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

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.

fall 2010

My life has been especially nutso this semester with school and work and, well, trying to keep my DVR percentage low enough to record all the shows in the coming week (it's a hard life!), so blogging has been difficult... But here's a quick little run down of my opinions on Fall TV thus far:

Shows I've already dropped:
- $#*! My Dad Says -- The comedic pauses are just awkward and annoying. Shatner is not the most annoying actor on the show, which already speaks volumes in my mind. One last thing, the show had one funny line and it was not shit said by the dad. Shatner is at the DMV taking the eye exam and is asked to read the large E at the top of the chart. Shatner: "I've never been rear-ended by a large letter E." DMV employee: "You've never driven on Sesame Street."
- Running Wilde -- I love Keri Russell but even she can't keep this show on my priority watch list.
- 90210 (though I dropped it halfway through last season) -- I know I already dropped this, but seeing the stuff going on and reading the spoilers on what is to come... Good riddance!
- Life Unexpected -- Jenn's entry sums it up perfectly. Forced dramatic story lines are just too much! Though it cracks me up that a Melrose Place (new, not old) reject has landed over here.

Shows I'm already committed to:
- Nikita -- Somehow this show became an immediate watch show for me, but I really like the complexity of each character and the fact that they all contribute layers of depth to the show.
- Hellcats -- I like peppy tv shows.
- Grey's Anatomy -- I forgot about the season ending with the shooting spree and the new season dealing with aftermath of that has been built up brilliant so far.
- Private Practice -- I still like the characters on the show enough to keep watching it, though the storylines aren't captivating.
- Parenthood -- This show just keeps getting better for me. The best family drama.

Shows I meant to watch but forgot about:
- Better With You -- Like Jenn, I really like Joanna Garcia.

Shows still sitting on my DVR:
- Lone Star
- The Event
- Hawaii Five-O
- Undercovers
- The Whole Truth
- My Generation
- Chuck

Shows I'm still looking forward to:
- No Ordinary Family -- But the stupid show is on at the same time as Glee and NCIS! Sigh, so this may end up going the route of Modern Family, where I mean to catch up online but forget to. Hopefully not!
- Glee, Episode 2 (cuz Episode 1 was a bit disappointing) -- Cannot wait for Brittany (my favorite character!) and BRITNEY (Spears)!
- The Good Wife
- Friday Night Lights, the final season! :(

On the cusp:
- Outlaw
- How I Met Your Mother -- We better meet the stupid mother this season. And that wedding in the season premier better be Barney and Robin's wedding.
- Gossip Girl

BTW, an awful lot of weddings in the season premier this year -- Grey's Anatomy had one, Private Practice had one, HIMYM had one!

hospital shows that i still watch...

Grey's Anatomy: I think this show has only gotten better with them losing George and Izzie (okay, so Heigl is only temporary gone) and gain Owen and Teddy! Plus I love that MerDer are no longer the tortured couple but fully functional and married on a post-it note. No big hoopla over marriage but completely comfortably accepted. I also love that they're developing the relationship between Meredith and the Chief, more and hence developing his character much more. And Bailey has romance storylines in the works! The Christina-Owen-Teddy love triangle could be really annoying but they've made it work. I think it works because nothing is kept as a secret and festering -- all 3 characters are pretty blunt characters and when something is discovered it comes out before the end of the episode. I appreciate that, A LOT. Ooh, and the last thing I do like is Arizona (who is one of my faaaaaavorite characters) taking Alex under her wings to do pediatric surgery. I've always loved the tidbits they've shown of Alex working with children/babies and so this is so fitting! All in all, there's not a storyline that bothers me this season. (Especially because the Mercy West-Seattle Grace merger isn't a main part of the storyline. Oh, and especially because Sloane's daughter Sloane has been gone for the last 2 episodes. That helps, too.)

Private Practice: This show sucks me in because of the complex relationships between all the characters. I don't particularly care about any of the storylines, especially not the Mia (Naomi-Sam's daughter) being preggers or Cooper-Charlotte fighting or Sam-Addison being attracted to each other. In fact, I really don't like a lot of these storylines! But, I love the dynamics between the characters and I love the characters. And I love the little episode-long storylines. For instance last week, a family had to choose one twin daughter to save with a needed blood transfusion (or something, I don't remember the exact procedure). Or Dale dealing with almost losing his daughter because her drug addict mother was making meth in the kitchen and the house exploded. Or -- ooh! Addison finding out that her cheating father wasn't the cheater, her lesbian mother was! And these are things I enjoy about the show that I don't feel guilty about enjoying the way I do when I enjoy watching 90210, or Melrose Place, or Gossip Girl. (BTW, I did force myself to drop 2 out of 3 of those shows.) To sum it up, I still love sexy doctor shows.

Unfortunately I dropped House sometime late last season. I heart House but I just lost interest in some of the full season storylines and pretty much all the side characters. Oh, and Wilson was getting annoying to me, too. So basically House and Cuddy weren't enough to keep me devoted.

blog may seem abandoned, but we're still watching tv... ;)

... at least until the shows start running out of episodes.

I'm probably in the minority, but I'm kinda glad this writers' strike is going on because it means I have a chance to catch up on all my shows. I'm still a few episodes behind, but here's what I'm still watching...

Every week:
* Heroes
* Chuck
* How I Met Your Mother
* Samantha Who?
* House
* Gossip Girl
* Pushing Daisies
* Private Practice
* Project Runway
* Grey's Anatomy
* October Road

Sometimes:
* Shark
* Dirty Sexy Money
* Las Vegas
* The Unit
* Numb3rs
* Friday Night Lights

all the medical shows jennifer doesn't watch.. :)

I figured I'm long overdue an update, but Jenn has done such a thorough job in covering Fall TV, really all I could possibly write about are, well, the shows she DOESN'T watch. :)

Grey's Anatomy - This season is nowhere near as terrible as last season was, but it's still not all that interesting. When will they learn that Meredith and Derek are just not that interesting of a couple and leave their storyline alone. They're far less annoying when they're happy and together, so just let them be! I don't know how many more Meredith-Derek breakups I can sit through. I like the addition of Lexie Grey, because I like the actress from her Reunion days (though I only liked the high school version of her character), but everything else is just sorta the same old stuff.

Private Practice - Terrible. Well, I'm giving a few more episodes a shot. Mostly I'm rooting for Judging Amy's Amy (the Psychiatrist) and Prison Break's Secret-Service-Agent-with-a-conscience man (the Pediatrician) to get together. I have no idea, nor do I care to remember, what their names are, if that's any indication of how much I do not particularly like this show.

House - Hands down the best medical show on TV right now -- if not ever! At least IMHO. I adore Hugh Laurie as much as ever, but mostly I love the new season's gimmick. All of House's assistants were fired/quit at the end of last season, so now he is eliminating "potential" assistants from a class of 100 or so applicants every week. I also enjoy how Cameron, Chase, and Foreman continue to be mixed into the storyline even though they're definitely not working under House anymore.

Pilot reviews part 4 - Private Practice, Big Shots, and Dirty Sexy Money

So I was definitely kidding myself when I thought that there was a chance I might like Private Practice. Because I DON'T LIKE MEDICAL SHOWS. I just don't. All those wacky cases just do not interest me. And having those cases being worked on by doctors with messed up personal lives? I don't know, it seems that all the doctors in the group are in their thirties or forties, but they all seem to be single and unhappy and that's kind of...depressing? I don't know, I just wasn't into it at all. It's really a shame because there's so many great people in the cast, including Tim Daly (my irrational crush), Amy Brenneman, Paul Adelstein, Taye Diggs...oh well. Looks like I'll be able to fit Bionic Woman into my schedule for now after all.

And when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I decided to watch Big Shots. UGH. Michael Vartan is as hot as ever but that really doesn't make up for the meh that is this show. It's been described as the male version of Sex and the City, and that's the problem right there. Maybe this is sexist, I don't know, but I don't find men sitting around discussing their relationship problems to be kind of pathetic. Plus I don't think it's really all that believable that these guys are even friends. I like Joshua Malina but he seems out of place, and Christopher Titus doesn't even get to be that funny, which is a waste. Blah. I mean, I was kind of expecting this to suck, but I'm still a teeny bit disappointed because I wouldn't have minded a reason to see Michael Vartan on TV every week again. Sigh. I miss Vaughn.

Thankfully not all of ABC's new dramas are turning out to be a waste, because I really kind of loved Dirty Sexy Money. (And remember, Pushing Daisies is coming next week...although I worry that I might be a little too predisposed to like that one.) Usually it takes me awhile to warm up to Greg Berlanti shows, even though I always end up getting pretty infatuated with them (e.g. Everwood, Jack & Bobby, Brothers & Sisters), but I was happy that this time was different. Hopefully it won't go the other way and get worse from here though, because it's really a lot of fun. It's kind of like Gossip Girl for grownups. Definitely a little trashy but totally a guilty pleasure. Peter Krause plays Nick George, lawyer to the rich and wild New York family, the Darlings. Parents Tripp and Leticia seem normal enough, but their children are all crazier than the next. Patrick is a rising politician who's having an affair with a transexual; Karen is working on her fourth marriage (and an old crush on Nick); Brian has hated Nick since childhood, has some anger management issues, has a illegitimate son, and oh, is a minister; Juliet (played by OC favorite Samaire Armstrong) is a ditzy aspiring but hopeless actress; and her twin, Jeremy, seems to be perpetually trashed and getting himself into trouble. At first I was like, what kind of family really needs a full-time lawyer? Apparently this one does, especially since everyone seems to have no qualms about telling Nick even embarrassing stuff when they need help, which is evidently often. I have a feeling this is going to be a fun ride.