Stuff

Went to the dentist today - I have cavities. :( Funny, my teeth felt fine before, but now that I know, they hurt.

Anyway, Ted is getting another new girlfriend on HIMYM. DirecTV will be airing canceled shows, and is working on a deal for more Friday Night Lights (yay!). And depression on the Veronica Mars movie front.

More stuff!

Took a time-out from work to watch the Inauguration ceremony, and now I'm back with a whole bunch of TV news (since I know that's what you really care about).

Interviews with both the final Cylon and the character who died in Friday's episode. (I'm not spoiling because I want you all to watch the show!!) Also, Tahmoh Penikett talks about BSG and Dollhouse.

Good news on the Mad Men front - Matt Weiner's contract issues have been resolved, so he'll be back at the helm for season 3.

Rob Thomas is writing the Veronica Mars movie!! Which puts them one step ahead of the Dr. Horrible sequel, which is still in the "everybody wants to do it, but Joss hasn't actually written it yet" stage.

And finally, more casting news: Ted is getting a new girlfriend, but she's probably not the Mother.

Random randomness

Just a brief update to let you know that France has banned TV for children under 3, NY Magazine poo-poos the VM movie idea, Yahoo News shows itself to be woefully outdated (Bones filmed in London in June), and the truth behind the Spaghetti Cat comes out.

Not getting my hopes up...

Don't toy with me, Rob Thomas!!!!

Schedule your vacation time...

OMG, forget about stalking James Marsters... I totally want to go on this cruise. It's definitely more expensive than a regular cruise (you could go on a 7-day NCL cruise that week for the same price), but still - Veronica Mars!

Other stuff: This week's Scrubs episode is a "giant homage to The Princess Bride." Also, Barney and Britney are dressed alike! Isn't that cute?

And happy actual birthday to Megan. You'll probably get a present some time in June, since I think that's the next time I'm coming home, lol. Maybe I should mail it...

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.

Craziness!!

First and foremost, since Megan mentioned it, here's a report from John McGinley that Scrubs has been picked up by ABC for another full season. They start filming again March 24th. (And that's why Sarah Chalke is too busy for more than one episode of HIMYM.)

This is kinda weird - they're making another spin-off of Beverly Hills 90210, and Rob Thomas might be writing it. Not really what I expected from the creator of Veronica Mars, but okay. I never watched 90210 or Melrose Place, so I doubt it will interest me.

Billy from BSG auditioned for Joss' new show, Dollhouse. Yay! I love Billy, I miss Billy. I wish he hadn't died. (Sidebar: WHEN are the season 3 DVDs coming out?? I'm about to chew my arm off.)

Oh, and in further awesomeness, Spike is getting his own After the Fall comic! I don't know if you've been following the Whedonverse comic developments, but After the Fall is the continuation of "Angel" set a couple months after that rainy battle in the alley. They're doing an arc called "First Night," which flashes back to tell the story of what happened during/immediately after the battle. One issue of that arc focuses on Spike and Illyria, and the Spike: ATF series apparently spins off from that. Whee!!

Also, just a random shout-out for the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which comes out April 18th. It was written by HIMYM star Jason Segal, and also stars Kristen Bell (!!!) and Paul Rudd. I'm super-excited, though I still probably won't see it until it's on DVD. I'm just like that.

Bad day for showrunners

Both Rob Thomas and David Greenwalt have stepped down as showrunners for their fall shows (Miss/Guided and Moonlight, respectively). Thomas' decision was supposedly because of "creative differences" while Greenwalt's was due to health issues. I'll probably still watch Moonlight, as long as Jason Dohring is in it, but I don't hold out much hope that it'll be good (poor JD). And since Rob Thomas was the only reason I was mildly interested in M/G, I probably won't bother with that one. Can't we just bring back Veronica Mars and Angel? We'd all be happier.

Dammit. Now I'll have to watch it.

Remember a while ago, I mentioned that a pilot was being picked up next season called "Moonlight," which sounded an awful lot like a retread of Angel - vampire detective, in love with a mortal human woman. Then, it got even Angelier when David Greenwalt (exec. producer for Angel) signed on as showrunner. At first, I was dead set against it... but when Greenwalt's name got attached, I thought, "Maybe he'll actually make it good."

Well, now I've definitely got a reason to watch it: Logan Echolls as a vampire.

Jason Dohring (the "Lo" of our Veronica Mars LoVe) will be playing an "ancient" vampire... who's also "a young, mischievous hedge-fund trader"? Um, okay. Aw, what the hell? It's Jason Dohring. I'd watch him watching paint dry.

In other news - this of the canceled series variety - fans of Drive take note: Fox is NOT airing the last two episodes on the 4th of July. They're airing them on Friday, July 13th, instead. I'm not sure if that's better or worse. The troubling part, though, is that, although they're calling it the "season finale," I suspect there will be nothing final about it. We're probably still going to be left in the middle of the story, since it's unlikely they resolved it in only six episodes (that wouldn't be much of a series). But it's Nathan Fillion, so I'll watch whatever they give me. Also, I'm kinda hooked now.

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.

Fare thee well, Veronica...

Last night was the season (now presumed to be series) finale of Veronica Mars. Although it didn't make it into the fall schedule announced by the CW last week, there was still hope that it might get picked up as a midseason replacement, despite the fact that Kristen Bell had agreed to do voiceovers (since we know she's so good at those!) for the CW's new fall show, Gossip Girl. Word was that CW had until June 15th to make a decision on VM, but even before the last two episodes aired last night, the end seemed pretty well nigh. Even though Dawn Ostroff is saying "it could come back in some form," when no one's talked to Rob Thomas about it, it doesn't really inspire hope.

So, last night we said goodbye to Veronica - and I have to admit, the two-part season finale may have been the best two episodes of VM ever. Definitely in the top ten. It felt absolutely jam-packed with twisty mysteries and great emotional scenes, plus some unexpected cameo appearances. It seemed appropriate that the first hour's mystery centered on Weevil (he *is* still on this show!), and that the final episode was all about Veronica. The mysteries are definitely more compelling when it's V herself or someone close to her that's involved.

I admit, I was very worried for poor Weevil - as much as I love him, I kinda thought he did it. For being dumb enough to use the names of famous people on their fake IDs, those rich kids sure did a pretty good job framing him. (I also need to note the hilarity of not one, but TWO vampire references in the first hour. V was absolutely adorable when the forgers asked her to become one of them, and she replied, "Is this the part where you turn me into a vampire?"Hee.)

And then, the second mystery of the evening... I have to say, as soon as Dick showed Logan the video, my first thought was that the camera had been planted by the guy stalking Wallace. Which... it kinda turned out to be... but there was enough surprise in what exactly was going on there that I didn't mind the minor predictability. I mean, holy hell, who ever expected Jake Kane to turn up as the guy running the secret society?? I was completely shocked to see him (also, his beard scared me) so good on the show for not only keeping that a secret (or maybe there were spoilers, I didn't read them) and for not forecasting that earlier in the episode. When Veronica saw that picture of Lilly, I was *seriously* creeped out. I thought someone must have known she was coming, but why they'd put up a portrait of her dead best friend, I totally couldn't guess, other than just to freak her out.

Unlike Logan, I never thought the camera was planted by Piz, and hello to the irrationality there, boy. Seriously, Logan is a loose cannon, and as much as I love the LoVe, I don't blame Veronica one bit for cutting him out of her life. For a minute, when he showed up at the Mars Investigations office, I honestly thought he'd killed Piz. It kinda made sense - I knew Chris Lowell wasn't coming back, whether the show got picked up again or not, and the last time we saw Logan show up at V's door covered in blood, he'd (possibly) killed a PCHer. Must say, quite relieved that wasn't the case. I almost felt bad for Parker (almost), but who didn't know that break-up was coming eventually? She had to be blind to not realize he wasn't over Veronica. I was pretty surprised that the season didn't end with Logan and Veronica together - since Rob Thomas seems to have a tendency to do that, regardless of what's happened the entire preceding season - and especially if it was the end of the show, I figured he'd give the LoVe fans something to hold on to. While it saddens me that now they'll never be together, the conflict definitely made for a more interesting episode.

Speaking of more interesting, how about Dick?? I have been waiting all season for a Dick Casablancas breakdown, and we finally got in the last three or four episodes. At the beginning of the season, he had this on-the-edge attitude about him, and I kept expecting him to just lose it over all the crap that happened in season 2. But then he sort of mellowed and went back to being regular dumb (but always hilarious) Dick. So, I was really glad to see it all finally come out (the poor boy must have been bottling that up something fierce) and it makes sense that his father coming back was the catalyst. Ryan Hansen knocked it out of the park in his scenes with big Dick and with Logan - and even with Veronica and Mac (how funny - and random - was it when he tried to kiss Mac??). I always knew he had it in him, and it makes me wish we'd seen more serious/emotional Dick all along.

And finally... Keith. What a tragic ending there. It was just so heartbreaking to see him realizing he couldn't trust Veronica, and yet still committing a crime and sacrificing the election to keep her out of trouble. *sigh* If only they had been able to communicate better - Veronica could have said, "Hey, I'm handling this, no need to tamper with evidence" and saved him from all that. I can understand her not wanting to talk about a sex tape of her going around school, but still... And then, poor V realizing that she cost him the election, and then going to vote...

When I think about it, the ending was really unsatisfying, with all the things they left unresolved - it didn't feel wrapped up at all. It felt unsettling, as though in almost every situation, you KNOW that things are going to be worse than they were before, the complete opposite of the gift-wrapped-with-a-bow finale we got from Gilmore Girls last week. I guess that's the difference when you know it's the end. But Rob Thomas must have suspected it might be the end, and could've planned accordingly. On the other hand, the two episodes were so good, I almost don't care that it wasn't wrapped up. At least VM went out with a hell of a bang.

Veronica, I will miss you. Good luck in the FBI (assuming you can still pass the background check, what with all the times you've been arrested and the crimes your father's committed to protect you, and the unsavory ex-convict company you keep).

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.

Slow news day

Well, not "news" so much as "work." It's been surprisingly quiet in work this week... maybe because the House is having hearings out in Erie (why??) and the Senate had so much fun making our lives miserable last week that they decided they needed a break.

Anyway, I've been hard pressed to stave off boredom this week - and today is probably the worst, because Teresa and Charlene are both out, which means I don't have anyone to talk to! :( I shoulda taken Friday off, too...

I haven't blogged in almost two weeks - I'm such a slacker. But I have lots of things to talk about today!

Is anyone still watching Gilmore Girls? I gave up sometime around when Luke's mysterious child popped up, just in time to screw things up with Lorelai. But since we heard that this is officially the end, I kinda wanted to tune back in, just to see how things turned out. So, I watched last week when Rory turned down Logan's marriage proposal and graduated from Yale. I've honestly given up caring whether Luke and Lorelai get back together... but it'd be nice if they were at least friends. (Of course, from the way he ate her face in the previews for the series finale, I suspect it may be more than that.) I also read this interview with Lauren Graham - and now I'm really curious what ASP's final four words were gonna be! Damn, that's gonna bug me.

The good news is, the cancellation of Gilmore Girls means that Veronica Mars has a better shot of returning. Since the CW sucks, basically, as a network, and can't do anything besides reality shows and wrestling, losing GG and 7th Heaven means there's a vacuum in their hour-long drama department. We may still get FBI-Veronica, with none of the rest of the cast back, but it's better than nothing, right? Random side note - how much do I love Piz? As much as I want Logan and Veronica together, I find Piz absolutely adorable, and I cringe at the idea of Veronica breaking his heart. Parker, on the other hand, can go away. Far, far away... like Logan's 12-year-old girlfriend from season 2. And... hey, remember when Weevil used to be on this show?

This may be better than the actual series of 24: bringing back all the deceased characters (aka all the people we liked) as ghosts haunting Jack! I'd so watch that. I was actually really surprised they killed off Milo, but I read somewhere that he wants to do a cop show pilot and asked to be written off. (I also read that they knew he wasn't going to survive the season, so maybe he's just saying he asked for it... I don't know.) I'm finding it really hard to care about 24 lately... which is a shame, because it's always been one of my favorite shows. Kiefer is contracted for 2 more years, I think, so it's certainly not going anywhere - and they keep talking about how they're going to "revamp" the show. Well, maybe they meant adding vampires, because this year's "revamp" was actually more like the previous seasons recycled. And Jack did bite that guy...

In other 24 news, Wednesday was Jack Bauer Appreciation Day! I'm sorry I missed it. I would've yelled "Dammit!" a lot in celebration.

Remember Drive, that Nathan Fillion/Tim Minear show that was on for 8 days? Well, even though it was canceled, I decided to watch the 4 episodes anyway - and naturally, got all attached and now I wanna know how it ends! Well, that probably won't happen, because Fox sucks. Seriously, they don't even give shows a chance - they showed the first three episodes in two days, and I guess maybe didn't think that ratings for the fourth episode might be down because people who didn't get to watch three episodes might have trouble catching up. I didn't get to watch them until after it was canceled - and I was determined to like the show! Anyway, they are showing the remaining two episodes - on the 4th of July! Proving once again that they hate people who like their shows. But I loved this comment from Whedonesque: " I think it would be cool to show the final episodes out of order." Sadly, that's such a Fox thing to do. (Firefly, anyone?)

Apparently, the Geico cavemen pilot sucks. I can't really say I'm surprised... Personally, I'd rather see a show about that gecko with the hot British accent.

I watched Traveler last night, which was pretty good. It's about two guys, just graduated from college, who are on the run from the FBI when a third friend of theirs supposedly commits a terrorist attack (blowing up a museum in NYC) and they get blamed for it. Whitney at Pop Candy describes it as an "Abercrombie version of 24." Hee. They're re-airing the pilot (see that, Fox? ABC understands...) on May 30th, after which the season will air over the summer. I think that's actually a good idea - get people watching the pilot early, give them some time to generate buzz, and then hopefully, have a bigger audience when it airs again. If Drive had done that, instead of airing a bunch of episodes all at once and not allowing it to build on word of mouth, it might have stuck around longer (well, the four weeks it woulda taken to show those same episodes, I guess...).

The computerless life is not for me...

So, for those of you who've missed me, I've been conspicuously absent from the internet lately due to a malfunctioning power cord. My poor little laptop had no power, and so poor little Laura had no computer. But, $100 and a shiny new power cord later, all is well in the world (except my bank account).

Speaking of technology loss, the NY Times had a great article (which you may no longer be able to read, because it was so long ago) abut the Blackberry outage. It's hilarious how dependent on them some people are. I only just got mine, so it's still in the "novelty toy" phase - but the girl I work with, she's crazy about it. Like, she'll get up from her desk to leave the office, and she's checking her Blackberry by the time she gets in the elevator. Crazy.

I've been on an emotional rollercoaster with the possible canceling of Veronica Mars. After hearing it reported that the show was as good as dead, Enrico Colantoni said it wasn't canceled, but the FBI idea was out. Then, later, Rob Thomas said the FBI thing is very much a possibility, and Enrico is on crack. Bottom line: we won't know for sure until CW announces their fall lineup in May. Grrrrrr. I want my VM!

Elsewhere in the canceled series world, Drive has officially bit the dust. I can't really say I'm surprised, because Fox does this all the time. But it's kind of funny that it was canceled before I even got a chance to watch the 4 episodes that are in my possession. I wonder if it's even worth it now...

There's a really long, but good interview with David Fury, who has worked on almost all of my favorite shows. In this interview, he mostly talks about 24, but also some Buffy, Angel, and Lost tidbits.

In the Buffy news bin, Joss has an interview about the Angel season 6 comic. And I want everything on this website.

Did anyone else read the Baby-Sitters Club when they were younger? Because I was totally into them, and so I was superexcited to see that someone is re-reading the books as an adult and blogging about them! Her posts are absolutely hilarious, and it's fun to remember how much I loved that series as a kid.

And finally, your dose of random for today: Bidets that catch fire. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "light a fire under your ass."

TV talk

Did anybody watch Drive on Sunday? I was so preoccupied with the season finale of the Dresden Files that I forgot about it, so I taped Monday night's episode in the hopes of catching up online or something. It doesn't seem like the reviews are all that great, but considering the dearth of good television right now, I don't mind too much.

Speaking of dearth, the news doesn't look good for Veronica Mars. Scroll all the way down to the end of this chat to read the bad news - VM is almost definitely canceled. :( Please excuse me while I rend my garments.

The Black Donnellys appears to have bit the dust (maybe they'll have the show's wake in the Donnelly brothers' bar), but you can watch the rest of the episodes online.

And for all of you who were counting on a new episode of Bones this week... well, not so much. Fox is pulling the episode because of the shooting at VA Tech (apparently the episode had something to do with a murder on a college campus). I don't blame them for doing this, but poor David Boreanaz. Every show he's on gets an episode pulled because of a school shooting. (Remember Earshot, and then Graduation Day?)

I am still watching 24, which is about the only show still on TV anymore. Last night's episode took a sharp U-turn from the entire preceding season, since we're abruptly ending the nuclear bomb plot, like, 6 hours early to go chase after Audrey in China. I think it's kind of funny how people at CTU are all shocked that Jack's gone rogue - like he hasn't done that at least once a day? And dumb Ricky Schroeder (standing on the side of the highway, where Jack left him stranded) yelling, "You can't go against the White House!" - clearly, Rick hasn't watched the previous 5 seasons. I did love Jack's line to the President - "You owe me." Oh, he soooo does. The entire Palmer family owes him their lives (several times over), not to mention how many times he's saved the city of Los Angeles from destruction and the country from utter chaos and war. So, yeah, that "You owe me" has been a loooong time coming. Way to go, Jack, for cashing in (even if it only lasted half an episode).

And finally, because I promised Kelly, why Buffy is a gay icon - don't ask me where I find this stuff.

Here's a little more on the Veronica Mars tragedy-in-the-making. Seriously, Veronica in the FBI? Don't we have enough FBI shows? But I'll take messed-up VM over no VM, so I'd still watch it. But I better get my LoVe!!

Maybe VM lovers need to take a cue from James Marsters fans. Apparently, they are mailing their boxers to Shoreline Entertainment, in order to encourage the release of his movie, Shadow Puppets. While I applaud the effort, I find there's irony in knowing that JM does not wear boxers.

And speaking of James, this is the funniest frickin' thing I've ever heard. Bloopers from the Summer Knight audio book. "They can tell if you're from France, they can tell if you're from Spain, they can tell if you're from England. They just can't tell if you're from Latvia, or Estonia... Okay, she's from Latvia.... how do you do Latvian?" Pretty clever, though, figuring out that a European accent you can't place would be eastern European. And I love the random expletives in the middle of the Latin. "Yes, and we could take the two hours to figure it out phonetically, or..."

Say it ain't so!

First, I must begin with some horrible, horrible, terribly foreboding news. Veronica Mars may be getting canceled. Please join me in egging the CW offices this weekend. But, on the upside, it looks like Angel is being continued in the same Joss-approved comic format as Buffy. Hey, maybe Rob Thomas can do a VM comic, since that seems to be the trend.

This is kinda cool, in a disturbing kind of way - they're making a Little House on the Prairie musical. As much as I love Little House (the books and the TV show), I'm forced to ask "why?" Even weirder: Melissa Gilbert (the original Laura Ingalls) and Patrick Swayze are playing Ma and Pa Ingalls.

I don't actually watch Dancing with the Stars, but I've been hearing so much about Heather Mills' leg, I admit to a morbid curiosity about whether it will fall off while she's dancing. Maybe Kelly can weigh in with an expert opinion.

Oh, and how awesome is this - there was a three-way tie on Jeopardy. I love it.

Here's a nice article about how I used to have a really important job. I'm still goggling over Hillary's "thousand donors" at the "second million-dollar-plus fundraiser in three days." We maybe had a thousand donors total... and only did two million dollar fundraisers the entire campaign. Man, I'm a little bit jealous of Kathy right now.

In other political news, I love it when candidates and organizations make their interns wear animal costumes.

And this Peep Research website had me and Teresa cracking up for hours at work today.

Quotes of the week:

Dresden Files
"Who are you talking to?"
"The dead. They hunger for human brains. The feasting will begin at sundown." - Harry

24
"Did someone push you down the stairs?" - Karen Hayes
"No, I tripped over your ineptitude." - Tom Lennox

Black Donnellys
when Kevin complains that there's not enough dinner for him
"Well, you shoulda thought of that before you let Tommy steal the casserole. Have some squash." - Mrs. Donnelly
"I don't like squash. I don't even like saying it." - Kevin

The Colbert Report
"Did you know there's wheat in your ice cream?" - Stephen Colbert
"Wheat? I thought they said weed." - Willie Nelson

You heard it here first, people!

Well, in the wake of Veronica Mars's stunning revelation as to who murdered the Dean, I'd just like to direct your attention to this post, in which I correctly predicted the killer. Oh snap! I'm smarter than Veronica! *does a happy dance*

Seriously, Becky and I were on IM that whole episode going "I want us to be right!" and trying to rationalize every twist and turn that made us think it was either the wife or the professor. And man, there were a LOT of twists in that episode. Kelly was a doubter. When the wife bought the boat? And when Landry went to Mexico? Oh yeah, there was doubtage. But - in your face, Kelly! We were soooooooo right.

And in other news... Logan and Parker? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Oh, and here's another interview with Michael Muhney... I'm really gonna miss that guy. Guess it's true, you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

Monday's episode of 24 was a little lackluster. Add a little pressure and Chad Lowe becomes a twitchy little fellow, doesn't he? I don't think he's cut out for the assassination business. I pretty much figure they're not going to actually kill the President, because they've done that a few times already... they'll probably kill Assad, and that will cause all sorts of ruckus in the Muslim world, and even more of them will hate us. So good job, Chad Lowe, on making the country even LESS safe!

Next week looks interesting... "You're gonna tell me what I wanna know, or you're gonna start losing your fingers one by one." And what was that nifty little finger snipping device Jack had, eh? You'd think Jack would've learned his lesson about breaking into foreign consulates and kidnapping, killing, or torturing foreign emissaries. That's kind of what got him dead and then locked up in a Chinese prison (yes, in that order...).

Okay, this is the funniest thing ever. Go to this guy's myspace page and listen to the song "Joss Whedon is My Master Now." Just do it.

And now, for our super-exciting news!!!!! James Marsters is doing two concerts in Long Island on June 30th. Kelly and I are soooo going. Tickets go on sale Friday, so let us know if you're in (you know you wanna...).

And super-exciting news number two - my parents officially have a kitten! They caught little Patches last night and took her to the vet today. She is now all spayed and got her shots and all healthy. She will be an outdoor kitty, but she's already figured out how to use a litter box (she's so smart!)... assuming she ever comes out from behind the couch. (She's afraid of either Dad or the big TV or both.)

"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.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, as is traditional, I plan to celebrate this Valentine's Day by posting about death, torture, and werewolves. What do you mean, that's not traditional? Okay, then I'm just going to talk about this week's TV.

I thought Sunday's episode of The Dresden Files was the best one so far. That's possibly because it was loosely based on the second book in the series, Fool Moon... or possibly because there was a guest star that we (the audience, for which I use myself and Becky as representative of) and Harry connected with, and villains that were sincere about their evildoing. Anyway, I think I was right that, given the chance to develop, this will be a good show. Each episode has gotten progressively better, and hey - even Buffy kind of sucked in season 1. It did kind of squick me out though, that the werewolf girl (Heather? was that her name?) reminded me of the girl who played Paul Blackthorne's daughter on 24... and here she is kissing him on this show. But I liked her character, and I wonder if they drew on Harry's girlfriend from the books for her (his girlfriend, Susan, gets turned into a vampire and has to leave in order to get her bloodlust under control). I thought they'd cast an actual Susan character, but who knows, maybe Wolf Girl will be back.

I also watched my tape of 24 - yay for two-hour specials. Here's my notes, jotted down while I was watching:

• Hey, who knew Blondie had a little psycho chick in her?
• I think Mr. Ally McBeal is having a little nutty. Why can’t he write his own letter of resignation, like a real man? And Chad Lowe is evil, apparently. It troubles me how much he looks like his brother, because I keep seeing shades of Sam Seaborn and Sam is not evil. And, um, immediate removal of the President so the Veep can take office? Either they’re going to kill him or they’re going to invoke the 25th Amendment… both of which have been attempted on President (David) Palmer – President Buffy’s BROTHER! Don’t you think he's gonna catch on when they do the same thing to him?
• It seems like Assad got to DC awfully quickly. How long was that cross-country flight? Two hours? I want that jet.
• “People are leaving the building. If there really is a fire, what do we do?” Dumbest. Terrorist. Ever.
• I was really kind of disappointed that Morris caved… I mean, not that I’d be able to withstand someone drilling into my shoulder, but he’s a CTU agent, and he knew they were coming for him, so why didn’t he just fiddle with it and stall a little longer? But then in the second hour, he kinda won me back with the guilt… when Chloe went to kiss him and he turned away? Aww.
• “CTU, this is Bauer, we got a problem.” Well, that was mighty calm of you, Jack. I liked that the bomb had those little plates instead of the traditional ticking clock… I imagine that it would have been too complicated to synch the bomb clock with the show clock, but it was nice to have the sense of tension without the cheesy “Jack stops the bomb with two seconds left” thing.
• Aww… that was a nice moment when Jack paused, the first time he went back to CTU. And another aww moment when Jack accepted responsibility for killing his brother, and wouldn’t let Bill cover it up. Made even sadder by the fact that he didn’t actually kill him, of course, but how heart-breaking when he was all “I wanted to”?
• Why would they let Farmer Bauer rifle through Bluetooth Bauer’s stuff? Isn’t that considered evidence? That, you know, shouldn’t get tampered with?
• Niiiiice driving, Milo. But kinda clever with blowing up the CTU truck. I think he learned that from Jack in season 1.

Also, VM last night? Awesome. One of my favorites in a long time. Dick was hilarious - when he locked Logan on the balcony so the room service people could have their trays back! And "I hate to use this card but... shuffle shuffle." And that little girl was TOO cute. Logan really needs to get off his ass - becoming a slovenly couch potato is NOT going to win Veronica back, young man! I'm still on the fence about him - last week I was saying I didn't think I could forgive him for sleeping with Madison, and he went a little way towards thawing my heart, but I'm still not sure.

I was just talking to Kelly about how I missed Wallace and Cliff and Lamb - and lo and behold, there they all were! Although the whole five seconds of Wallace was disappointing. But a teehee to Keith's "Don't worry, the sheriff has a long and proud history of being wrong." I'm curious what was up with the Dean's murder case - the car leaving the hotel puts a bit of a wrench in my Evil TA Tim theory. But based on the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang litmus test, Mrs. O'Dell is the more likely suspect. Maybe she left the hotel to talk to him (because they had that fight) but either chickened out and came back without talking to him, or talked to him and left before he died. I still cling to TA Tim, if only because the show's made him seem NOT like a suspect.

And, um, Veronica getting arrested at the end there? Whoa... followed by a "huh?"