Chloe totally deserved first place, not the third she got. And she definitely should have beat second-place Maddie. Really, don't those judges have any idea what is going on backstage with the moms and Abby Lee? Don't they even watch the show?

This is what the conversation in my head sounds like as I watch Dance Moms. I'm not proud of having an inner voice that sometimes sounds like a teenage girl. In fact, I am fully disgusted with myself, but it is what it is.

Have you ever watched Dance Moms? It's this fascinating "reality" TV show about the Abby Lee Dance Company, the competition team dancers and their mothers (I like to refer to them as monsters).

First off, Abby Lee has to be one of the most unlikeable people on television. I love to hate her. She screams at her dancers (age 7 to 13), throws chairs, tells them they aren't good enough, threatens to cut their feet off, berates their mothers in front of them and pushes her dog around in a doggie stroller. What more is there to hate?

The girls are great dancers. The youngest, Mackenzie, is so cute I want to pinch her cheeks. They are all pretty innocent (although they don't look it when they are wearing costumes even a hooker wouldn't be caught on the street in). They are incredible-- learning a dance for competition in three days and winning 8 out of 10 times. They are really the victims in this whole scenario.

The moms are volatile. They have put up with Abby treating them and their daughters poorly so long, but they can't seem to break the tie. It's like they are drug addicts. They threaten to leave - often walking out - but come crawling back every time. I haven't figured out if it is because they like to win, or Abby's is the only dance studio in a few hundred miles. These women spend the time during rehearsals and lessons in a viewing box talking crap about Abby and one another while they sew costumes. The pressure builds and builds until finally one of them cracks. That's when the magic happens.

It's sick, I know. I have them on my DVR if you want to come over.

We watch a lot of TV. Our viewing habits are better now that we don't have cable or satellite. We used to troll the hundreds of channels for anything to watch, even lowering our standards for terrible sci-fi movies (sorry, Mom) or unimaginative reality shows.

Now that we only use our Roku, our choices are limited. This is a good thing, as I personally can never make a decision when there are more than 5-10 choices available to me. Jon will read this and laugh. In reality, I can't make a decision no matter how many choices there are (at least, a timely decision).

We subscribe to Hulu Plus and Netflix. There are a few shows that aren't available on Hulu, so we might watch those online, but this is rare. As the school year winds down, so do our favorite shows. Most of them have already aired their season finales. This is the time of year where we get a little despondent. Sure, there are a few good summer shows, but I really begin to miss seeing Temperance and Seely every week. I will pine away the summer waiting to here Rick Castle say something witty, watch Phil Dunfey be his goofy self and Nick Burkhardt making Portland safe from the extreme weirdos.

In the meantime, Jon and I have been watching movies on Netflix. Some of them have been recent movies, but most are older independent films that are a little obscure, or were never widely publicized. It has been fun discovering new films. Here are the films we have found so far- you can click on the links to see a description of the films on Internet Movie Database (IMDb).You might enjoy them, and if you're lucky, they might help you forget how much you miss Peter's face. (hint: he is in the film One Week)

The Mighty Macs G
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days NR (I would personally rate this PG)
The Great Buck Howard PG
Cold Comfort Farm PG
Winning Season  PG-13
My Life So Far  PG-13
One Week  NR (Suggested MPAA rating is PG-13)