a few surprises

Summer TV is not throwaway TV like it once was. Previous summers I had mostly SYTYCD to get me through the TV off-season, but this season I have quite a few other shows that have made SYTYCD a little less exciting. Instead, here are the shows I look forward to each week:

Love in the Wild
I'm almost embarrassed to admit how much I like this show, but then I think about how great it is and NO, I'm not embarrassed! It's fun, the format is so incredibly smart, and each week has surprises, drama, and fun! There are a few couples I am really rooting for: Mike and Samantha, Miles and Heather. The challenges have been really interesting. I was so touched that Jess took herself out of the running not to break up any of the other couples with connections. I hate Ben for being a jerk to Brandee. And the show has definitely put Costa Rica on my radar as a near future vacation spot. Well, maybe. I could do without Snake Island and log rafting down crocadile river...


The Glee Project
Maybe this is the show I should be embarrassed to admit enjoying... But you know what, I admit to liking Glee, so whatever! Too late now. What is this show about? A competition show where a bunch of people compete to get a seven-episode arc on the next season of Glee. The casting director for Glee is the main advisor for the show and Ryan Murphy gets the final say on who gets eliminated. The main criteria for making it through to the following week: if Ryan thinks he can write a character for the contestant.

This show is what makes Glee great without what makes Glee horrible. What is that, you might ask? It has the fun musical numbers; it has fun, varied, colorful characters/contestants. What does it not have? Contrived storylines. I enjoy the "quickfire" challenges each week, where each contestant has to sing one line in a song that embodies that week's challenge. This week's, for example, was Sexuality and singing "Like a Virgin." A different week had Dancability and singing "Bad Romance." I also like the mini-music videos that they have to put together before being potentially eliminated. There are a good number of the contestants that I could really see on Glee, and I hope the producers consider bringing back more than just the winner for the show in the future. One of my favorites was eliminated last week, Marissa, but there are still a few that I'm rooting for.

There are 5 contestants left:
- Hannah: Chubby redhead who annoys me in personality, but is a character you can see on the show... Except Zizes already exists.
- Sam: Laidback rocker with dreads. Has been a street performer in LA. He's good looking but kinda annoys me, I can't quite place why.
- Lindsay: Oddly one of my favorites though she's one of those perfect looking, perfect girls. She has more story behind her -- she was adopted! -- but tends to stick to the surface and is very Lea Michele in many ways.
- Damien: Pretty boy and Northern Irish. He has the "foreigner" thing going for him and he's very cute in a boyband kind of way. He'd be a good Finn replacement.
- Alex: A gay, male version of Mercedes. Crazy range in singing, but his personality is annoying and his commitment to the process is lacking at times. It's amazing how many people he's outlasted in my opinion, but he would make for an interesting character.


ABC Family: Switched at Birth & The Nine Lives of Chloe King
Jenn already blogged about both of these shows. I had been a fan of Switched at Birth from the beginning and echo all her praises-- the portrayal of deaf culture and Katie Leclerc. But I also find that I really enjoy the contrast of all the characters, even if Bay can get annoying at times. I didn't watch Chloe King until reading Jenn's review actually, and now I'm hooked. Ahh, so good.


What a great summer of TV. :) Now I need to catch up with SYTYCD because I'm running out of room on my DVR!