Do you watch Scandal?

Do you watch Scandal? If not, I'm sure you have that one friend who insists on live tweeting the show every Thursday night at 10. Or maybe that friend does it on Facebook. If you're still clueless, Scandal is a drama series created by Shonda Rhimes that is in its second season on ABC. Shonda also writes the widely successful Grey's Anatomy. Scandal is about a DC crisis management firm headed by Olivia Pope. Pope is also having an affair with the president of the United States. Yup, scandalous.

The stories are good. The writing is great. But I think I'm getting tired of Scandal. There are little things that annoy me. Harrison Wright is always pushing the "We're gladiators" mantra. It was fine in the first episode. Now? I'm tired it. But what's really getting to me right now is Olivia's relationship with Ftiz, the president. The president is human. He cheats in his wife. OK. But the writers of Scandal seem to want me to cheer for this relationship and frankly, that makes me uncomfortable. I am far from prudish but since when did we give a thumbs up to extra-marital affairs?

Last Thursday, good ol' Fitz seemed to think that his Commander in Chief title also gives him control over Olivia's love life. "I command you to love me." Ugh. What's even worse is that Olivia seems to be falling for this. Say what? What happened to my strong Olivia Pope? I expect this kind of behaviour from Sharon in the Young & the Restless* - not from Olivia.

Sigh. I'll keep watching for now, because frankly, I'm addicted to television, but something has to change here. Fine, they're in love. Fine, he's only keeping up his charade of a marriage to avoid public scrutiny. I get all of that. But can we cut down on the commanding and demanding? Thanks.


* Yes, I follow the Young & the Restless. Judge away. :-)

I'm Addicted to TV Part II

So last time I rambled on and on about the TV shows that I watch Sunday through Tuesday. I have some down time and I am trying to calm myself about things going on in my life right now so I thought I'd do some more rambling.

I forgot to add Emily Owens MD. I first saw this show on Swagbucks; if you watched the pilot, you would earn swagbucks. It is essentially a Grey's Anatomy rip-off. Surgical interns just starting their residency. Relationship drama. Emily Owens is a very different character from Meredith Grey. I don't know if her quirks and the personalities of the other characters will be enough to keep the show afloat. Oh would you look at that, I went to Wikipedia to get the link for the show and realised it was cancelled 3 days ago.

Criminal Minds - I love crime dramas and I absolutely love Criminal Minds. Criminal Minds follows profilers in the FBI and I think there is an even more special place in my heart because each time I talk to students about legal psychology, they assume that it involves profiling. It doesn't, for the record. That's legal psych's cousin, forensic psychology. I could go on and on about the merits of profiling but that would take quite a while. The cases each week are beyond bizarre and makes you wonder which of these are ripped from headlines.

Grey's Anatomy - What can I say about Grey's Anatomy that has not already been said? I had stopped watching after the first season but I caught up again. Is the 8th season the final season? I think we have reached the peak.

Scandal - I succumbed to peer pressure on this one. My Twitter feed is always filled with Scandal tweets on a Thursday night. If you can't beat them, join them. I like it so far. The first season moved quickly and the second season is answering questions that I had. So now I am all caught up and immersed in the world of politics and fixers.

Last Resort - Meh. I loved the first episode of this show. I lost interest around episode 4. I am sorta interested again but the fact that I completely forgot to watch it this past week should tell me something. I can't even explain the premise to someone. It is kinda set on a US submarine and an island that the officers of the sub are living on while they figure out what's going on back home. Does someone want to kill them? Why?

Beauty and the Beast -  This is a new show on the CW. It's a crime drama where the detective is the Beauty in this dyad. The Beast is a former soldier who was experimented upon so that he could be a better soldier. The experiments worked a little too well  This show is perfect when I'm cooking or doing dishes. It's not too complicated.

I think that's all I'm watching. Oh, I always watch The Amazing Race. LOVE it. It's my dream to be a contestant on this show. However, I am absolutely petrified of my flaws that would be highlighted on this show. Kudos to couples who go on TAR and survive that show.

I'm addicted to TV

It's 4 am and I can't fall asleep. My anxiety is at an all time high and I just don't feel like forcing myself. I have lots of sleeping pills but they're usually useless so I don't bother to take them unless I'm desperate. I just finished watching last Sunday's episode of Homeland and thought I'd ramble on here about what I'm watching this fall.

I am addicted to TV. I used to spend several hours watching TV and thought I had kicked the habit when I got rid of my cable subscription. It turns out that I should have also gotten rid of my internet subscription too.  No cable? No problem - I just watch everything online. This season I am following so many shows that I have actually created a Springpad notebook to keep track of them. Yes, I have issues.

Here's a quick summary of what I'm currently watching.

The Walking Dead - I actually started season 1 of this show a week ago and spent my entire week catching up so that I am now on track. That means I watched 25 episodes in a week. If I was in the kitchen, the laptop was with me. Folding laundry? Eating? I lived and breathed The Walking Dead last week. It consumed my entire Saturday. Insomnia creeping in? Oh not to worry, I have The Walking Dead. It's exactly what it sounds like - a show about zombies and obviously, I am hooked.

Dexter - I love, love, love Dexter. My friends and I actually schedule a Google Plus Hangout to watch Dexter each week. We can't miss our favourite serial killer. Things started off a bit slow this season but it's finally picking up.

666 Park Avenue - This is a new one. I like it so far. It's about a haunted (?) apartment building. It's a bit more than haunted though. It seems that the owner of the building may be the devil himself.

Homeland - Homeland is best watched in bulk. Waiting one week for the next episode will drive you crazy. The protagonist, Carrie, will make you scream at the screen every single week. I love that while watching tonight, I could feel my anxiety building but  I wasn't sure if it was just because I was already high-strung. While reading a review, I realised that many others felt the same way. It's a great show about the CIA - just prepare to be frustrated as you simply cannot predict what the writers will do next.

Parenthood - This show is in its fourth season and apparently the writers have been on a mission to make me cry in every single episode this season. I didn't cry last week though -take that writers! They have dealt with some great issues this season. I really love the family dynamic here.

Covert Affairs - Honestly, Covert Affairs isn't the best drama out there. I watched a random episode once, liked what I saw and then went back and watched the previous seasons. (Yes, watching all previous episodes is something  I do a lot which is why I try to avoid watching new (as in, new to me but have been on for a while) shows. I have ZERO self control so it's easier to just not start.) I think I keep watching now just so that I can talk about it with a friend of mine.

NCIS & NCIS LA - I am getting a bit bored with these two shows. They're solid dramas but I am just not feeling it anymore. I still watch them though. Both are available on the TV.com app on my phone so if I'm unable to sleep, it's pretty easy to watch an episode or two until I feel sleepy without having to turn on my laptop. In fact, I think I may do that now. Although, I'm caught up on both shows so I may play some other random show like CSI:NY, CSI or Undercover Boss.

This list takes us to Tuesday. I'm going to try to fall asleep and maybe later today or tomorrow, I'll write about the shows that are on on Wednesday and Thursday nights..

What I'm Watching: Bunheads

A few months ago when I was catching up on Secret Life of the American Teenager (don't judge; I judge myself), I saw an ad for a new show called Bunheads. The first thing that struck me was that the series was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino. Sherman-Palladino created one of my most favourite series - Gilmore Girls - so I was understandably excited. As the promo continued, I noticed that the Bunheads star looked uncannily like Lauren Graham. (Let me just say, I am VERY bad with faces. I could see someone right now and five minutes later be unable to recognise him. It's even worse with actors and actresses. I use context clues to help me recognise people so if you're out of the context, I'm clueless.)

Source: ABC Family

Could it be Lauren Graham? I love her. I loved her as Lorelai in Gilmore Girls but I also love her in her current show - Parenthood. If she was in Bunheads, it meant she wouldn't be in Parenthood. I had mixed feelings about this. Lauren Graham in another Sherman-Palladino creation would be great but Lauren's character is a central one in Parenthood. But then I saw a new angle of the promo. No, that wasn't Lauren Graham. She was just someone who looked like her. I swear I had that debate every time the promo came on and it came on every time there was a break in the Secret Life episodes I was watching.

Two weeks ago, my friend, who loved Gilmore Girls as much as I did, mentioned Bunheads to me and I decided to watch. Oh my confusion. There were just too many Gilmore Girls similarities. The central character (whose name I suddenly can't remember) still looked like Lauren Graham at some angles but she sounded nothing like her. For the first episode, it just felt like I was watching someone try to be a Gilmore Girl. The witty dialogue that I loved in Gilmore Girls was here too but just not delivered as effortlessly.

Source: ABC Family

By episode 2, there was too much GG deja vu.
Small town just like GG? Check.
Quirky small town characters? Check
Kelly Bishop from GG? Check.
Rose Abdoo from GG? Check
Sean Gunn from GG? Check

I am having a difficult time liking Bunheads because I keep wanting to compare it to Gilmore Girls. I just can't help it. Everywhere I turn, there's a Gilmore Girls reminder. Unfortunately, the delivery is just not as good as Gilmore Girls so it's failing in my eyes.  I'm still watching, hoping that I will eventually start judging it on its own merits. And also hoping that it will improve and become an ABC Family powerhouse.