My latest Fannish Obsessions
A few days back, I promised a post about the things that have been occupying my time of late. This first one will cover the new shows Common Law & Perception, the new to me Ugly Betty, and the finally caught up on Leverage. They'll be another post either later today or tomorrow on Teen Wolf. Teen Wolf gets its own post because I have a total of 26 pictures to post for these shows (though in all fairness I chose not to post pictures about old fandoms, so no Leverage or Ugly Betty pics here), and I have 97 for Teen Wolf.
I'll try not to put anything too spoilery above the cuts, but there may be spoilers beneath the cuts and there will be pictures and some embedded video for Common Law & Perception.
Common Law to start. I was kind of amused by the promos, but I didn't actually watch an episode until the first season was half over. The concept is pretty simple and the characters follow a formula that USA has perfected. Two cops, one uptight, probably borderline OCD, and very by-the-book. The other is a little wild, messy, and thinks that rules were made to be broken. Together they are an incredibly effective team. Unfortunately, their personality conflicts have created a situation where you'd expect that they'd be broken up and paired with different people. Their captain decides that couples counseling is a better option. Each episode has a bit of their group therapy sessions and a case to solve. It's cute. It's not deep or thinky, but it's a lot of fun.
Common Law
The whole point of the show is definitely character. The cases aren't that interesting on their own. They can be a bit predictable actually.
Wesley Mitchell
This is detective Wesley Mitchell. We get most of Wes's backstory in the pilot, and it doesn't really spoil much to pass it on here. Wes used to be a lawyer. Something happened with a case. He screwed up (or at least he thinks so, I'm not sure that everyone else agrees that it was his fault) and there were nasty consequences. We honestly don't know much more than that at this point, but it made him rethink his life and he decided that his time was better spent as a police officer than it was as a lawyer. He's still quite partial to the expensive suits though. And he loves his car a lot.
The other big thing to know about Wes is that he was married until about a year ago. He's still in love with his ex-wife, but she apparently couldn't handle him being a cop. Wes is really pretty much failing at moving on, something which they manage to talk about in therapy a fair amount.
Wes is fastidious. His desk is neat and orderly. He keeps a well-used bottle of hand sanitizer, clearly marked with his name, on it. He follows the rules. He does this clicky thing with his pen that makes me think he actually does have OCD and isn't just seriously uptight. I adore Wes, but he would be terribly dull without his partner.
Travis Marks
Travis is Wes's opposite in pretty much all ways. As an infant, he was abandoned on the steps of a firehouse and may or may not have been named for the cabbage patch kid found with him. He grew up in foster care, and while he seems to have a really good relationship with a lot of his foster siblings and at least a couple of his foster moms, it has definitely taken it's toll.
Travis is also a genius, but he's reckless. He doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word caution. He's messy. He has so many stacks of files on his desk that there's barely room for his laptop. He flirts with everyone, all the time. He goes out with them and then never calls. He dates his co-workers (a serious annoyance to Wes) which has led to some awkward moments (particularly with the ME who is vaguely scary). He takes commitment phobia to whole new levels.
Captain Mike Sutton
Captain Sutton is the reason that they are in couples therapy instead of either out of a job or with brand new partners. We get a lot more details as the series goes along, but what we know pretty much right out of the gate is that there was an incident where Wes pulled his gun on Travis.
Captain Sutton is interesting. He apparently used to be your typical brash, old-school cop. He screamed and yelled at his people, and definitely didn't care about feelings. Then he went to couples counseling to save his marriage. The jury is still out on how successful that was, but it definitely changed him. We always get to see a kinder, gentler, Sutton. He does yoga, and has a white noise machine installed in his office. He meditates. He overshares just a bit about his own feelings, and when it comes down to it, he thinks his best team needs counseling more than they need to be broken up. So, he sends them to therapy.
I'm kind of in love with Mike. He might be my favorite character on the whole show.
Dr. Ryan
Dr. Ryan is their therapist. She was also Captain Sutton's therapist. I mostly don't have much of an opinion of her at this point. She's necessary to make the whole concept work, but I'm much more attached to every other character on the show. She is competent. She's smart. I feel as if I should like her a lot more than I do. I just can't get excited about her as a character.
The group
Their therapy seems to all be group therapy, and the group is one of my favorite parts of the show. Wes and Travis have therapy sessions with three other (much more traditional) couples. And while there was some rather hilarious confusion at their first session about the nature of their partnership, the group seems to have embraced the idea of treating these police partners the same as any other couple. I love the group.
The Dumonts are the oldest couple in the group, and we haven't learned their first names yet (or if we have, I missed that somehow). They've both been married before. She's fairly quiet and while he can be kind of loud, he rarely says anything too terribly important. I like them, but they are probably my least favorite couple.
Clyde and Rozelle are fun. They have an opinion on everything, even if Rozelle does make her opinion known primarily through pointed looks, raised eyebrows, and head tilts.
Peter and Dakota are the youngest couple in the group. Among other things they're having fertility issues which have seriously stressed their relationship. They're kind of adorably clueless a lot of the time, but they might be my favorite of the couples.
Have some videos.
This one is an official series trailer
And another little promo spot with a pretty typical bit of therapy.
One more promo for one of my favorite episodes, where they are asked to switch places with each other.
And a little fanvid - You've Got a Friend In Me
There is little doubt in my mind that if this show manages to accumulate much of a fandom it will be all Travis/Wes all the time, and I'm pretty much okay with that. I do hope that we can get some good gen stuff though, and the fandom could handle crossovers with all kinds of shows as well.
Oh, and I didn't talk about Wes's ex-wife and I probably should have. I suspect the instinct of fandom will be to hate her. She did hurt Wes, after all, and the, "I didn't marry a cop," bit is kind of cold. That said, I actually like her a lot. I hope we see more of her.
The other new show that I've been watching is Perception. It's another USA series. Dr. Daniel Pearce is a neuroscientist. He's brilliant and eccentric. He's a much loved professor. A former student of his is now an FBI agent and she comes to him for help on all kinds of cases. The twist is that Dr. Pearce is schizophrenic, and some time back he made a decision to stop taking meds and try to handle his symptoms in other ways. You've got to watch it with a healthy ability to suspend your disbelief, because there's no way that the FBI is going to sign off on an unmedicated schizophrenic as a consultant. Defense attorneys would have a field day. The legal talk isn't always accurate either which can be an issue for me, but the show is fun so far.
Perception
Dr. Daniel Pearce
Daniel is a compelling main character. He's sweet. He's incredibly intelligent. He's clueless about people. Despite the aforementioned sweet, he can also take the people around him for granted. I like Daniel a lot, hallucinations and all.
That his hallucinations are often really incredible guest stars doesn't hurt.
Kate Moretti
Kate is smart and competent, and I like her a lot. There's a lot we don't know about her. She apparently had a bit of a crush on Daniel when she was his student, but that's not why she brings him in on cases. She has issues with authority, or at least with stepping out of bounds on occasion.
Roger Probert
Roger is Kate's much more by the book partner. I couldn't find a picture of just him. He's skeptical of what Daniel can do for them, but I think he's starting to come around. He's one of the reason that I've been continuing to watch though. I've loved Jonathan Scarfe since Raising the Bar.
Together the three of them make an incredibly effective team.
Dean Haley
This is Daniel's boss. They're good friends. The fact that he's played by Levar Burton made me giggle with fannish glee.
Max Lewicki
Max is a student that Daniel has hired to be his assistant. He lives at the house, and he manages Daniel's life for him. He sees to his appointments, makes sure that he eats, keeps his routine in order, and possibly most importantly provides puzzles for him. He occasionally butts heads with Kate, because she definitely does not keep him on his routine. I like Max a lot.
Natalie Vincent
Natalie is Daniel's friend and confidant. She helps him work through pretty much all of his problems, including the fact that he's pretty conflicted about working with the FBI. Okay, this is the big spoiler, and it was revealed pretty early on. But if you don't want to know, look away now.
Natalie is a hallucination. I kind of get the feeling that once upon a time (maybe when Daniel was in college) there was a real Natalie Vincent, but when the real Natalie dropped out of his life, this Natalie stuck around. Natalie is great. She's pretty much perfect, except she only exists in Daniel's head.
And have a video
And the new to me show. I don't know why I never watched Ugly Betty when it was new. Probably something conflicted (probably one of Mom's reality shows). It doesn't matter. The series is streaming on Netflix and I'm incredibly glad that I decided to give it a shot.
It's a great big soap opera comedy, with great characters. Betty is probably the least compelling character. She's actually a bit of a Sue. Her faults, largely being things like she's too dedicated. But everyone else is awesome. I have no pictures mostly because I lost hours of my life getting pictures of Teen Wolf last night and decided sleep was more important than finding Ugly Betty pictures. Maybe another time.
This is long and texty though, so I'm still putting it
Betty's family is great. There's her dad, Ignacio, who is just the right combination of sweet and ridiculously overprotective. Her sister Hilda can be surprisingly smart, and she's a great mother. Which leads us to her nephew, Justin. Justin is adorable. He's obsessed with fashion and musicals, and thankfully is allowed to be exactly who he is. The first season also gives us Justin's father, Santos. Santos starts out as kind of a jerk, but he grows a lot over the season.
It's Betty's job that makes the show interesting though, and that's where most of my favorite characters are. In case you've been living under a rock, the short version is this. Betty wants to work for a magazine. Actually she wants to run one someday. She ends up at Mode, the flagship title for Meade Publications. It's a fashion magazine and she very much does not fit in.
Her boss is Daniel Meade. He's a wild child, who got to be editor in chief of Mode based on nothing more than his name. He's surprisingly good at it, when he isn't screwing up his personal life beyond belief. I'm sure there are all kinds of great reasons why I should hate him. He sleeps with anything that moves for instance. He's really not at all sensitive to other people's feelings. He takes everyone in his life for granted. He forgets promises and important dates. But he's also really sweet. He's trying to be a better man. When he does clue in for a second about pretty much anything, he can make these really grand gestures. He also isn't nearly the commitment-phobe that the world makes him out to be. He just has the most appalling taste and/or luck with women.
His father, Bradford is kind of a jerk. He rules the company with an iron fist. He had a 20-year affair. He also loves his kids and his wife, even if he is really bad at it. He has these unexpected moments of genuine goodness.
Wilhemina Slater is the Creative Director at Mode, at least in the beginning. Her circumstances change repeatedly. She's a schemer. She wants nothing more than to be the editor of the magazine. It's all she's ever wanted, and she feels betrayed when Daniel gets it instead. She's not a good person. She will hurt anyone in the way of getting what she wants. She's mean and terrible, and completely unapologetic and I love her for it.
Mark is Wilhemina's assistant. Minion might be a more apt term. He's shallow and almost as driven as she is. Periodically though, he can be a really decent person. He spends a lot of time making fun of Betty, but he also is Justin's sometimes mentor. I adore Mark. He's one of my favorites.
Amanda is the receptionist. She had her eye on Betty's job, and I don't know that she ever really forgives Betty for taking it from her. She's shallow and not all that bright. She's Mark's best friend. She can be very mean. But there's kind of a little girl lost quality to her that I find appealing. When she's being real instead of this fake person she's made up to be Amanda she can say incredibly insightful things. I like Amanda.
Christina is a designer and also seamstress for the mode closet. She's Betty's first friend at Mode. She's smart and fun, and I love her.
Daniel's mother is lovely. She's an alcoholic, and she's done some really bad things. Her kids are her world. She adores Betty. She's just lovely and perfect and I adore her.
The big spoiler which I'm not going to worry too much about considering the age of the show is Alexis. Alexis used to be Alex Meade, Daniel's brother that everyone thought had died. There's plenty of drama when Alexis shows up. I like her, but she doesn't seem nearly as well developed of a character at the point in the series I'm at.
I'm loving this show an awful lot, but still have a couple of seasons to get through before I hit the end.
And finally, I've been getting caught up on Leverage. I still have to watch the current season episodes, but I've finally watched all of the old episodes. I still love my show.
I think I love Eliot more now than ever. Parker continues to be perfect and awesome. Hardison is possibly, my favorite geek on television. Nate is incredible. I love Sophie too, but if I have to have a least favorite she's it.
This show just keeps getting better, and I'm sad to hear that it seems likely it won't get another season.
I'll try not to put anything too spoilery above the cuts, but there may be spoilers beneath the cuts and there will be pictures and some embedded video for Common Law & Perception.
Common Law to start. I was kind of amused by the promos, but I didn't actually watch an episode until the first season was half over. The concept is pretty simple and the characters follow a formula that USA has perfected. Two cops, one uptight, probably borderline OCD, and very by-the-book. The other is a little wild, messy, and thinks that rules were made to be broken. Together they are an incredibly effective team. Unfortunately, their personality conflicts have created a situation where you'd expect that they'd be broken up and paired with different people. Their captain decides that couples counseling is a better option. Each episode has a bit of their group therapy sessions and a case to solve. It's cute. It's not deep or thinky, but it's a lot of fun.
Common Law
The whole point of the show is definitely character. The cases aren't that interesting on their own. They can be a bit predictable actually.
Wesley Mitchell
This is detective Wesley Mitchell. We get most of Wes's backstory in the pilot, and it doesn't really spoil much to pass it on here. Wes used to be a lawyer. Something happened with a case. He screwed up (or at least he thinks so, I'm not sure that everyone else agrees that it was his fault) and there were nasty consequences. We honestly don't know much more than that at this point, but it made him rethink his life and he decided that his time was better spent as a police officer than it was as a lawyer. He's still quite partial to the expensive suits though. And he loves his car a lot.
The other big thing to know about Wes is that he was married until about a year ago. He's still in love with his ex-wife, but she apparently couldn't handle him being a cop. Wes is really pretty much failing at moving on, something which they manage to talk about in therapy a fair amount.
Wes is fastidious. His desk is neat and orderly. He keeps a well-used bottle of hand sanitizer, clearly marked with his name, on it. He follows the rules. He does this clicky thing with his pen that makes me think he actually does have OCD and isn't just seriously uptight. I adore Wes, but he would be terribly dull without his partner.
Travis Marks
Travis is Wes's opposite in pretty much all ways. As an infant, he was abandoned on the steps of a firehouse and may or may not have been named for the cabbage patch kid found with him. He grew up in foster care, and while he seems to have a really good relationship with a lot of his foster siblings and at least a couple of his foster moms, it has definitely taken it's toll.
Travis is also a genius, but he's reckless. He doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word caution. He's messy. He has so many stacks of files on his desk that there's barely room for his laptop. He flirts with everyone, all the time. He goes out with them and then never calls. He dates his co-workers (a serious annoyance to Wes) which has led to some awkward moments (particularly with the ME who is vaguely scary). He takes commitment phobia to whole new levels.
Captain Mike Sutton
Captain Sutton is the reason that they are in couples therapy instead of either out of a job or with brand new partners. We get a lot more details as the series goes along, but what we know pretty much right out of the gate is that there was an incident where Wes pulled his gun on Travis.
Captain Sutton is interesting. He apparently used to be your typical brash, old-school cop. He screamed and yelled at his people, and definitely didn't care about feelings. Then he went to couples counseling to save his marriage. The jury is still out on how successful that was, but it definitely changed him. We always get to see a kinder, gentler, Sutton. He does yoga, and has a white noise machine installed in his office. He meditates. He overshares just a bit about his own feelings, and when it comes down to it, he thinks his best team needs counseling more than they need to be broken up. So, he sends them to therapy.
I'm kind of in love with Mike. He might be my favorite character on the whole show.
Dr. Ryan
Dr. Ryan is their therapist. She was also Captain Sutton's therapist. I mostly don't have much of an opinion of her at this point. She's necessary to make the whole concept work, but I'm much more attached to every other character on the show. She is competent. She's smart. I feel as if I should like her a lot more than I do. I just can't get excited about her as a character.
The group
Their therapy seems to all be group therapy, and the group is one of my favorite parts of the show. Wes and Travis have therapy sessions with three other (much more traditional) couples. And while there was some rather hilarious confusion at their first session about the nature of their partnership, the group seems to have embraced the idea of treating these police partners the same as any other couple. I love the group.
The Dumonts are the oldest couple in the group, and we haven't learned their first names yet (or if we have, I missed that somehow). They've both been married before. She's fairly quiet and while he can be kind of loud, he rarely says anything too terribly important. I like them, but they are probably my least favorite couple.
Clyde and Rozelle are fun. They have an opinion on everything, even if Rozelle does make her opinion known primarily through pointed looks, raised eyebrows, and head tilts.
Peter and Dakota are the youngest couple in the group. Among other things they're having fertility issues which have seriously stressed their relationship. They're kind of adorably clueless a lot of the time, but they might be my favorite of the couples.
Have some videos.
This one is an official series trailer
Click to viewAnd another little promo spot with a pretty typical bit of therapy.
One more promo for one of my favorite episodes, where they are asked to switch places with each other.
And a little fanvid - You've Got a Friend In Me
There is little doubt in my mind that if this show manages to accumulate much of a fandom it will be all Travis/Wes all the time, and I'm pretty much okay with that. I do hope that we can get some good gen stuff though, and the fandom could handle crossovers with all kinds of shows as well.
Oh, and I didn't talk about Wes's ex-wife and I probably should have. I suspect the instinct of fandom will be to hate her. She did hurt Wes, after all, and the, "I didn't marry a cop," bit is kind of cold. That said, I actually like her a lot. I hope we see more of her.
The other new show that I've been watching is Perception. It's another USA series. Dr. Daniel Pearce is a neuroscientist. He's brilliant and eccentric. He's a much loved professor. A former student of his is now an FBI agent and she comes to him for help on all kinds of cases. The twist is that Dr. Pearce is schizophrenic, and some time back he made a decision to stop taking meds and try to handle his symptoms in other ways. You've got to watch it with a healthy ability to suspend your disbelief, because there's no way that the FBI is going to sign off on an unmedicated schizophrenic as a consultant. Defense attorneys would have a field day. The legal talk isn't always accurate either which can be an issue for me, but the show is fun so far.
Perception
Dr. Daniel Pearce
Daniel is a compelling main character. He's sweet. He's incredibly intelligent. He's clueless about people. Despite the aforementioned sweet, he can also take the people around him for granted. I like Daniel a lot, hallucinations and all.
That his hallucinations are often really incredible guest stars doesn't hurt.
Kate Moretti
Kate is smart and competent, and I like her a lot. There's a lot we don't know about her. She apparently had a bit of a crush on Daniel when she was his student, but that's not why she brings him in on cases. She has issues with authority, or at least with stepping out of bounds on occasion.
Roger Probert
Roger is Kate's much more by the book partner. I couldn't find a picture of just him. He's skeptical of what Daniel can do for them, but I think he's starting to come around. He's one of the reason that I've been continuing to watch though. I've loved Jonathan Scarfe since Raising the Bar.
Together the three of them make an incredibly effective team.
Dean Haley
This is Daniel's boss. They're good friends. The fact that he's played by Levar Burton made me giggle with fannish glee.
Max Lewicki
Max is a student that Daniel has hired to be his assistant. He lives at the house, and he manages Daniel's life for him. He sees to his appointments, makes sure that he eats, keeps his routine in order, and possibly most importantly provides puzzles for him. He occasionally butts heads with Kate, because she definitely does not keep him on his routine. I like Max a lot.
Natalie Vincent
Natalie is Daniel's friend and confidant. She helps him work through pretty much all of his problems, including the fact that he's pretty conflicted about working with the FBI. Okay, this is the big spoiler, and it was revealed pretty early on. But if you don't want to know, look away now.
Natalie is a hallucination. I kind of get the feeling that once upon a time (maybe when Daniel was in college) there was a real Natalie Vincent, but when the real Natalie dropped out of his life, this Natalie stuck around. Natalie is great. She's pretty much perfect, except she only exists in Daniel's head.
And have a video
And the new to me show. I don't know why I never watched Ugly Betty when it was new. Probably something conflicted (probably one of Mom's reality shows). It doesn't matter. The series is streaming on Netflix and I'm incredibly glad that I decided to give it a shot.
It's a great big soap opera comedy, with great characters. Betty is probably the least compelling character. She's actually a bit of a Sue. Her faults, largely being things like she's too dedicated. But everyone else is awesome. I have no pictures mostly because I lost hours of my life getting pictures of Teen Wolf last night and decided sleep was more important than finding Ugly Betty pictures. Maybe another time.
This is long and texty though, so I'm still putting it
Betty's family is great. There's her dad, Ignacio, who is just the right combination of sweet and ridiculously overprotective. Her sister Hilda can be surprisingly smart, and she's a great mother. Which leads us to her nephew, Justin. Justin is adorable. He's obsessed with fashion and musicals, and thankfully is allowed to be exactly who he is. The first season also gives us Justin's father, Santos. Santos starts out as kind of a jerk, but he grows a lot over the season.
It's Betty's job that makes the show interesting though, and that's where most of my favorite characters are. In case you've been living under a rock, the short version is this. Betty wants to work for a magazine. Actually she wants to run one someday. She ends up at Mode, the flagship title for Meade Publications. It's a fashion magazine and she very much does not fit in.
Her boss is Daniel Meade. He's a wild child, who got to be editor in chief of Mode based on nothing more than his name. He's surprisingly good at it, when he isn't screwing up his personal life beyond belief. I'm sure there are all kinds of great reasons why I should hate him. He sleeps with anything that moves for instance. He's really not at all sensitive to other people's feelings. He takes everyone in his life for granted. He forgets promises and important dates. But he's also really sweet. He's trying to be a better man. When he does clue in for a second about pretty much anything, he can make these really grand gestures. He also isn't nearly the commitment-phobe that the world makes him out to be. He just has the most appalling taste and/or luck with women.
His father, Bradford is kind of a jerk. He rules the company with an iron fist. He had a 20-year affair. He also loves his kids and his wife, even if he is really bad at it. He has these unexpected moments of genuine goodness.
Wilhemina Slater is the Creative Director at Mode, at least in the beginning. Her circumstances change repeatedly. She's a schemer. She wants nothing more than to be the editor of the magazine. It's all she's ever wanted, and she feels betrayed when Daniel gets it instead. She's not a good person. She will hurt anyone in the way of getting what she wants. She's mean and terrible, and completely unapologetic and I love her for it.
Mark is Wilhemina's assistant. Minion might be a more apt term. He's shallow and almost as driven as she is. Periodically though, he can be a really decent person. He spends a lot of time making fun of Betty, but he also is Justin's sometimes mentor. I adore Mark. He's one of my favorites.
Amanda is the receptionist. She had her eye on Betty's job, and I don't know that she ever really forgives Betty for taking it from her. She's shallow and not all that bright. She's Mark's best friend. She can be very mean. But there's kind of a little girl lost quality to her that I find appealing. When she's being real instead of this fake person she's made up to be Amanda she can say incredibly insightful things. I like Amanda.
Christina is a designer and also seamstress for the mode closet. She's Betty's first friend at Mode. She's smart and fun, and I love her.
Daniel's mother is lovely. She's an alcoholic, and she's done some really bad things. Her kids are her world. She adores Betty. She's just lovely and perfect and I adore her.
The big spoiler which I'm not going to worry too much about considering the age of the show is Alexis. Alexis used to be Alex Meade, Daniel's brother that everyone thought had died. There's plenty of drama when Alexis shows up. I like her, but she doesn't seem nearly as well developed of a character at the point in the series I'm at.
I'm loving this show an awful lot, but still have a couple of seasons to get through before I hit the end.
And finally, I've been getting caught up on Leverage. I still have to watch the current season episodes, but I've finally watched all of the old episodes. I still love my show.
I think I love Eliot more now than ever. Parker continues to be perfect and awesome. Hardison is possibly, my favorite geek on television. Nate is incredible. I love Sophie too, but if I have to have a least favorite she's it.
This show just keeps getting better, and I'm sad to hear that it seems likely it won't get another season.