Watching The CW

I didn’t know about the snogging.

I’m not surprised or anything, I just didn’t know. The first episode of the second season of Torchwood was interesting to say the least. And to a rabid Whedon fan like me, it held lots of fun little moments. Maybe they didn’t even realize it, but I caught lots of stuff.

Even my husband noticed when James Marsters’ character, Captain John Hart, told Jack he needed a blond on his crew. Was this a veiled reference to Buffy? Probably. In another scene, Captain Hart knocks out Gwen with a kiss from his poisoned lip gloss. Much like Saffron did to Mal in the episode “Our Mrs. Reynolds” on Firefly. Plus, Jack and John were stuck in a time loop once.

There were other little things just like that, but I don’t want to ruin them all. You really need to watch the episode for yourself and see how many you can count. Oh, there was also a Star Wars reference that made me clap my hands in glee (cause I’m a total geek). In one scene, Jon Hart leaves a voice mail message for Jack. When Jack plays the message its a hologram, very reminiscent of the Princess Leia message in R2D2 for Obi-Wan. I’m watching it, thinking it’s just like that, when John Hart ends his message to Jack, “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope” and then he sorta looks back over his shoulder. See, there was glee.

James, of course, was awesome as usual. His character on Torchwood had bit of Spike, which was fun, but was also his own person. Charming, yet evil. Just the kind of person who you end up trusting in spite of yourself and then, of course, realize you shouldn’t have. I really loved it. I like that they ended the episode with the chance that John Hart might be back, too.

I just didn’t know about the snogging.

Torchwood, James Marsters, Joss Whedon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Star Wars

Just a little Chris Sligh update. The official release date for his record is May 6, 2008. The final mixes of the two of the songs being considered for the first single are up at his myspace. On his blog, Chris says it looks like Empty Me will be the first single, but we should know for sure soon.

I’m very excited cause I really love his other CD (Take A Chance On Something Beautiful by Half Past Forever) and I listen to it all the time. So don’t forget to go check out Chris’s myspace and take a listen. I’m sure you’re gonna love his music as much as I do. Why? Cause it’s really, really good. And if you don’t like Chris’s music, you’re stupid. Sorry, just kidding. But he is very, very good.

As long as I’m reminding you of stuff, remember that tonight is the American premiere of season 2 of Torchwood on BBC America at 9 pm. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while, too. If you haven’t seen Torchwood yet, you should check it out.

Obviously, I have diverse interests.

Oh, finally, I need someone to tell me how to transfer saved stuff on my DVR to a video tape. There’s a choice for it on the DVR list, but I just don’t understand how it works. Like, how do I hook by the VCR, exactly, and to what? I have stuff recorded on there that I don’t want to lose, but I have more stuff that I want to record. It’s a dilemma.

New Smallville and Supernatural are coming!!

There’s another new ep of Smallville airing on Thursday, January 31. Plus, there’s another new ep on 2/7 and 2/13. It appears there are a couple other eps in the hopper as well, so maybe, just maybe we’ll get to see those before the season ends. I know I haven’t really watched too many eps of Smallville this season, but I’ll definitely catch this one. Mostly because James Marsters will be reprising his role as Braniac, and you know how I love James Marsters. I am still seriously considering borrowing my nephew’s Smallville DVDs as well, so I can just watch everything from the beginning. I think I’ll be able to appreciate it even more then.

Also new on January 31 is an episode of Supernatural. It looks like there are three more eps that haven’t aired yet. One of them, entitled “Dream a Little Dream Of Me” which is scheduled to air on February 7, sounds like it’ll be really fun. They have to go into their dreams to save Bobby, and fight their worse nightmares. Interesting.

I’m really worried about this show. It seems like the CW isn’t giving Supernatural its due. The show is one of the better shows on the network, if you ask me, but for some reason they seem to play it down. I can’t believe they really mean to do that. They must just think that other shows need more promotion. See, that’s me being naive, isn’t it? Since everyone knows that all network execs are evil villains, I should just resign myself to the fact that they want to kill off a perfectly good show just to ruin my day.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Smallville, Supernatural, James Marsters

OK, so I watched the third ep of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox Monday. I’m still not impressed. I want to like it, I really do, but honestly, no matter how well I try to pay attention, I can’t seem to follow what’s happening. Even my husband, who was watching with me, got up and walked away when there was only about 10 minutes left and said, this is moving too slowly and its confusing. I felt exactly the same way. There was no wall smashing this week, so at least it had that going for it, but without all that, it was very slow and kinda dull.

I wish it was better. I want it to be better. From what I read elsewhere, people seem to like it, so maybe it’s me. But honestly, what about that episode was interesting or exciting, or even mildly entertaining? What would make anyone want to watch the show again?

I think one thing that bothers me is that Summer Glau’s character, Cameron, is very similar in affect to her character of River Tam on Firefly and Serenity. Very smart and not emotionally connected. And a good fighter. This can’t be good for her as an actress. I’ve seen her in other roles and she can act, but playing two characters cast in the same basic mold has got to start her on the slippery slope to being type-cast. Maybe I’m just letting that bother me too much so it takes away my enjoyment in the show.

I’m gonna keep watching, but I just hope I see something worth watching soon.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Summer Glau, Firefly, Serenity

I’m still wading through season 3 of Moonlighting and I’ve gotten to the series of eps where Mark Harmon joined the show as Sam Crawford, Maddy’s love interest. It’s the catalyst for David to realize that he’s “in care” with Maddy and which pushes David and Maddy to finally get physical, as we used to say back in the 80’s.

Anyway, I was struck, as I watched Mark Harmon, who I remember as a huge heart-throb back then, by how much he looks like John Barrowman. Or maybe I mean, by how much the John Barrowman of now looks like the Mark Harmon of then. It’s almost uncanny. I’ve done a little snooping around, call it Internet research if you prefer, and I’ve been unable to find that they are in any way related. But they should be. Mark is only 16 years older, but he could almost be John’s dad. I’m surprised that I never realized it before now.

For those of you who don’t know, John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness on Doctor Who and it’s spin off, Torchwood. Torchwood is starting its new season on Saturday, January 26 at 9 pm on BBC America. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s worth it just for dreamy Captain Jack alone. I mean, the show is good, too, but Jack is certainly nice to look at. No, really, the show is very good and you should check it out. And maybe even more exciting for me is the fact that James Marsters will be guest starring in the first ep.

If you want to check out the Mark Harmon of now, he’s over on NCIS, which airs, in repeats, on CBS, Tuesdays at 8 pm ET. I also saw that repeats of the first season are airing weekly on USA, Wednesdays at 9 pm and 10 pm ET. That show also stars Michael Weatherly, another favorite of mine, from Dark Angel.

Moonlighting, Mark Harmon, John Barrowman, Torchwood, Doctor Who, James Marsters, NCIS, Michael Weatherly, Dark Angel

The last of the new Moonlight eps aired Friday on CBS. I was a little disappointed in how things were left, especially in light of the fact that we may not see new eps for a long time. Until the strike is over, if ever.

It’s not that I’m disappointed in the actual ep itself, it’s just that there are some things that I’m finding harder and harder to swallow. There are so many things we don’t know or that don’t seem to add up.

Take Coraline, for example. How long were they married that Mick never knew anything of her past? They must have been together for a while at least, because Mick said she took him under her wing when she turned him, when comparing it to that doctor who was turned in the ep, Dr. Feelgood, and who’s sire had abandoned him. And yet he didn’t know that she was part of a French aristocratic family that had been turned prior to the French Revolution.

Also, why, as a vampire, is he still so altruistic. Did Coraline teach him that? Was he a PI before he became a vamp? What makes him care about being human and helping others? The doctor didn’t even feel that way after he was turned, and he was a doctor, for goodness sake. It was his job to help people before he was turned, but he still somehow became a monster after he was turned and even killed his own wife. I know they tried to say it was because he hadn’t been taught by his sire, but Mick’s sire was Coraline, not necessarily someone who has a high regard for human life. She is the one, after all, who planned to kill Beth just so she and Mick could have a family. Something that must have occurred well after they were already separated. How does someone like that inspire a newly turned vampire to become Philanthropist of the Year?

What’s the timeline anyway? He’s been a vampire for 50 years, it was 30 years ago when he helped to put that serial killer away, and 25 years ago or so, when he saved Beth from Coraline. So was he a bad guy for a while, say 10 years or so? What then made him be a better person? He implied that his turning point was saving Beth from Coraline, but that was after he put the serial killer away, which means that he was already acting on the side of good.

And what’s with Coraline anyhow? She’s known for what, 200+ years, that her family had some special vampire antidote, she’s know for 50 years that Mick didn’t want to be a vampire, but she just decides to go steal it now?

And Josh, the last time we saw Beth and Josh together, they weren’t. Together that is, they were on the outs. Sure, Beth told Mick she couldn’t stay with him in New York because she had to go back and make things up to Josh, but we never saw anything like that happen. We just see them finally make up right before he gets killed. But, somehow, he was having a stone set for an engagement ring, which he had planned to go pick up that very night. And why meet the person setting the stone for dinner at a fancy restaurant? Doesn’t she have an office or a store?

Maybe I’m being too nit-picky here, but I like things to add up. Part of why Lost makes me so crazy, actually, but that’s another story. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still watching this show when it comes back, but when that happens, I’m gonna want some answers.

Moonlight, Alex O’Loughlin, Lost

I wasn’t as impressed with the second ep of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I checked the reviewer at EW.com again, though, and she seems to have liked it even more than the first ep. Maybe I was distracted or something, because mostly what I saw was lots of people running around, lots of people (or cyborgs) being slammed into walls, random gunfire and dead bodies. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against those things, it’s just that it was kinda lame. Or lame-ish . . . I just felt like there was no point other than the running and the slamming, which really isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a point in itself.

It felt a little disjointed to me as well, as though there wasn’t an actual storyline, but just a director off screen shouting stuff like “OK, now slam Summer into that wall” or “Linda, you run the truck into that person.” Like they just reacted to directions without actually following a script. Maybe I’m being too hard on them. Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention. I’m gonna give them a few more weeks and then we’ll see. Judging by the number of times I’ve seen the commercial for the show since Monday, Fox is planning on keeping it around for a while. Which is good, cause that was another one of my worries. That Fox would terminate the Terminator before things got going.

One other issue? I feel weird undertones of robot sex and I just don’t think I’m ready for any of that. Unless it involves Spike.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fox

The Sarah Connor Chronicles started last night. Yay for Terminator! I’m a big fan of the movies. (Well, the first two, anyway. I didn’t care for the third one that much.) In any case, I was looking forward this this show for a couple of reasons. Not just the fact that it was Terminator, but also because it stars Summer Glau, from Firefly and Serenity. And if anyone cares, she was also in one ep of Angel. I actually thought she was gonna be Sarah Connor, and I was a little disappointed when I found out she wasn’t, but turns out, she’s the Terminator. And that’s even more fun.

I wasn’t home last night, so I DVRed (is it just me, or does is bother anyone else, just a little, the way we all just take nouns and turn them into verbs these days?) the first installment of the two-part premiere. The second half is on tonight at 9 pm on Fox. I watched part of it last night and the rest this morning and it was good. I did have a little issue, though. There was some sports thingy (maybe a football game) on earlier that must have run over, cause it messed up my DVR. Well, I think that was it, cause it taped like 2 minutes, then stopped, then 2 minutes, then stopped, then 2 minutes, then stopped. So there were like all these pieces of show. It did, however, have three big pieces amongst the rubble of small ones, and I was able to see the entire show. It just took a little effort.

I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of it tonight (hopefully, in one big piece) and in seeing where it goes from here. There were a couple of things I’m not sure I’m buying, but we’ll see. I’ve learned from dealing with Joss, that you should keep quiet when things don’t make sense immediately, cause it might all get cleared up in time.

Here’s a really great recap from EW.com that says lots of the stuff I would have said if I had thought of it first.

Terminator, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Summer Glau, Joss Whedon, Firefly, Serenity, Angel

Yesterday I was at Jury Duty (you can read about my adventures and new sitcom idea here), and I’m watching people. I’m sitting next to a real estate attorney, who is closing deals on the phone. There are all these strange people and we get to hear everyone’s name called. I love names. One person was named Champagne Young. Isn’t that fun? Another one was named Crystal Gazer. Now, what do you think someone named Crystal Gazer would look like? I pictured a tall, willowy woman with long dark wavy hair all loose around her shoulders. She is wearing a flowy peasant skirt, sandals and a long scarf wrap.

They called her several times, but I was never able to pick her out or anyone I thought fit the name. Finally, towards the end of the day, I was able to see her. Did she look anything like I pictured her? Absolutely not. She was short and heavy, even a little dumpy, probably in her 50s with very short straight blondish hair. I was amazed. Maybe she never realized that her name is Crystal Gazer as in one who gazes into crystals and tells people’s fortunes. Or, you know, whatever.

So, pulling myself back into this blog topic, the CW has released the winter schedule. Here’s the scoop from tvbloggin.com.

According to the CW site, Reaper is moving to 8 pm on Tuesday starting next week (1/15) and re-airing the first ep. Then it’s moving to Thursdays at 9 pm starting on 2/28. Apparently, it’s being paired with Smallville to gain more exposure, and I get that. But I have one question, what’s happening with Supernatural?

Jury duty, the CW, Reaper, Supernatural

Alright, I’m open for ideas. What shows on the CW are you all interested in? I’ve gotta just give in and start watching some of them, cause I have no idea when Supernatural, Reaper or Smallville will be back on in new eps and I can’t keep talking about random stuff. Can I?

There seems to be a lot of interest in Gossip Girl, but I just don’t think that’s for me. I saw a bit of it once and it just seems . . . how can I say this without offending people? . . . stupid. OK, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It’s just not for me. I miss the days of Veronica Mars.

I also caught of glimpse of Crowned and I’d rather have a root canal.

I think the big issue for me is that I’m not a huge reality TV fan and most of what’s on these days is reality. Only not so real, if you know what I mean. Don’t get me wrong, I watch some reality TV, like America’s Next Top Model (which will be back on Feburary 20, btw), American Idol, Hell’s Kitchen . . . stuff like that. (Apparently, it must either have the word “America” in the title or feature a British guy. Or both.)

But I’m serious. I’m open to whatever interests those of you out there who are actually reading this blog and have an opinion.

Obviously, it must fit some criteria: 1) it should be on the CW; 2) it shouldn’t suck. I think that’s pretty easy going as far as criteria go. (Is criteria already plural? I mean, should that last sentence have read “as far as criteria goes?”)

Anyway, what do you think?

The CW, Supernatural, Reaper, Smallville, American Idol, America’s Next Top Model, Gossip Girl, Crowned, Hell’s Kitchen, Veronica Mars

So I’ve been wracking my brain to find a way to make this blog about the CW when I haven’t seen anything new on the CW in about a month. So, here goes.

Last night we decided to watch a movie on our new TV (I’ll probably stop talking about it eventually) and we chose Serenity. I just got the collector’s edition for Christmas and I was really interested to see how it would be on the big screen with surround sound. (Awesome, btw).

So the way I got here? Serenity was the movie version of Firefly (which aired on Fox, so that was no help) written and produced by Joss Whedon, who was also the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer which was on both the WB and UPN, which joined together to make the CW. See? See how I did that? I used to like to do that on the Serenity movie site, as well. The six degrees of Joss Whedon. I think that stuff is a lot of fun, but only if I have the time to sit around and randomly web surf. Which I just don’t.

My husband has just recently taken to counting the number of times I use the word “random” each day. So far the count is - several.

Back to Serenity. If you haven’t seen it, you should. (You should actually see all 15 episodes of the series, Firefly, and then see the movie, cause it will make it all that much better.) I saw that Serenity is On Demand right now, too. I think on Starz. It’s really such a great movie. I cry and I laugh at the same stuff every single time I watch it. And I’ve seen it many times. Don’t ask me to count.

I also cry every time when I think how incredible it is and how much I love that gorram ship and its shiny crew and now they are just gone, gone, gone. Do you think Joss will ever do another movie? I’d watch it.

(Just so you know, we are having a little problem with comments. If you comment and it doesn’t show up right away, not to worry. I’ll try to make sure they get approved as soon as possible.)

the CW, Serenity, Firefly, Joss Whedon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

My New Years was a very nice, quiet, restful day. Thanks for asking.

My husband made the mistake of telling me that I could watch the big TV (our new 42″ LCD HD flat screen with surround sound) all day long. Then he remembered about the history making, ground breaking NHL game between Buffalo and Pittsburgh that was being played outside in the football stadium in Buffalo. He was pretty sad. Meanwhile, I sat around watching reruns of America’s Next Top Model and Monk. He felt it was a real waste of all that TV. Probably he was right, but a deal is a deal. Besides, we lost anyway.

I also watched an ep of the Moonlighting DVDs I got for Christmas, Seasons 3 through 5. The first ep of Season 3 is all about David’s dad getting married to a woman that David has a “history” with and David being all stressed out about it. Turns out, she was so drunk she doesn’t even remember him. So basically, all the misery and gnashing of teeth was for nothing. But it did make for some fun times.

What was even more fun, at the beginning of the ep, they had tagged on a little welcome back to the new season scene. It starts out with them introducing themselves and across the screen it says something like, “filmed before the 1986 Emmy awards.” The phone rings and Maddy answers it, hands it to David and tells him its his mother. David then has basically the same conversation with his sick mother (she’s on an iron lung) and her doctor. “It’s in the bag, 16 nominations, we can’t lose. They won’t vote for him again, he won last year.” Stuff like that. Then the doctor apparently tells him that his mother will pull through if she gets some good news. Just before they cut to the credits there is an acknowledgement on the screen, “In memory of Irma Addison” with her date of death listed as September 21, 1986. I did some research. That’s the day that the Emmy’s aired and although Moonlighting was nominated in more than a dozen different categories, they only received one Emmy, for editing on a particular episode (and they had two nominations in that category, so it would have really been hard to lose).

Just another reason why I loved this show.

America’s Next Top Model, Monk, Moonlighting, NHL, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penquins