57 Channels and Only This Is On - 4/14/12

Mad Men: There are very few things I hate less on television than dream sequences. They are basically writers saying, you know that five minutes you just invested yourself in? Psych! It was just a dream. But the thing about the dream sequence in this week’s episode is I sniffed it out as a dream sequence as soon as the mistress knocked on the door. And of course Don poorly pushing her dead body under the bed made it quite clear that it was a dream sequence (though it is not entirely clear when exactly reality stopped and the dream started, did she really show up at Don’s door? Did she leave after they made coitus? Or maybe it was not a dream sequence and Megan disposed of the body. I wonder how this affects the Over / Under of how many episodes it takes this season until Don cheats on Megan.)

The Voice: Before the episode on Monday I wrote on my Facebook page that Christina Aguilera was the only reason to tune in because I figured before anyone sang a note, Mathai, Tony Lucca, and Pip were guaranteed to get America’s Vote barring one of them running off stage crying mid-performance (and I was right) and Cee-Lo’s team would suck massively (and for the most part I was right). I did not realize just how right I was in saying Christina was the reason to tune in (even though at the time I thought it was to see if she managed to look attractive for a second straight week which she did).

Then out of nowhere she calls Lucca one dimensional, I was so shocked had I had a DVR I would have rewound that to make sure I actually heard what I just heard. Christina has always been the most critical coach, but how she drop kicked him under the bus like that (and the show’s producers at the same time for casting him) was quite jaw dropping. But here is the thing, Christina, even if her delivery was not the best, was complete right with what she said. I own multiple albums by Lucca, love his version of Devil Town, and though his version of Trouble was one of the best of the Blind Audition, but his Battle Round performance and this week were lackluster and if I were Christina I would be pissed if I had on my team the best technical sing in the competition as well as the most entertaining performer and I lost because Justin Timberlake got his millions of fans to blindly vote for Tony when there are clearly to anyone watching there are much better singers than Tony. Not only do I no long think Lucca is the best performer this season, based on this week, I no longer think he is the best singer on his own team.

Although critical at times, Christina was pretty much spot on all night including when she called Mathai’s performance “loungy” which I completely agree with. But I completely disagree with Christina’s intent. For me loungy is not an insult and coming from he is is high praise and Mathai clearly had the best performance on the night. With all the guitarists on stilts, male strippers, and faceless political henchmen, it takes true talent to be captivating with just a mic stand with you on stage and Mathai was (even with the gratuitous up-close armpit shot). Her performance was the closest to Dia Frampton’s breakout performance of Heartless last season.

But god bless Cee Lo Green, he was horrible at picking his team (I cannot believe he actually talked about this multiple time about how much Twitter disagreed with his Battle Round selections) but you sure know how to pick songs even if you overdo it on the set pieces like when Tony Vincent looked like he was performing in Marilyn Manson’s interpretation of The Wall. I audibly laughed when he picked Don’t Leave Me This Way for Cheesa and yet it managed to work. On the flip side I yelled, “Nooo!!!” at the screen when Kim Yarbrough suggested to Adam that she do Rolling in the Deep breaking my Cardinal Rule for karaoke shows. Adam really failed as a coach to let her do this.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. Download songs from this episode using the widget at right.

How I Met Your Mother: Well, at least we are guaranteed that we will finally meet the mother sometime in the next two seasons. Unless the show pulls some crap and the mother is actually a step-mother.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

Survivor: One World: I love tribal councils when so many people get multiple votes, the only thing that would have been better had it been Troyzan that had the most votes and for the first time since Heroes and Villains (and to my best recollection only the third time a played Idol affected the outcome). But you have to wonder what exactly the game plans are for Leif and Tarzan (who had the best moment of the episode when he managed to fall off his perch just as Probst was saying the challenge was starting). I hate Colton and everything, but at least he was smart enough to create a misfit alliance, I wonder why no one has thought to resurrect it and bring in Christina, and trying to get at least one more girl. Too bad Troyzan let his ego get in the way and voted out Mike last week because not it is too late to get a counter alliance going because I do not see the five girls in the original alliance cracking at this point.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Suburgatory: Dalia has a therapy season with James Lipton and a dog and adopts a kangaroo. I cannot believe I typed a sentence like that.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Suburgatory on iTunes.

Community: An episode dedicated to a lack of shame? Wow, when the show fails, it fails big.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.