How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck...

Or in other words; Just how many TV-series can a pop culture junkie possibly keep up with besides his movies, books and whatnot? Those of you familiar with my movie-reviews at Letterboxd knows I've these last years seen about 300 movies a year. Before that the number was quite a bit higher, but I don't have exact numbers.... Besides watching movies I keep up with a large number of TV-series, read books every so often, binge-watch old TV-shows that have been cancelled, and--of course--I tend to revisit some of my personal favorite TV-shows quite often.

Some of the TV-shows I watch are the equivalent to my rom-coms in movies; guilty pleasures in other forms. In TV-terms it's usually procedurals of different kinds. Rarely ever spectacular, but I seem to still hang around for quite a few seasons in most cases. A weekly fix, if you'd like. I've also added a couple of recently ended shows, as they are within the last year of my keeping on top of-shows, and as such still feels somewhat valid.

So, which shows am I currently spending time on?  I've divided into five categories.
1. Up to date with
2. I usually bingewatch after each season, so I'm currently less than a season behind
3. I've seen at least one season, but am not quite up to speed anymore (without having ditched it).
4. New shows I'm up to date with (First season or max one complete season aired).
5. Show I've fallen behind with, but I catch up on every so often & shows I slowly work my way through bit by bit.

Category 1:
NCIS
NCIS LA
Criminal Minds
White Collar
Elementary
Bones
Lost Girl
The Mentalist
Warehouse 13
Haven
The Big Bang Theory
Supernatural
Fringe
Chuck
Arrow
One Tree Hill
Beauty and the Beast
Castle
Hawaii Five-0
Person of Interest
Sherlock
Rizzoli and Isles
Unforgettable
Burn Notice
Falling Skies
Justified
Leverage
Longmire
Necessary Roughness
The Newsroom

Category 2:
Downton Abbey
Covert Affairs
The Walking Dead

Category 3:
Hart of Dixie
2 Broke Girls
Happy Endings
Community

Category 4:
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Almost Human
Orphan Black
The Americans
Ground Floor
Trophy Wife
The Blacklist
By Any Means
Defiance
Go On

Category 5:
Revenge
Nikita
Dexter
Game of Thrones
True Blood
Greek
Vegas
Suburgatory
Glory Days
Life Unexpected

The truth behind the hype and acclaim of Silver Lining Playbook

We live in dark times. To paraphrase a saying by a club legend from my favorite sports club;

We have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory

In Hollywood that couldn't but further from the truth. In Hollywood they've set the bar so low, you could stroll along beside it and by pure luck, accidentally clear it just by stumbling across it. That's not sad, it's depressing.

So along comes David O' Russell with his young rising star, Jennifer Lawrence. High on acclaim from her performance in Winter's Bone, high on popularity from new teen-phenomenon franchise The Hunger Games, and high on likeability from her freshness and persona so far from the usual Hollywood stars we've grown accustomed to. In the baggage he's got a two hour rom-com, spiced up with mental illness, but not really a stand out script by any measure. At least if you don't compare it to the ridiculous low bar they've set in Hollywood when it comes to rom-coms.

We've seen it for quite a while. They keep on recycling ideas, stealing outright from each other whenever someone comes up with a half-decent original idea, and then they recycle the same old beauty pageant of actors and actresses again and again. Of course casting Jennifer Lawrence rather than one of those bimbos they usually pitch, it would seem like manna from heaven. in fact the god damn Academy got so whiplashed they even managed to award her Best Actress for it. I love Jen. I worship the ground she walks, I love her diversity in picking roles, I love her talent, I love her in interviews, I love her for sticking it to the tabloids and Miley Cyrus with her comment, and I love her for a few dozen more reasons. I don't blame her for fooling the Academy. She deserved to get a golden man for her work in Winter's Bone, so there's some karma working in her favor I guess.

But it all speaks volumes on Hollywood. It's only four years since they gave Sandra Bullock the same award for a role so simplistic there's probably three thousands actresses that easily could have stepped in and done the same. Now I like Sandra for Sandra, but honestly... Anyways. I have absolutely no respect for the Academy, so I won't bother barking down that particular leg any more.

Let's have a small look at recycling of ideas instead. Hollywood have always loved vampires, and they return every so often in fashion. We had the early Dracula and Nosferatu stuff back in the 20's, in the late 80's and early 90's it was again in semi-fashion with movies like The Lost Boys, Near Dark and Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. Then came Stephenie Meyer and her Bella Swan, spinning out Twilight as a major novel- and movie-franchise. In its wake came a lot of popular culture looking to cash in; The Vampire Diaries and True Blood to name two of the larger TV-attempts. We already had a show doing one season before they got cancelled with Moonlight just prior, and Kate Beckinsale was already walking around all sexy leather-ness in the Underworld-franchise.

In 2009 largely forgotten indie-director Gorman Bechard made a rom-com movie based on the friends with benefits plot, titled Friends (with Benefits). Few have heard about it, even fewer have probably watched it. I have, and I enjoyed it a lot. Then again I fell in love with Gorman's visions with his You Are Alone made a few years earlier. Someone in Hollywood obviously watched Gorman's movie, because we soon after had a new idea widespread. They made Friends with Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, Love and Other Drugs starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal, and No Strings Attached starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, all doing their very best to cash in on the plot-point of romantic comedies with the friends with benefits theme. Now, that's originality for you. Oh, well. It's Hollywood for you anyway.

I wasn't all that impressed by Russell's movie. I gave Silver Lining Playbook 2 out of 5 possible stars in my Letterboxd-review. Then again I'm not limited to the latest Hollywood releases. I watch rom-coms out of both Europe and Asia as well, so I'm exposed to a whole lot more variety and fresher ideas even on such a simple genre. Hollywood obviously isn't. On the other hand I'm also watching old Hollywood-movies from back when they actually had the bar a little higher more of the time. There's plenty of great screwballs to look up from the 30's and 40's, written with more genuine talent and invention, and that's despite their censorship from that damn Hayes Code implemented in 1934. Imagine if Hollywood today had that to struggle with in addition to their greedy studios, the fear of MPAA-ratings stopping teenagers watching their movies, and whatnot they look upon as obstacles these days.

Looking at what's seen as humor in Hollywood these days I'm not surprised they can all suddenly embrace a simple movie like Russell's. We've been so exposed to neanderthal humor from Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Seann William Scott and whatnot, that actual intelligent humor based on a wider memory-span than the last three minutes is essentially banned from scripts by studios underestimating their audience. While Bradley Cooper might not exactly be a new Forrest Gump, taking the rom-com to a serious issue like mental illness, and with the added flavor of Jennifer Lawrence, I can understand why Hollywood and American movie-goers in general got suckered. They are so exposed to garbage, that even mediocrity must seem pretty darn good by now.

Studios complain over streaming, illegal downloading over internet and a changed marked for movies. That's their excuse for sticking to the formulas, for embracing superheros as the grandest of genres, and for still marketing simple garbage starring the latest bimbo. They don't take responsibility for undermining the market themselves by neglecting to demand a certain level of quality, and therein lies their downfall. Therein also lies the reason we won't be seeing too much fresh quality in the rom-com genre for the next few years either. Now they'll be way too busy trying to live off the new market created by Silver Lining Playbook's success.

The funny thing though. There's actually been one lone glimmer of hope shining from Hollywood within the genre the past years. Dan Fogelman stepped away from his usual animated works and penned the screenplay for the 2011-success Crazy, Stupid, Love. directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Jennifer Moore, Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei. It's not as good as the best from former golden eras of Hollywood, but it's a huge step in the right direction for a genre that have been stuck for so long when it comes to bigger studio productions.

In all fairness to romantic comedies, they aren't the only ones struggling with a collective Hollywood stuck in a rot. Ever since they milked the new wind of Die Hard back in the days, we didn't see decent action movies until Taken was the one single lone glimmer of hope when it arrived in 2008. Then again that was a project made with mostly European backing, and Hollywood have since delivered more than one crappy attempt at doing high profiled kidnapped-revenge movies (like Nicholas Cage in Stolen), and we've had a horrible sequel with Liam Neeson reprising his role as Bryan Mills.

I doubt we'll see much change from Hollywood in the years to come either. Sadly there's still too much money and influence from their market, so that's an uphill battle quality is doomed to lose. At least I still got the Asians and French making good efforts, and I have a lot of old screwballs I haven't gotten around to yet.

We still desperately need someone to see the bar higher in Hollywood as well. We need them to reach for the stars, explore the possibilities beyond the cliches and stolen ideas, and hopefully again touch like they once touched their audience. If you'd like to know where that bar should be, I suggest you check out movies like these:


It Happened One Night (1934) dir: Frank Capra
My Man Godfrey (1936) dir: Gregory La Cava
The Awful Truth (1937) dir: Leo McCarey
Groundhog Day (1993) dir: Harold Ramis
Friends (with Benefits) (2009) dir: Gorman Bechard
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) dir: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
 
And while these won't exactly set the bar, the following are a handful of french rom-com releases that are more charming than at least 90 % of what Hollywood have released this side of the new millennium:

La fille sur le pont (1999) dir: Patrice Leconte
Je vous trouve très beau (2005) dir: Isabelle Mergault
Hors de prix (2006) dir: Pierre Salvadori
Le nom des gens (2010) dir: Michel Leclerc
Un plan parfait (2012) dir: Pascal Chaumeil

I could do a whole lot of Asian ones as well, but their idea of romance does very often come in The Notebook-terrain, so we'll leave that for another day. Needless to say though, their 'The Notebook's are usually a lot better than The Notebook actually was...

Piloting - Graceland

Just another police procedural?

Graceland have a few things that sets it apart from the mold, like several agencies working together and--more importantly--living together in their housing named Graceland, but overall this was a pilot with a lot more disappointment than intrigue. They take on too many of the Graceland residents in the same episode, and paint all of them with cliched simplicity.

It's no secret police procedurals of different kinds are my bread and butter, or my guilty pleasures as it might well be better known as. The technologies and sidekicks change, but the platform stays the same. While they do rock the platform here, it's hard to be enthusiastic about it all when it's done so lifeless as here. None of the agents pitched in the pilot are of any interest to me, and then they've actually managed to make a show in this genre that not even I have any interest to check out further.

1.01 ★☆☆☆☆ Overall pilot score

Justified, Season 3 & 4

Justified is the kind of show I like to watch entire seasons in one, rather than follow weekly. I did the same with seasons 1 and 2 back in the day, and somehow I never got around to season 3 before even the fourth season had passed by. It's a strange beast. The simple 19th century lawman procedural in the modern world is a bizarre mash-up that makes me think of The Wire done light in a Winter's Bone world, with characters that rarely make the same kind of impact those important ones did in the before mentioned show and movie. All in all it makes it better than most procedurals, but nowhere near the greatness of The Wire.

Season three spends a lot of time with a mafia local wannabe going at it with the Crowders, and with the Limehouse-crowd at arms length taking up a lot of time as a stripped Bennett-family kind of influence (see season 2). It makes for a less interesting season all together, with lesser obstacles, lesser intriguing characters and less charm than both this show have done before and others have done in the same vein.

Season four takes the old-secret angle, chasing down an old fugitive with unknown new identity as its main gear. Good old Boyd Crowder becomes a poor-man's Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or a poor-man's 'Stringer' Bell (The Wire). However you choose to see it, it's less appealing than it once used to be. Heck, by the time season four has ended I'm confused whether or not this actually is just another guilty pleasure of mine.

Thankfully there's a few things that works really well as we take our steps around in Raylan's world, and much of it is thanks to a certain kind of humor that works built on the world itself. Not quite enough to make the entertainment value outshine the lesser interest I feel for these seasons compared to earlier ones (or greater show's...), but enough I'll still probably tune in for season five once its done. At least by now I know it's with lesser expectations and a more guilty pleasure mind.

It also makes me ponder whether or not I shouldn't take a look at revisiting The Wire sooner rather than later...

Season 3 ★★★☆☆
Season 4 ★★★☆☆

Falling Skies, Season 1 & 2

I always knew I would tune in for Falling Skies sooner or later, mostly because of Jessy Schram. I've been a fan of the girl ever since her stint at Veronica Mars, but also because of her minor roles elsewhere, and as such always felt like I had to check out series where she got bigger parts.

And I've never made any secret of my lack of love for everything Spielberg, so it's most definitely despite his executive producing the show I finally gave it a go.

There's a distinct difference in the two seasons thus far aired, but I'm not gonna spend time looking into those. As far as the quality goes, they are both pretty much in the same ballpark, even if they did pick up from the opening few episodes.

It's easy to think of The Walking Dead while watching Falling Skies. Zombies are swapped for aliens, but they do in both cases take backseat for the human connections and interactions within their groups. While the potential of both shows are great, Falling Skies falls shorter than TWD--much because of the typical Spielbergian bright side attitude. The potential is equally great--or even better--but the execution is on both FS-seasons just a notch below the disappointing second season of TWD. With only ten episodes a season they have the proper framing to make it tight and quality, but still spend too much time wallowing in scenes and situations that are too light and family-friendly. Pick up the dark side, and there might actually be something there.

As long as Jessy Schram keeps getting credited, I'll still probably tune in for another season.... My expectations aren't very high thou, so more of a guilty pleasure kind of thing. That's also why I rate it according to my Guilty Pleasure's three star system.

Season 1 ★★☆
Season 2 ★★☆

Piloting - Defiance

SyFy returns to its roots with Defiance, but how well does it stack up on its own?

I'm honestly not sure. One thing is certain. Defiance manages to take on quite a few cliches and much spent stereotypes in its two-hour pilot-episode. If you managed to get through it without once thinking about Firefly, Romeo and Juliet and half a dozen other well known shows, stories and movies, you're a better person than me.

But just because it indulges itself in cliches and well spent formulas in its opening, doesn't really prove its going to be one thing or another. The real test comes with the next 3-4 episodes, and the direction it takes then. For a pilot, these plot-devices works well to establishes outer perimeters for all characters we're introduced to. It's how they let their characters develop that matters in the long run, and by doing it this way they did at least not lose their audience in very complex new world. It's pretty easy to get a general feel for what's in store, and thus not to complicated to have certain characters different set of audiences will leech onto.

Our center of gravity is without a doubt Nolan and Irisa, the two strangers arriving in Defiance. A human father-character and an alien adopted daughter, both well equipped to take on danger. Personally I found Nolan a bit too typical for the kind of center protagonists of these kind of shows, but Irisa's got potential. I just fear--from the little we saw in the pilot--that she's gonna be spent wrong. Then again, I'm a sucker for strong female fighting-spirits characters...


The pilot got its share introduction, politic family feud, action in both war and brawl, drama and a slight bit procedural lawkeeper. Some of it worked, some of it was intriguing and some of it left me feeling like I've seen it all before. I'm far from convinced we've got a hit on our hand, but for a pilot it got me invested enough I'll certainly tune back in for a few weeks.. That's not nothing.

1.01 ★★★☆☆ Overall pilot score

Valentine (2008-09)

Valentine was something like the ugly step-sister of Rob Thomas' Cupid, with modern setting for the Greek Gods, including Aphrodite, Cupid, Hercules and Ares. I didn't find it difficult to understand they pulled the plug, because there's really not a single reason to allow as many as eight episodes to air.

It was poorly written, characters wasn't used anywhere close to their potential, it was a b-cast, and they never quite managed to balance the soulmates-of-the-week storyline with their larger overall arch. In short; a lot of wasted potential.

Overall Quality ★☆☆☆☆ 

Life Unexpected, season 1

Despite somewhat limited possibilities during her stay at Roswell, Shiri Appleby managed to convince me she had the talent to make shows interesting enough to check out just by her presence. Add Dawson's Creek's own Kerr Smith, and I had to get around to Life Unexpected sooner or later. Also hanging around is the likes of Britt Robertson (that blonde The Secret Circle-lead) and Kristoffer Polaha in leads, supported by Austin Basis (now supporting in Beauty and the Beast), Ksenia Solo (Lost Girl-sidekick) and --when I get around to season 2-- Emma Caulfield (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame).

I really enjoyed the opening, and the whole premise and feel of this show. Marketed as Juno meets Gilmore Girls, it had the exact vibe needed to not seem like false marketing. Sadly they needed way too few episodes to make some really annoyingly bad choices, and by mid-season I wished Polaha's leading character died a horrible and explicit death. That sadly didn't happen, not surprisingly, and the more they dug into his character... the weaker it got. Enough so, it completely ruined any hopes the show had of succeeding.

Robertson isn't half bad, but it's no doubt Shiri is the talent. Sadly her character also takes a few dips too many into puke-worthy territory, and whomever the showrunner was should have been sacked early into the season. They are nowhere near the potential it had, racking up sad little repeats of characters becoming less and less interesting.

I'll still check out season 2. hoping they understood how far off they were heading and salvaging it with good off-season choices. Mostly thanks to Shiri I'm not quite ready to give up on it yet, but then there's also Caulfield to look forward to.

The highlights of season 1 is no doubt the interactions between Shiri and Kerr's characters, and Shiri's acting and presence. The lowest points being uninteresting dramatic choices starring Polaha's character, and his acting isn't much better. That's another reason I'm not running towards Ringer despite its star being Buffy-star Sarah Michelle Gellar.

S.1 ★★☆☆☆

On sidenotes I've also checked out Shiri in Dating Rules from my Future Self a couple of months ago. I've only seen s1 of that show as well so far, but it's lighthearted entertainment well worth checking out. The second sidenote is the fact I noticed Shiri just released a press release about her pregnancy, so best wishes and all that. Hopefully she'll still get around to a new starring TV-show role sooner rather than later, for her talent is huge and she'll be missed until she return.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 3

Season 3 might very well be the greatest season of them all if I'd taken the time to look at average episode-scores. Still, there's a few things lacking that other seasons have going for them...

It's the final year of high school, a new player arrives to shake up the line between good and evil, we get introduced to The Mayor, it's the final season before Angel goes off to the spin-off world of L.A., and the Buffyverse get familiar with a whole new set of supernatural as werewolves and witchcraft are just a couple of elements taken further.

Honestly; it's increasingly difficult to say something useful about seasons without spoilers, so I'll just skip to the episode ratings if that's okay with you...

3.01 ★★★★★ Anne
3.02 ★★★☆☆ Dead Man's Party
3.03 ★★☆☆☆ Faith, Hope and Trick
3.04 ★★★★☆ Beauty and the Beasts
3.05 ★★★☆☆ Homecoming
3.06 ★★★☆☆ Band Candy
3.07 ★★★☆☆ Revelations
3.08 ★★★★☆ Lover's Walk
3.09 ★★★★★ The Wish
3.10 ★★★★★ Amends
3.11 ★★☆☆☆ Gingerbread
3.12 ★★★★☆ Helpless
3.13 ★★★☆☆ The Zeppo
3.14 ★★★☆☆ Bad Girls
3.15 ★★★★☆ Consequences
3.16 ★★★☆☆ Doppelgangland
3.17 ★★★★☆ Enemies
3.18 ★★★★☆ Earshot
3.19 ★★★★☆ Choices
3.20 ★★★★☆ The Prom
3.21 ★★★★★ Graduation Day (1)
3.22 ★★★★★ Graduation Day (2)

S.3 ★★★★★

For now I'll drop my photo-montages down memory lane, as they get increasingly spoiler-ish just by showing who's in them by now. At least for those lucky few who's yet to get into the magic of Sunnydale and the Buffyverse. My episode-wabbles might however become slightly more spoiler-ish as a result.

The big news of this season is Faith, called upon as Kendra died last season. She doesn't just shake things up, but give Buffy new challenges on most fronts throughout the season. Compared to Faith, the big bad of the season isn't all that. The other important arch is of course the Angel-kind. I for one wasn't to sad that particular saga came to an end, as his layers was mostly played out. Unlike my man Spike, Angel really couldn't hold my interest too long.

3.01 Anne

I really enjoyed the opener of the season. As Buffy ran away at the end of the last, we catch-up with her alone in the big city. Not only is her lonesome torments interesting, but also the case of the week have stuff going for it. It's only the opening of season six that starts of better.

3.04 Beauty and the Beasts

The case of the week side isn't very interesting, but Buffy's personal life get increasingly interesting with the return of her former lover.

3.09 The Wish

The second 5-rating of the season brings us an alternate reality as Cordelia Chase gets her wish. How would life have been in Sunnydale if Buffy never came there? Somewhat funny, somewhat deep and all the way enjoyable.

3.10 Amends

Some prepare for Christmas, and other struggles with the ghosts of murders past. In hindsight I clearly remember quite a few scenes and moments later on in the show that elevated far past this big one, but it did get emotional there for a while...

3.13 The Zeppo

I always found Xander's storylines mostly boring, and I quite frankly did so here as well, but the interesting part is really the way they turned this episode up-side down by following the B-story rather than the A-story. It makes playful use of cliches, and take more than a few stabs at their own 'verse. Nothing like a little self-awareness to remind us they're not full of them self.

3.21 & 3.22 Graduation Day (1&2)

The last half of the season is really all of very high standard, but it's not until the final two episodes they manage to hit top scores again. The Mayor, Faith, Angel, Ascension and --once again-- choices, are keywords to the end of another season. A season of high quality, but personally I think they managed to hit the really high heights of the show later on....

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 2

As I mentioned in my season 1 post, season two is really where it all started to make sense, and elevate from the cheese to something larger. It's also the first season to get five stars-episodes from me, and no less than 4 of them from the second half of the season... making episodes 13-22 of season 2 the first really great stretch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

BtVS becomes emotional and personal, and the Hellmouth-ian take of The Master in season 1 becomes a minor problem in hindsight. Back then all solutions seemed to at least be simple...

It's also the season Big Bad enters Buffy's world, and he's an insurance for great entertainment. It's no coincidence that character ranks extremely high in Sci-Fi polls, despite being antagonist rather than protagonist... It speaks greatly to the achievements of actor James Marsters, creator and showrunner Joss Whedon, and the rest of the writing staff in bringing to life --or un-death, as it may be-- a truly fascinating character with wit.

2.01 ★★★☆☆ When She Was Bad
2.02 ★★☆☆☆ Some Assembly Required
2.03 ★★★★☆ School Hard
2.04 ★★☆☆☆ Inca Mummy Girl
2.05 ★★☆☆☆ Reptile Boy
2.06 ★★★★☆ Halloween
2.07 ★★★☆☆ Lie to Me
2.08 ★★☆☆☆ The Dark Age
2.09 ★★★★☆ What's My Line? (1)
2.10 ★★★☆☆ What's My Line? (2)
2.11 ★★☆☆☆ Ted
2.12 ★★☆☆☆ Bad Eggs
2.13 ★★★★★ Surprise (1)
2.14 ★★★★★ Innocence (2)
2.15 ★★★☆☆ Phases
2.16 ★★★☆☆ Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
2.17 ★★★★★ Passion
2.18 ★★★☆☆ Killed by Death
2.19 ★★★★☆ I Only Have Eyes For You
2.20 ★★☆☆☆ Go Fish
2.21 ★★★★☆ Becoming, Part 1 (1)
2.22 ★★★★★ Becoming, Part 2 (2)

S.2 ★★★★☆

So. While I won't go deep into spoiler-territory this season either, I'll still dip my toe into a couple of the mini-spoiler'ish positives from it. And I'll once again do one of my vintage photo-montages of the season, --again-- with a few spoilers I'm afraid...

The main archs of the season are twofold; Spike and Drusilla arrives as main opponents and old pals of Angel, and then the Buffy and Angel saga continues to unfold with some interesting curveballs thrown into the mix. It's also a season where Whedon starts making small changes to the premises we've taken for granted in the Buffyverse, and in most cases with a lot of luck. More importantly; this was the season the cheese and silliness elevated to inside jokes and excellent wit. On my first visit it won me over a few episodes further out than on this revisit, but then again it speaks to a greater achievement that the full knowledge makes it possible to enjoy some episodes, scenes and jokes even more on the revisit.

2.03 School Hard

The arrival of Spike. I love this character, and he's one of the main reasons this show managed to stay fresh within itself. From the beginning he shows great attitude, and it was just a small taste of things to come....

2.06 Halloween

While the problem-of-the-week might lack a little punch, Sarah Michelle Gellar get to do some fine acting taking on a completely different take to Buffy. In no way a stand-out episode in the grand scheme of things, but still really enjoyable.

2.09 & 2.10 What's My Line?

Dying has consequences, and being The Chosen One makes no exemptions to the rule. A premise-tweak that sets up greater joys later on.

2.13 Surprise (1)

Our 16 year old heroine is turning 17, and while I would never say she's a woman now... some might. My first top-rated episode on the five-star rating scale, but there were greater things to come still... even as early as at the end of the season.

2.14 Innocence (2)

When they first hit the note, they even made it back-to-back top ratings in this double feature. It's not only death that comes with consequences, and Buffy will have to deal with the fallouts of her choices. An episode that again reminds us of the delicate nuances of the character Buffy; typical high school girl/coming of age problems brings back the insecure girl as easily as demons and vampires bring The Slayer.

2.17 Passion

With life, death and souls on the line, Whedon again proofs his ability to let go. The third five-star from me.

2.21 & 2.22 Becoming, Part 1 & 2

Whedon makes his first season-ending with a bang, a trade-mark he should later perfect. Without making silly mistakes, he manages to put it all at stake --no pun intended--, and much like in first season-finale Buffy will have to face extremely difficult choices.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 1

I came late to the party, but in my humble opinion Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the greatest 'verses ever created. The popular --and fair-- opinion is however that it doesn't really kick into its gear until season 2, making season 1 the obstacle to overcome in order to benefit from the greatness of this show. You can't really skip season 1 either, as it sets the tones, premises and relations up for later gain... so despite the extreme variations of quality and interest, season 1 is much needed to truly profit from the overall story.


Thankfully it's a bit easier to overcome the season 1 obstacle when you revisit. By then you already know how huge the reward is, making 12 small episodes a small price to pay. As I now again embark on the wonderful journey of the Buffy-verse, I can at least watch it with all the knowledge of things to come, mythologies that change, powers that will be unleashed and so on and so forth. It doesn't make up for the overall lower qualities of season 1, but I won't hold it too much against the show. After all; it eventually found its footing and elevated to incredible greatness.

1.01 ★★★☆☆ Welcome to the Hellmouth
1.02 ★★☆☆☆ The Harvest
1.03 ★☆☆☆☆ Witch
1.04 ★★☆☆☆ Teacher's Pet
1.05 ★★☆☆☆ Never Kill a Boy on the First Date
1.06 ★☆☆☆☆ The Pack
1.07 ★★★★☆ Angel
1.08 ★☆☆☆☆ I Robot, You Jane
1.09 ★★☆☆☆ The Puppet Show
1.10 ★★★☆☆ Nightmares
1.11 ★★☆☆☆ Out of Mind, Out of Sight
1.12 ★★★★☆ Prophecy Girl

S.1 ★★☆☆☆

So. While I won't go deep into spoiler-territory, I'll still dip my toe into a couple of the mini-spoiler'ish positives from this first season. And I'll do one of my vintage photo-montages of the season, with a few spoilers I'm afraid...

The main arch of season one is regarding The Master, and is no-where near those coming in later seasons quality-wise. In fact; The Master is more often boring rather than interesting or fierce. The first episode does offer some insight into the mythology and 'verse we embark on, and as such isn't a complete waste. It's still two other episodes that stand head and neck above all others bite-wise.'

1.07 Angel

While Angel have been poppin' in every so often all through the season, this is the episode where we first really touch upon one of the greatest relations of pop culture. The cursed vampire with a soul finally come out of the outskirts, and it certainly makes promises of things to come in the future.

1.12 Prophecy Girl

Where Angel was the opening act of the saga of Angel and Buffy, Prophecy Girl was the first time Buffy showed proof of what an incredible character Whedon had in mind. The 16-year old girl of her was for the first time truly shown (even if there had been glimpses earlier the season), and more importantly that same 16-year old girl took a walk... The first one of several major ones to come in the seasons that followed, and the first glimpse of the heart that shine behind all the cheese and banter. While none of the first season's episodes ever came close to really gain greatness, these two episodes are still influential and important for the Buffy-verse in hindsight. That might not be much, but it's enough....

Time flies... like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana

It's already been 7 months since my last post, and some of the reason is just laziness I'm afraid. There's been a few TV-shows I really should have updated with either season-ratings, completed ratings and/or reviews, and so on and so forth, but as it usually takes a while to type down my thoughts... I usually end up rather spending that time on other stuff.

I have been spending quite a lot of my online-time at Letterboxd though (by far the best place to keep track of your own and your friends movie-experiences), so it's not like I haven't given my opinion at movies at least. For TV-shows I've mostly kept up with those guilty pleasures of mine and those few important good ones still running, and I've been tasting new ones every so often without much luck finding replacements for the golden olden ones.

Speaking of olden golden; there's a reason I haven't made any Letterboxd-reviews in almost two weeks. As always happens once or twice a year, I've once again gone back into the beautiful world of TV-shows. While movies often have a larger purpose and can deliver a much stronger quality, there's something quite spectacular about TV-shows becoming old friends, characters growing up on-screen and stories told over time. I just can't help myself, and it's impossible to stay away too long at a time.

The past weeks I've semi-revisited two of my personal favorites in Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill. I say semi-revisited as I haven't actually watched entire episodes, seasons and completes, but rather --once again-- spent time with some of my favorite story-lines and relationships. I've always been a Pacey-guy when it comes to DC, and this time around I watched the entire first season and then went on to just follow the stories of Pacey and Joey for the rest of the show. When my revisit with these Capeside characters came to the end all good things must come to, I was still up for more coming of age drama.

The answer was --once again-- to revisit One Tree Hill-character Haley James. I actually hadn't watched the ninth and final season before, so it was also a refresh-my-memory kind of thing going into that season. For those who's dug into my old lists, it's no secret I'm a huge fan of Bethany Joy Lenz (only Joy for short from now). The whiplash of taking the OTH-tour again is the same as always. Every time I revisit that show, I fall completely head over heals in love with her. It goes beyond her character at the show and also has to do with --among other stuff-- her persona, her voice, her elegance and her unbelievable talents on so many fronts. While many TV-characters are well written to make an emotional connection, Joy manages to elevate even poorly written stuff to make it come across a lot better. So as I write this I'm also listening to her old songs from her early albums. I guess it'll once again be at least a few weeks until my Joy-obsession comes to an hiatus.


I guess it's about time I refer to one of the many reasons to love Joy, and here's a taste of her voice in a relaxed and homely way as she does Hellogiggles.com's videochat karaoke.

I absolutely adore this video, and it works like my own personal good mood pill every time I watch it

Something tells me I would be heading for a restraining order if I lived anywhere near her, but thankfully I guess they ain't handing over those for web-based stalker'y tendencies just yet... or at least not to people on the other side of the pond. I'll give a crash course in the Joy-webosphere at the end of this post, just in case anyone else got curious about the wonders of Joy....


It's not only blogging I haven't found time to lately. I've got three or four memory cards worth of photos I haven't found the time to go through yet, but rather just downloaded them to the computer to free the memory cards up again. I'm gonna have to do something about that one of these days. Speaking of photos, I'm also gonna change the header and layout of this blog... again; It's just a bit too Buffy-heavy. I still love that show and 'verse, but as I'm all about diversity I really need to get a montage or something going to reflect it. I was also thinking about changing up the colors, but haven't quite decided on that one yet. It seems like a lot of back-work if I do, just to make sure all older posts remain readable... Still. I'd like a lighter tone. I do have a few ideas about it, so I'll just have to wait and see what I'll do about it.


I promised a crash course in web-stalking earlier,
so here's links to some of Joy's social web-scenes, projects and stuff:

Joy's blog

Everly, Joy's musical collaboration with Amber Sweeney

Joy guest writes at HelloGiggles

Joy and Ron Aniello's The Notebook Musical-project

Diamond Gothic; Joy's web-novel in collaboration with JC Coccoli and Abigail Spencer

Joy's FB

Joy's Twitter

"Battlestar Galactica" (2003-2009)

The drunk XO, Saul Tigh

SciFi-shows have an undeserved bad reputation, and you need look no further than Battlestar Galactica to disprove all misconceptions.This isn't really just a SciFi-show, but rather a character-driven drama show in a SciFi-setting. Like so many other great shows, its labels can't do it justice. I might explain it another way. I'm currently only watching one show at its air-date no matter what (as there's really not that many great show left on the silver screen), and it's actually incidentally also a SciFi-show; Fringe. This past week I've been so wrapped up in Battlestar Galactica (BSG from now) the regular Friday viewing of Fringe was pushed as far back as to Tuesday.

The great thing about creating a SciFi universe for your show, is the unlimited possibilities of doing your own thing and taking on your own issues without having to push too many people's buttons. BSG is the prime example of this, taking on everything like religion, politics, war ethics, racism and military conduct. It's easy to tie it in to issues well known from our own world, but they don't have to take the usual stereotypical approaches to it. When you do it in outer space political issues doesn't have to be pro-democrats or pro-republicans, suicide bombings doesn't have to be linked to the Middle East and racism doesn't have to be about the color of anyone's skin. BSG still have no problem making their issues valuable viewing experiences as well as food for thought.

The Deck Chief, Galen Tyrol

BSG have a simple premise; humans against Cylons (machines). Having the Cylons open the show by attempting genocide of the human race and Caprica-Six killing a baby, it's not difficult to have the viewers favor the humans. It's the beginning of the 2nd Cylon War, but unlike 40 years earlier, now there's Cylons looking like humans. They can be, and is, among the crew of Battlestar Galactica. It adds layers to the show, but that's just the beginning. We're also presented a hallucination of the Cylon Caprica-Six helping Dr. Gaius Baltar and an Eight known as 'Boomer', a Raptor pilot at Galactica, struggling with her Cylon side. In other words; there seems to be more to these machines than all of them against humanity.

This show is about people, fronted by the military leader; William Adama, his son; Lee 'Apollo' Adama, the President of the Colonies; Laura Roslin, the famous scientific doctor; Gaius Baltar and the hot shot pilot; Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace. There's a lot of secondary characters with great story-lines and development, but for the five mentioned I think the show held on too tightly to most of them. Only Adama Sr. stays true to a golden path of storytelling, as the rest are taken all over the place. To me that's one of the main reasons BSG doesn't quite live up to its enormous potential. If they'd rather trusted the secondary characters to step up and take on more of the story-lines, this could have been one of the greatest stories ever told.

Raptor Pilot, Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii

'Cause there's quite a few very interesting secondary and supporting characters that step up and embrace their potential, but too few of them are allowed to take it all the way. If the show-runners hadn't fallen so desperately in love with their main five, characters like Dualla, Cally, Boomer, Helo, Caprica-Six and others could have grown a lot more. Another thing is the fact Starbuck, Apollo, Baltar and Roslin then all could have avoided some of the unnecessary story-waves that overall damaged their characters a lot more than they gained. Thankfully there's a few secondary characters that are very well handled, but to avoid most spoilers I won't go deeper into that terrain.

Speaking about a SciFi show from outer space with a lot of copies of the same Cylons, you have to acknowledge their special effects, and BSG's SFX are very impressive for a TV-show. Having to work week in and week out on a budget, and still pull this off without becoming cheesy is very well executed.

Fun fact; in one of the early scenes of the miniseries Laura Roslin is at the doctor and we can see several space ships passing over the building. One of them is a Firefly-class as seen in the beloved TV-show and following movie both named after its ship; "Firefly" and Serenity. Just another proof the creators of BSG know talent and quality when they see it...

The two webisode-stories "The Resistance" and "The Face of the Enemy", and the additional parts of "Razor Flashbacks" not included in extended edition are all too short/small to get individual ratings with me. Yet they should all be seen of course... Here's a good viewing order for the show, but personally I think you should avoid The Plan all together. In my eyes it's not only a weak TV-movie as it mostly recap stuff we knew, but in my mind it also ruins parts of the early storyline by trying to explain them better, The show, and especially a certain character, was better of without this misguided attempt.

★★★★☆ BSG: Miniseries (2003)
★★★★☆ Season 1
★★★★★ Season 2
★★★★★ Season 3
★★★☆☆ BSG: Razor (2007) [Extended Edition]
★★★★☆ Season 4
★★☆☆☆ The Plan (2009)


★★★★★ Overall

The Kristen Bell sloth meltdown

So, it's not like Youtube-videos are about to become a regular feature here. I really don't hang out browsing at Youtube that often, but every ones in a while someone links stuff or I'm checking out something I've read about elsewhere.

I'm a huge fan of Kristen Bell ever since her Veronica Mars-days, and sadly there's been little else celebrating from her movies and TV-shows since then. Thankfully the girl is class act, and how often do these kind of moments come off as anything but a pr-stunt?

Kristen's just so adorable, and there's very little left of that sassy teen-P.I. we once saw her portray.

Even advertisement can be highly entertaining

Sometimes, but not often, there's an ad that makes my day. This is one of those rare ones...

"Bent" (2012 ->), season 1

Amanda Peet, David Walton and the kitchen up for remodeling

I guess that was the entire season for Bent; three airing days with two episodes each day. To me six episodes hardly is enough to be a season at all. To most shows even 13 seems like short seasons, but here we are. I have no idea how to interpret NBC's workings here, but I guess it would take real impressive ratings to overcome it and get renewed for a second season.

There's no doubt Amanda Peet was the reason I tuned in. I found here both adorable and talented in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and have been awaiting her return to TV. The other lead, David Walton, was a new face to me. Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) holds the third starring role, while support from Jesse Plemons (Friday Night Lights) is the final familiar face to me. Other supports include Margo Harshman, Joey King, Matt Letcher, J.B. Smoove and Pasha Lychnikoff.

A show about a single mother and how her kitchen remodeling contractor influence her life doesn't exactly sound like a long-runner. I know I haven't remodeled my kitchen lately, but it doesn't exactly scream four-five successful seasons. And it isn't really that funny either. Some decent jokes, but rarely without a two minute scene of bonding, decency or helpful suggestions to matters at hand. To me it doesn't really work on any level, neither comedy nor drama. It actually holds to much of the drama feel all together in my book, and I'll not be very upset when the inevitable cancellation is confirmed.

★★☆☆☆ Season 1

"Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" (2008)

Behind the camera this Web-miniseries collects a lot of familiar Joss Whedon production-names, including the other two Whedon's, Jed and Zack, on the writing along with Joss and Jed's wife Maurissa Tancharoen. Names we easily recognize from everything between Buffy the Vampire Slayer's TV-show to Buffy the Vampire Slayer's and Dollhouse's writers for the comics, and everything in between. Speaking of Buffy. Anyone who's seen the musical episode "Once More with Feeling" knows Joss and his crew can pull off musicals easily, within any 'verse...

Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion)

Speaking of production names, there's also some very interesting cameo's and smaller support roles in this were you'll see familiar names also on screen. With feature film The Cabin in the Woods soon releasing, there's always worth mentioning co-writer and the director for that movie, Drew Goddard, showing up in this miniseries. Also Doug Petrie's there, and any Buffy fan should recognize his name as well.

Let's finally care about what's happening on screen? Neil Patrick Harris takes the lead as Dr. Horrible / Billy, and he's a perfect cast. He nails the Whedon-humor as if he'd done it all his career. Felicia Day (appeared in other Whedon-franchise's Buffy and Dollhouse) is Penny (the love interest), Nathan Fillion is Captain Hammer (Dr. Horrible's nemesis and a self-obsessed superhero) and Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) is Moist (another wannabe-criminal). That's nothing short of a miraculous cast to put together for a $200k production (can't remember where I read that was the cost).

Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris)

Following a super-villain might not be the most original idea these days, but I doubt we'd see both Despicable Me and Megamind come to animated life in 2010 if it wasn't for the huge success this miniseries had. And Whedon knows superheroes and villains very well from his comic book interest, and here he takes the musical success from the before mentioned Buffy episode into the mix along with a lot of other genius touches. Ten years earlier you couldn't have known how blogging opened possibilities, but it's lovely incorporated into this. Dr. Horrible also encounters more usual everyday troubles than facing Captain Hammer, especially his crush on laundromat girl, Penny, whom he find him self unable to speak to. It's funny, cute and compelling, without becoming a cheap gag.

Penny (Felicia Day)

And there's obviously the musical numbers... They're mostly exceptionally well written, mixing wit with the ongoing storyline and the characters different ways, feelings and goals. I have the past few months played the Once More with Feeling-soundtrack a lot, and I think I've found another playlist contender here. My Freeze Ray being an instant favorite from the very first time in the series (and keeps growing on me as I write this, as I now listen to the soundtrack).

The third and final act isn't as great as the first two acts, but overall this is highly entertaining. I was captured already during the first video-blog post, but during the first musical number I was truly hooked. As so often before, these Whedonverse-writers find my funny bone almost every time. It's original, filled with great writing and is a very creative output from this collection of on-screen and writing talents.

During Q&A's for the upcoming Whedon-releases, a sequel has been mentioned. They're supposed to start working on it these days, and I can hardly wait.

BTW: You MUST check out Commentary! - The Musical, the crew's musical commentary track. It's also filled with gold, some of them hilarious enough to justify buying a couple of DVD-releases on its own merit. The other regular commentary track is the usual jibber-jabber, and not much of a sales-pitch.

★★★★★ "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"

"Firefly (2002) - # 2 The Train Job"

Jayne didn't fight no war...

Episode:	# 2 The Train Job
Writers:	Joss Whedon & Tim Minear
Director:	Joss Whedon

I like the extremely Whedon-esque intro pre-opening credits sequence, taking our heroes into a Alliance-friendly bar come U-day. It has all the flair of his writing, placing our friends in a slightly uncommon situation, barely helping with their needed info being delivered, and helping making new points about the characters. I've always enjoyed those from Whedon. It doesn't exactly hurt having Wash making a giant threat with his non-weaponized transport spaceship.

We get to know Niska in this episode. A villain that makes crooks like Badger and Patience from the opening episode seem like model citizens. The one thing annoying me a little about this Niska is his accent. We're five hundred years into a future supported by the Earth-That-Was dual-superpowers of Americans and Chinese, and Niska sounds like semi-Eastern European... Anyway. Niska hires our crew to do a train heist, and the train heist is a nice episodic touch for our outlaws. Simple enough plan, but not especially easy to perform. You'll need a pilot with steady hands (like a leaf on the wind), a nut to jump from spaceship to train, and a couple of crew-members making an entrance for him at the trains roof. There's of course more trouble rising as well, but I like the crew's attitude towards the caper.

"I aimed for the head."

Jayne's got a lot to offer in this episode. Besides the opening refusal of fighting as he didn't fight no war, he also get to teach us about the chain of command and have a hilarious drugged incident after Simon takes action to secure other chains securing command of the captain-less Serenity. He also aimed for the head...

♪♬♫ You can't take the sky from me ♫♬♪

Whedon also uses this episode to help show Mal's ethics, companion's status in society, the poverty and struggles of outer planets and moons, and the Alliance's disinterest in helping their struggling citizens despite having a large number of peacekeepers passing by. It all helps build on the mythologies and legacies, and we even get to witness the first encounters of two by two, hands of blue; essential to the River-arch, but one Whedon never get to play out fully as the show got cut and the movie couldn't last three-four hours.

Finally I also like to mention the negotiation and understanding made with Niska's minions at the end. Taking out his lead man as he refuses to take the money back and explain their stand, and the subsequent second minion eagerly accepting. I still find that scene funny the third time around.


★★★★☆ # 2 "The Train Job"

"Firefly (2002) - # 1 Serenity"

A few days ago I read the three hard cover editions of the Serenity comics, combined including every piece of Serenity stories released in comic form. I'll get back to those comics in later posts, but as usual just a tiny piece of Serenity is enough to get my Firefly-lust going again. I watched it last march, I revisited it in October after watching a few Youtube-videos from the show, and now I've just finished watching the entire show as a result of those comics.

This time around I'll give each episode a little post on its own, and as such there will be the kind of spoilers I usually try so hard to avoid. These posts are as such meant for seasoned Browncoats, and is also my little take and evaluation of each episode and the feature film. I did of course watch it in the intended order, Fox be damned for screwing it up in the first place, and so should you if you get hold of it on DVD or blu-ray. I suggest the finest blu-ray edition you can get your hands on, for this is truly TV-history worth owning your own little piece of.

Wash and the sudden but inevitable betrayal

Episode:	# 1 Serenity  (double opener)
Writer:	Joss Whedon
Director:	Joss Whedon

How Fox could skip this double opening episode for, in their opinion, a more action packed The Train Job, is far beyond me. As openers go, this is a gorram good one. It sets the 'verse, it gives us some insight into the characters and it tells the story of why River, Simon and Book find them self among our raggedy crew of Serenity.


We're also introduced to a few other raggedy characters like Persephone's Badger and Whitefall's Patience, giving us a little insight into the world of crime and shady ways of the outer worlds.

Kaylee and the strawberry

It also manage to nail one of my all-time favorite simple characters, Kaylee. From the way she describes Serenity to Book and the way she speaks to her ship after the Crazy Ivan-maneuver, to the way she enjoys her strawberry, her shiny way of seeing potential passengers and her ways around her captain. Kaylee isn't nearly as complicated as the rest of the crew and Serenity's passengers, but she's still a great character in my book. A pure and cheerful soul who always look for the best in people, and who loves her ship in a very proud way.

Kaylee has more of a part to play in the double opener, than she ever get to have again before Fox pulled the plug. I guess it makes me even more inclined to rate it highly.

Creator, and this episodes writer and director, Joss Whedon nails his crew from the opening. His witty writing and the crews ways around each other takes us into their world from the get go. There's a lot of great one liners in typical Whedon-fashion, but he also finds time to really capture the core of captain Mal Reynolds. Especially so in the final scene between Mal and Simon.

There's a lot more to the episode, but I'm not writing a review here. I'm not gonna go looking into all the smaller or bigger positives and negatives from each episode. I'll try to stick with the bigger issues. I do still laugh and giggle over a lot of the things not mentioned, even if I've seen it several times before.

"Your mouth is talking, you might wanna look to that"

"I was just wondering what his job is... on this ship?"
"Public relations"

"If they take the ship they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh and saw our skin into their clothing. And if we're very very lucky, they'll do it in that order."

To take note on that last part. Introducing the reavers is also an important part of the shows mythology, and finding it from the beginning is as interesting as it is well done. Other noteworthy parts of this major opener includes River's introduction from the cryo-box naked, the double-crossing deal with Patience, Mal's practical joke on Simon about Kaylee died and the crew's reaction when he retells the story, and the simple and very efficient way of ending Agent Dobson's journey at Serenity.

As opening episodes goes, there's not a whole lot to put your finger on about this one. Gorram Fox who screwed up from the beginning by airing The Train Job as opener instead.


★★★★★ # 1 "Serenity"

-Buffy the Vampire Slayer # 2 : Halloween-

Cover Artists: Chris Bachalo & Tim Townsend. Colorist: Liquid!

Regular Photo Cover

Writer:	Andi Watson
Penciller:	Joe Bennett
Inker:	Rick Ketcham
Letterer:	Janice Chiang
Colorist:	Guy Major
Format:	Comic
Details:	32 pages - $2.95 US
Published:	October 28, 1998
Publisher:	Dark Horse
Story:	Halloween

Buffy #2 came from the exactly same crew as in #1, so there wasn't exactly any surprises in the art work.

Writer Andi Watson continues to show off his taste of the Buffyverse, within the limitation of ending the story within single issue. There's a nice feel for the characters throughout, and he combines different aspect well. I also find the art work improving as they become more familiar with the characters and the Sunnydale feel,... maybe with an exception for Buffy's eyes on several occasions in this number.

Overall it's a strong single-issue story, but I can hardly wait to they start doing their continuous storylines in just a few numbers. Then they'll have the room to kick it up the notch to produce absolute gold on more regular basis.

★★★★☆ # 2 -Halloween-

The cover used for post-header is my Dynamic Forces exclusive Bloodchrome edition, one of five thousand, and here's the COA.