Surprised? If you read this blog, you shouldn’t be.
I. Love. Firefly. I hate that it was cancelled before its time. And that I only discovered it on DVD when a friend of mine said, you love Buffy? You’ll love Firefly. And that was the end of me. When people make jokes or references to Firefly, I think they are the best jokes because they are the payoff.
The Big Bang Theory, for example, constantly refers to Firefly, the show that should never have been cancelled. And of course there’s the Train episode where the gang finds Summer Glau. That’s what I mean by payoff. A show that was cancelled ages ago is still getting references in modern television shows. What makes it better is that it’s a Joss and Co production, because who doesn’t love Joss Whedon?
Oh, and did I mention that Firefly also stars Nathan Fillion? Really? I haven’t mentioned that yet? Wow. I must be slacking.
So… Nathan Fillion is in Firefly.
And Firefly is a space western set in 2517 about the rogue crew of Serenity that travel in the newly human-inhabited star system. Joss Whedon is said to have pitched the show as, “nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things.” And Firefly just oozes of stories that are waiting to be told.
And of course, what other failed show could create a movie, and such a huge following?
There you have it. Firefly. Check it out on Hulu.
Is anyone else feeling love for Nathan Fillion today?
So… Drive. A failed Cannonball Run wannabe of a show created by Tim Minear and starring Nathan Fillion, with guest appearances by Amy Acker and Emma Stone, was cancelled after only four episodes. Two additional episodes were released for digital distribution only. Drive debuted in April 2007, and obviously didn’t last very long.
Honestly, I only watched this show for the promise of Nathan Fillion and Amy Acker. Once I got into watching the episodes, they were okay, but they didn’t really keep my interest all that much. And I guess that’s what they rest of the viewing audience was thinking. Not gonna lie, it was a cute concept, but it just never really fleshed out. I think there were too many stories going on at once, it was difficult to focus – not that I remember it all that clearly other than I DVR‘d it and watched the episodes, but come on, that was five years ago.
So, that’s the D for the Day, gentle readers. Enjoy!
Hubs and I went on vacation for a week last week, and I have finally caught up on everything I missed, and then some. Here are my thoughts on what I watched:
- GCB is a surprisingly good show. I didn’t think I’d like it, but it is the kind of soapy dramedy that keeps you coming back over and over again.
- Celebrity Apprentice makes me laugh. The women suck. And Aresnio had me in stitches in the boardroom after the Walgreens campaign task.
- Castle has reverted to his old playboy ways because he found out Kate was lying and perhaps assumed she didn’t have feelings for him. Turns out, she does. And she won’t tell him still. Silly Kate. Silly Castle. You don’t have to LOVE each other to LOVE each other. You’re better as friends. Maybe.
- I hate that I like Smash. I wanted to hate it, I really did. But it’s another stupid show that got me hooked. Plus Debra Messing is fantastic. I missed her.
- Once Upon a Time has kept me on the edge of my seat for weeks now. And the Queen’s wedding dress? Total bonus.
- And Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt 23 is probably my new favorite sitcom so far.
So, there you have it. I feel like I’m missing something, though.
Anyway… what have you been catching up on this week?
The name is Beckett. Kate Beckett.
One of my new favorite TV couples is Castle and Beckett. Not only because I love Nathan Fillion and love seeing him in roles where there’s so much romantic tension. OK. I love seeing him in every role. But Stana Kattic is just as amazing. And they have a really great chemistry. And they’re so cute together.
The Castle/Beckett on again/off again almost relationship has been going on for at least two seasons, even though the show is now in its fourth. The first season was dedicated to getting to know the characters, and the second getting to see how they REALLY are once we get to know them. It wasn’t until season three that we, and by we I mean ME, really start to get the itch about them being together. He gets her coffee every day and tries to protect her. She pretends she isn’t flattered and smitten with him and throws sexy teases in his direction to get a response.
They are truly an epic will they won’t they couple. The only team that out-couples them, so far, is Booth and Bones, and they finally got together, sort of, and are having a baby.
Castle and Beckett’s current drama revolves around Beckett having been shot in the third season finale, Castle telling her he loved her, and Beckett remembering everything, but not telling anyone. Only Castle finds out, and vows to back off because his opinion is that if she really cared, she would have said something sooner.
Oh, Castle. Beckett is much more coy than that. I don’t think she’ll say anything still. She’s afraid of being hurt. Plus, they’ve been through so much. She doesn’t want to seem like the fool, or the vulnerable one.
Honestly, I’m happy they go through ups and downs. I think it would be quite boring if they just got together and that was it.
Who is YOUR favorite tv couple?
Wonder what I’m doing? It’s called the A to Z challenge. Check it out here.
Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt 23 = Love.
And thanks to ABC, I now have 2 episodes to watch. Talk about awesome. And I think it’s a great advertising strategy in keeping with the times. Clearly ABC has its fingers on the pulse of pop culture and budding technology, and I’m happy to know that ABC understands the Internet and the likelihood that they’ll get more ratings and buzz for the show using this word of mouth method they’re creating by putting a show online three weeks earlier than it is due to air on television.
And I love it. Hubs and I were talking about how much the show is getting away with to be in Primetime. But I think that is just what we need in a new sitcom: a limit pusher. Especially when shows are going to start dropping like flies because this season’s failure is far from the brilliance of seasons past. Cough, cough. Two and a Half Men. Ahem. Office. But that is merely speculation of course.
Honestly, though. I needed another really GOOD sitcom. Krysten Ritter and James Van der Beek are amazingly hysterical. Krysten Ritter plays somewhat of a psychopath, but only in the a lying, cheating, sleep with her roommate’s fiance sort of way. And James Van der Beek plays himself, only he’s a ladies man who hates and then loves that women love him for Dawson’s Creek.
Actually, after watching the first episode I went to Amazon to see if I could find the complete series of Dawson’s Creek so I could watch it. Don’t judge me.
Oh, and of course I tweeted about my newfound love for the show. And Krysten Ritter favorited it. Be jealous.
So, I’ve pretty much stopped watching The Office. Let’s face it, it just doesn’t feel the same as it used to.
I have, however, caught up on the last four episodes, which involve a hand selected (at random) crew of the Dunder Mifflin/Sabre team traveling to Tallahassee for a “special project,” ie a test Sabre store. And of course the end result was failure.
There were two redeeming things in those four episodes. The first was the return of Todd Packer, who was tricked into trying to acquire a nonexistent job in Florida, but just so happened to end up at Sabre. And the second was the all out brawl Jim and Dwight had, whereby Jim was actually trying to protect Dwight from getting fired, and Dwight just didn’t know it. I was in hysterics watching those scenes, and it made me miss the old Jim/Dwight scenes that were full of pranks and fighting that made me laugh.
So I created a list of my favorite Jim/Dwight pranks. There are so many more, and if you have the DVDs, there are quite a few more pranks in the deleted scenes.
And these are in order by season…
Season 2
- Jim popped Dwight’s fitness orb. (Performance Review)
- Convinced Dwight a Thursday was a Friday causing him to be late for work the next day. (Performance Review)
- Puts Dwight’s Items In Vending machine. Following this, he hands Dwight a bag of nickels. (Booze Cruise)
Season 3
- Jim sent faxes to Dwight signed FUTURE DWIGHT on Dwight’s own stationery. (Branch Closing)
- Jim narrated Dwight’s absurd behavior when Dwight taped a meeting. (Back from Vacation)
- The Pavlov Experiment – Jim conditioned Dwight to expect an Altoid every time he heard a chime, using the Pavlovian theory. (Phyllis’ Wedding0
- Jim dressed as Dwight and mimicked his speaking style. (Product Recall)
Season 4
- Jim and Pam sent Dwight IM’s convincing him that the Dunder Mifflin website had achieved self-awareness (Launch Party)
- Jim linked Dwight’s cell phone to his bluetooth headset to answer all his incoming calls, and additionally forwarded his office phone to his own as well. (Goodbye, Toby)
Season 5
- Recorded with a stopwatch all personal time that Dwight takes in order to prove Dwight wrong when he claimed that he has never stolen company time. (Business Ethics)
- Convinced Dwight he was William, M Buttlicker, in a role-play to help both Jim and Dwight improve the way they speak to customers. Evidently Dwight does not do very well in the role play and Jim (Bill Buttlicker) asks to speak to Dwights manager, Michael takes the phone from Dwight and quickly makes a million dollar sale, with one condition, Michael must fire Dwight. (Customer Survey)
- Seemingly wrapped Dwight’s chair, desk and everything on it in wrapping paper when in fact he actually replaced his chair and desk with a Christmas-wrapped cardboard version of the desk, and an incredibly loosely assembled chair. It became evident when Dwight tried to sit and everything collapsed. (Moroccan Christmas)
I think after season five, they really start to not feel like Jim pranks on Dwight. But that is just the nature of the beast. Jim and Pam got married and had a couple of kids. Life moves on and Jim can’t spend as much time pranking Dwight as he used to. Or can he?
Oh well. I at least I have the DVDs.
What are your favorite Jim/Dwight moments or pranks? What are you favorite moments from the Office?
There’s so many things to love about The Big Bang Theory. The writing, the characters, the actors, the level intelligence. It’s won awards. I could go on all day. Really. I follow most of the cast and writers on Twitter. I’m not obsessed. Honest.
And Hubs and I have so many conversations about what makes certain shows great. And it’s easy to point out which moments make certain actors Emmy worthy. Jim Parsons has had so many Emmy worthy moments, in my opinion.
A quick interruption, to mention a conversation I JUST had with Hubs trying to determine the episode name:
Me: It’s called the Spaghetti Catalyst, right? The that’s just after Leonard and Penny break up, and Sheldon has dinner with Penny…?
Hubs: I don’t know. I could look it up.
Me: WHAT KIND OF FAN ARE YOU?
ANYway… the Spaghetti Catalyst is an episode we both felt Jim Parsons totally shined and really deserved recognition for. In fact, any episode that takes Sheldon out of his element or changes his regular routine in ANY way is typically an episode in which Jim Parsons shines.
And by saying that, I want to say that the latest episode, The Werewolf Transformation, is just such an episode. Sheldon can’t get his haircut because his regular barber is in the hospital. And he refuses haircuts from everyone else because no one seems to have access to his “haircut records.” Eventually, he does let Penny cut his hair, but getting to that point is utterly hilarious. In fact, one of my new favorite scenes ever occurs in this episode, when Leonard wakes up to find Sheldon in the living room playing the bongos.
No word of a lie, that scene TRUMPS my previous alltime favorite scene of Sheldon in the ballpit, after he’s been up for days trying to determine how neutrons move through a graphine sheet. Hysterical.
I just love the show. And I love that there are so many funny things. And I am supremely amazed at how many things I can remember without having to look them up.
What do you think about Sheldon playing the bongos? What is your favorite Big Bang Theory moment?
Hubs and I spent a number of hours discussing what would happen to Two and a Half Men after the demise of Charlie Sheen and his more than lifelike character of Charlie Harper. Such scenarios included a larger role for Herb Melnick, Judith’s new husband, played by Ryan Stiles. Because who doesn’t love Ryan Stiles? Or adding another kid that ends up being Charlie’s that he never knew about. But the idea of having Ashton Kutcher take on the Charlie-esque role named Walden was never something we entertained.
And now that Walden is now a part of the cast, ihet’s not the same show. It hasn’t been the same show for quite awhile, even before Charlie spun out. But they made some serious changes, much in the way of set design. And you hardly ever see Jake, Judith or Herb, and Berta seems to have a similar amount of screen time as she’s always had.
But tonight’s episode featured Patten Oswalt playing Walden’s best friend and worst enemy. After last week’s disaster of an episode that focused on the worst vomit jokes since third grade, I was looking forward to a great guest star. But the question I have is will he stay on to help strengthen the cast? And will it help?
Sure, there were some funny jokes, but again, it’s not the same show. It doesn’t hold up like it used to.
I guess only time will tell. Until then, I look forward to seeing Patten Oswalt again in future episodes.
What do you think of this season of Two and a Half Men? Will it survive?
I don’t know why I even bother watching Glee anymore. It’s not the same show it used to be. But it still seems to be the most popular show EVER.
So much has changed since the last time I really sat down to watch it. Santana and Brittany are lesbians. Rachel and Finn are getting married. Quinn and Mercedes are in a group called the God Squad. So much lunacy, so little time to show it. My opinions about the show may not necessarily be in the majority, so I’ll hang onto them for now until I can do a real review of an episode that I’ve watched in its entirety, not just one I happened to catch a few scenes of.
I’m all about gay rights. And I’m anti-bullying . And I want to stand on my soapbox for a minute and mention that kids can be mean. And it’s not right that kids can be so mean that they make someone even consider suicide. The storyline I caught dealt with a character being gay and having previously come out of the closet to some people. Others found out, and the bullying began. It got so bad for the character that he attempted suicide. This makes me sad. It makes me sad that someone could get to that point and feel like they have nowhere to go or no one to turn to. There has to be something better than that. But sadly, kids can be so mean that some kids just feel like they have no place to go.
I don’t know how to stop the bullying other than from source. Teach your children about equality. Teach your children manners. Teach your children that it is not okay to be mean to someone. Teach you children to reach out for help if they need it, or if they see someone else that needs it. It begins at home.
I’ll step down from my soapbox for now, if you’d even call it that.
What are your thoughts on television shows that deal with serious issues, including bullying and suicide? It is an effective way of making people aware?
shameless watching of tv 