“Oh, The Shark, Babe, Has Such Teeth, Dear”

Getting sick sucks. Getting sick just as vacation starts? Let's just say there isn't a straw big enough in the world...

(I suppose one good thing about it happening now – I don't have to worry about working sick. Yay.)

Anyway, that's why you haven't heard as much from me in the past few days as I planned, even as Season 9 is about to begin – the head stuffiness and coughing fits have simply sapped me (IOW, kind of how Alex felt during her mono bout last season – no I'm pretty sure I don't have that). I'm just hoping I start feeling better in time to salvage the last half of this vacation.

Did I mention Season 9 starts tonight with “Lake Life”? Well, it does, so let's get the first pre-show post of the season up and running, somewhere between the sniffles, sneezes and wheezes:

Anticipation Level: Low to Medium. Yes, it has been four long months since we've last seen Alex and the rest of her family, and Alex does have a bit of a story tonight with the rest of the kids trying to find fun on a houseboat trip. And there is the potential wild card of Ben making an appearance.

But overall I'm not really that hyped up about tonight – the episode as a whole has such a ”jump the shark” feel to it (and the kids' story is a big part of that) that I really think tonight could be a disaster, figuratively and literally (the kids end up in what looks like a life raft – that is not a good sign).

Now I have felt that way before and been wrong (Mitch and Cam's wedding had a lot of trainwreck potential that thankfully was not fulfilled), but I feel so much dread about tonight.

And oh, by the way, this is a travel episode – the show's track record for these is spotty as a whole at best (that's another post I meant to do this week but never got around to it) – as far as Alex goes the only one that was all that interesting was “Dude Ranch”.

One other small point dragging my anticipation down – next week looks a lot more interesting from Alex's standpoint so I'm kind of looking past this week.

Emotional Moment Potential: Low to Medium. If Ben's appearance (which I suspect will probably be one and done) involves Alex then maybe something happens here, but the odds are against it.

Game Changing Potential: Low. I'd say about the same for this, but even less so – again, next week has a lot more potential.

Thankfully the “Chance of an Alex-less Episode” section still has at least two more weeks before it makes the first of what could be far too many appearances this season, and we obviously already know which story Alex will be in, so that section gets to stay home for a while too.

Are There Any Other Questions? So what about after next week? I've yet to find a press release for the third episode, but it apparently has the resurrected title of “Catch Of The Day”. I was going to say that that title was back on the menu, but I decided to restrain myself. Oh, wait...

I might have to try and catch up on my cough-induced missed sleep after the episode ends, so I can't promise the recap will be up at the usual time, but I'll try.