TV Rant: Robin Hood, Dead Like Me, Celebrity Poker, Lost 3x17, House 3x19, Heroes 1x19 Promo
I am SO IN LOVE with BBC's Robin Hood. Brits, in my flist, you've probably been watching it for a while, I just wanna say, BIG KUDOS to your country for creating such a rocking series.
I've always LOVED the myth of Robin Hood: Robbing the rich to give to the poor. I like the sense of justice in that, hee hee. So of course I was curious about this series.
For some reason, it reminds me a lot of CSI:Miami at first. Hahaha, odd, I know, considering one is in flashy modern-day Miami and the other 12th century England, but at first glance, Robin Hood has the same kind of straight black-OR-white, good-OR-evil characters, no grey in-betweens. Like Horatio, Robin Hood is super noble. There's really nothing compromising his ethics. And like any of Miami's villains, the Sheriff of Nottingham is almost diabolically evil. Moreover, it also has these almost-cheesy special effects (Robin Hood making IMPOSSIBLE, PERFECT arrow shots, like Horatio with his always perfect gun shots ;D).
HOWEVER, as I went on watching, I quickly realized there is much more to this show than that. Sure, the characters are CSI:Miami-like, but they are also very well-developed and absolutely ENDEARING. Robin Hood is almost like a boyish gang leader, with his devil-may-care attitude, cool outfit (he literally wears a hood(ie)!), and simple desire to be loved by the masses (yeah, he gives money to the poor out of a sense of compassion and justice, but also greatly for popularity :D). Marian is GORGEOUS (blue eyes, dark hair, and, thankfully, curvaceous body ---> like what was correctly in 'vogue' at that time, heh), feisty without being annoyingly deliberately tough, independent in thought, and highly compassionate. These characters may sound annoying on paper, but the execution is excellent, flawless even. I really love them. Plus, I thought I wouldn't like the Robin/Marian ship, since it's SUCH a given (I'm generally opposed to ships shoved down by PTB), but they really paced it well. Just plain excellent.
And Robin's gang of Merry Men are extremely lovable too. Traditionally, I've always loved Will Scarlett (GREAT name :D), but in this version, I SO totally have a crush on Allan-A-Dale (I think he was The Rooster in the Disney version ;D):
His eyes kill me, really. I'm sucker for men with lovely eyes ;). His character is what I would call the Sawyer from Lost or Mason from Dead Like Me type: A funny lovable pickpocket/thief with generally loose moral ;). Great fun.
But it's not merely a series full of pretty men (though THAT doesn't hurt). Again unlike CSI:Miami, the plot in each episode is quite intricate and cleverly webbed together. I can never figure out where it's going. And with the Crusades in its background (at the start of the series, Robin and his manservant Much have just returned from the Crusades in Jerusalem), it occasionally has quite an effective commentary on the War in the Middle East today. Seriously!
Anyway, I know this series is coming to America and Australia. So watch it if you get a chance :D. Hopefully you can understand the accent. It's not terribly difficult, but it takes getting used to (they sound almost like Daphne from Frasier, so Manchester/North England area?).
Now that I've finished pimping my new favorite show, I can go on to another one: Dead Like Me. I'm really growing to love this show that I almost can't bear to continue watching, since I know it was eventually canceled (dammit!). I really love the idea and its attitude toward death. It's kinda a fresh angle that everyone who died accepted their deaths instantly (eg. "Fuck, I'm dead" ---> pretty much sums it up). It almost makes it an existentialist black comedy. And I LOVE black comedies, which is why I can find so much funny in this one. George, in particular, is such a goofy, foul-mouthed, hilariously sarcastic character. LOVE her. Watch this too if you can :). My TV is only showing late season 2, so I'm currently looking for season 1.
Continuing on my TV post, I just caught an episode of Celebrity Poker where the guys of Desperate Housewives were playing. I only watch the show occasionally, so I hope I got this right: 'Tom,' 'Mike,' 'Rex,' 'Carlos,' and 'Mary-Alice's husband' were playing. LOVED seeing all good-looking men on the table! My guy didn't win (I love Lynette's husband the best so that should tell you who I was rooting for ;D), but I gotta say... DOUG SAVANT + JAMES DENTON = OTP!!! Such cute moment between them. And... I'll leave it at that.
LOST 3x17 - "Catch-22"
Three things about this episode:
- Kate CANNOT be a bigger ASSHOLE in this episode. I say, both Jack and Sawyer leave her right now. Jack can be with Juliet because I actually like the idea (sue me) and Sawyer can continue nicknaming people (or playing ping-pong with Jack, cause I actually liked that too). Unfortunately, I still think Kate and Sawyer have great chemistry together... I'm such a sucker. Nevertheless, KATE = ASSHOLE.
- Best moment of the episode: Jin telling the ghost story in Korean!!! Awww, LOVE LOVE LOVE him!!! If the Lost PTB kill Jin/Sun... Well, bye bye show.
- Desmond kinda annoys me in this episode. It's like we're blessed with no Locke for two episodes straight, but we got a semi-replacement in Desmond, who did things because we're "supposed to" (gee, Lost writers, where have I heard THAT before???) and showed a cowardly and almost-selfish streak by abandoning his fiance to join a monastery and almost-letting Charlie die to save Penelope in the jungle. The fact that he didn't explain why he's SO SURE that it was Penelope who fell out of the chopper annoyed me. I hate it when characters on this show do MORONIC things without explanation. However, I must say that I loved seeing how Desmond and Penny met.
At the end of the episode I actually yelled out loud, "Why am I still watching this show???"
House 3x19 - "Act Your Age"
- House/Cuddy/Wilson = OT3!!! So awesome with the power PLAY with the PLAY tickets. See my word PLAY there? Heh. I am stoopid silly! Seriously though. House is so obviously in love with Cuddy that if I weren't online, if I were just watching the show without any knowledge of fandom and all its related polls etc, I'd probably expect House/Cuddy to happen and not see any traces of House/Cameron at all.
- Btw, Chase/Cameron = LOVE as well. Yeah, Cameron is a dumb-ass who [*Caderyn sings like the Muses from the Hercules cartoon*] "won't say she's in love..." but I hope Chase can slowly get through to her. The NOT-stolen bouquet was too sweet :). I LOVE Chase like WHOA now... So totally enjoyed the way House was continually listening to him in this episode :).
- TOTALLY called on the over-hormones on the kids when the boy inappropriately checked out Cameron's butt. That was just too TESTOSTERONEY, hee! But I'm not exactly sure why the little sister had excess estrogen/progesterone. Because she was exposed to too much testosterone, her body fought back with excess female sex hormones? Most likely...
SUPERNATURAL TOMORROW and HEROES coming back next week!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!! My two favorite shows with House, Colbert, and motorsport (told ya there were five, heh :D).
In case you haven't seen it, watch this promo for Heroes 1x19 :).
Most exciting moment for moi???
NATHAN & CLAIRE HUG! NATHAN & CLAIRE HUG! NATHAN & CLAIRE HUG!
There was also a WTF!moment where it seems that Peter is kissing Niki/Jessica, but it's not shown on the NBC.com promo. YouTube might have more, but I'm trying not to spoil myself with too many promos.
Who else is excited???
Mmmkay, I'm done with this extremely long TV post now. Off to watch more Robin Hood!
Oh yeah, I might try the very cool LJ Voice Posting that Kelly (miss_atom) did yesterday. Are you guys curious to hear what I sound like? Dunno what I'll talk about though... We'll see.
I've always LOVED the myth of Robin Hood: Robbing the rich to give to the poor. I like the sense of justice in that, hee hee. So of course I was curious about this series.
For some reason, it reminds me a lot of CSI:Miami at first. Hahaha, odd, I know, considering one is in flashy modern-day Miami and the other 12th century England, but at first glance, Robin Hood has the same kind of straight black-OR-white, good-OR-evil characters, no grey in-betweens. Like Horatio, Robin Hood is super noble. There's really nothing compromising his ethics. And like any of Miami's villains, the Sheriff of Nottingham is almost diabolically evil. Moreover, it also has these almost-cheesy special effects (Robin Hood making IMPOSSIBLE, PERFECT arrow shots, like Horatio with his always perfect gun shots ;D).
HOWEVER, as I went on watching, I quickly realized there is much more to this show than that. Sure, the characters are CSI:Miami-like, but they are also very well-developed and absolutely ENDEARING. Robin Hood is almost like a boyish gang leader, with his devil-may-care attitude, cool outfit (he literally wears a hood(ie)!), and simple desire to be loved by the masses (yeah, he gives money to the poor out of a sense of compassion and justice, but also greatly for popularity :D). Marian is GORGEOUS (blue eyes, dark hair, and, thankfully, curvaceous body ---> like what was correctly in 'vogue' at that time, heh), feisty without being annoyingly deliberately tough, independent in thought, and highly compassionate. These characters may sound annoying on paper, but the execution is excellent, flawless even. I really love them. Plus, I thought I wouldn't like the Robin/Marian ship, since it's SUCH a given (I'm generally opposed to ships shoved down by PTB), but they really paced it well. Just plain excellent.
And Robin's gang of Merry Men are extremely lovable too. Traditionally, I've always loved Will Scarlett (GREAT name :D), but in this version, I SO totally have a crush on Allan-A-Dale (I think he was The Rooster in the Disney version ;D):
His eyes kill me, really. I'm sucker for men with lovely eyes ;). His character is what I would call the Sawyer from Lost or Mason from Dead Like Me type: A funny lovable pickpocket/thief with generally loose moral ;). Great fun.
But it's not merely a series full of pretty men (though THAT doesn't hurt). Again unlike CSI:Miami, the plot in each episode is quite intricate and cleverly webbed together. I can never figure out where it's going. And with the Crusades in its background (at the start of the series, Robin and his manservant Much have just returned from the Crusades in Jerusalem), it occasionally has quite an effective commentary on the War in the Middle East today. Seriously!
Anyway, I know this series is coming to America and Australia. So watch it if you get a chance :D. Hopefully you can understand the accent. It's not terribly difficult, but it takes getting used to (they sound almost like Daphne from Frasier, so Manchester/North England area?).
Now that I've finished pimping my new favorite show, I can go on to another one: Dead Like Me. I'm really growing to love this show that I almost can't bear to continue watching, since I know it was eventually canceled (dammit!). I really love the idea and its attitude toward death. It's kinda a fresh angle that everyone who died accepted their deaths instantly (eg. "Fuck, I'm dead" ---> pretty much sums it up). It almost makes it an existentialist black comedy. And I LOVE black comedies, which is why I can find so much funny in this one. George, in particular, is such a goofy, foul-mouthed, hilariously sarcastic character. LOVE her. Watch this too if you can :). My TV is only showing late season 2, so I'm currently looking for season 1.
Continuing on my TV post, I just caught an episode of Celebrity Poker where the guys of Desperate Housewives were playing. I only watch the show occasionally, so I hope I got this right: 'Tom,' 'Mike,' 'Rex,' 'Carlos,' and 'Mary-Alice's husband' were playing. LOVED seeing all good-looking men on the table! My guy didn't win (I love Lynette's husband the best so that should tell you who I was rooting for ;D), but I gotta say... DOUG SAVANT + JAMES DENTON = OTP!!! Such cute moment between them. And... I'll leave it at that.
LOST 3x17 - "Catch-22"
Three things about this episode:
- Kate CANNOT be a bigger ASSHOLE in this episode. I say, both Jack and Sawyer leave her right now. Jack can be with Juliet because I actually like the idea (sue me) and Sawyer can continue nicknaming people (or playing ping-pong with Jack, cause I actually liked that too). Unfortunately, I still think Kate and Sawyer have great chemistry together... I'm such a sucker. Nevertheless, KATE = ASSHOLE.
- Best moment of the episode: Jin telling the ghost story in Korean!!! Awww, LOVE LOVE LOVE him!!! If the Lost PTB kill Jin/Sun... Well, bye bye show.
- Desmond kinda annoys me in this episode. It's like we're blessed with no Locke for two episodes straight, but we got a semi-replacement in Desmond, who did things because we're "supposed to" (gee, Lost writers, where have I heard THAT before???) and showed a cowardly and almost-selfish streak by abandoning his fiance to join a monastery and almost-letting Charlie die to save Penelope in the jungle. The fact that he didn't explain why he's SO SURE that it was Penelope who fell out of the chopper annoyed me. I hate it when characters on this show do MORONIC things without explanation. However, I must say that I loved seeing how Desmond and Penny met.
At the end of the episode I actually yelled out loud, "Why am I still watching this show???"
House 3x19 - "Act Your Age"
- House/Cuddy/Wilson = OT3!!! So awesome with the power PLAY with the PLAY tickets. See my word PLAY there? Heh. I am stoopid silly! Seriously though. House is so obviously in love with Cuddy that if I weren't online, if I were just watching the show without any knowledge of fandom and all its related polls etc, I'd probably expect House/Cuddy to happen and not see any traces of House/Cameron at all.
- Btw, Chase/Cameron = LOVE as well. Yeah, Cameron is a dumb-ass who [*Caderyn sings like the Muses from the Hercules cartoon*] "won't say she's in love..." but I hope Chase can slowly get through to her. The NOT-stolen bouquet was too sweet :). I LOVE Chase like WHOA now... So totally enjoyed the way House was continually listening to him in this episode :).
- TOTALLY called on the over-hormones on the kids when the boy inappropriately checked out Cameron's butt. That was just too TESTOSTERONEY, hee! But I'm not exactly sure why the little sister had excess estrogen/progesterone. Because she was exposed to too much testosterone, her body fought back with excess female sex hormones? Most likely...
SUPERNATURAL TOMORROW and HEROES coming back next week!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!! My two favorite shows with House, Colbert, and motorsport (told ya there were five, heh :D).
In case you haven't seen it, watch this promo for Heroes 1x19 :).
Most exciting moment for moi???
NATHAN & CLAIRE HUG! NATHAN & CLAIRE HUG! NATHAN & CLAIRE HUG!
There was also a WTF!moment where it seems that Peter is kissing Niki/Jessica, but it's not shown on the NBC.com promo. YouTube might have more, but I'm trying not to spoil myself with too many promos.
Who else is excited???
Mmmkay, I'm done with this extremely long TV post now. Off to watch more Robin Hood!
Oh yeah, I might try the very cool LJ Voice Posting that Kelly (miss_atom) did yesterday. Are you guys curious to hear what I sound like? Dunno what I'll talk about though... We'll see.