aurora_novarum: (Snoopy Typing)
aurora_novarum ([personal profile] aurora_novarum) wrote2013-03-19 09:14 pm

What I'm Watching Now:

I’m a bit backwards in my watching between Comcast’s on demand and now having Amazon Prime which is the BESTEST THING EVER. But here’s a list of what I’m watching to see if any of my flist is interested or I can get interested in too.



The Amazing Race: Oh show, why can’t I quit you? One of the first in the reality craze (it started same year as Survivor, but has less “seasons”). It’s teams of two basically doing obstacle course things around the world. Way past its prime. I half expected one “obstacle” to be to clean the host’s bathroom since they went to his New Zealand hometown, but every season I keep coming back.

The Americans: I just started watching this. It’s set in 1981 with two Soviet sleeper agents (Keri Russel and some guy I know I’ve seen before but it’s driving me nuts where) in D.C. trying to be good communist spies while raising their oblivious American kids. It’s a spy show, so that attracts me as a genre. I like the idea of it, but there’s something disconnecting me in the execution. I’ll give it another go or two. Right now I’m doing a lot of OMG, my parents had a table like that in this “historically” set shows.

Arrow The acting is so so and the writing isn’t too much better, but it has improved. I watch for three reasons. 1) I’m a sucker for archers and loved Green Arrow since Superfriends. 2) I’ve liked Paul Blackthorne since Dresden Files and 3) The completely shallow reason which if you’ve seen the show you already know and if you haven’t yet…watch about a half hour and you’ll know.

Big Bang Theory:: One of the few shows I watch live. It’s not as good as it used to be, but still is amusing. Ironically I was against watching at first because of the stereotype tropes. Wil Wheaton’s blog convinced me to give it a go around the time he first was on it. It makes me laugh.

Continuum It’s a time travel story a la Terminator. Distopic future where corporations run the governments is being attacked by Bra’tac/Gepetto and Andromeda/Dr. Lam, I mean, terrorists, who try and go back in time to “fix things” to the way they want to be. Two things go wrong though, instead of going back 5 years, they go back 65, and a cop gets caught up in the time stream with them. Now she’s our hero and trying to track them down, with the help of a young version of Cigarette Smoking Man. I tend to catch up every so often on demand, but when I get into it, I have to see all I’ve missed right then. The characters are compelling, and it’s interesting because our main heroine is law and order type, but the terrorists cause is the one that would be more sympathetic. Also, it’s a show filmed in Vancouver that is actually SET IN VANCOUVER! Go little BC city!

Dr. Who: Yes, I’m still watching New Who. It’s coming back soon I think. I’ve also via Amazon Prime been able to see some of the classic Who (some of the same eps they’re showing on the anniversary specials so far). I may post my thoughts on the eps I’ve caught here sometime.

Downton Abbey I was late to this “must see” cultural phenom, but it’s an interesting view of early 20th century Britain with both the servants’ hall and the aristocracy. Let’s face it, it’s a historical soap and it’s crack. But awesome acting. Season 3 just ended. I look forward to Season 4 (oh, and Maggie Smith rocks). Personally my favorite character is Anna, one of the servents, although I know her latest storyline wasn’t one of the more popular ones.

Elementary: the US version of Sherlock Holmes set up in modern era and in NYC. Gotten a lot of press because of that OTHER show that CBS first approached, and the fact that Watson SHOCK is a Woman. I love both BBC’s Sherlock and CBS’s Elementary but for different reasons. Sherlock really is twisting Doyle’s stories into modern times. Elementary takes more broader strokes of the ideas of Holmes and Watson and methodology but creating a very different dynamic

The Good Wife I was not going to watch this show for two reasons. One—a show about a woman standing by her man after an affair sounded blah and Two—it’s a lawyer show which would probably make me heckle it mercilessly. But I liked some of the cast and happened to have the tv already on when the pilot started. It is NOT what you expect. It’s sharply written and superbly acted with twists to the stereotypes and expected. I’m not completely caught up, but I do enjoy the ride because I like the characters.

Nashville It’s basically a country music soap opera, but well acted.
NCIS Procedural cop show ostensibly set in Quantico (HAH!), but Mark Harmon is still pretty and it hits a teamy goodness vibe, even if the characters are oddly stagnated after so many years.

Once Upon a Time: The show is partly set in “fairy tale world”, and party set in a small town outside Vancouver in Maine (which many on my flist may recognize as the “Nightwalkers” town in SG-1 Season 7) with all the iconic fairy tale characters—and if they haven’t shown up yet, they probably will soon. It’s produced by ABC (i.e. Disney), so it winks if not subverts the Disneying version of some tales. I’ll admit I almost turned away half through season 1 because a main storyline aggravated me, but when you get stuck, keep going. Trust me, it’s get better until it’s TV CRACK.

Person of Interest It’s a procedural with a twist (well I think Abrams is involved so natch…) Taking the big brother twist of cctv cameras and having it be dark guardian angels. I like the characters, more the secondary ones than the primary actually. Plus, this season, there’s a dog. I love a dog.

Poirot No, not new, but it is my happy place comfort tv food via Amazon Prime. Watch an hour mystery and relax. I think the last season is airing soon.

Psych I’ve watched stopped watching and started watching this show. It’s a comedy mystery show about a superobservant guy who pretends to be a psychic and is a consultant to a police department along with his childhood best friend. The show is VERY quirky/oddball. The hero is at times childish and selfish (what got me to stop), but yet he IS selfless too (and still childish in a funny way). There is a core heart to this show too, that’s made it last 100 episodes. It just…it’s hit my button like like Farscape or Monty Python or Buffy, but what I mean is you watch and go how bizarre and then suddenly something clicks and you “get it”. Also, it’s another Vancouver show, including having Dan Shea (Sgt Siler) taking over as stunt coordinator there (at least I think he still is).

Revenge I was hooked on this show in Season 1. It’s basically the Count of Monte Cristo set today and, er, in the Hamptons with the hero being a badass heroine. However, Season 2 has become more soapy and scrambled. It’s like they realized, oh shit we’ve got to make this work as more than a one off mini-series thing and are not sure what to do. I still recommend Season 1. We’ll see about Season 2.