SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

Whatever happened to that sweet, trailer-park baby momma who took her modeling bucks and turned it into a medical degree?

Yeah, we’re talking about you, Izzie. When “Grey’s Anatomy” started out, Izzie was a good-natured girl unbowed by the blows she’d taken in her short life. We learned how she went from unwed mom to a pin-up girl to a dedicated intern.

We loved Izzie.

Does anyone remember when she couldn’t believe that someone could actually fall in love with goofy old George? Who could forget that line, when she realized how much Callie loved George, and she said, basically, “Oh my god. He’s her McDreamy!”

Seriously. I mean, seriously. How could Izzie then turn around a couple of years later and do the deed with George. George, who married his adoring Callie. What a weasel he’s turned out to be.

KATHERINE HEIGL, T.R. KNIGHT. Yeah, Gizzie. Feel the pain.

There are people out there who think that Gizzie is great. We disagree. Izzie never thought of George as anything more than her stuffed puppy pal until it looked like he might actually be hooked up with a woman who loved him.

And I guess that’s the real story on “Grey’s.” Love stinks.

Tonight, Richard’s wife turned on him because he thought of the care and comfort of his dying niece first above the selfish wishes of his estranged wife.

(And speaking of niece Camille, did anyone notice that she’s now being played by Camille Winbush formerly of “The Bernie Mac Show”? Tessa Thompson (“Veronica Mars”), who wasn’t available for the episode, originated the role.)

CAMILLE WINBUSH, JAMES PICKENS, JR., LORETTA DEVINE

And a man makes his girlfriend lose a dangerous amount of weight before he’ll move in with her.

And Karev’s crushed that Izzie decided to sleep with George after she told him she needed some time to get over Denny. A little time and a heapin’ helpin’ of George.

And finally McDreamy pours out his heart to Meredith, only to have her physically recoil. No wonder he might have some feelings for her sister Lexie, who doesn’t seem to suffer from too-close-itish.

Obviously, we’re back on the “Grey” train and just can’t stop thinking about those complex docs.

“Heroes” is getting dangerously overpopulated _ and creator Tim Kring says he’s well aware of the problem.

“On a show like this, you have to be able to fold people in and fold people out,” Kring says. “So the audience should fully expect to see characters leave, soon.”

One person not leaving any time soon is new character Ella, played by “Veronica Mars” star Kristen Bell.

“It’s been so much fun,” Kristen says. “She (doesn’t have) the brightest and shiniest of intentions. She’s so conflicted and comes across as such a vixen. She’s so much fun to play with.”

Kristen says she can’t reveal her secret powers, “but it’s a very cool power.” She has ties to HRG and Claire and to Suresh.

“(She’s) a little messed up in the head, manipulative, out to get what she wants. She doesn’t have many boundaries,” Kristen says. “All first season about good natured people, conflicted about how to deal with them. Elle enjoys her power and the power she gives over other people.”

Tim says they are tying Elle to The Company that HRG was involved in.

“Elle was actually raised within The Company,” Tim says. “It’s a cautionary tale about how (the other heroes) would have been if they lived with The Company their whole life.”

Tim says once again this season will be filled with plenty of answers.

“We actually are not a shot that tries to keep answers away from the audience,” Tim says. “No answer so precious we can’t tell the audience what it is. But something to be said for drawing out interest.”

Questions are answered by Episode 11, which Tim says ends the second “volume.”

“Last season was all one volume, so at the end of the year, we were dragging out a lot of story so expectations were so high, it was hard to meet,” Tim says. “This (season has) multiple volumes. Every question raised (in the first volume_ will be answered, then the next (set of questions) swings us into another volume. People say they want answers, but like the twists and turns.”

Kristen is signed on for 13 episodes, but says it is up to the discretion of the producers as to how many episodes she’ll actually appear in.

“I start in Episode 5, I’m not in episodes 6 or 7, then episodes 8 and 9 expose a lot of Elle,” Kristen says. “At the end of 13, we’ll have a pow wow and see if it makes sense for me to continue.”

Kristen says she’d love to stay on “Heroes.” So what about a “Veronica Mars” movie or animated series?

“If (creator) Rob (Thomas) asks me to mow his lawn, I would do that,” Kristen says.

Actually, we’re hoping he opts to do more “VM” with Kristen.

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Walnut Creek’s Sheena got another rose tonight, and things look rosy indeed for our local girl.

SHEENA gets a rose from BRAD

In a touching moment with bachelor Brad Womack, he said that she was “straightforward with her emotions tonight, and I like to see that.” He also mentioned how his twin brother, who tried the old switcheroo with the girls in an earlier episode, “opened his eyes” to what Sheena was all about.

Sheena was one of the bachelorettes who wasn’t fooled by the twin.

The herd is getting thinned pretty quickly now. Brad pared down the group from nine to six women tonight.

The final six are JENNI, KRISTY, BETTINA, BRAD WOMACK, HILLARY, SHEENA, DeANNA Photo by Karen Neal/ABC

Next week’s previews look pretty provocative. We see Sheena looking fabulous as she walks down the stairs for her one-on-one date with Brad. As the narrator says it is the most romantic date ever, we see poor Sheena slip on the stairs.

But the big fall next week seems to be Hillary. The previews mention a “dramatic departure.” Hopefully that means our Sheena is safe.

SHEENA may slip next week, but it’s HILLARY who takes the big fall

OK, it’s just a week away from Veronica Mars, er, Kristen Bell, coming on “Heroes.” But first, we must deal with tonight’s episode.

I have to admit I wasn’t blown away by the first, or even the second, episode of “Heroes.” Things didn’t start getting interesting for me until last week. This week, things really started percolating.

Spooky Sylar hooked up with the Troublemint Twins, a coincidence that makes you suspend your disbelief by epic proportions. But just like a bad horror flick, I started screaming at the screen: Shut UP Maya. Yet, she didn’t, and now Sylar’s heading to New York with the double sibs to find Suresh.

But the big news of the night is THE PHOTO. The photo shows the 12 who are related to some of the Heroes, like Hiro’s deceased dad and Peter and Nathan’s parents. We discover tonight that one of the men in the photo is Suresh’s new boss and more importantly, another man in the photo is Parkman’s estranged dad.

Parkman tells Suresh that dad deserted him when he was 12, gave him $125 and a pat on the head before dashing out of Dodge.

Worse news. Parkman’s deadbeat dad is the Nightmare Man who has been haunting Parkman’s charge Molly.

Cripes!

So Parkman gets Molly to confront her worst nightmare and seek out evil dad. What were you thinking, Parkman??? Now we know where daddy dearest is, but at what cost to poor little Molly?

Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohinder Suresh, Adair Tishler as Molly, Greg Grunberg as Matt Parkman — NBC Photo: Chris Haston

Next week, Kristen Bell, who looked deliciously wicked in the previews. “Heroes” is back on the can’t wait for the next episode list.

Kristen Bell as Elle — NBC Photo: Chris Haston

Oh, and the Big Showdown with Nightmare Man is just three weeks away. Here’s the blurb:

Nov. 5 episode:

WHILE SEVERAL HEROES FACE OFF AGAINST THE “NIGHTMARE MAN,” PETER LEARNS JUST HOW DEADLY THE VIRUS CAN BE — When one of his forgotten abilities suddenly manifests, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) and Caitlin (Katie Carr) get thrown into a crisis situation, and learn first-hand just how deadly the mysterious virus striking people with abilities can be. Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy), Matt (Greg Grunberg), Nathan (Adrian Pasdar), Niki (Ali Larter) and Bob (guest star Stephen Tobolowsky) band together to fend off the “nightmare man’s” attack. Despite Claire’s (Hayden Panettiere) best efforts to keep them apart, West (Nick D’Agosto) learns that the man who kidnapped him as a child is her father (Jack Coleman). Meanwhile, in feudal Japan, Hiro (Masi Oka) and Kensei’s (David Anders) legendary journey takes a dramatic, final turn. Kristen Bell, Noah Gray-Cabey, Dana Davis, James Kyson Lee, Zachary Quinto and Dania Ramirez also star. Alan Blumenfeld, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Shalim Ortiz, Eriko Tamura and Adair Tishler guest star.

What’s more painful that watching Jean-Robert tear off his drawers in a challenge?

Seeing emaciated Courtney walking around the jungle like a skeleton. She didn’t have much meat on her to begin with, but she’s gotten even worse as the show has progressed. But she’s getting our vote for the next one booted out of Fei Long.

Todd Herzog and Courtney Yates, of the Fei Long tribe, during the SURVIVOR: CHINA, Thursday, Oct. 11

Out pick for next out in Zhan Hu is Sherea “I’m saving myself for the challenges” Lloyd. The fourth grade teacher hasn’t exactly been a whiz at the challenges, and unless she picks up the pace, she’s going to get her torch snuffed.

Miss Attitude herself, Sherea Lloyd

Next week, Jaime and Erik admit to a mutual attraction as a romance blossoms. A tribal switch leads to chaos, tears, fears and cracks in former alliances.

Erik and Jaime sneak a moment

And if you missed the CBS video of “Survivor:China” base camp:

James Logan High School grad Joey Gaytan looked like the kind of guy you might not want to meet in a dark alley.

But after having a nice conversation with Joey last week, I knew it was all just an act. The Union City native says he’s living the Hollywood dream.

“It’s like winning the lottery, but I encourage anyone who has a dream of coming to Hollywood to do it,” says Joey, who turned 29 on Sunday. “People would say I was too short, or too fat, or just not cool enough. But look at me now.”

Joey, who got his first big break in 2005 when he won the reality series, “Wanted: Ted or Alive” hosted by rock legend Ted Nugent, says being cast on a top-rated show like “CSI: Miami” was exciting.

And he wants you to share in that excitement, so he posted a video on My Space which shows you what it was like, from his trailer to the stage.

I was going to embed the video, but since it contains language my company might not approve of, I decided to just give you the link instead.

So my friend Dave Walker at the New Orleans Time Picayune was a little shocked last week to discover that his name was dropped on “Private Practice” – as a man with a drinking problem.

TV writers love using TV critics’ names as characters. My first encounter was a “Law & Order” episode in which Susan Young was riding with her boyfriend when he committed a hit-and-run.

Sweet.

When I was checking out YouTube, there was a clip from “CSI:NY” from last Dec. when my name was used as a murder victim:

It’s all done in fun. But couldn’t I just once be the gorgeous blond that someone like Sawyer has been lusting for?

Well, you’ve seen my picture. I guess not.

Has Ryan the temp-now-corporate-honcho-with-a-beard turned evil?

Ryan (B.J. Novak) hitting on Pam (Jenna Fischer)

Angela Kinsey, who plays frosty Angela in accounting, says no, not really.

“He’s not evil,” says Angela. “He’s just this hot shot in New York, and as we say in Texas, he thinks his poop don’t stink.”

On last night’s show, Michael told a little story about a foreign exchange student he called his brother took Michael’s blue jeans with him when he left to go back home.

Which meant that poor Michael spent the winter wearing shorts in the snow. And that’s how Ryan is now.

“He’s a fake brother who steals your blue jeans,” Michael says.

Pam and Jim are now outed as an office romance, which means things can only go bad from here.

Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) share a moment in the Oct. 18 episode where the two go to Dwight’s family farm,which is now a bed and breakfast. NBC Photo: Justin Lubin

And how much did you love Angela and Dwight deciding to go to dinner at a public place, only to have the ghost of Sprinkles rise up from the freezer?

Speaking of that freezer, when talking to Angela last week, she says she was a little disturbed by the line in last week’s episode when Dwight said he put the dead cat in the freezer and she wondered why there were claw marks in the frozen french fries.

“It’s bad enough that he did that, but what was Angela doing with frozen french fries in her freezer?” Angela asks.

Good question.

SHAMELESS PLUG FOR VODCAST/STORY:
You can read the article I wrote for the Bay Area News Group about Jennie (officetally) and Angela, or check out the vodcast

Also, you were directed to a site at the end of last night’s episode, if you missed it here it is: dundermifflininfinity.

Angela shares a moment with Andy (Ed Helms) in next week’s episode.

I couldn’t wait to watch all three of the new episodes sent out for review, and I love the show.

But I’m a little concerned about this new twist involving Landry and Tyra and I think the producers were a little quick to shut down the romance between Matt and Julie.

Pictured: (l-r) Adrianne Palicki as Tyra Collette, Zach Gilford as Matt Saracen, Jesse Plemons as Landry Clarke — NBC Photo: Bill Records

But what do you think?

In the meantime, here’s the SueTube vodcast I did with sports writer Dennis Miller, who gives his opinion on why people may not be watching the show.

Mud wrestling with half naked men and women, but mostly women, in the reward challenge tonight.

Ashley Massaro, Erik Huffman, Sherea Lloyd and Dave Cruser, during the reward challenge,”Chinese Checkers.” Photo: Monty Brinton/CBS

In fact, make that bare-breasted women. Amanda, who lost her top, got it right when she said, “My mom is going to kill me!.”

Before going on, I’d like to make a shameless plug for my vodcast on the breast issue on SueTube.

Moving on, we had the first alliance formed on the Fei Long clan with Amanda, Aaron and Todd. Todd seems to be getting the vote of confidence in the tribe.

Amanda Kimmel, Todd Herzog and Aaron Reisberger team up. Monty Brinton/CBS

After Leslie got the clue from “kidnapped” Jamie about where to find the immunity idol, she immediately told Todd so he would help her.

How can these people trust the Todd???

But perhaps the best quote of the night was when lazy snore-boy Jean-Robert explained that he may not do much physical work, but “I contribute with my mind.”

Oh, and I kissed my five bucks good-bye tonight when Ashleygot tossed.

Ashley Massaro just couldn’t stop feuding with Dave, and it got her booted.