Duchess of Evil

Thanks for the warm welcome back, everyone. :) I really am going to make a concerted effort to be here.

So, in that vein, let's talk about television...

( some spoilery things may apply...Agents of Shield, NCIS, Alice... )
In other news, having been a Mac user for the past several years has made transitioning back to PC for the office a really annoying process, largely because I am doing some form of tech support for the majority of our older, less tech savvy agents. I miss my Mac. :(

 So, Criminal Minds: The B Team Suspect Behavior has not been renewed for S2. And just after they finally did something with Gina's character in the season finale! She finally has a history, a personality, a presence! Aaaaand, that's it. 

But even though I think the show has improved over the season, it still couldn't compete with the original, so I'm not too sad that it's gone. I just wish it had started stronger. 

If anyone here has watched CSI:NY, which inconceivably did get renewed for another season next year, it's absolutely worse than The B Team ever thought of being. So is CSI: Miami, for that matter. So in that regard, it is sad the network didn't give the Criminal Minds spin off another season to find its stride.

Off to watch the Chuck season finale, which thankfully did get renewed for next year!

It's that time of year again! When we decide what new shows to add to our returning favorites on the Tivo season pass schedule.

Rhien's schedule so far, new shows italicized:

( Shows! )

I've been in a Fall mood, lately. Last night, I cooked pork chops with mashed potatoes and white gravy. In August. I bought a roast for crock pot cooking this week, and we're supposed to get up into the 90's. I've been thinking a lot about what I want to get various people for Christmas, and when we saw The Time Traveler's Wife yesterday, I was all "Look! Snow! I wonder if we will have snow this year?"

Clearly, I've decided I'm done with summer, and mentally I'm already moving on to Fall/Winter.

The Time Traveler's Wife was really good, btw. I have no idea how it measures up to the book, as I haven't read it. But it was a really good movie. Very Somewhere in Time-esque, if you've ever seen that old love story with Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour.

Well, the Fall movie trailers sure are getting interesting!

Some favorites I've seen lately:

The Lovely Bones - Mark Walberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon. Again, I haven't read the book, but the trailer looks like a really good film.

Where the Wild Things Are - beloved by many of us in our childhood, brought to amazing life on the big screen.

The Blind Side - Just watching the trailer made me cry. Also, I see "Academy Award" in Sandra Bullock's future.

Law Abiding Citizen - Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx. Psychological thriller, looks good.

Sherlock Holmes - Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law - What's not to like??

For Fall TV, FX has a new show staring Timothy Olyphant (Yay!) called Lawman, which puts him playing a role we know he does well - a badass lawman.

Gacked from ladybug218 , my Fall TV schedule, as the current roster stands:

Monday

8pm:
Chuck
Terminator: SCC
Gossip Girl
(Why couldn't at least one of these shows be on at 9:00?? TGFT [Thank God for Tivo])

9pm:
Heroes - Maybe. I'm giving it one ep, maybe two, and if it's still as sucktastic as last season, it's getting un-season passed.

Tuesday

8pm:
NCIS
(Aside - Seriously, they're re-doing 90210? Why?)

10pm:
Without a Trace
SVU

Wednesday

8pm:
Bones
America's Next Top Model
(As much as I initially adored Pushing Daisies last season, it quickly fell off my watching list for no reason I can pinpoint. Perhaps I'll catch up via DVD. Or not.)

9pm:
Criminal Minds

10pm:
CSI: NY

Thursday

8pm:
Ugly Betty

9pm:
Supernatural
CSI - Maybe. I watched hit and miss this past season, and still haven't watched the finale for which I am hopelessly spoiled. The magic is on rocky, rocky ground here.

10pm:
Eleventh Hour* - What's not to like? Jerry Bruckheimer is producing it, and Rufus Sewell actually plays a protagonist! About time, I say. "Appointed to investigate science-related crimes and crises that have reached a critical point "the eleventh hour", brilliant doctor Jacob Hood and his overprotective FBI bodyguard, Rachel Young, risk their lives delving into thrilling high tech cases."

Friday

10pm:
Life


* Indicates a new show, of which there are very few I'm even remotely interested in so far. Dollhouse won't start airing until something like January, so for now, 11th Hour is it.

Finished re-watching S1 of Supernatural with Mark last night. He's enjoying it, he said "the most he's enjoyed a TV series since Firefly [and BSG]" - color me shocked! I mean, I love the boys and all, but my love of Firefly is a near perfect thing, not to be compared with pretty much any other show out there. So I asked him why, and he said because SPN has smart writing, and that was his favorite thing about Firefly.

Mark's favorite FF scene of ever: In "The Train Job" , when the guy threatens to hunt Mal down and kill him, and Mal kicks him into the engine. It was the first episode he saw, and as the guy was going off "I'm going to hunt you down, I'm going to..." Mark was "I'd just shoot him." And then Mal kicks him into the engine, and Mark looked at me and said "This is the best show I've ever seen." That was it, he was hooked.

He sees the same elements in SPN. Above all, he hates when characters do stupid for the sake of the plot, or when stories break their own world rules for the sake of convenience. SPN has consistency in world building. If they say salt in front of your door repels demons, salt comes up time and time again, for instance. Rock salt against spirits, etc.

And at its core, the show is about the relationship between Sam and Dean, and for S1, their relationship with their father. Sure, they hunt evil, but it all comes back to why they hunt it. Dean's fear of losing his family, Sam's need for revenge, John's obsession, and his need to protect his boys, all tangled up with hunting the evil that's stalked them all their lives. It makes for a good story. It helps that there are moments like that one in Firefly, where the characters do smart things. As an example, Sam shooting John/the demon in the leg in the S1 finale (I'm not cut tagging, because heck, if you haven't seen S1 of SPN by now, why are you still reading this post?) "You shoot me, you kill him." Well yeah, except shooting doesn't necessarily mean killing.

I think he also likes the 'guy' vibe SPN has. The car, the music, Dean's obsession with hot chicks, the troubled relationship between the boys and their father. When Dean finally sides with Sam against John, and tells him "We saved your ass, you do need us, we're stronger as a family," and John looks at him and says "You're right. I'm not too fond of this new tone of yours, but you're right." Mark laughed, and said "I think it's hard for fathers when their boys grow into men, because usually the son's strength is a reflection of their father's."

He's going to be pissed when he watches the season opener for S2. But he also already knows John's not around later, because he's seen some bits and pieces of S3.

Oh, and because I know a large portion of fandom thinks John Winchetser was a terrible father, blah, blah, this is Mark's take after watching all of S1 - now, realize my husband comes from a family of very strong men. The only picture I have ever seen of his Grandpa Marion has the old coot flipping off the camera as he's standing there, smiling and holding his wife's hand. Because he didn't want to take the picture and was pissed about it. When Mark's Dad was born, the doctor came out to their cabin and delivered the baby, then he and Mark's Grandpa took off and went hunting immediately following the birth. Realize, hunting back then was so their family wouldn't starve, but still, the way the story goes, that baby was barely born before both men picked up guns and took off. When he was growing up, this same grandfather got into a fight with his younger brother, and their mother made them take the fight outside. He let little bro get out the door first. When Marion walked out, little bro cold cocked him with a hunk of firewood. Later, when Grandpa told Mark the story, he said "It was my own damn fault - I never let him get the drop on me again." The orneriness lessens some with each generation, but Mark still has plenty of hard and stubborn in his personality. ( His thoughts on Papa Winchester )

Tonight, probably we'll start S2. Which IMO was better than S1. It'll be interesting to watch it again with Mark.

Last night's episode is just one example of why I should never watch Criminal Minds before bed. Because even though 90% of the time it's fine and doesn't bother me anymore than the next procedural drama I watch, it's that other 10% I have to worry about. ( Spoilers behind the cut. )

And because I watched it, Gossip Girl was teh awesome! ( Brief spoilers. )

So, I was thinking about Heroes, and it suddenly occured to me why I like Mr. Bennet, aka HRG so very much.

See, if Kensei is rather like Sark, HRG is a LOT like Jack. Seriously. Take a moment to imagine the stoic Mr. Bristow working at a Copy Kingdom (Kinkos).

...

See what I mean? And he loves his daughter, and is willing to make whatever sacrifice necessary to protect her. Which somehow seems to include lying to her about certain things and hiding them.

He is so my new Jack! Though I think in general, he's better at fatherhood than Jack ever managed.

So...the Heroes finale.  Kind of not shocking.  Maybe it was supposed to be, but I was not at all surprised by that turn of events.  I did enjoy it, and the 'set-up' they gave us for next season.  I think this show had a very strong, solid first season - it'll be interesting to see if they can carry it into a season 2.  Typically, if a show is weak S1, it improves over the next 2-3.  If it has a strong S1, sometimes it has nowhere to go but down....sometimes waaaaaaaaay down.  (Prison Break, Lost, to name a couple.  Alias waited until S3 to degenerate.)  Anyway, I plan to buy this one on DVD and I will be tuning in again in the Fall.  :)

Now that most of the season finales are over (w/a few exceptions, like tonight's NCIS), it's time to start thinking about Fall's lineup of new shows.  What?  Too early?  Nawwww.

The truth is, I've seen some blurbs about some fairly interesting sounding shows lately, intriguing me enough to do some investigation.

FOX has announced their new Fall schedule, and there is at least one show on it I'm going to check out:

New Amsterdam, a procedural about a NY city detective who was 'blessed' with Immortality by an Indian princess he saved back in the 1600's.  Immortal until he finds True Love, at which point he will get to grow old with said love.  Played by the scrumptious Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, (who I have admired since first seeing him in Black Hawk Down) John Amsterdam promises to be as intriguing as Connor McCloud first was in Highlander.  (What?  I loved that movie in high school.)  Only more so, since he's actually on a mission to find true love, where McCloud wanted to avoid the pain of such a connection.  But back to the show, is it any wonder that Amsterdam's new partner is a gorgeous, strong willed woman?  (Played by Zuleikha Robinson of Rome).  I'm sure there will be other romantic possibilities for John, but as any good veteran of such shows as the X-files knows, partners make the best romantic entanglements, if the chemistry is right.  *points at picture*  How could the chemistry not be there?  Just sayin'. 

Some trivia for you: New Amsterdam was the original name for New York, back in the day when it was first a (Dutch) colony. 

Of course, FOX likes to yank perfectly good shows right and left after they don't instantly produce the ratings TPTB think they should.  They've put NA in a Tuesday night time slot, at 8pm.  Good thing I'm getting that second TIVO by Fall, so I won't have to choose NCIS over giving this one a try.  :)

FOX also has the much talked about Sarah Connor Chronicles, but they've decided to debut it mid-season next year.  After they've canceled most of their other new shows, I'm sure.  Meanwhile, Prison Break will continue limping along with the most improbable storylines ever conceived. 

Another Rome alumni, Kevin McKidd, stars in a drama by NBC that has me intrigued.  Journeyman is about Dan Vassar (played by McKidd), a man who discovers his ability to travel short jumps through time.  He changes lives, tries to help people, but it doesn't always work out well.  We've seen this premise a million times, and usually it's pretty good.  Quantum Leap and Early Edition are two I can think of that I thoroughly enjoyed.  Journeyman is set to air Monday nights at 10:00, which means it'll have the strong lead in of Heroes' audience to build off of. 

NBC is also going to have the newly imagined Bionic Woman this Fall, but I'm sure everyone's already heard about that.  Wednesdays at 9pm is not the best time slot for me (Criminal Minds, Lost, if it returns at that time), but we'll see.  I'm sure I'll watch the pilot.

CBS has a new series about a vampire who works as a private detective, solving crimes and helping people.  Angel ...er, Moonlight stars Alex O'Loughlin as Mick St. John (hey, at least he's an Irish vampire, that's different, right?  Oh, that's right, Angel was Irish), the vampire who investigates crimes and longs for the forbidden love of a mortal woman. 

Hey, it's a vampire show.  You know I'm going to watch it, even if it does sound like I've seen it before.  And I gotta tell you, that Alex O'Loughlin is pretty hot on The Shield this season.  He has a more masculine look than they usually choose to play a vampire.  I could get behind that.  It'll be on Fridays at 9pm.  Which probably means it's doomed before it starts, like every other show to get that timeslot in history, but hey.

Curse you, USA network, for showing Law & Order: SVU episodes so completely out of order!  How am I supposed to make sense of story arcs, when you deliberately show episodes from last season one night, and episodes from the current season another night?  Or even back to back?  Especially when all of said episodes in some way have Olivia missing in action, or not Elliot's partner, or returning as his partner, or deciding not to be his partner.  *holds head*  I don't watch the show on NBC, just one USA, so it makes it hard to keep track of everything when they do this!

But all of that aside, what a great grouping of episodes!  My subject line, btw, is a quote from the medical examiner regarding Elliot on a particularly bad day.  It made me laugh out loud when she said it - oh, so true.  I love brooding intensity as much as the next girl, but damn straight it can be annoying as hell!


There has to be fic, at least, right?  Help a girl out!

I mostly watch this show for the procedural drama.  I don't really ship my procedurals much.  I love the relationships between all the characters on SVU - Munch, Fin, Benson, Stabler, even Wong with everyone. 

But dude, I could so get behind this.