The big news of the week is that Dollhouse is officially canceled. Fox is planning on airing the 13 episodes they ordered, but there will be no more. Honestly, I'm kind of relieved. It was an interesting idea for a show, and might have been successful with a better lead actress. Eliza Dushku is such a blind spot of Joss it's not even funny. In good Joss news, he's set to direct an episode of Glee in the near future.
The list of other shows heading to the scrapheap of TV history include Eastwick, Hank, Southland, Trauma. Poor Southland didn't even get a chance to air. NBC exiled it to Friday night and then canceled it the week it was supposed to premiere. The real problem there is that Southland is a 10:00 show. NBC no longer has any 10:00 slots because they're taken by The Jay Leno Show. Southland did get lucky, though. TNT has decided to pick up the show. They may not produce any more episodes, but they did buy the rights to at least broadcast the ones already in the can. On the other hand, ABC has ordered five more episodes of a show I'm not watching, The Forgotten.
I have also finally officially broken up with Heroes. It was the third thing on the Tivo at 8:00 and when House went on vacation for the baseball playoffs, I realized I really didn't want to watch it. So it's gone. Off the Tivo and off my Hulu list. Bye-bye Heroes.
AMC's remake miniseries of The Prisoner starts Sunday. Getting mixed reviews. The general consensus seems to be that Ian McKellan is good, the rest is meh. Still going to record and watch.
I also started watching V. I've only seen the first one so far, but it's promising. It's moving way faster than the original. ABC is only showing the first four episodes this fall. It's going to take a big break and then return sometime next year. Even if it's wildly successful this fall, it's going to suffer from the long break. The other problem is, V has already replaced its showrunner and has halted production and gone through the dreaded "retooling." So we'll see how it does when it returns.
There's a new show that I've been watching on USA called White Collar. I think I've finally gotten to the point where I'd recommend it. The fourth episode just aired, and the first ones are probably still up on on the interwebs somewhere.
I'd like to take this moment to point out that the word that gives me the dyslexic trouble to type is "episode." It takes me two or three tries every time to get it to come out right, and it's a word I type a lot. We now return you to your regularly scheduled vaguely newsish post.
The Who is going to play halftime at the Super Bowl. CBS has not yet announced the show that will follow the game.
There are rumblings that ABC is in talks to bring back Charlie's Angels.
In case you missed it, Sesame Street turned 40. Everyone who knows the Spanish words for open and close say a little thank you.
The Addams Family is headed for Broadway in the form of a musical.
If you didn't see this season of Mad Men, well, it's over, but you should check it out as soon as you can one way or another. Holy crap, what a good show.
I'm working on this tonight while watching the three night CSI crossover fiesta. I stopped watching CSI:Miami ages ago. It's even more orange than I recall.
CBS has picked up the rights to Shit My Dad Says, the first show inspired by Twitter. If you haven't seen the Twitter feed, go check it out. It's pretty funny.
I'm pretty sure I mentioned a while back that there was a live action/CGI Yogi Bear movie. Word now is that Dan Ackroyd will be the voice of Yogi and Justin Timeberlake takes on Boo Boo.
Oprah announced that she is ending the run of of syndicated show in 2011. It sounds like she's moving the show to her OWN network. That's Oprah Broadcast Network to us mortals.
Bon Jovi is appearing on the season premiere of Inside the Actors Studio. Not the singer/actor. The band. No joke.
SyFy is doing a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland called Alice. It premieres December 6th.
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will co-host the Oscars, but that info might be trumped by the news that Ricky Gervais is hosting The Golden Globes.
There exists a Weezer Snuggie. I think I want one.
Rumor patrol: Several networks are negotiating with Apple for a $30/month subscription service. In related news, Hulu announced they are planning on starting to charge for access to content.
Comcast is set to buy NBC Universal away from GE as soon as this week. I think that will work out great, because Comcast has already proven itself a responsible network owner with the Versus/DirecTV clusterfuck. It actually might be perfect. I mean, there's nothing worth watching on NBC anyway, so if they take it away from me because I have DirecTV, then I won't actually be missing anything, right? Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Poor NBC.
In today's unnecessary British remake news, SyFy has announced they're making an American version of a show that so far has only had a six-episode first season, Being Human. Now it took me a couple weeks to warm to Being Human, but in the end, I really loved it. They're producing the second season now, and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm not at all looking forward to an American version.
NBC increased the season order of Chuck from 13 episodes to 19, and the rumors are increasing that the show will return earlier than March as promised. All good news. I think NBC really is sucking wind this fall and they even need help from a nearly canceled show.
Here's an interesting idea, CBS has started a service called Eye Alerts that will let you know when their sports coverage goes long, thus making their primetime shows start late on the east coast. It won't adjust your DVR for you, but at least you'll know.
Benjamin Bratt is going to reprise his role of Detective Rey Curtis on an episode of Law & Order this season. I'm really enjoying this current season/cast/incarnation of L&O. If you haven't been watching, and were a fan in the past, check it out.
Katee Sackhoff (that's Starbuck to you an me) is going to appear on an episode of The Big Bang Theory this month.
Blackadder and Fawlty Towers both got a remaster and re-release treatment recently. If you've never seen either, now's the time.
IFC has picked up the off-network rights to Arrested Development.
Fox has picked up a new reality show from the producer of Survivor, Mark Burnett, called Our Little Genius. A.K.A. exploit your gifted kid for money.
BBC America is running a Doctor Who marathon the week before Waters of Mars premieres and a Top Gear north pole special in December.
Punkin Chunkin, the show about hurling pumpkins returns to the Science channel Thanksgiving day.
Alright. That's about all I've got for today. More soon.
Tomorrow (November 15th for those of you not playing along in real time), the next Doctor Who special The Waters of Mars airs at 7:00pm GMT. It will air on BBC America on December 19th. It will air at my house sometime between those dates.
These specials are the beginning of the end for David Tennant's tenth Doctor, and he's been making the rounds in a fairly mad fashion this week. He hosted three days of a breakfast radio show, appeared on a couple different TV talk shows and just about anywhere else he could get his mug. It's been a bounty for us nutty fans. The most funny/bizarre thing that happened is that on his breakfast show run, he donated his old bed for auction to the Children in Need charity. Personally, I think the fix was in from the beginning, because the sponsor of the show ended up "buying" the bed, but we did get some funny/scary interactions with crazy fans because of it.
David Tennant finished his Doctor Who filming in May, and has been a busy boy since then. He's got one movie coming out this week, Glorious 39, a British period piece about a family on the eve of World War II. He's got another movie coming out in December, St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold. This one sounds about as far in tone from Glorious 39 as possible. Considering it starts Rupert Everett in drag, well, you decide.
But the biggest David Tennant news is that he's landed a pilot, Rex is Not Your Lawyer, for NBC. It's unclear if it's for the production company or the network itself, but still, these days NBC is a fate worse than Fox. The other thing that sounds frightening about it is that they're going to make him use an American accent. This sounds like an Incredibly Bad Idea to me. I guess if he's supposed to be an American lawyer, it makes some sense, but it seems such a shame. I've said it before, if you're going to hire a non-American actor, let him or her use their real accent. Either way it might not turn in to anything, but it's nice to see him getting some notice in the states.
In other BBC TV news, the new season of Top Gear starts tomorrow as well. The more I watch that show the more I adore it. Can't wait!
for "healthy" or I guess...healthier spinach and artichoke dip. Any suggestions?
Today is Day 10 of the Master Cleanse, I did it!
I am planning on baking up a storm this Xmas! First up? Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Turkey Day!
Got my New Moon Tickets! Midnight release? Really...I'm too old for this stuff.
My sparkly skull came in the mail yesterday and it is awesome.
I caved and turned on the Xmas music, and also peeked at the Black Friday ads...cheeter pants! I did not, however, get out the decorations.
I have been stuck on the same lame book for over a week. Just....cant....finish....
I wasn't going to blog about this but I'm bored of not eating and need something to do with my fingers.
The Master Cleanse diet is basically a ten day cleanse where you eat nothing, and drink a special lemonade, water, laxative tea, and herbal tea. (I have not opened my fridge in 4 days. I wonder what is mutating in there?)
The tea is made of
2tbsps fresh lemon juice
2tbsps organic maple syrup
1/10 tsp cayenne pepper
8 ozs fancy water
It actually tastes pretty good.
Oh I forgot the worst part! The AM sea salt water flush:( This is where you drink 32 oz of water with 2tbsp sea salt. You chug, and then run to the bathroom. TMI? It is not pleasant. Today was the worst because I had really really bad stomach cramps for a lot of the day but I really don't feel that hungry, just craving something crunchy and salty (that isnt salt water).
It is funny how you realize how much everything you do relies heavily on eating. Watching a movie without candy or popcorn, or god forbid, a giant diet coke? No thanks. Shopping on a Saturday without a latte? Pass. You have lots of free time on the Master Cleanse. It's not really something to subject your friends to.
I have been occupying my time on this lovely Saturday by watching the Food Network, Guy Fieri to be exact. I resisted for a while because I thought it might just make me hungry but its actually not bad at all. I am also watching Chopped because it is amazing and nothing on that show looks edible.
I have finally gotten over my Grilled Cheese Grill obsession. Kind of.
The Master Cleanse is my master plan to avoid the swin flu. Wish me luck!
Received from: Thomas Nelson.
Rating: 7 out of 10 (might have been higher had I read the first book -- this is the second)
Synopsis: The more than four hundred thousand readers stirred by the story of Ron Hall and Denver Moore will resonate with the all new, stand-alone true stories of hope and healing offered in this intimate, authentic follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Same Kind of Different as Me. With new "Denverisms" and reflections from Denver on his personal dealings with homelessness and disrespect from others, additional insights from Ron on what we can learn from people not like us and from those dealing with a terminal illness, and the stories of readers who have been impacted by the book's central themes, this inspirational reader will generate a host of new fans.
My review: I really wish that I'd read the first book, Same Kind of Different as Me, before I read this one. I have it coming to me from the library, so I'll review it soon. This book says it's standalone, but I really think I would have benefited from reading Same Kind first, just so I could have known the background of the three people What Difference focuses on -- Ron, Denver, and Deborah. Half of the chapters of the book are written by Ron, and half by Denver. Both had a lot of interesting things to say on the subject of homelessness and Christians. There are also stories of people around the country who were inspired by the first book. There was even a woman from West Sacramento mentioned -- her story hit very close to home. Needless to say, I really got a lot out of this book. It shifted my views of homeless people quite a bit, and it challenged me to think differently about the people I pass every day on the street. I don't have enough space to quote all of the different passages that affected me, but this one that really stood out (it was written by Denver, in his own voice):
"Since I been visitin a lotta churches, I hear people talkin 'bout how, after readin our story, they felt "led" to help the homeless, to come alongside the down-and-out. But when it comes to helpin people that ain't got much, God didn't leave no room for feelin led. Jesus said God gon' separate us based on what we did for folks that is hungry and thirsty, fells that is prisoners in jail and folks that ain't got no clothes and no place to live. What you gon' do when you get to heaven and you ain't done none a' that? Stand in front a' God and tell Him, "I didn't feel led"? You know what He gon' say? He gon' say, "You didn't need to feel led 'cause I had done wrote it down in the Instruction Book."
Hello conviction, I'm Cori.
(Finished 10/30/09)
Borrowed from: the Sacramento library
Rating: 8 out of 10
Synopsis: This sequel brings back the young wizard-in-training to face suspicious adults, hostile classmates, fretful ghosts, rambunctious spells, giant spiders, and even an avatar of Lord Voldemort, the evil sorcerer who killed his parents, while saving the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from a deadly, mysterious menace. Ignoring a most peculiar warning, Harry kicks off his second year at Hogwarts after a dreadful summer with his hateful guardians, the Dursleys, and is instantly cast into a whirlwind of magical pranks and misadventures, culminating in a visit to the hidden cavern where his friend Ron's little sister Ginny lies, barely alive, in a trap set by his worst enemy. Surrounded by a grand mix of wise and inept faculty, sneering or loyal peersplus an array of supernatural creatures including Nearly Headless Nick and a huge, serpentine basiliskHarry steadily rises to every challenge, and though he plays but one match of the gloriously chaotic field game Quidditch, he does get in plenty of magic and a bit of swordplay on his way to becoming a hero again.
My review: Ah, the adventures of the young Harry Potter continue. Again, I listened on audio book and fell in love all over again with Jim Dale's reading. He just brings everything to life. Also, he sounds exactly like Maggie Smith. Which is weird and awesome. This book is a little more intense than the first, especially toward the end. The characters are expanded more in this book, as are the growing mysteries surrounding Voldemort and Hogwarts. It's was also really well-paced -- unlike some of the others in the series, this one doesn't really get bogged down in the middle (I'm talking to you, Deathly Hallows). Plus, we get to see more of Ginny. And I just adore her. (Finished 10/13/09)
- I was opening a can of cream of celery soup on Sunday and sliced the absolute hell out of my pinkie. Went-to-the-hospital sort of slice. Almost fainted sort of slice. Bloooood sort of slice.
- Barf.
- Would have thought it would have been a knife that would have done me in. But no, apparently I cannot work a can.
- I knew I couldn't be trusted in the kitchen.
- No stitches for the cut. Mostly because I didn't want to wait around in an emergency room full of the swine flu for three hours.
- The cut is healing better than I would have guessed, though. It's only moderately gross now.
- Because I cut my hand, I had to get a tetanus shot.
- The shot didn't hurt. But GOODNESS GRACIOUS, my whole arm is killing me now! It feels like someone is trying to yank my arm from my body. Pain pain pain!
- I am SUCH a wimp. And a complainer.
- I'm stopping now.
- I have been writing about my New Zealand trip, so I'll hopefully get that posted soon. Needless to say, I had an incredible time! Amazing! Phenomenal! If you'd like to see one of the many, many, many photos, visit my flickr.
- I want to go back! There was so much that I didn't get to see!
- I'm reading this really great book right now called Angry Conversations with God. It's so good!
- I miss Amy (my coworker) -- she's in Denmark. Work is just not the same without her happy face around.
- We are apparently world travelers around my office.
- Remember back when we complained because Thanksgiving was barely over and Christmas decorations started going up? Yeah, there's already trees and santas and candy canes EVERYWHERE.
- I had other things to hodgepodge, but the Motrin has made me all la-di-da.
- La-di-da.
I had possibly the worse nightmare of my life last night. In my nightmare I watched my brother fall from a cliff, land on his feet, break his neck and die. It was awful, so awful that for the first time in, well I don't know how long, I woke up screaming, sweating and crying. And I can't get the image out of my head. So I haven't been able to go back to sleep.
I feel awful that I even had a nightmare like that. I blame the stomache ache I had before heading to bed.
God I hope that tonights dreams are much, much more pleasant.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
October
55. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
56. The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa De La Cruz
57. Going Home by Harriet Evans
58. Love of Her Life by Harriet Evans
59. Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot
60. Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot
Audio
8. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
