Thursday, December 22, 2005

Hiatus

Faithul readers: (which pretty much is limited to my sister and my college roommate!)

I will be away on vacation around the world for the next two weeks... so my blogging will be on a temporary hiatus. What I'm excited for when I return:

1. My TiVo'd Project Runways
2. Scrubs is returning!!!
3. OC moving to 9pm timeslot to replace reunion - which lets me watch Alias & Smallville in peace at 8pm on Thursdays.
4. New episodes of all my fave shows which haven't been on since Thanksgiving it seems!

The new year also gives a chance to reflect on those who have left us... so lets take a moment of silence for those shows that are in a better place.... Kitchen Confidential & Reunion, we'll always remember you!

Also, hold Arrested Development in your prayers... its in a coma of sorts, and hopefully ABC or Showtime will pick it up before it finally goes to that big network in the sky.

Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Too Twisted... Even for Me

So I watched F/X's Nip/Tuck last night... what a sick, twisted show. The reason I tuned in for the season finale is because my favorite TV reviewers (Kristin from E!, Ask Ausiello, Matt Roush) have all been hyping the episode because of the big reveal of a serial killer, "the Carver", that has been terrorizing the show all season. By reading the spoilers, I, too, became interested in seeing who the Carver was, even though I've never watched the show in my life, and didn't know any of the characters or other plot lines. This show had every demented plot that you could think of: murder, gore, rape, incest, ad-hoc surgery, transvestites, nazis, deformed babies, cutting off members with a box cutter... I'll admit defeat the rare times it happens - but this show was just too much for me. I thought that the graphic plastic surgury scenes would be a little nauseating, but they were like Disney scenes compared to everything else.

For those of you who don't watch, here's a quick summary: basically the doctor we thought was evil from the beginning of the show (Quentin) turned out to be the Carver, as a newcomer would have guessed from the moment we see him. But the twist was so was his sister (Kit), who coincidentally also happened to detective in charge of the Carver case (we didn't know they were sibs.) And by the way, after we see them escape to Malaga after faking Quentin's death, we are led to believe that they are probably incestuous. A secondary plotline revealed that the son of one of the main characters (Matt) was forced by his ex-girlfriend's crazy nazi father to cut off his other ex-girlfriend's penis. (They broke up when the son found out that he was dating a transvestite, and beat him up, but then his plastic surgeon dad "fixed" him because he felt bad and then they became friends.) A few other things happened in the episode, but I didn't even notice compared to these two plots.

For those of you who do watch, from the boards, I gather that you are unhappy with this ending, because of many, many plot holes. I can see why - even as a first time viewer, I wasn't that upended by the reveal.

Sorry, folks, this is a show that I just can't watch... all the weird stuff aside, I can't stand a plot with holes in it....

Thursday, December 15, 2005

First Sark, Then Vaughn (Kind Of), Now Irena....

How GREAT was Alias last night... even at 8 months pregnant, Sydney is smart enough to subconsciously stop the bad guys... and then we find out.. they're not really bad at all... its her mother, Irena Derevko, behind it all!!

I know many people were dissappointed when they found out that Vaughn's return was only a hallucination... but I thought it was done magnificantly! All our favorite scenes re-done - altered to help Sydney through this bizarre, drug induced fog. Obviously the minute the "voice" showed concern about the baby's health we knew it would be Irena, but I'm glad that Lena Olin herself shows up in the final minutes of the episode (instead of reprising the terrible spoken IM messages that were shown in the beginning of Season 3 with Jack).

So this brings up so many questions!! First and foremost, what is Horizon.. notice that they have been looking for it for 30 years... isn't that about how old Sydney is?? Then Irena - is she part of the Watchman? Does she run it? How is she related to DeSantis? Is she related at all to Rene then? What are her plans for the baby? While this was a classic Alias, I hope this is the last one that opens any more questions... after the hiatus, the show will hopefully focus on ANSWERS.... although this episode made me very, very sad that this was the last season. 3 months until we find out...

Guilty Pleasures

Why oh why do I channel surf? Look at my picks - I clearly have enough TV to watch without getting hooked on anything new!! But I did... I ventured up to the triple digit numbers on Satellite and came across Bravo last night. Nothing against Bravo, but pretty much the only reason I know that channel exists is because of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy... a great show (but T refuses to be enlisted, much to my dismay!) Anyway, as I was saying, I came across Bravo and Project Runway. This is a show that I have heard a few people talk about (including my buddy J, who like me, will also watch anything that Matt Roush or Ausiello from TVGuide.com tells us to!) but I guess I always assumed that it was the same thing as Tyra's America's Next Top Model. Two mistakes: 1) I didn't realize that I would like to watch ANTM and 2) Project Runway is nothing like it... but its still fun to watch.

This show is about designers (not models)... these characters are a riot!! Ok, ok, I know they're "real people", but I'm a staunch believer in the fact that there's no such thing as "Reality" TV, and at the end of the show there is a long disclaimer flashed on the screen saying that cuts are made in conjuction with Bravo and the producers of the show... meaning, they keep the people that are interesting to watch. To be honest, I had to fast forward through a lot... Heidi Klum tends to repeat herself a million times, and there is a lot of dramatic pauses... so there is like 30 watchable minutes in the show, even though it is alloted a full hour. But Heidi is a very watchable host, and I love that she is pregnant but still looks incredible! Well, after two episodes in a row, I got hooked, and added it to the Season Pass.

Speaking of guilty pleasures, I fully intend on watching ABC's Dancing with the Stars this season... I heard it was a million times better than So You Think You Can Dance, and since its a short season (filling in Alias' timeslot while its on maternity hiatus for Jen Garner), I thought I'd give it a chance.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Victoria Secret Fashion Show

So this came up while channel surfing last night, and was strangely mesmerizing... a lot of it focused on the fact that this was Tyra Banks' "retirement" from being a fashion model, which of course drew me in because of my new strange facination with her... the whole thing kind of makes you want to never eat again... normally when I watch runway shows (which isn't often, but happens from time to time), I think, "okay, they're skinny as hell, but have no real womanly shape, and their faces are ugly"... not so with VS models... I guess to model underwear you pretty much NEED to have the womanly curves (while still looking like a size negative three) and these woman were GORGEOUS. The first thought that always comes to mind is: "At least I'm smarter than them!!" While this may be true, what is it really getting me? They have more money, more fun... well pretty much more of everything except food... but the food they DO eat is still much, MUCH more exquisite, to make up for quantity. It seemed entirely unfair... plus they got a night of wearing giant wings & bows (who wouldn't want to do that??) Anyway, just thought I'd share my off-beat night of TV... god I wish new episodes of ANY show would start again so I don't feel bad sitting in front of the TV with my Big Mac.

Friday, December 09, 2005

No Apologies

Because of the ridiculous North East snow storm, I have to work from home today.... of course the biggest perk of that is getting to do your work in front of the TV.... yes, I have just discovered the Ellen Show... the only downside of the whole thing that I can see is that I didn't know how great it was before. She has her own DJ! She just does whatever the hell she wants and it looks like so much fun! And she has better giveaways than Oprah... if you get a chance, take a look... NBC, weekdays at 10am.

My Wife Has a Problem

Nothing more needs to be said:

From: M
To: T
Subject: New find

I LOVE THE ELLEN SHOW. I want to go be part of the audience (except it films in stupid burbank).

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Kate's Crime & ANTM

So... let me get this straight... Kate didn't kill Wayne because he abused her mother, or because he was hitting on her... but because he was her biological father? But she still (seemingly) had a great relationship with her other father? And then her mother just gave her up to the police? Okay... at first, I thought that this was a great crime she committed, especially as he tried to grab her just before she blew him up, but when she went into her explanation, it made her seem so.... sappy. Don't get me wrong, I loved the episode, but I definitely like her a little less. And now are Kate and Sawyer together? Argh, I love this show, but it will never be Alias to me.

Also... while waiting for Lost to come on, I watched my first full episode of America's Next Top Model... the reason I even bothered was because over thanksgiving break, I got to watch an episode of Tyra Banks' talk show, which I've heard is doing quite well... well the episode had a mini version of ANTM, and I kind of got into it, so I thought, why not watch the real thing? I can see why this show is so popular! Honestly, I normally hate reality tv, but this was kind of fun, because the girls are so stupid, and you know how I love to judge those kind of people! There was a whole "situation" where some girl ate some other girl's granola bar, so the second girl poured the first girl's red bull down the sink, and then REFUSED TO APOLOGIZE! What drama! Anyway, its almost a parody of itself, with Tyra as the ringleader, but still pretty enjoyable to watch. I don't know if its making the TiVo season pass or anything, but the next time I surf through, I may not be so quick to change the channel.