With middle school graduation around the corner, Riley, Maya, Lucas and Farkle work together to determine what kind of legacy they want to leave at John Quincy Adams.

It had to come sometime. Graduation for our fearless foursome.  They couldn’t be stuck in middle school forever.  The  theme of legacy – and how do we want people to remember us – is a universal one.  We all leave places for new challenges.  What we leave behind – what gift we give back is also critically important.

What I found sweet about this episode was the interactions between each student and staff member.  Ms. Kossal told Maya to keep telling stories through art; Mr. Norton told Farkle he would “see him on Mars;” Lucas heard about the importance of the bench from the janitor; while Riley confessed to her dad that “he had more to teach them.”  One could read the ending of the episode from miles away.

We got some additional resolution of the Lucas – Maya – Riley triangle.  Lucas decided to stop and they would just be friends, but by the end of the episode, he had realized that wasn’t possible.  I wonder how long they can keep this triangle going.  Ever since the Texas trilogy of episodes, it seems like the triangle keeps spinning around in a circle.  My suggestion for high school – send the three of them off in separate directions.

The episode is thoughtfully written and well-acted but I had this nagging feeling that it could have been better.  Now here’s my pet peeve.  Somehow, between the last day of school and graduation, all of the parents of the students in Cory’s class managed to sign and submit a petition to have Cory become their teacher in high school.  Somehow, that petition was approved and that was their class prank.  This move for Cory was not unexpected but it is also not realistic.  The wheels of the Board of Education in NYC do not move that quickly.  There’d also be no guarantee that the Riley, Maya, Farkle and Lucas would even be in the same history class and there’d be no guarantee that Cory would be their teacher.  And parents do not have that kind of pull over staffing.

What would I have done?  Let the four graduate and move on to high school.  Have Cory show up the first day of school as their history teacher.

If GMW had not been renewed for Season 3, this episode would have been a satisfying end to the series.  It also felt less like an afterschool special than some of the other episodes.  I look forward, though, to girl meeting world in high school.

The reboot of Full House has been massacred in reviews.  The original version was never the critic’s darling so it’s no surprise the new version isn’t either. I won’t lie.  I loved the new version.  I’m sure my reviews do not carry as much sway as the national critics, but as your average TV viewer, its good stuff.

1. New decade.  New family.  Original version: Three male adults.  Three female children.  New version: Three female adults.  Three male children (+1 extra).  Same basic family dynamic.
2. Same showrunners.  Jeff Franklin and Bill Boyett know their characters.  The writers for the new version know the characters as well.  While the 2010s versions of DJ, Stephanie and Kimmy are more mature, the core of their characters hasn’t changed – and the core of their dynamic hasn’t changed either.
3. Same actors.  The show would not have worked without Cameron-Bure, Sweetin and Barber.
4. Same veteran actors.  The show would not have worked without Stamos, Saget, Coulier and Loughlin.  They appear just enough to remind us about the original series and their appearances are not gratuitous.
5. Its traditional.  I’ve had enough of the “quirky family” sitcoms on network television.  We get it.  Families are weird.  This is an old school sit-com with the awww moments, “this would never happen to my family” situations, and a regular rotation of predictable humor, one liners and zingers.
6. The season makes sense.  At the onset, it was clear that the main focus was DJ moving on after her husband died.  Each episode builds on that as she steps back into the dating pool.  Stephanie is seeking normalcy; Kimmy is still strange.  The stories evolve over time in ways that make sense to the viewer.
7. The kids can act (sort of).  Yep, they are still green and thats ok. Campion, Bringas and Harger held their own against the adults and more importantly, I believed them.  Their struggles were the struggles of real teens and tweens.  Max struggles with being the middle brother.  Ramona wanted her parents back together (but in the end she just wants Kimmy to be happy).  Jackson pines over a girl in the same way any 13 year old would.
8. The wackiness is still there.  Yep, it’s still there.  That chicken wrestling match was, well, odd.
9. The catchphrases were there.  They had to be. They are iconic.  No one will ever get tired of “How rude!” or “Oh my lanta.”
10. The referential humor was great.  We had nods to The View, Full House (and the iconic nature of the stars), child stars, Mary Kate and Ashley Olson, General Hospital.  Were some of them gratuitous.  Sure.  But we needed them to connect Full House 2.0 to Full House 1.0.
11. Its changed with the times.  We’ve had two same sex kisses. People are on Facebook and Instagram.  DJ, Stephanie and Kimmy are seeking out and dealing with relationships as independent strong women.
12. I laughed out loud.  And I laughed out loud in a way I hadn’t laughed watching a sitcom in a long long time.  The 13 episodes were a fun ride to take.

After I finished episode 13 (I won’t tell you how the season ends, but it makes sense to the viewer), I kept wishing there was an episode 14.  I guess we will have to wait (and hope for season #2).

So, John Stamos, Producer of Full House and everyone else associated with it, two enthusiastic thumbs up for a reboot done well.

Its two, two, two shows in one!

Instead of trying to explain the final episode of MightyMed, lets just say that Kaz and Oliver got some superpowers and the show ended as a cliffhanger.

In the final episode of Lab Rats Bionic Island, Marcus is finally vanquished and Mr. Davenport decides to send Adam and Leo back to the Academy while Bree and Chase are asked, “Are you ready to start your new adventure?”  Said new adventure is the combination of Mighty Med and Lab Rats.  Its like whack-a-mole.  You keep hitting Lab Rats and it keeps popping up in a new form!

Again, we have a show about a series of bionic heroes and superheroes working together to keep the world safe.

In the pilot, Mr Davenport and his team have moved to Centium City and now Bree and Chase are teamed with Kaz, Oliver and Skylar to form, you guessed it, a new elite force of crimefighters.   If you never watched Mighty Med or even followed it closely, there are just enough hints here that something happened to Mighty Med and all of the villains are free (or something like that).

Booboo Stewart and Ryan Potter (remember Supah Ninjas?  Yep, that’s him) are the villains of the day.  They are shapeshifters who are seeking to take out the fantastic five.  At one point, they shapeshift into a revolving ring (I kid you not) but the elite force freezes the ring.  While the elite force congratulations themselves, Roman (Stewart) and Riker (Potter) escape, ready to continue wreaking havoc on Centium City in some eternal battle of good versus evil.

Hal Sparks is back as Mr. Davenport, and his “look how great I am!” routine is tiresome at best.  I guess we will never find out what happened to Tasha!

The whole show seems like its been there, done that.  I wonder how long it will be before Principal Perry makes a guest appearance.

I think its time, already, to retire this Elite Force.

The return of nostaglia programming has made for some odd choices.  Critics have viscerated the return of Full(er) House.  Let’s jump back to the 80’s people.  Was Full House ever a critic’s darling?  Nope.  Was it popular with the viewing public?  You bet.  We all remember the programs of TGIF.  Can a reboot of Perfect Strangers be far behind?

Watching Fuller House was like stepping into a pair of comfortable sneakers.

In order for the show to be successful – and relatable – to original Full House viewers and to new viewers, you needed a strong pilot that ties the two together.  The writers have done a great job working in every Full House catchphrase and the sly references to the original series: the chicken, Steve’s eating, the Flintstones theme are thoughtfully woven in.  Some have complained its gratuitous, but I’m ok with it.

Props for the opening credit sequence that shows our original characters in their original poses, mimicking them for today.  And does Lori Loughlin ever get old?

The pilot premise is simple.  Danny Tanner is selling the house (note: all SF sitcom families are required to live in a painted lady); Danny and Rebecca are moving to LA to start a new national talk show; Jesse is moving to LA as well to be the sound guy on General Hospital (thats where Stamos got his start as Blackie Parrish); Joey is traveling back and forth from Vegas.

Steve still pines for DJ.  We get a visit from the Katsopolis twins too.

DJ is now a widower raising three kids; Stephanie is a globe-trotting DJ; Kimmy Gibbler is an event planner who is also a single mom.  Can we see where this is going from miles away.  You bet.  Do we care?  No.  Stephanie, DJ and Kimmy are all now living together, helping DJ raise her kids.

I actually laughed at out loud during the show.  Andrea Barber’s Kimmy is still as goofy as ever (best line in episode #2 to Macy Gray:   I love your music and your Thanksgiving Day parade).  Sweetin’s Stephanie comes across as a little less than wholesome.  I almost gagged when young Jackson made an “innocent” comment to her about “exploding his volcano.”  And Cameron-Bure’s DJ demonstrates the challenges of being both a single mom and a professional.  The kids here are pretty good as well.  Campion and Bringas (who looks a lot like Barber) are just rascally enough that they don’t venture into annoying sitcom kid-land.  Harger is a little over the top with his clean freak routine; he’s a mini Danny Tanner.  If I was going to ditch anyone, it would be Kimmy’s ex, Fernando.  He’s not needed (and he’s a bad stereotype).  I’ve only seen the first three episodes, but bring back Steve full time (to Fuller House).

What I liked most about Fuller House is that it is as good family entertainment as the original.  Moving out of TGIF land to Netflix has allowed it to become a little more edgy.  The proximity of all of the originals in LA allows them to pop up to San Francisco and back.

Even better: the original theme song is back!

Funniest line: “You can sit with us at our table at lunch.  We’re next to the Future Billionaires of Silicon Valley.  We used to call them geeks before the self-esteem assembly.”

I won’t lie: I’ll keep checking in on the goings on at Fuller House.

Cyd and Shelby use time travel to attend two different events on the same night; the plan backfires when they meet boys at both events.  Meanwhile, an errant laser beam switches Bret and Chet’s bodies.

I’m sure its a challenge for the writers of BFW to keep coming up with stories that require time travel.  They somehow manage to keep doing it.  I hope they’ll be able to keep it up.

In this episode, Shelby wants to sell her new jewelry line at the craft fair while Cyd wants to host her MMA party.  Surprise, surprise … they are the same night!  Surprise, surprise … Shelby and Cyd seem incapable of doing anything independently.  I know they are best friends (whenever) but that doesn’t mean best friends (inseparable).  The two need to exist in worlds outside each other.  They also seem to have no other friends (whenever) except for Barry and Naldo (Marcy seems to have disappeared).

Their solution to the problem.  Cyd will have her MMA party; they’ll go back in time and then Shelby can head to her jewelry show in a new time.  But some glitches pop up.  Cyd meets Blake in her timeline; Shelby meets Joaquin in her timeline.  But because two timelines cannot exist at the same time, Shelby’s timeline wipes out Cyd’s.  So they do some time traveling finagling to fix it.

In the end, Cyd ends up with Joaquin and Shelby ends up with Blake (nope, we didn’t see that coming at all).  And we are back to happy every after.

In the B story, Barry zaps Chet and Bret with the laser and they switch bodies.  We get a whole bunch more information on their personalities that we’ve ever gotten before.  One is the hip ladies man (I guess), and the other is more philosophical and cerebral.  I’m not sure which is which, and as Barry notes, “What difference does it make?”  Their story involves trying to get Bret and Chet back into their original bodies.  The solution: a whole bunch of static electricity.

This episode wasn’t so bad.  I actually find Barry and Naldo much more interesting characters than Cyd and Shelby.  But at least we know they’ll all be best friends … whenever.

Here’s my one pet peeve about the show.  Cyd and Shelby time travel all over the place, but often, Barry and Naldo’s timeline never changes.  This leads to the question: does everyone else continue on with their lives but only Cyd and Shelby’s timelines change?

When Hank raises the stakes of family game night to a new high, each member of the family will do whatever it takes to win the grand prize. (imdb.com)

Interesting fact: Other than the driving in the new car scenes, no scenes are filmed beyond the Thundermans’ house.

The best Thundermans episodes are ones where there’s competition between Max and Phoebe.  In this episode, its Family Game Night and the family gathers to play “Who Arted?” (How could you not love that name!), complete with flashing sign and Wheel of Fortune type wheel.  When the wheel mysteriously (well, as a result of a little deviousness from Max and Colosso) lands on “New Car!” the stakes are raised.  Now everyone wants the new car (but exactly how will Billy and Nora use it?)  Max dumbs Colosso for “girlfriend” Allison, while Barb and Hank try to make sure no one wins the car (since they spent 1/2 their money on their Family Game Night costumes).

But this episode is not really about Family Game Night .  It’s about Max’s relationships.  His relationship with Colosso is believable – two evil minds conspiring as one. Colosso’s jealousy when Max dumps him as a partner for Allison is believable as one.  We do get to see an adult, human Colosso again.

The most charming part of the episode is Max’s relationship with Allison.  The fact that Griffo and Newman are dating in real life adds some genuineness to the relationship.  I loved when Allison said to her mom on the phone, “Yes, I’m his girlfriend” and “I’m finally getting to meet his family.”  One can imagine Newman saying that to herself in real life. It was also nice to see Max finally realize Allison was his girlfriend, after so many failed “relationships” or attractions in the past.

What was also equally appealing about this episode was that it relied very little on super powers.  Sure there was the humanizer, the large magnet to stop the wheel and a little kinesthetic deviousness, but the competitiveness of the family is really what drives the episode.

He Got Game Night was a nice, surprise addition to Nick’s Crush Night celebration of Valentine’s Day.  The Thundermans is back and its good to welcome them back!

The friends plan to meet their idols, but when their carefully laid plans begin to unravel they realize the importance of patience.

I’m not going to lie.  I love this show in the same way I loved Ned’s Declassified Survival Guide.  The themes of acceptance, individuality and uniqueness are universal.  The writing is creative, the acting spot on.  There’s just enough weirdness woven through typical tween adventures to make for a great show.

Here, Mr Roberts encourages our trio meet their idols.  Its a diverse group: Fenwick wishes to meet Neil DeGrasse Tyson; Crispo wants to meet snowboarder Louie Vito; and CJ wants to meet pop sensation Anthony Del Rey (nope, never heard of him; he’s played by Anthony De La Torre, in a role created especially for him).

Crispo decides to enter a cereal contest – he needs to make a commercial and Vito will star in his commercial.  His first couple of entries are woeful – but also woefully funny.

Fenwick wants to use a “shady website” to get Tyson’s phone number but,  in the end, uses Roberts’ computer (its a laptop with an external keyboard – odd) to hack into Tyson’s home webcam.  This leads to the FBI showing up and “arresting” Roberts.

CJ realizes Mindy has tickets to the Del Rey concert so she becomes a Minion for a day to earn the second ticket.  Mindy’s dad pulls the ticket so CJ works with her mom to hang out at the concert exit.  CJ’s mom’s story about being “hungry like the wolf” to meet John Taylor from Duran Duran is a hoot.

CJ’s mom ends up suggesting the old “secret security exit” to disperse the other fans.  Sadly, Mindy has her scissors and attacks Del Rey.  CJ’s dad, the foot doctor, ends up mending Del Rey’s broken foot, and in exchange for his services, CJ’s dad arranges for a private concert at their house.

Meanwhile, Fenwick gets Tyson, who knows the formula to making a good breakfast cereal commercial, to help out with Crispo’s commercial.  Apparently he wins the contest, as Louie Vito appears at the end of his commercial.

The most touching scene is when CJ realizes that her dad is really her idol.  Did we see this coming from the beginning of the episode?  Yep.  So there’s no surprise at the end she admits it publically.

It’s always tough to weave celebrity guests into a sitcom but it’s admirably – if not somewhat believably done here.

Babe and Kenzie’s plans to hang with Mason are ruined when Bunny and Ruthless crash a birthday party; Dub uses Hudson to make Trip jealous when Trip chooses work over hanging out with him.

I decided to revisit Game Shakers to see how the show has evolved since its debut.  Sad to say, it has not.  I’m mystified why even a tween would laugh.

With most Dan Schneider/Dan Warp shows, there are quirky characters, inside jokes and sly references.  This episode feels like a ripoff of iGo Psycho from iCarly, except Peggy doesn’t rise to the Nora Dershlit level of lunacy.  She does have an odd penchant for fruits and vegetables.

The episode revolves around Babe’s crush on Peggy’s brother, Mason (played with utter coolness by Tanner Buchanan, who is much, much better as Charlie Gardner on Girl Meets World).  Babe and Kenzie agree to go to Peggy’s birthday party (yep, they are the only ones in attendance); the party is interrupted by Bunny and Ruthless, as Bunny is trying to get his manicurist’s license (say what now?) and he sees the party as the chance to make some money (wouldn’t he be in trouble for practicing without a license).  There’s the usual series of missteps as, just as Babe is about to get close to Mason,something happens to steer it off course.  Its neither original nor funny.

The B story involves Dub trying to make Trip jealous by taking Hudson out to dinner, supposedly in the Hamptons.  Trip cancels the father-son night so he can finish his work at Game Shakers (he has a deadline after all) so Dub decides to have a father and HUDson night.  At the end of the episode, as they are finalizing plans for an impromptu father-son night, Dub gets a call for some action with Valerie (after all she is Valerie).  He actually cancels on Trip.  The wise father would have spent time with his son.  And after all that mumbo jumbo throughout the episode, that would have made sense.

The acting here is still rather raw and the storylines are nothing new.  So it’s no great shakes about Game Shakers.

Riley is upset when the boys at school won’t let her participate in a science experiment and attempts to become more involved.  Meanwhile, Augie learns the meaning of “being in the game.”

There are good episodes of GMW, there are exceptional episodes of GMW … and then there is this one.

Line of the episode: “I’m reading this great book on anti-gravity.  I can’t put it down.”

In the episode, which focuses on science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) and girls, our chemistry lab teams are required to (a) drop a marble into a beaker of liquid (for some reason at 3:15 PM and then (b) spend the next few classes trying to figure out its chemical composition.

Surprise, surprise.  The girls get to drop the marble and, allegedly, the boys get to figure out whats in the sludge.  (Spoiler alert: Mr. Chemistry teacher has been doing this experiment for 35 years.  The answer is that “all of us have unlimited potential.”  By not dropping the marble in the beaker, the solution stays clear, so that you can see the other person clearly.  Get it?)

Understanding one’s identity has been done so much better on GMW (remember Donnie Barnes, regular guy).  As a science educator, I am painfully aware of the need to sustain girls’ interest in STEM disciplines, especially in middle school.  If you lose them in 8th grade, you’ve, in some ways, lost them forever.  I’ll give GMW credit for at least pointing this out.

But getting to this point was painful, mainly because the storyline and outcome was so blatantly obvious.  There’s some mumbo-jumbo about sacrificing Yogi, and enough “Up With People” lines to fill an after-school special.  By the time the episode concludes, I was screaming at the TV, “We get it!”

The B story was equally as dismal.  Augie gets a participant trophy in soccer and we get another cornucopia of politically-correct statements from the soccer field about not playing to win.  I got the point here to but I often feel that Topanga is wasted on these side plots.

Sorry, GMW, but this one wasn’t a winner.

It was a short week but a satisfying week as Season 2 of Talia in the Kitchen came to a close. Storylines were resolved, traitors revealed and new battles set up for Season 3.

This week, we escaped to Spice Island as both Jayden and Talia made their way to the Florida Keys to refill their spice supplies in advance of the upcoming Spice Battle.  The week started with Jayden and Mike trying to send Talia and the gang off to the Panhandle to look for the spices, which are apparently only available one day per year (when the spice plants bloom).  Rocky and Julie had bugged the Grub Brothers Food Truck, but unbeknownst to them, Jayden and Mike discovered the bug, and, as such, kept feeding them misinformation.  A map conveniently discovered by Dolores suggested that the blooming spices were actually in the Florida Keys.  So the Scooby Gang takes off in Dolores’ car.

There’s mischief afoot as Frenchie has brokered a deal with the Grubs to take over Lola’s should close.  Frenchie on a hiking trip is a hoot – he had with him a hypoallergenic pillow, a TV/DVD player (they still make those) and all sorts of non camping gear.  Val quickly uncovers his ruse and she ends up leashed to him (a nice throwback to Frenchie leashing Julia in the opening episode).

Tyson and Talia take quite a plunge into the lagoon and finally share their first kiss (ironic it was in water since every time they tried to kiss, Dolores dumped water on Tyson).  There’s some very good outdoor filming and shots here.  Jayden soon joins them in the water and informs them that they need to swim through an underwater cave to get to the blooming spices.  We learn that SpiceMasters can hold their breath for quite a while.

They soon arrive at the blooming spices – there’s some mumbo jumbo about some greenish looking poison gas that zaps both Talia and Jayden.  What we don’t get to see is Talia actually procuring the spices which makes this part rather anticlimatic.  It was nice, though, to see Talia debate getting the spices as opposed to helping Jayden, which will assumably will continue to generate friction between Tyson, Talia and Jayden. Dolores and Debbie arrive on the scene as well (the Dolores/Debbie in the scooter scene is a riot). And before you know it, we are back at Lola’s and Fuccinelli’s.  Talia leaves some spices on the Grub’s truck doorstop.  Little does she know the SpiceMaster battle is on.

Surprisingly, Tyson disowns Frenchie in one of the final scenes for his duplicity in helping Talia find the spices.  We always knew Tyson was a standup guy.

Some pet peeves:

1. One of the scenes with Dolores’ car driving through the “Keys” was repeated twice.
2. When Dolores’ car is shown, assumably with Frenchie, Val, Tyson and Talia, you can clearly see only a driver in the car.
3. Watch carefully when Tyson, Jayden and Talia are swimming towards the underwater cave. Tyson starts to count from 1 (holding up one finger), then says 3 (holding up three fingers) and counts back to one.

Some props:

1. Rudy’s fire for Talia still burns brightly.  Its been rekindled if anything.
2. Rudy as the tough guy makes an appearance at the end.  And we get a revisit to the Tyson/Rudy rivalry: “No hug necessary.”
3. Excellent outdoor shots in the Keys.
4. And we believe our characters motivations.  They have been a constant throughline throughout both seasons.  The decision as to whether or not to help Jayden reflected Talia’s core desire to help people.
5. It was good to see how Debbie evolved over the course of the season to a determined, and talented, baker.
6. Frenchie is still “evil” to the core – he’s lost Tyson and I don’t doubt Debbie will be too far behind.
7. Line of the week: “I’m healed!  I’m healed!” [Frenchie]
8. Line of the week #2: “Stop playing dumb.” [Tyson]
9. Line of the week #3: “I hope she beats you and you just go away.” [Tyson]

As with the final episode of Season 1, Dolores utters the line “The hug of the group.”  This line speaks volume for the show.  Its a good group – and I, for one, can’t wait to see what is cooking in Season 3.