30 Days of Television
I haven't updated in a while, mostly because I don't want to talk about the stuff that's been happening lately...
So I've ruthlessly stolen this off my sister, Tristian
Obviously, there will be spoilers. And it's going to be long, because I'll babble.
Day 01 - ( A show that should never have been cancelled )
Firefly. God I loved that show. Space cowboys, what's not to like? I've loved that idea since I saw Cowboy Bebop, still one of my favourite animes.
All the characters in Firefly were so rich, and they did one of my favourite things - became an ersatz family, a crew with all their disparate temperaments and abilities, but you really felt that sense of belonging with them. This was led by the captain, Mal. Grumping, cynical, damaged, reckless, yet he nevers loses his innate sense of loyalty to his crew. An idealist forced to be pragmatic by losing everything in the war. Zoe, his right hand woman, a warrior maiden wih immense dignity, who follows Mal's lead implicitly, even if she thinks he's being an idiot. Which happens a great deal.
She's married to the funny, geeky pilot, who just happens to be the best in the solar system. You have the man called Jane, a giant thug, a mercenary, who absolutely will turn against you if the money's right, and yet... Simon is the brother you wished you had. Highly capable within his own world, here he is utterly out of his depth, but determined. He gives up everything to save his sister. I really love that guy... Rounding out the male characters is Book, the preacher with the mysterious past, that never gets explained. Ever. And that's great somehow.
And then there's the girls. Let me get this out of the way first: *drool* *swoon* *faints*
Ok, ahem. Yeah, you can rest assured Joss will assemble the most gorgeous, funny, strong, kickass female characters for his shows.
Kaylee's the one I identify with, obviously. An intuitive genius of a mechanic, she's the heart of the crew. Warm, nurturing, just incredibly sweet. If Kaylee doesn't like a character, you know they're really evil bastards. There's a moment on the last episode that just breaks my heart, but it was so brave to go there... She was raised on a backwater planet but with the stars in her eyes. She jumps at the chance to join Serenity (after she jumped their previous mechanic; she is a really loving girl, haha). Jewel Staite, the actress, is just adorable, with that lovely kind of oval face. *sigh*
Inara is the classic prostitute of the old West. Except in this world, they are highly revered and respected as incredibly well-educated 'companions'. Essentially, she's slumming it on Serenity, for mysterious and non-mysterious reasons. Mal and Inara are deeply in love with one another but they're utter, total idiots about it, of course, which is greatly amusing and poignant in turn. Inara as a character is meant to be irresistable and beautiful, and let's just say they cast perfectly with Morena, I mean, yikes. So elegant, so gorgeous, such a perfect body. I should hate her, lol.
And then... River! River "I can kill you with my brain" Tam, hehe. Yeah, Joss has a weakness for kickass, superpowered teenage girls, and I'm right with him, haha! Damaged and unstable, she is hunted by the evil government agency that traumatised her trying to turn her into a super-soldier/spy. You never quite know what she'll do, and in the face of danger she could either crawl into a ball sobbing, or calmly eliminate a dozen enemies by 'doing the math'. She could scare the crap out of you, but she's so vunerable... It's the fact that Mal can never bring himself to do the 'smart' thing and let her go that makes him a hero. She's a part of his crew. Simple as that. And I'm sure I don't have to say that Summer is just brilliant. I could watch her in anything.
This is a crew that don't always win. They'll get the crap knocked out of them, they'll lose the prize, they'll come achingly close to the edge, but as much as they falter, they simply keep going. And that's enough, because it has to be. There's no end game, no victory, except that they live on, and that is incredibly true of life.
So, I've gone on about the characters when I could have written about the show as a whole and the themes it explores. About how to carry on after you've lost, of corporations and corruption, individualism and community, and the heart of the show - what is right or wrong, and does it matter? However, it's the characters I miss. They only got half a season and we saw just the setting up period. A whole world that was only beginning. And those evil Fox executives who did everything they could to hurt the show from the start, finalling canceling it after setting it up to fail. And yet... it made such an impression. People wouldn't let it go, they fought for it. You can't stop the signal. And we got that brilliant, wonderful movie. I'm so happy about that, and I'm glad Joss had the sense to realise it would be the last shot, and just left nothing in the cupboard. And yet it could have go on, and it should have. Just the fact of how popular it still is, with only half a season made (and it annoys me that Fox still made a crap load of money from it), makes it perhaps the single most boneheaded, blind, idiotic decision in network television. There was no sense or reason to it, and they were proved utterly wrong. For which they have a long history. Suck on it, Fox.
Day 02 - ( A show that you wish more people were watching )
Hard to say with this one. Most of the shows I love have already finished, or as with Doctor Who, are quite popular anyway. I get a little nervous when Doctor Who gets too popular in the US... the one thing that would kill it stone dead is American involvement in production. With the fate of the BBC up in the air, crazy things might happen. Still, I think everyone should watch it.
However, the show I will pick is Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. It's a show of rare intelligence and erudition, and highly amusing. Lee has an incredible command of presence and subtle surrealism, and the most delightful genius for pace and perfectly judged repetition. The rhythm with which he says things is extraordinary. Particuarly in discussing Delboy, falling through the bar, on Only Fools and Horses, Trigger reacting with an expression...
Not only hilarious, but brilliantly incisive, especially in the third episode about Political Correctness. Lee needs more exposure as he is a kind of Chris Morris figure - perennially underrated and criminally ignored by the greater public, whilst being one of the few actual geniuses about.
Day 03 - ( Your favourite new show (aired this TV season) )
Day 04 - ( Your favourite show ever )
Day 05 - ( A show you hate )
Day 06 - ( Favourite episode of your favourite TV show )
Day 07 - ( Least favourite episode of your favourite TV show )
Day 08 - ( A show everyone should watch )
Day 09 - ( Best scene ever )
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favourite childhood show
Day 14 - Favourite male character
Day 15 - Favourite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favourite mini series
Day 18 - Favourite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favourite kiss
Day 21 - Favourite ship
Day 22 - Favourite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death
So I've ruthlessly stolen this off my sister, Tristian
Obviously, there will be spoilers. And it's going to be long, because I'll babble.
Day 01 - ( A show that should never have been cancelled )
Firefly. God I loved that show. Space cowboys, what's not to like? I've loved that idea since I saw Cowboy Bebop, still one of my favourite animes.
All the characters in Firefly were so rich, and they did one of my favourite things - became an ersatz family, a crew with all their disparate temperaments and abilities, but you really felt that sense of belonging with them. This was led by the captain, Mal. Grumping, cynical, damaged, reckless, yet he nevers loses his innate sense of loyalty to his crew. An idealist forced to be pragmatic by losing everything in the war. Zoe, his right hand woman, a warrior maiden wih immense dignity, who follows Mal's lead implicitly, even if she thinks he's being an idiot. Which happens a great deal.
She's married to the funny, geeky pilot, who just happens to be the best in the solar system. You have the man called Jane, a giant thug, a mercenary, who absolutely will turn against you if the money's right, and yet... Simon is the brother you wished you had. Highly capable within his own world, here he is utterly out of his depth, but determined. He gives up everything to save his sister. I really love that guy... Rounding out the male characters is Book, the preacher with the mysterious past, that never gets explained. Ever. And that's great somehow.
And then there's the girls. Let me get this out of the way first: *drool* *swoon* *faints*
Ok, ahem. Yeah, you can rest assured Joss will assemble the most gorgeous, funny, strong, kickass female characters for his shows.
Kaylee's the one I identify with, obviously. An intuitive genius of a mechanic, she's the heart of the crew. Warm, nurturing, just incredibly sweet. If Kaylee doesn't like a character, you know they're really evil bastards. There's a moment on the last episode that just breaks my heart, but it was so brave to go there... She was raised on a backwater planet but with the stars in her eyes. She jumps at the chance to join Serenity (after she jumped their previous mechanic; she is a really loving girl, haha). Jewel Staite, the actress, is just adorable, with that lovely kind of oval face. *sigh*
Inara is the classic prostitute of the old West. Except in this world, they are highly revered and respected as incredibly well-educated 'companions'. Essentially, she's slumming it on Serenity, for mysterious and non-mysterious reasons. Mal and Inara are deeply in love with one another but they're utter, total idiots about it, of course, which is greatly amusing and poignant in turn. Inara as a character is meant to be irresistable and beautiful, and let's just say they cast perfectly with Morena, I mean, yikes. So elegant, so gorgeous, such a perfect body. I should hate her, lol.
And then... River! River "I can kill you with my brain" Tam, hehe. Yeah, Joss has a weakness for kickass, superpowered teenage girls, and I'm right with him, haha! Damaged and unstable, she is hunted by the evil government agency that traumatised her trying to turn her into a super-soldier/spy. You never quite know what she'll do, and in the face of danger she could either crawl into a ball sobbing, or calmly eliminate a dozen enemies by 'doing the math'. She could scare the crap out of you, but she's so vunerable... It's the fact that Mal can never bring himself to do the 'smart' thing and let her go that makes him a hero. She's a part of his crew. Simple as that. And I'm sure I don't have to say that Summer is just brilliant. I could watch her in anything.
This is a crew that don't always win. They'll get the crap knocked out of them, they'll lose the prize, they'll come achingly close to the edge, but as much as they falter, they simply keep going. And that's enough, because it has to be. There's no end game, no victory, except that they live on, and that is incredibly true of life.
So, I've gone on about the characters when I could have written about the show as a whole and the themes it explores. About how to carry on after you've lost, of corporations and corruption, individualism and community, and the heart of the show - what is right or wrong, and does it matter? However, it's the characters I miss. They only got half a season and we saw just the setting up period. A whole world that was only beginning. And those evil Fox executives who did everything they could to hurt the show from the start, finalling canceling it after setting it up to fail. And yet... it made such an impression. People wouldn't let it go, they fought for it. You can't stop the signal. And we got that brilliant, wonderful movie. I'm so happy about that, and I'm glad Joss had the sense to realise it would be the last shot, and just left nothing in the cupboard. And yet it could have go on, and it should have. Just the fact of how popular it still is, with only half a season made (and it annoys me that Fox still made a crap load of money from it), makes it perhaps the single most boneheaded, blind, idiotic decision in network television. There was no sense or reason to it, and they were proved utterly wrong. For which they have a long history. Suck on it, Fox.
Day 02 - ( A show that you wish more people were watching )
Hard to say with this one. Most of the shows I love have already finished, or as with Doctor Who, are quite popular anyway. I get a little nervous when Doctor Who gets too popular in the US... the one thing that would kill it stone dead is American involvement in production. With the fate of the BBC up in the air, crazy things might happen. Still, I think everyone should watch it.
However, the show I will pick is Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. It's a show of rare intelligence and erudition, and highly amusing. Lee has an incredible command of presence and subtle surrealism, and the most delightful genius for pace and perfectly judged repetition. The rhythm with which he says things is extraordinary. Particuarly in discussing Delboy, falling through the bar, on Only Fools and Horses, Trigger reacting with an expression...
Not only hilarious, but brilliantly incisive, especially in the third episode about Political Correctness. Lee needs more exposure as he is a kind of Chris Morris figure - perennially underrated and criminally ignored by the greater public, whilst being one of the few actual geniuses about.
Day 03 - ( Your favourite new show (aired this TV season) )
Day 04 - ( Your favourite show ever )
Day 05 - ( A show you hate )
Day 06 - ( Favourite episode of your favourite TV show )
Day 07 - ( Least favourite episode of your favourite TV show )
Day 08 - ( A show everyone should watch )
Day 09 - ( Best scene ever )
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favourite childhood show
Day 14 - Favourite male character
Day 15 - Favourite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favourite mini series
Day 18 - Favourite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favourite kiss
Day 21 - Favourite ship
Day 22 - Favourite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death