Television

[Gryphon]

I used to watch Buffy. Every night, every week, all of that. I don't watch Angel, which is based off that, but I heard it's good. I don't know.

I used to watch Apprentice for the first two seasons, missing the first few episodes of each season. For this one, I've only watched one. Might stay up and watch it this week.

Every Wednesday is Lost, and I alway watch that. S'good.

I've heard about Inuyasha... never seen it, but all I heard was positive.

[Cress]

Never seen Angel either, but apparently Spike comes back in it, so I'm REALLY happy about that because I LOVE Spike. Completely.
Randomness here, but anybody watch the Oscars? Anybody CARE about the Oscars?

[Birdhead]

Yeah, I saw the Oscars... I spent about half an hour having conniptions every time Beyonce came onstage. OMGWTF Beyonce and Andrew Lloyd Webber, uh, NO?!

>.<

On the other hand, Santana! And Antonio Banderas and the Counting Crows, so that was cool. But really, Beyonce singing three times, twice in pieces that were totally unsuited to her? Do you guys not have a Hayley Westenra-type to do the songs that actually are neither pop nor R&B nor soppy trash??? She was okay in the Polar Express one, but the others just weren't right- I mean, I'm not dissing Beyonce here, she has a great voice, it's just not right for those songs.

[Zgirl]

I agree with Tui, if they have an R&B song in a movie, THEN let her sing it. I can't believe they let her sing all 3 songs too! (she's not very good in french, but neither am I.)
I liked last years oscars better, they were funnier but I enjoyed the part where Chris Rock visited the other theater. The directors probably figured out that nobody watched their movies, WHITE CHICKS SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED! hilarious...
New season of Pimp My Ride in the Sunday Stew on MTV. (I love that show. I'm an MTV junkie.)

[Birdhead]

Yes, but I don't care how many people saw it and loved it, White Chicks is still a piece of something I actually can't say on this board.

I mean, really.

Also, um, he did kind of skew his results. Consciously, I mean. I have no idea how many black people he asked, but I bet some of them had seen Sideways, and some of them hated White Chicks, and gimmicks like that really annoy me.

It was pretty clever, though.

[Kathy Li]

Total Joss Whedon-Mutant Enemy fan, here. Began watching Buffy in its second season, and watched every episode as it came out, all the episodes of Angel as they came out, and all the episodes of Firefly as they aired. And then bought all the DVD sets of all of them and watched them again with the commentary tracks.

Love Buffy. Wish September would get here so that I could see Serenity. Any time anybody wants to talk Buffy, let me know. :-) And yes, they brought Spike as a regular onto Angel's fifth season. But it's not as if he didn't show up on any of the other episodes. The first season of Angel was on the WB, directly after Buffy (fourth season, when she went to college), so about half a dozen or so of those episodes had cross-overs. Faith's storyline, in particular, went across the series.

TNT's showing a syndicated run of Angel, I think.

[Birdhead]

Two questions:
1. Anyone watching Medical Investigation? Is it worth my time? (Finally, a good thing about telly-lag!)

2. So, Kathy, you like Buffy, huh???

Okay, that wasn't really my question, my question was, I've never watched an episode in my lfie. Is it worth hiring the DVDs and watching them over a period of, say, a year? Are they really that good? Will the occasional plotline I've been spoiled for matter (no, of course not) Um... what's it about? Which is the best season? Just give me the low-down. A Beginner's guide, or something.

And, okay, three questions...

3. Is anyone else getting a JD/Cox vibe in Scurbs at the moment? I mean, at the moment, my-time? *g* I just saw the episode where JD puts down Cox in front of the residents in order to win back their respect.

[Kathy Li]

1) I saw the first couple of episodes, and it's ok, very CSI-ish. But I like the similarly-structured House much better, because it has Hugh Laurie being very snarky. And Omar Epps.

2) Oh, just a wee tad, and enough to have actually made a UC Sunnydale shirt to wear to conventions.

And yes, it's that good. (Best season vote would be the first three, after that, it goes downhill). You don't need a beginner's guide, everything's laid out in the pilot episode. But in terms of what it's about... well, it's as if a very talented writer said, "Right. I'm sick of the usual horror film thing where some poor helpless young blond girl walks down a dark alley and gets killed by the monster. I'm gonna make HER the hero..." The title of the show is indicative of the formula: the humor and the drama comes from the contrasts. Y'know, being the Chosen One, *and* an ex-cheerleader, etc.

Plus, a high schoool as Hellmouth works allegorically on SO many levels.

[Cress]

Hehe. I SO need to see more buffy. But doesn't Spike come in after season 3? How can it go downhill if it's SPIKE!

[Kathy Li]

Because the show's about Buffy, not Spike and because Joss Whedon (the man behind Buffy) got overworked. First he had to run Buffy and Angel. Then he had to run Buffy and Angel and Firefly. Then the Buffy showrunner he'd left behind got pregnant and had to take maternity leave, while the guy who was showrunning Angel got fired by the network (not by Joss). And then Joss and his co-show runner on Firefly each had to showrun and write a show and a half each.

I think because Buffy was the oldest show (at that point), they were a little more bored with it, so more effort went into Angel and into the baby Firefly (which died before they even got a full season).

Admittedly, though, the very best standalone episodes ever were written in seasons 4-6. Season 4 had "Hush" (the soundless one); Season 5 had "The Body"; and Season 6 had "Once More, With Feeling" (the musical). But the seasons as a whole didn't arc the way that 1-3 did, and weren't tied into the high school year/paradigm, and lost a bit of its power.

I really loved that Season 1-3 really honestly and truly were Buffy's sophomore, junior, and senior years in high school.

[Cress]

But SPIKE! Who cares about the bloody arc, it's SPIKE!

[Kathy Li]

I do!

Besides, once you've seen Marsters acting WITHOUT the blond hair or the fake British accent, let's just say the magic fades ... And i still get freaked out knowing that Marsters got head blisters from all the bleaching for Spike.

You planning on catching Cool Money?

[Cress]

So THAT'S why he stopped bleaching. I was so sad. But who cares, he uber cool as Spike. Isn't he a good actor otherwise, cause he seems fine in Buffy.

[Kathy Li]

Oh, he is, but he just doesn't seem as sexy when he's not a vampire. I saw him play an American soldier boy on Millennium, once, and it just didn't do a thing for me. Good actor, though.

I mention Cool Money, because he's in it.

Ye gods, I'm actually enjoying The Amazing Race 7. I'm freaking out, though, over the concept of TAR8 being a family edition with teams of four members.

[Cress]

Yeah, the hair is the best part. I mean, how can you not like it? It's just so...SPIKEY! And I really wouldn't know about the arcs of the series, since I just see random episodes here and there. Very annoying. Makes it extremely difficult to figure out what is happening, especially when you just see the last four episodes ever. Although having a friend who has practically memorized the entire season helps, it is kind of annoying to have to keep stopping and getting explanations as to who the creepy guy with an axe is.