TV talk

Ah, spring.

The time when TV networks give in. They dole out their leftovers and cheaply-made, reject TV shows to fill the voids left by the shows that at first seemed oh so glamorous but we, the Average Joe, middle-class audience didn’t get 'em or like 'em …

With baseball, church activities, graduate classes and workplace responsibilities running us straight to bedtime on most weeknights lately, Kates and I have barely been keeping up …

Thank God for DVR. Now we spend most Friday and Saturday nights parked on the couch taking in all the TV we’ve missed during the week …

The usual favorites have remained steady and strong. Desperate Housewives (Mrs. McCluskey was keeping her husband in he freezer!!), Brothers & Sisters (We’ve believed in it even when it wasn’t doing well, and now it’s picking up steam. Woo hoo! … Last week: Best episode of the season; excellent writing. Ooooh Rebecca!), How I Met Your Mother (Best sitcom on TV!), Heroes (Ok, that’s my personal favorite) According To Jim, American Idol (Talk about addictive ...), Lost (uh, where the heck is this thing going!?), Survivor, The Office, Scrubs and Grey’s Anatomy (Kates’ favorite … and more on that later…)

Now we’ve got October Road (actually, that’s just Kates’ show … I refused to let myself get into it), The Real Wedding Crashers (my show. Kates refuses to let herself get into that one …) Thank God You’re Here and Notes From The Underbelly …

... The latest candid camera show to hit TV, The Real Wedding Crashers gets my vote simply for being a zany, laugh-out-loud prankfest. Plus Ben, Gareth, Cat, Desi and Steve are five people I'd love to party with ...

... And Thank God You're Here is just as fun for it's never-know-what's-gonna-happen-next factor. It's fun to see people like Jason Alexander and Angela Kinsey doing something out of the norm, and the icing on the cake is watching the talented ensemble cast play with the guest stars -- Hello, Maribeth Monroe! -- Kates and I saw her perform on more than one occasion in Chicago, loved her!, and now she's all over TV!!

Meanwhile, Notes is good for its wry, sarcastic humor, spun on Andrew and Lauren's journey into parenthood. Or maybe it's just more interesting because Kates and I are inching closer to that chapter of our lives ... Either way, Andrew and Lauren are a totally cool, relatable couple. I'll watch anything that Rachael Harris is on. And Melanie Paxson has been a favorite of mine for a few years too ...

Then there's that whole Grey's matter ... Thursday's episode? Loved Christina's latest bout with Burke about the idea of a big wedding (the scene of the girls in the bridal shop was priceless), it was heart-warming to see Meredith and her dad getting along, and smiling, and the whole George-Izzie-Callie love triangle continues to pull on the heart strings too (I'm rooting for Izzie). It's a great show... when it's only an hour long...

So when ABC started advertising Thursday's special two-hour episode, my expectations were lowered considerably considering the show's lackluster other special episodes (the whole Izzie-Denny debacle and the Meredith-drowns-and-comes-back-from-the-dead escapade) ...

What I didn't love about Thursday night's episode? Addison going off to free herself, aka the pilot for her Grey's spinoff ...

It was as if the creators grabbed as many beautiful actors as they could find, stuck them in a glossy California treatment center, loaded up the characters were there own life issues and wah-lah, Addison has her spin-off ...

At least most of the beautiful actors in Grey's Anatomy were virtual unknowns. The spin-off -- Taye Diggs? Amy Brenneman? Timothy Daly? -- the star-power was too distracting ...

Sure, the show obviously has a ton of possibilities, but there's almost too many possibilities -- with little direction, no depth and too many gags. Seriously. The show could've done without the whole receptionist/surfer dude walking through the lobby shirtless. Having Pete drooling over Addison was way too predictable, and then having them makeout in the stairwell was just weird and creepy. And let's not forget the biggest gag of them all -- an elevator that Addison believed was talking to her. Yes, we learned at the end of the show that the voice in the elevator was a security woman, but seriously?

Good read: 'Grey's' secret weapon: Can ABC bank on breakout success with an "Anatomy" spinoff ?