Transitioning into the fall season
It's not that we're getting fall weather here in central Florida - though supposedly the weather might get drier and top out in the mid-80's by the weekend. That's about as fall'ish as we get here, and for as long as I've lived in Florida I still miss legit crisp fall weather, because fall has always been my favorite time of year.
I do have my Halloween decorations out. The Girl Child and her BF came into town for a few days last week to do Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando - because it's bigger than Universal LA - so I decided to decorate a little early. After Halloween I'll go right into Christmas decorating because there's no time for that in-between anymore. I'll be heading out to Pasadena mid-November, then The Spousal Unit will be going to Dubai tentatively the first two weeks in December. So we've got to decorate for Christmas the first week in November or it won't get done at all.
Fall season tv has come back in full force. I really enjoyed the fact that the networks waited until almost the end of September to start premiering their fall fare. Of course, there's always cable programming which knows no seasons, for the most part. But, still, it's never as cray-cray as it is in the fall, trying to figure out if the next TV obsession is just around the corner.
In the meantime I managed to get through a lot of books over the last few months, and I'm bummed that I lost my list of books I was reading in 2015 because I'd like to have seen the final stats at the end of the year and compared it to years before.
I don't diligently follow the new TV news the way I used to years ago - just don't have that kind of time or dedication anymore. I try and make a mental note of things I read on twitter or other places like that, but these days I mostly take it day by day. And because there are so many platform choices, something really has to grab me immediately for me to decide whether it's worth watching/dvr'ing/catching on demand. No time for second and third chances. And even shows I used to like have to work hard to keep my viewership, because I'm a lot more willing to give up on a show I used to watch faithfully if a storyline isn't working for me anymore.
That being said, I did slog through this season of Showtime's Masters of Sex even though I wasn't really enjoying it or the characters this year. I think the story has gone too far off script from reality. By the season finale on Sunday I decided it was no longer a show I had to tune in for anymore when it returns next year.
I like Fear the Walking Dead for the backstory, but have come to realize I don't like most of the characters - and The Walking Dead has always been about characterization more than anything else. But as long as TWD keeps my interest, I'm more likely to stick with FTWD since it's a companion piece, hoping that there are at least one or two characters I don't want to see eaten by zombies.
We started watching season four of Longmire on Netflix, but only got five episodes into the season before everything else started airing. As soon as my "must see" schedule shakes out, we'll get back to finishing the season. I do have to wonder how differently the story would have gone had Bailey Chase decided to return to the show after it got picked up by Netflix.
Right before Doctor Who came back last Saturday, I read where Jenna Coleman is supposed to leave DW this year, to which I said I'll believe it when I see it. I read the exact same thing last year too, to the letter. I'm over Clara Oswald, I don't think she's as good a fit with Peter Capaldi as she was with Matt Smith, so I'm perfectly content with her moving on. We'll see.
TSU and I really wanted to like Patrick Stewart's Starz series Blunt Talk, but we couldn't get past the first two episodes. We just didn't find it funny or entertaining at all. Seth MacFarlane is more of a miss with us in general.
These are the new shows I've checked out over the last couple of weeks:
FX - The Bastard Executioner. I was never a fan of Sutter's Sons of Anarchy, but this one is growing on me given the time period, even though I have to close my eyes through some of the more gruesome torture scenes. And I'm not sure I'm really buying Katey Sagal in the role of the witch, I don't care how much Sutter likes the actress.
FOX - Minority Report (sort of Sleepy Hollow meets Almost Human) and Rosewood were both a miss. However, we LOVE Scream Queens like mad! It's our favorite new series so far. Many thumbs up!
And last night I did try FOX's new comedies Granfathered and The Grinder, the latter because, you know, Rob Lowe! They were both cute enough, but real lightweights in their respective premises. I might give The Grinder another week or two on the dvr because, you know, Rob Lowe! But it airs opposite ABC's Fresh Off the Boat which we like a lot more.
NBC - I checked out Blindspot and The Player for almost no other reason than I thought it was a hoot that both leads from Cinemax's Strike Back landed lead roles on two different NBC series. However, both series were a miss with me. And even though I had no high hopes for Heroes Reborn at all, I did dvr it and ended up doing a lot of FF'ing through the two-hour pilot. I didn't think a show that had lost me just a few episodes into its second season years ago would grab me again via a reboot, and I was right. Given the poor reviews Heroes got after its first season coupled with its rapidly dwindling ratings, I have no idea why NBC went back to the drawing board with this project.
CBS - We probably wouldn't have bothered with Limitless at all if Bradley Cooper wasn't connected to the series. The pilot was just okay, and the best part of it was when Cooper showed up for his cameo, of course. And it's hard to see Jennifer Carpenter as anything other than Deb on Dexter, playing much the same character. I have the second episode on my dvr, and I'll probably try and watch it while I cook dinner, but I'm not likely to stick with it unless the second episode radically changes my mind. TSU already decided he didn't care.
Weirdly, I think Minority Report, Blindspot, and Limitless are almost the exact same show, what with the "fish out of water" character with awesome powers paired with the opposite sex regular cop, solving the case of the week via said fish's, well, awesome powers. Feels like a lot of redundancy.
The only other new CBS series we watched was Life in Pieces, the network's family sitcom answer to ABC's Modern Family. It has a lot of actors that we like, but it certainly didn't grab us the way MF did when it premiered years ago. It's got some merit, though, so we'll probably keep dvr'ing it with The Big Bang Theory for a little while longer, at least.
Speaking of TBBT, I fear this series is seriously running out of steam, for the most part. Though I am happy they finally married Leonard and Penny, but I didn't like the contrived crap with this Mandy character they came up with just to have an excuse to keep them apart even while married. But if the second episode is any indication, maybe that isn't going to last as long as I feared. For the most part, though, I do think the writers are scrambling for material, even though we still find enough about it to like to keep sticking with it.
I don't think I've tried anything new on ABC so far. We still like the Wednesday ABC comedy block for the most part, though I've never warmed to Anthony Anderson's black'ish. It's just nowhere near as funny as I hoped it would be. And I gave up on the second season premiere of How to Get Away With Murder about half-way through the episode. The problem with this show is that I never liked any of the characters - they're frankly all pretty horrible - but it was the case that kept me tuning in last year. But once that was wrapped up, I quickly lost all interest.
On the upside, Gotham returned with a bang - so much tighter and even darker than its first season. It feels very much like the recent Christian Bale Batman series in TV format, and the villains are awesome in their pure villainy. And what a great decision to take a drip character like Barbara was originally and turn her into a delicious bad girl. I don't see any sophomore slump here at all, especially as most of the mob story dead weight was eliminated at the end of last season.
On the FOX returning comedy side, I still like Brooklyn Nine Nine, but I'm not sure how long my interest will continue if they keep Andre Braugher's character separated from the rest of the cast. And even though I lost interest in Will Forte's The Last Man on Earth last season when they added all those annoying extra characters to the Tucson story, I did like the second season premiere with just Phil and Carol again, and the side story with Phil's space station marooned brother. But the end of the premiere episode indicated that wouldn't last, so I'll just have to see how the next episode or two plays out.
I'm looking forward to Sleepy Hollow's return tomorrow night, hoping with the change of showrunner and elimination of Katrina and Henry that it might find its original footing and charm again. Though I'm not happy that Orlando Jones' character won't be back. Then again, they pretty much ruined his character last year, so maybe it won't be as big a loss as I think. Fingers crossed with this one.
I caught Exodus: Gods and Kings on HBO, finally, and it took me three tries on three different days to get through it. It's not that it was bad, per se, it's just that it was mostly boring. I enjoyed Aronofsky's Noah a whole lot more as far as recent biblical movie fare goes.
We broke down and bought all new Samsung kitchen appliances during the Labor Day sales, but the refrigerator we wanted isn't available until October, so we won't get any of them delivered and installed until later in the month. Then the charge card bill comes in. Yikes!
I hope everyone in LJ Land is doing well.
I do have my Halloween decorations out. The Girl Child and her BF came into town for a few days last week to do Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando - because it's bigger than Universal LA - so I decided to decorate a little early. After Halloween I'll go right into Christmas decorating because there's no time for that in-between anymore. I'll be heading out to Pasadena mid-November, then The Spousal Unit will be going to Dubai tentatively the first two weeks in December. So we've got to decorate for Christmas the first week in November or it won't get done at all.
Fall season tv has come back in full force. I really enjoyed the fact that the networks waited until almost the end of September to start premiering their fall fare. Of course, there's always cable programming which knows no seasons, for the most part. But, still, it's never as cray-cray as it is in the fall, trying to figure out if the next TV obsession is just around the corner.
In the meantime I managed to get through a lot of books over the last few months, and I'm bummed that I lost my list of books I was reading in 2015 because I'd like to have seen the final stats at the end of the year and compared it to years before.
I don't diligently follow the new TV news the way I used to years ago - just don't have that kind of time or dedication anymore. I try and make a mental note of things I read on twitter or other places like that, but these days I mostly take it day by day. And because there are so many platform choices, something really has to grab me immediately for me to decide whether it's worth watching/dvr'ing/catching on demand. No time for second and third chances. And even shows I used to like have to work hard to keep my viewership, because I'm a lot more willing to give up on a show I used to watch faithfully if a storyline isn't working for me anymore.
That being said, I did slog through this season of Showtime's Masters of Sex even though I wasn't really enjoying it or the characters this year. I think the story has gone too far off script from reality. By the season finale on Sunday I decided it was no longer a show I had to tune in for anymore when it returns next year.
I like Fear the Walking Dead for the backstory, but have come to realize I don't like most of the characters - and The Walking Dead has always been about characterization more than anything else. But as long as TWD keeps my interest, I'm more likely to stick with FTWD since it's a companion piece, hoping that there are at least one or two characters I don't want to see eaten by zombies.
We started watching season four of Longmire on Netflix, but only got five episodes into the season before everything else started airing. As soon as my "must see" schedule shakes out, we'll get back to finishing the season. I do have to wonder how differently the story would have gone had Bailey Chase decided to return to the show after it got picked up by Netflix.
Right before Doctor Who came back last Saturday, I read where Jenna Coleman is supposed to leave DW this year, to which I said I'll believe it when I see it. I read the exact same thing last year too, to the letter. I'm over Clara Oswald, I don't think she's as good a fit with Peter Capaldi as she was with Matt Smith, so I'm perfectly content with her moving on. We'll see.
TSU and I really wanted to like Patrick Stewart's Starz series Blunt Talk, but we couldn't get past the first two episodes. We just didn't find it funny or entertaining at all. Seth MacFarlane is more of a miss with us in general.
These are the new shows I've checked out over the last couple of weeks:
FX - The Bastard Executioner. I was never a fan of Sutter's Sons of Anarchy, but this one is growing on me given the time period, even though I have to close my eyes through some of the more gruesome torture scenes. And I'm not sure I'm really buying Katey Sagal in the role of the witch, I don't care how much Sutter likes the actress.
FOX - Minority Report (sort of Sleepy Hollow meets Almost Human) and Rosewood were both a miss. However, we LOVE Scream Queens like mad! It's our favorite new series so far. Many thumbs up!
And last night I did try FOX's new comedies Granfathered and The Grinder, the latter because, you know, Rob Lowe! They were both cute enough, but real lightweights in their respective premises. I might give The Grinder another week or two on the dvr because, you know, Rob Lowe! But it airs opposite ABC's Fresh Off the Boat which we like a lot more.
NBC - I checked out Blindspot and The Player for almost no other reason than I thought it was a hoot that both leads from Cinemax's Strike Back landed lead roles on two different NBC series. However, both series were a miss with me. And even though I had no high hopes for Heroes Reborn at all, I did dvr it and ended up doing a lot of FF'ing through the two-hour pilot. I didn't think a show that had lost me just a few episodes into its second season years ago would grab me again via a reboot, and I was right. Given the poor reviews Heroes got after its first season coupled with its rapidly dwindling ratings, I have no idea why NBC went back to the drawing board with this project.
CBS - We probably wouldn't have bothered with Limitless at all if Bradley Cooper wasn't connected to the series. The pilot was just okay, and the best part of it was when Cooper showed up for his cameo, of course. And it's hard to see Jennifer Carpenter as anything other than Deb on Dexter, playing much the same character. I have the second episode on my dvr, and I'll probably try and watch it while I cook dinner, but I'm not likely to stick with it unless the second episode radically changes my mind. TSU already decided he didn't care.
Weirdly, I think Minority Report, Blindspot, and Limitless are almost the exact same show, what with the "fish out of water" character with awesome powers paired with the opposite sex regular cop, solving the case of the week via said fish's, well, awesome powers. Feels like a lot of redundancy.
The only other new CBS series we watched was Life in Pieces, the network's family sitcom answer to ABC's Modern Family. It has a lot of actors that we like, but it certainly didn't grab us the way MF did when it premiered years ago. It's got some merit, though, so we'll probably keep dvr'ing it with The Big Bang Theory for a little while longer, at least.
Speaking of TBBT, I fear this series is seriously running out of steam, for the most part. Though I am happy they finally married Leonard and Penny, but I didn't like the contrived crap with this Mandy character they came up with just to have an excuse to keep them apart even while married. But if the second episode is any indication, maybe that isn't going to last as long as I feared. For the most part, though, I do think the writers are scrambling for material, even though we still find enough about it to like to keep sticking with it.
I don't think I've tried anything new on ABC so far. We still like the Wednesday ABC comedy block for the most part, though I've never warmed to Anthony Anderson's black'ish. It's just nowhere near as funny as I hoped it would be. And I gave up on the second season premiere of How to Get Away With Murder about half-way through the episode. The problem with this show is that I never liked any of the characters - they're frankly all pretty horrible - but it was the case that kept me tuning in last year. But once that was wrapped up, I quickly lost all interest.
On the upside, Gotham returned with a bang - so much tighter and even darker than its first season. It feels very much like the recent Christian Bale Batman series in TV format, and the villains are awesome in their pure villainy. And what a great decision to take a drip character like Barbara was originally and turn her into a delicious bad girl. I don't see any sophomore slump here at all, especially as most of the mob story dead weight was eliminated at the end of last season.
On the FOX returning comedy side, I still like Brooklyn Nine Nine, but I'm not sure how long my interest will continue if they keep Andre Braugher's character separated from the rest of the cast. And even though I lost interest in Will Forte's The Last Man on Earth last season when they added all those annoying extra characters to the Tucson story, I did like the second season premiere with just Phil and Carol again, and the side story with Phil's space station marooned brother. But the end of the premiere episode indicated that wouldn't last, so I'll just have to see how the next episode or two plays out.
I'm looking forward to Sleepy Hollow's return tomorrow night, hoping with the change of showrunner and elimination of Katrina and Henry that it might find its original footing and charm again. Though I'm not happy that Orlando Jones' character won't be back. Then again, they pretty much ruined his character last year, so maybe it won't be as big a loss as I think. Fingers crossed with this one.
I caught Exodus: Gods and Kings on HBO, finally, and it took me three tries on three different days to get through it. It's not that it was bad, per se, it's just that it was mostly boring. I enjoyed Aronofsky's Noah a whole lot more as far as recent biblical movie fare goes.
We broke down and bought all new Samsung kitchen appliances during the Labor Day sales, but the refrigerator we wanted isn't available until October, so we won't get any of them delivered and installed until later in the month. Then the charge card bill comes in. Yikes!
I hope everyone in LJ Land is doing well.