TV Watch: 20 Highlights from Oct. 2 to Oct. 8, 2009

The Office recap: Jim and Pam get married, everyone wins! (Except maybe Andy…)

Watching Jim and Pam giddily scamper off together as everyone gathered in the church felt so, so vindicating. Especially after the frazzled Pam ripped her veil and Jim chopped his tie in half in response. Awwwww, again! What was genius about the split wedding was that everyone won! The fabulous-hat-wearing Phyllis and mother-of-the-bride-lusting Michael — and the rest of Dunder Mifflin and the wedding party — got to put their stamp all over the wedding, but Jim and Pam, ever trying to instill some sense of normalcy into their lives, managed to have their dream nuptials, too. But, of course, we viewers won, too!

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Fringe: Olivia eats worms, Leonard Nimoy rings a Bell

While Walter was puttering around with Rebecca, Peter struck a bell — and immediately Olivia, who’d just been observing, was thrown into the alt-world and her meeting with William Bell. This resulted in one of the most emotional and fierce scenes in Fringe‘s short history, as Olivia stood her ground against Bell’s silky assurances and chattiness. When he reminded her of the name she used to call him ”when you were a girl,” Olivia became ferociously angry, bringing up the long-ago ”drug trials on young children” — who included Olivia. ”We weren’t trying to hurt anyone,” said Bell. ”Guess what?” said Olivia coldly. ”You did…I don’t trust you, Dr. Bell.”— Ken Tucker

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Glee: Just say no to drugs (and to Ken!)

Even though I know Emma and Will can’t get together so early in the run, I thought he might say something a married man shouldn’t when she asked him if he knew of any other options she had. Matthew Morrison communicates so much with his eyes. There’s a softness and a longing in them that I’m always surprised Emma (Jayma Mays) matches. — Mandi Bierly

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Modern Family recap: Planes, big-box chains, and family ordeals

The trophy for episode MVP should go to Sofia Vergara as Gloria, who behind the ridiculous beauty and thick accent is a rather complicated character — maternal enough to push for regular family outings (whether or not her husband and his children want ’em); savvy enough to cut through Alex’s wall of insecurities in one short lunch; and vain enough to ban the word ”step” in describing her new family relations, except when she’s slapped with the ”grandmother” label. — Michael Slezak

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Curb Your Enthusiasm: Does the Seinfeld reunion work for you?

Seeing Jerry, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards each take command of his or her own scene with TV-Larry pitching them on a reunion resulted in shrewd acting all around. Each avoided any trace of their Seinfeld character-traits, yet came across as believable ”real” people trying to figure out whether this reunion thing was a good idea. (In the Curb universe, everyone is always out for him- or herself.) — Ken Tucker

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Survivor: Samoa recap: Has Anyone Seen Jeff Probst?

The host goes missing while Jaison struggles and Shambo begins referring to herself in the third person

Speaking of characters that have had their ups and downs, it turns out Shambo is so high on herself she’s begun referring to herself in the third person: ”There was a huge appreciation for Shambo,” she said of her time at Foa Foa. I told you all last week that I’ve been on the fence about Shambo. Well, this week took me off, but not on the side she’d like. First, she went and told Erik and John all about the two clues she received for the hidden immunity idol. Why do that?!? You’re not even in an alliance with them! Does anyone even watch this show?!? (I actually love the way they started ignoring her the second after she spilled the beans so they could begin plotting ways to find it.) You know what, Shambo? Shambo got what Shambo deserved. And there’s not a huge appreciation for Shambo gong on after that move. But then it got worse as she went and lost one of the chickens that Galu won at the Great Probstless Bocce Experiment of 2009.—Dalton Ross

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South Park season premiere: ‘I see dead celebrities’

Poor little Ike whimpered, ”I see dead celebrities,” and so did we: South Park-ed versions of Billy Mays, David Carradine, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, Walter Cronkite, DJ AM, and Michael Jackson, among others, were said to be trapped in purgatory, waiting impatiently to enter heaven. — Ken Tucker

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The Vampire Diaries recap: The secret and Damon are out

It looks like this show is about to get really, really good. Everything we wanted to happen is: Elena has pieced together the truth about Stefan (cue the flashback montage!), Bonnie is ready to accept who she is (enter GRANDMA JASMINE GUY, which made me feel as old as the first time I heard someone say they were born in the ’80s), and Vicki should be dead (drink, Damon, drink!). Yes!—Mandi Bierly

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Project Runway recap: Say No to the Dress

It’s a wedding dress challenge (sort of) as the designers help a few divorced women revamp their dresses, and one really talented designer falters

When it came to creative crises, Logan and Epperson had the competition beat…. Epperson set out on the wrong foot altogether. Misunderstanding the challenge, he announced that he was incorporating as little of the original wedding dress as possible. Ooops. Tim set him straight, but poor Epp never seemed to recover from the goof. When I saw his revised sketches, of a poufy dress with what looked like a sailor’s tie, I feared that no good could come of this for Epp. —Missy Schwartz

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Grey’s Anatomy recap: Do the Right Thing

The Grey girls struggle when they find out that their father needs a liver transplant, and Izzie (once again) struggles to maintain some sort of professional distance to a patient

Thatcher’s arrival, meanwhile, allowed Meredith just the right amount of backslide into her formerly dark and twisty self. When asked if her dad needed a transplant just as her pager went off, she looked at it and said, ”Ooh, maybe not! Maybe he’s dead this time.” Sounded harsh, of course, but the situation presented her with an interesting dilemma: We all like to think we’d give somebody some liver if we knew we could and it would save his or her life, but it’s also fair for her to act as if he wasn’t her family, because he never earned that. Lexie did, however, earn a place in Meredith’s life, and that’s what made the situation so poignant. (Izzie: ”Why are we eating lunch in a room full of diseased organs?” Meredith: ”We are hiding from Lexie and her big, sad, I-love-my-daddy eyes.”)—Jennifer Armstrong

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Michael V.’s desire to push the envelope kept him from a win in both the quickfire and the elimination rounds

Real Housewives of Atlanta recap: Hang in there, Kandi

After the sad news over the weekend that Kandi’s fiancé (or ex-fiancé, apparently) had been killed, it was difficult to watch the woman innocently struggle over their fraught engagement. And seriously, Bravo — the preview for next week shows a tense therapy session in which Kandi’s skeptical mother accuses the man of being a dead-beat. Surely this scenes could have been scrapped in response to the tragic turn of events.—Karen Valby

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Desperate Housewives recap: Only the lonely

As Susan stays by Julie’s bedside, Carl turns to Bree for comfort, and Katherine puts the moves on Mike

Speaking of Susan freaking out, I think that’s what you’d call what she did to Lynette. But I guess you can’t blame Susan. I mean, Lynette knew something highly personal — that Julie might be pregnant — about her daughter that she herself didn’t know. But, never fear, fans, two housewives can’t be mad at each other for too long! They ended up reconciling by the end of the episode, in what I thought was a very touching scene where Lynette revealed her own pregnancy to Susan and confessed that the secret was what initially drew her to talk to Julie about her own possible pregnancy. Again, Felicity Huffman killed with her dramatic portrayal of Lynette-as-an-unwilling-mother: ”I can’t quiet that one voice in my mind that keeps saying: ‘Maybe I shouldn’t.”’—Tanner Stransky

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The Biggest Loser recap: Date Night

The contestants learn important lessons about dining out, and Coach Mo has to make a big decision

Controversy in Team Purple! Coach Mo: ”Julio is my closest friend in the house.” Tracey: ”Liz is my roommate.” …Team Purple had the decisive vote. Tracey had a speech ready, natch. ”He would never write Julio’s name, and I would never write Liz’s.” She rambled on like that for half an hour. ”Please, Mo,” I whispered. ”Don’t let her sway you. Take back your team.” Tracey revealed the telltale index card. The struggle for Coach Mo’s soul was over. Tracey won. Julio lost. (Mo is Aquaman, but he’s Aquaman after this happened.)—Darren Franich

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So You Think You Can Dance recap: Bloody Disgusting

The audition rounds end with a trip to Salt Lake City and one dancer’s gross foot injury

I’m finding it kinda difficult to even type right now, given than I’m writing this while curled in a tight ball on my couch, desperately trying in vain to rid my memory of the image of perky ballroom dancer Leigh Asay’s pretty painted toenail propped up like a pneumatic car hood and oozing a fair amount of blood besides. [Shudder.] [Double shudder.] [Quintuple shudder while rocking back and forth, clutching all ten of my toes, vowing to wear only steel-toed boots from now until my deathbed.] Of course, I only watched it while cowering behind (several of) my pillows; poor Leigh had to actually live through it, and somehow she did so with superhuman good cheer, so I guess I’d better suck it up, right? No? You’re still all skeeved out by it too? Well, let’s just quickly move on then and forget the whole incident as best we can.—Adam B. Vary

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90210 recap: Fun with stalking!

Teddy was a little stalkery, inviting Navid and Adriana on a double date just to bait Adriana…and then kiss her again while out of view of their dates. It’s an interesting dilemma, forcing Adriana to choose between the ab-tastic Teddy and Navid, even if Teddy seems like he’s going to turn out evil (and is waaay too Ken Doll for my tastes, but I’m not the one in the love triangle here, alas). — Jennifer Armstrong

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Melrose Place recap: Cops give Ella a birthday surprise

Lauren had some juicy scenes this week, signing on with a new madam and being endearingly awkward when a new client wanted a private dance. ”I faked having mono to avoid cotillion,” she said, before erasing any thoughts of virginal white dresses with some seductive moves. (Did anyone else notice that this episode was all about showing the ladies undressed instead of Auggie’s abs — we saw Ella, Riley and Lauren in their skivvies.)—Wendy Mitchell

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Dancing With the Stars recap: Latin Swing

The samba and rumba took center stage on Latin night, but not everyone could get into the groove

Donny Osmond accepted Bruno Tonioli’s invitation to turn himself over to ”the dark side,” by running up to the judges’ table and planting multiple over-the-top smooches on the beaming wedge of imported Italian formaggio. Donny complained/rejoiced: ”I don’t think they’re going to let me back into Utah anymore!” Really? For double-dipping a flamboyant Rowdy With a Chance of Meatballs muppet on national TV? Try harder, Donny.—Annie Barrett

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Mad Men recap: When in Rome…

Betty and Don get their mojo back on a trip to Rome together, while Pete proves that he’s not one to be trusted on his own

She emerged from her beauty salon appointment in smoking black eyeliner and saucy beads. Here was a woman in total control, batting back the Italians’ advances and seducing dashing strangers at a sidewalk cafe. It was awkward watching Don and Betty pretend not to know each other. Surely Betty must realize that this was how he behaved with strange women on all of his business trips. But when in Rome, wear black lingerie and eat your breakfast in the shower. Betty looked reborn, as did Don’s affection for her.—Karen Valby

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Gossip Girl recap: Serena gets a taste of showbiz

That movie Fleur looks like the biggest hot mess ever and I totally would love to see more of it. Tyra over-emoting? Hilary doing a French accent? That had more unintentional hilarity than Showgirls. Besides Banks and Duff, we also got some cameos by fashion designers Tory Burch (who ridiculously sat underneath a sign with her own name on it) and Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman. —Tim Stack

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