while at the same time helping Frank, who finds out he put the wrong man away for a crime 18 years prior. And in a completely separate story, Jamie and Renzulli (yay!) are back on the streets together.

A Gifted Man – Recap & Review – In Case of Separation Anxiety

photo: cbs

A Gifted Man
In Case of Separation Anxiety

Original Air Date: Oct 14, 2011

Dennis – TwoCents Reviewer
dennis@thetwocentscorp.com

​So how long did you guys think it would be before Michael actually started working at Clinica Sanando and not just drive-by doctoring? It you guessed by episode 4, you would be correct! By the end of the episode, Michael agrees to start working there super part time (10 hours a week), but I think he’ll be working there full time by the end of the first season, if it happens to get a back 9 order.

So what crazy cases does Michael solve this week? One involves a car crash into the clinic and one involves a teenager who hears a distinct voice.

​

Supernatural – Recap & Review – Defending Your Life

photo: cw

Supernatural
Defending Your Life

Original Air Date: Oct 14, 2011

Alyssa Silva – Sr Reviewer
alyssa@thetwocentscorp.com

I wasn’t sold on this episode. While it didn’t exactly feel like recycling old episodes to make a point, I didn’t think that reiterating Dean’s guilt was something that needed to be done yet again. Isn’t it obvious enough? At the very least I wish they had approached it differently and brought some resolution to an issue that I thought should have been dealt with.

The Egyptian god Osiris arrives in Michigan putting various people on trail, sentencing them to death if he – and the person under scrutiny – feels their guilt weighs more than a feather. Loose tongues and alcohol make the local watering hole his hunting ground, and Dean happens to be an unsuspecting and fitting victim for Osiris’ courtroom.

The Mentalist – Recap & Review – Ring Around The Rosie

photo: cbs

The Mentalist
Ring Around The Rosie

Original Air Date: Oct 13, 2011

Kym – TwoCents Reviewer
kym@thetwocentscorp.com

The team starts out this week as part of crowd control for the Mayor’s appearance at an immigration rally. In the midst of the chaos, Cho and Rigsby stumble on a body in an alley later identified as Scott Gibson, a photographer. They call in Jane, Lisbon and Van Pelt and it’s on the way to join them that Jane’s special sense for odd behavior is tweaked by one of the men in the crowd. When he joins the rest at the scene he mentions him to everyone and suggests that they check him out. The dead body would be an excellent way to lure the police presence away from the main body of the rally, allowing someone the freedom to shoot the Mayor.

The man in question, Henry Tibbs is detained and searched. Tell me, do any of you go to out job hunting with a loaded gun?

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – Recap & Review – Frank’s Brother

photo: fx

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Frank’s Brother

Original Air Date: Oct 13, 2011

Anne – Associate Editor
anne@thetwocentscorp.com

This is an odd episode. The majority of the show is Frank telling a story about his past. There isn’t that much of the gang in it and I think it suffers a little for that. But there are moments that are funny and some great guest stars. Let’s jump right in.

We open on the gang in Paddy’s, Dee is talking about wanting to be a cop so that she can carry a Uzi. Frank is stuffing his face and creating a hoagie in his mouth. He eats the bread, cheese, meat and veggies separately and in his mouth all the tastes converge, creating the perfect sandwich. It’s pure genius. A man walks into the bar and Frank is stunned. It’s his brother, Gino. Frank wonders how he’s alive, he was supposed to have been sucked into the bottom of a hot tub. Apparently they hate each other and they start to tell the story of why.

The Big Bang Theory – Recap & Review – The Russian Rocket Reaction

photo: cbs

The Big Bang Theory
The Russian Rocket Reaction

Original Air Date: Oct 13, 2011

Kym – TwoCents Reviewer
kym@thetwocentscorp.com

“Two grown men with a hobbit’s dagger, wouldn’t we look silly.” As if our favorite geniuses don’t frequently look silly already. But that’s what we love about them. When they finally decide to buy a sword from “Game of Thrones” Leonard haggled admirably, much to Stuart’s dismay, but he knows our guys are good customers. He’ll get the money back on other things and he knows it. Happy with their purchase and about to leave, who should Sheldon and Leonard see walk in? None other than Sheldon’s mortal enemy, Wil Wheaton. Shockingly, he invites both of them to his house to a party! After assuring Stuart that yes, there would be girls there this time. Even more shockingly, Leonard accepts.

Thus begins the dilemma of Schrodinger’s friendship.