When I first heard a little over a year ago that a show existed that boasted a cast of Emmy winning characters which included Capt. Kirk *and* Odo (I"m a trekkie, so sue me), and was a spinoff of the Practice, well... I was hooked even before I started watching. It was a combination of everything that could be right and good in the world in one hour-long tv show. I drooled at the prospect of such amazing tv. And after having a little trouble finding its place, I can safely say that it has exceeded my ridiculously high expectations.

I have to admit that when I first saw it, I had my reservations - I mean, I used to be a HUGE Practice fan back in the day... you know, waaay back, like Bobby and Lindsay finally getting married back in the day (them getting eloped at the baseball stadium? Classic). I stopped watching a long time before Tara, Alan, and Denny ever popped their heads into the show. (Hell, if I had known about Bill Shatner coming and doing a guest spot, that probably would've been enough for me to start watching again... again, huge trekkie, etc.) But like I said, I stopped watching... and that's because I felt like the show had fallen into the typical traps of courtroom dramas... the "my god I got this guy off even if I knew he was guilty" and the "how far are we going to sink to get people off" and conversely the "my god I got this guy life even if I knew he was innocent." All great stuff by itself, but if every single last freaking episode seems to centre around it, it just really starts to wear you down - I mean, you can tug at the injustice strings in the hearts of your viewers only so often, and the Practice was definitely getting to that point. (To see the exact same thing happen to a medical drama, check out basically any season of ER after the first couple ones.) You just start to get numb to it all, and I was really scared that that's where this new show, Boston Legal, was going to go as well.

The other reservation I had about the show was the casting - now I know that I said practically jumped for joy to see le Shat in action again (for those of you who don't know, William Shatner is god. He is the only man who is actually immortal. See, by the sheer magnitude of his awesomeness, God has simply refused to let him die. Ever. He will live on in eternity in his coolitude. It's that simple.), but on the other hand... well, the only acting I've actually seen him in was TOS and Miss Congeniality, and to be honest I was deeply and utterly scared that his acting would suck ass. As in, TOS suck levels. This would mean that Bill actually rendered something worse by relating himself to it, which in my mind is impossible (see my rant a few lines up). That, and other than Odo (who has already been established as an acting god), I had no idea who the rest of this cast was and whether or not they would be any good. Simply put, I was deeply scared that it would be a cast that looks fantastic on paper, but would suck ASS in real life.

Thankfully, I was completely and utterly wrong on both counts. I discovered about 5 seconds into "meeting" Alan Shore that I already knew I adored him, and after seeing a rapport develop between Alan and Denny I knew that they could carry the show through anything, be it bad acting from others, horrible plotlines and stupid network people.

And as for the horrible stereotypical courtroom drama? They've barely touched it. Yes, we've had the "omg was he guilty or not? Did I let a killer roam free?" episodes, but they have thankfully been few and far between, and by and large quite well done. Instead, David E. Kelley had chosen to use this show as an avenue to discuss current events that the general public is unaware of and to shine a new light or angle on problems that have already been done to death. Thankfully, this is done in such a smart, subtle way that you don't feel like you're being preached at, and yet it still makes you think - the ultimate balance to strike when you comment on society on network tv. And the horrible "lawyer guilt" that seems to be so prevalent on network tv, and yet seemingly unlikely to me (I mean, how would lawyers function if they were actually like that in real life?) is replaced with a feeling of business - yes, you lose some cases, and yes, something things don't come out "right", and yes, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to get something done... but to the people there it has a certain level of emotional detachment, as it would be in real life. Emotions still run awry at times, but by and large it's replaced by a "this is my job, and I"m going to do it well" type vibe, which is so much more realistic and relateable.

In fact, the writing on this show overall is just phenomenal - some of the people there should write speaches for politicians or lawyers, they're so freaking good. I look forward to Alan Shore's closing arguments in every episode, because I know deep down that no matter how ridiculously impossible his case seems, he'll argue it so persuasively that in the end even I'll agree with him.

I'll admit that the writing and ideas in season one were kindof iffy... especially in the area of character development. It felt like other than Alan and Denny that the rest of the characters didn't have a soul or home, and without that it's impossible for a viewer to get behind them. For a while, in fact, it felt like there was a revolving door when in came to cast members - Pop! Entre Shirley Shmidt. Pop! Exeunt Lori Colson. Pop! Enter two newbies to the firm. Pop! ... and there they go again. If anything, it was a lesson on why every producer out there needs to cast their characters very, very carefully - when done wrong, it can mess up the entire show's vibe.

Thankfully, season two has been fortunate in this regard - the addition of Denise was a godsend; she's like the Lori that was supposed to be there since the start. And the development of Paul was just fantastic, because honestly they really were wasting this guy's talents by giving him maybe a line an episode. And finally, the one that surprised me the most - Brad, the ex-military random dude from season one has actually been fleshed out into a real character, one that the audience can actually relate to. To be honest, I thought this guy's goose was cooked by the end of the season... but they managed to turn him around. Big kudos to the writers.

And of course, the heart of the show has always been and always will be Denny Crane and Alan Shore. William Shatner proves every single time he's on screen that he deserved his Emmys, and James Spader just gives him the most incredible character to bounce off of. From the beginning, we've seen this relationship evolve from new aquaintances to good friends and the entire time it has felt incredibly natural and real. Denny is quirky and doesn't care what people think of him anymore; whereas Alan is knowingly absurd and has purposely chosen to rub people the wrong way: a match made in heaven. And even with the tweaking of Alan's character (from the charasmatic **** who hounds gorgeous women to the charasmatic **** who hounds gorgeous women and will fight for justice) has only made him more endearing. And James Spader deserves every bit of his Emmy as well - Alan is such a complex and difficult character to get right, but it's like Spader was BORN to play this role. I never understood the attraction to the "bad boy" before, but after watching him in action I suddenly understand. That's how good he is.

But I think my absolute most favourite thing about this show, past the witty comments on social problems, past the incredible writing, past the fantastic cast, and past Denny and Alan in particular... is the show's incredible lack of propriety when it comes to breaking down the fourth wall. This is what seperates this show from the pack, and what truly makes it special.

For those of you who don't know, "breaking the fourth wall" is when a show or cartoon or movie or play or whatever will willingly acknowledge the audience, either by referring to the fact that it is a show/cartoon/movie/play or by adressing the audience directly. Typical examples include talking about how an animation style has evolved over time in a comic (pvp comes to mind), or when a character in a movie will look straight into the camera (Wayne's World comes to mind). It's very rarely done, and it is very difficult to pull off without just losing the realism of what the audience is watching with no emotional payoff.

Boston Legal pulls if off by making just very casual remarks that to the non-observant viewer would almost be missed. They range from ones that are practically just inside jokes (things like having William Shatner liken something to a kidney stone, which refers to the fact that he just sold his stone in an auction for charity), to flat out talk of the fact that they are, in fact, on a tv show ("The last time I saw you..." "I believe it was a Sunday, then I was taken off the air, you went off to do movies, I got switched to Tuesdays, and..." "Here we are... with old footage.") Every single time something like that shows up, it's like the writers snuck in something mildly wrong or illegal, and it's thrilling to catch and be a part of it. It almost feels wrong that they did it, and vaguely dangerous to catch, which just makes it all the more fun.

My favourite "fourth wall" moments, though, will always be the Star Trek related ones (I"m a trekkie, etc., you know the drill by now). The very first one they snuck by us, way back at the start of the season, was when they mentioned "Cling-ons", which of course resulted in a zoom-in on Denny's face and him replying "Did you just say... Klingons?" From there, oh so vague mentions of beaming himself to work and having his cell phone make a little communicator noise (my favourite to date... I think I rewound an listened that that sound at least 10 times, convincing myself that they indeed snuck it in and I wasn't dreaming a ridiculously awesome dream) have just added to the Star Trek euphoric giddiness. Hearing this kind of stuff just makes my life, and makes me love Boston Legal all the more.

So in conclusion? I was scared for BL, I really was. It sounded good, it looked good, and I had really high hopes, hopes that I thought were almost unattainable. But somewhere along having Alan sleep with his upteenth woman, Denny shooting yet another person, and having heard so many great, fantastic courtroom speeches about fascinating cases... I got hooked. Bad. And I am really, really, REALLY hoping that I can wait until September for some more.

I posted this in a forum, and almost immediately after posting it I realized that it's probably better suited for my blog, due to how incredibly long winded it is (for some reason, it has some strange line breaks in it, but I'm too lazy to change it.  Deal with it.):


Okay, this episode was so freaking unbelievable that it turned me, a devout non poster (please don't kill me - it's just that I always write waaaay too much and then spend almost all of my day on these things) into somebody who needed to discuss this thing.

Part of me knew right after Booze Cruise, when Pam and Roy set a date, that before the season was out that there was going to be some sort of showdown/climax/resolution to the Jam relationship - there was no way around it. Yes, it is early on in the show, but it's at a point in the show that makes the most sense realistically, and I think that the realism in this show is one of its greatest strengths.

As for the final few minutes of the season finale... well, I am THIS close to starting a petition to get John Krazinski and Jenna Fischer Emmys. I've probably seen those two last cruical scenes about 20 times now, and every single time I watch it I'm even more amazed by how completely real, understated, raw, and realistic it all was.

Jim takes Pam aside, most likely to talk about the transfer, when he just suddenly looks into the eyes of this wonderful girl he adores, and just decided that screw it, why not go for the gusto? You can see him half shaking his head as he confessed that he in love with her, like he can't even believe he's doing it. But in for a penny, in for a pound - he starts talking about it, and all those little Jim mannerisms begin to creep in, like the half-shrug-smile he gives when he says that "I just wanted you to know - once." But when Pam shoots him down, he just tears up inside, like he's telling himself "Well, what did you expect, dummy? That she was going to jump into your arms and live happily ever after?" I think part of the reason that Jim hasn't told Pam before this about how he feels (other than the obvious ones) is that deep down, he was always scared of her rejecting him - and she had just done that. Realizing that he needs to get himself together and make a quick escape, he says a few apologetic words that he probably barely registers and walks off.

Pam, on the other hand, can't even tell that Jim had anything weighty on his mind. When he confesses, she is just so completely and utterly shocked that in that first look at her (with the crazy camera zoom, props to the director), it hasn't even sunk in yet. But the next time we see her face, her emotional state is now clear - complete and utter terror. She is just so scared of what he's telling her, and part of her just wants him to stop, rewind, and forget this ever happened. But it is happening, and she wants him to stop. In fact, how dare he do it? So she lashes out, which is probably the worst thing she could have done, but honestly, who can blame her? And then she checks herself, realizing how horrible she's being, and she just spends the rest of the time desperately fishing for something to say, finally grasping to such tired cliches that Jim knows what's coming long before she says anything. More than anything in this scene, she's just confused and shocked and Jenna does such an incredible job that you can read everything. And then that phone call... notice how her voice, usually very wavery and quiet throughout, goes extremely flat when she says "Yeah, he's great" (I personally think she's talking about Roy... she's had to say it so many times that it comes naturally to her now.) And then when she says "Yeah, I think I am..." She just sounds so vulnerable and scared of what she's saying, because she knows confessing that she loves Jim makes it something real that she needs to deal with, which is going to change her life around permanently.

And the kiss... oh god, the kiss. The girl inside of me ADORES this kiss. Jim just walks in on Pam, and realizing that he's probably screwed up their relationship permanently (based on their conversation in the parking lot) and realizing that he's probably going to take that transfer and barely ever see her, if ever, and realizing that he has nothing to lose, just goes for it. So we get the kiss that we all wanted so desperately, but not at the cost of the realism of the show. There was no schmaltzy "You don't love me? I'll kiss you and prove that you love me! How can you kiss me like that and still say you don't love me?", or the somewhat unrealistic walk-away, then "Oh, but I do love you! Let me jump into your arms and kiss you passionately! And now we'll live happily ever after!" No, Pam has real world issues that get in the way of these things and honestly, who has ever seen one of those two things work in real life?

When I saw that kiss for the first time, what struck me the most was Jim - we walks up, determined, but holds her so carefully and delicately, yet firmly. And when he kisses her, you can see how much passion he was for this woman, and he puts his all into those fleeting moments. He kisses her passionately, gently, reverently, wonderfully, and amazingly... just a perfect kiss. He never wants it to end, and even sneaks in a quick third kiss in there because he thinks he'll never get the chance again. And then he step away, realizing that it was most definitely Pam who finished the kiss. I personally think he says "Okay..." as he steps back, as in "okay, I understand that I've overstepped my boundaries and you want me to stop." And on Pam's side of the kiss, she does does the three steps - the intial shock, the reciprocation, and then the termination because she suddenly feels guilty about what she's doing. Yet again, superb acting on both their parts.

As for the future... well, the key I think here is that 1) Actually having Jim transfer and having to film him seperately is just too much of a pain in the ass, not to mention the writers then need to create and entirely new group of people for him to work with so he'll have to stay (Elliot in Scrubs, anybody?), and 2) the show prides itself on realism, and I would be sorely disappointed if it suddenly went uber hardcore soap opera on us with pregnancies, cheating, alter leaving, and the like, 3) as much as I would adore seeing Jim as the boss of the firm (I would pay good money just to see Dwight's reaction), it would put Michael's job in question, and therefore his character on the show. Overall, I know that it's going to be good - I just don't know WHAT. I don't think anybody here's quite nailed it, but there have been some good ideas.

Bottom line? We'll have to wait until September... no matter how damaging that is to our mental health. I"m counting down the hours.

In my experience, the reasons people watch the shows they do fall into a few distinct categories:
1) It's a freaking amazing show with cool stuff happening every episode so I can't miss a single one and omg I need to see what happens next (aka Lost, 24, Prison Break and the like)
2) I've seen a whole bunch of it and it was really, really good... and I just can't give up on it yet (Desperate Housewives, the OC, Naruto, etc.)
3) It's just so freaking hilarious that I can't wait for next week (Family Guy, South Park, Scrubs)
4) It's just a really well scripted, episodic show and I enjoy it (CSI, Numb3rs, etc)
5) I just feel... comfortable with it, you know? The show just *grows* on you.
Futurama for me falls into that last category. It's not groundbreaking, or particularily special, or consistently laugh-out-loud funny... but it's still good.

When I saw the first couple of episodes, I thought "Meh, whatever, it's okay-ish, I'll watch it through"... that slowly became "Hey, this show is pretty good"... and finally, "Wow, I really, really like this show and I really want to see the next ep." I suddenly understood why it has such a cult following.

It's just one of those shows that grows on you. You start getting comfortable with the characters, the writers really start finding their groove, and the show starts to have a distinct feel to it that you really begin to enjoy. Sure, it's not going to change the world, or make you think differently... but for god's sake, it's tv and it does what tv is supposed to do: entertain you.

What I really enjoy about the show is that it has a wonderful irreverent tone, one that actually reminds me of Arrested Development in a way. The future in Futurama is slightly ridiculous, what with suicide booths, blurnsball, mutants living in old new york, the smelloscope, and combating global warming by using a giant ice cube... but what truly makes the world absurd is that absolutely nobody, not even the even-keeled Leela, finds it at all bizarre. To them, this goofy world where aliens from Omicron Persei 8 invade because they didn't see the season finale of Ally McBeal (or Single Female Lawyer, as they call it) or where Atlanta is now inhabited by mermaids at the bottom of the sea is completely, utterly normal. It almost makes you wonder what our world would look like through the eyes of somebody from the past - would we seem as ridiculous to them?

The joy about this ridiculous undertone to the show is that anything can happen, and it since the world is crazy already it doesn't seem that far fetched. Going back in time due to putting metal in the microwave? Fine. A giant mechanized Santa Claus that terrorizes the world on December 24th? Sure, why not? And not only that, but you can really feel that Fry, who has that same sort of strange ridiculousness due to his idiocy, would really feel at home a thousand years into the future, or at least much more at home than he did back in the "normal" 20th century.

The show also has some other fun quirks that I just love, such as their constant references to Star Trek (I'm a trekkie, okay? Deal with it.) Anything from the casual "Now this is a class M planet, so there should be some Roddenberries around" to the entire Star Trek based episode, "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (Best. Episode. EVER!) can just make my day. I love how they got practically the entire cast to TOS for that episode, or how they get the actual famous person to voice their head for *any* episode, be it anyone from Al Gore to Lucy Liu.

But I think what I love the most about the show is the strange continuity they have. The writers will just throw these random things into the episodes, and you're never sure if and when they'll ever come back. Some things, like Flexo, will come back for maybe an episode or two, while other things, like Amy and Kif's relationship, or the whole nibblonian/flying brain debacle, just keep coming back again and again, when you never thought that they would amount to anything.

The last example with the flying brains is my personal favourite, because it cobbles together the most seemingly random episodes and they all make sense with one another. When the flying brains first came to earth and Fry was the only person who could stop them, you never really thought that they were going to explain why; that's just the way it was. And when Fry became his own grandfather (another one of my favourite episodes), we just laughed and forgot. But when they brought the two together, along with Nibbler being the reason that Fry was cryogenically frozen, not only was it funny, but it just made so much damned sense. It makes me wonder if the writers had this whole story planned out from the beginning, or whether it just fell wonderously into place along the way - neither one would surprise me with this show.

So yeah... Futurama, not particularily ground breaking, or hilariously funny, but it's consistently really, really good. That, and it has a fantastic theme song. And when it comes down to it, isn't that what we need TV to be?

I've recently discovered that there are people out there who have actually read my blog... and I almost had a heart attack. Checking back here for the first time in close to a week (there's a decided lack of wireless internet at my house at present, which frustrates me to no end), I discovered that I had THREE messages. Me! Messages! I couldn't believe it. One was from a friend (Kev, you rock), but two were from people I didn't even know. Both told me that I wrote fairly decently (one of which was very excited over my Arrested Development post in particular, as "it just totally said everything I'm feeling, and that's craaaazy sh*t, man!! I mean, you just totaly said it!!! You just know how I feel!!! And that website thing was crazy cool!!!"), the other taking a rather large chunk of their message to berate me, because I revealed certain truths about a certain death in a certain 100th episode of a certain show about a certain boy from Krypton. (For those of you who have not completely caught up on Smallville, I strongly urge you to skip my Lost post.) It's for that last message that I'm putting up this post... first as an apology, as I seriously thought that nobody of interest would ever read this thing. I mean, honestly, my posts are long enough to be essays, and all of them basically centre around "I LOVE show X. Here's why. This is what kinda bugs me about it, though. Random sorta-funny quip. Exeunt." (Exeunt in my new favourite word, btw.) I honestly didn't even think that I may have been wrecking it for other people. As such, I post this disclaimer: ANY RAMBLING POST THAT I PUT UP HERE COULD POTENTIALLY HAVE SPOILERS FOR ANY EPISODE OF ANY SHOW THAT I HAVE SEEN, EVER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Secondly, I thank you random two people for your comments on how well I write, however incorrect and overly ego-bloating they might be. Thirdly, I think I fixed my system so ppl can leave comments directly on my posts... I didn't even know I had it set up that you couldn't. Then again, I am a techno peasant. With my luck, I've probably made it so that randoms can't read it anymore, lol. Fourthly (I think that's right), I am Canadian. That's why my spelling "looks funny sometimes". Fifthly (last one, promise), I guess I should make some basic disclaimer that all these opinions are mine and mine alone, or something. I've seen that a lot in other places. And if you don't like it, well... screw you? Honestly, nobody's forcing you to read this thing. Hell, I'm recommending you NOT to. Well, I guess that's it. Till next time...

There was a time, far too recent for my liking, where I couldn't speak intelligently about South Park. I had seen about three or four episodes, usually denoting them as "The David Blane cult one", "The Mister Hanky Poo one", "The Passion of the Christ parody one", etc. I mean, christ, when I was about 13/14 I thought that all four of the main characters were the same person. I had liked what little I had seen, and wanted to see more... but I just didn't get around to it, mostly because they were (at that time) in the middle of their *eighth* season, which seemed to be an almost insurmountable level of episodes to get through. But then I figured you had to start somewhere, and the episodes were only 30 mins (well, 20 without god-forsaken commercials), and animated seasons are shorter than normal ones... so why not? And now here I am... Watching season 10 in real time, as they air. It just makes me feel so happy. South Park, hands down, is one of the smartest and funniest social satires ever created. Ever. I love this show. I adore this show. If it were anatomically possible, I would bear this show's babies. Yes, they would most likely be deformed, hideous creatures... but I would adore them with all my heart. I just love the show that much. The reason that I love South Park the way I do is that they always manage to hit the the heart of the issue they're tackling, right on. And because their animation style is not exactly the most high tech thing in the world, they can whip up an episode in less than a week, meaning that they can be painfully topical. Just days after the Terri Schiavo debacle suddenly became big news, South Park was right there to make fun of it, with Kenny being in a coma and the big debate being whether or not to cut *his* feeding tube. But not only do they manage to highlight something that's happening in the world today, they always manage to do it in a completely fresh and new way. To have the kids make a speech about how corporations are good and how they should let a starbucks into their town was just brilliant. Or how about the episode where the kids realized that the anti-smoking lobbyists are more evil than the tabacco companies themselves? We're all accustomed to looking at the tabacco companies very critically, but how about the people who oppose them? To me, this is the about as difficult as things come, and the ultimate in social satire. It's easy to comment on the world, and easier still to make fun of it. But to make people sit down and think, to make them see things in new ways, to potentially even change their opinion? Now THERE lies the beauty in this show! Somewhere between the potty-mouthed characters, the racist slurs and some of the most tasteless jokes I've ever heard resides a moral backing to the show, one that almost anybody can relate to. What the shows says are the things we want to say, but don't dare; what the show does are the things we want to do, but don't even realize it. There's a part deep down within me that wants to just tell hippies that if they want to change the world, do something more than just smoke up... Or (to go very recent) to yell at people in hybrid cars that just because they bought some fuel efficient car, it doesn't make them any better than us! In a 20 minute episode they can hit such a chord with people that they're thinking about it for days later. Not bad for a show that once boasted on how it could use the word sh*t 162 times in one episode. The show is just so friggin *intelligent*. I mean, just writing the episode "A woodland critter christmas" must have taken forever, what with the rhyming and all. And the frequent songs in the show (not to mention the movie musical) seem to compliment the show, not detract from it. I still can't believe that Trey Parker writes all the music for the show, on top of doing most of the voices, on top of coming up with these crazy ideas. Trey Parker is basically my god. (I would probably bear his children too, but I think I read somewhere that he's engaged; I think that's a job for the future Mrs.) And recently, with this whole Isaac Hayes/Scientology controversy... well, all I can tell Matt Stone and Trey Parker is: Bravo. Throughout all the press, the big name stars, and the attacks on the show, they stuck to their guns. I personally am a fan of the fateful episode "Trapped in the Closet", and I am infinitely grateful to the two of them for exposing certain truths about Scientology that the general public didn't know. I personally believe that people should be free to believe what they want, as long as they aren't forcing their views upon others... But a religion founded by a science fiction writer, in which they believe that the souls of dead aliens manifest themselves in our bodies, brought to this planet by an evil alien overlord - well, there are limits. As when the proverbial sh*t hit the fan, what did the writers do? They made an episode parodying not only Isaac Hayes' ridiculous departure from the show, but their own scientology episode! And in the end, they didn't blame Hayes for his leaving... they blamed his religion. As Kyle so eloquently put it (in a brilliant bit of self-referential comedy): "We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving us. We should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains." South Park just continues to get better and better... and next week, they're taking on (wait for it...): FAMILY GUY. Family guy, an show so fantastic that it came back from the grave by fan support alone, a show so great that I watch their episodes repeatedly, a show so brilliant that it deserves a seperate rant on this blog and so I should stop before I get going on that one too, lol. I CANNOT FREAKING WAIT.

Once upon a time, TV shows were predictable. Stable. Episodic. You could tune in whenever you wanted, and the same things would be there - Ray Romano's parents would still drive him crazy, Drew Carey would still be in a dead-end job, and Tim "the Toolman" Taylor would yet again completely destroy something on his tv show Tool Time, with Al shaking his head in the background. No more. Somewhere along the line, creators discovered that tv watchers were intelligent people who wanted intelligent shows, networks discovered that show-altering, multiseason story arcs would hook in viewers, and writers discovered that they could write in complex, deep characters and people would relate to them even more. TV had effectively changed to what it is today - people don't casually watch tv anymore; they have a list of shows that they watch, every week. People discuss what happened in the last installment over the watercooler the next day, throwing out new theories. And suddenly, "Sorry I can't hang out, I have to watch my show" became an acceptable excuse. Now, don't get me wrong - I LOVE where tv has gone, and I obsessively watch and discuss enough shows to prove it. I sighed in happiness when Turk and Carla discovered they were pregnant, I gasped in horror when Jonathan Kent died, and shook my head in disgust when Bree Van de Kamp became an alcoholic. (Props to anyone who got all three references.) People and real life don't stay static, and now TV reflects that. But then there's Lost... the ultimate tease. Honest to god, they took the whole concept of crazy story arcs and show changing events to new levels with that show. As my hopelessly obsessed, Lost-crazed friend puts it "That show is just the ultimate mindf*ck." That really sums it up - the ultimate mindf*ck. It plays with you, toys with you, and spits you out, and you come crawling back for more. Now, the first season of Lost was just spectacular - The whole concept of slowly but surely showing everybody's backstory was just brilliant (I know I was definitely shocked when I found out that Locke used to be paralyzed, or when Kate was a criminal). And then adding extra levels to the show with the island - that's where Lost suddenly went from "an interesting show I watch" to "OMG MUST SEE TV", where Lost suddenly became gossip among friends, where discussing theories online could easily take all day. What was that monster? And where did the polar bear come from? What's up with Rousseau - is she actually crazy? And what is up with that hatch? But then came the second season... and I don't know, but it just hasn't been as good for me. I think the writers crossed a line somewhere along the way, and assumed that they could abuse the viewers a little too much. Lost has become the perpetual tease, where every episode gives you more questions, and if you ever, ever get an answer, that gives out a BILLION more questions (can anybody say HATCH?). People can only be strung out for so long before getting sick of it, and I think the writers are assuming we're a more patient group than we are. What also bugs me about the show is that from the very start, it has required you to suspend a certain amount of disbelief - I mean, a horrific crash, where most people were barely bruised? But this season has been worse in that respect, what with there being tail section survivors (which I will forgive them for, solely because Bernard is now back together with Rose... I'm such a sap that way), and with the massive coincidences popping up everywhere. I mean, seeing Hurley on TV in Jin's backstory? Awesome. Desmond, the guy that Jack barely talked to once, being in the hatch? Now that's stretching it. There are times where the "WTF?" payoff simply isn't worth how incredibly, impossibly unlikely the situation is, and it feels like the writers are stretching too much to get there. The massive coincidences are a fun part of the show, but sometimes they just feel like the writers put it there for the sake of putting it there, and it really feels off. And the one thing that REALLY bugs me about the show is that sometimes, the characters feel incredibly off... A great example would be Locke as of late. They've set him up as the guy who simply cannot be fazed, who always stays happy, who is almost disturbingly calm in the face of danger... and suddenly, as of late, he's been angry, judgemental, and worried. That isn't the Locke that we know and love, and I personally don't like it. It's like the writers have decided that Eko's going to be the new "cool in the face of danger" guy, so they'll mold Locke into whatever they need him to do for the ep, no matter if it stays true to his character. That bugs the HELL out of me! But the thing is, even with all those problems, even with its absolute ridiculousness, even with the incredible frustration... I keep watching. Why? Well, partly because I have invested so much time and energy into this show that come hell or high water, I AM GOING TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS! ...And partly because just when I'm about to give up on the show, just when I think I've had enough... they come out with an idea that is just so ridiculously awesome that my entire faith in the show is renewed. Case in point is this week's episode, Lockdown. Although the episodes have been taking a general upturn lately (finding out what happened with Claire was particularily satisfying, and that episode where Sawyer conned everybody was just classic), I was still kinda iffy about the show. I mean, Locke's been annoyingly unLocke-ish, Charlie's been annoyingly absent (and when he is there, he's been busy doing things like stealing babies and kidnapping Sun), and we haven't learnt anything from the supposed Henry Gale, OR found out anything more about the countdown after that frustrating episode where we saw those damned heiroglyphs. I WANTED ANSWERS. And how did the writers respond? By giving the viewers one of the biggest tells/mysteries yet: the blast door map. Within hours, the discussion boards were all abuzz, and within a few more hi rez pics were up, and within a few more all the writing had been deciphered and the latin translated. It told us so much and yet gave us new mysteries; it added weight to so many theories, yet left none completely answered. It was brilliant. And so where am I now? Very impatiently waiting for wednesday, where I will be watching the entire episode very, very carefully. This show has truly taken addictive tv to new levels, I swear. They don't tease the viewers, they ABUSE them. They keep pounding us with unsolvables, with impossibles, with frustrations... and we keep coming back for more. It's like a drug. I love the show and I hate the show, both at the same time. But most importantly, I watch it. Wednesday can't come soon enough.

Arrested Development... how can I describe thee? Brilliant? Inventive? Ground-Breaking? Fantastic? Captivating? Or just really freaking funny? But there are a couple I wish I didn't have to add to the list: shot down before its prime. Managed incredibly poorly. Undervalued. Unappreciated. Cut short. Fox, I hate you. Although I was late joining on the bandwagon, I became hooked very quickly and stayed there as a rabid fan. My friends who hadn't seen the show called me obsessed, my friends who had seen the brilliance that was Arrested Development welcomed me into their fold, arms open, still talking about their favourite episode, favourite character, favourite twist in the story... Long story short (too late), I LOVE Arrested Development. It was completely new and different, using a mock documentary style (which The Office has wisely based their show on) and a hilarious narrator (Ron Howard is my god). Somehow it managed to be incredibly outlandish, ridiculously hysterical and wonderfully self-referential, and yet have this moral base to the show so that the characters were still relateable - which is a tall order for a show with cousins in love, an entirely fake marriage between a ditz and a gay man, a brother who keeps pretending his puppet Franklin is a real person, and a Father up for charges for conspiring with Saddam Hussein. The show also has this wonderful dynamic fluidity, in which anything can and will happen. You very much get the idea that the writers have no idea what's coming up in the next episode, and it gives the show this incredible feeling of spontaneity that I just adore. While most shows would balk at the idea of cutting off Buster's hand for the sake of a single joke ("I mean, the character's going to have to live with this the rest of his life! We're writing ourselves into a hole!"), these writers throw caution to the wind and say "Is it funny? Then hell, do it! We'll worry about the consequences later!" They really had no boundaries - I mean, they would even throw in self-referential things that only the truly AD obsessed would have got. Things like casting Jason Bateman's real life sister as Nellie, his potential sister. Or taking the entire Saddam Hussein storyline to new heights when you hear the translator over the TV say "I'm not the real Saddam; the real Saddam has a scar. I'm no scar - dot com." (For those fans out there that haven't done it yet, first look at www.imoscar.com, and then www.imnoscar.com - fantastic stuff, let me tell you) Yes, the show is all over the place and it has no cohesive plot to hold it together, but for me that's part of its charm. It's rambling, it's ridiculous, and it doesn't follow the standard three acts - but when it comes down to it, when is life ever like that anyways? (Lord knows I'm all over the place!) That, unfortunately, was the show's undoing - If you didn't start from the very beginning, it would be very difficult to jump right in, midseason. Perhaps if things had gone differently, it would have done much better. I have yet to meet a person who has seen the show and doesn't like it - it just didn't meet enough people, that's where the problem lay. And that brings me back to Fox - honestly, with their inexplicable talent of manhandling and cancelling their brilliant shows, it's a miracle they can still compete. I mean, if you're going to commit to a show, COMMIT TO IT! Give it your 100% backing! Don't "sortof" approve it, give it an "okay" budget, "try" and market it, and then be all surprised if it doesn't succeed! Let's take NBC for example - when they picked up My Name is Earl (after being rejected by Fox, I might add), they gave it their full support. For weeks coming up to the premiere, all I could see anywhere on the internet was Earl Hickey's face. When that show premiered, everybody who didn't live under a rock knew about it, and then tuned in. And guess what? It succeeded! And then what did those great guys do then? Realizing that The Office was a fantastic, yet unappreciated show, they strategically put it right after their new hit, to appeal to a broader market. And guess what happened then? NBC suddenly had a brilliant Thursday lineup that is now a must-see in my book, and in many others. If (in some horrible other dimension), Fox had picked up the show, it would have most likely gone something like this: they would give it a hesitant okay, and then put it on on some random slot on some night, without giving it much thought. They would then barely advertise ("because we don't want to lose too much money if it fails"), so only the people who really dig for TV news and Jason Lee fans would know about it. Then the show would premiere, to mediocre ratings. Two weeks later, and oh no, nobody's tuning in! Let's transfer the show to some other slot, in the vague hopes that it will somehow do better there. Oh, but let's not tell anybody; the show's pretty much doomed anyways. After about two or three shuffles around the schedule, people would start to get tired of trying to figure out when this show's supposed to air and just give up watching. The ratings go down further. Fox then cancels the show, losing a great deal of money in the process, claiming that it was doomed to fail in the first place. (Oh, and The Office wouldn't have made it past first season. Period.) But back to Arrested Development... The one good thing I can say about them getting cancelled was at least they stuck to their guns. The subtle way they poked fun at the network in "S.O.B. (Save our Bluths)" was just brilliant, and the four part series finale was the best sendoff possible. They realized that there was zippo chance of them attracting a new audience for what could be the last two hours of their show, so they stuck in every possible joke that they had done in the last three years - "Mr. F", "You're such as p*ssy (that means she likes you)", Anne (the girlfriend from hell), and of course, AnnYong ("My real name is Hello.") Proving yet again their genius, the writers managed to give about as satisfying an ending as humanly possible, and wrapped up a million loose story lines they had floating around. When Fox finally cancelled it (whoops, my bad, it isn't cancelled yet... like that matters, it effectively is), I can't say I was surprised... I mean, a critically acclaimed, Emmy winning show? Clearly it's not our fault the ratings are crap, the show must be crap! But the ratings were low, so it did get the axe. There was a faint hope that Showtime would pick it up, but now that Michael Hurwitz, the brilliant creator of said show, has said he wouldn't stay on in any more capacity than a consultant (aka I wash my hands of you! Wash, I say!), even that slim chance is basically gone. I can't really say I blame him... I mean, a high energy show like AD would be really time consuming, not to mention the bad taste in his mouth from dealing with Fox. But it does mean the end of a most beloved show. Goodbye, Arrested Development. You brought us laughter, tears, joy, and even more laughter, and now you're gone, to live on only in the land of DVD (and hopefully a movie). Thanks for letting me watch for the last three years; I speak for the countless fans out there when I say that I sure enjoyed them.

Well, as is so annoying typical with blogs, the first post says absolutely nothing of interest. Then again, the chances of anybody actually reading this thing is so small that it doesn't really matter - trust me, I have no egocentric ideas about how important I am... I am definitely nobody interesting. I mean, hell, I'm writing a post in a TV blog. That should tell you something. Anyways, I'll probably use this thing to rant about my horrible TV habit, which is directly responsible for me having fewer friends, a less interesting social life, and lower grades at university. However, I also derive an immense amount of pleasure from it, as well as it being a fantastic scapegoat. More to follow.