Boob Tube Escapades

As I have previously mentioned, I am a big fan of two things: Pop Culture and Fall.

It is not a big surprise that when Fall comes around and its premiere week for TV shows/series, I tend to get very excited. Like, blowing up my DVR there is so much being recorded, excited.

There have been a lot of really good shows on that started this season. And also some really not so good ones. Here's a list of my hits and misses!

Mike and Molly:
A TV show about fat people falling in love. I know it got a lot of teasing from just about everybody (yours truly is included). The truth is, the show is really funny. It is a lot of physical humor and a lot of the jokes are more visual-based. The characters tend to be a little forced and at times ridiculous, but for the most part I really enjoy it. Usually when it gets to the point where I'm ready to say forget it and cancel my series recording, there's a joke or spin to the story that makes me wait another week before deciding officially.

The Event:
I heard about this show after the pilot originally aired. I was excited at the premise of it. You can't hear a review that says a show is a mix between Lost and 24 and not be at least a little intrigued.
The first episode was good. Lots of things were going on, and like Lost, you knew that they were building up a good jumping point of the series. Providing you with lots of possibilities for plot lines and story twists.
However. The second episode I couldn't pay attention. I had no idea what was going on. I didn't care about any of the characters, in fact, I didn't know any of the characters' names. That's enough for me. If they introduce too many new characters, or give you too many questions, I can't keep up and lose interest. Off the DVR.

Detroit 1-8-7:
I cannot say enough good things about this show. I had three weeks of episodes saved up on this show before I actually sat down and watched it. After the 3 episodes I watched (it is an hour-long cop drama) I was disappointed I had burned through them so fast. I could very easily sit and watch Detroit 1-8-7 for hours and not lose interest. The characters are believable and likable. The acting is fantastic. The way they track the cases is very interesting, but easy to follow. I hope it sticks around for a long time.

Blue Bloods:
Again, another cop drama. With a fantastic cast, I may add. The first episode was a little slow, but they started a good story line to start with. I won't beat around the bush, I only watched the pilot. The rest of the episodes are saved on my DVR. What I saw from the pilot, if it continues on the same track, I will wait impatiently for new episodes.

My Generation:
They pimped this show out so much this summer. You couldn't go to a movie theater without seeing a promo for ABC's My Generation. It was a fake docu-drama following a group of high school students. The premise is basically, they followed these kids in their senior year in 2000, and are following them again now in 2010 to catch up.
Sadly, the show was cancelled after the 2nd episode. I had really enjoyed the pilot, but if it's dead in the water, whatever. I do think they should've tried it at a different time slot before axing it, but again, whatever.

Outlaw:
Such a great show. Jimmy Smitts plays a Supreme Court Judge who steps down because he realizes he wants to fight the system, not be the system. His team of assistants are quirky and add a lot of humor to the show. The cases are great, and I really enjoyed the three episodes I've seen.
However it is on the chopping block because it is doing poorly in ratings. Bummer.

Hawaii Five-Oh:
It is pretty safe to say this show is pretty much the hit of the season. I never watched the original series, but everyone I've talked to that was a fan of the original seems to approve of the remake. I really enjoy Hawaii Five-Oh. I think they did a great job casting it, the shots are beautiful. It's really easy to watch and enjoy. Having said that, even though it is an "easy" watch, it does keep you on the end of your seat. Very well done.

Running Wilde:
I am a huge fan of Wil Arnett. I could watch him read War and Peace and think it was brilliant. And he is brilliant in Running Wilde. He plays very close to the same type of character as he did on Arrested Development, where he played Gob Bluth.
However, the show is not great. The story lines are weird, the other characters are obnoxious. Maybe if they re-vamp the show, I'd feel differently. In the meantime, off my DVR.

Raising Hope:
To be honest, I had no faith in this show. I thought it would be horrible. Instead, it's really terrifically funny. They make really smart references to random pop culture (Which you know I love). It's one of those shows that you watch thinking "This is ridiculous. It is over the top and too much", but you're laughing your ass off the whole time. Very fantastic. Of course, they had me hook, line and sinker by playing "Punk Rock Girl" by the Milkmen in the pilot.

Outsourced:
They dubbed it the perfect companion to The Office. I very highly disagree. I didn't care for the show after the pilot, but I gave it another chance on the second episode. It wasn't very funny, the acting was hard to watch. I didn't get halfway through the second episode before I had completely removed it off my DVR.

The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret:
So, so funny. The cast is amazingly funny. It's the kind of show where you want to feel bad for the main character, but you just spend the whole time laughing instead. It's very smart, just when you think it can't get worse for the title character, it really does. I'm hoping it'll stick on IFC and get a good run. It deserves it.


I realize there were several other new shows this season, however, these were the ones I gave a chance to. Please feel free to suggest other shows to me if you think there's something I'm missing out on!

And at the end of the day, when you get tired of new shows and want to reminisce a little... The Hub (Formally Discovery Kids) is airing old school TV shows from the beginning. The Wonder Years, Fraggle Rock, Doogie Howser, M.D., Family Ties, Happy Days and even the old school Transformer cartoons and the original Batman series.

Then and Now: A Fall Retrospective

I love the fall.

For those of you not in the know, I grew up in New England. From the time I was a baby till about the age of 12, I lived amongst the mountains in New England. Quite honestly, I was blessed to grow up in such a fantastically beautiful place.

Growing up on the east coast tucked away safely in the mountains is really just like it seems in the movies. I won't lie. In grade school we took field trips to apple orchards and pumpkin patches. We'd spend whole afternoons just doing sweet art projects with leaves that have changed color. As we got older they took us to those living museums where everyone dresses and acts like its 1774. We went to visit Plymouth Rock. This was quite literally what my childhood was. New England stuff movies are made of Magic.
The whole world was filled with the fantastic smell of pumpkins and trees and the faint hint of cold headed your way.

I know a lot of people consider the first snow fall of the year to be magical (I always made a wish on the first snowfall). And when you KNOW spring is coming, that feels special too. But for me, the best time of the year is the fall.

When coffee shops put out their specialty flavored coffees, when school supplies are everywhere and you can't help but get nostalgic for the best lunch box you ever had (I'm looking at you, Barbie lunchbox). When that first cold front moves in, and you have to dig out your favorite hoodie but don't need your jacket just yet. Fall means you get to snuggle up with a blanket and pumpkin spice coffee and watch tv.
Fall means Thanksgiving with the cornucopias and the cute friendly scarecrow decorations in peoples yards. The warm muted colors that automatically make you think of scarves and warm socks. Fall also (to me) means family and being all together.

The first 23 years of my life, I had this type of fall every year. And it was fantastic.

Now, living in Florida where there is a noticeable weather change, it's quite different in the fall. The leaves don't change color, but oddly enough, they do fall. The skies tend to stay a dark grey, always seconds from raining. The weather does get cooler, but with humidity it still feels the same as it ever did (Wicked hot).

You can still go swimming everyday. I still run the risk of getting sunburnt if I don't put on sunscreen before running my errands. A hoodie is not required, and won't be for several more months.
Don't get me wrong, you still get the fall stuff. Flavored coffees, school supplies, cute scarecrow lawn decorations, pumpkins everywhere, dried corn. That still happens. It just doesn't feel the same, especially to a gal who grew up knowing how to do Fall right.

I think Fall can really be like anyone's version of home. It is what you make it. Maybe I'm not able to roll around in a pile of leaves and smell that fantastic smell. But I don't have to rake leaves anymore (palm trees do lose their leaves, but they're so big you don't have to rake them! Haha, suckers). Maybe I'm not in the Upper Peninsula to go see this year's production of Rocky Horror Picture Show at Negaunee's Vista Theater, as I've done almost every year since I turned 15. But I've found a local theater that plays The Rocky Horror Picture Show movie every year and encourages dressing up and throwing things at the screen.

When you're young, you have your own version of home and tradition. You know that Grandma's gonna make the gravy at Thanksgiving because she's the only one who does it right. You know that if all else fails, your group of friends will be down for going out for a couple drinks on Halloween. You can count on going to the corn maze and getting lost and drinking cider.

Once you've grown up, and you don't have the same people around and the ability to keep those same traditions, you build your own. Now instead of a big family dinner, we watch a marathon of LOST and eat for weeks on a small turkey that previously wouldn't have fed 1/4 of our family. Instead of going to Holiday gas station for the best coffee in the world, I meet friends out for drinks and laugh about sports and work and life.


Sometimes I get sad. I miss the fall I grew up knowing. The fall you could count on, that would most definately require you to wear a winter jacket over your Halloween costume. Then I can't really be sad, because I know people who've never even seen it snow, who've never seen the leaves change and don't know what magic that is. That is sad.

I've experienced the change of seasons so many times that I've always considered there to be 5 seasons (Mud Season: That delightful time when the snow hasn't quite left so the ground is always muddy and moist and gross). I've left my winter coat hanging up year-round because you never know. So now, living where I don't have to worry about waking up to two feet of snow, where I can be tan year-round without shelling out money on a tanning bed, where you can go to the drive-in on Christmas day if you really want to, I'm content to miss the Fall.

The fall is wonderful. Its the start of some of the best parts of the year. Even if now it's a completely different version of the fall I've always known, it is the time of year I look forward to most.