I remember going to see Apollo 13 in the movie theater. So many scenes had Tom Hanks doing a voice over - and I felt myself thinking..."No wonder they didnt succeed, Forrest Gump is flying the space shuttle".
There was nothing on TV tonight, so I decided to try some of the new stuff I missed this week On Demand. I'd heard some great stuff about Trophy Wife, and since Bradley Whitford is just awesome, I thought I'd check it out. But, here's the thing....Josh is without Donna. In the scene where he cant get the easel opened. Would definitely not be happening if Donna was there.
Some characters are just so iconic, so memorable - when the actor takes on something new its hard to shake the identity of their previous role. It took me about a season and a half to stop thinking of Sarah Braverman on Parenthood as Lorelei Gilmore (although her scenes last week with Mae Whitman had all the charm of her scenes with Alexis Bledel back in the Gilmore Girls days).
When I was a kid and Highway to Heaven was a popular show I kept asking my parents what killed Mr. Ingalls and Mr. Edwards. I couldn't figure out how they had both become angels.
I feel for the actors. They need to work. As the old saying goes, when one door closes, another opens. So here they are trying to walk through a new door and make a go of it. And all I can think about it their previous success. Have you ever watched a show and had that happen to you?
A few years ago during the terrible awful which shall not be named (the Writer's Strike) Lifetime started airing How I Met Your Mother - two episodes back to back on Monday nights. My husband and I were not HIMYM fans. When it started airing we didn't have a DVR and there was something else that conflicted with the show, so we never watched it. Two episodes in and we definitely got what all the fuss was about.
We spent the strike catching up on all the previous episodes. This experience inspired us to look at other shows we'd never watched but heard so much about. We spent that summer watching NCIS.
Since then we have also discovered Big Bang Theory, Downton Abbey and my new personal fave, The West Wing thanks to Netflix. All of these shows were shows people talked about, told me Id love, insisted I watch. I ignored them. See, I tend to not like things that are surrounded by a lot of hype. My dad told me I'd love The West Wing.
Actually, everyone I knew told me that. But the more they told me I'd love it, the less I wanted to watch. Plus, I'm a little OCD about TV. I don't like to watch things out of order. I don't like coming in during the middle of a show. I want all the awesomeness from the beginning, in the order in which the writers intended. So this summer when my regular programming went on summer break, we were searching for something on Netflix to fill our evenings, and up popped West Wing. And as soon as Jed Bartlet fell off the bike and Sam realized he spent the night with a call girl, I was hooked. I watched the whole series straight through, completely riveted. As I approached the last season, I found myself sad. What was I going to do when I finished? I would miss CJ, and Josh, and Donna....so I started it all over again. I plan on asking for the box set on DVD for Christmas. But, I digress.....
Netflix and TV on DVD has changed things - we no longer have to wait for shows to arrive on Nick at Night to catch up on a gem we somehow missed. Now that I've discovered Aaron Sorkin I've added Newsroom and Sports Night to my list of shows to watch. I know my husband wants to check out Boardwalk Empire.
Any other suggestions for me? I'd love to know what shows I've missed out on, or what's on your list of shows to check out.
I was recently asked an interesting question :If I could bring back one TV show, which would I choose. This, for me at least, is a very hard question. I have so many favorites,but not all can make the cut. And then I think of the disastrous remakes (90210 anyone?) and I know to make it happen right would take just the right set of circumstances. I narrowed it down to a "few" great ones:
1. The West Wing....I think this one, under the absolute perfect conditions could recapture the magic. The premise of the White House leaves us endless possibilities and gives the opportunity to totally re-work the show every four or eight seasons. And honestly, who isn't dying to see Josh and Donna happily ever after, if only for a few minutes?
But the show was more than just that....moments like this one are so rare on TV....
2. Friends
I was a sophomore in college when Ross said "I, Ross, take thee Rachel"....and in every room on my floor I heard a collective gasp.....moments like that don't come along all the time. Friends was funny, but you also loved those characters. They really did feel like your friends. I don't know about you, but I have no doubt they are all still funny ten years later.
3. The Golden Girls
While this one would require some doing since Betty White is the only Girl still with us (RIP Sophia, Blanche and Dorothy) who wouldn't want to see them continue to eat cheesecake and laugh together. I hope that someday I have friends like that.
Scenes like this one prove this show was ahead of its time. Not only was it one of the few shows on TV with a strong all female cast - it tackled issues not normally addressed, many of them (such as this one) are still hot topics today.
4. Gilmore Girls
Like many fans of the show, I felt robbed by how this series spent its last season. The abrupt departure of Amy Sherman Palladino and Dan Palladino - after they had written Lorelei into a corner no less - took new show runner David Rosenthal half a season to write his way out of. This left us with only half a season to wrap things up and give our girls a proper send-off. While I think Rosenthal did a remarkable job considering the obstacles, I wish it had been different. I wish we could have seen Rory in the real world. Lorelei and Luke married and dealing with all those challenges. There has been much online chat about a reunion movie....where do I send my check to make it happen?
5. Friday Night Lights
The beauty of this show was Coach and his relationship with his players. I personally would have loved to have seen him working with kids for years to come. I think the story had plenty of possibilities, but unfortunately it wasn't given the opportunity to grow from the beginning. Too much emphasis was placed on the teens lives and not on the team relationship. And honestly, some of the stories tried too hard to be "edgy" in a way the show was never intended to be (cough..Landry the murderer...cough). I think it deserves another shot...
If you could bring back a show, which would it be and why?
Its almost that time...the air is getting crisper, football has kicked off their season and school is back in session. What comes next? New fall TV. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. We've waited since May to find out what's going to happen on our returning favorites and the new shows are getting promoted everywhere you look. Here are the shows I'm most looking forward to:
Returning Faves:
How I Met Your Mother - kicking off their final season, I'm waiting with baited breath to get to know the long-awaited Mother better. While I'm a little skeptical about the whole season taking place over the course of Barney and Robin's wedding weekend, I am hopeful that this long time fave will get the send off it deserves.
NCIS - As if the season ending cliffhanger wasn't enough, the news over the summer that Cote de Palo wasn't returning this season as Ziva is making this a can't miss season opener. I have to admit, as much as I love this show, I am not a die hard Tony-Ziva fan. I am very interested to see how they resolve the storyline without making half the audience mad.
Glee - The tragic death of Corey Monteith this summer still makes me tear up. Its going to be hard to watch this season....
Grey's Anatomy - Where do I begin? Spending the summer waiting to learn the fate of Dr. Webber has been tough. The promo's ABC is now airing make me nervous for how this all turns out. Looks like the season opener will be as action packed as the finale.
Big Bang Theory, Scandal, Parenthood - I just love these shows and cant wait to see what happens next :)
What's New?
Lots of new shows look good to me. I'm mostly anticipating NBC's Thursday line up. Parks and Rec has been a long time fave of mine, and it looks like its going to be kicking off a promising evening. Welcome to the Family (what a cast - Mary McCormack, Mike O'Malley and Ricardo Chavira), Sean Saves the World and the Michael J. Fox Show all look great. Parenthood is also a long time fave of mine - I think must see TV might be back!
ABC's The Goldbergs and Super Fun Night look, well, super fun and are on my must watch list.
Mom and The Miller's on CBS have very funny promo's. Plus, Allison Janney back on TV every week? I'll take it.
Hi, my name is Janna and I am a TV addict. (Say it with me now...) Hi Janna!
I blame my mother. As a child I never watched typical kid shows much - some cartoons and Disney Channel - but mostly I watched Little House on the Prarie, The Waltons, Happy Days and The Brady Bunch re-runs. And from that moment on, my life revolved around what was on TV that night. These were days before VCR's and DVR's. If you werent home to catch your show, you didnt catch your show. Thank god those times have changed.
I majored in communications in college. My concentration was Public Relations but we spent a lot of time thinking and talking about not only the news, but also how tv and film influence us and our culture. This was the time of Friends, 90210 (the real one), Dawson's Creek. My generation saw the beginnings of reality TV...I remember watching the very first episode of The Real World. We also saw the inception of more than 200 TV channels. There was truly something for everyone and life was good.
In my life I have very few people who love TV as much as I do, so I hope you will read along with me and maybe we can chat some about what we enjoy and obsess over.
