So last week Grey’s Anatomy beat CSI and people just assumed it’d be a one time thing.  The fact that Grey’s managed to beat the CBS powerhouse was shocking enough to critics and audiences alike.  Well it’s now a trend.  For the 2nd week in a row Grey’s Anatomy beat CSI in key demos.  CSI beat Grey’s by a very slim margin in the overall ratings.

All I can say is hurray!  I’ve been watching the show since the pilot, a time when I didn’t have anyone to talk about it with.  Now, every girl at school watches it and Grey’s has reached a popularity among women that I’ve never seen before. 

ABC’s 8pm entry Ugly Better managed to best last years Alias ratings by 98%.  I watched Betty last night expecting something completely average and was delightfully surprised by how sweet and engaging the show was.  I’d encourage everyone to tune in.

That’s definately more than I can say for Six Degrees at 10pm.  Even with a star studded cast, the show can’t get past its extremely weak premise.  A year ago if I knew Hope Davis was going to be on TV I would have cheered, now I’m just hoping she can get off this horrible show and make her way onto something great if she’s determined to do tv.  I certainly wouldn’t have a problem catching her latest offerings at TIFF every year like I’ve been doing since I was 14. 

So yeah, poor Hope Davis. 

Popularity: 5% [?]

First let me say, I’m a big fan. You’re a great writer..really you are. But I feel like you’ve gone too far now.

I loved West Wing. For 7 years I didn’t miss an episode. It was the smart, snarky and had Josh and Donna. Really what’s not to love? That love blinded me. I let things go too easily. Like your comment on the Ontario/Vermont border.

You know what else I let go? Your constant reuse of names. Most people didn’t see Sports Night so they didn’t realize what you were doing. At first I thought it was cute, then it just became annoying. But it was never something worth complaining about, until now.

I like Harriet Hayes, I really do. She’s one of the bright spots on Studio 60 for me. Smart, sexy and funny to boot. But I feel like you need to stop, because Harriet Hayes is no Ainsley Hayes.

It’s hard to describe the awesomeness that was Ainsley. A Conservative surrounded by Democrats. She was smart, sexy, sassy and intelligent when it came to her faith. Wait, suddenly that sounds familiar. I wonder why? Ainsley was one of my top 5 West Wing characters, please don’t rip her off any longer. Yes, I realize Harriet is ripped for your relationship with Kristen Chenowith, but still, it’s no excuse.

Go open a baby book and pick some new names. I promise, it won’t hurt. Just please stop it before Cliff Lyman shows up at Studio 60. My little Wingnut heart wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Sincerely,
TVDork

PS. All will be forgive if you make Harriet and Ainsley cousins and bring Emily Proctor back to say your beautiful words…and to eat lots of food. And no those 3 scenes at Leo’s funeral don’t count.

Popularity: 9% [?]

So I tune into CTV at 8pm all excited with girlfriends to watch Grey’s only to be completely confused.  Why you ask? I was watching an episode that made no sense.  It was like it was a month after the finale, there were no flashbacks and Addison had lost her mind.  Plus nothing Derek and Meredith said made any sense.  I was so confused.  Then the preview for next week aired and it was clips of the episode I just saw…..

So my girlfriend puts it on ABC so we can catch the new Fray music video, only to be even more confused because the episode that ABC was airing as the premiere wasn’t the same one we just saw…

CTV apparently FUCKED UP BIGTIME and aired episode 2 of the season.  So yeah, I’ve seen both episodes now. 

After I watched the premiere episode 2 started to make sense.  So yeah, someone at CTV’s getting their ass fired. 

Seriously, HOLY SHIT CTV.

Popularity: 4% [?]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiAxvRidTEA]

Popularity: 4% [?]

Here’s the thing, you either love Grey’s Anatomy or you hate it.  And for those that love it, they LOVE IT.  I go to a broadcasting school and there are two tv cults there: the 24 cult and the Grey’s Anatomy cult.  Last year there was no point in going to class on Tuesdays if you hadn’t seen 24, I actually know lots of people who skipped so they wouldn’t be spoiled while they waited for it to download.

Grey’s has the same effect.  In Canada last year we didn’t get promos for next weeks episode so it became a race to see who could get it first.  I of course, being one of the few who had watched the show since day 1 knew all the sites to go to(this was before Grey’s had a presence on YouTube).  So imagine this, it’s our 10 minute break in our night time sales and advertising class and like 10 girls crowd around my laptop to watch the latest promo.  Repeatedly, with freeze framing.  Yeah, total cult.  Also my most anticipated show for fall.  I really could not love it more.

That being said, here’s the most recent promo(i’ll edit out the commercial in the beginning after I’m done my move to new digs):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWQRYDXdnq4]

Spoiler:  Notice Addison looking at something black in her shot?  If those are Meredith’s panties and Addison is the one that puts them up on the bulletin board I’ll be even more in love.  The bitch is back baby!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Here’s Meredith’s first 5 minutes on the show.  It looks like her and Matt are gonna have some good chemistry.  I’m still convinced Anne is thinking of ways to get rid of her though…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_53gynl3zcg&eurl=]

Popularity: 4% [?]

The fall season is so close I can almost taste it.  Of course that means that network promos are officially making their way onto the air.  So here are 3(Gilmore, Grey’s and Veronica Mars), the most interesting in my opinion is Gilmore Girls, which is so full of spoilers I’m surprised it even made it to air.

Gilmore Girls:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IleX5QsKwek]

Grey’s Anatomy(the 4 minute music video ABC aired after the show this week):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX0j31znn7k]

and finally Veronica Mars:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3UKDMUzrug]

I could not be more excited for the 2006/2007 season.

Popularity: 8% [?]

This baby’s for all the Mulder/Scully shippers out there.  It’s funny, yet totally awesome at the same time.  God I love bloopers:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOHRNZfyJMo]

Popularity: 5% [?]

It’s hard to describe what I just saw go down at TIFF.  Michael Moore appeared doing a Q and A with Larry Charles.  Everything was going fine until Moore showed clips from his upcoming DVD, 2004: A Slacker Uprising.  The clips came on….and the audio was distorted to hell.  The audience was cringing.  After the clip Moore walked back out on stage and addressed the issue.  He was PISSED, as was Charles who had his WORLD PREMIERE of Borat shut down 25 minutes into the screening the night before because the projector BLEW UP.

So the fest tries to fix the issue, about 20 minutes later they go to show another clip from slacker uprising and the sound is even worse.  Moore shuts it down, it goes to black and Moore and Charles walk back onto the stage completely dejected.  You could cut the tension with a knife.

So then they save the show by going off book in some hysterical segments.  Moore comparing American football to rugby, Moore talking about his first ever pedicure, Moore breaking his confidentiality agreement with Time Magazine and announcing that he was selected with Mel Gibson to be Time’s men of the year in 2004 as long as both Gibson and Moore would agree to a photo op together.  Moore flies to LA but Mel at the last minute drops out because he’s scared shitless.  Time went on to put Bush on the cover.

So the convo goes on and every time Moore is hitting a comedic high the programmer for the Elgin theatre comes out and interrupts him.  At one point Moore gets pissed and yells at the guy for interupting. The guy cowers away with his hands behind his back.  Moore goes on to bring the house down with his analogy of American football and how it’s a prime example of why America is screwed.  All for one and one for all.  I can’t describe it, but the audience was in TEARS.

So it finally gets to the point where Moore is going to debut the first 3 segments from Sicko.  The film is just being edited right now.  The audio decides to work and the audience goes insane.  The 3 clips are hysterical, the highlight being a Norwegian prison that lets a murderer who killed 2 people with a chainsaw do time by using a chainsaw in the forest.

Eventually Moore had to cancel the rest of the clips because Borat was rescheduled for a 12am screening and people had been outside in the rain for hours waiting.  Moore was obviously pissed, as was Charles who was so terrified of further technical issues he had producer Jay Roach inspecting the audio equipment in full view of the audience.

I’ll post more about the event later, I just wanted to get this out before it hit the net.

By far my most memorable Tiff experience, more memorable than even working the festival in the past.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Today marked the beginning of the Toronto International Film Festival.  It’s hard to describe how crazy the city gets during these two weeks.  Getting a cab becomes a nearly impossible feat.  Last year I spent the festival working with a movie studio that shall remain nameless.  I slept in a hotel and lived off of room service for a week while I catered to the needs of reporters and publicists pretty much 24/7.  It was exhilarating, a giant high.

This year I decided to take a step back from the fest, opting to just relax and ignore it all together.  Until tonight when a phonecall from a relative informed me that I now have 4 tickets to one of the most exclusive screenings in town:

Michael Moore will be coming to TIFF for a special event in our Mavericks section. Moore will be showing glimpses from not just one, but two works-in-progress. He’ll be showing a teaser from his eagerly awaited doc Sicko about the US health care system, due as a major release from The Weinstein Company in 2007.

But kept more secret until yesterday’s announcement, Moore has been editing another piece titled The Great 04 Slacker Uprising. It’s a scrappy road trip movie following his two months of daily campaigning against George W. Bush in the 2004 election. TIFF audiences will get to see segments from this work-in-progress.

Although the media tracks Moore’s every move, he has consciously refrained from making any major appearances or statements since the 2004 election. He’s chosen TIFF as the place to open the next chapter to his career. It’s a fitting location since Moore’s film career kicked off when Roger & Me won the audience award at TIFF in 1989.

I’ll report back tomorrow night with reviews of the clips shown and pics of the event.  Should make for an interesting night.

Popularity: 3% [?]