Boy oh Boyman

Cleaning up some leftover Sunday stuff, I didn't see "Grey's Anatomy" yet and I'm a few weeks behind on "Big Love," but I did get to Springfield and the White House.

Very odd "Simpsons," what with the five years behind the times "Lion King" Broadway musical parody at the beginning and the gender-bender storyline, which I would peg as funnier than "She's the Man" and not as funny as "Just One of the Guys." Some good bits here and there, notably the girls' school math classes. ("What does a plus sign smell like?")

Decent "West Wing." I liked most of the Vinick stuff, though the scene at Starbucks was a bit much, since "Ernie" had been, you know, running for president for the last year and might be recognizable even to a slack-jawed barista. (Maybe he should send Patsy Parisi to intimdate the guy.) Also glad that Wells' dream of bipartisanship gave Arnie the Sec. of State job, and not the VP's office. From the way they kept talking about how the Baker confirmation will play out, I'm guessing the series will end before it's resolved (and before they would need to shell out for a guest appearance by Ed O'Neill.)

On the downside, how annoying is Helen Santos? She's been the wife of a congressman for six years, the wife of the Mayor of Houston before that; surely she can't be this ignorant about the pomp and circumstance associated with a job like this? Maybe it was an attempt to position her as Everywoman, but it just made her look like a twit. It's one thing to be uncomfortable with this stuff, and quite another to seem completely surprised by all of it.