United States of Tara

It's no secret that FH and I like a lot of the less mainstream TV shows. I mean, I still like to watch my occasional episode of ER or Law & Order SVU, but I don't go out of my way to find them. The only regular TV I go looking for on purpose anymore is Amazing Race and I think that's just out of habit and a slight interest in some of the cool places they go.

Anyway, we've burned through all of the most recent episodes of Entourage, Dexter, and True Blood (man do we love Video on Demand)...and the most second season of Mad Men isn't out on DVD yet....so we were looking for something to fill the gap. Conveniently, Movie Central offered up something new at just the right time!

United States of Tara

Love it.

Toni Collette stars as Tara (and others) in this great new show created by Diablo Cody (you know her from such gems as Juno). Tara is a seemingly normal wife & mother...but with a twist...well, three twists actually. Alter egos. Three completely different additional personalities that arrive at the damdest of times depending on her stress level and current situation. Alice gives June Cleaver a run for her money. Buck is a man who loves his beer and boobies. T is a teen who'd rather show you her thong than make meaningful conversation.

Collette makes each personality totally believable and gets you invested in each one as though they are all separate characters. Really, they are...just played by the same actor. She's great.

And who doesn't love a little (big!) John Corbett playing her amazingly understanding and supportive husband? Not to mention her two oddball teenage kids having good storylines of their own, and her attention seeking sister who offers up the option that multiple personalities are bullcrap that Tara has made up and could do away with at anytime.

If you haven't seen it, you should. I bet you'll like it.

TV Love

DBF and I are addicted to watching whole television series on DVD. We are starting to tap out though. Everything we like has either gone off the air, or we are waiting for the next season to hurry up and come out.

The other day DBF discovered one of our faves on On Demand from Eastlink so that was a score. Twelve glorious free episodes of Season Two of Dexter. Love it. Only two more episodes to watch tonight though, then we are back to waiting again....

Next up we want Entourage. It seems like forever that we've been waiting for another season of that one. And Nip/Tuck. That was our most recent find...but we burned through four seasons in less than a month and now we're dying for another one.

We have also watched all of Six Feet Under (my personal fave, six seasons, best series finale EVER), Deadwood (season one was GREAT, season two was OK, season three sucked ass), Carnivale (only two seasons), Dead Like Me (only two seasons...lame), and hmmmm....I'm sure there are more.

Personally I have also seen the whole series of Sex and the City (a couple of times cuz I own them all) and Gilmore Girls (this one is good for if DBF goes to sea in the Winter and I'm hunkered down on the couch). DBF has seen all of the Sopranos (which I plan to see eventually) and has all of Arrested Development as well.

Anyone have any suggestions as to something else we can dive into while we are waiting?

TV Review - Eli Stone

Have you all seen this show? If not, you should.

Eli Stone is one of the best new shows I have seen in a long time. During the fall season I thought that I would fall in love with Bionicwoman or Pushing Daisies, but after a couple of episodes I lost interest in both of them. I tried to get into Dirty Sexy Money, but again, after I missed an episode I didn't care if I saw it again. Too bad really.

But Eli Stone has caught my attention. I saw the first episode purely by accident while flipping through the TV channel guide one night. I caught it again the following week, then decided to add it to my list of DVR shows and haven't missed an episode since.

I love that it's Jonny Lee Miller, as I always loved the movie Hackers as a teenager...and he's still just as odd (in a good way!) as he was then. They've rounded out the cast with strong names such as Victor Garbo and Natasha Henstridge, so hopefully this will help to give the show enough strength to stay around for a while.

The premise of the show, having Eli occassionally sing and dance around, or having momentary Broadway-type scenarios could have come off as cheesy or ridiculous (a la CopRock), but instead the show has maintained it's credibility with well written dramatic storylines and backplot and the music just adds to the quirky nature of the show's humor.

If you haven't seen it, you should. This is a good show!

Big Brother Update

OK, not really so much an update, as it is a comment.

Was that not the most bizarre challenge you have ever seen on the show? Dressing the girls in asparagus unitards, with real asparagus hats that looked like the Jolly Green Giant's lampshade?

Did BB accidentally invest in a major asparagus crop this year?

Who thinks this stuff up?

(I won't even get into the fact that it was a MAJOR waste of food....)

And check this out for a hilarious recap of how I think we all feel about Joshua.

Big Brother Update

***SPOILER ALERT***

If you haven't watched this week's episodes yet, stop reading here!

I let the DVR tape Tuesday night's episode, so I ended up watching it right before last night's show. Geeze, talk about a turn around since my last post on this. So much for Amanda and Alex being the coolest couple in the house. She turned out to be a yappy bubblehead and he turned out to be a bit of a stuck up arse. Too bad...I thought they were cute.

I still think that they shouldn't have been voted out just yet, but I'm glad it was them before Matt & Nat. (I would gladly see Sheila and Adam go...both SOOOOOOOOOOO annoying. Or if Allison could get voted out without Ryan, I'd go for that too. She's a nutter, but he's OK so I don't know what to think.) So far, Matt seems to be the only one playing the game properly and Nat is just too damn cute for her own good. They are strong and fun to watch in the challenges. But because they are strong, I'm sure they won't be off the block for long. All of the weaker teams will know they can't win against them and keep working to get them out the door.

Although James seems to be a good guy (the way he dealt with Amanda's fainting and the way he lives outside of the house), I don't like how he's playing the game. It's one thing to have a strategy, but bold face lying about not putting Matt up on the block was just lame as far as I am concerned. Why say anything to the guy at all? What was the point of that? And Chelsia just seems to be going along with whatever James says. Get some opinions of your own, would ya!

Not sure how I feel about Joshua and Sharon. His total meltdown attack of Amanda was ridiculous and over the top, so I lost any interest I had in him at that point. We'll see how they play this week as HOH and I'll decide from there. Hopefully they stick with their friendship with Matt & Nat because I'd like to see them stay.

Valerie Bertinelli

I finished work right on time yesterday, so decided to watch a little boob-tube before I went about making dinner. Because of our time zone I find that often there isn't much to watch later in the day/early in the evening because we are an hour off the stupid schedule. So I ended up landing on Oprah.

I don't regularly watch her show, unless I happen upon an episode with a good celebrity interview or Nate Berkus is on.

Yesterday was Valerie Bertinelli. Normally I wouldn't consider her an interesting celebrity, but I'm glad I stopped long enough to check it out. She's quite funny and very real (or at least seems that way). She was discussing her new book and it sounded interesting. Oprah was giving her a hard time and kind of annoying me with the way she kept putting her on the spot....but Oprah can't help but be annoying.

Her book is called "Losing It". Apropos since her recent affiliation with Jenny Craig and her very public weight loss (maybe this is why I found it interesting, because anything diet related seems to catch my interest these days). She describes everything from her struggle with weight, her way too early marriage to Eddie Van Halen, her recently admitted use of drugs, etc.

I'm sure it is probably one of those media-hyped silly celebrity autobiographies, but it struck me as something I might like to read. I guess this is my reason to go join the fancy library up the road.

Let's Talk Oscars

For lack of anything better on TV last night (the DVR recorded BB for me), I decided to watch the Oscars. I think DBF and I watched them last year, but it's not something I usually go out of my way for.

I managed to watch all the way through, but I'm not sure why. I guess that since I'd already invested a couple of hours in it, I wanted to see who got the big awards at the end. And I was hoping for a few more beautiful dresses, but honestly the two I liked the most were right at the beginning.... Jennifer Garner and Katherine Heigl.

As far as the fashion goes, there's usually too many people trying too hard. What was up with Tilda Swinton? Her hair was hideous...she's not the world's most beautiful woman, but good God woman, do something a little more feminine...and her dress was a tent. And did you see Daniel Day Lewis's wife? Not good. Jennifer Hudson's dress did something weird to her boobs. Renee Zelwegger's dress was gorgeous, but the way she swaggered onto stage was just plain bizarre. She's so different when she being herself instead of one of her characters. Very odd.

Now, for the awards...

I haven't seen most of the big Oscar movies this year so I didn't have any favorites going in. I was cheering for Ellen Page just because I've recently moved to Halifax and she is from here and it would have been fun to see a Canadian grab the award. Awesome that Juno's writer, Diablo Cody won for her original screenplay though. I didn't know the girl that took home the Best Actress award, Marion Cottilard, but after her gushing acceptance speech I was very happy for her.

I'm not a fan of the Coen brothers in general and DBF saw Old Country for Old Men and didn't like it, so I'm not sure what all the fanfare there was about. Obviously the academy sees it differently since they took home the three big awards...adapted screenplay, director and Best Movie....plus Javier Bardem took home Supporting Actor.

Daniel Day Lewis was a great choice for Best Actor as he truly seems honored and dedicated to his craft. I'd definitely like to see There Will Be Blood now.

I couldn't believe though that three of the five songs nominated were from Enchanted. Seems a bit of overkill...the movie was cute and quirky and although the songs were all enjoyable I was surprised they all made the cut. Must have been slim pickings in the song department this year. Thankfully, the original song from the independant film Once won the award. The two most humble Irish musicians you've ever seen deserved the win for sure! I've seen that movie on the shelf at the video store and I'm so going to rent it the next time I'm there.

John Stewart was mildly funny this year. A little too scripted for my liking. But it is the Oscars and not the Daily Show afterall, so good enough I guess. I think he was upstaged by the 80 years worth of montages....

TV Review - Big Brother 9

I don't know why I continue to watch every cycle of Big Brother. It's the typical car-wreck style reality TV show. In fact, it should probably get the award for Most Ridiculous Concept. But it's one of the originals and I find myself tuning in every time.

I'll blame DBF's bad timing, for leaving town just when Big Brother 9 is set to premiere. If he was home, I wouldn't be watching it. Ya, it's all his fault!!

So what do we think of this season's premise? "Til Death Do Us Part"

I'm not in love with the couples thing. Mostly because I don't think it was fair to ambush the contestants and stick them with "soul mates" they may or may not play well with. I realize that BB has become all about the twists, but this one seems over the top to me. Not fair and it has already led to some of the most overly dramatic moments in BB history (and that's saying a lot).

I will admit that usually the women drive me nuts, but I'm sorta liking a few of them this time. We'll see how it plays out. If anything, I want the energy of Angela...she's a rockstar so far...I hope she stays that way. And have you seen her booty? I don't generally look at girl's bums, but hers is stellar. And she seems to have been paired up with about the most perfect partner in the house, Adam.

Happily, the two teams that are up for eviction right now are the ones that NEED to go. The additional twist of the dating couple that immediately exposed themselves and caused much unneeded chaos makes me want to poke my eyes out. Thankfully I've been watching the shows on PVR and just fast forward right through the ridiculous arguements and self riteous bitch-fests the girls have been having.

I can't believe I'm actually taking the time to post about this. I have no good excuse, except I'm a sucker for bad TV apparently. So sue me.

TV Review - Lipstick Jungle

DBF left town just in time for the new mid-season TV shows premieres. I hadn't even heard about Lipstick Jungle until about two days before it aired. I guess I hadn't been watching enough regular television or was going to bed before the commercials were airing. Either way, I was obviously in the dark because this thing was getting a media frenzy apparently.

Once I finally did see the ads, I was pretty excited to check it out. Although, since it's on regular mainstream NBC (instead of somewhere a little more fun like HBO or Showtime) I wasn't totally sure if it was going to live up to expectation. I mean, they spend a lot of time reminding us that this show is from the same creator as Sex and the City...so they are setting the bar mighty high.

I am excited to see Brooke Shields back in a main role...she's gotten pretty cool as she's gotten older. And she seems like a real woman. She is still gorgeous, but in a more natural, she's-getting-up-there-in-age-and-you-can-see-her-wrinkles sort of way. And what about Kim Raver? Do you remember how plain-jane and dowdy her look was on Third Watch? Wow, who knew she was actually that glamorous? And well, Lindsay Price has always been cute, so I'm not surprised that she fits her role so well. But is it just me or do her lips look a little extra plump these days? Maybe it's all that lip gloss.

Anyway, I've watched the first two episodes now and I think I'll try to keep up. So far I'm interested to follow the characters and I find the plots just right for that late night, candy-coated, completely mindless TV that I so love. The beautiful, beautiful men don't hurt either.

I think this one is definitely DVR worthy.

Fun with Future Shop

A few posts back I mentioned a slight problem with Future Shop. I thought it might make for a mildly interesting blog topic. Maybe not to you all, but it was a good conversation for us at the time....

Back in November, when we came out for our househunting trip, we decided to go in and pick out our new TV, etc. We had intended on just looking, but ended up picking stuff out and buying it because it was a good deal. The TV was on sale, and the salesman was gung-ho (of course!) so we didn't see the point in waiting and just went ahead and bought the stuff at the time.

Of course, we didn't need it delivered until January so we asked about layaway instead.

How it works is that if you pay full price at the time of purchase they will hold your stuff in stock until whenever you want it delivered. If you only put a down payment on it, they can't guarantee that it will be in stock when you need it. Makes sense. So, we paid for everything in full up front. The TV and the receiver were in stock, so they were immediately tagged as ours. The speakers had to be ordered in, but would be there way before we actually needed them and would also be tagged as ours upon their arrival in the warehouse. All good.

Since we were in town a week before we had arranged delivery, we had been into the store a few times to look at DVD players, cables, etc and had even seen our salesguy and he confirmed that our stuff was all there and tagged, awaiting our delivery date. Awesome!

Fast forward to delivery day......

DBF was all excited waiting for the Future Shop truck to arrive. He raced around getting the new stand all put together in anticipation that our system would be arriving in the afternoon. We were stoked to see the truck pull up about an hour earlier than expected. How exciting to see those boys drag that massive TV box out of the truck and up our stairs!! But wait, what do they mean "sign here"?? Isn't there more stuff on the truck for us? Nope, sorry, but this is all they gave us to deliver. Say what?!

So, long story short...we called, got put on hold, hung up, called again, got put on hold, hung up. DBF decided just to drive down there and find out WTF. He found our salesguy and explained what happened...so buddy went into the back and sure enough he finds that someone has tampered with our order! The receiver is there....and TWO speakers (we bought FIVE)....and the paperwork has been torn off and is laying on the floor. Nice!

Now, had I been there I probably would have lost it and pulled out my bitchy, screaming voice on the guy. Instead, it was DBF and he just stood there staring at the guy. I can imagine the poor guy was probably terrified....DBF can be imposing when he wants to. DBF explained that obviously he would like his $50 delivery fee refunded....which was done without question. Then the guy even offered up a credit towards something else for the trouble, so DBF got a pair of speaker stands that we needed for cost ($60 off...nice mark-up eh).

Luckily the missing three speakers were on order and arrived the next day, so we were able to pick them up and it wasn't really all that big of a deal....but what a hassle!!

Nice business ethic there though, eh? Some other sales guy probably had a deal pending and didn't want to have to order the speakers in, so just took ours out of the warehouse knowing that more would be there in a couple of days. Lame. Not cool.

But at least we got a bit of free shit.

Amazing TV

Yaaaaieeeeee!!!

Sunday, November 4th marks the return of The Amazing Race.

My absolute favorite show.

Can't wait for more details!

TV Review - Pushing Daisies

Finally! The show I've been waiting for!! Pushing Daisies was the one new show of the season I read enough reviews of to know I was going to like. From the creators of Dead Like Me...how could I not love it?!

I had read that the premiere episode (called "Pie-lette"...how appropriate!) was filmed by a special director (who's name escapes me) and it was described as absolutely beautiful television. It did not disappoint! Almost a cartoon-like wonder to the scenery and sets, bright colors, tangible textures and fantastic cinematography leading to the feel that the show had just popped right off the pages of a children's book. Like a Dr. Suess book for adults! Interesting camera angles really added to the quirkyness of the cast....I hope that wasn't just for this first episode.

The kitchy characters all captured my attention in one way or another. Our main hero, Ned, who holds the entire basis for the show in his hands...almost literally...is endearing to say the least. With his odd gift of returning life to the dead (whether it's withered fruit for his famous pies or the love of his life) he has become wary of becoming close to anyone. Charlotte (Ned remembers her fondly as Chuck), Ned's first kiss (the forementioned love of his life) who he brings back to life to ask about her murderer but can't bear to send back to the afterlife, is as tiny as Ned is tall (I heart tall men!!) and carries a spark of mischief in her glossy eyes.

These two are supported by a cast of odd (to say the least) supporting characters....Emerson, the PI Ned works with solving murders....Olive, the upbeat waitress carrying a torch for Ned....Chuck's two recluse aunts, probably the strangest of them all.

While the show is totally different than anything we've seen on TV in a while, I think it's just what is needed. A breath of fresh, intelligent, funny air that we've all been waiting for. (Now cross your fingers I'm not the only one that thinks this....it's critically aclaimed so I'm sure that means it will get cancelled. Nooooooo!)

And how can you not love that his shop is called The Pie Hole!?

TV Review - Bionic Woman

After much anticipation, I raced home after kickboxing class to make sure I was showered and ready to go for 9:00. I've been waiting all Summer for this show!

It was pretty much what I expected...and I enjoyed it. I figured it would be somewhat Alias-esque and I think I was right. Not storyline-wise of course, but just the type of show it is. Michelle Ryan even has a bit of a Jennifer Garner look to her, but a little softer and prettier. Miguel Ferrer also reminds me of Victor Garber a little in his roll as the big boss.


They've opened up several good storylines to keep the viewers coming back. Jaime's relationship with her sister. The "bad" first bionic woman, as Jaime's nemesis. Will, Jaime's boyfriend that did this to her. And of course, how she will repay her debt for her life without becoming a mercenary or soldier.

The action was good and the special effects first rate for TV. As long as they keep that up for each episode I think people will watch just to see her kick some ass.

I look forward to future episodes and hope they unravel some cool twists and plotlines throughout the season. And I hope they keep Molly Price's hair looking super chic!!

TV Review - Reaper

Yup, death related. Seems I'm attracted to these shows for some reason. I wasn't expecting a lot from Reaper, but I was pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be pretty cute and I caught myself laughing out loud a couple of times. That's generally a good sign.

Premise is that the main dude, Sam, has just turned 21 and found out that his folks sold his soul to the devil. Now he has to work for Satan....as a bounty hunter. He has to go around recapturing bad guys that have escaped the depths of hell. And the best part is that his tool for collecting these guys is a Dirt Devil hand vac!

It's a bit goofy in the humour department (ie: cheesy sidekick buddy), but they kept it down to earth the best they could for the type of show it is. There's the cute girl he has a secret crush on, the crappy job at a major box store, the love of his parents....you know, all that stuff that keeps people interested in the storyline.

I read somewhere that the show would have a Buffy-esque feel to it. Although I didn't find that with the actual content or dialogue, I could see where that idea came from. Like, an evil demon blew the hell out of a house and left a big gapping hole in the earth and it just seemed like regular News at 11. Sort of like when weird stuff happened in Buffy, it never seemed to phase the general public.

Not sure this will be a weekly watch for me, but I'll definitely check it out again if I happen to be watching TV on a Tuesday night.

TV Review - Journeyman

This one wasn't even on my radar. But after the premiere of Heroes (which is a whole nother blog for some other time!) I didn't feel like getting off the couch so I checked the guide and decided to give Journeyman a try. It was either that or The Bachelor....ewwwwwwwww....where do they find these sad people every friggin season?!


So glad I chose Journeyman.


First, Kevin McKidd from Rome. Hello. Excellent! Second, who didn't love this concept the first time around on Quantum Leap?! Randomly travelling through time to assist in making sure someone's future happens. Nice.

I was happy to find that the concept came with a decent storyline, good characters, and an interesting hook (the dead ex-fiance.....). I was entertained for the whole episode and found myself smiling at the ending because I liked how he thought to prove the situation to his wife. So I'm already involved in the storyline, making friends with the characters, and looking forward to how this will play out in future weeks. How will he continue to explain his disappearances without seeming like a crazy person. Sure, his wife might believe him now, but what about all the other friends, family and coworkers? They all want to send him to rehab already...and he's only disappeared for a few days so far....

The leaps in time back to the 80s and 90s in this premiere episode also came with a cool soundtrack (a la Cold Case) which is always a good way to help keep their target audience (ie: people my age!) interested. :)

TV Review - Chuck

So I noticed this on the guide for tonight and thought I should give it a chance. I even told DBF to give it a go if he had nothing else to watch. (Note: he's 4 hours ahead of me). He emailed me after the show to let me know that after 20 minutes it hadn't captured his interest so he turned it off. I laughed at him because I thought 20 minutes wasn't long enough.

Interesting.... 20 mins after I started watching it my phone rang. And I didn't care if I missed the show. I guess 20 minutes was all that was needed to know this just isn't my kind of show.

Cute premise. Computer geek turns secret agent. I'm sure it will be popular, but for me it was a bit of an odd script, with odd characters, and an odd storyline. Not that I don't like odd...I guess this was just the wrong kind of odd for me (and DBF apparently). It might that it's that OC guy that created this... I don't seem to like his stuff much.

Of course, had I actually seen the entire show I might have understood why the blonde chick was flicking hair sticks at bad guys and pulling throwing knives out of her boot while dancing with Chuck. That seemed a little out there.... but I was just watching it happen while I chatted on the phone so I suppose it probably fit into the story just fine. :)

TV Review - Gossip Girl

Strike one for new programming. Although I'm sure this will appeal to a large group of people, and although I'm sure that I'll wind up watching this from time to time when I'm too lazy to reach for the remote, this show did not live up to all the hype for me.

Based on a popular series of books the concept is interesting, but if it wasn't for the variety of texting devices, Sidekicks, and cell phones, the concept would have died. And honestly, who is going to be THAT interested in the goings on of only two local celebutants? Hopefully as the season goes on Gossip Girl will find other people to chat about too.

There is your typical bad girl turned good. Your usual jealous best friend. The mysterious, slightly dorky boy that wins your heart. The painstaking best friend's boyfriend in love with the wrong girl. And of course, the typical rich asshole bad boy that thinks he can do whatever he wants. Oh, and of course the innocent younger sister that seems to be getting herself entwined in the "popular" crowd.

Not sure that all of these cliches will make for a long lasting show, but I wrong about The OC so we shall see. I'll give it another chance before I completly shoot it down. :)