Look all you want, I aim to amuse! And I make sure to never post embarrassing photos of myself online. I realize, tho, that I don't always give the same consideration to the people around me. I really hope mustaches never come back in style. Awesome Scott story! I love it when photo ops go wrong. I mean, not horribly wrong, no decapitations or anything...just, wrong. I had such a great time with Kevin and Mark. They were both so nice. Just thinking about talking to Mark about Slings & Arrows puts a big, goofy fangirl smile on my face.

Okay, painful admission to make from someone who is generally an emotional black hole and doesn't get soppy over much in life: I totally got misty-eyed watching the final couple episodes of Friday Night Lights from season 1. The game when the kids played through the mud and secured their ticket to State? OMG. And when Coach Taylor asked his former (now wheelchair bound) prodigy if he was interested in coaching? I nearly lost it. Equally so in the final moments of the season finale when they have the victory parade in slow motion with Bright Eyes "Devil Town" as the music. Everything about that scene just works because they've done such a good job laying the tracks for character development, even with such a sizable cast. What a very well constructed show. Damn, I really hope this succeeds with its new lineup on Direct TV.

bailey, I'll be interested to hear your opinion on season 2 and the proposed changes for season 3. There were a few storylines in season 2 that were quite polarizing.

1. I just posted this in the "other roles" thread because of the various GG regulars and guests that have appeared on "House" (okay, I think there are only two, but whatever) and I'm posting it here as well because I'm just so fucking excited about it. If you're planning on picking up the "Gossip Girl" DVDs run as fast as you can and buy them from Target. They're basically the same price as they are everywhere else and they include the ENTIRE paley panel from this spring. The whole thing. From intros to the wrap up. Everything is there. It's none of that half assed bullshit they did with the "Heroes" and "The Office" DVDS last year. The Josh Schwartz fangirl that lives inside of me is doing cartwheels right now. I hadn't planned to immediately buy the set because I would be doing so just for the extras, but when I saw that that was the bonus disc I bought them and when I saw that it was the whole thing instead of the little thirty minute clip show job I expected I was really, really happy that I decided to go to Target today. And my hopes are out of this world that the same deal with apply to "Chuck" and "Pushing Daisies" when those discs come out in a few weeks. I'm off to squee with my new DVDs now. 2. I loved the first season of "Slings and Arrows" so much and even though I have no doubt that I'd love all the rest as well, I totally lost track. Every once in awhile I see the DVDs and think I should go ahead and finish it out, but I never have. I should go ahead and put them in my netflix queue so they'll just show up one day and I'll finally get to them.

I am loving season two of Mad Men. They seem to have a pattern in which the first handful of episodes of the season are deliberately and methodically laying a bunch of development track and by episode 5 it starts clicking wonderfully into place. Love the Don-Peggy dynamic this season even more than last. Their mentor-protigee relationship is going to be exciting to watch continue unfolding. I have a feeling that by the end of this show's run, Peggy's name is going to be on the building alongside Sterling-Cooper's. :-) Anyone else tracking with this show?

I caught the trailer for a new show, The Mentalist and what keeps running through my mind is that the main character is supposed to be like House (brilliant and insightful), has Robin Tunney (Season 1, Episode 1 POTW) in the cast and looks like it is going to suck because the lead is smug and obnoxious without any of the pain HL portrays underneath the sarcasm to make him likeable. Just my opinion based on a 30-second trailer..... :?

I caught the trailer for a new show, The Mentalist and what keeps running through my mind is that the main character is supposed to be like House (brilliant and insightful), has Robin Tunney (Season 1, Episode 1 POTW) in the cast and looks like it is going to suck because the lead is smug and obnoxious without any of the pain HL portrays underneath the sarcasm to make him likeable. I don't get a "House" vibe from him at all. Actually, in spite of seeing Robin in every advert, I don't think that show has popped into my head once. My focus has been on how similar in premise it is to "Psych" and how little seems to have been made of that in the press in spite of people doing a little casual, low key chatting about it on blogs. It's like everyone took the "they're totally different shows" at face value and didn't ask any follow up questions. "Psych" minus the humor is what I see everytime it comes on and without the humor it would be kind of a tedious thing to get through. I probably won't watch it simply because I'm already watching too much returning stuff and there isn't much room for new things, especially things on CBS that probably won't live past the fourth episode, but I do like Simon Baker. Love the Don-Peggy dynamic this season even more than last. This week was my favorite episode of the season. I've liked this entire season a lot (and the premiere was probably one of their best episodes) but the Don/Peggy content this week had me focused on nothing but the show. Their relationship is fascinating and Peggy's interaction with Bobbie was a lot of fun to watch.

Oh Gossip Girl, I wish I wasn't too broke so I can buy the DVD :( I kept convincing myself the extras aren't that awesome, but the entire paley panel? sound way too awesome.

I really didn't need much of an excuse to buy the DVDs. I was trying to convince myself and the world that I *wasn't* going to buy them because, in all honesty, the show itself (save for a couple of episodes) isn't really something I want to watch again and again. But, I *am* a Josh Schwartz fangirl and I figured the extras would be good, so I was looking for *anything* to give me a reason to buy them the week they were released. And that Paley panel was about a hundred times what I needed to fork over the money. I watched it this weekend. It rocked. I was so excited to get it because when they streamed it live last spring no one I knew captured it and given that it was primetime west coast and that's past my bedtime east coast, I couldn't make myself try to fight with my slow internet connection knowing it would be pointless. So, basically, when I saw "bonus panel discussion disc" listed on the Target ad I squeed out loud in the middle of the store. That it's the whole thing nearly killed me. It was like Christmas morning. The panel really is fantastic. You totally need to see it. There's a lot of funny in there (the whole Gay Jewish Monkey thing is very funny) and there's way too much awkward courtesy of Cecily Von Whatserface who wrote the books. That is one strange woman. After pretty much insulting Stephanie, Josh and "The OC" she promptly made with even more awkward by talking about Jenny's boobs in the book and how Taylor hadn't even gone through puberty yet. Total trainwreck awesomeness. I wish I'd been there to see it live. Oh...and Tim Stack from EW is the moderator and he's officially knocked all other panel moderators that I've seen out of the top spot. Even Damon Lindelof...and in spite of not watching "Lost", I'm nuts about Damon Lindelof. But, no more. Tim Stack is the new moderator king. Hilarious and awesome. And now I'm just crossing my fingers that Target will do something similar with the "Chuck" and "Pushing Daisies".

"Mad Men" is one of those shows that I appreciate on an intellectual level, but simply don't connect to emotionally, so I don't make time for it.

What Namaste said. I didn't see season 1, but have been watching season 2. The latest episode was the best so far, I'm really liking the Don/Peggy dynamic, but it's the first time I've really felt anything watching it. I'm going to continue, though. I caught the trailer for a new show, The Mentalist and what keeps running through my mind is that the main character is supposed to be like House (brilliant and insightful), has Robin Tunney (Season 1, Episode 1 POTW) in the cast and looks like it is going to suck because the lead is smug and obnoxious without any of the pain HL portrays underneath the sarcasm to make him likeable. Makes me think of the new Fox show "Fringe" that I was reading about. When did characters become heroes not in spite of having autism spectrum disorders, but BECAUSE of it? Like it's something we should all want to emulate? And I mean that separately from heroes who are obnoxious, I'm not confusing the two, though I think the same social trend is beside both. It's like having really bad social skills is the new cool.

Does the guy from Fringe have autism? I haven't seen that mentioned in anything that I've read about the show.

I've tried to watch Mad Men twice with no luck as of yet. It seems utterly sterile visually to me, like a magazine ad come to life rather than real people in a real world. Like Pleasantville before they got color, but without the passion bubbling underneath. And all the "sixties" things like the smoking and sexism and such seem so utterly calculated and perfectly positioned to elicit an "OMG, we've come so far since then" response, it just seems fake, lifeless, heartless and soulless. I don't get all the acclaim at all. Except for one moment. When he's talking about the naming of the carousel, that was well-written and captures the essence of the cynical manipulation used by advertisers when they associate personal childhood nostalgia with product: some folks apparently thought it poetic, I found it so only as a warped and distorted echo of a real moment. If he was supposed to be selling his soul in that speech, then I need to take another look; if he was supposed to be showing the romance in the naming of the product, I'll have to stick with the above opinion. Which do you think was happening there? BTW, that's just my opinion right now and I don't mean to offend anyone who enjoys the show. I'd genuinely love to know what you enjoy about it and which episode you would recommend. As far as acting goes, I'm also surprised of the acclaim Hamm has received. His performance seems ok, but very predictable.

Love the Don-Peggy dynamic this season even more than last. Their mentor-protigee relationship is going to be exciting to watch continue unfolding. I have a feeling that by the end of this show's run, Peggy's name is going to be on the building alongside Sterling-Cooper's. Smile Anyone else tracking with this show? The Don-Peggy relationship is my favorite part of the show. I gasped when she actually called him "Don." I can understand why this show isn't appealing to some people. Even I have to be in a certain mood to appreciate it because it is at times a bit too...deliberate, maybe? I like the group scenes with the male copywriters because there's an element of messiness to their interactions that seems more real.