5 Things We Loved This Week – Wk. of March 31, 2013

1. Build-A-Bear: Now with Pony Power!  This week, Build-A-Bear Workshops announced the addition of two new stuffed animals that children can choose from.  Beginning on April 1st, the iconic My Little Pony ponies “Pinkie Pie” and “Rainbow Dash” will be available. As 80’s kids, we are psyched about this new development… but who exactly is Build-A-Bear marketing these new toys to?  If they are trying to increase the number of “Bronies” who frequent their establishments, they are in luck.  But a Build-A-Bear Workshop full of thirty-year-old men with a passion for pastel ponies?  Probably not great for business.  For Bronies without kids, they are also available online.

2. Anyone else out there watching Cougar Town? No? Yea..us neither.  But if we did watch it, it would be for two reasons.  One, trying to decipher emotion from Courteney Cox’s “ageless” complexion.  Two, the head-scratcher romantic pairing of Laurie and Travis. Like a car wreck, we just can’t look away from the show because of them, no matter how much we want to. Busy Philipps plays Laurie, a 30-year-old hot mess who is best friends with Cox’s Jules.  Dan Byrd plays Travis, Jules’ 21-year-old son.  Mind you, this show is not in its first season, so when these two first started the flirtatious banter that instigated the whole “will they, won’t they” scenario, Travis was in high school.  But who didn’t enjoy the drunken love confession on what the writers made very sure to script on the character’s 21st birthday? We are all for this pairing’s age difference, since if the genders were reversed it would be a no-brainer.  But who didn’t cringe a little bit when overprotective mom Jules gave her promiscuous bestie advice on dating her only son? For a few seasons, it seemed to be a game of chicken between the writers and the fans. But, this week, it seems those crazy kids may finally be doing it, as Laurie bites the bullet and tells Travis how she feels.  And if they can’t make it work, what hope is there for the rest of us? (We’re thinking, still a lot.)

3. This week on Project Runway: Teams Edition, you really, really hate the judges. The challenge is unofficially called “Make Nina Garcia happy while you style Jordana Brewster AND make it editorial!” Unsurprisingly, everyone killed the word ‘editorial’ this week. We’ve got 5 people left, and the focus was really on Michelle and Patricia during the entire process, so immediately we thought okay, Patricia is going home. Michelle’s outfit — while it did defy Nina’s guidance of ‘no shirt and pants’ — was fun and could’ve been ‘editorial’. Let’s be honest, we’ve seen worse on the front page of Marie Claire. In the end, the judges decide that Michelle just didn’t try (did Zac Posen call it a throwaway look?), and Patricia is just so innovative but is cursed with bad partners who can’t sew.  End result: Patricia gets a pass to the next round, and Michelle gets a ‘Do or Die’ challenge.  Whatever that is. And scenes from next week’s episode don’t show any Michelle at all, but we’re onto those guys and their editing!

4. Something about The Walking Dead Finale. Okay, guys, we are still only on episode five of the third season… but apparently, in recent history, the “Spoiler Alert” has gone the way of chivalry.  Since Twitter has made checking your feed like navigating a spoiler-laden mine field, we now have time to mentally prepare for what is to come as we continue our way through the third season, which apparently ended this week with a finale shocker of which we are now aware. This show has made us into writhing balls of anxiety, and we are loving every minute of it. Last night, on our mission to catch up before we accidentally stumble upon more spoilers, we cried for Lori. Lori. Who we could not stand.  Actually, to be honest, keep the spoilers coming. we can’t take the suspense. Carol is still alive, right? Right?? 

5. Upfronts, by Bravo.  It’s that time again, when Andy Cohen gets all his little minions, aka ‘bravo-lebrities,’ together in one place. Yes, this includes all housewives, Persian Barbies, mactors and top chefs from each and every Bravo show, heavily intoxicated and ready to party. Is this heaven? Noticeably missing from this year’s upfronts were half of the RHONY’s cast, including Countess Luann de Lesseps, Sonja Morgan, and Aviva Drescher, sparking rumors that they will not be returning for next season. Also Kim Richards and Heather Dubrow were no shows, but Heather claims she had prior commitments with her family before the date was announced. Most importantly, Bravo Media has picked up 17 new unscripted series and renewed 18 returning shows including four new series that will premiere this summer. Let the drama begin!