The TV Chick

Before I begin, I have a few confessions to make. Confession number one: this is my first post of any kind ever. I’m a blogging newbie. So please be patient with me as I attempt to flesh out the many thoughts floating around in my head into one cohesive piece. Confession number two: Not only am I a blogging newbie, I’m also a New Girl newbie. I avoided the show like the plague due to an unidentifiable qualm with Zooey Deschanel. Maybe I was intimidated by her intense blue eyes and in-your-face “adorkableness.” Or maybe I just saw that damn “Is that rain?” iPhone commercial one too many times. (Oh Zooey. It’s obviously raining!) Something about her rubbed me the wrong way and, because of that, I scoffed at all of the critics who insisted the show was brilliantly funny and Deschanel actually made the adorkable thing work. Confession number three: I finally caved and watched an episode in late January. I’m not sure what made me give in on that fateful evening. Perhaps it was the post-holiday, mid-winter depression that was setting in. Perhaps it was the increasing adoration from critics I respected that plastered my Twitter feed every Tuesday. Or maybe I was just looking for something to fill the void that the too-soon Parenthood finale left in my TV-loving heart. Whatever the reason was, I turned on the TV at 9pm on January 29th and watched my very first episode of New Girl. January 29th. Card-carrying members of the Nick and Jess fan club may recognize that date. That’s right; the first episode I watched was “Cooler.”

Continue reading “Pure unadulterated friendship: A love letter to New Girl” »

During Monday’s meeting of Nick/Jess Shippers Anonymous (aka this year’s PaleyFest event), that kiss was a hot topic of discussion. BUT SERIOUSLY, HOW HOT WAS THAT KISS?! Ba-dum chhh. I’ll show myself out…

Before I get into last night’s event, I need to confess something: I didn’t like New Girl in its first season. It wasn’t a bad show, but a deeply flawed one. They didn’t know how to tone down Jess’ annoying quirks, or how to make Schmidt more than a one-note joke, or have any idea what the hell to do with Winston. But somewhere between the end of Season 1 and the start of Season 2, creator Liz Meriwether and her talented group of writers figured it out. Not only did they figure it out, halfway through this season they knocked out of the damn park.

Continue reading “PALEYFEST: New Girl” »

On March 9, 2013 the cast and creators of ABC’s hit show, Nashville, gathered in Beverly Hills for their first visit to Paley Fest. Couldn’t be there? Don’t worry, just throw on your Nashville soundtrack, relax, and check out the top 10 things you missed below!

10. Everyone loves T-Bone Burnett. Seriously, everyone. Chip Esten, Connie Britton, and Hayden Panettiere all stated that he’s helped them find their characters’ voices and is a source of comfort for them in the recording studio.

9. Chip Esten is a Friday Night Lights fan. “”There are a thousand reasons I want to do this and you are a couple hundred of them” – Chip to Connie about why he was so excited to land a role on Nashville. Clear eyes, full hearts…

8. Connie Britton’s hair has a great reputation. This isn’t exactly new information to those of us who love Britton from FNL, but who knew Callie Khouri was on this bandwagon with us?! “I wanted Connie from the beginning. I had no idea if she could sing or not but I knew she had the hair!” [Ed. Note: Both Sarah and Alix agree that #1-#10 of this list should really have been all about Connie Britton's flawless hair.]

7. Sam Palladio knows how to tap dance. Palladio let slip that his mother put him in tap dance (and singing) lessons as a child. Money well spent, Mrs. Palladio! Also, Nashville was his first audition for an American TV show (A fact that Alix learned in her Q&A with Palladio back in January. If you missed it the first time around, go back and check it out. There’s some great stuff in there!)

6. The show has been embraced by the music community. Callie Khouri and the rest of the cast all shared stories about how the community in Nashville have been so supportive of the show and appreciative of how accurate their portrayal is. Jason Aldean even stopped Chip Esten in the airport to tell him he likes the show.

5. Scarlett/Gunnar: Romance? Record deal? Clare Bowen shares that Gunnar is completely broken after learning about the death of his brother, but that Scarlett isn’t the type to walk away. On the professional side, a fan asks when Rayna and Juliette are going to start fighting over who gets to sign Scarlett and Gunnar. Connie: “As far as I know, Juliette doesn’t have a label!”

4. The carcasses of Juliette’s failed relationships. Hayden shared that Jay Hernandez (who plays Dante) refers to Juliette’s old boyfriends as carcasses. And guess what? It looks like there’s gonna be a new body added to the pile. Juliette’s getting another love interest!

3. Concert tour? Esten lets slip that there have been discussions about a potential concert tour, but nothing is set in stone.

2. Will Rayna and Deacon happen?? Esten believes that Rayna is “the one” for Deacon, but reminds us that that doesn’t mean it’s going to work out well for the two of them.

1. SPOILERS. Those in attendance were lucky enough to see the first 5 minutes of the next new episode. Deacon sings to his new puppy, there’s some fallout from Scarlett/Gunnar’s hook up, and Rayna takes a step forward in her life.

Be sure to check out the full panel on Hulu!

On Thursday, March 7, 2013, a few hundred TV fans joined together at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills to cry over how amazing Parenthood is. No seriously, NBC passed out Kleenex packs as we entered the building that read “We need never be ashamed of our tears”; it’s a Charles Dickens quote, but it’s also the most apt description of the Parenthood viewing experience I’ve ever read. Check out the list below for 10 things we learned from the panel!

Continue reading “PALEYFEST: Top Ten Things We Learned from Parenthood” »

Jill Flint is one of my favorite actresses and most people have no clue who she is…except for the random old people like my mother who love Royal Pains and could probably identify her on sight but still not know her name. Mark my words, Jill Flint is going to be a star one day*. If you aren’t too familiar with her work, go check out her IDMB. Do some googling, YouTube-ing even. If you watch a show that’s shot in New York, there’s a very good chance that Jill Flint has appeared at one point. As we creep closer to pilot season, I can only hope that this is the year that someone finally casts her as the lead of her own show. Until then, I’m cool with her sticking around on The Good Wife.

*Star of her own TV show. I make no predictions about the success or failure of her movie career. Her turn as a receptionist in The Amazing Spider-Man probably didn’t do much to further that aspect of her career.

Continue reading “Sarah’s Snap Shots: Jill Flint Edition” »

I have written a Haiku to express my grief over Crystal’s unemployment. RIP Animal Practice. (Not really, it was terrible.)

Crystal is a genius/
Someone hire her quickly/
Annie’s Boobs returns?

But seriously, not only does Crystal have to deal with her show being cancelled but she also has to watch a competitor do a guest spot on 30 Rock. Tough week. Also, are tiny monkeys on TV shows a thing we’re doing now? How many other shows this season are planning monkey cameos?! Let’s hire Crystal for all of them. She’s very versatile.

If you watched this week’s Vampire Diaries and haven’t already downloaded “Ungodly Hour” by The Fray, then you’ve just wasted the last few days of your life. Consider this my Public Service Announcement on the matter. Download. Listen. Repeat. You’re welcome. [Ed. Note: "Ungodly Hour" is known to reduce one to tears. Especially when a certain vampire is mourning a certain other person. You have been warned.]

There really aren’t words to adequately describe how much I love Suburgatory. This picture of the Shay family dressed as cats for a town talent show really sums up genius of Emily Kapnek. From Tessa’s mom issues to the Medium fan club performance to the Lisa/Sheila showdown, this premiere was everything I hoped it would be and more.  Additionally, let’s be thankful that Alicia Silverstone is gone and we’re basically pretending that Eden didn’t happen. I’ll leave you with this quote: “Who will put you to sleep at night? Who will make you taquitos post-pi-la-tes? Who will tell me to stop shaking you when I shake you? Because you know I’m inclined to shake you, girl!”

Connie Britton is an amazing actress and we all know that, but it’s important to take a moment to recognize how flawless her hair is. Lately, Connie’s hair has been reaching Stana Katic levels of perfection. Someone even wrote a whole article dedicated to it. It also has it’s own Tumblr page.

CLAIRE DANES FOR ALL OF THE EMMYS. Yes, I realize the Internet gave all the Emmys to Monica Potter a few weeks ago for that episode where she finds out she has cancer. But dammit, Claire Danes deserves all of the Emmys too. Seriously though, we’re only 3 episodes into the new season of Homeland and Claire Danes has already earned her inevitable 2013 Emmy. I don’t think I’ve ever been so simultaneously heartbroken and happy for a TV character the way I was for Carrie at the end of this week’s episode when Saul showed her Brody’s video. I get emotional just thinking about it. Every single episode of S2 has knocked it out of the park, and there are no signs of that changing. I would watch a new episode of this show every day of the week if I could…IS IT SUNDAY YET?!

Continue reading “Sarah’s Snap Shots: Claire Danes For All The Emmys Edition” »

I don’t watch X Factor…or The Voice or American Idol or any other competition-based reality show aside from the occasional YouTube video or tuning into Survivor when Boston Rob makes an appearance (Team Rob/Amber for life, yo). My longstanding love of Rob Mariano aside, I’ve made an exception to my personal rule because Britney Spears is awesome. I’ve been listening to Britney’s music since I was in elementary school. Seriously, she was my first concert. I had a Britney Spears poster hanging in my bedroom for the entirety of my tween years. Christina Aguilera can keep those fancy red swivel chairs over there on The Voice because those of us watching X Factor have BRITNEY SPEARS’ FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. The four genius photos to the left are but a small sampling of the brilliance Britney provides us with on a weekly basis. This show would be improved 1000% if there was a box in the corner of the screen that just showed Britney’s reactions at all times. Think about it, FOX.

I didn’t like the Ben & Kate pilot. It reminded me of Raising Hope, a show that really never clicked with me even though I can see why some people like it. But I’m here to say that I thought episode 2 was adorably sweet and I’m on board for more. Nat Faxon’s character, who I thought was childish and a little bit creepy in the pilot, seemed marginally more competent and sane as he helped his sister fake their address so her daughter could go to the good elementary school. It didn’t all work, but it was goofy and funny with just the right amount of heart. If the writers can continue to make this show work, it’ll help make FOX’s Tuesday night comedy block one of my favorite nights of the week*.

*I will never like Raising Hope. Sorry, FOX. Not gonna happen.

Wilson Bethel is beautiful. We all know this. So it is here, in the middle of the internet, that I would like to thank the writers of Hart of Dixie for embracing male objectification. There are a lot of other reasons to watch that show (Seriously, it’s really good. Check it out if you haven’t.), but it certainly doesn’t hurt that Wilson Bethel spends about 50% of his time on screen shirtless. But if we’re going to objectify the men of Hart of Dixie, let’s be fair. Equality is important, folks. Scott Porter should be shirtless more too.

As a follow-up to last week’s praise of Crystal the Monkey’s genius portrayal of Dr. Rizzo on Animal Practice, I would like to take a moment to say that she was not used nearly enough in episode 3. THAT IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE. However, she knocked it out of the park again with the tag. Crystal fell asleep inside a puppet and scared the shit out of one of the doctors when she woke up. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I laughed. A lot.

Fall TV is making its way back and I could not be more pleased. However, there are some phenomenal DVDs out now that will allow you the chance to catch up on anything you may have missed last season or just re-watch some of your old favorites. Did you somehow fail to watch one of the best new dramas of last season, Homeland? It’s now out on DVD and it’s a super short season so you can know what everyone is talking about! Did you feel like re-watching the creepy new drama American Horror Story or going on Emily Thorne’s quest for revenge again? Now’s your chance. Keep reading to see what my best fall DVD picks are and all about their special features. I also have giveaways going on to win American Horror Story: Season 1, New Girl: Season 1 and will be putting one up soon for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 7. So check those out as well!

Continue reading “Best of Fall DVDs” »

I am super thrilled to introduce a new weekly column by my awesome writer, Sarah Maines. You may remember her super funny (you had to find humor somewhere) reviews of The Secret Circle and now she will be writing about her favorite moments of the week with some amazing snap shots and captions (hence the title). I laughed out loud at a lot of these snap shots and I know you will, too!

Continue reading “Sarah’s Snap Shots: Crystal The Monkey Edition” »