Ugly is the New Black

Ugly Betty

I just caught up with this show yesterday and now I see what all the fuss is about. It really is funny and it's still just based off of an old concept. The ugly duckling is really a swan. I do hope that Betty becomes a swan one day though. A least a little bit. You'd think that some of the high fashion world would have to rub off on her even a little bit. But so far so good!

Betty just does her own thing and really doesn't care much about what others think. There is an underlying plot of Wilhelmina plotting behind the scenes with a mysteriously cloaked Fey (who used to work for MODE magazine but faked her death) to take over the company from Daniel, the son of the owner of Meade publications. In each show, something "disasterous" happens where the company will surely fall into Wilhelmina's hands and then, of course, Betty comes to the rescue.

The writing is actually pretty brilliant and funny and it'll be interesting to see how this show continues. The audience still has a lot of questions to be answered so we can watch for that as well as see Betty stumble her way through the pressure and stereotypes of the fashion world. I think this show is a great pick-me-up for Thursday night TV. And why not watch a little humor before the angst and drama of Grey's Anatomy or The O.C. at 9:00.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Friday Night Lights

I think this is a pretty good show. I've heard rumors about it struggling with ratings, and maybe next week's new time will help, but I really hope they give it a chance. NBC in general is having some major issues, but at least moving time slots to after Heroes (the best thing NBC has done in a long time) might actually save this show.

I must say, I get frustrated with this show though. Not exactly the show, but the coach on the show. Now, maybe I just have no idea what I'm talking about because I don't come from a huge high school football town, but this coach has no balls! I take that back though, he's growing some. I just find it so strange that an entire town only hates or loves this guy depending if the football team lost or won the football game. And when I say the coach has no balls, it's because he just bends over and takes what the town says. At least in this last episode he actually shoved some discipline down these kids throats and at least gained respect from the players...but like all schools these days, the coaches/teachers just need to tell the parents to shove it so they can do their damn jobs!

At first I wasn't sure about this show. It was literally minute 8 into the first episode that I knew exactly what was going to happen. The head QB gets injured, the poor hardly-noticed back-up QB has to fill in and take over QB1, the town blames the coach for no reason, the cheerleader girlfriend stays by her injured man's side, etc etc. But, with this type of story there is always good drama. We see that the "good girl" loyal girlfriend to the fallen QB is really a slut in disguise and ends up hooking up with the QB's best friend, the fill-in QB gets beat up and terrorized by everyone because he hasn't won a game yet, and because he's only started in one game after the injury, and lost, they are already bringing in another QB to take his place. So now, it's the typical game of "who is going to start on Friday coach?" So for me, it's a great equation for a winning show. Let's just hope NBC doesn't screw it up by moving it all over the place and losing their fan base.

The Day Has Finally Come!

I’m sure no one is quite as excited about this as I am, except Kelly (my freshman roommate), but the day is almost here. November 7, 2006 is the day I’ve been waiting for for 6 years! 90210 and Melrose Place are FINALLY coming out on DVD!!!

Now, to give you a little background on my love for these shows, I’m sure you’ll think I’m a little insane. But as I said, Kelly will understand. 90210 is the originally TV teen angst drama that started the entire phenomenon that we see on TV today. The WB, now The CW, has based their entire network on this type of show. It was the first show of it’s time to bring up “real” teen issues while including a good dose of soap opera drama on a nighttime TV program. I started watching this show in middle school. The 90210 gang was one year older than me. And then I continued watching all through college. I never missed a single episode in all 10 years of the show and some of the best times I had were when Kelly and I would close our dorm room door, turn off the lights, turn off the ringer on the phone and totally geek out to 90210 while discussing every character and situation. We were both madly in love with Dylan and it broke our hearts when he left, and when he came back, a couple years later (when Kelly and I were no longer roommates), you better believe we were the first ones on the phone with each other to rejoice and scream about Dylan’s return. So yes, this does sound a bit insane, but Kelly and I know that if there was ever a 90210 Jeopardy show, we would totally win and it would be a tie between both of us!

And then, there was Melrose Place. Ah, the joy it gave me to watch sisters throwing each other in pools, betrayal, manipulation, knavery, adultery, backstabbing and I could go on and on. Not that I like those characteristics, but there is always something about watching all of that going on and seeing just how great my life is compared to that! It was definitely weird to see Dr. Kimberly Shaw all cleaned up and sweet as Bree Van De Camp in Desperate Housewives. What a switch! And what about Kristen Davis mixing it up from Brooke Armstrong to Charlotte York on Sex and The City?! Melrose Place had a great cast with the best story lines and I loved the fact I could have a crush on Billy Campbell and aim to be a sassy business woman like Amanda Woodward every week!

These two shows are what started my true love with TV. So thank you Aaron Spelling and Darren Star! You have a place in my heart as two of my favorite TV heroes. I just hope you release all the season of each show in a timely manner! I’m starting from the beginning on November 7^th. I’m looking forward to re-living my teen years!

Daytime is Playtime!

At least for my TiVo! I swear I push both of my TiVo’s to the limit. I should really be in QA for this company! I have to TiVo set up to record like MAD all day long. Especially during the day. I must say…I’m definitely a daytime talk show whore. I love them! The most challenging part is watching all of these shows when there are real shows out there at night. Thank goodness for TiVo and fast-forwarding.

So this is how much fun my TiVo has during the day.

The View
I couldn’t stand this show with Star Jones because she literally made me want to throw up. First she was a fat cow, and then she turned into an alien. Double-puke. So why would I, a republican, wait until Rosie O’Donnell joined the show? Well, I was certainly scared I’d get annoyed in 1.3 seconds of watching her, but I gave it a chance. Has she changed at all from her last talk show when she tanked as soon as she added in her ridiculous opinions? Not at all. But this is at least a better and more acceptable forum for her “thoughts”. (as she likes to call them) I think I really watch to see what a train wreck she is. I’m fine with people having opinions as long as there is some validity behind them. So the train wreck is just watching her ignorance. I might change my mind on this show though. I don’t mind hearing everyone’s opinions no matter how retarded they are…but when one person, that happens to have an opposite opinion, is never heard and constantly cut off and talked over, then we’re just getting into the overall liberal network biased that we really (and unfortunately) should be used to by now. I swear if they don’t let Elizabeth give her two cents when everyone else can give their .50, I’m going to scream and give my TiVo a break from that nonsense! But for now…the extra dose of celebrities keeps me watching.

Rachel Ray
I have a love/hate relationship with this woman. She’s certainly no Giada deLaurentis, but she does have cute ideas and a cute personality. My #1 gripe... ALL SHE DOES IS YELL!!! No idea where that comes from but I swear I have to turn down my TV to watch this show. I can get as excited about food as the next person, but this woman gets a bit crazy. I’m also not a big fan of her audience “chats” in the beginning of the show. Let’s get down to business woman! I don’t want to hear some stranger’s story on their favorite “bad kid” story or whatever! And my final gripe…and I know this has partly gotten her to where she is (no clue why!)…but all her made-up words and catch phrases have GOT to go! “Yumm-O!!!” “Give it a shimmy-shake!!!” “Add a little EVOO!!!” etc. Horrible! So why do I watch you ask? Mainly because I love cooking shows, which this has a lot of, and I love celebrities. Do I watch every day? No way…I’d poke my eyes out with a spoon. But I check my fabulous TiVo to tell me who she had on that day and I fast-forward my way to the fabulous celebrity of the day!

The Megan Mullally Show
One word. Bad. Why do I watch then? You guessed it! Celebrities! Or at least the promise of them. Her big selling point to me was celebrities we all wanted to see. Unfortunately there’s only been a couple. So I’m holding out a little more hope for this one to see how it goes. But the way it’s looking, it’s so not getting renewed. I’ve been deleting more than watching this one, even though she’s pretty funny, so TiVo may soon have one less play-date each day.

Martha
No matter what people say about her, I still love her. I really learn a lot from her show. Cooking, gardening, laundry tips, crafts, etc. It’s great. I also get her magazine, so it’s like having her as a consultant during the day and getting even more tips from the magazine each month. I really like to cook and be crafty. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of time but I try. I don’t garden too much, mainly because I live in the city, but also because I have a horrible brown thumb. I just keep watching hoping that she’ll be able to fix me.

The Ellen Show
Now, who doesn’t love this woman?! I’m not even a lesbian and I love her! She’s so funny and witty and just great to watch. Do I watch every second? No…but I watch most of it! She has great guests on and does really funny skits. I must say I’m a bit disappointed in the lack of dancing this year though. Especially when she shows clips of the audience dancing before the show. SO great! It’s really amazing how many white people are really out there. Ellen definitely has the best variety of guests and she likes the same TV shows that I like. Can’t get any better than that!

Oprah
The queen of daytime. You KNOW she’s on my season pass list. I have always loved this woman and always will. She really has a great mix of shows with a lot of meaning and shows that are just plain celebrity stalking. I love it! I get the best of both worlds. Did I care about the women that attempted suicide and failed? Not so much. But did I care about Janet Jackson? You better believe it! She and TiVo will definitely be life-long friends. Keep it up girl!

This may look like a lot of TV to watch, but if you noticed, there is a lot of shows that I just simply check who is on that day and either skip to that part, watch the whole show, or delete. And really, the beauty of TiVo is being able to watch more shows in less time. I just happen to be a professional at that.

WTF?!

Ok, as much as I love LOST, I’m getting a little annoyed with this season already. I really never mind not understanding what’s going on, but to have NO clue??? It’s annoying. I just want to know why the hell “the others” are so mean! Why can’t they just all get along? It’s not like they came onto the island to take it away from “the others”, they were in a friggin’ crash! I’m guessing they have internet access though. They have to be sitting around Googling the hell out of each of the flight 815 people to know all they know. So anyway, I hope to get to the point soon or at least get back to the exciting stuff. It looks like that “monster” is back next week. Yeah!

At least we found out who the father of Sun’s baby is. Too bad he dove to his death. Or did he? And will we ever really know? And would it even matter anymore? I have always like Sun, but the whole submissive wife crap is ridiculous. I don’t care about the cultural divide and all of that. You’ve been on an island for 69 days, you’re the only one he can really understand and talk to, yet he STILL treats you like crap! Maybe she will actually leave him if they ever get friendly with “the others” and she finds someone new. Who knew that her and Claire would actually be starting up a Single Mothers group on an island though. Right?!

The other disappointment last night, Sayid. He’s supposed to be the smart re-con guy and he actually didn’t think “the others” would just sneak by just to get the boat? Come on! Maybe he’s just losing his touch being on that island for 69 days.

The best thing about last night? Sun actually shooting one of those bastards! Isn’t it strange how they can escape, get out of their “cell” and get a hold of a rifle and STILL get controlled/caught by “the others” every single time?!?! So go Sun! Way to shoot that woman. Let’s hope she dies.

Fave New Fall Show

And the winner is…Heroes! The inner-geek in me has loved the first few episodes of this show. It’s about people with super powers that live among us and their destiny is to, of course, save the world. There is a male nurse that is a power mimic, a congressional candidate that has the power of flight, a precog (slang for precognition, which you’d know if you watch The 4400) artist, a business man that can manipulate time and teleport, a high school cheerleader that automatically heals herself, a telepathic police officer, a fugitive with phasing ability and the strangest one so far, is the single mother camera whore that has a reflection that acts independently from her real self. With a cast like that…you can’t tell me that doesn’t sound brilliant!

Right now they are figuring out their powers and learning to develop them and what good they are. I think it’s going to be an interesting ride with this show so hold on! Like Smallville, who doesn’t like the comic book factor mixed with some angst? I think it’s a perfect mix. Let’s just hope the network and public feel the same on this one!

Long Time Gone

So…I’m back! It’s been almost a year since I’ve blogged about my fabulous TiVo, but that certainly doesn’t mean I’ve fallen out of love. Quite the opposite! My boyfriend (TiVo) and I have only grown stronger and my TV watching is still as insane as ever!

So where should I start? I’m certainly not going to cover the entire last year and all of my thoughts, so I guess its best to start over. But this will be a pretty long day in posts and I write bits and pieces between real work that I should be doing while AT work!

I think I will first start with my new love of TV DVDs. Of course I’ve been watching my episodes of Sex and the City (SATC) on DVD for years, but I think it’s just great that you can watch anything and everything on DVD these days. That’s how I started watching LOST and Nip/Tuck and that’s now I’m in the middle of 24 and Grey’s Anatomy. I also found a show when I was living in London for a month called Peep Show and that’s on DVD too! It’s really awesome. I think if there are any sets that I’d really like to get on DVD to sit next to my new SATC box set that I got (yes…even though I have every other season separately), would be That 70’s Show and Friends. I think as many times as I’ve seen each episode of all of the shows, I can keep watching them over and over.

So let’s talk about my new favorite TV show. Yes, I know I’m late on the bandwagon, but you have to understand…I just watch SO much stuff, when this show came on, I just didn’t have the time to squeeze another one in there in my schedule! So, Grey’s Anatomy, LOVE IT! I mean seriously, who doesn’t love a nighttime soap opera with a great cast and constant drama?! I actually knew this show was going to be good, but it was one of those things I put off to wait for the DVD so I could start from the beginning. Glad I did and glad I started TiVoing this season’s show so I’ll but fully caught up in about a week or so. I knew so well ahead of time that I was going to like this show, that whenever any magazine/entertainment show has said something about each season, I just shut it off or close the magazine. So lucky for me, I have resisted the temptation of finding out anything so the DVD watching experience has been great! So great that I’m exhausted today because I stayed up so late watching it and started right when I got home from work yesterday! I’ve actually done the same thing with 24. Sort of. I have heard through the grapevine that the President dies, but other than that, it’s a pretty exciting show as well. I must say though, it’s just not the same for me as Grey’s Anatomy. While 24 is exciting and suspenseful, I just can’t get “into” it like I can the drama or teen angst shows. I have only watched the first 2 seasons of 24 and will do my best to catch up to season 6 by the time it starts. We’ll have to see!

So yes, TV on DVD is such a great thing! One of these days I also plan on starting The Office and Monk. I’m afraid that is just going to have to wait until next summer!