we like TV

M: A Netflix Weekend

2012-01-29T23:31:00.005-05:00

Haha, and two more off of my Netflix queue! Only 19 more to go! :)

Prom: Even though Aimee Teergarden kind of annoys me, I rather enjoyed this movie and her in it as well. I appreciated that the actual prom part of it wasn't a big deal but it was more about the lead up and what prom meant for people than anything else. Quite predictable, but a really cute movie.

Sorority Wars: This was a made for TV movie, I guess, since it definitely had commercial breaks built into it. Lucy Hale stars, with Courtney Thorne Smith and some other girl who reminds me a lot of Ellen Page but isn't Ellen Page. It was another super predictable movie but made me happy in that feel good made-for-TV movie way.

M: Resolution 2012 Update

2012-01-29T00:15:00.001-05:00

2 movies off of my Netflix instant queue: It's a Boy Girl Thing and My Girlfriend's Boyfriend.

Both cheesy and pretty much exactly what I expected of them when I added them to the queue. The second one had a little bit of a twist at the end and the final scene was set to an Ingrid Michaelson song, so I'll say that of the boy girl, girl boy movie face off -- My Girlfriend's Boyfriend won by a small margin.

Not worth expanding on either of the two movies, really. The first one had the girl who played Seth's girlfriend on The OC when he wasn't dating Summer (the comic girl... Anna, I think?). The second one has the blind guy from Covert Affairs (also formerly of Popular) and Alyssa Milano.

A nice lazy Saturday evening. :)

Now to get a currently playing movie in before the month is over... I might concede defeat on that within the first month! :(

Update (2 hours later): 3 movies off my Netflix instant queue. Latest addition is Morning Glory starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, the friend from Mad About You, and the Jeff Goldblum. Maybe I'm just Rachel McAdams biased, but this was actually really good! Probably the only movie I might recommend from the three I watched today.

Well, 3 down... 21 more to go? :)

Check in Thursdays: Week 4

2012-01-26T23:59:00.000-05:00

Jennifer:
Watching... Catching up on Gossip Girl. I know, I know, I'm still watching this show? When they're rehashing the Blair/Chuck thing for the billionth time? Where no one seems to even be in college anymore and Nate, of all people, is the editor-in-chief of a magazine? What can I say, it's ridiculous but still generally entertaining...
Listening... Florence + the Machine - Shake It Out. Yes, it's a pop song!!
Reading... The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. My first time borrowing a Kindle book from the library! I can only have it for 14 days though, which is kind of a problem when you're reading 4 books at once like I am...

Mira:
Watching... anything and everything to get my DVR EMPTY. This week is the series finale of Chuck, so I'll be finishing that show off. I'm surprised that I stuck with it all the way through, especially since it was one of the shows we wouldn't watch every week but would play catch up halfway through the season. I have to say, I'm glad they're ending it and getting a nice cohesive ending (I hope) for the show, but they really have done a great job at mixing up the storylines while keeping pretty much the same cast of players throughout. Maybe this deserves its own post. Maybe! :)
Listening... to random mix CDs from my college years. One of my favorites had random songs like: "Can I Get Your Number" by No Authority (ridiculous song), "I'll Make a Man out of You" from the Mulan soundtrack, "Life in Mono" by Mono, "Run" by Collective Soul, the Sex and the City theme song... Lotsa random songs, but such a great reminder of silliness in the high school years. :)
Reading... absolutely nothing. I'm playing this game with my DVR where I try to keep it as close to empty as possible (got it down to 17% at one point last week -- it's back to 45% full now) before February sweeps start. Plus, I have some major knitting projects that I need to try to finish before April. So, both of those activities do not lend to being able to read. Maybe I should try some audiobooking; does that count as reading? I guess not... I'm even behind in my Us Weekly trash reading!

Sorry for the not so Thursday check in... (More like Saturday backdated to Thursday.) Completely my (Mira) fault! Jenn actually reminded me at least twice on Thursday to do it, and I did go in and start typing up my portion... but... then I forgot to finish it and it didn't get finished until Saturday. Oops!

Check in Thursdays: Week 3

2012-01-19T23:25:00.003-05:00

Jennifer:
Watching...Justified season 3. The hat is back!
Listening... Just started a new audiobook, The Penderwicks. It's a relatively new children's series but with an old-fashioned feel. Super cute.
Reading... Um, this is kind of embarrassing, but I'm reading a Christian dating book. It's called Boundaries in Dating. It's really not bad.

Mira:
Watching... the final 2 episodes of The X-Factor off of my DVR. Hahaha, I'm surprised that I did watch the show all the way through. Though, most importantly -- watching the RAVENS play this weekend for the AFC championship game! Go Ravens!!
Listening... Lady Antebellum. Kinda, sorta, well, not really. But I'm thinking about them a lot because their tickets went on pre-sale this week and I wanna go see them! The song I currently get super happy about when I hear it on the radio: "Just a Kiss."
Reading... sigh, still not reading any books but I started reading this week's Entertainment Weekly just because Revenge was on the cover. I actually almost never read the magazine, even though I receive it, well, weekly. :)

Check in Thursdays: Week 2

2012-01-12T23:25:00.001-05:00

Mira:
Watching... Chuck. We have been quite a few weeks behind on the show but we're catching up (only 2 left!) as the final season winds down.
Listening... well, need to listen to the Foster the People's Torches. Have had it for a bit and am going to the concert in June, so really ought to listen to it sometime soon! :)
Reading... sigh, not much. When I'm not knitting while watching TV these days, I'm on the Internet looking obsessively at Pinterest... Haha. Does that count as reading? 5 word blurbs?? :) Traveling this weekend so maybe I will have some books to report back with next week. Well, we'll see if they're books worth reporting back with. ;-)

Jennifer:
Watching... Downton Abbey, season 2, obvs. Still very much a Mary/Matthew shipper, although that Lavinia girl does seems nice. When did they decide to make Moseley a jerk though? And I cannot get behind Lady Cora because she still seems to think that O'Brien is "sweet."
Listening... The Shins - Simple Song. First new album in years!
Reading... Great House by Nicole Krauss. Shamefully this is like my third attempt to finish this book. It's not that I dislike it, it's just kind of slow going and I keep having to return it to the library. Definitely not as engaging as her last book (The History of Love) but it's still great writing.

Check in Thursdays: Week 1

2012-01-05T21:34:00.000-05:00

This year, we're going to use our weekly joint blog posts to keep track of what we're watching/listening/reading. Figured this was an easy way to keep our weekly posts going and also a great way to track our year!

Mira:
Watching... ABC Family. Returning: Switched at Birth, Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game. New: Jane by Design.
Listening... Adele's "Fire to the Rain." Hear it every now and then on the radio and really like it, along with all of her other singles. Maybe I should just get the entire season one of these days.
Read... Just finished over the holidays: Book 2 in Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus Series, Son of Neptune. As always, a fun read!

Jennifer:
Watching... Game of Thrones, season 1. The series is very faithful to the book and the casting was really spot-on, especially Daenerys, Tyrion, and Arya. I do wonder how different my experience would be not having read the book though...I'm generally a huge proponent of reading the source material before any TV/film adaptations but when you think about it, it's kind of just another form of spoilers?
Listening... Craig Finn - Rented Room
Reading... A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin..despite my musings about reading the book basically being spoilers for the TV series.

2012 Resolutions

2012-01-01T00:43:00.001-05:00

M: Can't start a new year without resolutions!

Mira: I'm going to try to quantify my goals this year...
1. Netflix: We currently have 120 items on our Watch Instantly queue. Decrease the queue by 20%. (Translation: Watch at least 24 things off of it in completion myself.)
2. Fiction books on bookshelf: Since I failed so miserably at achieving this achievement, I will make an effort in a way that may be achievable. For every new book purchased, make sure an old unread book is read. (Translation: do not increase the number of unread fiction books on shelf.)
3. Watch and review at least ONE newer release movie each month. (Possible movies: Sherlock Holmes/We Bought a Zoo (Jan); Mirror, Mirror/Hunger Games (Mar/Apr); The Five-Year Engagement (Apr/May); Snow White and the Huntsman (Jun); The Amazing Spider-Man (Jul); Step Up 4 (Jul/Aug); Les Miserables/The Hobbit (Dec)...)

Jennifer:
1. Read Anna Karenina, Middlemarch, and Atlas Shrugged. I've been meaning to read these for years now. I read 38 books last year, so surely I can finish these three! I got the first two for free on Kindle and I own the last already anyway.
2. Repeated from last year - catch up on Breaking Bad. I did watch the pilot last week!
3. Finish watching Angel. I own all 5 seasons on DVD, I'm a huge Joss Whedon fan, but for some reason I have never actually watched every episode. Ridiculous!

M: 2011 in review

2012-01-01T00:21:00.000-05:00

Resolutions:
1. Watch more movies: An improvement over 2010, I think!
2. Read un-read fiction books on my bookshelf: Utter failure; don't think I read a single one of the books on my bookshelf. Oops.
3. Blog more about non-TV things: Definitely an improvement. Our Thursday Top Threes probably were a bit of a cheat and we made a concerted effort not to be too TV-centric with those posts; but I did try to blog more about movies! :)

Favorite "we like tv"-related things from 2011 (not in any particular order):

Hulu Plus (and the Playstation 3 integration of Hulu Plus and Netflix)
Revenge
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Michael Fassbender (Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class)
Friday Night Lights
Mumford & Sons
Greek
"Born This Way" by Lady Gaga

Jenn -- We need to figure out what we're doing on Thursdays in 2012!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

Thursday Top Threes: Next year

2011-12-29T01:14:00.000-05:00

J: What are the top three things you are looking forward to in 2012?

Jennifer:
1. Downton Abbey - Season 2 starts January 8 and runs for 7 glorious weeks!
2. Game of Thrones - I managed to snag a cable promotional deal that includes HBO so I'll be able to catch up with season 1 on demand and watch season 2 in the spring too. Also I read the first book this year and I bought the next three to read on my new Kindle Touch!
3. The Hunger Games - It better be good! Not so happy about the casting of Peeta but who knows, I could be surprised.

Mira:
1. Switched at Birth: A surprise hit for all of us on this blog, it comes back early January! (It leads into Jane by Design, which I plan on checking out, too.)
2. The Hobbit: Of course, there's always that chance that it could get delayed from its December opening date and end up premiering in 2013... Hopefully not!
3. The Superbowl, cuz the Ravens will be playing in it! Short of that, I'd have to say the real number one for my list is also The Hunger Games but I'm trying not to get myself over-hyped about it!

J: Books of 2011

2011-12-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

So I turned 28 this year and my 10-year high school reunion was this fall (I skipped it) but for some reason I read more young adult novels than ever. I'm not quite sure what this says about me? I think this was kind of the year of easy reading, so maybe next year my book-related resolution will be to actually read the classics that I own but have never finished, i.e. Atlas Shrugged, Anna Karenina, Middlemarch...

Favorite Book, overall
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Favorite "serious" novel
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

Favorite Audiobook
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Favorite Young Adult book
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Favorite Fantasy book
The Magicians/The Magician King by Lev Grossman
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Favorite Non-fiction
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

Check out my complete list (ordered by date finished) after the jump.

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman
Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
One Day by David Nicholls
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
Jane and the Man of the Cloth by Stephanie Barron
Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
Paper Towns by John Green
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Likeness by Tana French
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Austenland by Shannon Hale
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Faithful Place by Tana French
Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
Locke & Key, Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill
Room by Emma Donoghue
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
The Magician King by Lev Grossman
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
Blankets by Craig Thompson
Matched by Ally Condie
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
*1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Audiobooks:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Hoot by Carl Hiassen
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Slam by Nick Hornby
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
*How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

*Expecting to finish by the end of the year!

J: Music of 2011

2011-12-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Earlier this year, I read this really great article on NPR called The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going To Miss Almost Everything, which talks about how consumers of TV, books, music, and movies generally fall into two categories: people who cull, and people who surrender. People who cull are quick and decisive about which things are worth their time, while people who surrender realize that there's just too much out there that they want to read/see/listen to and will never get to it all. I'm definitely in the latter category, especially when it comes to music. There is just way too much music out there and more and more of it is coming out all the time. At the end of every year I peruse various best of lists and realize how much I've never even heard of! But I surrender. Here's some of what I've been enjoying this year (even if it wasn't released this year):

Songs:
The Naked and Famous - Punching in a Dream
M83 - We Own the Sky
Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith - Not in Love
La Roux - In For the Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey remix)
James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream
Los Campesinos! - By Your Hand
Noah and the Whale - Life is Life
Sufjan Stevens - Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!
TV on the Radio - Will Do

Albums:
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Lykke Li - Youth Novels, Wounded Rhymes
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Bright Eyes - The People's Key
Death Cab for Cutie - Codes and Keys
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals, All Day
Freelance Whales - Weathervanes
Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Thursday Top Threes: things i missed out on

2011-12-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

M: Since Jenn has already started posting some 2011 in review posts, here's a top three question related -- what are 3 things you missed out on in 2011 that you hope to try out in the future?

Mira:
1. 50/50: I really wanted to see this movie and even almost went to see it by myself while traveling overseas, but did not get around to. Even if it was a cancer movie attempting humor... 2011 New Years Resolution Fail #1.
2. Game of Thrones: Mainly the books, but somewhat the TV show as well. I hear that it's supposed to be a complete series of 7, though, so I have figured I'll wait for the entire series to be published first before starting.
3. The Help: The movie came out this year with one of my favorite actresses of the year -- Emma Stone -- but I do want to read the book first. I heard both were great and I did really want to see the movie and had intended to, but as always did not get around to it. 2011 New Years Resolution Fail #2.

Jennifer: I ditto all of Mira's picks, but here are some other ones too.
1. Homeland: It kind of annoys me how many good shows are on premium cable these days. I love both Damian Lewis and Claire Danes so I really wanted to watch this but I'll have to wait for DVD I guess.
2. Drive: I don't even know what this is about but it got really good reviews and um, Ryan Gosling? Sold.
3. Breaking Bad: It's been on for a few years already but the critical acclaim is just as good, if not better, than it's ever been. If I ever re-activate my Netflix account it'll be to catch up.
Runner ups: Louie, Awkward (an MTV scripted series??)

J: Movies of 2011

2011-12-22T08:25:00.000-05:00

Um, I watched so few movies this year that I can just rank them all!

Released this year:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

2. Crazy, Stupid, Love

3. Jane Eyre

4. The Muppets

5. X-Men: First Class

6. Captain America: The First Avenger*

7. Thor*

8. Source Code

9. Limitless*

10. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (This was dreadful. Really really dreadful.)

*Watched on DVD/Blu-Ray

Movies I want to watch but who knows when I'll get to:

Cedar Rapids, Win Win, Water for Elephants, Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris, The Tree of Life, Beginners, Winnie the Pooh, Friends with Benefits, Another Earth, The Help, The Inbetweeners Movie, One Day, The Debt, Drive, Moneyball, 50/50, Margaret, The Ides of March, Footloose, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Like Crazy, Melancholia, The Descendants, Hugo, The Artist, A Dangerous Method, Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy, The Adventures of Tintin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Iron Lady

Terra Nova

2011-12-21T19:49:00.000-05:00

I was pleasantly surprised this season with Terra Nova. I thought it would be another cheesy scifi show with silly dinosaurs and a laughable plot. But it's actually a pretty well put together 1 hour sci-fi action drama that the whole family can watch. What really? Yes! It kinda reminds me of shows from way back when like Buck Rogers, Lost in Space, the orignal Battlestar and umm...Seaquest DSV. You wouldn't think they would make shows like that anymore... but surprisingly someone at Fox gave Terra Nova a chance.

The basic premise of the show is that Earth has gone to crap in the year 2149 and scientists have found a way to open a portal to another timeline in the pre-historic past where the Earth still is verdant and livable, and yes, filled with hungry dinos. A community called Terra Nova is created there...and of course there are baddies who just want to strip the place of all its resources to become rich in 2149.

The show is anchored by "Commander Taylor" played by Stephan Lang (recognizable as the bad military dude from the movie Avatar). But in Terra Nova he plays the strong, fatherly, leader of the Terra Nova community. The show centers around a family with a father who is a cop, a mom that's a doctor, a nerdy older sister, troublemaker brother and cutesy younger sister. Pretty standard family dynamics here, but the acting is pretty decent so it's watchable. The actress who plays the mom (Shelley Conn) is of Sri Lankan descent and is British, so that's kinda different. All in all a very likable cast.

The plot lines don't get too complicated but there was enough there to keep my interest. Which is saying a lot since I lose interest in shows very easily. Have no idea if they'll make another season but hope they do!

J: TV of 2011

2011-12-21T17:32:00.000-05:00

So the Golden Globe nominations were announced about a week ago and I came to the possibly sad realization that despite the fact that I have a TV blog and my DVR spent most of the year over 80% full, I watch precious few of the nominated shows (only Modern Family and New Girl in the Comedy/musical category, and none of the dramas). I guess I can put most of it on the fact that I don't have premium cable...and the rest on the fact that the Golden Globes are just dumb! Here's the TV that I thought was worth watching this year!

1. Downton Abbey - SO addictive. On the surface it seems like just your run-of-the-mill British costume drama but actually it's on steroids. I'm so frickin excited for season 2 to start on PBS in January!
2. Friday Night Lights - Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose! I was so excited that the show was finally recognized by the Emmys also!
3. The Vampire Diaries - The craziness continues. I don't know how the writers manage to keep pumping out story at the pace that they do. I was initially worried about how big a role they were giving Klaus this season but I shouldn't have been -- the way they've tied Stefan and even Tyler in the storyline has been surprising and as always, a whole lot of fun.
4. Parks and Recreation - There's just so much here -- Ron Swanson of course, Andy and April's wedding, Leslie and Ben finally getting together and then breaking up and getting back together, Entertainment 720, Lil Sebastian...it's smart and funny and maybe most importantly, really cheery and optimistic. Leslie Knope for America!
5. Community - Maybe one of the most daring and creative shows on TV because of the way it plays with structure. It doesn't always work -- sometimes it falls of the edge into complete wackadoo (I did not find Pierce's father to be funny in the least) -- but when it does, it's brilliant. They're still finding new and interesting dynamics among the characters (like the recently discovered shared past of Jeff and Shirley) and have found a good balance between all the weirdness and the sentimental stuff lying beneath the surface.
6. Justified - I still find it hard to explain why in the world I love this show about a US Marshal in Kentucky who wears a Stetson hat. But man was the show good this season. Mags Bennett was one of the freshest TV villains in years.
7. Doctor Who - I finally caught up to the Eleventh Doctor this year and he might actually be my favorite. And I totally want to be Amy Pond!
8. Cougar Town - It hasn't returned this season yet but in the spring it was one of my favorites. It's so silly but with a good dose of heart.
9. Love in the Wild - Every once in awhile a reality show just totally hooks me. Thanks Mira! And the top two couples, Samantha & Mike and Heather & Miles are still together! Take that, The Bachelor/ette!
10. Greek - I'm so happy that the show got to have a proper ending. Most people probably saw the show as pretty inconsequential but I was always really impressed with its continuity and attention to detail and just all the really fun characters it produced like Cappie and Rebecca and Katherine and Dale...I wish my own college experience had been that fun!

Thursday Top Threes: Live music!

2011-12-15T22:26:00.000-05:00

J: Name your top three live music performances that you've seen!

Jennifer:
1. Arcade Fire at Cornell University. I've mentioned this concert many times already. They were still an up-and-coming band at the time so they played this random "multipurpose" room in a crappy old dining hall/community center that's since been bulldozed. The stage was too small for them and all their instruments but they were AMAZING nonetheless. I was right off to the side and could practically touch Régine and Richard Reed Parry. So good!!
2. Modest Mouse at Central Park Summerstage. My original review!
3. Ted Leo + Pharmacists at Cornell (same place as the Arcade Fire show). There was this awesome club at Cornell called the Fanclub Collective that managed to get all these indie acts to play for really cheap. I wish I had known about them earlier and gone to more of their concerts! Ted Leo puts on such a great show. My friend and I even got a photo with him afterward!

Mira:
1. Green Day at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD -- My original review.
2. Keane at State Theater in Michigan -- I enjoyed this concert so much that I blogged about it, went to see them again at Merriweather with The Killers, and blogged about that as well!
3. Madonna at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV -- Got complimentary tickets at the casino cuz my aunt used to gamble that much. This concert was probably the most expensive concert I have ever attended in terms of ticket face-value (I think it was $375/ticket), and given the amount of production that goes into her concerts, it's not a big surprise. I'm not a huge Madonna fan but I've gotta admit that she put on a fabulous show. Almost enough to make me consider going to a Lady Gaga concert. Haha. Almost.

J: 2011 Resolutions - How Did I Do?

2011-12-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

Once again, back in January, we made some blog-related New Year's resolutions. Now that it's almost the end of the year, let's see how I did!

1. Keep track of the books I finish reading. And try to finish more books in general. I have a terrible habit of borrowing too many books from the library at once and then returning most without finishing them.
Well, I did keep track of all the books I read this year. (I used Goodreads.) I'll do another post with the complete list but I read 38 books this year and listened to 6 audiobooks (so far, there's still a few weeks left). As for the second part, given that I've never counted before, I don't know whether that's more or less than in the past...but I'm going to claim success on this anyway.

2. Start/catch up on at least some of the following TV shows: Doctor Who, Breaking Bad, The Pacific, The Wire, Treme.
I totally caught up with Doctor Who! Well, I haven't yet finished the current season, but still. I didn't touch any of the others though. So I guess technically I can claim success on this but really I don't feel good about it.

3. Tackle Netflix queue. Carried over from last year. I'm hopefully going to get a Blu-Ray with Netflix streaming sometime soon so perhaps that will help. I'm at 338 and adding more all the time...
FAIL. But not completely my fault! When Netflix stupidly split up their DVD and streaming plans, I cancelled DVDs, and then recently I put streaming on hold too and subscribed to Hulu Plus instead because I can't even keep up with current TV, never mind old shows on streaming (see previous resolution). Sooooo yeah. I won't be repeating this one next year, I think it's just kind of hopeless...

Fall TV: Second looks, Part 2

2011-12-11T16:27:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I started writing this blog like 2 months ago, but the problem was that I actually hadn't gotten around to giving some of these shows a second look, never mind writing about it. And um, I still haven't...and possibly won't.

Hart of Dixie - Predictable but cute. Lemon and Brick both grate but they have some moments of likability, especially around George. This doesn't seem like the type of show that will have them be antagonists forever but I am glad that Zoe is not a Rory Gilmore who instantly wins over everyone in town though. I'm sad that Nancy Travis had to leave the show (to go to Last Man Standing) though...she was a nice, sane grounding presence.
Status: Keeper.

Revenge - I know a lot of people (including my mom, of all people) are really loving this but I fell behind and just haven't really had the desire to catch up. The whole season is on Hulu Plus though, so I suppose if I'm ever bored...
Status: On the shelf.

Ringer - I tried, I really tried. The CW did give the show a full-season order but the few episodes I watched were just not good. Unless the buzz somehow becomes amazing, I think I'm done.
Status: Off the DVR.

Pan Am - I mean, I really genuinely liked the pilot. But then I just never watched another episode. And now apparently it's pretty much as good as cancelled so...yeah.
Status: Overcome by events.

Super Chefs vs. Top Chefs

2011-12-11T13:24:00.001-05:00

For the longest time, if you asked me what my favorite food competitive reality show on TV was, I'd have said Top Chef, no question. But after a strong All-Stars season, returning to the traditional format has actually felt a little tired. There are still a ton of chefs left so I don't want to speak too soon but no one is really impressing me so far. And surprisingly, I might be enjoying another food show more right now: Next Iron Chef. I hadn't even watched the last couple of seasons (and I don't watch Iron Chef America regularly either, I might add) but the cast and the new format has just been really fun. Let's check in with both!

Top Chef:

Bravo's motto seems to be that you can never have too much of a good thing so this season started off with two extra "audition" episodes. They started off with 29 chefs and had this odd bracketed elimination to narrow them down to the usual 16. I found this to be somewhat unfair...each of the three groups had different challenges and the judges handed out the chef coats as they went so the odds just seemed really stacked against the chefs in the last group. They also put a number of chefs "on the bubble" and put them through an additional challenge to fill the last few spots. I personally found these episodes to be pretty boring. Just too many chefs, too many dishes, and not a lot of reason to root for one chef over the other.

Once we got into the "real" competition, it did feel very much like just classic Top Chef, but I don't think anyone has really distinguished themselves yet. One new interesting thing that I do like though, is this "secret" side web competition called Last Chance Kitchen. Each chef eliminated from the main competition goes head-to-head against the winner of the previous week's installment and supposedly the last one standing will get to return and compete in the actual finale. Tom Colicchio himself hosts and judges. I'm not sure how this will affect the outcome of the season, if at all, but it's a fun little extra nugget.

The Next Iron Chef:

This season was dubbed the season of the "Super Chefs" and for good reason...Food Network did a pretty awesome job getting together a cast of already very recognizable TV chefs. These chefs have their own cooking shows, have competed on or judged other food reality shows, and have been challengers in Kitchen Stadium. The only possible WTF contestant was Spike Mendelsohn of Top Chef fame...but he was eliminated first anyway.

I very much like the format changes they made. Each episode now starts with the regular "Chairman's Challenge" (the most ridiculous thing about this show is how everyone from Alton Brown to the judges and competitors all defer to the Chairman who's really just a hilariously over-the-top actor...) which have themes such as improvisation, storytelling, risk, etc. and then the bottom two in that challenge have to complete in the "Secret Ingredient Showdown" which is basically a mini Iron Chef challenge--30 minutes to make one dish with the secret ingredient. I'm definitely a fan of this two-stage elimination, especially since the chefs are all so strong.

There are four chefs left standing: Michael Chiarello, Geoffrey Zakarian, Elizabeth Falkner, and Alex Guarnaschelli. I think either Zakarian or Falkner would make the best Iron Chefs...they're both super creative and can really execute. Chiarello was surprisingly kind of a beast on Top Chef Masters but I don't think Iron Chef needs another Italian specialist and honestly I find Guarnaschelli to just be kind of annoying.

Actually Top Chef Masters is probably a better show to compare to this one just based on the caliber of the chefs -- and Next Iron Chef definitely wins out. Masters was somehow really boring, maybe because the stakes just weren't as high? That was just a title, whereas this is, well, another job and probably growing recognition?

Thursday Top Threes: on stage

2011-12-08T23:32:00.000-05:00

M: Jenn and I went to the theater today, which inspired me with this week's question! What are your top three (non-Broadway-musical) stage productions that you've seen?

Jennifer:
1. New York City Ballet's The Nutcracker. Mira and I saw this together as kids! There's a reason this is such a holiday classic! I never did ballet but I was obsessed with this photo book A Very Young Dancer as a kid which was followed a young ballerina who had a part in the Nutcracker.
2. Cirque du Soleil. I've only seen two traveling shows (Ovo and Quidam) but the displays of human strength and flexibility and balance and skill is just incredible. I really want to see the permanent shows in Vegas -- I hear they're even better!
3. Mira and I just went to see a performance of Pride & Prejudice at the Round House Theatre here in Maryland tonight and it was so fun! There was this really cool rotating set piece that changed the scenes and so many of the actors were really spot on. They played up the humorous bits but kept all of the great quotes from the book.

Mira:
1. Cirque du Soleil's O, in Vegas, is hands down the most incredible stage production I have ever seen. If I hadn't been there watching it with my own eyes, I would never believe it possible to perform such stunts on stage! The stage, which revolved, changed levels, went from solid ground to full water pool -- craziness! Not even the drowsy music tempted me to sleep (I have fallen asleep during other stage productions... Cirque du Soleil Ka and Phantom of the Opera to name two), the acts were so amazing.
2. Jenn and I went to see Giselle at the Kennedy Center two years ago. I wasn't expecting all that much other than it being a ballet and one of the more famous ones. But what really impressed me was how through the movements and music I was able to follow and be immersed in a different kind of storytelling. In many ways, I found it easier to watch than some musicals where I needed to pay attention to lyrics to follow the storyline. It was beautiful, simple, and elegant; and makes me excited to go watch more ballet!
3. (Jenn, this will amuse you...) Stuy Sing! This was an annual production at Jenn's high school, Stuyvesant, where the different classes (senior, junior, sophomore/freshman) wrote, created, directed, acted, produced a play and competed with each other to win. I went to at least two years of it while I was in high school (not at Stuy). I remember the first year I went, when we were sophomores (I think), and the Junior class (I think) at the time won. It was a really cute performance of two islands that were gender separated and brought in cleverly rewritten lyrics to songs such as Twisted Sister's "We're Not Going to Take It." I thought it was a fun competition and I really enjoyed it; enough so that almost 13(ish?) years later I still remember it!

On a side note, stage productions I would love the opportunity to see: an opera, in particular Carmen; Shakespeare, in particular The Twelfth Night or Much Ado About Nothing.

Thursday Top Threes: Getting in the spirit

2011-12-01T22:39:00.000-05:00

J: What are your top three songs that get you in the holiday spirit?

Jennifer:
1. Silver Bells - New York City is the best during Christmastime! I don't really have a favorite version so here's a new one from She & Him.
2. Christmas Time is Here - Actually the whole Charlie Brown Christmas album is pretty great.
3. The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping - Bah humbug!

Mira: Funny, I was walking around Baltimore singing "Silver Bells" today. :D
1. I like classics, such as "The First Noel."
2. But a more modern one that I like includes "Sleigh Ride."
3. And, cuz I love Pachelbel's Canon, "Christmas Canon" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Thursday Top Threes: Addicted

2011-11-25T23:05:00.000-05:00

M: Every once in a while I come across a tv show/book/song that I quickly get ridiculously addicted to. Name your top three!

Mira:
1. Korean Dramas: When I come across a fun one with likable characters, there's no stopping me on my rampage to finish the series. Most recently I watched one called You're Beautiful (available on Hulu) -- started on Sunday, 13 November, finished on Thursday, 17 November. 16 episodes, each over one hour.
2. Hunger Games: I waited until the final book of the series, Mockingjay, was released before starting the full series. Purchased all 3 while traveling in Italy, started it at the Roma airport on the way back home. Got through 2.67 of the 3 books by the time I landed in Baltimore. It was ridiculous; no wait, the books were simply ridiculously good. I think it's time to reread them. :)
3. Alias, seasons 1 and 2: This show got really bad the longer it dragged out, but it started SO strong. I started watching the show well after the 2nd season had already started and I think I went through the first season of episodes so quickly to catch up. In fact, the only way I could stop my spree of watching 4+ episodes in one sitting was by stopping in the middle of the episodes; if I watched to the end of an epeisode, I would automatically start the next episode because of the cliffhangers at the end of each episode!

Jennifer:
1. Downton Abbey: So so good. Series 2 has already aired in the UK but isn't coming to the States until January and I CANNOT WAIT!!! On first glance it seems like your standard British costume drama but it's just so...juicy. Love it!
2. Skins (original British version): I started off not really being sure what to think of it, but I ended up just devouring episode after episode. Even when the characters were incredibly frustrating and the storylines were repetitive and stupid, there was still just something about this show that kept me hooked.
3. Harry Potter: Obvious choice but the first three books had already been out by the time I got into it and I sped through them in like a week. The last book was the only one I've ever gone to buy the day it came out.

[Mira: Sorry again for the delayed publishing -- my fault yet again. I had started drafting the post early but then of course with the Thanksgiving festivities I completely forgot to FINISH the post on Thursday. Must do better. Only a few weeks left of Thursday Top Threes!]

Thursday Top Threes: Blogging

2011-11-15T10:41:00.001-05:00

J: It's been a busy fall and our blog output has been pretty low. What are the top three things that you've been wanting to blog about but haven't gotten to? For our readers, what do you wish we had covered?

Jennifer:
1. The Magicians and The Magician King by Lev Grossman. Influenced by the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter, but for adults. It's darker and grittier but still a lot of fun.
2. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. This jumped pretty high on my list of all-time favorite children's books. (Actually I listened to it on audiobook!) It's part mystery, part science fiction and key elements include Manhattan, a game show, and A Wrinkle in Time. No wonder I loved it!
3. The Sing-off. I'm obsessed with Pentatonix. I can't get over that there's only 5 people in the group. Their bass and percussion are insanely good. They better win!!

Mira:
1. A few TV shows that hooked me last season: The Good Wife and Hawaii Five-O. They're both shows on my must watch as soon as possible list (vs. sits on my DVR for weeks list; or gets watched simply to make room for more recordings list).
2. The X-Factor: I'm a few weeks behind on this show right now, but I have a few favorites that truly impress me each week that I watch it -- in particular, Drew!
3. Catch up movies: Actually most catch up movies for me are movies I got to watch on plane rides. I don't get to the movie theater all that often, so when I have super duper long international flights with the individual media centers available, I end up watching movies the ENTIRE flight. Most recently, I referenced a few I watched in a previous post: Midnight in Paris, Something Borrowed, and Bridesmaids. I had meant to blog about them and then never got around to it.

Sorry for the day late Thursday Talk post -- I (Mira) obviously need a weekly reminder. Oops!!!

Thursday Top Threes: Hobbies

2011-11-10T20:35:00.001-05:00

M: Top three most interesting hobbies from books, movies, or TV.

Jennifer:
1. Building rockets from October Sky. Engineering FTW! (Actually, even though I'm an engineer I've never had many engineering-related hobbies. But I love this movie!)
2. Fashion design from Gossip Girl. Hated Jenny (so glad she's off the show) and I wasn't into her designs or personal style on the show but fashion design is a pretty cool hobby. I really want to learn how to use a sewing machine!
3. Roller derby from Whip It! Actually I don't understand roller derby and I don't think I'd want to do it, but the movie makes it look really fun.

Mira: Ooh, I love Jenn's number 3 answer!
1. Kono on Hawaii Five-0: Surfing, which isn't surprising for a show in Hawaii... I guess Blue Crush could be cited here, too, but I know I could never do it but it seems like such an interesting culture and outlet.
2. Cliff from Bring It On: Song writing. There are probably a ton of characters I can attribute that to, but I enjoyed his goofy lyrics and dorky commitment to it. And it was what made his character special. :)
3. Clare from Time Traveler's Wife: Paper making, which is more her career than a hobby, but something that sounds fascinating in general for anyone to do. How does one even get into doing that?

Thursday Top Threes: Misfits

2011-11-03T20:54:00.004-04:00

J: Top three characters that just don't belong on the TV show they're on.

Jennifer
1. Ann Perkins on Parks and Recreation. I really love Rashida Jones and think she's actually really funny but the show just doesn't really know what to do with her: one of the few flaws in an otherwise fantastic show that's really firing on all cylinders this season.
2. Matt on The Vampire Diaries. I guess they've tried to get him more into things this season with the ghost storyline and whatnot but poor guy just isn't that interesting. I'm still secretly a Matt/Caroline shipper though...Tyler is freaking me out.
3. Drew on Parenthood. It's not so much that he doesn't belong as that the show often forgets that he exists.
Bonus: Jai on Covert Affairs. Sometimes the character doesn't even really seem like he wants to be there.

Mira:
1. Zooey Deschanel on New Girl. She has a little too much personality given the extreme lack of personality of the rest of the characters. I think she needs to be on a different show, that's better.
2. Puck on Glee. I'm not quite sure why they dropped Trouty Mouth this season and kept Puck on with the lamest storylines ever.
3. April on Gilmore Girls. The show would have been better had she never been in it. :)

Thursday Top Threes: Crossover couples

2011-10-27T22:30:00.001-04:00

M: Which characters on different shows/movies/books would you love to see together? (Thanks to Burkie for the question!!)

Jennifer: The possibilities are kind of overwhelming so I'm sticking to TV.
1. Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls) and Dan Humphrey (Gossip Girl).
2. Ted (How I Met Your Mother) and Megan (Privileged) - This is kind of a cheat because Joanna Garcia actually was on HIMYM as a love interest for Ted in one episode but honestly, it seems like there aren't a lot of TV actresses of appropriate age left that haven't been love interests for Ted...
3. Laurie (Cougar Town) and Ben (Parks and Recreation).

Mira: Since Jenn stuck to TV, I did, too! I focused on shows that I felt needed ships or the character could have done better...
1. Jared (Pretender), genius and capable of taking on any job without being noticed, and Sydney Bristow (Alias), super spy. Their kids would kick total ass.
2. Tristan (Gilmore Girls), sarcastic but vulnerable pretty boy, and Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars), sarcastic but vulnerable teenaged detective. He says jerk things to protect an insecure interior; she calls it as she sees it. Tristan may be a bit like Logan on VM except prettier and less douche-y.
3. Jess (The New Girl), Zooey Deschanel playing super dorky but gorgeous, and Ted (How I Met Your Mother), normal but dorky guy who takes a really long time telling his kids about how he met their mother. I think this could be a possibility!!

Thursday Top Threes: Currently listening to...

2011-10-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

J: Keeping it simple this week. What are your current top three favorite songs?

Jennifer: I've been on an electronic music kick lately!
1. M83 - We Own the Sky. M83 just came out with a new album but this song is from their last one. Love the video too!
2. Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith - Not in Love. I think I've been listening to this song once a day for the last month...
3. Lykke Li - Tonight. I will fully admit that I first heard this song on So You Think You Can Dance...

Mira: Unlike Jenn, I'm pretty much all pop. :)

1. Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall. I hated them for "Clocks" but "Viva la Vida" turned me around and I love this song in the same exact way..
2. Bad Meets Evil featuring Bruno Mars and Eminem - Lighters. I like songs with lotsa different elements to them.
3. Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks. Something very... chill about this song.

Thursday Top Threes: Cars!

2011-10-13T17:00:00.000-04:00

B: i'm filling in for mira again, so i decided to play my Man Card. what are your favorite cars from film?

burkie:
1. The Batmobile. the movie versions were interesting, but this will always be the batmobile for me.
2. The Mirthmobile. okay, maybe not man card worthy, but certainly memorable.
3. The red ferrari in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Not so much the car itself, but how it was used in the movie.
i can think of about a hundred honorable mentions; it was tough to narrow this down to three, and i'm not even a car guy!

Jennifer: Yikes, I really do not pay attention to cars...
1. The DeLorean from Back to the Future. Obvs.
2. The yellow VW bus from Little Miss Sunshine.
3. Sebastian's Jaguar from Cruel Intentions. Um, I remember Reese Witherspoon driving away in it at the end of the movie.

Fall TV: Second looks, Part 1

2011-10-09T17:18:00.000-04:00

I usually like to watch at least two episodes of a new show before really passing judgement on it. Pilots need to do a lot in terms of introducing the world and the characters and the tone of the show and isn't always a good indicator of what the show is going to be week in and week out. So here's how I feel about this fall's crop of new shows now that we're a few weeks in.

2 Broke Girls - Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs have really great chemistry and I think watching the relationship between Max and Caroline develop will be really fun. The problem is that the rest of the show is kind of awful. The supporting characters are all caricatures, almost bordering on offensive, and the jokes are...bad. They're mean, or dated, or just stupid. I like that there's a bit of a trajectory for the show with the cupcake business but even that concept feels a bit tired.
Status: On notice.

New Girl - Despite a cast member change (Coach is out, Winston is in), the show we saw in the second and third episodes was pretty consistent with what we saw in the pilot. Whether you like this show is still basically dependent on whether you like Jess (and Zooey Deschanel) or not. If you do, there's really a lot to like here. Jess is definitely wacky but there are enough moments where she pulls it back and is more normal. I'm liking Nick a lot (I was a fan of the actor from that odd movie Paper Heart) and I think they're figuring out Schmidt more and more.
Status: Definite keeper.

Suburgatory - One of the most pleasant surprises of the season. Silly but smart and Jane Levy and Jeremy Sisto are really great. A bonus: Alan Tudyk (of Firefly and Serenity) is hilarious as the ridiculously tanned and chipper Noah.
Status: Definite keeper.

The Secret Circle - I called the pilot "slick" and the show has definitely kept that up. I like the characters and the episodes have great pacing and effects and all that but the mythology is already tripping me up. I guess the characters are still figuring things out on their own as well but I'm so confused about what the parents know and what their intentions are and when things happened to them. Oh, and Cassie's mom graduated high school in 1995?? So basically all the teens were born when their parents were 18? I hope that the writers have this stuff figured out. Oh, and I really don't care about Melissa/Nick, and the whole Cassie-Adam-Diana love triangle is just kinda dreadful.
Status: Keeper, for now.

Thursday Top Threes: Brought back to life

2011-10-06T23:10:00.002-04:00

J: The Internet has been buzzing yet again about the possibility of an Arrested Development movie. I'm doubtful about whether this will actually happen but it leads to my question for this week: what are your top three defunct TV shows that you would love to come back in a feature film?

Jennifer: (I guess I am just answering my own question this week...)
1. The Nine Lives of Chloe King. Mira and I were pretty into this show and were really bummed when it was cancelled. I feel like this story would have been really fun as an ABCFamily original movie but unfortunately that's never going to happen because the series failed.
2. Pushing Daisies - Did this show get a real ending? I think that the setting and visual style of this show would translate really well to a movie.
3. Lone Star - One of the most promising pilots last year that crashed and burned FAST. People were questioning its long-term viability as a series, probably because the premise was really just better suited for a movie.

Fall TV: Suburgatory

2011-09-30T21:01:00.001-04:00

My first thought on hearing about this show: awful title. My second thought: Jeremy Sisto is old enough to be playing the father of a 16-year-old?? Man, I am getting old.

Anyway, my third thought: the premise didn't necessarily make sense to me...a single father finds condoms in his teenage daughter's room and decides that they need to move out of New York City to the suburbs? Like kids in the suburbs don't have sex? And the suburb they move to isn't like any suburb I've lived in...it's kinda Real Housewives of New Jersey where people are really tan and wear ridiculous clothes.

But all that aside, this was actually pretty funny. Jane Levy and Jeremy Sisto have good chemistry and comic timing as Tessa and her dad George, and the supporting cast (including Cheryl Hines) are almost caricatures but not quite. Unexpected, but there's definitely potential here.

Fall TV: Pan Am

2011-09-30T20:23:00.001-04:00

Two network shows this fall appear to be trying to ride the coattails of Mad Men's success: NBC's The Playboy Club and ABC's Pan Am. Based partially on the subject matter and partially on bad reviews, I didn't even bother checking out the former but I did watch the latter and I was actually pleasantly surprised.

Judging by the pilot, this is a very different show from Mad Men. Mad Men has this rather brooding, contemplative and sometimes even sinister atmosphere to it while Pan Am starts off with, well, quite a lot of cheery fun. We are introduced to four young, beautiful stewardesses of the erstwhile airline, and while of course there are the indignities of being a female in that era (weigh ins, girdles, etc) and various complications in their lives (mainly romantic), they love their jobs and the opportunity to be independent and travel the world in glamorous fashion.

The biggest name in the cast is Christina Ricci, who plays Maggie, a beatnik type, but interestingly she had probably the smallest part in the first episode. Kelli Garner (who I liked in that show My Generation from last season that was awful but really watchable) is Kate, who is actually a spy on the side! And I didn't recognize the actresses playing the other two women, Laura (Kate's sister who was literally a runaway bride) and Collette (French? Or French-Canadian?) but they were both pretty likable as well. There are some men on this show, too, Mike Vogel as an optimistic, good-hearted pilot, and Michael Mosely as his womanizing copilot.

I'm not that clear on where the show is going to go moving forward -- it has some soapy elements but the premiere was kind of...feel-good, which is something kind of rare in dramas these days. While the show will clearly be incorporating some real-life history (there was this odd flashback of some of the crew rescuing people from the Bay of Pigs), I kind of doubt it'll be getting too gritty. Everything is pretty...glossy. But I don't necessarily have a problem with that, so I'm definitely interested to see how things progress.

Thursday Top Threes: Conspiracy Theory

2011-09-29T09:02:00.000-04:00

burkie (filling in for mira this week): conspiracy stories are big business in books, movies, and TV (not to mention journalism). what are your top three?

burkie:
1. The Manchurian Candidate - the original film starring frank sinatra, laurence harvey, and angela lansbury. thrilling stuff. caught some of the remake with denzel washington on TV once, but it didn't come close.
2. L.A. Confidential - conspiracy plus noir, so you know i like it. a great cast (russell crowe, guy pierce, and kevin spacey) and superbly directed. one of my all-time favorite films.
3. The Da Vinci Code - the novel by dan brown. although i enjoyed Angels & Demons more from a story perspective, the sheer scope & magnitude of the conspiracy in The Da Vinci Code is fascinating.
honorable mention: The Chancellor Manuscript by Robert Ludlum. not his best-known novel, but i love the conspiracy that he weaves around the death of j. edgar hoover.

Jennifer:
1. The X-files- Um, I watched all 9 seasons (plus 2 feature films) of this show and I can't really explain the conspiracy or how things ended up. But I did really like Cigarette Smoking Man and Krycek and the Lone Gunmen and all that stuff throughout the course of the series.
2. North by Northwest - Perhaps because conspiracy stories are usually twisty and confusing but I don't remember many details about any of my top three. I need to rewatch this...
3. The 39 Steps - I actually only watched the recent BBC version of this with Rupert Penry-Jones which supposedly paled in comparison to the Hitchcock version but I really liked the story. I'll definitely have to watch the Hitchcock film sometime.

Fall TV: Hart of Dixie

2011-09-28T19:38:00.004-04:00

I'm a fan of Rachel Bilson from her days as Summer Roberts on The OC and her new show, Hart of Dixie has a nice old-school WB feel, despite it being from Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (who kind of pioneered the move away from those shows with the aforementioned OC and Gossip Girl). I'm not sure if there's really an audience for this show anymore (similar feeling Privileged and, at least initially, Life Unexpected, didn't last very long) but I rather liked it.

Bilson plays Zoe Hart, a rising star surgeon who is rejected from her desired NYC cardiothoracic fellowship because she's supposedly too cold and impersonal with her patients. Her plans foiled, she accepts a job as a general practitioner in small town Bluebell, Alabama. When she arrives, she discovers that the man who offered her the job has passed away and left her his half of the practice. (The other half, Dr. Breeland, is not so welcoming.) After some initial mishaps, an emergency baby delivery (of course), and a revelation that ties Zoe to the town in a way she never expected, Dr. Hart is in Bluebell to stay.

Yeah, it all sounds kind of cheesy and predictable. But Bilson is charming (even though she's really stretching credibility as a cold, detached Cristina Yang type) and so is Scott Porter (Jason Street from Friday Night Lights) as a lawyer returned to his hometown to marry his childhood sweetheart, the ridiculously named Lemon Breeland (played by Jaime King, doing her usual Jamie King thing). Also in the cast is Cress Williams (also from FNL, but in a very different role) as former football player and town mayor.

I'm glad that the CW isn't just making teen shows anymore and I think this may have the potential to become a Gilmore Girls-esque quirky small town show. And hopefully Schwartz and Savage have enough clout with the network that they won't get pressured to "spice things up" aka run the show into the ground...

The Sing-Off: season 3, week 2

2011-09-27T10:32:00.002-04:00

Seriously, The Sing-Off would get a little more respect from me if it stopped trying to blatantly steal Glee's thunder. First, to announce itself as starting a musical movement in America? This TV trend is definitely thanks to Glee, which found success, in my opinion, partly due to American Idol watchers. Then, there's the thing of The Sing-Off's group numbers two weeks in a row-- both songs highlighted in last season's Glee and used in The Glee Project as well! "Raise Your Glass" performed by The Warblers and "Sing" sung by the New Directions. Sigh. The Sing-Off in its own right has so much going for it but these choices make it impossible not to draw these riding-on-the-coattail-of-Glee's-success conclusions.

Now onto my thoughts about this week's 8 groups...

Pack One:

Dartmouth Aires: (performing "Higher Ground") This group amused me, from their personality to their outfits. You can tell that they're totally having a blast! I think it's funny that the groups are each given a color to differentiate in their first week of performances and the Aires chose green and orange! Haha. All the way to their socks and shoes.
Pentatonix: (performing "E.T.") This was a really interesting arrangement. Their bass and effects were ridiculously awesome. I was worried cuz the groups who try to do something dance-y often give performances that are pretty disastrous but this group of FIVE pulled it off!
Messiah's Men: (performing some gospel song) I think it's awesome that they got a group of refugees who banded together through acapella to be on the show. These men were so inspiring. They don't have the wow factor of some of the other performances but they have such a story. Plus it gives you a warm and fuzzy happy feeling to watch and listen to them perform.
Two groups of five in the first pack! Sonos (performing "Wicked Game"). Apparently they normally perform using effects pedals--Ingrid (Michaelson) does that! I wouldn't mind seeing Sonos in concert but I didn't think they were dynamic enough to make it out of the first pack. Great sound but there was very little on the performance side.

Surprisingly, the judges chose Messiah's Men to leave this week. (No more curse of performing second in your pack, though!) :(

Pack Two:

The Collective (performing "Rolling in the Deep"). Their lead singer is the one I didn't like in the full ensemble number. I also felt like there was too much going on in this number. This group felt less cohesive than the other groups for me.
Soul'd Out (performing "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"): What horrible outfits the girls were wearing. Cuz there were so many of them (a group of 16!), I really thought it was hard for the leads to pop. Plus the leads had good voices but not great, commanding voices like some of the other lead vocalists in the other groups. They did have some great harmonies together, though.
North Shore (performing "Runaround Sue"): A doowop group and they were so cute! They finally brought the energy the second half of the episode was sorely missing!
Deltones (performing "Feels Like Home") The group supported their lead vocalist so perfectly in this number. And the lead vocalist had one of the strongest lead vocals in this pack. With the weak performance by the first two groups, I definitely thought they were safe.

Oddly the Collective was saved before Deltones in this pack, but ultimately the judges sent home Soul'd Out. (And the curse of performing second in the pack returns!)

Once again while watching this week's group of eight, I was wondering how the packs of four were determined? The first two of the final pack were weaker than any of the groups in the first pack in this episode or the last pack in the first week's episode! I definitely would have sent home The Collective before Messiah's Men or Cat's Pajamas, personally. Oh well. I'm not sure I have any strong favorites, but I am looking forward to some fun musical performances!!

Thursday Top Threes: Food!

2011-09-22T22:26:00.000-04:00

J: Stole this topic from my favorite podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour -- what are your top three favorite movies about food or featuring food?

Mira: Stopping by cuz I can. And I LOVE this question!
1. No Reservations: Loved this, and made me wanna eat everything they were making.
2. Simply Irresistable: A silly movie, but so likable.
3. Chicken Run: It's probably extremely horrible that I put this on the list... but... I remember still watching this in the movie theater and the movie making me really crave chicken pot pie. Why is this so terrible, you ask? Well, it's a movie about chickens trying to run away from people who had created this machine where you stuck the chicken in and out popped a chicken pot pie.
Honorable mention: Waitress for the pies, if only I liked pie more.
Need to watch: Ratatouille, Julie & Julia, Chocolat, Tortilla Soup.
I think I know at least one, if not two, of Burkie's answers. :)

Jennifer: My answers are pretty standard...
1. Big Night: I can still picture that crazy timpano. Love Stanley Tucci!
2. Eat Drink Man Woman: Mmmm Chinese food.
3. Julie & Julia: The Julie parts of the movie kind of grated but all the scenes with Meryl Streep as Julia Child eating were hilarious and made me really really hungry. And Stanley Tucci again!
Honorable mention: The movie isn't about food, but I love the scenes in Sabrina at the culinary school in Paris =)

Fall TV: airplane previews

2011-09-22T09:52:00.001-04:00

So, my favorite thing about flying internationally is the personalized entertainment systems that allow you to choose from tons of movies to watch. Except for when the airlines don't have this luxury available; then there's nothing nice about flying internationally -- it's just long, uncomfortable, and your sleep schedule gets all screwed up.

On a recent flight, I got lucky and one of my many legs had my favorite personalized entertainment system and believe me, I made use of it. I watched Something Borrowed (fun enough), Midnight in Paris (really enjoyed it and thought-provoking in the Woody Allen way), Bridesmaids (fun!), Arthur (not horrible), and two sneak season premiers: Revenge and Once Upon a Time! I have no idea why they were available on the flight, but since they're on my list of shows I plan to watch this fall, I took full advantage of the opportunity! At this point Revenge has already aired, but Once Upon a Time won't premier for another month... Here are a few of my thoughts on both premiers!

[Incidentally, the funniest part of my movie watching experience is that the 40- or 50-something Asian American man sitting next to me on the plane watched pretty much all the same movies as me during this flight, with the exception of Arthur I think. Every time I glanced over at his screen, he was watching the SAME MOVIE AS ME.]

Revenge
So, as I blogged previously, my knowledge of this show was minimal and my expectations were low. I was definitely wrong to assume this would just be another run of the mill drama -- I'm hooked! The show drew me in from the opening scene and as we watched the complex relationships between all the characters unfold, I was impressed! It was everything Ringer failed to be; it didn't fall into the trap of being a pilot that needed to set up a story. It accomplished all that but it really unveiled the story beautifully and everything about it was just fantastic!

Short synopsis: Emily Thorne (born Amanda Clarke) has returned to the Hamptons to enact revenge on the families that helped destroy her father and thus her childhood. From her father's lover, the wife and queen of the Hamptons, Victoria Grayson, to his secretary Lydia Davis, who was having an affair with Victoria's husband, Conrad. Additionally, the story starts with Emily's engagement party to Victoria and Conrad's son, Daniel, who is shortly found murdered on the beach. If that doesn't build a complicated enough social network, Amanda's best friend as a child, Jack Porter still lives in the area with a boat named after Amanda; and she's able to afford this Hampton's lifestyle due to the success of a business partner of her father's.

Yeah it's complicated, there are a lot of characters and even more storylines accompanying each of the characters and their relationships with each other. But despite ALL that craziness, it was laid out beautifully in the pilot. I'm excited to see where this show goes and I'm already rooting for Amanda and Jack! :)

Once Upon a Time
I was super excited about this show, as evidenced in a previous post. Fairy Tales, Ginnifer Goodwin (I'm not sure why, but I really like her), and well, that's all I needed to be really excited. I was less excited about Jennifer Morrison (better known as Cameron from House), but you know what? I liked her in this show! I was worried that my high expectations would lead to disappointment, but it did not. If anything, I am even more excited to see where this show goes; unfortunately, I have to wait another MONTH before they even air the episode I already watch.... meaning 5 weeks before another new episode. Sigh.

Synopsis (ignore this if you want to be surprised by the premier): Snow White and her Prince have their happily ever after only to have it threatened by the evil stepmother. The kingdom discovers that the only way to save it is through the child of Snow White and the Prince who is placed in a special closet for safekeeping (the evil people were attacking). This child (a daughter) grows up in normal, non-fairy tale world and has a child of her own who she gives up for adoption at birth because she's so screwed up herself from not having had any parents. The next generation child is adopted and raised in the town where all the fairy tale people ended up after the evil attack, having forgotten their true identities. Now the previous generation child needs to go and save fairy tale land. Following all that? :)

Basically, fairy tale world existed but it got melded into regular world and now Snow White's child needs to go and save fairy tale world and bring the happily ever after back. I loved how the fairy tale was shared and I thought the cast was all perfectly chosen to play the parts. There's so much more to unravel and so much potential with where this show can go -- I'm really excited! And really hating that I have to wait another five weeks...

Fall TV: two cute premiers

2011-09-20T19:28:00.000-04:00

New Girl

I watched the sneak peek premier that was available on fox.com for whatever reason. The actual TV premier is tonight! The show was everything I expected it to be, mostly because the first episode was pretty much 40% already shown in all the promos for the show. Sort of like how Modern Family started out. In any case, if you were wondering if Zooey was going to be as cute as ever -- she is. If you were wondering if the characters were going to be amusing -- they are. If you were wondering if this show has high potential for success-- it does. Now I need to see some new material!

Oh yeah, for anyone not in the know -- since Jenn does this for all new shows -- a short synopsis. Zooey Deschanel plays Jessica, a teacher who recently walked in on her boyfriend cheating on her. Though Zooey is gorgeous, somehow she always chooses to play quirky characters and Jessica's quirk is that she's nerdy in the way that would get skinny boys picked on and thrown in lockers. Anyway, she finds a new place to live with 3 guys: Coach a trainer (who apparently only was in the pilot) soon to be Winston a professional basketball player, Nick who is still nursing a broken heart from a breakup 6 months earlier, and Schmidt who plays a guy who tries to hard and thus is forced to pay up to the "douchebag jar" on a regular basis.

All I can do is hope that this show can find a strong direction that keeps us watchers hooked. I love Zooey and I really want her to stay on TV! :)

2 Broke Girls

This show had a decidedly sitcom feeling to it, which is hard for me to get past sometimes.Still, it has some witty dialogue, especially Kat Dennings' character, Max. Additionally, it didn't try to draw out storylines too much -- lots happened quickly: Max realizing the despair of Caroline's (the other broke girl) new life and feeling sorry for her; Caroline meeting Max's hot boyfriend, Max dumping the hot boyfriend because he's a man-slut. I think that the sarcastic but soft-hearted nature of Max is well paired with the ditzy but very smart nature of Caroline. Hopefully the show will find more to develop, but the first episode set everything up well...

So yeah, what the show is about: There are two girls, one who was always broke and working two jobs as a waitress and a nanny for a rich yuppie family with twins, and one who's father was just convicted of a ponzi scheme thus freezing all of the family's assets. The formerly rich one gets a job at the diner in Brooklyn because none of her upper east side friends would ever catch her there and ends up moving in with the always poor one. The two together plan on trying to save their money to open a cupcake shop, with the always poor one baking and the formerly rich one managing the business with her Wharton MBA. At the end of episode 1 they have saved $327 toward the $250,000 they need.

The Sing-Off: It's back!

2011-09-20T08:45:00.003-04:00

And of course I'm blogging about it... :) I'm surprised at how quickly NBC got the episode onto the website for viewing; fortunately that meant I got to catch up right away! Week 1 showcased 8 out of the 16 total groups. The 8 groups were split up and one group was eliminated of each group of 4, leaving 6 groups into the next round. Next week will showcase the remaining 8 groups. Here were my thoughts on the groups that performed last night!

First group of four:

Yellow Jackets (performing "Wavin' Flag"): Wow! Powerful performance and what a fantastic song. I'd never heard it before but this performance made me want to buy it-- both the acapella version by this group and the original!
Fannin Family (performing "Who Says"): It amuses me that they picked a Selena Gomez song to perform on this show. There were some areas that just felt choppy for me but I thought they were a cute family!
Afro-Blue (performing "Put Your Records On"): I thought their arrangement was really interesting but I'm not sure I was fully sold on the whole performance. I think of a higher, sweeter melody rather than the softer sound heard here.
I love how the show inspires groups to form, like Delilah (performing "Grenade"). I had low expectations and thought there might be pitch issues but instead I thought this performance was incredible!!

In this group, I would have chosen to eliminate the Fannin Family; the judges agreed.

Second group of four:

So excited that there's a rapper/rapapella this year in Urban Method (performing "Love the Way You Are"). Heehee, I like how the rapper, Mike?, calls the group his "crew." I loved how the acapella backed up the rapping so perfectly!!
Cat's Pajamas (performing "Some Kind of Wonderful"): I loved their classic acapella sound. Their experience in performing together was easy to see; they made it look and sound so easy!
Kinfolk 9 (performing "Secrets"): I love this song. Their arrangement was pretty but I think they could have done without the mixed lead vocals. It felt like they needed a stronger deep sound below (though the judges praised the bass); I thought that it sounded like there was too much only in the high register.
Vocal Point (performing"Jump, Jive, and Wail"): That was awesome and ballsy, especially given that it's a song so strongly driven by it's beat for swing dancing. I thought it was performed perfectly. Can't believe all their dancing while singing that!

Unfortunately my send home in this group was the self-proclaimed underdogs, Kinfolk 9. Fortunately for them, the judges disagreed and sent home Cat's Pajamas. Kinda makes it seem like second is not a good place to go in performance since both groups that performed second in their group of four were eliminated tonight.

I definitely always wonder how they choose to split up the contestants as they do. Four groups of four and one is eliminated in each group. What if one group had four perfectly fantastic performances and another had four mediocre ones?!? Not fair!

Final note, I really, really, really liked Sara Bareilles!!! She has the right mixture of being natural/silly and knowing her music.

Fall TV: The Secret Circle

2011-09-18T13:24:00.000-04:00

So I don't know what happened to Kevin Williamson in the 5 or so years in between Dawson's Creek ending and The Vampire Diaries starting, but whatever it is, I'm really glad. TVD has been firing on all cylinders for two seasons (no sophomore slump for them) and now he's adapted another L.J. Smith young adult book series, The Secret Circle. Witches!

Predictably, I really enjoyed this. Life Unexpected went downhill FAST but Britt Robertson was definitely a find and it's no surprise that the CW immediately gave her another star vehicle. The series starts off with a bang: Cassie's single mom is killed in a house fire started magically by a man who never sets foot inside the house. Cassie has to move to Washington state to live with her grandmother where her mother grew up and of course, things start happening.

It turns out that the teens in this town have magical powers handed down through the generations and Cassie completes the "circle." Something bad happened with their parents' generation though, and there's plenty of secrets and hidden motivationss to uncover. The current circle includes Adam, whose father was in love with Cassie's mom and is convinced that history is set to repeat itself; his girlfriend Diana (ruh oh), unofficial leader of the circle whose father set the fire that killed Cassie's mom; Nick, Cassie's brooding neighbor; Faye, mean girl daughter of the high school principal; and Melissa, Faye's best friend. The younger cast is mostly unknowns but they're building up a nice dynamic among the 6 of them.

I really didn't like the Vampire Diaries pilot (I actually gave it up for a few weeks before trying again) but the producers have clearly learned a lot in the past two years. This pilot is tight. The music, the pacing, the effects, the lighting...it's all very slick. This show will probably skew a little younger than TVD but I think it's a great pairing and I'm looking forward too see how it progresses!

Odds and ends:
- I like that there will be lots of town history and mythology, like on TVD.
- Faye's bitchy but kind of awesome.
- We're clearly supposed to be shipping Cassie and Adam but I'm probably going to be feeling sorry for Diana.
- No eye candy on the level of Ian Somerhalder or Paul Wesley, but I've always liked Thomas Dekker, who plays Adam, back from his days on Heroes and The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Fall TV: Ringer

2011-09-17T21:46:00.000-04:00

I'll be the first to admit that I really really wanted to like this. I'm a huge Sarah Michelle Gellar fan from her Buffy days and I've been hoping for years that she would come back to TV after some underwhelming attempts at a movie career. And the pieces with Ringer all seem right: a double role playing twins, great supporting cast including Nestor Carbonell (Lost), Kristoffer Polaha (Life Unexpected) and Ioan Gruffud (Fantastic Four), and more modest expectations on the CW (it was originally developed for ratings giant CBS).

Gellar plays twins Bridget, a former stripper and recovering addict who is on the run from being a witness in a murder case and Siobhan, a wealthy socialite in New York. The sisters reunite after 6 years of not being in touch and go on a boat trip in the Hamptons (with some of the worst green screen effects I've seen recently), during which Siobhan mysteriously disappears. Bridget, assuming Siobhan committed suicide, panics and decides to take over her sister's identity. She quickly discovers that Siobhan's life is not at all perfect--her marriage is a sham, she's having an affair with her best friend's husband (and is probably pregnant with his child)...and has a contract out on her life too. Oh, and Siobhan's not actually dead.

So how did this all come off? Well, pretty...boring. I know that there's a certain amount of set up and world building that needs to take place during a pilot and I guess that stuff was achieved but I still felt like nothing really happened. SMG was fine, as was the supporting cast, but there just wasn't a lot to latch onto. I've read interviews with SMG referring to the show as trying to be film noir but I didn't really get much of that either.

I don't know, perhaps this is the kind of show that takes a couple of episodes to establish itself, and I'm definitely going to give it a chance, but based on this premiere, I think I'm a little worried. The show seems to be taking itself awfully seriously and it doesn't necessarily fit in with the other CW offerings either (it's airing after 90210 for some reason). Let's hope that things get a bit more interesting in the upcoming weeks...

Thursday Top Threes: Local Color

2011-09-15T08:00:00.002-04:00

B: which three TV shows do the best job of featuring their setting, to the point that the show wouldn't work if it were set anywhere else, and you'd feel like you already knew the place if you were to visit there based on the show?

Burkie:
1. Friday Night Lights: so texas, so perfect. dillon, texas doesn't really exist, but it's as real as any texas town i've ever lived in, and so are the characters.
2. Memphis Beat: no suprise here, i suppose. this show captures the best of memphis (and, thankfully, leaves out the worst) and highlights what a truly unique city it is, including the music.
3. Gilmore Girls: while Stars Hollow, CT isn't a real town, it certainly came to life for fans of this show and, for me, was as much a star of the show as lorelei or rory or luke. i'd like to think that there are quirky new england towns like this with their goofy town hall meetings and colorful characters. the show certainly would not have worked had it been set in new mexico.

Jennifer:
1. Gossip Girl: Definitely not the New York City world that I grew up in so I can't speak to whether there are people who actually live like Blair and Serena but I love that the show actually films in the city. I can't stand the fake NYC of studio lot shows.
2. Wonderfalls: So many shows are set in California or big cities so I liked that this show was centered around the somewhat random but real location of Niagara Falls, NY. Again, not sure about accuracy but they seemed to feature some local mythology and such about the falls.
3. Roswell: Obvious choice but having a show about aliens in Roswell, New Mexico was definitely fitting.

Jennifer: what I'm watching this fall

2011-09-09T20:00:00.001-04:00

I'm lazy so I'm just sharing my entire spreadsheet. I've added the premiere dates as well. Look for my usual new series reviews...I'm planning to watch as many as possible!

Mira: what i'm watching this fall -- sundays

2011-09-09T17:00:00.000-04:00

Sunday has never been a big TV night for me in the past, especially since I don't watch any of the adult animation shows. In fact, Sunday night in the falls = NFL, but this year it will be quite different...

The Amazing Race (CBS, 8:00-9:00PM): I got hooked on The Amazing Race pretty late (last spring), but I loooooove it. I love traveling and trying out different activities on my vacations so this show is perfect to turn to for inspiration. Plus the different pairs that work together can be quite amusing (and annoying, too, unfortunately)!

Once Upon a Time* (ABC, 8:00-9:00PM): I looooooooove fairy tales and happily ever afters. Good example of this: my love for the movie Enchanted! As such, I am super excited about this show that is based on worlds straddling fairy tale and real world.

The Good Wife (CBS, 9:00-10:00PM): This show is one of the best on TV by far in my opinion, and given how much I watch -- HIGH praise! I love Julianne Marguiles as Alicia Florick and think she deserves to win the best actress Emmy (even over Connie Britt, who I also love). There's just so much to rave about that I could go on forever, but basically I cannot wait to see where they will go this season!

Pan Am*(ABC, 10:00-11:00PM): Christina Ricci kind of scares me but regardless I think Pan Am sounds interesting. They've tried TV shows about airports (LAX) before with no success, but the idea of focusing on pilots and flight attendants? Fascinating and potential for so much drama!!

Also on our DVR, though I am not sure if I will watch:
Homeland* (Showtime, 10:00-11:00PM)

* New show.

Mira: what i'm watching this fall -- fridays

2011-09-08T16:00:00.000-04:00

I don't know if it's just me, but when a TV show that I watch is moved to Friday nights, I automatically assume that the networks are trying to kill it off...

Chuck (NBC, 8:00-9:00PM): I was quite surprised that Chuck seemingly found new life last season. This is the show that just keeps going and manages to find just enough twist to set stage for a season that can prove to be different from the last. But now that it's played with having the dad be the twist, the mom be the twist, the sister learning about the spy family be the twist... well, I'm not quite sure where it will go. But it's managed to be a lot more fun and interesting than I had ever expected it could be.

Nikita (The CW, 8:00-9:00PM): I really hope that The CW is not trying to get rid of this show because I really like it! Of course it'll take some serious creativity to find a direction to go in that will ensure sustainability of a story. (Kind of like how Alias got really old after a while.) But I really love a lot of the characters in this show and I just wanna see them be happy already!!!

Grimm* (NBC, 9:00-10:00PM): There is so much potential with a TV show that builds off of the Grimm Fairy Tales for inspiration... I have not let myself research too much into what this show will be like, but I have high hopes anyway! I hope that whatever it is, the show surprises me (in a good way).

Blue Bloods (CBS, 10:00-11:00PM): This show is like Numbers for me (another Friday night show, I think). I don't watch every episode of it, but I'll watch if it happens to be on while I'm in the living room. And I'll get sucked in as well. The Reagans are a really interesting family and the play of cops, detectives, politicians, and lawyers is very interesting. Quite a cast as well!

* New show.

Thursday Top Threes: Pilots

2011-09-08T08:18:00.000-04:00

J: The fall TV season is almost here! What are your top three favorite pilot/series premiere episodes of all time?

Mira:
1. Pushing Daisies: I can still imagine scenes from this pilot, and it's been a couple years since I've watched it. Ned describing bringing his mom back to life, only to accidentally kill her again; running around in a meadow of daisies with his dog (Digby?) and then his dog gets hit by a vehicle and he brings the dog back to life; describing Chuck's crazy mermaid aunts... It was so vibrant and represents the show's quirkiness so perfectly in 40 minutes.
2. Glee: This episode also well represents what made Glee so exciting and fun and great in the beginning! From highlighting all the characters through their audition songs to introducing snarky Sue, gullible Finn, enthusiastic Mr. Schuester... And of course, "Don't Stop Believing." Perfection. :)
3. Alias: This is the only pilot episode of a show that hooked me so much I ended up watching 8 straight episodes in a row. Actually no, Veronica Mars may have hooked me in a similar way. (I watched the entire first season over the span of one weekend.) But I'll still give Alias an edge. I mean the red wig, the Chinese speaking, the excitement of a story told forward and backward -- it was a great pilot!

Jennifer:
1. Friday Night Lights: I hadn't seen the movie, I didn't know anything about Texas, I had no interest in football, but this pilot, especially the second half, just shot me straight through the heart. Love love LOVE.
2. Lost: I ended up having plenty of problems with this show, but one thing I'll give J.J. Abrams is that he definitely knows how to start off a show (perhaps that's why he's had more success in movies lately). There was a lot to set up -- a huge cast of characters, the flashback construct, the mystery/possibly sci-fi style and atmosphere -- and it was hugely successful with all of it. It's been rare that a pilot excited me as much as this one.
3. Roswell: A less obvious choice, perhaps, but don't forget that this show was created and written by Jason Katims who went on to run FNL and Parenthood. All the characters are introduced so well, the use of music is amazing (especially love the first scene in the Crashdown of Max saving Liz with Sarah McLachlan's "Fear" building in the background), and there's a nice balance of romance, humor, action, and suspense. Ah, the old days of the WB...

Mira: what i'm watching this fall -- thursdays

2011-09-07T16:00:00.000-04:00

Thursdays are busy TV nights for me -- and I don't even watch Must See TV NBC sitcoms!

Charlie's Angels* (ABC, 8:00-9:00PM): Another show with a Friday Night Lights alum, one that I didn't like very much as well -- Minka Kelly. I never saw the original, but I did see the movie version with Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu. For whatever reason, I'm curious how this new set of angels will do...

The X Factor Results* (Fox, 8:00-9:00PM)

Grey's Anatomy (ABC, 9:00-10:00PM): This consistently remains one of my favorite shows, even when the story lines get frustrating. This is the show I search for spoilers for the most and with good reason! Last season ended with a lot of crazy cliffhangers: Christina is preggerz and might abort the baby; Meredith tampered with Derek's Alzheimer's research and is getting fired; April got named head resident; MerDer adopted an African baby but Derek walked out on Merideth because of the research tampering. Despite some frustrating storylines, the writers can be trusted to get it to come together nicely, so I look forward to the new season!

Person of Interest* (CBS, 9:00-10:00PM): I have no idea what this is about but it's a J.J. Abrams show so of course I will watch it. Then again, it's a J.J. Abrams show so I probably should NOT watch it because truthfully, J.J. Abrams shows have fantastic starts but always go terribly awry...

The Secret Circle* (The CW, 9:00-10:00PM): Enough with the vampires and werewolves! A story about witches! Oh wait, they used to have a show about witches -- Charmed. It's okay, it's been long enough and this show seems different enough that I will give it a shot. Plus, I'm still kicking myself for not having watched The Vampire Diaries and now being so far behind!

Private Practice (ABC, 10:00-11:00PM): The other half of Grey's Anatomy; well, sort of. This show has really made a place for itself and I've found I really enjoy it a lot. However, unlike with Grey's, I am quite a bit more unforgiving with its story line twists and cliff hangers. It ended on Addison wanting a baby, Pete having a heart attack, Violet being selfish and leaving, and uh... that's all I remember. I was not happy with where Private Practice went toward the end of the season in terms of story, but I do love the characters and super complex relationships. OH YEAH, Cooper and Charlotte got married -- okay, the writers are forgiven for all the other crappy story lines.

Also on our TV watch list, but I am not positive I will be watching:
How to Be a Gentleman* (CBS, 8:30-9:00PM):

Prime Suspect* (NBC, 10:00-11:00PM):

* New show.

Mira: what i'm watching this fall -- wednesdays

2011-09-06T21:30:00.000-04:00

My Wednesday night TV starts on September 21. Interesting enough, Wednesday is my lightest TV night. Gives me a chance to catch up on my Monday and Tuesday night TV! Well, not really, since Wednesday night is also trivia night. So a light TV night is good!

The X Factor* (Fox, 8:00-9:30PM): My current guess is that this will be the first new show that I'll drop. I don't envision myself sticking with it, especially if I have to watch it online or en masse off my DVR in late October... but I am curious enough to at least give it a try. ~~Also given the variety of talent shows~~(Sorry, it looked like an incomplete thought but it was an incomplete deletion.)

Harry's Law (NBC, 9:00-10:00PM): This show was a surprise for us last year. We definitely were not expecting to enjoy it so much. And I definitely did not expect it would be renewed. Regardless, I'm glad it's back and I look forward to more of the dysfunctional shoe store law firm.

Revenge* (ABC, 10:00-11:00PM): I'm not really sure how this story is going to unfold but what I gather from it, the show is about a girl who comes to avenge the deaths of her parents. The wikipedia entry on the show indicates it is based off of The Count of Monte Cristo, which is interesting, and uh, I've never read. So yeah, mysterious, but sounds intriguing.

* New show.

Mira: what i'm watching this fall -- tuesdays

2011-09-05T17:42:00.000-04:00

Now for my Tuesday night lineup... :)

Glee (Fox, 8:00-9:00PM): Season two was quite disappointing and I'd have to say there were only a handful of episodes I enjoyed last season ("Duets," "Born this Way" to name two). Hopefully the show doesn't get overrun with the celebrity guests (ugh, Gwyneth) and can get back to the roots of what makes it so great. Watching The Glee Project this summer reminded me of that: the great songs, the diverse characters. Get away from the contrived story lines and remember: less can be more!! That reminds me, I'm excited to see how they incorporate the four semifinalists (two who got 7-episode arcs, two who got 2-episode arcs) into the show!

The New Girl* (Fox, 9:00-9:30PM): I've been so excited about this show and have blogged about it earlier. I'm a huge fan of Zooey Deschanel, I saw 1,122,182,382 commercials for it while watching So You Think You Can Dance, and the premise is really cute. I hope the show lives up to my every expectation and I really hope that they didn't show most of the first 3 episodes in all the commercials (because I've seen MANY different scenes in all those commercials). By the way, it's kind of a big deal that I've watched the commercials: I have DVR and can, and usually do, fast forward through them but I watched it anyway.

Ringer* (The CW, 9:00-10:00PM): I'm not quite sure what this show is about and it sounds awfully similar to an ABC Family show I've been watching, The Lying Game. A twin sister taking over the life of the other twin sister and then having to deal with the repercussions of the life that the second sister left behind? Whatever it is, I'll give it a try because Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy!) is back on TV.

Parenthood (NBC, 10:00-11:00PM): This show was slow in take-off but has built such a great, diverse set of characters and relationships. Where the stories left off: Adam learns Christina is preggerz and there looks to be potential for a Jasmine-Crosby reunion. I love how the show makes you feel like you're in each scene with the Bravermans and observing family dialogue in an intimate setting. There are good surprises, the right disappointments, twists for the sake of growth and not story line; great show and I can't wait to see what happens with the Bravermans this year!

Shows that will also be on my DVR, but I'm not watching:
NCIS (CBS, 8:00-9:00PM)
NCIS: LA (CBS, 9:00-10:00PM)

Body of Proof (ABC, 10:00-11:00PM)
Unforgettable* (CBS, 10:00-11:00PM)

* New show.

The Hour Has Come

2011-09-04T23:05:00.003-04:00

burkie here, with apologies to jenn not only for posting on her blog again, but also for scooping her on a british TV show. that show? The Hour, currently airing on BBC America. the first two episodes are On Demand, which is how i've seen them.

conceptually, The Hour is somewhat reminiscent of Mad Men and, strangely, 30 Rock (neither of which i watch). like Mad Men, it is a stylish period piece (London, 1956). the show revolves around the people involved in making a 60 Minutes-type television news program (called, appropriately, The Hour) that airs on the BBC, hence the resemblance to 30 Rock (an NBC show about an NBC show). the similarities end there, especially as regards 30 Rock. The Hour is definitely a drama, not a comedy. as regards Mad Men, i've only watched that show once and it struck me as slick and polished, whereas The Hour has a decidedly noir feel to it, and i loves me some noir.

The Hour (the show featured on the show...this is already getting confusing) is a brand new program on the BBC. it's risky, especially as the production reins have been handed to a woman (Bel Rowley, played by Romola Garai). she is ambitious and committed to delivering a hard-hitting news program with substance, but knows she needs the right face as anchor. she knows her brilliant yet stormy friend and colleague Freddie Lyon (Ben Whishaw) has the brains and investigative doggedness that the project will require to succeed, but not the face. she therefore pursues the charming, privileged, and shallow Hector Madden (Dominic West) as the show's lead anchor. when freddie is sacked from his job, he reluctantly accepts bel's offer to join the show as a correspondent. true to the time period, one of the program's early stories is Nasser's rise to power in Egypt and what that means both for the British Empire and the delicate balances of the Cold War.

you've probably already figured out how the characters feel about each other. a bit clichéd, but they pull it off. rowley and west deliver strong performances, but whishaw is terrific. i don't know him, but i read that he won acclaim on stage as Hamlet and i can well believe that. he's got presence. of course, the other star is the noir aspect of the program, down to the art deco look of the BBC's Lime Grove Studios, the costuming, and the intrigue surrounding a murder mystery that freddie is investigating on the side. give this show a try! The Hour may become the hour you look forward to most.

Mira: what i'm watching this fall -- mondays

2011-09-04T17:41:00.003-04:00

Given the amount of TV I watch and all the new shows R and I want to watch, I had to make a spreadsheet to chart it all. Haha, I'm still not quite sure logistically how I'm going to watch everything I want to watch this fall since my DVR can only handle two shows simultaneously... but in any case, here are the Monday night shows, old and new, that I am hoping to watch and enjoy this year!

How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 8:00-8:30PM): I cannot believe I am still watching this show. Or that we have not met the mother yet. In truth, this sort of fell off my TV watching schedule last season and I'm not sure if I am fully caught up. Fortunately for HIMYM, the cast keeps the show funny and interesting enough that I enjoy most, if not all, of the episodes. That's enough to keep me going back for more, but the story line better pick up its pace!

Terra Nova* (Fox, 8:00-9:00PM): This show is actually on R's TV schedule but there's enough hype to get me to watch at least one episode. I'm not sure that I'm fully sold on watching a dinosaur show, which is how I interpret it (kind of the reason I am not that interested in watching the movie, Tree of Life, cuz there are dinosaurs in it??), but I'll try to keep an open mind... But I can't help but think it'll end up like all those other weird shows such as V and The Event...

The Sing Off (NBC, 8:00-10:00PM): I love, love, love this show! I'm looking forward to what types of groups come together on the show this year and what songs they will put together. The talent and range of acappella is so wide, so I hope to be nothing short of impressed! I am looking forward to Sara Bareilles as the third judge, replacing Nicole S. from The Pussycat Dolls.

Two Broke Girls* (CBS, 8:30-9:00PM): Definitely not interested in watching Whitney's other show, Whitney, but this one looks like it has potential to be fun. I've got to say though, a sitcom has to be pretty darn awesome to keep me watching it, so the chances of me sticking to this show are slim. I do really like Kat Dennings (Raise Your Voice, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist), though.

Hart of Dixie* (The CW, 9:00-10:00PM): Medical drama meets Sweet Home Alabama PLUS Rachel Bilson? I'm there! Only thing working against this show is that Scott Porter is supposed to play the love interest and I find him super annoying from his Friday Night Lights days. It's touted as being Everwood-esque, which isn't so bad. And it'll be fun to watch a southern-based primetime drama/soap; I'm still a little nostalgic for Savannah.

Hawaii Five-0 (CBS, 10:00-11:00PM): This show was a surprise favorite of R and mine last year, kind of how The Good Wife snuck up on us the year before. In any case, love the show, love the cast, and am looking forward to the second season! Plus, need some resolution to the cliffhangers in the finale: McGarrett framed for the governor's murder, Kono arrested for stealing money, Chin Ho back on the police force, and Dan-o leaving for NJ...

* New show.

Doctor Who: I should have been British

2011-09-02T21:07:00.003-04:00

It only took me like three years, but I'm finally caught up on Doctor Who! Resolution #2 technically fulfilled!

You know it's funny, as a huge Anglophile as well as a sci-fi geek, it makes perfect sense that I would be a fan of this show. And I mean, the concept is so great. Time and space travel allows for both fun ventures into the past as well as dreamt up visions of the future and other planets, the Doctor "regenerates" so the series can continue even with different actors playing the role, companions come and go...it's so sustainable. But somehow it took me awhile to really warm up to the show, and while there were plenty of superb episodes in the first four seasons and truly great performances from David Tennant and Billie Piper and Catherine Tate, among others, I don't think I really became a devotee until season five when Matt Smith took over as the Eleventh Doctor. It's probably not the most popular opinion, but he's definitely my favorite so far. Maybe it's because he's a little younger, a little less manic but a little more geeky?

And um, I kind of have a huge girl crush on Karen Gillan (the Doctor's companion, Amy Pond). She's Scottish, red-haired (or ginger as the British say), tall, gorgeous...I kind of want to be her. And I love love love Amy's husband Rory, too...they're so adorable together. Traditionally the Doctor has just a female companion so it's a nice change of pace to have a couple as his companions. There's been reference to them being his "best friends" which I find just really cute because the Doctor, despite his love of humans and interacting with them, is inherently a solitary guy (last of his race and all). Ok...girly ridiculousness over.

Also really interesting has been the development of River Song (played by Alex Kingston). She first appears in season 4 as a fellow time-traveler whose timelines intersect with the Doctor but in roughly reverse order (the last time she meets the Doctor is the first time he meets her). Apparently this storyline was actually inspired by The Time Traveler's Wife (which we're fans of on this blog) and River and the Doctor both keep diaries to keep track of their meetings and avoid, as River often proclaims, "spoilers!" Recently a big piece of River's identity was finally revealed, but there's still plenty more to explore, especially hints of a future romantic relationship. Alex Kingston is quite a bit older than Matt Smith but they have a fun, flirty chemistry that really just works.

I love that BBCAmerica is airing new episodes concurrently with the UK, and even better, they're available on demand in HD! Netflix has seasons 1-5 on streaming too!

Thursday Top Threes: overrated

2011-09-01T22:38:00.001-04:00

M: What are the top three movies/tv shows/books that everyone seems to love but... you just don't get it?

Jennifer:
1. NCIS. According to the Nielsen ratings, this is the most watched scripted show on TV (second is of course, NCIS: Los Angeles.) Admittedly I've never actually watched an entire episode but given I'm not at all into procedurals, I suspect it wouldn't hold my attention.
2. Grey's Anatomy. I watched the pilot, hated Meredith instantly, and that was that.
3. Atonement by Ian McEwan. I don't know what it was, but I just could not get through this book. It's been so critically acclaimed and won prizes and awards so I tried it twice: once when it first came out and again before they came out with the movie version but I couldn't get into it. I did watch and like the movie though so maybe it something about the writing style?

Mira:
1. The Hangover: I really don't understand why this movie was such a hit and considered to be SUCH a funny or how it lead to a sequel (if not more) so soon after. If you've ever seen Dude, Where's My Car?, it's pretty much exactly the same movie.
2. Seinfeld: I feel a little bad including this, but really I've never understood the "genius" of this show. Maybe cuz I'm such a major shipper and there isn't much to root for by way of relationship, maybe it's because I found all the characters annoying or unlikeable or both, but I never got it and still don't. And I wanted to, cuz I love New York.
3. The Twilight series. I read all the books before the super-craze and enjoyed most of them well enough. I only recently watched the 2nd and 3rd movie. They were entertaining enough. But not even being super critical of either the books or movies, I don't get why it's incited such fan devotion. Don't get it at all.
Honorable mention: (Sorry, this makes 4 but this is not a book/movie/tv show!) Nascar racing. The Grand Prix is in Baltimore this weekend and I've never paid any attention to Nascar or any of that car racing stuff but realize it's cars driving in circles for like 100 laps or something. Really? How does that draw interest?!

Thursday Top Threes: Apocalypse

2011-08-25T20:03:00.001-04:00

J: Top three apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic movies, TV shows, novels, etc!

Mira: I might be interpreting this loosely, but...
1. The Hunger Games trilogy -- I feel like the world portrayed in this trilogy represents a post-apocalyptic-type world. Such a fantastic read; it had been a long time since I'd been so excited about something I read!
2. I'd be remiss not to include Buffy the Vampire Slayer on this list. It was one of the earlier shows Jenn and I really bonded over and c'mon, Buffy saved the world from apocalypse quite a few times!
3. Wall-E -- I usually am panning this movie, mostly because I fell asleep during the first 45 minutes when the only "dialogue" was robot sounds and Wall-E saying "Eva" and Eva saying "Wall-E." But really, it was quite an incredible movie that was definitely very thought-provoking. The innate lazy and self-obsessed nature of humans was quite depressing to watch, but it was so incredibly on the mark on what could happen to our world if we continue with our lives of pure indulgence and waste.

Jennifer:
1. Y: the Last Man. I'm not a huge comic reader but I was a big fan of this series. It's about Yorick, a young man who finds himself as literally the last man on Earth after a plague of some kind wipes out every other male (human and animal).
2. Children of Men. More dystopic than post-apocalyptic I guess but a genetic defect causing all women on Earth to become infertile is kind of like a slow apocalypse? Best known for a couple of amazing single-shot action sequences but the story and writing are really moving. And having Clive Owen in it doesn't hurt!
3. The Road. Both the novel by Cormac McCarthy and the film. Very spare and haunting, with no explanation for what happened to destroy civilization. Could have been a candidate for most depressing movie last week but it ends on a somewhat hopeful note.

Thursday Top Threes: Too Old!

2011-08-19T06:27:00.000-04:00

M: Top 3 TV shows/movies/books you know you're too old to enjoy but cannot help but LOVE anyway.

Jennifer:
1. iCarly. I've mentioned this before and yeah, I'm still a fan of this show. The characters are now in high school but it's still very much a tween show with really cheesy, dumb humor and physical comedy and increasingly ridiculous characters but I somehow find it all really really funny.
2. The Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. I read plenty of young adult books (especially this year thanks to the fabulous blog Forever Young Adult) and generally don't feel like I'm too old for them. But this series? I really should be over it. I actually started reading it when it was still age-appropriate but the main character, Alice, is aging so slowly (the books come out yearly but each only covers a few months of her life) that I'm now 10 years older than her. And the last couple of books have just not been very good...probably a result of the author trying to write contemporary teenagers when she's pushing 80. There are only two more planned books in the series though, so I want to know where these characters end up.
3. Degrassi the Next Generation. Similar to the above, I watch plenty of teen shows, but this one makes me feel really really old because the actors are actually playing their ages and look so young. I'm a season or two behind now (they started doing this thing where they air a new episode every frickin' weekday) and I'm unsure of whether I have the time or energy to catch up but every once in awhile I feel the urge to check wikipedia and see what's happening!

Mira:
1. ABC Family, The Disney Channel: I know this is not a specific book/movie/tv show, but my go to channel for TV are these two channels where I get to watch silly, but really entertaining TV such as Witches of Waverly Place, original movies, and whatever else is on. Makes me wish I were a kid actor and could be having as much fun. If Lizzie Maguire were still on, I'd be watching it.
2. Sarah Dessen's books. These books are like the current kid/tween/teen generation's Cynthia Voigt or something. Stories mostly, or perhaps only, about girls who are on the outskirts of mainstream who try to discover who they are through odd relationships with other people... Really there is very little value added to anyone who is way past that point in their lives and yet I can't help but go and reserve more books written by her at the library as soon as I finish reading one.
3. None of my answers are specific book/movies/tv shows, so why start now? But anyway, I find myself embarrassingly obsessed with celebrity gossip about the teen heartthrobs -- the Jonas brothers, Bieber and Selena Gomez, Demi Levato, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens... It's sad, I know. But it comes in very handy at trivia... Oh, along with this embarrassing obsession, I also find myself interested in any tv show/movie/song they're involved in.

White Collar, The Show That Had Me Conned

2011-08-13T23:11:00.001-04:00

sorry to drop in on the ladies' blog unannounced like this, but i have an important update to the post i did about the summer season on the TNT and USA networks. in that post, i mentioned as an afterthought that the USA show White Collar was returning for its third season. it was a show i had never seen because i thought it was about wall street crime. i decided to give a shot this summer, though, and i'm so glad i did. it became one of my favorite shows on TV.

it's not about wall street crime. it's about art crimes and cons. i love art crimes and cons! you know why? because they're sophisticated crimes that are based on being more clever than your adversary rather than using guns or being mean. i can relate to that kind of crime!

the premise is that Neal Caffrey (matt bomer) was a notorious art thief and con man that FBI agent Peter Burke (tim dekay) finally captures. neal agrees to be a criminal consultant for peter (with a tracking device on his ankle) in exchange for serving time in prison. in order to help solve these crimes, he often has to resort to his old tactics (including a fondness for wearing fedoras), often with the aid of his nebbish/nerdy underworld partner Mozzie (willie garson).

the cons are cool, but what really makes the show great is the relationship between neal and peter. they genuinely like, admire, and respect each other and become friends, even trusting each other with their lives on occasion. however, they still neither one completely trusts the other, and it turns out that they both have reason not to do so. you really root for both in this show. the other great relationship in this show is that of peter with his wife Elizabeth (tiffani thiessen). now that Friday Night Lights is over, the Burkes may be the best married couple on TV. she's not as big a part of the show as Tami Taylor was on FNL, but her scenes really help flesh out peter's character.

So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Wrap-up

2011-08-13T10:33:00.000-04:00

Mira did a pretty comprehensive post on the season earlier this week but I thought I'd just put in my two cents and offer up some thoughts on the finale. I, too, was a little bit less invested in this season than in previous years for not particularly clear reasons. Maybe the choreography has a bit a little lackluster, maybe there hasn't been as much diversity in the dance styles, maybe all the contemporary/jazz dancers are wearing on me...I don't think it's any one thing.

But I did like quite a lot of the contestants this year, and I'm wholly satisfied with the finalists and the winner. Melanie's not my favorite contemporary girl ever (Kathryn and Katee still vie for that title) but she was one of the most consistent dancers throughout the summer. I think I may have been pulling a little bit more for Sasha because she's a bit different from the norm but she did have some rough routines in the performance finale (the Broadway with Marko and the cha cha with Tadd). Marko was definitely my top guy and Tadd I couldn't help liking despite his obvious weaknesses. So anyway, congratulations to Melanie!

Some stray observations from the last week:
- Even more confirmation that Katie Holmes just...SUCKS. She kept saying the same generic crap all night.
- The Sonya routine with Sasha and shirtless Mark was pretty dang fierce. Both Stacey Tookey routines were great too...love her!
- But yay for inviting Jesse Tyler Ferguson back! He was definitely my favorite of the celebrity guest judges this season.
- All season I've been kind of surprised seeing how short Tadd is compared to everyone. Confirmed: he's only 5'4"!
- Loved Marko and Tadd asking Harry Shum, Jr if there was room for more Asians on Glee. (On a side note, it's becoming really weird how I'm interested in most things Glee except actually watching the show...)
- The tap routine with Nick and Jess and the SYTYCD UK winner was amazing. Seeing Nick in this and also in the top 10 guys routine made me really really sad that he went home so early. He had so much potential.
- Alexander bleached his hair? I was wondering who the heck that was.
- Seeing the Travis Wall statue routine with Melanie and Marko really made me wish Travis had been more available this season. He has this formula that just kind of works...I always love the fast synchronized section at the climax of the piece.
- Cat Deeley still rules. That is all.

Thursday Top Threes: What a downer

2011-08-11T22:00:00.037-04:00

J: Top three most depressing movies.

Mira:

1. The Notebook: I hate Nicholas Sparks. He's most definitely a man who makes money off of writing stupidly sappy love stories aimed at making women cry. And then he gets credit for being so sensitive and in-touch with his emotional core or whatever. I hate him for being a man who makes a LOT of money by making women cry. I hate him even more for having written The Notebook, for me somewhat liking the book, for me somewhat loving the movie, and for making me cry A LOT everytime I watch the movie. EVEN THOUGH I KNOW IT'S COMING. Yeah, he sucks. (BTW, I really do mean it when I say that I hate Nicholas Sparks.)

2. P.S. I Love You: Apparently I missed the memo where the movie was about a widow whose late husband sends her letters posthumously. Yeah, I don't know what I thought the movie was about but I thought it was going to be a romcom, not a tearjerker.

3. Waitress: The movie itself is really cute and everything, but the circumstances that precede the movie's release with the director (and supporting actress) having been found murdered shortly before the movie's release. Seeing her in the film and being reminded of that horrible murder is really depressing. :(

Jennifer: All my picks are actually really good but I can probably never bring myself to watch them ever again because they're so depressing!
1. Dancer in the Dark: A very odd film overall (I don't think it could be anything else considering it's a musical starring Björk), very different and affecting but man, I don't even like thinking about it and how it all ended up.
2. Requiem for a Dream: Should probably be like required anti-drug viewing for teenagers...just flat out miserable. Great soundtrack though!
3. Sophie's Choice: Meryl Streep is just devastating in this.

oh yeah, it's SYTYCD season...

2011-08-08T23:23:00.001-04:00

So you may/may not have noticed a significant drop in interest for SYTYCD by me this season... Previous seasons have had me blogging obsessively each week, but this season has only yielded a couple of posts. That is mostly due to the fact that I have not been watching as obsessively as I had previously. As of this week I am FIVE weeks behind! And it's the FINALE, so, it's definitely time for me to catch up. Plus, well, my DVR is full. Sigh.

In any case, I can't say why the show is less appealing to me than previously but maybe it's just that I'm not as excited about any of the new dancers. Or maybe it's because performance show is the same night as trivia. Or maybe it's because I don't like any of the newer choreographers, and there were a lot of those. (They're just not as awesome as Sonya, Travis, Stacey Tookey were when they started!) Hmm, I really have no clue. I'm not going to be able to see the tour this year (I've been to every tour since Season 3!) and I'm not too heartbroken. In any case, in catching up, I will reflect on the reasons why I still really like SYTYCD, even if I'm not obsessively watching it...

The format changes brought this year:
- I'm a fan of the return of a Top 20 AND a return of the All-Stars for the Top 10. Best of both worlds!
- I'm kind of glad Mary Murphy is back and especially glad that Mia is not a perma-judge. (I like Adam but I am glad that he, too, is not a perma-judge this season!)
- Only a couple weeks of auditions: I'm so glad they didn't dwell too much on the audition rounds. Especially because I hate growing attached to certain dancers only to find out that they never made it and that they don't return in the future.

The dancers are talented definitely; they really are! I have a few favorite dancers and a few dances that I've really enjoyed... To highlight them from the episodes I hadn't blogged about:
- Top 14: Caitlynn & Mitchell in "To Love You More" (contemporary) and Ryan & Ricky in "Fashion" (jazz) [I was sad to see Ryan & Ricky in the bottom 3. But not sad to see Ashley leave.]
- Top 12: Clarice & Jess in "Just the Way You Are" (hip hop) and Melanie & Marko in "Skin & Bones" (contemporary) [Sad to see the female bottom 3, but not sad to see Alexander leave.]
- Top 10: Jess & Kathryn in "The Lonely" (contemporary) and Melanie & Pasha in "Everybody Hurts" (Viennese waltz)
- Top 8: Melanie & Neil in "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (contemporary) and Tadd & Lauren F. in "Another One Bites the Dust" (jazz) and Marko & Allison in "I Know It's Over" (contemporary) [Big Mandy Moore night! There were tons of numbers I liked in this episode. Definitely my favorite episode of the season!]
- Top 6: Marko & Caitlynn in "Heavy in Your Arms" (jazz)

Final Four: Marko, Tadd, Melanie, Sasha (Jenn called it! Her early favorites ended up being the late season favorites, too!)

I'm disappointed with how Ryan ended up performing on the show. I'm sad that Caitlynn didn't make it to the final four (but her solos were noticeably weaker than the other girls). I'm happy with the final two guys. I wish there were more diversity in the genre of dancers -- where are the ballroom people?!?! We need a new Anya/Dmitri/Pasha/Benji-type! We definitely need more Chelsie Hightower! :)

A final note: I'm thrilled that Cat Deeley was finally recognized with an Emmy nomination for best Reality TV Show Host! She deserves the nomination AND the win! (I'm so glad that Jesse Tyler Ferguson brought it up during his guest judging episode, too. He was such a fan boy of the show, it was adorable. Many of the guest judges were huge fans of the show; I love it!)

my short list

2011-08-06T22:22:00.005-04:00

Because I'm still inspired, I'm going to post one more entry. Coming out of Crazy, Stupid, Love, I was reminded of how much I really like certain actors/actresses. In particular, there are three that are currently on my short list of people I adore and would watch in anything. I currently hypothesize that there are two reasons they have made it onto my short list: 1) Their acting alone was able to make a movie I otherwise may not have enjoyed at all a movie I really enjoyed every minute of; and 2) They maintained the track record of awesomeness in performance in multiple movies.

1) Emma Stone:
Easy A was a movie that I would have expected myself to watch since I love silly high school movie adaptations of literature and Shakespeare. But definitely with any other actress, it would have pretty much sucked. The supporting cast was nothing worth remembering (even Aly whatever her name is from Hellcats). But Emma Stone was FABULOUS. She was so great. I wanted to be as cool as she is. I still do.
In Crazy, Stupid, Love, she is one of many characters in the movie, but I looked forward to every minute she was on the screen. I was enthralled by every scene she was in, and I still want to be as cool as she is.
She's currently my number one pick to be anyone in any movie. I love that she can make ugly faces and be completely goofy, but still incredibly perfect for it. I look forward to the new Spiderman movie solely because she's in it. (I'm a little over the Spidey movies, really.) And I'm actually kinda interested in seeing The Help, too, and that's definitely a movie that would never fall onto my radar otherwise. Additionally, Burkie knows this, but I really think that Emma Stone would be the perfect actress to play the Pioneer Woman in the movie about her.

2) Ellen Page:
She completely won me over in Juno. I even wanted to be Juno, and she was a teenage girl who got pregnant!! But she has such a casual ease about her and is, well, just plain cool. She doesn't overact anything and comes off extremely real, relatable, and fun.
The movie I wouldn't have expected to enjoy so much was Whip It; I mean, really, this was a movie about roller derby. The movie explained how roller derby worked and I *still* didn't get it. Yet somehow I ended up really enjoying it and yes, it only improved upon my opinion of Ellen Page.

3) Carey Mulligan:
For a while all I knew of her was that she was the girl who used to date Shia LaBoeuf and had been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for An Education. Then one day, I happened across The Greatest, which was an incredibly sappy and depressing movie... There was so much WRONG with the movie (like the fact that it was set up to make me cry over something I should not have cared all that much about), but Carey really stood out to me. I realized I had seen her before in the Keira Knightley movie version of Pride and Prejudice, but that didn't really count because Kitty barely exists in that movie. In any case, The Greatest piqued my interest in watching An Education.
An Education is a movie that would have never caught my attention because truthfully, it looked boring. But the movie was so far from boring and the storyline really captured my attention -- so much so that I was googling/and wikapediaing the details of the real life story the movie was based upon afterward! But as fantastic as I thought the movie was, Carey Mulligan was the center of everything that made me enjoy the movie so much. Simply put, she's perfect and deserves to be on my short list of actresses (I guess there are no actors on this list!) that I would watch in anything.
The best thing ever, though: she's going to be Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby! I cannot wait!!!

recommendations continued: crazy, stupid, love.

2011-08-06T22:11:00.004-04:00

It has been a really long time since I've seen/read/heard something that inspired me to blog about it right away. I just got home from watching Crazy, Stupid, Love in the theater and... wow. All I could think as the credits were rolling was, 'I can't wait for this to come out on DVD!' It was *that* good. At least, I really, really, really enjoyed it.

A great cast; one of my current favorite actresses is in it; one of my favorite actors to look at (when he's all cleaned up) is in it; it has "ships" to root for; it made me laugh, tear, want to applaud; it made me excited with anticipation and nervous about what was going to happen next... I enjoyed every minute of it, and I think you will, too. So if you get the opportunity to see it, in theater or DVD, don't turn it down!

I absolutely cannot wait to watch it again. (Resolution 2011: check, check!)

Thursday Top Threes: recommendations

2011-08-04T22:33:00.001-04:00

M: 3 recommendations you would like to give to Jenn and/or Mira!

(Was originally going to separate this out into categories: book recommendations, movie recommendations, tv recommendations, song recommendations -- but realized Jenn has been reading/watching/listening wayyyy more than I have! For our 2-3 readers out there, if you find you have way more than 3 overall recommendations and want to make recommendations in specific categories, please feel free to do so!)

Mira: Jenn, here are my recommendations for you! For some reason this was REALLY hard for me!

1. "Inventing Shadows," by Dia Frampton: Since I know Jenn did not watch The Voice, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess she hasn't heard this song either? It might be too pop-y for your taste, but I do like it and she has a very interesting singing style and voice. Her rendition of "Losing My Religion" was pretty great, too!

2. The Born In... trilogy by Nora Roberts: Haha, I definitely know Jenn has not read any Nora Roberts books but this was a fun, throwaway-type of read that I recently was reminiscing over with a friend. Definitely makes me want to visit Ireland one day. And I like the completeness that trilogies seem to have about them, even silly ones written by Nora Roberts!

3. Glee Project: Sort of already made Jenn watch an episode of this, but I want her to watch it with me so I have someone with whom I can talk about it! I know Jenn gave up Glee, but as mentioned in my previous post -- it's got a lot of the best elements of the show without all the contrived story. It's been a fun summer show and it's surprising it's got virtually no buzz going for it.

Jennifer: I, on the other hand have way too many recommendations for Mira! So I'm way overachieving and doing three categories with multiple recs!

1. Young adult books!
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. For some reason this was out of print for a really long time which is why I'd never heard of even though it's more of a classic. It was written in the the 1940s and set in the 30s, about a teenage girl and her eccentric family living in a rundown English castle whose lives get upended by the appearance of two American brothers. The movie adaptation is pretty good too!
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. Really fun book about a secret society at a boarding school.
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. Same authors as Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist! Super cute book about two Manhattan teens who meet and communicate through a notebook.

2. TV shows. I've mentioned these already, but Mira really needs to watch season 4 of The OC and I also think she'd really like the Canadian show Being Erica.

3. Music. I know Mira is more on the pop side of things when it comes to music so I think she'd like Freelance Whales, which is really happy and kinda Postal Service-like. Try "Hannah" and "Generator ^ Second Floor". Also I think she should try out Zooey Deschanel's band She & Him ("Sentimental Heart" and "Thieves"). It's kinda folk-y and almost retro sounding. She's so talented it's almost unfair!

M: Now, the challenge is for us to watch/read/listen to the recommendations (from each other AND our "audience") and blog about that! Jenn is definitely more likely to follow through than I, but I will make a concerted effort, I promise!

a few surprises

2011-07-31T22:46:00.004-04:00

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!

Thursday Top Threes: Second opinion

2011-07-28T22:59:00.000-04:00

J: Top three actors that you changed your mind on - used to hate but now like or vice versa.

Jennifer:
1. Dakota Fanning: I'm quite shocked by this one. I despised her precocious child thing for years but then something funny happened: she grew up. The first really "teenage" role I saw her in was this movie Push (with Chris Evans) that was a rather mediocre sci-fi movie but somehow just turned me around on her.
2. Shia LaBeouf: I really did like Even Stevens back in the day! Now he just seems like a huge tool. And the Transformers movies are really bad.
3. Tom Cruise: A bit obvious but I mean, remember Top Gun??

Mira:
1. Vanessa Hudgens: I am a teenybopper and I enjoyed High School Musical and its sequels, and for whatever reason I liked her. For whatever reason I never noticed in those movies how monotonous and plain ol' ANNOYING her voice is. This became clear in Bandslam and Beastly. Yes, I watch quality movies, obviously.
2. Neil Patrick Harris: It's not that I disliked him as Doogie Howser, but I definitely was not any particular fan of his. Now I adore him and think he's fantastic. Mostly because of HIMYM, where he's fantastic as Barney.
3. Katie Holmes: I started out liking her lots in Dawson's Creek, and even at the end when she was unredeemingly perfect, I still liked her. Not anymore. All the reasons Jenn hated her during DC have become much more apparent in her career since and yeah, I kinda can't stand watching any movie with her in it.

Latest in sci-fi: Falling Skies and Alphas

2011-07-24T13:23:00.001-04:00

Ever since Lost and Battlestar Galactica ended, it seems like most attempts at sci-fi TV shows haven't gone so well, especially on the big networks. V, Flashforward, The Event...they were all pretty awful. I think a problem that they all stared was that they started out too ambitious: characters spread out into disconnected storylines which made them hard to care about. Maybe I'm sort of a "soft" science-fiction fan but I feel like sci-fi shows work best when they balance the "science" and mythology and action parts with good character development. Falling Skies (TNT) and Alphas (SyFy) both premiered this summer and while they're definitely not Lost or BSG, I think they do a much better job at striking that balance.

Falling Skies - I liked the pilot of this show and it's actually been improving steadily since then. The show starts some time after Earth has been invaded and largely destroyed by aliens and follows a group of survivors as they struggle to fight back. Noah Wyle stars as Tom Mason, a former history professor who is now second in command of this group, called the 2nd Massachusetts (like in the Revolutionary War). He was a bit annoying in the pilot constantly spouting examples from history that related to their current situation but that's been toned down and he's actually a very strong lead. There are definitely some shades of BSG here, with the group being comprised of both "fighters" and civilians between which tensions arise, and a little of Jericho too. I like that the show is following just this one group (we don't have much idea of what's happening in the rest of the country/world) and there have been some really good character moments that allow the audience to get invested. The action and special effects have pretty decent as well (this is a Steven Spielberg-backed project, after all) and this past week's episode started to reveal a bit more about the aliens' motives. So it's not the most innovative or exciting or different, but with good acting, writing, and production values, this is definitely solid. I'm hoping that they keep up the quality and momentum.

Alphas (SyFy) - On the surface this seems a lot like Heroes, which I guess is not necessarily a bad thing considering that Heroes was actually quite good at the beginning. But I think the difference here again, is that this show is not trying to bring together all these characters initially in separate storylines. It begins with the five main characters who have "abilities"(called Alphas) already working together in a team that is somehow supported by the government (they have offices and I assume, paychecks). They're led by Dr. Lee Rosen, who doesn't have an ability himself but serves as mentor/psychiatrist/parental figure for the team. He's played by Oscar nominee David Strathairn, whose mere presence brings the show up a notch. The abilities represented by the team are pretty standard, but with a twist. Rachel can enhance one of her senses...but at the expense of the other four. Bill, a former FBI agent, can activate his "fight or flight" response which makes him incredibly strong but can have serious after effects. The 90-minute pilot lagged in spots and I'm not sure how the show will progress week-to-week but I found myself liking a lot of the characters so I'm going to stick with it for now.

Another sci-fi show I really want to watch is Torchwood: Miracle Day but I don't have Starz and it won't be on Netflix streaming right away...

Thursday Top Three: fall preview

2011-07-21T22:20:00.001-04:00

M: Being bombarded with previews of fall shows so early in the summer, which shows are you most looking forward to seeing (old/new)?

Mira:

1. The New Girl (FOX): Commercials for this show is what inspired the question. Everytime I see a preview for the show, I'm so annoyed that I have to wait MONTHS to watch it!

2. Grimm (NBC): Not really sure what this is about but I'm excited to see fairy tale inspiration, rather than wizards, witches, werewolves, and vampires. :)

3. Glee (FOX): So many off-season changes, and I've been watching The Glee Project, which I'm sad to admit I totally enjoy, so I'm looking forward to what's to come next. I hope we can get back to the season 1 freshness and away from the season 2 contrived-ness. Plus, senior year so this transition out of the original cast has potential.

Jennifer:

1. Ringer (CW) - Sarah Michelle Gellar returns to TV! I don't think I really understand the premise but I'm optimistic.
2. New Girl (FOX) - I've realized that I kind of want to be Zooey Deschanel...
3. Community/Parks and Recreation (NBC) and The Vampire Diaries (CW) - My favorite shows from last season...all in the same hour.

Two summer diversions

2011-07-18T21:25:00.001-04:00

Necessary Roughness (USA) - I don't know what attracted me to this show in the first place. Maybe because it's not about doctors, lawyers, or cops? I'm not that interested in pro football or psychology either though, which are the two things this does revolve around. But for some reason I kind of find it entertaining.

Callie Thorne (who I've never seen in anything else) is a strong lead as Dr. Dani Santino, a Long Island therapist who finds herself working for the New York Hawks, a fictional pro football team. She's also recently separated from her cheating husband and the mother to two difficult teenagers. Only two episodes have aired but I gather that each week she'll have a new patient while continuing to treat Terrence "TK" King, a player for the Hawks who's basically a loose cannon and also dealing with her family and love life.

My most important question, however, is: when in the world did Marc Blucas get so hot?? I thought he was so blah and boring as Riley on Buffy but here, as the Hawk's trainer, he actually has a personality! Also kind of fantastic: Scott Cohen (Max Medina from Gilmore Girls) as a mysterious Hawks employee whose job it seems is just to fix problems.

Love Bites (ABC) - I loved Becki Newton on Ugly Betty so I was excited when I heard about this show that was supposed to be about two single women. But then I guess it just fell apart in development...Jordana Spiro was supposed to be the second lead but she couldn't commit because of My Boys (which subsequently got cancelled) and then Becki Newton got pregnant. So they tried to retool the show as a sort of anthology series about love and relationships but there was more drama behind the scenes and eventually ABC cut the order and decided to just burn it off in the summer.

I don't really blame them...it tends to be kind of cheesy and not particularly original but I actually do really like the format. Becki Newton as Annie and Greg Grunberg and Constance Zimmer as married couple Judd and Colleen are the only "regulars" and the three segments of each episode tend to be connected to them in some way but it allows for tons of familiar faces as guest stars. So far we've have Michelle Trachtenberg, Kyle Howard, Krysten Ritter, Bret Harrison (Reaper), Jay Harrington (Better Off Ted), Cheryl Hines, Matt Long (Jack & Bobby, Mad Men and the short lived The Deep End), Donald Faison, even Isaiah Mustafa (Old Spice Guy) and Ken Jeong (Community)...it just seemed like a really fun way for TV actors to do a little guest spot.

It really never would have survived during the regular season but it's cute enough that I'm happy that they're at least airing it this summer. Now, somebody get Becki Newton another project!!

Friday Night Lights: Always

2011-07-16T08:46:00.005-04:00

I actually finished watching the final season of Friday Night Lights a couple of months ago when it aired on DirecTV but I decided to wait to blog about it until it closed out on NBC (which it did last night) and in a way that's let me kind of push off dealing with the fact that it really is all over. What I really want to do now is watch it all from the beginning again!

You know, I'm so thankful that we got five seasons of this show. Despite instant and fervent critical acclaim, the ratings were a disappointment from the start and it seemed like it was always on the verge of cancellation. But in a rare example of a TV network having faith in a quality show, it survived to a second season. And then DirecTV made an unprecedented deal to share costs and airing of the show which guaranteed the next three seasons.

Yes, there were missteps (ahem, second season), characters stuck in the same storylines over and over again (Street, Tyra, Julie), things that never panned out (Santiago? Hastings? Epyck?) but overall, I don't hesitate to call this one of the highest quality shows in television. And it did it all with pretty much no flash or glamour. It rarely ventured outside of Dillon and never strayed from the honest and bare but amazingly un-melodramatic emotions that defined it from the very first episode. I have no personal connection to Texas, small towns or high school football, but this town, these characters, their stories... they got to me.

The last time I blogged about the show was in the middle of season 4, so let's talk about the last two seasons first. At the end of season 3, the show did something pretty risky. After ambiguously advancing the original cast of teenagers through high school, most of them finally graduated and ostensibly left the show. But instead of having Coach Taylor move on with the next generation of Dillon Panthers, it completely shook things up. Building tensions between Coach and the boosters throughout the season finally blew up with his ousting from the Panthers, but the surprise: a second high school was being reopened, East Dillon, and he was hired on to build their football program, the Lions. And just like that, Panther blue was suddenly evil!

I was initially hesitant about this move, but it became clear in season 4 that this was very smart. It put Coach Taylor in a completely different environment and introduced us to different kinds of characters. The Panthers retained nearly all their old players but East Dillon had to start from scratch with all kids from the less privileged areas of town (burning question, how does Dillon have so much "town" anyway??). Coach Taylor was now dealing with kids who'd never played football before, a far cry from the legacy born-and-bred Panthers across town. Landry and Julie (still seniors in season 4, don't ask) transfer over to East Dillon and bridge the gap to the new cast of teenagers introduced. While in the first generations of teens there wasn't really a main character, this time around there is one: Vince Howard, who eventually becomes quarterback. Wonderfully played by Michael B. Jordan, Vince has been in trouble with the law and is basically forced to join the Lions as a "last chance" and immediately reveals natural talent. His family situation proved to be one of the more interesting forces in the last season, as his absentee father returns and clashes with Coach Taylor in how to handle Vince's suddenly bountiful college prospects.

A big surprise among the new characters: Becky Sproles. She wasn't even credited in the main cast for season 4 despite having been in almost every episode but over the last two seasons she really grew into her own. Initially she kind of annoyed me with her fixation on Tim Riggins (he was living in her mother's trailer) but the episode where she discovers she's pregnant and has an abortion really drew me over to her side. In season 5, finding herself essentially abandoned by her somewhat awful parents, she forges a surrogate family with, of all people, Billy and Mindy Riggins, which led to some of the funniest scenes in the series. Mindy and her stripper friends just amused me to no end. It's really funny how Billy and Mindy became such mainstays of the series. On the surface they're pretty horrible examples for Becky but they, especially Mindy, become fiercely protective of her in a way she'd never experienced before. Becky also has a nice slow-burn storyline with Luke Cafferty, a former star Panther who was exposed to actually be zoned for East Dillon.

One of my favorite things from the early seasons were the scenes of Matt and Smash and Riggins and Landry just hanging out together on the football field late at night and there was one episode in season 5 that kind of recreated that magic with the new generation bonding on a road trip to an away game, getting drunk on the balconies of their motel. I also loved the relatively minor re-introduction and rehabilitation of Buddy Garrity Jr. Talk about perfect casting!

Speaking of the original generation, I can't not talk about Tim Riggins and Matt Saracen. Tim first. It wasn't any surprise that Tim just decided that he didn't like college and came back to Dillon. But what was a surprise was the path they took him down after his return. Strapped for cash, Billy starts an illegal chop shop operation and Tim helps, reluctantly, but when it all goes bad, Tim takes the fall and goes to prison. When he's released in season 5 (with the help of Coach and Buddy Garrity) he's a completely different man. Angry, jaded, downtrodden...it's Tim like we'd never seen him before. Out of all the characters I think it's probably the least clear where Tim will end up in the future but the series did end on a hopeful note for him.

Now Matt: Zach Gilford had one of the best performances of season 4 in "The Son," where Matt deals with his father's death. Matt had put off art school in Chicago to stay in Dillon to take care of his grandma (and be with Julie) but was clearly drifting and the news of his father, who's been overseas in Iraq for years and who he barely knows, rocked him. In the next episode, he picks up and finally leaves Dillon. He returns for an arc in the second half of season 5 after Julie comes out of yet another rebellious and ridiculous crisis that causes her to leave college. I loved loved the scenes of their reunion and how they fell back in step with eachother. Julie alone can be really awful but with Matt...they just make sense. That's probably why I wasn't too outraged when the writers decided to go down the annoying married young route with them in the finale. It did serve as a catalyst for a much more interesting story with her parents' marriage, and hey, this is fiction and no one's going to sway me from believing that Matt and Julie are destined to be Eric and Tami version 2.0.

That brings us to the heart of this show: the Taylors. I don't really know what to say that hasn't been said. It was so wonderful to see a portrait of a marriage so strong but not always perfect. I think probably every fan of this show wants either to be the Taylors or for them to be their parents, or both. Their conflict in the series finale was so amazingly drawn. Tami, who's always supported and followed, for the most part, Eric in his coaching career, is now the one with a career opportunity of a lifetime: becoming dean of admissions at a college in Philadelphia. (How does one go from high school guidance counselor to principal to college dean of admissions in 5 years? Be awesome as Tami Taylor, obviously.) Eric at first doesn't even see moving as a possibility which is a huge blow to Tami. After yet another Julie crisis (announcing that she and Matt are engaged), Eric admits that it's her time. And the series ends with the Taylors in Philadelphia, Tami in her element at the college, and Coach with a new group of boys to inspire.

There's a ton of stuff that I haven't even gotten to--this is a monumental post already--but that just goes to show how brilliant and important this show has been over the years. Coincidentally, the show finally got its first Emmy nomination for Best Drama Series this week (along with well-deserved repeat nods for Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton). It probably won't win but I'm happy that it got that recognition at all.

Check out this wonderful oral history of the show, and to end on a happy note:

CLEAR EYES, FULL HEARTS, CAN'T LOSE!

Thursday Top Threes: Wasted Potential

2011-07-14T18:21:00.000-04:00

Mira didn't have the brainpower to think of a question this week, so she passed the reins to the guestblogger.

Burkie: Top three TV or movie projects that had a great concept but failed to lived up to their potential.

Burkie:
1. Mystery Men. i love stories about lame superheroes and this one had it in spades: a guy who hurls silverware at people! a guy who hits people with a shovel! a guy who gets really mad! moreover, it had a great cast: william h. macy, geoffrey rush, janeane garofalo, peewee herman, ben stiller. alas, it just didn't deliver (actually, in my opinion, this whole category could probably be filled with ben stiller projects).
2. The Man Who Wasn't There. again, stuff & people i like: film noir, black & white, the coen brothers, billy bob thornton, frances mcdormand, and an interesting story about a nowhere man who schemes to get somewhere but it goes horribly wrong. it just didn't work for me. i didn't even finish watching it. i think the main problem was that nobody came across as very likable, which makes it hard to either root for somebody or feel much sympathy with them (again, i think coen brothers' projects could probably fill this list).
3. Life, Unexpected. is this CW show still on? jenn has blogged about it and mira & i were also initial fans, but it went downhill fast as it resorted to cliche after eye-rolling cliche storylines. waste of an engaging cast & premise.
Honorable mention: Photoblogged :)

Mira:
1. Beastly -- Only because this is fresh in my mind. I loved the idea of a Beauty and the Beast rewrite in modern, high school times; especially since it was one of my favorite Disney animations! But yeah, it sucked. So much.
2. I Am Number Four -- An interesting concept as far as this genre goes and I think it could've been so much more. Instead it was overly predictable as if the writers were just trying to take shortcuts in creating the story. Interestingly, both of my posts so far star Pettyfer, who I also really do not like.
3. Avalon High -- I thought this book was great fun! Once again, a rewrite of something old in modern, high school times -- King Arthur. Unfortunately the Disney Channel original movie version of it sucked. So much. They tried to make it slightly different from the book but completely ruined it. COMPLETELY.

Jennifer: I guess I'm going with only TV answers...
1. The Killing - I never reviewed this AMC series even though I watched the whole first season because it kind of went off the rails really fast and ended with one of the most frustrating and some might say, insulting, season finales ever. But it started off so promisingly. I initially found the lead character, Detective Sarah Linden, to be one of the more unique female characters on TV--quietly thoughtful and observant, strong but not overtly intimidating. Her partner and foil, Stephen Holder, was played by Joel Kinnaman in a truly interesting performance (the actor is Swedish but had these "urban" mannerisms and accent), and Michelle Forbes and Brent Sexton were fantastic as the grieving parents of the teenage murder victim Rosie Larsen. But the story just did not serve these characters. Too many red herrings, dumb plot twists, bad policework...and the ending was awful. Let's just say that the showrunner had to give all these defensive interviews afterward about how they never promised the audience any answers. The show was renewed for a second season but I doubt I'll be back.
2. Running Wilde - Keri Russell + Will Arnett + creator of Arrested Development = success, right? So many people, including me, were so excited about this show, but it just fell flat. Really disappointing.
3. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - I actually loved its debut despite myself. I thought Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry were just fantastic together and the cast and world seemed so tight right from the beginning. But the show-within-the-show segments were just not funny and the ratings and writing started to tank at the same time. I gave up pretty early on, and NBC did too after the first season. Definitely wasted potential.

Thursday Top Threes: Geeks!

2011-07-07T20:23:00.000-04:00

J: Top three fictional computer geeks!

Jennifer: Way too many to choose from! Gotta go with the girl geeks first though!
1. Chloe O'Brian from 24. Hilariously blunt and grumbling and socially awkward but becomes Jack Bauer's most loyal and trusted sidekick.
2. Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Well, more from the early seasons anyway. "It's the computer age! Nerds are in! They're still in, right?"
3. Chuck Bartowski from Chuck. I've been up and down on this show and all of the Chuck/Sarah relationship angst but I still really love Zachary Levi in this role. TV boyfriend!

Mira: Fun question!
1. Liz Lemon from 30 Rock: I mean, I only wanna be her and all, or at least have her job. :)
2. Seth Cohen from The OC: He got kind of annoying by the end of the show, but I thought they all got kind of annoying and stopped watching it, though Jenn swears the final season was okay. Still Seth in the early days was adorable!
3. Hiro from Heroes: Yet another show that got really annoying by the end, but I was super excited about the show when it first came out and I thought Hiro was one of the best, if not the best, characters on it!

SYTYCD: top 16

2011-07-04T21:04:00.000-04:00

Talking with others about the first two weeks of SYTYCD, I agree -- wish they had just eliminated two in the first week of top 20. Then Yvetta and the tall tapper guy would still be here. :( And maybe some of my less favorite dancers would have been gone. Especially since a good number of them were in the bottom 3.

Yay for this week's guest judges -- Kristin Chenoweth and Lil C!

Sasha & Alexander: Sasha disappearing into the piano box was creepy! Especially when her hands peeked out. I'm having a really hard time warming up to Alexander but I do love Sasha. The judges are really right in that the girls are so, so, so strong this season! Her lines in the dance this week were gorgeous. I loooove KC -- "I played a tulip and a frog peed on me," quite a feat -- and I don't mean the ones on the bottom of you legs."

Caitlyn & Mitchell: I really like Caitlyn a lot. She's this season's Jeannine for me. (I didn't think much of her when Jeannine was first introduced on the show -- I commented that she was lucky to be Phillip Chbeeb's partner. Then I quickly learned the error of my ways to see that he was lucky to have her.) I thought she was amazing in this dance. Mitchell isn't... masculine and strong enough for me, at least not in Latin.

Miranda & Robert: I hate how Miranda and Robert talk, Miranda more so. Their dance was only okay for me. I think I was distracted by the tapping in the song that wasn't being interpreted on stage, but I guess that's a choreography thing. Also, I didn't really see the story that they were supposed to be telling. That's one number I won't be remembering.

Melanie & Marco: Kiss number 1. I thought this number would have been better if Melanie weren't wearing the really distractingly ugly dress that she was wearing. But I agree with the judges that they're one of the strongest couples in this competition. Melanie is a judges' favorite, and Marco has the great story (and I love his passion for dance that comes out with every performance). And kiss number 2 between Mary & Nigel. Eww. (And HILARIOUS. I love Cat Deeley's facial expression.) And Kiss number 3 and number 4... Poor Cat.

Ashley & Chris: What is it with jazz choreographers and zombies? Haha, in any case, I'm not a big fan of Ashley's but I thought she was really great in this Sonya zombie number. It is interesting to me how much every week the judges adore her, though. Chris was okay, but I didn't notice him much truthfully.

Clarice & Jess: I felt like this performance was not as smooth as you'd expect the foxtrot to be, especially set to "Fly Me to the Moon." It wasn't gliding for me, even though Mary Murphy claims they did it. Hmphh. The judges really loved it. I did not. I'd definitely not miss Jess leaving.

Ryan & Ricky: This piece was unexpectedly quieter than what I was expecting. But I thought that it was technically very impressive and I liked the concept. I've gotta say that the fabric rope thing was what I was staring at the entire time, though.

Jordan & Tadd: I think the best part of that performance was Tadd breaking across the floor in just his boxers. I felt I would enjoyed the routine better with a little less story, a little more dance. But it was fun.

My bottom 3 couples:

- Miranda & Robert

- Clarice & Jess

- Ashley & Chris

Actual bottom 3:

- Ashley & Chris

- Miranda & Robert

- Caitlyn & Mitchell (BOO!)

Eliminated:
Miranda and Robert -- I guess no couple switch-ups again...

Summer of ABCFamily

2011-07-02T13:04:00.001-04:00

Burkie did his roundup of the summer USA and TNT shows that Mira and I don't watch so I figured it's my turn to summarize a network I do watch: ABCFamily!

First, a qualification. I would consider myself a fan of ABCFamily...they used to have really cute original movies back in the day and I've enjoyed many of their series throughout the years including Kyle XY, Greek, The Middleman, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Huge, but their latest offerings (and biggest hits, which is worrisome) have majorly turned me off. The Secret Life of the American Teenager makes me want to puke, Pretty Little Liars is just insane, and we all know how Mira and I fell out of love with Make it or Break it. But I still decided to check out their three new series this summer and I was happy to see that they're not exactly following in those footsteps.

Switched at Birth: As clear from the title of the show, this show is about two teenage girls who discover that they were switched in the hospital as babies. And of course, their families are complete opposites: Bay grew up with the Kennishes, a wealthy white family, while Daphne went home with Regina, a Hispanic single mother. The Kennishes are pretty entitled and conceited (Mr. and Mrs. are played by D.W. Moffett, who perfected the asshole dad routine as J.D. McCoy's dad on Friday Night Lights, and Lea Thompson, whose acting style I find really grating), while Regina is defensive and a little hot-headed (but supported by her wise, voice-of-reason mother).

A lot of the plot details are really obvious: Bay finds out that she's artistic and rebellious like Regina, Daphne is athletic like the Kennishes. They even immediately kind of swap love interests: Bay's ex-boyfriend Liam pursues Daphne, while Bay finds herself attracted to Ty, a boy from Daphne's neighborhood.

But there is one really different thing about this show, and it's kind of a big one that's keeping me interested: Daphne is deaf. While she speaks relatively well and can read lips, most people don't understand her world. The actress who plays her, Katie Leclerc, is really great. Daphne could have come off as insufferably saint-like but I found myself really liking her. Bay is actually the annoying one (it doesn't help that she's played by Vanessa Marano, who was Luke's long-lost daughter on Gilmore Girls, one of the worst characters ever) as kind of a brat who finally finds a reason to feel sorry for herself.

It's probably likely that I'll tire of this show and its ABCFamily-ness, especially if they renew the show and it airs during the regular TV season when I have less time, but for now I'll keep watching.

The Nine Lives of Chloe King: This is definitely my favorite of the three...in a way it's kind of like the ABCFamily version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's not as edgy or dark or witty as Buffy, but the lead, Skyler Samuels as Chloe, is really likable as a teenage girl who discovers that she has cat-like powers (and nine lives) and is part of an ancient tribe of some sort called the Mai, and she has two sidekicks, Amy and Paul, who are kind of Willow/Cordelia and Xander-like. They're brought into the secret right away, which I like, and they're also a couple right away too. Two other kids at school, Alek and Jasmine, are also Mai and believe that she is the "Uniter" and the key to saving the race. But this also means that she's being hunted by an assassin who has connections to the father of her love interest, Brian (played by Grey Damon who prettied up the final season of Friday Night Lights as Hastings but didn't get anything to do much else), whom she can't kiss because it'll probably kill him.

On the surface it all sounds somewhat ridiculous but it's actually kind of fun. I like all the characters and hope that the mythology doesn't get too crazy or dumb. Kyle XY started off kind of similarly but then eventually got really good (as good as ABCFamily gets anyway) so I'm hopeful about this one.

State of Georgia: Only one episode of this has aired and there were a lot of things I didn't like about it but I'll probably stick with it for a few weeks because of one reason: Majandra Delfino! She's been completely off the radar since her days as Maria on Roswell which is definitely a shame because she's so likable and has great comic timing here. She plays Jo, the nerdy best friend of Georgia (Raven-Symone, overacting as usual) who moves with her to New York to start their careers. Georgia wants to be an actress, and Jo is supposed to join a physics graduate program. The humor is really broad and in-your-face so I hope that gets toned down a little. We shall see...

Thursday Top Threes: crazies!

2011-06-30T23:28:00.000-04:00

M: Top three favorite completely crazy characters.

Jennifer:
1. The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. Well, pretty much everyone in Wonderland is crazy but the Queen of Hearts with her "Off with their heads!" and flamingo/hedgehog croquet and people painting roses and just generally being terrified of her is one of my favorites.
2. The Cat in the Hat.
3. Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica. Maybe in the end it turned out that he wasn't so crazy after all but with all his visions of Six, somehow becoming Vice President and then President, spending too much time on the Cylon baseship, leading a religious cult...yeah. Definitely crazy.

Mira:
1. Mrs. Kim from Gilmore Girls. Perfect example of how crazy Koreans and Korean moms can be. :)
2. Along the same line as Jenn's pick of Alice and Wonderland, I'm going to say Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
3. Sue on Glee. She's only really fun for me when she's being absolutely ridiculous on the show. Like when she married herself in a tracksuit wedding dress. Or when she went full Grinch with Becky as the reindog. In her moments of pure craziness, she's kind of brilliant!

the voice, now that it's pretty much over!

2011-06-29T00:10:00.005-04:00

The Voice was a surprise hit for me. I didn't expect to enjoy it so much, but I have! I loved the blind auditions concept at the very beginning. I loved the coaches' performances. I really loved the coaches interactions and demonstrated abilities while working with their teams. And Blake is really hot. I was excited about some of the teams early on, but in the end there were only 4 singers that stood out for me. And they were not equally split among the four teams.

Vicci: She was the dark horse of this competition for me. Unexpected and a fantastic performer. I also love the depth of her vocals!

Javier: He was an early favorite. Cute, great sound, and soulful. He never hit a bad note really. I thought that Adam was a good coach for him, too, because he really helped Javier to rein it in and focus his vocal talents.

Xenia: I thought it was hilarious that Blake got the two shyest girls ever. Xenia really had a unique voice, as touted by all the coaches. With more confidence, I'm excited to hear more of her in the future.

Dia: Absolutely a sweetheart (though she seems a little bland in personality) and I love that she not only had a unique sound and rhythm to her singing, but she also had a very strong sense and of and confidence in her personal musical style. She was my favorite each week, truthfully, and the one whose song I wanted to purchase.

Things I did not like about The Voice:
- Battle Rounds went TOO long -- 4 weeks!!!
- The recap clips at the beginning of each episode took like 5 minutes.
- The preview clips before each commercial break basically ruined any surprise coming 5 minutes later.
- Christina and Adam's quibbles sometimes went tooooo long.
- The episodes leading to the finale were about the singers on each team competing with each other rather than competing against the other coaches' teams. I think that could have been rethought out where coaches would lose singers on their team if their team wasn't strong enough.

In any case, I was skeptical about the selection of coaches at first, but in the end, I thought it was great! I thought this show was great!

SYTYCD: top 20 x2!

2011-06-29T00:00:00.000-04:00

I got lucky this year. Top 20 is always that week where I'm left wondering where certain dancers came from. I watch all the audition episodes and try to make note of all my favorites but there are always a good number of dancers who make it into the Top 20 who are complete mysteries to me. Fortunately this year not only did they keep the "Meet the Top 20" without elimination episode (which was a GREAT addition in the last few seasons!) but after the first elimination week, the judges decided not to eliminate anyone! Doubly fortunate, too, because I was unable to watch episodes immediately, like I have in previous seasons, and so I am a little behind in my blogging about only my favorite competition show ever -- So You Think You Can Dance!

The couples:
Ryan & Ricky: She was already been touted to become a favorite but she really has been one of my favorites. Their Christopher Scott number in week 1 was fantastic! Their week 2 Mandy Moore number was powerful, but not something I would remember. They have a great, silly off-stage partnership, though. Reminds you of how the dancers on SYTYCD become such a family!
Caitlynn & Mitchell: She was good but I wasn't sure if I would remember her based on her dance week 1. And... I really didn't remember her from week 1. I definitely will remember her after week 2! It's also good that we got a chance to see the two dance together since Mitchell was injured week 1. In any case, Stacey Tookey is absolutely my favorite choreographer on this show now, and this was a fantastic example of why! I thought Caitlynn was amazing in this piece!
Missy & Wadi: Darn, I was expecting Sonya to choreograph to Judas sometime this season. Instead it was African Jazz. I don't like Missy that much but I wanna see more of Wadi! I think one of the reasons I'm having trouble warming to Missy is because she worked so hard at selling herself as a "sexy" dancer (her and Jordan both)... In any case, their week 2 cha-cha was... meh. The non-ballroom female dancers doing Latin is just not exciting for me because there's something so stiff about them. I still really like Wadi, though!
Yvetta & Nick: Nick is my favorite to look at this season. I think Yvetta is a dark horse, and I'm definitely rooting on her. I love how frenetic Bollywood is and I really enjoyed their week 2 dance. And Nick is too cute. :)
Miranda & Robert: I think these two talking will annoy me. Week 1 Jive -- I think that all jives fall short of Anya's. The concept of the NappyTabs routine reminds me of Hok & Jamie's hummingbird dance (Wade Robson choreographed, I think). Fortunately the routine was not too literally the concept. I thought that this was a fun routine and was impressed by both. NappyTabs routines without the lyrical hiphop sap stories are soooo much better. :)
Clarice & Jess: As of week 1 I was not sold on them yet. But week 2, they get Stacey Tookey (not only do I love her and her choreography, I loooove her song choices!)... I think this dance would've been better with a stronger and bigger male partner. Her legs were as long as he is tall! I don't think I could buy him as the "prince"; too little!
Jordan & Tadd- I was already a fan of Tadd and really enjoyed his 8 second intro. Such a cutie! Jordan is the other half of the "sexy" girls, so bleh. Haha. I like how Tadd ratted her out for being not-so-smart, cuz she looks kinda airheaded a lot of the time. Anyway, the Viennese waltz was really pretty. (Haha, another "Vietnamese Waltz.")
Melanie & Marco: Really awesome concept by Travis in week 1. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with their week 2 dance. I don't know if it was because sometimes they were not fully in sync or I did not like the choreography... In any case, overall I'm undecided about Melanie but I think she's a great dancer. Marco, I adore!! I also think that they are another great off-stage pair.
Sasha & Alexander: Alexander is a lil creepy. Sasha got a lot of airtime in the audition and Vegas rounds and I'm glad to see that I like her more and more! Alexander's interesting fact (looking at self in mirror) was totally not surprising. I feel like I could have predicted that NappyTabs would choreograph to "I'm Coming Home." Haha. I thought Sasha was fantastic, Alexander not so much. Just something so stiff and awkward for me. If he's safe after this week it's because SHE carried that performance.
Ashley & Chris: For week 1, I thought it was okay. I liked the song choice and it was fun but I thought Chris was way better. I don't much like Ashley... She smiles like a horse. In any case, the Broadway number was okay as far as Broadway numbers go.

My bottom 4:
- Missy
- Jess
- Alexander
- Ashley

The bottom 6 SUCKED. :( I would never have put two of those couples in the bottom three couples.
Actual 4 sent home:
- Wadi :(
- Missy
- Nick :( :( :(
- Yvetta :( :(

Saved:
- Ryan
- Ricky

Thursday Top Threes: U2!

2011-06-23T19:23:00.000-04:00

J: Mira and I went to the U2 360° Tour last night in Baltimore! It was a great show and it got me thinking, what are your top three all-time favorite U2 songs?

Jennifer:
1. Ultraviolet - So happy they played this last night!
2. With or Without You -Yeah, there's a reason it's so popular.
3. Where the Streets Have No Name - I really love the instrumental intro.

Mira:
1. City of Blinding Lights
2. Pride
3. One

Thursday Top Threes: retitling

2011-06-16T19:30:00.000-04:00

M: Top three worst titles for a movie/tv show...

Mira:
1. I Am Number Four - I (may have been one of few people who) thought that the concept of this movie was interesting, but almost chose not to watch it because of the title alone.
2. Taken/Wanted/Hostage/Any of those super, duper unmemorable one worded titles that all sound like they could be the same movie.
3. Secret Life of the American Teenager - That, and I hate the show. I think it's ridiculous and I think it's even more ridiculous that it's done well enough to go on for seasons and seasons.

Jennifer:
1. $h*! My Dad Says - Never watched it but I mean, really??
2. Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore - It just sounds ridiculous. Another stupidly long kids' movie title: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. Haven't watched either of these.
3. Source Code: I actually saw this Jake Gyllenhaal movie and it was decent, if forgettable, but the title makes absolutely no sense. As a programmer I was kind of irked.

The Summer TV Schedule

2011-06-12T18:42:00.008-04:00

i know the resident blogstresses are fans of the CW, FOX, and the other big networks, but i've found that many of the shows i most enjoy these days appear on TNT (We Know Drama) and USA (Characters Welcome), and their primary seasons are during the other networks' off-season. jenn already blogged about the fall 2011 season; let's look at the summer 2011 season!

TNT: We Know Drama

The Closer - my favorite show on TV, returns 11 July. Kyra Sedgwick's performance as Los Angeles Assistant Chief of Police Brenda Lee Johnson is the best part of the show: a girly-girl from Georgia out of her regional element and in a tough, traditionally male position, she wins the day in the interrogation room. and her wardrobe is terrific, too! the surrounding cast of characters are also well-developed. moreover, i think the show does the best job in recent memory of capturing LA's local color.

Memphis Beat - i've blogged about this show before. returns this tuesday, 14 june!

Rizzoli & Isles - returns 11 July. this is a buddy cop show, except that the buddies are women and only one is a cop; the other is a medical examiner. i like this show, but i don't love it. angie harmon is a good texan, so i always root for her. both stars are likable (the medical examiner is played by somebody i don't know), but the show needs to step it up conceptually this season in my opinion, to have any legs. in their favor is the fact that they're using this great Grace Potter & The Nocturnals song in their promos :)

Men of a Certain Age - already started. i understand what this show is about and i think the 3 leads are great, but i've only watched it a couple of times and haven't warmed up to it. maybe i identify too much with that demographic and would prefer not to see myself as pathetic as they are. the show gets great reviews, though.

Franklin & Bash - a buddy lawyer show, new this season and has already started. it's about two unorthodox lawyers (F. Lee Bailey meets Barnum & Bailey) working for a big law firm (malcolm mcdowell gets to ham it up as the firm's patriarch). i've seen the pilot and it's okay. not sure how much substance it will have.

Leverage - returns 26 June. a successful formula: a bunch of outcasts/outlaws team up to be do-gooders (think A-Team). i've only seen the show once. i prefer USA's take on this concept (see Burn Notice below) and Fox's (Human Target).

Falling Skies - a new show premiering 19 June. here's the concept: earth has been almost entirely wiped out by an alien attack, and this show focuses on a group of survivors who are trying to rebuild their part of civilization. Noah Wylie stars...i think he was in a hospital show. i've enjoyed books with an post-apocalyptic them (Alas, Babylon and The Stand, for two examples) but i'm not sure how it'll work in a TV format. we'll see.

USA: Characters Welcome

In Plain Sight - already started. i love this show about two US Marshals in the Witness Protection Service based in Albuquerque. i like the concept of what the Witness Protection Service does (i've used it in my stories), i like Albuquerque, and the stars are great. mary mccormack's character was perfectly described by somebody in a recent episode as "the snarky smirk in the leather jacket." she's all of that, and fun to watch. her partner, whimsically named "Marshall Mann," is the perfect foil: thoughtful, methodical, and full of arcane facts & trivia that drive his partner nuts.

Royal Pains - returns 29 June. this show is just a pleasant diversion. a nice doctor and his wacky brother playing concierge doctor to rich people in the Hamptons. not very deep, but entertaining.

Burn Notice - returns 23 June. a spy forced out of the business and forced to stay in Miami. like all the USA shows, there is a lot of good local color here. the cast is cool (you can never go wrong with bruce campbell, right?) and the show carries out the outcast-turned-samaritan concept well.

Covert Affairs - already started. season two of new CIA agent Annie Walker as she continues to adapt and excel in the spy business. kind of the exact opposite show of Burn Notice. i thought that season one was uneven and lacked substance, so we'll see what season two has in store.

Necessary Roughness - a new show, premiering 29 June. stars Callie Thorne as a psychotherapist whose new client is a professional football team in New York. haven't seen that before, so i'll give it a shot.

Suits - a new series, debuting 23 June. another lawyer buddy show. this time, only one is a real lawyer; the other is a savant who finds his skills useful in a law firm. to be honest, doesn't do much for me. i'm usually not a fan of legal shows (though i'm a big fan of USA's other legal show, Fairly Legal).

White Collar - returns tuesday, 14 June. i've never seen this show about a white collar criminal who now helps the feds solve other white collar crimes.

Thursday Top Threes: Summertime

2011-06-10T13:47:00.000-04:00

J: It's stupidly hot here in Maryland. What are your top three songs that make you think of summer?

Jennifer:
1. Weezer - Island in the Sun. Hip hip!
2. The Ataris - Boys of Summer. One of my favorite covers.
3. Best Coast - Boyfriend. Even the album cover screams summer!

Mira:
1. Stroke 9 - Tail of the Sun. The lyrics aren't very summery, but the style of the song is just so fitting for a hot, lazy summer.
2. Grease - Summer Nights. Uh Well-a-well-a-well-a huh!
3. Hanson - MMMBop. Reminds me of a roadtrip I took with my family during the summer of 8th grade. Except we sang it "Kim-bap" when we were hungry. Koreans! :)

Thursday Top Threes: SYTYCD edition

2011-06-03T08:19:00.001-04:00

M: It's that time of the year -- So You Think You Can Dance. The only topic I have consistently blogged about on this blog! :) With 7 seasons worth of dances to choose from, what were your top three favorite SYTYCD routines ever!

Jennifer: Yikes, tough question because there have been so many amazing dances over the years!
1. Katee and Joshua - Hometown Glory (season 4). Probably not the most popular dance from this couple or Mia Michaels but something about it just gets me. I can watch it over and over.
2. Mark and Chelsie - Bleeding Love (season 4). Ah, NappyTabs back when the "lyrical hip hop" was new and fresh.
3. Allison and Robert - Fix You (season 7). I don't even like this Coldplay song and I was not a Robert fan at all, but damn, this was just a really good dance performed extraordinarily well.
Honorable mention - This is from season 1 of the Canadian version: Lisa and Vincent doing House. So good!

Mira:
1. Katee & Joshua - No Air (season 4). I think that Katee is for whatever reason one of my favorite female dancers, if not my favorite, on the show. This is my personal NappyTabs "lyrical hip hop" favorite.
2. Heidi & Travis - Bench Dance (Season 2). Season 2 was my first season of SYTYCD. Heidi was one of my least favorites throughout the show but this dance really changed my mind and I thought it was fantastic.
3. Billy & Ade - Mad World (season 7). Funny cuz I listed this as my 3rd favorite from that season, but it's a dance that I still think about from time to time.
Honorable mention - SOOOOOO many more, but I especially loved two group numbers, the ignored Seven Nation Army and the much lauded Calle Ocho in season 5.

Thursday Top Threes: Don't get it

2011-05-26T23:16:00.002-04:00

J: Top three pop-culture phenomena that you just can't get into.

Jennifer:
1. Oprah, in general. Last episode, whatever.
2. The Simpsons: I've watched some episodes here and there but I just don't get the appeal. I can't believe it's been on for 22 years.
3. e-books: The actual e-readers (Kindle in particular) have grown on me but as someone who reads a lot and currently gets everything free from the library, I can't get on board with having to buy e-books. I'll have to reconsider if and when a better library lending model is implemented.

Mira:
1. Twitter and all of its spin-offs to include FourSquare. I tried it, really. But it's tiresome following 1391243 celebrities random musings and I know no one cares about my random musings. So seriously, how has it become this major trend? And why the heck are random words chosen to be #hashmarks???
2. Justin Bieber. I seriously can get into anything and everything teenybopper-y. But I really don't understand the craze for him.
3. Survivor: I can't believe the show has been running for that long. Admittedly I only started watching The Amazing Race this season and loved it; but I'm not quite sure I understand the appeal and the long lastability (durability?) of Survivor.

Fall 2011 Upfronts

2011-05-19T19:48:00.003-04:00

It's season finale time, which also means...upfronts! Here are my thoughts on the networks' schedules for next season.

NBC:

Somewhat surprisingly Chuck was renewed for a 13-episode 5th and final season. Sometimes I'm a bit lukewarm on this show but I'm glad that the writers are getting the advance notice to end the show properly.
The Sing-off is getting an expanded season to be a placeholder until The Voice comes back in spring. I liked the show a lot but partly because it was so short. Not sure how the new format will be...and Nicole Scherzinger is out because she's hosting Fox' The X-Factor.
The Playboy Club - Trying to be Mad Men-esque, I suppose with its 60s setting. I'm not a big Eddie Cibrian fan though.
Grimm - Something about fairy tales. Didn't really make sense to me but I give all the genre stuff a chance.
Awake (midseason) - High-concept drama about man who gets into a car accident with his family and finds himself living two parallel lives -- one where his wife died and one where his son did -- and doesn't know which is real and which is a dream. This kind of show seems to always get cancelled though.

FOX:

The X-Factor - Of course. I'll watch it.
New Girl - I like Zooey Deschanel so I hope this one's funny.
Terra Nova - Strong possibility this will be a trainwreck. But there are dinosaurs?
Alcatraz (midseason) - Also sort of sci-fi-ish about former prisoners returning or something.
Napoleon Dynamite (midseason) - I don't watch any of FOX's animated shows but I'm a big fan of the movie and the entire original cast is voicing this, so I'll at least check it out.

ABC:

I've never blogged about it but at some point I became a fan of Cougar Town and I'm a little bummed that it's being pushed to midseason.
ABC cancelled a whole lot of stuff, including No Ordinary Family, Brothers & Sisters, Off the Map, Mr. Sunshine...
Pan Am - ABC's attempt to be Mad Men-esque about the pilots and flight attendants of the erstwhile airline.
Once Upon a Time - Another fairy-tale-related drama. This one seems to make even less sense.
Charlie's Angels - Not really interested but seems obligatory.
Apartment 23 (midseason) - James Van Der Beek plays himself?? He seems to be doing alright making a career of spoofing himself.

CBS:

2 Broke Girls - It's CBS so this will probably be pretty conventional but I really like Kat Dennings and it sounds like it'll be a good companion for How I Met Your Mother.
Person of Interest - Michael Emerson from Lost was all I needed to hear. I don't watch any CBS dramas but I'll check this out.

CW:

Whew, Nikita was renewed! Unfortunately it's being banished to Friday nights with Supernatural. Supernatural does have a lot of rabid fans though so hopefully that will be good for Nikita.
One Tree Hill NEVER DIES! Ok actually this is going to be the final season.
Hellcats dead. Oh well. It got kinda bad near the end.
Ringer - I called it last year that Sarah Michelle Gellar needs to come back to TV, and it's happening! Originally this show was rumored for CBS but I think the CW is a much better fit, plus the ratings expectations will be much lower. I hope it's worthy. I don't like that it's being paired with 90210 though.
Hart of Dixie - Josh Schwartz (The OC, Gossip Girl, Chuck) vehicle for Rachel Bilson. I like her a lot too but a bit skeptical of the concept (NYC doctor moves to Southern town).
The Secret Circle - From the same author as The Vampire Diaries and same producer, this time with witches! Britt Robertson is starring and I did like her on Life Unexpected before the show went completely off the rails.

Thursday Top Threes: looking for a job?

2011-05-19T18:14:00.001-04:00

M: What tv/movie/book jobs, as in ones that belong to characters, would you most like to have?

Mira:
1. In a very short-lived sitcom called The Return of Jezebel James, Parker Posey's character was a children's literature editor. I've always thought that would be the perfect job for me!
2. Liz Lemon (Tina Fey)'s job on 30 Rock. Head writer for a TV show!
3. Toss up between: Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) on Covert Affairs. Knowing a bajillion languages and having traveled the world = perfect skillsets needed to be a kick-ass spy? Sounds like a fun! (Okay, so I'm too much of a wimp to actually do all the ass kicking...) Colin Firth's character on Love Actually -- to be a novelist on a lake in Portugal, what a life!

Jennifer:
1. In this silly little webseries Rockville, CA, one of the characters, Deb, was a talent scout for a record company. Probably makes no money but going to clubs and listening to bands as your job sounds like it would be really fun (for awhile at least).
2. Caterer by day, spy by night! Um, yeah...this show (Undercovers) got cancelled.
3. Owning, running, and living on a beautiful Napa Valley winery like the dad in The Parent Trap. Sign me up!

Thursday Top Threes: Biographies/Biopics!

2011-05-12T20:48:00.001-04:00

B: guestblogger in da house! so, what are your favorite biographies or biopics?

Burkie:

1. Jim Thorpe: Indian Athlete by G. Van Riper. this was one of a series of juvenile biographies that i read. i read most of them, but the one about Jim Thorpe got me hooked on this series, on biographies, and on reading in general. i must have read it at least a dozen times.

2. Lawrence of Arabia. the 1962 movie starring peter o'toole. a stunningly beautiful movie starring a stunningly handsome actor (yes, i said it), about a fascinating man. if you've never seen it, i highly recommend it.

3. Shakespeare (The Illustrated and Updated Edition) by Bill Bryson. i love bryson's writing and i love shakespeare, so this is a no-brainer for me!

Jennifer: I don't really read biographies...not that I don't like non-fiction, I just don't have time. No biopics came to mind right away either, so these are sort of random.
1. Bright Star. I'm not really into poetry either but I loved this film about the last few years of John Keats' life. Abbie Cornish is fantastic as Keats' fiancée Fanny Brawne.
2. Amadeus. It's been a long time since I've seen this but I still remember quite a lot of it, especially Mozart's ridiculous giggle.
3. Becoming Jane/Miss Austen Regrets. Mostly fictionalized but people love to speculate on what Jane Austen was like and I'm happy to join in.

Mira: Somehow my edits disappeared. :(
1. Shakespeare in Love: A fictionalized rendition of Shakespeare's life but oh-so-good. Plus I love how they mixed in the storylines/characters of the plays into his supposed "real life."
2. Walk the Line: Did not really know much about Johnny Cash, his music, or his life. But I really enjoyed the powerful story told here and thought that the actors chosen to play Johnny and June were fantastic!
3. Remember the Titans: I'm a sucker for feel good sports movies. And you make it based on a true story? Even better! Plus, I love how they show you what happened to the different kids afterward. A close fourth was Miracle.

Thursday Top Threes: Weddings!

2011-05-05T12:00:00.001-04:00

J: Watching the Royal Wedding last week (loved it!) got me thinking about wedding movies. What are your top three wedding movies (or just wedding scenes)?

Mira: Great question, Jenn... and hard! :)
1. My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I haven't seen this movie in ages, but a really fun one that well captures the craziness of family.
2. Bride Wars. A little strong on the bridezilla aspect of weddings, but I enjoyed watching the two brides create competing "perfect weddings."
3. Rachel Getting Married. Maybe I just like Anne Hathaway. But I thought this wedding was so kooky. Lotsa movies (especially Bollywood ones) do Indian movies but this Indian-themed wedding was just so... random!

Jennifer:
1. The Wedding Singer - I'm not even really an Adam Sandler fan but this was the first thing that came to mind. The 80s references were kind of out of control but overall very funny and sweet.
2. Monsoon Wedding - Half in English and half in Hindi, a really fascinating and fun movie about the craziness of a big Indian wedding.
3. Wedding scene from The Sound of Music - It was so formal and elaborate with all the bowing and such but then the nuns are singing "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" in the background. Odd but rather memorable combination.

The Vampire Diaries: Team...Elena!

2011-04-29T17:48:00.003-04:00

You know, sometimes it's easy to forget about Elena. She's one of the three central characters (along with Damon and Stefan) but despite her importance to the mythology of the show, she's so often just a pawn in all the machinations going on. Her circle of friends is increasingly supernatural -- vampires, witches, werewolves, but she remains relatively powerless. Still, early on, I began to realize that she wasn't like that other girl in love with a vampire, and last night's episode solidly confirmed it.

The thing that bothered me most about Bella in Twilight was how quickly and unhesitatingly she decided that she wanted to become a vampire so she could be with Edward forever. She didn't give a second thought about essentially giving up a normal life. But Elena, in an extremely well constructed reveal in last night's episode, emotionally admits to Stefan that she doesn't want--never wanted--to become a vampire. She loves Stefan but she wants to stay human, grow old, have choices. I'd been a little annoyed at Elena recently because of her insistence that she'd rather die than the people she loved but this revelation really brought her up a notch in my estimation.

And of course, Stefan, being the best vampire boyfriend ever, reacted so understandingly. He actually pushed her to tell him, even though he probably already knew that was how she felt. It was just a really tender and beautifully acted scene amidst all the general craziness of the episode.

I don't want to go into too many more details because I still think that everyone who reads this blog needs to go back and catch up with this show, but man, this show has NOT been running out of gas. I'm consistently amazed at how many different insane plot twists they throw in every single week but in a way that still makes sense. Only two episodes left!

Thursday Top Threes: And the Plot Thickens!

2011-04-28T22:00:00.001-04:00

M: Top three most annoying plot twists!

Jennifer:
1. Rambaldi. Every frickin' Rambaldi plot twist on Alias. I've blocked out most of the details because they were so awful.
2. Tony not being dead on season 7 of 24. Tony Almeida was one of my favorite characters on the first couple of seasons of the show and while I hated when he (and his wife Michelle) died, I was way more angry when they decided to bring him back....as a bad guy! I was already tiring of the show by that point so that was kind of the last straw. I didn't finish season 7 and didn't bother with season 8.
3. Fred getting taken over by Illyria in season 5 of Angel. Like I've mentioned before, there are actually large chunks of Angel that I've never watched but I really did like Fred and I hated that they essentially killed her off. Amy Acker as Illyria was actually still a good performance but I missed Fred.

Mira:
1. Breaking up perfectly perfect relationships for no good reason. Examples: Sydney waking up to discover 3 years had passed and Vaughn was married to the stupid annoying blonde girl in Alias. One more, breaking up Chuck and Blair on Gossip Girl over JENNY.
2. Gratuitous hookups because there is no one left for the characters to hook up with. Examples: On Gossip Girl, Nate has hooked up with Blair, Serena, Vanessa, Jenny, pretty much every female on the show. And now -- BLAIR AND DAN?!?! Or, one of the reasons I dropped Make It or Break It, Kaylie hooking up with every guy, including Damon!!
3. People who just can't seem to be killed off. Example: Dan Scott in One Tree Hill. Seriously, how many opportunities did the writers have to give the audience some relief and kill off his character? Arson attempted to kill him, getting hit by a car, needing a heart... Yeah, maybe it's not a good thing that I want characters to be killed off so badly, but it's especially frustrating when they easily kill off characters that are so great (Keith!).

M+J: Jane Eyre

2011-04-25T18:26:00.002-04:00

M: Jenn and I went to see Jane Eyre last week after having talked about it for a few weeks. We thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to do a joint post! :)

Overall Assessment:
M: I really enjoyed it! I thought it captured the story really wonderfully and I was immersed in every second of it. There were a few scenes that worried/scared me, but I thought it was beautifully done without trying to make everything look so Hollywood beautiful, if that makes sense.
J: I appreciated the craft of this movie (acting, cinematography, music, etc) but I don't think I really loved it. I'm used to watching much longer BBC/Masterpiece Theatre miniseries productions of these kinds of classic novels and I felt like this was just too...short. The romance in Jane Eyre is the epitome of "slow burn" and there just wasn't enough time for that. I was a bit mixed on Mia Wasikowska as Jane. She was really good in scenes where Jane was allowing her "passion" to come through but the rest of the time I thought she was too bottled up and a bit too frail and delicate looking.

Book vs. Movie:
M: So I've read Jane Eyre at least twice, but both times were well over a decade ago. Given that I can barely remember anything in books I read 10 months ago, 10+ years ago = I remember nothing. I have a vague sense that there was a crazy lady in the attic and I knew the main characters were named Jane Eyre (no duh!) and Mr. Rochester, but that was about it. What I remember of reading the book was that I thought it was a bit boring. I thought the movie did a good job of staying interesting. :) I probably should re-read the book sometime soon...
J: I remember the book pretty well. The movie took some liberties and shortcuts in the story (which I think it had to) but I wasn't upset over any of that. The book does get a little boring at points...there's actually a lot of stuff about religion...

Favorite Thing About the Movie:
M: Uh, Mr. Rochester. Michael Fassbender was extremely good-looking, almost reminiscent of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice (5 hour BBC version). I cannot wait to see him (the actor) in X-Men: First Class. Also, given that Jane is supposed to be plain, I did like the fact that Mia Wasikowska was not made to look beautiful all the time, just sometimes. Other times with her weird hair, she really did look plain.
J: Ditto on Michael Fassbender, although I'm pretty sure Mr. Rochester was described as not being very handsome in the book. I also liked the scenes with young Jane, and the landscapes and grand houses in these kinds of movies are always wonderful.

Least Favorite Thing:
M: The goatlike Mr. Rivers. I couldn't stop thinking about how he'd make a fantastic satyr/faun.
J: I thought the ending was rather abrupt. After all that I think a little bit more explanation or time with the reunited couple would have been nice. Also I thought Judi Dench was pretty much wasted as Mrs. Fairfax. I've never thought of that as being a particularly interesting or important role. Oh, and the hairstyles in this movie were all pretty unattractive, though I can't comment on whether they were historically accurate.

New Movie vs. Previous Adaptations:
M: Um, yeah, unlike Jenn, I have not seen any previous adaptations...
J: I'm a big fan of the 2006 BBC miniseries with Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson. Like I said before, the four hours just gave it more time to develop. The performances are slightly different...Toby Stephens is a bit wilder and Ruth Wilson's Jane had more poise and actually smiled on occasion. In general I liked the miniseries better. Not that this was that bad...

Miscellaneous:
M: Really glad I got to see it! Yet another movie for my 2011 resolutions!
J: I enjoyed it but when I'm in a Jane Eyre mood I'll reach for the miniseries or the book (both of which I own) instead.

Thursday Top Threes: Spinoffs

2011-04-21T23:55:00.000-04:00

J: Your top three TV or movie spinoffs!

Mira: Haha, Wicked was a spinoff of a movie (Wizard of Oz), does that count?
1. Pinky and the Brain: Haha, loved Animaniacs and thought Pinky and Brain were two of the best characters on the show!
2. Saved by the Bell: Apparently a spinoff of Good Morning, Miss Bliss. Never watched the original, but *loved* Saved by the Bell!
3. Private Practice: I love soap opera-like hospital dramas and I liked Addison Montgomery in Grey's Anatomy. So yes, I like Private Practice, too.
Movie ones I'm looking forward to: X-Men: First Class, The Avengers.

Jennifer:
1. Angel (spinoff from Buffy the Vampire Slayer): For some reason I actually haven't watched every episode (though I do have all 5 seasons on DVD) but in general I thought Joss Whedon did a great job taking quite a few existing Buffyverse characters into a new show with its own unique identity. I do want to go back and watch it all from the beginning...though who knows when I'll have time!
2. Degrassi the Next Generation: I didn't watch the original series but this spinoff has been crazily resilient. I haven't watched in a couple of seasons but they've managed to successfully turn over cast members as they got older and broach all sorts of timely and controversial subjects.
3. The Hills (spinoff from Laguna Beach): Back when I still watched trashy MTV reality shows, I was really into the Hills. Eventually Heidi and Spencer got way too annoying for me but for awhile there it was just as engrossing as scripted TV. It spawned its own spinoff too, The City, with Whitney, which somehow turned out to be more of a workplace drama than a soap like its predecessors...

Thursday Top Threes: Blockbuster Season

2011-04-14T18:01:00.000-04:00

M: Warm weather means the summer blockbusters are coming. These days, it also means the start of the summer TV shows. What are the top 3 things you are most looking forward to in the coming months (present month included)? (Not covered in this post!)

Mira:
1) So You Think You Can Dance: yup it's *almost* that time of the year!
2) Water for Elephants: I was surprised to find out that it's actually releasing next week. I was so sure it was months away. I read the book and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Now I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, especially since the actors chosen for the roles seem so well suited!
3) Switched at Birth: An ABC Family TV show starting in June. Premise is two teenage girls discover they were, duh, switched at birth. One girl is deaf and the other girl is uh, sarcastic and well-off? That's all I was able to gather from the preview but it looks like a really interesting teen show. :)

Jennifer: I kind of have no idea what specifically is coming up this summer and I don't watch a lot of "blockbuster" type movies anyway so these are kind of boring...
1) So You Think You Can Dance: Obviously.
2) Masterpiece Mystery: More Agatha Christie, a new series "Zen" with Rufus Sewell, and hopefully more Inspector Lewis!
3) May sweeps. Most shows are now back from hiatus as we move into season finale time.

No Ordinary Family: Season Wrap Up

2011-04-13T23:58:00.000-04:00

No Ordinary Family and I have had quite an interesting first season. Before the season started, I had high hopes for the show. It sounded like everything that made Heroes interesting, except with more heart being built around one family. But then the show started and it was just... okay. Not terrible but it definitely did not draw me in either. The cast was well chosen and all the characters were likable with Michael Chicklis as the father, Julie Benz (Darla from Buffy!) as the mom, Kay Panabaker (usually annoying) as the daughter, a well chosen son in Jimmy Bennett, Autumn Reeser (who I adore from her OC days!) as the mom's sidekick and Romany Malco as the dad's sidekick. Great cast!

But... it all still sort of fell flat. I recorded each episode on my DVR and waited weeks before watching the episode. The show felt lackluster and I could not, still cannot, quite put a finger on what it was missing. Maybe it needed added dimensionality to the characters, especially the villains. Maybe it just needed more interesting challenges. Maybe it needed not to have killed off so many potentially interesting good guys right in the beginning. I have NO idea. In any case, of the first 15 or so episodes, I do not think I could name any particularly memorable episode.

However! This somehow changed the final few episodes. I'm not sure what the exact change was, but Katie's fiance/boyfriend added so much to the show and I was sad when he left. Or maybe I liked that the family finally figured out how to better use the kids' powers (uh, hello Dr. Stephanie Powell, you're trying to figure out this complicated formula and you don't think to borrow the superbrain powers of your son?!). Ooh, or Daphne's annoying boyfriend came and left in a few storylines (THANK YOU). But somehow there was more to enjoy and be glad about in the show and less to be bored by. The Powells spent less time being stupid and more time trying to stop the bad guys and bad things from happening. The powers started to evolve in interesting ways, ie. super speed became time travel, pulling thoughts from others' heads became pushing thoughts into others' heads. Lastly, the season finale twist was interesting (both plane crash and Katie's super baby) and set up perfectly for an interesting season 2. Well, if there is a second season of No Ordinary Family gets renewed, which I now do hope gets renewed! One final note, it'll be nice not to have Reverend Camden come back in future episodes.

Thursday Top Threes: Sequels

2011-04-07T08:47:00.000-04:00

J: Top three sequels you liked better than the original.

Jennifer:
1. Before Sunset - sequel to Before Sunrise. I love the first, but the second is even better. Nine years pass between the films and the actors and characters have both grown up. Not a lot happens but really great dialogue.
2. Step Up 2: The Streets. I don't even remember the first one, but I LOVED this sequel. (I thought the third one was just ok but maybe that's because I saw it in 3D and it was like sensory overload.) The story's predictable and the script and acting are kinda bad but the dancing is fantastic.
3. Spider-Man 2 and the Dark Knight (tie): The villains in these sequels were what made them better than the originals. Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2 was actually complex and almost relatable and of course Heath Ledger was fantastic as the Joker in the Dark Knight.

Mira:
1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: I think this book is my favorite of the entire series. Yes, I know it's not the true sequel since it's number 3, but.... that's how I'm interpreting the question this week!
2. I have to agree with Jenn on Step Up 2 the Streets. I do remember the first one, and it's plain cheesy and cringeworthy throughout. The second one is far better than the first and the dancing is excellent. Though it does have its cringeworthy moments... Still, the second one was way, way, way better than the original.
3. I'm going with a video game here: Chrono Cross. There are not that many video games that I play, really, and this is the only RPG that I've ever played from start to end. In truth, I have not played much of Chrono Trigger, the first one, but the little I have played just didn't captivate me the way Chrono Cross did. Haha, now I want to go and replay it!

Thursday Top Threes: formerly a hater

2011-03-31T20:00:00.014-04:00

M: Building off of Jenn's question last week... Top three bands/artists that you started out hating but grew to like and appreciate!

Mira:
1. Lady Gaga: Between thinking the music video for "Just Dance" just looked like an orgy and thinking that "Poker Face" was the stupidest thing someone could be singing, I definitely started out hating Lady Gaga. But then I watched a youtube video of a girl playing "Bad Romance" on harp and decided -- musical genius. Now I begrudgingly admit that I like her songs, including "Poker Face" and "Just Dance." Sigh.
2. The Killers: So "Mr. Brightside" is one of my favorite songs and Hot Fuss is one of my favorite albums, but when "Somebody Told Me" first came on the radio, I *hated* it. I couldn't get over the fact that I had no idea what it meant: "Somebody told me / you had a boyfriend / who looked like a girlfriend / That I had in February of last year." Uh, what? So did his girlfriend look that manly, or did her boyfriend look that girly, or at the time I was trying to figure out if he was checking out a girl who likes girls... I was really confused.
3. Savage Garden: They are similar to The Killers in why I didn't like them originally. I knew them as the "chicka-cherry-cola" group. But then at some point trying to sing the lyrics of the song became a game for my best friend Amy and me. Why? Well, you try to sing it... ("I Want You" is the name of the song.)

Jennifer:
1. Green Day: I didn't listen to much music at all until late high school so this possibly doesn't count but I remember being really down on Green Day during the 6th grade. I was on the "Science Squad" (yes this is as dorky as it sounds) and two of the guys wanted to name our goldfish "Dookie" and I was like, "Absolutely not!!" Of course now I would probably name Dookie as my favorite Green Day album...
2. Snow Patrol: I think it was the association with Grey's Anatomy that made me initially hate this band. But once I got over that, I realized they make pretty good music.
3. Bright Eyes: At first I just didn't "get" them. Their sound is kind of folky, which I wasn't into at the time and Conor Oberst has this shaky and emotionally bare voice that I didn't understand the appeal of. But after a couple of years, my musical tastes sort of evolved and now I'm a big fan.

Top Chef All-Stars Finale Thoughts

2011-03-31T19:58:00.000-04:00

For those of you who, like me, felt like this All-Stars season was really long, you're absolutely right. This season had 17 episodes as opposed to the usual 14. This probably sounded like a good idea because this is a group of chefs that we already knew (and possibly love), so what could be better than spending more time with them? Unfortunately a lot of favorites and big personalities got eliminated rather early and we were left with quite a few unexpected chefs nearing the end. Richard and Mike as the last two chefs standing did end up being pretty evenly matched but that stretch of episodes with Angelo, Dale, and Carla all getting eliminated while Tiffany and Mike continued to skate by really made me start losing interest.

Mike didn't really start picking up speed until the very end--he was safe in the middle for the majority of the season--but I can't deny that his food in the Bahamas was clearly top-notch. Richard had the best record of anyone this season and he never really choked. So since I obviously couldn't taste the food, I was pretty much judging on personality, and I most definitely preferred Richard to take the title. Richard could be annoying too--always insisting he should have won his original season (as if Stephanie wasn't deserving at all) but also having weird moments of "hating everything he does"--but Mike's loudmouth personality just rubbed me the wrong way. His overconfidence and constant trash talking was a huge turn off.

So I was very nervous for the entire episode and then very, very relieved when Richard was announced as the winner. A lot of people had him pegged as the frontrunner before the season even started and I'm really glad he lived up to expectations. I thought he was smart in how he used Spike to be his "spy" and use the information to adjust his dessert for the second group of diners (and judges). It's clear that he's both a great leader and a chef. Congratulations Richard!

Leftovers:

- I thought the way they had to choose their sous chefs was a little unfair -- usually the finale is all about "do whatever you want" but then I guess there has be some Top Chef shenanigans. It didn't end up being an issue but I totally laughed out loud when Mike got Jamie.
- Both Richard and Mike wanted Jen as their sous chef even though she flamed out super early so glad her reputation hasn't been tarnished. Did anyone notice her huge crazy hair though?
- Poor Antonia...just eliminated and then has to get right back in the kitchen to help her former competition. I was pretty indifferent to her pretty much right up until the finale but I think she's kind of grown on me.
- What is up with Richard always making this face? (see left)
- It was very weird that Mike had his whole family come to join him and Richard got...his uncle?
- Those little live commercial bits with Padma and Gail were extremely awkward.
- Petty, but I thought Mike's dirty chef coat every time he came out to talk to the judges was poor form.
- That Curtis Stone is everywhere nowadays. He's on America's Next Great Restaurant and now he's hosting Top Chef Masters too.
- While I wasn't rooting for him, I am very much looking forward to Mike's new restaurant in DC. There better be pepperoni sauce!

M+J: why we're done with MIOBI

2011-03-29T20:02:00.001-04:00

Mira: Sigh... I loved this show previously. A show about gymnastics! 4 interesting and different main characters -- Payson, the dedicated; Emily, the outsider; Kaylie, the one with a seemingly perfect life; Lauren, the brat.

My personal favorite of these four was Emily, though she always managed to get herself stuck in sticky situations that made me cringe. Plus, she always got the hot guys, Razor and Damon and almost Leo Cruz. My favorite storyline was Payson's return to gymnastics after the horrible fall just because I really was rooting for her. However, cringeworthy -- her monstrous crush on Sasha that GOT HIM KICKED OUT OF THE GYM. Kaylie was really likable most of the time but her Carter-dating got annoying, her parents got annoying, and her anorexia storyline was also getting tiring. Plus, she always got everything... And finally, Lauren was just plain unbearable. And last season's finale was just the clincher on how annoying she is.

Well this new season, Emily gets preggerz, Kaylie has sparks with Damon, Lauren is still unbearable and basically I do not care enough about Payson's comeback to stick with the show. UGH. What were the writers thinking??? A show that I previously looked forward to watching every week went from fun, to bearable, to annoying and now.. there's no potential for it getting better! I'M DONE.

Jennifer: I pretty much agree with everything that Mira said. All the girls' storylines became awful and cringeworthy but actually what really put me over the edge was that horrible woman, Ellen Beals. The way she handled the national committee or whatever was so maddening. Americans do really only pay attention to gymnastics when the Olympics roll around but there is no way that the kind of shenanigans she presided over would be tolerated in real life.

And of course there's Lauren (possibly one of the most despicable teen girl characters ever), helping Ellen Beals sabotage each of the other girls AND Sasha. But I guess at least Ellen Beals was an out-and-out villain...with Lauren the writers keep trying to make us feel sorry for her with her daddy issues and whatever when NONE of that is any excuse for her atrocious behavior. Plus she never seems to face any consequences for her actions. Instead it all seems to get piled on Emily...whose woe-is-me attitude is actually pretty justified but not fun to watch.

I guess ABCFamily is now really invested in this Secret Life of the American Teenager/Pretty Little Liars form of over-the-top teen drama so spoilers for this season are even more preposterous. I'm still kind of an Emily/Damon shipper (I have a bit of a crush on Johnny Pacar) so I may read some recaps here and there to see what happens but I definitely can no longer watch this trainwreck. Good riddance!

Thursday Top Threes: Formerly a fan

2011-03-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

J: Top three bands/artists that you were a fan of at one point in your life but now cringe and wonder why...

Mira:
1) 98 Degrees: I won't put 'N Sync or Backstreet Boys on this list because I still kinda, albeit nostalgically, like their music. But 98 Degrees... bleh.
2) Good Charlotte: Very catchy and happy beats which I enjoyed back in the day. But oh so childish and My Chemical Romance does a great job of showing what it really should have been. In my opinion. :)
3) Nickleback/Three Doors Down: I remember initially liking "How You Remind Me" and "It's Been a While" but then... SO annoying. Now I shudder and switch the radio station when either song plays.

Jennifer:
1) Creed: Yes, I admit it, I used to like Creed back in the late 90s. Then I realized that they were really annoying.
2) New Found Glory/Taking Back Sunday/Good Charlotte: I was really into emo music when I was in college and I do still like a lot of it but these nasal, whiny, scream-y bands are just...bad. The lyrics are really immature and the singing is awful. I actually saw Taking Back Sunday live twice because they were touring with other bands that I like and their live show is horrendous.
3) Evanescence: I don't so much cringe as just laugh when I now hear an Evanescence song. They're so angsty it's comical.

Thursday Top Threes: Cheeeeeeeeesy

2011-03-17T19:51:00.002-04:00

M: Top 3 cheeeeeeeesy movies that you know are cheesy but can't help but really enjoy! (Inspiration: A Disney Channel original movie called Luck of the Irish -- Happy St. Patty's Day!)

Mira:
1. The Cutting Edge and all of its sequels, um, all 4. Yes, I saw all 4.
2. The Mighty Ducks (1, 2, and 3 only).
3. Anything with Hillary Duff: Cadet Kelly (Disney Channel original), Raise Your Voice, The Lizzie Maguire Movie, Agent Cody Banks... Yes, I've seen all of these movies and... yeah, I enjoyed them all, too.

Jennifer: I also LOVE the Cutting Edge (only the original) and the Mighty Ducks movies (were there more than 3?) but here are some others...
1. Center Stage. Actually most dance movies tend to be really cheesy...
2. Now and Then. That 90s movie about the four best friends growing up in the early 70s who reunite as adults. The movie poster always kind of bothered me though because it has the actresses playing the young and adult versions of the characters with their arms around each other.
3. Sister Act and the sequel. I always forget that Maggie Smith is in these! Maggie Smith rules!

2 Movies!

2011-03-13T16:40:00.002-04:00

One of my new year's resolutions was to watch more movies... So I'm finally starting to!

Unknown: My friends jokingly called this movie Taken 2. Liam Neeson in an action-packed movie where something important to him is taken away -- his identity. Truthfully, until I actually got to the theater, I didn't know what the movie was called, just that it was "Un-something" and I only had a vague idea what it was about. Obviously I had low (or no) expectations, so as is often the case, I came out mostly satisfied. If you enjoyed Taken, this movie was pretty much satisfying in the same way. There were a few "why the heck would someone do that?" scenes, but that's to be expected of any movie! (20 February)

I Am Number Four: The concept of the movie interested me but the biggest reason I did not want to see this movie initially was because of the name of the movie; I thought it was stupid. Then I learned it was a novel by the same name and I forgave it a little. Reviews all panned it but a few girl friends wanted to see it, so we went and saw it. Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly?), I liked it! Quite a few scenes made me jump; the ugly bad guy things with the gills next to their noses grossed me out; and I couldn't stop thinking about how crazy Alex Pettyfer is rumored to be in real life. Dianna Agron is kind of like Alexis Bledel; no matter what role she plays, she's still Quinn like Alexis was Rory. Other things I liked: the little details in the movie made me happy; Number Six's powers were really cool; and changes between the book and movie (according to wikipedia.org) made me really glad I saw the movie and have not read the book. In any case, not a stand out movie but it was enjoyable. At least worth adding to the Netflix queue when it comes out on DVD. (10 March)

Up next: The Adjustment Bureau and Jane Eyre (Hopefully!)

[2011 Resolutions 1 and 3!]

Spoiled: Consuming media in the age of DVR, blogs, and wikipedia

2011-03-12T11:02:00.001-05:00

I started really getting into television because of a combination of two things: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the internet. They came into my life at about the same time when I was in junior high and they really fed into each other. I had friends in real life that watched Buffy too but they weren't quite as obsessed as I was, so I turned to the internet. I became a regular at the official Buffy "posting board" (an early message board/chat room type thing) where fans from all around the world discussed and dissected the show and our obsession with it. In those days, I had a VCR that I could record episodes on but I generally watched the show live and got onto the PB immediately to see what everyone else thought.

Spoilers back then had a slightly different meaning to me...they were generally information about future episodes, gleaned from casting notices and people who were extras and stuff like that. I knew that reading spoilers in a lot of ways ruined the effect of the show, but I just wanted to know everything. I would occasionally go through these stages where I'd endeavor to remain "spoiler-free" and I'm pretty sure that I enjoyed the show more but eventually I'd go back to old habits because I so badly wanted to know what was going to happen next.

Then a few years ago, something else happened: I got a DVR. In many ways, this was one of the best things to ever happen to me (I'm not exaggerating). I wasn't tied to network airing schedules anymore, I could record two things at once, and I could fast-forward through commercials (and boring parts of shows like American Idol) among other things. I can't imagine my life without it.

But there's a side effect to the wonderfulness of the DVR: I now rarely watch shows "live" or right away. Depending on what day it is and how much I like the show, I watch most shows a day or two later, or in some cases, weeks later. Which means that spoilers now have a different definition: it's what happened on a show that's aired already but that I just haven't watched yet. And yes, I still read them!

It's especially bad with reality shows. For example, Top Chef airs on Wednesday nights at 10PM, which is past my bedtime (yes, I go to bed that early). So right when I wake up on Thursday morning, there are the recaps from various blogs in my Google Reader, which of course I have to read. I try to skim and just see who won and who was eliminated but I mean, what else is there? I then generally watch the show after work that evening and the suspense is completely gone.

Horrifyingly this behavior has now spread to movies and books, thanks to wikipedia. I've never been very timely with these...I rarely see movies in the theater and I generally wait for books to get to the library. I have been known to sneak a peek at the ending of a book before reading the whole thing (confession: I read the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because I was so afraid that someone important was going to die) but now I can go to wikipedia and read the entire summary of a book before I even have it in my hands. It's especially bad with books that are in a series, like the Hunger Games and Steig Larsson's Millenium trilogy. The same goes with movies. It's just too easy!

So I think I'm going to embark on another spoiler-free experiment. There is actually one TV show that I've already been spoiler-free on: The Vampire Diaries. I watch it pretty much live every Thursday night and because of the huge amount of twists and cliffhangers (VD has a cliffhanger practically before every commercial break), I'm always so glad that I didn't know what was going to happen beforehand. The few times I couldn't watch it live and read spoilers, my enjoyment was definitely diminished.

I'm not going to change my viewing habits...I'm just going to really restrain myself from reading recaps and avoid spoiler-y blogs and websites. A lot of scripted shows are on hiatus until April, so for now my two main challenges will be Top Chef and The Amazing Race. Wish me luck, and I'll report back in a month or so!

Top Chef: Oh, who cares?

2011-03-10T18:57:00.000-05:00

So...I've mentally checked out of this season of Top Chef. I didn't recap last week's episode because essentially nothing happened: the chefs were finally given some freedom to cook whatever they wanted, they all produced good dishes, and the judges decided not to eliminate anyone. Bo-ring.

Now we're in the Bahamas with the final five, two of which I wanted eliminated weeks ago (Mike and Tiffany), and we're back to the usual Top Chef shenanigans cooking with just a flat-top, microwaves, and a deep-fryers...one of which catches on fire and shuts down the kitchen. All the food gets contaminated and the chefs have to start over. Richard and Antonia took this as an opportunity to completely change their dishes, with mixed results.

None of the chefs seemed particularly happy with their dishes, and the judges weren't terribly enamored either. There were a lot of mistakes in execution and odd combinations and ultimately Carla was sent home for undercooked pork. Richard, despite a sudden lack of confidence, fares well but Mike takes his first elimination win.

Mike's comment that he thought Carla, Tiffany, and Antonia played it safe just to get to the finale got me pretty mad. Carla had won three elimination challenges, and Antonia two. Before this episode, Mike had won two Quickfires but he was "safe" (neither in the top or the bottom) in 7 eliminations, far more than anyone else. He can cook but he's a douche and if he wins, I'm going to be pissed.

Actually, I think if anyone wins besides Richard, they're going to go into the pile with Ilan, Hosea, and Kevin as underwhelming Top Chef winners. Unfortunately, Blais seems to be in danger of self-destructing once again. Not a good time to become a headcase. For some unknown reason the finals are being stretched out this season and there are still three more episodes to go. Let's hope he keeps it together...

Leftovers:
- The Quickfire was not that interesting despite the return of former Top Chefs. I liked seeing Stephanie again but Hosea and Kevin I could care less about and Michael Voltaggio was sporting a really bizarre haircut.
- Did the chefs really think there was like a King and Queen of the Bahamas?
- I've actually been to that restaurant in Nassau, Twin Brothers. The judges looked hilariously out of place crammed into that booth.
-Why did the chefs not come out to meet the judges? It was odd having Tom announce the dishes.
-Richard's theory of nuts: peanuts=rock n' roll, walnuts=British rock, almonds=classical, hazelnuts=hippie, pistachios=pop. Um...yeah.