My Love/Hate Relationship With ABCFamily

After becoming quickly addicted to some of the recent ABCFamily offerings and realizing that the network knows a good teen soap or silly comedy when it sees one, I decided to catch up.  With the help of NetFlix Instant, I'm slowly making my way through some of the series I missed the first time around.

This week I watched 10 Things I Hate About You in its entirety.  That show was adorable.  It was funny and goofy and just similar enough to the movie to fill me with nostalgia and enough of a departure so as not to simply rehash what we've all already seen. 

Most importantly, the show was my introduction to Ethan Peck who is so cute.  Impossibly cute.  I've decided to start a letter-writing campaign to have him cast in everything from now until the end of time because his cuteness must be put out into the world so that it can heal the sick and incite peace and bring happiness to everyone. 

For real, he's the cutest thing I've seen in many years. 

There was more to the show than Ethan Peck, you say?  Yes, you're right.  The show seemed to be firing on all cylinders and even had a good plot involving Leslie Grossman as the guidance counselor dating the girls' dad but then it was cancelled with things hanging there totally unresolved.  Papa Strattford walked in on Kat and Patrick in bed, naked, post coitus you guys, and then NOTHING.  That's it.  The network saw that and was like "eh, it's run it's course"?  What is wrong with the people at ABCFamily?  Why would they do this to us?  Ethan Peck was naked! 

Ahem. 

If you have NetFlix Instant and you enjoy light comedies and cute boys, you should watch this series.  Twenty episodes at roughly 21 minutes each makes for a quick trip through the entire run of the show and I think you'll like it.  I sure did.

Good Morning

Taylor Kitsch

I'm back from my vacation and fully prepared to get back in the swing of posting here regularly.  I'll start with a bit of a vacation in review.  I had decided that I was going to force Meg to watch Friday Night Lights because I knew she'd enjoy it.  I wasn't wrong.  She was instantly in love with it and spent the entire rest of her vacation chomping at the bit to watch more.  I sent her home with the first 4 seasons on DVD and a pre-order for the 5th when it comes out next month.  We'd made it through the first two seasons and started the third before she left.  I'd forgotten some of the plot details from the second and third seasons and was very much enjoying the catch up when she left.  I believe I may have to pick up where we left off and watch it all again myself.  There's something very comforting about seeing the residents of Dillon, TX every day. 

Meg is particularly fond of Matt Saracen which is no big surprise since her boyfriend looks remarkably like Zach Gilford.  When we first watched the pilot she wasn't having Tim Riggins at all.  She was so bothered by his long, greasy hair she couldn't imagine why I'd adore him so.  It was only an episode or two before she understood and now, nearly every time he's on screen, she mutters something under her breath about how gorgeous he is.  Tim Riggins wins everyone over. 

She's back home now and still watching.  Last night she texted me to let me know that she just got to the episode where Cash (Zach Roerig) was introduced and he's "gorge."  Since she has such good taste in boys, I'll obviously be getting her hooked on The Vampire Diaries on her next visit.  What are big sisters for if not to influence the tastes of their younger, impressionable siblings? 

Excuses Excuses

I know I said that I'd get a proper recap of The Vampire Diaries up over the weekend but, as you probably noticed, I didn't do that.  And I was going to try and do it yesterday but again, utter fail.  I could tell you why I didn't do it but it would all sound lame (though it's all totally true).  Instead I'm just going to apologize for the complete lack of a full and coherent recap of "Daddy Issues."  I will definitely write up the recap for this week's episode on Friday and get it up as soon as possible. 

I hope this picture of three very attractive men will help ease your pain.  It's easing mine. 

How do I know Sam has his soul back?

Look at the furrow on his ginormo-brow?  Sammy No-Soul never furrowed.  He didn't care enough to furrow.  If the furrow is back, the soul must be with it. 

Malpractice

I watched the first two seasons of Grey's Anatomy and while I don't think I'd ever have the desire to re-watch any of those early episodes, I did enjoy it back then.  But by the time Meredith and Derek had broken up for the 15th time at the end of the second season, I could see that Shonda Rhimes was someone who was going to put all of her eggs in the manufactured-drama-at-the-expense-of-likable-characters-and-believable-story-telling basket.  I stuck with the show for another season but by the time I bailed I'd grown to hate it quite a lot. 

When I heard they'd be spinning off Addison, I was pretty happy because she was the only thing about the third season of Grey's that I actually liked.  I tuned in to Private Practice and in the first season there were a handful of things that I kind of liked but none of them was Addison.  In minutes, Shonda Rhimes had managed to turn an awesome character into such a whiny, preachy, annoying, pain in the ass (and, sweet pickles on my sandwich, Naomi was even WORSE!).  The first season hadn't even wrapped yet when I realized that Shonda Rhimes shows and I were never going to make it work long-term. 

Now comes Off The Map which I wouldn't have watched at all except that they cast Zach Gilford and he's one of those people that I love so much, I have to watch every single thing they do.  So fine, I watched.  I usually get at least a partial season's worth of enjoyment out of these Shondaland shows, right?  Wrong.

This time it was all Shonda-fied right from the jump.  Or maybe I've just grown weary and can spot the signs early?  Either way, the show is a mess.  Let's start with the fact that most of the characters are unlikable.  Martin Henderson's Ben Keeton is supposed to be the hot, brilliant, humanitarian who runs the place.  I found him to be completely insufferable and not nearly attractive enough to warrant the level of fawning he got from the new lady docs. Otis Cole (Jason George) is fawningly attractive but only gets that sort of attention from Zita (Valarie Cruz).  He's also given so little to do that it's embarrassing for him.  Zita is a doctor but she mostly just spent the pilot bitching about how none of the newbie docs know Spanish. 

Speaking of the newbies, that's Lily (Caroline Dhavernas), Mina (Mamie Gummer) and Tommy (Gilford).  Lily is the Dr. Cameron of the set having joined this Doctors Without Borders-style clinic program to get over the death of her fiance.  Mina is the resident over-achiever who over-achieved herself out of sleep, made a tragic mistake and was kicked out of her residency and has subsequently come down to South America to prove she's awesome. Tommy is a newly minted plastic surgeon whose history as a party-boy screw-up has followed him to the jungle where he's come mostly for the beaches.  These roles are so far beneath the talents of the three actors playing them it's sad. 

If you don't believe me that the show is filled to the brim with utter ridiculousness, allow me to highlight some of the main plot-points for you: after suffering grave injuries during a ziplining accident, a man requires emergency surgery to remove and repair several organs that are causing him to bleed out internally.  When the clinic runs out of blood to transfuse him with, Dr. Save-The-World runs out of surgery and scales a tree, then promptly returns to transfuse the patient with coconut water.  The patient is miraculously saved by this jungle medicine and just before he's air-lifted back to civilization, Lily insists the medivac helicopter wait a while while they trek the ailing main into the jungle, then row him out into the middle of a freaking lake full of phosphorescent creepy crawlies so he can dump his wife's ashes - AND THEY DO IT!  Tommy tells a native man his sob story about how his parents wanted the best for him and he told them to fuck themselves and somehow this convinces the non-English-speaking man to take medicine he was stridently against a moment before.  Oh, and most unbelievable of all, Mina asserts that she wouldn't have sex with Tommy if they were the last two people on earth. 

On the off-chance this show gets better in the second episode, and because there aren't enough opportunities to see Zach Gilford on my television since Matt Saracen went away to college, I'm probably going to watch at least one more episode but, I have very low expectations. 

Head And Shoulders

Does anyone else think that the super short hair has made Zac Efron seem neck-less all of a sudden?  He's still really nice to look at and his eyes still make me feel a bit swoony but I look forward to him wrapping this Marine movie and growing his hair back. 

Good Morning

Matt Bomer

Good Morning

Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler

I'd Rather Be...

Sailing with Zac Efron

Dear Casting Directors,

Ryan Gosling and Scott Speedman would make gorgeously believable brothers in a movie.  Can you please make that happen? 

Love,
Melissa

The Weird And The Wonderful

Three quick things about Hawaii Five-0 before my food poisoning sends me back to bed. 

1) Did James Marsters have a bizarre accent in the pilot episode?  I could have sworn he was just speaking in a nondescript American accent the first time he was on the show, then he shows up last night and suddenly he's got this terrible Irish accent that keeps slipping into an awful Texas accent and neither one is very steady.  Like, in a sentence with 10 words, 3 of them are "Irish," 3 of them are "Texas," and 4 of them are nondescript American.  I was so transfixed by it that I almost didn't notice how he tried to kill Chin-Ho by blowing his attractive head clean off. 

2) Why is Danny always so maudlin when he interacts with his daughter?  Is he really so bitter about moving from Jersey to Hawaii that he can't even joke and smile with his child at Christmas?  Lighten up, Danno! 

3) Of all the surprising and sort of insane Golden Globe nominations that were announced this morning, my favorite - and one of the few that seem insane in a good way - is Scott Caan's nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  He's pretty much the best part of the show anyway, plus it tickles me to no end what a big crush my mom has on him.  I don't know why, just does.

Ho Ho Ho

Grey Damon

Happy Birthday

 Ian Somerhalder is 32 today.

Goode Morning

Matthew Goode

(See what I did there?  Yeah.)

Good Morning

Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson (Fringe)

RIP Mason Lockwood

On this, the morning after Mason Lockwood's untimely and horrific demise, I thought it fitting to celebrate his portrayer's beauty.  He will be missed by all of the TVD fans. 

Happy Birthday

The very cute Will Estes is 32 today.

Better Than It Sounds

Carina MacKenzie noted on Twitter earlier that folks who haven't before should watch the Hellcats pilot tonight when they replay it on the CW network.  She said that Matt Barr would win people over and I must whole-heartedly concur.  I was predisposed to dislike him because I remembered him so vividly from One Tree Hill where he played Peyton's stalker who pretended to be her brother and then held her and Brooke hostage in the basement of the never-locked Sawyer house on prom night and attempted to rape Peyton before her real brother busted in and rescued her.  Obviously this was not an image that was going to be easy to erase. 

But as Dan on Hellcats, he's the opposite of that.  He's sweet and smart and funny and charming.  He's also very tall and handsome and he and Ashley Tisdale's Savannah make about the cutest damn couple you've ever seen (unless you're watching The Vampire Diaries in which case they're the second cutest couple behind Matt and Caroline).  So if you haven't watched it yet, please consider peeping Hellcats tonight.  It's not the smartest or most interesting show in the world, but it's a bit of a diamond in the rough and Matt Barr and Ashley Tisdale are both so great in it, you will HAVE to love them. 

Good Morning

Bradley Cooper

I Just Fainted

If any of you watch The Good Wife you know that Alicia has spent the last year standing dutifully by her philandering husband instead of dumping his pathetic ass for her former boyfriend and current boss, Will.  There are many reasons I don't understand why this has been a tough decision for her, but cheif among them is that Will is played by Josh Charles who looks like this in a tux. (via)