TV Meme, Day Twenty-One! Plus, Covert Affairs
TV Meme in 30 Days
Day 01 - A show that should never have been canceled -- "Doctor Who"
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching -- "Fringe"
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this season) -- "The Vampire Diaries"/Honorable Mention: "Modern Family"
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever -- "Alias"
Day 05 - A show you hate -- "Grey's Anatomy"
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show -- "Rendezvous"
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show -- "30 Seconds"
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch -- "The Muppet Show"
Day 09 - Best scene ever -- "Mad Men," episode 1x12, "Nixon vs. Kennedy," Don and Pete's confrontation in Cooper's office.
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving -- "The X-Files."
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you -- "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times -- "Ugly Betty," episode 1x13, "In and Out"
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show -- "Guiding Light" and "All My Children"
Day 14 - Favorite male character -- Jack Bristow, "Alias"
Day 15 - Favorite female character -- Livia Augusta, "I, Claudius"
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show -- "The Nanny"
Day 17 - Favorite mini series -- "I, Claudius"/ Honorable Mention -- "V"
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence -- "The Nanny"
Day 19 - Best TV show cast -- "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
Day 20 - Favorite kiss -- Dave and Maddie's first kiss, "Moonlighting"
Day 21 - Favorite ship
There's no way I could ever pick one single most favorite 'ship. There are the ones I've written the most about, the ones I've worried the most over, the ones I found most charming, the ones that have stayed with me the longest, the canonical, the noncanonical, so on and so forth.
But I decided the two winners would have to be the only two 'ships that have worked their way into my subconscious so thoroughly that I had repeated, hugely romantic, sincere dreams about them getting together on a very regular basis for years.
The first one will come as no shock to anyone who either saw my rec for this fabulous vid by the gifted obsessive24, or the fact that I wrote zombie apocalypse romantic comedy for them today --
Betty/Daniel is my happy place, and that's all there is to it.
I will be very, very impressed if anybody here guesses the second one, though --
OK, in my defense, they didn't look like this most of the time.
The 'ship was Frank/Eleni on "Guiding Light" in the early 1990s, which was when the soap was doing its all-time best writing, and what I consider to be up there with the greatest writing ever on daytime soaps. GL hit about a four-year period where they began consciously playing with soap tropes, pairing up storylines and character types in innovative ways that kept the audience guessing. Frank was the rarest of rarities on soaps: a regular working-class guy who owned a diner that he was actually shown mopping, doing the books for and doing work like, say, hauling industrial-sized barrels of condiments from the storeroom. Eleni was a very distant cousin who came over from Greece to work in the diner and get her citizenship, and she enchanted Frank from the start. Frank mostly wore blue jeans and T-shirts; Eleni wore sweet floral crinkly dresses. I have no idea why they were posed like they were auditioning for "Gang Extra #1 and #2" in the "Beat It" video.
They were incredibly sweet together, and it looked like a natural match. (Things were helped along immensely by the fact that the two actors had, by chance, lived in the same apartment building and played together as children; they always had a very natural chemistry and easiness with one another.) But fate intervened, in the form of Alan-Michael Spaulding, millionaire and spoiled brat, who got his heart set on Eleni and didn't care what lies he had to tell to get her. Alan-Michael was actually more sympathetic than not during the storyline -- he truly adored her, and while he was devious, if you grew up in the Spaulding household, you'd be devious too -- but oh, my God, seeing him with Eleni was, for me, like trying to stretch out on a bed of nails. I nearly DIED of suspense during the whole storyline, until Frank and Eleni were reunited at last. When I last watched GL regularly, they'd had a baby daughter who turned out to be deaf, and they had no money for the operation that would restore her healing, and Eleni totally sucked up her pride and went to Alan-Michael to ask it -- but the Spauldings had secretly (and, need I say, temporarily) lost their fortune. And it just KILLED him to have to tell her he couldn't help. Good times.
Your eyes do not deceive you: That is Melina Kanakarides, just getting started.
Some other ships who have meant the world to me over the years:
Moonlighting -- David and Maddie
Like the "best kiss" winners wouldn't get a place.
**
Bones -- Brennan and Booth
The show is on the verge of going from "great, suspenseful UST" to "oh come on already," but I will always love the easygoing trust and humor between these two; rarely do you get to see people just having so much FUN together.
**
The X-Files -- Mulder and Scully
Do you guys remember how the entire Relationshipper folder went CRAZY when this photoshoot was released? I don't blame us. Those are still gorgeous pics.
**
Remington Steele -- Remington and Laura
LAURA, WAKE UP. THE MAN NEXT TO YOU WANTS TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU. WAKE UP NOW.
**
Alias -- Jack and Irina
Of course the best shippy pic of them I could find had them half in shadow, wearing Kevlar. They wouldn't have it any other way.
All My Children -- Greg and Jenny
Greg did not always have his mouth like that.
The moment when Greg ran in and interrupted Jenny's wedding to luckless jerkwad Tony is still one of my top moments of dramatic payoff EVER.
Your eyes do not deceive you: That is Kim Delaney, just getting started.
**
Lost -- Sun and Jin
This remains the only 'ship that has made me cry just by being beautiful, and it did so many times.
**
All My Children -- Jesse and Angie
Their second wedding, after Jesse returned from the dead, involved a homicidal gunman, a cameo by Ne-Yo and a ghost. I miss watching soaps sometimes.
**
Fringe -- Peter and Olivia
This IS Peter and Olivia's idea of getting snuggly. They are mostly about repressed longing and occasional yearning glances between rampaging mutants and dimensional rifts, and this is why I love them.
**
Doctor Who -- 10 and Martha
Falling for the Doctor is canonically a rotten idea, but I love Martha Jones so much that, whatever she wants, I want for her.
**
Alias -- Jack and Nadia
The icon I used for this post is probably the best pic of them in existence, thanks to the gifted monanotlisa.
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death
**
So, the second episode of "Covert Affairs" aired last night. It still wasn't great. The main plot made no sense (if the kid and his mom distrust the CIA, why go to them in the first place? Having gone to them, why cut them off only AFTER someone is trying to kill you? Why would the double agent spend so much time trying to kill the kid, when all he wanted was the recordings? Why did Annie apologize to the kid for not taking him seriously when in fact she had followed up on his info thoroughly from the beginning?). And I am not sure what to make of Sendhil Ramamurthy in this; on the one hand, he's agreeably cast against type and promises to be morally ambiguous and therefore yummy. Also, he looks like himself, which is a plus. OTOH, the episode really didn't set up him very thoroughly; I hope they know what they want to do with him. However, there were things to enjoy -- the Joan/Arthur dynamic is already getting more interesting and complicated. I liked that Annie had some real grunt work to do. And of course there was the sweaty "let's practice hand to hand combat" scene for her and Auggie -- YUM.
Basically, this was dopey fun, the sort of thing I would expect to turn off and think upon no more. But I'll be dipped if I didn't have a Covert Affairs dream last night! I was Annie, and I ran into some staff meeting and told Joan somebody had blown my cover. She said, "Like you didn't blow it yourself on your first mission." But then I said, "They used the code word 'elegy'," and Joan FREAKED OUT. What did it mean? I don't know. Tune in tomorrow.
I am indeed finally feeling better! Not all better, but I have high hopes that tomorrow, when the heavy antibiotics are more out of my system, I'll finally be back in business.
Day 01 - A show that should never have been canceled -- "Doctor Who"
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching -- "Fringe"
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this season) -- "The Vampire Diaries"/Honorable Mention: "Modern Family"
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever -- "Alias"
Day 05 - A show you hate -- "Grey's Anatomy"
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show -- "Rendezvous"
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show -- "30 Seconds"
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch -- "The Muppet Show"
Day 09 - Best scene ever -- "Mad Men," episode 1x12, "Nixon vs. Kennedy," Don and Pete's confrontation in Cooper's office.
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving -- "The X-Files."
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you -- "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times -- "Ugly Betty," episode 1x13, "In and Out"
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show -- "Guiding Light" and "All My Children"
Day 14 - Favorite male character -- Jack Bristow, "Alias"
Day 15 - Favorite female character -- Livia Augusta, "I, Claudius"
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show -- "The Nanny"
Day 17 - Favorite mini series -- "I, Claudius"/ Honorable Mention -- "V"
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence -- "The Nanny"
Day 19 - Best TV show cast -- "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
Day 20 - Favorite kiss -- Dave and Maddie's first kiss, "Moonlighting"
Day 21 - Favorite ship
There's no way I could ever pick one single most favorite 'ship. There are the ones I've written the most about, the ones I've worried the most over, the ones I found most charming, the ones that have stayed with me the longest, the canonical, the noncanonical, so on and so forth.
But I decided the two winners would have to be the only two 'ships that have worked their way into my subconscious so thoroughly that I had repeated, hugely romantic, sincere dreams about them getting together on a very regular basis for years.
The first one will come as no shock to anyone who either saw my rec for this fabulous vid by the gifted obsessive24, or the fact that I wrote zombie apocalypse romantic comedy for them today --
Betty/Daniel is my happy place, and that's all there is to it.
I will be very, very impressed if anybody here guesses the second one, though --
OK, in my defense, they didn't look like this most of the time.
The 'ship was Frank/Eleni on "Guiding Light" in the early 1990s, which was when the soap was doing its all-time best writing, and what I consider to be up there with the greatest writing ever on daytime soaps. GL hit about a four-year period where they began consciously playing with soap tropes, pairing up storylines and character types in innovative ways that kept the audience guessing. Frank was the rarest of rarities on soaps: a regular working-class guy who owned a diner that he was actually shown mopping, doing the books for and doing work like, say, hauling industrial-sized barrels of condiments from the storeroom. Eleni was a very distant cousin who came over from Greece to work in the diner and get her citizenship, and she enchanted Frank from the start. Frank mostly wore blue jeans and T-shirts; Eleni wore sweet floral crinkly dresses. I have no idea why they were posed like they were auditioning for "Gang Extra #1 and #2" in the "Beat It" video.
They were incredibly sweet together, and it looked like a natural match. (Things were helped along immensely by the fact that the two actors had, by chance, lived in the same apartment building and played together as children; they always had a very natural chemistry and easiness with one another.) But fate intervened, in the form of Alan-Michael Spaulding, millionaire and spoiled brat, who got his heart set on Eleni and didn't care what lies he had to tell to get her. Alan-Michael was actually more sympathetic than not during the storyline -- he truly adored her, and while he was devious, if you grew up in the Spaulding household, you'd be devious too -- but oh, my God, seeing him with Eleni was, for me, like trying to stretch out on a bed of nails. I nearly DIED of suspense during the whole storyline, until Frank and Eleni were reunited at last. When I last watched GL regularly, they'd had a baby daughter who turned out to be deaf, and they had no money for the operation that would restore her healing, and Eleni totally sucked up her pride and went to Alan-Michael to ask it -- but the Spauldings had secretly (and, need I say, temporarily) lost their fortune. And it just KILLED him to have to tell her he couldn't help. Good times.
Your eyes do not deceive you: That is Melina Kanakarides, just getting started.
Some other ships who have meant the world to me over the years:
Moonlighting -- David and Maddie
Like the "best kiss" winners wouldn't get a place.
**
Bones -- Brennan and Booth
The show is on the verge of going from "great, suspenseful UST" to "oh come on already," but I will always love the easygoing trust and humor between these two; rarely do you get to see people just having so much FUN together.
**
The X-Files -- Mulder and Scully
Do you guys remember how the entire Relationshipper folder went CRAZY when this photoshoot was released? I don't blame us. Those are still gorgeous pics.
**
Remington Steele -- Remington and Laura
LAURA, WAKE UP. THE MAN NEXT TO YOU WANTS TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU. WAKE UP NOW.
**
Alias -- Jack and Irina
Of course the best shippy pic of them I could find had them half in shadow, wearing Kevlar. They wouldn't have it any other way.
All My Children -- Greg and Jenny
Greg did not always have his mouth like that.
The moment when Greg ran in and interrupted Jenny's wedding to luckless jerkwad Tony is still one of my top moments of dramatic payoff EVER.
Your eyes do not deceive you: That is Kim Delaney, just getting started.
**
Lost -- Sun and Jin
This remains the only 'ship that has made me cry just by being beautiful, and it did so many times.
**
All My Children -- Jesse and Angie
Their second wedding, after Jesse returned from the dead, involved a homicidal gunman, a cameo by Ne-Yo and a ghost. I miss watching soaps sometimes.
**
Fringe -- Peter and Olivia
This IS Peter and Olivia's idea of getting snuggly. They are mostly about repressed longing and occasional yearning glances between rampaging mutants and dimensional rifts, and this is why I love them.
**
Doctor Who -- 10 and Martha
Falling for the Doctor is canonically a rotten idea, but I love Martha Jones so much that, whatever she wants, I want for her.
**
Alias -- Jack and Nadia
The icon I used for this post is probably the best pic of them in existence, thanks to the gifted monanotlisa.
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death
**
So, the second episode of "Covert Affairs" aired last night. It still wasn't great. The main plot made no sense (if the kid and his mom distrust the CIA, why go to them in the first place? Having gone to them, why cut them off only AFTER someone is trying to kill you? Why would the double agent spend so much time trying to kill the kid, when all he wanted was the recordings? Why did Annie apologize to the kid for not taking him seriously when in fact she had followed up on his info thoroughly from the beginning?). And I am not sure what to make of Sendhil Ramamurthy in this; on the one hand, he's agreeably cast against type and promises to be morally ambiguous and therefore yummy. Also, he looks like himself, which is a plus. OTOH, the episode really didn't set up him very thoroughly; I hope they know what they want to do with him. However, there were things to enjoy -- the Joan/Arthur dynamic is already getting more interesting and complicated. I liked that Annie had some real grunt work to do. And of course there was the sweaty "let's practice hand to hand combat" scene for her and Auggie -- YUM.
Basically, this was dopey fun, the sort of thing I would expect to turn off and think upon no more. But I'll be dipped if I didn't have a Covert Affairs dream last night! I was Annie, and I ran into some staff meeting and told Joan somebody had blown my cover. She said, "Like you didn't blow it yourself on your first mission." But then I said, "They used the code word 'elegy'," and Joan FREAKED OUT. What did it mean? I don't know. Tune in tomorrow.
I am indeed finally feeling better! Not all better, but I have high hopes that tomorrow, when the heavy antibiotics are more out of my system, I'll finally be back in business.