The Week in Entertainment

DVD: Scarecrow and Mrs King - the first half of the first season. Watching the show was a bit odd - Reagan and Latin America... things look different now, looking back. And the whole time the Christmas episode was on, I kept waiting for someone to point out that it wasn't Christmas in Russia. Assuming the KGB guys actually cared, they wouldn't be caring until January 7! But it never came up... And Yakov Smirnov - what a hoot to see that guy again.

TV: So, last week I said we didn't know what they watch on The Middle. Now we know some of it, anyway: Grey's Anatomy and Sean Penn movies. And seriously: The Thundering Hens? I love that. And Modern Family: Mitchell's pet's names - too funny. Fliza Minnelli the bird, Zsa-Zsa Gaboa the snake. "How did I not know the kid was gay?" House was okay - the peripheral stuff was great, actually. I loved the speed dating, and Chase's re-evaluation of his life, and the porno Wilson was in was hilariously bad. The Mentalist was a really good episode. I'm sad that Psych is over for the season, but at least it got picked up for another one. Poor Shawn. And Lassie sacrificed his gun for Juliet! Wow! And Numb3rs: if this is the end, and it had that feel to it, at least they tied up all the strands. It's been a fine series, and this was a fine episode. I have to admit that I laughed hardest at Otto's reaction to Charlie's saying "Amita and I have been offered visiting professorships at Cambridge, so we decided to move the wedding to today": he boggled, he laughed, he hugged Charlie, and he said, wistfully, "I wish I had a visiting professorship." Larry's definition of love made me cry, seriously.

Read: The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostovo. Entirely different from The Historian except also very long and very good.