Tilt and Whirl

"So press your hands against the glowing box, feel it throb under your fingers, and get ready for a week of television appreciation - and mayhem."

This week io9 is celebrating the connection between television and science fiction. TV Ate My Brain week looks at what's coming up in the fall schedule, but also trips down memory lane to the shows that paved the way for the 2009-2010 newbies. There are some pretty cool posts, from a Who's Television's Biggest Badass? battle royale to TV Shows We Wish Would Swap Writing Staffs. 

I admit that I'm not a huge Sci-fi geek, but I am drawn to aspects of it, and I tend to geek out on specific shows or movies rather than an entire genre. I've followed io9 since it began, and like the variety that caters to hardcore fans but doesn't shut out those with more mild interests. Personally, I absolutely love the posts about Supernatural, maybe my favorites about the show because of how the editors/writers respect and view the show, but I'll save that for the post about the new season five promo!

My plan to blog about the Upfronts! as they occurred was thwarted by the project with a nefarious impending deadline. Yesterday, all things were moving right along at a steady pace when it turned into a bit of a clusterfrick (in honor of Scrubs, even though I still think it should've ended two seasons ago). I am currently taking a break from it because if I don't, I might lose my mind and I need what's left of it to finish this motherfricker.

So, I got sidetracked by life and the need to pay bills, damn life and bills. But I fully intend to finish what I started, and start what I need to finish. Did I mention I'm working on little sleep and gallons of caffeine? Well, this may not be as funny as I though then, but I do offer a little laughter in place of my rambling about 2009-2010 television schedules.

Courtesy of FishbowlLA:

Are Unemployed Writers Turning To Amazon.com For Creative Outlet?

According to television execs, we're supposed to be excited Excited EXCITED. Because it's Upfronts! week. Didn't ya know?!?! Was that a 'meh' I heard? Yeah, thought so. 

I know, I haven't been around for a while. Actually, I've written several posts just in the last week that I haven't made public because I wanted to proof (and edit out some rambling--I know, hard to believe). But it's time for the Upfronts! Which means very little but the network execs like to think the Upfronts! are thrilling and imperative to the world spinning right round, even though all the confetti-tossing is really to attract ad moola that will hopefully trickle down and keep them employed and out of personal bankruptcy. So the thrill is really just for network honchos to show their competitors what big money they can draw for mediocre programming on as little budget as possible. Huzzah for Hollywood! But it does offer a chance for tv-geeks to rant and rave about what the evil networks are doing to their precious couch-tater time. So I am going to jump back into blogging, despite being on deadline for a project, and post to my heart's content since it's time for the Upfronts! Upfronts! Upfronts! Well, except for NBC which had it's Infronts? two weeks ago (blogged about it but wanted to edit a tangent about Chuck, which got picked up this weekend! Yay for announcements made two weeks after the Infronts? to try and upstage the Upfronts! Silverman, you are so you.)

So, here is FOX's 2009-2010 lineup. Pairing Bones with Fringe makes superb sense, although Fringe is still opposite NBC's funnies and my Thursday-night-addiction, Supernatural, so still won't be watching it live (and still have to catch up on a lot of season one). Bones got two seasons. I've never really been a big fan although I do watch from time to time. It often falls flat for me and I don't see the chemistry between Boothe and Bones (think I'm just not a big fan of Emily Deschanel), but good for David Boreanz. Let's see, what else do I care about? They canceled The Sarah Connor Chronicles which is lame because the show really improved after limping along early on in the season, at least the finale was spectacular. And, as someone pointed out somewhere on a message board (don't recall, sorry), with Terminator:Salvation coming out this summer it would be perfect promotion for the show. I always hoped Sci-Fi (oh, wait, is it Sy-Fy?) would give it a good home after BSG ended. Let's see, what else? Dollhouse was picked up, which I am ambivalent about. I'm a big goofy fan of Whedon shows (Firefly has ended up being my favorite with Angel and Buffy respectively following, probably because I can still see Angel in syndication every morning on TNT), but I just cannot get behind the premise of this show, for many reasons, or believe Eliza Dushku can carry it on her shoulders. It's just often subpar, and that's disappointing. But Whedon shows do often get better with time, so maybe it will improve, I just don't know if I'll ever be on board. Alan Tudyk was the best thing I've seen on the show as Alpha, truly enjoyable to watch, but was that the actor or the show? And how often could he be back since ABC is going to pick up V?

As for the newbies, I have to do a little research, considering how FOX likes to yank shows that I enjoy. FOX did add six shows to the lineup, four pilots in addition to Glee and The Cleveland Show. I'm really interested in Human Target, FOX's attempt to cash in on graphic novels. As I recall, Mark Valley hasn't been lead in a show since (the truly underrated and unwatched) Keen Eddie. Add Chi McBride and Jackie Earle Haley, I'll give it a shot.

I was going to talk about season finales here too, but I kind of said all I wanted to say already about FOX's. I gave up on 24 a few episodes ago, although I will probably watch the finale to see how it ends, what happens with Alameda, how it sets up for the next season. A show I used to never miss for fear of not being able to catch up, now I have no trouble just jumping in whenever I wish. I guess my Lost:Don't Give a Rat's Rectum theory works for other shows as well.

So Gossip Girl took a trip down Lily's memory lane to when she was hellbent for teenage socialite mayhem just like her dear Serena. And in the same episode, the present-day kiddos went to prom. What a mess. Ugh.

The flashback, the present day, all of it was effed-up boring and useless. Kind of like Vanessa. And not even Vanessa with Chuck. Or Nate. Vanessa pining for Humphrey. Richard Lawson at Gawker summed up the dialogue of the flashback so well: "'Is this the part where you fall in love with me?' a@$#Q%Q$%$Q$#~!!! I wanted to throw something through the TV, but I would never actually hurt my lover."

[Now I wish that the parallel universes of Richard's recaps would cross paths. Picture it: Lily and NYC Housewife LuAnn, aka Countess Crackerjacks (read Richard's recaps now!), sharing a cigarette after dinner with Serena and her new role model, Kelly Bensimon. Over drinks, since Victoria has convinced Noel to run away with her to work in the Goodwill, Lunz convinces Lilz to hit the road because Jane's Addiction is touring this year. (Remember when Navarro tried talking us into a threesome and then passed out in the parking lot of that Circle K in Omaha!?!) With Rufus being Rufusy as a Rufus can be, moping because Lily is so very Lily, and the Count taking his little girlfriend to see Lady Gaga next week, why the hell not?]

My biggest problem with 80s shows is that they are usually anachronistic. Pop culturally, they are jumbled, often blending the late 80s into the mid 80s, the early 80s into the mid 80s--basically everything took place in a big ol' pop culture stew in 1985. This flashback was set "sometime in the 80s" which is just damn lazy, right? That's a decade, ten whole years to choose from, Schwartz. And big hair in 1982 was totally different from big hair in 1987, Ms. Savage. Pick a year, make a commitment! Think of the future of the show, past the pilot, past season one! Make continuity a priority! Don't be Rob Thomas! Anyway, I've never understood why things set in the 80s were always such a hot mess. It wasn't that long ago and the decade was captured by the media more than any prior generation. Get on the Internet and find out when that song was released, and for cheestastic pop songs especially, when it was on Billboard. Check out some actual yearbook photos from the chosen year, not the fashion mags, and see what people looked like. Do the damn research and make it right. Ugh.

Back to this Gossip Girl Flashback Fiasco. I missed Andrew McCarthy's thirty-two seconds, so that was strike one for me. Brittany Snow somehow lost the ability to act, making her performance in John Tucker Must Die (damn you, cable) seem shiny-gold-award worthy. So if this show were to pass The CW's stringent pilot policies (Two words: Hidden Palms). . . wait wait wait, that's Kristen Ritter and she's quirky and sometimes annoying but was endearingly goofy on the always-awkward-interview-segment of Chelsea Lately the other night, and most importantly played Gia Goodman on Veronica Mars. So being Lily's big sis/BFF/Blair will maybe work but, oh, holy crap, Schwartz! Is that Ryan Hansen with Val-Kilmer-Real-Genius hair doing the robot and all the charming doofus things that made VM fangirls totally forget Dick Casablancas was a date-rape-advocating-douchenozzle? (Sound like a certain character with a penchant for scotch and ascots, Schwartz? Oh, right, we're supposed to forget that Chuck Bass went from handsy and forceful in the pilot to smarmy but charming by the end of the season.) As conflicted as I was with what they did with Dick on VM (redemption often involves that head-scratching continuity again!), I did like Ryan Hansen. But, hey, hold the payphone, is that No Doubt? Ugh.

Back in the presnt day, behold it is spring! And the kids need a glamorous event-of-the-week. Let's forgo the fundraiser ball or the opera, such obvious choices for teenagers to don designer frocks, right? Let's throw a Prom with a capital P! Alas, Prom was dull. Serena and Dan delightfully did the dance of the dorky while Chuck secretly chucked it up to crown Blair prom queen, thus fulfilling her prom fairy tale even though he wasn't her king. Because Chuck looooves her. Blair realized she outgrew her scrapbooked fairy tale, though, and must dump King Nate, but not before they shared one last dance. Gag me with a spork. Double ugh.

So I had this New Year's goal (not a resolution, those are doomed) to post more often. And I have had many thoughts about noteables in pop culture for 2009, but a month ago, my Nana died. I wanted to post about the Golden Globes, the return of 24,  the Bryan Fuller curse and Pushing Daisies' demise, my confusion and repulsion regarding Jay "PrimeTime" Leno (excellent decision as always, Zucker). But I couldn't post about anything until I wrote about my grandmother, and until this week, I wasn't ready.

Two years ago, I was putting plans to move into motion when Nana was struggling with chemo for stage four metastatic colon cancer. I started helping take care of her when needed and my plans took the back burner. Partially by choice, partially not, it just kind of happened.

Caring for my grandmother during this time was not easy. More than anything, it could be emotionally draining. Her short-term memory wasn't good before cancer, but was nonexistent after "chemo brain." She couldn't remember what she had for breakfast, but could tell you detailed stories about her childhood. She was always stubborn, and that certainly didn't fade with illness. She often felt very lousy, but when she was feeling good, she always had a twinkle in her eye. She loved to sing, any song that popped into her head, from hymns to Sinatra to "Old McDonald." She told stories and had a silly sense of humor. She devoured potato chips and honey buns, but still being quite the lady, applied lipstick several times daily. As hard as it was watching Nana decline, as hard as life already was during that time, I am grateful I was there for it. I got to know my grandmother in a whole new light. We formed a new relationship, a new bond. After grieving for so long prior to her death, I'm now also grateful she is no longer suffering. But I still miss her every day. And I guess I'm grateful for that too.

Nana

After she went into the nursing home, we developed a goodbye routine when I visited. At the end, because I usually say "see you later" instead of goodbye, Nana started replying "alligator." It tickled me so much, I kept the rhyme going. She would always sing-song "crocodile" in a high pitch, and then just giggle at her silliness. Even on days when Nana was so ill she couldn't speak,  I'd say it for her and she would smile when I said her parts. That rhyme will never be the same for me.

See you later, alligator. After while, crocodile. Farewell, Margie Nell.

I still don't know what I'll be doing tonight, if I am hanging out with my dvd collection or heading out for a bit. Either way, I will not watch even five minutes of MTV's Very Miley New Year's Eve. Not ten seconds while channel surfing. Not to ruthlessly mock it. Not to play a drinking game. No no no no. If I were being forced at gunpoint to watch Miley (It's Miley! Thanks, Joel McHale.) ring in 2009 from the MTV studios with her closest BFFs that she just met, I would take that bullet. Suck it, Hannah Montana. Go. Away. Everyone over the age of twelve agrees your fifteen minutes were up months ago. Well, except for your father, a career vampire who is enjoying the ride on your designer coattails. (By the by, I remember when you had a teeny-tiny little forgettable role in Big Fish and you were called Destiny).

Actually, I am feeling very hopeful today. I know it may not seem like that after that opener, but I am. Things have been crap-crap-crappy for a while, one reason I had to neglect my blog, and it is one of the least festive holiday seasons I've ever had. But things are looking up. Just need a little patience. And nothing like the fresh start of a new year to add to that feeling of hope and promise. I even plan to find a way to get back to blogging because I really miss it (and I'm sure my audience of five will agree that life is not right without my blabbering about TV shows). So, in the spirit of things, a lovely New Year's quote:

Sam and Dean

Dean Winchester: Well, I think I learned a valuable lesson: Always take down your Christmas decorations after New Year's, or you might get filleted by a hooker from God.
 
Sam Winchester: I'm laughing on the inside.

There really aren't a lot of movie and TV quotes to choose from about New Year's. So, I went with the one that made me laugh the most during my quick search. Who better than the brothers Winchester? Supernatural rocked in 2008.

Happy New Year!

Linus: I've learned there are three things you don't discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.

Linus

HBO populates its comedy pilots (THR)

Just stumbled on this little lovely in my feeds. HBO is casting new comedy pilots (gee, things have shifted significantly with the changing of the guard, will be interesting to see the direction of new programming, although I'm still waiting to see oldies like Big Love and Flight of the Conchords).

Jason Dohring landed an HBO show, Washingtonienne (no, I haven't read the book, but I know of it, and it's author, and, um, yeah, this should be interesting). Sure, he was great as Josef on Moonlight, a non-woobified extreme "mature" vamp version of Veronica Mars' Logan Echolls, but not always on his game. I could never tell if that was him or the script, if he was working as best he could with what was he was given (with that show, I lean to the latter). Shannon Sossyman landed a role on How to Make it in America, someone I never really enjoyed but found her to be better on Moonlight. With her, I always wondered if she had improved as an actress or if I just expected so little, she didn't disappoint. Eh, who cares. That show is done (thankfully). Kate Burton also joins Dohring in Washingtonienne. I really loved her as Ellis Grey on Grey's Anatomy and thought her character, whether physically present or not, added a fabulous dynamic to that show (for me, it also helped that she caused great distress for Meredith) back before I lost interest in even snarking on it and gave up being a glutton for Shonda Rhimes' punishment. I just saw Empire Falls again and she did so much with that role.