Tv Shows | Table for Five

March 20, 2011 By Elizabeth

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My husband thinks I may have quite possibly lost my mind, but I can’t help it. In just over one month’s time, I have become completely and totally addicted to Grey’s Anatomy. I’m not a fan, I am a FANATIC.

At the beginning of last month, I was sitting up late one night unable to sleep, flipping through Netflix looking for something to watch. I like watching TV series from beginning to end, it’s how I caught up with Buffy and Angel and Firefly. I was pondering what show I could watch from the beginning and then I thought of Grey’s. See, I’ve been subscribing to Entertainment Weekly for over 20 years, and without fail, if they say a show is worth watching, if they devote a lot of space to the show and it’s characters, it’s a show I’m going to like.

But for some reason, I never gave Grey’s a chance. Partly because it debuted in 2005, while I was busy being pregnant with Kaitlyn and spending more time worrying about my blood pressure than watching TV. For whatever reason, I never watched the show until last month when I decided what the hell, I’ll find season one on Netflix and start from the beginning.

And so, I did. I watched the first episode and thought “well, Entertainment Weekly is right, this is a good show.” So I watched another episode, and then a third before forcing myself to turn off the Xbox. The next night, I watched three more episodes, the next night, three more.

Last night I watched season six, episode nine. I’ve become completely addicted to the show. I’ve gotten so invested in the characters that at the close of the last episode of season five, I sat there with my hands over my mouth in genuine shock. I’ve looked up each of the main actors on IMDb, I’ve looked at the Television Without Pity forum for the show, I’ve been to the show website.

The only other TV show I’ve ever had this reaction to is Buffy, when I discovered it while the seventh season was running on live TV and FX channel aired the entire series in order starting with season one. I got completely sucked in to watching the two episodes a night that were aired. Not since then have I felt such a deep connection to a show and it’s characters.

So, please tell me I’m not the only one. Please tell me someone reading this post is as big a fan of Grey’s as me, so that I don’t feel like some kind of freak. Who’s a Grey’s Anatomy fanatic like me?

Why you should watch tonight’s episode of Community

December 9, 2010 By Elizabeth

Because it’s awesome, that why. Thanks to One2One Network, I got to watch tonight’s special Christmas episode of Community, titled “Abed’s Unconrollable Christmas”. It’s the last day of classes before Christmas break at Greendale, and while Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) makes the announcement that everyone is invited to express their holiday sentiments in their own constitutionally-approved fashion in specially designated zones (ha!), Abed (Danny Pudi) joins the group in the cafeteria and after wishing Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) and the rest of the group a Merry Christmas, asks what everyone is doing over the break. Annie (Alison Brie) plans to read all of the books required for a class, Troy (Donald Glover) wants to make locking himself in his room with video games a new tradition.

When Abed is disappointed, Pierce (Chevy Chase) asks him why he even cares about Christmas, as a Muslim. Abed tells everyone that it must be a special Christmas because everyone has been turned into a stop-motion animation character, something no one else sees. Jaws drop, and then Abed suggests they stick with the traditional stop-motion animation format and sing a song. He sings Christmas-y lyrics to the Community theme song before being, um, stopped (I won’t give that away), and then Jeff (Joel McHale) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) take him to see Professor Duncan (John Oliver) in the psychology department.

The episode really gets going when Professor Duncan suggests hypnotizing Abed to find out why he sees everything as a stop-motion animation cartoon. The classroom disappears and everyone is flying through space to Planet Abed, the most Christmas-y place in the world. When they land, Abed turns everyone into a Christmas cartoon character. Here’s a group shot, plus click here to see 10 more photos:

Abed and the group hop a train for the North Pole, but as they go, members of the group start dropping out. Professor Duncan leaves but comes back with something that reveals why Abed is having such a hard time dealing with Christmas. As Abed confronts the situation, he realizes that he does know what the meaning of Christmas is. There’s a happy ending that will give you a warm fuzzy.

In true Community fashion, this episode is simultaneously funny, touching, silly, and heartwarming. I’m looking forward to watching it again tonight with my sons, who are big fans just like me. We’ll most likely DVR it too so we can watch it again. I’ll be chatting on Twitter tonight while watching the episode, if you want to follow along, it’s hashtag #nbccommunity and I’m @Table4Five2. Thanks again to One2One network for letting me see the episode!