What I’m watching…

Holy moly I did not expect it to take TEN MONTHS before I would update my blog rather than the family blog but hey that is life with two babies. (Not much life just lots of babies.)

So what am I going to be watching this fall well not much. Time is really limited so no watching what ever I want. I’ve dropped so many shows as I’ve either lost interest or don’t have the time to invest emotionally. Sure I’d love to give Game of Thrones a go but not yet. So it’s quality over quantity for the next few years and then lots and lots of box sets…

Sunday: The Good Wife and Homeland

Both shows left the viewer hanging at the end of their respective seasons. Will Kalinda shoot the shit out of her ex and will Carrie remember anything post electr0-shock treatment?

Monday: No Reservations/Layover, Castle and Revolution

I love me some Bourdain so will continue on with No Reservations slash Layover till he packs up for CNN (curious to see what they do with the show – hasn’t he been everywhere?), and he also has a new show with Nigella that is filming in LA at the mo. Curious but will his sardonic wit be too much for NBC? Castle is on the cusp as I am growing weary of procedural crime shows (shocker!) I don’t even bother to DVR just catch it thru On Demand if there is nothing else on. Revolution is new and by Eric Kripet who steered the first 5 seasons of Supernatural (if only they had ended then!) it’s about electricity stopping working and what happens. I assume the Amish take over, right? I’ve got one episode on the DVR so will give it a whirl.

Tuesday: Nothing

We dropped NCIS last year as it’s just too samey-samey.

Wednesday: Nothing

This is the new night for Supernatural but I dumped it at the end of last season as the plot had got too convoluted even for me and it should have ended seasons ago.

Thursday: Last Resort, The Big Bang Theory and Scandal

The Last Resort has submarines so I might be able to entice Alex to watch it; we are one season behind on TBBT so will be DVR-ing and catching up, and Scandal was trashy fun with a good cliff hanger.

Friday: Fringe

It’s the final season! Very excited to see how everything wraps up but if they pull the same stunt that X-Files did with the dullest final episodes every I will weep real tears.

Saturday: Date night!

Watch a movie via Netflix Instant or iTunes

So that’s it. The least amount of TV I have ever watched. The Cylonettes better get early admission to MIT for all this TV sacrificing.

Terra No(va) Thanks

It’s never a good sign when I forgot to set the DVR for a show – surely a strong indication that I can live without it because the story/characters aren’t compelling enough to register as a blip on my short-term memory. Yeah, yeah I know there is a nifty little thing called a Season Pass so I don’t have to remember to set the DVR every week but for new shows where I am only testing them out I don’t like to rush into the such a deep commitment. On Monday night I was sure there was something I was forgetting, and it was only when I turned on the TV for House to discover that some sporting event had delayed the scheduling so that Terra Nova had only just started.

Ah yes Terra Nova. Only on the third episode and already forgetting all about you. I rather liked the pilot despite there being way too much focus on the teenagers (I mean this is airing on Fox not the CW).  It starts in 2149 where the Earth is so inhospitable (think a blend of Blade Runner and Total Recall where apartments are furnished by Muji) that the powers that be have found a way to send people back to the prehistoric period – but hey won’t that screw up the timeline? No, they’ve thought of that and it’s a Jurassic parallel universe. Aren’t they clever!

The focus is on the Shannon family, and their adventures through the wormhole slash Stargate slash whatever. The wife is meant to be some shit-hot doctor which is why the family was recruited for the colony but herein lies one of my main issues. The wife (Dr. Elizabeth Shannon played by British actress Shelley Conn) looks like she is in her early 30s so how the frak is she the mother to two annoying teenagers (circa 16 years old and 14 years old) and managed to finish medical school and whatever residency programs where need to make her such a shit-hot property? (This is why I like The Good Wife; Julianna Margulies’ character Alicia looks and plays old enough to have two teenage children plus she had a career break to raise them.)

So it feels like the teenagers (and their subsequent dippy plot lines) have been shoe-horned in to make the show appeal to a younger demographic (yet they didn’t want to cast age appropriate parents), but there is hope that they will all get eaten by dinosaurs. The patriarch of the family is Jim Shannon (Jason O’Mara) an ex-cop who was sent to prison because he and Elizabeth decided to have an illegal third child (this one a believable 5 year old). So before the family is even sent back in time Jim has to break out of prison, rescue the third child (who was being left behind because of the evil government forces) and then crash the transport. This part of the pilot was all very entertaining. Sadly, once they start their new life in oh so perfect Terra Nova it starts to get predictable (or maybe I am just bitter about them getting a high-tech house and a beige Muji wardrobe).

All the residents are happily working together under the military dictatorship of Commander Taylor. It’s like an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where the away team beam down to discover colonist who are happy working in the fields in their stylish Muji clothing, and there is a bustling market.  It’s all too perfect apart from the dinosaur attacks, the group of colonist that have broken off to live separately and the mysterious messages at the waterfall.

As much as I like Shelley Conn and Jason O’Mara (and it’s nice to have a mixed race couple on TV) I don’t really care what happens to them or their brood. Too much focus on moody teenagers and the mythology of the show hasn’t been established quick enough. The second and third episodes were typical dinosaur of the week episodes, and it would have been better if they had been darker and introduced us into the world of the break away colonists and any conspiracy theories about the true mission of the colony.

So there you go. No season pass for Terra Nova.

What I am watching this fall

Monday

Season Pass: House

Episode by Episode Probation:  Terra Nova

Guilty Secret: Castle

I really hope that this is the final season of House. Please let it end so that we can all be released from this endless cycle of abuse – Cuddy managed to escape why not us? The premise of Terra Nova looks interesting: dystopian future plus dinosaurs. So we’ll see how that goes. As much as I love my weekly hit of Nathan Fillion charm I don’t really want Castle clogging up my DVR so I watch it via On Demand.

Tuesday

Season Pass: NCIS

Guilty Secret: Body of Proof

NCIS is like a pair of really comfy furry Crocs that you know aren’t stylish and should throw out but you just can’t. I was going to watch Buffy in Ringer but I missed the first episode, and I think I can live without it as it sounds like a re-hash of an Agatha Christie story. Okay, Body of Proof isn’t a particularly innovative police procedural but it’s nice to see Seven of Nine boss Dana Delaney around.

Wednesday

Season Pass: Top Chef Texas

Got to wait till November for the next season of Top Chef with the shiny Tom Colicchio and glamorous Padma Lakshmi. I just hope that Anthony Bourdain will be guesting as a judge slash blogger as his acerbic wit is most needed (especially if foam rears it’s foamy head again).

Thursday

Season Pass: The Big Bang Theory & The Mentalist

Episode by Episode Probation: Person of Interest & Prime Suspect

Alex and I have fallen so far down TBBT rabbit hole that there is no return, and it’s one of the few shows worth watching live. I *loved* the season finale of The Mentalist and it will be interesting to see how they handle it. Even though I don’t think Prime Suspect needed to be re-booted I will give it a whirl since the cast is led by Maria Bello. I’m curious about Person of Interest – could be good (Jim Caviezel, Michael Emerson and JJ Abrams) or could be a crap Minority Report style knock off.

Friday

Season Pass: Chuck, Fringe & Supernatural

Episode by Episode Probation: A Gifted Man & Grimm

Friday is genre programming night because only geeks and nerds (and the heavenly pregnant) don’t go out. Out of all the fall shows (new and returning) I am most exciting about picking things up in Fringe’s alternate time line. It’s the last few episodes of Chuck so that’s a must watch. Supernatural is on my personal bubble. I hated the ending of the last season, and what they’ve done to Castiel. They either need to shake things up or start winding things down. A Gifted Man sounds a little bit Joan of Ark-ish – not sure if this is a good or bad thing. Now Grimm I have a bone to pick with as I have a sneaking suspicious that this got picked up by NBC instead of Ronald D. Moore’s pilot 17th Precinct but I am curious about how they will blend the mythology of the Grimm fairy tales.

Saturday

Nothing! Netflix night.

Sunday

Season Pass: The Good Wife & Homeland

Episode by Episode Probation: Once Upon a Time

The new show I am most excited about is Homeland with the most excellent Damian Lewis. It sounds like it’s a combination of Band of Brothers and Life – w00t! The trailer makes it look really good. I’m not so sure about CBS moving The Good Wife to Sundays but hey what do I know about TV scheduling! Can’t wait to find out what happens between Alicia and Will, and Alicia and Eli. Alan Cumming is TV gold – he doesn’t need lines to steal scenes he just glares at the other actors. Once Upon a Time is another show blending fairy tale mythology and “real” life so curious as to how they approach it.

Things on Tuesday

Good

• Sunny but chilly – has spring finally been sprung?
• Meyer lemons and crepes
• Nurse Jackie. Hate her. Love her. Hate her for what she did to O’Hara
• Planning some post-EXAMS! meet-ups with friends & family in London
• Boiled eggs & soldiers for breakfast

Less good

• EXAMS! SEMINARS! PANIC!
• Too tired to stay up for The Good Wife
• Tried to trim my hair myself: passable if a little wonky

Things on Tuesday (3/22)

The good

• Downloaded two new books (Complaints by Ian Rankin and the latest Maisie Dobbs mystery) just need to catch-up with school work so I can read them
• Baked a blood orange & olive oil cake
• Castle is really growing on me, and new The Good Wife tonight (when is this March Madness over?)

The bad

• Alex is helping someone move tonight so no tea and cake till he gets back. It’s almost 9pm – boo!
• Nasal congestion reaching the point where I need to get some of those Breathe Right strips
• Tomorrow night’s drinks with the girls just got rain checked and I am secretly pleased as I want to work on an essay plan instead
• EXAM! panic

Things on Tuesday

W00t

• Second essay is done (and I managed to work in Jersey Shore as modern day comparison to Germanic barbarians!), and I can leave behind the Romans for Spartan ladies!
• Crepes with strawberries and Nutella, and The Good Wife tonight
• Hair cut and color tomorrow (postponed from last week because hairdressers are scared of snow)
• Growing to like Law & Order: UK (I think it’s the Jaime Bamber factor)

Meh

• Crushed under the weight of school work, and so behind
• It’s cold, and windy so the windows are rattling
• Nasal congestion has morphed into nasal drip down the back of the throat – ugh

Things on Tuesday

W00t

• I’ve got over 2,000 words on my Antigone essay so tomorrow I just need to edit and tighten my argument(s)
• Over lunch I listened to the latest episode of BBC Radio 4 comedy ‘Ed Reardon’s Week’ about a struggling and cantankerous writer so funny. Actual laugh out loud moments – his dealing with his “literary agent” Ping are gold!
• Watched the latest episode of Showtime’s Episodes, and it still going strong in its crazy meta show-with-in-a-show. Kudos for them getting Matt Le Blanc to play an alternate version of himself and poke fun at Joey
• A kitten called Sparta

Meh

• The Good Wife lost out to watching Chopped live tonight as he-who-pays-the-rent makes the final decision (not really a “meh” as I can use TGW as my carrot tomorrow and I am kind of tired)
• Yet another snow storm is heading this way. It’s like being trapped in Narnia – always winter and never Christmas
• 9am hair appointment tomorrow which means an early start, and dependent on the weather (but I’ve got a Groupon and I can pick up egg custards from Chinatown so that is a win)
• Feeling yuk because I am only working out once a week but trying to fit in long walks where possible, and sneaky Tracy Anderson arm workouts
• Need to start drafting a post for my uni blog but all I can think about at the moment are my essays!

Do TV Shows Need Term Limits?

Last week it was announced that Fringe is moving to Friday night, and the Twitterverse let out a collective groan as it is where good TV shows go to die. Fringe is in it’s third season, we are only now really digging into the whole parallel universe thing and finding out just how truly evil Walternate is (and how totally awesome John Noble is for pulling off the twin Walters and showing hipsters how to rock the original boyfriend cardigan). So will Friday night really be a death blow to Fringe? Would it really be that bad if Fringe only had one more season? I’d much rather it end with a strong fourth season that wraps everything up than it morph into a so-so TV show that limps on into endless formulaic seasons.

My beloved House is in its seventh season and needs to be euthanized. It’s still strong in the ratings but story-wise it has entered yawnsville. Sometimes I’ll catch the early House episodes (especially ‘Three Stories’) in syndication, and they make me sad because the later seasons are such pale imitations. It is hard to pin point when things took a nose dive because every couple of seasons there’s an episode that hints at a resurrection. Most people think that it jump the shark when House fired his original team at the end of season three. But, I don’t think so – the addition of Cut Throat Bitch was a breathe of fresh air when she was alive and even more so when she came back to haunt House.  This season Alex has pretty much stopped watching it and I am probably not that far behind him especially after its recent treatment of guest stars. I got so excited about Dylan Baker but then the powers that be wasted him on being a CDC drone.  So disappointing considering that The Good Wife had him playing such a twisted character than everything else feels so vanilla and dull.

As much as I love House I really do wish they would either start winding things down at Princeton Plansboro or figure out how to get the snarky House back.

Things just got a whole lot better

Not only is this my first weekend in about a month where I haven’t had to pack, de-clutter, clean and unpack but TV is hotting up again after the hiatus that was the Winter Olympics so the DVD is bursting at the seams again. Just in time to distract me from my impending exams (10 weeks and counting) me thinks.

Chuck is back, and the Superman alumni are not annoying or threatening to our triumvirate.  ‘Chuck vs. The Fake Name’ was fab especially because Casey was made, Chuck had to torture him and the mysterious ‘Alex Coburn’ back story. Is this a Casey alias? Though, Sarah revealing her real name to Shaw and not Chuck was heart breaking especially as he saw it all. Is there hope for our star crossed-spies?

I honestly did not think The Good Wife could get any better, until Alan Cummings started guest starring. He is smoking the rest of the players in “Camp Peter”, and playful enough to engage with Alicia without her clamming up. Lovin’ it. Talking of guest stars on Friday James Marsters started his story arc on Caprica. Spike from Buffy is playing a monotheistic crusader, and I cannot wait to see him go head-to-head with Sister Clarice.

Too many distracts!

things on tuesday

Ho-ho-ho

• The Good Wife is ridiculously addictive
• Countdown to the holidays is underway
• Yoga at dawn
• I can now spell misanthrope, and if NBC hadn’t have canceled Life I wouldn’t be able to see Damian Lewis

Ba-humbug

• Not being able to spend Alex’s b’day with him
• Golden Globes once again ignore Battlestar Galactica, Chuck, Life and all the cool shows I love
• I need to refrain from moasting
• Still have lots of things to mail for Christmas