TV Shows That I’m Looking Forward To

If you’re like me then you’re already excited for the new/returning shows this 2008-2009 season, and I thought I’d share the ones I’ll be watching.

New shows:

Dollhouse
“A young woman named Echo is a member of a group of people known as “Actives” or “Dolls.” The Dolls have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments. They’re then hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies, and occasional good deeds. On missions, Actives are monitored internally (and remotely) by Handlers. In between tasks, they are mind-wiped into a child-like state and live in a futuristic dormitory/laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed “The Dollhouse”. The story follows Echo, who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.”

Two words… Joss Whedon. I’m one of the very few people who didn’t really think Dr. Horrible was as good as it should’ve been, but I absolutely love Joss’ other works, and I think just the fact that he has such a dedicated fan base will get this show lots of viewers. Although, it’s going to be aired on FOX… let’s hope this show doesn’t turn into another Firefly situation.

Dollhouse premieres January 2009 at 8:00p.m. on FOX.

Kath & Kim
“Kathleen “Kath” Day is the mom, a foxy, 40-something divorcée who finally has time for herself and her valiant search for love. Her daughter, Kimberly “Kim” Day-Fattibene, is in her mid 20’s but dresses like a child, living a Midwestern lifestyle, constantly eating as a way to console herself, and is obsessed with celebrities. When Kim decides to move back home after separating from her husband, Craig, who works at a Best Buy, Kath reluctantly agrees — but to Kim’s chagrin, Kath is not about to cater to her every whim as she has in the past. Also making their lives complicated are their significant others. Carl Rutter, Kath’s boyfriend, is a decent but dorky man in his mid 40’s who owns a sporting goods store and has a difficult time getting along with Kim. As Kim’s husband, Craig has his hands full trying to deal with her dominating personality, which explains their separation.”

Okay, so I don’t usually give re-made shows a chance, but I’ve seen a lot of commercials for this show, and they’re hilarious. And since I haven’t seen the original version, I guess I won’t be biased toward it and automatically write off this version. 

Kath & Kim premieres October 9th, 2008 at 8:30p.m. on NBC.

Fringe
“A television drama centered around a female FBI agent who is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena.”

I don’t know much about this show other than it’s from the crazy mind of J.J. Abrams, but it sounds pretty interesting and I’m going to give it a try. (It might be just because it’s J.J. Abrams…)

Fringe premieres September 9th, 2008 at 8:00p.m. on FOX.

 

Returning Shows:

Heroes
I was sad that this show was cut short because of the Writers Strike, and it seems like we’ve been waiting forever for it to come back… but I think it’s going to be worth the wait. The new season looks really intense, and quite confusing (Claire with brown hair?!). 

Heroes returns September 22, 2008 at 9:00p.m. on NBC.

The Office
This show is just absolutely hilarious. That little preview clip they have showed during the Olympics made me realize how much I actually missed this show. Will Jim finally be able to propose to Pam without Andy interrupting? Hopefully.

The Office returns September 25th, 2008 at 9:00p.m. on NBC.

30 Rock
Tina Fey is so funny, and she makes this show as great as it is. I only started watching this show not too long ago, but it’s become one of my favorites. With Jack possibly leaving, I can’t wait to see what happens in the new season.

30 Rock returns October 30th, 2008 at 9:30p.m. on NBC.

The Sarah Silverman Program
Sarah Silverman is one of my favorite people ever, and she makes me laugh like no one else can. Her jokes are so horribly offensive that they’re hilarious, and she’s definitely not afraid to take risks with her comedy. I’ve been anticipating this new season for so long, and I think Sarah will try to push the jokes even further and that’s what I love.

The Sarah Silverman Program returns October 3rd, 2008 at 10:30p.m. on Comedy Central.

Grey’s Anatomy
I wasn’t too happy with the previous season, but it’s one of those shows that has some very amazing episodes, and some not so amazing ones. It’s heartfelt, even though sometimes it feels somewhat like a soap opera. I’ll still be watching next season though.

Grey’s Anatomy returns September 25th, 2008 at 9:00p.m. on ABC.

House
I don’t really keep up with every single episode of this show, but I like that you don’t need to watch every episode to love it. Each episode is so interesting, and it’s fun to try and guess what is really wrong with the patient. I expect next season to have even more weird medical mysteries.

House returns September 16th, 2008 at 8:00p.m. on FOX.

 

What show(s) will you be watching this coming up 2008-2009 season?

Five Book Series You Should Read

I have realized that I read and own a lot of book series, and I wanted to share some of my favorites. 
(These are all technically children/teen series, but they’re the best kind! And really for people of all ages.) 

05. The Chronicles Of NarniaThe Chronicles Of Narnia is about four children - Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter Pevensie, and their adventures in the magical world of Narnia. A few of the books in the series do not include the Pevensie children in them. This series is so imaginative, the story is timeless and is sure to live on for many years to come.

04. His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is about a girl named Lyra Belacqua. In the first book of the series, Lyra learns about ‘Dust’ - a mysterious particle, and what exactly it is. In the second book she travels to the city of Cittàgazze, where she meets a boy named Will Parry who becomes the bearer of the Subtle Knife, which can be used to cut through any kind of matter, as well as create portals to other worlds. In the third book a scientist named Mary Malone learns what ‘Dust’ really is, and Will and Lyra travel to the Land Of The Dead. This series is very unique and that makes it incredibly interesting. I know I left a lot of things out when I was trying to summarize each book, but I really didn’t want to give anything away so you should really read the series because there is so much more that I couldn’t explain. 

03. Twilight Saga
The Twilight Saga is about a girl named Bella Swan, who has a mundane life and moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father. She meets a vampire named Edward Cullen at school, and falls in love with him. That’s basically all I’m going to say about it because if I say anymore it would kind of ruin all the books for anyone reading this, and I’m trying to keep these summaries spoiler-free. As you may (or may not) know, these books are extremely popular right now, and for a good reason too - this is definitely more than just a vampire love story.

02. Harry Potter
Harry Potter is about a boy and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, who are all wizards/witches and go to Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc is Harry’s struggle against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry’s parents in his quest to conquer the Wizarding World. Honestly, if you haven’t read these books yet… well, what are you waiting for? All the hype for these books isn’t just talk, they’re truly amazing, and I promise you won’t be disappointed. 

01. The Sally Lockhart Series
 The first book of the Sally Lockhart Series takes place in 1872, when a young woman named Sally Lockhart receives a mysterious letter that sends her on a quest to find out what it means, and why a woman called Ms. Holland is out to kill her. She meets Frederick Garland and Jim Taylor along the way. In the second book it is 1878 and Sally finds that she must seek help from old friends, and finds herself losing all she holds dear trying to uncover the truth behind the North Star, the Steam Gun, and Bellman. In the third book it is 1881 and a trap for Sally has been sprung, which has been in preparation for years. She is forced to go undercover, leaving behind her family and friends, as an old enemy returns. In the fourth book it is 1882 and Jim finds Adelaide, a girl who went missing during Sally’s first encounter with danger, and finds that she has married into the royal family of Razkavia, a small country near Germany. However, resentment is rising within the palace, and plots develop to dethrone the family and join Germany. Although Sally Lockhart isn’t featured as the main character in The Tin Princess, I have included it in the series because she does make an appearance. I got really attached to the characters in these books, to the point where when certain things happened (I won’t mention them here, to keep you un-spoiled) I seriously cried. That doesn’t happen often to me with books, but these books are so significant to me because they’re unlike anything I have ever read before. I definitely recommend this series because I don’t think enough people know about it, and how great these books really are.

Tin Man and She & Him

I finished watching Tin Man yesterday for the first time. I know it’s old news, but when it aired I never got around to watching it, and I kind of forgot about it until recently when I watched The Wizard Of Oz and it reminded me that I still hadn’t seen Tin Man yet. I thought it was great, and I liked seeing the little things they so subtly placed in the story that made me think of the 1939 film. 
My favorite character was Azkadellia, even though she was ‘evil’ throughout most of the series I sort of pitied her because you could see that she really was still herself even though the witch had controlled her, as we see in the end when she reaches toward DG’s hand.

I could probably write about Tin Man for awhile, so I’ll just stop there because the whole reason I wanted to make this post in the first place was to talk about the band called She & Him.

Now if you don’t know already, Zooey Deschanel (Who starred in Tin Man) and musician M. Ward created She & Him. To me, they sound somewhat like Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins or early Rilo Kiley. They have a very unique sound, but it’s refreshingly different from all the music you hear on MTV.

Their new album is called Volume One and it’s out now.
Their first single - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? is amazing, and there’s also a music video for it here. I like the cartoon feel of it, it’s fun. 

 A few of my favorite songs are Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?, I Thought I Saw You Face Today, and I Was Made For You.
Some songs have a 50s sound, and I think it’s interesting because Zooey’s voice fits in so well with that sound. I don’t think a lot of people nowadays can sound like she does. Most actresses who try to have a musical career fail miserably, but Zooey seems to be the exception.

So please check out the official She & Him website, and their MySpace page. I’m sure you won’t be sorry you did.

Learning French

I’ve been trying to learn French throughout the past few weeks. I think French is a beautiful language, and I’ve always been interested in it, but I never really thought I’d be able to learn it. (Considering that I completely failed two years of Spanish class in high school.) But I decided to give it a try anyway, since I didn’t have the pressure of being in a classroom and this way I could go at my own pace.

For the first week I listened to a few ‘Learn French’ podcasts, and I learned a few things, but it was all very slow. So I found an audio book (although I wouldn’t really call it a book) called ‘Michel Thomas: Speak French For Beginners’, and I absolutely love it.

He has a very different style of teaching. Instead of just making you repeat words and sentences and try to remember everything, he actually tells you to do the exact opposite. I was somewhat doubtful in the beginning because I thought “How could you learn a language without trying to remember anything?”. Well, he makes it really easy. You don’t think about remembering the words, but you just somehow absorb them, and you just know them. 

What I also really liked was that on the audio book there’s also two other people who don’t know any French either, so they’re learning with you. It’s interesting because most of the time, when they’re having trouble with something, you are too. It’s almost like you’re actually there with them, because you’re learning together. When one of the ’students’ gets a word wrong, Michel tells them to “Stop guessing, and to think about it.” and it seems to be helping me, because I think that’s one of my problems with learning a new language - I guess too much, and I don’t actually think about what I’m saying.

So far it’s going really well, and I’m going to keep learning.

90s Television Shows

I’m a kid of the 90s, as are most of my friends, and my sister and I got to talking about old 90s TV shows we used to watch when we were little. She was trying to get me to remember the show Shining Time Station but no matter what, I just couldn’t remember anything about it except for the title. I guess I must have been too young.

Some of the shows that come to mind when I think about the shows I watched frequently when I was little are Rainbow Brite, Captain Planet, Salute Your Shorts, Lambchop’s Play-Along, Ren and Stimpy, and Rocko’s Modern Life.

 

Although, whenever I talk to someone about 90s kids shows they all say the same thing; “Why aren’t the kids TV shows good anymore?”. And no one seems to really know why. Maybe it’s the theme songs - you can never forget the unmistakable “Captain Planet! He’s our hero! Gonna take pollution down to zero!”, or maybe it’s just the fact that we’re not kids anymore. 

I remember my sister and I sitting in our little yellow Playskool chairs, watching Rainbow Brite while our dad cooked us breakfast. I think it’s the things like that, that make us (or maybe just me) remember and still love those shows.

What is your favorite show from the 90s?? Why is it your favorite?