“All I need is a healthy ovum and I can grow my own Leonard Nimoy!” –Sheldon gets the perfect gift on The Big Bang Theory
There were a couple of episodes in a row of The Big Bang Theory that really underwhelmed me. They were just kind of awkward and didn’t completely work. I didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but now I do. They were simply saving it all up for this episode. Not only was the episode probably the best episode of this show that I’ve ever seen, but the end, in which Penny gives Sheldon a signed napkin used by Leonard Nimoy, is one of my favorite TV moments of the year. Leonard’s unabashed, twitchy joy at getting the best present ever, and his cry of, “it’s not enough!” when he gives her hundreds of dollars worth of bath items still cracks me up, even after watching it half a dozen times.
“What? I can celebrate Hanukkah too.” — Barney sings some original holiday songs on How I Met Your Mother.
Hey, remember when CBS was the network for the olds? Who would have guessed that just a few short years later, its flagship show would be murder porn extravaganza, CSI, and that a sitcom character would be singing a song about getting his friend’s little sister down on all fours. CBS clearly knows what the public wants, and that’s why they’re number one. Barney’s holiday songs are disgustingly hilarious and serve as an excellent reminder of just how Neil Patrick Harris makes everything so much better.
“I don’t touch anything on this property without gloves.” Greg gets a helpful tip on Secret Millionaire.
I had seen some promos for Secret Millionaire, but hadn’t paid too much attention to them. I’ve got a pretty full plate, TV wise, so I don’t have a lot of time for random FOX reality shows. However, Shaun, from TVtalkradio kept on talking it up, so this week, when what I normally watch was in reruns, I was able to catch the season finale. Basically, the show takes a millionaire, has him or her live in poverty for a week and then take some of their own money and gives it to deserving members of the community. This has to be the cheapest show in the world for FOX to make. It’s actually pretty good. At first, I was watching it and I thought the guy had to choose only one deserving person to give the money to, which I thought was kind of exploitative and mean, but it turns out that he can divvy up his money between everybody. The show is pretty decent, which is why I don’t really understand why FOX kind of threw it away by airing two episodes a week — I just discovered it, and now it’s over. It seems that they would have been served well by stretching it out during the time when most other shows are in repeats.
“I wouldn’t say ‘never.'” –Ned tells Olive what she’s been longing to hear on Pushing Daisies.
Ned and Chuck have been such a foregone conclusion that writers have barely bothered to pull the “will they or won’t they” thing. So where, exactly does that leave poor Olive Snook? The bright, itty bitty ray of sunshine carries a torch for Ned as big as she is, but gets nothing in return. It’s kind of sad, because if Chuck weren’t in the picture, there’s no reason why Olive and Ned couldn’t be perfectly happy together. In this week’s episode (around the two-minute mark in the video), Ned finally acknowledges that, on some level, he shares Olive’s feelings.
“Crews. Are you there?” — Reese checks to see if Crews is okay on Life.
This episode has gotten me into a lot of trouble on this site, so I figured, hell. Why not show the video again? It’s still a good episode. After accidentally shooting his father in the leg, Crews gets shot in the chest by an unknown assailant who rang his doorbell. After he gets shot, he has a dream in which he’s back in his jail cell and Tims, who Charlie killed, is there to commiserate about how much getting shot in the chest sucks. It begs a lot of questions: Who shot Charlie? Why? Why did Tims come to him in his dream? Is there any significance in the fact that what Reese said when Charlie got shot is the same line she said when they found the dead Russians? I guess we have to wait until February to find out.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Dec 21, 2008 @ 17:28 EST5EDT
Is there any significance in the fact that what Reese said when Charlie got shot is the same line she said when they found the dead Russians?
Reese actually says the line three times: in the beginning, with the dead Russians and at the end… I’m pretty sure, since this episode was heavily influenced by the pilot that it’s a call back to how Crews and Reese first met, Charlie in his cell looking up fading to Charlie, four months later out of prison staring up to the sun and Reese bringing Charlie back to reality.
I think the scene reinforces Reese’s significance and role in Charlie’s life: Grounding/bringing him back to reality. It could be read as romantic, and could be read platonically at how strong the bond between partners are.