3 Signs It’s Time To Stop Watching That Show

Recently I was chatting with a fellow fan of a certain hour-long show which boasts a segment of the fanbase who are incredibly disgruntled. Thousands and thousands of words have been written expressing their displeasure about a certain plot development, extending to constant negativity about the show as a whole. Other fans, like the two of us who are admittedly more easygoing and optimistic, are feeling the strain of the now familiar complaints posted over and over by this other group of fans. Which led to the question: why are they still watching? From an objective point of view, a lot of these people don’t appear to even like the show they’re spending so much time arguing about, so why do they continue? At what point do you throw in the towel on a show that no longer pleases you? The answer is subjective, but here are the three signs for when it’s time for me to stop watching a show.

1. It’s a chore to watch. I have not watched Fringe since about 3/4 of the way through season 1. All of the episodes were on my DVR up until December, but I had no desire to watch them because it felt like work. Despite my hope that I would love the show, it never hooked me, so those episodes wasted away in digital limbo until I finally acknowledged that this just isn’t something I’m interested in. The last couple of seasons of Gilmore Girls were also a chore, as were a couple of seasons of Buffy, but when you’ve already invested five years in a show, it’s difficult to cut the ties.
2. It requires more of a time commitment than you can afford. Yes, Lost, I’m looking at you. I gave up on Lost toward the end of season 3 simply because I did not have the time to spend deciphering and analyzing each episode. I finally decided to wait until the series ends, then rewatch the whole thing on DVD, just to save my sanity.
3. It’s no longer entertaining. That is the fundamental point of television shows, right? To entertain us? I don’t mean every episode has to be laugh out loud funny or give me the warm fuzzies, but if, when the final credits roll, I don’t feel like what I saw was worth the time, then it needs to be cut. Of course every show has an “off” episode now and then, so I’ll give a show with a proven track record, like Chuck, a chance. But if the “off” is more frequent than the “on,” then sayonara Heroes!

What about you? When do you decide to cut a show from your watch list? Or do you stick with it to the bitter end?

Coming Out of the Olympic Haze

Between the Olympics hogging all my DVR space and handling the fallout from the last episode of Chuck, I feel like the last couple of weeks have been time warp. Now comes the run up to the crazy mad season finales in just a couple of weeks. Oh, and PaleyFest is going on right now – Nice Girls Louise, Tiffany and Rueben are covering the festivities – which always brings in fun stuff. Things I’m looking forward to in the next few weeks:

• Chuck returns (tonight)!
• The much discussed 100th episode of Bones.
• Vampire Diaries returns.
• Glee returns (finally)!
• The Psych and White Collar season finales (next week).
• Booking flights for Comic Con, Part Trois!
• Some really cool TV-related giveaways we’ll be launching soon.
• Did I already mention GLEE RETURNS?!

Welcome back, TV!

All My Olympic Boyfriends

I don’t talk about my TV boyfriends much (Mick St. John! Sayid Jarrah! Damon Salvatore! Bo Duke!) because ours is a private romance. Also, totally fictional. My Olympic boyfriends are a different story. Okay, they’re still fictional romances, but they only come around every couple of years, so why not celebrate them with glee?

Boyfriend: Evan Lysacek
Sport: Figure Skating
Why: He’s tall, dark and handsome; prone to wearing costumes that make him look like a duke from a Gothic romance; and manages to be graceful and masculine while doing triple toe loops and winning the gold. Humble and gracious off the ice, he keeps getting better and better. We need to talk about the clothes off the ice, though.

Boyfriend: Apolo Anton Ohno
Sport: Speed Skating
Why: He’s cute as a button; his massive passes going from fourth to first make me weak in the knees; and he comes across as carefree and out for a good time, when in reality he focuses hard core on his training. I could do without the soul patch, but his penchant for bandanas adds some edge to an otherwise clean cut look.

Boyfriend: Bode Miller
Sport: Alpine Skiing
Why: His squinty eyes and boyish grin are both disarming and roguish; his obvious love of his sport is infectious; the way he takes those jumps on the downhill is mouth-watering; and he has a bit of a bad boy reputation. (What? Did you miss the inclusion of Damon Salvatore on the TV boyfriend list above?)

Boyfriend: Ben Bright
Sport: Coaching little sister Torah to an Olympic gold in the half pipe
Why: He’s Australian (hello, accent); you’ll have to take my word for it that he’s cute ‘cuz I can’t find any photos; obviously has a good relationship with his sister which is always a win.

I haven’t watched hockey or curling or bobsledding; who am I missing? Who’s your Olympic boyfriend?

Olympic Fever!

Dear The Olympics,

Please stop being so awesome so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Sincerely,
Melissa

The XXI Winter Olympic Games kicked off Friday night, and not coincidentally so did my reluctance to leave the couch. The Opening Ceremony was a joyful celebration of all things Canadian, so good that even I, a person who avoids things that rhyme, enjoyed Shane Koyczan’s slam poetry portion of the event. I watched with my nieces and nephews (I had 8 of them over on Friday night, aged almost 11 years to 1 year) and they were entranced. The last to leave, my 3 year old nephew Gideon, refused to consider going home until a commercial break even though he was falling asleep on my lap.

Not everything about the opening ceremony was wonderful. We grieved for the Georgian luge athlete who lost his life in a tragic accident. NBC persisted in talking about the technical failure during the lighting ceremony as if it were some global catastrophe. But overall, it was beautiful and inspiring and exciting. Well done, Canada!

Speaking of drama, once competition started, I was immediately sucked into the speed skating and women’s mogul excitement. How about that 1500m speed skating final, huh? I thought seeing Apolo Ohno zip from last to first in his qualifying heat was the most exciting thing I’d see that night, but the final race was a nailbiter with a crazy finish. Wow!

Canada’s quest for gold on home soil also brought the drama as Jenn Heil narrowly missed when USA’s Hannah Kearney delivered a near-flawless performance in the moguls. I know Jenn was disappointed, but Hannah was awe-inspiring. Fortunately Canada did snag gold when Alexandre Bilodeau won the men’s moguls, citing his brother Frederic (who has cerebral palsy) as his inspiration.

Surprisingly it’s the figure skating that has left me cold so far. Maybe it’s because we have so many first-timers in the pairs competition; the quality of the performances aren’t on par with what I expect from the Olympics. Here’s hoping the individual events are more inspiring.

Which events have you glued to your seat? Or are you skipping the Olympics in favor of catching up with your DVR?

I’m Confused About LUX

So Life Unexpected is better than I, you know, expected. Good cast with interesting chemistry; not too schmaltzy but still endearing; a fresh take on the family drama; etc. I watch it while on the treadmill and it makes my workout fly by, for which I’m always grateful. But something has been nagging at me since the pilot: I cannot figure out the timeline for Lux’s conception and birth.

At first I was under the impression that Cate and Baze were seniors in high school when Lux was conceived, what with all the references to getting knocked up at the prom and the yearbook from 1993. That would make them 17ish when she was conceived and 18ish when she was born. However, it’s been established that both Cate and Baze are now 32, and Lux just turned 16, so that math doesn’t work.

A couple of times someone has referred to Cate being a mom at 16, including Cate herself. That makes Lux turning 16 when Cate & Baze are 32 work, but that would mean Cate & Baze went to the prom at 15 or shortly after they turned 16. I was pretty sure they referred to their one date being to the senior prom, though, and at that age they were juniors at best but probably sophomores.

It’s a minor detail in the grand scheme of the show, but it’s nagging me. Can someone help a Nice Girl out here and tell me what I’m missing?

The 6 Month Break, Or The Guilt-Free Way To Dump A Love Interest

Say you’re a showrunner and you’ve set up your leading man or lady with a love interest, just to mix things up. Say their on-screen love affair is going along pretty well with a few bumps thrown in to “keep it real”. Then say you decide it’s time to dump the love interest. Maybe they were just a temporary relationship until the REAL one – the one the fans have been jonesing for – could happen. Or the guest star needs to move on to other projects. Or your lead’s life is too easy and you need to give them some drama. But you’ve established that the love interest is a nice person (otherwise your lead wouldn’t have fallen for them in the first place), and you don’t want to make your lead look stupid/insane/murderous. How do you get rid of the love interest?

Send them on a humanitarian mission for six months, that’s how.

A few weeks ago Ugly Betty’s Matt and Betty broke up after Matt announced he was going to Africa for six months, “or longer”, to participate in humanitarian work. Betty can’t go with him, nor can she blame him for wanting to make a difference in the world, so they break up. I never saw much chemistry between Matt and Betty, so I never thought he was The One for her. This was a creative way to end that relationship without a lot of angst, I thought.

Then I watched last week’s Psych. Shawn and Abigail have been together for a while now, but we all know Shawn and Juliet are meant for each other. But Abigail is so nice! She’s sweet, she seems to “get” Shawn, and she’s got a quirky sense of humor. So how can the writers disentangle Shawn without undoing some of the character growth we’ve seen lately? Voila! A humanitarian trip to Uganda to build schools and teach children presents itself and Abigail takes it. How long will she be away? Six months. At least. (To be fair, this episode of Psych had been filmed long before Ugly Betty’s similarly plotted extrication aired.) Good-bye Abigail, hello chance to mature a bit for Shawn. Oh, and now the Shawn/Juliet pairing can progress. Neat and tidy.

So there you have it, aspiring screenwriters. The perfect way to extricate your lead from a nice-but-not-really-going-anywhere relationship.

(Why is Chuck a tag on this article? Because if you watched the season premiere last month, you may have noticed that after Chuck opted to save the world instead of run away with Sarah, he fell into a depression for…six months. Apparently six months isn’t enough time for Chuck to get over Sarah, or vice versa.)

Keeping Up With the Boneses

The holiday hiatus is over, and how! I spent the weekend catching up on shows as far back as last Wednesday’s ABC lineup, so I thought a little grab bag of comments would be appropriate.

Modern Family – I love how this show has set up various stereotypes, then proceeds to break them down little by little. The Claire vs. the remote storyline was very funny, but it was Jay who truly came out ahead this week.

Cougar Town – The whole Laurie & Grayson thing is kind of grossing me out. If Grayson and Jules are each other’s “someday” people, it’s kind of ick that Laurie’s already been there. Ellie’s very sweet confession of love for Andy added some dimension to her character; Andy’s assumption that sex would follow yanked us back on track.

Ugly Betty – Is it wrong that I’m a little relieved Hilda isn’t going to have a baby? It’s sad for the characters, and Ana Ortiz played Hilda’s grief perfectly, but with everything else going on this season a pregnancy felt like too much. Even on this show.

The New Adventures of Old Christine – Has Christine actually found a long-term guy in Max? At first I thought their quirkiness could work together, and any excuse for Blair Underwood’s Mr. Harris to return is OK by me, but Max’s speech at the end was less funny than verging on emotionally abusive. The rest of the gang’s antics, swooning over Mr. Harris, were hilarious.

Bones - Very clever, Bones writers. Give us a whole episode surrounding the assassination of JFK, then leave us in doubt when Brennan “proves” that the bones couldn’t be his. Was that really JFK’s bone sinking into the pudding, or did she pull a switcharoo for Booth? Also, Angela’s pregnancy scare would have held a little more weight if I hadn’t watched Ugly Betty first, but, again, I’m glad she’s not preggers.

The Vampire Diaries – What is it with the bad boys?!?! Damon is a bad, bad, bad guy. Killing, manipulating, generally living in a state of selfishness. But at the first hint of humor and tenderness toward Elayna, I was all, KISS HIM! Maybe I’m the shallow one here.

The Mentalist – Seriously? Lisbon didn’t know about Riggs & Van Pelt? Can’t see the forest for the trees, I guess. Speaking of…I didn’t see the tie-in with the news reporter coming. Nice sleight of hand there.

The Office – Huh. It was a clip show. I guess it’s earned the right to one of those by now. Bets on whether that guy recommends his company buy Dunder-Mifflin now?

30 Rock – I’ve only been to Boston a couple of times (going again in March!), but I got a kick out of all the inside jokes thrown at us in the evening’s “road trip” episode. I’m really starting to wonder if Liz and Jack are destined for each other, though.

What Not To Wear – No, I’m not kidding. I DVR WNTW so I can fast forward through the boring stuff (do they really need to both preview AND recap before/after each commercial break?) and get to the transformative stuff. This week’s tomboy jazz singer was a fun transformation to watch. Bless her heart.

That’s it in a nutshell. I still need to watch Dollhouse from a week ago. If I don’t watch it, then the series isn’t ending, right?

In Bed With The Tudors

During my lovely 10-day Christmas break, all the illnesses I avoided during the autumn attacked me at once. Fevers, chills, headaches, sore throat, back aches. I even lost my voice for 3 days, which, let me tell you, made traveling to Chicago for a brief vacay super fun. My mom and my 10-year-old niece were with me, both novices at flying and newbies to Chicago. Trying to navigate them through airports and the El without being able to speak gave me new appreciation for my voice. At one point, my niece said, “I miss you voice.” Yes, it was a quiet trip. But that has nothing to do with The Tudors.

I spent a couple of days in bed with my various ailments and in doing so discovered that Netflix has the first 2 seasons of The Tudors on their Instant Play feature. This Showtime series has been recommended to me several times, but 1) I don’t have Showtime and 2) Johnathan Rhys-Myers kind of creeps me out. Still, I was interested in the subject matter. I studied the writings of and for Elizabeth I in graduate school with interest. The politics and discovery and religious turmoil from that period, a continuation of what began under Henry VIII, shaped our modern lives in ways many don’t realize. So, with a long day abed stretching before me, I decided to give the first episode a try. Two weeks later, I’m almost finished with season 2.

The titillation factor is high on this series, much like HBO’s True Blood, and at times it makes me blush. That Henry, he was a horny devil! The series is not 100% accurate, but it captures the essence of the period and succeeds in making the complicated court, political, and religious matters at least accessible if not fully comprehensible on first viewing. My mind is still reeling from the negotiations for marriages within the royal families and the peerages. The constant (and different types of) bowing & curtsying, the importance of the color purple, Papal law vs. sovereign law…sometimes I find myself squinting at the screen in an attempt to decipher if that facial expression or that jewel holds deeper meaning. I’ve also been spending a lot of time at Wikipedia, brushing up on my history to supplement what I’m seeing on the screen.

Entertainment that sends you looking for more information – now that’s impressive. And Johnathan Rhys-Myers? He doesn’t creep me out as Henry VIII. His vaguely wild-eyed method of acting works for this role; I look forward to watching his dissent into madness just as soon as season 3 arrives on DVD.

R.I.P. Eastwick

The final episode of Eastwick aired on ABC last week, overlooked with little promotion and an odd airdate. If my DVR hadn’t been programmed to grab it, I would have missed it, and it looks like only about 3.26 million other people noticed it. Terrible numbers for the end of what should have been at least a moderate hit and a show that was getting better with each episode. Why didn’t Eastwick catch on?

What Worked

Likable Cast – Rebecca Romijn, Lindsay Price and Jamie Ray Newman were very likable as our lead trio. Gorgeous, quirky, and with good chemistry, it was believable to watch their three characters become friends as they explored their new powers. Paul Gross was also both dangerous and intriguing as the mysterious man who, we learned in the final episode, only came around if they needed him.

Supernatural Powers – the supernatural is hot, hot, hot right now. Yes, most of the attention is on vampires, with werewolves/shifters on the horizon, but witches discovering their powers is in the same vein.

Intriguing Storylines – watching our trio of witches discover and learn to control their new powers was interesting, but the mysteries surrounding them really gave the show substance. Who is out to get Joanna? Why is young Gene calling the shots and why did he and his “dad” move to Kat’s neighborhood? Just what is Darryl? Flashbacks to Darryl/Sebastian’s first appearance in Eastwick would have provided plenty of additional storyline to mine.

What Didn’t Work

Expendable Men – With the exception of Paul Gross’s Daryl Van Horn, none of the men on the show have been all that memorable or given much character development. Lovers have come and gone, sometimes inexplicably (where did the hot photographer go?), and each new man presented a potential threat. Jamie turned out to be an evildoer, Kat’s husband only serves to show that she needs to be single, and Roxi moves from man to man so fast that I can’t remember their names. Even the series finale showed that Kat’s new neighbor was trouble and Joanna’s new love interest/co-worker had an ulterior motive to getting close to her. Yes, I want to know what was going to happen, but a little more character development for the men would be nice.

Timing – this is the big one. Yes, the supernatural is hot right now, but the genre is dominated by vampires with werewolves about to claim the spotlight. I liken Eastwick to Moonlight: both were promising shows, getting better over time, but appeared a year too soon. I’m willing to bet that come January 2011, we’ll be hearing a lot more about witches and probably even have a show on the air or debuting soon.

For those wondering about the Save Eastwick postcard campaign we mentioned a few weeks ago, alas, Lifetime has gone on record saying they don’t intend to pick up the show. Looks like this was it for Eastwick. What are your thoughts on why the show didn’t catch on?

Top 10 TV Surprises of 2009

Have you noticed how the end of the year warrants umpteen lists of the best this and worst that and most whatever? I’m a list-maker by nature, as the other Nice Girls can attest, so this way of recapping a year is one I can get behind. Besides, far be it from me to shirk tradition! Herewith, the 10 most surprising things in television this year, at least to me.

10. Renew Chuck fan campaign gets national coverage. I was never concerned that Chuck wouldn’t be back for a third season, but in the interest of fandom, I joined our sister site ChuckTV.net in organizing the fan campaign for renewal last spring. We hoped it would draw some notice from fellow bloggers and Chuck fans, and of course NBC, but the day CNN called about doing a segment we were giddy with shock.

Leverage kept summer interesting

9. Summer TV didn’t suck. The networks have been talking about a year-round schedule for several years now, but it’s cable stepping up to fill in the gap during the summer months. This year my time-honored tradition of catching up on broadcast television when it was too hot to go outside was scuttled just to keep up with all the quality shows airing for the first time. The Closer, Psych, Royal Pains, True Blood, Merlin, Leverage…it’s almost enough to make a Nice Girl go crazy from excellent storytelling.

8. Peter is the one holding Kate captive on White Collar. Or is he? In the final moments of the White Collar fall finale, it appeared that Peter was the one who had been holding Kate hostage this whole time, presumably to control Neal. But is all what it appears? Creator Jeff Eastin Tweeted a couple of interesting statements late Friday: “Don’t assume anything you see is what it seems” and “Clue: it was set up from the beginning. How does Peter find Neal in the pilot?” So while my initial reaction was, “WHAT?!?” and an immediate rewind to watch that scene again, even before reading Jeff’s Tweets, I started following the trail of breadcrumbs from the beginning and realized that, no, all is NOT what it seems. (By the way, if you need a refresher on what happened in the pilot, Jeff Tweeted a link to the script.)

7. Justin Suarez isn’t gay. In the November 13 episode of Ugly Betty, teenage Justin walks the gauntlet at his high school where he’s the target for bullies and teasing. Advice from Marc helps him get in with the “mean girls”, but the jocks still attempt to humiliate him at homecoming (which was on a Sunday? what?) by naming him Homecoming Queen. Justin turns the tables by giving the honor to mom Hilda, then later stuns everyone by saying it doesn’t really matter what the bullies say because he isn’t gay. “So, he’s not,” says Marc. Maybe Justin’s still figuring himself out, but I gotta admit, even on a show where scheming and shockers are an art form, I did not see that coming.

6. Glee. I know, I’ve mentioned many times that I’m not a fan of musicals and yet I love this show. Surprising in and of itself, but even more surprising is how it’s been embraced by the general viewing audience, and kept up the standard it set in the first episode. From Mr. Shu breaking out into rap to Finn believing Quinn’s impregnation tale to Tina’s revelation that she doesn’t stutter to Sue Sylvester’s soft side to the usually brilliant musical numbers, this is a show that constantly surprises me.

5. Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne share a half-brother. By the time this BBC show killed Marian at the end of season 2, it had veered so far from Robin Hood lore that I didn’t know what to expect from season 3. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to watch season 3, but the lure of a brooding Richard Armitage was too strong to resist. The shenanigans continued for most of the season – robbing the rich to give to the poor, clashing with the Sheriff of Nottingham, Robin and Guy continuing their feud – until the fourth to last episode of the series when we finally got some backstory on said feud. It sure took them long enough, but what a bombshell to drop: not only were Guy’s mother and Robin’s father lovers, they had a son. The baby was sent away and subsequently became a criminal, ending up in jail and about to be hanged before Robin and Guy came to his rescue. With Robin and Guy both killed in the series finale, we were conveniently left with the promise that Archer, along with the rest of the Merry Men, would continue Robin Hood’s crusade.

4. Vampire Diaries. I’m not a fan of that other teen vampire series, and when I saw the preview for this show at Comic Con, I came down with the giggles. BethAnne convinced me to give it a shot, though, and wouldn’t you know, the pilot hooked me. Sure, it’s full of teen angst and melodrama, but it’s compelling and entertaining. Despite first impressions at Comic Con, it won a season pass on my DVR.

3. The ending of Every. Single. Episode. of True Blood. Seriously, is Alan Ball trying to give us mass heart attacks?

Dollhouse returned on FOX

2. James Franco guest stars on General Hospital. I don’t watch the soaps. I’ll confess that the acting and production quality generally leave me cold. Yes, I’m a bit of a snob there and yes, I realize that there are plenty of primetime shows with crappy acting, but at least the production quality is better. Anyway. When Golden Globe-winning film star James Franco was announced as joining General Hospital for a lengthy guest role, my jaw hit the floor. The more I’ve read about him, though, the more impressed I am with him and his career choices. Kudos to James for doing what he wants for his career, whether it’s optioning books to produce as films or attending soap opera acting bootcamp.

1. Dollhouse gets a second season. We know now that its second will be its last, but even Joss Whedon was shocked when Fox gave the greenlight for more episodes after dismal season one ratings. I’d say that announcement hit 5.0 on the Richter scale.

What were your biggest TV surprises this year?

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