The curse strikes again…

Made in Jersey was canceled after like… two episodes.

*sigh*

Of course.

Fortunately, Revolution is still going strong. Huzzah.

They threw in a couple of “Oh Crap” moments. Without throwing in spoilers, someone died. I really expected to see a lot more of this particular character, so it sort of threw me. Just, WOW.

As is Arrow. It’s really coming along nicely. Oliver is gaining depth and this past week had a development that made me happy.

I’m currently re-watching the first season of The Vampire Diaries. And by currently, I mean right this very second. My favourite line from this episode: I’m a kiddie pool!

My other yay-omg-excited show is the second season of American Horror Story. Which deserves its very own post. So stay tuned for that!

What are your current favourite tv shows?

Oh and also, since there isn’t a lot to this post other than my rambling, I leave you with this!

image from: http://designyoutrust.com

Arrow

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(Interestingly, wordpress is doing that thing again where it won’t let me tag. I finally made it work, but I think that perhaps it hates me. Or the computer I’m on. Or it’s trying to tell me that I should be making copies instead of talking about TV.)

Okay. So. I was not a comic book girl growing up. I was booky, just not comic booky. I recognize that this reduces my geek cred, considerably. But that’s okay.

One of my biggest issues with getting into comics is that I’m a little compulsive. Just a little. And if I’m reading something that is part of a series, I want to start at the beginning. Those of you in the know can probably guess where this is going. For everyone else, let’s just say, in almost all the comics I’d want to read, I’m about 50+ years behind. It’s a bit daunting.

Anywho. Cartoons are awesome for letting me know what I’ve missed. Movies about my favourite comic book characters are even better.

And now there’s a TV show about a guy I had no idea even existed until (I think) Young Justice came out.

As previously mentioned, I’m pretty easy going about my entertainments. It’s really all about whether or not I feel I’ve spent my time (or money) wisely. I don’t wax sentimental about the underlying social commentary, or motivation of the writers, or what the symbolism of the colour of the walls in the MC’s foyer means. Honestly, I could give a crap.

What makes it for me comes down to three things: Good writing, good acting, and good directing. Cause let’s face it, no matter how good the acting, if the director blows donkey balls (Uwe Boll, anyone?) the whole mess falls apart. Ditto the other elements.

I was really looking forward to Arrow. It struck this total Robin Hood/Batman vibe for me.

I was not disappointed. I have no idea who the actor is that they got to play Oliver Queen*, but he rocks the part. I find his abs intimidating, I’m pretty sure I’d cross the street if I saw them coming toward me on a dark street. Jeez.

I don’t want to give spoilers, but I have two lines I really need to point out. They made me love the writers of the show. Like a lot.

First, Oliver is back home after having been doing his Tom Hanks thing on an island. He’s having dinner with his family and a friend and is getting caught up on what he missed.

“Oh and Lost. They were all dead. I think.”

I laughed so hard at this, that I had to rewind to catch what I missed while I was laughing my hinie off. Why was this so funny? Cause A is a huge Lost fan and hasn’t watched the last season yet. He refuses for some reason. So he’s avoided all mention of how it ended. Seriously, I almost wet myself. But I figure the statute of limitations is up on spoilers for Lost by now, so ya know.

The second bit had Oliver and his buddy at a welcome home, glad you aren’t really dead party.

“What’s Twilight?”

“So better not knowing.”

I admit that I like Twilight. It’s like eating a bag of Cheetos and watching girly, teen angst movies all day. But there’s so much fun to be had at Twilight’s expense, that I can’t not laugh hysterically when people come up with really great pokes. This was a great poke.

TL;DR version. I love this show and hope that it runs for a while. If it gets the axe like The Cape, I’ll cry. Let’s hope the curse doesn’t strike!

*I just looked him up on IMDB to link to him. I vaguely recall him from The Vampire Diaries, but clearly need to keep rewatching on Netflix!

The Vampire Diaries

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This is by no means a new show. So why am I reviewing it? Cause it’s AWESOME.

And because, being in it’s thirdish season now, my curse can’t possibly kill it. Thank goodness!

I haven’t read the books, they are on my “to read” list. If LJ Smith did half as good a job as the show’s writers, I know I’ll love them.

So what’s so great about The Vampire Diaries? Isn’t it just a lot of teen angst and the whole girl-falls-for-sexy-vampire schtick that Twilight brought us?

Actually, no.

There’s a lot to be learned about writing from TVD.

Becca calls the writing blistering. And she’s right. The pace they set is so fast, you shouldn’t blink. This is what makes it for me. There’s no time to get bored and wish they’d just have the characters talk to each other already, cause it’s beyond stupid that they haven’t cleared up X issue yet. Because real people would have already talked about issue X. That doesn’t happen in this show. It’s downright blissful.

One of my biggest pet peeves in any show, movie, or book is when the characters are embroiled in the midst of some ridiculous situation that could be so easily resolved if they’d only take 30 damn seconds to communicate. I love TVD because the characters do communicate. Elena doesn’t just sit back and twiddle her thumbs and wait for the big strong man to come and explain to her what he thinks she should know. Heck, no! She goes out and researches and confronts people, demanding answers to the events that are affecting her life.

YOU GO GIRL! Take some control!

There’s tension in the show that isn’t contrived through lame, cop-out means.

Beyond that, the acting is great and not cheesy. The story is (as aforementioned) compelling. And Ian Somerhalder is dreamy.

It’s a win all the way around. If you haven’t seen it yet, put aside the it’s-a-teenage-soap-opera stigma and watch it. It’s on Netflix. Go, I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Elementary

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Sherlock Holmes is probably one of the coolest characters ever created in literature. As evidenced by the fact that soooooooooo  many things have been based off of the Holmes stories.

I’ve been a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes since I was old enough to stay up late watching Masterpiece Theatre and all that other cool junk. So like around 8 or so. If you’re wondering, Basil Rathbone was my preferred Holmes on the TV shows.

I even loved me some Young Sherlock Holmes. Yeah.

Now to the point. There’s a new Sherlock Holmes show. Let me just say: THE GAME IS AFOOT BITCHES!!

I’d have watched it just for that. Add to it that Lucy Liu is in the show as Watson and the kid from Hackers (I know right? That totally freaked me out when A told me) is Holmes and I was practically salivating.

I squeed for weeks, every time there was an ad for it, to the point where A was just flat out annoyed.

“Yes, I know, now shut up!” Poor A. I’m an arm shaker too. This gets really annoying during previews at the movies. Just sayin’.

The show totally delivers. All my expectations were surpassed. The writing is awesome. Dialogue is snappy. Acting is terrific. The interaction between Holmes and Watson is exactly the way it should be. Holmes is delightfully quirky and brilliant. They acknowledge the drug use and womanizing from the stories that some glossed over (they play it up in the RDJ movies too, which makes me happy as well).

Basically, I squeed in bliss for an hour.

I can so totally not wait to watch the next episode of this show.

So I will do you all a favour by saying: God, I hate this show. It sucks. Someone, please for the love of all that is holy, take it off the air!!

Hopefully that will throw the show gods off the track. Cause if this one gets canceled because I love it, I will seriously burn some jellybeans down and take back my gorram stapler. In other words, DON’T BE FOX! Cause I’m still bitter about Firefly, people.

Made in Jersey

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So at first I wasn’t particularly interested in this series. I’m picky about the shows that I watch.

But apparently I am also suggestable, because after hearing radio ads for it all week long, I finally decided to watch the first episode.

I have to say, it was cute. I really liked it. Which of course means that it will be canceled soon.

The story is all about a new lawyer from Jersey trying to make her place in a New York law firm. As you’d expect, there’s big hair and thick accents.

While, yes, the story is predictable, it’s a feel good show and I love seeing the underdog make good. Also, Janet Montgomery is just adorable as Martina Garretti and brings a fresh, fun, spin on the lawyer/investigator show.

It’s well worth watching for the warm fuzzies at the end of the show. Also, Mr. Twin Peaks is in the show and is all nice and stuff. It’s kinda awesome.

Revolution

Read the details here.

I’ve watched two episodes of this show now, and I have to say, I’m a fan. *

For those of you unfamiliar with Revolution and who chose not to click my handy dandy link up above there that would have told you all about it, I’ll go ahead and nutshell for you.

The power went out. The end.

Okay, there’s really more to it than that. Somehow or other, all of the electricity in the world just poofed. Sort of like a paycheck the day after you get it.

People have to relearn to live without electricity. Which, of course, proves impossible for some and they become food for the others who lived, only they made them into a drink or something green and… wait. Wrong movie. Rewind.

It turns out, though, that not all the power every where is gone. Which is the first of many “Oh SNAP” moments that I’ve had in the two episodes that I’ve seen.

Billy Burke is in the show, you know, the dad from Twilight who learned all kinds of mad fighting skills dealing with horny werewolves and stalking vampires while trying to cope with his angst magnet teen daughter. (I can’t take credit for this thought. A started it. I just took it to the logical conclusion.)

He’s pretty much a badass, although A and I are still waiting for him to show up in a “Team Jacob” t-shirt, because we’ve determined that he was totally all about Jacob.

The writing is pretty good. There are twists and turns and some good humor thrown in so that you don’t get bogged down in the omgthistotallysuckshowthehellamisupposedtotweetwithnoelectricity?!?! of it all. I have to give it to the writers, if there were no power, I’d totally trade 80 million dollars for a roll or 50 of Charmin and have now begun to hoard it in a storage unit, should that day ever come.

Also, it was created by Eric Kripke, who is totally awesome all over the place in my book, because he is responsible for the yummy goodness that is Supernatural.

*Because I like this show, expect it to be canceled before it has run its full season and/or never see a second season. True story!

PS: Teenage girls. I know you’re angsty and have serious issues. If the power all goes out, you’ll have a lot more. I get it. Really. But just remember, if you’re ever in that situation and a woman that you resent for not being your mom offers to help you… Don’t be rude about it. Cause she’s going to turn out to be a serious badass and kill people with oxygen masks. Sort of like Kate Beckinsale, only not a vampire and blonde.