Category Archives: TV

TV!

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Pan Am and Terra Nova- I like these shows for now, but I’m still not sure about them, so I’ll keep watching them for now.  I’m not sure about the flashbacks for Pan Am, but maybe they’ll ease up on them once the show gets going.  And we did learn about what happened to Bridget, the one who disappeared.  Terra Nova really reminds me of Lost. 

I’ve also been watching Unforgettable, which is about a cop who remembers everything.  It’s interesting so far, but I can’t imagine remembering every single thing that’s every happened to you.  I really like Revenge too, and the plot is definitely thickening.  And Person Of Interest is getting good too but it’s definitely a show you need to pay attention to so you don’t miss what’s going on.  I think it might take me a while to get into it.

House!  This was another show I’ve been waiting all summer for.  Looking back on last season, I didn’t like it too much, and I’m hoping this season is better.  House is in jail.  Raise your hand if you’re surprised by that.  I’m not raising my hand right now, in case you’re wondering.  The episode was okay, but House does try to solve a mysterious case…silly House for thinking it was lupus at the beginning of the episode.  It’s never lupus!  I am surprised that House wanted to go to jail, but it looks like he’ll be out next week…and no one wants to talk to him.  Maybe this season will be really interesting, and I hope that we find out happens with Cuddy.

NCIS was great this week.  I’ve been excited about this episode ever since I heard that Lily Tomlin was going to be playing McGee’s grandma.  Wheat grass squares…that made me giggle.  And post-coital embrace…that got another giggle.  It was great- McGee’s strait-laced, and his grandma seems to be a hippie!  It seems like they’re close, maybe it has to do with the issues he had with his dad that they alluded to.  I really wanted to give McGee a hug- first his sister is accused of murdering someone a few seasons ago, and then his grandma knew the dead sailor and was connected to his murder because of something that she worked on a few decades ago.  I love McGee-centric episodes, seeing as we don’t get seem to get them as often as the Tony, Ziva or Gibbs-centric episodes.

Grey’s Anatomy- My favorite line of the episode was big accident at the convention center…human stampede at a comic convention!  That’s certainly an image that hilarious and entertaining.  Especially with a zombie nurse and a stormtrooper making appearances!  I have to say, it’s sad Richard stepped down but at the same time, Richard as a regular surgeon and not as chief is slightly entertaining.  He seemed a little out of his element at first.  It’s all dramatic and over-the-top, but that’s why I love it!  Next weeks episode looks really good…

I think that’s it for today, so have a great weekend!

What To Talk About?

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First, I really want to talk about t.v.  I watched Pan Am on Sunday and Terra Nova on Monday.  That just leaves the premiere of House and Once Upon A Time.  So, I’m not really into the whole retro tv show thing, but Pan Am has been hyped up, and it’s the only one that’s really jumped out at me.  I liked it, and I think I’ll keep watching.  It was better than I expected, and I’m really curious about one of the character who had more mentions than appearances in the episode.  Hopefully, we’ll see more of her over the course of the season.  If we don’t see her, I hope they at least explain a little more about her.  And Terra Nova!  Another show that was really hyped, and while I liked it, I’m still not sure.  I was reminded of Lost when I was watching the premiere, since there’s something odd about Terra Nova.  Seriously, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s definitely something weird.

NaNo’s getting really close!  A month and a few days…and I still need to work on all my plot bunnies.  Since I have a few weeks left, I really need to get into gear and start working on this.  That might actually mean something if I hadn’t been saying that for the last few months.  But this time, I really mean it!  Because, you know, I have 3 ideas, and there is no way I can absolutely wing it this year.  I have a general idea for each one, but I actually need to work out the details, since they’re all the sort of novel that need to be planned.  At least to a certain degree, because if I don’t, it’ll be a hysterical mess that will make me want to bang my head against the wall.  Oh wait, don’t I do that already?  Why, yes, yes I do, but even more than normal.  If I don’t plan, it’ll end up being like that year when I just started writing a novel feeling inspired by a song.  As entertaining as that was…I really need to not do that again.

I do have an announcement to make.  Next month (which is really this week), I’ll be switching to a 5 day a week posting schedule, and I’ll be introducing some specific columns.  Music Mondays, Writing Wednesdays, TV Fridays, and Tuesday/Thurdsay…I have no idea what’ll be filling those 2 days…probably book reviews and stuff that doesn’t really fit with the specific columns.  I might be posting on Saturday or Sunday every once in a while, but I’m not promising anything.  In November, I’ll be posting everyday, but that’s because it’s NaNo, and NaNo is a really big event in my life.  Monday/Wednesday/Friday should be kind of obvious right?  I’ll talk about music (or podcasts) on Mondays, writing-related things/updates on Wednesdays, and recap the week in t.v. on Fridays.  I may deviate from that schedule, but if I do, it won’t be very often.  Because what’s the point of having a schedule with different features and stuff if I’m not going to stick to it?  The last week of October will be devoted solely to NaNo, and maybe the first week of December too, as a pre-NaNo special, and a post-NaNo wrap-up.

What is bringing about this change?  I really want to do something different with my blog, and while I’m not running out of things to say, sometimes…I just don’t want to post something.  And yet I do post something.  There is another reason why I’m trying out something different.  When I started this blog 11 months ago (has it really been that long?), it was to talk about my writing, and to chronicle my attempt to write 3 50k novels in one month.  Sure, I talked about food, and music and some other stuff, but I tried to connect it all to writing.  But nearly a year later, I talk about everything except writing.  I wanted to update my “posting schedule” and introduce new columns on specific days to reflect everything that I talk about.  Everything I talk about will still be around, but on specific days.  I feel like I’m lost a little bit of my blogging focus, and hopefully an actually schedule with specific things on specific days will help me regain some of that focus.

So, that’s it for today…I should have a book review posted sometime this week.  Have a great day everyone!

More TV Talk!

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Grey’s Anatomy and Person Of Interest are next up on my season premiere recap.

First off, Grey’s Anatomy.  It was a 2-hour premiere, and Meredith loses her job, the board at the hospital deciding a suspension wasn’t good enough.  She sticks around the hospital though.  Kepner is chief resident, but no one listens to her, and Bailey tries to find a gunther, which a patient used as a team-building activity to get the residents to work together.  Everybody’s made at Alex because he ratted on Meredith.  Let’s see…there’s a giant sinkhole in Seattle, so all the injuries go to Seattle Grace or Mercy West, or whatever the hospital’s called now.  Christina ends up getting an abortion and Owen supports her decision, which is a big change from the end of last season.  And with Meredith getting fired, the separation from Derek, and the “red flags” raised by the interview with the social services lady, the baby Meredith and Derek adopted is taken away, and will be placed with another family while they re-evaluate the life Derek and Meredith could provide for Zola.  Richard covers for Meredith, saying it was him who switched the results instead of Meredith, and so she gets her job back.  I have no idea if he’ll still be working there but not as chief, or if he’ll be gone completely.  He did hand off his clinical trial to Bailey, but we’ll find out next week.

I didn’t see Richard stepping down, but considering how much Meredith gets away with, and his relationship with her mom, I really shouldn’t be surprised.  And that is why I love Grey’s Anatomy.  It is dramatic, and over the top, and in general, it’s fairly predictable, with an occasional twist thrown in.  I’ll be tuning in next week, that’s for sure.

As far as Person Of Interest goes, I watched the pilot, and I really like the premise of the show.  It was interesting, but I’m not sure about it.  I think I’ll keep watching it online to see if it’ll keep me interested.  It was definitely hyped up, but I don’t know if the show actually lived up to all the hype.  Maybe it’s one of those shows that takes a while to get into, like The Event, which was weird at first, and then I got into it.  So maybe the same will happen with Person Of Interest.  For the moment, I’m glad that that Grey’s Anatomy was higher up on the priority list of tv shows to watch.

So, I’m not at all done talking about tv yet, so I’ll be back with a few more season premiere recaps!

So Many Shows…So Little Time!

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What a week for t.v.!  On America’s Next Top Model, the girls got makeovers, which is always one of my favorite episodes.  There was a meltdown, which always seems to happen, and one girl was so happy she cried.  Not much else to report, though, but I’m really glad Kayla didn’t get eliminated.

We also have CSI and Revenge on Wednesday nights.  I was really torn about which one to watch.  A DVR would really come in handy, and I’m not sure if I can convince my grandma to get one.  If I had a way to pay for it myself, I totally give her the money every month for it.  I wasn’t up to going back and forth, so I figured I would watch one and watch the other online.  CSI won out, mostly because it’s the first time I could actually watch it…the only problem is that I have no clue what’s going on, since I’ve only seen the first season in it’s entirety, and random episodes from the subsequent seasons.  On the plus side, though, it’s one of those shows where you can randomly pick up and generally get the gist of what’s going on.

I watched Revenge online, and so far, it’s really good!  It’s definitely something I’m going to keep watching.  I like how it flashed back to her childhood and the present.  You get little bits and pieces of why Emily returned to the Hamptons and what happened, but you don’t get the full story right away.  It’s all very mysterious, and I can’t help but want to know what happened.

And NCIS!  That fanfic I wrote back in July for Camp NaNo?  There was a lot that I unknowingly got right!  It wasn’t E.J., just like I thought, but the microchip she took out of Levin’s arm was definitely connected.  It turned out that it was Cade…but not really.  There’s some guy named Stratton, who said he worked for the FBI, but the FBI has never heard of him, and he’s not showing up in any kind of database.  Another person had the microchip, which I had written back in July, and Tony does disappear for a while, like I had written.  And the FBI is kind of but not really involved in the pilot, while they were featured a lot more in the fanfic.  I definitely need to rewatch it, since it goes back and forth between past and present, which reminded me of the episode where they go looking for Ziva in Somalia.  I feel like I missed a few details, but I can tell you right now that this micro-chip thing is going to be a season-long arc.  It all comes down to something called Phantom 8, which the new SECNAV, Director Vance and this Stratton guy are connected to somehow.  Good lord, everyone being involved in Operation Frankenstein at the end of the last season was enough, do we really need more secret projects that people are involved in?  I don’t trust the new SECNAV at all- he’s definitely up to something.  I really wish they’d go back to the stand-alone episodes- the whole “grab-your-gear, there’s a dead marine” thing.

I’m waiting for House and Once Upon A Time to start.  The season premiere for House is in October as is Once Upon A Time.  I think House is October 3rd, but I’m not sure about the date for Once Upon A Time.  I think it’ll premiere at the end of October.  And Terra Nova starts on Monday, so that’s another one I’ll be recapping.

I watched Grey’s Anatomy yesterday, but I haven’t had a chance to watch Person Of Interest, which was on at the same time, so I’ll give a recap for both tomorrow.

Off In TV Land

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I’m really excited about all the t.v. season (and series) premieres.  So what am I watching?  House, which I hope gets better this season.  I don’t know what to make of Lisa Edelstein being gone, so we’ll wait and see.  Grey’s Anatomy, of course, and I’m really interested in this season.  I really hope Meredith and Derek can work things out, because the whole “things are fine, and then they aren’t, but, oh hey, things are fine again” thing is getting really old.  But then again, it wouldn’t be Grey’s Anatomy if things were hunky-dory with Meredith and Derek.  I haven’t followed any spoilers for House or Grey’s Anatomy, so I have no clue what’s going to happen.  I’m the most excited about NCIS, and I’ve followed every possible spoiler I can get my hands on.  We find out who the mole is, EJ comes back and we meet another FBI agent, who I think is going to make a few appearances over the course of the season.  And this is all in the premiere.  It sounds like there’s all kinds of fun stuff going on this season.

I’m also watching America’s Next Top Model, which is something I only watch every once in a while.  This season is the all-star season, but what I want to know is why it took 16 seasons to do an all-star season.  I was really hoping Shannon would go home, because she’s super-annoying, and her whole “the lace shorts look like underwear, and underwear is reserved for the bedroom for my husband to see, so I’ll wear really skimpy bikini bottoms instead” logic makes no sense.  I felt like hurling something at the t.v.  It looks like there will be lots of drama, but since it’s ANTM, you need to have drama.  And I’ll finally be able to watch CSI this season!  I never could before, since it was always on at the same time as Grey’s Anatomy.  Watching it online never occured to me, so I’ve only seen random re-runs on tv and the entire 1st season.  Since it’s on a completely different night, and doesn’t clash with anything else I’m watching (that I know of, anyway), I’ll be able to watch it!  I don’t know how much of it will make sense, but it is my favorite of the 3 CSI shows.  I can’t stand Miami, and New York was somewhat tolerable before Sela Ward came on.

As far as brand new shows, I’m looking foward to Once Upon A Time, Terra Nova, and Revenge.  I, very vaguely, remember what Once Upon A Time and Terra Nova are about, based on trailers, but they look really interesting.  And Revenge looks really cool too, but I can’t remember when it’s on.  I think it’s on at the same time as something else I’m watching, and since I don’t have a DVR of any sort, I’ll have to try and watch it online.  Actually, I just googled it, and it’s on at the same time as CSI.  Maybe I’ll go back and forth, and see which one I should watch online.  And Person Of Interest seems interesting too, but that’s one I’ll have to watch online, since it goes up against Grey’s.  There’s no way I’m missing Grey’s for some new show!

There’s definitely a lot to look foward to, so I’ll probably have recaps after each show premieres.

Random Side Note: I got a jar of Nutella at the grocery store yesterday because I keep hearing about how awesome it is, and because I’ve seen it pop up in a few recipes.  I tried it, and I love it!  Seriously, I love it as much as peanut butter, and I really love peanut butter.  I’ll have to find some recipes that involve it…after I get another jar, since the one I have is the smallest one they had, and I don’t think it’ll last long…

House Recap

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Last night was the House season finale, and it’ll be my last season recap. At least until In Plain Sight is done for the season.

Anyway, I saw an article that said Lisa Edelstein, who plays Cuddy, isn’t going to come back. Sorta sad, since the article said next season might be the last season. But then again, I’ve liked Cuddy less and less, and the female characters tend to be annoying- they’re all pretty much the same type of character.

Here’s the actual episode recap:

So, we open with Cuddy in front of a house (hers, I’m presuming) telling the police that if House ever gets near her, she wants him in jail. 

We then go to a street performer who gets set on fire, which House and his team watch while he’s recovering from his attempt to perform surgery on himself.  House is getting more ridiculous- while I accept he’s slightly ridiculous (it is part of his charm), it’s getting to be way over the top. 

It turns out the street performer is sick, but set herself up so that House would be her doctor.  Not a big surprise, since it’s happened a few times throughout the series.  I felt like solving the case was secondary to everything else going on.  Turns out she had a diagnosis from a different doctor. 

We went back to Cuddy’s house, with Wilson telling the police that House is probably at a bar, one that suits how he feels inside.  `Then we have Wilson talking to House about how House is being really self-destructive, and deal with his problems instead of self-medicating. 

And then the last 5 minutes happened.  House speeds off, and then comes back, driving into Cuddy’s house, giving her the hairbrush she left at his house back.  The episode ends with House at a beach. 

As for what I thought:

I was curious as to how Cuddy would exit.  It kinda seems like she might make a guest appearance or two.  It’s almost as though this episode was filmed and then Edelstein decided she didn’t want to renew her contract for the next season.  Unfortunately, it didn’t end how I thought it would. 

It’s not my favorite episode, and it felt really disjointed.  I want to know what’s going to happen next season- how is Edelstein leaving going to affect the show?  Is there going to be someone new for the dean of medicine or is it going to be someone we know?  Or is that role going to be conspicuously absent?  That leaves Olivia Wilde as the sole female, but now that’s she’s starting to focus on a movie career, will she be around as much next season?  If not, will someone be added to the team, like they did with Amber Tamblyn?  

And what’s going to happen with Talb’s wife being pregnant, as well, as the other woman he’s been sleeping with?  That’ll be an interesting story arc.

Overall, things felt so unresolved, like we didn’t really get anywhere or learn anything important.

Grey’s Anatomy Recap

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So there are major spoiler alerts for the Grey’s Anatomy season finale.  If you haven’t watched it, and don’t want to know what happened, please don’t read this post!

We start off with the social worker who’s in charge of the adoption- Meredith and Derek decided to adopt one of the kids from Africa.  They’ve been building the house for a couple seasons.  Whenever Derek broke up with the surgical nurse, which I think was season 4 or 5, I can’t remember right now.       

Then we get into the fact that Meredith swtiched the results for the Alzheimer’s trial.  At the end of last weeks episode, Karev, being drunk, told Dr. Hunt that Meredith switched the results for the trial.  She decided that Adele (Dr Weber’s wife) should get the drug she and Derek are testing so she switches the results for Adele and some random person.  Hunt tells Derek, and Derek, Dr Weber, and Meredith have a short meeting where MEreidth says she did nothing wrong.  She refuses to tell Weber and Derek how many time she switched the results, but Karev comes by with his account of what happened.  They learn she switched the results for Adele.  She doesn’t get fired, but she does get suspended, and the trial has to be ended.     

As for Derek and Meredith’s relationship: Derek tells Meredith he can’t raise a child with someone who doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong.  This is after she tells him that she would mess with the results again.  Derek needs some space and time to think.  Anyway, the adoption kind of goes through- they get temporary custody of the kid.     

Here are some of the other highlights:

  • In true Grey’s fashion, there’s a plane crash, and of course, Seattle Grace is the designated hospital.  Unlike other catastrophies featured on the show, everyone dies, except for one unaccompanied minor.        
  • Mark gives Avery the okay to be with Lexie- she wants to be happy, and she’s happy with Avery.  Mark decided to let her go, and she decided to walk away.
  • Christina is pregnant, and she doesn’t want the baby while Dr Hunt does.  They try to come to a compromise but Christina makes an appointment to have an abortion.  He doesn’t take it well, and tells her to leave their apartment.     
  • We learn who the chief resident is- Karev almost got it, until he mentioned the whole Meredith-messing-with-the-trial thing.  Instead, it’s Kepner, which wasn’t a surprise.  I figured it would be her.
  • Teddy decides she wants to be with Henry, the patient she married so he would have health insurance.  I was kinda hoping she’d go with the therapist guy to germany, because I didn’t really like her, but maybe she’ll grow on me.

While dramatic, it wasn’t as dramatic as finales from previous seasons.  My questions are: where is Christina’s relationship with Dr Hunt headed?  Will she change her mind about having the baby?  And what about Derek and Meredith?  Will they work things out or will they get divorced so very soon after getting married?  Will she get permanent custody of the baby?  I want to know the answers to all of these questions!  It’s going to be a long summer.

2 Down, 2 To Go, Plus Major Spoilers

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Last night had the season finales of both NCIS and Hellcats.  There’s still the season finale of House, which I think is on Monday plus the Grey’s season finale tomorrow night.  There are some major spoilers, so if you watch NCIS, or Hellcats, and haven’t seen any of the episodes yet, don’t read this post.   

So, for NCIS, well, it was a doozy of an episode, and we certainly learned a lot.  We learned who the Port-to-Port (henceforth known as P2P) killer was.  We learned Mike Franks was sick, but that was heavily implied last week, so it was no big surprise.  It was still sad though, becasuse I came to love Mike Franks in the few episodes I saw him in.  It turned out Agent Barrett is the niece of SECNAV.  As for the actual P2P killer, it turned out to be Lietenant Cobb, who was getting revenge for Operation Frankenstein.  Unfortunately, since I started watching mid-season, and haven’t seen every episode, I probably missed the connection as to why Cobb was so important.  Cobb dies, as did one of Agent Barrett’s team members.  I hope this episode is the last we see of Barrett, because I really didn’t like her.  And for Ziva and CI-Ray, WTF?  I thought they broke up, and then she seems to take him back!  I’m fine with very little romance in the series, especially among the major characters, because it works for the show.  I nearly started crying at the end, during Mike’s funeral.  It was very touching that Gibbs made Mike’s coffin.

All of that wasn’t the most shocking though- there were a couple very curious things.  First, what did EJ remove from Levin’s arm?  And why would she do it?  And then there’s the meeting between the new SECNAV (because the old one retired), Director Vance, and Tony.  Tony’s getting a top secret clearance because an agent is selling top-secret information, and Tony has to investigate it without anyone else on the team knowing.  He looked shocked for a few moments, and then acted like it was okay. 

The big question is: are the two related?  It’s highly likely they are, but if it’s not her, then who is it?  It’s definitely someone we know, based on Tony’s reaction.  And honestly, there was something odd about EJ.  If there’s anything I learned while watching NCIS, it’s that if something is introduced, it’s for a reason, so EJ removing something that appears to be a microchip of some sort from her dead co-worker’s arm is very suspicious.  Equally as suspicious is that Tony’s team can’t know, and I want to know why.  While it’s possible that it’s EJ, could it be the one of the team?  So, the possibilities are EJ, Gibbs, Ziva and McGee.  I would have said Ducky or Jimmy, but as Ducky’s the ME, and Jimmy’s his assistant, it’s probably not them.  I just thought of something else- CI-Ray got a text telling him Kort is in Tel Aviv.  So what is Kort doing in Tel Aviv, and why does Ray have to go fix it?  It’s going to be a long summer, waiting for season 9.  At least we have an inkling of the changes for NCIS.  As for the traitor storyline, didn’t we get enough of that with Agent Lee and Domino? 

Well, since this post has gone a lot longer than I expected, I think talk about Hellcats briefly.  None of it was a big surprise, and was just okay.  The Hellcats get disqualified from nationals because of an “anonymous tip” that the team experienced an outbreak of strep threat.  With Alice being sick (and not telling anyone) and Savannah being with her sister (who was giving birth), the team didn’t have enough cheerleaders to compete.  The coach ends up getting fired because she put her team at risk, and Savannah steps down as cheer captain.  Relatively uneventful, and not very impressive, but it definitely is setting up the next season.  I haven’t heard anything of the show being cancelled, but hopefully it doesn’t.

Two Season Finales This Week

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I’m pretty excited about the season finales for both NCIS and Grey’s Anatomy that air this week.  I’m looking foward to both, because it looks like both episodes are going to be big. 

I really can’t believe that I didn’t get into NCIS before, but the whole Port-to-Port storyline has been really interesting.  I’m really annoyed that they killed Mike Franks, because he’s always been a really interesting character.  It’s too bad Muse Watson had a recurring role, because I would have loved to see him as a regular cast member.  Random side note: I love Agent Fornell, and it’s a shame Joe Spano only gets to be on a couple of episodes every season.  Anyway, I can’t wait until tonight, because tonight’s episode is going to have serious effects for next season, and is going to change things for the world of NCIS.  Well, according to the interviews I’ve read. 

As for Grey’s Anatomy, it’s going to be an emotional shoot-out (instead of an actual one, thank goodness).  They really like to go big for their season finales, and this one looks like it’ll be no different.  Watching the previews, I kept thinking “oh my god, that’s really happening…”  If Meredith and Derek really break up, and end up getting a divorce after they finally get married, I will not be happy.  Considering how long it took them to get together, and everything they’ve been through…grrr!  And it looks like Meredith gets fired for messing with the Alzheimer’s trial.  Looks like I’ll have to wait until Thursday to find out.