Ah, Caprica

I don’t think you’ll be seeing it on my “what I watch” page.  Maybe.

I never could get into Battlestar Galactica, even though some of my friends absolutely loved it.  For me, it was way too depressing.  How could a rag-tag scrap of survivors hold up against an enemy of more advanced and nearly indestructible robots?  Sorry, Cybernetic life-form Nodes.  It didn’t help that idiot hangnails of society never got their comeuppance.  I’d try to watch every now and again, especially when it got so many, many rave reviews.  But all it did for me was cause a pit to form in my stomach.

I thought Caprica might be different, less dark.  And I like Esai Morales and Eric Stoltz.  So I decided to give it a try.  But the same darkness, the since of doom, is there.  What with crazy Dr. Graystone, the Tauron mafia, and the Zoe prototype killing all those poor innocent mobile bowling pins, it was depressing.

Couple that with the heavy-handed religious overtones, it’s all just too much.   I  get the feeling someone is trying to preach some sort of deep religious message.  And that’s not why I watch tv.

And yet, I found myself watching the second installment, “Rebirth,” Friday night.  I’m not sure I like it any better, but I can see why people are drawn to the characters.  For me, the most interesting one (at the moment) is Sister Clarice Willow.  Well, after Serge.  (I think Serge should have his own show.  Something like  Benson, a show from many ages ago, where Robert Guillaume starred as the butler to some governor.)

For someone like me, who’s not too up on BSG lore, the plot was easy to follow.  Sure, I missed some of those references to things that had been mentioned in BSG, like the game of pyramid, the allure of Gemenon, discrimination of Taurons, not to mention William Adama’s background, but it didn’t interfere with understanding the show.

Would it have made any difference if I’d been up to speed on the BSG background.  Sure.  But to be up on the background, one had to like BSG show enough to watch it. So it’s kind of a catch-22 thing.

I’m not saying a complete “no” to the series.  I might still watch it.  Come Friday, I might find myself drawn to it again.  And who knows, perhaps at some point I’ll totally fall in love with it.  (But don’t bet your paycheck on it.)

The best of Supernatural season 2

Are you ready for another “Best of Supernatural” post?  Well, here it is.

• Best episode:  “What Is and What Should Never Be.”  Not only that, it’s my all-time favorite episode.
  • Honorable mention: “In My Time of Dying,” which has won the Supernatural March Madness Tournament of Episodes two years running.
• Best song:  “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane; or Jefferson Starship, depending on how old you are.   I didn’t care for the song all that much when it first came out.  (Yes, I am that old.)  But the song helps set the dark, ominous mood at the beginning of “Hunted.”
  • Honorable mention: “Green Onions” by Booker T and the MGs, from “Folsom Prison Blues.”  It’s a song I’ve always liked.  Incidentally, it was also featured in American Graffiti.  Can you name the now megastar who had a small role in that movie?  No peeking at IMDB , either.
• Best scene:  Dean’s graveside talk to his father in “What Is and What Should Never Be.”  Dean’s voice cracks, becomes lower when he’s speaking as John, and chokes so he can’t finish.
  • Honorable mention: Sam almost rapes and torments Jo in “Born Under a Bad Sign.”  Creeeeepy!
• Best guest character:  Sarge, from “Croatoan,”  played by Bobby Hosea.  Yes, the episode had some good moments, and Sarge was one of them.
  • Honorable mention: Ronald Resnick from “Nightshifter.”  Chris Gauthier played the nutty paranoid perfectly.
• Best girl of the week: Carmen from… you guessed it, “What Is and What Should Never Be.”  I don’t care if she wasn’t real, she was still awesome.
  • Honorable mention: Detective Diana in “The Usual Suspects.”  No, she wasn’t a love interest, but all my favorite guest stars were filled up.  I really did enjoy Linda Blair.
• Best monster of the week: Yep, “What Is and What Should Never Be” again.  The djinn.  C’mon, a creature covered in tattoos that emits blue sparks and drinks blood from IV?  You gotta admit, that’s pretty awesome.  In an gruesome sorta way.
  • Honorable mention: The clown rakshasa from “Everybody Loves a Clown.”  Just because he was a clown.
• Jensen Ackles’ Emmy reel:  I’m sure you’ve guessed it by now.  “What Is and What Should Never Be.”  He submitted “All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2,” and while his speech to Sam was heartbreaking, I thought the graveyard scene was more subtle, which I think is harder to do.
• Jared Padalecki’s Emmy reel:  “Born Under a Bad Sign.”  Sweet puppy-eyed Sam became incredibly menacing.  And dangerous.    Jared’s expressions, timing, and body language were perfect.

Finally, how about some little shiny squares from season 2, including 3 from the most awesomely awesome “What Is & What Should Never Be.”

In My Time of Dying

Crazy Ronald

Everybody Loves a Clown

Dean

Dean & Carmen

Sam

What are your favorites from season 2?

Deaths done to death

Ha!  I bet you thought I’d totally abandoned the Great Supernatural Death Count.  Au contraire! I had continued my watching; I just hadn’t updated in a long while.

The best of Supernatural season 1

Since “best” is the theme for NaBloPoMo this month, I thought I’d list some of my favorite things from Supernatural‘s first season.

• Best episode.  I always thought it was a tie between “Faith” and “Something Wicked.”  But over the years, I’ve found myself rewatching “Something Wicked” more often.  Interestingly, it’s also the first Supernatural episode I ever saw.
• Best song.  “Can’t Find My Way Home” by Blind Faith/Steve Winwood from “Route 666.”  I won 2 tickets to a Steve Winwood concert once.  But the song would still have won had I not been, like, the 6th caller. 
• Best scene.  The diner scene in “Hell House.”  Dean is tormenting a pissy Sam with the Laughing Fisherman.   Only it turns Sam has the last laugh. Hee!
• Best guest star.  I’m going with Bobby Singer.  I’m one of the few people who recognized his awesomeness before season 2.
• Best girl of the week.  Layla from “Faith.”  I was rooting for the “good girl” and the “bad boy.”  But they just sat on the bed.
• Best monster of the week.  The daeva(s) from “Shadow.”  In a season of creepies, the ones you couldn’t see were the scariest.
• Jensen Ackles’ Emmy reel.  “Dead in the Water.”  It confirmed what I discovered in “Something Wicked”—this pretty boy is a damn good actor.
• Jared Padalecki’s Emmy reel.  “Asylum.”  Our first look at “bad Sam” and his psyche.

And in honor of my awards, here are a few shiny little squares (aka icons or user picks at LiveJournal) commemorating some of my picks.

Something Wicked

Diner scene

Layla & Dean

So, what were your favorite moments from season 1?

Numbers can lie

I knew when I started the Great Supernatural Death Count that those who complained the show is racist and/or sexist would not be swayed. This is not a new phenomenon. I experienced something similar with the Law & Order fandom several years ago.

At that time, Lennie Briscoe, played by the legendary Jerry Orbach, had worked with three different young detectives, Mike Logan (Christopher Noth), Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) and Ed Green (Jessie L. Martin). There had been great consternation when Chris Noth was replaced by Benjamin Bratt, and in an effort to keep Mike Logan’s legacy alive, someone asked Jerry who Lennie’s favorite partner was. Jerry replied, “Benjamin Bratt.”  Chris Noth’s fans disagreed, saying that Lennie liked Mike better, even though the answer came straight from the actor himself.

The moral of this story is people will continue to believe what they want to believe. And that’s ok.

I think the “real” complaint, as pool and cali5 noted in comments on the Super Stats page, is the treatment of recurring characters. In anticipation of this, I actually took a cursory look at the deaths among repeat performers. The numbers are indeed different, but statistical analysis indicated the differences were not significant. But then, the number of subjects was too small to give reliable results.  (I realize this is all a bunch of statistical mumbo jumbo no one probably cares about. It’s just that the researcher in me loves playing with statistics.)

Anyway, their comments actually got me thinking about other ways to look at the treatment of women and ethnics.  I’ll discuss it some other time.  Right now I need to go and watch some more season 4 episodes.

Recorder wars: TiVo vs. DVR

I have a queston for TiVo users.  Bear with me while I rant a little. I’ll get to the question in a bit.

I love my DVR.  Usually.  But it’s not smart enough to know when a show goes over its time limit.  Case in point, while the Rose Bowl finished in its allotted time, ABC “had” to show some of the post-game hoopla—for nearly 10 minutes.  Consequently, my recording of Better Off Ted (an episode I hadn’t seen before) started 10 minutes late.  So not only did I get only 20 minutes worth of entertainment (ok, more like 14.5, taking commercials into account—because you know the networks aren’t going to cut commercial time), I missed a huge chunk of the ending.  Fortunately, Better Off Ted is not “must see tv” for me, but still, I might have missed one those golden lines that Phil rambles off; although I can’t imagine anything funnier than “It’s like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, if you massacred the chainsaws.”

This happens all the time on TNT, because they butt the shows right up against each other, going so far as to overlap the ending credits with the opening of the new show.  A week or so ago, they aired “Refuge, Part 2.”  It’s one of my favorite Law & Order episodes, and it’s Benjamin Bratt’s last appearance.  Even if we hadn’t had Rey Curtis doing all the things we fans loved (speaking Spanish, tackling bad guys) the last few minutes were gold.  Rey Curtis says a heart-felt goodbye to Lt. Van Buren and Lenny Briscoe, and walks out of the 2-7.

That scene depicted the real friendship between Benjamin and S. Epatha Merkerson and the legendary Jerrry Orbach.  In fact, they interviewed that the tears in their eyes were real.   I knew TNT would cut the show short, so I even recorded the following show.  But there’s a time blip between recordings, so missed the ending of Lennie & Rey’s exchange, Rey walking out the door, and the poignant look between Lennie and Anita.  I suppose I could have just set a manual recording for the time, but my success with that has been iffy.  I wouldn’t complain so much, but L&O season 9 isn’t out on DVD yet.  I do have it on video tape (somewhere), but geez!  Who watches those any more?

So, here’s the question.  I’ve heard claims that TiVo knows when a show has gone over schedule and adjusts its recording accordingly.  So, if you TiVo owners planned to record, say, the premiere of Glee last summer, did you get to the end of the show, or were you  unceremoniously cut off during “Don’t Stop Believing” because American Idol ran long?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Just the facts, Ma’am

Supernatural fans are a funny, passionate bunch. I had thought there’d be a huge outcry after “The Real Ghostbusters.”  Instead, tempers flared after the terrific “Abandon All Hope.” Natalie better expressed (her and) my dismay at the fandom; and being a published author, did a much better job than I ever could.

Tempers have flared and debates have raged over Supernatural since its first season. Is Wincest ok or not? Was Jessica forgiving or angry at the end of “Bloody Mary”? Sam is selfish and whiny. Dean is bossy and gets too much screen time. You name it; you can find Supernatural fans to argue about it.

In the case of “Abandon All Hope,” two beloved recurring female characters (ok, one beloved and one semi-beloved) were killed off. Cries of misogyny rang throughout the internet; the complaint being Supernatural has killed off every well-loved recurring female character.  Oh, and while we’re at it, they’ve killed off a disproportionate number of black men, so the show must be racist as well.

We Supernatural fans tend to act with our hearts instead of our heads.  I have my own thoughts on these matters, but for now am going to concentrate on the cold, hard facts.  During the show’s two month hiatus I will be reviewing each episode and compiling a list of casualties.  The victims will be broken out by sex and then by ethnicity.

Will the facts support my beliefs?  Truthfully, I don’t know.  But I plan to have a lot of fun finding out.

Distractions, distractions

Project Runway is really interfering with my Supernatural musings.  For example, this week’s Supernatural episode, “I Believe the Children Are Our Future” was good, but it didn’t leave me thinking after watching Project Runway.  It’s not that PR is that fabulous (especially since my favorite designer’s already been bumped off), it’s just that I don’t have time to brood mull over Supernatural.  That’s probably a  good thing, though.  I find I enjoy both the show and the fans much more when I don’t take it too seriously.

FlashForward is just not holding me.  When I found out Allison Brie, the actress who plays Trudie on Mad Men was also in Community, I decided to watch it.  For two weeks now, Community has had me in stitches.  Each week the supporting players are given entertaining storylines, and they always deliver.

After Community, I switch over to FlashForward.  Since I’m recording it, I start at the beginning and fast forward through all the boring stuff.  (Well, boring to me.)  That includes Agent Noh agonizing over his lack of a flash forward and Olivia Benton whining about hers.  Hey, newsflash, Olivia, the end of your marriage is not the end of your world.  Yeah, I know divorce is traumatic, but there’s so much worse that could happen.  Like, you know, all those people who drowned on the bus.  And it’s not like Olivia is dependent on Mark.  Hell, she probably makes more money than he does anyway.  Now Aaron Stark’s flash forward, where he sees his dead daughter alive, now that’s something I can understand agonizing over.

I really like Joseph Fiennes.  His face so interesting, so full of emotion.  You see his inner struggles, even when he’s just staring into space.  And I love that Courtney B. Vance is back on tv.  But honestly, I just can’t seem to take John Cho seriously.  I blame it on Harold and Kumar.

Round up Recap, pt 1: True Blood

Oh my God!  Where have I been?  Cleaning out my den.  And catching up on Mad Men.  Oh, and working on a banner for the new (yet to be published) version of Sci Fi Chick/s.  So, let’s finish up our way-overdue True Blood season 2 thoughts.

Season finale:  Beyond Here Lies Nothin’

While they didn’t have their best writer on the script, it was still fairly satisfying.  The Maryann shenanigans have come to an end, but at the expense of Gran’s wedding dress.  However, I’ll forgive the show since it was an awesomely beautiful white bull who did her in.  I was pretty sure it was Sam, although I couldn’t figure out how he’d survived the sacrifice.  I’d forgotten about the healing power of vampire blood.

It was nice to see Bill and Sam working together.  They seem to have a good rapport.  I like it much better than when they’re at odds.  But then I’m one of those wimps who hates confrontation.

I guess this will be the end of the Jason/Andy friendship.  I’ll miss drunk, rebellious Andy.  I liked him a lot better than righteous, uptight Andy.

The Best & Worst of Season 2

As with season 1, I blew hot and cold about the second season.  Nonetheless, I think there was more to love this year.  And more to hate.  Let’s take a look:

The Worst

• Maryann.  Oh jeez that got old fast.
• The Dallas trip.  Well, most of it.  Lorena, Eric’s manipulations, that kind of stuff.
• The Newlins.  I fast-forwarded through a lot of the Fellowship of the Sun crap.
• The queen.  Maybe I’d feel differently if the actress could act.  (I don’t care if she is dating Alexander Skarsgård.)

The Best

• Eric’s new hairstyle.  It made Eric look less severe, but also less menacing. Or maybe Alexander Skarsgård just didn’t want to wear the wig.
• Lafayette lives! ( I knew he would since he was such a hit character in season 1.)  Even if he is more subdued now.
• Godric.  I shall miss his quiet leadership.  Not to mention Eric’s undying love for him.
• Hoyt and Jessica.  I found myself grinning from ear to ear whenever they were on.  Well, until the last two episodes.
• The unlikely team of Jason and Andy.  I would love to see their friendship continue, but I’m afraid they’ll revert back to their respective roles of dick detective and town horndog.

Well, lookie there.  I have more likes that dislikes.  I guess that means I liked the season.  With reservations, of course.

Next up:  my saga of trying to read the novels.

Supernatural episode redux

Heh.  Obviously I was more excited about the season premiere than I realized, since I’m still thinking on it.  Either that or I just like to hear myself talk.  Kind of like lispy Meg, I guess.  So upon rewatch, here are some additional notes.

1.  Love the new title card.  Best since season 2.

2.  Zachariah, I see your lips moving, but all I hear is nonsense.  First of all, you were so freakin’ annoying adamant about keeping Dean from stopping Sam (& the Apocalypse), why are you now bitching about needing to strike hard and swift?  And how is it easier to kill Lucifer before he finds his meat suit?  I would think once he becomes corporeal he’d be much easier to pin down (perhaps literally).  I guess it’s more dramatic this way?

3.  If one’s lungs have been ripped out, you can’t make any sound.  So even though Sam’s gasps were faint, there shouldn’t have been any at all.  Of course, this is probably one of those cases where the staged version makes more sense to the masses.

4.   Sam!fan Becky’s wall included a Winchester Blvd street sign.  Um, how would she know it since Chuck never wrote down the last name?  Unless he started using it in his books after “The Monster at the End of This Book.”  Except that these books were never published.  Unless Chuck wrote them on Carver Edlund’s (WordPress.com) blog.  See?  I can rationalize almost anything when it comes to this show.

5.  And finally, for Natalie, I knew Bobby would stab himself.  But mostly because I was spoiled by a picture of Bobby on a gurney with his guts bleeding.

I suppose now that I have this out of my system, I should get crackin’ on True Blood and Warehouse 13.  When does Legend of the Seeker season 2 start?