Rants and Raves – Summer TV edition

I love summer TV. The cable companies have done a great job of putting on good shows with solid writing and great characters. This summer, some of my perennial faves fell off the wagon.

Notable Losers: Burn Notice, The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles.

The first two are good shows, both have great characters, both began to bore me this year. Watching Brenda not realize her old boss is a conniving douchebag was just SO out of character that I couldn’t stomach watching it. I caught the most recent ep and learned that that storyline STILL hasn’t ended and she’s still idiotically clueless despite her pseudo-nemesis waving the flag right in front of her. The episode provides some resolution and while I LOVED her lawyer and the relationship building with Rader, it wasn’t enough to salvage (for me) the season.

Burn Notice has dragged out the ‘burn notice’ part until I frankly don’t care who/why Michael Weston got burned. No lie, I enjoyed the show a lot more before Gabrielle Anwar got fishlips and Bruce Campbell remains the thing I enjoy best about the show.

Rizzoli & Isles is so terrible that even Dorothy Snarker’s recaps couldn’t keep me watching.

Wins:

Rookie Blue is my guilty summer pleasure. I love Missy Peregrym and it’s a totally formulaic cop show with the exception of being set in Toronto, but I still love it enough to watch it on the internet.

Haven. This show got back into my good graces by having a killer open to the season and has just kept up the tempo.

Eureka has been consistently great, which is why it’s so disappointing that SyFy cancelled it. Bastards.

Covert Affairs is one of those shows that requires a suspension of disbelief, but what I love is 1. Piper Perabo, 2. Spies, 3. A primary female character that gets to act like an ass-kicking WOMAN rather than a dude in a chick-suit. She’s tough but still emotionally available, without Jane Rizzoli’s hysteria (professional AND personal). In short, it’s the kind of female character you want to watch.

The Big C is on HBO and it’s fantastic. They keep handling a tough topic in a funny and real way.

True Blood. The single best part about this series is that they keep disregarding the books. It will keep me watching. Plus the murderfest finale this season was epic.

Rescue Me ended its run with a truly phenomenal finale.

All in all it’s been a kind of great year for summer television and I’m looking forward to fall.

True Blood, Season 4

w00t!

So glad the show is back on, so glad Lafayette and Tara are chock full of awesome. Sookie was… Sookie-like. Most importantly, Pam kicks ass. The long ‘previously last season’ was warranted as GD it felt like it was a long time ago and it made for a great segue into Sookie’s fairyland adventure. As an HBOGo person, I also watched episode 2 last night and will probably watch it again next week. I saw a tweet that said Season 4 didn’t start with a bang. True. All the banging is in episode 2, fo sho.

I stopped reading the Southern Vampire series quite a while ago, mostly as the books began to be repetitive and mediocre. What I love about the HBO series is that they’ve deviated enough from the books to keep me hooked on where they’re going to go and made the characters interesting enough that I care.

Unrelated, except that it’s TV we got our Xbox hooked back up to Netflix and I watched the first episode of Sports Night again. I miss really good network TV. The basic cable networks are all doing things I love but I found Network disappointing pretty much all last season. Totally related: the interface for Netflix on the Xbox is so much better than on my Panasonic Blu-Ray player that I’m largely embarrassed for Panasonic.

True Blood finale

They did a pretty great job of wrapping up their first season. The characters have all been flawed but likeable. There was a lot of humor to balance out a fair chunk of violence. I think the show ultimately lived up to the hype of their theme song, I’m just hoping that the cast will all work on their southern accents during their break.

Things I’m looking forward to next season: 1) Bill’s protegee. 2) Hoping it wasn’t Lafayette’s toes peeking out of Andy Bellfleur’s car. 3) More Eric. Loves me some Alexander Skarsgard.

Twilight. Meh.

I did not love the book. I did not like the movie. If you loved the book, you will probably love the movie. I found it to be kind of stilted and too chock full of high school female angst, pregnant pauses, and swelling musical interludes. I liked the second book much better but I don’t think I’ll bother seeing the movie when it comes out. The only thing I DID like about the movie was Bella’s mittens. I clearly need some.

My main issue with Stephanie Meyer’s vampire mythology is the cold skin thing. Who wants to make out with a corpse? Ew. Also, SLEEPING with a corpse. I’m not one of those people who gives off heat in my sleep (see: Spouse) but I sure as heck would absorb the cold and it would wake me up. Also, CORPSE. EW.

More packing for me tonight. On the TV front, still loving The Mentalist. They did a masterful job of bringing in his old family tragedy this week. Loved it. Grey’s has taken a turn for the crazy but I still adore Kevin McKidd. His chemistry with Sandra Oh will keep me tuning in. Loves them. I thought the True Blood finale was going to be this past Sunday but I was wrong. I actually felt terrible for Jason in the episode, which is a testament to how great the actor is. And last but not least, I am LOVING The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I am positively EXCITED for the reunion special, which promises to be a trashy napalm trainwreck. I can’t wait.

So I missed my own deadline.

Did not get the podcast made. On the other hand, my mom learned about female ejaculation.

Yeah, you read that right. Shane made a hilarious and inadvertent comment about his recent google search and there you have it. At least ONE unexpected outcome to the weekend. All is forgiven, though, because he and Carly helped pack up the garage.

Me: *grumbling*

Shane: “You’re going to be bringing this up to Spouse for the next 10 years, aren’t you?”

Me: “Hells yeah! ‘Hey, remember that time when I PACKED ALL OF OUR HOUSE?  Shut it.’ ”

Shane: *cracks up*

Packing is clicking along. There is room to walk in the living room all the way around the coffee table, and that’s an improvement. Rooms are steadily becoming more empty and more and more things are making their way to charitable organizations. With every box that goes away, I feel a little lighter. Unfortunately there are a fair number of boxes that yet remain, which makes me think there might be another wardrobe culling when we get to Colorado.

We officially own two homes, which is terrifying. We can’t sell this one quickly enough, but at least we’re not paying rent in Colorado – it’s a mortgage now. I don’t want to think about what happens if we don’t move this house with some speed. Our budget is pretty tight to the bone. The bed arrived in CO and Spouse is quite happy with it. I’m thrilled that we’ll both be able to sleep again!

I’m really trying to stave off the panic about leaving at this point. I keep thinking that we will NEVER get everything packed, never get things moved, furniture to be given away will never get moved out of the house. Luckily I only have a couple of things left to do for school – two finals, a lab exam, and a paper. Probably I should take advantage of the extra credit options I have. If only I could get three more hours into each day, I’d be GOLDEN.

As it is, I only get to watch TV when I’m packing boxes. It kills a little bit of my heart, really. 

I *am* looking forward to the True Blood finale. I’m loving Life, despite its new time slot. Supernatural is continuing to kick some ass and Grey’s Anatomy has only been improved by the appearance of Kevin McKidd. Chuck has ramped up its game (hilarious and still cute! but with action!) and I’m stoked about the new season of Top Chef. After a terribly blasé Project Runway, I’m looking forward to some vicious cooking.

Mondays!

First, I cannot believe this blog has gotten over 4,000 hits. I’m just shocked. I believe that it happened on the backs of Ariel Tweto, Naked Family, and True Blood. Whatever. I have no idea how many people actually read this regularly and I suspect that most people trip over it on accident.

I should be packing a computer tower, a stereo receiver, and loading computer monitors into the back of my car. Obviously I am doing none of those things. My couch is feeling very comfy and I was even considering a nap.

My yoga class this morning was small but nice. My schedule changes this week and I’m picking up a set of out of town sessions on Wednesday nights. I am continuing my search to locate a replacement teacher for my classes in this area.

True Blood was awesome again this week. I’m loving the sort-of reformed Jason, his new crazy girlfriend, and the super-chipper Sookie. Tara also makes my head hurt because I like her so much and she’s so incredibly broken. Lafayette continues to be my favorite. There is something about Bill (possibly his bad accent) that really prevents me from liking him as a character. I don’t know if they’re telling him to play it stoic, but I have a hard time buying him invested in any of the drama that’s currently ongoing. I WILL say that I’m STOKED about Alexander Skaarsgard. Love him!

I’m trying to avoid political talk here because, well, I don’t generally talk politics with complete strangers unless they bring it up. Same goes with religion. Maybe I’ll change that policy once the election is over. I’m not sure (feel free to weigh in, if you care).

Today we didn’t do a single sun salutation in class. I had a request for ‘gentle’. It was more like ‘mellow’, though I gave my usual admonitions about how you can work harder but don’t have to. The class was pretty well-received. I think after Thursday evening’s class, my students are going to take my ‘make requests’ policy seriously. If they ask for something, I do my best to deliver. Most of them don’t ask. Since Thursday was almost all plank, all the time, I think I’ll get more suggestions this week.

We’re never moving, ever again.

Packing is awful and terrible. It is taking forever and sucking my life.

Nearly the entire basement is done. Nearly the entire first floor closet is done (which means the Dining Room is pretty much complete). I packed up all my dad’s albums and, while I’m paranoid about not having them get jacked up in the move, I don’t think I can fit them into my car (nor do I really want to).

I don’t think I took my allergy medicine yesterday pre-packing because I feel like I inhaled a metric asston of dust and it’s fairly awful.

On Sundays, Spouse and I watch the Sunday news shows. It’s not really the same without him. He actually has far more patience than I do with the mouthpiece guys. Frex, I can’t watch Stephanopolous today because (in addition to thinking he’s a spineless weenie) Lindsay Graham is on. I’m sure Lindsay Graham does good work for someone, but on TV he always comes across as a condescending prig. I don’t need to start my Sunday like that.

We also watch Fox News Sunday and – for all that people talk about the Fox bias – I’ve got to say that Chris Matthews does a balanced job. He actually ASKS the hard questions (unlike Stephanpolous) and actually called McCain a liar eariler in the campaign. He’s not doing a whitewash and I really enjoy his Sunday panel. I like George Will and the panel from the Stephanpolous show, but having seen George lob too many softballs (and not field any responses) it raises my blood pressure to watch his show.

Today we have to run some errands and maybe go out to breakfast. We have some of those plastic bags that you attach the vacuum to and they make your clothes into beef jerky. Far more awesome than I would have ever predicted.

TV updates:

Grey’s Anatomy- This show continues to be full of enough shit that I’m having a difficult time watching it. The appearance of Kevin McKidd  means I’ll definitely be tuning in for the next several weeks though.

Private Practics – Meh. It does have some laugh out loud moments, though.

Life- Seriously, one of my favorite shows. Crime/mystery, zen humor, and a light dusting of violence. The only way it would be better is if there were actual monsters.

Supernatural – I really like this show. They continue to be funny and creepy at the same time, and not take themselves too seriously. Also, they always have the best Halloween episodes on TV so I kind of can’t wait until next week.

True Blood is on tonight and is the only reason I haven’t gone down to a basic dish package. I loves me some HBO originals.

Surviving the weekend

Friday was a trip to Detroit and dueling Pianos in Pontiac. Saturday we headed to Windsor early and had several appointments at Estetica Day Spa. Everyone loved their services and we spent the split time (appointments at 9 and then at 3) at the Devonshire Mall. Best food court EVAR.

Saturday night was all about club hopping. I’ve got to say that it’s been a number of years since I’ve done that and we had a lot of fun.

Today I am still exhausted and not really enthusiastic about attending poli-sci. It doesn’t help that it’s rainy, overcast, and just chilly enough to be inconvenient.

SNL has returned to its tried-and-true format of fantastic and scathing political commentary and then deadly unfunny everything else. Adele’s performance was great and Cold Shoulder is already on my new yoga mix.

Life is still awesome and I’m loving Donal Logue.

True Blood ramped it up again this week and I can’t wait to see where it goes. I am hearting Tara more and more with each episode, but Lafayette is still my favorite.

If I’m going to class, I’ve got to get into the shower.

More thoughts on True Blood

I read some of the Sookie Stackhouse books quite a while ago, but this series is making me want to dig them out of the archives. They’re doing a great job of showing how conficted Sookie is as well as the problems that her friends have with her ‘ability.’

I adore Lafayette. I can’t say enough good things about that character and the actor who plays him just NAILS it. My especial favorite scene was the burger with AIDS. (warning: foul language)

Far and away, though, I’m most impressed with Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse. He’s completely self-absorbed and irresponsible and the guy manages to still make you care about him, even when he’s an ass.

I think Anna Paquin is doing a little over-acting – I mean, from time to time it actually LOOKS like she’s doing work. The southern accents are universally awful, but other than that I still really really like it.

Heroes is taking a turn for the weird. I’m not exactly excited to watch it, which is a bad sign, but they keep screwing up their future timelines so much that I’m losing interest in finding out what actually happens. Also? What’s up with Mohinder becoming The Fly?

I Wanna Do Bad Things With You

I *adore* the theme song from HBO’s True Blood. I’m really enjoying the show – it’s a nice social commentary on prejudice and being an outsider but with sex and vampires. Not necessarily sex *with* vampires but you get what I’m saying.

The best thing about the song is that they lyrics *and* the music pretty perfectly convey the atmosphere of the show. You can hear it on the artist’s myspace profile.

Bad Things - Jace Everett

When you came in the air went out.
And every shadow filled up with doubt.
I don’t know who you think you are,
But before the night is through,
I wanna do bad things with you.

I’m the kind to sit up in his room.
Heart sick an’ eyes filled up with blue.
I don’t know what you’ve done to me,
But I know this much is true:
I wanna do bad things with you.

When you came in the air went out.
And all those shadows there are filled up with doubt.
I don’t know who you think you are,
But before the night is through,
I wanna do bad things with you.
I wanna do real bad things with you.
Ow, ooh.

I don’t know what you’ve done to me,
But I know this much is true:
I wanna do bad things with you.
I wanna do real bad things with you.

Holy cats, it’s been more than 10 days!

Moving, microbiology, and mild panic have eaten my brain and all my free time. Well, not all my free time. Yesterday was a mental health day, so Carly and I watched Baby Mama and Penelope on DVD. Baby Mama was predictable and mildly annoying despite occasional laugh out loud moments. Penelope was charming and delightful.

Spouse has already moved out of town and today was his very first day of work. Not only does it have better weather but the locals appear to be more friendly. He’s been asked to attend several events in towns by college staff and neighbors. This is seriously awesome.

Piper is enjoying the mountain air, if not the wood-paneled basement. I suspect it’s because she’s getting on in years (6) and is accustomed to having a soft spot to lay down. Spouse has a bare minimum of furniture due to the move, including a love seat instead of a proper sofa. There is no room on the love seat for Piper because Spouse is 6’2″.

I’m putting together a Sweetest Day care package for him. I don’t generally go in for Hallmark holidays but I found an amazing musical card and was inspired.

Fall means the return of fall shows! My current viewing line up consists of True Blood (HBO), Heroes, Life, NCIS, Supernatural, Gray’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Bones, and House.

Bubble shows include Chuck, Entourage (HBO), The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Mentalist, Private Practice, Brothers and Sisters, and Sanctuary.

Shows I’ve already dropped: Fringe and The Lipstick Jungle.

Chuck seems to be off to a good start. Tonight was my first episode of SCC and I only caught a few episodes last season. I really enjoyed The Mentalist (and was suprised by how much so) and will definitely make sure to catch the next couple before I decide. Private Practice and Brothers and Sisters suffer from the same problem- I find the shows interesting, but not interesting enough to make sure that I watch them. Sanctuary is on the bubble because it hasn’t started yet but I’m optimistic.

Clearly I’m into mystery/suspense shows more than relationship foo foo. The only comedy shows I watch are on Thursday nights as well, but when you’ve only got one Tivo it means you’re watching SOMETHING online. 30 Rock and The Office it is!

Of the new returning shows, I’m most excited about Life. I loved the entire season and can’t wait to see what they do next. I’m thoroughly enjoying all of the returning shows that have premiered and am very happy that I have a Tivo. I spend too much time watching TV. Way too much time.

I was not taken into custody by Homeland Security

For the contents of my last post. Or at all, for that matter. So there! Maybe Big Brother has figured out not to waste his time on peons like me.

I have been utterly consumed by the whole, holy crap we’re buying another house and packing all our belongings and finding a place for Spouse to rent and still attending my classes and teaching!

Therefore a suitably frivolous post about television:

Generation Kill. I loved this series. I loved pretty much every part of it. I especially loved how, after six episodes of showing how completely ass-backward some of our military procedures are/can be that they spent a big chunk of episode seven explaining WHY. It doesn’t make you love the crazy, but it lets you know that there is SOME sort of logic in the system.

True Blood. I saw the first episode and I kind of loved it. I read some Sookie Stackhouse books a long time ago and enjoyed them. They’re popcorn horror/fantasy and the TV show is capturing that completely. I dig that Anna Paquin plays Sookie just right – well-meaning and not above planting her foot firmly in her mouth. And her friend Tara is hilarious.

Fringe. Watched the premiere. I was not wowed, even though I really like Joshua Jackson. He’ll always be Pacey to me!

Shear Genius. Let me just say that that last challenge was bullshit. And also, I hate the way Dee does hair. Hate it. Charlie should have won.

Wipe Out. Dude – they changed up the courses and it is even MORE hilarious.

The Closer. When I think this show can’t get better, it totally proves me wrong. For example, after a totally amazing (and emotional wringer) episode when one of the squad’s family members is killed (stellar performances from all), they follow up with a hilarious (as ever) appearance by Brenda’s parents. Not only do they completely nail her relationship with Fritz and her relationship with her folks, but they get Fritz and his interactions with her parents AWESOME. And then, this week, she snatches authority out of thin air and goes from being demoted (ish) to bossing everyone around, in perfectly Brenda Leigh style. Love it.

I know I’ve watched other TV but the new Bravo interior design show hasn’t officially grown on me yet and I’m pretty intensely bored by Project Runway this season. The highlight so far has been during the Diane von Furstenberg challenge when Heidi was talking about how much she disliked Kenley’s dress and then all the other judges said they loved it. *smack* Heidi, you’re still JUST A MODEL. Hah.

I will probably have more to post about eventually, when my head is less likely to explode.