After a few weeks in which nothing very special happened in the world of television, this week was like a breath of fresh summer air. So You Think You Can Dancehad its best episode in ages as the All Stars took on the role of choreographers for the night, with some incredible results. Suits gave us a fantastic flashback episode that gave us new insight into Harvey and Donna’s complex relationship and finally answered the eternal “Will they or won’t they?” question with “They did.” And the VMAs provided audiences with plenty of things to discuss—both the good (Jennifer Hudson’s “Same Love” appearance) and the shockingly bad (I’m looking at you, Miley).
In fact, my favorite TV moment of the week comes from last night’s VMA ceremony. While Harvey and Donna’s chemistry on Suits was insane this week, there was nothing hotter than Justin Timberlake’s decades-spanning performance on MTV. I may be biased because he’s my favorite all-around entertainer and live performer (and #1 celebrity crush), but that performance of his biggest hits proved why he is the celebrated showman he is today. His skills as a dancer are mind-blowing, and he has stage presence and easy charisma to burn.
Also, *NSYNC reunited, and it was beautiful. I didn’t know how much I needed to see all of them singing “Bye Bye Bye” together again until it was happening.
If I had to pick the Worst Thing I Saw on TV, my choice for this week would be easy: Part One of the The Bachelorette’s two-part finale was a depressing downer, with Desiree being dumped by the only man on the show she grew to love and 40 minutes of crying, which proved to be the most painfully real moments I’ve ever seen on reality TV.
Beyond those heartbreaking two hours, the rest of the week featured some strong performances from my favorite couples on So You Think You Can Dance, a new love interest for Donna (and rival for Harvey?) on Suits, the usual laughs from Hollywood Game Night, and some great reruns of New Girl and The Mindy Project—two shows that get even better with repeated viewings.
The best of the best, though, came from SYTYCD, but it wasn’t a moment by anyone in the Top 14 (now Top 12). Instead, it was one of those rare moments when a true pro in their genre shows the kids how it’s done.
With Curtis injured, Spencer Liff had to step in and perform in the Broadway group number he choreographed to “Come Together.” It’s always a treat to watch a choreographer perform their own piece, and this was no exception. Liff was everything this routine called for its dancers to be: fluid, strong, sexy, and thoroughly entertaining. His natural stage presence and technical ability made it impossible for me to take my eyes off him throughout the dance. This is what “Broadway dancing” should look like—it’s not cheesy or corny; it’s simply all about stage presence and style.
This week in the world of television, there was plenty of drama during the “Men Tell All” episode of The Bachelorette. So You Think You Can Dance had its weakest episode in a long time. Harvey and Mike reunited on Suits. I fell more in love with Amy Poehler than ever thanks to her appearance on Hollywood Game Night. And a huge fight led to some huge steps forward on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
While this wasn’t the most exciting week of television I’ve watched this summer, it did have its share of fun moments. The best of those came from this week’s episode of Suits, where Louis made each of his scenes memorable. In honor of my father’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Dad!), it feels right to single out one of his favorite characters on TV right now—and Louis deserves the recognition. His Dead Poets Society speech to the associates he was leaving behind was perfect (I actually started clapping), and his Jerry Maguire impressions were hilarious.
This was a very exciting week in the world of TV. The Bachelorette entered into its final stretch with the “hometown dates” episode, where it became even clearer that Brooks in the frontrunner. Suits returned for a new season with plenty of drama and the promise of much more to come.Hollywood Game Nightwas hilarious and thoroughly entertaining once again. And Late Night with Jimmy Fallon gave us the Jesse and the Rippers reunion we never knew we always wanted—plus a Jesse/Becky kiss!
My favorite moment of the week, though, came from ESPN’s annual ESPY Awards ceremony. Robin Roberts was given the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, and no one has ever seemed more deserving. Her acceptance speech was articulate, gracious, and truly inspiring. My love for this strong, beautiful, positive woman grows more every day.
This week, some entertaining TV shows hit big turning points, and one hilarious new show made its mark on the summer TV landscape.
On The Bachelorette, Desiree basically admitted that she’s in love with Brooks, which should make the final batch of episodes interesting as her decision seems made already, but we all know there’s at least one more dramatic turn coming up before the last rose is given out. So You Think You Can Dance said goodbye to one contestant due to injury and another due to an elimination featuring a strong (but not quite strong enough) group of female dancers. And everyone’s favorite dysfunctional family on The Real Housewives of New Jersey provided a great cliffhanger for this week in television, as a family retreat turned violent.
None of these TV moments could compare to my favorite from this week: the premiere of Hollywood Game Night on NBC. The premise is simple but fantastic: funny celebrities + alcohol + ridiculous games. The result was something that I will be glued to every Thursday night at 10 for the rest of the summer. Where else can you see Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry trying to guess the salty snack in a photograph or Martin Short trying to put photos of Johnny Depp in chronological order? This is the perfect summer entertainment—fun, easy to watch, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Watch this clip and tell me you don’t want to be a part of this kind of game night:
This week, the world of television gave us another dramatic episode of The Bachelorette (and the promise of more drama to come), an episode of So You Think You Can Dancethat saw some couples (namely Aaron/Jasmine H. and Fik-Shun/Amy) start to really separate themselves from the pack, and plenty of great marathons for the holiday weekend (a great Castle marathon on TNT and a marathon of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies on ABC Family just to name a couple). The world of televised sports didn’t disappoint either, with Andy Murray finally taking home the Wimbledon title for his home country after so many years of waiting.
My favorite TV moment of the week also came from a sports network, but it didn’t have much to do with sports, actually. On the Fourth of July, ESPN played a feature on SportsCenter about members of the military returning home to their families, and it was such a beautiful segment. It made me truly stop and think about the sacrifices men, women, and families make every day to keep America safe—and it made me feel so grateful for these brave people who do their best to protect the freedom we as Americans celebrated this week.
If you haven’t seen this video yet, I highly recommend watching it. But make sure you have some tissues on hand—you’re going to need them.
This was a relatively slow week in the world of summer television, but it still provided us with some discussion-worthy moments. The Real Housewives of New Jersey provided some intense scenes of family drama once again, with Teresa engaged in passionate fights with her brother Joe last Sunday and her cousin Rosie this week. The Bachelorette featured possibly its most awkward date ever last Monday, as Desiree sat in the middle of an intense cross-examination of two-faced Ben by federal prosecutor Michael. And So You Think You Can Dance had its first real performance show of the season.
That SYTYCD performance show is where my favorite moment of the week comes from. Jasmine Mason and Alan’s Travis Wall contemporary piece was breathtaking, and it was filled with small, detailed movements that spoke to both their skills as individual dancers and the surprising strength of their early partnership. The moment when Jasmine fell backwards into Alan’s arms with complete abandon was one of the most intense representations of the trust between partners I’ve ever seen on this show, and it’s the single greatest thing I saw on my TV this week.
What was your favorite thing you saw on TV this week?
Being back in the real world after a long vacation in Disney World means that I’m finally back to my regular summer TV schedule, too. This week, The Bachelorette visited Sandy-ravaged New Jersey and made me care much more about the older couple Desiree met there than any of her potential husbands. So You Think You Can Dance introduced us to this year’s Top 20. And there’s been plenty of great moments in sports on TV this week too, with both the NBA and NHL Finals giving us great games to watch.
The best of the best came from SYTYCD‘s “Meet the Top 20” show. Whenever tap is in the spotlight as a dance style, I’m a happy girl, and this season features not one but three tap dancers in the Top 20. Aaron, Curtis, and Alexis performed a fantastic tap routine that rocketed all three of them up my list of early favorites for this season. Their taps were incredibly clear, they were challenged with some very complex rhythms, and each one of them has a unique style that makes them stand out. I’m really looking forward to seeing them go far and be great representatives of the tap dance community this season.
With most of my favorite shows painfully absent from my weekly TV viewing, it could have been difficult for me to make my pick for the best moment of the week. The Bachelorette‘s premiere left me with no strong impressions about any of the guys—or at least no strong positive impressions. (I definitely felt strongly about “hashtag guy” and “fantasy suite guy,” but those feelings were decidedly unkind ones.) So You Think You Can Dance is still in the audition stage. And it’s usually impossible to classify anything from the Real Housewives franchise as the “best” thing on TV.
But thankfully not every high-quality TV show is on hiatus yet. In fact, one of the best shows on television aired perhaps its most anticipated episode this week.
It was time for another wedding on Game of Thrones, and this time it was a red one. I’ve been waiting for this episode with an odd mixture of excitement and dread since I finished that horrible chapter in A Storm of Swords late last year. I’d never read anything like that before—a scene that literally turned the whole story on its head from both a plot perspective and a thematic one. The Red Wedding took the common heroic myths and stories we’re used to and stabbed them in the chest. It broke my heart, but it made for some of the most compelling literature I’ve ever read.
I also knew it would also make for some incredibly compelling television. And I was right.
Warning: If you don’t know what you’re about to watch, this is EXTREMELY violent and disturbing.
The way this scene built from revelry to dread was utterly perfect—a masterpiece in creating tension that is almost as powerful as it was on the page. Each death was horrific to watch, and you got a real sense that this wasn’t a battle; it was a massacre, which needed to be established in order for this event to carry the weight it needs to carry as the series goes on. But no mention of this scene could ever be complete without acknowledging the absolute brilliance of Michelle Fairley’s performance. The way her voice and her face completely transformed when she’s pleading for Robb’s life gave me chills, and I’ve never heard a scream as purely guttural and agonizing as hers after Robb was killed. And then in those horrifyingly quiet moments after she slit the throat of Walder Frey’s wife, you can see that she is already dead; everything but her body died with her son. I’ve never seen acting like that—so visceral, so utterly destroyed and broken. It was even more haunting for me than the final image of Catelyn in the books—because we can actually see the moment when she’s no longer a human being; she’s simply a body existing despite everything in her soul being dead.
I know this is a horribly depressing pick for the best of TV this past week, but sometimes the best is better than anything else because it makes us feel more deeply—even if those feelings are heartbreak and horror. This scene is what great media is all about—it makes us feel; it makes us care; it makes us react.
Heather has a great post over at TVexamined about why Sunday’s Game of Thrones is an example of how great television is as a medium, and I agree with every word. The reactions to this scene are part of the reason why it was so good. If something can make you feel that strongly about people and events you know are fictional, then it must have done something right. The best fiction makes us think, but it also makes us feel. And the Red Wedding certainly made everyone watching feel something—and feel it intensely.
What was your reaction to the Red Wedding (either onscreen or on the page)? Do you think it was the best thing on TV this week?
As this TV season continued to draw to a close, this week gave us more finales and episodes featuring big moments that will surely be remembered for a long time. Game of Thrones featured the first of many important weddings as Sansa married Tyrion, reminding us why Tyrion is such a great character, why Joffrey is such a hated character, and why Sansa is more than deserving of our sympathy and even our admiration for surviving amid such horrid circumstances. Dancing with the Stars ended with perhaps the strongest final four ever. Modern Family ended its season on a high note, with big laughs and big emotional moments. And Nashville‘s finale featured more cliffhangers and dramatic scenes than most shows have in one whole season.
While there were more than a few fantastic television moments this week, my favorite came from the finale of Dancing with the Stars. As someone who’s been a dancer for 20 years, I watch shows like this (and So You Think You Can Dance) and wait for the one dance every season that moves me to chills and tears because of the raw emotion that mixes with sheer talent to create a truly wonderful example of the best that dance can be on national TV. For this season of DWTS, that dance was Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough’s freestyle performance. While the other choreographers chose to make their freestyle routines loud and splashy, Derek stripped this freestyle down to simply focus on Kellie’s gorgeous lines and wonderful technique. It was a gamble that paid off; the two of them created a true moment of beauty and grace that put tears in my eyes and made me feel proud to be a dancer.
Nerdy Girl Notes 