Weekend TV
American Idol
Birmingham and LA auditions:
Not a lot to say, the contestants were both better and worse than the Minneapolis ones, but that may be because each programme was an hour each and so there was less filler. Apart from Cat Deeley's pointless blather (that's what Ryan Seacrest is there for! Well, that and remaining poker faced among the scaries). She told us she was there to provide 'the British perspective' - like pointing out that Birmingham, Alabama is different from Birmingham, England? Well, fancy that. Olivia Newton-John did that thing where the guest judges feel they have to be nice and said 'you did very well' a couple of times to people who hadn't. At all. Did the plastic surgery done on her face get into her brain? Meanwhile Simon said 'hideous' about 300 times.
That's when I saw an advert for Supernatural, but the music - which I didn't recognise - sounded like boyband music. Woe.
Then I saw The O.C. 4-4 The Metamorphosis
In one word - uneven. And it's all very well having Summer make a meta comment about not liking The Valleys so much because it's creating contrived dramas, because being cutsey about it doesn't absolve The OC of its problems. One of which is the Summer plotline, which is neither funny or dramatic enough. Case in point, the weak five stages of anger scene. (And STOP IT WITH THE FREQUENT FLYING. Or put in a scene with Seth being neurotic about offsetting the carbon emissions and explaining it to Kirsten/Sandy/Ryan while angsting over his relationship with Summer). Around Seth, Che was moderately amusing. But only moderately.
Fortunately, there is the genius of Taylor now living with Julie and Kaitlin. Them three as housemates = genius! So yes, it is because they built the set and it makes no sense - and I can't help wondering what they'll do with Summer - but I don't mind this contrivance, because I'm minded to be soft over this triumvirate, because they amuse me. MC especially, with Julie's complete lack of self-knowledge in pledging to stay off men, and ha! they worked in the reference to Luke, and while there is not the specific crime of stealing a daughter's ex, the crossing the same turf of going to the same club as Kaitlin feels worse, because Mini-Coop is Julie's youngest daughter.
Taryn and the silly brothers weren't that funny. But Sandy mostly didn't annoy me, and actually amused me in a lukewarm way. Okay, until his absurd (and obvious and CONTRIVED) second speech to Ryan, which was essentially to get him to save Atomic County's latest damsel in distress.
As for Taylor and Ryan. (Um, I may be spoiled for next week's ep, and may also be vowing to not read the Guide beyond show times any more)... ohhh-kay. I love Taylor - the language geekiness, the way that she has no moderation - and like Clarke and Bilson, Reeser's a good enough actress to pull that caricature off as well as the moments of depth. I prefer the show's take on characters we aren't meant to take seriously at first, who grow on us, instead of the more serious dramatic characters, I mean, I'm still mostly neutral on Seth, Kirsten and Sandy right now. With Ryan - oh, I don't know. I thought they were going to go for Ryan-Summer-Seth this season, because of Summer and Ryan being simpatico over losing Marissa, but in a way, I'm glad that the answer to losing one of the fearsome foursome isn't the (metaphorically) incestuous triangle. (Especially as they might be setting one up with Kaitlin and the two idiot brothers). BUT I was really happy with Anna as an unconventional OTP for Ryan (I have meta that I may or may not have written up on that). And while I liked the canonical Ryan/Lindsay and Ryan/Theresa (but the former was far too stable for The OC world and the latter overcome by the Amita/Charlie) and hated the Ryan/Marissa, I had that, and now there is this. Because they're so going there, aren't they? And oddly, bizarrely, delightfully it may work, because Ryan's Ryan, the centre of the show - which I recognise even though I sometimes want to struggle around it, because I like and root for other characters far more. Anyway, he's the boy on the outside who came to this weird, weird place and Taylor epitomises The OC - as in the show's tone and the version of it that the show is trying to portray. She's a little insane, speaks her mind with thoughtless privilege, but there are so many cracks to that privilege, and she's far more likely to try to deal with those problems by making peach torte than drinking peach schnapps (the insane bit is in trying to make the best peach torte ever.) I heart her so (she reminded me a bit of Paris Gellar this ep).
For all its flaws, (the see Ryan run montage was pure Baywatch) sometimes, just sometimes, the show delivers pay-off, but this ep was extremely uneven.
And I may have written fic in response to that ep. (Two ficlets.) I need to type them up, (I'm not inclined to brood over them, because they're ep-specific, though I don't think they'll get Jossed) but anyone want to do a quick look over?
And then Supernatural 2.1 In My Time of Dying
I'd been spoiled that John died anyway, but the TV guide completely spoiled me for what was happening this ep.
First, I'm not as gaga for the show as most of fandom, and although Dean's 'If I can touch it, I can kill it' (or was it 'see') got an 'Oh, Dean', I was snarking throughout. This is, after all a show where people spew up black smoke as demon. Overall it wasn't bad, though the echo of The X-Files was strong, and despite all the icons to remind me, I'd forgotten how pretty Ackles is in action, and how gruff Dean is, and now he (and to a lesser degree Sam, but Sam won't blame himself so much) will angst over their father all season. I'd forgotten the Reaper mythology for the show. But I tend to prefer other takes on mythologies over Supernatural's generally, anyway. I know that Sam is the Chosen One, but Dean's Borrowed Time may lead to interesting things.
Also, ouch for the Impala. Ouch, ouch, ouch.
Birmingham and LA auditions:
Not a lot to say, the contestants were both better and worse than the Minneapolis ones, but that may be because each programme was an hour each and so there was less filler. Apart from Cat Deeley's pointless blather (that's what Ryan Seacrest is there for! Well, that and remaining poker faced among the scaries). She told us she was there to provide 'the British perspective' - like pointing out that Birmingham, Alabama is different from Birmingham, England? Well, fancy that. Olivia Newton-John did that thing where the guest judges feel they have to be nice and said 'you did very well' a couple of times to people who hadn't. At all. Did the plastic surgery done on her face get into her brain? Meanwhile Simon said 'hideous' about 300 times.
That's when I saw an advert for Supernatural, but the music - which I didn't recognise - sounded like boyband music. Woe.
Then I saw The O.C. 4-4 The Metamorphosis
In one word - uneven. And it's all very well having Summer make a meta comment about not liking The Valleys so much because it's creating contrived dramas, because being cutsey about it doesn't absolve The OC of its problems. One of which is the Summer plotline, which is neither funny or dramatic enough. Case in point, the weak five stages of anger scene. (And STOP IT WITH THE FREQUENT FLYING. Or put in a scene with Seth being neurotic about offsetting the carbon emissions and explaining it to Kirsten/Sandy/Ryan while angsting over his relationship with Summer). Around Seth, Che was moderately amusing. But only moderately.
Fortunately, there is the genius of Taylor now living with Julie and Kaitlin. Them three as housemates = genius! So yes, it is because they built the set and it makes no sense - and I can't help wondering what they'll do with Summer - but I don't mind this contrivance, because I'm minded to be soft over this triumvirate, because they amuse me. MC especially, with Julie's complete lack of self-knowledge in pledging to stay off men, and ha! they worked in the reference to Luke, and while there is not the specific crime of stealing a daughter's ex, the crossing the same turf of going to the same club as Kaitlin feels worse, because Mini-Coop is Julie's youngest daughter.
Taryn and the silly brothers weren't that funny. But Sandy mostly didn't annoy me, and actually amused me in a lukewarm way. Okay, until his absurd (and obvious and CONTRIVED) second speech to Ryan, which was essentially to get him to save Atomic County's latest damsel in distress.
As for Taylor and Ryan. (Um, I may be spoiled for next week's ep, and may also be vowing to not read the Guide beyond show times any more)... ohhh-kay. I love Taylor - the language geekiness, the way that she has no moderation - and like Clarke and Bilson, Reeser's a good enough actress to pull that caricature off as well as the moments of depth. I prefer the show's take on characters we aren't meant to take seriously at first, who grow on us, instead of the more serious dramatic characters, I mean, I'm still mostly neutral on Seth, Kirsten and Sandy right now. With Ryan - oh, I don't know. I thought they were going to go for Ryan-Summer-Seth this season, because of Summer and Ryan being simpatico over losing Marissa, but in a way, I'm glad that the answer to losing one of the fearsome foursome isn't the (metaphorically) incestuous triangle. (Especially as they might be setting one up with Kaitlin and the two idiot brothers). BUT I was really happy with Anna as an unconventional OTP for Ryan (I have meta that I may or may not have written up on that). And while I liked the canonical Ryan/Lindsay and Ryan/Theresa (but the former was far too stable for The OC world and the latter overcome by the Amita/Charlie) and hated the Ryan/Marissa, I had that, and now there is this. Because they're so going there, aren't they? And oddly, bizarrely, delightfully it may work, because Ryan's Ryan, the centre of the show - which I recognise even though I sometimes want to struggle around it, because I like and root for other characters far more. Anyway, he's the boy on the outside who came to this weird, weird place and Taylor epitomises The OC - as in the show's tone and the version of it that the show is trying to portray. She's a little insane, speaks her mind with thoughtless privilege, but there are so many cracks to that privilege, and she's far more likely to try to deal with those problems by making peach torte than drinking peach schnapps (the insane bit is in trying to make the best peach torte ever.) I heart her so (she reminded me a bit of Paris Gellar this ep).
For all its flaws, (the see Ryan run montage was pure Baywatch) sometimes, just sometimes, the show delivers pay-off, but this ep was extremely uneven.
And I may have written fic in response to that ep. (Two ficlets.) I need to type them up, (I'm not inclined to brood over them, because they're ep-specific, though I don't think they'll get Jossed) but anyone want to do a quick look over?
And then Supernatural 2.1 In My Time of Dying
I'd been spoiled that John died anyway, but the TV guide completely spoiled me for what was happening this ep.
First, I'm not as gaga for the show as most of fandom, and although Dean's 'If I can touch it, I can kill it' (or was it 'see') got an 'Oh, Dean', I was snarking throughout. This is, after all a show where people spew up black smoke as demon. Overall it wasn't bad, though the echo of The X-Files was strong, and despite all the icons to remind me, I'd forgotten how pretty Ackles is in action, and how gruff Dean is, and now he (and to a lesser degree Sam, but Sam won't blame himself so much) will angst over their father all season. I'd forgotten the Reaper mythology for the show. But I tend to prefer other takes on mythologies over Supernatural's generally, anyway. I know that Sam is the Chosen One, but Dean's Borrowed Time may lead to interesting things.
Also, ouch for the Impala. Ouch, ouch, ouch.