Emmy Picks 2009

I'm far too lazy to do a whole post about the Emmys, and I kind of already did one anyway.

So literally, here are just my picks for each category:

Best Drama: Mad Men
Best Comedy: 30 Rock

Best Actress, Comedy: Tina Fey
Best Actor, Comedy: Tricky, here. I'd love Parsons to win, I think Baldwin will win.

Best Actress, Drama: I'd be happy with Glenn Close, but I'd be happier with Elizabeth Moss.
Best Actor, Drama: Jon Hamm

Supporting Actor, Comedy: NPH, all the way
Supporting Actress, Comedy: I would be over the moon if Chenowith wins, Wiig is great too.

Supporting Actor, Drama: Michael Emmerson
Supporting Actress, Drama: Chandra Wilson

Outstanding Reality Competition: Probably Race

I don't really care about the other categories, I gotta be honest. So if I was watching it live, that's who I'd choose. I'll respond tomorrow about the winners, and I'll respond about the show as soon as I can see it.

An Open Letter to Grey's Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters

Dear PTB at Grey's and B&S -

Get your shit together.

I'm a tvaholic. It's an obvious fact to anyone that's ever mentioned television in my presence. I don't try to hide it; I revel in my TV geekdom and want to share it with everyone. Because of this affliction, though, I watch all kinds of stuff that wouldn't necessarily be considered quality. None of it's explicitly bad, but it's not all on the level of Mad Men (let's be honest, that show is amazing for a million different reasons). The point is, I don't have extremely high standards for things I'll watch. A good enough plot, decent actors, and some funny lines will get me through.

And yet you're losing me, people. I've watched both shows since their beginnings (although my recollection of Grey's season 1 is a little, uhm, grey). I've followed all the spoilers and news about each show, I've really enjoyed certain story arcs, and even things I didn't care about so much I could get through because I really liked some of the characters. But last spring I was really busy, and I started to have less time for TV. Things backed up, and when I could find time, I was a bit more choosy in what I would watch. And unfortunately these shows became an annoying obligation more than a fun diversion.

Let's start with Grey's Anatomy. I'll admit I never liked Meredith very much, but her storyline with White-Bread Derek was watchable. I loved the scenes with Callie and Montana (Dakota? Let's not name people have states). But where was Bailey? She has always been far and away the best part of that show (now that Addison is gone), and I felt like she was purely a background character. They gave her the Peds storyline, but as a result she didn't get to interact with the other characters as much, and frankly the best thing about her is she points out how fucking RIDICULOUS these other people are. It acknowledges the flaws in the show that we all see, allowing us to move past them. I don't mind watching Izzie be a stupid bitch if Bailey says "You're being a stupid bitch." And where was George? No wonder T. R. Knight wanted off the show. He wasn't my favorite actor, but he did NOTHING the entire time. And why? So we could focus on Izzie? Can we reshoot the premiere and have it be Izzie who bites it? I'm going to have a hard time beleiving anyone is sorry to see George go when no one actually spoke to him the second half of last season. Even Christina, who I also like, is kind of weak and boring with Owen, who needs to start dealing with his PTSD pretty quickly. And I think I've made it clear already, but I hate Izzie Stephens (in part because I hate Katherine Heigl). If I never see Denny again it will be too soon. All the emotional impact of his death (which I didn't feel to begin with) is completely gone now. The only redeeming feature of Izzie is that she made me hate Alex less. So in season 6 (is it 6 already? Or 5? Who cares) lets up the Bailey/Callie/Christina storylines, and ditch Izzie.

Now B&S is a different issue. From the get-go I didn't like many of the characters. I'm looking specifically at you, Tommy (Sidebar: I find it telling that Balthazar Getty isn't on the main cast list when you first go to IMDB), although Kitty gets on my nerves. But I really loved Sarah and Nora, and to be honest I watch a lot of this for the portrayal of Kevin as a gay man. I wish I had a better reason than that, but I don't. I liked watching Kevin's other relationships, and I LOVE Scotty. I will watch anything with Scotty in it, especially his interactions with other characters. But the problem became the Kevin-Scotty stuff became kinda boring because Kevin is an asshat, and the other stuff outside of that became even more boring. I liked Rebecca a lot, and can tolerate her and Justin, who I've come to like now that his addiction shit is over, but this shit with Ryan infuriates me. These people are being far, far, far too oblivious to the crap he's pulling, and it doesn't make sense. And I'm also through with Holly being the constant villain. Can't we just have one last knock down, drag out fight and then get over it? I feel like this show doesn't GO anywhere. The characters don't grow or change or do anything. The news about the gays having a kid will cause me to tune in, but it may become one of those shows I catch the gay clips on youtube because I don't care about the rest.

The point is, these shows I used to enjoy despite knowing they weren't the greatest. But in this era when there is an increasing amount of Good Shit on tv, it becomes harder and harder to want to spend time on shows that are increasingly lackluster. After devoting 150+ hours of my life to these two shows, I want to keep watching, because I really have invested a lot into these characters. But really at this point, you've got about three episodes to grab me or it's over between us. And I'm a pussy about ending things, to give you an idea of how serious this is.

I'm sure you still have millions of other viewers out there, so losing little old me probably isn't a huge deal for you. But I am TV-saavy enough to know when a show is great, and if you keep up this trend I think others will start to follow. Take a note from Desperate Housewives, which lagged a bit in it's second season, but came back with a vengeance in season 4. It's possible to be a quality show with good ratings, you just need to work at it.

And fire Izzie Stevens.

Kind Regards -

Mattie B

EW's top 25 cult TV shows

I wanted the list written down somewhere. Here's the link:

25 Greatest Cult TV Shows Ever

1. Doctor Who
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
3. Freaks and Geeks
4. The Prisoner
5. Twin Peaks
6. Firefly
7. Battlestar Galactica
8. My So-Called Life
9. The X-Files
10. Farscape
11. Supernatural
12. The Tick
13. Veronica Mars
14. Profit
15. Pushing Daisies
16. The Wire
17. Chuck
18. The Comeback
19. Mystery Science Theater 3000
20. The Ben Stiller Show
21. Police Squad
22. Get a Life
23. The Venture Brothers
24. Sports Night
25. Beauty and the Beast

I've watched 10, and seen a few others. Supernatural is next on my list.

Sidenote: Where's Xena?!

District 9

So. For those of you that haven't heard, there is a new movie out called "District 9." The basic premise of the story is that aliens have landed in Johannesburg and are basically treated like shit by humans. It's pretty easy to tell from the trailer that one human starts to relate to the aliens (who look like giant bugs and are called Prawns). Here's the trailer:



So, my review. Spoilers abound, so just be aware.

First let me acknowledge that this movie has gotten great reviews. Rotten Tomatoes lists it as having "all the elements of a thoroughly entertaining science-fiction classic." I love science-fiction, so I went into this movie expecting to love it, or at least be "thoroughly entertained."

Can you tell by my tone yet that I wasn't?

Now, I readily admit that going into this movie, I was tired and achy. And to sit with my mom, I was in the front row for the first ten minutes of the movie, which means about two feet from the screen. 60% of the movie is shot in Shaky-cam. Or as the douchebags like to say, "Documentary style." I was about ready to throw up after those ten minutes, at which point I moved further back. But even further back, I found the camera work to be very intense. I actually had to close my eyes at one point to calm my brain. And also, it felt a bit like the cinematographer was experimenting throughout the film. Some of it was documentary style, some of it was end-of-rifle-cam, and some of it was traditional camera work. I really, really wish he had just picked one, and I really wish whichever one he had picked was NOT end-of-rifle cam.

And I'm well aware that this may have influenced my opinion of the movie, and I decided I would look for things I enjoyed about the movie. After all, everyone loved it, didn't they? I was clearly missing something. So about halfway through the movie, I decided I was going to find something to like about this movie. And I did! The effects were great. I thought the aliens were well done, and once they started blowing shit up with the alien guns and the giant alien robot, I was laughing my ass off. Something about human beings exploding like water balloons. And when the robot picked up a PIG and threw it at a guy I guffawed. Probably pissed a lot of people off when I did that.

But when I take a step back from the OMG COOL ROBOT, I find the plot to be lacking. I mean, it's got lots in it, but none of it seemed very original to me. In fact the only plot development that surprised me was that they didn't kill off Christopher or his son. I thought sure one of them was going to get it.

And really, the fact the I see the plot as unoriginal makes it all the more obivous that the movie spent it's entire length beating you to death with its message. And that message consists of three bullet points:

1. Apartheid is bad.
2. Don't judge a book by its cover
3. Humans are evil

Sure glad I paid $10 to have that message reiterated for the 200th time in my life. It's not that any of these messages are bad, but I want them to be far more cerebral than they were. Like, the Apartheid bit could have been less obvious had the movie been set ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. Johannesburg? Really?

Point 2 and 3 are actually connected. The longer explanation is "Oh look, these aliens are so ugly and buglike, but they care for their children just like we do! Oh look, those are the humans trying to make life better for the aliens, but really they just want to exploit them for their weapons so we can kill each other faster!" I get it. Human beings are scum. That's been true for millenia. And we need ugly fucking aliens to show us just how bad we are, as a sort of counterpoint, because apparently we're too dense to get it otherwise.

I think if the movie hadn't been so heavy-handed with it's message, I could have appreciated it a bit more. But I hate getting preached at, and that's exactly what I thought this movie was doing. And it kind of makes me sad that people saw it and were so moved by the message. How could you not be?

So yes, I did not like District 9. I realize I'm in the very small minority, but it is what it is. Justin is intent on debating it with me, but I'm not sure what could be said that would sway me. You're welcome to try as well Adrik.

Insight into my relationship, Round 2

Brian: you win this round, butts.

Matt: Ha! Mattie wins

Brian: even the sun shines on a dog's butt some times

Matt: I prefer "Even a broken watch is wrong twice a day"

Brian: right twice a day, dear

Matt: Hahaha

Matt: And Fail.

Fall TV Viewing Schedule

Premiere week is upon us! Or at least the first of numerous premiere weeks. So I have to plan my viewing calendar! Over the summer, upon reflection, some things are getting cut. There just aren't enough hours in a day for me to watch everything I might kinda wanna see. Working from this list I'll go through each day. I realize most of you probably don't care, but it's what I do.

Monday:

8pm - How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
9pm - Greek (ABC Family)
9:30pm - Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Wow, so quiet. Heroes is on Mondays, but I refuse to watch that garbage ever again. House is on Monday, but I only watched like 3 episodes of the last season. It's one of those shows that I like to watch, but don't go out of my way to watch. Gossip Girl has gotten cut from the line-up, because it just doesn't mean enough to me. Midseason I'll watch Chuck when it comes back, assuming I can blow through the rest of Season 2 before then. But all in all, after the stress of last year, I'm really looking forward to this.

Tuesday:

8pm - So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)

'nuff said. This show is great, and even though I don't always agree with the judges I won't ever not watch it. I've heard Melrose Place (9pm, CW) and The Good Wife (10pm, CBS) are both really good, so I may check them out, but as I said, not that many hours in a week.

Wednesday:

8pm - So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)
America's Next Top Model (CW)
9pm - GLEE!!!!!!! (Fox)
10pm - Top Chef (Bravo)

Wednesday 8pm is terrible! I love both of these shows. I'll watch Model live and SYTYCD after. The results shows are always less interesting, even if I like the group numbers. And then Glee is going to be the highlight of my fucking week. I'm mind-blowingly excited for that show. Top Chef I've come to enjoy watching, although it's not normally my speed. If it weren't for Glee I'd watch the ABC comedies at 9 (Modern Family and Cougartown), but seriously, nothing will beat out Glee at this point.

Thursday:

8pm - Flash Forward (ABC)
9pm - Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
10pm - Project Runway (Lifetime)

Why do I still watch Grey's? I mean, really? I don't like 80% of the characters, and the characters I do like *cough* Bailey *cough* play second fiddle to the people I hate *cough* Izzie *cough* I'm very curious about Flash Forward, and we'll see how that plays out. If I ever, ever, ever catch up, I reckon Supernatural (9pm CW) and/or Fringe (9pm Fox) might be shows I want to watch. I've also heard Community is quality, and after True Blood I'm really curious about Vampire Diaries, although that makes me hate myself a little bit. And by a little bit, I mean I may start cutting. When 30 Rock comes back, I'll watch that.

Friday:

9pm - Dollhouse (Fox)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
Southland (NBC)
Stargate Universe (SyFy)

Fuck you network executives. Fuck you to hell. Three of my favorite shows from last season (OK, that's a bit of a lie in Ugly Betty's case, but UB is still up there) all against each other, while also against what I hope to be an awesome new Sci-Fi show. And my life is decidedly void of Sci Fi goodness. I would need two DVRs just to catch everything I want to catch. Terrible, terrible, terrible. I would say I might watch Smallville (8pm, CW) but I probably won't. There's just too much else.

Sunday:

8pm - Amazing Race (CBS)
9pm - Desperate Housewives (ABC)
10pm - Brothers and Sisters (ABC)

You can put a big 'ole MAYBE next to Brothers and Sisters, because that show was crap last year. I love Sarah and I love Scotty, and if both of those characters are not shown to some prominence within the first five eps, I'm out. I do still love Race and Housewives, though, and I like that things don't overlap (ignoring of course that Football always runs over and Race starts late).

Other:

There are a few other shows that I've only ever downloaded, so I'm not 100% on when they air. They include:

Dexter (Showtime)
Mad Men (AMC)
Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)

Also, there are shows that start later that I'm very interested to see, including:

V (ABC)
Parenthood (NBC)
Better Off Ted (ABC)
Caprica (SyFy)
Lost (ABC)
Damages (FX)
United States of Tara (Showtime)

And none of these count the summer favorites that I fell behind on: Eureka and Burn Notice, and probably Warehouse 13 and Nurse Jackie if I can find the time.

So that's that. There may be some more cuts in Greys and Brothers and Sisters, as time permits, but in general I think this is a much lighter load than last year. Also almost all the cable shows are 13 episodes, which is a godsend cause those are easy to catch up on. Anyone watching any of these and care to comment on them?

Miles Fisher - This Must Be the Place

I really kind of dig this song.