“The Politicians Are Now DJs”

A couple of quick scheduling notes before I start:

There will be no new episode two weeks from tonight (October 19th), as there is a Presidential debate preempting much of everybody's lineups that night. We know whom Alex would likely be backing in that one, although personally that's one case where she and I would have to agree to disagree (not that the alternative is any better, IMO – I'm definitely in the “pox on both houses” camp concerning this election)¹.

The Halloween episode airs the following week (the 26th). No details about what role Alex might have in that one yet, but I'm not holding my breath (she's yet to really have a story on Halloween, so maybe she's due).

There is one new episode title – the eighth episode (they've skipped the 7th for now) has the
less-than-awe-inspiring title of  “Sarge & Pea “.

And USA Network starts Season 7 reruns on Friday, although there are some surprising gaps in the early season episodes airing (they start at 9 P.M. with the first two, “Summer Lovin'” and “The Day Alex Left For College”, but then jump to the sixth episode, “The More You Ignore Me” and finish with “Clean Out Your Junk Drawer”, the eighth episode). Alex has roles in all four of them, but they do skip her heartbreaking breakup with Sanjay (no “The Closest Case” yet).

Anyway, getting back to tonight, is there any reason to get excited about tonight's “Blindsided”?

Anticipation Level: Very Low. Well, no, not really. With no sign of Alex anywhere (more on this shortly) I'm not exactly counting down the hours to the show. And I have a feeling it may be a while before this changes.

Emotional Moment Potential: Very Low. Not much to say here either. On the other hand...

Chance Of An Alex-less Episode: High. There's two reasons why I think this is higher than normal: 1) Most of the other kids have big stories tonight, and when that happens often Alex gets squeezed out of the picture (e.g. “Closet? You'll Love It!), and 2) there's been a tendency lately to give her a week off either right before or after a week she has a big story. That's not to say she defintely won't be on tonight – by “High” I figure it's about a 15-20% chance, which is twice the historical average of around 10% (she's missed 16 of the 168 episodes to date).

And now, for the newest segment of the preshow post:

In Which Story Do I Want To See Alex Play A Part?

Like the chance of an Alex-less episode, this is not a segment I'll be doing every week – I'll only do it on weeks when we have no idea what role, if any, Alex will play in that episode (it is possible I could do this segment without the need to do the Alex-less episode segment, if we see her but without a clue as to where she will be). Of course, even if she does appear it may only be in a scene or two and she might not play a part in any story. Or she has her own story that doesn't get revealed until showtime.


As for this week, I was probably going to lean towards this story anyway even before last week happened, but after seeing Luke steal Alex's laptop (at least twice) to use her old homework, I so want to see her show up and interfere with his attempt to beat out Manny for senior class president. Yes, it's more than a bit of schadenfreude, but I'm still mad about last week (eventually I'll have more to say about it).

Are There Any Other Questions?

Speaking of last week, will we have any update on Alex's status (health or otherwise)? I doubt it, given how little continuity they usually give her character, but it would be nice for it to be mentioned, even if she's not there. We might have to wait for her to start her barista job for that.

Recap or not, I'll be back later tonight.

¹ On the other hand, interestingly, based on her tweets, Ariel and I do agree about this – I'm surprised she's not more aligned with Alex. I figure there's a lot more of us that hate both major candidates but I wonder just how many will end up giving up and holding their nose and voting for one of them anyway.