Treasures From The Past

Having a bad day at work has yielded an unexpected and delightful gift.  While trying to find a file saved on one of the 12 unlabeled USB drives in my drawer, I came across this picture.  Who else misses the '90s?

Admittedly, this would be even more delightful if the 7th Heaven peeps were replaced with extra Buffy or Felicity cast members, but beggars can't be choosers. 

Weekend In Reviews

Letters to Juliet - Amanda Seyfreid, Vanessa Redgrave, Gael Garcia Bernal and the ADORABLE Christopher Egan - I ask you, what is not to love about this movie?  It's not high art or anything but it's sweet and cute and appropriately heart-tugging. 

Can we see the ending coming from a million miles away?  Yes.  But are romantic comedies supposed to be mysteries?  I don't think so.  Everyone in the movie is likable, even the guy we're hoping she dumps before living happily ever after with Charlie is entertaining and sweet in his own, self-involved, semi-idiotic way.  I would definitely watch this movie again (and several bonus points for taking place in Italy - and making me long to go back) and I'll also be making a concerted effort to watch everything else Christopher Egan has ever been in because sweet Jesus he's so CUTE!


I also caught up on almost my entire DVR backlog over the long weekend.  I've only got The Walking Dead left which I've decided to wait to watch until after it finishes it's brief season this Sunday since I'm already this far behind.  To be honest, I tried to watch it but despite everyone's raves, it really suffered in comparison to the tightly-written Terriers which I'd watched immediately prior.  I don't care what Entertainment Weekly tells you, TWD is not the best new show on TV, Terriers is. 

Burn Notice - Maybe this show is also suffering from competition it doesn't usually have when it airs in the summer and winter but it's not quite as good this season as it usually is.  The most recent episode picked up a bit by having Michael on the mend and finally putting an end to his fight with Jesse but on the whole, it's lost a little spark as it gets more and more bogged down in the long-arc story of who burned Michael which, it could just be me but, I really don't care anymore.  Like, at all. 

The Defenders - Jim Belushi is by far the best he's ever been on this show.  I hope that when his career is over this is what he's remembered for because he's really terrific in it.  However, I do think the show needs to beef up Jurnee Smollet's part because she's woefully under-utilized here. 

Chuck - On the whole I'm not loving this season like I did the last but it's still better than most of the crap that trounces it in the ratings.  I feel like keeping the spying secret from Ellie and Awesome has minimized their roles too much which is a damn shame because I like Ellie and I LOVE Awesome (and surely you all remember what a huge fan I was of the episodes where Awesome worked with Casey and Morgan).  Morgan is a GREAT addition to the spy team and has amazing bromance chemistry with Casey.  Linda Hamilton has been a bit underwhelming as Frost/Chuck's mom but the recent addition of Timothy Dalton as Volkoff has been brilliantly entertaining.  The very weakest part of the show remains Jeffster - as often as those two dumb-asses nearly cause international incidents, you'd think that Beckman would require Morgan to fire them from Buy More and save us from their ridiculous bafoonery forever. 

Terriers - While I didn't really enjoy watching the unbearably sad "Sins of the Past," it was, as they all are, a very well-written and perfectly-acted episode.  I just didn't really care for drunk Hank or angry, bitter Britt.  Plus, I've come to the conclusion that on the whole, I do not like flashbacks.  Just one of my quirks.  "Quid Pro Quo" was absolutely perfect though and makes me anxious for tomorrow's season (please, God, let it only be a SEASON) finale to see how this land-grab case (as well as the relationship stuff - I mean, I can't BELIEVE they killed Jason!) ends.  But it also made me sad because why aren't more people watching this show?  I know the name is confusing and the marketing (what there was of it) didn't help but critics and tweeters alike have been waging a hell of a campaign to raise awareness and still it languishes at less than a million viewers per episode.  Try as I might I can think of not one single thing about this show that I'd change, it is that perfect and yet no one is watching.  That's quite literally the biggest television tragedy in history. 

Fringe - I'm on record as being less than a fan of the every-other-episode-over-there construct this season but it isn't because the over-there episodes haven't been good.  The episodes are every bit as intriguing and the writing and acting is just as strong but I miss Walter and the emotional resonance that long-arc stuff has when characters we know well are involved.  But the more time we've spent Over There, the more we've gotten to know the folks in that world and the more I've come to enjoy Lincoln and Charlie and Other Broyles which made "The Abducted" one of the strongest episodes of the season so far.  Naturally this happens when Olivia is just about to come home (aided by Other Broyles? I hope!) and Peter has finally twigged to the fact that the woman he's been shacking up with is not actually the Olivia he thinks she is.  I can't wait to see what happens next (and not JUST because Josh Jackson spends some quality time in his skivvies though, I'll admit, that doesn't hurt). 

Good Morning

Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson (Fringe)

The Return of Fall TV

It’s that time of year again, time to make the tough decisions about what my TiVos will be busy doing for the next 9 months. It’s not just about which of the new crop of shows I’ll be giving a trial run and hoping to love, but also which of the shows I have watched in the past get a continued season pass and which are sent packing (Gossip Girl, I’m looking at you!).

Changing up the format from last year a little, I’ll note my returning shows with an R and the new ones with an N – clever no? And I’ll note the premiere dates if I know them.

Monday

How I Met Your Mother – CBS, 8:00p/7:00p C (R-Sept. 20)
They had an off season last year but the creators say that they’ll be getting back to what didn’t suck about the show and I’m willing to give them another year. Mostly based on my love for Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan. The cast is really good and most of the characters are plenty enjoyable. Everyone except Ted. Good Lord, I hope they make Ted more likable this year because he is just awful.

Chuck – NBC, 8:00p/7:00p C (R-Sept. 20)
After the best season yet last spring, I wouldn’t miss this one for the world. And now that the Buy More has been blown to smithereens I’m holding out hope that the Jeffster crap will be kept to a minimum and we’ll just have a show chock-full of Chuck, Sarah, Casey, Ellie, Morgan and Captain Awesome. Oh yeah, plus we’ll meet Chuck’s mom (Linda Hamilton!). It’s such a good show, if you aren’t watching, you should give it a shot this year. It’s never too late to fall in love with nerds, spies or Captain Awesome.

House – Fox, 8:00p/7:00p C (R-Sept. 20)
I’m not going to lie to you, I don’t even know what happened in the last few episodes of last season. My DVR list got very crowded and it got bumped a number of weeks in a row. I heard that House and Cuddy hooked up and while I wouldn’t categorize myself as a Huddy-shipper, I feel like it was about time. Still, I can DVR three things that air at the same time and if something else were to be shuffled into this timeslot at the last minute that looked good enough, I’d bump House. I can always catch it online if I really want or…I could quit it altogether and probably not miss it.

Lone Star – Fox, 9:00p/8:00 C (N-Sept. 20)
I’m a little worried that this one won’t be as good as the cast and premise would have me believe or that it won’t get good enough ratings and I’ll be disappointed one way or another. But a story of a wealthy family where the prodigal son is a con-man with two families – one of whom includes Adrianne Pallicki from Friday Night Lights – is just too good to pass up. Plus, the early reviews have been pretty decent.

Hawaii Five-0 – CBS, 10:00p/9:00p C (N-Sept. 20)
When I heard about this one, I was VERY skeptical. I’m not sure the original needed to be remade, I never saw it myself but I feel confident in saying that we probably didn’t need another version of it. However, I’ve seen the previews for this one and damn it if it doesn’t look quite good. I have high hopes here.

Tuesday

NCIS – CBS, 8:00p/7:00p C (R-Sept. 21)
What to say? I like the NCIS team. On a crowded night of TV, I’m still not giving this one up. But it’s likely I won’t actually watch it until the weekend. It’ll make a splendid Sunday morning routine though.

Glee – Fox, 8:00p/7:00p C (R-Sept. 21)
I really hope that the writers get a handle on the tendancy they have to keep the episodes self-contained with entire arcs beginning and ending in the course of a single show. But I’m still thrilled to have my campy singing and dancing back. Less rapping would be greatly appreciated.

One Tree Hill – CW, 8:00p/7:00p C (R-Sept. 14)
After 7 seasons, I’m not going to give up on it now. Not when the lives of Quinn and Clay hang in the balance. And when Julian and Brooke are finally engaged and Haley is expecting her second child. That’s good stuff, people!

NCIS: Los Angeles – CBS, 9:00p/8:00p C (R-Sept. 21)
I like Hetty a lot and the leads are pretty good but the stories tend to be less interesting than on its sister show. Still, it’ll make a fine Sunday morning companion piece to the original.

No Ordinary Family – ABC, 9:00p/8:00p C (N-Sept. 28)
Julie Benz and Autumn Reeser, how am I going to say no to that? Plus, it’s got an Incredibles-esque plot and reviews that say it’s like a better version of Heroes which intrigues me.

Running Wilde – Fox, 9:00p/8:00p C (N-Sept. 21)
This one worries me because as much as I want to love a show with Will Arnett and Keri Russell, I haven’t heard great things about it. I have to give it a shot but I don’t even find the premise – of a wealthy, egotistical millionaire who is reunited with his selfless, humanitarian childhood crush – all that interesting. Still, Keri Russell = automatic TiVo setting.

Life Unexpected – CW, 9:00p/8:00p C (R-Sept. 14)
My mixed feelings about this mid-season show from last spring are well-documented here but Cate married Ryan and Lux might be a bit less annoying this season and at the end of the day, I’m already hooked so it can keep the season pass.

Detroit 1-8-7 – ABC, 10:00p/9:00p C (N-Sept. 21)
I don’t know why I’m going to watch this because it sounds unbelievably depressing but I’m from Michigan and I like Michael Imperioli so I’m going to give it a go. But 9 shows on one night is a lot even for me so this one will probably have a short leash.

The Good Wife – CBS, 10:00p/9:00p C (R-Sept. 28)
It was one of the best new shows of last season and there was no shortage of good new shows last year so that’s a high compliment. I cannot wait to see what becomes of the relationship between Alicia and Will. And things should get very interesting with Carey in the prosecutors office now. A lot more good stuff from The Good Wife.


Wednesday

Better With You – ABC, 8:00p/7:00p C (N-Sept. 22)
It has such a likable cast – Jennifer Finnigan, Debra Jo Rupp, Kurt Fuller and JoAnna Garcia – that I just can’t pass it up. I’ve read mixed reviews but I’m hopeful.

Undercovers – NBC, 8:00p/7:00p C (N-Sept. 22)
I’ve heard raves and warnings not to get my hopes up based on the raves I’ve heard. I’m loyal to JJ Abrams so I’ll watch but I’m going into it expecting that it will merely make me miss Alias. If that’s the case, I probably won’t hang around because I don’t need to be reminded of things that I miss. Life is too short.

Friday Night Lights – DirecTV 101 Network, 9:00p/8:00p C (R-Oct. 27)
The final season of the most wonderful show on television. Matt’s gone to art school in Chicago, Landry and Julie are off to college, Tami left the principal job at West Dillon to be the guidance counselor at East Dillon and Tim has gone to prison for car theft. I tear up at the summation of where we left off last season, I can’t even imagine how much I’m going to cry when we finally say goodbye to the Taylors and the other denizens of Dillon, TX. God damn it, Academy! Recognize this show already! This will be your last chance to give them the awards they have always so richly deserved!

Modern Family – ABC, 9:00p/8:00p C (R-Sept. 22)
Hands-down the best comedy on TV last season. It doesn’t matter what’s going to happen this season because this show isn’t about what happens, it’s just about how crazy family can be. I can’t wait.

Cougar Town – ABC, 9:30p/8:30p C (R-Sept. 22)
It is funnier and more interesting than it has any right to be with a title like that. But it’s a fun show that’s worth watching. Stop judging it based on the stupid title and give it a shot, you won’t be sorry.

Hellcats – CW, 9:00p/8:00p C (N-Sept. 8)
As I write this, I’m about 20 minutes from the premiere of this show. I’m not hopeful for its quality but if you haven’t noticed, sometimes I like shows that are kind of terrible, as long as they’re awesomely terrible (OTH!) and I’m hoping this one fits into that category. Plus, Robbie Jones (OTH’s Quentin, whom I still miss).

The Whole Truth – ABC, 10:00p/9:00p C (N-Sept. 22)
I’m kind of a sucker for legal dramas. And this one seems kind of like Justice (you get the whole story) but instead of seeing what really happened but seeing only the defense’s case, we see it from both sides. Might be interesting. Then again, it might be boring. I’m willing to find out.

The Defenders – CBS, 10:00p/9:00p C (N-Sept. 22)
All the things I just said about legal dramas but in this case I’m curious to see how I’ll like a show about slimy Vegas defense attorneys. Especially when one of them is Jim Belushi. I also think highly of Jurnee Smollett and it’ll be kind of fun to see her in two very different roles on the same night.


Thursday

The Big Bang Theory – CBS, 8:00p/7:00p C (R-Sept. 23)
The second funniest show on TV right now, I enjoy this one immensely. And I am beyond excited that I’ll be going to a taping of this the very week after it premieres. Giddy…that’s what I am, I’m GIDDY!

Bones – Fox, 8:00p/7:00p C (R-Sept. 23)
Attractive people solving mysteries and being nerdy. You see how this is right up my alley right?

The Vampire Diaries – CW, 8:00p/7:00p C (R-Sept. 9)
This was my favorite new show last year. Brace yourselves for a lot of really long, really detailed recaps of every episode this year. My obsession with how brilliant it is has not diminished since the insanely perfect season finale.

Fringe – Fox, 9:00p/8:00p C (R-Sept. 23)
I’m a little worried that the Peter/Walter relationship is going to be uncomfortable and no fun now that Peter knows how Walter snatched him from Over There. But having Other Olivia impersonating Olivia should be really interesting. And as long as they keep having Walter be all weirdly and inappropriately obsessed with food during total gross-out moments, it’ll still be good. And it hurts not at all that the Ashmore twins are going to be popping up. They’re nice to look at.

Nikita – CW, 9:00p/8:00p C (N-Sept. 9)
Much like The Vampire Diaries last year, I’m giving this one a shot based on some good word of mouth. I don’t have high hopes for it and I’m not even sure if I’m interested but it doesn’t hurt to try. It might benefit from airing after TVD when I’m in a good mood from that hour of awesomeness.

Burn Notice – USA, 9:00p/8:00p C (R-November)
It’ll take some getting used to to incorporate my summer/winter series into my fall viewing schedule but I can hardly leave Michael Westin out in the cold, now can I?

The Mentalist – CBS, 10:00p/9:00p C (R-Sept. 23)
Attractive people. Mysteries.


Friday

Supernatural – CW, 9:00p/8:00p C (R – Sept. 24)
Sera Gamble promises to return to the fun years when they were more focused on a monster of the week than on this larger good vs. evil storyline that poor, well-meaning Kripke managed to turn into a stinking pile of no fun at all. I hope that isn’t a lie because I miss the days when this show was fun.


Sunday

The Walking Dead – AMC, 9:00p/8:00p C (N-Oct. 31)
Zombies. How could a show about zombies not be worth watching?

Stay tuned for my impressions of the new shows and how some of the old ones are holding up. I’ll try my hardest to get the new ones watched and reviewed in short order. I know you’ll be waiting on pins and needles to know what I thought.

My New Favorite Thing Ever

As has become standard, several movies and TV shows make a showing at the San Diego ComiCon either to drum up interest (Salt) or because the show's core audience are the same group of "geeks" that dig what's happening at a Con to begin with (Big Bang Theory, Green Lantern, etc.).

Among the TV shows in attendance was Fringe (it's scifi nature puts it in the second category, obvs) which meant that Joshua Jackson, my future husband, was there. While in San Diego he hosted his own Pacey-Con in a park across the street from the convention center that was hosting the main event. Josh reportedly read aloud from Pacey-related fanfic and signed autographs while the Dawson's Creek theme song played.

Now obviously this entire story makes me smile because it's hilarious (and was, I'm told, all part of a Funny Or Die video), and because it involves Josh, but what catapults it into the rank of my favorite thing ever is that he wore a Pacey shirt and combed his hair down a la Pacey's late-'90s 'do.

Summer TV Lovin'

I've kind of been slacking on the content around here lately. Apologies. Let's remedy this with some discussion of summer TV.

I caught the pilot of Rookie Blue last week. It was a little slow to get started but on the whole, the premise is excellent and the cast is very good so it's worth watching. Even more so because the summer months can be slim on decent TV. Missy Peregrym was given most of the meat in the pilot and I suspect her character will continue to be the center of attention but hopefully Gregory Smith gets something to do in the next couple of episodes because if there is one thing I know, he's terrific.

As I relearned again a couple of weeks ago when I watched the third season of Everwood as I promised I would. I think three might be my favorite season of the show. I don't know if I loved the coma affair but Anne Heche was really likable as Amanda. Scott Wolf as Dr. Jake "Dimples" Hartman was such an unbelievably perfect addition to the cast and much as I always wanted Andy and Nina together, I can't help but love Nina and Jake as a couple. Maybe just because I love Jake so much, I'm not sure. Plus, as if the Andy/Harold relationship weren't a small slice of perfection on it's own, adding Jake to the mix is just the tiny shred of brilliance that elevates the entire affair into a place I like to call "too awesome."

The relationship between Ephram and Amy hit the stride we were always promised in the preceding seasons and it all felt worth the journey and the wait. Even after Ephram found out about Madison and the baby, there was this hope left between them. Not so much with Ephram and Andy then which was a shame because I thought their relationship had also become something pleasant to behold finally. And fortunately I know going in that they come to terms in the fourth season and that age begins to mature Ephram in the one way he always lacked which is realistic and wonderful.

Rose's cancer was what tears are made of. But it really helped bring something out in all of the Abbotts in those final episodes that was reminiscent of the very best things about each character. And it took some of the focus off of the contentious, painful relationship between Harold and Bright which was, frankly, a little tough to watch sometimes in the same way that Friday Night Lights' slice-of-life stuff can be.

But my favorite thing about the third season are the separate story lines for Bright and Hannah and the way the converged to become their combined story as they developed a relationship with each other. Bright was a fuckup from the word go and when his attempt to redeem himself didn't yield immediate, miraculous results in season two, he quickly back-slid into behaviors that were markedly worse than we would have even expected. Meanwhile, Hannah came to town as the most socially awkward girl in the history of the world and simply by being a sweet, funny, likable person, she developed great friendships with Ephram, Amy and Bright. As she dealt with the really normal teenage stuff (nursing an enormous crush on Bright, having a first boyfriend that she just didn't like in that way, etc.) she also dealt with the not-so-average realities of her life. Those being that her father was dying of Huntington's disease and that there was a 50/50 chance she would develop the disease as well. Through all of this, the Hannah and Bright became closer as friends and when Bright realized that he loved her, it wasn't because she had some big makeover and her finally saw her. It was because the more he knew her, the more he saw how beautiful she'd always been and without her ever changing who she was, how she acted or what she looked like, she became incredibly hot to him.

In a word: awesome!

Now, hurry up and release season 4, Warner Home Video!

News came this week that ABC Family has increased the episode order for Pretty Little Liars to a full 22 for the first season and I celebrate that decision. I mean, the show is flawed in many ways with the two biggest being that 2 out of the 4 main girls can NOT act (Lucy Hale and Ashley Benson are both pretty great but Troian Avery Bellisario and Shay Mitchell are terrible and Tammin Sursok isn't a whole lot better), and that Bianca Lawson has been playing high school students since I was actually IN high school and I graduated 16 years ago. Still, I am enjoying this fun, summer show and I look forward to a full slate of episodes.

Finally, a bit later than I said I would, I started watching the third season of Dawson's Creek last weekend. I picked the third season because I always remember that one as sucking less than the two before. That's still true of course, the first season was particularly tough to take and the second was barely more tolerable but the third improves substantially on the shoulders of better stories for Jack, the relationship between Pacey and Joey and the slow evolution of Jen as someone who isn't purely annoying. I don't care at all for the Henry hooey and I could stand never to think about that Eve shit ever again, but for the most part, the third season finds it's stride. Unfortunately what I had forgotten about the show was how truly bad the dialogue is. I mean, really, intensely AWFUL. I hadn't forgotten how much I disliked Dawson though, and what an insufferable twat he was, but it turns out that time has only made him MORE unlikable and more insufferably twattastic.

"Four to Tango" might be my favorite episode of the entire series and I watched that last night. Too bad it was followed immediately by the introduction of that twerpy AJ and annoying Ethan in "First Encounters of the Close Kind" and then even more Ethan, Nikki (Bianca Lawson - see what I mean?) and Henry in "Barefoot at Capefest" (or as I like to call it, "Barefoot at Crapfest"). Still, there are some other good eps coming up...no matter how hard I try, I can never not tear up at "To Green, With Love" and, obviously, I'm looking forward to when Pacey and Joey start smooching.

Happy Birthday

To my future husband, Joshua Jackson, who turns 32 today.

Oh, and Hugh Laurie is 51.

But most importantly, Josh Jackson. Let's all take a moment to marvel at his beauty shall we?

Yeah, that's the stuff. In honor of this occasion, I believe I'll catch up on the 3 final eps of Fringe that I haven't made time to watch yet, and then some season three Dawson's Creek which was the season the writers finally admitted to themselves and the world that Pacey was just better than Dawson in every way.