Of Sparkles and Sunshines

I am extremely disappointed in myself that I stopped watching South Park years ago. In Middle School, I watched the series first episodes with rapt attention. But as years went by my attention fell onto other exploits and South Park was lost in the fray. I started re-watching (semi-religiously) last year with Shannon as she was a rabid fan. They were good, if not great episodes. But it's THIS season that has really rekindled my love of the show. Imaginationland alone is an incredible endeavor, (perhaps) due to the overwhelming amount of references that littered those episodes. Excellent writing and excellent commentary have made it a must-watch for me just in time for this season to end. The most-recent/last episode of the season was also particularly side-tickling. Entitled "The List" we watched as the girls made a list (obviously) of the cutest guys in the class. Having found out I was number three on a list of the cutest Syracuse film majors (sultry blond Joe Moore was number one and tall/dark/handsome Colin Bannon was number two...or vice versa, it doesn't matter) this episode really cracked me up. I never knew how much power those lists had on our feeble minds. Of course, being number three, I don't really care either way.

This season is already drawing to a close. We've got three more episodes of Heroes (seven less than there should be, in my opinion, since it took nine to get the season going) and the last episode of The Office (for now) premiered last night. Soon we will all feel the cold hard grasp of the strike when we realize that we only have episodes of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila reruns to keep us warm on dem lonely nights.

I'd like to take a moment and talk about what I'm currently watching (or, by next week, what I used to watch). Does that sparkle with everyone?

Mondays are Heroes nights, plain and simple.

Tuesday nights we usually use as "catch-up" nights, since there really isn't much on.

Wednesdays is our busy night. We've got Pushing Daisies and America's Next Top Model, followed by Project Runway, which is great as per usual. For Top Model, we're currently rooting for Heather, the mildly autistic dynamo with a heart of gold. Project Runway looks like it could be good this year, but I don't really like anyone that's on it yet. The crazy art teacher marionette designer makes me want to actually sit down and give it a chance. South Park has also graced the Wednesday night lineup.

Thursdays is our Comedy Night Done Right...night. We usually skip My Name is Early, simply because Shannon don't dig it and I don't have anything invested in it to watch. If we're laptop gaming we'll usually leave it on as white noise, but otherwise we skip it. 30 Rock I've been starting to watch more religiously, solely because I get a pretty good laugh out of it. My biggest problem with it is that most of the jokes I see a mile away, too obvious/too easy. This past episode was pretty good though and there is enough going on that I'll watch next weeks as well. The Office is a given, being the best "sit-com" that's on cable, and this season has been pretty great. Last nights was more heartwarming than usual, what with Michael Scott fighting loyalties between a bitchy girlfriend and a supportive company in order for Jan to win "a whole lotta guacamole." A great episode and sadly the last.

Friday and Saturday are dead nights, except for The Soup. If we watch television, it's usually DVDs of whatever show we're catching up on. Right now it's Angel and The West Wing, depending on our mood. I'm sure we'll move to Dead Like Me next, being such big Pushing Daisies fans.

Sundays are a mixed bag. Usually we just watch The Simpsons and (sometimes) Family Guy, but we don't really care enough to put the time in.

So yeah, that's our schedule. It seems like we watch a lot of television...which we do. But I'd rather watch any of these shows in lieu of seeing a movie these days.

Sunshine!

Of Heroes and Villains

I didn't get a chance to speak on my Heroes thoughts, so I figured now (with the downtime I have at work) would be as good a time as any. To say that this was a turning point in the season wouldn't really do it justice. For some reason I found myself in the minority of those who are actually enjoying this season of Heroes. I don't hate the twins, I don't hate West and Claire and I didn't mind Hiro hanging out in Feudal Japan for what seems like a lifetime. Everything came to a close and I have to give Kring props - the plot lines all intersected in a way that didn't bother me, nor in a way I saw coming.

The big reveal was that Adam, the villain we must all fear, is Kensai. This is huge. A villain so hell bent that he lived through thousands (plus?) of years just because of a lost love is so freaking fascinating that I cannot wait to see the season continue. And the fact that Maury (Parkman's "nightmare man" father) working for him just tops the cake. My lovely girlfriend called out that Hiro would become the Kensai he admires so, and she was right. But what I really dug about this realization was that he grew into it - Hiro proved himself. He didn't just take the position, he made choices and ended up becoming the great Kensai. Bob and the paintings piqued my interest as well, especially the stuff with Mohinder sealing his fate in killing Noah.

I enjoyed it and look forward to next week.

I finished the first draft of my spec, just in time for the Writer's Strike! It's funny, I read this infamous email going around by "The Shield" creator Shawn Ryan wrote as his own feelings on the strike, coming from a writer/producer/show runner point of view. Something that people seem to forgetting about this whole strike is that the writers WANT to work on these shows. They love them. It pains them to put the pencils down to simply ask what should have been given to them in the first place. Ryan goes on talking about how badly he wants to work on his shows and how much it hurts them to not look over the new footage or come up with a better line of dialogue. It's not easy to stop working on something you love so much and we should all realize that.