Ms. Amused

Wow… I’ve never really gotten angry at an Law & Order SVU episode before. Usually no matter what the controversy or how extreme, I’m empathizing with the “good” side which is the cops/lawyers.

But last night’s episode that I just watched via my DVR? ooooohhh I wanted to smack them all except Benson who was the only one who didn’t just join the mass hysteria against the mother Monica.

Premise: Baby found buried in shallow grave presumed to be murdered by her mother (was that Hillary Duff?). Turns out it was measles. How exposed? Some kid had it at the playground whose mom I”Monica”) CHOSE not to vaccinate him.

The DA (the blond one.. Alex?) and Stabler just went crazy and started frothing at the mouth for blood from Monica and tried her for murder.

I was sitting there absolutely astounded that Alex’s whole argument in the case seemed to just be repeating “YOU MURDERED (the baby)”. Over and over…

The idea was that because Monica intentionally didn’t vaccinate her son, that she murdered every other kid who got it from her son. Well what about the source that infected HER son? Where does the buck of blame stop?

Note: it wasn’t clear on whether or not Monica intentionally took her son out after knowing he was sick with measles. Pretty sure that his being at the park was BEFORE symptoms showed because Stabler learned about her in the first place when another mom at the park was bitching that Monica flaked on her by not showing up as promised to her kid’s party because of the lame excuse that Monica’s son had the measles; “Who gets the measles these days?” So seems as though Monica did quarantine her son once he was diagnosed.

And that’s the crux for me… if she didn’t and took him to the playground… then yes that was criminal behavior. But she did keep her son home. She did what she was supposed to do as anyone should when they have a seriously contagious disease.

But making her out to be the villian that *MURDERED* other kids with her “choice not to vaccinate”? Horse Pucky!!

And it just got worse from there… with the baby’s grandfather running into Monica’s house at the end and suiciding via gun to mouth in front of her after saying “now you’ve killed TWO people”. (Backstory was that he was a drunk mess up til the grandbaby was born and he got his shit together because of her and now without her, no point in living)

It just all makes me sick. It’s ultimately passing the buck of blame which ends up in people not taking responsibility for their own actions. It’s never your fault but someone else’s. And it’s horrible to see it PROMOTED on a show like L&OSVU.

For those who have watched it, here’s a funny Q & A bit with Lee Pace for you

If you’re just walking down the hallway, do you ever brush up against Anna Friel and freak out?
We actually bump into each other all the time — all the time! Anna will kind of run up and give me a big hug — earlier this week, she did it, and I kind of flinched a little bit, and she kind of jumped back and was like, “Did you just flinch when I gave you a hug?” I was like, “I’m sorry, I don’t know where that came from!” It’s just playing Ned. I shouldn’t be flinching when a beautiful girl like Anna Friel gives me a hug, but I flinched! That’s weird, that’s odd, that’s not normal.

Source: BuzzSugar (click for full q & a)

Explanation for those who don’t know what Pushing Daisies is about. Read the rest of this entry »

Joss Whedon shuts down Dollhouse

*gasp gasp gasp* NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Oh wait… not permanently like you’d think from “shuts down”. Whew…

I know this will be spun as a bad omen for the show but I’ve faith in Joss, he’s not steered us wrong yet.

I still want Firefly. I know it won’t happen, people are scattered to the winds and some characters are now dead (I could live with Shepherd being dead but not Wash).

Hey Ally! Looks like I’ve become a fan. Proof in the pudding was seeing this today on ONTD and squeeing to myself to read about the set and all.

Over Friday/Saturday I blasted through all of Season 3 which was just released on DVD. Not long ago I watched all of S1 and then S2 (with a couple weeks separation in between the seasons). The show’s really grown on me.

At first, I rolled my eyes a little because it felt like they were pulling out every overtold urban legend in the book. But they got me with the personal tale of the brothers and their family and the yellow eyed demon. Plus I’d recently fallen in love with Jeffrey Dean Morgan because of “Denny” on Grey’s Anatomy only weeks before so everytime he showed on screen as their dad was bonus.

I don’t know if it’s that my jadedness faded away or the writing really hit a groove but the “every urban legend” thing really gelled with the overall Winchester story and I don’t even notice it anymore. Even tropes like the “groundhog day” (endless repeats of a day) that I HATE work! There’s a “Groundhog Day” type episode in the 3rd Season where Sam is forced to relive Dean’s death over and over and over again. It actually goes through the most repeats of a day that I’ve seen in any tv episode yet both in what scenes you see and also what is “told” by the character. Yet, the writers managed to keep the story interesting enough and the actors of course pulled it off famously.

Given Jared & Jensen’s predilection for pranks and clowning around, I can only imagine what it was like to film THAT episode with each day ending in Dean’s death.

First season was good but the 2nd season started to falter some. Third season came back with a vengeance and I think for me, even topped the first season. Wonder if it’s just better storytelling or did the anticipation of the 3rd season coming soon prime me? I also wonder if the shorter season due to the writer’s strike actually helped as there was less deviation from the overall story. In fact now that I think about it, I seem to remember that it got a little slow towards the middle which was going into the strike. When they came back, the writers would have had to shove the rest of the story into fewer episodes. A lot less filler = better overall albeit shorter season?

I’d been configuring the DVR before I got to watching the third season and had decided to just skip Supernatural due because at the time I believed that Supernatural was fading and wasn’t going to be worth putting on the DVR. Could always catch it later on DVD. But now I’m gonna forgo Dancing With the Stars instead. I had a good time watching it when Marlee was on it but now I definitely want to find out what happens to the Winchester boys now.

One thing though, throughout the third season I kept expecting to see their dad show up but he never did. I don’t remember all of the 2nd season finale but did Daddy Winchester escape from hell and move on to the good beyond for good? Or is it that JDM was unavailable to come back? After all, he’s been busy lately with PS I Love you, Watchmen and more! Hoping some diehard Supernatural fan can answer that question (looking at you Ally!)

Minor trivia: Everyone’s talking about how the Twilight fans are pretty fucking crazy but Supernatural’s not without its own. From girls stalking the set to a fan launching themselves off a riser to tackle Jensen… I’m appalled. I’ve been the hardcore fan before (former hardcore nutball Xenite here among others) but never did I do insane shit like that. Nor did I hear about others in the fandom doing it either. No wonder, it’s been said that Jensen & Jared use bodyguards for fan appearances now.

Last night, I spent a little time rebuilding the series recordings in the new DVR. The old one had developed a bias against Bruce Campbell and kept eating all the Burn Notices… so it had to go.

It’s annoying because it’s hard to find a website that tells you about ALL the new & returning shows, as in what’s on FX, USA, TNT, etc and not just the “public broadcast” ones.

I’ll be adding Grey’s Anatomy & probably Private Practices to the regular watch list. New shows? Not sure. Dollhouse isn’t til January so definitely not an issue now. Alan Tudyk is in the new show from the Will & Grace people but I don’t know the name or when it starts.

I added a bunch of stuff figuring that if I find myself not interested in watching what’s been recorded, I can just delete the eps and recordings. Did that last time around and it worked fine.

Thinking back, I remembered having to keep up with the stuff being recorded because otherwise it’d fill up really fast and I’d start losing things. Which meant I didn’t really watch movies or older TV stuff on dvd for a while. Which sucks cause I’ve a lot I want to see.

But at least now I’m full scale into my revived yarn hobbies so couch potato time will also be productive time

No I haven’t watched the premiere of Prison Break yet but I did watch the series premiere of “Raising The Bar” which is a legal show focused on the public defenders. Oh my word does Mark Paul look like a ringer for Heath Ledger! With the long dark hair and earnest emoting of his character, I kept being reminded of a medley of Heath’s characters. I’m so used to Mark Paul as a bottle blond and features too big for his face (of his teen years on Saved By The Bell) that I just don’t really recognize him as an adult.

I couldn’t tell you their names but it was nice to see the blond gal that played the ADA to MP’s defender. She’s played the much put upon girl in at least one of those stupid “comedies” of late. I think she’s one to watch. As is the black guy that was on Angel.

The pilot episode itself, was interesting but nothing that really grabbed me and kept me riveted. I thought the judge was a little over the top cause if real life is anything like that then heaven help us all!

I’m more excited about Eli Stone coming back though. That show really hit a nice mix so even with its stumbles, I still wanted to know what came next!

Dancing With The Stars might make it on the roster and if I wasn’t imagining it and it really is being made, then Rock of Love 3… how can I not watch another season of catty girls and Bret Michaels looking ridiculous? Throughout season 2, I was convinced that he was really dating Heather. Her multiple appearances plus hissy fits towards Daisy (the closest thing to a real rival on either show – Bret needs to get over it and realize that Heather & Daisy are the kind of girls he’ll be happiest with) seemed to support that. Oh and Lacey’s on some new game show with a bunch of the ROL girls so ….., reality tv is sucking me in and I hate it!

I don’t know when season 3 of American Gladiators will come but I love that show so much! The revival is almost as good as the original and with some of the new gladiator lineups (HELLO HURRICANE ME LOVE YOU LONG TIME) & events (Earthquake!!) making up for where it falters.

Three things and it’d be perfect:

1) Bring back the original bungee event, Swingshot. I much prefer this one to the new version whose name I refuse to remember.

2) Get rid of SkyTrak, the original version was better but even then not nearly as fun to watch as other events. There’s a reason why you edited all SkyTrak events to be the “view online for more action” events for the 2nd season.

3) GET RID OF HULK HOGAN. You want hulk? Bring out Lou Ferrigno or someone cooler. Hogan’s made such an ass of himself in his public private life that it just makes me sick to see him at all.

Ok enough about the shows I love from a genre I hate.

What I’m looking forward to: (in no particular order)

House, Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, NCIS, Law & Order SVU, Pushing Daisies (sophmore!), Eli Stone (sophmore!) and I’m sure I’ll thump myself for forgetting Shows X Y and Z.

ER is NOT on the list because I really get the feeling that a lot of people jumped ship instead of sticking around for the final season. I will watch it though and I hope I’ll still enjoy watching it but the hope is thin.

I’m also debating about whether to even bother recording Boston Legal. Because as much as I love Crane & Shore, what I saw of Season 4 left me seriously underwhelmed though I was pleased to see Saffron Burrows added to the cast. Saffron was the only new thing to the show that didn’t leave me going “WHY?” and Crane/Shore just got too far out there. I ended up deleting half of it unwatched.

I finished watching Season 3 last night.

I’d gotten interrupted between the episodes where Meredith fell in the water and the following one which was kind of an odd point to have to leave off at. Between that and the spoilers I already knew about the season ending, I wasn’t as enthralled with the remainder of the season as I would have liked.

It also got a little repetitive and it felt like the characters were in holding patterns and not really going anywhere. Just filling air time.

Also I wasn’t fond of the totally obvious “pseudo pilot” where Addison went to LA and we were given a ‘preview’ of what the new show “Private Practices” would be like. As “introductory” episodes go, it sucked. CSI does it better. Tim Daly was the only really interesting character in the LA group though I’ve always liked Addison so I’ll probably give it a watch when it comes to DVD. I’m also wondering if Eric Dane’s character went over with Kate Walsh’s (Addison) to LA. He’s better suited there anyways.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it at all. I did but I’m looking forward to season 4 where it all hopefully gets straightened out and at least I have no further spoilers for.

One thing that continues to amaze me about this show is its ability to make me cry. For all the outrageousness of the plotlines, when it comes down to the depth of emotions and the human experience, they hit the mark like Andre the Giant hitting the doohickey off the Hi Striker at your local carnival.

Sandra Oh’s final scene of the season was so perfect that I can’t wait to see what happens in S4.

About 2 months to go before I can watch Season 4.  And I’ve added Private Practice on Netflix too. In a bizarre note, Netflix lists S2 and S3 of PP… um. Only one season exists so far right? GA is going into S5 and PP into S2 in the Fall right?

You get: Celebrity Family Feud.

The Feud was one of those things that was often something watched with my family so I’m already predisposed to it. And then when the promos started showing during American Gladiators and I saw Wolf staring down the other family on the Feud, and then later Earl Hickey (Jason Lee) of My Name Is Earl on it too, I knew I had to watch this.

And it’s been a lot of fun so far. But I was biding my time for when the Gladiators and also the Earl cast were on. Much to my surprise, they’re all on the same episode!

What’s different in CFF is there’s 4 “families” that face off in two matches, the winners face off in a final match and then the overall winner does the last part for 200 pts to win the money ($50k for charity of choice). Also what’s different is that there’s only 3 games per match, first two are single points and the 3rd is triple. And if no one gets to 300, then its sudden death.

Anyways, I really loved the first half of tonight’s show, the Gladiators were hysterical and it couldn’t have been better except if they’d brought Crush instead of Venom (or perhaps my other new favorite gladiator besides Jet, Hurricane). Also very glad they brought Laila and not Hulk who I now hate to see at all given the crap way that he and his family have responded to his son’s maiming of his friend. I used to love Hulk Hogan but I’m done with him now. I even wrote to NBC asking them to boot him for future seasons of AG, go with Lou Ferrigno or someone else cool.

And the Earl game was fun, turned out it was all MNIE cast but in character. The Hickey Family vs Camden County (semi regular characters that are the townspeople). It was a little weird because they stayed in character and goofed the answers in ways that the actors would never have.

I’ve always loved watching the Feud because of my grandmothers (one of the rare things that they had in common) and it’s fun to watch it again with the “celebrities”… now I want to see them do it with the cast of NCIS vs CSI or something cool like that! Since I think they’ve already filmd all of this season, perhaps next season? Doubt it’d happen though if for nothing else, it’s an NBC show, why would they promote other network’s shows by using casts from them?

Not sure what else CFF will be worth watching for but I’ve enjoyed the games up til tonight while waiting for AG and MNIE to show so I’ll keep watching.

I just can’t get enough of watching AG! Almost into the semifinals, which means it’ll be over soon

Ok I have to give them credit too a la House for being more original with the ways to get rid of a character. The lead in episode to this showed Booth getting shot but like I said before, no way would they get rid of him.

Now I’m curious why the actor left. As always, I hope it was their wish and not the studios trying to cut costs.

A little Google Fu and the answer is … not his choice (don’t click if you don’t want to be spoiled). Dammit!

Well rest assured, YOU WILL BE MISSED! I hope they do bring you back though admittedly, it’ll be hard.

Clearly I need to go rewatch this because I keep seeing people talking about the status of the team and while I get what happened to one part of it…. the rest leaves me going huh what?

I know I was knitting during that episode but I must have been more distracted than I thought!

Now I get why I saw a lot of emotional reactions to the House finale, “Wilson’s Heart”.

I’d held off on watching the first part of the 2 parter finale so that I could watch them back to back. But then that night, I’d started to watch the Bones finale that was on before House and #$*#$#&&~!!! The captions were fucked up due to some kind of broadcast problem. And then I realized oh shit… the House pt 2 is probably fubarred as well! And it was.

But the other night I finally remembered to check online to see if the online version was captioned. And it was!!

So last night I watched pt 1 on my TV and tonight I watched pt 2 on the computer.

AND OMIGOD!! I cried.

I know I recently ranted about how every show I watch shot/killed/or departed a character and that it was like “be original plskthx?”… and even NCIS got into the game. But House at least, they managed to make it original and plucked the bejesus out of your heart strings. Which is amazing considering the characters involved.

There’s a reason the writers fought so hard for internet residuals… times like tonight is one of them. My Mom’s another case scenario as its now the only way she can watch any of her shows.