Where pop culture meets geek culture and they make out a little.
Television
Sordid Confessions Continue, or The Vampire Diaries
Oct 16th
I have made a habit of admitting on this website many things that I am ashamed of…or things that I think I should have some amount of shame attached. I am, by nature, one who is not prone to shame and/or embarrassment. That said, I admit the following with a serious amount of trepidation.
My favorite television show, so far, this season is The Vampire Diaries.
Yes, you read that right.
We’ve spent no small amount of energy here at the ol’ NR decrying the phenomena known as the “Twilight.” So I understand if, after confessing my enjoyment of Vampire Diaries, I am called a hypocrite.
I will start by saying that I have not read the books, nor do I have any intention to do so. I enjoy vampires as much as the next guy, but I don’t need them in every damn piece of entertainment I consume.
Every once in a while a teen show comes along that I get sucked into and I am powerless against its pull. The last time this occurred was with a little show known as Dawson’s Creek. Damnit if Tengu and I didn’t spend many a college weeknight mooning over a young and impressionable Joey Potter. What I’m saying is that, even though I generally despise entertainment geared toward teens, I am sometimes inextricably drawn to it.
There are, however, two distinct aspects of the show that makes Vampire Diaries different than your average teen high school drama (aside from the vampires).
1. The actors are actually good. Look, I’m not saying it’s Olivier doing Othello, but compared to other teen shows, the folks on Vampire Diaries (particularly the main female, Elena, played by Nina Dobrev are pretty solid and, at least three episodes in, function very well as an ensemble).
2. Ian Somerhalder, whom you might remember as Boone on Lost (or, if you’re like me, as Hamilton from the short lived Young Americans), is the villain. And god damn does he play one well! Even if the rest of the show was absolute crap, I’d watch it just for his portrayal of Damon.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the objections of my wife. The show does air on the CW, so it’s not like it portrays sex in such a…frank…manner as, say, True Blood. But the show does air at 8, and is geared toward the teens (and tweens). In three episodes, however, I’ve already seen multiple sex scenes, one girl take off her shirt, and a full ass shot of another. If you know an 11 year old who is watching the show, I’d get him/her to watch something else is all I’m saying.
This most recent episode really did a lot to open up the storyline. I don’t want to ruin it for you…you can watch full episodes here, in fact…so I’ll just say that, while the budding romance between a high school girl and a 150 year old vampire is the focus of the show, there is so much more developing.
So if you don’t have anything else going on Thursday nights, you might check out Vampire Diaries…and, if you do hate, try not to judge me too harshly.
3/5 - Might be worth a try...
Better Off Ted
Aug 7th
What do you get when you mix an office comedy with super science? A little show called Better Off Ted on ABC. Let us find out why you should be watching this show.
I know that recommending a show on one of the major networks may not seem like something “under the radar,” but this show is hilarious and under appreciated. ABC describes this show as “a satirical office comedy featuring a successful but morally conscious man Ted, who runs an R&D department at a morally questionable corporation.” Unlike some network descriptions, this one is pretty accurate.
The “morally questionable corporation” is Veridian Dynamics. Veridian is a mega corporation involved in a number of different industries. They deal in government contracts for weapons as well as products to help normal consumers better their lives. As far as the morally questionable aspects I’ll list out a few of their products and you can decide for yourself:
Some of those don’t seem so bad. Right?
So now we know about the company, but what about the man, Ted? Ted, played by Jay Harrington, is a fairly normal executive and plays the straight man on this comedy show. He is a single father who works hard to provide for his daughter, Rose. This is Harrington’s first starring role, though, he has had a number of cameo or guest spots on other shows and one of the things I like about this show is that they don’t have any big name actors.
Ted’s boss, Veronica, is played by Portia de Rossi. She’s the biggest name on this show. She is the up tight, emotionless boss. She rules the office with an iron fist and most of her underlings fear her. She is not, however, without her quirks.
The foil to Veronica is Linda, played by Andrea Anders. Linda is in charge of PR for the company. Her job is putting the best spin on the weird and wild products coming out of the labs. She sticks it to the man by stealing large amounts of creamer from the break room. She and Ted play at romance but they can’t be together because Ted has used up his one office romance on a fling with Veronica.
The head scientists are Phil and Lem played by Jonathan Slavin and Malcolm Barrett respectively. They function as a superbly nerdy duo. They are partners to the point that they act like a married couple. They do have a pretty cool hobby down in the basement of the building.
Here they are dealing with a “hairy situation.”
Now that I’ve given you the basics of the show. Here’s an entire episode for you to watch and judge for yourself. This episode deals with corporate ethics and scapegoating. One thing to watch for the commercials for Veridian that are in each episode. Enjoy!
F is for Food…and also F**K
Aug 7th
No doubt many of you are already familiar with Gordon Ramsay. In this country, he’s most well known for being the angry British dude on Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. And hey, those shows are pretty good. I mean, I generally like cooking shows that don’t star Bobby Flay, and I generally like angry British people (remember, I watch a lot of Premeir League Football) so those are both made for me. Some months ago I stumbled across a show with Ramsay where he was in a kitchen and, instead of yelling, he was actually cooking…OK, he was yelling and cooking at the same time, but he was doing more of the former.
The really interesting thing about the show is that it does not hinge on just a single premise. There is a main focus, making a three course meal for 50 diners in the F Word Restaurant, but interspersed with that are a variety of other pieces that makes for one of the most disjointed, yet informative, food shows in existence.
The F Word Restaurant seats 50 diners. Gordon, and a team of four other non-chefs (known as brigades) must make a three course meal for the restaurant; appetizer, entre (with side dishes) and desert. The diners in the restaurant get to decide, after each course, whether or not they want they want to pay for said course. The scores are tallied as they go with the best possible score being 150 out of 150, or getting every diner to pay for each of the three courses. Each brigade consists of at least one semi-famous person (or in the case of Brigade McFly, four semi-famous persons) and they are all related/connected in some way. The highest scoring brigade gets to return at the end of the season. This portion of the show takes up about half of each episode and is really the heart of what’s going on. More than that, though, it’s pretty interesting to see him in the kitchen cooking with amateurs. I mean, yeah, you still get the potty mouth you expect. One of my favorite moments from the current season is when he collectively called the aformentioned McFly, McShit, only to later upgrade them to McMediocre.
This season, in the last episode, Ramsay will be serving veal in the F Word Restaurant. But not just any veal, oh no, but veal from two calves raised especially for the show (usually we get one segment per episode on said calves) in a cruelty free environment. The lucky calves will also be served with beer that Gordon is brewing himself.
Each episode also sees Ramsay out in search of unique and uncommon food. So far this season he’s hunted wild boar, caught wild catfish and salmon (and smoked said salmon inside a weird three wheeled European car), gone diving for sea urchin, and caught elvers (young eels), among other things.
Inside the F Word Restaurant, he also squares off with celebrities (a different one each week) against their signature dishes. In one episode, for instance, British MP David Blunkett makes a shepherds pie to stack up against one of Gordon’s. The two dishes are taken out, side by side, to five random guests in the restaurant and, after anonymous taste tests, a winner is proclaimed…not surprisingly, it’s usually Gordon.
And yet there’s more! Each episode also features Gordon out convincing someone that eating healthy can be easy. In the most recent episode, for instance, Gordon made burgers for a crew of firemen and, in one earlier episode, paid a visit to British boxer Ricky Hatton.
The really great thing about the show is that, unlike Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, it’s not an hour of just one damn thing. The various parts of the show are interspersed so that it doesn’t ever feel stagnant and, in fact, in all the parts not centered on cooking in the F Word Restaurant, you see Ramsay’s love of food and cooking really come out as he interacts with such a large variety of people. It’s a truly fascinating show if you have any interest in food and, best of all, you can get every recipe from the show right here (well, they haven’t put up any from the current season yet, but there are three prior seasons).
Just in case you don’t believe me, here’s the first part of the brigade McFly episode from earlier this season.
Summer’s Guilty Pleasure, Dance!
Jul 3rd
By and large, I hate reality shows. I don’t care how Tori Spelling changes her kids diapers, or who the fuck the bachelorette is going to choose only to break up with eight months later. I hate American Idol because they generally don’t feature music that is good…and how, precisely, is a singing competition in any way representative of “reality.” With one exception, if all reality shows disappeared tomorrow I would not be affected in the least. But what is that exception, kilian? I’m glad you asked faceless reader. The only reality show I watch/follow/care about is So You Think You Can Dance.
Hey, I know explanations are in order, but just stay with me for a minute.
First off, my reasoning for not watching Dancing With the Stars is two fold:
- While dancing “occurs” on the show, I was under the impression that in a competition show, one was looking for people skilled in the area the competition is centered around. Last I checked, at least one member from each team on Dancing With the Stars wasn’t actually a dancer. I don’t care how “hard” the stars work to get the steps. Hell, I work hard at the bookmines, it doesn’t mean someone should watch it for two hours on a Wednesday.
- Using the word “Stars” in the title denotes that actual stars are in the show. When Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, or Bono sign up to do it, come get me.
So You Think You Can Dance may not have “celebrities” dancing, but everyone on the stage actually knows how to dance. That’s what makes a good competition show, contestants who are proficient and/or gifted. Yes, the contestants are forced to dance styles they have not trained in, but that, actually, is how the dancers are truly tested and judged. If every contestant simply danced in their preferred style through the whole thing the show would be boring.
I’m still sensing skepticism. Very well, you leave me no choice:
By the way, the two dancers in the above routine were dancing completely out of their own styles.
Still skeptical about the total awesomeness of the show? Well then, doubty mcdoubter, take this:
Even if you don’t know a think about dance, the show presents so many different styles/choreographers/dancers, that you will not have to watch long before seeing something you enjoy. And this season (the fifth) is your last to catch the show in the summer as season 6 starts up in the fall.
So hey, go ahead and check it, I bet you’re not disappointed.
whip cracker
Harper’s Island – Episode 5…or, Just When Things Were Getting Good
May 15th
This is late in coming, I know, but since episode six won’t be airing until the 23rd I figure I had some time.
Not a good excuse, I know, but what are you going to do?
So, let’s recap who died in Episode 5…Thomas Wellington.
How does he die?
Harper’s Island – Episode 4
May 5th
This continuing…series, I guess we’ll call it…may be short lived. Last week, with no apparent warning, CBS moved Harper’s Island from Thursday to Saturday.
I say “no apparent warning” because the only way I found out was that my DVR was smart enough to record it without being told it had switched nights. A switch to Saturday is often the death knell for many a show, but if this guy is to be believed, the rest of the episodes will air. At this point, though, there’s only nine episodes left, so CBS isn’t really losing a lot airing them all on Saturdays. And, anyway, all the cool kids are at home at 9 pm Saturday nights (like me!) so…
Harper’s Island – Episode 3
Apr 28th
So I will say this, yet again, before I really get started. If you haven’t seen the 3rd episode and plan on watching it, stop reading. I don’t want anyone blaming me for spoiling the show…
Ok, so after the third episode I’m still feeling confident in my assertion that Jimmy Mance is the murderer. Points to consider, from episode three, that I believe back up this position.
Harper’s Island – Episode 2
Apr 21st
So it occurred to me last night, as I was watching the second episode of Harper’s Island (which, if you want to watch both episodes 1 and 2 in their entirety, you can can do so here), that while I’m not totally insane crazy about this show I’m interested enough after two episodes to invest another 11 hours of my life to find out who the crazy SOB is that’s offing people like it’s going out of style.
That being the case, I have decreed that I will now write a weekly “wrap up” of each episode until the curtain falls on the series.
Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, and Harper’s Island
Apr 13th
The wife and I used to see an ass full of movies. Back when we lived in the City we’d go at least two (often more) times a week. Now…well we did see Monsters vs. Aliens two weeks ago and we’ll probably see Up when that comes out. See the pattern? So as my movie going has dwindled over the last 2 1/2 years my television consumption has gone up because it’s just easier to watch something off the DVR at midnight than try and find a sitter.
So that was a long winded way of saying I’m going to review two new TV shows.