The Corrections

I just finished reading the Corrections, and I'm just not sure what to say. I've heard it recommended by a number of people and it seems like it's always in one of those front tables in the bookstore... But the characters are painfully flawed, which makes it hard to read about them. There is no heroic character or even a character that you really want to relate to. (You might relate to them, but you want to pretend you don't...) It's well-written, but I just can't give this a strong recommendation. Read it at your own risk.

- nyanko

FX's Rescue Me

Word has it that FX's new show Rescue Me, statting Dennis Leary, is excellent. It's about NY firefighters and is described as dramedy. Anyway, I've heard great things about it and it premieres tonight, Wednesday, at 10 pm.

- nyanko

fall TV grid

Well, here's what my fall TV watching is going to be like, at least until some shows get put on hiatus and I figure out what totally sucks.
 
Monday:
8 pm: Athens (due mid-season; a new series by the creator of the O.C.)
9 pm: Las Vegas/Everwood. [I'm not sure which will be TiVo'd and which will get put on tape.]; possibly 24 at mid-season.
10 pm: LAX [I'm such a sucker, I'll have to watch at least a couple episodes of this one. I'm picturing it being much like Las Vegas - light and soapy...]
 
Tuesday:
8 pm: Gilmore Girls
9 pm: Father of the Pride & Scrubs
 
Wednesday:
8 pm: Lost
9 pm: The Mountain
10 pm: Law & Order/CSI: New York*
 
Thursday:
8 pm: The O.C. Might check out Joey at the beginning of the season, before the O.C. starts.
9 pm: CSI/life as we know it
10 pm: Without a Trace
 
Friday:
8 pm: Joan of Arcadia
10 pm: Medical Investigation
 
Saturday:
8 pm: Amazing Race [maybe...]
 
Sunday:
8 pm: Charmed/Arrested Development
9 pm: Desperate Housewives & Alias (both on ABC)/Jack & Bobby
 
*Additional commentary. I've been drawn into L&O again, but not sure if it will last. Maybe I'll save this for summer reruns... And amazingly, CSI:New York already looked so annoying from the spinoff CSI:Miami episode that I'm not sure I'll be able to stomach it. All the people. Talk. Like. This. And sadly, it seems to have retained CSI:Miami's prentiousness and well, crappiness. So, both these shows might quickly drop off the list.
 
This is really an alarming amount of TV, but I'm sure a couple of the shows will quickly bite the dust or turn out to be horrendous, such that I can cut down on some of my TV time...
- nyanko

Frequent flying

Since I've been travelling so much for both work and fun, I've managed to qualify for a quasi-elite status on Alaska's frequent flyer program. Not the super-good status, but the one-step-up-from-the-peons status. I finally figured out that they won't just automatically give you first class upgrades, and that you need to call two days in advance and see if they have any open first class seats, so I recently managed to get myself an upgrade. (And yes, I am trying to avoid being one of those consultant-like people who are purely obsessed with accumulating, using and talking about their miles.)
 
First class was quite nice - a big seat, decent food, and free and continuous alcohol (if you are into that, as my row-mate was). But the neatest thing was the Digeplayer, a nifty little personal media player that had movies (a variety including Mystic River, That Thing You Do, Man on Fire, My Cousin Vinny), television (The Simpsons, and two other choices), music, something on golf and airport information. I didn't really use the player since I wasn't interested in the movies, but if they had had Ella Enchanted or the Prince & Me, I would have been all over it!
 
- nyanko

The Assistant and the Apprentice

Mr. Boyfriend claims that the Assistant, on MTV, is hilarious. He says that Andy Dick is just messing with these poor kids. But he likes the Real World, so take this advice with a grain of salt...
 
And as for the Apprentice, when I was recently in Boston, they were having a casting call for the Apprentice 3 in my hotel. There was a huge line of guys in suits standing outside on the sidewalk at 9 am on a Saturday. Pretty funny.  Guess the Apprentice franchise is still going strong. My co-worker was hanging around the lobby for a while to eavesdrop and hear gossip, but I don't think she got any real dirt.
 
- nyanko

damn, cast changes on CSI

 
There was a link on tvtattle.com with an article about how Jorja Fox and George Eads have been fired from CSI. This seems rather sudden - is it a ploy to play hardball with the actors or is it final? Hmm. Guess we might not see any resolution to the alcoholic Sara storyline (not that there was really any development or resolution to any of the personal story lines).
 
- nyanko

sorry totoro!

From tvguide.com:

SUMMER EXTENDED: This season is proving to be a good one for Summerland. WB has ordered 13 more episodes of the beach-set family drama as a midseason replacement. The series, starring Lori Loughlin, follows a thirtysomething single who takes in her sister's children after their parents are killed in an accident.

Unfortunately, Totoro, you could be tormented further by the crappiness of this show...

- nyanko

too much tivo stuff

Okay, so this contractor working in my office was talking to me yesterday. I have two TiVo theme items in my office - one is a little cling decal in the window and the other is a little plush Christmas ornament that is hanging from my bulletin board. And this guy said that if I didn't work for TiVo, that was two things too many. Now, is that reasonable (i.e., am I a total dork for having those things up?) or is that just being mean? I admit it's not the coolest thing in the world, but really, is it that bad? Comments welcome, since I'm debating whether I should take down my TiVo memorabilia so as to avoid being a total office loser. I have to maintain my office cred...

- nyanko

new releases on netflix

This weblog posts a list of the new movies added to Netflix every Tuesday, which is a great way to see if any interesting movies/DVDs are now available through Netflix.

- nyanko

giving in to the reality of the Amazing Race

Okay, until now, I've avoid most reality TV. I've loosely followed the tragedies of Real World, without actually having to the experience the pain firsthand, by reading TWOP recaps and talking to Mr. Boyfriend, who is inexplicably drawn to horrible MTV reality shows. I've caught random episodes of other reality shows, although the pain has usually driven me to tears so I've avoided getting sucked in.

But I finally watched an episode of the Amazing Race which just started last week. It wasn't great, but hey, it's better than Summerland and it could improve as it continues. So I guess I can no longer claim moral superiority, but I will claim that this show involves a decent competition (as opposed to the hokey immunity challenges in Survivor) and that it's less manipulative (though not manipulation free) than say, Real World. Plus, I get to see lots of different countries so I can decide whether I want to take a vacation there later on!

- nyanko

what is the nyanko?

If you're wondering what nyanko is, look no further. So much cat-in-food goodness.

And if you want to see it in Japanese, go here!

- nyanko

The WB casting machine at work

TV Guide Online says that Scott Wolf (Bailey from Party of Five) will be a new doctor in town on Everwood. The WB casting agents have been busy lately. And they just keep giving us gems of casting. Heh.

- nyanko

reading addictions

I just finished reading Robin McKinley's Spindle's End, which was enh. I'm hoping to get some more reading done, now that this summer is turning out to be such a drought of televised entertainment. And I'm actually capable of doing some fun reading now that I have cut myself off from the Sunday New York Times. It always took me the whole week to read almost all of the paper, and some of the less time sensitive sections piled up because I wanted to read them, but didn't have time. I just finished off a big pile during a long plane right last week, but I think there are still a couple travel sections sitting at home... Mr. Boyfriend mocks me for reading every article, but I like it! Take that, Boyfriend! But really, there was no time to read anything else with the NY Times arriving every Sunday. Perhaps I'll pick up something less voluminous so I can keep up with current affairs, like the Economist...

However, I am hoping to avoid the crack-like addiction I had earlier this year to the nine book Robin Hobb series that ate about three months of my life and every evening until 3 am, even on "school nights." That was a tragedy that was only escaped when I realized that I needed to just drop everything and power through the books so I could get my life back. I'm still not sure whether I should recommend the books to others, since they might also end up with their own three month crack-like addiction and never take my book recommendations again.

Hmm, apparently this year I have just gone straight from one reading addiction to another - I wonder at what point I will have to admit that I have a problem and start my own branch of Readers Anonymous.

- nyanko

ABC Family movies

The next ABC Family movie is going to be Crimes of Fashion, with Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior from the Sopranos). Here's the blurb:

Brooke (Kaley Cuoco) is a shy but ambitious student at a top fashion school. After the death of her long-lost grandfather, Brooke finds out she has inherited his job at the family business…mob boss of the Sarto crime family! With the help of an old school mobster, George (Dominic Chianese), she tries to make her family legit, but trouble arises when she falls in love with an undercover FBI agent who is sent to take her down. Can Brooke give the mob a makeover before it's too late?

Heh. Should be tragic/funny.

Also, my Netflix recommendation told me I should watch Lucky 7, an older ABC Family movie, so I guess ABC Family has decided to try for some additional revenue from DVD sales. Lucky 7 was pretty cute, but some of the more recent original movies have been somewhat disappointing (Picking Up & Dropping Off, Brave New Girl). Still I'm a total sucker for crappy romantic comedy so I keep watching...

- nyanko

Ha ha ha ha ha

From the futon critic:

CHARMED (WB) - "Newlyweds'" star Nick Lachey is set to join the cast of the veteran Frog drama this season for a six-episode arc. He'll play the ghost writer for witch Phoebe Halliwell's (Alyssa Milano) advice column when she goes on a sabbatical and ends up romantically involved with her.

YES!

- nyanko

Freaks & Geeks, now on DVD

I finally got to watch the first disc of the short-lived TV series, Freaks & Geeks, by Judd Apatow (who also worked on the also short-lived Undeclared and the upcoming Life as We Know It). It was hilarious, and sometimes horribly painful (but in a funny way). The story revolves around a bunch of kids in high school in the 80s, who are either freaks or geeks. They have the most awkward, but very funny actual 14 and 15-year olds playing the freshman geeks. It's funny because they look tiny, which is what most pre-growth spurt freshmen actually look like, and they look so young, though perhaps because we've gotten used to seeing a bunch of 25-30 year-olds playing high schoolers (I'm talking to you, Dawson's Creek and the O.C.). I highly recommend the show because it will make you laugh out loud.

I guess this means that I'll have to check out Life as We Know It, even though Kelly Osbourne is in the cast, and she makes me want to run and hide.

- nyanko

Ah, signs of fall

Heather Graham is going to be on Scrubs next fall!

And something to get you through the bleakness that is summer TV, NBC will be launching their fall schedule right after the summer Olympics, which means their shows will start in late August, instead of late September. Also, the WB has mentioned, though not officially, that they may hold the premiere of Everwood until November to cut down on the number of reruns, which usually don't get very good ratings.

- nyanko