Whee!

Lots of interesting stuff today.

First, who's excited for Battlestar Galactica tomorrow?? Me!! Probably no one else will think this is funny, but I thought the BSG miniseries told as a series of Facebook applications was hilarious!

24 news - The 8th season may be its last, and Howard Gordon wants to kill Jack (and possibly blow up the world?) on the big screen.

Speaking of TV shows being made into movies, here's an unlikely one: Jericho. It's like the little show that could... It's been canceled twice already, but apparently, it's been rerunning on the CW (because they have nothing else to air), and if it does well, it could revive the show for more episodes or a movie.

David B. talks about directing an episode of Bones, and also discusses that stupid spoiler about "Booth and Brennan end up in bed together, but it's not what you think." Am I the only one who's really getting tired of this "it's not what you think" crap? I thought it was stupid when they did it with the kiss, and I think it's stupid now. I don't really want Booth and Brennan together, so this whole teasing, dragging it out thing isn't really making me happy. Just let 'em sleep together, realize it was a huge mistake, and then we can go on with our lives.

Some dude I've never heard of is going to be on The Office, and details are coming out about that "Office spinoff that's not really a spinoff" that Amy Poehler is doing. It sounds like it might be funny.

And finally, I caught up on last week's SNL (with NPH!). I thought it was mostly pretty funny, but my favorite was by far the Broadway sketch. Turns out Anthony Rapp (the original Mark from Rent) liked it, too.

Lots of newsy goodness

I was away from my computer all day at a symposium on crime and violence, so I've got some catching up to do.

First, the Jericho series finale was Tuesday night. The ending was obviously rushed, as they had to condense an entire season into 7 episodes, and tie up as many loose ends as they could, but I think they did a good job. We have the specter of civil war ahead, which could make for a potential season 3 if by some miracle they get picked up on cable, but there's also the satisfaction of knowing that they saved the town and exposed the conspiracy and we can all assume the good guys win the war and everybody lives happily ever afterish. Besides, Jake and Hawkins are made of awesome, and that's really all that matters. Plus - surprise appearance by George Mason! (That's the guy from 24, played by Xander Berkeley... the only person I've ever heard called "Xander" in real life.) It was cool seeing him again, even if it was only a brief role and he shot awesome Hawkins.

Now I'm catching up on Battlestar Galactica before season 4 starts on April 4th. I have to admit, I wasn't a big fan of the whole settling-on-a-planet thing - I felt like it threw a lot of things out of whack, and I'm really glad everyone's back in space. If you want to catch up, there will be two TV specials this Friday night on Sci-Fi, and for the truly dedicated, there's also a marathon all next week, leading up to the premiere.

Speaking of BSG, Helo is gonna be on Dollhouse! Cool beans. Don't really know who the rest of those people are, although I think I saw Fran Kranz in a movie once. He was playing a bad actor, though, so it's hard to judge his actual ability. Still waiting to hear about those Buffy alums...

How many pilots can Rob Thomas make? Well, at least three, apparently. This one is another remake, of a New Zealand show called "Outrageous Fortune."

I'm super excited that one of my fave guys is coming back to Heroes next season, but if you're afraid of spoilers, don't read the article. I'm also a tad concerned about TWELVE new characters. Um, didn't we learn our lesson with the Mexican wonder twins? Unless they're only being introduced so that Sylar can kill them. That is acceptable.

In what I think will be my final reference to the Paley Festival, you can read recaps of the Dirty Sexy Money and Damages panels.

And in the "random" category, some genealogist has figured out which celebrities are related to the Presidential candidates. Hmm... I wonder if I'M distantly related to Brad Pitt, too...

Monday morning comes again

Hope everyone had a happy Easter. I had a parent-filled weekend, but they bought me things and fed me, so I'm happy.

First up, here's more coverage of the Buffy reunion. You can also see video clips from all the Paley events here, although the Buffy one is little more than the introductions and a little from Joss and Sarah. The Chuck panel had some pretty hilarious clips, though. I also found a podcast of the entire Buffy panel, as long as you don't mind the very loud girl in the audience.

In other news, Jericho has been canceled again, for good this time. Not really a surprise, although it's a little disappointing. I felt like the show really blossomed in the 7 episode run, and it deserved at least a full second season.

Some speculation on Dollhouse's chances from Matt Roush, as well as an update on Bones from David Boreanaz. And this is cute: Reasons I miss Psych. I miss it, too!

Oh, and don't forget to watch How I Met Your Mother tonight - it's the Britney episode!

Hi, kids. I'm kinda tired today. My bedtime has started edging later again, I think because my schedule is still off from staying out all night and sleeping all weekend. Gotta start going to bed at 11, otherwise I'm dragging all day. Man, I feel old.

Anyway, Jericho last night drifted back into "WTF?" territory. And they were doing so well. In the rare chance that it gets picked up, here's a piece of advice - stick to the killing off and mourning of beloved characters and stay away from the government conspiracies. Because when Jericho does conspiracies... they kinda don't make any sense. I think they've explained the bomb plot like, three times now, and I still don't get it. Was the CIA behind it? Or just rogue members of the CIA? Or were Hawkins and the others CIA who infiltrated the terrorists? If this whole plan came from Mystery Phone Guy, then is he higher up than Valente? Is he Valente? No, he can't be, because he's been tracking the bomb, and if Valente knew where the bomb was, he wouldn't have needed to buy it from Sarah. But if MPG has been tracking the bomb this whole time, why didn't he just come find it and take it? Why has he been needling Hawkins to give it to him willingly? And why does he think that blowing up Cheyenne is a good idea? For that matter, why did he think blowing up the first 23 cities was a good idea? If his goal is to get rid of Jennings & Rall, he's not doing a very good job of it.

Oh, who cares? Hawkins is AWESOME. Jake is AWESOME. The Hawkins and Jake show, that's all I need. (Although, sidebar, I thought it was absolutely adorable when the Rangers sent the ransom note to Beck: "We have your trucks and your supplies and your guns. Give us Jake." Hee! They came up with a plan without Jake, how cute! I just wanted to pat them on the heads.)

Anyway, in other news, this week is the Paley Fest, which I desperately wanted to go to, but Kelly wouldn't go with me. Fortunately, TVGuide has me covered, and so I'll be posting their coverage of my favorite shows. Here's the report from the Chuck panel, as well as more information on the Chuck comic books. (Seriously, more comic books? I was willing to try it out for Buffy and Angel, but this is pushing my limits here.) Later this week: Friday Night Lights and the Buffy reunion panel (which, by the way, is supposed to have live streaming video coverage)! Next week is Damages and Mad Men.

Also Joss-related, he's writing a web musical starring Neil Patrick Harris as a "low-rent super-villain" called "Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog." I am not making this up.

Oh, and Battlestar Galactica will NOT be making a movie, but they will do a 2-hour TV special for the prequel, "Caprica." Okay. I just want my season 3 DVDs. (Now available from Blockbuster!!)

Happy birthday to ME!!

Okay, I'm a little early, but why restrict celebration to only one day? After going out for drinks with Lindsay last night, I came home to a flower delivery from my parents, and Andrew, my fellow former intern, took me out to lunch today. Whee!

So, in honor of me turning the big 2-4, I have all sorts of TV news for you! (What do you mean, I do that all the time? Shut up! No, it makes sense... I'm turning 24, and 24 is a TV show, and... yeah.)

Anyway, yesterday I mentioned that Scrubs had escaped cancellation by moving to ABC. If you're curious about other shows that are "on the bubble," as they say, check out this list. The accompanying article also gives the prospects for some of the more anticipated shows. I'm happy to see that Friday Night Lights and How I Met Your Mother are looking good for renewal. Not so much for Reaper and Jericho. I have to admit, Reaper has sort of lost my interest. The show came back last night, with the last however many episodes are left, and I found myself only half-watching it. It's a shame, since it had such a promising pilot, and I had pegged it to be a new favorite show, but it's been something of a letdown since. I won't really miss it if it goes away.

Jericho, on the other hand, has been breaking my heart the past couple episodes. It felt a lot like a guilty pleasure last year (so bad it's good), but this 7-episode second season has really been stellar. It's almost like an actual TV show! Last week's ep, with the tragic death of Bonnie, and this week's, portraying the aftermath, were just fantastic in delving the emotional depth and ratcheting up the conflict between the townies and the government goons. There are only two more episodes left, and it's not looking good for renewal - and I'm finding that I'll actually be sorry to see it go.

Oh, I've also been watching New Amsterdam, about a New York City cop who saved the life of a Native American woman back in the 1600's and she rewarded him with immortality. It's pretty cool so far, although I find the flashbacks ( showing New York in its various incarnations over the past 400 years) more interesting that the present-day crime drama part of it. It's on Fox, which means it probably won't last more than a few weeks (it's only aired three episodes, and it's already been in three different time slots), so I'm not getting attached, but I'm enjoying it for now.

In other news, Rob Thomas (and no, Megan, that is NOT the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, although he did make in-jokes about them on Veronica Mars) has been given the green light to give his failed show "Cupid" a second try. The original was from 1998 and starred Jeremy Piven, and was canceled faster than you can say... something clever, I don't know. As you'll note, Thomas was also tapped for the 90210 spin-off, so if both shows are successful, he'll be a pretty busy guy.

*rumble*

Oh man, I am hungry today. Dunno why - I rarely eat breakfast anymore, but it doesn't usually bother me.

Teresa, my boss, is back from vacation today - well, theoretically. She's apparently been in a meeting all morning and no one has seen her yet. But she's supposed to come back today. It was fun being in charge for a few days. No, actually, that's not true. People are annoying.

I watched Jericho last night. I considered it a guilty pleasure show last year (like a train wreck I couldn't pull my eyes away from), but I'm surprised that it's almost actually good this year. Well, not according to this guy, but I'm not about to complain about a show that looks cheaply produced. Come on, I watch Doctor Who, for crying out loud.

Okay, wow. I started typing that at least two hours ago, and then I got distracted by actual work. Anyway, what else was I going to talk about? Ooh! Friday Night Lights. There's the possibility that NBC might wrap it up with a two-hour movie, which is not nearly enough, but I guess better than nothing. Also, Taylor Kitsch is playing Gambit in Wolverine. I don't know who/what that is (something X-Men related, it would appear), but at least he'll be employed if the show gets canceled.

In other news, it apparently takes three people to replace Heath Ledger. That's quite impressive.

There's now talk of an actors' strike, which - you've gotta be kidding me. I thought we were done with the strike nonsense. Just bring back my shows, dammit! Speaking of which, why aren't more fans up in arms about truncated seasons and episodes being pushed back to fall (or disappearing completely? It's like we're just so grateful to have any TV at all, we don't care how much they're taking away from us.

Like, for example, we've just missed an entire season of 24, now that they're pushing season 7 back to January 2009. They've already filmed 8 episodes, and will continue to work to finish the other 16, but we still won't see anything until next year. Although, considering how craptastic season 6 was, I don't know if I mind so much. But oh! this is hilarious - Joel Surnow, the executive producer of 24 is leaving, so TWoP came up with some interesting replacements. I think my favorite might be Mark Burnett: "The creator of Survivor makes a surprisingly easy shift to scripted TV, thanks to 24's preexisting habit of eliminating a different character every week." And of course, Joss Whedon: "Ultimately, Chloe's battles against the "monsters" of the modern world serve as an allegory for our everyday fights with real monsters like vampires and demons."

OMG! Celebrity curling! (Curling, as anyone who lived in my suite during the winter Olympics knows, is the BEST SPORT EVER.)

Here's your damn update

So, it was ever so kindly brought to my attention *cough*Kelly*cough* that I haven't updated in a while. There's a very good reason for that. Normally, I update at work, when things are slow and I have time to troll the half-dozen websites I usually look to for news and random fun. But lately, I've been super-duper unbelievably out-of-control busy in work. So much so that I don't even have time to finish my actual work, let alone keep you people entertained.

BUT since Kelly demanded asked so nicely, I took some time after work today to check out what's been happening in the past... week? Ish.

I guess everyone knows by now that Heath Ledger died. It's absolutely shocking, especially since he never struck me as the drug-overdose kind of guy, even accidental. He was a talented actor, and always seemed to have his head on straight, unlike a lot of the out-of-control celebrities his age. It's a terrible shame.

Someone thought now was a good time to remind us all that Heath's first major role was in a short-lived TV show called Roar, which I mention because it was the first thing I ever saw him in, and I remember loving that show and being disappointed when it was canceled. And then, when everyone fell in love with him in 10 Things I Hate About You, I was all, "Hey, I saw him first!"

In happier news, NBC is having another auction, where you can bid on merchandise from their shows, including Friday Night Lights, Heroes, and The Office. Guess whose birthday is coming up? *grin*

Also on Friday Night Lights, this article pisses me off. It drives me crazy that TV has become all about franchising. That's the exact thing that kept me from watching Heroes at first. I'm glad there are no FNL trading cards or board games or... vibrating brooms? What? (Wow, Harry Potter fans are kinky...) Anyway, it's the simplicity of the show, the genuine reflection of everyday life, that makes it so wonderful. Turning it into a soulless commercialized franchise would totally destroy the magic, and I resent the fact that this purity is what keeps it from being a hit show. I felt the same way about Veronica Mars -I was so sorry to see it canceled, but at the same time, I would hate it if the show compromised its values and quality just to become a trashy hit. I worried that FNL was going that way in the beginning of season 2, but I think they've recovered, and I'm once again finding myself completely charmed by this little show. Don't take it away from me, you evil corporate bastards!

Okay, then. Jericho has two possible endings, one in the event it is canceled after its 7-episode 2nd season, and one if it's picked up for a third. Good plan, really, because God only knows how many nuts would be shipped to studio execs if the show got canceled on another cliffhanger.

Are you starting to feel the effects of the strike, as all of your favorite shows disappear from the prime time schedule? This feature might help you find a new show to watch. (I think my favorite is, "If you like Heroes, try Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I'm already into season 3 in rewatching my Buffy DVDs. Thanks, Strike!) Also, I'm throwing out my personal recommendation for Battlestar Galactica. I just watched all of the first two seasons on DVD, and now I'm ripping my hair out because season 3 doesn't come out on DVD until March. The fourth and final season airs starting in April.

Well, that should keep you busy at least until the weekend. I'd talk about politics, but that'd probably be a whole separate post (makes it easy for you all to ignore it that way, lol).

I'm a little behind...

...on my posting. For some reason, I've been saving up all these fun things, and then never actually posting them.

First of all, in case you didn't see it in the comments on my other post, here's Megan's tampon bowling website! I scored 156, which, incidentally, is way better than I've ever done in an actual game.

Jericho is definitely getting 7 more episodes! You can read the official announcement here. Love this: "P.S. Please stop sending us nuts." But apparently, they're gonna end it on another cliffhanger. I think they ARE nuts.

Also, more Black Donnellys! SEVEN unaired episodes! The only question is... do I GET HDNet? Is that a real channel?

And, if you're bored with the actual TV shows that are being greenlighted these days... come up with you're own! Here are my favorite TV show pitches:

• An illegal immigrant with narcolepsy accidentally kills a sheepherder who talks to animals. Stars Stephen Root and Michael Richards. Genre: Sci-Fi
• A nobel prize winner who is secretly a werewolf must save the world with the help of a manchild who eats inanimate objects. Stars Karim Abdul Jabbar and Angela Landsbury. Genre: Action
• A cop with turrets syndrome accidentally kills a hot dog vendor who is the embodiment of Satan. Stars Jeff Goldblum and David Paymer. Genre: Action

So... is anybody else excited about the James Marsters concert?? (Kelly and Becky, I'm talking to you!) We still need to work out the transportation nonsense... but squee! Two weeks!

I remember now!

Oh, right. I have a blog. Perhaps if I blind you with David Boreanaz's socks, you'll forget how long it's been since my last update.

No? Okay, then. How about this? Read it and tell me it's not the funniest thing ever.

And on the subject of tasers, we'll get to see our favorite taser-totin' gal in the FBI... for six minutes, at least. The trailer that was made to pitch the "Veronica in the FBI" season 4 will be included on the season 3 DVD extras. In other VM news, a collection of essays on the show is being published, for those academic minded fans. I wonder if VM will end up being as written-about as Buffy... seriously, for a show with such a silly name, there's an awful lot of scholarly work about it.

There is good news for one canceled show this year. Jericho is apparently not as canceled as everyone thought, thanks to a NUTS campaign (don't even ask). They're in negotiations to bring the show back for 8 episodes mid-season, not as a wrap-up, but with the hope of continuing the series. You know what'd be ironic? If it ended the 8th episode on a cliffhanger, and then got canceled again. Fortunately, it's not on Fox.

Remember that new show, Moonlight? The one about the vampire detective? The one who falls in love with the mortal woman? The one who wears the black billowy coat of pain and skulks in the shadows, looking down on Los Angeles from his rooftop perch? Okay, so I don't know if it's actually set in Los Angeles, but you get my point. Well, it just got even MORE Angely, because David Greenwalt, Joss' partner in crime and Angel exec producer, is now the showrunner/exec producer for Moonlight. I'm kind of interested now... in a morbid kind of way.

Nutter for Mayor

So, is anyone else as excited as I am that Michael Nutter won the Democratic primary for mayor of Philadelphia? (Probably not.) I've always liked him (well, since last November), but I never really expected him to win the nomination. But frontrunner status and campaign finance laws worked against Chaka Fattah, and gave Nutter an opening. As I said, I like him - and not just because he bought me beer. The reason he was buying me beer is because he was smart enough to spend time with politically active young people - which not a lot of politicians care about. Also, he's a reformer (which is why sticking to the campaign finance laws helped him instead of hurting, like Fattah), and Philly could use a non-corrupt politican.

By far, the best quotes from yesterday came from the Knox campaign:
Tom Knox: (on Nutter's victory) "Thank God it's not Bob Brady."
Linda Knox: (about her husband) "I'm going to bite him if he runs again."

Also, hilariously, the Knox campaign office got robbed on Election Day. Advising a campaign staffer how to handle money afterwards, Knox said, "Put most of the money in the trunk and cover it up and just put a little bit up front with you in case we get hit again."

In other political news, this is just hysterical.

Last night was the series finale of Gilmore Girls... I haven't been a fan as of late, but the nostalgia beckoned at the end there. I have to say, I was really happy with the episode. It didn't try any huge gestures *cough* wedding *cough* but was a good send-off of both Rory and the show, and the throwback to the pilot was a nice touch. Oh, and check out this interview with Scott Patterson.

My fingers are still crossed that Veronica Mars will be renewed, but I've heard so many rumors, I don't know what to think anymore. It was announced that Jericho wasn't renewed, and I find myself surprisingly disappointed. I kinda stopped watching it, but it's on demand, so I've been catching up lately, and the episodes did get marginally better at the end there. Well, mostly it was just Jake and Hawkins being awesome and everyone else being stupid (as always), but I'm mildly pissed they ended it on a cliffhanger. The last scene was... well, it was basically the end of Angel. You know, fighting against insurmountable odds, one of the main characters dies, and we fade to black as the rest of our heroes charge into battle incredibly outnumbered. TV shows should just stop ending on cliffhangers if there's a chance they might not come back... grrr.

"You know how to use this? Point and shoot."

Okay, I'm a little grumpy because this is the third time I've tried to write this post, and Mozilla keeps deciding to quit before I can finish it, so let's see if we can get through it, shall we?

So I spent much of yesterday watching the tape of all my shows from last week, which my mother so kindly mailed to me. It seems there was a "how to fire a gun" theme - including the quote in the title from 24, in which Jack learned exactly how dysfunctional his family really is. How about his father calling him a "civil servant" with such disgust? If Jack Bauer isn't a good enough son, what could that man possibly want? Jack's only saved the city of LA, the President, and the country like five or six dozen times.

And of course, I must add the obligatory, "Logan?? What the hell?" comment. I'm actually kind of glad to see him, since he's the President we love to hate - as opposed to Palmer II, the President we just hate. For more 24 news, here's 24 hours on the set of 24.

This week was the last episode of Studio 60, possibly for good. Starting tomorrow, it's being replaced by The Black Donnellys, and there's no word on it returning. Even though I tuned in faithfully every week, I can't say I'll really miss it. It was kind of just background noise for writing my 24 comments... Although I do feel compelled to point out that in this week's episode, the lawyer said she was from Gage Whitney. Would that be the same Gage Whitney that Sam used to work at before he joined the Bartlet campaign? Oh, Aaron Sorkin...

And now we return to our theme with Veronica Mars, in which this exchange took place:

"I don't even know how to use a gun."
"You pull the trigger."

Yes, thank you, Keith, but Jack Bauer took care of that already. Anyway, I was excited to see lots of Cliff - and Wallace! But sadly, Wallace had to be used for that bizarre "Lamb is a friend of Dorothy's" thing. What? Okay, is there a reason we needed to reference a bad joke from the pilot there? I did think it was hilarious when Lamb shot his own reflection, but then I felt bad about it because of him getting all dead later on.

Speaking of which - holy whoa! Totally didn't see that coming. Although apparently, I'm not the only one. I really don't understand why they killed him, except so that Keith could be the sheriff again. I mean, it wasn't even a cool death like he blew up trying to diffuse a bomb or in a major shoot-out or something (okay, I've been watching too much 24). He just got conked on the head. It just seemed like they could've done so much more with it, and they kind of threw it away. Wondering what "I smell bread" was all about? Yeah, me too.

What is Logan doing with Parker? This cannot lead to good. Don't stand in the way of the LoVe, Parker! Speaking of LoVe obstacles, I missed Piz this week, but you can get your Piz fix from this interview as well as this hilarious video in which he and Kristen Bell interview each other. Seriously, they are too cute.

Jericho is back - finally. I really can't decide if it's better or worse. This episode was mostly flashbacks to before the bombs, and while it explains a lot of things, it also made some things much more confusing. It was about average for the number of "ridiculous things that would never happen or would only be done by idiots" per episode.

Here's the one thing I don't understand (okay, there are a lot more things I don't understand, but this is just the one I'm gonna talk about right now) - what the hell are Roger and Emily doing together? I mean, Roger is obviously a big-city business man, and Emily's like, never left small-town Kansas. So how the hell did they even MEET? Even disregarding that - because I suppose it's possible that Emily ran into him on a random trip to Chicago or Roger had a sudden urge to take a vacation in the middle of a cornfield - I still don't understand how they live together. Roger cannot possibly have a job in Jericho. They're like, 30 miles from friggin Wichita, let alone an actual city. Where the hell does he work, and how the hell does he commute?

Okay, that's the end of my rant, even though there are many many plot points for which I could give rants just like that one. Now, onto tonight's episode of The Dresden Files, which I think was its funniest one yet - maybe on par with one of the lesser Buffy episodes (which is still pretty good). I had several laugh-out-loud moments - especially with Bob. When he was crying at the French film... and the silent exchange between Bob and Harry! OMG. Frankly, I loved Bob this whole episode.

This ep was also rife with book references - the scorpion and the frog story that Bob mentions came up in the fourth book (except it was a faerie queen who said it to Harry), and the Third Eye drug is from Storm Front. I wonder if they're still going to use it in the Storm Front episode, or if they'll drop that plotline to simplify the mystery (they had to cut it down from an 8 hour audio book to a one hour episode somehow, I suppose).

Bianca is another thing that comes from Storm Front - and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I liked the episode well enough, but I think I liked Bianca better when she and Harry were enemies rather than... whatever the hell they were on the show. It also makes me wonder if Bianca will still turn Harry's girlfriend into a vampire... since she's not trying to kill him and all.

Ancient Mai was pretty awesome, too. She comes in much later in the books, and I don't actually remember much about her character, but she kicked ass and was funny, so it works for me. When she slaps Harry and he's all "What was that for?" and she's like "I didn't know I needed a reason." - HA!

Did anyone watch Nicholas Brendon's movie Fire Serpent last night? It was better than that horrible Gryphon that poor Amber Benson was in (in that I managed to get through the whole thing without changing the channel) but Nicky was miles ahead of anyone else in that movie in terms of acting skills. Please! Can't these people get GOOD roles? What's wrong with Hollywood?

Speaking of our favorite vampire-fighters, if you can describe how Buffy has changed your life in 250 words or less, you can be in the Buffy comic! I am so winning this contest. The New York Times has an article about the Once More With Feeling singalongs. Who wants to go when the national tour comes to our area? And if anyone's looking to buy me a birthday present, I recommend this book. (Just don't ALL of you do it, or I'll be forced to sell the extras on eBay.)

Stupid Mozilla

Argh... I had a whole post written out, and then Mozilla quit on me and I lost it all. *sigh* You'd think that working at Marshall St. (where the power goes out every five minutes) I'd have learned to save my work. Anyway, let's try to cobble it back together again.

I believe I was talking about other, non-political things that had been going on while I was election-obsessed, but, as is often the way with me, I kept lapsing into political things anyway. Like, for example, the news that Allen conceded to Webb and the Dems now control the Senate. Woohoo! It's a whole new ballgame, folks.

So what else happened in my eaten-by-the-internet post? I remember that I mentioned Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert being featured in Rolling Stone, in an article by NYTimes columnist Maureen Dowd.

I also went on for a bit about how I'm catching up on my TV shows, which I've been taping and watching sporadically the last three weeks. I've cut down to just four shows: Studio 60 (which it seems will be picked up for a full season), Veronica Mars (my connection is too slow, but you can check out this website for video clips and other stuff), Jericho (which is getting a split season - ending with a cliffhanger on Nov. 29th, not to return until February), and The Nine.

I don't really know why, but it seems the Chicago Tribune has written an article about one of my favorite phrases, "not so much," tracing its popularity back to some of my favorite TV shows, such as Jon Stewart on The Daily Show and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Well, I guess that makes sense.)

I'm not sure why this is funny, maybe it's the dating/politics parallel. It's a parody of an attack ad, about a bad boyfriend. I can't really explain it.

That's all I can remember. Hopefully I'll be back to posting more regularly, now that I have my life back. Whee!

Whatever happened to Gilmore Girls?

*sigh*

I used to love this show. I don't know what happened, but the Girls just aren't grabbing me as much as they used to. I tend to blame the introduction of April (also known as mini-Rory) and her whole screw-everything-up plotline. I also think Luke and Lorelai were much more fun when they weren't fighting/breaking up all the time. And there used to be a time when I identified with Rory, until her life became less normal high school girl and more soap operatic. (I mean, really, how many guys can one girl have fighting - literally, physically fighting - over her?)

But really, the last two or three seasons have ended with me fading out. I miss an episode, and I feel like I'm behind. Then I miss another episode, and another, and I just don't have the heart to bother getting caught up. It just doesn't pull me in the way it used to. And this season, being Palladinoless, I don't expect much improvement. Apparently, I'm not the only one.

I'll probably keep watching this season. It's the lead-in to Veronica Mars, which is must-see TV. As long as I don't find anything better to do on Tuesdays at 8.

In other TV news, I caught a repeat of the Kidnapped premiere, and had to stop watching after about 10 minutes to prevent myself from jabbing a fork in my eye. Suffice to say, that won't be added to the Tivo... if I had a Tivo... which I don't. *sigh*

Still watching Jericho. That show has more plot holes than, well, something hit by a nuclear bomb, but I like the premise. It is terribly overdramatic at times (like when they couldn't find Mayor Dad... and who didn't know Jake was gonna get to the house in time to save Emily?) but I guess when you may be the only survivors of a nuclear attack, there is a tendency to overreact to things.

I had intended to watch Ugly Betty, which premieres tonight. But, alas, I'm going to Scranton and won't be home until about midnight. And my Tivo-less self forgot to set the VCR. Maybe they'll rerun it or it'll be online or something. I also neglected to set the VCR for either Shark or Six Degrees, but I didn't really like either of them enough to really care.

TV Update

The first week of TV premieres is over, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on the ones I watched.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (Monday, 10pm, NBC) wasn't quite up to my expectations, which were admittedly pretty high. It seemed like there were too many characters around that didn't get introduced properly. After watching the first episode, I can only remember three people's names - Matt (Matthew Perry, so that one's easy), Danny (Bradley Whitford), and Jordan (Amanda Peet). I can't help comparing it to The West Wing pilot, where the teaser showed each main character receiving the "POTUS in a bicycle accident" message. It was a great way to introduce the characters one at a time, instead of having them all thrown at you at once.

(Another way to sort out your characters is to use the Buffy method - in the pilot, Buffy had just moved to Sunnydale, so everyone and their mother introduced themselves to her about 10 times. It actually gets kind of annoying, but at least you're told everyone's name.)

As far as the plot, it seemed to be mainly a set-up episode, as pilots often are - getting all the players into position for the actual story, which will start next week. It actually reminded me more of Sports Night, because of the "show within a show" angle, which I always felt deserved to be an hour-long show instead of 1/2 hour. I thought Judd Hirsch's career-ending diatribe was a little heavy-handed, and seemed more like Aaron Sorkin expressing his grievances through his characters, as he was wont to do on The West Wing with political issues. Other than that, the dialogue was quick (but not as fast as The West Wing) and witty, making me laugh without punchlines.

To sum up, I'll be giving this one another chance, partially because of my love for Aaron Sorkin and the cast, but also because I felt like this episode was just a primer for what's to come.

On Thursday night, I managed to watch two shows simultaneously, flipping between Shark (10pm, CBS) and Six Degrees (10pm, ABC). It probably says something that I was able to follow both shows while only seeing half of them. Shark was very predictable, but funny in a caustic kind of way. It really seems as though someone said, "Give me House, but with lawyers," and so far, James Woods isn't quite on par.

Six Degrees was an interesting premise, but I really hope the connections get more interesting than "Oh, my gosh, we went to the same concert back in the 80s! Let's be BFFs!" I really wasn't that interested in the characters (but at least I knew all their names, thanks to helpful titles before each one's introductory segment). I'm kind of curious what the deal is with Mae, who she's hiding from and why - although that scene when she was being chased with her baby-sitting charge was frighteningly reminiscent of Kim Bauer. I also liked Whitney, and teehee, there's a character named Laura. But am I the only one that thought it was kinda sketchy to make the only black person in the cast the one who's got lots of gambling debt and is involved in crime? Stereotypical much?

I still haven't decided which of these I'll watch next Thursday. If anyone has a vote one way or the other, let me know!

On Saturday, I also caught the rerun of Jericho (Wednesday, 8pm, CBS), which was actually better than I expected. I started watching it on Wednesday, but turned it off to hang out with Megan instead (and watch the looooongest movie ever... I really think they could have edited that sucker down to about an hour and a half, lol. The movie was The New World, in case you're curious). So I really liked Jericho - it got a little cheesy with the speechifying at the end, but up until then, it was pretty compelling. It's definitely dark, as critics have mentioned, but I like dark. I'm curious whether anything will happen with the two people Jake (Skeet Ulrich) killed in that car accident. Will someone find them and Jake's car, and will he get in trouble? Also, what was up with those escaped criminals? And the dead birds? That was just creepy... One thing I couldn't figure out was why they kept talking about Denver. This is supposed to be Kansas, right? Is Denver seriously the closest big city to Kansas? That can't be right. Whatever... Anyway, I'm kind of hooked - I want to know what happened, if there's anyone alive outside of Jericho, and how badly the townspeople are going to freak out when they figure it out.

Up next week: Ugly Betty, as well as the return of Gilmore Girls.