Desperate Housewives: Desperate Houseguys

You know, sometimes the guys have it just as hard as the women.

Take Mike for example. His life is practically hell. He's got to unclog sinks day and night while living in the suburbs (such hardship!) to support his new baby (which'll bring the number of kids Mike has to 1), buy patio furniture (don't laugh, that stuff is super expensive!) and pay for Julie's class trip (why can't HER dad pay for that?) That reminds me, this show could use a little Karl right about now.

Remember how entertaining he and Susan were together — certainly more entertaining than Mike and Susan. Mike was always boring, but he was obviously a lot better for Susan since he didn't cheat on her. Now that Mike is lying, sneaking around and seems to have contempt toward Susan, remind me why we're rooting for these two to stay together. I don't get why it should be so expensive for him either. Susan has a job illustrating children's books, right? Why is everything on him all of a sudden?

At least Teri Hatcher salvaged this storyline. Susan disapproved of daughter Julie dating a skeezy guy with a tongue piercing (and a webpage describing his piercings) and unwittingly set her daughter up with a drug-dealing pre-med college student. Although, these scenes were funny, it made little sense that Susan would set Julie up with someone so much older than Julie (is she even 18 yet?), but Teri Hatcher was at her bumbling best, telling Barrett to call her "mom", because that's what all the kids do.

Orson was a little desperate for attention himself since Bree was paying more attention to (and insisting on a family bed with) baby Benjamin than him. Their morning-after breakfast discussion about the subject was funny, but creepy in how openly they discussed their sex life in front of Andrew.

Ah yes, Andrew (pictured, right). He was definitely my favorite part of the episode. Two years ago, when he was absolutely terrorizing Bree, it would've been impossible for me to foresee the day where I would type that he was my favorite part of anything. But there he was with Bree, expressing how disappointed he was that Bree hadn't noticed how he'd turned his life around and thanking her for abandoning him by the side of the road. Old Andrew would've probably tried to sleep with Orson to get back at Bree, so this mature response tells me he's for real. The scene at his disgusting apartment was nicely capped off by him asking his mom to use a coaster.

My second favorite part was, after blunt advice from Tom, Bree's visiting Orson's office to have her cavity filled. Enough said. I'm just glad they resolved that mini-tiff in one episode.

Meanwhile, Carlos was freaking out about Victor's murder and wanted to confess to the police while Gabriel insisted they play it cool. Whether it's shouting about a murder in church with a cleaning lady 10 feet away or trying to sidestep the police's question, these two have to be the most inept couple ever to have an affair and murder the husband.

After drugging Carlos to stop him from confessing, Gaby was taken to the hospital, where it looked like she was off the hook since Victor couldn't remember anything. However, I rightly guessed that he was pretending (go me!) as he and his severely chapped lips told her that he remembered everything. It's not clear why he's pretending, but I'm guessing it's something to do with blackmailing Gaby into staying with him because who wouldn't want a wife around that has almost killed you (twice) and clearly doesn't want to be with you.

There WAS one desperate housewife in the block as Lynette frantically searched Fairview's bars and morgues for her mother Stella. Eventually her stepfather turned up and announced that he was meeting Stella to give her money and brought Lynette along. Although this is the first we've ever seen (or even heard) of Lynette's having a stepfather, Felicity Huffman's scenes with a silky smooth Richard Chamberlain conveyed genuine warmth between the two characters.

And when it was revealed that the reason his marriage to Stella failed was because he was gay, I didn't immediately understand how that would change anything. Fortunately, Lynette and the writers cleared that one up for me (for those of you scoring at home, it was because Stella wasn't at fault for the failure of her marriage to the one decent guy Lynette knew)

So what'd you think of this episode? When do you think Susan will actually start to appear pregnant? Do you think we'll ever see Barrett again? How is Katherine going to react once she runs into Adam's stalky female friend from Chicago (where the hell WAS Katherine in this episode)? When is Edie going to get a life? Finally, what's up with that death scream from Lynette in the previews for next week's tornado-tastic episode? You think they're going to kill one of the regular characters?

Dan In Real Life Review

You know, I don’t even care about the fact that I’m probably wildly overrating it in my mind. I loved this movie.

Steve Carell stars as Dan Burns, a family advice column writer and widowed father of three daughters. Dan and his girls head to an impossibly roomy and comfortably luxurious company for a get-together with his family, including younger brother Mitch (Dane Cook), who’s bringing his new girlfriend.

While in town, he meets an alluring woman (I can tell she’s alluring by her appealingly dark look and French accent) who he clicks with right away. I don’t think it’s giving away too much to say that ***SPOILER ALERT*** she turns out to be Mitch’s girlfriend. ***END OF SPOILER ALERT***

And that’s pretty much the whole movie. Storyline wise at least. The rest of the time, we’re basically watching Dan lose his mind while (mostly unsuccessfully) hiding it from the rest of his family.

Carell is outstanding and Oscar worthy as Dan, dialing down the Michael Scott silliness from “The Office” just enough and amping up his Andy Stitzer sweetness from “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” to the appropriate level. Still, his performance is so much more than a simple mash up of those two films. It’s also sad. But since the character is played by Carell, and he inherently has a sweetness about him, we root for him (or at least I do) to get the girl (or at least not continue to be humiliated) by the end.

Also, with the writer’s strike in full swing, this is the only way I’m going to get my fix-o-Carell. And don’t even think about suggesting I watch “Evan Almighty” on DVD.

Juliette Binoche is solid as Anne Marie (or Annie or Marie depending on which brother you ask), though I’d say 60 percent of her effectiveness is due to her just having that thinking man’s appeal from being Juliette Binoche, 20 percent is due to the writing for her character (they even allude to the fact that she has NO flaws in the movie) and 20 percent is anything Binoche actually did.

Dane Cook was great. Yes, THAT Dane Cook! His character is someone who’s a perfectly nice and likable guy, maybe a bit immature, maybe a bit of a lout, but overall a good guy. He and Carell had fantastic chemistry as brothers, and the scene where they sing “Open the Door to Your Heart” was simultaneously adorable and heartbreaking. Or as Erica put it, they’re the best brothers ever.

In fact, I enjoyed pretty much every performance, including John Mahoney and Dianne Wiest as Dan’s well-meaning, but gently-prying parents. Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson and Marlene Lawtson were also terrific as Dan’s most sensible, most frightening(ly realistic?), and most adorable daughter.

This movie comes from director Peter Hedges, who previously directed the extremely underrated “Pieces of April.” That movie was edgier than “Dan”, but the latter movie’s sweetness works for the source material.

Even though some of the hijinks played out in a “Meet the Parents”-esque fashion, Hedges never let the movie devolve into slapstick. I also like the little details he sprinkled in throughout, like the group workout for the entire family (looks like fun) and the crossword puzzle solving challenge pitting the men against the woman (definitely have to do that some time). On the other hand, a subplot with Dan running into the same policeman kinda fell flat.

Like I said, I know this movie will be called corny by some, but I don’t care. I thought (as I did with “Pieces of April”) that this was a beautiful little movie and one of my favorites this year.

Dan In Real Life…A

Project Runway Rundown: Carrie On

After a strong debut that gave us an idea what the designers were all about (if not who the hell they actually were), the second episode of Project Runway's fourth season was even better.

It started off with the designers getting to actually pick their models, and they all chose to work with the model they'd had the week before — except for Ricky, who rather randomly dumped his. Is it one of the show's secret rules (like that pattern-making debacle from Season 3) that there has to be SOMEONE who changes models, just to mix things up? I wouldn't be surprised.

A few moments later in the workroom, Tim Gunn announced that they would be working with a fashion icon this week. And what do you know? A real, live fashion icon walked through the door: Sarah Jessica Parker. I mean, who's more fashion icon-y than her? I think she's probably more of a fashion icon at this point than she is an actress. Mostly, I was glad it wasn't a fakeout and the subject wasn't Miss Piggy or RuPaul or someone like that.

Then came the "challenge" part of the fashion icon challenge. The contestants were to design a two-piece outfit for Parker's Bitten line (targeted for everyday women) using a $15 budget. After they all picked themselves up off the floor, they got to pitch their ideas and SJP would then pick seven team captains.

Among the highlights of the pitch meetings were Chris being endearingly nervous upon meeting SJP, Kevin seemingly snubbing Parker's handshake at the end of their meeting (though I think he just really didn't see her), Carmen like the opera and Webber like the baller being herself, and Elisa actually being named one of the captains.

She ended up being partnered with Sweet P Vaughn, who couldn't have been less thrilled. Actually, she went on to become less thrilled when she started working with Elisa, who actually spit on her garment to mark her work. Eww.

What happened next was surprising and refreshing for reality TV. Instead of shutting down, sabotaging her team and letting Elisa take the fall, Sweet P stood up for herself and reined in Elisa's kookiness. By that same token, Elisa, to her credit, was not above listening to Elisa's ideas, and the two produced one of the evening's top ensembles against all odds.

Not doing quite as well were pale Marion and pseudo creepy Steven. I finally realized who Steven reminds me of — a young John Malkovich. I don't believe I've actually seen Malkovich when he was young, but this is what I like to imagine he was like.
On the runway, Victorya and Kevin joined Elisa and Sweet P in the top two, while Christian and Carmen joined Marion and Steven in the bottom. Victorya and Kevin won the challenge (though I personally liked Elisa and Sweet P's design better).

Then there were the losers. Sure Christian completely missed the mark of the challenge and designed some sort of retro-futuristic motorcorss jacket that no normal woman would ever fit in (if she'd even want to wear it), but he was outdone by Marion and Steven's ensemble, which was described by the judges as "sad Pocahontas", "Cousin Itt", and "absolutely awful" (ok, that last one was my reaction). I mean, the fabric was too clumpy, the fit was bad, and the color was depressing. It may have been the worst thing I've ever seen on this show.

No surprise then that Marion went home, treating us to another week of Christian's hair and giving Steven another week to creep everyone out and Carmen to act like the conceited/sassy black woman we expect her to be.

So what'd you think of this episode? Why wouldn't Victorya just spell her name with that second "I"? To me, people like that just scream "notice me!!!" Perhaps it's because, other than the spelling of her name, she hasn't distinguished herself as a personality at all. Do you have any favorites so far? Finally, honestly — is there anything more depressing than Marion's design?

America's Next Top Recap: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Models

Just because I decided to take a couple of days off for Thanksgiving, doesn't mean you're going to get away with not reading my recaps. I hope you didn't think I abandoned you. It's just that writing these can be hard work (Oh! My index finger!), but I'm going to suck it up because one of the things I'm thankful for is my readers. Both of you.

So the girls in the running took their flight to China Wednesday night as illustrated in a truly cheesy graphic showing their model-y poses superimposed on the side of an airplane.
Things only got loonier from there, especially for my two favorite contestants this season, er cycle — Heather and Lisa.

Heather (pictured) had a mini meltdown when she was left without a bed in their Chinese penthouse. When Saleisha refused to share her oversized bed, I had a quick flashback to last week when Saleisha and Lisa ran in the shower after Heather had called it, now this. Next week, I expect Saleisha to sneak ahead of Heather and commandeer the stove to make an egg white omelet, followed by Heather hitting her over the head, knocking that truly odd hairstyle off of her and saying, "strike three, bitch!"

Seriously though, there are two sides to this. The girls have to know that Heather tends to overreact to little things like this. They also have to know she's the favorite in the competition, so I'm not surprised to see them slightly go out of their way to mess with her (though Chantal DID stand up for her, making me like her a bit for the first time). On the other hand, Heather's completely overreacting and needs to fill her prescriptions for chill pills.

She regained her footing for this week's challenge. Actually, she didn't, because the challenge involved the girls doing martial arts poses while suspended in mid-air. I loved the girls' reactions when the martial artists introduced themselves by staging a fight. It was a mixture incredulousness, fear, and embarrassment (for the guys, because the thing was so cheesy).

Saleisha and Heather (the challenge winner) excelled, while Bianca, who made like Ambreal and revealed a crippling fear of heights, wasn't in the air for more than two seconds before she quit. Good. Though she's been less insufferable the past few weeks, this girl talks WAY too much (or at least she's edited that way). Let's hear more from Heather, who usually has something interesting/funny to say. Let's just not hear more from Chantal (who got to accompany Heather on a shopping spree) because she's still stupid.

Later, the girls got together and shot mostly hideous commercials for Queen Latifah's Cover Girl Line. Honestly, only Saleisha made a commercial which was halfway decent, while Heather and Lisa made commercials that could easily be labeled a disaster. Heather (who knew she could looks so happy?!) and Lisa's pictures were a different story. They were my favorites this week, while Chantal's Sunnybrook Farm shot (Mr. Jay's words) was clearly the worst.

In the panel, Ms. J's hair grew another few inches, while the judges rightly criticized the awfulness of the commercials. We also learned that Nigel apparently hates Jenah, who didn't help matters this week by displaying a crappy "whatevah" attitude.

It came down to Heather and Lisa, with Lisa getting the boot. Such a shame, because she started off with great potential, but completely lost her confidence a few weeks back and never got it back. Honestly, she seemed like she was on the verge of crying for the past three episodes. It was painful. At least now she's out of her misery. I hope.

So what'd you think of this episode? Is Saleisha messing with Heather on purpose (and in a much subtler way than Bianca does) or is it just coincidence? Since they're in Asia, and they did martial arts this week, what stereotypical activity will they have the girls to next week? Maybe math? Finally, with only five, beautiful young ladies standing before you, who do you like to be in the top 3?

NFL Week 12 Picks

Last week I did decently (10-6 week, 93-57 overall). This week I have to hurry up and sneak my picks in before the first Thanksgiving game starts. Let's do this:

GREEN BAY @ DETROIT
Green Bay's playing better than ever (well, you know, this season) while Detroit keeps for getting to run the ball and are playing as badly as ever (see for them I actually mean as badly as they've usually played in the franchise's pathetic history)

NY JETS @ DALLAS
If this were in New York, I swear I'd take the Jets because last time the 'Boys had a big game coming up next week (as they do against the Pack next week) they completely gagged and should've lost in Buffalo (the week before they lost to the Patriots). Instead, I look for Tony Romo to light up the Jets the same way he did my Bucs last year for Thanksgiving, making me throw up most of my turkey.

INDIANAPOLIS @ ATLANTA
The NFL Network can have this crappy game.

SEATTLE @ ST. LOUIS (upset)
Although Seattle's been great lately, St. Louis is much improved and I like them at home. Ok, you got me. Mostly I wanted to pick an upset, and this is as good a chance as any.

MINNESOTA @ NY GIANTS
Maybe the Giants won't completely fold this year. It helps to play a mediocre-to-crappy team like the Vikes.

BUFFALO @ JACKSONVILLE
Buffalo's ass will still be red from getting spanked by the Patriots. Also, Jacksonville might be the second best team in the AFC right now. Yeah, I said it.

CAROLINA @ NEW ORLEANS
Who the hell can figure out either of these two teams. I'll take New Orleans at home, even though I keep taking them at home and they keep losing. Where's that magic from last year?

WASHINGTON @ TAMPA BAY
These two always have close and competitive games, and I expect the same this year. I'll take the Bucs at home because they're getting healthier, playing well, and can maintain a nice lead in the division while the Redskins feel like they're fading.

HOUSTON @ CLEVELAND
Cleveland will win, and they won't win a field goal that JUST makes it by two feet. That was a GREAT ending, by the way. Still, with Andre Johnson back for the Texans, I'd expect this game to be in the 30s or 40s.

TENNESSEE @ CINCINNATI
I'm done with the Bengals. The Titans will run the ball and keep the ball away from the Bengals offense, which is turning the ball over WAY too much when they actually get their hands on it.

OAKLAND @ KANSAS CITY
You know, even though they got off to a decent start, Oakland is pretty much just as terrible as they were last year.

SAN FRANCISCO @ ARIZONA
San Francisco may not score a touchdown again this season. I mean, I just don't see it happening for them again.

BALTIMORE @ SAN DIEGO
San Diego's bad, but they're not worse than Baltimore, are they? Are they?

DENVER @ CHICAGO
Denver's finally showing signs of life, while the Bears are NOT who we thought they were (we thought they could play defense).

PHILADELPHIA @ NEW ENGLAND
Even if Donovan McNabb weren't questionable, you've gotta like New England. The question at this point is whether they'll score 40. In the first half.

MIAMI @ PITTSBURGH
You know, I think I want Miami to go winless this year, almost as much as I'd like to see the Patriots go undefeated. I'm tired of seeing all these guys from the '72 Dolphins pop up anytime a team starts off 10-0 or something and start running their mouths about their undefeated season and how they were better and "don't call me when you're in town, call me when you're on my block" and blah blah blah. You get extremely defensive because since you know you only had to play 14 regular season games, when someone goes undefeated now, they'll be considered greater. Shut up! Somebody tell these old dudes to get a life.

Finally, Happy Thanksgiving!

Nip/Tuck/Thoughts: The Return of Rosie

Bird flu! Borderline necrophilia! Ass Bandits! Big-breasted nuns!

The weirdest, freakiest combination ever? No. Just another Tuesday night on Nip/Tuck. An episode would have to be pretty out there to completely overshadow the return of Rosie O'Donnell as Dawn Budge.

Thankfully, except for a couple of brief appearances by Julia, this episode chose to largely forego any of the Julia, Matt, Kimber nonsense that was weighing down the last two episodes and the show's two main characters.

I was puzzled last week when Christian became an accidental escort, but after watching him follow up on that storyline this week, I came to appreciate it and enjoy it. Since the move to California, Sean's the one who's become the star and sex symbol, while Christian has pretty much lost his identity.

How that led him to become an escort to freaky deaky older women, I don't know. What I do know is that his character is adrift and trying to find himself, and I'd much rather see him act out in this way than have him (predictably, cruelly) try to sabotage Sean yet again. Christian also met a nun who wanted a breast reduction, but the character was mostly there to try to guide Christian back to the right path. Also, to show us a nun with HUGE breasteses!

Seriously though, I liked them delving back into Christian's past (his abusive foster father) and maybe understanding why he is the way he is. I'd rather watch that than, say, Matt's eyebrows.

Sean, on the other hand, is having even bigger misgivings about his relationship with Kate, as he slowly realizes that the actress has some serious issues. Of course, Olivia's daughter Eden isn't helping matters by tempting him every chance she gets and sending him naughty text messages. Of course, Eden ALSO has serious issues (is she just messing with Annie to mess with Sean or is she really just a psycho), but she's younger and, right now, hotter than Kate, so Sean can't wait to bang her.

I liked what this episode revealed about each main character. I already spoke about Christian. On the other hand, what does Sean (the perennial nice guy) do, given everything I just said? He suggests he and Kate get married, of course. Ooh boy, this isn't going to end well.

Just like Dawn Budge's hang gliding trip didn't end well. You can say what you want about Rosie O'Donnell in real life, but I think she's just great on this show and a complete breath of fresh air. Is it just me or do Dylan Walsh and, especially, Julian McMahon always look like they're about to crack up when they're in a scene with Rosie?

After being exhilarated by an eagle attack, Dawn (pictured) wanted McNamara/Troy to fix her face so she could fly to outer space(?!) Given her real-life persona, I thought it was a nice joke to have her mouth sewn up for part of the time.

I thought it was genius to pair her up with Oliver Platt's Freddy Prune following an accident on the set of "Hearts 'N Scalpels". Dawn earned a trip to the set after being molested by the Ass Bandit, a guy who apparently sneaks into doctors' offices, pretends to be a physician and manually collects stool samples from people, just so he can stick his finger in them.

All together now: Ewwwwwwwwwww!

Anyway, the scene with Dawn and Freddy Prune (where she was buying him a new ass) was inspired looniness, particularly Freddie's rant ("Wanna see my fantasy football roster?") when he correctly noticed that Sean and Christian (and me) had all assumed he was gay. Help me out with one thing though — did he know about the Ass Bandit from Dawn and thus allowed him to do his thing? Because when the bandit paid him a visit, he seemed to enjoy the prying hands a bit too much.

So what'd you think of this episode? Is Christian's client's fantasy about being screwed back to life while being hypothermic and almost dead a real fetish I don't know about? If so, how have I been missing out on that one? Does it have a name? If it does have a name, it's kinda scary that enough people are doing it for it to earn a name. Do you think we'll see Christian's nun or the Ass Bandit again? Finally, was I the only one kinda put off by seeing sweet little Annie in Sean's office for a consult (though I should've expected it and been surprised it hadn't happened sooner)?

Dancing with the Stars: DANCMSTR Class

So what do you think happened to all the judges' paddles on "Dancing with the Stars" numbered 1-8? Were they recycled? Given to another needy reality competition show? Wait a minute, why am I STARTING OFF the recap with questions when that's how it's supposed to be ending?!

Even though the judges were handing out 30s like they were candy last night (especially to Helio and Mel B., who each scored a perfect 60 for their two dances), what was probably my favorite dance of the evening didn't get one.

Instead, Marie's quickstep to quickstep to "Good Mornin'" (yay! "Singin' in the Rain"!was tagged with a 29, which seemed downright disrespectful given the scores flying around last night. Still, their routine was cute, funny and had plenty of content, which the judges had lectured Marie on last week. In fact, you could've had a drinking game involving the use of the word "content" that would've had you knocked out before the start of their dance. It was almost as frequent as references to Marie's family.

Not to be outdone, said family was incorporated into the end of their madcap (as described by Bruno perfectly) mambo, which ended with Marie sprawled across her siblings' laps, achieving the rare "kinda cute/kinda creepy" daily double.

Of course, Marie landed at the bottom of the leaderboard again even though (for my money) she outdanced Jennie Garth. Jennie and Derek's tango at the beginning was solid, but done in by a completely weird song choice and Jennie only committing about 97 percent. Maybe she was still distracted by thoughts of a surprisingly nimble Mickey Mouse showing off his moves.

She later redeemed herself with a cha cha cha that was probably (no definitely!) her best dance of the season, and maybe even deserving of the perfect 30 she got from the judges. Still, I have a feeling it'll be Marie joining Mel B. and Helio in the finals. How would you feel about that Jennie? "Umm, I don't know why'd you put US there?" I've said it before, and I'll say it again Jennie, but if you don't give a damn about being there, why should I give a damn about you being there?

As I mentioned before, Helio and Mel B. scored perfect 60s last night. The only problem is that I really only thought one of each of their routines were worthy of that score.

So while I like Mel B's Viennese waltz after watching it a second time, I still think it was a bit too step-py and not enough glide-y (which I'm told are official words). Still, I like that they tried to do something unexpected and surprising for a Viennese waltz. As for their paso doble, the judges summed it up perfectly in showing their amazement that Mel could follow up her fierce performance of "Free Your Mind" with an equally fierce, but mostly different paso doble.(The couples had a hand in choosing what dance to do for their performances.) Bonus points for composing herself after a seemingly awkward start before the music started.

In my mind Mel B slightly outdanced Helio, who delivered a fox trot that I REALLY liked (I don't care for the fox trot at all) and I thought earned his 30. His cha cha cha afterwards — not so much. I like that it was silly and complicated (as all of Julianne's routines are), but the problem was that Helio was doing most of the silly moves, while Julianne was handling the complicated ones.

In between, we had the Len Goodman (pictured, right) paying his now-yearly visit to the couples and lecturing them on what they need to work on (Marie's hips, Jennie's arms, etc). In fact, Len probably had the best night he's ever had on the show, highlighted by his outta leftfield singing of the "SexyBack" lyric "I'll let you whip me if I misbehave" following Mel B.'s paso. Yikes.

So what'd you think of last night's episode? Do you think a weird song choice (or a weird version of a perfectly good song) can affect how a dance is perceived? Which Spice Girl do you think producers will try to coax into participating next year (since they were hanging around the set)? Who do you have advancing into the final 3? Finally, how awesome was it to see Len's DANCMSTR limo back again?

Heroes: The Things They Do For Their Kids

My remote control is lucky to survive last night's episode of "Heroes", after my least favorite character killed my favorite one. I think the only reason I didn't fling my remote against the wall is because I was completely stunned when it happened.

In fact, "Cautionary Tales" was probably my favorite episode of the season so far, making for two consecutive very strong (non-flashback) episodes. That bodes well for where the season is going, but I also can't help but notice neither of these episodes featured the Wonder Twins or any of the other surplus garbage clogging this season.

Instead, last night was probably one of the most emotional episodes ever, starting with a fierce fight between Claire and Noah, after the father announced they were moving again. Claire, wanting to stay with West, objected and eventually left her father after declaring that she hated him. Although the dialogue was slightly melodramatic and it was basically a "Heroes"-up version of a typical father-daughter fight over a boyfriend, the exchange was saved by the strong performances of Jack Coleman and Hayden Panettiere (pictured, left), who have real chemistry as father and daughter.

Also having great chemistry were Masi Oka and George Takei. It nice that Takei got the chance to play Kaito Nakamura one more time after a distraught Hiro traveled back one week in time to save his father. Kaito, of course, refused Hiro's help even after his son took him back to his mother's grave to remind him how much it hurt to lose someone. Eventually, Kaito told Hiro that just because they "had the power of gods, didn't mean they should play God." Well said, sir.

I really liked that Takei got the play the more approving side of Kaito toward the end (as opposed to the stern father when he was introduced) and their final scene together when Kaito tells Hiro that he's proud of him right before he meets his death was one of the best from a very good episode. Also, I actually kinda cheered when Hiro stopped time and we actually found out who the killer was (LOVED Hiro's reaction when he saw it was his hero-turned nemesis Kensei) instead of having it drag on for another week or two.

Now that he's locked away in a nightmare room, Matt doesn't have to worry about his father anymore. However, Papa Parkman DID impart a bit of useful wisdom to Matt before he revealed himself to be fully evil — Parkman's abilities can develop, as they did last night. Instead of pulling people's thoughts from their head, he's able to push his own onto other people and have them do what he wants, first with Molly, then his boss and, eventually to Angela Petrelli. This was another rock-solid scene with Angela (Cristine Rose is great on this show) cautioning Matt that he was getting close to becoming like his dad.

Later, the show displayed some refreshing subtlety when it was revealed that the name of the woman in the picture is Victoria Pratt and Matt had ignored Angela's pleas and maybe nudged a bit toward the dark side.

Having slightly less chemistry as parent and child were Bob and, as was confirmed last night, his daughter Elle, who was assigned to be Mohinder's new partner. I lost track of how many times Mohinder has flip-flopped his allegiances, but last night it seemed like he was resigned to help capture Claire so they could use her blood to cure Nikki, (why does he care so much about curing Nikki again?) even if that meant killing Noah, which was part of his assignment.

Eventually, the show actually delivered with the action (which it sadly fails to do on a regular basis). After some questionable flying effects when West took Noah for a ride to find out if Claire had really betrayed him, we got some cool hero on hero action with West taking out Elle and later Elle turning around and taking out West and Claire as they tried to fly away and escape.

Then there was the shot hear 'round the world (well, my living room instead). Even though the first of Isaac's paintings came true (Mohinder holding the gun), I was holding out hope that something would happen to stop the second one from becoming true. Just to illustrate how essential Jack Coleman is to this show, try to imagine another actor saying the line "Did you remember to pack Mr. Muggles' doggy bath?" and make it sound half as badass as he did.

So obviously I was thrilled and genuinely surprised (nice one writers!) when it was revealed that Claire's blood was being used to bring Noah back to life. Still — Mohinder's dead to me.

So what'd you think of last night's episode? How long do you think it took Claire to gather enough rocks to put together that cheesy "Sorry" sign for West? Is West now firmly a good guy after it was teased that he might use his power for evil? How cute was young Hiro? Who in the world would give Mohinder a gun?!

Finally, who is keeping Noah alive? Is it Mohinder? (since it appears Noah is stashed away in some secret room) Maybe they came up with the plan in those few minutes when they were alone together in Noah's car. Or are Bob and the company keeping Noah alive in case Claire doesn't want to cooperate or out of some sort of compassion (in case you didn't get it from last night's hints, Bob and Noah are different sides of the same coin)?

NFL Week 11 Picks

It's Friday, I'm feeling lazy and, after breaking even last week (7-7 week, 83-51 overall), what do you say we just get these picks done. Of course now that I'll put little-to-no effort this week, I expect to probably have one of my best weeks. Let's do this.

CLEVELAND @ BALTIMORE
Hey, Baltimore — I liked you better when you were the Cleveland Browns! (Told you I'd use it again) Cleveland's not nearly as good on the road as they are at home, but Baltimore is not nearly as good as Cleveland right now. I know Steve McNair was playing pathetically, but they can't possibly be excited about the Kyle Boller era.

SAN DIEGO @ JACKSONVILLE
Jacksonville absolutely kicked Tennessee's ass on the road (a good team), while San Diego barely hung on to beat the Colts at home when they were missing seven starters, lost their best defensive player for the season and Peyton Manning threw six picks. Although I never pick them correctly, I'll go with the Jags.

MIAMI @ PHILADELPHIA
Miami almost ruined their perfect(ly terrible) season last week by beating the Bills. I expect them to get their mojo back and lose to Philly on the road by two touchdowns.

OAKLAND @ MINNESOTA
Both teams are pretty bad, but only Minnesota lost the best running back in the league to injury. Chester Taylor is a capable backup, but look for them to have to throw it more with (gasp!) Tarvaris Jackson or (double gasp!) Brooks Boellinger.

KANSAS CITY @ INDIANAPOLIS
Kansas City is kinda back to sucking again, and although the Colts are being devastated by injuries, I love them to win in their dome against almost anyone. Also, I'm sure Peyton Manning will give the team one of his Priceless pep talks and get them back on track.

CAROLINA @ GREEN BAY
Green Bay looked great last week at home, while Carolina lost to the Falcons. Seriously, what IS the deal with Carolina? Anybody?

N.Y. GIANTS @ DETROIT
Probably one of the best games of the week, and both coming off of bad losses. Though Detroit's loss was worse (losing to Arizona? Really?!), the Giants looked like the team I've seen collapse in the second half of the past couple of seasons against the Cowboys. They gave up huge plays to Dallas, and inexplicably got delay of game penalty after delay of game penalty — at home! I imagine they'll struggle in Detroit's dome, where the Lions can throw the ball down the field very easily and crowd noise will be factor.

ATLANTA @ TAMPA BAY
I like the division-leading Bucs (how is that possible?) coming off the bye week. Actually, I like pretty much every team against Atlanta (except for Carolina last week, apparently)

NEW ORLEANS @ HOUSTON
Houston's just kinda crashed and burned in recent weeks, though they DO get their best receiver back (Andre Johnson) this week. The Saints inexplicably lost to the winless Rams last week, but I expect them to bounce back.

ARIZONA @ CINCINNATI
I expect this to be a complete shootout, as both teams have weak secondaries and love to sling the ball down the field. I just like Cincinnati's weapons better, especially now that they have Chris Henry back, which seemed to give them a lift last week and will continue to do so as long as he stays out of jail.

PITTSBURGH @ N.Y. JETS
What do you want me to say? The Jets have no chance. They're actually the most depressing team to watch other than San Francisco.

CHICAGO @ SEATTLE
Seattle looked good on Monday night against the Niners (then again, who hasn't look good against San Fran), but Rex Grossman also looked good against the Raiders. I mean, after he bobbled the first snap he looked good. I'm taking the Seahawks at home.

ST. LOUIS @ SAN FRANCISCO
I can't possibly take the Niners after dissing them in my last two items. Yes I can because the Rams are actually the last team they beat and one of only three teams in the league that have fewer wins than they do. That being said, Niners QB Alex Smith (pictured, right, in a familiar situation) is really, truly, terrible.

WASHINGTON @ DALLAS
Washington's too inconsistent, and Dallas has a chance to pretty much wrap up the division, seeing as how they haven't lost to an NFC East opponent all year. God it hurts to pick them the same way Harry Potter's scar hurt him when he was doing that mind-meld thing with Voldemort.

NEW ENGLAND @ BUFFALO
This was a sure thing BEFORE Buffalo lost their best player (RB Marshawn Lynch) for this contest.

TENNESSEE @ DENVER (mini-upset)
I'm a sucker for picking the Broncos at home. Also, they momentarily saved their season by beating division foe Kansas City last week (in a division nobody seems to want), while Tennessee looked terrible against the Jags. It'll be interesting to see if the Broncos can run the ball agains the Titans since Tennessee has one of the best run defenses (which could be missing Albert Haynesworth, one of the league's best run-stoppers). Jay Cutler (who has underwhelmed) is going to have to step up at some point, right?

Project Runway Rundown: Train Wreck

Finally, Project Runway has come back to my television.

After more than a year since the end of the last installment (the one that the slightly jerky tattooed Jeffrey won), we jumped right into this new season with a one-hour premiere.

Two reasons I liked last night's episode more than the usual two-hour premiere with audition footage. 1. Two hours of ANY reality show is just too much and inevitably leads to drawn out segments and (the main reason) 2. Out of all the reality shows out there, the contestants on "Project Runway" are absolutely the most talented. So if we sat through auditions and saw awful ones, they wouldn't be as bad or as entertaining as listening to someone who's a terrible singer (like on "American Idol"). Also, as a straight dude I sometimes can't tell the difference between a crazy-good design and a crazy-bad one.

I felt the urge to remind you that I'm straight after watching jean designer Kevin felt compelled to do the same. Also, because I'm writing back to back recaps of "America's Next Top Model" and this show within a space of two hours. Honestly, what is Kevin doing? He should spend less time trying to make sure he can hook up with women who watch the show once he gets eliminated and more time trying to win.

Of course, the downside of last night's hour-long premiere was that we didn't really get to know the great majority of the designers, who introduced themselves in rapid-fire succession before the first commercial break. For example, my early favorites are the fat guy who makes costumes, the smooth bald dude, the guy with the 80's hair, and the crazy "multi-media artist" lady. My sources tell me their names are actually Chris, Rami, Christian and Elisa. Chris even made a dress out of salad once — since he certainly hasn't been eating any. Ohhhhhhh! (Sorry, that was really mean — I apologize to my fat readers.)

Everyone else kinda blended in together. Except for the black woman who used to be a model (Carmen) and claimed that gave her a big advantage over everyone else. (huh?) Also, Ricky the lingerie guy who designed, you guessed it, lingerie for the first challenge.

Instead of making a dress out of garbage, salad (hello Chris) or other random items as is "Runway" tradition, the first challenge was about letting the designers express who they are. I LOVED this idea. Given the time constraints and the number of contestants (which I estimated at 32, j/k) it was a good way of having certain people stand out. After meeting in Bryant Park, they all (except for Chris, who huffed and puffed) toward tents with fabric for their design.

It's also a good way of weeding out the weaker, inexperienced ones. It reminded me of the complete collapse of Michael last year, who dominated the competition last year until the "express who you are as a designer challenge" and he crapped the bed because he was really young and had no idea who he was as a designer.

The standouts for me and the judges this week were challenge-winner Rami (am I the only one who thought his beautiful dress was slightly unflattering?) and Christian (whose jacket sleeve pattern was as asymmetrical as his haircut). The bottom two came down to crazy Elisa, who concoted a vaguely bad gown, which was taken to another level of badness by a train composed of discarded, grass-stained fabric and Simone, whose construction was poor. The orangey Michael Kors also pointed out that her jacket clashed with her dress (which I honestly didn't think was that bad at all.) Not surprisingly, boring lost out to crazy and Simone went home, which is bad for her, but great for viewers as we have loopy Elisa around at least one more week.

So what'd you think of the season premiere? Who are your early favorites? I like Chris (despite the fat jokes), Rami, Christian, Elisa and Jack (who just seems like a nice guy). My least favorites are Carmen, Kit Pistol and Sweet P Vaughn. The latter two mostly because they're adults who refer to themselves as "Kit Pistol" and "Sweet P Vaughn" (they sound like porn stars). Does it seem like Tim Gunn (pictured, left, with Heidi Klum) is getting slightly tired of saying "Make it work" and "carry on"?

How do you think this cast compares to seasons past? Who do you like to win? I'm going with Rami and his elegant designs because risk-taker Jeffrey won last year, and boring, I mean, safe Chloe Dao before that, and I'm just assuming it alternates. Finally, if you've done dresses for Jessica Alba (as Rami has), what the hell are you doing on "Project Runway"?