Top Ten Cases: TV's Best Love Triangles

Whether it's a cartoon, a primetime drama, a daytime soap, or a Saturday morning children's program, chances are the show has featured some sort of "love triangle," where one person is stuck between two potential loves and must ultimately make a decision. When done right, this sordid affair can really make or reinvigorate a series. When done incorrectly, it comes off as forced and tiresome. I'll be honest, while there are a few "absolutes" on this list, I had trouble reaching ten. So I did a bit of an online search for assistance. One "triangle" that made it on multiple lists was Angel/Buffy/Spike. While I'm a huge fan of the series, I can't rightly include it on this list. In my opinion, Buffy was never torn between them and forced to make a choice. She was involved with Angel, and things ended. Years later she became involved with Spike. At no time was she simultaneously with them, and she was never in a position where being with one was an active decision against being with the other.

To me, that would be like saying that Seinfeld, Elaine, and Puddy were a love triangle, because she so happened to have once been involved with both of them. Also, I don't really watch One Tree Hill or Gossip Girl, so those "obvious" options aren't going to appear on the list either. Sorry.

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LIVE Raw thoughts

11:08 - While the ending was predictable, I thought it worked. Cena's promo was passionate and decidedly different from CM Punk's (which is good). And it played out in such a way that the fans really rallied behind him. Unfortunately, he flubbed one line, about how ADR will "eventually" need to defend that title, so I'm sure everybody will focus on THAT and not the rest of what he said. It is interesting, though, that they're removing Punk from the WWE Championship picture so quickly. If anything, I'd say give Cena some distance from the gold, until right before WrestleMania so that he can try to reclaim it for his match with Rock. But, let's see how this plays out.

10:49 - Odd that we haven't see John Cena yet. By the way, I predict ADR puts Rey on the injured list again. Cena makes an appearance during the post-match beating.

10:45 - Minor quibble, but I hate how they're now referring to the title as the "Undisputed WWE Championship." It's not undisputed -- that's why there's a World Championship on Smackdown.

10:34 - There's been a lot of discussion on people whose carers have suffered because they won the World Championship too early (Sheamus, John Swagger, and Dolph Ziggler are popular answers). Kofi Kingston is suffering from the opposite problem. Every time he's heavily pushed, they resist pulling the trigger. And each push is less successful because it's harder for the fans to become committed. They really should have just let him break through following his initial Orton feud.

10:30 - So how many different people have cashed in and been victimized by Money in the Bank? Are Edge and Punk the only two? If so, perhaps there's a certain karmic energy around cashing in twice.

10:26 - Swagger brings up a good point about vintage managers having numerous clientele. Now, valets and managers typically only manage one person, unless it's a faction. Back in the day, Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart, Slick, and several others would manage a variety of people, and at best those people had a loose alliance with each other. There's no reason why that can't exist today.

10:16 - "Vickie Guerrero is in better shape than you, King." He's right. Also, is it me or does JR say, "Let's not forget we have a match to call" in the middle of the announcer bickering?

10:05 - Honest question, is Nash drunk? He's not speaking clearly and he doesn't seem all that quick witted.

10:02 - "I thought he was dead. LOL." That was great.

10:01 - Kevin Nash's mustache is too low. Too far from his nose, too close to his mouth. It's strange looking.

9:56 - Did Kevin Nash write that intro himself?

9:49 - So with Melina gone, is Kelly now the resident flexible Diva?

9:31 - I actually enjoyed the ending of that match. And it's good to see John Morrison win a match since his return. Let's hope he's back on track.

9:21 - I'm not sure how I feel about Truth having a theme music again. The fact that he didn't come out to music set him apart from everybody else -- and it's not as if it wasn't getting a reaction from the crowd. Actually, if they didn't want him coming out to silence, why not just let him rant and rave on the mic when he walks down the aisle?

9:07 - Aside from the Undertaker, I can't imagine somebody looking less natural with the WWE Championship (in its spinner form) than Alberto Del Rio. It's time to replace that belt, and this is coming from somebody who doesn't even mind the design.

8:33 - I'll be back at 9:00 with my Raw thoughts, but I wanted to open things up to a pre-show discussion. A lot of people are unhappy with the ending of last night's PPV (for varying reasons). One of the reasons -- but certainly not the only one -- is that CM Punk, who I honestly believe has a chance of being the next huge, breakaway star, had his reign cut short. So my question is -- if the booking was reversed, would that have been better or worse? In other words, if Cena had pinned Punk under controversial circumstances and "won" the match, only to be attacked and lose the title to Del Rio, would that have been better than what actually happened? Essentially, everything remains the same. The only difference is who won the match and who drops it with the briefcase cash in. Thoughts?

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Introducing....

....my niece! Saturday morning, at about two in the morning, my niece and goddaughter FINALLY made her grand appearance (after a looooooooong labor). This is my brother's first daughter, and the second overall grandchild for my parents. Very exciting news!

Because of the fact that she was born so long after my sister-in-law's water broke, they've kept her in a separate room to eliminate/detect any infections (this is apparently typical practice) so unfortunately we haven't been able to hold her yet. But hopefully we will in the next couple of days.

So, welcome to the world, Emme! This drink's for you!

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Hey, I'm an action figure!

View photos:

http://s653.photobucket.com/albums/uu256/acaseoftheblog/Action%20Figure/

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LIVE Raw thoughts

11:13 - What can I say about that closing segment? Wow. Just wow. I was skeptical when they began heavily involving Triple H, and I was especially nervous when he started in on the war of words, but thankfully they honed it in on Cena, Punk, and the WWE Championship. And I will give WWE an immense amount of credit for the liberties they've allowed Punk, and bravo to Cena, Triple H, and Johnny Ace for being good sports about what has been said about them....to their faces. It was really good stuff, I especially loved when Punk brought up the recent releases. And as I said in a recent post, Cena and Punk bring the best out of each other character wise. They just mesh together so well.

My only issue is that they're burying Cena. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're not treating Punk with kid gloves here -- both Cena and Triple H have called him out on his hypocrisy. But they've also allowed Punk to go on these long, witty, clever, and passionate diatribes that express what so many people feel, and as a result any response is going to come up short. I don't think they're going to turn Cena heel, so they're heading up a dangerous road.

10:54 - Annnnnnnnnnnd where's that new belt Punk promised us?

10:46 - I don't know what the deal with Morrison is right now. Is he still legitimately injured? If so, why bring him back so prematurely just to job him out? And if he's NOT still injured, why job him out period? He's an exceptionally rare talent -- I honestly don't believe anybody can do what he does -- why not take advantage of that?

Actually, I long felt that they should have reunited Morrison and Melina onscreen. As either a heel or face pair, I think their union would have been mutually beneficial. Melina is the talker, Morrison the walker, so to speak.

10:42 - Did Morrison's crotch just land in Truth's knee doing that flip move? OUCH!

10:35 - Really cool segment to promote Cena/Punk at SummerSlam. WWE is really good at presenting itself as a serious athletic competitive sport. It's too bad they don't take advantage of that more often.

10:24 - I just checked the SummerSlam website. Indeed, Sheamus vs. Mark Henry is the only undercard match signed on the card. Why not hold off and have this match at SummerSlam? That may be the plan, but why even tease it? Why not just save the whole thing for this Sunday?

10:17 - "No more splits." Oh, is THAT why Melina was released?

10:13 - Actually, I wouldn't have minded seeing Eve vs. Beth when both were babyfaces. Eve is a supremely underrated Diva.

10:08 - Over in the comment section, Kyle has made some great points regarding JR on commentary. As Kyle states, JR is one of two color commentators, while Michael Cole is the play-by-play man. This is completely backwards and counter productive. I'm not as anti-Cole as most people. Actually, until about WrestleMania, I quite enjoyed Cole (particularly on NXT). So there is a role for him, but it just isn't as the play-by-play announcer. Ross is the voice of reason and the man focused on the action in the ring. Cole is the outspoken blowhard with a severe bias and a chip on his shoulder. Why not switch their roles? To me, it makes no sense that Cole opens the show and introduces two people he hates.

9:58 - Yay! "It's clobberin' time!" is back! By the way, I love the "Cult of Personality" theme, but I fear (just fear) that it doesn't have quite the same effect as Punk's old theme. The rhythm of the music doesn't give the audience a great opportunity to explode with a great pop. Maybe he comes out too early, and would be better off waiting until after the first "Cult of Personality."

9:49 - Has Kofi Kingston EVER beaten the Miz?

9:44 - Ordinarily I would be thrilled that JR is back on the announce table, but at this point I question why. He barely gets in a word, and I wonder if it's because he lost a step. I'm not sure it's because Cole is so abrasive, because he worked quite successfully with Paul Heyman. And JR also worked in a number of three person teams, including most recently with King and Coach.

9:38 - Random observation, but has anybody used the WWE logo on the stage more times than The Miz? Also, have any undercard matches even been signed for SummerSlam? A whole lot of guys don't seem to have matches.

9:11 - I liked the attempt to "hide" the discussion between Cena and Triple H (Cena did particularly well here, talking into his shoulder). Added some nice realism to the scene.

9:06 - I'm guessing that CM Punk has to fight Otunga and/or McGillicutty, to firmly separate him from the Nexus.

8:57 - After being out of commission for a few weeks due to vacation and company softball, I'm back with my Raw thoughts. Check back in about five minutes when the show starts.

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Dive Bar Shirt Club: Smith's Union

Well, I'm back from vacation (great time), and while I was gone I received my August Dive Bar Shirt Club t-shirt. And for the first time since I began my membership, I got a shirt from outside of the continental United States! That's right, I've infiltrated Hawaii! Strangely, the logo refers to the bar as "Smith Union's" while the description calls it "Smith's Union." I decided to go with the latter, because that's what my Internet search seems to prefer.

The oldest bar in Honolulu opened in 1934 on the edge of Chinatown down by the waterfront. It was the heart of the red-light district where big ships came in and unloaded a cargo of merchant seamen and sailors looking for love. Hotel Street was willing with cold beer, hot times and a large side order of sin. Today there are more tourists than longshoremen and respectable art and culture have generally replaced prostitutes and peep shows. But Smith's Union is still a legend all over the world and the perfect place to escape long lines and stupid prices. You can ride high on waves of foarm with the bell from the Mariposa and other weathered relics from a seafaring past. Tall tales grow longer by the minute. You're seduced by the green glow of tiki magic and persistent beat of the tides. Tune up your ukulele for this one. You never know what can happen when you slip between these fringes.

Dive Bar Shirt Club: http://www.divebarshirtclub.com/Default.asp

Dive Bar Shirt Club T-Shirt Gallery

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Punk & Cena

I'm about to head off to the beach for the week (vacation! Yay!) but before I left I thought I would update the blog one more time as we await Monday's Raw (which I can't guarantee I'll see) to find out the fallout to CM Punk's return.

More than anything, though, I'd like to discuss the final moments of last week's Raw and how CM Punk brings the absolute best out of John Cena. Cena, as the posterchild of the PG era (for better or worse) is often "forced" into one dimensional situations. He's the good guy and he does what's right. It works, as seen by his immense financial success. But for the vocal audience that requires something more, he often comes across as lame.

Yet throughout this Punk storyline, his character has don't some really interesting things. First, he defended Punk and essentially got him reinstated. However he wasn't quite pandering to the audience, as the next week he called Punk out on his hypocrisy. He noted that Punk claims to speak for the people, yet what he is planning on doing is very unfair to the fans. He wants to take the championship and walk away. At the PPV, he abandoned his usual spiel (salute, etc) and played it serious. And as the match neared its end, he showed much, much more aggression and frustration than we've ever seen before. He was noticeably bothered when he couldn't beat Punk, even yelling at the ref at various points. Yet when his "Get out of jail free" card presented itself with McMahon and Johnny Ace, he did the right thing and stopped them.

And then when he was going to be fired, Cena even played hardball. He didn't get sappy and talk about how he's going to miss the audience and he's going to spend time with his family. No, he said, "you're going to fire me? Fine, I'll just go to the competition. That'll show you!" It certainly gave him some edge.

Perhaps my favorite, though, was Cena's reaction to Punk's return. First, he handled it perfectly, legitimately seeming unsure of what's happening (at one point it looked like he even asked for a mic, unsuccessfully). Then when Punk came out, he wasn't angry. He wasn't angry. He wasn't upset. He seemed unsure and perhaps even unsettled. It wasn't a friend coming back, nor an enemy. It was almost as if, "He's back? What happens now?"

And of course, Punk's part in this cannot be ignored. During that epic promo, he outright admitted that he likes Cena. At the Money in the Bank match, he actually clapped for him during his entrance. And their confrontation at this past week's Raw, as well as the contract negotiation, can be described as "tense" more than "hostile." It was far more subdued and complex than what we're used to.

Truthfully, this is one of the more fun rivalries we've seen in a long, long time.

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Enjoy

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Lost: Never Before Seen Deleted Scene (Comic Con)

Over a year after the show has ended, Lost is still bringing the awesome. Check out this deleted scene from the season one finale, which should shed an early light on the mysteries we would come to discover:

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CM Punk Confronts WWE at Comic Con

Here's one video, where CM Punk disrupts the WWE presentation, asks a three part question, leaves, and Triple H responds. Enjoy:

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