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I've been very quiet for quite some time because I've been busily finishing up the end of semester at Uni. But now, with the last assignment being handed in later this afternoon and two exams spaced out over the next three weeks, I'm busily planning what I'm going to be watching over the winter break.
1. Psych
I've mentioned that I've been working through the first season for a little while now. I really started to get into this in the last couple of weeks and think I'll be done with the season early next week. At the moment I find it entertaining and I like the characters and the humour, but it's just still missing that little spark.
2. Dollhouse
I watched the first episode the day it aired but then made the decision to leave it off until there was news as to whether it would get a second season (I hate investing if the show is just going to get canned and unfortunately, Joss' run hasn't been so good of late). Well Fox announced that it will get a second season and so I'll be getting through the first during the break in preparation for the second.
3. Glee
Because everyone I know is raving about the pilot. Oh how I hate things airing during the semester when I don't have time to join in the raving!
4. CSI
I did well and managed to get past Grissom leaving and am quite pleased with Laurence Fishburne's part in the show, but I have been a bit lax and want to catch up.
5. Gilmore Girls
The only show I've been able to consitantly burn through in the last couple of weeks (it just goes down so well, even when I'm studying). Very close to being finished with the sixth series so should be up to the last season by the time next semester starts.
That's the definite list. Also there, on DVD, glaring at me are: Six Feet Under, Twin Peaks (this is the work of my work friend who wants me to watch everything he's ever watched), Gossip Girl... my list never seems to get any smaller.
Now, time for some audience participation. What show can you not live without and why? And why should someone like me, who notoriously comes into shows well after they're finished or established, find room in my schedule to watch them? And also, what shows would you like to see me review?
Later this year, one of my all time favourite books will be released as a move. It's Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, and in November I'll hopefully be attending advance screenings as a reviewer.
My emotions at this point are a bit mixed. I love this book, I love it so hard I can't even elaborate accurately. I love Eric Bana and I think Rachel McAdams will make a good Clare, at least she will looks wise. I'm happy with the casting in theory, but how it's going to work in practice could be another story.
It's always a bit this way, when books are made into movies. Sometimes the interpretation is off. Sometimes your favourite bit is cut out (for example, so many Lord of the Rings fans lamented the loss of Tom Bombodil from the first movie). Sometimes, things that the book hinges on are completely forgotten and so on.
There's a risk when you really love a book that the movie is going to spoil it for you. When I was about 13 my Mum gave me the Thornbirds to read and then with great excitement when I was done, we went to get the movie out. I remember being disappointed from the word go because Rachel Ward had brown hair, not the golden red locks that were such a feature of Meggie in the book.
So what are some hits and misses for you? The Thornbirds is totally a miss for me. Harry Potter I think might be a hit, but it's getting harder now as the kids get older and out age their characters. Twilight is a miss, but then, the book was a total miss too so...
I've had some troubles getting into anything lately. Time has a lot to do with it, but I've come to realise that starting a show that's at the beginning or middle stages of its run means that you'll be investing a lot of time into it. I was given the first season of Psych for my birthday in September last year. I'd seen the first two or three episodes, knew it was worth watching, but hadn't added it to the rotation. I thought that owning it on DVD would encourage me to watch, but so far, I've watched maybe the first five episodes, the last two of those while I was studying, so I didn't reall absorb them.
But last week, my sister gave me her third season of the Gilmore Girls to watch and I sailed through. I lost interest in the show when it aired, probably around the season two mark but now I'm midway through the fourth now and am predicting that my watching will mean the remaining sets will be in my house within the next month or so. I've had to sit and work out what's going on; I don't neccessarily think the Gilmore Girls is better than Psych but it's been far easier to watch.
I think it's because the Gilmore Girls is over. There's a finishing point. I know I have three and a bit more seasons to watch and the show will be done. I'm sure that's all it is. So while I love discovering new shows, I think it's easier to discover a show once it's come to an end and is out on DVD. There's no waiting, no killer cliffhangers, no uncertainty as to how long you'll need to be committed for. (I mean, I start buying the DVDs, I gotta buy them all. This is why I have not invested in any Law & Order).
There are definitely pros and cons in both directions. I still don't think there's anything better than getting swept up in a show while it's on, being a fan, biting your nails at the cliffhangers and crying when it comes to an end. But when you already have a large rotation, investing post airing is a good choice.
There are a few shows that will always have a special place in my heart. I watch a lot of TV and have loved a lot of programs but there are two shows that I think changed and shaped my life.
Number one was Home Improvement. In my early high school years my best friend was in love with Jonathan Taylor Thomas (who wasn’t) so I dutifully fell in love with the older brother Brad who was played by Zachery Ty Bryan. We lived in a small town in the country and one of my happiest memories is sitting by the river on a summer day and making up stories about how we’d go to LA one day and woo the boys to fall in love with us. I remember being thirteen years old and crying when a signed picture and a form letter arrived from Zach. It was a happy time. I also remember the episode where Tim doesn’t want to part with this horrible, hairy sweater that Jill keeps trying to slip into the Goodwill bin and realizing that my Dad had a very similar sweater in his closet. My Dad was also accident prone and was always injuring himself while doing home handyman projects. Not as bad as Tim, but even now I still see similarities between my real Dad and my TV Dad. (Yep, that’s how I think of Tim the Toolman Taylor, as my TV Dad
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I’ve now got people coming at me from all sides with new TV that I should incorporate into my rotation. (And this is why I’ve not been posting as regularly; more watching = less writing)
Last week I watched the first 8 episodes of season one of True Blood. I’ve been a bit iffy about vampire related media in the last few months since I read the Twilight books and watched the movie (Twice. Guh), but this isn’t too bad. Okay, so it’s not great, but there’s definitely enough good for me to keep watching
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I could either have people wholeheartedly agree with me here or have the TwiFans (so they’re called apparently) coming after me with pitchforks and wooden stakes.
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Anyone who has read this blog on a regular basis since I took over will know that I'm a bit of a Gossip Girl geek. I've just managed to catch up on last weeks episode and boy, was it a good one. What I keep watching for is the bitchiness. Sure, the clothes are great, everyone looks fantastic and I love that it's shot in New York, but it's the bitchiness more than anything, that keeps me watching.
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My sister and I are working our way through the Oscar nominees list, trying to see as many as possible before the big day. Over the weekend we saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, one of the most heavily nominated films this year. I was a bit reluctant about this one and I still don't really know why. I'd heard mixed reviews; I had been told that it was long, that it was a bit boring and that it wasn't what people had expected. It may have been the length that had me avoiding it to begin with, and it was very long (about three hours), but in the end that wasn't a problem.
If you've read the F. Scott Fitzgerald story by the same name, don't go into the movie expecting it to be anything alike because it's not. Aside from the name and the curious aging in reverse of Benjamin, the two are completely separate stories
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I'm not really one for reality TV but in recent weeks I've become a little bit addicted to the Secret Millionaire. It's a simple concept; a successful (see: rich) person in the UK moves into a low income area for ten days. Sometimes they get the gyro (for the Aussies, that's the dole), sometimes they're made to get jobs but they're always made to live the way the people in the area do. Their task is to meet people in the area and find one (or a few) worthy causes to donate some money to.
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I'll admit that sometimes I buy DVDs based on who stars in it rather than what the story is about. Actually, sometimes I buy them based on who has an obscure, not even top billed, cameo in the movie which was the case with Match Point.
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Comment by Mickey
on True Blood
TV Watchers
Films Rock
I really need to give Dexter a chance, you're about the fifth person in as many days to recommend it to me. I was in the US when it premiered and didn't love the pilot. Bad move I think considering so many excellent shows have terrible pilots.