Single Parents: Season 2 Promo (HD) (Leighton Meester, Taran Killam comedy series)

Here's a promo for season 2 of Single Parents.

The Orville: Episode 2x11 "Lasting Impressions" Promo (HD) (ft. Leighton Meester)

Here's a promo for the next episode, episode 2x11 "Lasting Impressions".

Single Parents (ABC): "Parenting Ain't Easy" Promo (HD) (Leighton Meester, Taran Killam comedy series)

Here's the "Parenting Ain't Easy" promo for the upcoming new ABC series, Single Parents.

Single Parents (ABC): "Wrapped Up" Promo (HD) (Leighton Meester, Taran Killam comedy series)

Here's the "Wrapped Up" promo for the upcoming new ABC series, Single Parents.

Making History (FOX): "Al Capone" Promo (HD) (Leighton Meester Time Travel Series)

Here's the "Al Capone" promo for the upcoming new Fox series, Making History.

90210: Wow! It really sucks to be…well…pretty much everybody on this show right now (My thoughts on episode 5x18 "A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Call Girl")

It’s been a while since I’ve written any reviews for 90210, and that’s partly because I found the past several episodes rather boring, but it’s mainly because I’ve been getting a ton of traffic for my posts related to the show New Girl, so I decided to focus on that show for a while. Plus, I’ve been working on a couple more long-term and elaborate posts for other shows as well as some writing not related to my blog. Anyway, given the fact that there are only a few episodes left of the series, I’ve decided to get back to writing reviews for the show every week; that being said, here are my thoughts on this episode.

I have to say that my thoughts on this episode as well as the past several episodes have been very mixed. They’ve also caused me to once again think a lot about why I like 90210 more than Gossip Girl, but at the same time I’ve also been thinking about some things that I think both the writers and the cast of Gossip Girl did a better job of compared to the cast and crew of 90210.

One thing that I’ve almost never been able to stop doing whenever I’m watching 90210 would be that I’ve constantly found myself comparing the character Naomi to Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl, and this would definitely be example of something that I liked more about Gossip Girl. Both Naomi and Blair are similar to each other in terms of the type of the character that they are: the “bitch” of the show, who’s rich, ambitious and is constantly seeking to elevate their social status. Don’t get me wrong, I like Naomi and I think that AnnaLynne McCord is one of the stronger actresses from the cast of 90210. However, I definitely like Blair more than Naomi, and I like Leighton Meester more than AnnaLynne when it comes to their acting.

When it comes to why I like Blair more, most of it has to do with the writing. To me, Blair has much more depth as a character than Naomi does. To me, a kiddy pool has more depth than Naomi does as a character, and I think the same can be said of the storylines that Blair had throughout Gossip Girl’s run compared to Naomi’s, which often lacked depth and just came across as a lackluster variation of quite a few of Blair’s storylines. For example, the rivalries that Naomi has had throughout 90210’s run have often felt very reminiscent of not only Blair’s storylines, but sometimes Serena’s as well, but where the storylines that revolved around Naomi dealing with a rival usually suffer is the motivation behind the rivalry, which have often been rather shallow and petty, making it hard for me to care that someone was causing problems for Naomi.

The writers for Gossip Girl on the other hand often gave enough depth and proper motivation and reasons for the viewers to get invested in storylines like that. For example, there were times where Naomi’s rivalry with Holly in season four reminded me a lot of Juliet’s vendetta against Serena throughout the first half of Gossip Girl’s fourth season, which I couldn’t help but get emotionally involved in as I was watching that storyline. Sure, I pretty much spent the whole storyline cheering Juliet on as she did everything in her power to ruin Serena’s life, mainly because I hate the character Serena, but at least the writers made me feel something. When it came to Naomi’s feud with Holly, I couldn’t have cared less about it and thought that their whole rivalry was beyond lame. 

Dallas: This has got to be the best episode yet of the series (My thoughts on episode 2x06 “Blame Game”)

As I said in my review of the first four episodes (My thoughts on episode 2x01 “Battle Lines” through episode 2x04 “False Confessions”), I truly believe that Dallas has been lucky enough to avoid suffering a dreaded sophomore slump like Revenge has been suffering from this season, and this episode once again reinforced that belief for me. This is definitely the best episode yet of the season, and perhaps the best episode of the series at this point. As far as I’m concerned, this episode only had one little flaw, which I found very forgivable. 

 

Since I only have one very minor issue with the episode, I’m just going to mention it now and get it out of the way. The only issue that I have with the episode is the fact that this episode features a continuity flaw in the scene where J.R.’s assistant is showing him how to use what looks like an iPad or a Surface when they already showed J.R. using a tablet to look at Elena’s loan agreement with Sue Ellen in episode 2x03 “Sins of The Father” and they also showed J.R. using a tablet again later on in that same episode in order to look through articles that have been published about him in the media over the years . I read somewhere that they were going to use some deleted scenes from the first season in order to help give the character J.R. a sense of closure before he died. If I had to guess, the scene where his assistant was showing him how to use his tablet was a deleted scene from last season that was used in order to allow J.R. and Bobby to have a nice moment with each other when J.R. keeps messaging Bobby on his computer and emails him a link to a funny video featuring a dog.

What I like about that scene is that on the surface it looks like a nice moment between J.R. and Bobby where J.R. is just trying to cheer him up that also gives the viewers a chance to like J.R. despite all of the bad or questionable things that he’s done over the years. However, it ends up being revealed later on in the episode that it was J.R.’s way of pulling one of his very last schemes, because the email of the video apparently included a computer virus, which erased the Cloud Drive from last season when Bobby tried to show Sue Ellen what was on it. That moment also seems very telling of how Bobby feels about J.R., in my opinion. Bobby obviously wanted to see it as his brother doing something nice to try and cheer him up, but instead it ended up being a part of one of J.R.’s schemes. Since I thought it was a nice moment that also ended up being revealed as another one of J.R.’s many tricks and schemes, I’m willing to let that whole whole continuity error go.

  

Personally, I thought that this episode was absolutely crazy, and I mean that in the best way possible. The part of the episode where Vicente and his men took John Ross, Pamela, Christopher, Elena, Bobby and Sue Ellen hostage in Bobby and Ann’s house reminded me a lot of the season three episode of Desperate Housewives “Bang” where Lynette and several of the other characters were held hostage in a super market. To this day, that episode continues to be one of my top all-time favorite episodes of Desperate Housewives.

Gossip Girl Season 5--100th Episode "G.G." Wedding Preview-TVLine

The well-heeled denizens of Gossip Girl occupied Wall Street — namely, Cipriani Club 55 — on Saturday night to fete the CW series’ 100th episode, airing Jan. 30. Seeing as the landmark hour centers around Blair’s wedding to Prince Louis, the cast was on strict orders to, ironically, not gossip about what happens, so “I can’t tell you” and “I’m not allowed to say” were frequent refrains. Even so, TVLine gleaned enough teasey tidbits to paint a provocative wedding picture….

WHAT’S IN A NAME? | It took some coaxing, but executive producer Josh Safran ultimately was too excited to share with us what he called ”the perfect title” for the 100th episode: “The title is ‘G.G.,’ as in the movie Gigi” — but spelled as in the show’s monogram. Nonetheless, I point you to Gigi‘s IMDb page should anyone wish to read into that name choice.

ARE WE IN FACT HEADING FOR A WEDDING? | “A wedding will take place in the episode,” exec producer Stephanie Savage promised. Upon noting my raised eyebrow, she added with an evil-ish chuckle, “But I didn’t say how much of the wedding.” Yeah, we’ll have more on that in a bit….

RUNAWAY RUMOR | The “tell-tale” photo (seen here) that made rounds last week and convinced (some) fans that Blair will bail on her big day? The producers were quick to note that the scene Leighton Meester shot could be but a dream.

DANCING WITH THE U.E.S.-ERS | Mark Piznarski, whose directing credits include Gossip Girl‘s pilot and Episode 100, teased that at the very start of the hour, “You’re going to see something that the cast has never done before.” Though he kept mum on details, Blake Lively later revealed to the press that on Friday, “We shot a big dance sequence.”

DAN & BLAIR | Turning to one of Blair’s non-royal romantic options, Penn Badgley told me that come wedding day, “Dan has a role to play that is not conventional” — and once viewers lay witness to what it is, “There will be a lot of gasping,” he reckons.

CHUCK & BLAIR | After waving me off somewhat, explaining, “I’ve got specific notes about what I’m allowed to say,” Ed Westwick did allow that “of course” there will be Chuck/Blair scenes in No. 100. When I relayed some readers’ wish that Chuck “ride up on a horse and whisk the bride away,” he shared, “I’ve actually been taking riding lessons … but no, it’s not going to happen. The horse part, that is.”

FATHER SCOOPS BEST! | Remember how Savage hinted above at a perhaps-waylaid wedding? To hear John Shea (aka the father of the bride) tell it, Blair at the very least gets to the altar. In describing the emotions he felt walking his TV daughter down the aisle, he said, “When you see her [in the dress], it sort of stops your breath. And then as we approach the altar, there’s the whole cast, everybody who’s been there for all these five years.” Oops?

HAPPILY EVER AFTER? | Previewing the episode, Meester herself said, “[Blair]‘s engaged to a prince, so what could be better than that? But then you realize that the fairytale isn’t 100-percent perfect.” So which gent does she think could offer a better chance at giving the would-be princess a happy ending? “Her and Chuck have had ups and down, and as much as everyone loves them together I think that them having time apart has actually helped Blair grow — and weirdly helped me grow, too,” the actress offered. She then continued, “The one relationship I’d love to see play out is Blair and Dan — just selfishly, honestly, because I love working with Penn. So we’ll see!”

This article was written by Matt Webb Mitovich.

Link to the original article:Gossip Girl Season 5 -- 100th Episode "G.G." Wedding Preview

Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley: Dan and Blair Are Soulmates!-TVLine

Warning, Chair fans: Penn Badgley is weighing in on who holds the key to his Gossip Girl character’s heart, and you’re not going to like it. Not one bit.

Dair fans, on the other hand, will be quite pleased.


“I think Blair is Dan’s soulmate,” the actor tells Nylon magazine.

Badgley concedes that he doesn’t know if “they’re ever going to get together,” but the moments he’s shared with evil dicatator of the Upper East Side rank among his favorites.

Gossip Girl Preview: Dan’s Blair Crush, Nate’s Control Issues and Chuck’s Dangerous Detour

“I’ve never enjoyed any scenes on the show as much as those scenes with Leighton Meester,” he reveals, adding that the early romance between Dan and Serena moved him “in a different way for obvious reasons, but strictly as an actor, those scenes with Blair are the best.”

Ready. Set. React!

This article was written by Vlada Gelman.

Link to the original article:Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley: Dan and Blair Are Soulmates!

Gossip Girl: Leighton Meester talking about season 5 and the Dair pairing

Based on this video, it looks like even Leighton Meester is a Dair fan. :)