You Weren't So Jumpy in the Old Days, Steve

Dany (to be published)

30 Days of TV - Day 9

2011-04-24T10:55:00.007-05:00

Best Scene

This one is a short one, but only because there is no need to expand on something that is already perfect.

I love The Muppet Show.

What other scenes are the beeeeest (as Wario would say)?

30 Days of TV - Day 8

2011-04-13T11:31:00.012-05:00

WHAT A TWIST!!

The twist has forever been spoiled for me by Mr. Sixth Sense, M. Knight Shayamalon. Whenever I say it, I think of this clip from the hilarious Robot Chicken.

Okay, now that I have that out of the way, we move on to my All-Time-Top-Favorite-Best Twist-in-a-Series-Ever.

Let's see if you can guess what it is:

Hint Number 1: My mouth hit the floor as soon as this happened.

Hint Number 2: This event concerned one of my favorite characters.

Hint Number 3: This twist was on a show called Battlestar Gallactica (the new one).

Have a guess now???

I bet you thought it was going to be something else, huh??

Nothing makes me laugh harder than thinking about Fat Lee. When he gets out of bed with his fat ankles, I giggle. When Dee and Adama say he's gone "soft" (quite literally), I snort, and when Admiral Adama tells him to "get his Fat Ass out of here" I start slapping my knees. No amount of utter seriousness and Cylon cruelty can ever make Lee's fatness not funny.

Jamie Bamber puts on that fatsuit and becomes FAT LEE, the fattest guy in space. The superhero for a new age.

So thank you BSG. Your other twists were okay, but Fat Lee will continue to be the gift that keeps on giving.

So say we all.

Who else is the Twistiest??
Jessie

Dany

-over and out-

Day 7: Least Favorite Episode of Your Favorite TV Show

2011-02-20T16:36:00.010-06:00

When I think about the amount of time I poured over the "Favorite Episode" category of this challenge, the time spent on my Least Favorite episode is kind of laughable. I read the prompt, thought for approximately 2 seconds, and said "Runaway Bride."

Ah, the dreaded* Christmas Special.

And what did the Creepy Robot Santa-Mask people bring us this year?

Donna. Noble.

(pause for screams)

(Yes Donna. Please call the police to have them come & remove you from this show!)

Just for some background. This episode was the first one since Rose's extremely emotional departure. I, for one, was worried about the direction of the show and what it would be like without her. Suddenly we were assaulted by "The Runaway Bride" Miss Donna Noble. My brain could not process it. Every word from her mouth was annoying and every guesture made me want to vomit. Even as the story progressed, and my empathy kicked in a little for her, I still couldn't help but cheer when she told The Doctor she didn't want to travel with him as a companion. Thank God.

So Donna Noble** is the main reason I hate this episode, although the lame spider-alien-lady-villian didn't help much either.

-over and out-

*For the record, I only hated the first few Christmas specials, the last few have been lovely.

**I do not HATE Donna any more, although I did cry when I figured out she was going to be the main companion in Season 4. Amazingly she grew on me (a bit like a fungus), but that is another story.

What Other Crappy Episodes Are Out There:

30 Days of TV - Day 6 - Fav Episode of Your Fav Show

2011-02-06T22:00:00.015-06:00

I will just say it. I've been gone for a long time just because I'm lazy. Now I'm back in business and ready to make some progress on these days of TV.

When I first saw this Challenge, I immediately said Vincent & The Doctor from Series 5 of Dr. Who. I was completely prepared to write about this scary, sweet and sad episode about the Doctor and Amy traveling back to meet Vincent Van Goth (they pronounce it goth like the people who wear black clothes all the time. Heehee). It had one of my favorite lines "Bowties are cool," my favorite Doctor (Matt Smith, I admit it), a cameo by Bill Nighy, and just a really beautiful story.

But then Daniel and I watched David Tennant's last episode and in traditional "goodbye style" he revisited some characters from previous storylines. When he visited one character, I started crying and couldn't stop, and although it seems like a lot of my reactions to Dr. Who involve me weeping uncontrollably, I did realize that my favorite episode seems to actually be a two parter called Human Nature and Family of Blood.

When the episode opens we see The Doctor and Martha running from and unknown assailant and looking more scared than we've ever seen them. The Doctor seems out of options and starts to tell Martha he's going to do something drastic.

The next scene opens on England 1913. We see The Doctor, but it looks like he's pretending schoolteacher called John Smith. Then Martha walks in and she's dressed as a maid. It takes a few moments, but suddenly you realize that this isn't pretend. The Doctor has made himself Human remembers nothing about his past. John has only his dreams to remind him of his past. Martha and the Doctor must hide out with the Doctor as human to escape the Family of Blood, an enemy that wants the Doctor's precious immortality. If they can't sense the Doctor's presence (which they shouldn't because he's technically not there), then after a few months, Martha will give the Doctor a watch, and when he opens it, he'll become a time lord again. Unfortunately for the both of them, the Family of Blood is hot on their trail, and things get even more fuzzy when John Smith falls in love with the school nurse.

There are three reasons I love this episode.

1. Very cool time period. The episode occurs right before the start of World War I and the school John Smith is the principal of is actually a military training school. Thinking about how all these boys will soon be at war, when they are so young is pretty sobering. Also the costumes, scenery and technology of the day are wonderful. At one point the Family of Blood raises an army of scarecrows. Sweet!

2. This is the first episode I ever really LOVED David Tennant as The Doctor. The funny thing is, he's barely even The Doctor at all. But seeing him playing a human, especially one that has to come to grips with not really existing at all, really made me love him as the Doctor more. Just a heartbreaking performance.

3. I LOVE MARTHA JONES!! Martha is my favorite companion. I love how brilliant, beautiful and absolutely smart she is. I mean, she's almost a Doctor, and here is she is living as a maid in early Twentieth Century England. This is really just the first of many amazing things she does for the Doctor, but really, she is just awesome. Here is a pretty picture of her, because I love her.

Other Favorite Episodes:

-over and out-

Okay, that's all for this day. I promise to update some more, because I really am looking forward to finishing this up!

-over and out-

We Interrupt our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

2011-01-15T12:03:00.005-06:00

I am an aunt!!

Welcome to the World Adaline Mae Anderson. Born on her great grandmother Mae's birthday January 13, 2011 at 11:33 a.m. Can't wait to watch you grow up (and spoil you rotten). :-)

Love you so much!

-over and out-

30 Days of TV - Day 5 - A Show You Hate

2011-01-11T22:31:00.008-06:00

This is the hardest challenge yet. I cannot think of a show I do not like right now.

I can think of some shows that are not very good, and some shows that I have chosen not to watch, but is there a show that really provokes my complete and utter distaste? There are certainly some shows that make me cringe at the very thought of them (Outsourced, Wife-Swap, Undercover Boss), but since I don't watch them, I feel it would be wrong for me to judge.

Grah! What should I choose???

Okay.

I'm closing my eyes. I'm thinking back, back into my past. Back into my repressed television horror story memories....

Ah. There it is.

Oh my.

I had forgotten...

Walker, Texas Ranger.

(I like my heroes tougher than this, but it looks like I'm out of luck.)

For a good portion of my life, Walker Texas Ranger was just one of those shows that I knew was on, but had blissfully never watched. Never watched, that is, until my cousin landed a role as an extra for one of the episodes. The night it aired, the family gathered around the television and I have to confess I was not prepared for the immediate cheese that started spewing everywhere. Not only was the story not very good, but its prim "moralyness" made me feel like I was watching some sort of Focus on the Family educational video. Finally at the very end of the episode, my cousin's scene was on. He was on for aproximately 5 seconds. WTF?! I had just sat through an HOUR of hell for 5 seconds of my cousin's face? Seriously?

Grah. Why did I dredge up this horrible memory??

(just kill me now)

Other Terrible Shows:

Nikki (to be published)

Dany (to be published)

-over and out-

30 Days of TV - Day 4 - Your Favorite TV Show, Ever.

2011-01-10T08:00:00.006-06:00

Dear B.,

I feel guilty. You'll soon see why.

One year ago, my favorite show of all time was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'd watched every season multiple times, owned action figures, had autographed pictures on my walls. If someone had asked me what was the best show ever, the first season of Buffy would already have been in my hands to let them borrow.

In April though, I noticed Neil Gaiman twittering a lot about a certain program and how excited he was for it. So I asked Daniel if he might be interested in watching the new season of Doctor Who. Daniel was game, and we set our DVR to record. I didn't know it then, but I had just taken my first step in becoming a traitor.

We really knew nothing at all about the show other than the basic premise. The Doctor travels through time with his "companion," a human girl who goes on adventures with him. We had heard that this season would be a good one to start on because it was also the start of a start of a new Doctor. A new Doctor? It didn't make a ton of sense to me, but Wikipedia told us that Doctor Who had been played by eleven different actors, and that each time they were ready for a new guy to take over, the Doctor would just "regenerate into the next one." Maybe soap operas should take notice??

We watched the first episode of the new season and loved it. The new Doctor was adorable and I was totally loving his "companion" Amy. She was hilarious and really pretty too. :-) The writing and directing were great and the special effects were actually done well. I ended up watching
that first episode twice because I couldn't wait for Saturday to watch the next episode. After that Saturday, waiting became almost unbearable.

That was when we discovered Netflix had instant streaming of the first 4 seasons/series.* We started watching Series 1 and met a different Doctor with a different companion, and we were just as enchanted. By the time Series 2 had ended I had laughed, screamed, and cried so much that Daniel was convinced I would run out of tears.

We started on Series 3 just about the time that Series 5 ended in real-time. Again, more tears came (more than ever, Daniel had been wrong), but more smiles too. We were both just glad to have two more series left before we were caught up. We'd have more Doctor to keep us company til December, when the "Christmas Special" would air.

Christmas Eve came, and we were more than ready for some Doctor Who. We had finished Series 4 at the end of November and it had been a long month without the Doctor. My mom totally delivered on the "Always Gets Me Exactly the Right Christmas Present," too. I happily unwrapped the 5th Season of Doctor Who; I couldn't wait till I got time to re-watch. On Christmas Day, though, we were ready for some new Who. Late that night, Daniel, his family and I watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special "A Christmas Carol." My face was a one giant smile. Watching Matt Smith bumble around everywhere, popping up in the past to convince the space-age Scrooge to save a spaceship full of people (including Amy), I suddenly thought, "This is my favorite show."

I knew it was true.

This brilliant, sweet, funny, frightening, gloriously wacky show is everything I love about television, about telling stories, about being human, and about finding the people you love and holding them close. My favorite. My show. My Doctor.

So now you know why I feel guilty. Why I've branded myself a traitor. In less than a year's time, I've fallen for someone else. I've cheated. Me! Ms. No-Sympathy-for-Cheaters Beth. But although I feel guilty, I can't go back; I don't want to. So I'd like to apologize, Buffy. I still love you and always will, I'm just not the same person I was. Now I'm someone who's met the Doctor.

-Beth.

P.S. If it's any consolation, I like this opening sequence a lot more than the actual one. ;-)

*Doctor Who has actually been around since the 60's, but after a hiatus in the 80s and 90s, they brought back the show in 2005. That was called Series 1 and moved on from there.

Other Favorite Shows:

Dany (to be published)

-over and out-

30DaysofTV Day 3 - Your Favorite New Show (started in 2010)

2011-01-07T22:25:00.017-06:00

If I had been participating in this challenge in early November, I would have said that the best "new" show from 2010 was probably AMC's The Walking Dead. Good acting, nice plot lines, zombies; it pretty much has everything that makes a show good (emphasis on the zombies). But on Thanksgiving Day (oh-so-thankful), I found my REAL favorite new show of the year, which surprisingly had no zombies at all.

This three episode series was produced by Steven Moffat (whom you will soon will be hearing more of) and originally aired on the BBC over the summer. Then PBS's Masterpiece Mystery series snatched it up and made it a part of their Sunday evenings. On that Thanksgiving, we were trying to find something to watch with Daniel's parents and I suggested we watch the long-ago DVR'd Masterpiece Mystery I had never bothered to watch. What followed was an entire family completely engrossed in a roller-coaster adventure of a show!

The premise asks the question "What would it be like if Sherlock Holmes was solving cases in modern times?" The answer is, "Badassness."

This Sherlock Holmes, played by the marvelous Benedict Cumberbatch, uses text messages, emails, and even has his own blog.* When John Watson (Martin Freeman...who I LOVE), a returning Afghan war vet (the original Watson was actually a vet of the SAME war) is introduced to Sherlock as someone looking for a roommate, the unlikely pair take up residence at 221B Baker Street (heehee) and start solving crimes. There are plenty more throwbacks to the old stories: Mrs. Hudson is now the Landlady, not the housekeeper; Inspector Lestrade is now Dectective Lestrade, and infamous Moriarty is just as up-to-date as Sherlock.

"Conan Doyle's stories were never about frock coats and gas light; they're about brilliant detection, dreadful villains and blood-curdling crimes — and frankly, to hell with the crinoline. Other detectives have cases, Sherlock Holmes has adventures, and that's what matters". - Stephen Moffatt

The three episodes are immensely fun to watch and re-watch. The best part of the entire show is watching the friendship develop between John & Sherlock. You can see that John is going to be what keeps Sherlock grounded, and Sherlock will be what keeps John going. It's the original Bromance!

(wonder how many fan-fiction shipper sites are out there already...)

Can't wait till later this year when the next three episode series debuts!

* For the geeks:
Sherlock's Blog

John's Blog

What Other New Shows Are Great??

One More Thing (Not really Television Related): I have to admit that I was never a Sherlock Holmes fan. When I was young, mysteries never gripped me the way fantasy did, so I mostly left them alone. Two series made me a Holmes fan though. One, Laurie R. King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice which is the first of a series about a young woman, Mary Russell, who becomes Sherlock's protege. And two, the Enola Holmes children's book series by Nancy Springer. Enola happens to be Sherlock's sister, and just as capable at handling mysteries as her older brother. I highly recommend them both.

-over and out-

30 Days of TV - Day 2 - A Show You Wish More People Were Watching

2011-01-05T20:45:00.018-06:00

I have to thank Linda Holmes from NPR's pop culture blog, MonkeySee, for today's choice. Without her constantly writing about, talking about and daily professing her love for Community, I never would have started watching. So thank you, Linda. Because of you, I now watch a quirky little show that pulls out so many jokes I have trouble remembering which one made me start laughing in the first place.

For the uninitiated, Community is about a group of Community College students who end up in the same study group. Everyone is completely different, but they all end up becoming close friends anyway.

So why do I love it? I'll start counting the ways:

1. Adorable Opening.

Seriously, cute song, cute fortune-telling device from childhood (or from yesterday...I like to fold paper), and cute drawings. LOVE. IT.

2. The Peeps.

Aside from the opening, I also love the characters. There is a lawyer has-been, a former Peace Core member, a divorced mom, a 'moist towelette tycoon', a football player, an aspiring film director, and an overachiever. Trying to spend time writing about each character individually has been hard for me though. I know what really makes this show click are the characters interacting with each other. Actually, I probably should remember this show for the "Best Ensemble" choice. So instead of me explaining to you who everyone is, blah blah blah, I'm just going to show you this clip from the episode Cooperative Calligraphy.

*And for all of my anal friends who need more explanation than that, here's Wikipedia's link to Community's characters.

3. Theme Episodes!

You really only have to watch the promos for upcoming episodes of this show to know why I love it. THEME EPISODES. And unlike Glee, their theme episodes don't suck! Last season the episode "Modern Warfare" used a paintball fight to parody every awesome action movie ever.

At Christmas, the entire episode was done in Claymation.

And, as if I wasn't in love with them already, this year's Halloween party turned everyone into zombies. ZOMBIES!

4. Heart! (Blub Blub Blub)

The best comedy sitcoms are the ones that make you cry sometimes, and Community possesses the unique ability to do just that. These goofball characters care about each other, and although they may do some not-so-nice things in the course of each episode, there is always a sense of good-natured fun. In the Christmas episode, Ahmed is heartbroken because his mom won't be there to watch Rudolph this year, but he eventually realizes that his friends are his family. And that's what's best about this show. Friends becoming family.

)

"But," you tell me, "I'm still not sure if I should start watching Community."

Still need convincing, eh.

I didn't think so.

-over and out-

Other shows to set your DVR's too: