TV Goodness

Tonight’s ep description:

Green-Eyed Monster. While dealing with her own relationship issues, Veronica helps a young woman discern her new fiancé’s intentions by posing as a sexy, available coed.

I"m almost tempted to stop watching new episodes until we’ve seen all season 1. Almost. Not quite.

What do I care if people are looking over my shoulder? Tonight’s ep:

Welcome to the Doll House. Richard (Edward Herrmann) tries to get information from Logan (Matt Czuchry) about Rory’s (Alexis Bledel) future plans, but Logan mistakenly thinksthat Richard is asking when the two of them plan to marry. Lorelai (Lauren Graham) is in favor of Taylor’s (Michael Winters) plan to change all the Stars Hollow street names back to their original historic names, until she learns that the street where the Dragonfly Inn is located was once known by a disgusting name. Rory makes a surprising confession to Logan. Richard finally faces the fact that he should never have let Rory drop out of Yale, and shows up at Lorelai’s house to talk things over. Jackson Douglas directed the episode written by Keith Eisner.

Hmmm, another non-Sherman-Palladino ep.

And this week’s it’s:

Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang. Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas believes that his sexy stepmother Kendall is cheating on his father, so he hires Veronica to investigate the situation, but neither are prepared for what they find.

I’m sure this is going somewhere less obvious than it sounds. See you later, kiddoos.

(And the season 1 box set is on its way, yay!)

So, yeah, I rewatched last week’s episode and–while there were some nice grace notes–must concur with the group’s overall eh. I must have picked the wrong day to give up cocaine. Tonight looks better though:

We’ve Got Magic To Do. Rory (Alexis Bledel) does a fabulous job organizing a big DAR bash for Emily (Kelly Bishop). However, at the party, Richard (Edward Herrmann) confronts Logan’s (Matt Czuchry) father, Mitchum Huntzberger (guest star Gregg Henry), about his opinion of Rory’s journalistic talents, while Emily has an even uglier confrontation with Logan’s mother, Shria (guest star Leann Hunley), over the romance between Rory and Logan. Meanwhile, after a small kitchen fire at the Dragonfly Inn, Lorelai (Lauren Graham) needs Richard’s help settling the insurance claim and uses the time spent with her father to needle him about the fact that he has been unable to get Rory to return to Yale. Though he’s annoyed with Lorelai, Richard has to admit that Rory is not where she should be. Melissa McCarthy, Scott Patterson, Yanic Truesdale, Liza Weil and Sean Gunn also star. Michael Zinberg directed the episode written by Daniel Palladino.

Sorry I’m late with the post. This week’s ep:

"Driver Ed" – Wednesday 10.05.05 After tragedy strikes Neptune and the local sheriff rushes to judgment, an emotional Veronica attempts to help a grieving family member rule out suicide as a contributing cause in the calamity. Meanwhile, Wallace offers to help transfer student Jackie Cook track down the person who damaged her car in the school lot.

See you later. Also, Sue Wong was on America’s Next Top Model — that’s the designer of my wedding dress. I was very happy.

Flawed episodes seem to give us more discussion fodder, but maybe this will be the week of perfect and fireworksy. The WB sez:

Always a Godmother, Never a God. Missing Rory (Alexis Bledel), Lorelai (Lauren Graham) tries to call her and is upset to find that Rory’s cell phone is no longer in service. Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) asks Lorelai and Rory to be the godparents to her two children in the hope that they will reconcile when they see each other at the ceremony. However, mother and daughter end up fighting when Lorelai realizes that Rory gave her new cell number to Sookie but not to her. Logan (Matt Czuchry) learns that his father expects him to graduate this year and enter the family business. Wanting to break free from family pressures, Logan whisks Rory off to a weekend in New York.

Scott Patterson, Kelly Bishop, Keiko Agena, Yanic Truesdale and Sean Gunn also star. Robert Berlinger directed the episode written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner.

I believe they are giving more solo writing credits without a Sherman or a Palladino or a Sherman-Palladino this season, but it’d be hard for me to believe ASP is not still giving it all a polish. See you later, alligators.

I feel kind of a poseur even proposing a Veronica Mars chatty chat, but hey, I got UPN so I could watch this season off one episode. So, if people show up to discuss the season opener, we’ll make this the second weekly TV show chatty thread and if they don’t, it will never appear here again. Here’s the episode description for "Normal is the Watchword":

After the summer fireworks caused by a dangerous confrontation with Lilly Kane’s murderer and a surprising visitor at her door, Veronica attempts to settle into "normal" life, complete with a new after-school job and a return to the popular fold at Neptune High, but she gets pulled back into the investigation business when Wallace is kicked off the basketball team for testing positive for drugs.

Meanwhile, Keith sits down with reporter Julie Chen (guest starring as herself) to discuss his new book on the Lilly Kane murder, "Big Murder, Small Town." Later, after seeing his father arrested for murder and being charged and tried for murder himself, Logan seeks refuge from the paparazzi and relaxes poolside at the Casablancas mansion with buddies Dick and "Beaver" and their sexy stepmother Kendall (guest star Charisma Carpenter).

Steve Guttenberg guest stars as Woody Goodman, a charismatic major league baseball team owner and leading candidate in the local mayor’s race; UPN’s AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL winner Naima Mora guest stars as journalism teacher Ms. Dumas; and Jeffery Sams guest stars as a famous baseball player from Goodman’s team.

Oooh, an ANTM (feel free to work in chat about that as well in this thread) product, I mean person, placement. See you later. Maybe.

Updated: This was apparently the most viewed episode of VM ever, which can only be a good thing. (Thank you, Miss Tyra.) This is the same general ratings area as Gilmore Girls, so hopefully that bodes well for the network to continue to stand by the show.

A whole new Tuesday is upon us. The WB’s Damn New Gilmore Girls’ site keeps shutting down my browser, so this is an episode description snatched from the Unofficial Fansite (it lacketh salient details like who wrote and directed the ep) Stay away from the black hole that is the Warner Bros site and go only to the WB:

The UnGraduate: Excited about catering the wedding, Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) pressures Lorelai to set a date, but Lorelai won’t commit. While completing her community service hours, Rory (Alexis Bledel) takes a job at Emily’s (Kelly Bishop) DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) office. Convinced that she has a rival for the job of DAR president, Emily uses Rory as her spy. Logan (Matt Czuchry returns from Europe and returns to Yale, forcing Rory to confront her true feelings about dropping out of college. Lane (Keiko Agena) and her band return from their summer on the road. Luke (Scott Patterson) agrees to take care of Lorelai’s dog, Paul Anka, while she works late at the inn, and ends up rushing the dog to the vet. Finally, Lorelai admits to Luke her reason for putting off their wedding.

Yanic Truesdale and Lisa Weil also star.  Michael Zinberg directed the episode written by David S. Rosenthal.

Whew. Lane’s back. See you later…  (And hey, PokerBoy, two weeks of absence from the GGC is unacceptable!)

The WaPo looks at lovingly rendered backdrops for television shows, focusing on Desperate Housewives (eh) and Gilmore Girls (yay!):

On shows where interiors are asked to convey so much about the people who live there, details are everything. Rachel Kamerman, production designer for "Gilmore Girls," and her team scour the Warner Brothers prop department, local stores and flea markets, even e-Bay, to find the perfect item for a room. Sets for the Dragonfly Inn, the bed-and-breakfast managed by Lorelai, are practically indistinguishable from the real thing. To go from the sun-baked Warner Brothers lot into a dark soundstage where antique chairs, Victorian wallpaper and a grandma’s attic worth of knickknacks have been arranged to evoke a cozy country inn is to experience the illusory magic for which Hollywood is famed.

"I wanted a lot of wonderful visual noise, and more of a sense of reality than what I’d seen on other shows," says Kamerman. "It was important to me to have real wallpaper and molding and drapery and tile. Our fireplaces are working fireplaces. Even the little knobs on the cabinet have tiny pressed flowers in them."

That’s right, it’s Tuesday. (Thinking about doing something similar with Veronica Mars, btw; anybody in?) This week’s episode is "Fight Face." Sez the WB:

Rory (Alexis Bledel) begins serving her 300 hours of community service and finds that life on a road crew is not pretty. Lorelai and Luke try to decide whether they will fix up Lorelai’s house or buy the Twickham house. Luke’s sister Liz (guest star Kathleen Wilhoite) begs him to hire her husband T.J. (guest star Michael DeLuise) as a contractor. When Rory pays Luke a surprise visit at the diner to find out how Lorelai is, he feels obligated to tell her that he and Lorelai are engaged. Afterwards, Luke confronts Lorelai about her estrangement from Rory. Feeling lonely, Lorelai adopts a dog at the Stars Hollow pet fair. Finally, during a chance meeting, Lorelai and Rory have an angry confrontation about their mutual hurt feelings.

Kelly Bishop and Edward Herrmann also star.  Daniel Palladino wrote and directed the episode.

Adopts a dog: maybe it’ll be a George.

Also, I forgot to mention last week that I was very excited they played one of my favorite songs from the summer, Graham Coxon’s "Freakin’ Out," during the felon party. And this week, I plan not to take three days to weigh in.