71 posts tagged “tv”

Oh my I have some how ended up watching the Emmy's. Damn you quiet Sunday nights. My ramblings... 

• Dr. Horrible is presenting and making sure that things move along quickly. I have a feeling if he manages to pull this off he might get the hat tick of award show gigs & be offered the Oscars
  
• John Hodgeman is doing the voice over but they are keeping it so low I can barely hear his comic mumbling
  
• Can you believe that Justin Timberlake ever dated Britney? It seems like something from an alternate universe
• Hurrah Toni Collette won for The United States of Tara but she has gone a little too Hollywood (and by that I mean thin and orange)
• Should I be watching 30 Rock? Is it really that good?
• The staged behind the scenes clips are cringe worthy. Keep having Studio 60 flashbacks
• Reality TV gets its own section? Forced to use up our DVR buffer to get through some of it faster. Alex is grumbling that the Food Network doesn't get nominated as it has the BEST reality TV shows ever
• So happy that Shohreh Aghdashloo got an award. She is an amazing talented actress. Loved her in 24
• When they said they would keep the pace up during the Emmy's they weren't joking, and they are keeping the "funny" bits to a minimum. Though they could beef up the Dr. Horrible bits
  
• Yikes - Jessica Lange. Kids remember to wear sunscreen
  
• Oh Drew Barrymore has come to the Emmy's with Mac
• By the look on her face Shirley McClain had no idea who or what The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is as the writers filed past her to collect their award 
• Frak - they showed a clip from Battlestar Galactica! It's as if they are acknowledging that it is a drama or something, but they still don't give it enough nomination

So my bad but I thought this year BSG had more nominations. Apparently not. It's one nod was for directing (the excellent Michael Rymer) and they lost out to an episode of ER. ER! It makes my blood boil that the BEST TV SERIES is constantly overlooked. #FAILEMMY

This is the night that makes the DVR groan and stocks me up with plenty of shows to watch over the weekend. Oh how I love Thursdays. With the returning shows my DVR will be set for Supernatural (favourite show on TV and it's mythology is second to none), Fringe (hopefully it will not stumble in its sophomore season) and The Mentalist (fluffy fun with the eye candy of the charming Simon Baker).  I tend to dip in and out of Bones. It never quite made it to a DVR season pass but I always tune in to the episodes with Stephen Fry guest staring. I am intrigued by FlashForward, and will give it a go. Perhaps this will be the year I start watching shows on ABC and almost ditch NBC entirely. Still loyal to Chuck but I think it might fit better on NBC's sister cable channel USA (since characters are welcome there). 

There is NOTHING on TV on Wednesday. Hurrah an evening to study and play Connect Four. OK that is not strictly true. America's Next Top Tyra is on Wednesdays but it is a show that I like to pretend that I don't care about and refuse to set up a season pass for yet I will watch it if I am in. It's not like it is a bad show, I actually think it is one of the more interesting reality shows but I don't loose any sleep when I miss it (Sorry Tyra).  The only other show that looks tempting is Eastwick on ABC, and then that is because Paul Gross is playing Darryl the Devil. He should make a pretty good, mischievous devil. I have a feeling that ABC will wipe the floor with Leno this fall.

I feel slightly guilty about writing about all the new TV that is gracing my screen(s) given that my mum is trapped in crappy TV limbo; the new TV season isn't quite as regimented in the UK as it is in the US. Yet another reason to celebrate being on this side of the Atlantic.

Looks as if CBS is carving out Tuesdays to be NCIS franchise night. I really enjoy the original series (it's the right balance between drama and comedy, and the only procedural cop show where the cops take their guns off when they sit down which is a lovely accurate touch) and will give the LA spin-off a chance (especially since Linda Hunt will guest star). But what with O'Donnell's face plastered over billboards I am guessing that he survived the "deadly" shooting that was the cliff hanger of the cross over episode.  Other than that Tuesdays is pretty bleak until November when the remake of V airs on ABC. No real interest in 90210 or Melrose Place, or the reality shows that the other three networks are airing. I am sorry but Dancing with the Stars, The Biggest Loser and So You Think You Can Dance all airing at the same time is a way to make NCIS and NCIS: LA sure fire hits!

Mondays should be all about Chuck and House. Except NBC have decided to withhold Casey, Chuck and Sarah from me till the spring. So all that leaves me with is House. Except Fox have decided to pair my two favorite Brits: Hugh Laurie and Tim Roth. So Monday nights will be back-to-back snark with House and Lightman. Finally a reason to get excited about the work week starting over. Other than that there isn't that much on TV on Monday nights. I can't allow myself to get sucked into Heroes again, and I am not really a Gossip Girl girl. I am slightly tempted my Castle. Looks a little Murder-She-Wrotey and ABC (and I can't believe I am saying this) has some really interesting shows this season so I am ready to cross over to the dark side.

I am not sure what I love more about Mad Men the excellent writing, the stellar cast or the period setting which allows for a more interesting range of behaviors that contemporary dramas. In a world gone PC it's refreshing to be reminded that women use to smoke and drink their way through pregnancy (what's more dangerous deli meat, or a gimlet?) and that repression was the plat du jour. Last night I self medicated with a latte and managed to stay awake for the season premier of Mad Men.  I can't give too much away as my mum has sworn me to secrecy until it airs in the UK but I can say that season three picks up a good 6 or 7 months after season two and the British invasion has well and truly taken hold at Sterling Cooper.  Jared Harris is the hatchet man from London and my god he is good (Harris was obviously warming up on Fringe), and he is ably assisted by Mr. Nigel Murray from Bones who has been nicknamed 'Moneypenny'. Oh it is going to be a good season.

I've just finished watching the season finale of Law & Order: Criminal Order and I loved that Det. Goren was nowhere to be seen and that the key piece of evidence was a charred teddy bear. I thought I was done with L&O:CI last season when Det. Logan left the franchise for like the 400th time. Oh Big just because Sex & the City is back doesn't mean you have to turn your back on your other franchise. But, Jeff Goldblum as Det. Nichols has sucked me back in. Goldblum is so good and his take on quirky is fresh in comparison to the lumbering Goren.  Now all that comes to mind when it's a Goren episode is adverts for adult onset diabetes.  Goldblum's Det. Nichols also has a back story to rival Goren's and I am eager to delve a little deeper and find out what happened in his missing 7 years from the force.

Late night for me. Let's just say that I have had two cups of coffee so I am awake for the foreseeable future...

DVDs

• Caprica - BSG prequel that is sitting on the coffee table waiting on Alex being in the right mood to watch it. I am thinking it might be a good fit for the 4th of July long weekend. I mean we ain't going to be watching the fireworks
  
• Star Trek: TNG - Someone wont let me watch Deep Space Nine until we have re-watched all of TNG. Half way through season 5 and it is dragging somewhat
  

Television

• Virtuality - Ronald D. Moore did a pilot for Fox, and they have repackaged it as a tv movie. That probably means it is now a failed pilot but as ever the optimist I am hopeful for a resurrection, especially after seeing the 12 min preview and webisodes
  
• Stargate Universe - the trailer makes it look edgier than Atlantis or SG-1, and it has Robert Carlyle in it so nuff said
  
• Torchwood - The 'Children of Earth' mini-series airs in July and it feels a little bit like Midwitch Cuckoos (though spooky children always give off that vibe to be)
• Doctor Who - Finally getting the Christmas special that was aired AGES ago in the UK. It also looks like BBC America has wrangled the Doctor from Sci-Fi Channel
• Warehouse 13 - Cute but worth a watch given that there isn't that much on at the moment
  

Films
For whatever reason there tends to be a dearth of sci-fi movies opening in the summer, the powers that be obviously think that genre is better suited to fall which is why it made no sense to open last year's X-Files movie in the summer.

• Star Trek - So you've seen it once just keep watching it because it really is that good!
  
• Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince - Not strictly sci-fi but wizards are hardly mainstream
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - same as above but this time with robots in disguise
• The Time Traveler's Wife - Not another Sarah Connor Terminator spin-off I promise. The book is excellent, but the time travel is rather more a literary plot device than an actually exploration into time travel
  

I tend to do quite a bit of navel gazing during yoga classes, and by navel gazing I mean putting my introspective head on though I do literally spend time gazing at my actual navel as well. I find yoga quite mindless, especially when you filter out the mediation and the new age rhetoric, as all you are doing is breathing and following instructions for a series of poses. I like to think I do my best thinking on the mat, and today I was mulling over why I have been feeling so out of sorts. I managed to identify key ingredients that had been missing this week - escapism and thinking.

Escapism comes in many forms.  My favs are studying ancient civilisations and watching genre tv shows based on cool futuristic stuff (hello science fiction and fantasy).  I find that both of those things lead to thinking and that in turn leads to a happy me. Does this makes me an uber nerd? Because I really hope so. Last week was primarily about the day job, and in the evening I only had time to watch the Daily Show and Colbert. As much as I love Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert they are very much based in reality, and given that most of my favourite shows are on break for the summer there are slim pick-in's for programs that transport you to a galaxy far far away. 

Is it odd that a lack of Fringe, Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica, Chuck and Doll House disrupt my reality so much? Not really when you think about the Obama-BSG article the Onion ran a few months back. Dude, I am totally on the same page as I have an entire summer to fill before school and the new tv seasons begin in earnest. What am I meant to do till then?

Next up will be my summer sci-fi survival guide.

I think I was a bit hormonal this week. Had a wee mid-week melt down due to the ongoing sleep deprivation, discovering that instead of the Alitalia charge on my credit card I actually had an incorrect one from a totally different company and a few other dull things.  Cue much wailing and flapping of arms. Alitalia say that my flights are fine, and it might take a few weeks for the charge to go through - Italian! When I eventually got through to the company that had incorrectly charged my card (and after they had done somed poking about) they apologized for the mistake.  So no harm no foul. Next week should be better as Alex is going to be staying in a hotel a few nights (so he'll be closer to his project), but I am being "loaned out" so I'll be out over night at an event up state. Any how it's Friday night, there is still carrot cake, the temp has dropped enough to have tea, and I am catching up with Burn Notice (bliss!).  I predict a weekend of Flight Control, murder mysteries and madeleines. I might even find time to post the photos from Philadelphia.