"Baby Cried The Day The Circus Came To Town" (First Impressions - “Ringmaster Keifth” - Season 8, Episode 10)

The press release and promotional photos have been released for the first episode of 2017.  The title is not a replacement for one of the other previously named titles ("Sarge & Pea", "Sushi Chefs" and "Do You Believe In Magic").

“You've Been Gone Seventeen Days, Seventeen Long Nights”

Well that didn't take long – when this episode started the night of the dance it became almost a certainty that Alex wouldn't be there.   And she wasn't.

And that's that.

At least we found out (via voiceover during the closing production credits) that we only have to wait until January 4th for the next new episode.  Hopefully there's a big story for Alex in it (the press release will probably appear next week).

Sorry, that's all I've got tonight.

“In The Meadow We Can Build A Snow Man”

So much for “safe guesses” - I was more than certain there would be a rerun of last season's “White Christmas” next Wednesday.

Nope – we're getting a repeat of “A Stereotypical Day” (and the beginning of Alex's mono battle) instead. And my TV listings show no other episodes airing through Christmas night. It looks like we're not going to get to hear Alex sing again after all (it looks like it isn't airing in syndication or on USA either).

Which brings us back to this week, and the final new episode of 2016, “Snow Ball”. I did see Christmas decorations in one scene in the promo, so it will be at least an unofficial holiday episode.

But there still was no sign of Alex – so do I have much hope for tonight?

"And Darling You Can Best Believe There's Nothing Up My Sleeve"

How quiet have things been the past week and a half?  The only "news" I've found was one new episode title - "Do You Believe In Magic".   And since that title all but screams Phil (most likely with Claire if anybody), you probably can already guess how little hope I have for a role for Alex in that one.

Well, at least you all know I'm still here.

“I'm So Empty” (“The Alliance” Recap)

I'm not particularly surprised, but I really don't have much to say about tonight's episode, as far as Alex was concerned – I'm not even going to bother page breaking this one.  Basically, she appeared in a few scenes, and that was that – she really didn't even get a chance to add much of anything.

Most disappointingly there was not even a word about how her new job is going in that one coffee shop scene – other than one line Alex was, once again, little more than scenery. Again, hopefully bigger and better things will come later and tonight (using her job and location as merely a prop for other characters' story lines) was an exception and not a regular feature.

At least the episode as a whole was quite good, with the “ha, ha – fooled you – that's exactly what we wanted” ending.

Alex's Line Of The Night: (speaking to Haley at the coffee shop about her boyfriend's teenage daughter) ”You're nervous? I mean, how can this go wrong – she's a teenage girl – that's when you peaked.”

We could have used a few more barbs like that, especially since this might be the last we see of Alex until after the holidays. But that's a rant or two I'll resume in two weeks.

“But There Ain't No Cure For The Summertime Blues”

Yes, that lyric doesn't seem particularly relevant at this time of year (well, here in much of the U.S.A. and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, anyway), but I'll explain it later.

"You're As Cold As Ice" (First Impressions - "Snow Ball" - Season 8, Episode 9)

Sometimes being right isn't such a good thing - as evidenced by this press release for "Snow Ball".  More on that in a moment.

It's airing on December 14th, the night the other Wednesday comedies have their Christmas episodes.  So it's in effect a substitute for a Christmas episode, since they only air new ones every odd year (I think it's a safe guess that last year's "White Christmas" will now air on the 21st).

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe the season opener ("A Tale Of Three Cities") is repeating on 12/7 (on their professional press page¹  ABC lists the re-air date as 11/7 - I'm assuming that's a typo), which will put the show an episode behind the other Wednesday night shows (and probably means we're only looking at 22 or 23 again this season).

Anyway, getting back to my original premise about being right being a bad thing: