Wednesday January 2nd, 2002

The only nice thing about Enterprise being in reruns is that I get to catch this show on Wednesday nights.

Henry walked in on Claudia & Sean having sex -- in Jimmy's bed. ("I'm looking for something on your father" was Claudia's explanation.) Henry ended up telling everyone at school about it, and bringing them over in the hopes of watching, Jimmy couldn't find anywhere to sleep anymore without being grossed out, Lily fought off a newly invigorated Brad once he heard her parents were sex maniacs, and Walt yelled at everybody while Eddie tried to cause trouble and steal food.

I think my favorite part though, was when Henry got grilled by an overzealous guidance counselor. "Do you like fire?" "Yes." "Would you go watch a fire if there was one going on?" "Yes!" "Are you thinking about fire right now?" "YES!!"

Wednesday December 19, 2001

This was the Christmas episode and it was fun. I like so many things about this show.

Henry wanted an "Astro Jammer Battle Buggy" for Christmas, Sean and Walt fought, Lily got a gift of boxer shorts but couldn't figure out if it was from Dean (the guy she likes) or Brad (the creepy neighbor next door). Sean relived his unpleasant Christmas childhood (Walt: "You'll get pants and a yo-yo!"), Eddie stole a Christmas tree for the Finnertys from a hospital, and in the end, Walt supplied the Battle Buggy, threw a note on it saying it was from "Mom & Dad", and threw a tomato at Sean. Merry Christmas!!!

Wednesday December 12, 2001

Did this show always have such an intrusive laugh track? It actually started to sound like a parody of itself. They need to kill that immediately.

Claudia got caught smoking by Lily, who blackmailed her into getting her a cell phone, and then Claudia got caught anyway. Walt reminisced about smoking ("there's nothing like a Pall Mall with a soft-boiled egg"), Lily rejected her new phone ("like everything else I love, it turned on me") but got the guy in the end, and I think Claudia quit smoking. I've missed this show. I loved the guy on his cell in the restaurant, saying, "No, I just ordered. I'm having a piece of bread." And Lily still has her very strange hair.

Wednesday May 23, 2001 -- SEASON FINALE

The whole show this week took place at a wedding. Neurotic single bridesmaids, Jimmy and Henry using the disposable cameras to take pictures of their butts, and Sean & Claudia's accidental disclosure to Lily that she was born before they were married -- in fact, she was at their wedding, being breastfed.

So then they flashed back to Sean & Claudia's courtship, and it seems that most of their major relationship conversations took place at Benetton, where she was working when she was 17. "Get out of my Benetton!" she yelled at him after a fight. The first time she refused to marry him, he got drunk and ended up with a tattoo on his arm of another girl's name. Again, they had it out at Benetton, and ended up back in love again.

I thought it was cool that she wouldn't marry Sean until after she had the baby, so she could make sure that they were marrying for love, and not out of obligation. All in all, the show was more sweet than funny, for a change. They're allowed to be sweet every once in a while, as long as they don't wander into the "very special episode" territory. I have faith. The writing's been too good to worry about it.

By the way, I think it's funny when Lily reaches that point of teenage exasperation and just kind of growls out a syllable before running out the room. And I liked Sean's attempt to explain to Lily why let her believe the lie that she was born after they were married, because "this was one of those good, solid lies, the kind that you could build a family around." I'm glad the show was picked up for next season, I'm just bummed that it's on at the same time as the new Star Trek show will be. I'm going to need a VCR angel.

Weddings are gross. A "father-daughter dance"? EW! And Claudia's admonishment to Eddie about the girl he slept with & dumped: "Don't you know that there's no one more vulnerable than an unmarried bridesmaid?" Ew again. Nice bathroom scene, though, between Eddie and the dumped bridesmaid's father. And it was funny, I admit, when Eddie & the bridesmaid disappeared into the back room, came out all disheveled, and then he dumped her again. I'm sorry, it was.

5/16/2001

Which was better, Lily's "Big Spender" obscene dance routine, Sister Helen's discussion of prostitutes and Broadway musicals, or Sean trying to knock a beehive down with a broom? I'm still trying to decide.

And don't forget Eddie's latest life advice: Aim low and stay under the radar. This was to Lily, in the kitchen, when she was miserable because she thought she'd been booed off the stage during her act. My favorite part of the exchange came next:

Lily: "But I thought I could be anything I dreamed."
Eddie: "No, that's crap. If people could be anything they dreamed the world would be full of           movie stars and astronauts, and then who would make the sandwiches?"

Also funny: Jimmy's perplexed reaction to watching Lily's friends rehearsing "Hey Big Spender": "I don't know why, but I want to give that one my allowance."

Also funny: everything else! I liked this one.

5/9/2001

This is the last sitcom around that's still making me laugh out loud. Henry's whole soccer team was furious at Sean, Jimmy was bummed because he got his first "C", and Lily had a crush on the guy who ran the concession stand at Henry's games. Sean was a great soccer ref - called one game early to stop the other team from winning, and then when he wasn't happy with Henry's unsportsmanlike winner behavior - complete with ass-slapping victory dance - he actually stopped Henry's team from winning the next game by blocking the shot himself.

Okay, Lily's exchanges with Frank, the concession stand guy? The way she relived their conversation 500 times until it went from flirty & cute to him calling her a fat pig? Loved it. Lived it. Over & over again throughout high school. And college. And yesterday.

Then there's all the subversive sports talk. . .

Walt: "If Henry's so bad, why do they make him play?"
Claudia: "Everybody plays, that's the rule."
Walt: "That's a stupid rule."
Sean: "No it's not. Look, it's designed to help them build their self-esteem."
Walt: "Well it hasn't, it's destroyed his self-esteem. So why do they do it?"
Claudia: "So nobody feels left out."
Walt: "Of the misery?"
Sean: "Oh my god, he's right."
Walt: "Self-esteem is over-rated anyway. Most of the work in this country is done by people who hate themselves."

So there you have it: another good week on Grounded For Life -- and the second episode I've seen that kicked off with an angry mob going after Sean. He's always stirring up group wrath.

 5/2/2001

There she is, in all her tiny picture glory. I adore Sister Helen. I adore her because she gets great dialogue and makes me laugh. Jimmy was getting picked on by a bully and eventually ended up attacking him with a food tray. Sister Helen came by to talk about it. I sort of liked Jimmy's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" fight scene but hers was way funnier, when he just picked up the tray & started smacking the bullies in the head with it.

Best lines came right after Sister Helen told Sean that Cancun was in the Caribbean, not the Gulf of Mexico.

Sister Helen: "I know, I've been there."
Sean: "They let you go to Cancun?"
Sister Helen: "If by 'they', you mean God, yes he does let me go to Cancun."
Sean: "Isn't it hot underneath the. . .the. . ."
Sister Helen: "The habit? You know Mr. Finnerty, we can take it off. We do bathe."

 4/25/2001

The BB gun was a birthday present from Walt to Jimmy, given just moments after Sean & Claudia presented him with a snare drum (with the not-so-enticing "it's what Peter Criss uses!"). The gun led to lots of talks between Sean & Claudia about parenting and gun rules and Jimmy's sense of responsibility, while Jimmy was out on the lawn shooting up fruit, vegetables, and the flying drum. (I wish I had a picture to go here of his brother with all that padding all over him, throwing the drum in the air.)

And then Sean went to take the garbage out & Jimmy started shooting at him from his room because he thought there was a garbage thief. He had that sniper look about him up there in the window. And the funniest part of the whole gun thing was when Sean's dad goaded, bullied, and tormented Sean until he shot him in the ass.

But why did the whole family have to go along to the emergency room in the middle of the night? Why didn't Claudia stay home with the kids? And Sean's dad got some cop involved by saying he'd been shot, and the cop actually sat there and stayed through the whole story, complete with rehashing of longtime family squabbles. That cop must not have worked at a very busy precinct.

But there were some really funny scenes with Eddie & Lily in the waiting room. Her flashback scene (of two guys hitting on her friend while she just stood there) was hilarious & I loved their banter about what makes a woman sexy. I hope these two get a little scene together every week.

I'm still trying to figure out what's up with Lily's hair, though.

  4/18/2001

This week's show illustrated an important social point: sports fans are idiots. Sean waited his whole life to catch a baseball at a Yankees game and he finally succeeded -- at the expense of the catch that would have won them the game. The happy crowd of fans quickly transformed into an angry mob and chased Sean & his family all the way home. Good story, right? And yet another reason to stay away from sports fans, they'lll turn on you in a heartbeat. Plus, I never understood how people could say "we won" just because their team won. What did YOU do to help, exactly? Those guys are out there practicing & playing & travelling & working hard and you're sitting on your fat ass watching them. And eating. We won, my ass. Oh yeah, and I thought it was cool that Sean's son Jimmy didn't even care about stupid baseball for its own sake. Yay. I feel like no male on TV ever says he doesn't care about sports unless he's supposed to be gay.