Announcing the Summer 2010 to Spring 2011 Television Season

First, I want to say that I just updated the Favorites page with the latest information on my TV shows. I haven’t updated it in a while, and there was a lot to change. I added the new shows that I am considering watching this fall, made changes for all the canceled shows, and made changes for the shows that are coming back in the fall.

That said, of all the TV series that I followed this season (for more than 1 episode), the following will be/will have been canceled by the end of the season: The Beautiful Life (CW), Dollhouse (FOX), Eastwick (ABC), FlashForward (ABC), Heroes (NBC), LOST (ABC), Nip/Tuck (FX), and Ugly Betty (ABC). LOST was not canceled in the traditional sense, though, as it was planned for this 6th season to be the final one about three years ago; thus, we might say it is ending vs. canceled).

Although I have yet to watch it, Happy Town was canceled as well (I do plan on watching it this summer, though, just because of Amy Acker’s involvement). The NBC series Day One was downgraded to mini-series, then 2-hour movie, and then it was canceled; as such, I have never seen it, nor will I. Heroes was canceled, but there are ongoing discussions about doing a limited-run series next season (mini-series consisting of around 4 episodes) or a 2-hour movie, to wrap things up. With one of the most successful international audiences in the history of television, Heroes sure is getting star treatment here; most shows don’t get a wrap-up like this, and such a thing wouldn’t even be considered. On a similar note, the cast and crew of Ugly Betty have also shown interest in making an Ugly Betty movie somewhere along the line, whether on TV or the big screen. I would enjoy it, I’m sure, but the series finale was actually quite satisfying for me. So I would be okay if the movie never surfaced.

Moving forward, the broadcast television networks have announced their fall 2010 plans, and the following series are currently of interest to me: Lonestar (FOX), Nikita (CW), No Ordinary Family (ABC), Raising Hope (FOX), and Undercovers (NBC). I’m still debating on a few others, but there’s little to no chance I’ll actually be able to add any, and I may not even get to watch these that I’ve listed because of school, etc. If you’d like to check any of these out, you can find promotional videos on YouTube. I wasn’t expecting to like Raising Hope, but I was pleasantly surprised by the promos. Ditto Lonestar.

Currently, I’m just waiting for Glee, FlashForward, Parenthood, Breaking Bad, and The United States of Tara to wind down for the season (or forever, in FlashForward‘s case), and then I’ll be ready for the highly-anticipated third season of True Blood, beginning Sunday, June 13th! Mad Men starts season four on Sunday, July 25th. And although I have watched the first seasons of the aforementioned Breaking Bad and United States of Tara, I have yet to see any subsequent episodes, so I’ll be getting caught up over the summer. I also plan to watch the first season of Parenthood this summer so I can be ready for season two this fall; I’ve heard great things about it, and since it teams actress Lauren Graham with producer/writer Jason Katims, I’m sure these things are very true indeed. 🙂

Classes won’t begin again until August 30th, so I won’t have them to worry about until then. Couple that with the fact that I don’t have a real job at present (although I do have a work study position at UBalt that I can continue until June 30th), and we can see the makings of a very productive summer in terms of reading and TV/movie watching. 😉 I’ve already read/finished four books since the semester ended (Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol). I’m making a dent in my ever-expanding library of books that I have bought and not read. I’m going to re-read The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy soon, because it’s short and I loved it in high school, and then I think I’ll read another mindless Koontz book. And then who knows what!

But I do need to find another job soon. I saw on the Financial Aid calendar that loans for the fall semester won’t be dispersed until August 30th, which means I won’t get my refund until September 10th at the earliest. Although I have gotten, or will soon get, some help from my family this summer, I still won’t have enough money to last until August/September.

Back to the drawing board!

I think I’m going to heat up some spaghetti and watch a few episodes of Sliders. I’m almost done with the fourth season, and then it’s on to the last one, which I’ve heard is terrible, but I’m sticking with it because Sliders was one of my favorite shows, growing up, and I’m glad I can finally watch the episodes I never got to see. Thank you Netflix streaming!

Alla My Friendsnstuff

Last night, I went with Justin, Lori, and Danielle to see a play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. My roommate Kari was the assistant stage manager, and Kimberley Lynne, a mutual friend and fellow MFAer, was co-director. The stage itself was simple: a rainbow curtain hung on the right side, the girls all wore a solid-colored dress (i.e., a girl in red, a girl in green, etc.), and there was a scrim in the background with an African image on it, and it is lit from behind at one point to show a woman dancing in fog—she is supposed to be an Egyptian goddess. I thought it was pretty cool. The play is funny at times but kind of hard to follow because it’s mostly poetry. My favorite poem is called “Alla My Stuff.”

You can read it here.

Afterwards, we walked to Lori’s car, and she drove us down to Federal Hill, where we met up with Eli and a couple of her friends. Mike joined us later. Some of us ate, and then we went to a bar called Mother’s. It’s actually really cool inside! There are two sections: One is just a regular bar, and the other has a huge dance floor. We went to the area with the dance floor. It was loud but fun. However, the bouncers were jerks a couple of times. We took lots of pictures, laughed a lot, drank a little, and shouted over the music the whole time so we could talk to each other. Some of us danced. Lori, Danielle, Eli, and Savannah (Eli’s friend) did the Cupid Shuffle when it came on.

It’s a shame Kari, Wendy, and Tykia couldn’t have been there.

At 1:35 a.m., the lights started coming on for last call, and we all remarked that that seemed kind of early. Apparently, bars can only stay open until 2 a.m. in Maryland. The bouncers started telling everyone to leave. We left, but Eli made sure to call one of the bouncers a name on the way out, and then she almost got in a fight with a girl outside. Speaking of outside, there were cops everywhere and people walking all over the place. I guess Federal Hill is a popular bar area. Once we got Eli, Savannah, and Kenny a cab, Lori, Danielle, Justin, and I parted ways with Mike and went to Lori’s car so she could drop us all off at home.

Justin and I went to sleep and didn’t get out of bed until 3 p.m. When he left, I made eggs and toast because I hadn’t had it in a long time. Now, it’s about dinnertime. I need to use up the rest of my eggs before they go bad, so I’ll probably make something with eggs.

It was a fun night, but now I need to do a little TV catch-up (Smallville, Spartacus, and Nip/Tuck) and a little homework.

P.S. I bought the Ghostbusters t-shirt Justin is wearing in the picture below for him for his birthday, last month, and it was a big hit last night! Lori was with me when I bought it, so I knew she thought it was great, but also, the bartender loved it. She bought Justin a shot and took a picture of his shirt. Hahaha!

Open for Friday?

Apparently, the University is going to be open tomorrow, officially, but liberal leave is in effect, so a lot of classes probably won’t happen (thankfully, I don’t have any classes after Wednesday anyway). Phase II of the Snow Emergency Plan for Baltimore City is still in effect for Friday, so cars will be towed if they are blocking snow emergency routes. Free parking for all University of Baltimore members at the Fitzgerald Garage “on Friday and through 8 p.m. on Sunday.” What that means is anyone’s guess; it’s kind of ambiguous.

So, seriously? We’re really going to open for one day?

And we’re supposed to get more snow next Monday. I wonder how that will go.

For now, I’ve finally started reading for Monday’s class, just in case, and I’d like to get most of it done by tomorrow so I can work on my writing for Monday and Wednesday. But on top of all that, I’m watching Ugly Betty, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, The Office, 30 Rock, and Smallville this weekend. And I’d like to get caught up on Nip/Tuck (I’m SO close!).