"Well Ya' Know Something Mean Gene ..."

Well it's back to work today after a very fun and packed weekend, and man do I wish I just had one more day to relax and recover. But here I am, at work, and it's back to the grind, baby.

This weekend a good time was had as Friday saw Liz host her new apartment house-warming party in Studio City, and Saturday night saw Tracy's b-day celebration in Santa Monica.

Sunday me and Brian met up with Paul Lurie and co in Valley Village for a little gathering to watch the once a year sports entertainment spectacular, Wrestlemania. Sure, it wasn't quite as good as last year when Paul and I were there LIVE in the Staples Center right up in the front, watching HBK battle Kurt Angle in a 5 star mat classic for the ages, but hey, it's always a good time when you get a bunch of guys (and, surprisingly, some girls), to sit around, eat pizza, and watch two men attempt to beat the living crap out of one another, all the while mocking the complete absurdity of Triple H's ostentatious entrance where he rose to the ring in a throne dressed in full-on Conan The Barbarian regalia. Yes, yes, it's all staged, I know, but tell that to the guy covered in thumb tacks who just speared off the ring apron through a flaming freaking table. Yeah, that has to hurt. Not that great of a card and no big surprises, but the big matches proved entertaining and the top perfomers like RVD, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Edge, and Mick Foley brought their A-games.

So yeah, it was a fun weekend, and an excellent distraction from the various nagging issues that I've had to deal with lately (all this car stuff, for one thing). And check this out - one of Tracy's friends whom I met is an actor who has appeared in signifigant supporting roles on Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars! Nice guy as well. So I am now partied out after that and Liz, Abby and Scott's themed production the night before, which was a reunion of once and current pages who always make any gathering interesting to say the least.

TV REVIEWS:

SMALLVILLE:

Smallville finally returned from its hiatus last week and, well, it completely sucked. Yep, Smallville brought out all its played out old standards for its big return. Let's take a look: Clark Kent mind-controlled and coerced into fooling around with femme fatale of the week? Check. Lana catches them in the act? Check. Lana and Clark's relationship on the rocks yet again? Check. Clark using his powers in front of everyone and yet every single person in the room either gets hit on the head, has their back turned, or finds some other logical explanation for Clark's sudden bursts of super speed? Check. Lex Luthor all but having it shoved in his face that Clark is an alien with extranormal abilities and yet STILL not grasping it? Check. Clark agonizing over whether to tell Lana about his powers, despite there being no good reason why NOT to? Check. And so on. As you can see, Smallville is just terrible at the moment, and after a resurgance earlier on this season, it's really sad to see it degenerate into a mess of sleazy, cliched, poorly-written, uninspired crap as exemplified by this godawful episode. Can't we FOR ONCE see an episode where Clark does something HEROIC and INSPIRING rather than being mind controlled and acting like a total idiot? Can't we see an episode with an actual PLOT rather than a rehashed mishmash of recycled ideas and been-there-done-that cliches? I almost turned off my TV in disgust as I witnessed a teenaged Clark Kent, mind-controlled by some random chick, getting down and dirty for no real reason other than to make people sit up and take note how at just how trashy this show can be when it wants to. Leave the trashiness to The OC or whatever, this is Superman and it shouldn't suck this badly. Honestly, whoever was involved in this episode should be ashamed. If not for the always great Michael Rosenbaum as Lex and a supporting cast that always brings the effort, this would have ZERO redeeming value. They have taken an enduring icon that inspires milions of people and made him the star of a show that with epsiodes like this becomes nothing more than D-level quasi-pornographic crap. It was only a few months ago that I was praising Smallville as having returned to greatness. But no I give it a Finger of Shame for reaching a pathetic new low of awfulness. My grade: F

THE OC:

Just when I thought I was out ... yeah, I knew I couldn't cut myself off completely. Not that this show is anywhere as entertaining now as Season 1, but I'll admit that the last two weeks have steered the characters in some very interesting new directions, and FINALLY shaken things up a bit. Marissa is a druggie! Nice. Ryan is with Sadie now! About time. Sandy Cohen has his hands full with his fired assistant who is now out for revenge! Finally, a fun plotline for Sandy. And good stuff with Seth and his mom. Sure, it's still cheesy as hell and has its share of crappy plotlines, but The OC is at least watchable again. My grade: B

THE SIMPSONS:

Why? Why? Why must the near-brilliant Ricky Gervais episode be followed by an all new half hour of complete and utter sucktitude? This was one of the WORST episodes of the show I have EVER seen. Honestly, I could barely watch the whole thing, it was that bad. A few decent pop culture parodies in the beginning gave me some hope, but then a promising opening was followed by a COMPLETELY USELESS "plot" and not one ounce of funny. Grandpa Simpson becoming suicidal? WTF? How NOT funny was the pointless video about why the new football team should come to LA rather than Springfield? Good lord, just atrocious. Just everything that is bad about the Simpsons today was pretty much evident in this abomination of an episode. My grade: F

- Now, speaking of The Simpsons, one of my boyhood dreams is now coming true, a mere ten years too late. The SIMPSONS MOVIE is now almost a reality, and I just do not know what to think. Back in the day, this news would have been IT. Me at age 13 or 14 or even 17 would have been salivating at the mere thought of a Simpsons movie, counting down the days and making it my most anticipated pop culture event. But now? Make no mistake, I still love The Simpsons. I still think that Seasons 3 through 10 or so are up there with the best comedy ever produced. And in my mind there's no doubt - The Simpsons is the best comedy TV show ever, hands down. But will this movie be any good? If the writing, the premise, the passion is there, then hells yes, it will rock. But if it's just more of the same new-era crap? Then it will be a sad day indeed. While I don't know what stae the script or production is in - let's hope that this movie is made with the best of the Simpsons writers - at least a few of the likes of Conan O'Brien, Jon Vitti, and their classic-era contemporaries. And let's hope that whatever he's been up to, Matt Groening himself gives this his utmost attention, his personal involvement, and his blessing. If that is the case, we should be in for a treat, and the years-in-the-making fantasies of a Simpsons movie will live up to our once-lofty expectations.

OTHER STUFF:

- Some good movies coming up as free screenings at Universal for us lucky employees ... Brick looks great, American Dreamz looks very cool ...

- Cannot wait for 24 and Prisonbreak tonight. INTENSITY, baby. Plus the secret origin of Teabag, everyone's favorite white supremicist soap-dropper. Should be interesting.

- Sorry, but I no longer really care about the NCAA Championship at this point, with no UCONN, let alone any other team I had in my bracket.

- Business is beginning to pick up in the NBA, on the other hand. The race for playoff positioning is going to be a good fight, with some interesting potential matchups heading into the playoffs. Detroit and San Antonio still look like a lock for the finals, but this year it's going to be the undercard that provides the hot matchups.

- That's it for now, back later with the always fun 24 thoughts. Keep reading, humanoids.