by Kelly Lee

Grey's Anatomy

Official Summary: The series follows Meredith Grey, the daughter of an esteemed general surgeon named Ellis Grey, following her acceptance into the residency program at the fictional hospital Seattle Grace Hospital.  During her time as a resident, Grey works alongside her fellow doctors Cristina Yang, Izzie Stevens, Alex Karev, and George O’Malley, who each struggle to balance personal lives with the hectic work and training schedules.  They are overseen during their internship by Miranda Bailey, a senior resident who works for attending Derek Shepherd, the head of neurosurgery and Meredith’s love interest; Preston Burke, the head of cardio, who becomes Yang’s fiance; and Richard Webber, the Chief of Surgery and the attending general surgeon, and lover of Ellis Grey decades before.
In the sixth season, these residents are joined by Jackson Avery and April Kepner, former Mercy West residents who join Seattle Grace following an administrative merger.  During the first six seasons, Burke, O’Malley, and Stevens all depart the series.
In addition to Webber and Shepherd, the surgical wing is primarily supervised by Addison Montgomery, as head of OB/GYN, neonatal, and fetal surgery; Callie Torres, a resident who later becomes head of orthopedic surgery, who left Seattle at the end of the 12th season; Mark Sloan, as head of plastics; Owen Hunt, as head of trauma; Arizona Robbins, as head of pediatric surgery, and later head of fetal surgery; Erica Hahn, as head of cardio; Teddy Altman, as head of cardio, and Amelia Shepherd, Derek’s sister, who is hired to replace him as head of neuro.
New young doctors in the residency program include Lexie Grey, Meredith’s half-sister.  She is killed with Mark Sloan in the Season 8 finale. Other additions include Leah Murphy, who departs near the end of Season 10 but returns during Season 13; Shane Ross, who departs with Yang in the Season 10 finale; Stephanie Edwards, who resigns during Season 13; Jo Wilson, a doctor who begins a romantic relationship with Karev; Andrew DeLuca, the love-interest of Meredith half-sister Maggie Pierce, who also serves as the head of cardio; and Benjamin Warren, an anesthesiologist-turned-resident, who has to balance his own desire to succeed with his wife Miranda Bailey’s new role as the Chief of Surgery.  In Season 12, attending cardio surgeon Nathan Riggs joins the show. In Season 13, the hospital sees a shakeup when attending sports medicine/orthopedic surgeon Eliza Minnick (Marika Dominczyk) is hired as an educational consultant to revamp the residency program. She is fired following an explosion in the hospital.

ALNM rec:. This is actually the show that I am currently binge-ing on Netflix.  As someone who is frequently in and out of hospitals, this may be one of the shows that I probably shouldn’t be watching.  The inaccuracies of everyday hospital life aside, this is a ridiculous show in that some of the “emergencies” that come through their trauma department are just downright impossible.  Yes, I criticize this show, but at the same time, it is one of my current guilty pleasures and I know plenty of medical professionals who feel the same way. We all know in our heart of hearts that none of this is actually real, but at the same time, we can’t wait to tune in each week to see what kind of catastrophes the doctors of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital encounter next.

by Kelly Lee

Scandal: “Over A Cliff”
Air Date: April 19, 2018
​Air Time: 10/9c
Channel: ABC

In the series finale of Scandal, the existence of B613 has been exposed to the world.  The Gladiators make the ultimate sacrifice in order to take down Cyrus and Jake - but how far will they go to get justice?

by Kelly Lee & Christina

Most of us know of the popular, yet sadly dissolved, boy band N*Sync.  Formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995, the boy band consisted of former “New MMC” Mouseketeers Justin Timberlake (just 14 years old at the time) and JC Chasez as well as members Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, and Chris Kirkpatrick.  After their introduction to the world, teens around the world basically exploded with love of the boys. Though there was the constant argument over who was better, Backstreet Boys or N*Sync, we all knew who the clear winner was.  Backstreet Boys didn’t stand a chance! On March 20, 2018, it was announced that this legendary boy band would finally be getting the recognition they deserve: receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on It’s Gonna Be May Day, April 30, 2018.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, we here at ALNM would like to share the reasons why we love N*Sync (in no particular order).

The boys broke the internet with this famous meme that is annually tweeted out by former member, Lance Bass.

by Kelly Lee

Gossip Girl

​Official Summary: The series begins with the return of Upper East Side teenage “it” girl Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) from a “mysterious absence”.  Gossip Girl (the voice of Kristen Bell) reveals that Serena has been away at boarding school in Cornwall, Connecticut, but not everyone welcomes Serena back to Manhattan with open arms.  Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), whom creators describe as being “the queen at the center of their chess game,” is the queen bee of Constance/St. Jude Prep School’s social scene; she also happens to be the childhood “best friend” and occasional rival of Serena van der Woodsen.  The story also follows scholarship student and aspiring writer Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), who lives in Brooklyn and is a self-described “outsider,” Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), the so-called “golden boy,” who was Blair’s childhood sweetheart and first love, and Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), the womanizing “bad boy” heir who is part of “Manhattan’s elite” and “the kind of their chess game”.  Other characters of the turbulent Manhattan scene include Dan’s childhood best friend Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr); Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), Dan’s rebellious adolescent sister who the Queen B dubs as “Little J”’ Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), Serena’s mother and heiress, Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle), former 90’s band Lincoln Hawk frontman and Lily’s former lover, and Dorota, Blair’s maid.  Rufus is Dan and Jenny’s father and primary guardian.

ALNM rec: Fresh off the popularity wave that was The OC, Gossip Girl was the next in creator Josh Schwartz’s teenage drama series on The CW.  It premiered in 2007 and a little 21-year-old college student named Kelly Lee fell in love. I can’t tell you how much this show has shaped who I am.  That may sound cheesy and really kind of stupid, but it’s true. Blair Waldorf’s love of headbands and designers like Henri Bendel, Diane von Furstenberg, and Marc Jacobs have become some of my favorite designers.  Rather than getting my ears pierced like a normal person, I choose headbands that sparkle as my accessory of choice, just like Blair. During the run of the show, my sister also lived in New York City with her now-husband and almost all of our fashion tips and tricks came from watching endless episodes of Gossip Girl.  We even went on a Gossip Girl tour of the city one year when I was visiting for her birthday.  In all seriousness, though, I have to say, this was one of my favorite shows of all time.  Sure, it was silly and over-the-top with its drama and its character arcs, but it also was just so dang entertaining.  I can’t tell you how many people I’ve learned secretly loved the show. Though it only ran for 6 seasons, it was a big deal.  It made a huge star out of Leighton Meester and Blake Lively and there wasn’t a girl around that wasn’t Team Nate, Team Dan, or Team Chuck.  If you’re too young to have heard of the show or simply never got around to watching it, you must! I promise that you’ll at least get some ridiculous mindless entertainment out of it.

Gossip Girl is now available to stream in its entirety on Netflix

by Kelly Lee

Supergirl: “Schott Through the Heart”
Premiere Date: April 16, 2018
Air Time: 8/7c
Channel: The CW

Supergirl is back from it's break!  Following the death of his father, Winn must work with his estranged mother to stop a copycat Toyman.

iTunes

Episode 056 - “2018 Ship Bracket”
​
Episode Length: 12:43

Episode Summary:
We discuss this year's ship bracket and announce the winner!

Chopped on Food Network

Official Summary: In each episode, four chefs compete in a three-round contest, where they attempt to incorporate unusual combinations of ingredients into dishes that are later evaluated by a panel of three judges.   At the beginning of each round , the chefs are each given a basket containing four mystery ingredients and are expected to use all of them in some way. Although failing to use an ingredient is not an automatic disqualification, the judges do take such omissions into account when making their decisions.  The ingredients are often not commonly prepared together. The competitors are given access to a pantry and refrigerator stocked with a wide variety of other ingredients.
          Each round has a time limit, typically 20 minutes for Appetizer, and 30 minutes each for Entrée and Dessert.  The chefs must cook their dishes and complete four platings before time runs out. Once time has expired, the judges critique the dishes based on presentation, taste and creativity and select one chef to be "chopped" - eliminated from the competition with no winnings. Ted Allen reveals the judges' decision by lifting a cloche on their table to show the losing chef's dish, and one of the judges comments on the reason for their choice to the eliminated chef.
          In the Dessert round, the judges consider not only on the dishes created by the two chefs during that round, but also their overall performance throughout the competition. The winner typically receives $10,000.

ALNM rec: I have a problem with this show and that problem is that I CANNOT stop watching it.  If I turn this show on, the chances are, it’s during a marathon on Food Network and I can’t stop watching it.  When I was in the hospital for all that time, recovering from surgery, my nurses would tell me I would fall asleep with this show on my TV.  I don’t know what it is about the Food Network shows that are so addicting, but there’s definitely something there. If you’re a fan of Food Network, you’re probably already familiar with Ted Allen and all his friends that frequently judge Chopped, but did you know that Hulu recently put the entire series on the streaming network?  That’s right - all 35 seasons; all 470 episodes. In addition to watching and recording those marathons each week on Food Network, you can also watch it from the beginning on Hulu or watch recent episode on the Food Network app.  If you need a day to veg out (no pun intended), this is the perfect bingeable show!

by Christina

Admin Update: Comments section on poll closed due to lack of civil discourse.

Here's the new poll.  The rules are as follows:

• Voting is limited by one vote per IP address every three hours.
• Due to their lead in the last poll, Newtmas has a 5% advantage that will be added at the conclusion of the poll.
• Voting ends 11:59PM PST on March 31st with results being blinded 24 hours prior.
• The winner will be announced on the episode of the podcast posted April 2nd.

​Be nice.  Please.