Television Viewing News

[rabid1st]

Things are starting to stagnate a bit around ye olde TV. Seasons are winding down to their supposedly EPIC finales and it is all leaving me rather wrung out and unimpressed. I started watching House again a few episodes back, maybe it was episode 14 or 15. Anyway, once the Huddy was over, I poked my head out of my burrow to see what the show was doing. I just watched the one with the spud-gun competition and a famous face from the past. The face was a beautiful as ever, but I thought the episode was rather contrived. Contrived seems to be the norm these days with House. Maybe it was trying to make Huddy work or maybe it is just that the show is getting on in years and running out of steam. I don't know. I still have hopes for the shocking House/Wilson Series finale that will cause a real uproar in TVLand. But since this is America and the show is on Fox...I am probably just going to get some lame overdose fade out to heaven or something.

Doctor Who isn't really impressing me. I keep putting off viewing it. Pirate episode still to watch. Meanwhile, in Canadian TV, I just watched the finale of S4 of Murdoch Mysteries. I love that show, but talk about a contrived ending. I didn't believe one word of the season finale. Murdoch and Julia were completely out of character. My only hope is that it turns out to be a sick dream when we come back in a flippin' YEAR. How do people wait an entire year for these things shows? Luckily, the episode was pretty much designed to make me forget the show, so...I suppose they've done me a favor by making it such a hot mess.

And finally, some of my Supernatural friends will be pleased to know that I've seen the light re: Cas/Dean. For the longest time, I simply couldn't get behind the forbidden love of a guardian angel and his pet human. I liked Cas, I did, but he didn't seem to have much passion in him. I thought, perhaps, people were simply so appalled by the obvious incest subtext in SPN that they were desperately clinging to any other marginally viable pairing they could find. Cas was a great addition to the show, but, I didn't feel a spark with him, despite some obvious "he's gay for Dean" reference in S5. No spark = No shipping for Rabid.

But finally, I stepped on board the ship over these last few weeks. Something about the level of pain and angst Dean and Cas are going through now has tipped me to favor that pairing. Also, Dean showed some interest in someone other than his brother...which was a welcome change. I love all of these boys, don't get me wrong...but until recently I just haven't seen much to convince me that Castiel was in love with Dean. Now, suddenly...I buy it. So that is one thing that Sara has accomplished. Of course, now she has me in the fold, she's probably going to do something ridiculous to upset me.

And so...it is on to the dog days of summer reruns and replacement series. Psych is coming back. And SYTYCD. And I've yet to watch Fringe S3. All things to look forward to, but the Murdoch Mysteries finale really has put me in a funk.

Rae

Comments

[soophelia.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way as you do right now.

House/Wilson won't happen because of David Shore though, not Fox. Glee is on Fox and they have 2 gay (canon) couples: Kurt/Blaine and Brittany/Santana. I don't watch Glee, but I've heard about it (seen pictures/caps from people on tumblr/ontd). I remain hopeful that Shore will at least consider House/Wilson. He would be an idiot not to, but DS and the writers seem to love House/Cuddy and Cuddy regardless of the pairing dragging this season down. I just wish they would bury the House/Cuddy relationship and move on. That ship has sunk and they need to stop attempting to keep it afloat.

As for Doctor Who, I just can't watch Moffat's version. There's nothing warm about this Doctor or anything to keep me remotely interested. Also River Song, like the majority of Moffat's characters (Reinette, Amy, River Song,etc), spend their lives waiting for the Doctor rather than actually accomplishing anything for themselves. I hate the way that Moffat shows women as pining for the Doctor and him being their only reason to live. :/

Did Moffat say that River Song actually marries the Doctor? I'm not happy about that and that's not entirely because I'm a Doctor/Rose shipper. I knew the Doctor would have lovers/and or wives after Rose and I'm cool with that. I'm just disappointed that his possibly future wife is a Mary Sue (according to TV Tropes, River Song is a God Mode Sue).
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CanonSue

And Moffat's stories just don't interest me. I prefer Paul Cornell, Mark Gatiss and Toby Whitehouse's stories. Moffat's stories are great to watch once, but I never feel the desire to watch his episodes again after I've seen it once.

I'm curious how Eleven resonates with kids. Do kids like Eleven like they did Nine and Ten?

I stopped watching Psych when Shawn got with Abby (and Shawn getting together with Juliet did not tempt me back either). I don't ship anything on Psych. I just watch for Shawn and Gus interaction.

I don't watch Supernatural so I cannot comment on that, but Dean/Cas shippers gave some excellent reasons (on the SpoilerTV Shippers Poll) why someone should ship Dean/Cas. If I watched Supernatural, most likely that's the pairing I would ship.

One show that I've started watching is Game of Thrones. I don't ship anything, but the stories are excellent (so far). I plan to read the books after this season ends.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I am surprised that David Shore has set his heart on Huddy. But I don't watch any of the behind the scenes stuff for House.

My problem with River isn't that she's replacing Rose. To me, she's not. My problem is in the design of the character. We know her end before we know how she turns out. And it all sets the Doctor up to look like a person who leads women on and then crushes them. It makes her look pathetic, as if she lives for this false truth of being "The one!" And Rose sort of lived for that on the inside...though, to be fair, Rose had more to go on than River seems to have.

I think, for me, it is that the Doctor doesn't actually HAVE any of these women in a committed sense. He simply dallies with them. And now that we know that...it is all rather pathetic. Amy, I don't like, because I never believed any of her words flowed from HER mind. I believed she was channeling Moff and basically chanting...I am great, look at me...I am the best companion ever. That was one thing that RTD rigorously avoided with Rose. Yes, he definitely wrote a love story for Rose and the Doctor...and he did let them be too wrapped up in one another, I suppose...to the point where they alienated some of the audience. But RTD never went around TELLING us that Rose was great. Moff trumpets and blares it all. Like his Christmas special was...oh, where is that quote...

"This one’s incredibly Christmassy. That’s true of the previous ones but I wanted to go for broke. It’s easily the most Christmassy thing you’ll ever see. It’s a huge, sentimental, lovely, jeopardy-driven story. It’s the Christmas special I’d like to see. It’s like a compilation of every Christmas movie. A big Christmas treat."

Or his quote about how Amy is the companion that every boy wants to travel with and every girl wants to be.

Just blowing his own horn all the time...and overselling.

I watched Game of Thrones once...but didn't get pulled into it. I suppose I could watch a few more of them.

I also highly recommend watching Supernatural S1-S5. Though, I would say you will need to grit your teeth through most of S1. It doesn't really get cooking until Dad comes back into the picture. But by the time Cas arrives...well...it is fantastic. And I say that as someone who was not shipping anyone. I just thought the show was so well crafted it blew me away. S6 has been rocky from a writing stand-point. Sort of all over the map, but there have been some solid performances. And I was prepared to wait out this season to see if it developed, because I knew it would be hard to follow S2-S5 with anything remotely comparable.

Perhaps that is what Moff needs to learn...he can't follow perfection with anything remotely comparable. Even if RTD did show his weaknesses in the specials and Ten's finale, he still had spectacular down and he still had a great Doctor.

[awkwardduckling.livejournal.com]

Oh god I didn't realize that was the last Murdoch of the season. Did -anything- except Crabtree's book move forward this season? That's upsetting. It's a fun show, but...come on guys, get it together, how is the sister somehow the only pulling for this relationship??

Also...I have never and can't imagine I ever will like River Song.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

This was a very stagnant season for our hero. The problem I have with this sort of storyline "twist" is that it is artificially creating tensions. We all know that Julia loves William more than she loves Darcy. And we know that William loves Julia...but his not speaking of it and going to such self-destructive lengths only serves to make everyone watching give up on them. I think a much better story would have been for Murdoch to have been accused of killing Darcy. Then, we would have had virtually the same story...William and Julia separated by the case...and Julia torn about her feelings, but added to that we would have had the idea that Julia simply couldn't give in to her feelings for William over the dead body of a man she would have to be in mourning for for all of next season. It would have then made some sense for Julia to strike out at William and William to turn self-destructive. This was just...a very shallow story with no emotional commitment. A very lousy ending to a season, and apparently, there was talk of it being the SERIES end. Which I hope is not the case, because it truly was no way to leave it.

I, too, will never like River Song. She is emotionally shallow to me, and yet, her very existence is predetermined in a way that forces me to feel sorry for her. I hate that sort of character.

Rae

[awkwardduckling.livejournal.com]

That would have made more sense, and really justified how stupid they are in not getting together, if William was accused of killing Darcy. I can't even picture a way that they could 'fix' this that wouldn't be sort of objectionable - they let it get too wrong for too long.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Well, if it is any consolation to you, I am on the case. :grin: Of course, I never do have writers that follow my line of reasoning, so there's not much hope they will this time. But, it occurs to me that while we heard Julia take her vows, we also saw her looking at the door. I think it is possible that Darcy called off the wedding. This would be a huge blow to Julia's social standing and might cause Brackenreid to say, "You were missed at the wedding." Brackenreid wouldn't want to mention Julia being jilted in any jocular fashion, because what matters to William is that Julia left him. So...I can see this being one of those things that plays out next year. But at this point I imagine everyone is throwing in the towel on this show, because what a way for all characters to break faith with the audience. And even a bait and switch won't please people who feel Julia isn't worthy of William anymore. LE SIGH!