Giving Thanks

As we inch closer to Thanksgiving (and I mean inch. Is it just me or is this week draaaagging?) we need to take some time and take stock of things we are thankful for. Family, friends, blah blah blah. I mean the things we are REALLY thankful for, like good television.

And what better way to give thanks to good television, then by watching some of the best Thanksgiving moments that tv has to offer? That way we can give thanks and be entertained. It's a win/win.

First up: one of the most classic Thanksgiving moments EVER. And for once, my use of caps is not hyperbole. I mean it, this is one of the most enduring television clips associated with Thanksgiving. Ladies and gentleman, the WKRP in Cincinnati Turkey Drop:

Video from sharkhost

Next, we jump forward a few decades to a new Thanksgiving tradition: Slapsgiving. I don't know about you, but I prefer my holidays with unrepentant violence and jaunty songs:



Finally, I guess we should spend some time actually pondering what Thanksgiving is about. And I personally can't think of a better spokesman than the best politician of all time, Jed Bartlett.



I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, pie, light traffic, friends, and more pie.

Winners!

This past week saw two big fashion reality shows pick their winners. On the CW, Tyra crowned Nicole as America's Next Top Model, and over on Lifetime, Project Runway picked the "villain" of the season, Irina, as the season 6 winner.

What's that? What are my thoughts? Well, I'm so glad you asked!

Well, you can't deny that Nicole looks like a model. Despite Tyra's insistence that this season was all about picking a "petite" model, Nicole measures 5'7, so not really that petite. She's actually a whole inch taller than me. Because the only thing stopping me from being a model is my height. And if you believe that, I have some land in Florida to sell you.

The Top Model finale came down to two models: Nicole, a geeky, shy, and weird redhead (so you know I loved her), and Laura, a sweet hick from a small town in Kentucky or somewhere, who wore outfits made by her grandmother and spent her spare time pre-show castrating bulls. Yes, castrating. But for the first time in Top Model history, both finalists were nice, pretty, and actually really talented models. I was rooting for Nicole because we redheads gotta stick together, but would not have been upset if Laura had taken it. Honestly, they were both deserving and how many times can you say that about a reality show?

As for Project Runway, it was Irina and her collection of New York-inspired, modern warrior wear that stole the show and clinched her the win. The other two finalists' (Althea and Carol Hannah) collections seemed immature and piecemeal in comparison, so it was pretty obvious that Irina would be taking the win. Thus providing an appropriate conclusion to Project Runway's most BORING SEASON EVER. Seriously, I am so pleased this show is heading back to New York next year and Nina and Michael will be present in every episode. Because, this season has been a yawner, for reals.

There is some controversy over Irina's win, but honestly, I think it will come to nothing. I also think that anyone who viewed the final collections with an objective eye has to admit that Irina's was the most technically advanced, if not most colorful. That was a lot of black, girlfriend.

But there you go! Two fashion themed reality shows ended, and in my opinion, the right people won! I can't say whether any of them will go on to take the fashion industry by storm, but hey, that's not really the point is it? Just take some pretty pictures and show me some pretty clothes. That's all I really ask.

Oh, stop looking so smug, Irina. You may not be the villain the editors tried to make you out to be, but you're no pretty princess either.

So Sayeth the Lord

Things I love about Tim Gunn:

1) He always looks incredibly polished and put together

2) He is supremely eloquent

3) He has a fantastic sense of humor

4) He will always tell you the truth...whether you are a designer on Project Runway or a reporter

5) He says things like "looney kajooney"

See for yourself in this great Tim Gunn interview. It's nice to see someone affiliated with the show talk about how this current season hasn't exactly wowed fans or even met expectations. In fact, if I had only one word to sum up season 6, I would have to go with BORING.

Seriously, it's been so boring that everytime I try to talk about it I ju.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

And in further Joss news...

Buffy Season 8 Animated Webisodes!

Slightly disconcerting quote from linked article:
"Now that Dollhouse is winding up, Cabin in the Woods is delayed until 2011 and there's no new Dr. Horrible on the immediate horizon, this is the best news yet for a Whedonite."

Don't say it like that, SciFi Wire! It sounds bad when you say it like that! Though I don't really care about Cabin in the Woods. Take your time on that one, Joss. Prioritize.

TV Slut Reaction:
Maggie Cats - Cool! I hope the voice actors they get don't sound like cheap imitations though.
Monkey Sri - For serious.

Totally Called It!

SciFi Wire: Serious work on Dr. Horrible sequel could start soon.

Whedon's brother and co-writer Zack Whedon tells MTV that the sequel will get seriously underway once Joss' just-canceled Fox series Dollhouse wraps for the season.

Huzzah! And thanks to Maggie Cats for the link :)

This Just In

In rather un-shocking news, it appears that Dollhouse has been canceled. Informative links:

The Live Feed: Fox cancels 'Dollhouse'
Comments on Whedonesque (including Joss)

The feeling in the air is not so much indignation as resignation. I mean ... c'mon. Who didn't see this coming? This is just further evidence that Joss should stick to teh intarwebs where he is appreciated and can practice his art free from oppression.

Dr. Horrible Part IV, plz kthx.

Un. Comfortable!

I'm a big fan of Glee. Let me just make that clear at the outset. Last night marked its return with new episodes after three weeks of reruns. I was really excited; I had heard good things about the episode, Wheels, and was looking forward to the return of the show and the songs, specifically, Defying Gravity from Wicked.

And while last night's episode had some serious moments of win, specifically Kurt's father, and Sue's tenderness towards her sister with Down Syndrome, parts of it made me uncomfortable. Scratch that, extremely uncomfortable.

Things got off to a bad start when Will brought up to the entire Glee club that the school could not afford to pay for the wheelchair-accessible bus that would be needed for Artie to ride with them all to Sectionals. Way to embarrass the kid in front of everyone, Will. Seriously, maybe we could have displayed some tact there? Then, the kids reacted with surprising and casual cruelty stating that Artie could just get a ride with his Dad. After all the talk about sticking together no matter what, it didn't fit with the characters for them to be so dismissive. Finally, when Will observed Artie struggling a bit to tie his shoelace, he said, "Let me help you with that!" and promptly bent down and tied it for him.

Now look, I'm no etiquette expert, but I would never presume to tie someone's shoelace who was in a wheelchair without asking their permission first. It seemed totally rude, and even though Artie seemed cool with it, it bothered me.

Things picked up from there, as I noted above with instances of awesomeness from Kurt's Dad, and weirdly, Sue, but at the very end of the episode when Artie announced that he would use the money from a bake sale to make the school auditorium wheelchair-accessible, Finn busted out with some comment along the lines of, "that'll be loads easier than lifting you up and down the stairs everytime!" and everyone laughed along. Awkward.

This is definitely not the first time that Glee has pushed the boundaries of good taste. In the past, I always defended the show, noting that it was firmly grounded in satire and fantasy dance sequences. But the parts of last night's episode that I described above didn't have that feel to me. Maybe it's because the jokes themselves weren't actually funny, or that the writers were having characters act, well, out of character.

Or perhaps it's my own hang-ups: maybe I'm more comfortable when the show makes jokes targeted at the kids' races or sexuality because that's somehow ok these days. But in any event, the weird comments and actions regarding Artie, and to some extent, Becky (a special needs student that Sue put on the Cherrios) made me uncomfortable.

I wasn't "offended" per se, in the clutching of my pearls sense, and I'm not going to stop watching or even make more of a haboo about this than I already have. But I just wanted to register my distaste to some things that went down last night. I think I'm going to chalk it up to the show still finding that balance between humor, pathos, and satire, and leave it at that.

Anybody else have a similar reaction? Or think I'm just overly-sensitive? Comment away!

I always wanted brothers like that...

Several months ago, Jeff was kind enough to lend me The Black Donnellys on DVD. I remember enjoying the first few episodes of the show before it was unceremoniously canned. According to Jeff, the later episodes of the first (read: only) season just kept getting better. This glowing review convinced me to take a second look at this short-lived show.

Well, that and the pretty. Pictured: Tommy and love interest, Thirteen Jenny Reilly.

Within the first minutes my love of the show's extremely unreliable narrator, Joey Ice Cream, was born anew. He tells the story of the Donnelly brothers (Jimmy, Tommy, Kevin and Sean), four good, Catholic, Black Irish boys ... who happen to be mobsters. Well, kind of. Constrained by their circumstances (including their neighborhood, socioeconomic level, and tumultuous family history) the Donnellys have two choices - eat or be eaten. Tommy, protagonist and de facto leader of the family, has done everything he can to "get out." But his love for his brothers leads him down a dark path full of extortion, violence, and murder. Joey's narration is brilliant not only because he is a sidekick/accomplice; he is essentially an aspiring Donnelly. His point of view elevates the most morally ambiguous (at best) actions to the level of heroic feats. And because he loves the Donnellys, we learn to love them too.

Such an adorable little stool pigeon.

For a while after cancellation, NBC made episodes available on their website - according to Wikipedia, it was the second-most streamed video (right after Heroes). Hmm... maybe a signal that the show deserved a second chance and a second season? Perhaps. Sadly, I only had time to watch the first six episodes before I could no longer conscience holding Jeff's DVDs hostage. Netflix to the rescue!

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance

I had high hopes for Battlestar Galactica's The Plan. I was really hoping it would explain what the hell the The Plan was. I mean I get that the final five cylons were kind of sort of the first five cylons who traveled from Earth to the colonies and created the other cylons who eventually conceived the plan to destroy all humanity blah blah blippidy blah.

But what the crap was the actual plan?

Alas, after watching the The Plan I am still confused and will have to visit the Battlestar Wiki to get the full answers. Because, to paraphrase Jeff, "it's not The Plan. It's more of How the Plan Completely Fell Apart."

If you want a well-acted, well-written companion piece to the BSG series, then The Plan is for you. It chronicles the destruction of the 12 colonies from the cylon point-of-view, and also shows how their entire well thought-out plan to destroy humanity went to shit about 10 seconds after the nukes fell due to the survival of the Galactica and her crew.

But that's not really what I wanted. I mean, it was interesting, and like I said, really well done. But I wanted to start on Earth, to see Ellen and the other final five come up with you know, THE PLAN. To learn what was up with Daniel, the first boxed cylon, to see how the final five created the others, and how (and why) they integrated themselves into humanity.

While The Plan answered some questions, it didn't answer the really important ones. I guess now we're left asking, will we ever get answers to those questions? Is this some brilliant ploy on the part of Ron Moore to keep the fandom begging for more movies? And who the crap did Dean Stockwell have to bribe to get himself so many scenes where he makes out with hot cylon chicks?

Seriously? That guy and this girl? No effing way, yo.

Final thought: if you're a BSG fan, check out The Plan. But don't expect it to actually explain The Plan. Think of it as a fun little post script to one of the finest dramas ever and you won't be disappointed. But if you expect to live up to its title, then I'm afraid you're bound to be let down.

Not sure what to think...

This week, on America's Next Top Model ...
Tyra exploits stereotypes?
In an episode with the innocuous title "Let's Go Surfing," Tyra paints the models brown and dresses them up in "ethnic" clothing. I think I speak for many when I say, the hell is this? Check out the comments on one of my favorite blogs, Sepia Mutiny, for some good discussion and some obligatory ranting.

Bless the USA... network

White Collar. Yet another quirky crime procedural from USA. It follows in the footsteps of established favorites like Monk as well as the latest, MacGuyver-inspired generation (Burn Notice and Royal Pains). But White Collar is most like Psych - it's a bromance... I mean, buddy flick.

The protagonists are Neal Caffrey (played by Matt Bomer, who you may recognize as Bryce from Chuck), a silver-tongued con-man fresh out of prison, and Peter Burke (played by Tim DeKay, who you may not recognize... I didn't) as the staid yet brilliant FBI Agent who caught him. The premise is that Caffrey has been released on a probational basis to help the FBI catch white-collar criminals like himself. He and Burke have an extremely congenial relationship for two former adversaries - so much so that Burke asks Caffrey to help him pick an anniversary present for his wife. You get the impression that this friendship is one of the only things keeping Caffrey from ditching his FBI babysitters and taking off after his ex-girlfriend (his real motivation for wanting out of prison).

Wifey is played by Tiffani-Amber Thiessen

As expected from a USA series, the crimes are clever and the minor characters are adorable. It reminds me of that late-nineties NBC show Players, which may have overstretched itself by including three ex-cons and a sexy female FBI agent. And if I remember correctly, it didn't delve too deeply into what it meant to the characters to be imprisoned-but-not, kept on a short leash by the FBI. White Collar has already brushed against this, and I do hope they develop it further in future episodes.

Did I mention the clothes are spectacular?

V for adequacy

Last night marked the premier of V. I think maggiecats blogged on it after comi con but i wanted to throw my two sense in. The show was meh. I never watched the 80s version so I had no preconceived notion on how the show should be. For those of you who don't know V is about alien "Visitors"' arriving to Earth. They appear all nice and sweet asking for water in exchange for technology. But we quickly realize they are not all smiles. All the critics out there are slamming the show because the Americans burst into applause when the aliens said they were "of peace." It was slightly ridiculous, but I think they were just excited aliens practically said "We come in peace." I would clap for that.

It was nice to see the return of some of our Sci Fi favorite actors. First Juliet was ok as an FBI agent who comes across a sleep cell of the "bad" visitors. Of course her name is actually, Elizabeth Mitchell, but who doesn't know her from Lost. I was happy to see that the lead male was the agent from the 4400, Joel Gretsch. The 4400 was USA's Xmen style show, which was canceled mid plot (and left me sad and mad). In fact, the writer on V was also on 4400. I see that as promising, but I understand why others are concerned. I love how they threw in Scott Wolfe to "bring in the ladies." LOL! This is not the early 90s, he doesn't "do it" for anyone anymore.

I don't think this show will have the buzz ABC was counting on. However, I think I will still tune in next week. Catch in on ABC.com and make your own judgment.

Secret Boyfriend(s) of the Week

This is Mitchell and George.

Mitchell is a vampire. George is a werewolf.

Do you prefer tall, dark, and handsome? Maybe with a side of danger? Mitchell's got you covered.

Likes include: trying to blend in with humanity, but occasionally helping vampires take over the world. But only occasionally.

Or do you perhaps prefer an adorkable cuddly guy with little spectacles who once a month gets a bit wild in the sack?

Likes include: working in the local hospital, stuttering when upset, and occasionally turning into a violent, mindless animal. But only occasionally.

If you'd like to learn more about Mitchell or George, visit them at Being Human on BBC America or DVD. You'll also get to know their friend, Annie. She's a ghost. And enjoys making tea. Lots and lots of tea.

As for me, I can't really make up my mind between Mitchell or George. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. Good thing I can have them both every Saturday night.

Happy Halloween!

After perusing many Halloween-themes clips to find one that I thought was worth sharing with y'all, I decided on (drumroll please)...........

Drunk Ewoks take over a segment on The Today Show.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Best quote:

Ann "Darth Vader" Curry: "Try to make sure your kids don't have too much candy."
Al "Han Solo" Roker: "Try to make sure your kids aren't drinkin."

International Woes

Here at TV Sluts, we are always on the lookout for a roving reporter. First we had Cheryl, reporting on the Glee tour from Dallas, and now we have someone giving our blog a little international flavor. Specifically, letting us know what a giant pain in the ass it is trying to watch American television in another country. Here's an update from Pete, currently living in Switzerland (mmm...chocolate), who took some time to update us all on the trial and tribulations of a fanboy who lives abroad. PS: It's also Pete's birthday today, so a big Happy Birthday goes out to him from across the Atlantic!

Hi everybody, my name is Pete, a college friend of some of you all. Right now I am stationed in Europe taking data for my dissertation. For those curious, the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen Switzerland has the best Pion beam in the world. Since I study pion decay, here I am. For the uber curious I am studying radiative decay modes using the stopped beam approach with a 3pi-steradian pure CsI calorimeter. (Editor's note-you lost me at Pion. Also, "pion." tee hee hee!).

While data taking is way more fun that it sounds like (in actuality it's not) I can't spend all of my time in the experimental hall. When I get home I want to unwind and relax. But there is a problem. My place here does not have a tv! So what am I to do? Watching no tv is simply not an option. Hulu? Not a chance, when you try to load a video a nice mesage appears:

Sorry, currently our video library can only be streamed from within the United States

Hulu is committed to making its content available worldwide. To do so, we must work through a number of legal and business issues, including obtaining international streaming rights. Know that we are working to make this happen and will continue to do so. Given the international background of the Hulu team, we have both a professional and personal interest in bringing Hulu to a global audience.

If you'd like, please leave us your email address and the region in which you live, and we will email you when our videos are available in your area.

Having been thwarted by the mothership I had to resort to drastic measures. Back home I have a friend who built a tivo (it's a mythbox for teh nerds out there). He puts the files of my favorite shows up and I can just rsync them to my net book.

Now that I can watch any TV I'm set to go, but wait. With whom am I going to discuss/make fun of the episodes? I don't know if you have ever watched an episode of Dollhouse or Top Chef by yourself, but if so then you know what I'm talking about. For those that have not, try it just once. You will soon realize that the pain caused by these shows is too great to keep in. Television is ridiculous sometimes and you just need a friend to say WTF.

My solution to the problem is gchat. I open a chat to a friend in the states who has already seen the episode and fire away. I am not a psychologist so I don't know why it is such a relief to know that someone else can't stand how stupid a certain character is, but it is.

I guess I really didn't realize it before, but my international isolation has shown me that television watching is a social activity and I need my friends who watch the same shows. I'm not a "loser" for staying home on a friday night to watch tv. I'm a friend who can't wait to watch tv on a friday night because OMG!!!!!11! WE GET TO FIND OUT WHO THE FINAL CYLON IS!

A few thoughts on Heroes

In watching the last two episodes of Heroes, something occurred to me. One of the major problems with the show is that it was constantly "rebooting," starting from scratch instead of building on what it had already done. This necessarily involves forgetting a lot of its own back story, which is endlessly annoying to die-hard fans. For example, at the end of last season, why didn't they try to use Claire's regenerative blood to save Nathan? Okay, I totally stole that from TWOP, but still.

These past episodes have seen both Sylar and Hiro flashing back to the past, which at least acknowledges that something happened before this season. Also, Claire mentioned her regenerative blood as a possible cure for Hiro (How did HRG know that wouldn't work? Maybe they did experiments when Claire was a baby!). Sure, this self-referencing was heavy-handed at somewhat awkward. But it was a small step forward towards a better, more coherent Heroes.

Plus, I heart Deanne Bray.

... which was immediately followed by two steps back. At the end of the episode, Peter finds a Hiro's new bucket list, which just says "Save Charlie." First of all, why would Hiro write a note to himself in English? I guess it was done so Peter could read it ... but why does he need to know? The audience knows where he's going - and in the very next scene we're shown that he has indeed traveled back three years. It's not like Peter can follow him, since he has that healer kid's power now. But what's this thing where Peter can only have one power at a time? Was that explained and I just missed it?

AND there's no more Mohinder - What. The. F*ck?!?

Never saw that one coming.

Updated: I just discovered that the episode talked about below (which was my favorite of the series so far) was directed by none other than Jonathan Frakes. And if you don't know who he is, then SHAME. For he was Commander Riker on STNG. I am very impressed since the direction of this episode, especially the sequence where Topher et al. had to dispose of Nolan was beautifully done.

Wow, I never thought I would say this. But...I kind of liked Topher in Dollhouse this week.

Up until this point, I've really hated Topher. And I haven't been exactly quiet about it. He just came off as a cheap imitation of Andrew from Buffy, but without any of the underlying sweetness (as much underlying sweetness as someone who brutally murdered his best friend could have). Topher was always just too much of a smartass and instead of coming off as funny, to me he always came off as asshatty.

While at Comic Con we saw a screening of the unseen Dollhouse episode, Epitaph One. In this episode (set in the future) we saw Topher had been driven insane by as of yet, unknown events. I think in this past week's episode, we might have seen the beginning of the cracks in his psyche. And it made him more interesting, and more importantly, more quiet.

I used to think that Topher's annoyingness might be the fault of the actor, Franz Kranz, but after seeing Belonging, I realized that I really underestimated him. The way he portrayed Topher through the entire last act was really surprising. I mean he had to show Topher dissecting and dissolving a dead body in sulpheric acid. That's not easy to sell, but darn if he didn't do it.

Throughout the series Topher has been portrayed as incredibly amoral with a touch of sadness, but now for the first time he struggled with a real ethical dilemma and made a choice with disastrous consequences (see above dissecting and dissolving dead body). Who's to say if he had made the other choice things would have turned out better, but in any event, I'm loving how this season is showing Topher's infallibility and ego slowly wither away.

I'm not completely willing to admit that I was wrong about Topher, I stand by my hatred of his first season self, but I'm definitely liking what I'm seeing so far in Season 2. In fact, observing the evolution of his character will probably be one of the things I miss most when the show is inevitably cancelled. I think it just goes to show that Dollhouse is a far superior program when it takes the focus off the black hole of fun that is Echo.

Topher, you're so much more adorable when confronted with an ethical and moral dilemma! Also, after I found out that you have a tattoo on your ankle that reads, "NC1701." Awesome.

It's not a gimmick... it's three

Last week I caught an episode of Modern Family. For those who are not familiar, this show centers around an extended family consisting of (a) the "traditional" TV nuclear family (with a neurotic mother and a clueless father), (b) a gay couple and their adopted baby, and (c) a May-December marriage. Originally I avoided the show due to this gimmicky premise. But hey, sometimes a show can be greater than it's promotional materials. I decided to give it a chance.

One of the show's major strengths is the cast, which includes a grizzled Ed O'Neill as the patriarch of this little clan and Julie Bowen, who I always remember as perennial love interest Carol from Ed. Rico Rodriguez, one of the child actors, really shines as a future comic genius. The episode I saw, "The Incident" featured a hilarious cameo from Shelley Long as the crazy mother/ex-wife. But this is not enough to save the show. Most of the jokes were worth a chuckle, but they were completely predictable. For all that it purports to do something new, Modern Family comes off as just another rehashing of the same sitcom cliches.


That's not to say that the show doesn't have it's good points. It's really well put-together, with a plot that neither speeds nor drags - there are no throwaway lines. You get a good sense of each character in each scene, and quotable lines do crop up here and there. The close camera angles make you feel like you're just another member of the family, sitting on the couch and watching the drama unfold. And who knows? Maybe once the show establishes itself, it will stray more from the sitcom formula.

Fangirl explosion

Holy crap, you guys!


Joss Whedon to direct an episode of Glee.



Woah. I guess dreams really can come true.

No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency

My bookclub read The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency last month, and since I enjoyed the book so much I decided to check out the HBO/BBC series based on it.

Set it Botswana, the show (and book) are about Precious Ramotswe, a woman who opens a detective agency in her hometown. Seeing how she is a lady, she decides to name her agency the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. She faces a lot of laughter and strange looks at first, as detectives aren't common in Botswana and female detectives even less so, but she manages to win most people over with her best quality: competence.

So many shows (especially crime procedurals) have characters that rely on technology or some quirky knowledge to investigate and solve mysteries. It's so refreshing to see a woman who can get the job done just by keeping her eyes open and using common sense. Precious isn't flashy, she's a large African woman who is smart, spunky, and wise. It may be lame to say that she just exudes an aura of competence, but it's really the best way I can describe her. If she takes your case, you can bet she'll solve it. She's a real person, not perfect, but just...wonderful.

The show is filmed in Botswana, with all the accompanying beautiful scenery. And as someone who doesn't know anything about life in modern Africa, it's fascinating to see how similar and different the problems faced by everyday people are. Women still suspect their husbands of cheating, fathers are still concerned that their teenage daughters are seeing boys, and children still get kidnapped by witch doctors who include their finger bones in hex bags. Ok, so maybe that one might be a unique problem, but that's part of what makes the show so interesting.

Precious is surrounded by fun and caring people, inlcuding her Secretary (who scored a 97% at Botswana Secretarial school), the gay hairdresser next door, and a local car mechanic who has had his eye on her for a while. Each one feels like a real person, fleshed out with their own problems. But they all care about Precious and help her with cases in their own way.

The first season is available on DVD, and while I'm not sure if a second season is in the works, it's a charming, beautiful show about a woman who is determined to make her own way.

Botswana, represent!