Daily October (4)

Episode 1, Fall Season 2013 Part II

What do you know I have forgotten a few of the shows I follow on the previous post about premier episodes?

So here are the rest of the shows I watch and what I think of their premier episodes:

GREY'S ANATOMY - This would be the 9th or 10th season for this durable show. While they lost me as an avid viewer sometime during the course of its long run, I found myself coming back last year. The thing with GA is that it's like an old neighborhood where you grew up, or the neighborhood where you lived while in college....while there are many changes (new characters), the landmarks (mainstays) are still there. You can easily reconnect with it, with the characters. The 2-hour show held my attention, it was like visiting with old friends. I have a feeling that this might be the last year of the show. Leave while you're still somewhere near the top :)

THE BIG BANG THEORY - Seriously I don't know how I could have forgot to write about this on the previous post about premiers. It has never wavered in the entertainment value; the comedy is terrific. Watching the show makes one realize that it's an well-oiled machine at work. What a great cast. Not since FRIENDS have I been this awed at a casting of a show.

SCANDAL - Wow, what a first episode. I was hoping that the affair would be out there in the open and see what happens, but then again there will be no storyline if that is what happens. So Scandal, bring on all the shows!

Episode 1, Fall Season 2013

With the exception of SCANDAL, all my fall tv shows have started their new season. Here are some of my thoughts:

CASTLE - Castle is about bestselling author Richard Castle observing a NYD station for his book. In return, he gets to help the department solve their cases, be friends with Esposito and Ryan and get involved with Det. Beckett.
This season opens with Beckett no longer in the police force (now with FBI) and no longer in NY. And she's also engaged to Castle. With this scenario on the season opener I wonder:

• Where does Castle fit into this FBI set-up, when he can no longer actively participate in solving crimes.
• What will happen to Esposito and Ryan?
• Will Beckett eventually move back to the police force to be near Castle?

Likewise, will there be storyline for Alexis (Castle's daughter) now that she's off to college and bringing boys home?

PERSON OF INTEREST - I must defer my thoughts and comments on this show for another time. I need to rewatch the premier because for some reason I was multi-tasking when I saw it and didn't get hold of the gist of the show.

ONCE UPON A TIME - One episode is not enough for me to tell where which direction this show is going. I am fully aware that there is a spin-off called ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND, I don't know if somehow the two shows will intersect again, like in the past. One thing I know is that Sunday's premier was not powerful enough to catch my full attention.

THE GOOD WIFE - The writing continues to be good. The acting is solid as usual. I feel that this show will continue to gather good ratings and the writers will throw us a curve ball. What will happen with Alicia. Will she leave with Carey. Is Carey still leaving with the group? I am excited to see the rest of the show this season. Good job on E1.

REVENGE - Jack knows Emily Thorne is really Amanda Clark. Nolan refuses to be geek god after brief stint in the slammer. Ashley is finally shown the door out. Will Amanda get her revenge soon? Who shot Emily Thorne?

HAVEN - This Syfy mainstay opened ahead of network shows. It has plenty of questions to answer, like where is Audrey Parker? Is she stuck in purgatory-like niche? How will she find her way back to Haven? Well for that matter how will she regain consciousness of her Audrey Parker identity? If she remembers who she really is, which one of those personas will she remember? Is there going to be a happy ending for her and Nathan? What about Duke? So many questions, awaiting happily for answers.

HOSTAGES - This is a new one this season, despite the fact that I have no more room in my evenings for another serial to follow. The preview attracted me. I like Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott, they are both good actors. And I like any show that has something to do with the White House or the POTUS. So far, the first show was meaty. I hope the writers are able to sustain this kind of writing the whole season.

Are You Ready For Fall?

Three more days and we're officially in Fall Season. Well, when kids returned to the classrooms and the freeways got jammed again, it felt like Fall Season, but our weather here has been more summer like, very typical of our Indian summer.

Anyway, I'm trying to digest this fact. I'm not ready yet. All summer long I have been telling myself to pull out the box in the garage where the fall (halloween and thanksgiving) decorations are stored so that I can decorate on time.

But it's only three days and I haven't located the box yet. I know I am disorganized like crazy.

But I am ready for fall.

With Fall, comes cooler weather, boots, jackets, sweaters, scarves. Hot chocolate drink before bedtime. Soothing jasmine tea. Piping hot coffee.

Likewise, my fall shows are coming back. Person of Interest, Revenge, Once Upon a Time, The Good Wife, Castle, Haven, Big Bang Theory.

I'm also very ready to move on from summer. Summer has been a heartbreaker for me and I'd like very much to just leave all the aches and pains of summer with summer.

What are you looking forward to this fall?

Nope, This Isn't A Weekly Blog...

.....I just happen to be lazy.

And in a rut.

Don't ask me why. It might be the monotonous routine of 5-day work and 2-day errands/church. I need a little change of scenery so to speak.

One more reason I don't have time for blogging here is that I've been trying to keep up with all the season finales of the many shows that I follow. Sweetness, I didn't realize that I watch way too much television. Although let me tell you that my husband has been telling me that for years. He said we should find other things to occupy our time after dinner. He suggested listening to music while he reads the newspaper. Yap, we still have newspaper delivered to our house daily. Yes, we get most of our news online, but I suppose it's the tradition of the newspaper that we are keeping here, or else we're trying to singlehandedly keep the newspaper business alive.

Last night was a good example of how crazy our tv viewing schedule is: the teams we follow all were playing last night - the Giants, the Warriors and the Sharks. The Giants started and ended early; I completely ignored the Sharks. And I flipped back and forth between the Warriors and the finale of American Idol.

I taped THE BIG BANG THEORY and SCANDAL. Then watched them later last night, after the 11 PM news. That is the reason why I'm yawning and tired all day today.

If I'm not mistaken the only shows that have yet had their finales are PERSON OF INTEREST and THE GOOD WIFE.

Hopefully, after all these regular Fall Shows take a summer break, I too would break from tv viewing. I really need to have something to do after dinner and it shouldn't be blogging or facebooking either.

Tomorrow, Saturday, I'm looking forward to seeing the TERRACOTTA WARRIORS in San Fran at the Asian Art Museum. In case I don't get to go to China, I'd be able to see the terracotta warriors. Plus, they say here at the museum you could see them up close, whereas in China you could only see them from a distance.

Another event worth looking forward to is my wedding anniversary at the end of this month. We initially wanted to keep it open just in case we have to do this "thing" that we need to do; but this "thing" that we need to do has been pushed back to August, which leaves the dates free for us to do what we can do. And we can finally go spend a couple of nights in one of my favorite coastal towns - Mendocino. I cannot wait to go back there.

And I broke tradition this year. Hubs and I vowed never give gifts to each other on b/days, anniversary, Christmas, etc. In lieu of gifts, we agreed to go on a get-away or road trip that we both could enjoy the experience. But this year, I saw this little thing on Group-On that is hopefully an answer to his needs. And I couldn't keep my mouth shut I told him about this gift. He was a bit pissed because yes I broke the vow, but when I told him I could use it as well and that the price was a deal - of course he knows the price, just like me he monitors GROUP ON, TRAVELZOO, LIVING SOCIAL, et al daily.

So one more week then. I can't wait for this litle road trip to the North Coast. I need to breathe the invigorating ocean breeze.

Enjoy the weekend.

More Fall Shows

REVENGE: I must admit that I need to rewatch the premier because I was multitasking when I watched this on DVR. I did not fully grasp the meat of the show, although it was immediately known that Victoria Grayson is alive and somehow survived the plane crash from last season's finale. Now I still have to find out how that happened. It's also clear that Daniel still has feelings for Emily Thorne. Hopefully soon, Jack will find out that he is not the father of Amanda Clarke's child, that is my guess by the way. It looks like a fun season so far.

THE GOOD WIFE: The shows last season were well written, keeping me glued in. The same is true for this season's premier. My hope for this season is for Alicia and Peter to start working on "mending fences" and find out once and for all if it's a go or no. I don't want to see Alicia and Will rekindling their romance. And what the heck is Kalinda involved in now?

ONCE UPON A TIME: Now Mulan is in? Okay so I have heard of Mulan the animated movie. Other than that I have zero clue on who she is. But now I suppose I'll learn more about her because, well she's in the show. The premise when the show started is that the fairy tale characters are living ordinary lives in Storybrooke somewhere in New England without knowing their fairy tale past. This is shattered with the premier episode where the magic followed them in Storybrooke. Emma broke the curse, they regained their memory, but they remained in Storybrooke. How the fairy tale characters would return to their own world would be the theme of this season's shows.

UPDATE:

WAREHOUSE 13 is on mid season hiatus, what is that about? It only has a handful of new shows for the season and now it's taking another break? Why??????

Fall TV

WAREHOUSE 13
The explosive season finale gave way to the story line this season, as Artie diligently goes to collect the artifacts lost. Two episodes into the new season and I'm enjoying it so far. I don't know how far into the season it will take for Artie to get all the artifacts in the warehouse.

ALPHAS
Its long hiatus made it difficult to pick up where the show ended last season. The actors' appearance have changed in a way, older. It's like watching a brand-new series. It's on DVR.

HAVEN
Finally, it's here. Haven is another one of those that seem to take forever to return. The premier was a great starter for the season. Explosive, with a hint of romance and a sprinkling of intrigue. We are getting to know more and more the origin of the leading character, Audrey Parker or whatever her real name is.

CASTLE
So they're hooked up and Beckett is no longer in the force, but they're still pursuing the case of her mother's death, which seems to be getting more and more complicated and involving more and more people in high places. She's getting her job back, I'm sure of that.

GREY'S ANATOMY
The storyline is getting tired, despite the interest the season finale garnered. Upon their return, they killed off Mark Sloane and amputated Arizona's legs. They have new sets of interns. Cristina Yang no longer works for Seattle Grace. Dr. Bailey is getting booty calls. Where is this show going from here? I suggest this be their last season. Go out with a bang. It's no use rehashing the same old tired story lines they used few seasons ago. I am getting weary of it as well. All last year, I watched it on ON DEMAND, whenever I had time to see.

BIG BANG THEORY
I enjoyed this show so much last year, when I discovered it. I voraciously watched it on syndication all through the winter, spring and summer months. My fear is that they might not find new and interesting direction for the characters to explore. They definitely have to find someone for Raj and maybe give a bigger role for Stewart as well. How about push the limit on Sheldon and have him "man up" to Amy?

PERSON OF INTEREST
Towards the end of last season, its first season, I discovered this show. It is a very interesting show, very techie but cool. At the finale last season, the main character was abducted, fooled into believing that he was saving this person, who was in trouble. Turned out she made the whole thing up so she can smoke out main character from hiding. The premier showed the continued search for him. Getting interesting. DVR this because it's in the same time slot as Grey's Anatomy.

*Still waiting for the premier of REVENGE, ONCE UPON A TIME, THE GOOD WIFE, and SMASH, the latter I learned will be making its appearance midseason.

*The three shows mentioned in the last paragraph had their premier last night and they are all awaiting on DVR for me to watch them.

I Barely Survived Survivor

Hey, it's Fall and that means TV season again. It used to be the big thing on tv viewing when the fall tv schedule is announced because to an avid viewer the summer months were full of reruns. Not anymore. Lately, the networks have cooked up a summer menu who turns out to be just as palatable as the fall menu. The only difference with these two sets of schedules is the big shows still air on the primetime season which is Fall.

I will write something about this at length in the coming days. Today I'll tackle SURVIVOR, the reality show.

Being a tv watcher I know and has heard of Survivor. Who hasn't? It's been on for quite a long time. I've seen snippets of it from magazine shows like Entertainment Tonight. Nothing about it tickles my curiousity to tune in and watch. I've not seen a single minute of the show.

Until last night's SURVIVOR PHILIPPINES first show. Okay so I didn't watch it on it's regular time. I DVR'd it, and watched it just after the 11 pm news.
My reason for watching it this season and setting the DVR to record all new shows are: a) Jeff Kent is playing. Jeff Kent is a retired Major Leaguer, he played professional baseball and he was very good at it. Especially when he donned the San Francisco Giants uniform, where I spotted him and since he came to my team, he became a favorite of mine. b) Philippines. The location alone to be honest would not make me watch the show, but the combination of Kent and PI was too great a pull to ignore.

However, despite the incredibly beautiful surroundings and the fun of seeing Jeff walk and talk, the show was not holding my attention. Alright, so I watched it late at night when sleep was calling, but still it was boring to me. In fact, I turned it off midway so I can get some sleep. I will need to get back to it when I can.
I'm not particularly excited about all these "alliances" and scheming and plotting that these people are doing. I'm not liking the show at all. And I'm quite sure that while I will continue to record the shows this season, I will not be back next season.

A Season of Farewells

To a tv watcher just like me, you know this is the season of finales. The shows are either putting on a mind bending season finale or tying loose ends for their series finale.

Two of my long-time shows have said/are saying goodbyes this season. The housewives of Wisteria Lane have managed to neatly tie loose ends in a bow just like Brie would do it. I was watching on Mother's Day Sunday, just like I always do for years, but I wasn't aware until the 2nd hour that it was the finale I was watching. I used to be in the loop when it comes to my tv shows, but this past 2 years have been really different. I've got more things to do at night than ever so most of the shows I play catch up. Thanks to DVR.

Needless to say, it was quite emotional to see a show that you've watched for years. But I was glad that DH have ended their run the way it did.

HOUSE is airing its finale next week. I missed the show yesterday, because I've got my church meetings on Monday evenings. I'll catch up with it this week, after my chores.

In another goodbye, my new fave show MISSING starring Ashley Judd and shot in Europe has been cancelled. I think it still has one or two unaired shows. I hope they air those and I'm really hoping some other channels will absorb this show, because it's really good.

American Idol will be crowning its new Idol in 2 weeks, then no more singing until January. I'm really excited to see who ends up the top 2, after that I really don't care anymore, unless of course Joshua Ledet makes it to the top 2. I really don't dig his way of singing.

Another show that hooked me is the Katharine McPhee starrer (she was an Idol runner up) is SMASH. Thankfully, it's been picked up for another season.

So while my regular shows take a summer break, I'd be wise to do the same. I'd like to (fingers crossed) limit my tv watching and pick up something - a book perhaps, or even some needlepoint - to do as a project. Wish me luck. In the meantime, I'm still glued to the tube, heaven help me!

Are You Watching?

Oh my lordy, I missed my yearly fall tv posting this year.  Must have been due to my hectic scheduling.  However, despite said busy schedule, I manage to keep up with my tv shows with help from my newly discovered ally:  ON DEMAND. 

My old favorites are back including:

• The Good Wife
• Grey's Anatomy
• House
• Castle
• Desperate Housewives

Now for the newcomers of the season, the freshmen, so to speak, are you watching these?

TERRA NOVA: 
The show begins in the year 2149, a time when all life on planet Earth is threatened with extinction due to dwindling worldwide air quality and overpopulation. It has become virtually impossible for humanity to survive, and almost no vegetation exists. At Hope Plaza, a massive ring shaped structure in Chicago, scientists discover a rift in space-time that allows people to travel 85 million years back in time to the late Cretaceous period of an alternate prehistoric Earth. The Shannon family (father Jim, his wife Elisabeth, and their three children Josh, Maddie, and Zoe) join the Tenth Pilgrimage of settlers to Terra Nova becoming part of the first human colony on the other side of the temporal doorway.

The Shannon Family starts a new life in Terra Nova while dealing with carnivorous dinosaurs and the Sixers, a splinter group of colonists from the Sixth Pilgrimage who are trying to transport all of Terra Nova's resources back to 2149.  (wiki)

ONCE UPON A TIME:
On the wedding day of Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (James) (Joshua Dallas), the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) arrives and delivers an ominous threat about a powerful curse she intends to release upon them. Some time later, a pregnant Snow White is worried about the curse and visits Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle), who issues a prophecy that the Queen's curse will take them all someplace terrible where there will be no happy endings. He also reveals that Snow White's unborn daughter, Emma, will return when she is 28 years old to rescue them, thus beginning the final battle with the Queen. On advice from the Blue Fairy, Geppetto (Tony Amendola) and Pinocchio fashion a wardrobe from a magical tree which will allow one person to escape the Queen's curse. Prince Charming intends for Snow White and their unborn daughter to use the magic tree to escape the curse, but Snow White goes into labor and gives birth to Emma just as the wardrobe is about to be completed. On the day Snow White gives birth to their daughter Emma, the Queen's curse strikes. Prince Charming places their daughter in the magic wardrobe, but is grievously wounded battling the Queen's henchmen. The Queen stands triumphantly over Snow White and Prince Charming as the curse takes them to "someplace horrible."


In present day Boston, Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) lives a lonely existence working as a bail bondsman and bounty hunter. On her 28th birthday, Emma is approached by a ten-year-old boy who identifies himself as her son, Henry, whom Emma had given up for adoption as a baby. Not wanting a relationship with him, Emma agrees to drive him back to his home in Storybrooke, Maine. Along the way, Henry shows her a large book of fairy tales, insisting that all of the stories in it are real. When they arrive in Storybrooke, Henry informs her that everyone in town is in reality a fairy tale character, exiled by the curse and with no memory of their real identities. This includes his therapist, Dr. Archie Hopper, who is really Jiminy Cricket, and his teacher Mary Margaret Blanchard, who is really Emma's mother Snow White. He claims that time is frozen in Storybrooke, and the people are unable to leave, but that the curse will be broken by Emma since she is the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. A skeptical Emma returns Henry to his adoptive mother, the town's mayor who is really the Evil Queen. When Henry soon runs away again, Emma finds him and decides to stay in Storybrooke temporarily. This decision causes the hands of the town clock, previously frozen, to begin moving again.  (WIKI)

REVENGE:
Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp), whose real name is Amanda Clarke, moves back to The Hamptons to take revenge on the people who caused the death of her father David (James Tupper) and destroyed her family. When she was a little girl, Amanda's father was arrested on trumped-up terrorism charges, and was tried and convicted for treason. He died in prison. Emily feels her life was destroyed; she ended up in juvenile detention and on her 18th birthday inherited the wealth of the company in which her father invested. She changed her name to Emily Thorne and decided to take revenge on the people responsible for her father's downfall.  (wiki)

What are you watching?

Just Babbling

I don't want to begin this by saying how lousy I've been feeling lately.  But I just did.  I feel crappy - for days now.  But I'm seeing the doctor at Allergy Clinic sometime next week and feeling hopeful that finally whatever it is that's keeping me congested and headachy and eyes dry and throat itchy all the time would be identified.  Oh I have seen my PCP over and over about this - year in year out - but never really gotten the courage to find out what's bothering me.  In the past, after consultation/visit with PCP and taking in meds, my symptoms would disappear only to return a few weeks later.  Still it would be gone for a time and I'd be fine for that short time.  But this year though, the symptoms lingered long after I had taken all the meds, sprayed my nasal passages over and over, so it's time to go and get it checked.

I am worried that they would find pet dander as the source of my problems and I don't want to give up my Emma for anything.  Let's wait and see.

On the opposite side, I have been feeling really terrific lately as well.  And the cause of this euphoric vibe is the Giants, our very own San Francisco Giants baseball team who have won the National League Western Division Championship and are now playing NLDS with the Atlanta Braves.  I don't wanna say any more because I don't want this feeling to end and I'm afraid that by sharing all these happy thoughts and feelings with the cyberspace community, I'd be jinxing them.  Oh gods of Baseball Heavens, please let the Giants be victorious!
~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m~m



October already! 

It's hard to transition from summer's heat to autumn's crispness when we never had a summer to speak of around these parts.  For the most part, at least 95% of the entire summer, we had really cool temperatures.  If I didn't go to Cancun in late June, I wouldn't have experienced hot weather this year.

But I thought that lighting holiday scented candles would help me get into the mood of holidays, and so I have been lighting this jar of candle that I have.  It's halfway through and I hope to be able to completely light it out this year as this was the jar I had for the holidays last year.  The hubby gets congested when there are "foreign" scents around and so he snuffs it immediately - that's why I don't have to get another jar soon.

I'm thinking of going all out with holiday decors this year.  But I'm lazy to open boxes and see what's there in the garage in terms of decorations.  I know for a fact that we snatched some after holiday sale items last year.  So maybe I will cut down on my computer time and start digging into the boxes for decorations.

I know I'm babbling but that's the title of this post.  I feel so much better now than when I first started this post. 

Lemme see what else I wanna share?

Oh the fall tv season has been running for 2-3 weeks now and so my must-see tv shows have had 2-3 shows already. And what do I think?

NO ORDINARY FAMILY:  Cool concept.  I really like it and the actors are likeable too.

BROTHERS AND SISTERS:  They haven't veered from the gameplan - they've been running the same pattern every show:  problem, a lot of shouting always while eating and drinking and then by the end of the show all's well. 

I will give you my opinion on the other shows I'm following next post.  Right now I feel my stomach grumble louder and harder than when I started to compose this post.  So let me grab something to eat and hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Fall TV Schedule

Here it is, I'm rolling out my 2010 Fall TV schedule. This only covers network tv - haven't checked the cable schedule yet.

Monday:

8:00 House.
I saw it's premier episode last night and it didn't hold my attention as it did in previous years. On it's 7th season, I don't think I would be hellbent on watching this every single time. A DVR must I would think for now. I don't think the show has just enough legs to last this season, unless of course something major comes up with the plot.

10:00 Castle.
My favorite new show last season. Conflicts big time with my daily devotion schedule. Last night's premier is on the DVR, might see it tonight if there isn't anything lovely to see.

Tuesday:

8:00 No Ordinary Family.
A new show that intrigues me. The plot is: the Powells a typical American family who gained powers/abilities after their plane crash. Sci-fi on ABC? Yes, why not, after Lost there isn't one on tv about plane crash. Hope I like it. Will check it out tonight.

10:00 The Good Wife.
Another favorite from last year. I'm sure the writing will be good again. I plead no new characters. The bane of these promising tv shows is that they keep adding characters that muddle the plot.

Wednesday:

Nada

Thursday:
9:00 Grey's Anatomy.
I feel a sense of loyalty to this little show I discovered 6 years ago. And while I was dismayed at all these characters being added to the core cast, I held my ground and continued to earmark my Thursday nights to see the characters swap kissing partners, etc. But with the explosive finale last season that saw a few of the characters being killed, I think the creator/writer has sensed that the show only needed core characters.

10:00 Mentalist.
This is on the list, but I may not be able to tune in. I like this show, about another cop procedural show, however, this one's based in Sacramento. And Simon Baker is such an eye candy.

Friday:

Nada

Saturday:

Nada

Sunday:
9:00 Desperate Housewives.
I have no strong desire to follow this show faithfully, but what else is there to do on Sunday but relax and get ready for work the next day.

10:00 Brothers and Sisters.
I am hoping good writing this year. I still feel loyal to this show.

Looks like I have plenty of time to blog this fall. And tonight I may have to watch Glee as well since Filipino sensation Charice is set to guest star.