Digging myself out...

Well, a week of vacation during fall premiere season means I came back to a mountain of DVR'd programs waiting for me.  I have been wading my way through those, and will hopefully finish up tonight.  

I found out the Britcom "The IT Crowd" is premiering on IFC tonight, so I am going to give that one a try.  It sounds like it might be right up my alley and was recommended by a friend to boot.

I did catch a few movies while I was out of town.  

Burn After Reading:  

Loved it!  Brad Pitt may have some issues in his personal life, but the dude can act.  I love that he is equally at home being the suave action star, the sexy chick-flick hero, and the affable doofus.  Obviously he opted for doofus in this one, and man it worked.  This is a great story about how things can spiral out of control so easily, as well as how you never really realize just how connected everyone you know is to everyone else you know.  It takes a fairly dark turn about 2/3 of the way through but still manages not to lose any of its humor.  Also, J.K. Simmons may just be one of my heroes.  He can be Skoda or Pope on the serious procedureal shows, but he has no problem turning around doing something off the cuff like Juno or Burn After Reading.  If you like the Big Lebowski, you'll love Burn After Reading.  It's that kind of awesome.

Sex and the City the movie:

Liked it okay.  I am starting to get jaded by the contrivances television and movies come up with to keep couples apart, because apparently they think that's the only interesting type of story for the audiences.  But other than that I did enjoy this film.  It was basically just a long episode of the series.  We got to catch up with our favorite characters, find out what they've been up to, and see where they're going now.  Good stuff.  Probably if you enjoyed the series, you'll like the movie.

Everything Is Illuminated:

Wow.  This is a quirky story about a young Jewish man (played by Elijah Wood, who is incredible in the role) who travels to the Ukraine to try to find the woman that helped his grandfather get to America during WWII.  The plot itself draws from rather serious material, and the events that unfold are also in that vein, but the film manages to still retain a very light and enjoyable tone.  There is so much heart in this movie.  It also gives a very interesting perspective on how the Jews who stayed in Eastern Europe coped (or didn't) with what happened during the war.  It's based on a novel, and I think it's a true story, so I would be curious to read the source material.  History buffs and people who enjoy movies that make them think will probably dig this one.

That's about all I've got for you this week.  

Is anyone else digging the new season of Heroes?  I have now seen the first two (technically 3) episodes and I have to say I kind of feel like it's back.  I know that not everyone is sharing my opinion though, because Looking For Group's creator was expressing his disappointment in a post today.  But I honestly have been pretty pleasantly surprised so far.  Of course, I've also been enjoying Smallville, so I am not entirely sure what that says about me....

'Til next time folks,

C

Maybe it's a little derivative...

I read an interesting article over on SyFyPortal the other day.  The writer was discussing the fact that he makes it a personal mission to watch everything even remotely genre related that comes out in order to support the continuation of sci-fi on television.  He was discussing the new season and laying out which shows he will watch live and which ones he will watch later that night on his DVR and which ones he'll just hold off until he's got a few he can watch in a block, et cetera.  

I was highly amused by this article, not the least because one of my first thoughts was, "Oh yay, I'm not the only one that has this problem!"  Or not even problem per se, but more just the fact that I'm glad I'm not the only person around who is so methodical about how they approach their television viewing.  I was actually doing something similar not too long ago when I realized all of the new television shows were coming back.  Of course, I don't solely watch genre shows, and I don't watch every genre show, so my list definitely looks a bit different than his does.  Really my only crazy night is Monday, although Thursday is kind of full as well.  

So I thought I'd throw my two cents on the table and give a rundown of what my viewing schedule looks like this season.  

Sunday:  

Family Guy on Fox, and that's it.  I like this show, but for some reason I always need to psych myself up to watch it.  Also, this is one I prefer to watch with my husband if possible.  So this is one I'll probably watch live sometimes, if I am thinking about it and not otherwise engaged when it comes on, otherwise I'll just DVR it and catch it later.

Monday: 

7 PM--Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother on CBS, Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox, and Chuck on NBC.  As you can see, that's three things at once for a whole hour, and I still have the DVR that will only record two.  So, conundrum.  I had to think about whether it would be SCC or Chuck that gets watched online, as I learned last season that on Monday nights I am going to be most likely to want to watch the CBS comedies live.  Eventually I had to relegate Chuck to internet viewing because SCC is just a show that needs to be watched on a big screen.  

8 PM--Heroes on NBC and Boston Legal on ABC.  I'll probably watch Heroes live and catch Boston Legal on the DVR.  I wasn't 100 % impressed by Heroes season two, but I didn't think it was nearly the disaster everyone else seemed to believe it was, so I think I am sticking with this one live for now.

Tuesday:  

7 PM--Coupling on BBC America.  This show is in reruns (of course, as it is no longer airing) but sometime over the summer it has become pretty much my favorite sitcom ever, so I will be watching this live if I can, though it is just as good recorded.  

8 PM--Fringe on Fox.  Loving.  This.  Show.  Will, of course, be watching live.  

9 PM--Eli Stone on ABC.  This is a cute quirky show and I can't wait to see where the second season goes.  I will probably end up watching live, but as my self-imposed bedtime on work nights is 10 PM, I may end up catching this one later some weeks.

Wednesday:

7 PM--Bones on Fox.  Will be watching this one live, of course.  I will probably use Wednesday as my mid-week catch up night to watch all of my DVR'd shows around this one.

Thursday:

7 PM--My Name is Earl on NBC and Smallville on the CW.  Wow, this is a toughie.  Unless season four of earl is way better than season three was, I probably don't want to watch this one live, and I really don't like 30 Rock, so if I do watch live, I've got nothing to do until 8.  I was surprisingly not completely nonplussed by Smallville's season opener this week though, so probably I will watch this one live until it just gets too stupid to bear and I don't watch anything live in the 7 o'clock hour.  

8 PM--The Office on NBC and Grey's Anatomy on ABC.  Okay, yeah, The Office may be one of my favorite shows, but GA, as soapy as it is, just makes me happy, so probably I'll watch that one live.  Also, I love watching The Office with my hubby, so that may become a Sunday afternoon view.  

9 PM--Life on Mars on ABC.  I am going to try it.  We'll see.  May or may not watch live, depending on if it's any good at all as well as how pooped I am.  

Friday:

8 PM--Sanctuary on SciFi.  Oh, huzzah!  It looks like they're airing the reworking of the two original online episodes as the opener, and then everything after that will be all new.  I am truly excited about this show, both to get to see it on a bigger screen, and to get to see more of it.  

9 PM--Stargate Atlantis on SciFi.  Sigh, it's the last season, but they're running it all the way through, most likely to be replaced by the concluding chapters of Battlestar Galactica in January.  But yeah, unless I'm out actually having a life, I'll be there watching it.  

Saturday:

8 PM--Primeval on BBC America.  This show is just fun.  I think they're just running seasons one and two all the way through and then I don't know what.  Hopefully either new episodes of the shortened Torchwood season three or new episodes of Primeval season three if there is one, or perhaps they'll run Merlin for us.  Because, man am I excited about that and I sure hope it comes to BBCA.  

So there you go.  Wow, don't you think I need to get a life now?  I mean, obviously, I do have the DVR so should I wish to go out and do stuff or actually be social, I can just record and watch later.  Though weekends are usually catch-up and DVD territory.  

I can say things will definitely get interesting in January when Burn Notice, Psych, Monk, the Closer, Eureka, and maybe In Plain Sight all come back from hiatus.  Ooh boy.  Then will the juggling begin.  Plus Dollhouse and Scrubs.  Of course, I am sure some shows will get put on a break, moved around, or even canceled by then, so maybe there will be room for everyone.  

Anyhoo, there's not a whole lot else going on.  I have been blazing through DVDs this week (watched all of Jericho and Psych's second seasons and started on Birds of Prey).  At this point I am just procrastinating packing for my trip.  Mostly because I know the cats are all laying on top of the clothes I laid out, maliciously making sure we remember them while we're gone via cat hair.  Sigh.  

I guess I am off to do that.  Hope you guys have a fantastic week!

Ciao,

C

Fire up the DVR...

Because fall premiere season is here.  

Mostly just on Fox, but the other networks are starting to wake up too. 

Monday saw the return of The Terminator:  Sarah Connor Chronicles.  I really enjoyed it.  They are doing a good job of setting up where the new season will go.  We also had some interesting character pair ups in this venture--Derek and Charlie working together to find the Connors, the FBI agent whose name I have forgotten with Cromartie.  I think the thing that I love about this series (and about the Terminator franchise in general) is that there is so much wriggle room because at heart it is a time-travel story.  The characters and the audience have been told "this is what the future is, now we have to try to change it."  But there is no way to know if the actions they take will be able to prevent the cataclysm or if it is those very events that actually bring the apocalypse on.  Trippy.  Gotta love it.  I can't see how anyone who isn't a fan of the Terminator movies could possibly get into this show, but other than that, I think it has real promise.  I don't know where it's going, but I'm in the car and I'm willing to enjoy the ride for now.

Tuesday we got the series premiere of Fringe.  I have to say, I wasn't honestly expecting too much, but I really dug it.  If you missed it and are at all interested, Fox is reairing it tonight.  I really enjoyed the set up of bringing the cast together.  I already find myself interested in getting to know these characters better.  Plus, there' s a cow.  The show has gotten some flak about the cow, but I for one think it's a nice little dose of humor, and I am all for running jokes.  Besides, I think a lab cow makes for a much better visual element than lab mice, and monkeys fling their poo.  Most of the reviews I have read in the aftermath of the episode haven't been too big on the show, but everyone I've talked to that watched it loved it, so take that as you will.  I haven't seen any of Lost, but a friend who is a big fan reacted to the first episode by saying "J. J.'s back!"  So there you go.

This week Smallville returns.  Sigh.  I will be watching, but my hopes, they are not up.  Still, they are going to have Clark and Lois working together at the planet, and I believe they are adding the Green Arrow to the full cast, so maybe there is some hope.  At least one hot guy who's not whiny.  

On the DVD side, I wrapped up watching Degrassi The Next Generation season six last night.  About halfway through the season, I felt like the show had to be coming to an end, so imagine my surprise when a quick IMDB search revealed that not only was there a season seven, but that season eight is scheduled to air this fall.  What?  Sigh.  Season seven made a little more sense after I finished this one, because it only ran for half of a school year, but I am a little dubious of where they are going to go with season eight.  We are fast approaching "Saved by the Bell the College Years" or 90210 after everyone "grew up" (yeah, that's in quotes, if you watched the show, you know why).  Please, Canada, don't let this become your Smallville!

Sigh, well, that's about all I got for you today.  

Have a good one!

C

You know, culture.

I haven't done too much television watching this weekend.  My husband treated me to a special surprise on Friday night that turned out to be a local stage performance of West Side Story, which is my favorite musical ever.

I was really impressed with the show.  If you're in the DFW area and you love a good musical, go check it out if you get the chance.  It's showing at the Lyric Stage in Irving and runs through September 14.  

They are using the original choreography, which is pretty spiffy.  Man, every time I watch West Side Story, be it on stage or the film adaptation, I am always a little surprised with how balletic it is.  It actually usually drives me crazy for the first fifteen minutes or so until I get completely wrapped up in the story and forget to be annoyed that street thugs are dancing like Baryshnikov.  

This crew had it together though.  I was very impressed by the entire cast (even though it took me a little bit to get won over by Tony), and the minimalist set designs were used to perfection.  Good stuff.

As if that wasn't enough, last night we got to go to the Maroon 5/Counting Crows concert out at the Coca-ColaSmirnoffStarSuperPagesPlex.com Center (if you're not from DFW, don't ask).  The concert was phenomenal, I have to say.  We caught Maroon 5 on the side stage at Edgefest several years back and they put on such an outstanding show.  I am pleased to say that blowing up into huge superstardom has not detracted from that at all.  In fact, now we have the added bonus of cool laser effects.  And then Counting Crows...wow.  There are many reasons I love this band, let me tell you.  Every show is so completely different.  They went pretty mellow for this set.  We got an incredible rendition of Anna Begins, a gorgeous Long December, and a very pretty Mr. Jones.  Then they ramped it up a little bit for the end, and they had the opening act, August Ana (who I was also very impressed by) come out and help them for the encore, which was Rain King.  Man, that was freaking incredible.  I was hoping someone would have it up on YouTube by now so I could link to it, but I don't see anything.  The show just flew by.  I couldn't believe it was over when the lights came on.  

So as you can tell, I've had a pretty darn good weekend, entertainment-wise.  In the DVD world, I've got one disc left of Crossing Jordan's freshman season, which I am hoping to finish up today.  I have got to say, I am finding it pretty surprising.  I started watching the show about halfway through season three, I think.  So going back and watching it from the beginning is truly an interesting experience.  It amazes me how overplayed some of the characters seem at the beginning--for example Jordan really needs to be smacked on several occasions she is so rebellious, and Woody is just so sweet and innocent hometown boy I am not sure what to think.  Knowing that the characters, and the show itself, do eventually find their groove and are able to settle down a bit has been reasurring to me though.  Once I was able to get over that element I have been able to enjoy the season for what it is.  I wish that Mahershalalhashbaz Ali's character had stuck around, because I am really digging him, but I guess I can't begrudge him leaving, since it meant he was off to be in The 4400.  It's nice to see some stuff from later seasons getting set up (such as Bug and Lily), and freaky to see some of the places that they tried to go at the beginning (such as Macy and Lily--ew).  You never know what you're going to get when you go back to the beginning of a show that you stumbled into the middle of, but in this case, I'd say it's not too shabby.  

The fall season has started to kick in, most notably on Fox.  I guess they are getting their shows started early to make room for all of the American Idol interruptions to come (boo).  Bones started up this past Wednesday.  It was an interesting episode, but it defintely was the stand alone it was intended to be.  Nothing terribly exciting happened.  I did enjoy the guest stint by Indira Varma though.  It will be interesting to see what kind of seasonal story arc gets set up in this week's episode.  

Sarah Connor Chronicles start back up tomorrow, yay!  And Tuesday I think I am going to give Fringe a try.

I hope you all enjoy your week and wish you good viewing.

Laters, 

C