Pop Culture Ramblings

New Fall Season Scorecard

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Deduct IQ points from me if you want to, but I love me some tee vee. I look forward to the new fall season as much as I look forward to presidential election years. It’s been a bittersweet season here at Soapboxville and I wasn’t feeling well last week, but two days of cleaning and doing housework first thing in the morning freed up my afternoons for binge watching to catch up on the new fall season’s shows. My scorecard for this season’s shows is below.

 

 

Sunday

B     Blood and Oil — What can I say? I like I like nighttime soaps. I very much enjoyed this one. This is definitely a guilty pleasure.
B     Quantico — I really enjoyed this soapy nighttime FBI drama. I like the suspenseful tone and plot line.
n/a     Indian Summer on Masterpiece — (I haven’t watched this one yet, it’s still on the DVR, it’s 90 minutes and I’m still playing catch up from not feeling well last week)

 

 

Monday

C+     Gotham — A dark show goes even darker. I liked this show better last season, the hubs still loves it.
B-     Big Bang Theory — Disappointing, I don’t want BBT to follow relationship woes. Last season was disappointing, it doesn’t seem this season is off to any better a start. The second episode was a little better, but still I don’t want BBT to follow bummer relationship drama.
F     Life in Pieces — My vote for first cancelled series of the new fall season. I didn’t like the second episode either, it’s been deleted from the DVR.

 

A     Switched at Birth —  This show keeps an odd schedule and had already started its new season before the rest of the pack, but I love this show and have since it debuted so I believe it deserves a place on my new fall scorecard. This is one of the shows that I enjoy and have for quite a while but am starting to believe is reaching its eventual conclusion.

 

 

Tuesday

A+     The Muppets — Very entertaining. The first two episodes have been great. So far this is everything I want it to be. They certainly are pulling big time guests.
F     Scream Queens — Awful, it.was.just.so.bad. I didn’t make it through the first hour of the two hour season premiere. I hated this, I’d vote for it to be one of the first to be cancelled but experience tells me this is the kind of show a lot of people love.
A     Grandfathered — I loved this one, good writing, good story, good acting, John Stamos still has charisma.
B     The Grinder — This was just okay. I was sort of interested but not entertained, amused or captivated. I like Rob Lowe and Fred Savage but the first episode was just okay. I’m going to keep watching but I definitely didn’t love this one. Maybe it would fare better if Fox gives it a new time when it’s not following Grandfathered, against which it doesn’t stand up so well.

 

 

Wednesday

n/a*     Goldbergs — The hubs loves this, I tolerate it because he likes it.  *It wouldn’t be fair to grade this because it’s not really my show.
A+     Nashville — Didn’t disappoint, Love this show. I’m so happy it was renewed for this season. I think there were rumblings of this being its last season so I hope either ratings improve and it gets to continue or they give it a fitting final season. I’ll refrain from writing more in case I’m not the only one not all caught up on the new fall season. No spoilers here.
n/a*     Moonbeam City — I thought I’d try this cartoon cop drama even though it’s out of my genre, I made it 4 minutes and deleted it from the DVR. Cartoons and cop dramas just aren’t my thing.  *It wouldn’t be fair to grade this, it just wasn’t my thing.

 

*** I’m wondering where the new season of Top Chef is, I haven’t read anything at all about when the new season, reportedly shot in California, will debut. I love this show and can’t wait for its return. ***

 

 

 

Thursday

A     Grey’s Anatomy — I circled this one for days because I’m certain I can’t watch people turn life support off and this happens a lot on Grey’s. I wasn’t sure if I was going to watch this season and the possibility exists that it’ll get too heavy for me later in the season. That said, I’m glad I watched the first episode of the new season, it was a great episode. I do however believe this series is reaching it’s natural conclusion. FYI I also feel this way about The Big Bang Theory, the actors are getting too old for their roles.

 

 

Friday

A     Shark Tank — I like this show a lot, there’s not much to say about it. I enjoyed Ashton Kutcher as a guest shark on the first episode, he came as close to calling Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful a douche bag as anyone could on primetime TV.
C-     Real Time with Bill Maher — I’m losing patience with Bill and he and his show are starting to bore me. I thought he blew this week’s interview with Jane Goodall and bordered on disrespectful and totally out of his league with her.

 

 

 

Netflix

 

I’m currently watching and rewatching West Wing, Gilmore Girls, and M*A*S*H on Netflix streaming. I’ll be back tomorrow to write about my Netflix watching habits. 

 

 

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge Book Two: The Nanny Diaries

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I am participating in the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge, (reading the books mentioned during the 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls)

For my second book I chose “The Nanny Diaries” by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. I read it in 24 hours, I couldn’t put it down. I just had to know what became of Nanny, and Grayer, and Mrs. X. I was totally engrossed in the story and just kept wanting to know more. I was almost disappointed when it was over.

I know there are those who found this story depressing and yes, my heart also breaks for the Grayers and Mrs. Xes out there in the world, but for me it was an interesting fast-paced read. I’d recommend it to anyone. I just saw that there is a sequel, that I will download on my Kindle and read as soon as I’ve finished reading “The Wizard of Oz”, which I chose for book #3 before I knew there was a Nanny Diaries sequel.

Two Things

1.  “Nanny Returns”, the Nanny Diaries sequel, is not part of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge.

2.  The Wizard of Oz is a free download for your Kindle. I’m not sure I love this one just yet, but it could just be that class started up again and I haven’t had the time to really focus on reading for fun.

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge Book One: I’m With the Band

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I am participating in the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge, (reading the books mentioned during the 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls) the first book I made the choice to read was I’m With the Band by Pamela Des Barres. I chose it because I thought I’d start the year with a light, fun, trashy read and I was surprised to find it was anything but. I actually felt sorry for most, if not all who were profiled in the book, including Pamela. I was surprised at how much heartbreak and being used and abused she endured. I was very much surprised that she wasn’t a tough bitch who could handle herself or a light and airy type who flitted from one guy to another without forming attachments.

It was also heartbreaking to read about the sorrowful broken rock stars and aspiring rock stars who moved in and out of her life. At the conclusion of the book she goes on to list those who’ve passed on and how. In the end I felt this read like a tragic tale of heartbreak and a reminder that those who burn brightest often do so because tortured — no matter how beautiful or talented they are — souls live so very much in darkness.

To sum up, this wasn’t the trashy book I’d hoped to read. Instead it was a very raw and very honest depiction of a time and a place and of a subculture that started out innocently enough and became something else much darker.

Dear Netflix,

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I’ve streamed my way through The Secret Life of the American Teenager, The West Wing, Brothers & Sisters, Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Switched at Birth, and American Pickers. I need some new viewing options. I’d like for you to add the following movies and TV shows for my streaming pleasure. Please and thank you.

xo xo

~ Carol Anne

My Wish List (in no particular order)

Bring it On (The Original)

Marie Antoinette

Save the Last Dance

Ten Things I Hate About You

A Cinderella Story

Raise Your Voice

Princess Diaries

Casablanca

Gone with the Wind

The Sound of Music

The Wizard of Oz

The Wedding Date

Rock of Love

Daisy of Love

Married to Rock

Almost Famous

Empire Records

Boys on the Side

Sisters (the NBC series from the 90s) — Not on DVD yet to my knowledge

M*A*S*H

JAG

The Muppets TV Series

The Brady Bunch

Little House on the Prairie

Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman

Guiding Light (Soap Opera)

Dallas (Original Series)

A Few Thoughts on Tonight’s Glee Episode

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I watched tonight’s Glee even though I haven’t watched in a few seasons. I wanted to see how they bid farewell to Finn/Cory. Watching the show I cried like he was someone I knew personally. I had to take a shower to shake it off. Doing this gave me time to think.

Finn’s/Corey’s send off was beautiful and heartfelt and fantastic but the more I think about it the more I disagree with his sendoff. I keep thinking there are people out there who romanticize the whole idea of people mourning for them. I actually think for the Rachel Berry’s of the world this was an idealized version of their fantasies, everyone offering beautiful remembrances of them. No one once mentioned how he died or drugs.

Die young, leave a beautiful corpse…

I think the most poignant exchange of the whole night was between Coach and Puck under the tree. It’s painfully true, in 50 years no one will remember who Finn/Corey was. Just because he was once young, handsome, and talented doesn’t mean he’ll be remembered to the ages.

Maybe it’s because I’ve fought a battle with cancer and glimpsed my own mortality or maybe it’s because I’ve had some very recent all too real glimpses of my parents’ mortality but in the end, tonight’s sendoff leaves me feeling empty and disappointed.

There are so many people who were once young and beautiful fighting for their lives tonight and this person who threw it all away gets a glorious televised memorial. Dying young isn’t glamourous or romantically tragic, it’s just pitiful and stupid and for everyone who isn’t your parent, sibling, or lover there’ll be another “Quarterback” next year. The candles will be extinguished, the teddy bears and signs will be thrown away and all that will be left is nothingness.

Glee has done a wonderful job or portraying a realer reality than most high school shows but I’m not sure they lived up to their own standards tonight. They portrayed his death as tragically beautiful when in reality it was senseless and stupid.