TV and other stuff...
Mar. 18th, 2010 09:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatRather nasty mood this week due to a combination of factors that I won't bore you with.
Did jump on lj quickly at lunch, checked out No Rest For the Wicked Awards out of curiousity. Two things :
1. That site is Definitely NOT Work Safe. I freaked. And scampered out after five minutes. Then worried for about twenty minutes. So, do not, I repeat do not, visit that site while at work.
2. I apparently got second place in it. Which is actually a bit of an accomplishment, considering how many metas were nominated - close to 30 at last count. And the quality of metas - I was going up against people like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aycheb and beer_good_foamy. Can't frigging find the essay that won. Anywhere. Not even on the site of the person who wrote it. And I can't figure out what it was on. Very weird. Was curious. Because, I thought aycheb would win. Or stormwreath or beer_good.
Oh and congrats to the others on flist who won or got runner up, you know who you are. ;-)
On TV Front:
1. Justified - was surprisingly good. It's basically Elmore Leonard meets Gunsmoke in modern day. Has the raunchy, anti-hero characters that populate Leonard's modern day, noir mysteries. Except Leonard's noir is more neo, in that the characters are redeemable and the women are cliche. I've read a lot of Elmore Leonard in my lifetime. Also Carl Hiasson and whoever wrote all those Travis McGee novels. When I state I've read a lot of genre fiction, I'm not exaggerating. I got a bit burned out sometime around the 1990s...and jumped to sci-fantasy for a bit. You know you've read too many when they start blurring together and can't remember one from the other, and can predict exactly what will happen next. In case you haven't figured it out by now - I'm a compulsive binger when it comes to cultural things. I overdose until I get completely sick of it, and can't read it again, and jump to the next one. Also, I never know when I'll get sick of it. At any rate - the show is interesting. It's about this sort of hard nosed US Marshall who is sent back to his hometown in Kentucky because he killed a fugitive in a restaurant at point blank range while the guy was eating lunch. The guy did draw first, but still. So off to Kentucky he goes, reunites with old buddies, joins the local police force, and hooks up with a girl who had a crush on him and meets up with his ex - who left him.
All sorts of hijinks ensue. Like all of F/X's tv shows it's basically a character driven episodic serial a la The Shield, Damages, Sons of Anarchy. Well written. The dialogue snaps. And the humor is black as pitch, with a good old boy snark to it.
2. Lost - ehh...I was unimpressed and I happen to be a Sawyer fan. Was actually looking forward to his episode. But, alas, Lost was better last year. Or at least I thought so. This year just feels a bit tired and a tad on the cliche side. I may be wrong, but I'm willing to bet people are going to be massively disappointed in the ending. Maybe I've watched too many shows like this? It's possible. ;-)
3. Caprica - mixed feelings about last week's episode. It was okay. A bit slow in places. Still, overall, I have to say I'm enjoying Caprica more than most shows.
4. The Good Wife continues to hit them out of the park. Stellar series. Well written, well acted, and well plotted. And it has Alan Cummings, one of my all time favorite character actors. (Yeah, some people follow leading men, me? I know the character actors. There's a reason for that - character actors tend to be theater trained and actually know how to act on screen and don't just wander about looking pretty, flexing their abs, and their eyebrows. Nothing is more boring than tall dark and handsome who flexes his eyebrows every time he thinks he needs to emote.) To give it credit - The Good Wife actually has a lot of character actors or people who are theater trained with oodles of experience.
Have the Wire - first season sitting at home now. No clue when I'll get around to it. And considering I can't get into Damages at the moment, it may not be the best time. Brain has been sucked dry by the work demon.
On a final note? Big Bang Theory has the distinction of being the only situation comedy to make me consistently roar with laughter five weeks straight. This is rare. Usually it's - one episode, roar with laughter, next episode - cringe, next episode - bored, next episode -roar, next episode cringe...okay why do people like this? I give up!! That said, if you are looking for a situation comedy that meets the Bechdel test for female characters? The Big Bang is not it. Still a male centric, male perspective, comedy. It's hilarious. There's a woman in it - but she basically plays the straight man and is not seen outside of the three guys or guy. I wouldn't bring this up, except outside of maybe The Middle - there are no female situation comedies that meet the Bechdel test. I think the last one may well have been Sex in The City, and just barely.
What is the Bechendel Test you ask? Here:
The strip popularized what is now known as the Bechdel test, also known as the Bechdel/Wallace test, the Bechdel rule, or Bechdel's law. Bechdel credits her friend Liz Wallace for the test, which appears in a 1985 strip entitled "The Rule", in which a character says that she only watches a movie if it satisfies the following requirements:
1. It has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man.
A variant of the test, in which the two women must additionally be named characters, is also called the Mo Movie Measure. The name is a misnomer as neither Mo nor the other regular characters had been introduced yet at the time of this strip's publication.
And go here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dykes_to_Watch_Out_For#The_Bechdel_test
There's actually more dramas that pass this test than sitch comedies. I'd provide a list, but really, do you care?? ;-)
Did jump on lj quickly at lunch, checked out No Rest For the Wicked Awards out of curiousity. Two things :
1. That site is Definitely NOT Work Safe. I freaked. And scampered out after five minutes. Then worried for about twenty minutes. So, do not, I repeat do not, visit that site while at work.
2. I apparently got second place in it. Which is actually a bit of an accomplishment, considering how many metas were nominated - close to 30 at last count. And the quality of metas - I was going up against people like
aycheb and beer_good_foamy. Can't frigging find the essay that won. Anywhere. Not even on the site of the person who wrote it. And I can't figure out what it was on. Very weird. Was curious. Because, I thought aycheb would win. Or stormwreath or beer_good.Oh and congrats to the others on flist who won or got runner up, you know who you are. ;-)
On TV Front:
1. Justified - was surprisingly good. It's basically Elmore Leonard meets Gunsmoke in modern day. Has the raunchy, anti-hero characters that populate Leonard's modern day, noir mysteries. Except Leonard's noir is more neo, in that the characters are redeemable and the women are cliche. I've read a lot of Elmore Leonard in my lifetime. Also Carl Hiasson and whoever wrote all those Travis McGee novels. When I state I've read a lot of genre fiction, I'm not exaggerating. I got a bit burned out sometime around the 1990s...and jumped to sci-fantasy for a bit. You know you've read too many when they start blurring together and can't remember one from the other, and can predict exactly what will happen next. In case you haven't figured it out by now - I'm a compulsive binger when it comes to cultural things. I overdose until I get completely sick of it, and can't read it again, and jump to the next one. Also, I never know when I'll get sick of it. At any rate - the show is interesting. It's about this sort of hard nosed US Marshall who is sent back to his hometown in Kentucky because he killed a fugitive in a restaurant at point blank range while the guy was eating lunch. The guy did draw first, but still. So off to Kentucky he goes, reunites with old buddies, joins the local police force, and hooks up with a girl who had a crush on him and meets up with his ex - who left him.
All sorts of hijinks ensue. Like all of F/X's tv shows it's basically a character driven episodic serial a la The Shield, Damages, Sons of Anarchy. Well written. The dialogue snaps. And the humor is black as pitch, with a good old boy snark to it.
2. Lost - ehh...I was unimpressed and I happen to be a Sawyer fan. Was actually looking forward to his episode. But, alas, Lost was better last year. Or at least I thought so. This year just feels a bit tired and a tad on the cliche side. I may be wrong, but I'm willing to bet people are going to be massively disappointed in the ending. Maybe I've watched too many shows like this? It's possible. ;-)
3. Caprica - mixed feelings about last week's episode. It was okay. A bit slow in places. Still, overall, I have to say I'm enjoying Caprica more than most shows.
4. The Good Wife continues to hit them out of the park. Stellar series. Well written, well acted, and well plotted. And it has Alan Cummings, one of my all time favorite character actors. (Yeah, some people follow leading men, me? I know the character actors. There's a reason for that - character actors tend to be theater trained and actually know how to act on screen and don't just wander about looking pretty, flexing their abs, and their eyebrows. Nothing is more boring than tall dark and handsome who flexes his eyebrows every time he thinks he needs to emote.) To give it credit - The Good Wife actually has a lot of character actors or people who are theater trained with oodles of experience.
Have the Wire - first season sitting at home now. No clue when I'll get around to it. And considering I can't get into Damages at the moment, it may not be the best time. Brain has been sucked dry by the work demon.
On a final note? Big Bang Theory has the distinction of being the only situation comedy to make me consistently roar with laughter five weeks straight. This is rare. Usually it's - one episode, roar with laughter, next episode - cringe, next episode - bored, next episode -roar, next episode cringe...okay why do people like this? I give up!! That said, if you are looking for a situation comedy that meets the Bechdel test for female characters? The Big Bang is not it. Still a male centric, male perspective, comedy. It's hilarious. There's a woman in it - but she basically plays the straight man and is not seen outside of the three guys or guy. I wouldn't bring this up, except outside of maybe The Middle - there are no female situation comedies that meet the Bechdel test. I think the last one may well have been Sex in The City, and just barely.
What is the Bechendel Test you ask? Here:
The strip popularized what is now known as the Bechdel test, also known as the Bechdel/Wallace test, the Bechdel rule, or Bechdel's law. Bechdel credits her friend Liz Wallace for the test, which appears in a 1985 strip entitled "The Rule", in which a character says that she only watches a movie if it satisfies the following requirements:
1. It has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man.
A variant of the test, in which the two women must additionally be named characters, is also called the Mo Movie Measure. The name is a misnomer as neither Mo nor the other regular characters had been introduced yet at the time of this strip's publication.
And go here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dykes_to_Watch_Out_For#The_Bechdel_test
There's actually more dramas that pass this test than sitch comedies. I'd provide a list, but really, do you care?? ;-)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-03-19 02:36 am (UTC)1. It has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man.
Cougar Town, maybe? (Although there's lots of talking about men. Still, it's sort of refocused and has become more of an ensemble show).
Modern Family has Clair and Sofia in addition to the girls Alex and Haley... although since Clair and Sofia are seen primarily in mom capicity, I don't know how much that counts. Especially since Phil, Cameron, and Manny have been the break-out stars.
Still, I love The Big Bang Theory.
Re: Lost, I enjoyed this week's ep, but I thought it was weak when compared to last week's... which I thought was excellent.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 06:23 pm (UTC)Modern Family? Same deal. It's a bit like Parenthood - in that the women are supporting the men or all about the men.
Same problem with 30 Rock - about men.
I can't think of any at the moment, but I don't watch HBO and it is possible it has a few.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 06:50 pm (UTC)Re: Cougar Town, the producers have spoken about how the pursuit of younger men doesn't work as a premise and how they've abandoned it and wish they had chosen a different name for the show because it's basically turned into something different. What that is, I'm not sure because the best laughs I remember was Courtney Cox's character's ex-husband taking their son catfishing the manual way (you know, sticking their hand under a rock and letting the catfish latch onto it) ... which, OMG, why would anyone do that?!
The Showtime series Nurse Jackie may fit the criteria, but I haven't actually watched that show so I don't know.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 08:22 pm (UTC)Now it sounds a bit more sex in the cityish.
Modern Family? I agree the best moments were between Claire and her daughters. I wish it had more female characters. The emphasis is unfortunately heavily male - but then so are the writers/producers.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-19 04:16 am (UTC)Congratulations on second place-you were up against some wonderful meta!
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-19 04:31 am (UTC)and I also adore Big Bang Theory....
Interestingly the only TV show I currently watch that passes the Bechdel rule is 'Caprica'....
although sometimes on Burn Notice they will have a good scene between Fiona and Michael's Mother (Sharon Gless really is wonderful on that).
On Castle you almost have no contact between Beckett and Castle's family (the only other women on the show... Although I really do love the Coroner, she is a riot, maybe she counts for scenes w/Beckett?)
'V' is coming back soon, I wonder if that will pass the test? at least a couple of the main characters are strong powerful women.
And naturally I'm looking forward to the return of 'In Plain Sight'!
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 02:02 am (UTC)BUT - I admit to wondering about the judging criteria. They appear to have been swayed more by media presentation that writing. I state this because I actually read some of the other meta - which was better written than the winning one. The winning meta really doesn't say that much, but it is so beautifully formatted and presented that you don't notice. It has got to be one of the best presentations I've seen. This
reinforces what a writing teacher told me last year - that today's college kid is learning that they have to be able to do the Web.20 essay.
My second place meta - was basically to see if I could pull off Web.20 or could figure out how to do it. Web.20 has zip to do with writing.
It has everything to do with presentation - ie. you put in videos, pictures, format your text in a specific way, make it pretty. In the world of the net, people scan a lot. The blogs that get noticed are the ones that are good at presentation.
V may eventually pass the test. I watched the first six or eight episodes - there's potential in that the villian and the hero are both female. It certainly has a better chance of doing so than either Lost or Flashforward.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 03:46 am (UTC)So I guess not all my shows are failing the Bechdel rule.
Yeah, I get what you mean about presentation... but I found that to be true in High School & college too: if I put it in a nice little notebook w/a spiffy cover page and some beautifully drawn examples/illustrations I'd usually sucker a much better grade than the poorly researched report deserved (since I founded it easier to make something look good than read well).
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 06:18 pm (UTC)This week's Caprica did not meet it at all - all about men.
(Just saw the episode). Leverage - doesn't quite, the scenes between the female characters are often about "NATE" or so and so's feelings towards NATE.
Yeah, I get what you mean about presentation... but I found that to be true in High School & college too: if I put it in a nice little notebook w/a spiffy cover page and some beautifully drawn examples/illustrations I'd usually sucker a much better grade than the poorly researched report deserved (since I founded it easier to make something look good than read well).
I noticed it in the law as well. In litigation it become increasingly apparent to me that juries did not care about guilt or innocence, they cared about presentation. The lawyer with the best presentation won. Their client could be quilty as sin, if they presented themselves better than opposing counsel? They won.
One of the many reasons I do not practice law.
It's sad. Isn't it? We teach people to value looks over substance at any early age.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 06:58 pm (UTC)It is true that most Sci-fi has been terrible in that regard, but I think that 'Caprica' has a lot of strong interesting female characters who will continue to have a lot to do. I was disappointed that Jane Espenson stepped back from Executive Producing Caprica, but I think she did so because she genuinely prefers writing to producing.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-19 04:59 am (UTC)And BIG CONGRATS on being right with your predicted schedule for S8. That Allie dude just announced that #36 will start in September http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25304
"Issue #34 will be out at the beginning of April followed on time by issue #35. After that, they will take a break and issue #36 will hit stands sometime in September where Joss Whedon will conclude the writing of the final five-issue arc."
If you're not interested in reading that report, it also said that S9 (or what will follow after the conclusion of S8) will be only executive produced by Joss.
On the TV strip..I totally failed (last show watched being "The Secret Diary of a London Call Girl")
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 01:40 am (UTC)And thank you for the update. I tend to avoid everything Allie posts, if at all possible. ;-)
On the TV strip..I totally failed (last show watched being "The Secret Diary of a London Call Girl")
Actually I think the medium has failed. I'm watching a show called Parenthood, with an ensemble cast, right now - and just about every scene contains a guy and either another guy, a guy and a gal, or a gal talking to another gal about a guy. The women are only about men. And it is PARENTHOOD. This is pathetic. Although other than that..it's a rather comforting show...doesn't require much thought, but I don't want one that does at the moment.
It's hard to think of any that fit the test...there's a few, but not every episode.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-19 11:14 am (UTC)At the moment, the only TV show I'm following is Mad Men. There's just nothing else worth watching.
I will watch Caprica when I get the chance, though. Also True Blood season 2. Way behind everyone else, as always.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 01:21 am (UTC)We have over 1000 channels, and I'm not including the premium and on-demand channels, which I don't watch - or the music channels, sports channels, and sigh the classic tv and movie channels. Here - if you can't find something to watch, you aren't trying. ;-)
Oh and there's still more to come. Happy Town - the mid-season replacement that Amy Acker got and why she was unavailable for most of Dollhouse? Turns out to be a horror dramedy a la Twin Peaks. It's starting in April. I have more tv than I can keep track of. The US has gone nuts with media.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 02:53 pm (UTC)Lost
Date: 2010-03-19 08:29 pm (UTC)I'm really looking forward to next week's episode though, more for plot than character reasons--I'm not sure if it would be too much of a spoiler to say who will be the focus?
Re: Lost
Date: 2010-03-20 01:16 am (UTC)Ah, the Richard Alpert episode? I've already figured out where Richard Alpert came from - he was on that boat that we saw in the last episode of the previous season - you know the big East India Trading Boat circa 1700's, possibly earlier? But I know little else.
I too am looking forward to that one. Curious to see who Alpert is and what the island is.
So far the best episodes have been the Lock one and Linus one. Also the only two with any surprises.
Re: Lost
Date: 2010-03-20 09:08 pm (UTC)