Siege

Ricardo Montalban 1920-2009

My sister called me last night.  After chatting with Sassy for a few minutes she asked for me and Sassy handed me the phone.  "I need a moment of silence, please."

I said, "What ..."

"Mr. Rourke is dead."

Whereupon we launched into discussion about our love for Fantasy Island.  We never missed that show.  Saturday nights where when our parents went out and we settled in for Love Boat and then Tattoo and Mr. Rourke.  We even had a Fantasy Island game that we never tired of playing.  It involved picking out who you wanted to be (model, sports star, actor) and then completing a series of tasks to get tokens that represented money, fame, and love.  I absolutely loved that game.

Then I said, wait a minute ... "Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahn"

 

You know you're old when the stars of your youth start dying.  Wherever he goes, I hope someone's waiting there with an umbrella in a fruity drink and welcoming him.  Thanks Ricardo, for everything.

 

Following the Script: Obama, McCain and ‘The West Wing’

This, absolutely cracks me up.

Today, I was flipping channels and Bravo had a West Wing marathon on.  I think it was the entire first season of the show.  I sat on my couch and once again thought, "damn, I so wish this was real life."

Once it was over, I had to get up because The Real Housewives of Atlanta came on and I was nauseated.

Is There Anybody Out There?

I'm having a weekend.  It involves my in-laws and it's making me tired.  So, I'm doing what I always do when stressed out and just want to veg.  I pulled out some DVDs and I'm having a TV marathon.  Since, it's the season, I'm watching West Wing.  Good goddess, I love that show.  There are several reasons why:

1.  They're so smart!  This is how I want the people in government to behave.  Everyone has a well-informed opinion and they all listen to each other and debate those opinions.

2.  The characters have amazing back stories.  They aren't shadow people who have no history.  I really get a sense of where they came from and why they are the way they are.

3.  The intensity of the writing sweeps me into the story and I hate to be interrupted.  I feel like I'm a fly on the wall watching what's happening.  It's a feeling I usually get when I'm reading and it rarely happens for me with TV.

4.  At least every other episode, something happens that makes me tear up at the end.

And honestly, when there's so much in my husband's family that makes me want to cry for real, it's very nice to be able to shed a few tears about a story and not have it come back to bite me in the ass.  I do love me some escape TV.

Freddy?  You're up.

American Gladiator

I remember this show the first time around and I have to admit that I loved it.  Hub and I would watch on Sundays and just howl.

Now Little Big Man and I are watching it and howling.  How times have changed.

TV Reviews

I love television.  Honestly, I know I watch too much of it, but I love it.  What do I love most?  Those true crime shows (American Justice, Cold Case Files, Notorious), Law and Order (mostly Criminal Intent because Vincent D'Onofrio is my pretend boyfriend - but I'll watch all of them), House, Ugly Betty, and Lost are my current favorites.

We don't have Tivo. I know, for someone who loves TV as much as I do, it's crazy not to have it.  My parents have On-Demand, but only for some cable channels, not network TV.  I did the only smart thing to be able to watch what I wanted to watch - I bought Season Passes for several shows from the iTunes Store.  What is in the queue?  Lost, Ugly Betty, No Reservations, and Digging for the Truth.  Remember I said that Jillian sent DVDs?  The first season of MI-5 was included in one of my care packages.

Lost
I did not get in on this show when it first came on the air.  For some reason, I thought it was a reality TV show a la Survivor.  I'm allergic to reality TV.  J gave me season 1 last summer.  It sat for many months while I worked up the courage to watch it.  When I started, I couldn't believe I waited so long.  Little Big Man got sucked in as quickly as I did and we watched together. 

It is a smart, complicated, crazy show to watch.  The premise (for the 2 of you who haven't seen it) is that a plane flying from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles, California crashes on an island that seems to be uninhabited, but strange things happen as soon as the sun sets on the first night.  The action switches from what's currently going on on the island and flashbacks for each of the main characters.  The flashbacks show what brought the characters to Australia in the first place and why they got on that particular plane.

Part of the fun of watching is to see how the characters are connected (in a six degrees of separation kind of way) and the commonalities that occur.  For instance, there's a set of numbers that occur over and over.  It is sometimes like a puzzle, when you're watching the show, to see where these numbers show up (the flight number, worked into a mural, lottery numbers, etc.)  Whenever we see one, we shout to point it out first.

We sped through the first season and the second season (which J also owns).  She actually taunted me that I'd have to wait for the DVDs to come out before I could watch season 3.  Forget that!  The season pass is fabulous.  I've worked my way through the first 13 episodes of this season and Little Big Man is bugging me to hand over the laptop so he can watch too.

Ugly Betty
We've been watching this regularly on TV, but it's been sort of hit or miss and we have missed a couple of episodes.  I love this show   Flat out, love.  If you haven't seen this program, it's about a "regular" girl whose dream it is to publish her own magazine.  She gets a job with a high-fashion magazine, even though she doesn't have an interest in fashion.

I have a feeling that much of what goes on in the show also goes on in real life.  Everyone on the show, with the exception of Betty, is impossibly thin and gorgeous.  Because Betty is normal (read larger than a size 4 and wearing clothing that is decidedly unfashionable) they are hellishly evil and work very hard to sabotage her.  Of course Betty perseveres. 

It's not surprising that each crisis is solved within the hour or that Betty spouts Pollyanna platitudes to "work hard and you'll make it" or "just hope for the best and it will work out" - it is television after all.  What is surprising is that America Ferrera is so amazingly believable while she's spouting the platitudes.  I think it helps that she has an amazing supporting cast (Vanessa Williams rocks the high rise).  If you haven't seen it, go now.  J says they have the most recent episodes on the ABC site and you can watch on line.  Seriously, go.

MI-5 (in  Britain, the show is called Spooks)

Gotta love the Brits.  They come up with great ideas for television (Monty Python, The Office) and execute it beautifully.  If you can get past their accents, it is incredible TV.  Plus, for the first several seasons, you get to look at my pretend boyfriend Matthew Macfadyen and who doesn't want to do that??

This show was on A&E several years ago and I did catch a few episodes at that time.  I liked it, but it was difficult to remember when it was on and I missed so many episodes that I eventually gave up on it.  Big mistake.

I'm amazed at the level of tension there is in every single episode.  I kept expecting to get bored and it never happened.  Of course, there are only 6 episodes in the first season.  Which just made me go to Amazon and order the second season (unfortunately no season pass on iTunes).  Still waiting for it to arrive.  Apparently they've started shooting the show again with different characters.  It might be interesting to have a look.

On a side note, the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice was on HBO while I was at my parents'.  I managed to catch it several times just because I got to watch Matthew here in the role of Darcy.  Swoon.

I am now going to admit something that deeply, deeply embarrasses me.  I have seen every episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County.  Shut up.  In my defense, I was on serious painkillers and they had a marathon on Bravo.  It was easier just to leave the TV on one channel than it was to surf and find something else.  Plus, there are only like 6 or 7 episodes for each of the two seasons.

Why did I watch?  It's a train wreck and I found I couldn't turn it off (even after I stopped taking the big painkillers).  I couldn't wait to see what stupid thing these women would say next - one of them didn't know you needed eggs and butter to make cookies.

They all insist that their lives aren't much different from the lives people live in middle America.  When was the last time you took a limo to a jewelry store on a "diamond shopping trip"?  Or gone to a furniture store that's been closed to the general public and gush about how a $15,000 chandelier is "perfect, baby"?  Yeah, me too.   Not worth a season pass, but if you can catch an episode or two, have a look.

Now, I'm just bored.  There's more TV to watch, but when you sit for a month and do very little but watch, it's tiring.  I'm so ready to go back to work.