NBC's Awake concluded its thirteen episode run last night with a thriller of a finale, ending with a last scene that packed so much emotion and heart that it was one of my favorite moments of television this year. As Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs) walked into his kitchen to find not only his son, Rex, but also his wife Hannah, it was emotionally satisfying and heartwarming for me as a viewer. Throughout the first season of Awake, I have grown to care so deeply about Michael and his relationships with both Rex and Hannah that having the final shot of the series being Michael smiling at the two of them and simply saying "I'm good...I'm perfect" could not have felt more fulfilling.

However, the fact that both Rex and Hannah were there waiting for Michael does beg the question: what exactly happened to allow Michael to see them again? What does the ending of Awake actually mean? There are many conclusions that one could draw from the series finale: Michael died from the gunshot wound that he suffered and was thus reunited with both his wife and son in the afterlife; Hannah and Rex were actually alive the whole time and the entire series up until the last scene was just a dream; or that Michael somehow created a new reality, a new dream for himself, that put his family back together again.

Personally, I am a fan of the last option, especially because of the scene between Michael and his therapist in the Rex-Universe, Dr. Evans (Cherry Jones), that preceded the closing moments. In this scene,  Michael, who had earlier in the episode said goodbye to his wife and the Hannah-Universe in order to thwart Captain Harper and her conspiracy in the Rex Universe, tells Dr. Evans that the arrest of Harper does not provide him with any closure. He still is searching for the right solution to his family being broken apart, and even though he believed solving the mystery behind the crash and putting those responsible behind bars would achieve this, it fails to make him feel any better. Dr. Evans empathizes with Michael but commends him on his ability to let go of his wife, to realize that his life with her was not real. Michael tells her that he is not so sure that he was dreaming the life with Hannah and then asks Dr. Evans what does the term "reality" actually mean; who is to say what is real to one person is real for another?

As Dr. Evans begins to argue with him, she is suddenly frozen time, and Michael leaves through the door of her office, only to walk into his own home, where he finds Hannah and Rex. I took this scene to signify that the Rex-Universe is real life, but Michael can still not let go of Hannah, still not let go of the dream. Therefore, he creates a new reality, or new dream, where all three of them are alive and together. It does not matter if the world he is living is not technically "real," because to Michael, all that matters is being together with his family and feeling the realness of their love.

In a way, it's a perfect ending for Awake, which was always at its best when it focused on the emotional connections between Michael and his family instead of the case-of-the-week procedural aspects of the show. A lot of Awake's finale forces the audience to feel for Michael while also simultaneously making them ponder and question what is going on. The fact that in the end it does not matter for Michael about what is "real" and what is not should speak for Awake as a whole. For me, it never mattered which reality was a dream; the most important and interesting part of this show was seeing a broken man try to hold his family together in the only way he knew how. Michael's moments of pain, joy, despair, and, ultimately, his final moment of happiness is what will resonate with me as I continue to think about Awake.

Now, I want to ask you, the readers, what did you think of the finale? What do you think happened at the end? Were you satisfied or left wanting more? Also, for more thoughts on the finale and the entire series as a whole check out this article from TVRage with thoughts from Awake creator Kyle Killen, where he talks about the show's ending and what he talks away from the series.

Awake Finale: What Do You Think Happened?

The entire season of Grimm comes down to being able to answer one question: did it fulfill its potential? Ever since its sufficiently creepy pilot, the show has been trying to stretch and grow into something a little more serial and a little more storytelling-based. Everything was there for it to add complexity without taking its foot completely out of the procedural world; it had a base of being interesting visually with an entire world of creatures at its disposal and hundreds of fairy tales to put its big fat signature take on. Establishing a tragic back story for its main hero and power structure for the Wesen world gave Grimm much needed complexity, but it never backed away from using its case load to keep Nick on his toes and constantly learning new skills to protect himself. Going into the finale, after a solid run of 10-12 episodes that hinted at a deeper show that we had seen before, you had to be a little optimistic that this was the time that Grimm would put it together.

But did they? Did Grimm take a much-needed step forward?

Yes and no.

Having Nick explain everything to Juliette, going as far as taking her to the trailer (and Monroe), had been a long time coming and though the scene felt very much like Grimm's Greatest Hits: Volume One, you felt the forward momentum. You felt the plot heading into new and exciting places, you felt the expansion of Nick's support team now that he could lean on his girlfriend in addition to Monroe. And it felt good, like season two's chances of hitting the ground running just got raised exponentially. But Juliette rejecting the information, fainting, and going to the hospital from the cat scratch was such a cop out. Yes, I know that she heard everything he had to say and that the final time she opened her eyes could mean that she's a Wesen now, but still, you wait 22 episodes for something to be said and when it is...it doesn't stick. There's a very slim chance that she'll be remembering anything that Nick told her, especially something as outrageous as "I hunt creatures in my off time", and that took away any of the power that that scene had accumulated. It almost makes me wish that they didn't have Nick confess in the first place, since it didn't become the Moment that it could have been. This could have been an emotional, cathartic moment for both the audience and Nick & Juliette, but it felt a little cheapened and tossed aside, especially after weeks and weeks of building to it.

Juliette maybe having power now could be a good enough twist to make up for that, though. It's still unclear what exactly happened once the cat scratched her; did she become possessed by the cat? Or is she now part-Wesen? Why would Adalind want to connect them that closely? To toy with Nick? I like Adalind's continued presence in Nick's life and I hope that this new development is something a little more permanent than the one episode speedbump that I'm dreading. If they're not going to have Juliette become a part of Nick's life as a Grimm, active or not, making her into some type of creature or giving her a connection to that world could be the next best thing. (It brings on a bit more moral complication to his duty, potentially having him face off with his love.) But if she's just going to be cured within an episode or two, it felt like a time waster. Juliette needs to have something to do besides being the doting girlfriend; they already reneged on her recent inching toward believing in unexplainable events, so the least they could do is give her a little edge and this could be just that.

The finale also saw the introduction of The Woman in Black, aka Nick's long-thought-dead mother. I have to admit, I didn't see that coming until only a couple minutes beforehand and the reveal still made me gasp a little and break out a big grin. Nick is a very closed off character and the more first-hand information we can get about his life, the better. His mother provides a link to the past that we haven't had since Aunt Marie and could be the one to take Nick's Grimm skills to another level, partnering up with Monroe to become the team that Juliette could have been a part of. And by the looks of things, Nick's mother is kind of a bad ass in her own right, so this will lessen his load and maybe allow him a little breathing room. I just didn't like that she did next to nothing in the episode and that we didn't get to see enough of her for the reveal to really have an impact. It was a shocker, most definitely, but it could have had more impact had, say, this not been her first appearance. With the character making multiple (mysterious) appearances, we could have gotten to "know" her more and thus could have been invested in finding out who (or what) she was.

Her role in the episode was nice and creepy, if slight, particularly the scene where she almost ran into Nick on the street, and I think that she'll be a valuable asset to season four, but again, I'm left feeling a touch underwhelmed overall.

I did, however, like everything they did with Hank, giving him a Grimm-ified post-traumatic stress disorder after his encounter with Monroe last week. It makes sense with his character; Hank has had cases stick with him for years and he couldn't get enough of Adalind, pre-cookie even, so the combination of what Adalind did to him, the broken glass at the police station, seeing a woge, and being face to face with a blutbad would really get him riled up. Or, in this case, paranoid-ed up, the final shot of Nick's partner with a shotgun in hand. I've wondered about the effect that being gradually exposed to the Wesen world would have on Hank. He's a practical, by-the-book type of thinker that goes off of experience and protocol in terms of making a move; how does he reconcile that with seeing the unexplainable, the fantastical, the other worldly? I kind of expected him to have more of a Juliette-type reaction, pushing the possibility of bad things that go bump in the night being real out of his mind through some type of "rational" explanation. But no, instead, he got in his own head too much and made himself pretty helpless in the process.

It leaves Hank in an interesting position going into next season. How deep does he sink before he gets help? And if he chooses to do something about it, will Nick have to explain what exactly he saw?

In the end, did Grimm fulfill its potential? Yes and no. It has great ideas, a nifty color palette, and seemingly intriguing plans for next season, but in terms of season one, the finale fell a little flat for me. It felt less like an answer-unveiling finale and more like the first part of a two part finale, heavy on exposition/tying up of loose ends and relying on a shock ending to get you to come back for part two. A lot of good stuff got introduced in "The Woman in Black", stuff that I have the fullest confidence in saying will pan out beautifully in season two, but the finale was a missed opportunity, to me. It could have been a major revelation, an episode that laid all the cards out on the table, but instead, we have a confession that didn't really count, a reveal that was good (but not great), and a one-note villain that only left the most ancillary of bodies in his wake. Grimm has the goods to be a great show in the near future, but season one ended with a bit of a whimper rather than the roar that I was expecting.

Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
-"What a pleasant surprise...I think."
-"Maybe it just doesn't like me."
-I loved the "122" room number and the quote from Monroe that tied back to the pilot.
-Awesome moment: Nick finding the pictures of himself and Hank on the computer. Very unnerving.
-Thank you guys for continuing to read, comment on, and share my Grimm reviews this season. Hopefully, they provided a little entertainment to go along with a show that, while not all the way there, grew mightily in its final 10-12 episodes.

Grimm 1.22 "The Woman in Black" Review

In the first 21 episodes of Grimm, Nick Burkhardt has battled a variety of creatures from the Wesen world. From fuchsbau foxes to bloodthirsty Bauerschwein, he's had to learn about and eventually take down his fair share, becoming a better Grimm with every victory, every bit of justice done to the perpetrators of some pretty heinous crimes.

In the season finale, titled "The Woman in Black", Nick comes up on a challenge unlike anything he's ever seen. No, no ax-wielding wolves or bomb-tossing owls to be found; instead, Nick Burkhardt, Portland detective and fearless Grimm, will have to take on...a house cat. This being Grimm, it's bound to not just any cat, but a cat whose claws and bite cause more damage than minor scratches. And it's nicked Juliette, enough where Nick may be forced to tell her his ultimate secret in order to get her potentially life saving medical care. Might this be the time that everything finally comes out?

Elsewhere on Grimm, the fourth suspect in the death of Nick's parents has made his way to Portland and isn't exactly coming for a relaxing weekend at the Portland Art Museum. Having only recently found out about the existence of a fourth man, Nick's emotions might not be in the right place to handle actually seeing him in person. Detective Burkhardt might be a tough man that has grown into a very capable Grimm, but those victories have all been in cases that didn't affect him personally like this one does. The death of his parents altered the course of his life and he's bound to be dealing with extremely raw emotions right now.

But can he handle those emotions and do his job? And what does Captain Renard have to do with anything?

The season finale of Grimm airs Friday at 9:00 on NBC. You can check out my review of a pretty solid penultimate episode here.

On the next page, watch two more sneak peeks of the Grimm finale, including Monroe talking about the role that house pets play in the blutbaden world.

Grimm Season Finale Sneak Peeks: Juliette Gets Hurt and Nick Deals with His Past

Earlier today, NBC unveiled its new 2012-2013 primetime lineup (read it here), which marks the return of several shows like Community, Parenthood and SVU.  The network has also added seven new comedies and five new dramas. Interested in the shows that will be coming to your TV next season? We've got trailers and sneak peeks from all of the new shows, so make sure to browse through all of the following pages. Let's start with...

Chicago Fire (Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m.)

No job is more stressful, dangerous or exhilarating than those of the Firefighters, Rescue Squad and Paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51. These are America's everyday heroes -- the courageous men and women who forge headfirst into danger when everyone else is running the other way. But the enormous responsibilities of the job also take a personal toll. Big reputations and hefty egos, coupled with the pressure to perform and make split-second decisions, are bound to put squad members at odds. When a tragedy claims one of their own, there's plenty of guilt and blame to go around. In the middle of a divorce, Lt. Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer, "House M.D.") tries to go about business as usual but can't help butting heads with the brash Lt. Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney, "The Vampire Diaries") of the Rescue Squad – and each blames the other for their fallen team member.  When it's "go-time" though, they put aside their differences and put everything on the line for each other.

"Chicago Fire" is a look inside one of America's noblest professions. Also starring are Eamonn Walker ("The Messenger"), Charlie Barnett, ("Law & Order: SVU"), David Eigenberg ("Sex and the City"), Monica Raymund ("The Good Wife"), Lauren German ("Hawaii Five-O") and Merle Dandridge ("Sons of Anarchy").  "Chicago Fire" is produced by Universal Television and Wolf Films.  Emmy Award-winning creator/ producer Dick Wolf ("Law & Order" brand), Derek Haas ("3:10 to Yuma"), Michael Brandt ("3:10 to Yuma"), Peter Jankowski ("Law & Order" brand) and Danielle Gelber serve as executive producers.  Haas and Brandt wrote the pilot, which was directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff ("Homeland"). From renowned Emmy-winning producer Dick Wolf and the writing team behind "3:10 to Yuma" comes an edge-of-your-seat view of a dirty job that often means the difference between life and death.

Next page: Do No Harm

NBC: First Look at All New 2012-2013 Shows

NBC has released their fall 2012 schedule, with the biggest news being the heavy emphasis on comedy. To go along with the six comedies from the past season that got renewed, the network has scheduled four new comedies and expanded to four nights of comedy.

Unsurprisingly, The Voice will be back for a fall season, leading into the JJ Abrams/Eric Kripke drama Revolution on Mondays and the Go On/New Normal comedy block on Tuesdays. Parenthood will be airing its 15 episode fourth season in the Tuesday at 10:00 slot, where it's been since its debut. Wednesdays will get two more comedies, something that NBC tried last season, as single-cam Animal Practice and multi-cam Guys with Kids will be paired up. There had been an assumption that the latter would be paired with Whitney, the only other multi-cam on NBC. The rest of the night will be all Dick Wolf, all the time, with Law & Order: SVU and Chicago Fire airing back-to-back.

Thursday nights, many thought, would be getting an extreme makeover, but it's more like a light shuffling of the deck. 30 Rock will be back for its final season at 8:00, leading into Up All Night shifting back into the 8:00 hour after half a season behind The Office. Speaking of The Office, NBC's top-rated comedy will be staying put at 9:00, leading into Parks & Recreation and, later, Rock Center with Brian Williams. NBC choosing not to launch a new drama here could be surprising, but they had three (The Firm, Awake, Prime Suspect) that couldn't find a foothold in the slot this past season.

Fridays will see Whitney and Community airing together to kick off the night, leading into Grimm and Dateline. Meanwhile, Sundays post-football will be reality heavy, Fashion Star and a shrunken The Celebrity Apprentice at 8:00 and 9:00, respectively. Medical drama Do No Harm will follow at 10:00.

Held for midseason are Infamous, 1600 Penn, Hannibal, Next Caller, and Save Me, as well as The Biggest Loser, Smash, Off Their Rockers, Stars Earn Stripes, Howie Mandel's White Elephant, Ready for Love, and Surprise with Jenny McCarthy.

What do you think about NBC's schedule? Which new shows will you be watching? Is there any move that you don't like?

Monday
8:00 The Voice
10:00 Revolution*

Tuesday
8:00 The Voice**
9:00 Go On*
9:30 The New Normal*
10:00 Parenthood

Wednesday
8:00 Animal Practice*
8:30 Guys with Kids*
9:00 Law & Order: SVU**
10:00 Chicago Fire*

Thursday
8:00 30 Rock**
8:30 Up All Night**
9:00 The Office
9:30 Parks & Recreation
10:00 Rock Center with Brian Williams**

Friday
8:00 Whitney**
8:30 Community**
9:00 Grimm
10:00 Dateline

Sunday (post-football)
7:00 Dateline
8:00 Fashion Star**
9:00 The Celebrity Apprentice
10:00 Do No Harm*

*-new series
**-new night/time period

On the next page, you can read descriptions of every new scripted show on NBC this season.

NBC Announces 2012-2013 Primetime Schedule

Having patience with a television series can pay off greatly. Once you start edging toward the finish line of its debut season, the stakes begin to heighten and all the (seemingly) unimportant episodes earlier in the run suddenly become valuable building blocks. Granted, not every series has found itself by this point, but for those that have, crashing everything together and bringing out the drama can be a pretty nice reward for fans. It's tempting to write something off earlier and earlier, considering the sheer volume of entertainment at our fingertips, so it's cases like Grimm, for instance, that make the argument that sometimes its okay to let a series figure it out.

"Big Feet" was a noticeable rebound from last week's episode and set up what could be a reveal-heavy finale that lays all the cards on the table. It laid the groundwork, in particular, for both Hank and Juliette to find out about Nick's other life, or at least the existence of creatures. There have been times earlier in the season where it felt like they were never going to be informed of Nick's Grimm life, that thread just twisting in the wind for all to see, but all that slow burn was worth the price of admission to "Big Feet". Grimm can feel a little too insular at times, Nick's secret not being able to be shared with a good chunk of the supporting cast, so bringing at least one, if not both, of his confidantes will open things up that much more. There's a disconnect between Hank and the rest of the show that could be remedied by being at least slightly clued in to what everybody already knows (or thinks); Hank has already encountered a few Grimm-like things, particularly his arc with Adalind and the villain from last week, but he's never made the connection that there's something not quite right here until he saw Dr. Blinkerhoff retracted in front of him. Considering that he thinks in the same practical, analytical way that Juliette does, maybe Hank needs to have the type of empirical data that she found tonight to further convince himself that creatures do exist.

For Grimm to continue growing, it needs to have the freedom that Hank/Juliette knowing could provide. They wouldn't have to be super involved; in fact, it could make the police station scenes more fun with all these people in the know and nobody sharing what they know with anybody else. It would allow Nick to explore more of his feelings about being a Grimm while taking a lot of pressure off of Monroe through having different weapons at his disposal. I just don't know how much longer the show can keep dancing around the issue and hope that the finale will reveal something, anything to one or the both of them.

The only thing that I didn't like, though, was the opening sequence, typically one of the stronger scenes in your average Grimm episode. It tends to be packed with action, a good jumping off point for an episode as either a crime is showcased or the stage is set for a denser type of episode. The content of the intro wasn't bad, but the way that it was presented felt very, very dry, with the now-cliche "found footage" trope being trotted out one more time. Grimm does such a good job dressing up older stories and known ideas that it was disappointing to see them present the found footage straightforward; it could have greatly benefited from having some type of twist to differentiate it from the hundreds of similarly gimmicky horror movies (and television show) out there. It felt like the show chose to lean back ever so slightly, rather than actively and creatively making an attempt to find new angles to open up "Big Feet". And the witness that came from the crime, Vera, pretty much disappeared after breaking down once the cops found her, so its impact had pretty much evaporated a few episodes in. Of course, the crime committed in the intro had more lasting power, sending Nick and Monroe barreling toward shady Dr. Blinkerhoff, but I would have liked for Vera to play a more active role in the investigation. Perhaps through her account of what happened?

Though I didn't care for the intro, I really enjoyed Dr. Blinkerhoff running wild in the city and the effect that it had over the rest of the episode. The action and violence of Grimm tends to appear to the average townsperson as normal and expected, but what happens when something pops up that you can't explain? What happens when you're confronted by that violence rather than viewing it through a third-party source? It's very similar to the journey that Juliette has taken this season, only the people in town could explain away what looked like a rabid half-man, half-animal wreaking havoc on Portland. Juliette couldn't due to having empirical evidence that what she had encountered was something unlike anything she had encountered before. "Big Feet" highlighted the divide between the human world and the Wesen world in bright yellow highlighter during the ending news report, a report that didn't take into account the lack of a mask being found at the crime scene. Your mind doesn't want to go to all these fantastical places when something bad happens because you don't encounter Wesen on a daily basis; the upon-death-retraction has been one of the best things for them, in that if they die committing a crime/running from the police, there's merely a human body there. And considering how order is often valued by law enforcement over the truth, there's no way they're going to go "there" in terms of trying to explain the crime.

"Big Feet" may not have addressed impending war or reapers, but it was an important episode in the overall arc of Grimm. This was the episode where it all started coming together for Juliette and Hank and where Portland got a taste of Wesen life - the boundary between the human and Wesen world has often been volatile and while it still very much exists, there's not a whole lot separating the two vastly different societies. It was an episode that brought a little pathos through Monroe's kinship (and personal relationship) with the victims of the doctor's experiments, notable for the fact that humans weren't the only victims here. Wesen like Alan, Dan, and Larry are just as much victims as the two campers, as they had their greatest weakness exploited by someone that didn't have their best interests in mind. Despite all the powers and abilities in the world, the Wesen have one foot still in the human world, after all; too bad the ugliness and self-hatred that goes along with that failed to be stamped out.

Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
-"These murders were committed by a barefoot man carrying a wolf."
-"I may have Big Foot on my couch."
-"You can only walk in darkness for so long."
-"What's the best way to get a friend to quit drinking? Tear his arms off."
-Monroe reading "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" was kind of perfect, no?
-The shoe with the foot still in it was awesome(ly gross) and very Grimm.
-Am I the only person that hopes for a season two episode featuring Monroe's support group?
-My notes on Larry ripping the drug thing out of his body:"OMG - is he ripping his neck off? What the hell?"
-Cool camera work: panning out of the hole that Dan Murray created in the wall while his brother was on the phone.
-Where's the medical examiner? We've not seen her in a few episodes.
-I loved the lighting in the theater that the doctor took his hostage to. Very menacing.
-Next week on Grimm: The gold coins from "Three Coins in a Fuchsbau" reappear, a mysterious woman in black keeps interrupting the investigation, and Nick's secret may not be secret for long.

Grimm 1.21 "Big Feet" Review

NBC has officially canceled four underperforming midseason programs, though their fate had been sealed long before now. Getting the boot, according to TV Line, are Bent, Best Friends Forever, Awake, and Are You There Chelsea, three comedies making room for NBC's massive comedy order and a drama that couldn't find its feet on Thursday nights.

Bent garnered headlines for the unusual scheduling that NBC gave it, burning two episodes a week for three weeks to finish the six episode order, while Best Friends Forever was pulled before its final two episodes could air. Luckily, the adventures of Lennon and Jessica will be aired, as the fifth and sixth episodes will be premiering June 1st. Awake had its two hour finale cut to an hour to make room for Community and, as of now, has yet to be completely pulled from the schedule. The series finale will air May 24th. Are You There Chelsea, based on Chelsea Handler's bestselling book, aired its series finale in March, canceled for not holding onto enough of Whitney's relatively modest lead-in.

The network has also passed on their remaining pilots, meaning that the pieces of the 2012-13 NBC primetime schedule are out there. We just don't know how they're going to fit together. The network has made comedy a priority, renewing six shows and picking up at least another half dozen, leaving four drama pilot pickups and several veterans coming back for another go-around. NBC will be revealing their schedule this coming weekend before their scheduled upfront presentation on Monday morning.

To read about all the NBC moves, be sure to keep checking the NBC tag here on TVOvermind.

Which of the four officially canceled shows did you watch? Should NBC have given any of the four another chance? If you were in charge of NBC, how would balance everything out?

Bent, Best Friends Forever, Awake, and Are You There Chelsea Canceled by NBC

NBC has given a second season order to Whitney, the eponymous comedy from stand-up comedian Whitney Cummings. Though it may have been critically ignored/reviled, the show had a pretty steady fanbase, thriving in a move from the post-Office slot to leading off Wednesday nights. The most logical pairing for the show would be the only multi-cam that NBC ordered to series - Guys with Kids, starring Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tempestt Bledsoe, Anthony Anderson, and Jesse Bradford. The network had several other multi-cams in development, including a sitcom from Roseanne, but they failed to pick anything else up.

NBC has also picked up a final comedy pilot in Next Caller, starring Dane Cook as a radio host for a relationship-themed call-in show. Deadline is reporting that the show, which features Collette Wolfe, Joy Osmanski, and Ryan Devlin, is being considered for midseason and has six episodes in its initial order. With its pick up and Whitney's renewal, NBC is overflowing with comedy for the 2012-13 TV season, having already given a renewal to the entire Thursday night line-up and picked up six other comedy pilots.

It's wise of NBC to be focusing more heavily on comedy, considering the rise of the sitcom in recent years. ABC has a solid comedy block, including one of the top shows on television in Modern Family, while other shows like The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, and Happy Endings are either enormously rated or provide their network with a considerable amount of hype. They've given smaller orders to a couple of older comedies in Community and 30 Rock, necessary to fit in all the new shows they'll be debuting, and I'm interested to see how all the pieces fit together.

Did you stick with Whitney all season? Does Next Caller Please sound like something you'll check out upon its debut? How do you feel about NBC leaning so heavily on comedy next season?

NBC Renews Whitney, Picks Up Dane Cook Comedy

Monroe's knowledge of the Wesen world has proven to be one of the most valuable assets for Nick's success as a Grimm. Nick could have made progress without Monroe, but it would have been a much slower evolution and he wouldn't be in the position that he's in today without him. Monroe's creature connections and past interactions with pretty much any type of Wesen one can think of has provided a safety net for Nick to be able to grow into his abilities without the threat of a reaper.

However, Monroe can sometimes put Nick in a difficult position, making the Grimm decide between following the letter of the law or aiding a creature that Monroe has a connection with. In the sneak peeks for tonight's episode, titled "Big Feet", he does just that, getting Nick to hide a creature friend of his that can't change back into human form. It's a condition we haven't seen before on Grimm and something that creates a pretty interesting moral dilemma for Nick; does he still turn the suspect in? How long does he actively hide someone that may have torn multiple people limb from limb?

Juliette has gotten into the mix, as well, discovering the bodies left by the Wesen, the closest she's come to an actual case of Nick's. There may have been attacks in her home or across the street, but Juliette has yet to discover a body and having her come that close to Nick's other world turns the pressure up on an already tense situation. It's difficult enough for Nick to weave his way through the creature world, especially now that his "star" is on the rise, and now his girlfriend is on the cusp of discovering his life as a Grimm.

Grimm airs tonight at 9:00 on NBC. If you missed my review over last week's decent but filler-y episode, a play on Cinderella, you can check it out here.

Grimm Sneak Peeks: There's an Attack in the Woods

NBC has renewed Fashion Star, its moderately-rated design series hosted by supermodel Elle MacPherson. Debuting in March, the show never quite broke out in the ratings airing behind The Voice results show, but it's numbers weren't the only factor in the renewal. After every episode of Fashion Star, every design that earns a bid from one of the buyers (H&M, Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue) gets sold online in a limited-edition basis. That type of ancillary income is valuable, particularly to a show that doesn't have the numbers for an automatic renewal.

Fashion Star is down to the final three designers following a triple elimination in the last episode. Orly and Nikki may have made a sale, but they ended up on the chopping block, going home alongside once-consistent Luciana. Remaining are Kara, the leading money earner having sold a garment in seven of the nine episodes, comeback kid Ronnie, and former engineer Nzimiro, all three looking toward the $6 million grand prize that the winner will receive.

Thus far today, NBC has been on a mad dash of renewals and pilot pickups, giving the go-ahead to two drama pilots and new seasons of Parenthood and 30 Rock. The network is set to unveil its 2012-13 primetime schedule on Sunday before their upfront presentation begins on Monday. Fashion Star may not have a place on the fall schedule, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it back around the same time next year, possibly with an expanded order.

The season finale of Fashion Star airs Tuesday, May 15th at 10:00 on NBC. It'll follow the season premiere of America's Got Talent, featuring the judging debut of Howard Stern.

Are you ready for another season of Fashion Star? Who of the final three do you think will/should win: Kara, Ronnie, or Nzimiro? Should there be any major changes before season two begins?

Fashion Star Renewed for Season 2 by NBC

NBC has officially picked up its critically acclaimed comedy 30 Rock for a final season of 13 episodes. It had long been rumored that season 7 would be the show's last; the only questions that remain are what the show will be paired with and if it will finish its run in fall or spring. 30 Rock has been an awards magnet for NBC, snatching up 12 Emmys, 6 Golden Globes, and 3 Producers Guild of America Awards in its six seasons.

Meanwhile, the network has given its third drama pickup to Do No Harm, a medical drama that stars Steven Pasquale of FX's Rescue Me. The show tells the story of a neurosurgeon that does battle with his dangerous alter-ego to keep it hidden from the rest of the world. It also features Phylicia Rashad in her first regular TV role in almost two decades and Law & Order alum Alana De La Garza, among others. NBC has another medical drama (County, from Parenthood creator Jason Katims) in development, but since they're going to be pretty tonally different, you have to wonder if NBC will go ahead and order both to series.

Also getting the greenlight is Infamous, a nighttime soap about a female detective that returns home undercover to solve the murder of a friend. NBC tends to back away from the idea of doing a soap, but given the success of ABC's Revenge, there's an appetite out there for well-plotted, delicious vengeance against the 1%. Infamous features Meagan Good, Victor Garber, and Tate Donovan.

NBC has been the busiest network in the week before upfronts, already having picked up three dramas (Chicago Fire, Revolution, Hannibal) and six comedy pilots (1600 Penn, Animal Practice, Go On, Guys With Kids, The New Normal, and Save Me). Additionally, they've renewed multiple veteran shows, including Parenthood, 30 Rock, and Law & Order: SVU, ahead of their schedule reveal on Sunday. Currently waiting word of their fate are several members of NBC's Thursday night line-up (Parks & Recreation, Community), as well as comedy freshmen (Up All Night, Whitney), and a demo-challenged drama that racks up the total viewers (Harry's Law).

Are you okay with 30 Rock bowing out next season? Does Jekyll & Hyde-ish Do No Harm sound like a show you'll be trying out? How do you think NBC should schedule all of their comedies?

30 Rock Renewed for Final Season; NBC Picks Up Do No Harm, Infamous

NBC's Awake, which airs Thursday nights at 10/9c, has been one of the best new shows of 2012. However, the series, which was created by Kyle Killen, who made the short-lived but critically acclaimed Lone Star, still struggles to find an audience despite its fantastic writing and brilliant performances. Here are five reasons why people should tune in to Awake this Thursday.

The Concept: The incredibly unique universe of Awake allows viewers to see Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs), a Los Angeles police detective, interact with his son in one reality and his wife in another, after a terrible car crash the family endures. In one outcome of the accident, Michael’s son, Rex (Dylan Minnette), has died but his wife, Hannah (Laura Allen), lives; in the other, Hannah is dead while Rex is alive. Throughout all of this switching back and forth, Michael remains unsure of what exactly is going on inside his mind. This central question of the series is discussed thoroughly between Michael and his two psychiatrists, Dr. Lee (BD Wong) and Dr. Evans (24’s Cherry Jones), making both Michael and the audience question which world is actually real or if, somehow, they both are. The issue of Michael’s accident and his mental state has also become a type of conspiracy storyline with his boss, Captain Harper (The Event’s Laura Innes), as she keeps tabs on Michael and tries to steer him away from the "bigger plot" whenever he gets a whiff of it.

The Bonds of Family: In Awake, Michael does not care if he is losing his mind completely as long as he gets to see his family. His love for them outweighs any potential mental problems that he may face. All that matters is that he can be with both Hannah and Rex, and it is truly inspiring too see a depiction of a man who is so committed to his loved ones that he would be willing to give up his sanity for the chance to spend a day with them. In this age of television, where some call characters like Donald Draper the "ideal man," it is refreshing and enjoyable to watch Michael be a moral person who cares so deeply for his family.

The Cases: Another great component to Awake is the fact that Michael is a cop, therefore making him tackle a different case in each reality every week with his two different partners, Bird and Vega (Steve Harris and Wilmer Valderrama). The best part about Awake’s police cases are that they help merge the two realities together in a way. Michael is able to use clues from an investigation in one reality to help him in another, which is a very cool and distinct aspect of the show. The writers of Awake also use these cases to further display Michael’s confusion over his predicament. How can portions of one investigation spill over into another and be helpful? Is one real and the other just a projection in a dream? This fascinating analysis of what exactly is going on in Michael’s mind is another way in which Awake thrives.

Jason Isaacs: I was not very familiar with Jason Isaacs’s work, aside from his roles in The Patriot and as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. However, week in and week out, it is his performance as Michael that keeps Awake together. Even though some viewers may be tuning in to see exactly what these two different realities are like and if they will converge together at some point, the main focus of Awake is the struggle of a man to hold onto his family when they have literally been torn apart. Isaacs is forced to show a great range of emotions throughout each episode, whether it is disappointment with Rex over a breakup with his girlfriend or excitement with Hannah as they contemplate moving to Oregon. Every week Isaacs conveys Michael’s feelings in such a way that the question of what is real and what is not disappears, and for the audience, the most important thing is what this man experiences and how he deals with it. Despite the thought-provoking complexities of Awake, Isaacs’s amazing acting ability completely immerses viewers into its two realities with ease.

Because Awake REALLY Needs More Viewers:  The main reason I am writing this article is because Awake (with its total audience having fallen to just over 2 million and its ratings demo at around 0.7, according to TVLine) desperately needs more people to watch it. The drama will most certainly be canceled by NBC unless a miracle happens in the ratings, and a show this good deserves to hang around for a long time.

Awake: 5 Reasons Why Viewers Need to Open Their Eyes and Watch This Great Series

The third season finale of Parenthood felt like a would-be series finale. Every character had a little moment of happiness, storylines were closed, rifts in relationships were mended. Even though the series had done okay business in the ratings and garnered a lot of critical acclaim, you couldn't be 100% sure of its chances of a renewal, particularly after that finale.

Luckily, the Braverman family lives to fight, laugh, and cry for at least one more season, as NBC has renewed Parenthood for a fourth season. Set to contain 15 episodes, season 4 of Parenthood finds the Braverman family at very different places than they were at the beginning of season 3. Crosby and Jasmine are no longer ooey-gooey unattached lovebirds - they're married and they're going to have to adjust to being husband and wife, rather than boyfriend and girlfriend. Amber made the choice to end things with Bob, choosing her future over what her heart demanded. Sarah and Mark are engaged, but what does that mean? At least Crosby and Adam have the Luncheonette to argue over, particularly once Haddie heads off to Cornell for her first year of college.

In short, the next season of Parenthood will be more about adjusting to change rather than undergoing the change itself. The family just spent 18 episodes dealing with serious growing pains and personal epiphanies, so the new locations and life roles will take some getting used to.

The third season of Parenthood began with an order for 16 episodes but that increased to 18 once some of NBC's fall shows underwhelmed in the ratings. The 15 episode order may be that flexible, particularly if the 2012-13 NBC freshman crop fails to produce a breakout drama. It's the fourth NBC drama to earn a pickup in recent months, with Grimm, Smash, and Law & Order: SVU all coming back next season.

Parenthood Renewed for Season 4 by NBC

Grimm can get a little frustrating with its complacency in format. It may have its hands tied regarding the format it operates under, but there have been times where edging away from the procedural side of its identity could have benefited an episode greatly. Of course, there has been a little tinkering here and there, having the police work take more of a focus one week, spending several episodes on Nick embracing his Grimm abilities, and focusing a subplot on Monroe's personal life, but for the most part, it's been the same ol'. While knowing what I'm going to get out of a Grimm episode can make for good TV comfort food, a part of me wishes they could play around a little more with their structure.

Even though it's not a perfect episode, "Happily Ever Aftermath" gets major props for trying something different. Giving us a break from the sometimes sloggy detective work, it shined the spotlight more on the Monster of the Week, a creepy bat-like Wesen called a murcielago, one of the first times Grimm has done that. It made for a nice change to the rhythm of a typical episode and was just enough of a stylistic wiggle to be noticeably different yet not enough to take you out of the action. It helped, too, that the case was a fairly interesting reinterpretation of Cinderella, funneled through a Ponzi scheme and a pretty decent twist. Though the financial angle reeked of "let's do something socially relevant but not too much", having already been exhausted by a recent season of Damages and the back half of Ringer, the story itself was pretty compelling, moreso after it got going. Especially the concept that Spencer had been assigned to keep Lucinda in control of herself and her ability, another angle on what it means to be a Wesen. There have been creatures that hated themselves, creatures that reveled in the power, and creatures that used said power for monetary gain, but I don't think there's been this type of dynamic played out on Grimm before, another universe expanding concept that widens the idea of a Wesen that much more.

That extra time also led to the ending packing kind of a punch, with Spencer putting Lucinda down for her own good and Lucinda lashing out one final time. I don't have to know every Wesen that Nick and Monroe come across; Grimm is about Nick catching the creatures and all, but something like this complicates the matter. Not all Wesen are evil and not all Wesen can control themselves, so the more the show highlights (and re-highlights) this fact, the more dimension the cases will have and the more entertaining they'll be.

I'm a little more conflicted about the B-story of "Happily Ever Aftermath". It gave Juliette something to do and for that, it gets very good marks. Of all the characters on Grimm, Juliette is the closest to breaking through and becoming something fun/interesting, but it's felt like they pull back on her once she gets too close to finding out the truth about Nick. Here, she became less typical genre show nagging girlfriend and more important part of the game, doing the research and getting Nick the additional information about the death of his parents. It may not have been much in the way of action or anything, but it's a promising development and a nice way to get her involved in the episode. Every time that she's either been about to find out about Nick (e.g. the dinner last week) or pushed her narrative forward, e.g. her rejection of his proposal, it's either been forgotten about or cut short, so hopefully her position on the show will improve from here on out.

But you promise us an impending war one week and the next, no mention of it? As much as I liked Nick being haunted by the events of "Three Coins in a Fuchsbau" and the revelation of a fourth murder suspect, not even a mention of war? And the reapers? That seems like an awfully big bomb to drop and immediately back away from, particularly after several weeks of building toward it. I understand the laws of television demand that the biggest revelations and most exciting events be corralled in the final couple of episodes per season, but this kind of broke the narrative flow that had developed. I have less of a problem with the actual episode itself than I do with the order in which it came in the season; had this popped up before the war angle began, closer to "Three Coins", I think it could have helped its cause tremendously. Unless something was gained in the episode, for example Renard's growing suspicion of Nick or Hank getting exposed to a Wesen's ability for the first time, that comes into play later, it'll make this look more like a filler episode. Which is a shame, because it had a lot of good stuff to it.

Grimm went a little left in "Happily Ever Aftermath" and while it didn't completely deliver, veering away from the events of last week and giving a fairly tired set-up to an intriguing case, it made up for it in ambition, the use of Juliette, and the callback to earlier episodes. I don't expect Grimm to suddenly become something other than a supernatural procedural, but when you're that bound to a specific structure, episodes like this help to expand what it can do and keep the show fresher. Every aspect of Grimm can make for a fairly good episode when executed well and given the spotlight, but relying on the same ratios of content and the same beats every week could make for a higher burn factor. There's only so many times that it can do the same thing in the same way and it be interesting, so something like "Happily Ever Aftermath" gives Grimm a little more room to try new things and keep us on our toes. If that kind of growth means taking a flawed-but-pretty-decent episode every now and then, so be it.

Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
-"I should tell you my nightmares more often."
-Even though I liked having Lucinda be the real killer, why didn't she expose herself to Nick like Spencer did? Was her issue not one of control but one of malice, intent, and manipulation?
-A lot of things/people I liked in this episode: the brother from Jane By Design, a Kimbra song, and the shot of Mavis's house in daylight fading into darkness, especially.
-What have been the favorite episodes this season of each cast member?
-Here's a piece on the Grimm make-up FX artist.
-NBC may premiere season two in August. Good idea or bad idea?
-Next week on Grimm: Nick comes across a Wesen that can't change back into human form and Hank sees something that he shouldn't.

Grimm 1.20 "Happily Ever Aftermath" Review

The most frustrating episode of television is one that has all the elements to be great yet doesn't quite gel. You see the potential on the screen and keep waiting for that moment when it all clicks, but there's something about it that keeps it from feeling complete. It could be something relatively minor that undoes its quality, like a momentary writing lapse or a misused character, but it tends to come down to execution. Put simply, the episode doesn't get pieced together properly, typically leaving things a bit uneven or lacking compared to what they could have been. After a string of improvement, "Leave It to Beavers" became that type of episode for Grimm.

But there's nothing that obvious that took Grimm out at the knees, not really. Though the Juliette/Monroe/Nick subplot was a little ham-handed and too short to have any impact, the only thing that I had in my notes that got to me was the attempts at humor, all of which fell flat. Grimm's not too maladroit at handling humor, mainly due to Monroe, but it's had many an episode that had to overcome mostly corny, too self-aware one liners. I think that having humor on a show as murky and (relatively) dark as Grimm is a good idea; it provides a way to keep those elements in the show while making an episode easier to watch, giving the characters the opportunity to not take themselves as seriously. Plus, you can learn a lot about someone by observing their sense-of-humor. But there were at least four or five hack-y moments in "Leave It to Beavers" that made me groan. Loudly. Like your out-of-touch uncle telling you his latest "zinger", almost daring you not to laugh. As much good as good humor can do for a series, bad humor can do as much bad; in the case of Grimm, it really takes me out of a scene, as it feels very forced and dry. Nick's final note (and present) to the reaper boss is about the level of humor that Grimm can execute pretty well - it embraces the darkness with a giant smirk. Not terrible lines about "losing your head" (after cutting off both reaper heads) or "being buried in your work" (later holding his head while cement pouring in around it). Grimm may have improved in the last few weeks, but the humor issue is one that dates back to the pilot and is something that I thought the show had outgrown.

Otherwise, I quite enjoyed "Leave It to Beavers", as it again expanded the Wesen world and introduced the reapers. Particularly, it gave us another look at the eisbiber and the creature code of conduct, as they had a vote on whether or not one of their own should testify against their natural predator. My favorite aspect of the past few episodes is the fact that we've been immersed in Wesen politics and the dynamic of Nick's other life, since most of the first 2/3 of the season was a little vague about that type of information. "Leave It to Beavers" gave us a first look at a gathering purely of eisbiber, something minor but something that acknowledges the communities within the entire Wesen umbrella. You'd think that having Nick be summoned to a meeting at the lodge could be a bit shoehorn-y, but Grimm tied back to the first holes in the dam between Detective Burkhardt's two lives in the refrigerator repairman named Bud and his friend John. Now that the show is trying to become a bit more serial, I'm more appreciative of the open threads they have, as they allow Nick to have "ins" to the creature world that he wouldn't have otherwise. Prior to episodes like tonight, they had merely been a sign that the show was willing to stray from the typical procedural open-and-shut formula, but if Grimm can take advantage of the creatures still "out in the wild", that could open up the show even more.

The introduction of the reapers, apparently based in Germany, offered consequence and danger for Nick Burkhardt, some of the first real danger of the series. Of course, he's had fights and shootouts, but the battle scenes on Grimm are so brief that you don't really have time to worry about injury. This type of danger comes in the form of people engineered and trained to take people like him out, a feat they've been doing for years and centuries. It's not going away after somebody's hauled off in handcuffs and unless Nick finds a way to get every reaper in a room and blow them up, it's not going away. Thus far in Grimm, Nick has pretty much had free reign around Portland, the time, resources, and lack of opposition needed to perfect his abilities and gain confidence in the new Nick Burkhardt. Now, it's time to take on a bigger threat than a lone creature or a couple of knuckleheads that could've been caught blindfolded. The reapers may not have stuck around longer, but there's more where that came from and since Nick took them out (and taunted the leader), they're bound to be more upset and eager to strike than ever before.

With a little Chekhov's Crossbow and a trip to Germany, Grimm opened up its doors to a world outside of Portland, Oregon. The scenery and visuals of Grimm have been some of its strongest elements, but the lush greens and creepy lighting need new, more venomous characters stopping by and I think Grimm has the capability to up the stakes for all involved. In "Leave It to Beavers", the mob gets involved, along with the higher-ups in the Wesen world, but the more people know about Nick Burkhardt, the more will try to take him out. That's why the friendship between him and Bud/the eisbibers is important; Monroe is fun and all, but if major things are about to go down and the imminent war comes to fruition, Nick's going to need allies and, more importantly, man power. Granted, the eisbiber is far down the Wesen food chain, but it's a start and I think it can only go up from here. Both for Grimm and for Detective/Grimm Nick Burkhardt.

Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
-"I told you to meet me, not eat me."
-"I should probably shower first, I'm a little cement-y."
-The only negative I have about the reaper fight is that Nick turned into a ninja during it. They both swung at him at the same time and he did this move that looked very video game. A little unrealistic.
-Props, though, for the use of the word exigent.
-Another former Angel producer will be joining Grimm for season 2.
-Here's a little information about an art exhibit focusing on the Grimm fairy tales.
-Next week on Grimm: Nick and Hank investigate a missing persons case related to a Ponzi scheme, while Juliette looks into the death of Nick's parents.

Grimm 1.19 "Leave It to Beavers" Review

On Jersey Shore, there's a little concept referred to as "t-shirt time". During said time, the guys on the show prepare for getting ready to go party by lounging around in a wife beater. They do everything in their normal routine except for put on their respective t-shirts, until the last minute where they put it on and finish getting ready. This keeps their shirt from getting wrinkled before they get to the club and, well, provides that type of bro-bonding that one can only find on the Jersey Shore. In a lot of ways, you can think of "Cat and Mouse" as the Grimm equivalent of "t-shirt time", as a lot seemed to happen but the finishing move has yet to be deployed.

And honestly, I'm okay with that. Grimm has been operating on a slow burn once they began embracing serial elements, but nonetheless, it's had forward momentum that earlier parts of the season lacked. In "Cat and Mouse", there was a lot of that movement, but for every gunned down body lying crumbled on the floor, there was another slight teasing at what is to come in the final four episodes of season one. Most interestingly, it got very philosophical on the issue of morality, both in terms of which side of himself Nick was going to go with regarding Ian and the entire verrat/lauffer dynamic. I don't expect socio-political commentary from my spooky Friday night genre shows, but it drew some interesting parallels from the verrat/lauffer to Marx's concept of the bourgeoisie/proletariat. Waltz's comment about the oppressed becoming the oppressors was also an allusion to Paulo Freire, a way to take the concepts of fox-people and the big bad wolf and put it in very real world terminology. Grimm may be a supernatural show, but it has shown a tendency to try and have its feet as firmly on the ground as possible, which makes the sudden moral dilemmas and philosophical underpinnings a little more believable upon introduction.

There had always been that gray area hovering around Nick Burkhardt, an area that would leave him with a choice of which Nick Burkhardt he was going to be on a given day. Given how close his worlds have come to colliding, it makes sense for him to finally have to deal with that conundrum and I think he made a pretty in-character move letting Ian go. Nick may be very by-the-book and good at his job, but after going through all the (mis)adventures that he's been through, there's no way he'd have given Ian to the police. But having them play with the idea that he could turn his back, even for a half a second, on the likes of Monroe and Rosalee was a smart move, in that it'll never let the viewer get too complacent. We all know Nick loves his creature friends and that he's grown having been seeing to his Grimm responsibilities, but there's that lingering "what if?" lurking around. What if he gets fed up with being a Grimm? What if his passion for a case outweighs that love for Monroe? What if he believes in the lies Renard is giving him? Just that second they gave tonight is a reminder that as good a guy (and good a Grimm) as Nick may be, he's not fully in the creature world and probably never will be.

Although I'm not a huge fan of the information dump that Grimm can make its guests undergo, all the Wesen history from Ian made what had been going on make that much more sense. You knew that there was some reason, aside from the key, that Nick had been raising the ire of people like Renard and finding out that Grimms typically worked for the seven royal families, all of whom have infiltrated corruptible industries, made for a pretty cool reveal. The royals of the Wesen world want to continue to gain power and the fact that there's a lone dissenter in Nick has to be a hard pill to swallow; it reminds me a lot of Lost Girl and Bo's neutrality, which has caused both the light and dark fae to try and persuade her to join their respective side. Here, though, Nick's side is less Team Wesen and more Team Right - he may not be fully in the creature world, but he understands the difference between right and wrong. And the takeover of powerful positions, coupled with the world being on the brink of war due to creatures like the hundjager, is enough to get him on the side of the other Wesen. Though Grimm has had many a good idea, there have been times where motives have been less than clear; you know something's happening that has the potential to be a game changer, but you don't know what or, more importantly, why it's happening. Here, the what and the why have gotten a little more clear, unveiling the scope of the Wesen world and the instability that Nick is walking in on.

The only missed opportunity here was having Nick learn about Renard's royal blood, but something tells me that before season one comes to a close in May, he'll find out his captain's role in the Grimm world.

And all this backstory, table setting, and interesting philosophy comes wrapped around one hell of a guest star. Grimm has been pretty consistent regarding its one-off appearances, gathering a lot of talent to come by Portland and have a bit of fun before being captured or otherwise incapacitated. But Sebastian Roche may have given one of my favorite guest performances on the show yet as hundjager and creature bounty hunter Edgar Waltz. There was a captivating mix of charisma, menace, and intellect to the hundjager, a mix that made every second of his screen time a delight to watch. You could see the viciousness of the hundjager, one of the roughest creatures in the Wesen world, just ready to come out, only barely controlled through Roche's icy performance. More importantly, you could understand how he had gotten to the point that he had, thanks to the fairly cunning way he tried to have Nick "deliver" Ian to him. Very few one-offs have a big impact outside of their respective episode, but this one served as a warning shot to Nick and company that the higher-ups know you and they're coming. Quickly. It's a shame that Edgar had to be "put down", if only because he'd make for a strong adversary and a constant threat to Nick, but it made sense and offered Ian a way to protect Rosalee and get a bit of closure along the way.

Grimm may not have had any major action or chase sequences in "Cat and Mouse", but it became one of the more exciting installments to date, due heavily to the progress in the storyline and the places we're about to go with it. Eschewing the in-the-trenches police work for a little history, a great guest performance, and a twisty game of, yes, cat and mouse, the episode felt a little more cinematic than normal, which is a good sign heading forward. For the longest time, Grimm had been stuck in a certain mode, but recently, it's expanded the scope of what it can do visually and story-wise, something that could launch it from good to great in the upcoming second season. "Cat and Mouse" feels like the episode that could propel that movement in terms of quality or, to put it in Jersey Shore terms, it's the episode before the episode.

Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
-"And if you need help in this town, he is the man. Or Grimm."
-"Yes, yes, I think my accent gets thicker when I look at German cameras."
-"But if push comes to shove, I'm shoving."
-Here's a little about Fairy Tale Road in Frankfurt, Germany, birthplace of the Grimm brothers.
-Bree Turner, who plays Rosalee, will be a regular come season 2.
-Next week on Grimm: Nick gets in the middle of a major creature conflict, which makes one side summon the reapers to take care of him once and for all. Meanwhile, Juliette insists on having Monroe over for dinner.

Grimm 1.18 "Cat and Mouse" Review

How much is too much information to reveal in a single episode of television? It's a question that has no clear answer, particularly in the world of genre shows like Grimm, and a question that can make or break the run of your series. If you don't give the audience enough answers on a regular basis, they may feel strung along and bail, but if you go too far with the twists and the unraveling without having a clear plan, you can lose your vision in the need for flash and drive viewers away due to a clear lack of direction. It's a delicate balance that varies on a show-by-show basis, but in general, the series has to have sufficient forward momentum with engaging enough characters and situations to offset a "slower" period of plot development.

"Love Sick" allowed the proverbial rabbit to catch up to the carrot it's been chasing, as Grimm clued us in a little on what the deal is with Adalind, Renard, and those big ol' cookies from last week. And in doing so, it went back to the pilot for inspiration; the key that Aunt Marie gave Nick after she got shot is highly sought after by the Wesen, though it's unclear just what it opens and the potential ramifications of opening what it's intended to. The past several episodes have hinted at something larger going on in the Wesen world, likely due to Nick's increased presence in their affairs, and the show gave out just enough information tonight to keep me curious about what the key's value truly is. It's enough to make Renard, extremely cold and calculated, double cross Adalind and kill a member of his family, so it has to be something that could drastically shift the balance of power between the Grimm and the Wesen. The danger that Nick has been facing, increasing once word of his lineage and prowess got around, just got amplified 100-fold, another good thing going forward for Grimm. Every remotely evil or bad-intentioned Wesen is going to be coming after that key, so if Nick had any hope of remaining in the shadows to anyone outside of Portland, he just put a giant red X on his back.

I wouldn't be shocked if the amount of action sequences on the show increases, as well, but if we get a glimpse at all the alliances vying for the key and all the machinations of Wesen politics, I'll be more than happy.

With the key, Grimm gave itself something to focus on, which can allow them room to play with the serial elements and tighten up the episodes from here on out. Nick had mostly been drifting in the wind away from the cases he works, trying to keep both of his identities hidden and himself off the map. Watching the hero test his legs and reconcile everything is good and all, but now that he's kind of got his wits about him, it's time for the story to evolve and for Nick to assert himself and his Grimm abilities. The key will give him an objective and something to work toward, which can help keep the pace of the show up and allow him to use both his detective and Grimm skill sets. It's a way to assess how well he can integrate each part of himself, particularly since he'll be encountering those he only knows in one world in the other.

"Love Sick" introduced the concept that a Wesen can lose their powers, as Adalind was stripped of her hexenbiest abilities once she tasted Nick's blood. It may not seem like much, but like the hunt for the key, this is a little wrinkle that could turn into something pretty fun going forward. Until now, I had assumed that the "condition" they had was hereditary and not able to be changed, but the possibility of losing your power could pose interesting dilemmas for Nick and company. Of course, tonight's example only happened due to the special circumstance of Adalind using the spell on Hank, but who's to say that it's the only way something like this could happen? Are there former creatures walking the Earth and how do they feel about their lack of power? Could Monroe have to make a choice about his power soon? This could be a weapon for Nick and company to use against particularly savage creatures; I mean, Adalind went from arrogant and violent with her power to a scared little girl without it, so stripping powers could get rid of threats and, oddly, give a little humanity to those that had repressed their own.

Grimm produced a pretty solid episode in "Love Sick", giving us just a tiny taste of the goings-on in the Wesen world. While we've been with Nick learning about his abilities, word has been going around about the last remaining Burkhardt and the threat that he poses to the creatures. The fact that high ranking royalty like Renard are coming for Nick and the key makes the final five episodes of season one that much more tense; Renard has to maneuver without letting Nick know he's onto him and Nick has to protect both himself and the key from the entire Wesen world that's in on the whereabouts of the key. Nick Burkhardt thought he had lived out of the scope of the creatures of the night, but it looks like the light has been shining on him this whole time.

Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
-"My butt is on its way."
-"You have the smell of violence."
-"Gentlemen. And you two, as well."
-The whole "Wu eats nickels and buttons" subplot was a little silly, but I'm glad that they're getting him more involved in the action, aside from random lines at the crime scenes.
-The reveal that the older lady Renard had been talking to was Adalind's mother was probably my favorite moment of the episode. Unexpected but delicious.
-Renard's name is Sean. Did we know that? Or no?
-Nick complaining about all the complicated German from Monroe felt like a little wink to internet commenters and TV critics.
-Silas Weir Mitchell talked to Collider about playing Monroe, the make-up process involved in wolf transformation, and his favorite episode of the season.
-Want to go to Comic-Con? Enter the Grimm sweepstakes and you just might be able to.
-Next week on Grimm: Nick's duties as a detective and Grimm conflict when Monroe and Rosalee harbor a criminal he's after. But could there be somebody else after the same man?

Grimm 1.17 "Love Sick" Review

Nick and Juliette's relationship is something that has been on the Grimm backburner for a minute. For a good portion of the show's opening 10-12 episodes, their connection served to keep Nick grounded and bring tension to his Grimm activities. Once Aunt Marie died, Juliette became the only person in Nick's personal life, therefore she's the closest to him and the toughest to hide things from. It was nice to have him be loose and happy, considering the demands of his professional/other life, but there wasn't a whole lot there between the two. Fairly lively banter and a comfort that paralleled their years together, but Juliette was merely a pleasant sidekick and didn't bring all that much to the narrative table.

But the minute Grimm decided to clue her in on Nick's secretive behavior, their interactions have gotten much more complex and Juliette's importance to the plot has vastly increased. Beginning with the nervous refrigerator repairman while culminating in Juliette meeting Monroe and refusing Nick's proposal, there's no longer a safety net for Nick to fall into. There's no longer that assurance that everything at home is going to be okay and that amps up the stakes on Grimm, in that it's cornered Nick and all but forced him to tell Juliette. He doesn't have that many allies in the first place, so any insecurity and fear that he has about letting Juliette in on his secret is going to have to vanish pretty quickly. It's not like she doesn't already have some idea that something is going on, y'know? On some level, hearing that her boyfriend is descended from a long line of creature hunters and that his reputation has been spreading throughout their world could be some type of relief, as it'd explain the random attacks, the stalkers, the long nights alone. Having Juliette stand up and tell Nick to cut the crap makes her a more active participant in Grimm, keeping her from becoming the typical supernatural ball-and-chain and opening the door to a more complex show going forward.

Good thing the episode where all this potential occurred was pretty solid and a definite step up from last week, as "The Thing with Feathers" managed to incorporate all of Grimm's supporting cast in two intriguing plotlines, one of which didn't take place in Portland. It was an episode that had more energy than "Island of Dreams", with the Renard/Adalind team-up against Hank continuing to both frustrate me with its lack of clarity/answers and pull me in with the possibilities it suggests. Admittedly, I don't quite know why they're going after Hank the way they are or why Renard has as much invested in this as he does, but any scene regarding their plot has been electric. I may not know what or why, but I know that the end result will have major implications going forward and I'm okay with waiting to find out. I mean, Renard has been so careful and calculated from the beginning of the show that there's no way he'd do something like this if he didn't stand to gain something from it. If someone of royalty is putting himself out there like this, it has to be for a delicious payoff; if there's not much there, though, at least we got a super creepy scene of him sneaking into Adalind's bathroom to fill her in on the next part of their plan.

Renard is such a scary character, in part due to his cold confidence, obvious intellect, and lack of screen time, but one that I'd really like to see more of going forward.

In a weird way, I was kind of okay with the slightly predictable case, only because a Grimm episode strong in other areas doesn't need a complicated or unusual case format to be compelling. The domestic abuse case is one of procedural lore, interpreted any which way you can think of, that the supernatural elements injected couldn't quite hide. It became obvious, even before Monroe expositioned everything about the growth/gold, that the sheriff knew Tim had been abusing Robin and didn't care; it was also pretty clear that Gary would get got by Tim and that Robin's escape attempt would wind up in a stand-off between Nick and the two men. But I didn't mind it. It was executed well and made for a fairly exciting, well-paced episode of Grimm, one that allowed everything to just breathe for once. There wasn't the (sometimes) tedious police work that they have to work through in order to solve the case or any gathering of evidence; it was a show-don't-tell type of episode that cut through a lot of bureaucratic red tape in order to get to the point. There are times where it feels like we don't spend a whole lot of time with the actual case, so letting Nick just be thrown into the action on a would-be romantic vacation was a nice change of pace. And more importantly, Grimm found a way to do something like this while incorporating the rest of the cast (Hank/Adalind/Renard, Monroe and Rosalee at the shop, Wu with a few lines) in a way that didn't feel extraneous.

Grimm may have been about the birds tonight, but thankfully, it didn't lay an egg. (Har har.) "The Thing with Feathers" felt like a strong balance between procedural and serial, Nick and his supporting cast, the human and Grimm sides of Nick Burkhardt. It's been tough for Grimm to strike that kind of harmony between all of its elements, with only a few episodes clicking on all cylinders. Last night may have featured a slightly rote case, but it was surrounded by a lot of good stuff and the way it was handled differentiated it from the dryer, less unique episodes earlier in the season. Grimm may have found a way to handle a solid supporting cast and two important sides of its storytelling, but it looks like Nick has to figure out just how much of his other life he'll let Juliette in on, if any at all.

Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
-"You're finally taking the big leap in front of the bus."
-"I would love an igloo with you."
-"Wow." "Well put."
-"Hot yoga on too little sleep is how groin pulls happen."
-How A Clockwork Orange was that feeding tube contraption that Tim put Robin in? Also gross: the removal of the egg and the blended worms that Tim kept feeding her.
-I laughed when Gary was stocking the shelf, turned around, and Tim kept getting closer. A little silly, a little creepy.
-An Oscar nominee is heading to the show in a very mysterious role.
-Next week on Grimm: Nick discovers Hank's dating Adalind, Renard gets a visit from foreign representatives of his bloodline, and Monroe teams up with Rosalee to help Nick.

Grimm 1.16 "The Thing with Feathers" Review

Using a callback can be a pretty tricky thing for a series to do. You don't want to rely on previous events in lieu of creating new ones, but utilized properly, they can help create a tighter world for the main characters to inhabit. Particularly within a procedural like Grimm, having a recurring peripheral character can help the show highlight the fact that life isn't as neat and orderly as had been previously indicated. Cases go unsolved, the bad guy can get away, and even when you think you're doing something for the greater good, you can sometimes unleash more than you bargained for.

"Island of Dreams" follows Grimm's recent trend of adding more serial elements, stacking the number of guest appearances and flashbacks like a mountain of playing cards. I liked seeing Adalind for the fourth time, only because each of her appearances has only scratched the surface on a potentially potent character. There's something about her presence on screen that's extremely unsettling, like she's the type of baddie people constantly underestimate before she takes them down, and digging into her motives a little more can only heighten the fear factor. Especially when you take into account that Captain Renard had a hand in getting her to make the cookies that have been messing with Hank's head and nearly killed Wu; it adds a level of conspiracy theory and general wonderment, in that Renard has showed how dangerous he can be and you have to wonder why he's pulling Adalind's strings. Are the two fully working together or is Renard the one truly in control and using her to carry out his bidding? And what exactly is he after? Grimm may not go to the Renard pool as much, but each layer they peel back makes him a more interesting character, for his royal blood, what he's hiding from his co-workers, and how terrifying he could potentially be, should he fly off the handle.

"Organ Grinder", one of the better Grimm episodes, made another appearance, at least in spirit, as the fuchsbau victim tonight appeared there as well, selling gallenblase to Monroe. It may have only been a small reference, but it not only deepened that episode, finding out what happened to the shopkeeper, it also made the Grimm world seem more compact. As a cop, Nick's going to run into the same establishments and some of the same people, especially considering that Portland, while fairly populated, isn't on the level of a New York or LA in that area. Having the case reappear made for a cool storytelling vehicle, introducing Rosalee, but it made logistical sense and brought a little more realism to the procedural side of Grimm.

However, while other parts of "Island of Dreams" were intelligently done, there were some elements that felt a little rote. Adalind's evil blood cookies, while producing some awesomely WTF imagery from Wu having ingested them, ended up not being that great. Two episodes ago, there was a storyline about something magic that changed the person that possessed it. It made "Island of Dreams" feel like a weird rewrite of that at times, which isn't the first time Grimm has repeated itself so close together. In a procedural, it's hard to be consistently original in every element of your structure and story, but the proximity between "Three Coins in a Fuchsbau" and "Island of Dreams" do neither any favors in the originality department. Adalind having something to do, especially something to follow up her cliffhanger-y dinner date with Hank, is a definite positive and the effect of...whatever happens here will probably be worth it, but the methodology, I just don't know. Plus, can Hank get something to do aside from being reactionary to everything? Old cases, coins, cookies - the man is being thrown back and forth by the influence of outside stimuli, to the point where they're kind of losing him as a character and making him more of a pawn than a man. I like Hank in his non-mind controlled scenes with Nick, but there's not much to him and it'd be nice if there'd be a little more shading to him from here on out.

Grimm 1.15 "Island of Dreams" Review

NBC

30 Rock season 6 retreads the fifteenth episode of season 6 with "Kidnapped by Danger," where Liz finds herself in a yearly rut while Jack struggles to come up with an idea that can re-invent KableTown, and Hazel (Kristen Schaal) continues her obsession with Liz.  A very reflective, and meditative half-hour, "The Shower Principle" ultimately seems like its own worst enemy rather than a testament to the series' survival.

I’m continually fascinated, and perhaps even a bit unnerved by what ‘s been going on with 30 Rock this season.  On the one hand, the show seems comfortable enough in its age and purpose that it doesn’t mind repeating, or even poking fun at itself, yet simultaneously testing out the water for new ideas, and actual growth.  30 Rock has always prided itself on knowing exactly what it wants to be, yet now, like Liz lemon herself, the show seems uncertain  of how it wants to handle aging.  It’s an impossible concept not to consider when entering the sixth season, but a few points in the last run have episodes have really hammered the idea home.

For instance, though I didn’t find time to mention it last week, Weird Al’s credits coda parody of the 30 Rock theme song seemed especially barbed, almost like a pissed-off teenager reaching a point where it defiantly decides that like it or not, it is what it is and isn’t going to change.  30 Rock in its prime garnered multiple Emmy wins, so I’m not sure what exactly it has to complain about if ratings slip by the sixth season, should the show slip quietly into that good night.  And why even be bothered if critics accuse the show of being past its prime, or repetitive?  30 Rock has more than established its impact and legacy.

Of course, repetition being the theme of the night, most parody shows will inevitably reach that point of self-parodying repetition, which walks a fine like.  I prefer invention upon the theme, akin to South Park’s brilliant subversion of its own pilot becoming a repeat for “Cancelled,” moreso than Scrubs, or The Simpsons’ wry, yet simplistic referencing of its own recycled plots.  “The Shower Principle” reaches that point of meta-reference overflow wherein the show deliberately calls out its own age, and repetition, with varying degrees of success.

Had “The Shower Principle” left the meta-referencing as a courteous nod in the beginning, as Liz slowly realizes in conversation with her accountant that she tries to change things on a yearly basis, the episode might have succeeded gracefully.  And to wit, utilizing her journal as a road map / omniscient guide to right usual wrongs might have made for a fun twist on the concept, but by the end 30 Rock simply goes for broke and draws manic attention to the fact that Tracy will always have some scheme that grows increasingly complex, Jenna’s vanity will always necessitate some kind of special attention, Jack will solve Liz's problems with his hyper-competence, and Cerie will always drive the writing staff wild.  And even then, it’d be an on-the-nose parody to forgive, if they didn’t simply step a toe over the line with Kenneth gleefully announcing his re-application to the page program, or Hazel’s pathetic attempt to differentiate herself, which Liz (and thereby the writers) simply dismiss.

Up until Liz’s cathartic outburst, I had done my best to focus on the things that actually had given new life to 30 Rock this season , and even made “The Shower Principle” a meditation on itself rather than a sad elegy.  For instance, I’m continually fond of Kristen Schaal’s portrayal of Hazel, however hackneyed the idea that she would endlessly covet Liz Lemon’s life.  It’s not the most effective of characterizations to be sure, but despite Liz’s words toward the end, it’s at least something different to fill the void left by Kenneth.  Hazel is weird enough that  she matches the tone of the personalities around her, but different enough in her bizarrely sexualized and naïve presence that she makes an effective contrast to Kenneth, who admittedly still needs a place of his own to avoid awkwardly intruding on other scenes throughout the episode.

And on the same token, I enjoyed Liz’s meditation on the root of her routines, in its play-like staging, as well as Jack’s uber-efficient meditation that solving Liz’s problems were the key to refreshing his own.  Once again, its weird, but unique enough to suggest continued signs of life in the aging series.  And who’s to say that by episode’s end Liz’s words won’t prove true, and Jack’s venture into building KableTown couches couldn’t provide a new endeavor for the series to play with, or Liz breaking her rut?

I’m certainly not one to believe in a renaissance for 30 Rock at this point, but if the show can avoid being so cynical about its age, we  might actually enjoy its golden years.

And Another Thing…

• “Oh my god…have I never washed this sweater?”

• So, did anyone double check Liz and Jack having the exact same conversation a year ago?

• Between this, and American Reunion, we sure are seeing a lot more of Katrina Bowden than usual these days…and I don’t mean that figuratively.  And hello Kristen Schaal!  Woo!

• 5nowDog5.  Come on, you chuckled.

• Not a lot of room to mention Jenna and her MacBeth subplot, but I couldn’t not enjoy the Shakespeare in a Mayor McCheese costume coda.

• Aside from the cynicism, I did feel my heart thaw a bit at Jack finally admitting he needs Liz.

What did YOU think?

30 Rock 6.15 "The Shower Principle" Review - Rinse, Repeat

-NBC

30 Rock season 6 stages the fourteenth episode of season 6 with "Kidnapped by Danger," where Liz prevents Jack from succumbing to Avery's mother Diana (Mary Steenburgen) during production of his movie while Kenneth takes on a new job and Tracy and Jenna out-parody Weird Al Yankovic.  Somewhat less even than the previous half-hour, "Kidnapped by Danger" seems like a promising story that doesn't quite live up to its potential.

So, I was more or less correct when I decided  that it wasn’t necessary to view “Grandmentor” and “Kidnapped by Danger” as a single episode, in spite of their presentation.  Kristen Schaal has no role to play this week, and the only real continued threads are the production of Jack’s Avery Jessup movie and Kenneth once again attempting to claw his way back up the corporate ladder, but they’re not really continued in any way that’s thematically dependent on “Grandmentor.”  If anything, I would think that the two actually work better separated by a week, given a little time to let the idea of Kenneth settling into a lower job or production ramping up on “Kidnapped by Danger” simmer a little.

The threads “Kidnapped by Danger” does pick up end up in fairly satisfying through-lines though, as production of Jack’s film makes for a lot of great gags and meta humor, even if the final product is somewhat confusingly hilarious.  For instance, I’m in shock that 30 Rock has never attempted the Baldwin brother humor before, given its longevity.  Using William Baldwin as Jack Donaghy stand-in Lance Drake Mandrell makes for an inspired turn in playing to both similarities and contrasts of the two Baldwins, and I certainly hope we can see that character again.  The gags of using Cynthia Nixon with a Boston accent and viewing the events of the last few seasons through Liz Lemon’s writing also made for some solid meta-laughs, but given the turmoil of the episode, I wasn’t sure what the final exaggerated “Korean Freeze Ray!” cut of the film was supposed to be a satire of, whose writing style was being mocked.

Much of Jack’s arc through “Kidnapped by Danger” is to be confronted once more by Avery’s mother Diana, where the sexual tension between the pair drive’s Jack’s sense of guilt and denial over his current predicament.  As much as I like the continued attention to the thread and the introspection Baldwin lends to the part, I’m not sure I appreciate the doubt cast on the state of Jack’s relationship with Avery prior to her kidnapping.  And as for Jack creepily finding himself attracted to Diana, the issue was put to bed enough in “Hey Baby, What’s Wrong?” that reprising it felt like a diversionary gesture, somewhat hand-waved away by pawning Diana’s affection off on the nearest Jack facsimile.  It was worth a few good gags, but ultimately didn’t add much to the story we didn’t already explore.

Similarly, I’m growing increasingly wary of Kenneth’s arc this season, as it seems to circle those inevitable waters of familiarity, placing the character back toward his page gig.  I quite like that the character has clear aspirations of being “President of Television,” but seeing Kenneth in one new position or another has been so incredibly refreshing, it would feel horribly tarnished if no actual growth was achieved or lesson learned.  That said, I have to give special credit to his disturbing revelation to Jack that he lies to himself day after day in order to be upbeat, especially dark for 30 Rock, but just twisted enough to feel original.  I’m not sure at this point I could ask for the show to cut to any real emotional core of Kenneth, but tonight’s turn felt like a staunch declaration of honesty in an otherwise re-hashed plot.  For that, ill give it a temporary pass.

At first it seemed like 30 Rock was back to old hat for Jenna, vainly pairing her with Tracy once more, but adding a parody competition with Weird Al Yankovic was certainly an interesting, if tangential twist.  I’m not sure how the writing or production shaped up for “Kidnapped by Danger,” but I have to imagine Yankovic’s appearance would have been far more effective had he actually been introduced into the show, rather than a series of cutaway gags.  Weird Al feels like a perfect fit for 30 Rock, yet here was limited to an external narrative

Ultimately “Kidnapped By Danger” didn’t prove to be as effective as “Grandmentor” but still had plenty of laughs in its own right.  At most, it simply could have used a bit more time to flesh out its writing and production, perhaps better relegated with another episode in between tonight’s pairing.

And Another Thing…

• So, has the show actually taken any care to mention Kim Jong Il’s death, or are they merely focusing on Kim Jong Un?

• Elizabeth “Diablo” Lemon.

• Was that the real set of Jack’s office used for the fake one, and they go to another set for reverse angles?  Ah, Hollywood magic.

• “We pool our tips.”  Eww.

• Understandably he wants Kenneth to take his own journey, but couldn’t Jack simply give Kenneth his Standards and Practices job back?

• “He Normal Al-ed us!”

What did YOU think?

30 Rock 6.14 "Kidnapped By Danger" Review - The Baldwin Solution

-NBC

30 Rock season 6 advises you to watch the thirteenth episode of season 6 with "Grandmentor," where Liz takes Hazel (Kristen Schaal) under her wing while Jack struggles to keep Avery's story in the media and Kenneth finds himself butting in on his old job.  Full of fresh direction and some uneven characterization, "Grandmentor" seems like a promising new start for the aged series.

Had I known earlier that tonight’s “Grandmentor” was more or less the first half of a two-part story (something 30 Rock seems to be doing a lot of this season, for some reasons more legitimate than others), I might have watched “Kidnapped by Danger” before I sat down to start writing this.  That said, I felt it a more interesting challenge to judge the show on an episode-to-episode basis, as not every two-parter is meant to be looked at as one stand-alone story.  Anyone who watches “Grandmentor” isn’t necessarily going to pop in “Kidnapped by Danger” immediately after, so it wouldn’t be fair to judge both as a whole, particularly when they’re not even named as such.

There may yet end up being some major payoff or connection to “Kidnapped by Danger” that I’m missing (I’m aware that’s the movie Jack produces, but the episode also features “Weird” Al Yankovic, enough to make it stand alone) by starting to write after “Grandmentor,” but I’ll take that bet.  After all, you’re only as strong as your weakest side.

All that said, I genuinely liked the first of tonight’s 30 Rock.  I’ve been on a big kick of harping on the show’s age, and propensity to dip back into its own history for character developments and jokes, helped in no small part by the recent announcement that the series would attempt yet another live episode.  And while a bit risky, I still felt that “Grandmentor” offered up some of the freshest 30 Rock this season, each character effectively used in unfamiliar ways.  It does set up a few portents for the story to veer back toward the status quo, and the next episode could confirm that, but for now I’ll trust my instincts of originality.

The biggest thing on people's minds coming from "Grandmentor" is that of Kristen Schaal, whose replacement page Hazel Whassername grows increasingly unhinged with each episode.  I understand most viewers' dissatisfaction with the character’s inconsistency, and I’d agree that she’d benefit from a little more gravity, but her continued presence is still a breath of fresh air, and a wonderful showcase for Schaal.  Schaal has been around for some time and likely you’ve seen or heard her without realizing it, be it Mad Men or Bob’s Burgers, thought this was the most range I’ve ever seen her allowed to display.  Liz doing her best to take Hazel under her wing, with Jack as “Grandmentor” presiding also makes for a refreshing angle change of their own relationship, which for me outweighed any silliness to Schaal’s character.  I doubt it Schaal could make any real commitment to 30 Rock, but I certainly wouldn’t want to lose Hazel just yet.

Hazel also more or less pulls Kenneth and Tracy’s arcs into her orbit, so the other side I felt most worth exploring was that of Jack’s effort to bring Avery’s plight to the media, and playing off Jenna desperate for a role in the movie.  Jenna’s vanity too often retreats into empty gags and one-liners, but here I thought playing off Jack and forcing him to confront certain truths about both his relationship with Jenna and his relationship with Avery offered a lot of ground to explore.  It wasn’t always funny, and I’m not certain how much longer 30 Rock can sustain the notion of keeping Elizabeth Banks off-screen by way of kidnapping, but perhaps there’ll be some movement on that in the next episode.

Overall, “Grandmentor” is definitely a beacon of hope that the show can sustain new story-lines and developments without losing much of the humor that made it great in the first place, but I’m fully prepared to eat my words if things go back to normal by the end of the season, or next episode even.  Bring back Standards and Practices Kenneth!

And Another Thing…

• Something tells me “Gaylord Felcher” and his obscenities are merely the writers’ shiniest new toy, but I’m still laughing.

• Chinese miner babies and the puppies lowered in to retrieve them felt like just the perfect amount of satire the show does so well.

• Ah, the irony of mentioning Krang the week when everyone is up in arms about Michael Bay’s Teenage Mutant Alien Ninja Turtles.

• “At best, you’re a featured extra with no lines.”  Ouch, meta-burn.

• “My real name is Tracy Morgan!”

• One word:  “Lemonem.”

What did YOU think?

30 Rock 6.13 "Grandmentor" Review - Coming Up Schaal

If it weren't for my lack of Wednesday night programming, the premiere of Bent would've gone unnoticed. And I’m sure for some, it did just that. Don’t worry, I've got you covered.

The new romantic comedy premiered last night with back-to-back episodes following new episodes of the slightly entertaining Whitney and the cure for insomnia Are You There, Chelsea?.  It didn't take long to see Bent isn't looking to break new ground for romantic comedies, but would rather stick as closely to the script as possible.

Here’s the skinny: Pete Riggins (David Walton), a handsome, recovering gambling addict is hired to renovate the home of Alex Myers (Amanda Peet), a high-strung lawyer, divorcee, and mother of a 10 year-old daughter named Charlie. As renovation begins so does the sexual tension, and not-so-subtle teases of a future relationship between the two.

Like any romantic comedy, roadblocks such as current relationships, old flames, one-night stands, and the always-on-time train known as “What the hell am I doing?” make appearances, during the half-hour sitcom, that would be better served as an hour-long series.  The predictability of the show is offset (slightly) by the comedy of Jeff Tambour, who plays Pete’s dad, and JB Smoove, Pete’s gossiping buddy. Honestly speaking, I didn't find anything during last night’s episodes to be laugh-out-loud funny, but I did crack a chuckle here and there. Baby steps.

Initially, I was going to throw a full vote of confidence behind Bent, and make it a point to watch every Wednesday at 9 PM, but then I found out this season only consists of six episodes. No bueno. Not only did NBC sneak it on the mid-season schedule and barely promote it, they also called up six episodes that will be played back-to-back in three weeks. Talk about a quick and painless death. Have you no compassion for this potential gem, Peacock?

Bent won’t win any awards for originality (or be picked up for a second season), but sure as hell could sweep any award show for predictability and being a by-the-book romantic comedy. That kind of dedication is worthy of applause, or maybe not.  If I know NBC like I think I know NBC, Bent doesn’t stand chance, even though its predictability is slightly refreshing and its quirkiness makes for interesting TV.

Bent 1.1 "Pilot" Review

Following in the footsteps of Awake and Smash, Best Friends Forever has had its pilot episode released well before its official premiere date by NBC.

In the pilot, we meet best friends Lennon and Jessica, extremely close since their freshman year in college. After Jessica gets served with divorce papers from her cheating husband, she moves back home with Lennon and Lennon's boyfriend Joe, which causes much discomfort from all three of them. Lennon has to make sure she's taking care of Jessica in her fragile state while not leaving Joe too out in the cold, as the two friends have such a tight bond that it can be hard for anyone to be let "in". Can the three of them learn to co-exist and share activities like Lazy Sunday?

Not helping matters is Rav, Jessica's old friend that may have feelings for her. The two had a major falling out some years back, but now that Jessica is back, things have been resurfacing and complications have arisen. Jessica's obviously not ready to get back into the dating pool, but could there be an exception for someone she's already comfortable with?

Best Friends Forever is the latest in a long line of leaked pilots this season. Along with its aforementioned network brethren, the debut episodes from New Girl, GCB, The River, Suburgatory, Hart of Dixie, and The Secret Circle, among others, have been released early, either through iTunes or websites like Yahoo TV.

Best Friends Forever officially premieres Wednesday, April 4th at 8:30 on NBC. You can watch the pilot episode below, on Hulu, or NBC.com.

Do you like networks releasing pilot episodes of new shows early? What do you think about the first episode of Best Friends Forever? Do you think you'll be tuning in when it premieres next month?

Best Friends Forever: Watch the Pilot Episode Early

What would you do if your best friend moved in with you...and your boyfriend?

In NBC's upcoming comedy Best Friends Forever, that's the balancing act that Lennon (Lennon Parham) has to deal with, as best friend forever Jessica (Jessica St. Clair) recently had her husband file for divorce and has moved in with Lennon for emotional comfort. Problem is, Lennon recently moved in with her boyfriend Joe (Luka Jones), so their apartment just got a little more crowded.

Additionally populating the Best Friends Forever universe are Rav (Stephen Schneider), Jessica's old friend and pseudo big brother, and Queenetta (Daija Owens), a neighbor of the girls that's especially contentious toward Jessica. Best Friends Forever looks to be telling Jessica's story in addition to the story of Lennon/Joe accepting her into their place, as Jessica moving back to the city will cause her to confront a lot of stuff from her past. In order to move on from her ex-husband, she's going to have to work through it, but she'll have Lennon to help the transition to single life be as easy as possible.

The sneak peek below offers a glimpse at Best Friends Forever, both in front of and behind the camera. Mostly consisting of the cast walking us through the concept, it's punctuated by brief clips from the show, which range from Queenetta and Jessica squaring off to an errant Braveheart impression and homemade scoops. Best Friends Forever may be a comedy, but it's looking at the value of a solid support system and how friendships tend to change shape with the many experiences we have in life. People may come and go in your life, but there's not much that can replace a best friend, especially in times of need.

Best Friends Forever premieres Wednesday, April 4th at 8:30 on NBC, along with Betty White's Off Their Rockers and Bent.

Are you planning to check out Best Friends Forever when it debuts? Does the sneak peek make you more interested in watching an episode?

Best Friends Forever Sneak Peek: Don't Do Braveheart

TV Line is reporting that NBC has become the first non-CBS net to issue an early renewal for next season. Getting the early go-ahead for another year is Grimm, the supernatural procedural from David Greenwalt (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Jim Kouf (Angel). It's been a tough season for NBC, but Grimm has provided a little spark, exceeding ratings expectations and giving them a foothold on Fridays. In its most recent episode, the show earned a 1.5 in the 18-49 demo, with its season-high being a 2.1 for its October premiere.

Grimm tells the story of Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli), a Portland detective that discovers he's descended from a long line of creature hunters known as the Grimm. With the aid of reformed big bad wolf Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), Nick has to begin learning about his other identity and the consequences of being born into such a feared stock of people. He can't let his girlfriend Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) in on his new life, at least not yet, but his reputation is spreading for being a skilled hunter and there's only so much he can shield her before he has to let her in. The show also features Russell Hornsby as Nick's partner at Portland PD, Reggie Lee as a sergeant and one of Nick's co-workers, and Sasha Roiz as the police captain that has ties to the Wesen world.

Grimm airs Friday nights at 9:00, though it's currently on hiatus until March 30th. If you missed my review over last week's episode, which included dragons and long-needed introductions, you can check it out here.

Do you think Grimm has improved since the beginning of the season? How are you liking the show embracing serialization? What do you hope to see out of a second season?

Grimm Renewed for Season 2 by NBC