Watching The CW

This morning I was reading the blog at Buffyfest and they have something to say about Joss Whedon’s new show, Dollhouse, which airs on Friday nights at 9 pm ET on FOX. I’ve also been giving my opinion of Dollhouse over at FanaticSpace. (To make sense of all I’m saying here, you should go read both those blogs.)

Anyway, I started to post a comment at Buffyfest, but it got so long winded, I thought I’d post it here and just post the link over there, cause not everyone may care. So here is my response:

Well, as part of the starry-eyed optimists, I can only say that for me, there was no struggle. That’s not to say that there couldn’t have been. I’ve certainly had my moments when I thought, and thought, and thought Joss-related stuff through again and again.

But in the case of Dollhouse, this is how I chose to view it. First of all, I was excited cause Joss was coming back to my TV in a weekly kind of way. Second, I chose to read nothing, and I mean nothing, about what was happening beforehand. (While I did hear about, and slightly freak about, the pilot re-writes, I moved on and chose to forget about it.) So I have stayed relatively spoiler free and, therefore, upbeat about the show.

Third, I trust Joss. He has never let me down, in the end result (although I have doubted at times), and I knew that if he had his own way with this show, he would not let me down this time either. I don’t trust the networks, but I do trust Joss.

In summation, I choose to believe that Dollhouse is a great show, has always been a great show and always will be a great show. Ad infinitum.

In case you’re all wondering, I’m loving Dollhouse, Joss Whedon’s new series on Fox. I reviewed the first episode on this blog, and I really liked it. We’re up to the third episode now and I’m falling in love.

It’s a little scary, but then love always is, since you never know how it’s all going to turn out. In any case, I’ve moved my Dollhouse reviews over to my FanaticSpace blog, since that is about all things Whedon and this blog is supposed to be about all things CW. I know I often blur those lines, but I do sometimes think about it and try to change. *giggle*

So, here are links to the other blogs I’ve done about Dollhouse on FanaticSpace: Whedon’s Back on Fox, Targeting the Dollhouse, Dollhouse Ratings and Spoilers, and Falling In Love Again.

Please read them. Feel free to comment on them here or over there, but please, read them, share them with others, and watch the show.

Before I forget, here’s a link to GeekMadness. It’s down to the final four matchups and it’s looking like a Whedon/Wheaton finish. This’ll be a very hard choice for most people, although since I love Joss Whedon more than anything in the world (no, really), for me it’s a piece of cake.

One more Whedon March Madness vote is at Buffyfest. This one was really hard for me, cause it forced me to choose between people I love and other people I love. Be sure to check it out, too.

Alright, I know it was a couple of days ago now, but I needed to wait a bit, watch the episode a few times, digest it all. Now I’m ready to give my review of Dollhouse. (It is fun to say, Dollhouse, Dollhouse, Dollhouse.) If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, then you might not have heard of Joss Whedon’s new show on Fox, which premiered Friday at 9:00 pm. The premise is people who volunteer (or perhaps they are drafted) to become Actives for a certain time period. They have their personality and memories wiped clean and are then imprinted with other personalities and abilities and are hired out to very wealthy people to perform tasks for them. (OK, I’m not telling it right. You should watch it to see what I mean.)

First off, I admit that I do see everything through Joss colored glasses, but that doesn’t change the fact that Dollhouse is a good show. Actually, its the least Jossy of all his shows and, in my opinion, has the strongest pilot episode. There were some definite This-Is-Joss moments (and yes, that is all in capitals) but then there were also some parts where you just knew the network had its grubby little fingers (more…)

It’s Sunday, the day of the Dollhouse panel at NY Comic Con. Anne was in line by 9:20 am and still ended up in the third row. The panel wasn’t starting until 12:45 pm. The people next to us had gotten in the line to get autograph tickets at 5:30 am and they still didn’t get any. It validated my decision to just get a good night’s sleep. I got there just before 10 am and had to cut in line. No one seemed to mind, thank goodness. Lots of people commented on my “Joss is my Hero” shirt. It really did look amazingly awesome. Someone looked at me and said, “He really is, isn’t he?”

I have to thank some people who were in line with us, because they had a plan to get good seats and it worked. As soon as the doors opened, we weaved to the left and ran up the aisle. If not for the guy who was with them running ahead of us with his long legs and then throwing his body over the five seats we needed, we probably wouldn’t be as far up front as we were. Thank you, guy who’s name I never thought to ask. I do know that one of the girls was named Tracy and that she reads stuff over at Whedonesque. So maybe they will read this, too. Here’s a video of the room before the start of the panel. I know they let us in around noon and I took this just after we got settled in our seats. You can’t really tell, but the balcony is also full.

I’m not really even going to try to give a play-by-play of what was discussed at the panel. For one thing, I was so busy hanging on to Joss’s every word, that I’m not exactly clear what he was talking about anyway. Besides, Buffyfest did a great review of the panel, including videos you can actually see and hear, quite unlike the videos I took. So go check it out here.

I will make mention of one of the things Joss said that I can actually remember him saying. Joss speaking about the character of Topher, said, “You won’t be surprised to find a little bit of me in him, he creates characters and has no morals.” He also said something about someday making a period piece, in Elizabethan dress. Could I love this man more?

Oh, and one final note. Something that is just as annoying as people calling Joss Whedon “Josh” is people calling Tahmoh Penikett “Toma.”

Reminder: If you care, you should check out my other blog at Watching Sitcoms, where I’m also blogging about different Comic Con stuff.

So, do you?

OK, OK, I know this is like my fifth NY Comic Con post and I haven’t even left home yet to go there. So I promise. This will absolutely, positively (alomst probably) be my very last ever NY Comic Con post. Until I get back from Comic Con. (Unless, of course, something amazing happens that I have to blog about immediately while I’m there, which I will do from my phone. So don’t expect good spelling or punctuation if that happens.)

Anyway, my friend made some amazing shirts and a hoodie for me to wear, so I can show my geeky colors and, hopefully, attract others of my kind. I mean it, that’s really a goal. There must be others like me out there, right?

So, the first shirt says, “BuffyGroupie.” That’s me, BuffyGroupie. Like, I’m a superhero for stalkers. Or a stalking superhero. You get the point.

The next shirt, the one I plan to wear to the Dollhouse panel, says “Joss is my Hero.” Well, he is. Hopefully, he sees it and it makes him happy. The fact that the word “hero” stretches in an interesting way when the shirt is on is in no way a play to get his attention.

The final pic is from my Serenity hoodie. I’ll pretty much be wearing that the entire time I’m in New York City. Possibly even every day for the entire rest of my life.

So, what do you think? Aren’t they shiny? I spent like two seconds telling my friend what I wanted and two days later, here are my amazingly shiny shirts for Comic Con.

Now you can recognize me.

You didn’t think these were over, did you? Hardly.

This category in the Hulu Awards is important to me. It’s for the Best SciFi/ Fantasty TV Series. I like each and every one of the nominees, which are Angel, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Fringe. This does pose a slight problem for me since three out of the five are Joss Whedon shows. (And did you know that Zach Whedon wrote - or possibly co-wrote - two the eps of Fringe, so far?) So you see my problem. But the bottom line is that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my all time favorite show. Of all time. So that’s the show that gets my vote. It should also get your vote.

I’m not kidding. Don’t make me (more…)

So I posted on my other blog, watchingsitcoms, about NY Comic Con (since I can’t really focus on anything other than the fact that I am leaving to go there tomorrow) and I expressed some concern about how I’m going to react when faced with a real life celebrity.

I admit it, I get star struck. I actually have a funny story about that. One time I went to a concert with some friends. I’m not telling you which concert, or who we saw, cause I don’t want to. I really just don’t want to.

Anyway, we were down the street from the venue (I think it was in Syracuse, NY) at a restaurant with a bunch of people grabbing something to eat before the show. Someone calls someone else in the crowd to say that the band members, and in particular, the lead singer, were out in back of the venue signing autographs and taking pics. It was like a stampede. Dozens of old ladies and tweenie girls running down the road like cattle.

I’m old, so I was slow and I get there just behind the crowd. Even so, I’m only about 15 feet away from this guy, who is smiling and signing.

I’m dumbfounded. Like I can’t believe he’s real and I’m staring at him, with my mouth wide open. Then I pull myself together (marginally) and decide to take a picture. I fumble around in my purse trying to get at my camera, pretty much dumping the contents into the street, and watch while my extra batteries and possibly my keys roll away out of sight under a bus. I’m so cool and polished.

All that being said, if I was that excited about someone who’s really not that interesting, how will I act if I have an opportunity to be face to face with (or in the vicinity of) Joss Whedon?

It won’t be pretty.

I think we all know what show should get the Hulu Award for Best Web Original.  And if you don’t, here’s a little hint: there’s singing, dancing, laughter, laundry, frozen yogurt, frothy beers, and death. Still have no idea? Here’s a link to my other blog where I blather on about how wonderful this show really is, including (and here’s another hint) the musical commentary on the DVD. Still don’t know? Well, then, you’re clearly not a geek. But I mean that in the nicest possible way. Really.

OK, I’ll spell it out for you. Go vote for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Vote early, vote often. Stay up all night voting if you have to. Dr. Horrible must - and I mean absolutely has to (and I cannot stress this enough) - receive the Hulu Award for Best Web Original.

It’s just one more part in Joss Whedon’s master plan to take over the universe and I, for one, am fully in agreement with that happening.

So now, I can list all the nominees for Best Web Original, but as far as I’m concerned none of the others even count. At all. OK, fine, the nominees are Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, National Geographic Animals, National Geographic Environment, National Geographic Travel and Spacerip.

I mean, what are those other shows anyway? Has anyone even watched them? Does anyone want to? Heck, NO! So don’t waste any more time.  

Here’s the poll.  You know what you have to do.

Hard to believe, but I guess I never mentioned Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog in this blog. That’s just weird. I know I did several (dozen) blogs about it over at my FanaticSpace blog, but its possible most people who read this blog don’t read that one. Probable, even.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog was created by Joss Whedon and his completely insane family. No, really. It came to be during the writers strike and was first presented online in July as a web only serial in three acts. It stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day, with an assorted cast of sidekicks, including Simon Helberg, Drew Goddard, David Fury, Marti Noxon, Jed Whedon and his fiancee, Maurissa Tancharoen.
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I’ve been watching through all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - yet again - and I realized a few things. I started watching in May and I’ve seen all 144 episodes (actually 145, cause I watched the unaired pilot, too) in just a few weeks, and I’ve come to the conclusion that we aren’t meant to watch too many eps in one day. Also, I learned something else.

Joss Whedon hates us. No, I mean it, he really, really hates us. He likes to smack us around, and rip our hearts out (with a spoon so it hurts more) and leave us bruised and bleeding on the ground. Then he likes to kick us in the head, just for fun. Like he’s an abusive boyfriend, and we keep going back for more.

Honestly, I think the great part of Joss’s appeal is his ability to really connect. To evoke feelings, good or bad, in all of us. He hates us and yet we love him. Joss can make us happy, sad, frightened, lonely, miserable, or, you know, feel like singing.

The reason I came to this conclusion, is cause while watching Season 6, the depressing, sex-filled season, I watched a string of shows, pretty much all within a day, that nearly made me suicidal.

The first ep (number 15 of the season) is “As You Were,” in which Riley comes back to Sunnydale to enlist Buffy’s help. Except, now he’s married to a wonderful woman and very happy. Buffy is working at a burger joint and has a cow on her hat. Plus, she’s sleeping with Spike. I never liked Riley that much, but it was hard to see him come back like that. It was also hard to see Buffy tell Spike she didn’t love him and never would.

The next ep is “Hell’s Bells.” Xander leaves Anya at the altar. It was just gut wrenchingly awful. I almost couldn’t believe it the first time I saw it. It still hurts to watch.

Then there’s “Normal Again,” where Buffy hallucinates between Sunnydale with her friends and being locked up in institution, except her parents are alive. She has quite a choice to make between which world she wants to be the “real” world. She tries to kill Dawn and all her friends. Plus, she cries a lot. Talk about depressing.

Following that are “Entropy” and “Seeing Red.” Anya tries to exact vengeance on Xander (that part is a little lighter), but then ends up seeking solace with Spike, and everyone sees them, hurting both Xander and Buffy. Then Spike tries to force Buffy to say she loves him and attempts to rape her. Also, Warren shoots Buffy and Tara, killing Tara.

Of course, then Willow turns evil and things really get bad.

So you see how I came to this conclusion and now, we never have to worry about feeling too cheerful ever again. Just watch Season 6.

By the way, if you’re interested in all things Joss Whedon, come on over to my other blog at FanaticSpace.com

I’m sitting here today watching a marathon of back to back episodes of Firefly on SciFi. How do I love this show, let me count the ways. It always makes me cry when I think of all the stuff that could have happened, all the questions I would have liked answered, all the things I wanted to learn about the characters as time went on. It makes me hate Fox more and more, as well. It’s so sad when a show with this much potential just isn’t given enough of a chance. Tears did come to my eyes, more than once, as I watched a particular scene, one I’d probably seen close to a dozen times before, but that still has the power to move.

I loved all these characters. I mean, really, really loved them. Also, I was in love with them, which is vastly different and much more intense. Like, I wanted to have their babies. You know what I mean? Dong ma? I even love that ship. It was as much a character on the show as the actors. There’s not another man anywhere like Malcolm Reynolds, or Jayne Cobb, for that matter. There aren’t other people on TV today that are as perfectly right as Kaylee, River, Simon, Zoe, Wash, Book and Inara. There’s no other ship as alive and real as Serenity. I just miss this show so much. Today was great, cause I was home and could just sit here, for the most part, able to watch and enjoy.

If you haven’t seen this show yet, you have to. I mean it. Right now. Go get the DVDs. Also, you need to find these actors and watch whatever they are doing now. They deserve it. They, along with the most wonderful and mighty Joss Whedon, gave us 15 hours of amazing television and a lovely, lovely movie, Serenity, to boot.

“Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand. I don’t care I’m still free, you can’t take the sky from me. Take me out to the black, tell them I ain’t coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can’t take the sky from me. There’s no place I can be since I found Serenity, you can’t take the sky from me.”

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

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

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