Fandom!
So. The thing about not having two seconds to rub together since January is that I literally haven't watched TV since January. Until last weekend. Which, in a way, was good. I had *ahem* acquired all the episodes of a summer show I was interested in and watched all but the season finale (ends on a cliff-hanger and haven't decided whether or not I want to watch it now or wait until the start of next season to watch) in two days. Then a few other shows. And so forth.
[Warning: May contain spoilers for shows. Check the tags to see what all is inside.]
Show I've seen so far:
Rizzoli and Isles - I watched all but the season finale last weekend. I like the show, but haven't hit the 'OMG give me fic' point yet. I can see why people would ship Jane/Maura, but I didn't really feel any chemistry beyond friendship myself (sorta the same was I feel about Jim/Blair on TS - I can see why people ship it but don't see anything beyond friendship myself). So if I did search out fic it'd be gen stuff, probably case!fic. I will say, one thing I hated about the show was the big deal that was made about Jane being single. Maybe this bugged me because my Mom had just been all 'well, you aren't dating anyone are you?' right before I started watching it, but I spent a lot of my viewing time rolling my eyes at that. Dear writers/producers. I'm 31, female and single. Being single isn't a defining point in my life beyond a check box when I'm filling out a survey. My life is not defined by my lack of a mate. Heck, most of the time it isn't even something I think about or notice. Women are not defined by their relationship status. Figure that out and I'd probably like the show a lot more.
Hawaii Five-O - Sigh. I'd wanted this to be good. I had a feeling it wasn't going to when we got introduced to Kona (Grace Park) via ass-shot of her surfing. The second episode didn't end up much better. I seriously dislike, possibly hate, the main character, which is usually a show-killer for me (I know people who can stick with shows and dislike the main character but I just can't do it; not identify or not have as my fave yes but dislike no). Captain Cardboard has an attitude problem beyond his dad's death, has little regard for these little things called laws, and the actor couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. The other characters are interesting, or have the potential of being interesting if they were fleshed out beyond 'hot chick who likes to surf and punches out random strangers who 'steal her wave''.
Undercovers - So. Much. Love. I was nervous about watching this because it seems that so often I see previews that make me like a show and then end up disappointed when I see the show. (See above.) But I LOVED both of the episodes so far. I love their chemistry with each other, I love the little talking over each other thing they do, how they annoy Major Dad, I love her sister and the catering company people. And their sidekicks. (OMG. When Leo told Hoyt that he looked better with the beard I may have totally shipped them for about five seconds. Also kinda ship Leo and Lizzy but in a 'he needs to get cleaned up first' kinda way, but that could totally be a character arc for him! And, of course, totally shipping Steven and Samantha as if that even needs to be asked.) And both episodes so far. LOVE.
Nikita - I've seen three of the four so far - I was on a roll and started the fourth and VLC informed me it was broken: only half was there. I re-downloaded it, but decided I had more productive things to do with my time (laundry and dishes). I love Maggie Q. I love Nikita. And Alex. OMG. I totally didn't see the twist at the end of episode 1. I mean, I knew something was up with Alex, but I was having too much fun enjoying the counterpoint that her start at the Division was to Nikita's past/monologue/etc. I was expecting more of a 'training Nikita's replacement/this is the person the Division is going to use to take her out' thing than a 'this is Nikita's inside person' thing. Eeeee! E4 is totally on the list for tomorrow!
No Ordinary Family - Heee! I laughed so MUCH during this premiere. Which may or may not have been the point. It does strike me as one of those dramas that likes to pretend it's also a comedy. I felt so sorry for the daughter - if there's one gift I'd never want it'd be reading people's minds and for all the reasons she was getting hurt. I was actually pleasantly impressed - I'll admit I was expecting a live action Incredibles retread. This was not that. Can't wait for Ep 2. I want to know what Cho knows. I want to know what's up with the watcher dude (no, really, according to IMDB he is called "The Watcher".) [Random aside, kept wondering why Cho looked so familiar so finally looked her up on IMDB. Totally one of the actresses I considered for Billy Park's little sister. Tempted to recast her (hi more pictures/screencaps available), especially if I recast him. (Leaning toward Daniel Dae Kim for him because he's one of the bright spots on H5O).]
$#*! My Dad Says - I checked out the twitter account when the show was first announced and was intrigued by the concept of turing a series of unrelated/unconnected (other than quoting someone) tweets into a show. Plus it has the Shat. I enjoyed, I laughed during the first ep and there was the aww moment at the end. But it is, otherwise, a fairly typical comedy. May or may not keep up with it. I'm not a big fan of fairly typical comedies. And my one rule for my TV shows is that there needs to be a strong female character. This had one female character, the brother's wife. And while interesting, I'm not certain there was enough of here there for the 'strong' designation.
Lost Girl - OMG. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. Okay. So. I totally checked this show out b/c someone pimped the community
lost_girl in the pimpin' comm on DW and talked about the show. Sounded interesting. So I checked out the show's website and watched the trailer for the first ep, which had Emmanuelle Vaugier in it. That was enough to get me to watch the first ep (I'll give anything with EV a shot). And while she was just a guest star in E1, it was a character that definitely has potential to come back. Which would be awesome. But, really, the show is awesome enough without her. I'm a little in love with Bo (except for her name. I was all 'really? Bo? Like the baseball player') (heh, that probably totally shows my age/where I grew up). I madly ADORE Kenzi. And I'd happily listen to (and watch!) Dyson read the phonebook (especially if his accent comes out to play), with or without his shirt on. It's kinda like Rizzoli and Isles meets Dresden Files (buddy cop show with female leads that also has a definite supernatural aspect). A reviewer at SpoilerTV compared it to Buffy (that I really wouldn't know because I wasn't a big Buffy watcher). All I know is that it is good. And I want SciFi or another US channel to pick it up so I can give it legitimate hits/watches. (It's currently on Showcase in Canada and while the website has eps, you can only watch in you're in Canada. If you need a hook-up, I can point you in the right direction.) (On the shipping front, I love how Bo has chemistry with pretty much anyone and pretty much ship Bo/Dyson and Bo/Lauren. (No OT3 there b/c Dyson and Lauren are not with the chemistry.) Not really any Bo/Kenzi, I like how they pretty much established early on that they weren't going there.) [Also: totally wasn't planning on signing up for Yuletide this year BUT I've already seen someone mention asking for this for Yuletide which might totally change my mind.]
Shows still on the list:
Covert Affairs - Got the eps this over the summer, just need to sit down and watch. Basically, it's called waiting until I have a block of time to get through all 11 episodes. I've heard good things, but I've been avoiding spoilers so please don't say anything about it. (Unless the finale ends in a cliff-hanger as well. I'd like to know that so I can decide whether to watch it when I watch the rest or not.)
Blue Bloods - Don't know much about it, just that it is a CBS cop show. That said, while CBS is usually my go to place for my cop shows, I've been disappointed by the network lately so I really am not expecting much. Maybe I'll get surprised. I have two eps, I'll give it a shot.
Castle - Ran out of time to watch TV half-way through last season, so I need to finish that before I start watching this season. Which is also going to require a big block of time. Again, I've been avoiding spoilers so please keep it that way.
Human Target - I started getting the eps EV was in and ended up with a bunch more. But not the full run, because not all are up at my ep getting place. On one hand I might be interested enough to watch the full run, on the other hand I get the feeling most of the non-EV eps probably break my 'strong female character' rule. I can't remember there being and female regular cast members.
Shows that may end up off the list:
Criminal Minds - CBS's casting idiocy at the end of last season (I may have run out of time to watch the show, but it was hard to miss what they did to AJ and Paget) has pretty much killed any interest I have in this show. I mean, I still love the characters I love (Prentiss, Rossi, Garcia), but I don't see any need to reward such misogyny and assholishness with continued viewing. To do so says that I think it is okay to pull shit like that on the female cast while the male cast is left untouched. And I don't agree with that.
CSI: NY - This is kind of a 'ditto'. Granted it wasn't quite the same casting idiocy - Melina chose to leave - but the show has an even worse track record with female characters than Criminal Minds (which a year and a half ago I commended on having nearly half the regular cast as female characters). But NY also had a different kind of idiocy - that horribly ableist Danny storyline. It was kinda the holy bingo. I've gotten used to shows only trotting the female characters out when they needed a little arm candy. I've gotten used to shows having their token character of color and then pretend that NYC is made up of all white, middle class people. But disability is so rarely portrayed on TV that I hadn't really become immune to it like the others. And that Danny storyline pretty much made me so digusted I was sick to my stomach. It finished what the end of S5 started - turning me off the show completely. As far as I'm concerned CSI:NY ended mid-season 5.
Other fannish-y stuff:
Because I'm not sure where else to put it. I still highly recommend flash games (especially Castle Age) as great stress relieving time wasters. Nothing like beating on an evil monster when you're frustrated. (Even if by 'beating' youre just clicking your mouse.) Started playing one called Kingdoms of Camelot which is supposed to be like Evony? (I don't know, I just associate Evony with those BOOBS!ads on IMDB.) It kinda makes me think of what Civilization would be if pared down to the minimum and as a flash game.
Speaking of Civilization, I haven't gotten the new one yet. I've been on the fence after reading a review, reviewer talked like it had been dumbed down to be made easier for new adopters (as opposed to people playing since version one). While, on one hand, I'm not an intense player and some of the changes probably wouldn't mean much to me, there were a few he spoke of that are things I really like. And let's just say that I hate how on Civ4 you can't pick the civs you play and play against easily the way you could in Civ3. It took a little looking through the different options (which I normally don't use and prefer to not mess with) to figure it out. Which, sounds silly, was enough (combine with some of the other changes) to put the game off for me. I haven't played it nearly as much as I did Civ3 (which may also be a time thing. No 12-hour lab experiments to amuse myself through these days).
Over the winter I asked C and some others to rec me books. I'd been having a bad run with books I was checking out from the library - they'd look interesting from the book flap but end up being pretty awful instead. Around the same time C got me started on Paperbackswap. I wishlisted a bunch of the sci-fi/fantasy/urban fantasy she recommended and just waited for them to show up. The latest to show up is the second Morgan Kingsley book. Okay, so the first was okay but not interesting enough for me to not skip past parts of the book (or maybe it was the graphic torture that I just wasn't interested in reading). I'd already had book two on my wishlist so I left it. OMG. Book two, I can't put down. Friday I picked it up to read over lunch and kept grabbing it after lunch was over to read. There may have been a slightly embarrassing moment when new!boss walked in and I was reading. (Unlike Hunger Games I don't have a good excuse to be reading this at work.)
I might have signed up for an
origfic_bingo card (because, yanno, my au_bingo card is going so well) this weekend. It actually didn't turn out as badly as I feared (I have horrible luck with 'sign up and we'll give you a set of prompt challenges' as opposed to 'here's a set of prompts pick one' challenges. I get wooed in by the awesome bingo cards other people get and then I get mine and it has kid!fic or Napoleanic era on it.) In this case I actually can see a line or two I can possibly do (maybe a cross, if it wasn't for the damned kid!fic). Aiming to do all
criminimancy stories. And to pull out and actually work on S1E2 of Criminimancy. chaos_thon is going to run again, sometime this winter (no idea on when exactly that will be) and I'd kinda like to have E2 finished by then, since I've started it. And I'm now looking to actually have time to work on it and the other stories I have in progress (because I'm not one to not have multiple WIPS going), or at least I will in November.
Ah. I can't wait for November.
comments at Dreamwidth.
[Warning: May contain spoilers for shows. Check the tags to see what all is inside.]
Show I've seen so far:
Rizzoli and Isles - I watched all but the season finale last weekend. I like the show, but haven't hit the 'OMG give me fic' point yet. I can see why people would ship Jane/Maura, but I didn't really feel any chemistry beyond friendship myself (sorta the same was I feel about Jim/Blair on TS - I can see why people ship it but don't see anything beyond friendship myself). So if I did search out fic it'd be gen stuff, probably case!fic. I will say, one thing I hated about the show was the big deal that was made about Jane being single. Maybe this bugged me because my Mom had just been all 'well, you aren't dating anyone are you?' right before I started watching it, but I spent a lot of my viewing time rolling my eyes at that. Dear writers/producers. I'm 31, female and single. Being single isn't a defining point in my life beyond a check box when I'm filling out a survey. My life is not defined by my lack of a mate. Heck, most of the time it isn't even something I think about or notice. Women are not defined by their relationship status. Figure that out and I'd probably like the show a lot more.
Hawaii Five-O - Sigh. I'd wanted this to be good. I had a feeling it wasn't going to when we got introduced to Kona (Grace Park) via ass-shot of her surfing. The second episode didn't end up much better. I seriously dislike, possibly hate, the main character, which is usually a show-killer for me (I know people who can stick with shows and dislike the main character but I just can't do it; not identify or not have as my fave yes but dislike no). Captain Cardboard has an attitude problem beyond his dad's death, has little regard for these little things called laws, and the actor couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. The other characters are interesting, or have the potential of being interesting if they were fleshed out beyond 'hot chick who likes to surf and punches out random strangers who 'steal her wave''.
Undercovers - So. Much. Love. I was nervous about watching this because it seems that so often I see previews that make me like a show and then end up disappointed when I see the show. (See above.) But I LOVED both of the episodes so far. I love their chemistry with each other, I love the little talking over each other thing they do, how they annoy Major Dad, I love her sister and the catering company people. And their sidekicks. (OMG. When Leo told Hoyt that he looked better with the beard I may have totally shipped them for about five seconds. Also kinda ship Leo and Lizzy but in a 'he needs to get cleaned up first' kinda way, but that could totally be a character arc for him! And, of course, totally shipping Steven and Samantha as if that even needs to be asked.) And both episodes so far. LOVE.
Nikita - I've seen three of the four so far - I was on a roll and started the fourth and VLC informed me it was broken: only half was there. I re-downloaded it, but decided I had more productive things to do with my time (laundry and dishes). I love Maggie Q. I love Nikita. And Alex. OMG. I totally didn't see the twist at the end of episode 1. I mean, I knew something was up with Alex, but I was having too much fun enjoying the counterpoint that her start at the Division was to Nikita's past/monologue/etc. I was expecting more of a 'training Nikita's replacement/this is the person the Division is going to use to take her out' thing than a 'this is Nikita's inside person' thing. Eeeee! E4 is totally on the list for tomorrow!
No Ordinary Family - Heee! I laughed so MUCH during this premiere. Which may or may not have been the point. It does strike me as one of those dramas that likes to pretend it's also a comedy. I felt so sorry for the daughter - if there's one gift I'd never want it'd be reading people's minds and for all the reasons she was getting hurt. I was actually pleasantly impressed - I'll admit I was expecting a live action Incredibles retread. This was not that. Can't wait for Ep 2. I want to know what Cho knows. I want to know what's up with the watcher dude (no, really, according to IMDB he is called "The Watcher".) [Random aside, kept wondering why Cho looked so familiar so finally looked her up on IMDB. Totally one of the actresses I considered for Billy Park's little sister. Tempted to recast her (hi more pictures/screencaps available), especially if I recast him. (Leaning toward Daniel Dae Kim for him because he's one of the bright spots on H5O).]
$#*! My Dad Says - I checked out the twitter account when the show was first announced and was intrigued by the concept of turing a series of unrelated/unconnected (other than quoting someone) tweets into a show. Plus it has the Shat. I enjoyed, I laughed during the first ep and there was the aww moment at the end. But it is, otherwise, a fairly typical comedy. May or may not keep up with it. I'm not a big fan of fairly typical comedies. And my one rule for my TV shows is that there needs to be a strong female character. This had one female character, the brother's wife. And while interesting, I'm not certain there was enough of here there for the 'strong' designation.
Lost Girl - OMG. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. Okay. So. I totally checked this show out b/c someone pimped the community
lost_girl in the pimpin' comm on DW and talked about the show. Sounded interesting. So I checked out the show's website and watched the trailer for the first ep, which had Emmanuelle Vaugier in it. That was enough to get me to watch the first ep (I'll give anything with EV a shot). And while she was just a guest star in E1, it was a character that definitely has potential to come back. Which would be awesome. But, really, the show is awesome enough without her. I'm a little in love with Bo (except for her name. I was all 'really? Bo? Like the baseball player') (heh, that probably totally shows my age/where I grew up). I madly ADORE Kenzi. And I'd happily listen to (and watch!) Dyson read the phonebook (especially if his accent comes out to play), with or without his shirt on. It's kinda like Rizzoli and Isles meets Dresden Files (buddy cop show with female leads that also has a definite supernatural aspect). A reviewer at SpoilerTV compared it to Buffy (that I really wouldn't know because I wasn't a big Buffy watcher). All I know is that it is good. And I want SciFi or another US channel to pick it up so I can give it legitimate hits/watches. (It's currently on Showcase in Canada and while the website has eps, you can only watch in you're in Canada. If you need a hook-up, I can point you in the right direction.) (On the shipping front, I love how Bo has chemistry with pretty much anyone and pretty much ship Bo/Dyson and Bo/Lauren. (No OT3 there b/c Dyson and Lauren are not with the chemistry.) Not really any Bo/Kenzi, I like how they pretty much established early on that they weren't going there.) [Also: totally wasn't planning on signing up for Yuletide this year BUT I've already seen someone mention asking for this for Yuletide which might totally change my mind.]
Shows still on the list:
Covert Affairs - Got the eps this over the summer, just need to sit down and watch. Basically, it's called waiting until I have a block of time to get through all 11 episodes. I've heard good things, but I've been avoiding spoilers so please don't say anything about it. (Unless the finale ends in a cliff-hanger as well. I'd like to know that so I can decide whether to watch it when I watch the rest or not.)
Blue Bloods - Don't know much about it, just that it is a CBS cop show. That said, while CBS is usually my go to place for my cop shows, I've been disappointed by the network lately so I really am not expecting much. Maybe I'll get surprised. I have two eps, I'll give it a shot.
Castle - Ran out of time to watch TV half-way through last season, so I need to finish that before I start watching this season. Which is also going to require a big block of time. Again, I've been avoiding spoilers so please keep it that way.
Human Target - I started getting the eps EV was in and ended up with a bunch more. But not the full run, because not all are up at my ep getting place. On one hand I might be interested enough to watch the full run, on the other hand I get the feeling most of the non-EV eps probably break my 'strong female character' rule. I can't remember there being and female regular cast members.
Shows that may end up off the list:
Criminal Minds - CBS's casting idiocy at the end of last season (I may have run out of time to watch the show, but it was hard to miss what they did to AJ and Paget) has pretty much killed any interest I have in this show. I mean, I still love the characters I love (Prentiss, Rossi, Garcia), but I don't see any need to reward such misogyny and assholishness with continued viewing. To do so says that I think it is okay to pull shit like that on the female cast while the male cast is left untouched. And I don't agree with that.
CSI: NY - This is kind of a 'ditto'. Granted it wasn't quite the same casting idiocy - Melina chose to leave - but the show has an even worse track record with female characters than Criminal Minds (which a year and a half ago I commended on having nearly half the regular cast as female characters). But NY also had a different kind of idiocy - that horribly ableist Danny storyline. It was kinda the holy bingo. I've gotten used to shows only trotting the female characters out when they needed a little arm candy. I've gotten used to shows having their token character of color and then pretend that NYC is made up of all white, middle class people. But disability is so rarely portrayed on TV that I hadn't really become immune to it like the others. And that Danny storyline pretty much made me so digusted I was sick to my stomach. It finished what the end of S5 started - turning me off the show completely. As far as I'm concerned CSI:NY ended mid-season 5.
Other fannish-y stuff:
Because I'm not sure where else to put it. I still highly recommend flash games (especially Castle Age) as great stress relieving time wasters. Nothing like beating on an evil monster when you're frustrated. (Even if by 'beating' youre just clicking your mouse.) Started playing one called Kingdoms of Camelot which is supposed to be like Evony? (I don't know, I just associate Evony with those BOOBS!ads on IMDB.) It kinda makes me think of what Civilization would be if pared down to the minimum and as a flash game.
Speaking of Civilization, I haven't gotten the new one yet. I've been on the fence after reading a review, reviewer talked like it had been dumbed down to be made easier for new adopters (as opposed to people playing since version one). While, on one hand, I'm not an intense player and some of the changes probably wouldn't mean much to me, there were a few he spoke of that are things I really like. And let's just say that I hate how on Civ4 you can't pick the civs you play and play against easily the way you could in Civ3. It took a little looking through the different options (which I normally don't use and prefer to not mess with) to figure it out. Which, sounds silly, was enough (combine with some of the other changes) to put the game off for me. I haven't played it nearly as much as I did Civ3 (which may also be a time thing. No 12-hour lab experiments to amuse myself through these days).
Over the winter I asked C and some others to rec me books. I'd been having a bad run with books I was checking out from the library - they'd look interesting from the book flap but end up being pretty awful instead. Around the same time C got me started on Paperbackswap. I wishlisted a bunch of the sci-fi/fantasy/urban fantasy she recommended and just waited for them to show up. The latest to show up is the second Morgan Kingsley book. Okay, so the first was okay but not interesting enough for me to not skip past parts of the book (or maybe it was the graphic torture that I just wasn't interested in reading). I'd already had book two on my wishlist so I left it. OMG. Book two, I can't put down. Friday I picked it up to read over lunch and kept grabbing it after lunch was over to read. There may have been a slightly embarrassing moment when new!boss walked in and I was reading. (Unlike Hunger Games I don't have a good excuse to be reading this at work.)
I might have signed up for an
origfic_bingo card (because, yanno, my au_bingo card is going so well) this weekend. It actually didn't turn out as badly as I feared (I have horrible luck with 'sign up and we'll give you a set of prompt challenges' as opposed to 'here's a set of prompts pick one' challenges. I get wooed in by the awesome bingo cards other people get and then I get mine and it has kid!fic or Napoleanic era on it.) In this case I actually can see a line or two I can possibly do (maybe a cross, if it wasn't for the damned kid!fic). Aiming to do all
criminimancy stories. And to pull out and actually work on S1E2 of Criminimancy. chaos_thon is going to run again, sometime this winter (no idea on when exactly that will be) and I'd kinda like to have E2 finished by then, since I've started it. And I'm now looking to actually have time to work on it and the other stories I have in progress (because I'm not one to not have multiple WIPS going), or at least I will in November.
Ah. I can't wait for November.
comments at Dreamwidth.