"Who will watch my TV?"

I guess I am sort of like the “computer machine whisperer” — I got a new job about 3 months ago (Technology and Design consultant).  It’s a quarter-time job, but it’s been great so far (and I’m a grad student to boot — fun, right?) Glamorous, huh?  Quarter-time job AND a grad student!  

I kid, I’m thankful — really, I am.  But these two predicaments are the reasons why I have not been posting, but I will now since I am on summer break till early September.

I plan to post a few times a week.  TV topics/shows include but are not limited to: The Good Guys, Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, Losing It with Jillian Michaels, Psych, Burn Notice, Mad Men, Master Chef and a few other summer shows.  I will also have posts on shows I am Netflixing right now — specifically - Homicide: Life on the Streets.  This should get me through the summer. 

Happy Lazy Sunday!

I survived finals week(s).  And managed to watch season finales while doing so.  Sometimes people ask me — how do you watch so much TV?  Carefully — is what I say in response — then they usually engage in another nearby conversation or half chuckle and walk away.

I won’t go on too much about grad school — I knew what I was getting into last June when I enrolled immediately after graduating that same month.  Year one is done (almost, still waiting on grades, but I have high (I worked my ass of) hopes).

Finale week — let’s see….let’s just go by network:

CBS — Mid-season I didn’t have time to keep up with CSI: NY or CSI: Vegas (don’t get me started on Miami — haven’t seen that one since season 2, I think).  I’ll try to catch up with them over summer — the last CSI: Vegas episode I saw was their Vegas birthday/boys night out trip gone wrong and it was an awesome Tarantinoesque type of episode.  The last CSI:NY I remember watching was when Danny lost his badge at his acupuncturist. I’ve been slacking on Medium (even though I really love it), but it is at the top of my TV to-watch list for this summer.  But the one show that I watched weekly was How I Met Your Mother — I mostly watch it for Neil Patrick Harris and the occasional Marshall (Jason Segel) ep.  It’s a good show though — very consistent for a comedy — story lines, plot, good writing.  Will never forget their musical episode this season — highlight of the season, in my opinion.

NBC — Won’t deny this is my favorite network for comedies (at the moment). 

The Office didn’t feel like a season finale — felt more like a mid-season hiatus kind of deal.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a really great episode.  Kathy Bates is amazing in it.  I’ve been rooting for a Darryl in the office storyline for a while now and I’m really glad that I got it.  Best part of the season finale for me was seeing Pam and Darryl in Meridith’s van with Michael and having Kelly join them as the third person to leak the printer story to the press.  I couldn’t help but get a quick flashback to Dwight getting a concussion and being driven to the hospital by Michael and Jim while yelling “You can’t fire me! I don’t work in this van!” 

Parks and Rec has grown on my immensely this season — Lesley Knope (Amy Poehler) went from being oblivious and hard to respect as a character to developing into a character full of passion for her town and thus making us fall in love with her along the way.  The casting for this show is amazing and the writing gets funnier and funnier each week (I might do a post later this summer on the genius of Ron Swanson.  I really hope they push for more Ron and Tom in the coming season.  Their finale was also the second for that night to do a love triangle (which I am I usually not a fan of, but this one was very well played). 

Community has had its ups and downs all season long, but they really picked up around episode 4 or 5 and then were really solid until they decided to go back to the romance route — which in my opinion waters down the show and makes it unoriginal.  Abed and Troy have become a modern-day Bert and Ernie duo to me and I really wish they will continue to build on their relationship in the coming season and move away from the love triangle or square they have going on with Annie, Brita, Prof Slater, and Jeff.

ABC — I want to watch the final season of Lost in two days — that’s my goal this summer so I didn’t want a single ep (it was hard to resist esp. with a bunch of my FB friends constantly talking about it — in a good way).  I hear there are still some final eps of Better Off Ted that are airing soon, so I am definately looking forward to that — such an underrated show.  Ugly Betty had an early series finale (already posted about it).

CW — Supernatural.  Awesome season finale, but like most of their season finales, it could have honestly been a series finale and I would have been great with it.

I think that’s about all the finales I saw during the May/June sweep.  I saw a few cable shows end their seasons (Top Chef Masters, How To Make It In America, and The Ricky Gervais Show), but I am thinking about doing a cable post in the coming week.  I’ll also post about summer shows like Burn Notice and The Good Guys (my favorite new show).

Happy TV watching till then!

1. Denial (What paper? There’s no stinkin’ paper)

2. Confidence (I can rock this paper out in my sleep!)

3. Panicky Panic (Oh shit! What if I fail this? What if it’s the worst paper ever?! I don’t get this! When did we learn this?!)

3. Eye of the storm (Honestly, this isn’t as bad as I thought.  Dunno what I was bitching about.)

4. Burning out (I dunno, man.  I don’t have it in me. I’ve been up for 36 hours writing about…about…I don’t even know what I’m writing about)

5. Anger (What kind of assignment is this?!  When I’m old, I’m going to want this time back!! When I am on my deathbed I will want this time back!)

6. Depression (I’m never going to finish this….I’m a horrible writer…I can’t even do one stinking paper…)

7. Perspective (It might come from a friend, song, favorite movie, TV show, or even a YouTube clip — or all of them.  But it’s the moment when you finally get the glimpse of the “big picture” and in that moment you take a deep breath and it is just you and the computer and this is just an assignment — not the end of anything — poof, you are done!)

Long weekend.  At least it felt long.  Tried napping, since my sleep cycle has been broken.  Started about 5 years ago — my first year of college, an all-nighter here and there and now I can’t sleep until it’s 3am (if I’m lucky).  If I lived alone I’d get myself on track and by “on track” I mean I would sleep off about two days and then jump start my life again.  Whine, whine, whine, I know.

I caught up with Top Chef — I do love Top Chef: Masters but I think it lacks the drama of regular Top Chef — all these chefs are established and have been deemed geniuses at one point or another by someone other than their mom.

The Mentalist — something about the show that just makes me feel mellow, maybe it’s Patrick Jane’s good looks and soothing voice.

The Office was brilliant!!  The cold-open was hilarious!! I was yelling, laughing and clapping all at the same time.  It’s been my dream to write on The Office, but it won’t happen.  There are rumors that next season might be Carell’s last and it would take a sheer miracle to even get to LA — let alone meet the right people to get me job getting them coffee — or in my case getting the person coffee that gets THEM coffee.  Hollywood is such a dangling carrot for dreamers.  In the end it’s just a mirage.  Honestly.  If you don’t “know” anyone out there, and I am not being a Debbie Downer I am just being realistic, I have a better chance of winning the lotto or getting struck by lightening.  I used to say in classes “I want to be a TV writer” I don’t say it as much.  I’m pursuing an MA in Advertising — it’s as close to TV as I will ever get — and through my own hard work, since I don’t “know” anyone.  But enough about that, I don’t want to sound bitter.  And just because I write this, doesn’t mean I will stop dreaming about — it just means that I am working toward my real job aka the one that will pay the rent and put food on the table.  I will NEVER stop writing or dreaming about TV writing :)

Parks and Rec was great — this is a show that I feel is one of the most improved compared to its first season.  Community has had better weeks, but I’m not going to bash it.  30 Rock was amazing — per usual.

Celebrity Apprentice — my best friend got me into this show and I’ve been watching every single week without skipping a beat.  I think Sharon Osbourne might win it all — still not sure why she doesn’t like Curtis Stone though, it’s probably and Brit vs. Aussie thing.

Glee was amazing — the episode was titled Home and dealt with issues of image, weight, popularity, acceptance, among others but it was a crisp and fresh approach to it.  So far each episode of the back 9 has made me cry — here’s to another great week.

American Idol — I’m calling it now — Crystal and Lee finale.

I’ve been watching Homicide: Life on the Streets and rewatching How To Make It In America.  It’s been kind of a rushed post, I want to go post my TV log for class in a bit and am dog-tired, I will post properly later this week.

In the words of our new Tallahassee import on The Office - Ah, Ciao! 

Let’s see….what did I watch last week?  Besides a ton of TV — which is the reason why I have a paper due and have yet to start it (it’s due tomorrow).

I watched How I Met Your Mother — loved last week’s episode — Ted impulse buys his “dream” house, his mom gets married (reason for purchasing said house), Barney is awesome (per usual) — I dunno what it was about the last two weeks of this show that reminds me of it around season 2 — which is a very good thing.  For a while, I was starting to fall out of love with it….*gasp*, I know, but all the love has coming back.  I think it all came back during the episode in which Marshall claims to have been mugged by a monkey in order to stop Lily from buying a gun to protect themselves.

Top Chef Masters — I’ll say it once and again — I think if I hadn’t been such and indecisive goof in high school and would have picked a damn major the first week, like we were told to, I would have pick culinary arts.  Instead I got stuck, with everyone else that doesn’t pick a major, in information technology. But we are surrounded by computers, right?  It’s a great major, right?  That would have been the case if I was in technical school in 1992, but I was in high school in Chicago in 2001 — all the things we “learned” were common sense and for 4 years I felt like I was in a remedial life class.  Anyway, Top Chef Masters — I love Top Chef, but there is something about watching the “masters” freaking own that kitchen.  Their food is first nature to them — every time they cook they know what they are doing and they love it — I want to do that some day — do what I am truely passionate about.  They were supposed to re-do an Irish pub dish this week.  Things I learned: seafood sausage is real and making it looks way too graphic for me, but then again “real” sausage is probably more.  Also, never have an angry French cook “deconstruct” a classic Irish stew — it will go wrong and Irish people WILL be angry.  Every time I watch Top Chef I always want to run away to cooking school, get the cool tats I’ve been thinking about for years but never thought I could pull off, and just be a badass.

Glee is back!!!!  So far we have seen 2 episodes since their super long and agonizing hiatus!  And they have been amazing!!!  Hell-o and The Power of Madonna have been the two new episodes.  They picked up right where they took off when we last saw them after sectionals.  I won’t go into too much detail (because honestly this would be a 17 page post).  Mr. Shue lost major cool points for not handling things with Emma better after she admitted to him that she has never slept with anyone before and then proceeding to mess with the coach of Vocal Adrenaline (whose looks are just a little too much like Rachel and kicked up the Mr. Shue/Weird Creep factor a little higher).  Still love Shue, don’t get me wrong, but a person can lose points and still be a favorite, that’s all I’m saying — it just doesn’t fit his character.

American Idol — Idol Gives Back — for anyone who knocks Idol, just watch it once a year when they do this special episode and trust me, you will bite your tongue.  Their philantrophic efforts are amazing and yeah, I did reach for the tissue box once or twice.

Community, 30 Rock, The Office, and 30 Rock — I haven’t laughed this much on a Thursday in a VERY long time — every single show was sooo spot on, it was spooky!  From Community’s Goodfellas homage, to Liz Lemon’s speech on what she does want in a relationship, to Erin’s line in The Office “my hair is my room”, and back to Kohnani/Conan on 30 Rock — sheer brilliance!  Was this them doing their Emmy reel or what?

Supernatural — oh the Winchesters, is there anyone you can’t take on?  Gods and Goddesses?  Another great and fresh episode — just when I think they are in a deadend, bam!  A fresh story comes out of no where.

The Biggest Loser — it was a very team yellow/Sunshine and O’Neal episode and it was as touching as they come.  This episode reminded me of what they are really there for and inspired me to continue to try to be better every day. 

I caught up with some other shows and Netflix’d a little — right now, Homicide: Life on the Streets has me hooked!!  Already on season 4 — I try to watch at least 4-6 episodes a week.  Riveting, refreshing, above caliber acting, and just sheer genius — amazing show!

Till the next post!

I’m, like, hey, what if I had to work that night?

What if I had a second job? You know?

What if I was doing charity work? Is that cool?

What if I’m, like, finishing a painting? Is that-You understand me now?

See my point? It’s not the time. It’s she doesn’t respect how I’m spending my time.

— Ben Wrightman (Fever Pitch)

I always think of this scene when I get ragged on by people because I watch “too much TV”.  If I was doing something else — something that was more socially acceptable like painting, doing a sport, or heck, knitting — it’d be cool, right?

Probably not — I’d get ragged on all those things too.  Not sure why, but people always find something to rag on — especially when it’s something a person really likes, enjoys and is passionate about. 

Sure I get tired for getting teased about watching “too much” TV, but I could do the same and rag on people for drinking too much, bitching too much, or doing anything that they like “too much”.  But I don’t — because I honestly don’t care how people spend their time.  It’s not going to make me watch TV any more or any less than I already do.

When I was kid, I’d run home from kindergarten and watch Gidget, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Monkees, Chips, Gilligan’s Island, Gomer Pyle, and in later years I watched The Simpsons, Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, old school Batman episodes and a bunch of other shows — I was a latchkey kid and had a lot of time on my hands and couldn’t play outside due to where we lived.

What I watched on TV as a kid really had an impact on the person I grew up to be — it structured my humor, made me think of things beyond the surface, and it let me experience through the television.

Those that say “TV is bad for you” never fell in love with a TV show before.  Falling in love with a TV show means that you get invested in the stories, you feel for the characters, you want a happy ending for them, you can’t wait for the next episode, you wonder how they shot the scene, who wrote that brilliant line that had you cry/laugh/outraged/reached into your soul, etc.

I’m not insane, I’m just a huge TV fan — I don’t watch endless hours of TV — I just have a lot shows that I do like.  I respect the way others spend their time — it’s about time the TV watcher gets a little respect back.

Let’s see…..this week was a very long week.  Lots of things to take care of.  But I made time to catch up with ma’ stories.  So far this week I watched the series finale of Ugly Betty.  It was a gorgeous, sweet, and amazingly perfect ending.  Everyone got a great ending to their story — Hilda got married to her high school sweetheart, Ignacio finally gets time to himself, Justin came out to his family, Betty got a great new job in England, Marc fell in love, Amanda found her real dad, Daniel finally had real feelings, heck, even Wilhelmina had a good ending to her story.  I didn’t do the whole **spoiler alert** thing because well, no one reads this (yet) and because it’s been out for more than half a week.

I got caught up with Supernatural.  Love the show — but they desperately lack any good and strong female characters.  Just throwing it out there, but Sam and Dean have a half brother — John had to have left at least another kid somewhere else, I know that sounds bad, but I mean, come on.  It would be crazy-cool if they discovered they had a half-sister somewhere and that she is even tougher and more of hunter than the two combined (and preferably not to be a blond, considering they aren’t and their papa sure as heck was not) — nothing against  blondes — at all, but it bothers me when two characters that are obviously not blonde manage to have a blonde kid — baffles ma’ mind.  So about the show, I REALLY wanted a Sam/Dean/Castiel/Bobby drunkfest — the end of the world is a’knockin, might as well greet them nice and filled on liquid courage — a card game wouldn’t have hurt the scene either.

Top Chef Masters is amazing — per usual.  My heart was racing this week when one of the chefs forgot one of her main ingrediants to her recipe and by the time she traveled back (in LA traffic) she only had one hour to prepare — which was no time at all.

American Idol — it was Elvis week.  I thought they all did a really solid job.  And I was super sad to see Andrew and Katie go.  I am still going to be a huge Andrew Garcia fan!  I think he is the perfect example of a contestant that is brillant beyond belief in the beginning and gets watered down and pulled in every direction once the show starts and the pressure is layed on thicker than suntan lotion on hot summer beach day.  I have no doubt that he will have an amazing career though.  Crystyal and Lee were once again my favorites.  My only question though — where the heck was Mr. DeWyze back in his Chicago days?  Trust a Chicagoan lady must know :P  But seriously, the guy has gained a lot of confidence in the past few weeks, but I think his fans fell in love with his humbleness and unpredictable talent. 

Even though I could write pages upon pages on Señor DeWyze — I won’t (at least not yet).  I will write the second part of my TV week tomorrow.

Till then, sweet dreams!

FINALLY caught up with some shows over the last few days.  I’ve been busy with classes and massive readings that I never remember when it comes down to participate in class.  I swear some of my classmates participate and remember things like they wrote the book!  I do the same, but for TV quotes.  I can say this here.  I won’t get ragged on for it, after all my Tumblr blog is called “who will watch my TV?” based on a line from The Office.

It’s been a hard week (personal and school life), but TV has been great.  I watched the second to last episode of Ugly Betty and LOVED it.  So sad that next week is the series finale.  They are going all out — amazing costumes, spot-on writing, every character is getting the ending that they deserve — I just can’t wait for next week.  It’s going to be bittersweet, but it’s going to be sooooo good!

I’m almost done with season 3 of Homicide: Life on the streets.  This series is insanely amazing — the acting is unlike anything I have ever seen before, the storylines are still mimiced to this day in other dramas and cop shows, each and every character is great — their lines, their stories, their ups and downs — I love this show.  Too bad I was just a kid when it first came out, otherwise I would have  been hooked long ago.

I just got done watching another episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.  What an amazing show!  Jamie’s energy is contagious even through the “telly” (as he would say).  Great show for everyone — families, young people, young at heart people, kids, pets — everyone!  Great show. 

What else did I watch?  Oh!  I watched Steve Carell and Tina Fey on Oprah as well as the next day when the cast of Glee was on!  Love all of them.  Carell and Fey are geniuses!  Just to work with them or even be in their presence for like 5 minutes would be amazing! 

Glee comes back on Tuesday — I have class but I am literally running home after just to watch it.  That day, I have no classmates — just people in the way of me getting on the first elevator down from the 18th floor to the street in which I will run like a mad woman to a train that WILL be on time and my sister’s car that will be waiting for me, there will be NO red lights and I will be home in the blink of an eye.  Hahaha  can I at least be home by 10pm, Life?  Please?!  I know I won’t be able to concentrate in class that night, but I will try my best (not really).

Pumped for SNL tonight — Tina Fey is hosting, so I know it will FOR SURE be amazing.

Super long post.  No one reads this.  Sooo uhh good therapy sesh’, I guess :)