Things I love and hate this week

That's right; I only love and hate. I don’t feel things in the middle.

Love:

1) Two of my favorite shows returned this week – both comedies and both shows that have grown considerably since their freshman seasons – Parks and Recreation and Royal Pains. The return of Parks couldn’t have been any better, and the addition of Rob Lowe to the show was a genius move. On Royal Pains, the underrated and always hilarious Paul Costanzo got to show off some serious acting chops when he surprisingly started crying during a scene in which his father has a heart attack and then later on showed some serious anger at his situation. This is a new thing for Costanzo, whose resume includes movies like 40 Days and 40 Nights, Josie and the Pussycats and Road Trip, so it’s cool that Royal Pains realizes it can be a platform for Costanzo to be something other than the comic relief.

2) I’m not a huge fan of Jersey Shore, but I’ve somehow caught all of the third season so far. The famiglia is back at Seaside Heights, which means everything is in its right place. Like the eloquent Pauly D says, “it’s like coming home again.” The house working to cheer up Snooki on Thursday’s episode was adorable. But really, my favorite thing about the show is JWoww. I am trying not to be ashamed here. But she’s tough and she’s a good friend. And the new guy she likes is from New England. What’s up, home state.

3) This shot of the X-Men: First Class cast that the L.A. Times published earlier this week. Just seeing James McAvoy as Professor X and Michael Fassbender as Magneto is so exciting. The casting was done so well here. I really think this movie is going to be fantastic.

4) Tina Fey’s obscure reference to Grey Gardens on Thursday’s episode of 30 Rock. Liz Lemon holds a press conference as "Jack’s wife," complete with a Jackie O pillbox hat and a strange Kennedy-esque accent. She tells Jack that she was doing “Drew Barrymore's impression of that crazy lady.” That would be Drew Barrymore playing Little Edie in HBO’s Grey Gardens. Thank you, Liz, for speaking my language.

5) I suppose you could consider this old news, but it got a lot of traction on VH1’s Top 20 Countdown this week – Adele’s new song, “Rolling in the Deep.” I love her, but I love revenge songs even more. What other voice in pop music right now could sing “See how I’ll leave with every piece of you/ Don’t underestimate the things that I will do,” and sound so frighteningly sincere?

Hate:

1) Can How I Met Your Mother go back to being funny? I don’t doubt that every single member of the cast has the potential to be a dramatic ac-TOR, but unlike Royal Pains, the serious moments are uncomfortable and completely out of character for the show. The actors even seem unsure of themselves. I almost felt like I should be laughing at the funeral and then I felt guilty, and then I felt weird.

2) Oprah is going to reveal some big family secret on her new network, which makes me want to vomit, to put it lightly. Can she go away already? Or maybe just decide not to exploit her family? Would that be possible?

3) Entertainment Weekly’s current cover story, which claims that Glee is “leading TV’s gay-teen revolution,” particularly because the gay characters on Glee are not simply comic relief because of their flamboyance or feminine qualities, and are not one-dimensionally tortured because of their "gayness." Their relationships and lives are looked at and taken seriously. Sure – but Greek was actually one of the first shows of this “new class” of television to do that with the character of Calvin, and it isn’t even mentioned in the little blurb EW gives. Come on! The creator of Greek literally spells it out in this video from two years ago.