As excited for Thanksgiving as I am, I know that just means my (and your and our) favorite shows will soon be going on prolonged breaks. Reruns will abound and holidays specials will fill the air.

But let’s not dwell on that or the holiday horrors that will enter the box office. Let’s just talk about what happened this week on TV.

You know the drill: here’s what we thought, tell us what you thought in the comments!

Scott

Saturday Night Live
It’s hard to remember at this point how great SNL was last year, buoyed by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey’s potentially election-swinging performances and Kristen Wiig’s emergence as the show’s resident star (not quite to Will Ferrell or Eddie Murphy levels, but getting there). What have been the highlights of Season 35 so far? I can’t really remember anything aside from Lady Gaga stopping “Lovegame” mid-song to play around on a piano while spouting stream of consciousness ramblings about New York (and struggling with a weird globe helmet in the process). So it was a surprise that this week’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt episode wasn’t a total embarrassment, pairing a few genuinely funny sketches – especially Fred Armisen as the macho producer of a women’s advice show telling every woman to “put on some lipstick and say ‘I’m SAH-ry’” – with a host so eager to please that he jumped around like a gravity-defying ninja during his monologue. Still, this mediocre episode in a season of awful ones feels like a fluke rather than a real change in direction, which I can’t see happening until Seth Meyers vacates the head writer’s chair and dead weight like Kenan Thompson and Jason Sudeikis is cut loose.

Zoe

Friday Night Lights
On the suggestion of a friend and after a few marathon sessions, I have finally caught up to Friday Night Lights. And blah blah blah, one of the best shows on TV, blah blah why aren’t people watching, blah blah blah the Taylor’s marriage; these aren’t things we need to talk about right now. What we need to talk about is how much I miss Tyra. I mean, it’s a lot.

The season, however, really hasn’t suffered too much from her absence. I mean, I miss her, but Dillon keeps right on ticking. And, really, has any show done moving on better than Friday Night Lights? The desire to keep on characters like Smash and Jason Tyra must be overwhelming, but it’s unrealistic. Rather than make it Friday Night Lights: The College Years the show keeps on ticking.

With some mis-steps, to be sure. I wish Matt had gone to college, but am glad to see him this season, working through adulthood in all its complications. Same for Riggins. But to make up for that there’s Wallace (er, Vince) and the renewed discussion of race relations that has been sorely missing since Smash left.

But that’s general. Let’s talk about this episode: please don’t let Riggins date that girl, poor Matt, and I hope Tami finds a way to stick it to the McCoy’s/Town. In all seasons, Dillon, as personified through the radio announcers and talk shows, has been the meanest, pettiest character on the show. I’d be nice to see someone win against it.

Bones
I haven’t written about Bones much here, but after a few dud episodes the season seems to have gotten back in the familiar, yet enjoyable saddle. But with last week’s Stephen Fry appearance/subsequent admission of love, I thought for sure they were going to push a sweeps hook-up between Booth and Bones. Kudos for not, but if you’re not going to have them hook-up, could you push the coupling less aggressively? Thanks.

Robert

FlashForward
Ah, FlashForward. I can see your potential but I am growing weary of you.

From the beginning, every character’s flash forward has been presented as the future as it will occur on March 29, 2010. When Demetri (John Cho) realizes that he’ll be dead and gets a mysterious phone call to reinforce the idea, we go along with it and assume that everyone’s flash forward is likewise a glimpse of their fate. This struggle between free will and destiny finally gave way when Gough (Lee Thompson Young), torn all this time over what happened in his flash forward, took his own life and thereby proved that the future is not set.

It’s a welcome change to the FlashForward formula because there’s really only so much hand-wringing and debating you can do before folks start tuning out. My guess is that the bigger moments won’t come until later in the season though, and judging by where we are now, that’s a bad thing.

In the meantime, the show took a step backwards in last week’s episode in which the formerly-suicidal Bryce (Zachary Knighton) sketches out his plan to find Keiko, the young woman in his flash forward. At least the show focused on a character we hadn’t learned much about and one that we actually want to see meet his fate. Of course, the problem here is that this feels like the show is back to square one, leading us to believe that Bryce and Keiko must meet in the future.

So what gives? Now that the future isn’t carved in stone, this allows the show to do new things, but FlashForward seems like it’s trying to have it both ways. It’s frustrating, of course, and ultimately, all of the intrigue over what happened to cause such a global event (or more importantly, why) feels like it’s being squandered. Maybe after nine episodes I’m already invested or maybe I’m just a sucker for serialized TV but I’ll still be tuning in.

2009 American Music Awards
I have to give it to ABC. They obviously knew what they were getting into with this year’s American Music Awards and they didn’t flinch. That’s either extremely ballsy or extremely foolish. Boasting not one, not two but THREE comeback-like performances by Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston and Jennifer Lopez, there was much to look forward to and all eyes would be on the broadcast for some headline-making moments.

And yet, performances were lazy and uninspired. Stage dressings were ridiculously overwrought. Nominees and winners were confusing. Every attempt to thrill and entice me with theatrics left me looking for actual music to enjoy. Of all the acts on the bill, I give nods to Eminem and 50 Cent for having no problem driving censors crazy with “Crack a Bottle” and Drake’s “Forever” and even to Timbaland, Nelly Furtado and SoShy for bringing some well-timed Twilight-tinged energy to the mix with “Morning After Dark”. Of the others, I’m sure Whitney Houston’s “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” is a powerful, resonant song but her performance–just like those by Green Day, Alicia Keys and Rihanna–felt distant and unsure.

All told, the AMAs are only ever about record sales, chart numbers and popularity, leaving out any regard for actual talent and/or quality. I expected that much. Still, I’m guessing the show we saw wasn’t what ABC had in mind. Reports of an edited West coast airing surfaced this morning, so maybe they did flinch after all.