I remember when summertime meant reruns on TV. Not anymore! This summer I’m spending my time with…
White Collar.
My favorite bromance is back. Though the show still features a “case of the week,” I’m really enjoying the tension just beneath the surface between Neal and Peter. It adds some depth to the show that wasn’t previously there. Good stuff! But I hate the new opening credits. Bring back the old credits!
Suits
Discovered this show thanks to Christie. I guess I can’t resist cute boys in suits (see above: White Collar) cause it’s become my new obsession. 😀 I love the mentor/mentee banter between Harvey and Mike. My only complaint is that I wish they wouldn’t spend any more time on Mike’s personal life, in particular his relationships with Trevor and Jenny. I know it’s necessary to show his time away from the office, not to mention his character growth but UGH… they are not interesting characters. Hopefully they’ll veer away from this storyline in upcoming episodes.
Game of Thrones
A few weeks ago, Rob arrived home after a weekend in Las Vegas and at the airport, he picked up the first book in this series. I hadn’t been particularly interested in it before but somehow, Rob convinced me to check out the show. And we devoured all 10 episodes in a few days. I absolutely love Tyrion and Arya (such spunk!) and can’t wait to see if I’ll enjoy them as much in the books. That is, if Rob ever finishes it so I can read it. 🙂
So You Think You Can Dance
As much as I love this show, it’s become too contemporary-focused, which is unfortunate. The first week of eliminations definitely proved that to me with Iveta and Nick getting the boot. On the other hand, I’m glad they’re using new choreographers this season. Routines were getting stale and the show needed some new blood to mix things up. So far, my favorite dancers are Tadd (can’t help it – he’s filipino!) and Melanie and Marko (talk about power couple!). Sasha and Ryan are my least favorites — they are OVER-HYPED.
I’m also working my way through the first seasons of True Blood and The Tudors (yes, again). WOOT.
It’s a good summer for TV.
In other fandom news, complete Comic-Con programming has been released. Just under 2 weeks now! I’m not 100% sure what panels I’m going to try and see but I do know that I’m bummed my TV boyfriend Joshua Jackson isn’t attending this year. Sadness.
Hellcats – C+
Yes, I’m still watching this show. Heh. It’s not much more than a typical college drama but it’s totally grown on me. I love Marti, Savannah and the rest of the Hellcats (Lewis, Darwin, even Alice!) and the random singing and/or dancing in each episode. I was even pleasantly surprised by the storylines until recently when the show did an about-face and broke up 2 couples (Savannah/Dan, Marti/Lewis) and possibly damaged a major friendship (Marti/Savannah) to develop a relationship between Marti/Dan. UGH. I’m a sucker for romance, I admit, but not when it comes at the expense of the characters’ integrity and their other relationships. Also, the adult characters need to go. They contribute… nothing. (And DB Woodside deserves better).
The Big Bang Theory – B-
I just started watching TBBT regularly this season so I sometimes feel like I’ve missed out on important character backstory by tuning in so late. I may try and catch up at some point. Regardless, the characters are enjoyable and I love all the quirky friendships (is it weird that my favorite relationship is Penny & Sheldon?). I love the show best when all the characters are interacting, like this past week’s episode where everyone (including Bernadette and Amy Farrah Fowler) takes a road trip to a science symposium. Gotta love the musical beds, lol.
Bones – B-
Still a good show but I feel like it’s slowly becoming another procedural. I know it technically is but the characters have always elevated the show beyond the traditional formula. Unfortunately the past few seasons they’ve all been running in place.
Grey’s Anatomy – C+
I go back and forth all the time with this show. While I love the characters, the ridiculous storylines make my head hurt. Last year it was Mark’s daughter (I stopped watching while she was around; she bugged me) and this year it’s Callie’s pregnancy AND Teddy marrying a patient (Scott Foley!) so he could have insurance (they’re totally going to fall in love, I just know it). ARGH. Cristina getting her surgical groove back took a tad too long but Sandra Oh is so awesome she made it work. Random — I saw McSteamy (aka Eric Dane) and his wife in LA a few weeks back. He looks smaller in real life somehow but just as cute. 🙂
Nikita – B
Honestly, I never thought I would still be watching at this point in the season… but I’m really liking it! It definitely needs some work but the show is improving each week. The winter finale, in particular, was a good episode — it set up Alex as an agent working on the outside and it FINALLY addressed my biggest issue when Nikita’s shell program was discovered. Seriously, to have Nikita and Alex basically chatting online whenever they felt like it required too much suspension of belief. Now, if only the show would bring back Owen and get rid of Jaden (ugh, she’s such a one-note character), I would be a very happy camper.
Smallville – C+
I might be an episode behind. Not sure. This season has been a little off for me — the storylines seem a little stale and overall there’s missing something. Maybe it’s the loss of Chloe? Or maybe it’s that the show takes itself way too seriously? I can’t put my finger on it. I also don’t know what happened to me because suddenly I like Lois/Clark. They’re actually kind of cute. I was really hoping that Kristin Kreuk and/or Michael Rosenbaum would reprise their roles as Lana and Lex since it’s the final season but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. It would have been a nice way to close out the series, especially for the fans.
White Collar – A-
Gawd, LOVE IT. It may not be the best or smartest show about the FBI (case in point – the larger mythology storyline involving the music box doesn’t always make sense) but it’s so light and fun that I don’t really care. Besides, it’s the chemistry between Neal and Peter that makes the show so great anyway. The reason it doesn’t get a straight A is that so much of Neal’s backstory is centered around his ex-girlfriend Kate who, unfortunately, is not very likable or sympathetic (thanks largely to the actress that plays her).
Pass:
CSI
CSI Miami
No grades for these shows. I watch each week because it’s become a routine but I’m not too invested.
Dropped:
V – *yawn* Supernatural – Watched the first few episodes of the season and it felt a little “been there, done that.” Then the episodes kept piling up on the DVR until finally last month, Rob & I deleted all of them. I enjoyed the earlier seasons (and of course love Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki) but honestly, I just got bored.
Need to Catch up on:
The Vampire Diaries. I’m about 4 episodes behind but this show is SO good it automatically gets an A for being so AWESOME.
Anyway. Comic-Con recap. Click pics for bigger. Some of them are blurry and/or shaky. I am an amateur.
Thursday, July 22
Comic-Con has invaded downtown San Diego!
You can totally tell when you’re nearing the convention center.
FACT. Lines are everywhere. Luckily, we skipped this one because we picked up our badges the previous day.
We spent about an hour in the exhibit hall that morning but promptly at 11am, we headed upstairs to Ballroom 20 (the biggest room used for TV shows – seats about 4000) to get in line for the USA panels — the first being Burn Notice at 1pm.
Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous to get in line 2 hours ahead of time but SERIOUSLY, if it’s something you want to do/see, it’s necessary. And actually still doesn’t guarantee entrance depending on how popular it is.
We got into Ballroom 20!
OH MAN. Burn Notice was the BEST panel that we attended. Absolutely hilarious. Chris Vance moderated (he also played the evil Gilroy in the last season) and Bruce Campbell (Sam), Tim Matheson (Larry), and series creator Matt Nix were panelists. Some highlights:
— Matt Nix on the writers’ inspiration – “There comes a point where you start reading warning labels as instructions.”
— The bomb squad asked them to cut a voiceover because it wasn’t a good idea to tell the general public how they detect bombs.
— Bruce Campbell talked about how he used to projectile sweat when they filmed car scenes because there was no AC. But of course, the one time that Jeffrey Donovan starts to sweat even a little bit, they install AC.
— Bruce Campbell accidentally revealed that Fiona gets kidnapped in an upcoming episode and said “Never kidnap Fiona. She’s such a little sh*t.”
— During the audience Q&A, a fan asked about Fiona’s terrible Irish accent in the pilot and why it was dropped. Matt Nix simply said it was a narrative choice — it made it hard for the characters to put on different personas if they already had an accent. (I think Gabrielle Anwar’s accent was terrible and he was just too nice to say so).
— Another fan asked how the show ended up being set in Miami. Matt Nix revealed that it was originally set in Newark (I couldn’t tell if he was being serious or sarcastic) and that the network basically told him they wanted a sunny locale and they chose Miami. After being pissed for awhile, he realized they were right.
— Throughout the panel, Bruce Campbell stood up and gave money to people when they paid him flattering compliments.
— Towards the end of the hour, USA network executive Jeff Wachtel interrupted the panel to announce that they greenlit a Sam prequel. !!! It will follow Sam on his last military mission and show how he ended up in Miami. WOOHOO. Bruce Campbell promptly handed Wachtel some money. When asked how he felt about the prequel, he said “USA finally got their sh*t together.” HEISSOAWESOME.
White Collar was up next. The entire cast was there. First thing I noticed is that Matt Bomer is even MORE handsome in person than he appears on TV. How is that even possible?!? The panel started off with an awesome Con exclusive video where the gang discusses their costumes for Comic-Con (for the record, Neal would go as Freddie, Peter would be Darth Vader, Diana as Chewbacca, and Jones as Blade – AWESOME!). Sadly, the rest of the panel was pretty underwhelming. Mostly because Willie Garson moderated and while he was funny, I felt like he didn’t really do a good job with asking the cast questions that got them talking. The best moments were:
— Sharif Atkins doing a cartwheel on stage as he’s introduced
— Creator Jeff Eastin complimenting Matt Bomer for infusing the charm into the character of Neal Caffrey — to which Matt put his head down and looked super embarrassed. WHATACUTIE.
— Marsha Thomason mentioned that she wanted to see Tim DeKay dressed in drag as Beyonce (I can’t remember why she said that) and Tim promptly did the “Single Ladies” hand movements.
— At the end, Matt & Tim sang a censored version of the “Folgers in your cup” song. I think they sing this on set when they’re tired, need to diffuse tension, etc. I took a crappy video…
Our last panel of the day was Psych. Just like White Collar, they started off with a fun video of James Roday and Dule Hill on set. Nestor Carbonell (he’s guest starring later this season) walks by looking for Jack. Dule asks “Why? Are you… lost?” and they proceed to laugh hysterically. OH GAWD. So funny.
After the video, James and Dule walked on stage singing “Shout” with Tears for Fears’s Curt Smith. AWESOME. The awesomeness didn’t stop there though:
— When asked what they dislike about each other, Dule said James’s hair and James said he admires Dule’s ability to stay tan without any products.
— James and Dule were asked to give the first few sentences of their characters best man speeches. James said “he can’t marry you because he’s already married to me” but Dule took the cake by saying “I guess today is the day we all realize what a cold day in hell feels like. In the words of the great Arsenio Hall, there’s a god somewhere!” BWAH.
— There was confirmation that Maggie Lawson and James are in a relationship. AWWW.
— Dule and choreographer Jason Samuels Smith showed off their tap dancing skills at the end.
… And that was pretty much our first day. I actually had a ticket to the Entertainment Weekly/CBS party that night but didn’t want to go by myself (I won it via Twitter and wasn’t able to get another one for Rob) so I skipped it. Maybe next year! I don’t feel so bad for missing the celebrities at the party because we ran into Tim DeKay on the way back to our hotel. YAY.
Thanks for the well wishes! 🙂 Rob, Diesel & I are super happy about the house. We’re painting this weekend and the movers are coming 4th of July weekend. Exciting!
Ok, back to my regularly scheduled meme.
Day 03 – Your favorite new show (aired this TV season)
WHITE COLLAR!
It’s not your typical crime drama. Especially when you have the delectable Matt Bomer playing white collar criminal turned FBI consultant Neal Caffrey. HEISSOCUTE. And I *adore* his unlikely love/hate relationship with his FBI handler Peter Burke. Their back and forth banter makes me positively giddy.
Honorable mention goes to The Vampire Diaries. Honestly, I had EXTREMELY low expectations for this show (I’m not a Twilight fan). I pretty much only tuned in because the CW owns me. But I was pleasantly surprised. The story actually progresses in every single episode! That’s pretty much unheard of in a teen show. And there’s a love triangle that’s well done. I can’t even decide between Elena/Stefan and Elena/Damon. Craziness. It doesn’t hurt that the cast is HOT. Guh.
