Words, Words, Words, Words

Okay, I do not watch Dancing with the Stars" other than the few minutes that accidently got recorded before Castle starts, but I can't help but comment on this new line up.

First of all Florence Henderson? I can get behind that. Who wouldn't love to see Mrs Brady tripping the light fantastic?

And Jennifer Grey? It's a shame she's reduced to this, but whatever. And she's fifty? I feel old now.

But in what universe can Bristol Palin be considered a 'star'? I mean, she goes around telling kids not to have sex which, sure, admirable, but telling people that has never worked in the history of ever. And the only reason people listen to her is because of who her mother is. *shudders*

So 'star' no longer means 'someone who's accomplished something in his or her field' but rather 'someone who's name the average American might actually recognize because it's been in the tabloids.'

The show 'Lie to Me' is streamable via Netflix, so I was watching it yesterday and I am hooked. I vaguely thought I'd like it anyway - it falls into that 'uber-clever observer of human nature' category that I enjoy, but I was pleased at how much I really like the show.

The writing is good - the pilot, which is always hard because you have to establish the characters, the relationships, and the point of the show, but they managed to do it without too much info dumping.

Also, as a fangirl of Richard Wiseman I enjoyed the whole 'how to tell from body language that people are lying' thing, as he has a whole section in his Quirkology book about that. Thanks to that book I actually knew some of the stuff they mentioned on the show regarding how to tell when someone is lying, so I think the science is pretty sound on the show overall.

One thing they mentioned on the show was that liars can't tell the story backwards. If you say 'I was at the gym, then I went home, had some dinner, watched television, and went to bed' and you are telling the truth, you can say, bed, television, dinner, gym, but if you were lying, you'd not be able to do it. At least not smoothly. I hope that's actually true, 'cause it's kind of neat.

And now, since it is 4 billion degrees outside and Charlie is with my parents all week, I'm sort of planning on going home, getting comfy, and watching as many episodes as I can so I can catch up. Because it is being that kind of a day.

I was perusing TV Tropes this afternoon, as you do, and for some reason looked up iCarly which, as I may have mentioned how this is one of Charlie's very favourite shows at the moment.

For the uninitiated, iCarly is a Nickelodeon show about a girl, Carly, and her two friends, Freddie (a boy) and Sam (a girl), who do a wildly popular webshow that features videos by (apparently) real kids and silly segments like Random Dancing and blowing up watermelons, and such.

It's a silly show - it has its moments, but generally falls into making all grown ups look stupid and people getting away with near criminal activity, or generally acting like complete buffoons with no consequences to their behaviour. Severely unrealistic to say the least.

But, as I said, Charlie likes it, and I make sure I discuss with him why some of the less savory bits are annoying to me, and how they don't work in real life.

Anyway...so I'm on Tropes, reading iCarly and WOW! The shipping things. And there's someone here on LJ who apparently devoted a really lot of time in proving that Sam is lesbian and she and Carly are OTP. It's just...well, I guess I forget that the interweb is populated by the very people to whom shows like iCarly are targeted, and they are apt to take that show just as seriously as older fans take, oh, let's say Doctor Who. *looks away, whistles innocently*

It's just weird to see from my point of view, because to me it is a mildly annoying show that my son likes, and the fact that people actually discuss Freddie/Sam or *shudder* Spencer/Carly. (Spencer is her idiot adult brother who is taking care of her while her father is 'overseas')

Actually, while we're on that subject, iCarly is yet another children's show that is sorely lacking in mothers. Carly's father is existing, if absent but no mention is ever made of her mother, who I presume is dead. Sam's mother is never seen and alluded to be a whoring, drinking layabout. Freddie's mom is a single, overprotective mom who had a GPS chip put into Freddie's head when he was an infant and give him tick baths.

Yeah.

And it isn't even a Disney show.

Is it sad that as I was reading the Tropes page, I pretty much knew every episode they were talking about?

Have you guys seen Castle yet? You totally have to watch that show. It is just so funny and good, and gets better every week. It isn't original, really (He's a writer! She's a cop! And they fight crime!) but the characters are so appealing and charming and the chemistry is fabulous and it stars Nathan Fillion. What more could you want? Go watch it. Seriously. I'll wait.

Meanwhile, on House. Who else thinks that 'Thirteen' is totally The Wesley?

I've been watching Cougar Town, and I rather like it. I'm not sure how long the premise can hold up, but it's well done and amusing, and I like it.

I like Glee, too, but I find myself DVRing it and then watching it when I've nothing else to do. Ditto with Bones.

Oh, and who else watches The Big Bang Theory? Seems all my best shows are on Monday - How I Met Your Mother, House, Big Bang Theory and Castle. Thank goodness they don't all crash into each other.

Charlie loves iCarly right now. I don't know why.

So, what about you? Any new shows you like? British friends, anything I should be keeping my eyes out for? (BBC America did show Being Human, at least)

Vampire Diaries: The Diaries of Other Vampires Revealed

Edward (Twilight)

Dear Diary,
I'm having second thoughts about this whole "going to high school" thing. Carlisle says it helps us blend in longer, but does it? Really? I mean, if we just lived in the woods, and made sure our fake IDs said we were 18, wouldn't that be better than making sure every kid in town knows us, and getting our pictures taken and published in book form once a year? Also, the homework is starting to get really annoying. I mean, I have to write a paper on Miles Davis, and I can't even mention that we hung out that one time. This bites. Oh, well, guess I'm gonna go break into that new girl's bedroom and watch her sleep.

Spike's is even funnier.

I feel like talking about televison.

Firstly, Castle has been renewed for a 2nd season. I'm very happy about this. Aside from the fact my friend and I both love this show, and therefore have a "Castle and Newcastle Night' every Tuesday where we eat dinner, drink beer and watch it together, it's a good show with a good cast, and deserves a second season.

It isn't groundbreakingly original or anything, it's just good old fashioned escapism. It harkens back to shows like Remington Steele, where the mystery isn't as important as the interpersonal relationships of the characters. And come on! Nathan Fillion being rogueishly charming!

And I also would like to discuss How I Met Your Mother, but I shall put that under a cut, as it will be spoilery for the last episode. Do any of you watch that show?

( HIMYM )

Anyway...that's what I think about that.

Been a heck of a week, really, between the death of Butch, and Charlie and me both getting colds, and various other of life's little headaches, I'm ready for a nap. Not to mention the AAAAH factor of what is going on in the world at the moment.

So, in an effort to not think about things, I am going to discuss television.

I seem to have become a fan of the 'clever detective' television genre. I recently got into the shows 'Monk' and 'Psych', (Thanks, TiVo!) and earlier this week I watched the pilot of the show 'The Mentalist'. All three shows deal with private detctive types who have mad Sherlock Holmes-like skills of observation and use them as 'consultants' to help the police.

The only show I seem to be currently watching that isn't about a detective with mad observational skills is House. A show about a doctor with mad observational skills. And there's a new recurring character who is a detective.

Wonder what that says about me?

Have any of you found a new show that you like? Anything that isn't about people with uncanny observational skills, maybe?

Apparently they are doing a new Banana Splits show. They assure us that it will be as 'groovy' as the original.

I did watch that, on occasion. I'm sure I could, at one point, sing the stupid theme song.

If I remember correctly one of the cartoon shorts they ran was this Tom Sawyer thing I enjoyed, that had 3 live children in a cartoon world. In other words, there were 3 real actors acting against a blue screen, with the other characters drawn in later, or something.

That, at least, would be something technology today could improve upon.

I can't remember the other shows. It is possible this is where I saw things like "The Bugaloos" and "HR Puffnstuff" and other totally LSD-influenced children's programming.

I preferred the Krofft Superstar Power Hour. It had Electro-Woman and Dyno-Girl.

I had this totally weird dream last night, extremely detailed, with a story line and everything. It was a mix, I think, of Doctor Who, these Kim Harrison books I just finished reading, and my own weird imagination, but it was one of those dreams where you wake up thinking, gosh, I wish I could have recorded that.

Basically the 'plot' centered around a man that was using his children - two boys and a girl - to further some magic agenda he had. The father tricked the daughter into killing a rabbit to take her 'blood innocence' (Hai, Xena!) and it totally messed her up for some reason. The father was trying to bring someone back. I think it was the Master.

Weird.

I think, quite possibly, the people in charge of writing Ben Ten: Alien Force (shut up, it's a good show) are fans of Doctor Who. Why you ask?

Well, the team met up with this man, called "Paradox" who had disappeared in the 50s while trying to create a time machine.

He was able to manipulate the time vortex (yes, they called it that) to travel through time and space.

He'd travelled through for so many years, he was extremely intelligent.

He wore a suit and a long duster.

He was British.

He had a fob watch.

Coincidence?

The best line he had was when he was talking about being stuck in the time thing. "I went quite mad. After awhile, I got bored with that, so I went sane."

My first thought was, "NOOOO!" My second one was...oh, good, he's awesome!

Moffat replacing Davies at Doctor Who Helm

Quick question for those who have watched "The Doctor's Daughter" (Charlie and I rewatched it last night) The cut on the Doctor's hand - did that look like the same cut on the hand of the infected people in The Empty Child to you as well? If it did, do you think that was a deliberate thing, or that they just had that 'hand scar decal' left over.

One sentence take on Life on Mars US - "I'm having Spaghetti-Os" doesn't have the same ring as "I'm 'avin 'Oops."