Tonight there is so much television to watch, I think I might explode. Here’s what I’m excited about on the tube tonight.

8pm - GOSSIP GIRL - I cannot wait to see the fallout from Ashergate for Little J and seriously, will alien face Serena return to whack again?

8pm - AMERICAN GLADIATORS - Hells yes, it returns tonight with Evan and Monica as new gladiators. Sweet!

8-9pm: CBS’s BIG BANG THEORY and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER hour! Wait, shit I already have listed 2 things at 8. Well this is rid-god-damn-diculous. Britney’s back and she’s not that innocent (she is after all dating Barney).

8pm: GREEK. Wait a frakkin’ minute here. 4 shows on at the same time? For reals? Tonight Dept. Leo makes a play for Calvin. Ah, Max Greenfield…

Look, then at 9pm all I have is the 2nd hour of Gladiator. Honestly, a network couldn’t spread the love out amongst the hours? Seriously?

Then at 10pm it’s the finale of THE HILLS followed by my new favorite show THE PAPER! Those kids are crazy evil and I loves it.

TV Talk with GMMR and Ducky is back! After 7 weeks, we were finally able to see each other and dish all the dirt on our favorite shows.

Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, House, Gossip Girl, American Idol, The Office, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica, Brothers & Sisters, So You Think You Can Dance, Ugly Betty, Greek and so much more.

We take some last minute listener questions on which finale’s we’re most looking forward to and also which hot summer movies our fave TV stars are popping up in. Not to mention Kath gets to wax The Office finale after one Canadian listener begs for finale information.

Also, be on the lookout for the return of TWO IDIOTS TALK LOST! We watch the show but we’re not experts, sue us.

It’s TV Talk with GMMR & Ducky #21!

Subscribe and Listen via iTunes

Listen Online: TV Talk with GMMR & Ducky #21

Interested in catching up on our past podcasts? Head on over to the podcast page where you can listen to all of our previous episodes.

Have a question for Ducky and GMMR? There are a couple ways to contact us:

Free Voice Mail (Comments/Questions):
This is Dan and Kathie’s favorite method of contact because it allows us to hear from you and we use these messages live on our podcast to answer your burning television questions. It’s FREE and you don’t have to do anything but click RECORD BY PHONE on the box below and it will walk you through how to contact us!

It’s super easy and free to leave us a message:

iTunes Comments:
This is a great way to spread the word about our podcast and it really helps new listeners determine if they want to subscribe to us or not based on YOUR COMMENTS. Subscribing to the joint podcast between duckydoestv.com and givememyremote.com is the best way to listen to us.Please comment on Ducky Does TV and Give Me My Remote’s TV Podcast at iTunes.

With the Indepedent Film Festival of Boston just 8 days away (check out our blog), I’ve barely seen anything on television for the last couple weeks. I’ll break it down for you…

I’ve watched The Biggest Loser (finale tonight, GO ALI) and Battlestar Galactica (Katee Sackoff was phenom this past week and I wept like a little bitch) and that’s about it.

I forgot to even record 30 Rock or The Office from last Thursday not to mention I totes forgot to record the last two weeks of How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory (though, have they even been on?). I’m still a couple weeks behind on Torchwood (maybe only 1 week), Idol is youtube when I have a minute or two at work and who knew last night was the return of Bones?

In other words, TV is so not happening until May. That also means I’m going to miss the return of Gossip Girl next Monday and Supernatural next Thursday (though I can watch it today, if I had time… might find the time).

Tonight was a pretty damn great night of comedy over on CBS. The block of BIG BANG THEORY and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER continues to be must see TV and continues to make me piddle with laughter (and tonight with some sweetness).

Big Bang Theory made up for last week’s very average episode by showcasing Sheldon’s neurotic/compulsive side. In an episode that centered on lies, we learned that Leonard is horrible at it and in contrast Sheldon is a friggin’ master. To avoid an excruciating evening watching Penny sing a workshop performance of “Rent” the boys concoct a lie about a symposium that eventually morphs into Sheldon and Leonard performing a intervention on his fake Cousin Leo.

Sheldon obsesses over the validity and plausibility of the lie so much so that he gets someone to play his Addict Cousin Leo (DJ Qualls) to throw Penny off the scent of their lie.

Big Bang Theory’s Best Moments:

While the episode started out a little slow, by the time Sheldon started creating his “unravelable” lie, the show was at its finest. I loved this episode and am so glad it’s back until the end of the season.

Over at How I Met Your Mother, it was the premiere of Britney Spears and I’m happy to say that not only was it one of their finest episodes all season, even BritBrit herself had some funny moments. But, nothing will top the incredibly sweet and damn near perfect performance of Scrubs‘ Sarah Chalke as Stella, Ted’s possible future wife? (fingers crossed)

They did a great job in not giving Britney too many lines or too many things to play at once. Her quick little one liners actually worked for the most part and she even made me chuckle on occasion. I was really worried, but damn if Carter Bays and Co. didn’t somehow make it work.

And speaking of making it work… Chalke was divine as Doctor Stella Tattoo Remover. She was smokin’ hot, sassy, classy, and in the end adorably playful and sweet. That’s one hot single mom! HIMYM somehow captured the perfect balance and spirit of a first date, comedy, and cuteness all wrapped in a 2 minute date. It was quite possibly the shining moment of the season as far as emotions go. She’s gotta be their “Mother” in the title of the show right? I mean, Scrubs is almost over and she’ll be free to take on another show so I don’t see why not. Her chemistry with Josh Radnor/Ted Mosby was spot-on and I’ll feel cheated if this is all we got. Beautiful.

How I Met Your Mother’s Best Moments:

If both of these shows can continue to bring joy and laughter to my Monday nights, I’ll be a happy TV viewer. What did you guys think?

Hey gang, as a bunch of our favorite TV Shows are only a week or two (or 5 months) away from returning after their WGA Strike imposed hiatus, a handful of TV Bloggers got together to share their favorite characters currently on television.

Below is a list of the Top 25 Characters of Television! Did your favorite make the cut? Share your Top 10 in the comments section below if you like!

1. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (Battlestar Galactica)
2. Tami Taylor (Friday Night Lights)
3. Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)
4. Benjamin Linus (Lost)
5. Dexter Morgan (Dexter)
6. Coach Eric Taylor (Friday Night Lights)
7. Landry Clarke (Friday Night Lights)
8. Dwight Schrute (The Office)
9. Lily Rush (Cold Case)
10. Omar Little (The Wire)
11. Gaius Baltar (Battlestar Galactica)
12. Olive Snook (Pushing Daisies)
13. Shawn Spencer (Psych)
14. Sheldon Cooper PhD (The Big Bang Theory)
15. Dr. Juliet Burke (Lost)
16. Michael Weston (Burn Notice)
17. Captain Jack Harkness (Torchwood)
18. Dr. Miranda Bailey (Grey’s Anatomy)
19. Chuck Bartowski (Chuck)
20. Brenda Leigh Johnson (The Closer)
21. Emerson Cod (Pushing Daisies)
22. Ned “The Piemaker” (Pushing Daisies)
23. Liz Lemon (30 Rock)
24. Stephanie Lane (My Boys)
25. Stewie Griffin (Family Guy)

Also receiving multiple votes: Desmond Hume (Lost), Major John Casey (Chuck), Jack Donaghy (30 Rock)
Voters: Dan, Ducky, Jo, Kate, Sandie, Scooter McGavin, TVFan, Vance

Everyone’s sick of end of year lists but how can I not do one on my favorite TV shows of 2007? I always find these lists hard to do because 12 months is a really long time and we watch a LOT of TV. I wish I could prepare enough ahead of time to write up some great “moments” that stand out but let’s be honest… I don’t get paid to do this so that’s not gonna happen.

Regardless, the end of the 2006-2007 season provided lots of thrills and even a few tears. The 2007-2008 season started off so promising but as we all know, many shows just didn’t live up to the hype and the WGA Strike has kind of killed any hope of making this a banner year for television. So what did I choose? Did I pick a previous favorite that ended last May? Did I give a sophmore series about superheroes another nod? Did those Housewives make a showing after being off the list for so many years? Here goes.

Ducky’s Favorite TV of 2007:

30 ROCK I was late jumping on the 30 Rock train but once I gave it a chance late last winter, I instantly fell in love. 30 Rock is the successor to Arrested Development and I actually may love it even more. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin together are impossibly brilliant and the supporting cast only add to the mayhem and madness. Highlights: Season 1’s “I love NY in springtime” moment, Season 2’s return of Will Arnett, “Me Want Food” and “Gay for Jamie“.

CHUCK Chuck Bartowski, how I love you! The funniest thing about Chuck is that GMMR and I had seen the pilot probably 10 times before we hit Comic-Con where Zac Levi and crew got a superheroes reception from the geek gala. I don’t know that the show has lived up to my expectations but I can’t say that I don’t love watching it every week. There’s an inherent sweetness to this action-comedy that makes me squee. Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski are magnificent together and anytime Adam Baldwin gets to be a smartass, I’m on board. So sad that the WGA Strike put an end to our enjoyment of the Nerd Herd! Highlights: The Pilot, Chuck and Lou, Captain Awesome’s many skin shots, and the return of Bryce Larkin.

DAMAGES Week after week this intense drama built to a shockingly graphic climax and it kept me guessing every step of the way. Glenn Close, Rose Byrne and Ted Danson delivered crazy intense performances for 13 weeks, proving that summer is not for the lazy brainless reality shows any longer. It was great interviewing most of the cast this summer, it really made me realize how brilliant the writing of the show really is. Kudos to FX for sticking with Damages and granting us 2 more seasons. Highlights: The endless time shifting and the seemless togetheness of it all, Glenn Close’s reaction to Ray Fiske blowing his brains out, the closing moments on the dock.

DOCTOR WHO/TORCHWOOD The one-two punch of Doctor Who and Torchwood coupled with my going to Comic-Con made 2007 my geekiest year to date. Season 3 of Doctor Who was probably the best of the new series. While I loved and miss Rose, Martha was a great companion. Capt. Jack may have ended up on Who at the end of Season 3 but more importantly he kicked some demon ass all season on his own show, Torchwood. Harkness, Gwen, Ianto, Owen, and Tosh made their show so much more than a spin-off. Torchwood delivered thrills, chills, and tears and I cannot wait for it’s return early in 2008. Highlights: Who’s Donna the Runaway Bride, “Human Nature” and the scary intense weeping angels of “Blink”. Torchwood’s gayness, “Random Shoes” with Eugene, Billis the scariest wrinkled creepy since the Preacher Kane from Poltergeist.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS The Dillon Panthers won State, the audience won another season and all seemed great down there in Texas. Then poor Tyra and Landry had to dump a body in a river leading to the most interesting coupling the show could ever have concocted. Some balked at the stunt plotline but I welcomed it once I saw how unbelievable both Adrianne Palicki and Jessie Plemons would make their roles. The Taylors continued to bring one of the most realistic and beautiful families to television not to mention Connie Britton’s acting her ass off. Highlights: Winning State, Plemons acting, Santiago’s first moment in the game during “The Confession”… breathtaking.

LOST Say what you will about Season 3 of LOST but the addition of Juliet and the jump forward solidified the show as greatness in my book. While it took a bit to flesh out Ben’s backstory, Juliet’s arrival on the island, Mr. Friendly’s allegiance, and the involvement of the Whidmore’s it was all worth the wait. We got some great answers this season, some scary twists and turns, some great revelations, some wonderful death’s, and HELLO, the chaos surrounding who’s coming to the island in Season 4? Matthew Fox continued to bring anxiety and sadness to the role of Jack and it’s a damn shame he wasn’t nominated for something this year. I’m psyched for it’s return on January 31st! Highlights: The story of how Juliet came to the island, the death of Charlie, the flash-forward, and Patch!

MAD MEN Seriously, do I even need to explain why Mad Men is on the list? The acting, the writing, the art direction, the costuming, the genius? Another summer sleeper that rocked my socks! Highlights: Jon Hamm as Don Draper, any scene with Joan, the sadness of the era, Don Draper’s carousel pitch.

PUSHING DAISIES The facts are these: Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Kristin Chenoweth and Chi McBride are my favorite finds of 2007. Bryan Fuller created a vivid, magical world I didn’t realize was missing from making my life complete until it slapped me in the face. My favorite pilot of 2007 led to stalking Fuller and Co. at Comic-Con, creating a fansite called ThePieMaker.com, and landed me on the Red Carpet interviewing these great talents. What a summer and fall leading up to the premiere of Pushing Daisies. This show makes me beyond happy and I cannot wait for its return in 2008. Highlights: The pilot, Ellen Greene, the musical numbers, Ned & Chuck, Bryan Fuller and Lee Pace recognizing me on the red carpet with hugs all around. Swoon…

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE I have to include SYTYCD because seriously could there have been a bigger obsession all summer long? Sure I loved Damages and Mad Men but sweet lord did it not compare to my lunacy over Neil Haskell and the rest of the dancers on SYTYCD. Highlights: Neil and Sabra’s boardroom brawl, Cat Deeley’s flawless hosting, Mary Murphy’s continued screaming, Wade Robson’s increased involvement, Debbi Allen and Shankman, backstage on tour.

SUPERNATURAL Love those Winchester’s. In a year that saw Sammy go real dark, the demise of YED, and a soul searching Dean, how can I not love Supernatural? The end of Season 2 was a wild wild ride but the beginning of Season 3 proved that this show is not and will not be stereotyped. Broadening the horizons of the demon world has suited the show nicely. Sure the addition of Ruby and Bela has been problematic for some but I can overlook that because the suspense and the gore has increased! Highlights: Visiting the set last May, blood and more blood, Supernatural:Origins comics, the return of Gordon.

The rest of the best: Battlestar Galactica, Big Bang Theory, Brothers & Sisters, Gossip Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Project Runway, Psych, The Closer, The Office, Top Chef and the end of Veronica Mars.

Should be on the list but isn’t for one reason or another: Dexter (never finished Season 2 because we got rid of Showtime but I’m dying to see the rest), Bones (just got addicted so I felt it couldn’t be added just yet - though let it be known that I’m obsessed), Dirty Sexy Money (something just isn’t right just yet, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love it).

Have a safe and Happy New Year! Looking forward to a wonderful and hopefully television filled 2008.

We’re about to enter Week 5 of the WGA Strike so GMMR and I give you the rundown on how many original episodes are left for most shows. We then discuss this season’s plot points thus far as well as whether or not each show is living up to our expectations.

Sit back and relax, it’s our TV Podcast #17 and here are the shows we’ll cover in depth.

Chuck, Prison Break, Heroes, House, Bones, Pushing Daisies, Gossip Girl, Dirty Sexy Money, Private Practice, The Office, Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Supernatural, Friday Night Lights, The Amazing Race, Brothers & Sisters, Project Runway and more.

Subscribe and Listen via iTunes

Listen Online: Podcast #17

Interested in catching up on our past podcasts? Head on over to the podcast page where you can listen to all of our previous episodes.

Have a question for Ducky and GMMR? There are a couple ways to contact us:

Free Voice Mail (Comments/Questions):
This is Dan and Kathie’s favorite method of contact because it allows us to hear from you and we use these messages live on our podcast to answer your burning television questions. It’s FREE and you don’t have to do anything but click RECORD BY PHONE on the box below and it will walk you through how to contact us!

It’s super easy and free to leave us a message:

iTunes Comments:
This is a great way to spread the word about our podcast and it really helps new listeners determine if they want to subscribe to us or not based on YOUR COMMENTS. Subscribing to the joint podcast between duckydoestv.com and givememyremote.com is the best way to listen to us.Please comment on Ducky Does TV and Give Me My Remote’s TV Podcast at iTunes.

BIG BANG THEORY has become one of my must see shows but this week I have to say that they had their first misstep. I’m not faulting the show for one just “okay” episode though because I still laughed quite hard at geeky goodness and loved having Raj the spotlight of the episode.

The general plotline had Raj’s parents basically decided upon an arranged marriage with a girl from back home that just moved to California. The gang discovers that Raj has zero inhibitions when he drinks thanks to Penny’s using the boys as testers for her bartending skills. Raj talks to Penny for the first time, talks throughout his Indian pre-arranged marriage date, and loses the girl to Sheldon.

One of my favorite moments had to be the gratuitous use of a Mac Book as the vehicle for Raj’s parents to torment the boys. We learned that Sheldon loves SCRUBS, that he’s not afraid to cancel a planetarium membership because the membership card won’t fit in his new wallet, and that he’s really not interested in girls at all. Sure he stole Raj’s date but he only did it because he thought she looked like a Princess from a childhood book he was fond of. When the night was over, he was done with Raj’s girl and didn’t think twice about it.

Other favorite moments:

- Wolowitz pretending to be Raj, accent and all, calling his Indian Bride To Be and setting up a date. Here’s what went down after.
Wolowitz: “Now you can thank me.”
Raj: “For what? Making me sound like a Simpson’s character?”

- Penny’s excitement when Raj finally spoke to her. It was like when the WB Frog would start singing and dancing “Hello my baby, hello my darling…” and people would just light up. Hysterical.

- Raj comparing his life to his Father’s saying that his Dad is a gynecologist but that would never be Raj. “How can I be a gynecologist when I can’t even look a woman in the eye?”

- The Samosas

And the best and final touch of this week’s episode was the Chuck Lorre Vanity Card that usually says so much it’s impossible to read without visiting his site, but this week simply said: UNITED WE STAND!

Go WGA!

A bunch of us TV Bloggers got together and picked our FAVORITE NEW SHOWS (FALL 2007) and the list is below. It’s so hard to sit here and think we waited to pick our new shows until we got a couple weeks into the season and here we are on the verge of ending each and everyone of these seasons because of the WGA Strike.

TV Blogger Tested and Approved:

1. Pushing Daisies - ABC (8)
2. Chuck - NBC (2)
3. Dirty Sexy Money - ABC
4. The Big Bang Theory - CBS
5. Gossip Girl - CW
6. Aliens in America - CW
7. Samantha Who? - ABC
8. Moonlight - CBS (1)
9. Reaper - CW
10. Journeyman - NBC

(numbers in parentheses denote first place votes)

Also receiving votes: Life, Woman’s Murder Club, Private Practice, Bionic Woman, Cane

Voters: Dan, Ducky, Kath, Jo, Liz, Rae, Sandie, Scooter McGavin, Tube Talk Girl, TVFan, Vance

The WGA Strike is about to take away television but before that happens, there’s plenty for GMMR and I to talk about!

Dan and Kath are back for TV Podcast #16, and it’s all about the shows! It’s not about the strike, it’s just us talking about what we’ve loved and hated about television over the past couple weeks. I’m going to warn you now, it’s an hour long podcast. We haven’t talked in a while so sit back, relax, and listen to us in 2 sittings if that makes it easier. Thanks for sticking with us!

We tackle each day’s best and worst starting with Monday and working our way all the way to the lazy nights of Sunday. Chuck, HIMYM, Big Bang Theory, Prison Break, Heroes, House, Bones, Reaper, Pushing Daisies, Gossip Girl, Dirty Sexy Money, Private Practice, The Office, Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Supernatural, Moonlight, Friday Night Lights, Torchwood, The Amazing Race, Brothers & Sisters, Dexter, and more. Phew, who’s tired already?

Subscribe and Listen via iTunes

Listen Online: Podcast #16

Interested in catching up on our past podcasts? Head on over to the podcast page where you can listen to all of our previous episodes.

Have a question for Ducky and GMMR? There are a couple ways to contact us:

Free Voice Mail (Comments/Questions):
This is Dan and Kathie’s favorite method of contact because it allows us to hear from you and we use these messages live on our podcast to answer your burning television questions. It’s FREE and you don’t have to do anything but click RECORD BY PHONE on the box below and it will walk you through how to contact us!

It’s super easy and free to leave us a message:

iTunes Comments:
This is a great way to spread the word about our podcast and it really helps new listeners determine if they want to subscribe to us or not based on YOUR COMMENTS. Subscribing to the joint podcast between duckydoestv.com and givememyremote.com is the best way to listen to us.Please comment on Ducky Does TV and Give Me My Remote’s TV Podcast at iTunes.