I wasn't a fan of Lee Mack in the beginning but the more I watched Would I Lie to You? he kinda grew on me and once I saw his stand up routine I was sold and sought out his sitcom, 'Not Going Out.' Overall I enjoyed the series immensely. I thought it was well written and with some pretty good gags. However not all of it meshes well together. The first series stars Megan Dodds as Kate, an American who rents the flat but allows Lee to stay there rent free all the while hating her ex, which also happens to be Lee's best friend Tim. When I first watched the first series I thought it was great, mainly because I loved the American/English dichotomy with the misunderstandings of words. It hits close to home which is probably why I like it. But I also like the love triangle between Tim, Lee and Kate which disappears in the following series.
Kate the American is replaced by Lucy Tim's sister played by Sally Bretton. Tim still doesn't want Lee to sleep with his flatmate but this time for different reasons. Unfortunately I feel this relationship grouping is less effective. What does work is Miranda Hart as the hapless cleaning lady Barbara. What a great character and Miranda and Lee work well together, its a slightly odd pairing but its quirky so it works. Katy Wix (Who I first saw in Torchwood) is also a good additive to the bunch.
The jokes, which is really the main selling point of the show are packed in there in each episode. Lee talks so fast that sometimes it takes me a while for my mind to catch up but its still hilarious. The problem I find with it is that its hard to then retell a joke to someone else. I find something super funny and want to remember it later to retell to someone else who hasn't watched it but completely forget what was so funny or more often than not, how the punchline actually went. The only episode that I found rather hard to watch was the series finale of series 4 'Life on Mars Bars' where Lee is hit by a car and goes into a dream state where he imagines he's with Lucy and their married with lots and lots of children. I don't do to well with absurdity stuff so the birthing process was taken too far for my tastes.
The one thing that bothers me throughout the entire series is that they leave the front door open all the time! I don't understand why they can't seem to close the door. A little annoyance that keeps creeping up whenever I watch it.
The series, which was initially cancelled by the BBC and brought back for series 4, will continue with series 5, airing in 2012.
After I was done with Cake Boss I felt I needed another reality show so I turned to a fellow TLC show, 'Say Yes to the Dress.' I was able to watch the first 5 seasons and I couldn't get enough of it, I just flew right through it. The good thing, although I guess it couldn't also be taken as a bad thing, is that there isn't much to these kind of shows that makes you think about the bigger problems. Really you're just watching brides find their perfect dress. It gets frustrating when moms, dads and friends take over the appointment but its rewarding when the bride starts crying over her dress. For reality television it's quite an emotional show and of course they milk it for all its worth trying to find brides with the biggest stories.
It's all about finding the perfect dress and one person to help is the consultant. Most of the consultants staid the same through the series but there were a couple of one seasoners. Starting in the second season Randy came on board as a fashion consultant and at first I didn't really like him. He was pushy and pulled dresses without talking to the consultant. I think that's what bothered me the most because he would talk to the bride directly asking the same questions that the consultant had already asked. I guess somewhat good in the sense that it would prevent miscommunication via a second hand teller but I thought stepped on too many toes. However, as the episodes progressed and the consultants got used to Randy he grew on me. I agreed with a lot of what he said, sometimes more than the consultants themselves. He added something to the show which gave it more life and depth.
I don't envy the consultant's job at all, okay maybe I gave it a moment's thought, but just a moment. Having to deal with highly strung emotional people all day would be torture and having to keep their sales up is a terrifying thought but their work is rewarding. Almost all of the brides talk about the feeling people expect to get in the dress that tells them 'this is the one' and almost all find it in a moment of tears and beaming faces. It's great to be able to see that moment of finding the perfect dress the problem I have it when that moment is ruined by money or disapproving families. It's depressing to think how little spine some people have or rather how much they would rather please other people over themselves. For example one woman was getting her vows renewed and came with her husband and their two sons. She had found a dress she liked and her sons had found another one. At first she went with the one she like the most which was more revealing and sexy and her sons were all whiny and disappointed so she then changed her mind and went with the puffy sparkly dress her sons had picked out. Those are the moments in the show which are disappointing.
There are uplifting moments as well and times where you feel good about people. Dianne had a client who had survived stage four breast cancer and she was trying to get her a good deal on her dress which was $900 over her budget. Feeling a personal connection with the client, as Dianne had lost her own mother to stage four breast cancer she asked Joan id she could pay the difference without the client knowing. It was just a moment of generosity which unfortunately isn't seen that much any more. Joan, the manager wouldn't allow her to do that but they did get the price within her budget.
The budget definitely becomes a problem for some brides and the amount of money they want to spend on a dress that they'll wear for one day shocks me. One bride in particular stands out for me. She was having a traditional Muslim ceremony and then a Christian ceremony at Disneyland. She bought a $11,000 dress on the second ceremony and then came back later for another dress for the reception. The shows justifies it through the dreams of the little girl, which tells me that the little girl hasn't grown up yet.
Focusing on a bakery in New Jersey run by Buddy and his family, Cake Boss follows the special order cakes that Buddy is known to produce from a giant flip flop to a roulette table and the best part is that most of it is all edible. When I began the show I was most interested in the cakes themselves as I myself am a baker but as the show progressed through its four seasons the interpersonal relationships became the focus of the show more than the cakes. The more extreme the cakes got - such as the transformer cake - the more I wanted the simpler cakes to be done.
As I continued to watch the show I was amazed that the bakery actually made any money with the entire family working there and always fighting. I couldn't imagine working with my family and with CakeBoss it's the extended family as well which I'm sure makes it extremely complicated and challenging.
The show is at its best when its dealing with cakes for the public but the series has leaned more towards the family drama and cakes for family occasions. The drama of the series does get old and the audience, like most of Buddy's co-workers/family cringe when Buddy starts laying down challenges. Honestly, Buddy is the perfect personality for reality television but his ego and cocky attitude get old after a while and it really takes away from the show. Not to mention the praise of Hoboken, New Jersey. And you could never accuse Buddy of not being all about his family. Overall the amazing cakes is what keeps me coming back.
There are times when you start something at the wrong time when you're not quite ready for it. I had tried reading the Harry Potter books but couldn't really get into it, but once the movie was announced I knew I had to read the books before the movie came out and then I couldn't put the books down. Likewise I couldn't stand the BBC Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth when I was younger and then one day it just clicked and it became my favorite film. I've had a similar experience watching Bones. I watched the first series a while back after my marathon's of Buffy and Angel and I was on a quest to watch more of David Boreanaz. It was enjoyable but the second season had a slow start and I never got that far into it before getting distracted by something else. I recently decided to return to it as a break from all the British science fiction series I had been consumed with. I started the second season and couldn't stop until I was completely caught up, partly because I had seen a preview for the latest season (the 7th in the series) where Bones was pregnant and apparently with Booth so I had to see how they had gotten to that point. Although the show deals with law enforcement and murder, like most other shows on television at the moment, there's something about the program that I find endearing. I think the anthropology angle is new and fresh but it has gotten as the series has progressed a little old and I find that some of the cases don't actually need Bones' expertise in order to solve the case.
What gives the show an edge over other dramas like Law and Order and CSI is the relationship between Bones and Booth, the two opposites of logic and gut feeling coming together which Borenanz and Emily Deschanel embody flawlessly. Their chemistry on screen is amazing even though the show makes the audience wait for seven season before anything really happens between them. Part of the problem which I had with the show was the amount of waiting the audience had to do before couples got together. I loved Angela and Hodgins together a great couple, loved it, but of course they couldn't just be together and I had to sit through them trying to find her husband to get divorced and then them breaking up only to get back together again. I do admit that their actual wedding was romantic but it was a long wait to get to that point.
And contrary to what I've just said I did like at the beginning how the show allowed characters to have personal lives outside the diegesis of the show which carry into the diegesis without blatantly being said. The show, at least at the beginning with the supporting characters, focused on the anthropology and the crime while leaving out the personal relationships. I felt this was a different approach than other shows.
Watching television series like I do, all in one go, has its problems. Mainly that it all kind of runs together and its hard separating what happened in which season, not to mention which episode. It's even harder with US network television because each episode has on average 22 episodes per season. That plus having watched 6+ seasons makes for certain things to inevitably get lost in this posting but I can at least call attention to some of the things I remember.
On top of my list is the departure of Zach from the show in a twisted turn of events. Having him join up with the cannibal seemed unlikely and I didn't really understand it, really at all. Especially because he kept showing back up in the show in later episodes. I really liked his character and he was a good match for Hodgins but it was still strange to have him turn from the good side to the dark side so quickly with little explanation. It wasn't that he was evil, he blew himself up instead of letting Hodgins get hurt and he didn't actually eat anyone but still it was as strange has having Marissa turn Lesbian in season 3 of The O.C.! The same can be said about the season 4 finale 'The End in the Beginning' where Booth goes into an alternative universe/dream state. It was a fun episode but came sort of out of left field for the aesthetic of the rest of the series. Still they were able to explain it through Booth's brain tumor.
The strength of the show, as I have suggested previously, are the characters. It was such a delight for me to see Stephen Fry guest star as a therapist. It wasn't necessarily a stretch of character for him but he fit the part perfectly. Comparing Fry's Dr. Gordon Wyatt to John Francis Daley's Dr. Lance Sweets I think would be unfair. Wyatt was a perfect fit for Booth from the unset of where the story was at that point whereas Sweets was more of a replacement for Zach so he must overcome his appearance of youthfulness in order to give out the psychological stuff. Most of the time I find his tangents about psychology boring but his character has grown on me.
The disappearance of Zach also meant that Bones needed a new intern and I liked what they did here, well eventually I liked it. I wasn't so keen on them bringing a rotating cast mainly because I like some more than others and so I felt like I was watching a daytime soap where they changed focus from one storyline to the next when you really wanted to just focus on the one. It eventually grew on me though, although I'm still not a huge fan of Fisher.
I loved the characterization of Clark Edison although lately as he's become more open to discuss personal issues I find his character just boring. His endearing qualities were that he always got stuck in between intense personal conversations and hated it wanting just to focus on his work. His first outburst of how great Bones and Booth would be together was comedically charged and worked well but since then the charmed factor has waned as he has become more and more open.This also occurred with Arastoo Vaziri. I identified with Wendell Bray the most because of his financial situation and I loved his accent. My favorite, who of course has such a shocking death was Vincent, Mr. Nigel Murray.
His final episode was his best with his excitement over the t rex. I liked his Britishness and all of his fun facts that he couldn't help but say. I admit his winning jeopardy wasn't out of the realm of possibility but his loosing all of his money on drinking and gambling was but I can over look that. His death though was so heart wrenching. You knew someone was going to be shot because of the camera work but I wasn't expecting it to be Vincent. I had hoped that it would be the FBI agent (even though I loved seeing her in something besides Veronica Mars) or one of the other interns. It was great to finally see some real emotion from Bones over his death I think that's what made it even more dramatic and emotionally touching was Bones' reaction. The only good thing that came out of his death was that it led to Bones and Booth finally getting together and the shocking season finale - Bones is pregnant.
Thankfully by the time that I got to the end of season six I had a few episodes of season seven to watch so I wasn't left hanging but I have to say that they did a poor job of connecting the two seasons with jump in time so that now Bones is hugely pregnant which has to be done because of Emily Deschanel's pregnancy but I still feel like they could have explained it more or better. It's all I love you from both sides but there isn't that passion that was there say in a previous season when Booth wanted to make a go of it after they had told Sweets about their real first case or when Bones confessed to Booth her feelings while he was still with Hannah. I understand the circumstances but I felt it could have been handled better.
What I really liked about season six was the backdoor pilot for The Finder which will be premiering next year. I thought it was a great way to introduce a new show and new characters while still involving the original cast but also to set up a new show. Michael Clark Duncan - AMAZING. It might turn out a little like Psych but I'm willing to give it a chance. I will miss Saffron Burrows who was in the Bones episode but not in the show.
I haven't been all that faithful to Glee this season, watching a few episodes at a time and then waiting for more to pass but I do think it has improved upon its previous seasons. The show was always about the music and for a while there it got too caught up in the drama and lacked in musical numbers. This season the show is dealing beautifully with tough issues while still balancing it out with, for the most part, good musical choices. The last two episodes, 'Mash Off' and 'I Kissed a Girl' were particularly noteworthy for me.
'Mash Off' was dealing with the issue of competition between the Trouble Tones and The New Directions which has been brewing some time and lead by the diva Santana, at least when insults are concerned. The mash off is really just a way to deal with the real story about the outing of Santana where Finn played a big part, essentially outing her in the crowded hallway after having enough of Santana's insults. The gathering of Sue, Will and Burt to talk to Santana about the fact that she is being outed by a political opponent of both Sue and Burt was an amazing scene. Sue actually seemed to care about how her actions had affected Santana and Will and Burt both wanted to give her some comfort. It was a touching scene and one I'm sure doesn't happen often enough in real life. Of course her outing leaves her upset since she hasn't told her family or really admitted it to anyone but herself and the only way she can express herself is through song. One that I absolutely loved.
Santana and Mercedes' voices were perfect for this song, lots of power and raw emotion. I'm finding that I prefer the Trouble Tones with their choice of modern music as opposed to The New Directions and their choice of another 80s song which is getting old. The problem I have with the Adele mash up is that it wasn't an original take on the song. Yes, they took parts of both songs and but them together but the arrangement of the music was the same and I find that when they change the arrangement of the song it's much better, for example when Kurt sang 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' and when Finn sings to Santana in 'I Kissed a Girl' a slowed down rendition of 'Girls Just Wanna have Fun.'
I loved the rendition and it was a nice touching moment between Finn and Santana. I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed their performance of 'I Kissed a Girl' but Finn's song showed off more talent than mere karaoke.
With all the emotional turmoil in 'Mash Off' I was surprised to find that they continued with the theme in 'I Kissed a Girl' but its something I applaud the show for. I'm glad they followed through with it and I guess what I like the most is how they dealt with issue of coming out and Finn's concerns over Santana after hearing about other teenagers who have killed themselves over it. The support the glee club showed to Santana was heartwarming especially juxtaposed to Santana's revelation to her grandma who shuns her. Loosing that support of your family I think made the episode more real than if everyone was accepting.
This season Glee has raised its subject matter and has surprisingly been much better than what I expected with all the rumors of casting decisions before the season even started. I guess we'll see what the rest of the season brings especially since Rachel Berry cannot compete at sectionals.
The end of another cycle of America's Next Top Model and of course it was steeped in drama. This entire cycle has been a bit of a drag for me personally. Top Model has slowly but steadily gotten away from the photo shoots (what I actually really enjoyed in the show more than anything) to make the show all about marketing and branding. I think the original idea was good but its gone off course without turning back.
Three of my favorites returned for this all star cycle - Kayla, Laura and Allison, along with some of my least favorites - Alexandria, Bianca and Angelea so it promised to be an interesting cycle with of course lots of drama and unnecessary yelling. Plus I felt the cycle dragged because of all the focus on the branding aspect instead of the photos, but really isn't wasn't much different than previous cycles.
Kayla was the first of my favorites to go and I was sad to see her leave but it was hard to because as much as I liked her she wasn't doing as well as she did in her original cycle so I moved on to my next two hopefuls Laura and Allison who made it to the final four. Of course even after this phenomenal photo (my personal favorite of the entire cycle)
Laura was voted off the next week. What was really upsetting was the fact that they were upset that Laura was so lovable, cute and bubbly in person but she was super sexy behind the camera and that seemed to be a problem for the judges but yet they kept giving her sexy things to do. I mean come on, whip cream!
Tyra has always been one of the problems of the show which sounds strange since she's the one who invented it but she adds a lot of the drama to the show and is way over the top so she's not always likeable. When all the models wrote, sang and starred in their own music videos Tyra had to ruin it by putting herself in there and making them put in made up words. It's a step too far even for me and I've come to realize I have a pretty high tolerance for Tyra.
Tyra is good at getting herself out there and making the models do her work for her. Two cycles ago she did a music video where she sang and this cycle putting her own brand out there was no different by promoting her new book Modelville with a motion editorial. Granted, some of the aspects where interesting I miss the plain photo shoots. And Tyra's bit in it was cringe worthy. There is no appeal for me to read her book, not that I had any inclination to do it before hand but now I really don't want to read it.
The somewhat shocking aspect of this cycle was the finale that I'm sure people will be talking about for a while and something Tyra won't hear the end of. Allison, Lisa and Angelea were all walking in the fashion show and after the runway was done we were expecting the judges deliberation with all three girls but instead we got Tyra saying that Angelea was disqualified and that they were doing the finale judging in LA without Angelea. (Speculations as to why Angelea was disqualified immediately jumped to mind - and the message boards seem to be in agreement that Angelea leaked the final three and declared herself the winner on her facebook page - CW has not commented on the reason why just that she was disqualified so they had to reshoot the finale) Because of the reshooting of the finale it was very strange and you could tell something was of between Lisa and Allison - there wasn't the energy of just finishing a runway show, the nerves and excitement that is always present. Plus the judges deliberation seemed forced. There was no comparison of their pictures which they always do. The judging for the previous week between Laura and Allison which took over an hour and a half was more exciting this the finale.
I'm not happy that Lisa won, I hated her in her cycle even though she started to grow on my in this cycle I still would have much rather had Allison won but at least it wasn't Angelea. Lisa is good at sticking to her brand and I think she was best of all the models at doing that. That still doesn't mean I have to like it and honestly I think this is the end of the road for Top Model at least for me as a viewer.
