"Living is not for the weak."

I missed last week because I was in Philly for a few days and forgot to post my picks, but here are the episodes of television that I am most looking forward to for the week of November 3rd. As always, I warn you of potential spoilers ahead if you are not caught up.

Sunday: Masters of Sex - I am loving this new show on Showtime. Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan play Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson who pioneered the science of human sexuality. Bill's wife has just had a miscarriage and he blames himself because he was anxious about being a father. Virginia is still trying to figure out how to work and support her children  and their colleague Ethan is dating the provost's daughter. The acting and writing are fantastic and I look forward to each and every episode. 

Watch Live: Once Upon A Time, Homeland
DVR: The Walking Dead, The Good Wife, Witches of East End

Monday: The Voice - It is finally time for the live rounds! I do not have any favorites yet but, in general, I tend to root for Team Christina. The performances so far this season have been great and I really enjoy the chemistry between the original coaches. Shakira and Usher were fine, but I prefer Christina and Cee Lo and I hope someone from one of their teams wins this round and takes the crown from Blake :)

Watch Live:Castle
DVR: How I Met Your Mother, Hart of Dixie, Sleepy Hollow

Tuesday: New Girl - Three words: COACH IS BACK....also, Taye Diggs is guest starring. This is pretty much a no-brainer.

Watch Live: Agents of SHIELD, Trophy Wife, Sons of Anarchy
DVR: The Originals, The Goldbergs, The Voice

"As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"

On this Thanksgiving, I give you a few clips of awesome Thanksgiving themed episodes of television. The first is "Turkeys Away" from WKRP in Cincinnati. I was not actually alive when this episode originally aired, but I think it is hilarious. Apologies for the quality of the video:



I have recently been rewatching The West Wing and I really love this episode where President Bartlett calls the Butterball Hotline. I just always enjoy that he has to pretend that he is someone other than the President while talking to the woman on the phone. It reminds me of the scene in The American President when Michael Douglas's character tries to order flowers over the phone. But I digress, here is Martin Sheen in all his Presidential glory.



Another great Thanksgiving episode of The West Wing involves the President pardoning a turkey and C.J. having to choose between two candidates.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer also has a classic episode involving the spirit of a Native American warrior who is angry about having been massacred by Sunnydale settlers. There were not a lot clips available, but I do enjoy this one where Buffy accidentally turns the Native American that she is fighting into a bear :)



I also enjoy Xander and his syphilis in this episode and, of course, the appearance of Angel.

And, of course, no list would be complete without a Friends clip. They always had the best Thanksgiving episodes every season.  The Gellar Cup, the one where Rachel puts meat in the trifle and the one with Brad Pitt are all so good! This one involves a flashback to when Monica accidentally cuts off Chandler's toe.



A few honorable mentions that I could not find clips for includes New Girl "Thanksgiving," How I Met Your Mother "Slapsgiving," Felicity "Thanksgiving" and Parenthood "Happy Thanksgiving." Although, I do have to say, shows need to get more creative with their titles :)

At the beginning of this holiday season, I also ask you to remember that there are still many people struggling after Hurricane Sandy. I have listed some places below where you can donate money and find places to help volunteer. Every little bit helps!

I hope that everyone enjoys their holiday and stays safe.

xoxo
c

Staten Strong
Presbyterian Disaster Asisitance
American Red Cross
Habitat for Humanity

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"Sometimes there's honor in revenge."

And now I give you my favorite television episodes of the year. These also happen to be a few of my favorite shows on the air right now. Are there any episodes you think I missed? Please let me know in the comments section below!

Friday Night Lights "Always"
I was incredibly sad to see this phenomenal series come to an end. However, the finale was one of the best series finales I have ever seen. They wrapped everything up perfectly and you got to see where each of the main characters was heading in their future lives. The East Dillon Lions win the Texas State Championship, Vince is the captain of the new Dillon Panthers super-team, Coach and Tami move to Philadelphia for Tami's new job, Julie moves to Chicago to be with Matt, Luke heads off to the Army and Billy and Tim start building Tim's house. Over five seasons this show gave us a lot of heart and it will definitely go down as one of my favorite series ever. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose.

Sons of Anarchy "Hands"
The entire fourth season of Sons of Anarchy was awesome, but this was my favorite because it was the biggest game-changer. The club does not know that Piney is dead let alone that Clay killed him, ATF has Juice in custody and Sheriff Roosevelt is starting to question their methods. By the end of the episode, Tara has lost her career and the only thing that kept her from becoming completely immersed in Old Lady-life, Jax is more determined to take his family and leave Charming and Gemma has lost faith in her husband and knows he must be killed because he cannot be saved. This show is so well-written and even better acted. It has become about so much more than a motorcycle club and every season it just keeps getting better and better. Kurt Sutter might be crazy, but he is a crazy genius.

Happy Endings "Spooky Endings"
It took me a couple episodes to get used to the humor of this show, but now I love it. In this particular episode, Jane and Brad spend Halloween in the suburbs house-sitting for friends and end up having to defend the house against mischievous teenagers. The rest of the gang go to a warehouse costume party where Penny and Max dress as a mother wearing a baby bjorn, Dave dresses as Austin Powers but keeps getting mistaken for Elton John and Alex dresses as Marilyn but is sick and gets mistaken for a man. This show is pretty awesome and I find it even more awesome after each episode.

"Who doesn't like hot girls who carry guns?"

This week my DVR was extremely busy and I watched A LOT of television. So much that is all kind of mush in my brain right now.

My returning shows that started this week were How I Met Your Mother, Castle, Hawaii Five-O, Glee, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Community, Grey's Anatomy and Blue Bloods.

Glee seems to be reverting back to season one quality, which is a good thing. If it continues on this path I will continue watching it, if it goes back to where it was last season, I may have to stop watching it because last season got a little crazy. Hawaii Five-O is the same quality as last season, which is not necessarily a good thing. I do not love this show, but it is entertaining enough to keep watching for now. However, it might get dropped this season if my schedule gets too crowded. The same thing goes for Grey's Anatomy. I just do not love this show as much as I did the first couple seasons. I mostly continue to watch it out of obligation to the friends with whom I watch it. On the other hand, Castle and Blue Bloods continue to be great, and Community and How I Met Your Mother are both still hilarious.

My only real complaint is with NCIS. This is one of my favorite TV shows and I watch the reruns on USA every time they are on. My complaint is that over the past couple seasons the major plots for each season have gotten too convoluted. The acting has been as great as it has always been, I just feel like they are trying to do too much with the storylines and it is just gets confusing. This also applies to NCIS: Los Angeles.

"And the freak circle is complete."

The season premiere of Sons of Anarchy aired last night and it was everything I had hoped it would be. I will say that it was slow in a few places, but that is mostly because they are setting things up for the rest of the season. Also, the FANTASTIC final montage totally made up for it. I especially enjoyed some of the great dialogue in this episode, which I found to have a little more humor than previous seasons. I will now share with you some of my favorite lines:

Clay: Damn, that was fast
Gemma: Yeah, that's because you're used to speed bangin' Juice in dark hallways
Clay: Hey, don't turn what Juice and I had into something cheap and tawdry
Gemma: I'm sure it was sweet Puerto Rican magic

Clay to Unser: I got a call, Jed Clampett wants his front yard back

Jax to Tara: We should talk about all the chick shit you decked out my house in

I also always enjoy seeing Floyd the barber, even though he does not really do much. I also noticed that the actress playing Opie's daughter had changed and although I recognized her I could not for the life of me remember from where. It took all day, and the help of a Twitter-friend, to finally figure out that it is Kerris Dorsey, also known as Sarah Walker's daughter on Brothers & Sisters. (Yes, I am a dork for being able to recognize her, but I cannot help how my brain works :o) And, even though some of the casting news was announced over the summer, I had forgotten about a few and was happy to see another Deadwood actor and another Shield actor. I am hoping there is at least one scene between David Rees Snell and Kenny Johnson and one with Ray McKinnon and Dayton Callie. There were also a great Deadwood reference, when Clay referred to the new sherrif as "Wild Black Hickock."

Overall, I would say that I loved the episode and I cannot wait for the rest of the season! If you are not watching this show, I am not really sure what else I can say to convince you. It is awesome and you are totally missing out!

And in other television news.....