Lemon: I just want to let you know that it does not make you any less of a woman that you yourself have no wedding plans...

...or a boyfriend or even the prospect of one, because that little doctoring job you have can keep you busy for years to come and we have a great tradition of dignified spinsters down here.

----------------------------------------

Even though I have been really bad about updating my blog the past few months, I have definitely not stopped watching television. A few new shows started this Spring, some good and some not-so-good. Here are a few thoughts on what has been going on most recently.

A few of the new shows that I have been watching are Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23, Girls and Scandal.

I am pretty picky about which sit-coms I watch, but I have really enjoyed Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23. James Van Der Beek is hilarious, but I am glad that he is not the main focus of the show, and I have liked Krysten Ritter since she was on Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls. It was just renewed for a second season and I am very excited to see what other craziness they come up with. Will James win Dancing With The Stars?! :o)

Girls, on the other hand, I am not quite sure about yet. I have watched the first few episodes and while I do not hate it, I also do not love it. As a twenty-something woman myself, I just do not really feel a connection to any of the characters. It has smart writing and parts of it are definitely funny, I just cannot get into it.

I was not sure about Scandal when it started. Something about the way they promoted the show just did not appeal to me. However, after hearing all the great buzz about it once it premiered, I decided I had to give it a try and I am very glad I did. The first season was short, but very high paced and incredibly entertaining. It did not go where I expected it to, but that made it all the more intriguing. I have heard that creator Shonda Rhimes wants to make season 2 a short one as well so that she can keep up the pace of the storyline and I am totally on board for that. While I do not enjoy waiting longer for new seasons, sometimes shows stretch things out too much just to fill twenty (or more) episodes.

"Sometimes, you have to roll a hard six."

The main problem with it being so hot outside the past few weeks is that all I want to do is lay on a raft in my aunt and uncle's pool and read. This is a problem because then I do not get anything else accomplished...like writing this blog :o)

I have, however, managed to keep up with all my summer TV shows.

My returning shows that I have continued to love include White Collar, The Glades and In Plain Sight. They just seem to keep getting better and better. My favorite episode of White Collar so far this season has been "Veiled Threat," where the boys go undercover at a Manhattan Millionaires Bachelor auction, and I look forward to an Eliza Dushku guest appearance later this season. I have also quite enjoyed the continuing development in the relationship between Jim and Callie on The Glades and the pregnancy of U.S.  Marshall Mary Shannon on In Plain Sight. Highly entertaining all around.

The two new shows that I have enjoyed this summer are Necessary Roughness and Suits. I would not say that I love either of them just yet, but they are entertaining enough for me to stick with them through the end of their seasons. To be completely honest, I mostly watch Necessary Roughness because of Marc Blucas, but the storylines are good too :o)

Detective Crowe: You look like you slept under an over-pass

Detective Rizzoli: How are you still single?

--------------------------------------- 

The last two years, I have given you a list of my returning Fall shows and which new shows I am going to check out.  I have decided to do the same for this Summer's shows. There is not as much on in the Summer but it should be enough to keep me occupied.

My Returning Shows:

In Plain Sight

The Glades

White Collar

Covert Affairs

Rookie Blue

Rizzoli & Isles

New Shows:

Franklin & Bash 

Wilfred 

Love Bites 

The first time I saw the commercial for Wilfred, starring Elijah Wood and premiering on FX at the end of June, I thought it looked stupid. However, every time I see it, it makes me want to watch it a little more. I will let you know if it is actually any good. Franklin & Bash stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar aka Zack Morris, I think that is all I need to say about that. And Love Bites is a show that was filmed last year, but NBC could not find a place for it in their line-up, so they are releasing it now. It stars Greg Grunberg, from Heroes and Felicity, and Becki Newton, from Ugly Betty.

I could not find a list of all the premiere dates online to share with you. I thought I had originally seen it on Kristin Dos Santos's page on E! Online, but could not find it today. If I ever figure out where it is, I will make sure to post it for you.

Are there any summer shows that you watch or think I should be watching? Please tell me in the comments section below!

xoxo

c

---------------------------------------

"Serve, protect and don't screw up."

A lot of networks have started introducing new shows in the summer, which I appreciate, however summer TV can sometimes be tricky. For starters, not everything premieres around the same time.  A few shows started right after the regular season shows were over and some do not start until August. Also, many summer TV shows are just really bad.

I tried really hard to like The Good Guys with Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks. I enjoyed that Whitford's character was so totally different from Josh Lyman and Danny Tripp. However, after a few episodes, it just got repetitive, so I have stopped watching. Although, I do still really like his mustache :o) I also tried to watch The Gates and Memphis Beat, but I just could not get into either of them. They were just plain boring. Seeing as I usually enjoy vampire related things, I was hoping The Gates would be good, but it felt very mundane. Almost like Desperate Housewives except with vampires, werewolves and witches.  With Memphis Beat, I do not know what it was, the writing just seemed slightly awkward at times, like they could not decide if it was supposed to be funny or serious.

I am, however, really enjoying Rookie Blue. I like Missy Peregrym (mostly because of Stick It :o) and Life As We Know It and Reaper were canceled prematurely, so I really hope this show sticks around for a while. I like it because it is not trying to put a new spin on the cop-show genre, it is just looking at it from the view of a rookie. I would say it is more like Grey's Anatomy, but with cops...and a lot less sex...so far anyway. 

The Glades premiered last night on A&E and it was excellent. White Collar and Covert Affairs premiere tomorrow night on USA, which I am super excited about. Also, Mad Men starts on AMC in two weeks and the last season finale was the best episode of the series yet, so I cannot wait to see what happens next.

While my TV schedule has been relatively light, I have been trying to cut down my Netflix queue a little.

My watching of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia hit a slight snag as the first disc that I got was scratched. However, I received replacement discs and am now through the second season. (Considering there are only seventeen episodes in the first two seasons combined, this is not a huge accomplishment.) Aside from being overly excited by the opening credits and the occasional mention of places in Philly that I know, my initial reaction was that the show is pretty funny. I would not say that I laugh hysterically at every episode, but it is more of a subtle humor, if that makes any sense. With every episode though, it grows on you more and more.  I have three more season to get through, so I will keep you updated.

In terms of movies, I watched Silkwood, Dreamgirls and 300.

Silkwood starred Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher, David Strathairn, Craig T. Nelson and Fred Ward. And even with a mullet, Meryl Streep's performance is excellent. She plays Karen Silkwood, a woman who, while working at an Oklahoma nuclear power plant, becomes exposed to massive amounts of radiation. She starts to investigate what is going on at the plant in regards to worker safety but dies in a mysterious car accident before she finishes. It is based on a true story and is definitely worth seeing.

Dreamgirls, the play, was playing in Philadelphia and even though I had not seen the movie, a friend offered me tickets so I went. The individual performances were good, but I was not very impressed by the overall production.  The movie had gotten nominated for so many Oscars, that I thought maybe it was just the play that I did not like, so I decided to give the movie a try.  It was just as bad as the play.  Jennifer Hudson's performance was impressive and definitely worthy of her Oscar, but the rest of the movie was just not great.  The only thing that I really enjoyed was the brief cameo by Jaleel White at the very beginning :o)
As much as I enjoy hots boys with 8-pack abs, wearing leather speedos, I have to say, 300 was pretty bad. It had basically no plot, as well as a totally unnecessary sex scene and pretty poor dialogue. And sadly, as my one friend pointed out, this really is the only one of Gerard Butler's movies worth seeing. I have no idea why there is so much hype around this movie. I mean, it was visually pretty cool, but the rest of it was just not good. It must be a boy thing.

On a completely seperate note, Emmy nominations came out last week and I am very upset that Timothy Olyphant was not nominate for Justified. Even Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly agrees with me!

Anyways, I hope everyone had a FABulous Fourth of July! If you are missing me too much in between posts, remember that you can always follow me on twitter and facebook!

xoxo
c

As always, here is my regular plea for all of you to donate to these amazing causes:
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Habitat for Humanity
United Way
AmeriCares
StillerStrong
The Nature Conservancy
National Wildlife Federation
------------------------------------