So, I'm not going to do a recap, I just wanted to make a comment. In the last five minutes of last night's Bones, David Boreanaz did the best acting he's ever done. I've watched him in three seasons of Buffy, five seasons of Angel, and now almost four seasons of Bones. I've never been super impressed with him as an actor. He's charismatic and he can definitely be funny and likeable, but I was never really blown away by his acting. But I really thought that the end of last night's episode was on a whole different level.
He had this sense of anxiousness, verging on desperation, about being in a situation where he has absolutely no control. And his moments with Brennan (aka Bones, played by Emily Deschanel), were just so sweet.
Plus, it was a great episode overall. Can't wait for the season finale.
Read more!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Just watched our DVD of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. To be fair, this doesn't really fit into the categories for this blog, since it was an internet show, but I'm including it because it is awesome. And when you watch it on DVD, it's kind of like a short movie, or a stand alone TV show.
Anyway, I know this blog has been dominated by American Idol and Joss Whedon fawning for the last few days, but I am pretty sure that I warned you that I would complain and rave about the same things over and over, so you should just accept it. I'll talk about something else sometime.
So, I think anyone who likes Dr. Horrible should also watch Buffy. If this wasn't inspired by the nerd villains in season 6 of Buffy, I would be extremely shocked. The similarities are pretty major (one similarity is that they are both awesome). Anyway, I like auteurs, and I like when they consistently use the same troup of actors, or when there are callbacks to other works. It rewards the watcher for loyalty to the creator, and since I have watched everything Joss has ever done, I get huge rewards for continuing to watch everything he does. So, the story is, you should be loyal to creators, because it's a different way of experiencing media. I'm the same with books and graphic novels, and - to some extent - movies.
Now we are watching the musical commentary. It's pretty funny so far. I'm a huge fan of self-reflective stuff, and I don't think there has ever been anything as self-reflective as this. I mean, the musical itself is self-reflective, then a commentary is always self-reflective, and then this musical commentary is just like an explosion of self-reflectivity (that's a word, I've decided).
Right now, Nathan Fillion (AKA Captain Hammer) is singing a song in the commentary called "I'm Better than Neil" - all about how he's better than Neil Patrick Harris (AKA Dr. Horrible). It is amazing. It might be my favorite song from the commentary, I'll let you know.
Felicia Day is now singing about her previous web series - The Guild, and about her acting process, and her shoes. She is super cute. She claims to have "baker's dozens" of fans. They come in thirteens.
So, now they are singing about how they bonded over playing a game called Ninja Ropes.
If I ever have to sing for an audition for anything ever again, I'm going to sing something from this commentary. Probably the song going on right now, which is about the ensemble singers. Joss needs to write and produce a Broadway musical. He's on an internet kick right now, but I hope he eventually does the Broadway thing. We'd totally fly to see that.
Sorry this is a little babbly and stream of consciousness. I just really wanted to write about this, but I didn't want to wait.
Now a poor girl is singing about how Asians aren't in movies or on TV. It's pretty true. There was that Margaret Cho show, but really, it's not common. Totally justified complaint. But also really funny.
Joss is singing his song about why commentaries are bizarre. I saw him perform this on This American Life. It's probably the most self-reflective of all the self-reflective stuff in this commentary.
Finally, Neil Patrick Harris has a song. It's the most Sondheim-esqe of Joss's songs, which are all Sondheim-esque. There was actually something about that, in an earlier song, about how the meter of the songs change unexpectedly, but I forgot to mention it at the time.
Now they called us all effing nerds for watching the entire musical commentary. I feel awesome. Not only did I watch the whole commentary, but I blogged about it while it was happening. I think that makes me a strataspheric nerd. That's also a word.
So, I think that's enough. I'm feeling insecure about my cool factor, so I have to stop this. If you haven't seen it yet, watch Dr. Horrible. Read more!
Anyway, I know this blog has been dominated by American Idol and Joss Whedon fawning for the last few days, but I am pretty sure that I warned you that I would complain and rave about the same things over and over, so you should just accept it. I'll talk about something else sometime.
So, I think anyone who likes Dr. Horrible should also watch Buffy. If this wasn't inspired by the nerd villains in season 6 of Buffy, I would be extremely shocked. The similarities are pretty major (one similarity is that they are both awesome). Anyway, I like auteurs, and I like when they consistently use the same troup of actors, or when there are callbacks to other works. It rewards the watcher for loyalty to the creator, and since I have watched everything Joss has ever done, I get huge rewards for continuing to watch everything he does. So, the story is, you should be loyal to creators, because it's a different way of experiencing media. I'm the same with books and graphic novels, and - to some extent - movies.
Now we are watching the musical commentary. It's pretty funny so far. I'm a huge fan of self-reflective stuff, and I don't think there has ever been anything as self-reflective as this. I mean, the musical itself is self-reflective, then a commentary is always self-reflective, and then this musical commentary is just like an explosion of self-reflectivity (that's a word, I've decided).
Right now, Nathan Fillion (AKA Captain Hammer) is singing a song in the commentary called "I'm Better than Neil" - all about how he's better than Neil Patrick Harris (AKA Dr. Horrible). It is amazing. It might be my favorite song from the commentary, I'll let you know.
Felicia Day is now singing about her previous web series - The Guild, and about her acting process, and her shoes. She is super cute. She claims to have "baker's dozens" of fans. They come in thirteens.
So, now they are singing about how they bonded over playing a game called Ninja Ropes.
If I ever have to sing for an audition for anything ever again, I'm going to sing something from this commentary. Probably the song going on right now, which is about the ensemble singers. Joss needs to write and produce a Broadway musical. He's on an internet kick right now, but I hope he eventually does the Broadway thing. We'd totally fly to see that.
Sorry this is a little babbly and stream of consciousness. I just really wanted to write about this, but I didn't want to wait.
Now a poor girl is singing about how Asians aren't in movies or on TV. It's pretty true. There was that Margaret Cho show, but really, it's not common. Totally justified complaint. But also really funny.
Joss is singing his song about why commentaries are bizarre. I saw him perform this on This American Life. It's probably the most self-reflective of all the self-reflective stuff in this commentary.
Finally, Neil Patrick Harris has a song. It's the most Sondheim-esqe of Joss's songs, which are all Sondheim-esque. There was actually something about that, in an earlier song, about how the meter of the songs change unexpectedly, but I forgot to mention it at the time.
Now they called us all effing nerds for watching the entire musical commentary. I feel awesome. Not only did I watch the whole commentary, but I blogged about it while it was happening. I think that makes me a strataspheric nerd. That's also a word.
So, I think that's enough. I'm feeling insecure about my cool factor, so I have to stop this. If you haven't seen it yet, watch Dr. Horrible. Read more!
TV - Scrubs Finale
Scrubs is a funny show, and I'm not just talking about the quirky script. I'm talking about it's bizarre history on television. Although beloved by critics, network executives never gave the show much respect. In their floundering attempts to create a quality weekly schedule, NBC moved Scrubs into a new time-slot and day almost every week. Devoted fans had to search their TV Guides for this adorable hospital comedy every night to avoid missing an episode.
Then NBC gave up any flickering devotion to Scrubs all together and announced it was dumping the show after its seventh season in 2008. They ended the show with a lack-luster fantasy finale having each of the characters don the role of a fairy tale creature, and providing no real closure for the will-they-won't-they J.D. / Elliot romance or the trajectory of their careers.
But low and behold ABC decided to play knight-in-shining-armor and picked the show up to bring to their network for season eight! So the finale wasn't a finale and we had another 18 episodes of Scrubsy goodness. Much like NBC, however, ABC was a bit erratic in how they aired the program. Sometimes it was on Tuesdays, sometimes on Wednesdays, sometimes doing double-header new episodes, often re-airing these episodes randomly throughout the week.
Season eight wrapped up Wednesday night (5/6) with an hour long finale. Before going into any sort of review for this episode, let's address another quirk right away: this may not have been the end... again! Although it's almost certain Zach Braff won't be returning to Sacred Heart (or the 37 minute away hospital to which his character transferred), there are rumors that other favorite characters may stick with the show and produce another season with ABC. Having introduced a new batch of interns this year, there may be a type of "Scrubs: The New Class" sitcom to look forward to (?) in 2010.
Anyway, I liked the finale just fine. There was silliness, but there were also those super schmaltzy moments that are an inherent part of Scrubs. But best of all they did my favorite type of finale... flash-forwards*!! Even though J.D. admitted those heart-warming scenes of the future may never actually happen, the audience was encouraged to dare-to-dream that J.D. and Elliot will get married, the gang will all stay-in-touch, they will all have healthy, adorable babies, and BEST OF ALL, Turk and J.D's babies will one day fall in love and get engaged. Terrific!
So what do you think? Would you watch a Season 9, even without the original Sacred Heart staff? Do you like a flash-forward finale or do you prefer to draw your own conclusions? Let us know!
*"Six-Feet-Under" being the best example of the flash-forward finale, and the best finale of all time.
Read more!
TV - American Idol 5/6
The results are in and Alison is out. This is truly a bummer. American should have put the Go in Gokey, or at least sent Kris home for his weak vocals and lack of energy this week. I could go on and on about my intense distaste for the Gokster, but let me just highlight these two points: he literally pushes his competitors out of the way during group performances to get into the camera shot. Furthermore, although he "humbly" admitted to botching his final note in Dream On, he took a good five minutes explaining just how humble he is, interrupting Ryan multiple times.
Read more!
We also got to witness three "live" performances during the results show from non-contestants. Paula sang her newest dance single, and I have to quote Stephen Colbert (he was referring to the music of Kanye West)... why buy her album? You can basically hear it for free! Just put a tin can to your ear and lean against a Pac-Man machine! Daughtery was not my style.
And although this is a pretty whiny post, I must continue with a final gripe: the No Doubt performance of "I'm Just a Girl". Man did I love my Tragic Kingdom CD... I listened to it until it skipped around every scratched track. All I can really say is that my heart broke as I listened to Gwen's new, no singing more like vibrating-rapping version of this gurl anthem. Sad day.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
TV - American Idol Sexy Songs
"Way, way down inside, I'm gonna give you my love, I'm gonna give you every inch of my love" he sang, as he thrust his crotch at a slew of 13-year olds clapping and screaming.
In my head there are some serious debates going in the minds of contestants and producers of Idol on where the sexy limits are on song-choice. If you look out into the live-Idol audience, you're going to see a lot of tweens and a lot of parents. However, just because these are the people willing to trek out to see live performances (they will also make up most of the American Idol Tour crowd, I imagine) doesn't mean there aren't a whole slew of 18 and uppers at home also highly invested in this competition. Let's not forget, Ruben won Idol (not Gaiken), and David Cook beat Archuleta. So although it may be tempting to keep things squeeky clean, I think the contestants who explore some sexual themes on stage actually benefit when it comes to gathering votes and displaying emotional attachment during performances.
Matt's best performance was "Let's get it on."
And the main reason I am writing this post is to say that Lil would have made it much farther and with more support from the judges and voters if she sang, during movie week, "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp".
Read more!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
TV - American Idol 5/5/2009
So, American Idol tonight went almost exactly how I thought it would. Slash was a great mentor, and it was awesome that he made them do their performances full volume while he was playing. Adam and Allison were great, Kris was bad and Danny was god-awful.
Adam's performance was exactly what the judge's said it was. Perfect. Allison was also great, despite what the judges said. Yet another week where Simon basically says that he liked the performance but still managed to spend about five minutes criticizing her. I'm glad she talked back to him, even though I usually don't like it - and in fact, I initially FF'ed past it - because if anyone has ever deserved to talk back to the judges, it's her.
Then, there was the duet. Kris and Danny looked like they were having about as much fun performing as I was having watching - which isn't much at all. Danny also looked like he was medicated and about to fall asleep or something. Followed by Kris doing a weak version of a fantastic song. Kind of a bummer, but not a surprise, really. The judges said it, again. It's not his genre, and he knew it.
And then there was Danny. Danny, Danny, Danny. When they announced what song he was singing, I flipped out. I mean, first of all, I reacted because I knew Danny would butcher a song that I love. But more importantly, ever since Adam showed up on this show, I kept thinking, "Dream On. This kid would SLAY Dream On." And then Danny "Hokey" Gokey sings it instead? It was like some kind of nightmare. It was bad all around. I don't give him any of the props Randy did for trying something daring or whatever. He was punching WAY above his weight with that. It's not daring or brave, it's just plain stupid. Then there was Kara. Oh Kara. She said that he should have sung "early" Aerosmith, like "Crazy" or "Cryin." Those songs were released in the mid-90's. "Dream On" is from '76. What universe is she living in that she thinks Crazy and Cryin are "early" Aerosmith?
Thankfully, the duet between Adam and Allison made the night. I mean, Adam and Allison were great individually, but by the end of the show, Gokey had made me so angry that I had kind of forgotten how awesome they were. And then their duet was so great. Unlike Kris and Danny, it was so clear that they were having a blast up there, and ADORED each other, and that made it so much fun to watch. I'm glad Simon made that final comment about Allison, even though a lot of DVRs probably cut that off. I only got it because I also DVR the following show, "Fringe."
One final pet peeve. The editors did Danny a huge favor by playing the dress rehearsal version of his high note when the phone numbers were flashing by. That shouldn't be allowed. I know they probably do it that way for logistical reasons, but it is totally unfair. He bombed that note in the performance and they played a much better (but still awful) version when the numbers flashed. I hope the 50 year old Michael McDonald fans who have been voting for him stop after tonight. Read more!
Adam's performance was exactly what the judge's said it was. Perfect. Allison was also great, despite what the judges said. Yet another week where Simon basically says that he liked the performance but still managed to spend about five minutes criticizing her. I'm glad she talked back to him, even though I usually don't like it - and in fact, I initially FF'ed past it - because if anyone has ever deserved to talk back to the judges, it's her.
Then, there was the duet. Kris and Danny looked like they were having about as much fun performing as I was having watching - which isn't much at all. Danny also looked like he was medicated and about to fall asleep or something. Followed by Kris doing a weak version of a fantastic song. Kind of a bummer, but not a surprise, really. The judges said it, again. It's not his genre, and he knew it.
And then there was Danny. Danny, Danny, Danny. When they announced what song he was singing, I flipped out. I mean, first of all, I reacted because I knew Danny would butcher a song that I love. But more importantly, ever since Adam showed up on this show, I kept thinking, "Dream On. This kid would SLAY Dream On." And then Danny "Hokey" Gokey sings it instead? It was like some kind of nightmare. It was bad all around. I don't give him any of the props Randy did for trying something daring or whatever. He was punching WAY above his weight with that. It's not daring or brave, it's just plain stupid. Then there was Kara. Oh Kara. She said that he should have sung "early" Aerosmith, like "Crazy" or "Cryin." Those songs were released in the mid-90's. "Dream On" is from '76. What universe is she living in that she thinks Crazy and Cryin are "early" Aerosmith?
Thankfully, the duet between Adam and Allison made the night. I mean, Adam and Allison were great individually, but by the end of the show, Gokey had made me so angry that I had kind of forgotten how awesome they were. And then their duet was so great. Unlike Kris and Danny, it was so clear that they were having a blast up there, and ADORED each other, and that made it so much fun to watch. I'm glad Simon made that final comment about Allison, even though a lot of DVRs probably cut that off. I only got it because I also DVR the following show, "Fringe."
One final pet peeve. The editors did Danny a huge favor by playing the dress rehearsal version of his high note when the phone numbers were flashing by. That shouldn't be allowed. I know they probably do it that way for logistical reasons, but it is totally unfair. He bombed that note in the performance and they played a much better (but still awful) version when the numbers flashed. I hope the 50 year old Michael McDonald fans who have been voting for him stop after tonight. Read more!
New Blogger and Why Fox Sucks - A Lot
So, since Jenna has like a baby and a life and a house and a job, and I have a whole summer ahead of me of studying for the bar exam, we thought it would make sense for me to co-blog with her, since I generally have a lot to say about TV, Books and Film, and my husband gets tired of listening to me complain or rave about the same things over and over again. So, now you get to read about my raving and complaining about the same things over and over again. Today's topic: Why Fox Sucks - A Lot.
I'm a big Joss Whedon fan; Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, all of it. So, naturally, when I heard that he was developing a new show - Dollhouse - I was incredibly excited. Then I heard that it would be airing on Fox. Really? Joss, did you learn nothing from the Firefly Debacle.* But my hopes were high anyway. After all, if Joss was willing to work with Fox again, then he must be confident that they wouldn't give him the shaft like they did before.
Then I find out that the show is going to air in the no man's land of televisions - aka Friday nights. That's essentially a death sentence, especially on FOX. But I tuned in anyway, sure that even if it was going to be yet another Whedon series cut short by the short view executives at Fox, I would at least get one season out of it. But the first few episodes weren't that great. They were all stand-alones with very little insight into the big picture of the show, and they just weren't very Joss. I am not usually on top of the buzz around shows, but recently, when I've been rabidly trying to find out if Dollhouse is getting cancelled or not, I've been reading some stuff online. Apparently, the reason those first few episodes weren't so great (and probably lost a lot of the Buffy/Angel/Firefly fans who might have tuned in at the beginning) was because Fox was forcing an episodic version of the show. No wonder it was a mess.
Sidenote: Why did they put it on Fridays when they had an obvious lead-in show in Bones? Come on, you've got a Joss-alum starring in a Fox show already, why not use that to get Joss fans on board with both shows? They tried that with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but Summer Glau isn't as big of a draw as David Boreanaz. They should let me do their programming for them.
But since about the fifth episode or so, each episode has been better than the last. Last week's episode, the penultimate episode of the season, was the best yet, by far. And yet, thanks to the complete lack of support from Fox, it's still very likely that it won't be back for a second season. The worst part about all of this is that Fox won't just be cancelling this one show that I love. Most likely, it will be pushing Joss out of the television medium altogether. He's already on the brink, so cancelling the show would probably be the end. That would mean that my favorite creative genius would no longer be working in my favorite medium, so I would not be very happy about that.
So, that's it. That's why Fox sucks. Now, I have to go watch my DVR'ed American Idol.
*For the uninitiated, Firefly was cancelled by Fox before the season was even over. They didn't even air all of the shows that were produced. Luckily, Joss's rabid fanbase mobilized and the movie Serenity got made to give some kind of resolution to viewers (and to just generally be awesome), but Fox still made a major error in not giving that show the time it needed to grow an audience. You'd think they would have learned something from that. Read more!
I'm a big Joss Whedon fan; Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, all of it. So, naturally, when I heard that he was developing a new show - Dollhouse - I was incredibly excited. Then I heard that it would be airing on Fox. Really? Joss, did you learn nothing from the Firefly Debacle.* But my hopes were high anyway. After all, if Joss was willing to work with Fox again, then he must be confident that they wouldn't give him the shaft like they did before.
Then I find out that the show is going to air in the no man's land of televisions - aka Friday nights. That's essentially a death sentence, especially on FOX. But I tuned in anyway, sure that even if it was going to be yet another Whedon series cut short by the short view executives at Fox, I would at least get one season out of it. But the first few episodes weren't that great. They were all stand-alones with very little insight into the big picture of the show, and they just weren't very Joss. I am not usually on top of the buzz around shows, but recently, when I've been rabidly trying to find out if Dollhouse is getting cancelled or not, I've been reading some stuff online. Apparently, the reason those first few episodes weren't so great (and probably lost a lot of the Buffy/Angel/Firefly fans who might have tuned in at the beginning) was because Fox was forcing an episodic version of the show. No wonder it was a mess.
Sidenote: Why did they put it on Fridays when they had an obvious lead-in show in Bones? Come on, you've got a Joss-alum starring in a Fox show already, why not use that to get Joss fans on board with both shows? They tried that with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but Summer Glau isn't as big of a draw as David Boreanaz. They should let me do their programming for them.
But since about the fifth episode or so, each episode has been better than the last. Last week's episode, the penultimate episode of the season, was the best yet, by far. And yet, thanks to the complete lack of support from Fox, it's still very likely that it won't be back for a second season. The worst part about all of this is that Fox won't just be cancelling this one show that I love. Most likely, it will be pushing Joss out of the television medium altogether. He's already on the brink, so cancelling the show would probably be the end. That would mean that my favorite creative genius would no longer be working in my favorite medium, so I would not be very happy about that.
So, that's it. That's why Fox sucks. Now, I have to go watch my DVR'ed American Idol.
*For the uninitiated, Firefly was cancelled by Fox before the season was even over. They didn't even air all of the shows that were produced. Luckily, Joss's rabid fanbase mobilized and the movie Serenity got made to give some kind of resolution to viewers (and to just generally be awesome), but Fox still made a major error in not giving that show the time it needed to grow an audience. You'd think they would have learned something from that. Read more!
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