REB #12: “She’s not going to have premarital sex until she’s married.”

– Bright Abbott on Everwood

If you don’t know me very well, you may not know this, but I watch TV like it’s my job; I watch entirely too much TV.

Which means that this past week has been amazing and yet stressful for me. On top of homework, class, and work, I now have to add a large pile of TV shows to my to do list. Thankfully, True Blood is over for the season, and Mad Men will be over next month. That’s two shows down for the season, at least 13-18 to go (depending on how you count them).

I wouldn’t have it any other way. 🙂

Sundays, I’m watching Brothers and Sisters (ABC) and Dexter(Showtime) – and, for a few more weeks, Mad Men (AMC), which I am relieved to say did a complete 180º, going from a terrible season 3 to an awesome season 4.

Mondays, I have nothing for now, but I plan to watch Lonestar (FOX) at some point, even though I’m 98% sure it’s going to be cancelled. I saw the pilot, and I really liked it. Anyway, in the spring, my Monday show will be The United States of Tara (Showtime).

Tuesdays, I’m watching Glee (FOX), Life Unexpected (The CW), and Parenthood (NBC). Unfortunately, the critically acclaimed Life Unexpected will probably be cancelled after its initial 13-episode second season order, due to low ratings. Parenthood didn’t exactly rock the ratings house either. In November, V (ABC) premiers, and if it stays in the same timeslot, it will air on Tuesdays; honestly, I don’t expect it to be renewed for a third season. I’ve seen the pilot to No Ordinary Family(ABC) and will likely be watching that as well, and I want to watch Raising Hope (FOX) at some point, but it’s going to have to wait.

Wednesdays, I have no commitments, but I am mildly interested in Undercovers (NBC). I might watch it when the season is over. Also, in the spring, Glee and Raising Hope will be switching to Wednesdays to make room for American Idol.

Thursdays, I’m watching The Vampire Diaries (The CW), 30 Rock (NBC), and The Office (NBC). I was actually impressed with The Office’s premier, as I did not like last season and fully expected this one to be terrible as well. They’ve got me for at least a few more episodes. Also on the potentially watch list is Nikita (The CW). I’ve seen the pilot, and for a CW remake, it was actually pretty good. And surprisingly strong in the ratings.

Fridays, I’m watching the final season of Smallville (The CW) – which started off amazing, by the way – as well as the shouldn’t-even-exist sixth season of Supernatural (The CW). It’s not that I didn’t want Supernatural to be renewed; it’s just that I wanted the producers/network to stick to the original five-year plan that the show’s creator had. This surprise renewal resulted in a bit of a cop-out for the season five ending, which should have been amazing but instead was a little too miraculous for my taste. That said, the premier left something to be desired, but I’ll continue watching out of loyalty and to see if it gets back to the high-quality episodes I know the show can produce. Anyway, in the spring, I’ll be watching the spinoff/second season of Spartacus: Blood and Sand (Starz). I’m so sad for Andy Whitfield and wish him the best in his cancer treatment. I hope he’ll be better in time for season three, but obviously, it’s not about the show. Best wishes, Andy. Get some rest. Take your time. ❤

*NOTE: This blog entry is syndicated from a blog I had to start for my Electronic Publishing class at U.B. this semester. I may or may not delete the extraneous blog when the class is over, but I thought I would at least give my readers the opportunity to read the contents of that blog indefinitely.

Announcing Twit TV?

With the official fall 2010 TV season just around the corner (FYI, some shows will start up in less than a month), I would like to try an experiment: I’ve been wanting to force myself to write/blog more often anyway, so one of my ideas is to start a regular section/tag of this blog called Twit TV in which I would weigh my favorite new show pilots (we’ll call these the “freshman shows,” since most people in the TV industry do anyway), choose one to follow for the whole season (or at least to the end of its run, if it happens to get canceled), and review/respond to each episode, highlighting my favorite and least favorite (if there are any) moments and why I like/dislike them. And so on.

I would also like to choose a veteran show to follow (one of which I’m already a dedicated viewer, anticipating the season premier), perhaps for comparison/contrast reasons, but whether I do that or not really depends on the shows I choose. They may not mesh well enough.

In any case, the meat of this idea is that I will be tweeting (via my personal account, RogerMarket) initial gut reactions as they happen while watching both shows (freshman and veteran)—hence the clever or not so clever “Twit” part of this blog series’ name—and other Twitter users can follow along and respond to my tweets as well as those of others, in addition to responding here on this blog, although I do get a lot of spam comments. I don’t accept spam comments, so if you do respond, make sure it pertains to the blog entry and the show, and if it does, I’ll accept it, unless, of course, I see a reason not to do so. Also, be advised that I can’t watch every show when it airs because I have class some nights, so the tweets may come a day or two late; I’ll try to write the blogs within a week, maybe less. This may be a huge commitment for an M.F.A. student at the University of Baltimore to make, but I’m going to try my best to do it.

By the way, if the freshman show I choose happens to be canceled early in the season, I may choose another freshman to continue the Twit TV series, or I may just choose another veteran show to follow and just have two; I haven’t decided yet. Suggestions?

Now, here are the shows I’m considering.

For freshman shows, I am interested in Lonestar (FOX), No Ordinary Family (ABC), Raising Hope (FOX), Undercovers (NBC), and Nikita (The CW). Nothing on CBS interests me. Out of these five, I’m most excited about Lonestar and No Ordinary Family (I’ve seen the pilot of the latter, and it’s pretty good; I’ve heard great things about Lonestar). Any thoughts on which freshman show I should pick?

For veteran shows, I am thinking about doing the tenth and final season of Smallville (The CW), the second season of Parenthood (NBC), the second season of Life Unexpected (The CW), or possibly the second season of The Vampire Diaries (The CW). As of this moment, I’m torn between Smallville and Parenthood. Any thoughts on which veteran show I should pick? Is anyone even reading this? Does anyone care?

I know that’s a lot of CW shows, but I don’t even want to think about tackling the monster that is Glee (FOX), a lot of my shows were canceled last season, and if I did The Office (NBC), I’m afraid it would be unenjoyable for all involved, as I’ve become quite disillusioned with that quickly declining show and would probably not find much to like anymore. I really didn’t like last season. Beyond that, the other bloggable shows that I watch are on cable and have irregular seasons (e.g., Mad Men, True Blood, Dexter, and Spartacus: Blood and Sand), so I couldn’t really blog about those. Maybe I could do one of them as a bonus at some point—next summer? We’ll see.

P.S. I’d like to do a book version of this series at some point, just at my own leisure.

All This Busyness Business

Wow, it’s a busy week.

Sunday, Justin and I went to the aquarium with Lori, Kari, Eli, Wendy, and Danielle. It was a University of Baltimore event night. UB students got in for free; it was only $5 or $6 for Justin. Not bad, considering it’s normally $25 to go, and I don’t think they’re usually open at night. After walking around there for about an hour, and taking lots of pictures (*placeholder for pictures*), we went to ESPN Zone to eat and watch some of the All-Star game (for Lori, Wendy, and Eli) and Olympics. Then we went home. I had to go to bed early because I had to get up at…

7:30, or so, a.m. the next day. I have to work, so I walk Justin to his parking spot at Penn Station (because of the snow emergency in Maryland, there’s no guest parking at my apartment for the time being). He drives me back to the school, and we say goodbye. He goes home. I get my keys from the Public Safety desk and go across the street to the Business Center so I can clock in for work. Since I had a migraine the morning before, I haven’t finished my reading for class tonight. I work on it during any break I can get from work. It’s a pain.

I read at the desk; I read on lunch break; I read after work, at home, where I finally finish the reading. I finalize my writing assignment and print it out. I try to come up with a screenplay idea for my screenwriting class but get nothing. I make a sandwich for tonight since I won’t have much time for dinner because I have class from 5:30 to 10:45 p.m., with a fifteen-minute break between classes.

I go to screenwriting. It’s fun. We do a collaborative “screenplay idea” project, and my group actually comes up with a great idea. The professor has brought snacks, but ironically, this is the only class time in which we won’t watch any movie clips; and it’s because the snow day has caused us to cram material together.

In Experimental Forms, the professor says that he hadn’t contacted us during the snow break (no shit?) and that he decided we will just push everything forward a bit and try to fix the missing class later on. He couldn’t have told us that? So we didn’t break our backs trying to read the assigned reading, as well as finish the writing assignment from the class period that we lost? Oh well. Some of us hadn’t finished the reading anyway, but we all have the writing assignment done. Which we read next, out loud, one at a time. There are around twenty of us, so it takes most of class. One of us doesn’t read; she’s like that sometimes; she’s pretty shy. But she could at least give it a shot instead of saying, “My name is _____. I don’t want to read mine.” She’s the only one who doesn’t read. There’s no way she can keep this up and get a good participation grade. Then again, I’m not feeling so hot about my grade tonight either. I don’t speak much because of the nature of tonight’s class. I can’t comment on things read out loud to me (for the first time, at least), on the fly. I need to see it in front of me and have time for thoughts to fester. I’m not going to like these writing exercise classes. *sigh*

After class, I say goodnight to Mike and Lori and walk home with Kari. We say goodnight at the door and each go to our separate rooms. I come back out and pour some cereal. I eat while surfing the Internet—getting caught up on my YouTubes and checking my e-mail. I have a long e-mail to respond to but don’t have the energy or time tonight. I feel bad because I’ve been neglecting people today. Hélène had called during work, and I haven’t called her back yet. I realize I don’t have to work at 9 a.m. the next morning like I thought; I’m scheduled for noon. I stay up a bit longer, surfing, talking to Justin via IM. I get hungry again and eat some pretzels and Cheez-Its. I go to bed, trying to think of story ideas as I drift off to sleep.

I’m at work now—noon, not 9—writing this. I have to write a story for tomorrow’s Fiction class. I have an e-mail to write and a phone call to return. And a tax return to re-send, because I put the wrong zip code or something. I’m overwhelmed.

I’ll have class tomorrow evening. I’ll finish the story during the day (or not; he had said we don’t have to have them finished, per se). I’ll try to do the tax return, the e-mail, the phone call. I’ll relax at 9 p.m. with LOST on ABC. 🙂

I’ll try to remain sane.

I might succeed.

P. S. I want a Tivo. And a new camera, or two.

UPDATE: Sent the e-mail, finished the tax return. I’ll make the phone call soon. Then I’ll get caught up on my TV (still have to watch last week’s Supernatural and this week’s Life Unexpected), get dinner, and get ready for LOST.