In case you hadn't heard, Disney is developing a new modern adaptation of Miss. Marple with a youngified lead played by Jennifer Garner. Sigh. That sound you hear is Agatha Christie rolling over in her grave.
Not that I don't like Jennifer Garner, don't get me wrong. I really enjoy Alias, and even sat through Elektra for Christ's sake. But she is NOT Miss. Marple. Part of the joy of Miss. Marple is that she is this adorable whip-smart older lady. So screw you, Disney.
It's been a while since anyone here at TV Sluts talked about Fringe (and I can just hear my friend Dorilyn, who is a big fan of the show, responding with a well-timed, "you got that right"). But I have FINALLY caught up with the series and now have some things to say.
First: this shit got good. Back in 2008 I gave the show a favorable review based on the pilot, and managed to stick with it through the first season, but it never really became appointment viewing for me. By the fall of 2009 (when Fringe was entering its second season), I think it conflicted with some other things and I decided to cut it loose and catch up with the DVDs. Well, that never really worked out until this past winter, when I got the second season from Netflix to tide me over the hiatus. And boy, did I get hooked.
The first season was basically spent on random mysteries of the week and establishing relationships between the characters, but after the first season finale, when we learned about the existence of a parallel universe (called Over There), things started chugging along and the show got into a great groove. The mystery of the week were now tied into the overall plot and the introduction of Fauxlivia (i.e., the Other Olivia) finally allowed Anna Torv to demonstrate some personality. We also learned a lot more about Peter and Olivia's past and how both their childhoods were intertwined with the other universe. Fascinating!
After burning through the DVDs in no time, I went to FOX's website to catch up on season 3, and by January, Fringe had moved to Friday and was now firmly on my DVR. While the ratings have not really been stellar on Fridays (EW.com reports they hit an all-time low), it's apparently doing better than what was there before and there's no doubt the show is at a creative high. So I guess it's time to rally the troops for another "Save Our Show" campaign. And this time, I am definitely on board.
Come on FOX! You can't take Joshua Jackson away from me now!
Fringe is currently airing Fridays at 9:00pm on FOX.
Final thought: Several years ago I got into my head that Charlie was evil. Whoops! Although he did briefly become an evil half-android shape-shifter! That counts, right?
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
For the past month I have been obsessed with Neil Gaiman's graphic novel, The Sandman. I whipped my way through all 10 volumes (75 issues) and am now working through the extra volumes he wrote that have acted as kind of sequels/prequels. Neil Gaiman has been my favorite author for years (basically since I first read Neverwhere in law school), but for some reason I always resisted reading The Sandman. It wasn't for any specific reason--I just never got around to it. Well, that takes care of THAT.
I've seen online that there were several attempts to adapt the graphic novels into films, but for one reason or another they have all fizzled out. I know Neil Gaiman has said (because the wikipedia article told me so) that he would rather have no Sandman movie than a bad one. Well, duh. But he also stated that if a movie did happen he needed someone who loved the source material as much as Peter Jackson did with Lord of the Rings to really do it justice. Fair enough.
So imagine my surprise when I noticed an article on USA Today's Pop Candy blog talking about how a recent adaptation of the graphic novels into a television series had stalled. Whaaaa? Someone was going to make it a tv show?? And it was going to be Supernatural's Eric Kripke??? According to this site, Kripke had been developing The Sandman into a series (possibly for HBO) but he mentioned during the recent Paley Festival that it wasn't going to happen next season.
It was like all at once I had been offered a really cool gift and then it was jerked right away. The Sandman on HBO? Oh, wait, no. Sorry.
It might seem weird to blog about a tv show that will probably never happen, but the entire point of this post is to encourage you to read the series and maybe one day a good television adaptation will actually happen. But until then: READ IT. Seriously. You will not regret it; it's a beautiful series that combines so many classic story-telling elements, is so well written, and is just so poetic even if you are not a comics fan (like me), you'll get lost in it.
And bonus: if you read the series you'll get my Halloween costume this year when I go as Death. Hurray!
I solemnly swear that this post does NOT concern the Nicholas Cage/John Travolta entertaining yet admittedly terrible movie named Face Off.
I have been a naughty blogger. Here I've been, watching a great new show and I have yet to share it with you, my adoring blog public. Well, just in time I am getting off my ass and letting you know that SyFy's reality television program, Face Off, is really quite awesome.
It follows your typical reality competition formula: a bunch of unknowns in a field compete through a series of challenges and are kicked off one by one. A panel of expert judges assesses their work, with a special guest or two along the way. And the audience gets to look behind the curtain; i.e. are made privy to the design and creation process. Think Project Runway, Top Chef, etc. etc. Only this time, since it's SyFy, the relevant group is make-up artists.
Cool, right? This season, the competing make-up artists have had to make aliens, zombies, gender switches, even disguise themselves enough to fool their loved ones. I confess to knowing NOTHING about movie make-up, so the behind-the-scenes aspect of the show is fascinating and just really neat. While I can't comment on the qualifications of the judges on the show (as I said, I know nothing about this industry), they seem to know their stuff and have interesting personalities that make judging time entertaining. It's always nice when the judges in a competition actually help the viewer understand why widget A is better than widget B. The contestants themselves seem like pretty interesting people too, I also can't remember ever seeing that many piercings in one room.
Face Off airs on Wednesday evenings at 10pm and this week is the finale. Another great thing about the show? It's going to be a tight race. Of the four finalists, there are three that I think could take the crown, and that just makes the whole thing more exciting.
It's not too late to tune in; SyFy airs the previous episodes pretty regularly, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a marathon planned for the near future. But you have been warned: the show is addicting. When I started watching I burned through about 4 episodes in one go, and was sad I had to wait a whole week for the next one.
This Secret Girlfriend of the Week is a no-brainer. In fact, I'm a little embarrassed that it's taken this long to address the wonderfulness of Melinda Clarke.
She's probably best known as the Dominatrix with a heart of gold, Lady Heather, on CSI. But you might also recognize her as a hooker with a heart of gold from Firefly, or the torturer with a heart of gold (not really) on the CW show, Nikita. If you want to check out her IMDB page, you'll see that she's been a staple on prime time dramas and was in quite a few movies in the 1990s. But whatever. She's just stone cold AWESOME.
Gorgeous? Check. Smart? Check. Can make you poo your pants in fear with one look? Double check.
Also according to IMDB, she is a trained soprano and likes cigars. So clearly she is cultured. Also? She played an Amazon on Xena: Warrior Princess, to which I can only say: Best. Casting. Ever.
A little while ago, Entertainment Weekly broke the news that Ms. Clarke would be returning to CSI as Lady Heather. Just knowing that is enough to get me to watch the show again; I always thought the episodes with Lady Heather were the best and most titillating (hee, I said tit). Maybe Grissom will come back for another cameo? Probably not, but hey, a girl can dream.
Another day, another Starz historical drama that provides an excuse for violence and sex. Not that I mind either of those things (or the genre for that matter), but there are ways to do this and make it not suck, you know? Like the later seasons of The Tudors, for example.
Anyhoodle, Starz is soon premiering their latest original series, Camelot. Here's the blurb from the website:
In the wake of King Uther’s sudden death, chaos threatens to engulf Britain. When the sorcerer Merlin has visions of a dark future, he installs the young and impetuous Arthur, Uther’s unknown son and heir, who has been raised from birth as a commoner. But Arthur’s cold and ambitious half sister Morgan will fight him to the bitter end, summoning unnatural forces to claim the crown in this epic battle for control.
Thanks to Netflix, I was able to watch the first episode and I am now here to tell you all the things that are wrong with Camelot:
1) It's boring.
Everybody knows this story. So the shows doesn't exactly waste time on particulars, in fact, they pretty much jump right into the sex and murder aspects, but still. Yawn. I don't know if I was just too distracted, but I didn't find myself caring who controls Britain. Probably because this Britain is full of dirty peasants, Camelot is a crumbling heap, and Uther was ruling from what amounted to a wooden hut. I'm all for historical realism, but you gotta give me some knights, armor, and round tables to get me to care.
2) I am rooting for the bad guys.
I suppose Arthur is supposed to to be the hero of all this, but he's kind of lame. I say let Morgan (who should be called Morgana, I mean really) just take over and rule. She got banished by her father to a nunnery for 15 years and came all back all witchy and badass. For goodness sake, she is the most awesome character and is played by Eva Green from James Bond, so I say let her take over already. It's not ever really made clear why Merlin keeps going on and on about how it has to be Arthur in charge...probably something lame like Morgan is a woman and therefore cannot rule. Jerk. Oh, and Morgan gets to bang some warlord named King Lot who is played by the excellent James Purefoy (Mark Antony in Rome) so she gets bonus points for her most excellent taste in men.
3) Arthur isn't hot.
This one is self-explanatory. Arthur should be hot. The end.
4) Merlin makes no sense.
He's young here. Ok. But seriously, he is like young enough to be Arthur's older brother. The hell? Also, bald. Starz, let me explain something to you. Merlin is old. And has a beard. And IS NOT BALD. Also, he is not Joseph Fiennes. That is some wackadoodle casting right there.
5) Did I mention it was kind of boring?
I'm not saying the show is bad (yet). I've only seen the first episode, maybe things will improve. But I am also not saying you should run out and sign up for Starz for it. If the other eps become available on Netflix I might watch, but seriously show. Get your act together. Sure you've got some cool fight and sex scenes, but you need a helluva lot more than that.
This weekend, a friend of mine turned me on to a hidden gem on the Science network (which by the way I had never heard of until this week and it turns out the previous article is on it too). If you are familiar with Ricky Gervais, you will adore this show. Produced by Gervais, the show follows Ricky's close friend Karl Pilkington traveling around the world. The kick behind it is Karl isn't the worldiest or most PC person. He has clearly never traveled or met foreigners.
To be honest you spend the entire show laughing at Karl, and it is incredibly entertaining. Karl is a moron. But his one liners make you crack up. Additionally, Ricky and Stephen Merchant call and mock Karl throughout the episode. Karl is attempting to visit the wonders of the world. So far we have watched Mexico, Egypt and India and I have already set a season pass. He spent the entire mexico episode looking for Mexican jumping beans. My husband had a good laugh at watching Karl try to comprehend the squat toilets in India.
SET YOUR TIVOS! It airs on the science network on Sat nights at 10pm :)
Be warned you might need a Brit to translate a line or two. Crazy Brits!
This afternoon I received the following text from my friend Wendy:
"OMG! Firefly is coming back!!!"
My response: "WHAT"
I experienced an instantaneous jump in heart rate and a million thoughts started running through my head. "But Nathan Fillion is on Castle...and Summer Glau is on The Cape, oh wait, that's getting canceled...will it be set 10 years in the future or something, I wonder if the costumes will be the same, and I bet Zoey is going to be even more badass..."
But then, a couple of texts later, I figured out what Wendy was actually telling me. Turns out the Science Channel will be broadcasting the full 15 episodes of Firefly. You're probably thinking, what the crap does Firefly have to do with science? It's science FICTION. But here's the cool part: after each episode, there will be short segments where a physicist weighs in on the science behind the fiction. Neat, right?
Entertainment Weekly managed to get Captain Tightpants himself on the phone for a brief interview about the "return" of Firefly. Basically, he would play Mal again in a second, one of the best things about the character was the low slung holster (HOT), and the reason why the show is still so popular is because of the genius of Joss' stories.
Sure, it's not as good as new episodes, but hey, we'll take what we can get, right? We Browncoats are nothing if not optimistic. Firefly starts airing on the Science Channel on March 6 with the pilot showing at 8pm and the first hour long episode at 10pm. After that, episodes will air (in the intended order!) on Sunday nights.
Where has Whitney's evil rants on Glee been? I know this has been plaguing you at night. How have you coped without my countless references to plot whiplash and improbable plot turns? Well I guess the main reason I haven't posted was I have been shockingly happy with the past few episodes.
Plot whiplash has finally stopped. I do not feel lost every time I watch an episode and I am easily following who is dating whom. I thoroughly enjoyed the Valentine's Day episode. The songs lacked anything I would download, but the plot was sweet and I had several aww moments. My favorite moment of the past 3 episodes was Mike Cheng fawning over Tina when she got hurt in the football game. It was so sweet :)
Tonight's episode was plot perfect. It was cute and I am truly enjoying the "Sam" character. Now, I am not a 10 year old girl, so the Bieber songs weren't remotely enjoyable. In fact, I had given up on enjoying songs in this episode until I heard the opening chords of my favorite rent song. I will give Lea Michele and Amber Riley credit. They did an excellent rendition of "Take me baby" sans lesbianism. I was impressed by the range of their voices. Overall I liked the plots and was touched by the scene in the cancer ward. That all being said I have one MAJOR issue with Glee. During the superbowl episode I noticed a great deal of product placement. I chalked that up to the superbowl, however, it has continued into the next two episodes. Have you noticed the "slushies" are now in 7-11 big gulps? Also, Santana told puck in the Valentine's day episode "she went to Jahred." Come on producers of glee! Don't stop believin! Don't Sell Out! I know its too late, but I can hope.
Maggie Cats here: last week I spent a good chunk of time in LA visiting family. On Friday, me and a friend (who has asked to remain nameless) decided to go to lunch at a semi-famous Beverly Hill eatery. We just so happened to spot several "celebrities," meaning we saw some people from a reality show. I was able to strong-arm my friend into writing up a guest blog post detailing our adventure. Seriously, I literally wrangled a promise out of her to write about it...mostly since I don't watch the reality show in question. So enjoy!
One of the must see spots of LA is Rodeo drive. So Friday afternoon, Maggie Cats and I headed up to Rodeo drive for lunch at Villa Blanca, and of course, shopping. Why Villa Blanca? Well RHBH, of course. That’s the Real housewives of Beverly Hills, for those not in the know. Villa Blanca is owned by one of the housewives, none other than Lisa Vanderpump and her husband Todd (note from Maggie Cats: that name is fake, right? It’s got to be fake. Seriously, Vanderpump??).
Following the GPS, we wound our way around the streets of Beverly Hills until we found the restaurant located on the corner of Camden and Brighton Way. The outside seating wraps around the corner of the restaurant and was lined with billowy white sheer curtains. The weather was perfect—a normal February day in LA (71 and sunny). On Friday at 1pm the restaurant was humming. On the way in, a tall redheaded woman in a crazy (and I mean crazy, even by LA standards) outfit was standing across from us at the hostess stand. When the woman turned around,Maggie Cats recognized her as Phoebe Price.
Who the Hell is Phoebe Price? These are the words you will find if you google her, she’s famous because she is famous; she’s often on the red carpet and claims to be an international model—but really she just gets attention from her outrageous outfits and unique look. According to Maggie, the only reason she IDed her was because of the website Go Fug Yourself. Check it out: Ms. Price has an entire section dedicated to her cray cray stylings.
In line to sign in at the hostess stand were also several normal looking (by normal I mean not augmented) older 70+ year old women, one of whom called this the “hottest restaurant in town.” While I doubt that is true, it was a nice sentiment and made us feel oh so posh. Waiting on a table we headed to the bar. Maggie ordered a tasty cocktail called the Big Pink, which starts out like a mojito with lime, mint and simple syrup but then instead of rum gets vodka, cranberry juice, and finishes up with a splash of soda. This seemed to be the drink of choice in the restaurant today, as almost everyone at the bar was holding or ordering one. According to Maggie it was strong and tasty (it was both, equally).
While we were waiting at the bar and chatting up a gay couple that was in town from New York, the co-owner of the restaurant, Mr. Vanderpump, I mean Todd Kent, walked by, clearly large and in charge of the establishment. Celebrity sighting Number 2 had been made!
Once we were seated, I finally took notice of a woman at the bar, who had been casually eating her lunch the entire time. It was none other than the “morally corrupt” (said by Camille Grammer in season one of RHBH), Faye Resnick.
Faye enjoyed her lunch, and post lunch tea as we ate at a table outside. She had a nice chat with Ken, but for the most part she was alone. She checked her watch repeatedly, and her mirror at least two dozen times. So I can only imagine she was waiting for Kyle to meet her for lunch. Similarly, Ken’s obsessive cell checking—and not in a sly, cool-guy way—culminated in a walk outside with the phone held to the sky (as though an arms length would magically give the device satellite reception), was waiting for a call or text from Lisa. Were these so-called celebs actually expecting calls, or were they just eternally hopeful that someone would actually want to talk to them? Who knows.
After our lunch, which was quite delicious and reasonably priced, we hit the streets for some window-shopping. Or just hit THE street, because it's Rodeo Drive, baby. And you never know who you'll run into.
Is it just me or is there not much to be excited about on television these days?
Where's the Veronica Mars, the Battlestar Galactica, the Pushing Daisies, the LOST? I can't really think of a show that I cannot WAIT to watch, that I spend the entire day looking forward to seeing, that I am depressed when it's over because it means I need to wait another week before watching it again.
I am sure some of you still have shows that get you excited like that (I can practically hear Dorilyn yelling "Fringe!" at the computer screen), but I am just not really coming up with anything that I salivate over. And it's kind of sad because the shows that I do like the most air on the CW.
Yeah, the network for 13 year olds is the one that I relate to the most. Sigh.
But seriously. They've got Vampire Diaries, which if you still aren't watching it, is pretty much made of awesome. It doesn't get me going the way, say, Veronica Mars used to, but it usually doesn't linger on the DVR for more than a few days.
If you need a reason to watch it, the Onion has 10 for you. And the one that I agree with the most is that the show "moves like a freight train." They get more done in more week on that show than most programs cover in an entire season. For example: this week, a vampire got shot in the head, tortured, escaped, a new werewolf character showed up, another character came to terms with her parentage, an evil vampire locked in a tomb made a deal with another character who is apparently working for someone else, a hostage exchange went horribly wrong, there's a twist with a witch, and the body count was like 10 (including some hearts being yanked out). Whew.
Other honorable mention CW shows: Nikita, Gossip Girl, and Supernatural. But nothing really spectacular, you know what I mean? Supernatural has been kind of meh this season, and I'll always watch (if nothing else just for Jensen Ackles), but it doesn't grab me like it used to.
Maybe it's just the winter blues talking, but now that the hiatus is over I am hoping these shows kick it into gear. Because I need some entertainment and fast.
So the trend in TV continues to be "find something that works in England and then rip it off American style." This was successful with shows like the Office, and even MTV has ventured into it with the latest version of Skins. However, given the horrible state of sick I am currently in, I decided to check out Syfy's latest endeavor, Being Human.
In a time plagued with Twilight rip offs and with television saturated with vampire, ghost and werewolf dramas, I was reluctant to dive into yet another. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this tale of young twenties angst. Being Human follows the saga (and yes saga) and three "monsters", a stunningly sexy vampire, a quirky werewolf and a mopey ghost. I was shocked by the depth to these characters. Each "near human" battles their inner angst and struggles with their "monster within."
The actors are actually really good. Sam Witwer, famous for nothing really upon my research except a brief stint on Smallville, was actually shockingly impressive. He plays the vampire torn between the desire to feed and the need to be accepted by humans. In a non-Robert Pattinson fashion, he doesn't make me want to punch him in the face. Sam Huntington (the perv from Not Another Teen Movie) is our quirky comedic element. This bumbling spaz makes the perfect ironic werewolf, add to that for some reason he rocks the Star of David. Finally, Meaghan Rath (who appears to be completely unknown) is our third and final monster, constantly fretting about her once fiance (and the motley crew's landlord) can't see her and they will never be together. Personally, I disliked this character completely.
The show really isn't trying anything we haven't seen in Vampire Diaries or Trueblood. Vampires gaining power, and the struggle to remain neutral. However, the acting was good enough that I will probably check on it again. Though to be honest, I would suggest checking this one out on hulu.com when you catch the miserable flu going around. I wouldn't set my tivo to record. Apparently it runs Monday's on SyFy. Though I am contemplating checking out the British version online too.
In the past few years, bitchface has had something of a renaissance on television. Guys, girls, unaffiliated genders, everyone is shooting bitchface left and right.
Proper bitchface is not always easy to pull off; it's more than just a simple "you're kidding me" or "bitch, please." Typically, the character shooting bitchface has just been told that they are not getting their way and this is either very very normal or very very abnormal. Example: Dana Scully is used to having to go on what she considers a wild goose chase with her partner, Mulder, and thus gives bitchface; or, NOBODY should tell Santana from Glee what to do, and when someone does, bitchface is the result.
But I wanted to give a shout-out to some of the best bitchfaces, past and present.
The latest and greatest bitchfaces comes to us courtesy of two classic television actresses. In an attempt to get the cult fans excited about the new V, the show has brought back the queen from the original series, played by Jane Badler. Some people's faces are born for bitchface, and Ms. Badler is definitely one of them. On the show, she was supplanted by her daughter, Anna, and sent to live in the basement of one of the V's huge ships. She appears to have spent the last 2o years skulking about in the dark and sitting in her hammock, but her hair and makeup are still perfect. You know why? Because she is an alien queen, and don't you motherfuckers forget it.
The bitch is back, y'all.
Another great example of bitchface (from this past week) was demonstrated by Candice Bergen, aka Murphy Brown, aka awesomeness personified. On House, she played Cuddy's mother and was just....well, horrible really. She took every opportunity to put her daughter down (in front of her friends no less) and even made House speechless with her bitchery. Near the end of the episode, House walked into his office and saw her sitting at his desk, and he was defeated by her massive bitchface.
You want me to get up from your chair? I don't think so.
And now for some classic bitchface, just because I think it's fun. As I stated above, almost nobody got more opportunities for bitchface than Dana Scully. With just a crook of the eyebrow, she could lay waste to mere mortals, but somehow, Mulder always seemed immune to her powers. Which is a good thing, because she shot him bitchface almost every single episode. But so would you if you had to run off and investigate icky alien stuff every week. And don't even get me started on the genetic mutants (including that dude who ate people's livers and the fluke man) that she had to deal with.
If I so much much as twitch my eyebrow, this entire building will explode.
Yes, it's true that the ladies tend to give good bitchface. But even they must bow down to the master. For this character, bitchface is a way of life. It must be hard being the younger brother to one of the most perfect specimens of humanity, and our top bitchface-giver is constantly being harassed by his older bro. So it's no surprise that bitchface is his number one defense mechanism. That and whining. And crying.
Ladies and gentleman, the true master of all bitchface......
This past week I have been watching Big Love. Non-stop. In the morning: Big Love. In the evening: Big Love.
And trust me, that's a lot of Bill Paxton. It might even be more than one person can take. But the show is just too addicting, and with the Season 5 (final season!) having just started, I needed to make sure I was caught up with the happs of Season 4. And then of course, it doesn't hurt that Season 4 includes some aaaaaawesome eye candy.
I give you Adam Beach:
You might also know him from the film Windtalkers and Law and Order: SVU. I know him from being hot.
According to IMDB, he is from Manitoba, Canada (we'll forgive him that), is a Saulteaux Indian and a member of the Ojibwa Nation. And not only is he adorable, but he also does speaking engagements all over North America with Native American and First Nation youth. See? Socially responsible. Love him.
But who really cares about all that? I mean, sure that's nice, but this is what matters.
Sadly, IMDB does not indicate that he is in Season 5 which is a damn shame.
Sunday's Golden Globes held very few surprises. For the most part, all the big winners were projected in advance (The Social Network, Glee, Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, etc), and there didn't seem to be a lot of fun in the evening. The big highlights for me were Tina Fey and Steve Carrel, Chris Colfer, and Jane Lynch, but other than that, meh.
Of course the big talk of the night is host Ricky Gervais and whether he went "too far". While watching the recorded awards with my Mom last night (she had already watched it Sunday but rewatched it with me because she "enjoys hearing [my] colorful commentary."), I was initially a bit taken aback that Gervais was "going there." You know what I mean; making jokes about the nominated movies just being bad (The Tourist), closeted Scientologists (clearly Tom Cruise directed), and helping the aging President of the HFPA off the toilet before the show. My Mom found him "disgusting"and "rude," but I had to admit that I laughed at most of the jokes. Well, first I gasped but then laughed.
The HFPA issued a statement on Monday to Entertainment Weekly, basically saying that they hired Ricky Gervais because they knew he would push the envelope. While my Mom is convinced that he will never be asked to host the show again...come on. The Globes won their time slot and the demo of younger viewers, and the networks and HFPA ain't no fools--most of the time. People are talking about their award show. Not the actual awards, of course, but they want people watching that show and Ricky Gervais is going to deliver.
Not that I think he was a particularly good host. Sure, some of his lines were shocking and kinda funny, but he didn't really do a lot to move the show along and keep the audience warmed up. Whenever he came out, it was more of a "oh God, here we go again" feeling rather than "hurray, jokes!" I read a CNN article where they said he was rude but honest and I think that's pretty accurate. The things he said may have been true, but it's usually not the kind of things one says in polite company. But not that I feel sorry for the people Gervais was targeting. These are the wealthiest and best looking people in the world. Just because most people don't have the balls to call them on their crazy shit doesn't mean they don't deserve it. So basically, everyone should stop clutching their diamonds (pearls are so old fashioned) and try to be good sports.
Besides, everyone is just watching to see all the pretty dresses. My pick for best dressed? Anne Hathaway:
And worst dressed: Christina Aguilera. Get your shit TOGETHER, girl. You look like an old tramp and you are still in your 20s. Also? Try wearing a dress that actually fits your boobs.
Netflix (aka the all-seeing-eye of your television and movie preferences) has been recommending I watch Dead Like Me for several months now. "Huh," I thought as I gave Pushing Daisies a five-star rating and added Gross Pointe Blank to my queue, "Netflix thinks I am morbid and creepy." Finally, I caved and started watching this long-dead (see what I did there?) Showtime series. Besides, Mandy Patinkin!
Suddenly, a wild Mandy Patinkin appears!
Sri uses Resist. It's not very effective.
The story begins on the day that Geogria "George" Lass (played by Ellen Muth), our protagonist/narrator, dies. She becomes an undead "grim reaper," tasked with removing people's souls a few moments before death, sparing them the trauma/pain. She is assigned to the Accidental Death Division, which gives the writers free license to kill people in the most Rube-Goldbergian, ironic, and/or amusing ways possible.
Guess which main character was a dancer
who was strangled with a leg warmer. Go on, guess.
George, being a surly teenager in life, continues as a surly teenager in death and, at first, refuses the responsibility. But under the stern guidance of her supervisor, Rube (let's see how many times I can write 'Mandy Patinkin' in a single blog post), she eventually comes around. As she assumes the role of a reaper, she explores various aspects of death - of the deaths she witnesses, as well as her own. The show was nominated for a number of awards, including two minor Emmy's. TV execs (how we hate/love/envy them) claimed that the show didn't have the ratings for a third season, and cancelled it. A direct-to-DVD movie, Dead Like Me: Life After Death came out in 2009, but no one optioned the TV series. Sad panda.
Gillian Anderson isn't the only television ginger with the ability to call up a rabidly excitable fan-base at a moment's notice.Noted ginger Seth Green is easily as accomplished as Ms. Anderson, even if his career choices have been more along the lines of body humor and melodrama to her English drawing rooms and corsets. Sidebar: Seth Green actually once guest starred on a very early episode of The X-Files, cementing the linkage between these two actors in a Kevin Bacon kind of way.You can see a shot of him in all his early 90s glory illustrating how the UFO his character saw resembled a hamburger here.
Green is probably most known for his role as Oz, the ironically calm werewolf on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although savvy television watchers in the know will also recognize him as the voice of Chris Griffin on Family Guy. As Oz, Green got to play to every musically-inclined nerd-girl's fantasy as the guitar player for cool, hip in-show band Dingoes Ate My Baby who just also happens to be a werewolf and dates a witch. He's considerably less accomplished as Chris Griffin, and yet the character still somehow manages to come off more respectable than his sister, Meg.
Approximately 93% of all Seth Green's time is spent being this cool.
Where he really earned our love, however, is in his work on the terminally awesome shows Greg the Bunny and Robot Chicken. The former was sort of an adult version of the muppet show – Greg, the titular bunny, was a struggling entertainer who also happened to be a puppet. In the show, puppets were treated as though they were real, although second-class minority citizens. The show moved back and forth between being truly edgy (Greg loses his virginity as a result of prison sex after mistakenly being arrested for being a pedophile) and trying to maintain a network television audience without paying a bajillion dollars in FCC fines. Robot Chicken, likewise, is an unorthodox attempt to mix stop-motion animation with sketch comedy.And a lot of Star Wars jokes. Further proving his dominance over television and nerd-life, Robot Chicken was for a long while the highest rated show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and the second-highest for the network in general.The only show that was ranked higher?Family Guy.
The really creepity thing about Seth Green, though, is how much he comes off as a cool guy.As unabashed in his nerdiness as he is about his small stature, he easily fits the mold of that friend that would just be cool to hang with.And probably watch a lot of TV together.
Seriously. He's wee. That's his wife and that image isn't photoshopped.
Please find below yet another ginger fan-service post by our own guest blogger, Jason (aka Jayowolf, cause apparently animal nicknames are becoming a thing). If you are a lover of gingers, as so many of us at TV Sluts are, feel free to suggest your favorite fiery-headed fox for adoration and squee.
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Not long ago, I wrote a post here that someone in my life called "gushingly" positive about Christina Hendricks.The word "gushingly" was used with that same kind of faux constructive praise, sort of like the tone of voice you use when you're trying to find something nice to say about the business contractor who just sold your house out from under you.
Now, I don't think I'm being too unfair in saying that part of the bite to the word had something to do with jealousy. And while there are probably a number of things that could have inspired said emotion, I'm going to go for the most obvious one, or at least the one that I want to believe is most true:
HOLY F*#KING SH!T CHRISTINA HENDRICKS IS A REDHEAD!!!
Don't hide from the truth, dear readers – in one way or another we're all a little intrigued by the coppertops in our lives.To that end, I offer what will hopefully become an ongoing feature on this blog – Television's Favorite Gingers.
Just in time for the New Year!
Gillian Anderson
Long before Christina Hendricks fled the sci-fi world for period dramas, Gillian Anderson had that territory mapped, charted and sold to Rand-McNally. Easily the world's sexiest doctor-cum-scientist-turned-FBI agent (granted, it's a small pool), Anderson skeptic-ed her way into our nerdy hearts as Special Agent Dana Scully from The X-Files.
While she could easily have become a staple of Comic-Con and other social-skill challenged gatherings, she skewed classy instead and opted for "serious" roles in adaptations of Dickens' Bleak House and Wharton's House of Mirth. Basically lots of time spent in corsets and drawing rooms without having to ever look at a surgical scalpel again.
Yeah, Gill – We thought the X-Files 2 script was a little suspicious, too.
Anderson was labeled at the time the "thinking man's sex symbol", a phrase that kind of carries all the same bite as the aforementioned "gushing" when you really think about it.In any case, it may have contributed a little bit to her publicity off-camera. Although far from the train wrecks of today's modern pop culture starlets, Anderson was noted for purposefully cultivating a far raunchier image of herself in real life than she portrayed on television.
This actually was probably a smart, not to mention lucrative, move considering the last thing a serious actor wants is to be typecast. By being unafraid of showing herself as the opposite of the staid, buttoned up Agent Scully, she was also able to stick to being identified as an actress and not just the former star of The X-Files.
Also? This. Just because.
And yes, we know she isn't a natural redhead.It was out of a bottle. That why this is called "Television's Favorite Gingers" and not "Real Life's Favorite Gingers Because a Bunch of Killjoy Nitpicks Had to Get All Wicked on Our Asses."
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Next time: "As unabashed in his nerdiness as he is about his small stature, he easily fits the mold of that friend that would just be cool to hang with."
Unless you are a total Grinch, you probably have a soft spot for holiday movies. Some of my favorites include White Christmas, Home Alone, Love Actually, Muppet Christmas Carol...I could still list about 5 more, but that's not the point of this post. No, this post is actually more of a confession. One of my favorite holiday movies is basically a lame bit of Hallmark Channel fluff, but I can't help it. I love this movie. What is it?
A Boyfriend for Christmas.
I can feel you cringing from here. In fact, you've probably never heard of it. It aired on the Hallmark Channel back in 2004, and has become a perennial cable channel favorite. So when I noticed it was airing last night on the Lifetime Movie Channel I got really really excited.
Here's a little taste of the plot:
As a 12 year old, Holly Grant meets Santa and as she thinks she is too old for traditional gifts, she tells Santa she wants a boyfriend for Christmas. He leaves a gift under her tree with a message: she will receive her requested gift in the 20th year "when two hearts are ready". 20 years later when Holly is working for a non-profit and has given up on love. Santa hasn't forgotten his promise and arranges for Ryan Hughes, to be Holly's gift for Christmas. For reasons that are too involved to go into here, Ryan initially hides his true identity from Holly, and agrees to "pretend" to play the role of her boyfriend at her family holiday gathering. But of course they start to like each other blah blah blah then hijinks and misunderstandings occur, etc, but everything works out in the end.
I know. Sounds kind of lame, right? It's full of B stars, and nothing about it is really that great, but for some reason, I just love it. It's got just the right amount of Christmas magic with Santa, a happy ending (spoiler alert!), and Holly wears this really great blue coat throughout the movie that I've always really liked. When it aired, the TV Guide reviewer said it was, "sweet but full of empty calories." Fair enough. But sometimes I want empty calories. And wouldn't it be nice if Santa could be your match-maker?
Santa, Holly, and her pretty blue coat.
So judge away, I can take it. I'm not ashamed of my love for this movie, and I bet if you did a little soul-searching, you can find some really embarrassing holiday movie that you love. Also, it's airing again on Christmas Eve on the Lifetime Movie Channel, so I suggest you set your DVR. Trust me, it's like the twinkie of Christmas movies.
