Pregnant pause
And speaking of gender bias, there's a brand new comedy from the big, dumb girls at ABC, the Big, Dumb Girl Channel: "Notes From the Underbelly" (10 p.m. EDT Thursdays), a sitcom about getting pregnant and having children. This means that half of you will hate it for no reason, and the other half of you will love it for no reason.
Up until a few months ago when I had a kid, I might have hated it for no reason. Back then, when groups of moms blathered endlessly about epidurals, I cringed. Now I blather endlessly about epidurals. To be fair, epidurals are heavy drugs, and when people do heavy drugs at some point in their lives, they tend to blather endlessly about it from then on.
Still, I feel it's my duty to admit to you that the jokes on this show generally fall into the blathering-about-epidurals ballpark. There are jokes about getting fat, using a breast pump, labor pains, the lives of stay-at-home vs. working moms. Yes, men will find most of these jokes about as funny as women find those endless scenes where Drama and Turtle lie to some girls to get into their pants.
Even so, I'm also obligated to tell you that once you get past the girl talk, this show is surprisingly funny. Take this little bit of post-birth dialogue between Julie, a pampered married woman, and her husband, Eric, right after they find out that their baby girl is actually a baby boy:
Julie: I don't know what to do with a boy!
Eric: You've done OK with me!
Julie: I know, but what if he's really masculine?
Making any big predictions about whether "Notes From the Underbelly" will get more funny or turn into a lame harried-mom dead end would be like predicting whether your pregnant friend will give birth naturally, in a tub of cherry Jell-O, just like God intended, or whether she'll never go into labor so they'll send in the Torture Guy from "24" and he'll inject her full of Truth Serum and she'll labor for 15 hours and then they'll cut her open anyway, leaving a long, crooked scar that looks like a grimace (which is an appropriate souvenir of the whole ordeal, when you think about it). All I can tell you is that right now, this show captures the highs and lows of parenting pretty damn well, and those of you who like that sort of thing should give it a shot.
The Bada Bing is dead!
Long live the Bada Bing! In case you live under a rock, the final season of "The Sopranos" starts tonight. You can check out the odds on what might happen here and you can read my piece about the first two episodes here. And no, there are no more spoilers in the piece than there are in most movie reviews. But if you're like me and don't read movie reviews until you've seen the movie, then I'd skip it. I will say this in the meantime: The first two episodes are fantastic. I'm sure going to miss Tony when he's gone!
Tackle this
Speaking of avoiding painful goodbyes, though, Entertainment Weekly speculated this week that "Friday Night Lights" will be back for a second season! I hope they're right. I know I can't stop blathering on about it, but honestly, this is one of the most heartwarming, sweet shows I've ever seen. Every single week, it gives me the chills. I can't believe the season finale is this week (8 p.m. EDT Wednesday, April 11 on NBC).
So why aren't you watching yet? What the hell is wrong with you people? You do know that this isn't a show just for guys who love football, don't you?
Uh-oh. I knew this would happen. Coach Eric Taylor wants to speak to you. In his office. Now.
"Sit down, son. Now you listen to me, and listen good. I know that you don't watch a lot of television. I can respect that. But you're missing one of the best new dramas in years, and I cannot sit by and watch it happen without sayin' something to you about it.
"Now I recognize that you're an independent type of person. You make your own choices. Maybe you don't like football all that much. But I'm here to tell you, this show is not really about football. It's about trying to be a good parent, or a good ball player, or a good boyfriend, or a good daughter. It's about finding your way in spite of things being real messed-up around you.
"Look, I know that doesn't sound like much, so you're just going to have to trust me, OK? This show is original, truly original, and that's a rare thing. There is nothing else like it on TV right now. Are you following me? So here's what you're going to do. You're going to sit your ass down in front of a computer and you're going to go to the NBC Web site and you're going to catch up on the last few episodes. Then, this Wednesday, you're going to watch the season finale. Do you hear me? 'American Idol' can wait.
"Do not miss the boat on this one, son. I'm counting on you. We're all counting on you."
Next week: Yau-Man of "Survivor: Fiji" takes one small, feeble step for feeble geeks everywhere!
About the writer
Heather Havrilesky is Salon's TV critic. She also maintains the rabbit blog. You can find more of her columns in the I Like To Watch directory.
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