Written on Monday and only just noticed I went into MarsEdit's Draft folder...DOH!)
After bitching about having nothing to watch about a week I am deluged with several new shows. Nice to know that high ranking television executives read my blog.
As soon as I got home I turned on the TV, which is rare for me. It normally goes on a couple of hours later, after food is prepped, cats are fed, blog posts are drafted etc. Anyway, today for some reason I broke tradition and saw an advert for the premiere of the second season of the SciFi (SyFy?) show "Warehouse 13" and conveniently they had the decency to run episodes from last season right before it aired. This means that while I don't know all the details, I still saw enough to get a feel for both the show and the main characters. To be honest, it isn't that plot heavy, but it's silly fun and the kind of pap I love to tune out to. It's also the kind of show I would have adored as kid so it feels homey. I used to invent shows like this in my head, and write short stories about them. So...it's...ah...nice to know high ranking television executives can read my thoughts too.
Ahem
Anyway, at 2000 CST just as the new season started, both "HawthoRNe" and "Deadliest Catch" popped up. I'm not a huge fan of medical dramas; I was spoiled by early seasons of ER, but Jada Pinket Smith is a great actress and the first season was pretty good so I thought I'd give it go. Unfortunately, I also wanted to watch Deadliest Catch and my DVR only tapes two channels at the same time (yeah, I know, that was deliberate) so I had to cancel "HawthoRNe". I hope I don't regret that, although I kind of already do...
...to be honest, Catch got a bit samey after the first couple of seasons and right now it's the drama around Captain Phil's recent stroke that has me watching. As far as I know he dies, given the RIP notes posted on Discovery TV earlier this year/end of last, as well as the empty seat and constant eulogies on "After the Catch", the 'live' interview show after each new episode.
Anyway, no sense in crying over spilt cow-juice. Right now I'm enjoying "Memphis Beat" on TNT. Another genre of show I'm not keen on are police procedurals, having been spoiled by Hill Street Blues as kid, and NYPD Blue as a young(er) man. And also this kind of light-hearted show turns me off most of the time. I don't want Bruckheimeresque drama at every scene change, but at the same time, if I wanted slapstick, I'd watch "Scrubs" (which I don't because I don't like slapstick either...fuck I'm hard to please!).
So far it's pretty good, I'll likely give it a few weeks (assuming it stays on the air that long...fuckers). And it's interesting watching a show filmed in a town I know well. "West Wing" was filmed in and around DC when I lived there, but I've lived in Memphis much longer than I did in DC and know the city commensurably better. Seeing them piece together several locations rapidly for a single scene gives me a new understanding of the hard work editors do. Once brief scene as the cops walked towards an arena where a pageant is being held (in real life, a council building downtown), then through the interior (a building on the University of Memphis campus about 5 miles away) to grab a suspect, and then into a dressing room to "interrogate" him (a staged interior in a TV sound stage somewhere I expect).
One thing very odd is their accents though, the squad Captain sounds more Big Easy, than Bluff City. And the end of the episode right now has the cops busting in to "rescue" a white beauty queen "kidnapped" by her black lover. The cops draw down on him as she screams "no!". But they didn't shoot him, which is very odd for Memphis.
Note added in proof, once again...of course now SciFi, or whatever the fuck they re-branded as are reshowing the "Warehouse 13" episode I DVR'd earlier at the expense of "HawthoRNe". Bugger. It's great having a TV will a gazillion channels and DVR and shit, but unless you don't work, are a stay at home parent or plan ahead, there isn't enough time to find out what's on and when and plan the evening. Or...maybe this is what "normal" people do and I'm only just figuring out that I need to plan ahead. Fuck it. I'll work on it...
An as a random aside because it's Friday and I'm stoned on anti-histamines, "Gish" is a fucking brilliant album. Jimmy Chamberlain is a fucking genius drummer and an inspiration to get back behind my kit...
Felix and the Freikorps
1 week ago
12 comments:
not to be all that but Memphis Beat is filmed in New Orleans/elsewhere in LA and only a few outdoors shots are here in Memphis.
Reason? The have tax deductions for shooting in LA.... not in TN.
I have to admit though,it's a bit charming - that series. If you want to feel a bit overwhealmed though, you can try and watch "Policewomen of Memphis" where the camera follows 4 (or5) police women in Memphis on their job. Yes, it is pretty abysmal at times.
That tax break issue is bad. it extends to a lot of business issues here. Add to that an inherently and openly corrupt local govt and you see why a lot companies open factories in MS & AR instead. Even when they do come here they get fucked. did you see the drama about Bass Pro moving into the pyramid (yes folks...we have a pyramid...).
Oh and "Policewomen of Memphis" just does wonders for our image LOL.
Then again 2 of the worst neighborhoods in the US are only 10 blocks north & south of where I live...another reason I have my first level 1 firearms class on Monday :) (very excited, not been shooting for ages)
Deadliest Catch is a fantastic show but super-sad this season as we already know the outcome.
Also highly recommend is Mad Men. New season starts in a couple of weeks so now is the time to catch up on the previous three seasons (the pilot episode was totally fucking amazing, btw).
Mad Men is like True Blood or The Wire. I'm so far back now I want to buy the DVDs and do it right.
Another one that was fun was Good Guys, a silly pseudo-retro show with the geeky Lieutenant from Band of Brothers (episode 8) and Josh from West Wing. Good fun silly show
Yeah, you need to watch Mad Men from the very beginning. Netflix has it and I can also watch most of them on the on-demand thingy on cable.
I saw the first episode of Good Guys. It was amusing but for some reason there seemed to be something missing and I still can't quite figure out what it is.
In the meantime, it's July and the Tour de France is on. YAY!
You still managing Dry July?
Get some sponsorship
http://www.dryjuly.com/
-antipodean
Good days and bad days. More good than bad. World Cup didn't help...
That DryJuly looks good. Y'all are good with the nationawide sponsorship challenges. A friend took park in Movember, a charity moustache growing event while he was at U of Sydney.
I think you and I have the same friend in common. That moustache could have gotten him arrested.
-antipodean
If it the same guy that's a cool "Kevin Bacon" moment. if not, there are some...awesome (in the 19C sense) mustaches out there.
Speaking of which, my pseudonymity is frail enough I'm tempted to post a photo of when I did the 'stache...I had a goatee and when it came off i had some fun with styling the chin fluff...
Are they showing Being Human anywhere in the States? Can you crack the BBC iPlayer? It's worth getting it, by begging, borrowing or stealing.
Just watched the first 2 series - an excellent way to wind down with great fun storylines and surprisingly good acting.
Hi there, thanks for stopping by.
i haven't seen that show yet, but it looks good. One big problem is that US adaptations of UK shows don't often work well. That's then compounded by TV executives canceling every show I like as a kind of default setting.
Apparently "Wonders" is coming. I saw a lot of hype about that at Nature Network and on Twitter, so I hope we get a good voice-over artist LOL
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