Hat. You thought of authentic Native American head-dress, before hat.

Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times

I can imagine that this might be a tricky selection for some people, but I'm someone who LOVES to reread and rewatch things. If something is good I always find myself getting something new out of it on repeated viewings/readings! I have seen the majority of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes at *least* five times. Same for all of Firefly and some Angel episodes. I also think that thanks to reruns there's definitely episodes of The Simpsons and Friends that meet this too. But I want to pick something that really stands out!

First my honourable mentions:

- The "Self-Esteem" ep of My So-Called Life. Aka Angela (Claire Danes) and Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto) make out in the boiler room for most of the episode. Enough said.

- "Jump" from season 1 of Joan of Arcadia. This became the episode which I would show people to convince them that this is an amazing show. Everything is perfectly balanced in this ep: humour, sadness, real life issues that aren't resolved easily, the questioning of God and spirituality, and most of all hope and love.

- "Modern Warfare" from Community. Definitely the best episode from this season with its perfect homage to every action and survivalist movie.

And my official selection is.....

"Something Borrowed" (season 2, episode 21) of How I Met Your Mother


So why did I pick the wedding episode of a sitcom, you may be asking. Here's the thing: if there's one cliche that's been cliched-to-death on TV it's wedding episodes. There's always a 50-50 chance of either heartbreak or happy ending. For some reason, there's frequently someone who speaks up at the "speak now or forever hold your peace" part of the ceremony and always someone rushing to get there at the last minute. OR it's just hopelessly smultzy.

What How I Met Your Mother did was make a genuinely heartfelt wedding episode that's also hysterical. First of all, there was no doubt whether believably in-love Lily and Marshall would get married - of course they would! They're one of those few TV couples that are long-term and clearly functional and awesome together. Secondly, they went with the "every possible bad thing that could happen does" cliche and had fun with it. Lily is determined *not* to be the bride who freaks out because everything isn't perfect so even though disaster after disaster occurs she tries to keep it cool. Marshall gets the worst hairstyle ever (horrible blond tips) and proceeds to make it worse by shaving a strip off the top of his head. What follows is hysterical as Ted and Barney scramble to come up with something to cover Marshall's hair (they ponder a bad toupee and Native American head-dress but forget about hat!).



I recall watching another TV show's wedding episode and it just left such a bad taste in my mouth, that my partner and I were like "we need to watch the HIMYM wedding episode, that was a good one" and it still is! A romantic and funny wedding episode is not an easy thing to pull off and How I Met Your Mother did it!

Tomorrow's topic is: Favorite childhood show

Veronica Mars is smarter than me

In the first few seasons of Veronica Mars I would have agreed with that quote but in the 3rd (and final) season not so much. Which brings us to today's TV topic:

Day 11 - A show that disappointed you

Yep, Veronica Mars is my choice for disappointing show. Sure I could have picked something like Battlestar Galactica which had an immensely disappointing resolution to its brilliantly written show and fascinating mythology. But, to be honest, I'm still too bitter about how it ended to write clearly, whereas I remain disappointed in Veronica Mars.



When Veronica Mars emerged on the scene I was very excited! Here was a show with a strong female protagonist, who without superpowers could consistently save the day. As well as being a beautifully shot, noir style show especially in its practically perfect first season, it had genuinely intriguing and surprising mysteries and an excellent cast. Veronica (Kristen Bell), her dad (Enrico Colantoni), Wallace (Percy Daggs III) and Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) were particular standouts. An intelligent show with an intelligent heroine - I was hooked!

While the second season wasn't as brilliant as the first, I still enjoyed it. However, it wasn't until the third season when the wheels came off, spun out of control and destroyed the show. There are a number of things that frustrated me:

- the general decline in quality and intelligence of storylines and writing
- the minimal amount of screen time for characters like Wallace and Mac
- how boring much of the Logan/Veronica tension became (and I like them as a pairing)
- how in general things didn’t seem to come together

BUT the worst for me was the whole rape storyline. I didn't object to them having Veronica investigate a serial rapist, it’s how the story played out. First of all they had women ("feminists") fake as least one rape! Which contributed to the already crappy portrayal of feminists on the show that season. In previous seasons it could have been argued that Veronica was a feminist (who just never identified as one) but in the third season she was actively opposed to the so-called feminists on the show.



I also don't think it’s okay for a network TV show, that’s being directed towards young people be suggesting that there’s women who lie about being raped. In a time when women still have difficulty being believed when they say they were raped, it’s not okay to be having female characters lie about it.

Having Veronica say to the "feminists" on the show that what they’re doing “doesn’t help the cause,” doesn’t make the storyline better. Because, by that point, Veronica Mars wasn't helping the cause.

I continue to be disappointed in the show and refuse to own the third season on DVD, although I do own the first two.

Tomorrow I will be talking about: An episode you've watched more than 5 times

What's not to like? Custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, good!

So today's topic is:

Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving

I haven't really had that in a long time because I tend to read a lot about TV and have a good idea of what a show is like before watching it. I've given shows a chance that I didn't love immediately, such as The Big Bang Theory, Community and the Vampire Diaries but I started watching them with the sense I would like them.

Probably what most qualifies is a show that I refused to watch back when I was a pretentious snobby high schooler:

Friends

I ended up getting into the show thanks to reruns and did watch the last few seasons as they aired, but I was totally disinterested initially. A show about a bunch of white, seemingly well-off New Yorkers seemed totally obnoxious to me. What I didn't expect was to find the show genuinely funny and be impressed at the character development over the seasons. In particular, Jennifer Anniston's Rachel had a fantastic and believable transformation from materialistic spoiled rich girl to capable career woman and single mom.



Friends is the show I can turn on whenever I need a laugh. It's like comfort TV for me: I know it'll cheer me up as I relax into a funny, silly world where I actually care about the characters (except for possibly Ross in the later seasons who I feel they made very unlikeable). I'm a huge fan of the Monica and Chandler romance and think it was a smart decision and I enjoyed it more than the "we were on a break" arguing of Ross and Rachel.

One of my favourite episodes is the Thanksgiving one where Rachel makes Trifle with beef in it!! It always cracks me up. Check out some of the funny from that ep.

Oooh, I know what I'll be talking about tomorrow: A show that disappointed you

Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do!

Oh my goodness, today's topic is such a hard one, I've been mulling over it all day:

Day 09 - Best scene ever

I could probably answer all of these types of questions with answers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer but that seems silly considering the ridiculous amount of TV that I watch. And just because I didn't want to include Buffy, it didn't stop me from pondering this scene:

- The season two finale of BtVS where Angel regains his soul but the world's still going to end so Buffy has enough time to kiss him and tell him to close his eyes before sending him to hell.



I also pondered these scenes:

- Rory graduates from high school on Gilmore Girls (season 3 finale). I'm pretty sure I was as proud as Lorelai, Luke, Sookie and the grandparents!

- That screaming match in the pilot of Everwood where Ephram screams at his dad that he hates him and his dad (Andy Brown) screams it right back.

However, I decided to go with one of those scenes that totally shocks you and causes you to reassess everything you knew and wonder exactly what this show is all about. Also, the scene is brilliantly acted and it is....

The final sequence of "Walkabout" (4th episode in season 1 of Lost) in which we learn that John Locke had been unable to walk before the crash.



Click the link here to watch the scene.

A brilliant revelation in one of the best episodes of Lost ever which established we were going on a wacky ride with this show! However, the scene is grounded in the always phenomenal acting by Terry O'Quinn who has viewers feeling anger and despair along with him as he shouts "Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do!" And then when we revisit him moving his foot and standing after the crash, we experience that joy and wonder with him. A scene that had me hooked on the show and on Terry O'Quinn's brilliantly portrayed John Locke!

So tomorrow I will talk about: A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving

That's for me to know and for you to dot, dot, dot.

So today's topic is, I think, probably not possible to accurately answer:

Day 08 - A show everyone should watch

People have very different tastes, so telling my brother he should watch Gilmore Girls? That's not gonna happen, plus I know he doesn't like it despite how awesome I know the show is. Same as trying to convince my mom that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a brilliant show which she must watch. No matter how much she believes me, she isn't going to watch it and if she did, she likely wouldn't enjoy.

I pondered trying to think of a show that would appeal to the most demographics and I can think of something like Modern Family, which is funny, smart and a genuinely modern comedy. However, I have friends who don't like comedies and find them too cringe-worthy, so that still wouldn't cover it. So instead, I'm going to select a show that's given me a lot of pleasure this season and I think would appeal to most of my fellow TV-lovers around online:

The Vampire Diaries



I just have so much fun watching The Vampire Diaries. When I watched the pilot I wasn't sure, it didn't have that sparkle that BtVS had or the fun dialogue of Kevin Williamson's other teen drama, Dawson's Creek. However, this is one of those times when I'm glad that I stuck with a show because it just got better and better. First of all, I don't think the show would be nearly as fun without Ian Somerhalder's delightfully bad vampire, Damon. He's so charming and fun that I have to keep reminding myself that we've seen him kill people and do crappy things on the show. But it's not just Damon that makes the show. Nina Dobrev, in particular impresses me with her strong and confident Elena Gilbert. Also I think the pace of stories is perfect. Whenever I've become bored of a particular storyline (Vickie as a drug addict, Elena and Stefan's sexual tension, whiny Jeremy), the writers seem to sense that and have a resolution and move onto to new plot developments, new characters and/or new stories.



What also really adds to the show is the history of the town and the dynamic between Damon and Stefan over the years and their dynamic with Katherine (also played wonderfully by Dobrev). The developing relationship between Elena and Damon and the established relationship of Elena and Stefan is really great TV! The show is fun, sexy, well-paced, funny and just a blast to watch.

Oh man, tomorrow's topic is going to be HARD: Best scene ever

This will give them some time to ponder the geo-political ramifications of BEING MEAN TO ME!

If you're a die-hard fan of your favourite show, like me, this is a tricky topic to write about!

Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show

Even if a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode isn't as fantastic as something like "Once More with Feeling", "The Body" or "Hush", there's still normally redeeming moments and things I enjoy. Even in the episode I picked there are a few things I like but I feel this is one of the few BtVS that really really doesn't work: "Beer Bad"

Really? An episode that demonstrates that when college kids drink they regress to cavemen? Really?! This has to be the most unsubtle "metaphor" that BtVS ever tried to pull off. Thanks for the anvil of a metaphor! And did we really need all those extended scenes of these guys being cavemen? Really?! Really?!



Sure I enjoyed the Xander parts and Cave!Buffy was kind of adorable, but was this really the best they could do with the concept?


For a show that so poignantly illustrated how first love can go horribly wrong and the man you love can become a monster, this has all the subtly and deftness of an episode of Charmed. At least they didn't dress Buffy up in a skimpy cavewoman outfit, but really is that how low my expectations are about this episode?! Also, the whole fake-out conversation with Willow and Parker just annoys the hell out of me. hahaha, apparently talking about this episode brings out my crankiness!

So, okay, that wasn't very hard to write about after all!

Upcoming tomorrow: A show everyone should watch

"Dawn's in trouble. Must be Tuesday."

After talking about what I don't like yesterday, it's great to be back to talking about what I do like!

Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show

The episode I'm picking is the classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode "Once More, with Feeling," which should come as no shock to any Buffy fans!



I think that "the Body" is the best episode of BtVS but it's so sad and I inevitably cry which means I rarely rewatch it despite its brilliance, so it ultimately isn't the one I picked. The musical episode succeeds at being an excellent musical in its own right and also a seamless part of the sixth season. I like that all the actors sing their parts because even though they don't have the best voices (with a few exceptions of the really excellent singers), it meant that we got the characters' emotions. There's great songs, fun dancing, that awesome quippy Joss Whedon humour and just general brilliance. One of those episodes I can endlessly rewatch!



And tomorrow I'll talk about the: Least favorite episode of my favorite TV show