Persons Unknown

This is going to be a fluff piece cuz this is my blog and that's how I roll.

Is anyone else watching the show Persons Unknown? I don't know how many times I've thought "why don't they..." or "well I would have..." yet I still can't get enough. I'm sucked in, wondering where it's all going.

Who knows, maybe I'm on the rebound from Lost. Maybe I need a bit of a quirky mystery to keep my mind spinning on something.

It appears that even the people that are running the charade are just pawns as well. And who the heck can have cameras on so many people and locations?? After seeing the fake Tori video, I have to wonder how real the Charlie video was. And the used-car-salesmen-who-isn't-really is a bit of a D-bag. Watching the jailbird attack him was fun.

Random side note: Daisy Betts, who plays Janet Cooper, appears to be Australian, judging by her work. Normally I can detect an Australian accent hidden in a fake American accent (even Anthony LaPaglia occasionally says a word or two with an Aussie accent even though he speaks with an American accent off camera), but her American accent is awesome! I had no clue.

Wait...an Australian...a child who shouldn't be raised by another...a young blonde party girl...a male lead with a buzz cut...a mysterious location in the middle of nowhere with Others....MLIL.

Steven Wright's Baby Journal

Steven Wright recently did the opening opening monologue (that quick bit before the show starts) on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. My favorite bit was this line from what a baby's journal would say:

"Day 1: Still tired from the move."

Ahh...still makes me laugh.

My Beloved TV Is Back!

Apparently, the pregnancy depression I mentioned earlier can still rear its ugly head even when I think I've adjusted and been done with it. I suppose during pregnancy, any of these symptoms can pop back up at any time. I stopped posting, stopped attending yoga, and pretty much tried to just hide out and get through the days. I have since "recovered", I guess you could say, and have regained an interest in posting (and pretty much everything else). I have been doing more baking lately, which I may post about, but more importantly - new TV seasons are starting again!

Heroes
I thought the premiere was fantastic - probably better than the whole previous season. I love the gray (pardon the pun) area they're bringing up in this whole good vs. evil storyline. It's similar to one of the things I like about Lost - not knowing who's really supposed to be "good" or "bad" and deciding for myself.

Fringe
This is a pretty good new show - very X-Files and Lost, which makes sense knowing who's behind it. By the way, if the music reminds you a bit too much of Lost (which it does us), it's because it's the same music guy. Guess we can tell what he likes. ;P I love stories that go into both the paranormal and science, so I find this show really interesting. And Joshua Jackson has surprised me with a fairly interesting character - I was not a fan of Dawson's Creek and was afraid I wouldn't like this show because of him.

Criminal Minds
The season premiere was a little blah...mostly just resolving the end of the last season. I'm looking forward to new stuff. I love the show enough that I'll forgive them.

Bones
Bones has been so good this season! I think the addition of Dr. Sweets as part of the gang was a good one. I hope we don't spend the whole season trying to replace Zach, though. And as much as I liked Zach, I'm not sure I would be as friendly to him as the rest of the gang still is. ;P On a side note, I finally read a Temperance Brennan novel by Kathy Reichs, and I have to say, I much prefer Bones to the novel character. I don't think I'll bother reading anymore of them.

House
Same ol', same ol', but still entertaining to watch.

Law and Order SVU
Are they just going to be trying for Emmys each season? I want more crime, less personal drama with the cops themselves. But that's just me. The new ADA seems interesting.

Survivor
It's in HD now! That's pretty much why we're watching. Or at least why I am. No one grabs me as someone to cheer for, yet.

The Amazing Race
I love this show. If only they'd decide to go HD. The team of dating NYers is going to be funny/annoying - I loved the part in the preview for next week when he's complaining about another team's ethics and she pipes in "and they didn't even say hi!" hahaha

Dancing With the Stars
This would have been a big one for me, if I wasn't completely sick of the filler crap. I think 3 episodes in one week was major overkill and caused a burnout even in devoted dance lovers like myself. I didn't even bother watching - I saw a few bits here and there, looked up who was kicked off, and deleted the taped episodes.

This week, I'm looking forward to the premieres of Chuck and Numb3rs. Oh, and the Vice Presidential Debate. :)

What are YOU watching?

More MacGruber!

Once again, the internet proves to be awesome. On my one other MacGruber post, I mentioned how hard it is to find MacGruber lyrics. The lack of MacGruber lyrics seems to continue to plague the internet....

Enter Swamp Thing. This kind blogger left a comment on the aforementioned MacGruber post with some lyrics to one of the theme songs. I keep thinking one of these days I should just watch a few episodes just to take down the theme song lyrics. At least then all the googlers would finally have some payoff!

Olympics Likes and Dislikes

This is just off the top of my head type stuff, avoiding any political discussion.... I figured I've been watching so much of the Olympics, I might as well add my 2 cents!

Likes

Power Walking - The only thing I could find about this on the NBC Olympics site was this article. Watching power walking is the most amused I've been during the Olympics. As my husband said, they can walk faster than I can run. But it's still funny to watch. :D

Nastia Liukin - I know Shawn Johnson is the sweetheart, but I really like Nastia's style. She was also very classy about the whole uneven bars tiebreak.

Funky Sports - I love seeing all the sports that you don't commonly see on TV, or even realize people compete in, such as Trampoline, Individual Pursuit, or Handball (which is totally different from what I thought).

Bela Karolyi - His commentary is always entertaining and GOOD!

Dislikes

NBC's coverage - They could be showing more events live, or at least on the same day that they're contested. And I could stand to see a few less seconds of their flashy graphics every 5 minutes. We could easily fast forward through that garbage, by why make me do all the work? :/

Rowdy Gaines (I can't bring myself to link to his ACTUAL page) - His commentary during the swimming was so annoying. He spent half the time congratulating himself anytime he made a correct prediction and the other half talking about how Dara Torres was the fastest swimmer in the pool...even after she didn't win. I like her, but I think it just takes away from what she has accomplished by trying to make her something she's not.

NBC again - How many videos are they going to sell of the opening ceremony and Michael Phelps? Who buys that stuff? After hearing some of the backstory to the opening ceremony, I was a little less enchanted by it. I suppose Phelps won't be hurting even if he doesn't see any of the money NBC will be making off him.

Not seeing many medal ceremonies - This is probably more of a dislike to my husband who hasn't been able to hear Australia's national anthem played. I just think we should see more medal ceremonies and fewer shots of Bob Costas and NBC graphics.

Must Be Patient for Doctor Who

Well it looks like the fifth season of Doctor Who won't arrive until 2010 while David Tennant does a few shows in a little-known play called Hamlet. I've read from various sources that there will be a few Doctor Who specials with David Tennant in the meantime, but I have no idea how soon the US might get them after they air in the UK.

But who cares about all that! How awesome was this last season??

***STOP READING if you watch this show and haven't seen the end of Season 4.***

Catherine Tate was a great companion. I really liked the pair of them because there were no doe eyes or doting or any of that. She was snarky and hilarious. I was almost sad at the end of the finale because I really wanted her to be the companion again...I wonder if they'll get around it somehow or if he'll have a new companion. I liked Rose a lot better too since she was a little more serious and a little less trashy and obnoxious. :/ I thought the ending with Rose was weird but perfect I guess. She gets her "Doctor" without breaking any of their rules of parallel universes.

I also loved how the different characters from Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures came together for the finale(s). It was a bit cheesy, I know, but that's pretty much Doctor Who for you. I loved the flirtation with Donna and Captain Jack! I think Captain Jack finally met someone he might not have been able to handle. ;)

I think the show did a good job of wrapping things up, yet still leaving me excited for the next season. There was no major cliffhanger, but I'm still eager to see what direction the show goes next. If only we didn't have to wait so long!

Quick Update on the Oprah Puppy Mill Show

You've caught me watching Oprah again, but it's OK because this time there was a short update on the Puppy Mill Show.

A shelter or rescue (not sure which) in Richmond, VA, reported 330+ spay/neuter appointments were made immediately following the Oprah show. They also adopted out 30+ animals. Oprah said that show got the most feedback of any show in the past 2 years.

Good news! :)

Doctor Who Extravaganza!

This was a Doctor Who weekend! The season finale on BBC America was on Saturday, yet I didn't bother watching it. Why? Because it was on the Sci-Fi channel the week before. What was the Sci-Fi channel airing this week? THE NEW SEASON!! :) Friday night's episode was the Christmas episode for the most recent season (already aired in the UK). The episode was bad, to be honest, but it starred Kylie Minogue in a cute but dorky role and IS THE START OF THE NEW SEASON!! :) For all you Doctor Who fans, it's on Sci-Fi on Friday nights at 9pm Eastern. This Friday, the 25th, is the first "real" episode of the season, and we'll be seeing the return of Donna (Catherine Tate) from the previous Christmas special. I'm really looking forward to this season.

Not only did we have all kinds of Doctor Who goodness, but The Doctor himself, David Tennant, was on The Graham Norton Show on Saturday. He and Jo Brand were hilarious.

But it doesn't end there!

The Sci-Fi channel has also started airing The Sarah Jane Adventures, a spin off of Doctor Who. This is the first season of the show, and it has already aired in the UK. Sarah Jane Smith was an accomplice of The Doctor in the 70s. She's now an adult and looking after a teenage boy whom she adopted. I missed the first episode, so I don't know much background other than that. After watching Friday's episode, I'll definitely keep watching. The show is pretty tame without being TOO cheesy, focused more on the teenage characters and fighting aliens, so I think it could easily be a family show (though don't hold me to that! ;P). I guess it's a nice break from all the crime dramas and shows like Torchwood that I watch.

Lost Ramblings Just Because

I've been blanking a bit when trying to decide what to write about next. I have a few topics in mind, but they would take some effort to write about and I'm sick AGAIN and feeling very meh AGAIN. Just sick enough to be annoying and make me grumpy.

So today I thought I'd just ramble on a bit about Lost. Less than a week till its return! Yay! I've seen some spoilage, and I have to say, I think the next episode will be really good and really exciting. I won't spoil anything for anyone else except to say that there's a SNOW GLOBE involved. Kidding!

I'm dying to learn more about Daniel Faraday, like why he has a caretaker and what his job is for this whole freighter mission. If the people behind the freighter have bad intentions for the island, I think it's interesting that they bring someone along who seems to see what's 'weird' about the island right away - and he doesn't seem to be entirely lacking morally, so who knows what he'll decide to do with what he learns.

Let's see...what else...I'm also looking forward to learning who was in the coffin. It's funny because other mysteries on Lost make me curious and exciting, but for some reason I've been DYING to know who was in the coffin. That's one mystery that just really gets me. I hope we learn more about Libby too - she's way to involved between the sailboat stuff and the mental institution - there's got to be more to her.

I really couldn't care less who Kate chooses. That love triangle is the least interesting thing on the show for me. Not because it's a romance - I like other pairings and romances on the show - but Kate's character annoys me and it seems like all she cares about is Jack or Sawyer, Jack or Sawyer.

I'm curious how much Penny and her father know about each other's searches...and how much Widmore knows about Desmond's whereabouts. (Or if he made that happen!)

Anybody else have anything they're looking forward to or hoping to see?

The Weekend: Torchwood and Gardening

Torchwood was really cool this weekend. It was sort of a flashback episode explaining how Captain Jack Harkness collected or hired the current members of Torchwood (aside from Gwen, whose beginning we saw with the beginning of the show). Owen's background was particularly touching and interesting. I'm excited for the finale! It should be good.

This weekend the hubby gave me a lot of help with the lawn (mowing, spreading fertilizer, seeding). My sweet peas are starting to sprout! :) I cleaned off the patio furniture to get ready for any future warm days. I'll see how the seeding goes with the lawn, but aside from that, I think my last major project is the veggie patch I'm trying to plan. It's exciting when things are coming together! My hubby will soon be doing a lot of work on the patio extension, and I think it'll look great when it's done. Maybe one day we'll be able to just hang out and enjoy it all. ;)

Oh...I still would like to get a mason bee house. I had a bird house hanging in a tree but the twine broke, so I need to get that back up, too. I'd love to have a little bird family in the yard!

Criminal Minds & A Quote

The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.
-Ben Okri

I heard this quote at the end of Criminal Minds and was really touched by it. When I looked it up, I discovered a wiki of Criminal Minds Quotes - a pretty cool link if you're a fan of the show like I am!

Weekend TV

Just a few tidbits from the Idiot Box this weekend.

Hello! Topless guys making out on Torchwood! God I love that show. The episode was kind of lacking though.

The Graham Norton show was hilarious with Dustin and Lisa Hoffman. They're pretty cute together. I'll admit - that Mika song "Love Me" is like a train wreck to me - I can't look away! He was pretty funny on the show too. The hidden camera in the men's bathroom bit was funny AND gross. ;P

Numb3rs is back!! I love that show. And not just because I'm a geek. I love the cheesy little endings it always has and I love Colby.

Hell's Kitchen also returned this week. I like Gordon Ramsay so much more after watching The F Word (not that I didn't like him before). I've also started reading his autobiography Roasting in Hell's Kitchen (more about that later). After reading the first chapter about his dad, I'm quite impressed by what he has accomplished.

Ocean's Twelve was on tv so I caught a few snippets. I like all the Ocean's movies. (Shout out to FB!) This one is pretty funny with Julia Roberts' character pretending to pass as Julia Roberts. I love Matt Damon too. (MATT DAMON!)

Well this was certainly a lame post! Oh well! The weekend's a time to be lazy, right? heh

MacGruber!

For the past couple weeks, I've had the theme song to the Saturday Night Live MacGruber sketch running through my head. I don't know any lyrics other than "MACGRUBER!" because they change with the episode so it's been pretty annoying. ;P It's still a funny sketch though. Watch one with Jonah Hill here. (I'll try to find a version to embed later.)

I don't like Kevin Johnson any more than I liked Michael

Tonight's episode of Lost, "Meet Kevin Johnson," is probably my least favorite of the season so far. I'm sure the fact that Michael annoys the smokey outta me influences that just a smidge.

So what have we learned? We learned Michael has a death wish. We found out why Jack couldn't jump off the bridge. We confirmed that Mr. Friendly is indeed friendly with the Misters (not that there's anything wrong with that). We saw that SAYID CONTINUES TO KICK ASS. We learned that Sawyer still isn't getting the screen time he deserves. We now know that apparently not everyone on the freighter is on the same page. We still don't know who's in the freakin' coffin though.

So what's your take? Who shot at Rousseau and KyleIMeanKarl? Remember that the chopper left the freighter for a little "errand" - could that be it? Or did Ben send them into a trap?

Who do you think created the fake crash site - Widmore or Ben? It makes sense either way - both have the money and resources, and both seem like they could benefit from it. Maybe we'll find out Libby was behind everything!

Do you think the Captain was telling the truth (what he thought was the truth) about the black box, or was he feeding a story to Sayid and Desmond? Does Widmore really agree with Lapidus or is he just stringing Lapidus along because Lapidus knows it was a fake crash?

We ended the freighter sequences with Sayid tattling on Michael to the Captain. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if the Captain says "Yeah, I know." I was also quite interested in what Miles was saying - I wonder what the extent of Miles' abilities are and why he would know who's hiding what (or if it's just a simple hunch).

This episode definitely created way more questions than it answered. A good episode to break on, I suppose. Can't wait to see how they all get off the Island! I hope we find out what the Others have been up to this whole time. I wouldn't mind checking up on Penny and her search either.

Meh and Yay

Meh: I got a sudden cold/sore throat thing yesterday that kept me home today and BETTER BE GONE TOMORROW. I used spearmint and eucalyptus shampoo and conditioner and lavender body wash to perk up my senses and clear my head a bit. I have discovered that hot water (with varying strengths of tea) is sweet nectar from the gods for me and will probably my exclusive sore throat treatment from this day forward. I've never been a fan of the menthol stuff that's cold and freezes your throat - even drinking cold or room temperature water is unappealing to me. I choke orange juice down. But warm water...oh man does that go down smooth. What do you use to feel better?

Yay: I watched the Charlie Brown Easter special! Yes, I am cheesy like that. But whatever happened to the rest of the holiday specials?? I have Halloween and Easter specials from Looney Toons, Garfield, and Charlie Brown on VHS that we recorded off the TV when we were kids, but I don't even have a VCR anymore! Put those bad boys back on TV! Does anyone remember that jingle that the broadcast channels would play when a "Special" (cartoon) was on in the evening? They don't have that anymore either. How sad. What is the world coming to?

The Other Woman

I wasn't planning to write about this episode of Lost because I didn't want to turn this into a blog about Lost, but I saw something in the episode that I haven't seen mentioned in any spoiler sites (so far) and it's worth noting!

When Juliet goes over to Ben "I Don't Know How to Woo a Woman" Linus' house for his 2 person dinner party, did anyone catch the painting on the wall as she walked in the door? It looked like a portrait of Ben's mom (and Juliet) - I think this pretty much confirms that the "her" Juliet looks like is Ben's mother, not Annie, as is being speculated. Oedipus Complex, anyone? Many people seem to think Harper was referring to Annie as the "her" Juliet looks like, but Annie had brown hair for one thing. Some people wondered how The Others would have known what his mother looked like, but I think that's part of the reason we saw the painting - to see that he did keep images of her in some form. He has multiple passports, money, files on people - finding information about his mother is probably easy peasy lemon squeezy. Interesting side note, the actress who played his mother is Michael Emerson's wife.

I don't know what Lost could have followed The Constant with that could have compared, but I like Juliet so I was happy with the episode. There were a few interesting things in my opinion: the Widmore video, giving the Island some Beano, Ben becoming "one of the guys," the Jacket kiss, and JULIET IS BEN'S. As I've seen other people comment, I think this was a story-building episode.

I think they should just stick to Jack/Juliet and Kate/Sawyer and forget this Jack/Kate garbage. But I know that's not going to happen so I'm not going to worry about it! :)

Lost Post - DONE. (shout out to Gordon Ramsay's The F Word)

Yummy Torchwood

If you're a Torchwood fan and you haven't yet watched the latest episode ("Reset") - don't read this post.

**********

The television gods were smiling down on me last week. Not only was I treated to a FANTASTIC episode of Lost, but I ended the week with a exciting episode of Torchwood called "Reset," filled with all sorts of goodies.

It started off with the return of Martha Jones (played by the beautiful Freema Agyeman). The banter between Martha and Jack was playful and flirty and made me wish that they would just make a Doctor Who with Jack and Martha as sidekicks all season. Martha was smart, cool, and confident, something the other two ladies in Torchwood could learn a little about. She made a reference to a "boyfriend" - would she have been referring to The Doctor or some other guy we haven't met yet? Last I saw, The Doctor was so not into her. She could just cut her losses and go for Jack - he's apparently very "innovative, bordering on avant-garde," as we learn from Ianto. Nice!

THEN...Charles Widmore! Alan Dale, known to many through his years on Australia's Neighbours and several American dramas, plays the omnipresent Charles Widmore on Lost, yet I got a double dose of him when he appeared on Torchwood as a scary researcher and professor. He certainly does a great job of giving me chills in whatever Scary Person role he plays.

AND THEN...OWEN!!!! Owen gets shot (by Alan Dale of course!) protecting Martha - I totally thought Jack was going to jump in the way, being as he can't die and all - but NO. I cheated and looked at Burn Gorman's IMDB entry to see what other episodes he's credited to, and it looks like he'll be in a few more...but will it be as a corpse? There are more episodes listed than what Burn's credited for so.... However it plays out, this was certainly a shocking ending.

Oh, and the episode's theme of resetting our bodies to "factory defaults" was interesting, and I love how Jack always stands up for humane (aliene?) treatment of aliens. :)

The Constant

Lost was just incredible tonight.

And now, after letting the episode digest and watching that touching phone call scene with Desmond and Penny again, I think I'm ready to talk about it.

We got an episode full of Desmond and Sayid last night, two of the best characters on the show. We also got a bit more from Daniel Faraday, whom I just adore. Not only do I feel the need to care for him like a wounded animal, but he's also all geeky/eccentric/scientist-y, which is way cool.

You know the surprised cartoon character look that involves bulging eyes and a gaping mouth? That's what I looked like for a good part of the episode. Well, maybe not that bad, but I know my mouth was hanging open and I was on the edge of my seat. I loved the way Desmond went back and forth, and Henry Ian Cusick's acting was fabulous (even if he does remind me of John Black from Days of Our Lives when he has short hair). It never got repetitive or old for me - it only grew more suspenseful. Especially when we saw what happened to Eloise and Minkowski.

TPTB with Lost have said that the Desmond+Penelope relationship is an important part of the Big Picture on Lost, and I think this episode really reinforces that. That devious ol' Charles Widmore keeps popping up (and may pop up again soon) in unexpected ways. Minkowski said he was instructed NOT to answer any phone calls from Penny. Penny becomes Desmond's "Constant" and enables him to become "stuck" in time again, something that appears to be an important clue in learning about the Island's mysterious properties. Remember the polar bear remains in Tunisia?

However, because I'm emotional and sappy, my favorite part of the episode was the oh-so-satisfying phone call between Desmond and Penelope. I don't care if it isn't Christmas Eve right now, I certainly felt like it was for that brief moment! Making that contact inspired all the pure hope, joy, and excitement of Christmas Eve. The quick exchange of I love yous and promises to find each other and never give up was the best television I've seen in a long time. The intense close-ups on their faces and quick editing sucked you right in. It was infintely better than that high school romance between Jack/Kate/Sawyer(/Juliet?). You feel hope that perhaps there WILL be a happy ending and maybe everyone WON'T end up miserable and broken. I suppose we have two and a half seasons to change that though. :/

Here's to Desmond and Penelope. Pesmond will be my Constant.

Torchwood

I think this season of Torchwood has been great so far. The acting seems more natural, the stories are more interesting, and the relationships between the characters are getting better (more in-depth, less cheesy). The "alien" stories seem to affect them more realistically (if that's possible), rather than the usual alien-crime-fighting, "craziness ensues" vibe. I know it's early, but I've just been so happy with what I've seen so far that I had to comment. I hope the rest of the season is as good!

insert catchy title involving "Lost" and "found" here

Lost is almost back!! We are huge Lost fans - I won't say HUGE because we don't go as far as playing the online reality games or Fantasy leagues or any of that - but we DO read up on spoilers, theories, mysteries, screen caps, etc. We've spent the "Lost off season" rewatching Seasons 1-3 on DVD, looking for Easter Eggs on the DVDs, watching mobisodes online, and catching up on spoilers and theories (see the LostPedia link to the left). I think TPTB on Lost really did themselves a disservice in the way they aired Season 3 because the season was fantastic when watching the episodes back-to-back. Taking breaks in the middle of a season is one of the dumbest things to come to TV, for any show.

One of the best extra features in the DVDs' commentary has to be any commentary from Dominic Monaghan. Lost just isn't complete without the DMS (Dominic Monaghan Show). Poor Charlie......or is he?? ;)

This will be a good week - Lost starts the new season on Thursday (a one hour recap episode followed by the one hour season premier) BUT they are also airing a special encore version of the Season 3 finale on Wednesday night, enhanced with text "pop ups" of back story and special secret stuff. :)