Just Cause It Made Me Laugh

Hey folks.  I have been re-watching Star Trek the Next Generation and loving it all over again. So that is my recommend for the month.

And just so you know what a silly little fan girl I am I am posting this picture cause it made me laugh.  I found it cause I wanted a picture of Picard with a Santa hat for an avatar.   Alas none of those could be found but this little gem did pop up.  Be sure to check out Worf in the back.



Oh, and if any of you have mad skills and could make me a Picard with a Santa hat, I would love you forever.  Bonus love is Dr. Crusher is in the picture too.

Stop The Insanity.....HOLLYWOOD IMPORTANT PEOPLE LOOK HERE

Hear ye! Hear ye!  All of you Hollywood types listen up.  I know you are reading!  (a girl can dream)

There is a crisis afoot and only you can stop it.  When you are writing, producing, directing, or otherwise in charge of a television series, do not, I repeat, DO NOT write a cliffhanger ending to a season unless you know for a certainty that said series will actually be pick up for the next season.




Exhibit A- Firefly

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got a movie out this one but big, fat, hairy, deal.  The TV series was better.  TV series allow the character to grow and change over time.  Not to mention the the movie killed off my two favorites faster than I could say "Hell no!".  This cancellation was pure torture to the faithful.  Badly done Hollywood People.  Badly done.

Exhibit B- Kidnapped

I have reviewed this one before here so I won't bore you with all the details but I will say this.  I have woken up at night wondering about the guy in prison.  Who exactly was he?  Do you really want that on your conscience Hollywood People.  I am a mom who works part time and homeschools her kids.  I need my sleep.


Here is the ending I made up:  Creepy prison guy is actually an alien from outer space and what seems like omniscience is really just technology we don't understand yet.

Exhibit C- Jericho

This one is kind of a nice story.  Network bites the big one and cancels what is a thoughtful, intelligent, well done series and leaves the fans hanging with a cliffhanger that rivals Woody in the mine shaft.  Fans rally and send truckloads a of nuts, a clever reference to the show, and Hollywood people relent and give a seven episode season 2.  Sigh.  But then season two ends in another cliffhanger and because it was only 7 episodes I hardly got to see my favorite characters at all.  Boo!  Oh, and before you comment about it, I know there is a comic book series now.  I read all of them.  First comic books I have read since I gave up Archie when I was twelve.  Oh, and the last one available (so far - I hope) ended in a cliffhanger.  I am not happy people.

Here is the ending I made up:  Creepy J&R guy is actually an alien from outer space and what seems like omniscience is really just technology we don't understand yet.

Exhibit D-  Survivors

Okay so technically this is a BBC production so strictly speaking,  I can't lay it at the feet of you Hollywood People, but everyone in entertainment knows each other.  Right?  So send them a memo.


This one is right up my apocalyptic alley.  A flu pandemic sweeps the globe and wipes out more than 99% of the population.  Those that survive have to figure out how to keep on doing so in a world they never expect to live in.  While I was viewing this I realized why I like this genre so much.  There was a scene where they were digging out some friends from a collapsed building and I thought "There is an episode just like this in Big Valley."  ****slaps forehead****  These apocalyptic tales are the modern day Westerns!  No wonder I like them so much.  You say Bonanza.  I say Jericho.

Here is the ending I made up:  Creepy  big pharma guy is actually an alien from outer space and what seems like omniscience is really just technology we don't understand yet. 

  Exhibit E- Flash Forward

And now we come to the real heart breaker.  Most of these others I discovered after the fact and knew what I was getting into.  This one I watched in real time.  I threw myself in with both feet.  I loved this show.  The cast.  WOW!  Amazing.  We had Joseph Fiennes for crying out loud.  Fiennes is a name that has called out at the Oscars!  Sure it was for his He Who Can Not Be Named, Nazi brother but Joseph is way better cause he has less bad guy baggage.  And Hollywood People, this was the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers.  I actually screamed "NO NO NO NO NO!! YOU CAN"T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!" when the last show ended and that was BEFORE I knew you were leaving me that way forever.  I cried real tears when I found out it was done.  And yes I read the book and there were no answers there.  It is completely different.  My anger at you bubbles up into a frothy foam just thinking about it you Hollywood People.

Here is the ending I made up:  Creepy  conspiracy guy is actually an alien from outer space and what seems like omniscience is really just technology we don't understand yet.


So Hollywood People take note.  You are America's stories tellers and you are doing us wrong!  Do not start a story you can not finish.  

Rampage over.  Thank your for listening.

The Cosby Show.......................Fun in the Summer Sun

The Cosby Show
E for Everyone


Okay, so maybe that should really read fun out of the summer sun.  It has been so blasted hot that I have been trying to find inside things for my kids to do that do not involve me.  Then I saw this on Netfilx Instant Viewing.  "Ya'll will probably like this."  were my words of wisdom as pressed play and began to exit the room.  Only I didn't exit the room.  As soon as the theme song came on, my foot was stuck in the door.  Here, I will link it for you.  If you are of an age where you grew up watching this show, take a deep breath and let the memories flood you.  It is like finding a letter from an old friend in the bottom of a drawer.

 Folks, if you have not already done so, you HAVE to watch this with your family.  We have been laughing hysterically for days now.  My husband asks for it when he comes home from work.  It has also opened the door for me to tell the kids things about myself that I had forgotten.  Stuff that this show triggered memories of.  "You know know when I went to my first year of college, this show was so popular that everything stopped when it came one.  Whole dorms would crowd in the TV room to see it."

I am about the same age as Denise so it was a little strange realizing that, though I am neither a doctor or a lawyer, I actually have more in common with Mr and Mrs Huxtable now than with the kids. But that only added to the fun. This kind of humor doesn't get old.  Sure there is a line or two that only I got ("Nobody who isn't on stage singing with his four brothers needs a $90 shirt") but they are few and far between.

One good surprise was that Malcom Jamal Warner was way funnier than I remember.  It was also kind of nice to look up his bio and find out that he is a child star that seems have escaped the perils of being one.  Makes me want to go look up his more recent work.

Another fun surprise was how much of the supporting cast I remember.  This little fellow walked in the door with Rudy and I yelled "Oh!  Peter!"  I pulled that name out of the dark recesses of my brain.  He then rewarded me by providing me with one of the biggest laughs I have had in a long time.






Does it hold up

Nope.

BWHAHAHAHAHA!  Of course it does.  Get thee to the TV and watch some Cosby!

Here is something to wet your appetite.

Kidnapped..............24(esque)

 Kidnapped

NR

First, to the cast.  Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany are both known entities so I will leave them at that.  Jeremy Sisto, the main character, was new to me but I liked him.  When I checked him on IMDb he has a long line of guest appearances and the a credit as "Elton" in Clueless.  Somehow I have never seen Clueless, so you will have to let me know in the comments if Elton is a minor or major character.  My favorite member of the cast is Delroy Lindo.  He is one of those actors you think you don't know until you look him up and discover he has been in a million things you have seen.  Anyhoo, he was in a near perfect specimen of manliness.  I first saw him (that I remember) in a film called Wondrous Oblivion and he won me over as life long fan of his acting skills. I will include the poster for that one here just to help you remember it cause it is worth a viewing.

Now to the show at hand.  Kidnapped.  It is a bullets flying, twisty turny, badge flashing hoe down.  If you like 24, you will dig this too.  Though to keep this on the up and up, I should confess that I have only seen a couple of episodes of 24.  It kept me guessing until the end and I am a good guesser on these kinds of things.

What to know before viewing

1) The gore factor is high.  I grew up on a steady diet of action adventure films and this had me flinching more than once.

2) Timothy Hutton is surprisingly thug-gy here.  I confess that I am not a particular fan and have not really followed his career closely but I have him type cast in my head as the Ordinary People kid, who is decidedly not a thug.

3) As I have been writing this blog, I have discovered that I have a frightening amount of knowledge about movies and actors.  There is no real reason for this to be in the "before viewing" section, I just wanted to say it out loud.

4) Coming back in to add a number 4 because I intended to say this from the start.  Be warned.  It does leave with with a mild cliff hanger. Nothing like the barn burning cliff hanger that Flash Forward left us with (darn them) but it was clear the writers expected a season 2.

What about the kids?

No.  Check number one in the section above.

Currently available on Netflix Instant Viewing and here

4 Stars- "Really Liked It"

For those who read my last entry, I wanted to let you know that Green Card is not available on Instant Viewing.  BOO!

Better Off Ted................Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Better Off Ted
TV-PG

Two seasons of hysterical, laugh out loud, goodness.  This is the funniest television show since EVER.  When the family and I watch it, we sometimes have to pause and rewind to hear because we are laughing so hard. We even laugh that hard on second viewings!

Ted is middle management in the research and development department of a company called Veridian Dynamics.  Veridian Dynamics is the epitome of all that is wrong in corporate America.  Linda is the employee/love interest, Veronica is the maniacal boss,  and the team of Lem and Phil are the scientists.  These five are a tremendous ensemble that will keep you in stitches and leave you wanting more.

The real star of this series though, is the dialog.  Snappy, witty, and fresh, I don't remember it letting me down a single time.  I am going to try to give you an example but if you don't like it blame me, not the show.  "Oh, God, we have unhappy Germans. Nothing good has ever come from that."  Ta Da!!!!  Funny, right?

Things you need to know before viewing


1) When it is driving you absolutely mad trying to figure out who the actress that plays Veronica is........the answer is Portia de Rossi.  She is Ellen DeGeneres's partner.

2) The biggest surprise of all here is that the series didn't last longer. When you get to the last episode, you will be sad.

What about the kids?


I'm gonna have to go with iffy on that one.  I let my kids watch but there were times I regretted it.  As the series went on, it got more and more sexual.  I guess my advice would be to preview for yourself and see what you think.

Currently Available on Netflix Instant Viewing and on DVD 


5 Stars- "Love It"