Fall Television

Should I be watching Glee? Is it too late? Grey's Anatomy was so tedious in its season opener that I switched to the Mentalist halfway through. I like Teresa Lisbon as a character because she comes across as normal but at some point will reveal a complex history.

Grey's Anatomy

Although I am still watching Grey's Anatomy, it is no longer must see Thursday television but rather something that one records then watches weeks later. The implausibility of these doctors' behavior is increasingly annoying - specifically, they have all done something for which they should be fired, lose their license to practice medicine, or be kept far, far away from patients. Moreover, Izzie sleeping with dead Denny is just ridiculous, but I assume it is because show creator Shonda became obsessed with the actor and can't come up with another vehicle for him. I wish she would put her talent to use making Derek less annoying, as he does nothing but whine like all the other characters (both onscreen and off). She can't be reading the reviews of fans and critics, or she would come up with a better plot.Callie running back and forth between Hahn and Sloan was quite gross; I understand a) she couldn't make up her mind, and b) it was meant to be funny that she needed advice from an experienced man to be with a woman, but it made her seem both slutty and insensitive/offensive to poor Hahn (who was one of the only doctors really concerned with her patients - so clearly had to leave the show, regardless of her orientation. Someone might actually survive surgery at Seattle Grace, otherwise!).

Lexie and Sloan - Lexie has become my favorite character, and since she had absolutely no chemistry with George, and Alex is back with Izzie, it made sense for her to become involved with Sloan. I'd think there was more potential for him to reform if he hadn't been sleeping with cow-like Callie an episode ago. . . And Meredith doesn't have to be her best friend or pretend she cares about her sister but it's not as if Lexie ever did anything to her (and what happened to their crazy father?). Meredith's request that Derek warn Mark away from Lexie was the first sisterly thing she's ever done. It was Derek who brought Lexie home after Sadie's appendix was removed.

Owen Hunt - it was about time someone new turned up on this show and he showed potential at first but now he just seems annoyed all the time (not that he doesn't have reason - he walked into Seattle Grace Junior High School, just when he needed to escape from stressful Iraq - which reminds me of the guy at my law firm who volunteered for active duty just to get away from being a downtrodden associate), which is not much of a part. Surely he is supposed to smoulder?

Save this show!

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

My nieces and I went to see the Kit Kittredge movie yesterday, which we greatly enjoyed (Despite the loud and poorly behaved children in front of us - yes, it has been a long time since I went to a kid movie but I don't think people should bring two year olds - we had to move several rows away and later the father unnerved me by tapping me on the shoulder and asking if I had taken their umbrella! Also, the roof started leaking on us halfway through the movie). I think my older niece would enjoy any movie so long as she got popcorn but at one point she leaned over to her younger sister and said, "We definitely need to own this one!" which I found amusing. They thought it was a lot like the recent Nancy Drew movie, which I had not seen.

I kept thinking that Meredith Grey was crazy not to pick Chris O'Donnell (here, playing Kit's father)!

Things that bothered me about the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy

I got a little behind but thanks to my DVR have finally watched the last two episodes of Grey's Anatomy and the Addison spin-off:
Why is Derek suddenly the good guy? Derek has been looking for an excuse to break up with Meredith ever since Richard said he wanted to protect Meredith’s relationship so wouldn’t support Derek’s candidacy for chief of surgery. Derek responded to that possible setback to his ambitions by distancing himself from Meredith, stopped staying over, etc. It was very noticeable and seemed obvious he didn’t want to be held back by her. So, while he may be hurt she didn’t tell him about the disastrous first intern exam (not that she told anyone at all but George realized because he observed her staring into space instead of scribbling; maybe he should have been worried for himself), for Derek to blame Meredith for relying on her friends rather than him is absurd. He seemed so insincere when he said she was the love of his life yet that was meant to be an emotional heart-jerking scene. Plus only someone really insensitive would pick practically the middle of a wedding to have a Relationship Talk with the maid of honor. Not to mention that she is still recovering from that dreadful scene where her father slapped her! But as a break up it was a little too abrupt. No one can break up that quickly after three seasons getting together. Meredith should have picked Finn. He wasn’t as needy as the rest of her friends and someone at Seattle Grace needs to date outside that hospital.

Addison is far too beautiful to be so self-pitying, and it is surprising that Callie doesn’t hate her (but they both need someone to confide in so had to maintain the relationship). I was waiting for the woman with the twins to give one to Joe the bartender and one to Richard and his wife! By the by, don't I recall that Joe was having severe financial difficulties with the bar? How can he afford to support twins?

Alex may have felt a sense of connection to Ava/Rebecca, but it seemed more as if he appreciated having someone who looked up to him than was actually in love. And why doesn’t anyone ever tell these interns not to get romantically involved with their patients? They should flunk their exams for that, rather than anything on the test!

It was brilliant of Callie to torment Izzie by saying she and George were working on having a baby. However, Izzie almost deserved it by first telling George she loved him as a friend (causing him to flunk his exams), then (after he gave up and decided to make the best of things with Callie, who is, after all, his wife) telling him that she really did love him and want to be with him. It was never really convincing that he married Callie anyway – there did not seem to be any chemistry between them, plus she is so much larger than he is. But now she is bound to be pregnant, making it harder (as we all know) for him to leave her. I wasn’t sure at first but now I think George and Izzie do belong together (anyone but that awful Seth Rogen!).

I can see why George failed the exam but the show needs George to survive. At first I thought that failing was to prevent him from going to the rival hospital, if he has to repeat his internship. But really having him more or less kicked out is too much like last season when Izzie was the one being potentially tossed. And if anyone deserved a promotion on this show it was Miranda! She is the only professional person in the hospital! To promote Callie, after she lived in the basement of the hospital, is ridiculous, and I don't think she ever displayed characteristics that made her seem like a leader. If anything, she never bonded with any of the interns (except George) and showed insecurity re their cliqueishness.

Derek was a creep to tell Meredith about the girl in the bar, whom I gather was also the new intern talking to George at the end. But how can she be Meredith’s half sister, Lexie? How could they be so close in age unless Thatcher walked out the day Meredith was born? Was he carrying on with Susan before he left Ellis? And why was Lexie in a bar instead of consoling her messed up father about her mother’s death? Would she really pick Meredith’s hospital to do her training, especially given that Thatcher believes the hospital is responsible for Susan’s death? How odd that Thatcher didn’t put his foot down about Lexie going to med school. This is far too clichéd a plot line.

The patient subplots are often very boring, and I especially lost interest in the axe victim.

I think Shonda made a mistake by allowing Meredith to become so whiney and damaged that viewers now seem to dislike her. You can’t treat your star character that way if you want your show to survive declining ratings. Cristina is far more interesting but not very likeable (and looked awful without eyebrows – that was too weird). Izzie needs to cut down on involvement with patients and sleeping with married men/coworkers. Aesthetically, it made sense to have all the characters become single again as a season finale, although it is hard on the viewers!

TV doctors playing with life and death

As a big fan of Grey's Anatomy (despite its flaws), I was interested to read today that such medical shows and their cavalier attitudes towards organ donations (this means you, Izzie!) scare off potential donors! This may or may not be accurate but if true would be distressing. However, it is not the first time I have been startled by superstitious attitudes about organ donation. My former boss Helmus once told a group of co-workers that he would never be an organ donor because he is convinced that if he were in an accident and an EMT saw the donor card, he would be harvested instead of saved. And he a doctor's son! Sitting around a restaurant in San Francisco, we looked at him dubiously but he was quite serious. Perhaps fortunately, his theory has not been put to the test. I myself am duly registered with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts via the Department of Motor Vehicles.