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

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?

Finale Round-up MEGA Post Part 2 - Season Finales

So as promised, here's part 2 of the Finales Round-up. This one really will be ridiculously long. So long in fact I'll have to write it as I get to it, so check back regularly.

*** Season Finales ***

Monday

How I Met Your Mother: Eh. It was OK.
I really like How I Met Your Mother, because I think it's a funny show. I thought this episode just wasn't that good, though. The goat wrestling was stupid, Lily hiding her pregnancy bump is awkward, and Marshall wanting to jump was just kind of silly. I love Barney and I like Robin, and I think their scene together was interesting, but I also got annoyed because I don't like that kind of person. And I also think I just don't care who the mother is. At least it's no longer a bubble-show.

Big Bang Theory: Amusing but not one of the best.
I think, for me, BBT is funnier than HIMYM. All the geek jokes are hysterical, and Penny and Sheldon are a comedy team for the ages. That being said, while this episode was funny (and better than the finale of HIMYM) it really wasn't one of their best. I don't care for the Penny-Leonard relationship tension. I think they're better as friends who joke about how that side of things didn't work out. I'll be interested to see how things turn out when they get back from the North Pole.

Heroes: Annoying.
Where to begin with this shit. Overall I think the finale was stronger than many other parts of the season. The storyline was tight and linear and there was a clear POINT to everything. However, considering that I found the rest of the season to be complete and utter shite, there's no real comparison. I realize they were going for a Major Twist! by killing off Nathan, but to have Sylar take over as Nathan is so mind-numbingly stupid I don't know what to say. Why didn't Peter shape-shift into Nathan, fake his death, and then we all move on, minus one scary-ass killer? Obviously the answer is that Mama Petrelli has some serious family baggage. I'll be glad when that comes back to bite her in the ass. After four seasons Milo Ventrimiglia still doesnt' know how to act. And on a geek-note, what the hell is Sylar's power? As I understood the lines of dialogue in these last few episodes, his power is to understand how things work. That's why he's so good at clocks. That makes sense as a power! I can even, albeit by making a HUGE leap of faith, understand how "knowing how things work" applies to human brains. I'm not sure, however, how he translates that into making his own brain work the same way. Or how Peter could then steal those powers. Mimic couldn't mimic himself to get more abilities. It's all stupid and weak. Claire became more likable towards the end, but I really wish the bitch would take some self-defense classes. I hate how Matt Parkman woke up one day and is suddenly Emma-Frost-Powerful, as Adrik put it. Even if he has that potential, at what point did he hone his powers? And why are there no old people with powers? This show really seems to be writing from the seat of it's pants, and the Heroes universe suffers greatly as a result. The real question is if I'll be back next season, and right now I don't know.

Chuck, Gossip Girl, Reaper: Haven't watched em yet.
My goal this summer is to catch up on Chuck and Gossip girl. They got lost in the fact that I was busy and Monday Nights were over-packed with shit.

Wednesday

America's Next Top Model: I'm too biased
As Brian pointed out, in all of these reality competitions I pick a few people I want to win, and then become blind to anyone else having a chance. In this case, I would have been happy with Celia or Allison (although I knew Celia wasWAY too old to be a model), so I was perhaps blind to Teyona's merits. I thought Allison was cute and quirky, and randomly Stepped it UP that last episode. Teyona I thought had a very strange face and I was upset that she messed up the commercial. But Brian said, and I agreed, that they wanted an African American to win this season, so I wasn't overly surprised. Brian tells me she's good, so I'll go with that.

Lost: Wow.
This show is interesting for me. It's not something I exactly plan my week around, because I only like maybe two of the characters, but it's still something I love to watch. The story is so complex that you have to watch it closely, and apparently I just happen to get the whole time travel thing better than most people. Which reminds me, why is it so damned difficult for the viewing public? People have a linear time line, TIME has a linear time line. At no point do they have to have the SAME linear timeline. If you take a blue string and a yellow string and tie them together in various places, does the string become Green? No. You still have a blue and yellow string, they just intersect in different places. There are paradoxes I'd be curious to see explained, but I don't think they're going to pull the "alternate timeline" card. I loved when Miles was like "Uhm, did it occur to any of you that WHAT YOU'RE DOING might be the incident?" And I hate how Juliet went. She was one of my favorite characters in the show, and then she had to go and fall for Sawyer, who loves Kate. Everyone loves Kate. WHY? She's not that pretty, she lies to everyone, she gets her panties in a twist about random shit. YOU CAN DO BETTER. I loved all of the Jacob Storyline, and how basically everything we've watched so far is this battle between Jacob and the evil thing pretending to be Locke. This final season will be quite something to watch, and I cannot wait. I feel a bit like I should go back and watch seasons 1-5, but I doubt I have that kind of patience.

Damages: Good, if a little rushed.
Overall I liked the first season more, but I thought this mystery was interesting. This show is so complex to say anything about it would ruin any kind of surprise. I actually had one of the surprises sort of ruined for me (although I wasn't surprised really). It's a really creative show, though, and I'm glad it's still on. I love these stories where the timelines are all weaved together and you really have to pay attention to figure out what's going on. And the fact that it's only 13 episodes means it's easy to catch up on!

Burn Notice: Not invested enough to have a real opinion
I like to watch Burn Notice, but I always watch it while doing other things, so I never have fully-formed opinins about the show. I'm glad Carla is dead, and I'm curious to see what Michael will do against the new big bad played by Fraiser's dad. That's all I've got.

Thursday

Grey's Anatomy: Meh.
This show has lost some of it's luster. It regains it occasionally, but I really don't think it's as good anymore. I'm not sure what it is exactly. Bailey is less feisty. Izzy is annoying as hell and I hope she's dead, as I think it would make for better drama for Alex to go through finally falling in love with a woman only to have her die. And then we can work on George's rehabilitation, which will give him actual screen time. I don't really care for Meredith and McDreamy, or Lexie and McSteamy, so there you go. I like Arizona and Callie together (even if I think Hahn got short shift), and I like McTrauma and Christina. But really, when you walk away from a cliffhanger of which two main characters might be dead and you cant' really be bothered, what does that say?

Ugly Betty: Happens Tomorrow.
Not expecting much, though. This season has been kind of crap. I do not like Matt at all, and Daniel is trying my last nerve.

Smallville: Horribly backed-up. This too will come with Chuck later on.

Friday

Dollhouse: Amazing
When Dollhouse first started, I was disappointed. It wasn't bad, exactly, but it wasn't Wonderful Super Fantastic Coolness Remarkable like I was expecting. But then came episode 6, and things really started to change. By the second half of the season I couldn't WAIT to watch this show. The storylines were all complex and tangled. And the finale was pure awesome. I loved Alpha (won't spoil that, since no one watches the show), and I loved the Whiskey reveal. I never liked November so I'm glad she's gone. I like that Ballard now works for the Dollhouse, but I feel like his conscience is going to get on my nerves real damn quick. Maybe they'll make him into a doll and have him be shirtless all the time. I thought "Omega" was also bad-ass, and it was interesting to see how no matter how good the doll, there is always a part of themselves underneath it all. And always, when I think we're about to stumble headlong into "No More Plot" because a character became too self-aware, they reset it, but not in a cheap way. Echo is still moving towards realization, but not at the break-neck speed that makes everything unbelievable. In short, this show suffered from it's lame schedule which was imposed on it by Fox. Stupid fucking Fox.

Friday Night Lights: Good end to an awesome season.
I was not feeling the second season of this show. I mean, it was still better than 90% of the shit on TV, but it was lacking somehow. This season on the other hand was amazing. The scenes with Coach fighting for his position were great. The scenes with Saracen trying to deal with his grandmother were great. The scenes with Jason Street going away actually made me cry. This is one of the best shows on Television, hands down, and if you're not watching you should be. Awesomeness.

Sunday

Amazing Race: Yay Team Deaf lost.
I don't care if it makes me a bad person, I did not like Luke. I thought he was a whiny punk who would get mad at anyone thinking he was handicapped until it was convenient for him to emphasize the point. Without his mother, he would have been out in the second week. I dont' think he was stupid, I don't think he was incapable, I just think he was a bitch. He CLEARLY pushed Jen and yet SHE was the bitch? Oh no. And I wasn't sad Tammy and Victor won. I hated them until week 3, and then they started to become much more likable. I liked Tammy a lot. The red-heads were just a bit too nasty to the locals for me, so I wasn't devastated that they came in second.

Desperate Housewives: This show needs to die
It's not so much that I didn't enjoy the finale (although to say I enjoyed it might be a little strong), it's just that the show is getting stale. I just dont' see that many good options left for the characters. Maybe if MJ had actually died I would be intrigued, but I'm not. I hate how Katherine is underused and whiny anymore. I hate how Lynette recovered from cancer and turned into a raging bitch towards Tom. I hate Susan just in general. Gaby and Bree are still interesting, but Bree is about to NOT be interesting if she doesn't get away from Orson and Carl. And what happened to Andrew and his wedding? This is another example of a bad cliffhanger. The "Who did Mike marry?" question just does not interest me at all. I could not care less if I tried. And all of it just makes me think they should make season 6 it, and create some big mystery, and wrap it up that way. And as a side-note, who was the character from seaosn 1 that came back? I can't recall anyone new in the show.

Brothers and Sisters: Why do I watch this?
The answer is because of Scotty and Sarah. Every single other character I find boring and whiny. This is another show that I think is past it's prime, and should call it quits after the next season. At least now that Tommy's gone it should be more bearable, as his character I've always felt was terrible. Maybe from now on I'll only watch if there is some definitive Scotty storyline going on.

So I think that about sums it up. I actually did it all in one setting, although the later reviews are weaker because I was just worn out. I also watch Dexter and Mad Men, but I'm just as behind on those as I am on anything else. Not enough hours in the day, I say!