Top Moments: Today's 9/11 Fiasco and an Awkward X Factor Reunion
Our top moments of the week:
13. Cheapest Move: After Rachel and Nick win Bachelor Pad, they have to decide separately if they want to share the $250,000 prize or each keep it for themselves. Rachel chooses to share, but Nick launches into a long diatribe about his unexpected victory. "Nobody sitting up there in the cast, nobody in this audience right now, and nobody sitting at home watching right now would have put their money on me to win this," he says. By the end, it's clear what his choice is: He keeps the money for himself, leaving Rachel with nothing. As Rachel tears up and the other contestants' jaws drop, Nick rubs it in Rachel's face and dances around on stage. As The Countess says, money can't buy you class.
12. Best Do-Over, Part I: After having failed to make it past the blind auditions last season on The Voice, Daniel Rosa returns to try to impress the judges again. His soulful rendition of "Somebody That I Used to Know" gets Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton to push their buttons, and both are overjoyed to see a familiar face on stage. At the end of his performance, when all the judges' chairs are turned, Adam Levine immediately stands up, shakes his arms in the air and runs to the stage to give Daniel a big, tight bear hug. Daniel is so shocked to be recognized — and to be hugged by Adam — that he sits down on the side of the stage for a minute to shed a tear and collect himself. "One of my biggest regrets last season — all I wanted to do was give you a big hug — and I'm glad I got to do it," Adam says. Hey Adam, next time that happens, we're always available for back-up.
11. Most Morbid Moment of Passion: The will-they-won't-they tension between Andy and Nancy comes to a head on the penultimate episode of Weeds as the dynamic duo finally hooks up... in the exact place where Judah died. Yeah, if that isn't weird enough, the long-awaited act is over in a matter of seconds and Andy walks out (possibly for good), leaving Nancy screaming on the side of the road. Not as heartfelt as we would've imagined — though, to be fair, it is a show called Weeds.
10. Most Emotional Final Blow: White Collar's Neal tries to keep Peter away from Ellen's close friend and mystery man du jour Sam so that he could get answers about his father. But Peter decides to pay Sam a visit anyway, and when Sam goes missing Neal blames Peter for not only Sam's disappearance but also Ellen's death. "As far as my personal life goes, we are done," he tells Peter before storming out. Man, these two break up more than Ross and Rachel.
9. Funniest Diss: Remember when NBC interrupted its Olympic closing ceremony coverage to air Animal Practice? You guys weren't huge fans of that— and neither, it turns out, was Bob Costas. The face of the Peacock's Olympics broadcasts is all too happy to get in a dig or three at NBC while appearing on Conan. "Animal Practice is evidently a comedy, at least we're hoping it is, that revolves around a veterinary practice and one of the doctors is a chimpanzee. ... So here is the balance that NBC has to consider: The Who [or] Animal Practice. Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend [or] monkey in a lab coat." Costas' real kicker? "I'm sure you'd be the first to attest, Conan, that when it comes to the tough calls, NBC usually gets them right."
8. The Sound of Silence Award: On Damages series finale, Patty Hewes loses everything: Her son Michael is killed, she drops the McClaren lawsuit when her star witness disappears, and Ellen walks away from Patty — and the law — for good after she learns her choices got a witness killed. After Patty and Ellen meet again in a flash-forward, Patty envisions Ellen thanking her for everything she's done for her. But it's all a dream. Instead, Patty is left in the utter silence of her limo with nothing to hold on to but her next case — a somewhat tragic ending for this iconic character.
7. Best Impression: Little kids playing dress-up is not unusual. But it is a bit odd (read: awesome) that rather than pretending to be, say, a princess, The New Normal 's Shania emulates Little Edie of Grey Gardens fame. Donning the Kennedy relative/recluse's famous black head scarf, Shania keeps Bryan (and us!) endlessly entertained with her spot-on impression — right down to the clipped, New England accent. Our favorite line: "This is my pet raccoon, Buster. He thrives on pate." (According to Andrew Rannells, Bebe Wood already had the Little Edie impression in her arsenal and Ryan Murphy wrote it in.)
6. Best Tease: It's the moment Covert Affairs fans have been waiting for: Annie and Auggie kiss! Too bad the whole scene — which features the two of them dancing in a red gown and a spiffy tux — takes place in a comatose Annie's subconscious. But with Auggie having spilled his feelings to Annie right beforehand, this is definitely a dream we can see someday coming true.
5. Best Do-Over, Part II: After dealing with her overbearing parents and her outspoken brother Max, Parenthood's Haddie seems more than ready to move 3,000 miles away to start college at Cornell. Although she plays it cool at the airport — giving her mom and her dad hugs and simply waving goodbye — she pauses before she can get through security check, turns around and walks back to Adam and Kristina with tears welling in her eyes. She embraces them both in a big hug as she starts to cry. The Bravermans — can't live with them, can't live without them.
4. Best Reunion: After lying to herself for much of Glee's season premiere, Rachel finally cuts the crap and tells Kurt she feels lost in New York and her new dance teacher (a deliciously fun Kate Hudson) wants to ruin her life. Right when Rachel tearfully complains to Kurt on the phone that her horrible roommate is also sleeping with the entire school, she turns around to see him standing in front of her. She runs toward him and the two share a long-anticipated embrace. Finchel, who? Kurchel takes Manhattan!
3. Most Fiery Revenge: Sons of Anarchy's fifth season premiere introduces gangster Damon Pope (guest star Harold Perrineau), and things really start to heat up. Pope quickly kidnaps Tig, who killed Pope's daughter in the Season 4 finale, and forces him to watch as Pope and his associates burn Tig's daughter alive. Tig's heartbreak is gut-wrenching to watch, but the message is clear: Pope isn't someone to trifle with.
2. Most Cringe-Worthy Reunion: In her judging debut on The X Factor, Britney Spears gets a shocking blast from the past when Don Philip, a singer she once did a duet with in 1999, takes the stage to audition. She quickly recognizes him and her jaw drops to the floor, but the reunion is pretty much squashed as soon as Don opens his mouth to belt out a very shaky rendition of Beyonce's "Halo." When Simon Cowell stops him and gives him the harsh truth, Don turns to Britney in hopes of getting some positive feedback. "Your voice isn't really up to the bar of the standards of The X Factor," she says, before giving him a firm no. Britney sits frozen in her chair, staring blankly away from the stage as Don proceeds to go backstage, collapse into heavy sobs and tell anyone who will listen that he "never meant to hurt Britney." On the upside, at least she recognized him!
1. Worst Alternative Programming: At 8:46 a.m. ET on Tuesday, ABC, CBS and cable networks aired the annual moment of silence marking the 11th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. But NBC? With the exception if its local New York affiliate, the network broadcasts a Today show interview with Kris Jenner, who discusses, of all things, her new breast implants, as seen on Sunday's episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. (Click here to watch the contrasting coverage, via New York magazine.) "Is there ever a time when you're like, 'OK, we can turn those cameras off now'?" Savannah Guthrie asks. Yeah, like, how about now?
What were your top moments?
