Gilmore Girls Could that Birkin...

Gilmore GirlsCould that Birkin bag be more mismatched for vintage-cords-and-old-baby-T's Rory? More importantly, why did overdyed crocodile skin score such high relationship points? Emily is convinced the bag means security. I'm not quite sure what Rory thinks, though who could believe she had no idea how expensive and coveted that bag really is? (Surely her mother once made some witty reference to proud owners Gwyneth, Madonna or Martha.) What an opportune time to tell Logan she loves him! (At least she didn't do it as she was hugging that pink monstrosity.) I'm sorry, but I'm just not seeing it. Expensive gifts, whirlwind trips, wild parties whatever. The guy always has that something-smells-bad look on his face, and all he does is complain. Couldn't he have come up with a better response to Rory's three little words? "I've told a lot of girls I love them and didn't mean it." Charming. Too bad Emily and Richard weren't eavesdropping during that gem of a romantic moment. At least Richard sees the price tag on all of this, and goes to Lorelai for help. Finally.   Robin Honig

My Name Is Earl
I'm afraid I might have scared up a bit of bad karma myself by laughing out loud at some of the jokes made at the expense of Earl's new English-as-a-second-language students. Particularly at Joy's commentary about her rival in the nail decorative arts: "I don't care if she's Vietnamese, Chinese or Chuck E. Cheese!" (Also? Love that she calls Earl's project his "Touched by an Angel list.") This appearance of Ralph (a well-cast Giovanni Ribisi) gave us a good glimpse into what Earl was really like before his big epiphany: a fun, completely selfish guy, who took the good with the bad as long as there was not too much effort involved. Ooh, that good-and-bad observation gives a whole new meaning to Ralph's tattoo of "two tadpoles doing it," aka a yin-yang symbol. Thankfully, Earl's twinge of regret for leaving a friend behind wasn't overdone or sappy, or even very moralistic for that matter. Earl's not condemning his old ways, just trying to reap the benefits of the straight and narrow. And tonight's benefit is that when Ralph double-crossed Earl and Randy, karma, contrary to popular belief, was just like Lassie and came when they called it, in the form of Earl's loyal foreign students. Awww. "Seacrest, out!"  Sabrina Rojas Weiss

Commander in Chief
"Big day tomorrow, let's all try to get some rest." I'm glad to see President Allen is taking the soccer mom approach to running the free world. And don't forget to floss! Healthy gums are happy gums! The big day to which she's referring is her administration's first official summit. The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming you get the idea. President Kharkov blows into town with a caviar-and-world-trade-heavy agenda, not to mention a nice dig to the press about Mac's golf game. Dude, don't make her mad she'll sic Annika on you. And as if all this world-leader stuff weren't exhausting enough, that nasty speaker of the House is orchestrating a mutiny in the cabinet, the first daughter's blowing off the all-important state dinner to "study" with a boy, and the first son is clearly making his dance floor moves on the press secretary. All of a sudden it's like West Wing, 90210 in here.

Glad to see that Jim "Chief of Staff" Gardner turned out to be loyal to the cause, despite the offer to join Templeton's ticket in the next election and potentially become the first black vice president in history. Wouldn't it be nice to live in a time when minorities-as-running-mates weren't merely bargaining chips to try to pick up votes among desirable voter pools? Although, maybe it's daring of this show to even consider such a thing something tells me kids today think Geraldine Ferraro is some sort of designer handbag.

And finally, heads of state waltzing their way to world peace? Hot. To "Mack the Knife," no less? Super hot. If Dubya and Putin could just put aside their differences and do a little mad hot ballroom, there's no telling what they could accomplish.   CS

Nip/Tuck
Well that was an extremely frustrating hour. But at least it paid off in the end. I never thought I'd be so happy about someone being a Carver victim. The whole hour I was wanting to kill Kit myself for being so evil to Christian by accusing him of being the Carver and having him arrested. OK, not literally no TV show is going to turn me into a murderer. Although, when people make me laugh, sometimes in lieu of actually laughing, I do say "I'm gonna have to kill ya." Hmm.  Anyway, I was so hoping that the real Carver would get his next victim while Christian was still behind bars and I got my wish. So now that Kit was the latest to be carved, it makes you wonder who planted the condom in Rhea's apartment it still could've been Kit who did it just to get back at Christian for dumping her.  Or maybe the real Carver planted it.  It's supposed to be "someone they know."  Oh, the mystery. It was great to see Kathy Baker as Christian's birth mother. I've loved Kathy since Picket Fences  definitely one of my all-time favorite shows.  And did you recognize the detective working with Kit? That was Larry Sullivan, who played the ballet dancer that Will dated on Will & Grace years ago.  Speaking of Kit, at the exact same time that Rhona Mitra was giving a performance on Nip/Tuck that was a cut above the rest, her character on Boston Legal was cut from the show. Weird timing. Dave Anderson