The Scrolls

Posts Tagged ‘tv’

Changing My Tune

When I first heard that there were not one, but two!, fairy-tale inspired stories coming to night-time television last fall, I was pretty excited. I wanted to check out both Grimm and One Upon a Time and.. I did. I actually watched Grimm first and couldn’t get into it, at first. The format was more dramatic and crime procedural than I expected so I turned it off within a few minutes, despite feeling that the main character was pretty hot.

I think I forced myself to like Once Upon a Time because there was no way I was going to not like any fairy-tale television show. And I like how the plot incorporates your favorite stories into a modern day version. There’s enough of a spin to keep it interesting and some of the characters are masterfully cast. Specifically, Mr Gold/Rumpelstiltskin and the mayor. There’s some cheesy CGI and plot holes in general but nothing that will keep me from watching it. It’s a family-friendly show that requires a little bit of suspension of disbelief but it feels good and.. magical.

But I decided to give Grimm another chance the other night and now.. I have to admit that I not only like it but I like it better than I like Once Upon a Time but.. it’s not fairy-tale-esque. Although the main character is a descendent of the ancient Grimm family and, as such, is expected to hunt monsters like werewolves and such, it’s not about fairy tales. Because he’s a cop, this definitely has a dramatic, police feel to it. So it’s not magical but, that’s okay. I already have a magical show to watch.

As I described Grimm to Wendy, she asked if it was like Supernatural. It’s not quite as dark but, yes. Most of the adversaries have been were-like creatures: bears, pigs, bees and, yes, wolves. There was a stay ogre, too. Grimm isn’t necessarily any more realistic than Once Upon a Time and the focus is more on the drama and action than on the characters, like in One Upon a Time, which focuses on character development. Still, I really enjoy the main character’s werewolf buddy. He brings some great comic relief to the show and was well cast himself. Grimm also has some of the same CGI problems but it feels a little more polished than Once Upon a Time.

Anyway, they’re both good but only one of them is really about fairy tales.

Admission

Now that I have DirecTV back, I can tune into reruns and trashy reality TV. Actually, I don’t watch a whole lot of reality television and there’s so much of it that you really need to pick one and stick with it to make sure you don’t miss what happens.. but I missed stumbled out of bed and crawling onto the couch to watch a little bit of mind-numbing TV before actually getting up. It helps me to relax. Today, when I woke up, I did that and turned into Sister Wives. This show is definitely one of my guilty pleasures when it comes to TV. You’ve probably heard of it but, in case you haven’t, Kody Brown is an immature douchebag who also happens to be a Mormon and polygamist and has four wives and 16 kids. 16. 1 more on the way, too.

I missed a lot of the happenings but it appears that the family has moved from a triplex in Utah to four separate homes in Nevada because the authorities were starting to investigate them. Season three is almost at its end but the episodes I watched seemed to indicate that it focused on kids: how they felt about moving, some of them getting ready for college and the struggles of having so many teenagers. I wouldn’t want to live in any of those houses, I must confess.

But other than the simply synergistic stresses of having a family so large, I kind of feel like the Browns are doing okay at it. If you’re going to try your hand at it, going their route is probably the most sane way to do it. The wives help each other out and, for the most part, seem happy with their plans. Other seasons really stressed jealousy and the frustrations over Kody courting Robyn and adding her as the fourth wife but this season seems to have settled down and it seems as though things are working out okay. It makes me wonder if the focus on the jealousy and such was just for TV. As a viewer,  I don’t know because I don’t have an inside look.

There’s still a few things that bug me, though. Kody acts like a teenager much of the time and the wives definitely have better relationships with the children — all of them — than he does. He seems a little disconnected. This is perfectly evidenced by the fact that he drives a sports car and it’s up to any of the wives to be the soccer mom. Dude, get a fucking minivan and help those women out, will ya?

Plus, I just can’t help but wonder who’s paying for everything. After moving, everyone was out of a job, at least temporarily. TLC is really tight-lipped about how much Kody and crew make, too. It boggles me. I can’t understand how they can afford 16 kids and four adults. It’s hard enough being a single person but I can’t imagine how much money they have to pay just to get by.. and they all seem to be doing fairly well. Taxes must be a bitch, too. Three of the wives have to claim single and I can’t help but wonder why the authorities aren’t all up in Kody’s grill regarding child support. Hell, even before Mom and Tim got married, the state made him pay it while they were living together.

I’m probably going to finish this season because that’s how I roll.

My Month Without TV

Actually, it was more like a month and a half and it wasn’t by my choice. It was interesting, nonetheless.

My TV broke. And it sucked. I was watching it and accidentally turned it off. It didn’t turn off the right way. It wouldn’t turn back on. I had to ind a way to get it out of here and then buy a new one. In the mean time, I learned some things.

• TV really is a good way to veg out sometimes. It’s distracting.
• It also provides background noise in the middle of the night that helps a person to feel less isolated.
• But sometimes the stuff that’s on really isn’t any better than watching nothing at all.
• Streaming Netflix is a God send. I watched a ton of it–mostly Family Guy–but my computer just isn’t very high quality.
• I can’t do anything on the computer if I am also watching a show or movie on it.
• A TV can serve as a central decorating point that pulls a room together. Without it, everything looks bare.
• Daily/weekly shows are fun to watch. They’re reassuring.
• Season premieres are exciting.
• I go a little stir crazy after not having a TV.
• Yet, having a TV isn’t a make it or break it deal, really. I am excited to have one again but I more used to not having one than I realized. I use it a lot less now.
• TV can make me restless in an anxious way.

Unbelievable People

When I have time on my hands, such as I do now, I have a relatively ‘bad’ habit of watching reality TV. Now, I don’t especially like anything Survivor-esque where everything is staged but, rather, the shows where the crew seems to more follow the lives of real people, even if the final production is edited for affect.

Nevertheless, I still cannot believe how some people act when the camera is rolling, on a show that will be broadcast to thousands. For example, I frequently watch Bridezillas which is, as you can imagine, about horrible brides. Granted, planning a wedding is difficult and costly and can cause even the sweetest person to be in a bad mood but some of these women (Can you say Megan?), are so difficult, rude, selfish, mean, unreasonable, bitchy, and out of touch with reality that they are almost difficult to take for real and it’s fully impossible to think anyone would want to marry them.

Actually, in Megan’s case, it appears she bullied her boyfriend into proposing. She proceeded to threaten to marry someone else – on screen – and her catch phrase seems to be “shut the hell up” as she loved screaming it at her bridal party at times – like when she listed of her rules for the reception and ceremony which included forbidding the females to remove shoes and the males were not allowed to remove their tux coats no matter what.

Of course, a few other people shocked me, like Tanesha when she demanded her fiancee buy her a knew “3 and a half” karat ring after she misplaced it. Turns out she had left it on the floor and he had hidden it to teach her a lesson. I forget, was this before or after she told him she no longer had a job because she couldn’t work full time and plan a wedding at the same time?

Celinda was also no piece of cake, showing up 1 hour and 15 minutes late to her rehearsal and refusing to apologize to the officiant. Instead, she had a few glasses of champagne which helped her bumble through the night. It’s now surprise that she’s such a bitch when you consider the hissy fit her mother threw over having to serve herself at the buffet.

As these monstrous brides-to-be start to overlap in my mind, I forget which one it was who demanded her new husband take her home after she wasn’t getting enough attention when her nephew turned up missing.

Predictably, many couples who have been on shows like these quickly separate, divorce or find themselves in counseling to address problems that have long festered beneath the surface but what I think might be a better solution is a nice slap across the face, on their wedding day, on national TV.

I know I am not an easy person but I could never, ever be as horrendous as these people! And they’re on TV. I’m sure there’s editing and staging to make it look worse than it is, but I hope these women see themselves on the show and feel bad for their behaviour – I mean more than just a cringe; I hope it motivates them to call every single company and guest involved in the wedding and apologize.

Not quite a choir but still angelic

One of the adorable though, admittedly, sometimes obnoxious traits of Samantha is her love of singing and music. She sings along to most anything from theme songs to music on the radio and will sing words to the tune of a song – usually “If You’re Happy and You Know It” rather than just saying them.

For instance, the other night she sang along to the theme of Two and Half Men which was cute but made only more precious by the fact that most of the words of the song are simply the repetition of the word “men.” Scooby Doo is another favourite and I melt every time she says “shiver.”

She must have learned this adorable song at school about ducks because she knows hand motions too.

Five little ducks
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck said
“Quack, quack, quack, quack.”
But only four little ducks came waddling back.

Four little ducks
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck said
“Quack, quack, quack, quack.”
But only three little ducks came waddling back.

Three little ducks
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck said
“Quack, quack, quack, quack.”
But only two little ducks came waddling back.

Two little ducks
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck said
“Quack, quack, quack, quack.”
But only one little duck came waddling back.

One little duck
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck said
“Quack, quack, quack, quack.”
But no little ducks came waddling back.

Five little ducks
went out to play
Over the hills and far away
Papa duck said,
“QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!”
Five little ducks came waddling back.

Lastly, somehow she wound up with one of those obnoxious singing fish Billy Bass which plays snippets “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and “Take me To the River” Of course she sings those too and when she gets to the whistling part of the former, she simply “oohs.” Haha
I really wish my camera had a microphone so I could record her singing!