save the cheerleader, save the world.

My recap of last week's Heroes is up; read and love.

I have plenty of thoughts to share about last night's ep, too, but i have to collect them into coherent sentences first.

LOVE. This. Show!

Ugly Betty looks good to me

I love how all trade magazines and blogs have clever punny titles for their articles. So there you have my Ugly Betty pun. And you should expect that same high level of quality from all my attempts at humor.

What? I was supposed to write about a tv show? Oh, right. So how bout that Ugly Betty! I really enjoy watching this show, I think Betty (played by the glorious America Ferrera, who was awesome in Real Women Have Curves, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) is a very realistic character who is just trying to break into publishing and is forced to work with a bunch of anorexic godless whores. I did find it a little unbelievable in the pilot that Betty would think her clothes (especially the poncho, dear GOD, the poncho) would be acceptable in that environment, but in the past few episodes they have done a great job of showing that she really does get how different she is from everyone around her.

The supporting cast is really delightful, including Betty's family. She and her father have a wonderful realtionship (reminds me of Veronica and Keith) and her make-up selling sister and clearly gay pre-teen nephew make me laugh without resorting to Hispanic and homosexual stereotypes. Also, who knew Vanessa Williams could be so funny?? And here I thought she was just adept at winning beauty pageants and singing cheesy pop songs. (Love breaks your heart, love takes no less than everything, and it fades away, so easily....woooohoooooo!)

I also like how they are developing the relationship between Daniel and Betty to be good friends, with no romatinc subtext. Of course, I think in a few years maybe it would be cool if Daniel were to, you know, develop feelings for her, but that's probably just the fangirl in my talking. My ship always has room for another couple (OMG Harry and Ginny 4EVA!!!). And after having to keep both eyes and ears glued to the tv for shows like Studio 60 and Battlestar Galactica, it's nice to have a great tv show that doesn't require a college degree to follow. I do, however, hope that they quit with the subplot involving Daniel's father being all eeevil regarding the death of the prior editor. I didn't sign on for some conspiracy theory show. Just give me more skinny bitches getting one-upped by the frumpy girl!

...and i feel fine?

I really need to watch some sitcoms. All these apocalypses are wearing me out.

Here's a list of (almost) all the shows i watch regularly:

Heroes
Jericho
Doctor Who
Battlestar Galactica
LOST.

Every single one of 'em? End of the world. At some point i'll post some lengthy, insightful exploration into how the various characters handle their various apocalypses (...apocalypsi?), but for now, for the record, i just wanted to say: do you people wonder why i love my reality shows? For every time the human race is all but extinguished, i need to see Jerry Springer samba or watch Tyra cut a bitch.


...okay, i made that last thing up. But how awesome would that shit be?!

stick to your tongue waggling, Barty Crouch Jr.

So. There's a Tenth Doctor. I am not amused.

Well, that's not entirely fair. As Maggie Cats pointed out to me earlier today, I can be loyal to my beloved Christopher Eccleston and still adore the new Doctor. But so far, i just ... don't. He's a little too unhinged, too dangerous, too ... the issue, or as fine a point i can put on it, is that David Tennant plays him without sufficiently tempering the scary, to me. Which, i suppose, is not only a conscious choice but probably a valid one, given that The Doctor is "so old," and used to be "filled with so much mercy," but ... not so much, these days.

I get that, i do. And he was filled with mercy when he finally, properly said goodbye to his Sarah Jane (what a heartbreaker that was, too). But this Doctor makes me twitchy, in a way that hits a little too close to home for me to relax around him. His turn on Prime Minister Harriet Jones was more than on a dime, it was uncannily, frighteningly easy. I suppose i've been spending too much time on feminist blogs today, but there's an element of scary in there that bothers me in a certain fashion that i can't entirely sign off on. There's unpredictable, and then there's dangerous. I think the Ninth Doctor toed the line on just the other side, whereas the Tenth has crossed it, a little.

Again, i think there's probably some definite thought in that choice; every time he regenerates, the Doctor gets older, lonelier, less merciful. But at some point, the ratio of mercy to scary flips to uncomfortable, and i fear we're getting close with this go-round. And yet, i still get chills and clap like an idiot every time i hear the theme song. I'm not giving up on you, David Tennant, but i'm watching.