let's talk television
turps33 asked about shows I was currently
TV has been rather hit or miss for me for a few years. Reality tv is not my thing and I am far too cheap to get HBO, Showtime or any of the other premium channels. In general I watch way too many shows about renovating houses, so let's start there.
Confession: I love watching Property Brothers on HGTV. It's predictable; the ridiculous wishlist- open concept, high-end finishes, man-cave; the set up of the unaffordable dream house; the sibling slander slinging- but I can't help it. The twins seem genuinely interested in their clients and making them happy!
The tours through the fixer-uppers is always fun. They Psycho music playing when they see bugs! Nobody seems capable of looking past paint color or all the furniture that won't be staying when they buy the house. I especially love when they come across a great 'period' item: a turntable that opens out from the wall? Awesome! It didn't work but Jonathan fixed that. [He's the contractor twin] Inexplicable pass through? Great! A basement that looks like an Italian restaurant from 1973? Whee!
The construction usually faces some setbacks, but in the end the clients are always thrilled, just like they were promised. On time, nearly always, and on budget.
Also, Jonathan is totally the cuter twin. [Sorry, Drew]
There's also Scorpion. A group of socially inept geniuses save the world for Homeland, with the help of a waitress and her equally smart, but still socially savable son. Every week. Based, what I assume is very loosely, on real life Walter O'Brien, this is just fun. Contrived and predictable, it's a comforting place to spend an hour every Monday. They have surprised me, pleasantly, once or twice and I am on board with that.
Would you believe I watched past the pilot based on the fact that I couldn't figure out if Elyes Gabel- the guy who plays Walter- was attractive or not? In the pilot, he was kinda' eh and I thought... I don't get it. They're clearly setting up this long drawn out romance between him and Paige, so how come he's not good-looking. So I tuned in the next week. That episode he was! Third week, not so much. By midway through the first season I was having fun watching these people spare the planet from whatever doom might befall it without aid of radioactive spider bite or intergalactic genetics. We're half way through season two and I still don't know if the guy is hot or not, but I do know my favorite misfit smartypant is Sylvester! Progress.
She also asked what shows
This could be a crazy long list, so I'll try not to let it get out of control.
As I have been jonesing for a full series rematch that has only not happened because I can't find it all in one place online, we'll begin with Eureka. Remember when Sy-fy was Sci-fi? Remember when the shows were good? Yeah, Eureka. The best minds in science live in a tiny community in the Pacific Northwest set up by President Truman. Uh-hunh. Sure. Actually, this is the kind of conspiracy theory I can get behind! There's a giant think tank corporation building the stuff of sci-fi novelists wet dreams. Not to mention the rest of the town's residents. The gastric genius who runs the only visible restaurant in town. The young girl who makes a sun for a class assignment. Cloud farmers. And bumbling Sheriff Carter.
Came into this halfway through season three [I think]. It was clever and funny. Unique characters that were interesting, some interesting relationship dynamics. All in all a good romp. Imagine my surprise when, in the season finale, I was absolutely emotionally gutted!? I'd had NO clue it was that kind of show. Needless to say I caught up on the other seasons over the hiatus!
It took some oddball turns, but I loved that show every week it was on. And, after being unceremoniously cut down in its prime by Sy-Fy, they were given one episode to tie it all up. And they did! It ended just as oddly as it began and that was just the way it should have. [It just shouldn't have had to do it until after season 10 or so!]
Buffy and Firefly. It's really neat to see the lasting impact these shows have had. There are references to them all over, early seasons of Castle are riddled with them so much that I actually told raynedanser that it looked like ABC was courting Joss. [The fact that I was right is just frosting]
The things that are now world known as marks of a Joss Whedon production are what hooked me on Buffy from the very first episode. His dialogues make me so happy. The sarcasm! The phrasing! The depth of each episode- and I don't mean that each story was deep. Some of them were, but some weren't. What I loved was that it always felt like every word, movement, action, happening had a purpose. Even if that purpose didn't show up until seasons later. And that visually it was loaded. Shot at a high school eye level, the backgrounds felt rich and thought out. There are some really awesome posters on the walls of that school. Things an actor would walk by for a second or two. All that made Sunnydale and the Scoobies feel real.
Because it was real, I loved those characters. I was invested!
But, the vampires [and all the other monsters] didn't hurt!
Firefly. Sigh. Take all the stuff from above, stuff this Scooby Gang into a spaceship and shoot it like it was the mid-70's. Firefly! Okay, not really, but sort of. Trademark Joss stuff with his own take on Wagon Train to the Stars [Thank you, Gene, you big ass]. A lot of this show felt tailor made for me, ever watch something like that? It's pretty weird, really. You wonder if somebody has picked your brain while you were sleeping or if you are really just that predictable. Given the popularity of this particular show, I have to go with 'just that predictable' on this one. ;-)
I feel like I am doing a Very Bad Job of explaining why I love these shows so much.
One more, though there could be loads. M*A*S*H This was a family watch. One of a very small list of shows everyone in my family watched. Seriously, I think there's 4 shows on that list. Dad and I could watch loads of stuff together, Mom and Dad. There were even some shows my brother and I watched together when we were young. But all four of us? [Counts on fingers...] Yup, four.
This show taught me a lot, most of which wasn't about the war itself. Did you know you can make booze in a tent with surgical equipment? Or that Lebanese-American men look fabulous in a dress? There were those things, plus loads more. Love, respect, devotion. How everyone is afraid of something and there are some things everyone is afraid of.
The characters were lovely, too. Imperfect and faulted. [always a clincher for me] With fun names like Hawkeye, Ferret Face, Hotlips, Radar. It was often hysterical, sending us into gales. I watched in in reruns for years and years after it ended and would still watch episodes over and over if it were on tv.
I would love a current show or two to fall in love with.... what do you guys recommend?
TV has been rather hit or miss for me for a few years. Reality tv is not my thing and I am far too cheap to get HBO, Showtime or any of the other premium channels. In general I watch way too many shows about renovating houses, so let's start there.
Confession: I love watching Property Brothers on HGTV. It's predictable; the ridiculous wishlist- open concept, high-end finishes, man-cave; the set up of the unaffordable dream house; the sibling slander slinging- but I can't help it. The twins seem genuinely interested in their clients and making them happy!
The tours through the fixer-uppers is always fun. They Psycho music playing when they see bugs! Nobody seems capable of looking past paint color or all the furniture that won't be staying when they buy the house. I especially love when they come across a great 'period' item: a turntable that opens out from the wall? Awesome! It didn't work but Jonathan fixed that. [He's the contractor twin] Inexplicable pass through? Great! A basement that looks like an Italian restaurant from 1973? Whee!
The construction usually faces some setbacks, but in the end the clients are always thrilled, just like they were promised. On time, nearly always, and on budget.
Also, Jonathan is totally the cuter twin. [Sorry, Drew]
There's also Scorpion. A group of socially inept geniuses save the world for Homeland, with the help of a waitress and her equally smart, but still socially savable son. Every week. Based, what I assume is very loosely, on real life Walter O'Brien, this is just fun. Contrived and predictable, it's a comforting place to spend an hour every Monday. They have surprised me, pleasantly, once or twice and I am on board with that.
Would you believe I watched past the pilot based on the fact that I couldn't figure out if Elyes Gabel- the guy who plays Walter- was attractive or not? In the pilot, he was kinda' eh and I thought... I don't get it. They're clearly setting up this long drawn out romance between him and Paige, so how come he's not good-looking. So I tuned in the next week. That episode he was! Third week, not so much. By midway through the first season I was having fun watching these people spare the planet from whatever doom might befall it without aid of radioactive spider bite or intergalactic genetics. We're half way through season two and I still don't know if the guy is hot or not, but I do know my favorite misfit smartypant is Sylvester! Progress.
She also asked what shows
This could be a crazy long list, so I'll try not to let it get out of control.
As I have been jonesing for a full series rematch that has only not happened because I can't find it all in one place online, we'll begin with Eureka. Remember when Sy-fy was Sci-fi? Remember when the shows were good? Yeah, Eureka. The best minds in science live in a tiny community in the Pacific Northwest set up by President Truman. Uh-hunh. Sure. Actually, this is the kind of conspiracy theory I can get behind! There's a giant think tank corporation building the stuff of sci-fi novelists wet dreams. Not to mention the rest of the town's residents. The gastric genius who runs the only visible restaurant in town. The young girl who makes a sun for a class assignment. Cloud farmers. And bumbling Sheriff Carter.
Came into this halfway through season three [I think]. It was clever and funny. Unique characters that were interesting, some interesting relationship dynamics. All in all a good romp. Imagine my surprise when, in the season finale, I was absolutely emotionally gutted!? I'd had NO clue it was that kind of show. Needless to say I caught up on the other seasons over the hiatus!
It took some oddball turns, but I loved that show every week it was on. And, after being unceremoniously cut down in its prime by Sy-Fy, they were given one episode to tie it all up. And they did! It ended just as oddly as it began and that was just the way it should have. [It just shouldn't have had to do it until after season 10 or so!]
Buffy and Firefly. It's really neat to see the lasting impact these shows have had. There are references to them all over, early seasons of Castle are riddled with them so much that I actually told raynedanser that it looked like ABC was courting Joss. [The fact that I was right is just frosting]
The things that are now world known as marks of a Joss Whedon production are what hooked me on Buffy from the very first episode. His dialogues make me so happy. The sarcasm! The phrasing! The depth of each episode- and I don't mean that each story was deep. Some of them were, but some weren't. What I loved was that it always felt like every word, movement, action, happening had a purpose. Even if that purpose didn't show up until seasons later. And that visually it was loaded. Shot at a high school eye level, the backgrounds felt rich and thought out. There are some really awesome posters on the walls of that school. Things an actor would walk by for a second or two. All that made Sunnydale and the Scoobies feel real.
Because it was real, I loved those characters. I was invested!
But, the vampires [and all the other monsters] didn't hurt!
Firefly. Sigh. Take all the stuff from above, stuff this Scooby Gang into a spaceship and shoot it like it was the mid-70's. Firefly! Okay, not really, but sort of. Trademark Joss stuff with his own take on Wagon Train to the Stars [Thank you, Gene, you big ass]. A lot of this show felt tailor made for me, ever watch something like that? It's pretty weird, really. You wonder if somebody has picked your brain while you were sleeping or if you are really just that predictable. Given the popularity of this particular show, I have to go with 'just that predictable' on this one. ;-)
I feel like I am doing a Very Bad Job of explaining why I love these shows so much.
One more, though there could be loads. M*A*S*H This was a family watch. One of a very small list of shows everyone in my family watched. Seriously, I think there's 4 shows on that list. Dad and I could watch loads of stuff together, Mom and Dad. There were even some shows my brother and I watched together when we were young. But all four of us? [Counts on fingers...] Yup, four.
This show taught me a lot, most of which wasn't about the war itself. Did you know you can make booze in a tent with surgical equipment? Or that Lebanese-American men look fabulous in a dress? There were those things, plus loads more. Love, respect, devotion. How everyone is afraid of something and there are some things everyone is afraid of.
The characters were lovely, too. Imperfect and faulted. [always a clincher for me] With fun names like Hawkeye, Ferret Face, Hotlips, Radar. It was often hysterical, sending us into gales. I watched in in reruns for years and years after it ended and would still watch episodes over and over if it were on tv.
I would love a current show or two to fall in love with.... what do you guys recommend?