No Ordinary Family
So it went something like Jaime Murray >> Julie Benz >> awareness of No Ordinary Family, and then it went Joanne Kelly >> guest starring on NOF >> Jaime's BFF's show! and together the two led me to give the show a try last week, and I really enjoyed it, which lead me to mainline the entire season so far in between study sessions. I have some issues with it; there's some annoying gender stereotyping going on*, the show seems afraid to go full-out in any direction be it with the humor or the drama or the action or the geekiness, and it has an annoying way of resolving cliff-hangers by trivializing them in the first 2 minutes of the next episode.
However, that said, it's a cute and funny show with a good heart. No Ordinary Family is definitely the show I look forward to most each week, at this time. (Until Sanctuary returns in April, and Warehouse 13 and Rizzoli & Isles in the summer.) If they can keep from going crazy, they can be sure to count on me to watch it as long as they're on. And since they've got an action/mystery aspect, I hope they'll be able to keep from degenerating into soap-opera land like so many other shows that I liked for the first season and that then just got crazy.
And Julie Benz's hair was *really fantastic* for the first 10 episodes. Speaking of, Julie Benz is really pretty. The fact that her storyline with Dana Delaney on Desperate Housewives was one of the cutest lesbian storylines I've seen in a long time totally helps. I really really don't want her for a new obsession, though, because I really don't wanna sit through 4 seasons of Dexter - especially knowing how it ends. I have seen a handful of Jaime's scenes from her season and... it's just not my show.
My issue with Julie Benz's hair is this, though. See, you all know I have a thing for hair. I even have a thing for curly hair. But nothing turns me off faster than a styled appearance that makes no sense, and that certainly won't be around the morning after. There was some famous actress, but I can't for the life of me find the quote again, who said something like "They're so excited when they go to bed with [stage name], but then they're so disappointed the next morning when they wake up with [family nickname]". And I kind of have a thing for the things that will still be there in the morning. Sure, I love naturally curly hair on a lady, but what I love the most is a lady who looks natural. (Yes, I know I shouldn't be using that word.) I know TV is just a massive suspension of disbelief, but some things bother me more than others. Anyone who's spoken to me this last week will have heard me gush about Steph's lovely straight hair, in a world of TV ladies that look like they spend an hour with their curling iron every morning.
And then we had Joanne Kelly guest starring this week... sadly she spent all of her time in Jim's storyline and never met Steph, and she spent most of that time chained to a pillar or ratting Jim out and getting shot, so she didn't really have that much to do. And she wore a skirt, which I'm not a huge fan of. But she was still pretty!
*Moms with careers will never be happy unless they can make time to cook, clean, keep house, and look after their kids even when they have a wonderful loving supportive husband who has a great relationship with the kids, so let's give her super-speed so she'll be able to do those things. Dads who *went to artschool and love art* feel like inferior men if they work as artists because that isn't a properly manly thing to do, and they really wish they could go out and be more heroic instead of being at home and having a good relationship with their kids, so let's give him super-strength so he can go out and risk his life a be a hero like a real man. The kids are less obvious, but they still gave the girl the emotional power and the boy the scientific one. Now, the mom is clearly a very gifted scientist as well, and she gets plenty of chances to show off, and there are plenty of ways in which the show is progressive as well, and it's not at all a reason not to watch the show. And it should definitely be mentioned that the characters they've created are good and dynamic, and the actors play them well, and there's nothing at all wrong with the believability of the characters as such, but where they fit into a larger pattern is a little sad.
However, that said, it's a cute and funny show with a good heart. No Ordinary Family is definitely the show I look forward to most each week, at this time. (Until Sanctuary returns in April, and Warehouse 13 and Rizzoli & Isles in the summer.) If they can keep from going crazy, they can be sure to count on me to watch it as long as they're on. And since they've got an action/mystery aspect, I hope they'll be able to keep from degenerating into soap-opera land like so many other shows that I liked for the first season and that then just got crazy.
And Julie Benz's hair was *really fantastic* for the first 10 episodes. Speaking of, Julie Benz is really pretty. The fact that her storyline with Dana Delaney on Desperate Housewives was one of the cutest lesbian storylines I've seen in a long time totally helps. I really really don't want her for a new obsession, though, because I really don't wanna sit through 4 seasons of Dexter - especially knowing how it ends. I have seen a handful of Jaime's scenes from her season and... it's just not my show.
My issue with Julie Benz's hair is this, though. See, you all know I have a thing for hair. I even have a thing for curly hair. But nothing turns me off faster than a styled appearance that makes no sense, and that certainly won't be around the morning after. There was some famous actress, but I can't for the life of me find the quote again, who said something like "They're so excited when they go to bed with [stage name], but then they're so disappointed the next morning when they wake up with [family nickname]". And I kind of have a thing for the things that will still be there in the morning. Sure, I love naturally curly hair on a lady, but what I love the most is a lady who looks natural. (Yes, I know I shouldn't be using that word.) I know TV is just a massive suspension of disbelief, but some things bother me more than others. Anyone who's spoken to me this last week will have heard me gush about Steph's lovely straight hair, in a world of TV ladies that look like they spend an hour with their curling iron every morning.
And then we had Joanne Kelly guest starring this week... sadly she spent all of her time in Jim's storyline and never met Steph, and she spent most of that time chained to a pillar or ratting Jim out and getting shot, so she didn't really have that much to do. And she wore a skirt, which I'm not a huge fan of. But she was still pretty!
*Moms with careers will never be happy unless they can make time to cook, clean, keep house, and look after their kids even when they have a wonderful loving supportive husband who has a great relationship with the kids, so let's give her super-speed so she'll be able to do those things. Dads who *went to artschool and love art* feel like inferior men if they work as artists because that isn't a properly manly thing to do, and they really wish they could go out and be more heroic instead of being at home and having a good relationship with their kids, so let's give him super-strength so he can go out and risk his life a be a hero like a real man. The kids are less obvious, but they still gave the girl the emotional power and the boy the scientific one. Now, the mom is clearly a very gifted scientist as well, and she gets plenty of chances to show off, and there are plenty of ways in which the show is progressive as well, and it's not at all a reason not to watch the show. And it should definitely be mentioned that the characters they've created are good and dynamic, and the actors play them well, and there's nothing at all wrong with the believability of the characters as such, but where they fit into a larger pattern is a little sad.