4 of the Worst Wigs on TV This Season

If you've read much of this blog, you've probably come to realize that I love to make fun of things. One of the things I've enjoyed laughing at this television season is bad wigs. I'm definitely no hair expert, so if I've managed to notice someone wearing a wig, it's got to be pretty bad. I've put together a short list of some of the latest fake hairdos I've enjoyed mocking.

1. Carrie Bradshaw from The Carrie Diaries

"What? This one's not that bad," you may say. Don't worry. I thought I'd ease into some of the more horrific hair. Carrie's bouncy curls from The Carrie Diaries pilot looked notably different by the second episode. That's because Carrie's wig first made its appearance then. Admittedly, the wig looks okay enough to me in some scenes (although see my "definitely no hair expert" comment above), but when it's clearly standing apart from her scalp, as in the still above, it's hard to take it seriously.

2. China White from Arrow

I only watched the first several Arrow episodes, but one aspect of the show was burned into my mind: China White's cheap Lady Gaga costume wig. I don't actually know if the wig was cheap or not, but I find it hard to believe it cost more than thirty bucks. Kelly Hu was awesome in The Vampire Diaries as Pearl, but with this travesty of a wig, China seemed more of a joke than a villain.

3. Huck Finn from Scandal

I think it's time I give the CW a break and move on to another network, ABC. I literally burst out laughing when I saw Huck's flashback wig in the episode "A Criminal, a Whore, an Idiot and a Liar" of Scandal. Then I did an instant rewind on the DVR and laughed again. This wig looks more like some sort of dead animal or couch stuffing than a head of hair. I think the guy in the background is supposed to be reacting to Huck's smell, but it could also serve as a reaction to that hideous hair.

4. Kristina Braverman from Parenthood

Perhaps the most notable entry on this list isn't exactly a wig; it's a bald cap. This season of Parenthood has been fantastic. Kristina's breast cancer storyline has been extremely touching and at times tear-jerking. Monica Potter's acting has been fantastic. That being said, Kristina's bald cap is hilariously bad. Monica Potter has a lot of hair, and when put under a bald cap, her head looks ridiculously deformed. I can completely understand Monica Potter not wanting to actually shave her head for the role, but the resulting look is very Conehead.


These are my four choices for the worst wigs of the TV season, but I'm sure I skipped some terrifically terrible ones. If you have another addition to the list, let me know in the comments.

Review: Grey's Anatomy 9x03, "Love the One You're With"

Grey's Anatomy has had its ups and downs over the years. Those downs have been pretty low at times, but it's always, in my opinion at least, been able to recover. After the first two episodes of this season, I was started to wonder if it had finally hit a bottom it couldn't come back from. The episodes bored me, and I couldn't bring myself to care about what was happening. I liked both Sloan and Lexie a lot, but their deaths didn't even affect me.

I think my biggest problem with the current state of Grey's Anatomy is there's far too much trauma. Look, I appreciate some trauma on Grey's Anatomy from time to time. I loved the Denny storyline, and the season six finale with the hospital shooting was what convinced me to go back and watch from the beginning.

However, the trauma has reached a point of saturation on the show. A lot of beloved characters have died: Denny, George, Lexie, Henry, Sloan and for a brief period of time Meredith (Remember that time she drowned? Although I can't quite remember if she technically died.). There's been a shooting at the hospital, a bomb, a car crash for Arizona and Callie, a plane crash and worst of all a musical episode. I won't even go into all of the relationship drama that has taken place of the course of the show. I feel like I'm drowning in the trauma, and I need some fun and humor to keep me from becoming overwhelmed.

That's why I mostly enjoyed last Thursdays's episode, "Love the One You're With." While it wasn't a perfect episode and was still bogged down with some drama, it was a breath of fresh air compared to the first two episodes of the season.


My absolute favorite storyline to come out of last night's episode was the relationship between Mr. Feeny (whose character is technically named Dr. Thomas, but there's about zero chance I'll be able to refer to him as that) and Cristina. I love Cristina's misanthropy, but I always enjoy seeing her bond with another person. The budding friendship between her and Mr. Feeny was incredibly sweet and exactly what she (and the show) needs right now. I want sweetness and humor not tragedy and tears. I will even suffer through the awkward product placement iPad scenes if it means that Cristina stays in Minnesota for a while and we get more Mr. Feeny.

While Cristina's storyline provided sweetness to the episode, Bailey's was a nice dash of humor, at least initially. Bailey's exasperation with Meredith and company joining the attendings' lounge was fun to watch and reminded me of her relationship with them in the earlier days of the show. I laughed at the camera panning to her during April and Jackson's relationship conversation and her sticky-noting everything. I was really annoyed with the motivation for Bailey's actions that was tacked onto the storyline: that Bailey's upset about everyone in her life moving on. I was so appreciative to have this silly, fun plot, and then of course Grey's had to make into an emotional thing.

There were also some fun, small moments in the episode that I liked. Jackson and Meredith talking about the chief's relationships with their mothers was a nice way to give the two a bonding moment (and I got a kick out of Meredith asking if he was talking about Owen), and Cristina's attempt at a smile was funny.

I was somewhat ambivalent about Alex's story. The new girl, Jo, is a little annoying and reminds me a little bit of a second-rate Lexie. Even though I wasn't crazy about her, I didn't enjoy Alex's being a jerk towards her. However, I'm hoping that their probable relationship will be a nice, normal one and will lead towards a permanent, positive change in Alex. I'm tired of seeing Alex go through some character development towards becoming a nicer person, only for it to be retracted. I'm also tired of seeing him in disastrous relationships. So while I didn't exactly enjoy his portion of this episode, I'm hoping it will lead towards good things.

My two least favorite storylines were Derek's and Arizona's. Unsurprisingly, these were two of the more dramatic elements of the episode.

Before I start talking about Derek's portion of episode, I'm going to give a warning that you might want to skip the following paragraph if you're a Derek fan. I'm definitely not a Derek fan, and it's hard to not go into rant mode when I'm when I'm writing about him.

I found Derek incredibly annoying in this episode. His speech about not accepting the settlement was one of his most self-righteous moments in the show (no small feat). I'm not saying that it was necessarily a bad idea to reject the settlement, but he went about it in the most self-righteous way possible. Not only did he hold back on sharing his thoughts on the matter until they were actually in the meeting, he gave some long-winded speech about how doctors are better than people who work in airlines. Plus, this means that the plane crash plot is going to be dragged out even longer. Great, more melodrama. The only tragedy I want to see right now is Derek's death.

I'm finding Arizona's story very annoying as well. I understand that losing a leg is a huge deal, and the scene where Arizona was lying in the bathroom was pretty sad. However, the segments with Arizona really drag down the show. I don't want to see this angry, bitter Arizona; I'd rather see the cheery Arizona who's great with kids. Like I've already said, I'm tired of watching tragedy. I want fun, and this storyline is not bringing it.


My hope for the rest of this season of Grey's Anatomy is that it will abstain from inflicting tragedy on the main characters and leave it for the patients. I want good things to happen to them (other than Derek of course) and for the show to lighten up a bit. Both the characters and we desperately need it.

Four episodes in, is Scandal a win?

Warning: This post contains spoilers about Scandal through episode four.

It seems like many times when I read an article about Grey's Anatomy, there will be a disparaging comment like "People still watch this?" or some other variation. You can feel free to send some judgment my way, but I have to admit that I'm one of those people still watching Grey's, and even more, I enjoy it.

Credit: ABC/DANNY FELD

So when I heard that Shonda Rhimes had a new show coming out, Scandal, and it looked half-way interesting (I never watched Off the Map due to a failure to meet this last criteria), I decided to give it a shot.

One of my biggest problems with Scandal is that is tries extremely hard to be clever and sassy. This causes problems like painfully bad catchphrases ("gladiators in suits" from the pilot being the worst). It's almost as if there's at least one implicit "oh snap" written into every scene. Frankly, this becomes somewhat exhausting to watch. I do have to say, however, that this aspect has toned down a bit from the pilot, and I feel like it will continue to improve with time as the show becomes more comfortable with itself.

Another big problem with Scandal is its characters. Kerry Washington's lead character, Olivia Pope, is the only character with a strong sense of personality. Even so, the writers seem to be so determined to make her strong and unassailable that it's been hard to connect with her character thus far. She has had a few "tender moments" where her walls come down, and Washington is truly a magnetic lead. I just feel like Olivia could use a little bit of work. The other characters, however, could use quite a bit of work. They seem like they're mostly there to serve as sidekicks to Olivia, and they don't have a whole lot of personality. Honestly, out of all of them, the only whose name I even remember is Quinn, the new girl to the group. For the others, I only remember a couple of facts (this one left an abusive husband, that one just proposed to his girlfriend, ect.).

I've been pretty harsh on Scandal so far, but there's also plenty of good aspects to the show. For one, it's a nice twist on the typical procedural. Instead of solving a crime every episode, they work towards fixing a scandal. While this scandal may be a crime, their job may likely be to prove who didn't commit the crime rather than find out who did. This is a fun idea, and so far, there's been a good variety of types of scandals.

Scandal doesn't just focus on a "scandal of the week" format, but also incorporates an overarching scandal concerning the president. I'm a sucker for shows that incorporate weekly plots with overarching ones, and Scandal has found a good balance between the two so far. The presidential scandal is pretty silly and dramatic, but I'm finding it to be pretty interesting. There's been plenty of twists and turns in both the season arc and the weekly stories. Although a few of them have been quite predictable, some have taken me genuinely by surprise.

The characters may not be all that strong, but I've enjoyed all of the familiar faces in the cast. My Lost-loving self was excited to spot both Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond) and Jeff Perry (Frank Duckett who Sawyer shot/Grey's Anatomy's Thatcher Grey). Also starring in Scandal are Darby Stanchfield (creepy Glen's mom on Mad Men) and perhaps most excitingly, Liza Weil (Paris on Gilmore Girls). Honestly, I kind of just like to pretend that Weil is playing a version of Paris who changed her name because her character Amanda Tanner is somewhat Paris-esque.

Scandal is kind of a ridiculous show. You know what, though? That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's the Grey's Anatomy treatment given to the political world. It's melodramatic, but it's entertaining. So far, it hasn't seemed to take itself too seriously, but rather seems to embrace its dramatics. Why just settle for a presidential affair when you can throw kidnapping into the mix? Why not have a dictator back down from taking his children away from his wife after Olivia gives him a little speech? Scandal is not going to appeal to everyone, but if you can accept it for what it is and deal with some silliness, it's worth a try. I may not stick with the show forever, but I plan to at least keep watching throughout the season.

Plus, the fact that I marathoned the first three episodes in one afternoon and added the show to my already full Thursday night DVR line-up has to say something good about it, right?

Take my love, Take my Land: Castle 4x21, "Headhunters"

I've never been a super-regular viewer of Castle, but this season I've been particularly negligent at watching it. I stopped watching after the mediocre season opener, but the promos convinced me to tune in for "47 Seconds." "47 Seconds" was disappointing as well, and I figured I was done for the season. When I heard that Firefly's Adam Baldwin was stopping in for a Mal and Jane reunion, however, I was determined to watch, even if it was disappointing. Luckily for me, it was not.

I liked that the episode paired up Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin rather than simply having Baldwin play the role of a suspect. They work well together, and it allowed them to share a lot of scenes. At the same time, Castle pairing up with a detective other than Kate flowed well with the story (as far as I could tell with having only seen two other episodes this season) and didn't feel like a contrivance solely for the sake of the guest casting. I was hoping for a few more Firefly references, but I only caught one, the "brown coat" reference (although it's very likely that I could have missed additional references). Honestly, however, it may have even been a wise move not to go overboard on the allusions because there have already been plenty on Castle. Additionally, the episode wasn't created solely to placate Firefly fans craving a revival; there are, gasp, some Castle fans who have never seen Firefly.

I also liked the way that Castle and Beckett's relationship drama was handled. The scene with the therapist particularly impressed me because he laid out the obvious notion that Castle has likely been pushing Beckett away in order to deal with her rejection. A lot a shows would have had her struggling over this concept for the rest of the season before even acknowledging that. I'm sure that there will still plenty of will-they-won't-they tension, but that scene gave me some faith that it will be handled well. I also liked that Ryan and Esposito also were dealing with rejection from Castle. It was sweet to see the whole team missing Castle rather than making it solely a romantic issue.

I've long believed that Castle's success lies largely in characters and actors rather than its non-character-related plots. The cases often fail to really grab my attention, and the case in "Headhunters" was no exception to that. It wasn't terrible, but it was forgettable enough that I'd have a hard time repeating it back to you (although my minimizing the screen during some of the case-heavy scenes may something to do with that). It was fun, however, to see how Baldwin's character Slaughter handled the case in contrast to how the cases are normally handled by the regular team.

Another aspect of "Headhunters" that I wasn't crazy about was the Alexis storyline. Alexis is a teenage character that proves they don't have to be written annoyingly, and her and Castle's relationship is one of my favorite parts of the show. I didn't even mind the idea of having a college acceptance letter storyline for her. What I did mind, however, were the heavy handed parallel between her feeling rejected from Stanford after they denied her early admission and Castle feeling rejection from Beckett after she denied remembering his telling her he loved her. I know that Castle has a tendency to draw these kinds of parallels, but this one felt particularly contrived.

Despite a couple of issue, I really enjoyed "Headhunters." I tuned in with low expectations, but I'm definitely glad I watched it. I don't think it was amazing enough to make me start watching Castle regularly, but it's restored some of my faith in the show. I'm definitely going to be more inclined to watch some future episodes.

The show that desperately wants to be edgy: A review of 'Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23's' pilot

I really wanted to like Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 because the premise, while not the most original concept, is really fun, and I've been a fan of Kristen Ritter since Veronica Mars. The commercials for the show looked somewhat lame, but after the Breaking Bad reference in one of them, I was willing to give the show a shot. Unfortunately, it blew that shot.

One of the strangest things about Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 is its marking strategy. Most of the commercials try to portray the show as a super-edgy and scandalous. However, I found that the pilot just came off as trying way too hard to be this and failing. I think the show might fare better if it didn't try so hard to be shocking and embraced that it's a network show being paired with Modern Family. I'd enjoy if it more if it focused on being witty rather than being scandalous.


In addition to trying to be something its not, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23's pilot was terribly paced, moving much too quickly. So much time is devoted to June and Chloe's antics against each other that I didn't get much insight into the characters beyond what I already knew from the minute-and-half long trailer. June in particular made so little of an impression on me that I kept calling her Jill in this review until I looked up the show's air date and learned that I had her name wrong. In the span of less than half an hour, Chloe and June go from being strangers to enemies to tentative friends. Their eventual tentative friendship felt false as a result of this, and if Chloe's truly such a "B," I feel like her and June's bonding shouldn't have come so early into the series. I understand that the show wanted to set up its entire premise, but it really suffered from cramming so much into the pilot.

The only good thing about Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 cramming so much into its pilot is that I am kind of curious to know where the show is headed. I'm assuming the show's going to use a frenemy dynamic, and if done right, that could be interesting. There are several directions the show could go plotwise, and I do wonder which they'll choose.

I also liked that James Van Der Beek plays a fictional version of himself that's friends with Chloe. It's a funny idea, and I enjoyed some of the Dawson's Creek jokes. However, even in the pilot, I started to get slightly tired of the gag, and I fear that it won't take long for the show to wear it out.

As you can probably tell, I wasn't a huge fan of Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. It's a show that desperately wants to be cool but really isn't. I won't say that it doesn't have any potential, but I'm not planning to watch again unless I heard great things.

For those of you who want to check out Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 for yourself, you can watch the pilot online now or check it on ABC Wednesday April 11 at 9:30/8:30c.

ABC Wednesday Night Comedies: "Leap Day" and "Cocktails and Dreams"

I'm starting to feel that my feelings about Modern Family and Happy Endings have an inverse relationship. The better Happy Endings gets, the worse Modern Family does. I loved Modern Family from the beginning, and it still manages to pull out a good episode now and then. However, it's truly been on the decline lately. On the other hand, I hated Happy Endings' pilot, but it has slowly become one of my favorite current comedies. While I'm not planning giving up on Modern Family, it's episodes like last night that make me wish for the glory days of season one.

Modern Family 3x17: "Leap Day"

I'll be honest; I think "Leap Day" was one of Modern Family's weakest episodes to date. Usually Luke's and Phil's storylines (particularly when they have one together) are the saving grace of even a less-than-stellar episode, but their storyline last night was perhaps the worse of the three. The whole storyline pretty much consisted of one unfunny joke: girls are so crazy when they're on their periods. Yes, that one joke was repeated over and over in a completely unrealistic manner. Watching this storyline, I thought there was no way that a woman wrote this storyline because it was so unrealistic. In fact, it's almost as if the writer who penned the episode has never actually met a woman and used only cliche depictions from other television shows as the basis for the storyline. I understand that comedies often use exaggeration and I'm sure that's what they were going for here, but I felt it just came out as a really cliche and one-note mess. On a positive note, I did chuckle at Luke's attempt to fake an injury with the fake blood.

The Cam and Mitchell storyline didn't do much for me either. It consisted of Mitchell planning Cam's 10th or 40th (depending on how you interpret leap year birthdays) birthday party. Cam really wasn't very likable in this storyline and threw a tantrum when he felt like an inadequate amount of effort had gone into his party (even though he claimed he didn't want one). The whole storyline felt kind of tedious, but it did contain my favorite moment of the episode: an oddly-relevant, clever The Monkees joke.

The last storyline, Jay and Gloria's, never really seemed to have much direction. It pretty much consisted of Gloria wanting Jay to punch someone and was sprinkled with "Jay is old" jokes. It felt under-baked at best and seemed to be another iteration of a storyline we've seen plenty of times on the show.

With three mediocre storyline, I found "Leap Day" to be a pretty bad episode. It was sprinkled with a few good moments, but as a whole, I'd definitely give it a thumbs down. It looked particular bad in conjunction with the a-mah-zing episode of Happy Endings that followed it.

Happy Endings 2x16: "Cocktails and Dreams"

Honestly, how great was "Cocktails and Dreams?" It was probably one the funniest episodes yet in a very funny show. Typically, even in a good episode of a show, one or two moments might stand out as hilarious. "Cocktails and Dreams" was so full of great moments that each comment I read about the episode online seemed to point out a different one. Just to name a few of the moments, I enjoyed Penny's almost suicide (I don't know why I found this so funny, but it was executed perfectly), the Colin Hanks guest appearance (and Dave worrying about calling him Tom), Penny hiding her non-detox food, and Jane and Brad waking each other up after their dreams.

Even though I haven't been particularly rooting for Alex and Dave to get back together, I think the idea works pretty well. While the show starting by revolving around their failed relationship, it had been pretty much pushed to the side other than a few moments of foreshadowing here and there. As long as they don't put too much focus on Alex and Dave, I have faith that Happy Endings will handle the relationship well.

All in all, it was a fantastic episode, and I look forward to Happy Endings more and more every week.

A Letter to ABC: Save the Eye Candy

Warning: This post contains spoilers about television deaths and extreme levels of silliness and shallowness. You have been warned.
 
Dear ABC,

You've done some things right lately. Your shows were among the first to return after the winter break, and I appreciate that. I've also really enjoyed two of your new shows: Revenge and Once Upon a Time. Additionally, the Wednesday lineup of Modern Family, Happy Endings, and Revenge is just amazing scheduling.

You've also generated some controversy lately, but you've dealt with it. Work It was kind of a flop, but you wisely cancelled it. Cougar Town fans wanted their show back after it was held in limbo for a while, and you finally announced a return date. But neither of those two things are what I want to speak to you about.

My problem is something more serious. It's affecting many of your viewers, and it needs to be addressed before it gets worse. This problem is the trend of your shows killing off the hot guys.

For example, there was Sheriff Graham on Once Upon a Time. Sure, he wasn't the most well-developed character, but he was really cute. Plus, we finally were getting to see a glance at his intriguing back-story. I appreciate that his death helped move the plot forward, but I miss him and his adorable face.

Speaking of Once Upon a Time, you also killed the brother of the character we now know as Prince Charming (who actually was the original prince). This wasn't really a big deal because Josh Dallas is still on the show, but it was still quite a shock to see him die.

Then, there was Henry on Grey's Anatomy. Oh Henry. He was so charming and so cute, and you just had to let him die. The whole "marrying someone you don't love for alternative reasons and then falling in love once you're married" plot is the stuff of Lifetime movies, but it worked with Teddy and Henry because Henry was so delightful. But now he joins George in the group of dead characters from Grey's Anatomy that I miss. Why couldn't you have just taken Derek (It's not that Patrick Dempsey is unattractive. I just really hate Derek.) instead?

Luckily, there's still hope for my last example, Daniel from Revenge. He's gorgeous, sweet, and basically perfect. So what happens to him? He was supposedly killed in the opening scene of Revenge. I say supposedly because his face is never shown. It's weird that the characters would assume that a face-down dead body is Daniel without good reason, but I'm certainly hoping that they're wrong.

ABC, there's still time to save Daniel and countless other hot guys on your network. If you don't take preventative action, who will be the next victim? Happy Endings' Brad? Once Upon a Time's Prince Charming? Castle's Castle? So I'm begging you to please do so. Don't let another hot guy die for the sake of drama and ratings. It's not worth it. Save the eye candy.

Signed,
A Concerned Viewer