This week in entertainment

• Bravo and Lifetime both are banned from airing an episode of Project Runway until they figure out if the Weinsteins broke the first look clause of their NBC-Universal contract by selling season six to Lifetime instead of allowing NBC ( who owns Bravo) the right to pick up.
• Britney’s new single is released. Not impressed.
• David Cook’s new single is released. More impressed by that.
• The Emmys were held last week and AMC scored a major victory by being the first basic cable network to win an Emmy for Best Drama. Tina Fey, though, remains the big winner, as 30 Rock sweeps the major comedy series categories.
• Heather Locklear has been arrested. I feel really sorry for Ava Sambora.
• Men everywhere let out a strangle cry and plot murder for hire as Scarlett Johansson marries Ryan Reynolds in Canada.
• Dancing With The Stars premieres, and Ted McGinley is voted off before the show gets cancelled.
• Lakeview Terrace the number one movie, Forbidden Kingdom the number one DVD, Sunday Night Football won the Nielsens, Metallica tops the album charts, and Christine Feehan’s Dark Curse tops fiction charts.
• SNL has a fifty percent rating bump YTY thanks to Sarah Palin and the the rest of the fun that is the election.
• Fox cancels Do not Disturb after three episodes. Mercifully ( it was heinous).
• Buffy is coming back to TV! On HBO! Sarah Michelle Geller to appear in Wonderful Maladys.
• Paul Newman passed away, as did Marpessa Dawn ( Eurydice in Black Orpheus), Connie Haines ( a singer), Nappy Brown ( a R&B musician), and Jazz drummer Earl Palmer.

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RECAP AND REVIEW: How I Met Your Mother 4-01 ” Do I Know You?”

Aside from my burning desire to be the mother of Jason Segel’s babies ( more shocking when you realize I have three kids already and should really stop), I have always thought HIMYM was the funniest traditional multicamera on TV ( as opposed to Scrubs and  tHe Office, both single camera masterpieces). Consistently hilarious and surprisingly warm hearted, HIMYM has become the best sitcom on television.

When we last saw our favorite fivesome, Barney had been hit by a bus, Robin didn’t believe in miracles due to a tragic childhood incident that involved her dog turning into a turtle, and Lily and Marshall are Lily and Marshall. Ted, though, proposed to his recently dumped but didn’t know it till Lily told herso she went and dumped Ted girlfriend Stella. We open waiting for the answer.. and she accepts.

I love season premieres on HIMYM because Ted tells us exactly about the summer. HIMYM is told in flashback, but in real time ( kind of- it is Fall 2008 in HIMYM land). He and Stella make out a lot, Robin is getting pissy about her job, Marshall was still coping with unemployment, and Barney is rehabbing from his bus kissing incident while coping with the realization he had fallen in love with Robin.  Lily was apparently Lily all summer.

Ted almost kills Stella on night after feeding her a pesto made with peanuts, which she was allergic to. This just seems to confirm Marshall the busybody’s theory that Stella and Ted don’t need to know each other. So Ted begins a fact finding mission and it turns out that Stella has never- EVER- seen Star Wars. Ted is at first okay with it, then Marshall reminds him how great the movie is, so Ted decides to have a movie night. When Stella doesn’t seem to be taking it seriously, Ted begins a minor freak out that causes him to be banished ( and a spying Marshall follows). Stella tells Ted that she loved it, but Marshall sees through it and calls her on it. ” Can you really pretend to love a movie you hate for the rest of your life?” Stella looks at him and says ” I do.”

The B story deals with Barney trying to convince himself that he isn’t in love with Robin- and failing. He calls in Lily for help, only to make an ass out of himself on Robin’s voice mail, then on the phone when she calls back. Lily takes matter into her own hands and sets up a date,, and when Barney is so un-Barney like, Robin gets a little creeped out herself. But when Barney proves to be a good listener and supportive friend, Robin decides to pay him back by hooking him up with their booblicious waitress.  Barney does take the waitress home, but seems to realize that robin may be out of his reach.

A good start for the season, although I wish they had actually waited to try and get Barney and Robin on a ” date” and let Barney stew in the feelings for an episode ( even if it was actually the stronger of the two stories- i think the Star Wars bit works better if it was central, but it felt a little  forced). Neil Patrick Harris is still smashing as Barney, who is one of the most memorable louses in TV history, Alyson Hannigan shows remarkable comedic gifts as Lily, but I admire Segel’s performance as Marshall the most. He’s so idealistic and naive he should be boring, but there is a wackiness most geeks never get. Colbie Smulders as Robin and Josh Radnor as Ted both have been solid, but Robin was a bit underused ( although the bit about the chiropractor and the dentist were funny), and Ted seemed to be particularly dense this week ( could be love…) The writing was strong, but has been stronger.

Grade- B

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