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Friday Night Lights has been Renewed!

nobody@vox.com(katra) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:39:02 -0500

Well, I guess tentatively renewed? This is old-ish news, but, at the same time, I haven't seen anything more recent. Apparently NBC struck a deal with DirecTV to get this done. Frankly, I do not care if they had to strike a deal with George W. Bush himself, that is how much I wanted this show to come back.

Suffice it to say I am happy. This is by far one of the best shows on television -- maybe the best one still airing. Is it better than Heroes? BSG? Probably. It is definitely better than The Wire*. It might not be better than Lost.

I just received the Season One DVDs from Amazon today, and I can't wait to watch them.

Friday Night Lights - The First Season

If you haven't checked out this show yet, I suggest that you get to steppin'. There's no time like the present, people. You will not be sorry. For one thing, there is the undeniable awesomeness of Coach Taylor. Please to witness:

Coach Taylor Being Awesome

And then, well, then there is this. Do not even try to argue with me about this:

Tim Riggins My TV Boyfriend

Q.E.D., people. Q.E. Motherfucking D.

*This is an objective fact, provable by SCIENCE. And yes, I am dutifully watching S1 of The Wire currently. I mean, until I get bored and have to switch to Dexter, or decide I'd rather re-watch other favorite shows I have already seen. When does The Wire get interesting?

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Can't talk, too busy developing TV crush.

nobody@vox.com(katra) — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:22:22 -0500

Since my last post here I have gone and gotten myself well and truly addicted to Buffy. I am almost finished with the third season. It disappoints me to know that Angel won't be back (much) for the rest of the show since he'll be off on his own series and whatnot. I had thought that Angel was a spinoff that happened after Buffy ended, but no, it happened right in the middle of things, meaning no more Buffy and Angel for me. Pooh. ANYWAY.

In other news, It is STILL not effing Fall here yet. I am anxiously awaiting the appropriate weather for my multitude of sweaters, blazers, scarves, and boots. Any day now, Alabama. Any day already.

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There were some more things I wanted to tell you about Veronica Mars. Oh, and Patty Hearst.

nobody@vox.com(katra) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 01:44:00 -0600

The "Lord of the Pi's" episode I mentioned below (dubious apostrophe and all) was more than an homage to The Big Lebowski. In the episode, the kidnapped wife character (aka Bunny Lebowski) was played by Patty Hearst. Yes, that Patty Hearst. Dude, I know.

In spite of the fact that Veronica's new school is called Hearst College, it was still one of those "OK, what is happening with this stunt casting?" situations. Yet, after Tuesday's episode, and after I watched my old Ti-Beaued episodes last night, it all became clear. I won't say any more about that on the chance that anyone is reading this who hasn't gotten a chance to see the show yet.

But, with all this in mind, I'll give you this song, in honor of Patty herself.

Tania

Camper Van Beethoven

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Crushing

nobody@vox.com(katra) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:12:59 -0600

Veronica Mars has been spot-on this season: it's still dark and funny and suspenseful, and the tiny little homages to The Big Lebowski don't hurt, either. The recent episode "Lord of the Pi's" contained a wonderful parody of the scene between Brandt and The Dude looking at the wall of photos -- in this case, the role of The Dude was being filled by Keith Mars, one of the best characters on the show. When the abominable sitcom Just Shoot Me was still on, I certainly never imagined I would like Enrico Colantoni as much as I do now.

Other highlights of this season include a snappy send up of stereotypical campus protesters who major in Women's Studies, "The Lilliths;" tongue-in-cheek uses of the word "frak;" and the adorable Chris Lowell as Piz. Isn't Piz the best name?

This week's episode. "Spit and Eggs," was pretty freakin' great, I have to say. It brought a resolution to one of the ongoing cases and launched what I assume will be the next big one. I kind of feel like going back and watching all of my saved episodes, marathon-style. Hmm. I think I have my plan for the evening. If you guys aren't watching this show yet, you should be! I highly reccommend the Season One DVDs.

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Fine, I admit it!

nobody@vox.com(katra) — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 11:19:22 -0600

Battlestar Galactica - Season One (2004)

Last night our group of TV and booze enthusiasts started Season One of Battlestar Galactica, and I can report with confidence that it still seems to be set in space. I must admit, in all honesty, that in spite of its spaceness, I am totally into it. We're all so into it that we wound up watching the entire first disc, all "oh, let's watch another one....oh, just one more," and we would have gone on, but we decided to save the next disc for next time. It's getting good! I am happy to say I was wrong about it.

The Office - Season One

Also in the category of TV Shows About Which I Was Wrong we have the US version of The Office. I had seen the UK version on DVD before the US version came out, and I was all shocked and dismayed that we were making it. The US version of Coupling having been a complete stinkfest, I didn't think anything good would come of this. I especially didn't think anybody could possibly be better than Ricky Gervais, and was oh-so-unimpressed with Steve Carrell. I have to say, I still like Ricky Gervais about a million times better than Steve Carrell (and Mackenzie Crook as Gareth - hate me if you want - kicks the ass of your Rainn Wilson as Dwight), but in most other areas I have totally fallen in love with the U.S. version.

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At least there are no damn Klingons, I'm saying.

nobody@vox.com(katra) — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 13:11:41 -0600

Friends have tried to get me interested in Battlestar Galactica before, but to no avail. I mean, good lord, the show is set in space. There are big floating spaceships and firefights and fucking robots, oh my god. I am not the kind of girl who is interested in anything set in space. Not Star Wars, not Star Trek, not Star Gate. (Also, oh my god, do they all have to have the word "star" in the title? Come on, sci-fi writers, quit phoning it in!)

The "but it's set in space" argument is a simple derivative of the argument I used for why I would never watch Field of Dreams: in that case it looked more like this: "But...but...it's about a magical baseball field. Why would I care about a baseball field, let alone one that is magical? Sweet Jesus! Magical Baseball Field!" It turned out that I was (mostly) wrong about Field of Dreams, though, and lord knows everyone keeps telling me I'm wrong about Battlestar Galactica, too.

Last season, I watched about 3 episodes from the middle of the second season of BSG, and, though my friends had given me a quick primer on the background, it was pretty difficult to get interested. The show was, as I had suspected, set in space, and there were a bunch of space battles (imagine that!) and I did not know who was who and which ship belonged to which army and why the hell British Science Guy kept "seeing" his "dead" ex-"girl"friend. It all just made me weary, I tell you.

Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries)

But my friends, they do not give up! They have organized a whole BSG social event, which involves beer and wine, thus making it harder for me to turn down. We are watching the show from the beginning, starting by watching the 3-hour miniseries last night. It certainly answered a few questions--I still find British Science Guy annoying, but now I know why he's annoying. I still can't tell which ship is which nor who is firing on whom in the big battle scenes, but that's okay, since I can use those moments to get up and refill my wine glass. It was pretty great! I think I may just be on board with this--just please slap me if I start going around town all "frak" this and "frak" that, okay?

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QotD: Top Fives!

nobody@vox.com(katra) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 19:21:45 -0500

All-Time Top Fives:

Books:

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight - Vladimir Nabokov
Absalom, Absalom! - William Faulkner
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Pnin - Vladimir Nabokov
À la récherche du temps perdu - Marcel Proust

Films:

Harold and Maude
The Graduate
Blue Velvet
The Big Lebowski
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Music:

Dinosaur Jr.
Bob Dylan
Stevie Wonder
Frank Zappa
Ani Difranco

Top Five Things I am into Right Now, a Short, Multi-Media List:

Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things
Veronica Mars (Season 3)
The Zero Effect
Sugar - Copper Blue
The Office (U.S. version, Season 2)

In response to:
Books, movies, music; what's in your top 5 right now?

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QotD: I Can Finally Set My DVR!

nobody@vox.com(katra) — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 13:17:10 -0500

So, I decided to get the Comcast DVR that I was wondering about a while back, and oh man am I in love. You know how some people call those non-TiVo DVRs "TiFaux"? Well, mine is my "TiBeau." Shut up. I love it.

Here are the shows I will record all season:

Lost - One of my two favorite addictions -- the other one was Alias, which ended last year. I do love some J.J. Abrams! I am just glad that the horrible Ana Lucia will not be stinking up the airwaves this year, and that we'll (I suspect) be seeing a lot more of this Henry Gale.

Gilmore Girls - Not sure what to expect since this year the original writing/producing team will be gone, but I'm sure we can still count on all the witty, referential banter.

Veronica Mars - Finished the Season Two DVDs this past weekend, and I am OH SO READY for the Season Three premiere! I love this show so much.

House - The dude is sexy, people. Sexy. Also, I love the Holmes & Watson homage, detective fiction being one of my specialties.

Here are some I am just getting into:

Bones - As with House, I love the investigative aspect of the show. I never watched this last year, as it conflicted with Alias in the schedule, but this year, with my TiBeau, schedules mean nothing to me! NOTHING! Mwa ha ha ha ha.

Justice - Badass Victor Garber, formerly badassing it up on Alias, is now being a badass all over this show. I just wish his role was bigger. I don't need to see that much of the dude from Dawson's Creek, is all I am saying.

Project Runway - I hate jumping on bandwagons, but they had a marathon of this show the day I got my cable installed, and I got sucked in after about three seconds. Sheesh. (Also, how much do I hate Jeffrey? Dude, he made some girl's MOM CRY.)

And some more I might check out occasionally:

Grey's Anatomy - I have been known to catch an episode of this show here or there, but I am not as enamored of it as the rest of the world seems to be. It's pretty good, and all, but Meredith's Voiceover needs to shut the Hell up already, am I right? (It's one of those "explaining the obvious theme" voiceovers, like Mary Ellen's in Desperate Housewives, and I hate that shtick. Like, hello, people, I am not so dumb I need you to explain the theme of tonight's episode for me not once, but TWICE. Damn.)

Brothers and Sisters - Last night's episode (premiere?) seemed pretty good, and damned if they don't have a freaking great cast. Two more of my former Alias badasses are here now: Ron Rifkin (do NOT fuck with Rifkin!) and Balthazar Getty, he of the one weird eyebrow. Also Ally McBeal.

6 Degrees - So,I wanted to see this show, Loving all things J.J. as I do, but I missed the premiere. Will have to check when it's on and command the TiBeau to go fetch it.

And that's basically it, except for those old standby shows I will watch whenever they're on, like The Simpsons, (not South Park, though, you couldn't pay me to watch that hackneyed old glop) and Seinfeld.

Dang, man, I love TV.

In response to:

What TV show(s) will you be watching this season? Why?
Submitted by ducnly.vox.com.

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Recharging

nobody@vox.com(katra) — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 11:12:16 -0500

Electricity is back on, which is good, because I am getting my cable installed this afternoon. Recharging all my chargeables. Also, I seem to have a hangover. No idea how that happened.

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Geeking Out About TV, Asking TiVo Advice.

nobody@vox.com(katra) — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 02:35:07 -0500

Deadwood - The Complete Second Season

I finally got a chance to finish the second season of Deadwood, and now am forced to suffer until the third season comes out on DVD. I had forgotten (or maybe hadn't really noticed) that the first season only had twelve episodes, so when I realized that the second season only had twelve, I thought I'd gotten cheated somehow. A twelve episode season? Those cocksuckers! I thought I'd have it finished as fast as Netflix could send it to me, but it turned out that it took me over a month.

It isn't the kind of thing you can watch quickly, handfuls of episodes in a row. I like to let an episode or two simmer a bit before I move on, replaying E.B.'s hilarious soliloquies in my head. I can't get enough E.B., man. His accent sounds like every teacher I had in middle school. Calamity Jane is another favorite--we prefer the same kind of bourbon, actually: "the kind that ain't previously been swallowed." I can't fucking believe those hoopleheads cancelled this show. Fucking cocksuckers.

Veronica Mars - The Complete Second Season

On a brighter note, the second season of Veronica Mars is out on DVD now, and the first two discs should be arriving chez Katra tomorrow. (Um, so much for the dissertating!) If I hurry up, I can maybe get through season two before season three premiers on the new CW network on October 3. (Now that they're on the same network, VM is going to be airing after Gilmore Girls on Tuesdays. This means I will likely not be accepting phone calls or invitations on Tuesday, which will quickly become my New Favorite TV Night.) (I told you I was geeking out.)

I only started watching Veronica Mars last fall, after I had heard so many glowing comments about it. I got addicted to it in a flash -- it's witty, dark, and well-written, and oh HO, do I love detective fiction. The hot hot motorcycle gang doesn't hurt either. By the time I finished season one, though, the first half of season two had already aired on TV, so I couldn't really jump in. (I hate missing episodes of shows with a continuing story arc, and BY GOD don't you talk to me about a spoiler!) I have been anxiously awaiting the release of these DVDs since approximately November of last year, so you can bet I will be racing home from work tomorrow to get started. Yippee!

In other television geekitude, I am very excited for the premier of Lost, which is October 4 (but I'm sure all you Lost geeks already knew that). I have been without cable this summer, due to a tighter budget and a more expensive apartment. Now that I'll be raking in a little more with the stupid part time job, though, I can afford it again. (Gotta have it for my CW shows, man!) I think I am getting digital this time. Question: should I rent a DVR from Comcast for $9.99 a month, or buy one? Anybody ever rent one of the Comcast ones? How are they in comparison to a TiVo or another brand?

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