Chuck: possibly unpopular opinions

After last season's finale, I was a little worried about Chuck. While giving Chuck the enhanced Intersect complete with physical abilities was a fun surprise, I didn't necessarily want to see him become Mr. Super Spy.

So I was relieved to see things kind of "reset" at the beginning of this season with him and Sarah and Casey in almost the same roles and cover stories (except for the Chuck/Sarah breakup, but I'll get more into that later). Chuck is still pretty much that same bumbling guy before the flashes kick in but at the same time, it's nice to see him learning and growing as a spy. I also really like that Awesome is in on the secret and thought that the episodes with him getting mixed up in Chuck's missions were some of the most fun of the series. And of course Casey is still in fine form--Adam Baldwin never fails to make me crack up. I loved the episode where he was Morgan's "enforcer" at the Buy More.

So speaking of the Buy More...I'm going to reveal a few possibly unpopular opinions I have about the show. The first is that, truthfully, I could do without Jeff and Lester and all their Buy More subplots. I know plenty of fans love Jeffster and I understand their purpose in the show being about Chuck balancing his normal and spy lives, but I just don't find their pathetic-ness to be all that entertaining. A small dose here and there I can handle, but I'm kind of glad we're not seeing them every single week. (I am a little sad that Anna Wu had to be excised from the cast though...)

My second unpopular opinion is that I'm not really a Chuck/Sarah shipper. I myself find this to be surprising because I generally ship even minor secondary couples but really, it doesn't make a difference to me whether Chuck and Sarah are together or not. Evidently last night's episode caused an uproar with some fans because they don't like that both Chuck and Sarah now have new love interests, but I wasn't bothered. I like both Hannah and Shaw--the two new pairings are pretty perfectly matched and the chemistry is there. And I mean, really, Chuck/Sarah is something that's not ever going to go away, and as I've read stated elsewhere, I don't imagine that Kristin Kreuk and Brandon Routh are about to become regulars in the cast anyway.

That kind of brings me to my third unpopular opinion: I'm not sure I even really like Sarah. I mean, there's nothing I find annoying about her (like I do with lots of other female characters), it's clear that she has a good heart and is basically all around kickass, but I guess I just find her a little hard to relate to. Don't get me wrong, I think Yvonne Strahovski is doing a fantastic job but for some reason Sarah's just not one of my favorites.

But overall, I really have to say how happy I am that NBC renewed the show for this season. And with the whole Leno-Conan fiasco, I think they're going to need to keep pretty much all the programming they have so hopefully it'll be safe for next season also!

Masterpiece Classic: Emma

I say this as a Janeite but sometimes I wonder, there have to be other novels out there worth adapting into movies/miniseries instead of always coming back to Jane Austen. I found the timing of this adaptation to be a little strange too because just 2 years ago Masterpiece had "The Complete Jane Austen" with new adaptations of 4 of the 6 novels (see my reviews of Persuasion, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park) but not Emma.

I mean, I'm not really complaining, Austen is Austen, and I actually really enjoyed this new version. I thought Romola Garai was a very good Emma--I liked her much more than both Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale. She had just the right combination of clever and spoiled but also good intentioned. Jonny Lee Miller was surprisingly wonderful as Mr. Knightley. Even though I've loved him in other things, I wasn't sure if he would be right for the part but I'm glad he proved me wrong. I loved the scene where Emma and Mr. Knightley dance. Great acting, because not a word was said! Michael Gambon as Emma's father didn't have much to do but was a nice presence and I was happy to see Jodhi May as Mrs. Weston. She's a regular in these period dramas and is always excellent.

One funny thing to note was that there were two former Edmund Bertrams (Mansfield Park) in the cast. Jonny Lee Miller played him in the 1999 film version, and Blake Ritson (Mr. Elton here) played him in the awful Billie Piper version from 2008.

Other than that I don't know that there's really much else to say about this. The production values on Masterpiece productions are always great, and I appreciated the length of the series (split into 4 episodes in the UK, 3 parts in the US) but it got me thinking that my favorite adaptation of Emma is actually...Clueless. I know, that movie is 15 years old now and I'm not discovering anything new but the more I think about it, the more I realize how inspired the way they moved the story to a 90s high school was. The sister's husband's brother becomes the ex-stepbrother, the secretly engaged suitor becomes the gay boyfriend, the farmer becomes the skateboarding slacker...even the title of the movie is perfect!

Anyway, Masterpiece is re-airing Northanger Abbey and Persuasion over the next two weeks, but after that there look to be some interesting programs coming up, including one co-starring Padma Lakshmi (of Top Chef, how random) and an Anne Frank adaptation. Lots to look forward to!

Snowy weekend viewing

Snowed in for Snowmaggedon here in the DC/Baltimore area, I spent the weekend catching on some of my "second tier" shows -- shows that I like and enjoy but don't necessarily watch on a week-to-week basis. Every once in awhile they pile up on my DVR or they start expiring on hulu.com so I have to clean house.

Castle: I know my first review of this show was lukewarm but against all odds it's started to grow on me. Over the summer I mused on why I like British mystery shows but not American ones and it seems that I just had to find the right formula and I think Castle has it.

A big part of it is definitely Nathan Fillion, who I really love and who fits perfectly into the role of Rick Castle. I think the show does a nice job balancing his family life (his mother is a hoot and Alexis is one of the sweetest, least annoying teenagers on television) with the murder-of-the-week. I like the second-banana detectives, Esposito and Ryan, who have this funny sort of buddy-cop thing going, and Beckett has probably grown on me the most. She and Castle are of the classic will-they-won't-they dynamic but I'm not in any hurry to see them get together. The murders can get kind of quirky and outlandish, but somehow with the premise that Castle is a mystery writer, i find it all easier to swallow.

Bones: I know, another procedural? I've been lying all this time when I said I couldn't watch them! But actually I've been a fan of Bones for awhile. Again, it's murder mysteries, and while I guess the science-y stuff kind of appeals to me, it's really the characters that drive this show, not the mysteries. They actually have kind of a meta joke about it, with Edison, one of the rotating interns, always getting uncomfortable with the team being so open about their personal lives at work. But that's really the fun part. Cam and Angela and Hodgins and Sweets are all really fun and while I hated how Zack got written out of the show, I actually do really like all the rotating interns and how we're getting bits and pieces of their personal lives too (Wendell's my favorite though...because he's cute and I'm shallow).

Again though, we have a will-they-won't-they partnership at the center of the show with Brennan and Booth. As the show has gone on, you can see how the partnership has changed both their characters. They obviously have feelings for each other but who knows how long they're going to stretch out the sexual tension (hey, they did it for almost 10 years with Mulder and Scully on The X-files). It's funny though, my all-time favorite TV show is Buffy and David Boreanaz should be Angel in my head, but actually I think Booth is a much better role for him. He gets to be a bit more humorous, which he's actually pretty good at.

The Vampire Diaries: At first I didn't really like this. I'm kind of wary of all this new-wave vampire stuff (I obviously have issues with Twilight and True Blood is too gory for me), I was predisposed to not like Elena because Nina Dobrev annoyed the heck out of me on Degrassi and I thought the first two episodes were kind of boring. But my brother of all people told me that he was actually really liking it so I decided to give it another shot, and he was right. It's a pretty interesting little show. Yes, there's a doomed vampire-human romance at the center of it (Elena/Stefan), but it's not nearly as annoying as Bella/Edward, mostly because, to my surprise, Elena's kind of level-headed. Also, Damon, Stefan's brother, also a vampire, is the ambiguously evil foil to Stefan (the "good" vampire) that kind of keeps the audience guessing.

The side characters have also been improving. I could probably do without Caroline, one of Elena's friends, who was caught up in some gross stuff with Damon and now is dating Matt, Elena's ex-boyfriend, and Jenna, Elena's aunt, who just seems to be a a ditz who gets attracted to ALL the wrong guys in town. But Bonnie, Elena's best friend, comes from a line of witches, which is cool, and I've liked Jeremy (Elena's younger brother) and his arc, especially with Vicki dead.

The history/folklore angle is also kind of interesting. The town they live in, Mystic Falls, has a history of vampires and the townspeople knowing about it and fighting back. Elena herself is a look-alike of a vampire that Stefan and Damon knew (and fell in love with) in the 1860s when they were both "turned." The period flashbacks are kind of cheesy but the actors are obviously have fun with it.

Oh, and Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley are really pretty. I'll take them over Robert Pattinson any day!

T^2: ????

Dunno where Jenn is and it's her turn to come up with a question but since she's not around and there's no question waiting for me to answer... Here's an impromptu Thursday Talk question. Hopefully she'll get a chance to post her answer soon!

M: With the impending snowstorm -- if you were stuck at home with only one movie to watch over and over again, what would it be? (IOW, what movie can you watch over and over again and not get sick of. I guess trilogies allowed.)

M: Sliding Doors. I truly think I could watch it over and over again. There are other movies I considered, but bottom line, I need it to be a happy (and emotionally satisfying) movie/ending without a single cheesy/corny/cringe-worthy scene in it. And happy movies are very often accompanied with at least one cringe-worthy scene. So Sliding Doors. Plus, I love Scottish accents! (The guy is Scottish, right?)

J: Yikes, sorry I dropped the ball this week. Thanks for taking over, Mira! I think my answer would be Little Women with Winona Ryder. It's kind of a strange answer because I don't know that I'd actually list it as one of my all-time favorite movies but I find it really comforting to watch. It kind of takes me through a whole range of emotions, with moments that make me laugh, cry, yell at the screen...I've already watched it countless times and honestly, writing this is kind of making me want to watch it again!

10 nominees???

Oscar nominations were announced today. TEN Best Picture nominees. That's not normal, right? So weird. It's going to mean that "Nominated for an Oscar Best Picture" means absolutely nothing! (Okay, so maybe it already means little. But now it'll mean less!)

Full List of Nominees

Dollhouse: where does Joss Whedon belong?

So interestingly, I've never posted about Dollhouse. I'm a big Joss Whedon supporter (Buffy is still my favorite show of all time and I loved Firefly) but Dollhouse was a little different. I think the show got off to a bit of a rough start, with too many Echo's-mission-of-the-week type stories that kind of just showed Eliza Dushku's weaknesses as an actress and that sort of glazed over the whole concept of the dollhouse and imprinting and the moral and ethical kind of "stickiness" that made people uncomfortable. I also didn't find myself all that interested in Paul Ballard and his investigation and I found myself wondering where it was all going.

But because I had faith in Joss and his ability to develop characters and story, I stuck with it. Now that the series is over, I have to say that I'm really glad I did. For those of you who lost interest or fell behind, I highly recommend watching the rest of the series. And definitely, definitely watch the unaired first season finale ("Epitaph One") that's only available on DVD.

In a way, I think the cancellation was a good thing for the show. It was announced early enough that Joss and the writers could end the series in a way that would be satisfying for the audience and allowed them to do basically whatever they wanted (within the allotted number of episodes, that is). Any formula for the show was basically thrown out the window and it took on more of a miniseries type feel as the show started just going into overdrive. It felt a little like the last season of Battlestar Galactica as things just started being revealed left and right and things were getting twisted again and again. The series finale, "Epitaph Two", which aired this past Friday, finally meets up with the future that was revealed in the first season finale, "Epitaph One" and things are more or less resolved. I was satisfied.

What's kind of interesting about Dollhouse, a show about these blank "dolls" that can be imprinted with any personality, is that the characters and relationships among the characters were really the best part of the show. Adele, Boyd, Dr. Saunders, Topher...they were all very well drawn and developed over the course of the show. I was especially impressed with Topher's arc. I'd always liked him, but could see why others initially found him grating but somehow over the course of the series, he kind of became the series' ultimate tragic figure.

And of course the love story with Sierra and Victor (or Priya and Anthony) was so incredibly sweet and was almost the heart of the show. You just really wanted those two to end up together somehow. Also I have to give kudos to both Dichen Lachman (Sierra) and Enver Gjokaj (Victor) who were so incredibly versatile and convincing in the dozens of characters they had to play. (Enver was especially brilliant when Victor was given Topher's personality...he was so perfectly spot-on with the speech and mannerisms.)

So it's kind of hard to recap the entire series, and I don't really want to give too much away for those of you who still plan to watch, but I think this is one I'm going to remember. I am starting to wonder how Joss Whedon's ideas can best succeed though. He tends to come up with the kind of stuff that just can't get the ratings that network TV needs and wants, but that fans can become passionate about. I already kind of despair that TV has become overrun with all the CSIs and Law and Orders and NCIS' and I hate that it's hard for something different like Dollhouse to succeed. Perhaps Joss needs to take his stuff to cable?

T^2: Sports ;-)

M: With a slew of big sporting events happening/coming up such as the Superbowl, Olympics, Australian Open, World Cup... What's your absolute favorite sporting event? (Can't cheat and pick one that encompasses many sports.)

Mira: My favorite has changed over the years (growing up I might've said NBA All-Star Game or women's figure skating in the Olympics or maybe even women's gymnastics in the Olympics) but I think at this point in my life, my favorite sporting event is opening weekend for the NFL. After 7 long months without any football, the beginning of football season and the potential of all that could happen is really exciting to me. Especially since I'm obsessed with Fantasy Football now. :) [I contemplated the NFL draft, too, because I love all the stories that go with the young'uns getting drafted. Actually all the background stories of athletes is one of the main reasons I loooooove the Olympics, too.]

Jennifer: I'm not much of a sports person and watch very few sporting events of my own accord. So I'd have to say my absolute favorite sporting event would be Olympic gymnastics. It's my favorite sport (to watch and to do) and of course the Olympics is the ultimate display. I wish I could watch more of other gymnastics competitions but television coverage tends to not be that great...

Thursday Talk Week 3

J: Which shows have you given up on watching recently, and why?

Jennifer: I stopped watching Ugly Betty this season. There wasn't really any one thing or moment that made me stop, I just realized one week that I just wasn't enjoying the show very much anymore. The show has a lot of great characters, but somehow I just stopped caring about them, especially Betty, which is problematic since she's the main character. I've also stopped watching Scrubs (I tried a few episodes of the new incarnation but I think I'd really just rather leave it at last season's written-as-a-series-finale) and 24 (I didn't finish last season and I don't think I'll be bothering to start this season). Also this might not count but I also never really got enough into Flashforward and V and won't be watching when they return.

Mira: I gave up American Idol because I realized that I spent more time complaining about it than enjoying it. Except I cheated a little today and watched for 20 minutes to see Kristen Chenoworth (sp?). I've also unofficially given up 90210 and Melrose Place. The fake reason is because the shows are so stupid beyond description and I can spend my time watching better stuff. The real reason is because I fell behind and the episodes I missed aren't available on hulu/cwtv anymore. They're a very, very guilty pleasure but I'm sure with more time away from the shows I'll learn not to miss it anymore. (Kind of like when I gave up The OC.)

extremely early new show love

Life Unexpected has taken me by surprise. I guess I saw all the positive reviews for it and I recognized it was being compared to shows/movies I like such as Gilmore Girls, Juno, etc. Oh, and Everwood, which I didn't watch. But I still wasn't expecting much, and I was definitely proven wrong!

First episodes are tough with shows because there's so much to set up, but this was done beautifully and made me enjoy each and every scene in it. I was afraid that Shiri Appleby's character could be really annoying, but it turned out to be a perfect blend of screwed up and perfect. And the actress playing Lux (whose name I'm sure I will one day soon learn and remember) was way more likable than Rory Gilmore. :)

In any case, the show made me teary-eyed a few times and it made me laugh, too. So all in all, I'm looking forward to what should be a promising new show! :D Fortunately for Life Unexpected, it doesn't have to undergo too much scrutiny and comparison to Parenthood just yet since it's another 5 weeks before Parenthood starts. Though, premise of Parenthood may be more similar to Modern Family than Life Unexpected. For whatever reason, I've been lumping Parenthood and Life Unexpected together in my head. Okay, this is rambly. I'm going to bed. :)

golden globes

Best Supporting Actress (Movie) - Hadn't seen ANY of the movies the nominees were in. But the second lady nominated for Up in the Air had a beautiful dress on!

Best Actress (TV series, Comedy/Musical) - Really wanted Lea Michele to win, but knew it was a long-shot. Instead, discovered that Toni Collette was Aussie?! Thought she was American this entire time. WOW!

Best Supporting Actor (TV Series) - Really wanted NPH to win, but once again, knew it probably wouldn't happen. Didn't know John Lithgow was in Dexter!

Best Animated Feature Film - I really wanna see all of these movies! Have only seen Up and not surprised it won. :) Yay!

(NPH presents! Yay!)
Best Actor (TV Series, Drama) - Dexter is wiping the boards.

Best Actress (TV Series, Drama) - That's a lot of boob showing on Anna Paquin. Glad she didn't win. :) And extra glad Juliana won because I really like The Good Wife and she makes the show! (2nd jab at NBC/Jay/Conan fiasco.)

Best Actress (Movie, Comedy/Musical) - Woohoo! Odds were stacked in her favor, but I do believe there have been times when a person was nominated twice in one category and didn't win at all. I have yet to see Julie & Julia but I heard she was fantastic. So, yay!

Best Actor (TV Series, Comedy/Musical) - Alec Baldwin and he's not here! Letdown.

Best TV Series (Drama) - Mad Men. We really need to get to watching this show! (Have it on DVD.)

Best Supporting Actress (TV Series) - Boo! a) I really don't like Chloe's dress. b) I really wanted Jane Lynch to win. Yeah, I'm Glee-biased, but Jane Lynch is really awesome.

Best Supporting Actor (Movie) - That reminds me, I really wanna see Invictus. Winner: Inglourious Bastards dude. According to my friend Jane, I really need to see IG, too.

Best Director (Movie) - Surprise, surprise. James Cameron. When you go into hiding for YEARS, then make a crazy big movie that's all blue and 3-d... :) J/K. But I'm not surprised.

Best TV Series (Comedy/Musical) - Ooh, I like these nominees as a whole. Whoa, Glee?!?! I was actually hoping for/expecting Modern Family this time.. LOL. Yay!

Best Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical) - Okay so I need to watch The Hangover, too. Quite surprising, even though there were murmurings of this happening.

Best Actress (Movie, Drama) - No surprises here either. I still need to see Blind Side, but I'm happy for Sandra Bullock! Ooh, she remembered to thank the Tuohy's this time. (She didn't at the People's Choice Awards.)

Best Actor (Movie, Comedy/Musical) - Haha, Sherlock Holmes = comedy? I guess it was funny. Oh, I was hoping that JGL would win for 500 Days, but RDJ was pretty awesome as Sherlock. And that's one of the few movies I have actually watched. :) I love RDJ's humor. Can't wait for Iron Man 2!

Best Actor (Movie, Drama) - I haven't seen any of these movies either. Good job, Jeff?

Best Motion Picture (Drama) - How about, whoever wins this, I'll add to my Netflix queue? Sigh, I guess it's Avatar to my queue. :) Well, it's a few months before it comes out on DVD anyway.

My favorite dress: Anna Kendrick (link)
Number of jabs at NBC/Jay Leno: III

Final words: I need to watch more movies this year! Sheesh. Awards shows for TV and movies are half boring when you haven't seen ANY of the movies nominated... Whoops.