[TV things]

Seriously.. Aquarius got renewed for a second season?Really?As if I needed any more reasons to avoid watching their shows in the fall. As soon as Hannibal is finished on NBC, I won't watch NBC.Ever. I am going to block it on my TV(I've done that before, when the coverage of ebola started to get to much.But I didn't stick with it for very long :P

Bones is going to time jump when it comes back this fall.6 months..and apparently Bones and Booth are going to be living in another town with their kids when a HUGE case at the Jeffersonian  has them going back to DC. Yawn. I haven't been interested in Bones for quite a while.

I dunno, I could do with being addicted to a few less TV shows, and I have dropped some shows because I didn't like where they were going with plots(NCIS is a good example of this.. I had a friend who I would run into at Barnes &Noble sometimes who also was a NCIS fan, and we would talk NCIS. But then I couldn't get to Barnes &Noble so easily and I quit watching the show, so I didn't feel so bad about it.)

[Some shows(not talking about Hannibal here obviously)do not know/realise..]

When they have jumped the shark. The two recent examples are The Simpsons and Bones.

Supposedly on the upcoming season of The Simpsons Marge and Homer are going to separate.Wait, what?Where the hell did this come from?I mean, they have had plenty of marital issues in the past and something is SO major that it causes them to separate?It just doesn't make any sort of sense.

I've watched The Simpsons for years and years(going back to when they were on the Tracey Ullman Show).I am going to confess something. There were quite a few episodes last season that I didn't watch, or I half-watched them because they just weren't interesting to me.

There are a lot of Simpsons fans who have felt that way for a while-and maybe I  just didn't want to admit that it'd jumped the shark. But now, with  this news, I feel like I don't need to feel bad about it anymore.

The other show that is like that is Bones. It used to be such a good show, but it's descended into melodrama and confusing plots(last year's season finale was a low-Hannibal's aired the same week-and was much more coherent(and watchable-albeit tragic.)

Judging by what I've read, Bones' finale leaves everything up in the air-two characters are(possibly) leaving the country, and another is separated.They filmed it before they knew if they were renewed for another season thus the..final feeling of the episode. It's just not what I want to watch.

Frankly, I am really amazed that Bones got renewed for another year..they have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for a couple of years, and the conspiracy  storyline, and gambling storyline are just more proof of it. Plus,they killed off a very popular character, which did not go over well with fans of the show.

I'll always be a little pressed that Bones got an additional 3 years while House got cancelled/decided to end. I don't know how good a 9th season of House would have been-I have seen a speculative review of a 9th season premiere that read like bad fanfic so maybe it's not such a bad thing?

[TV things]

Call The Midwife just wrapped up its current season-apparently it's not coming back 'till 2016-I can wait-waiting for S3 of Hannibal has taught me a lot of lessons about patience(that's putting it mildly!)

The other show I am digging is Orphan Black. It has been on.point. this season. It's been keeping me going until Hannibal starts up again.

Speaking of which, Aquarius, which comes on right before Hannibal on Thursdays, starts this week.Imma be watching for sure.

(Can you tell I have Hannibal on the brain?I managed to work it into everything I mentioned! Yep, I am excited about the S3 premiere. Not long to go now!)

[the tv season is winding down..]

And it's time to find out which shows are going to get another season and which are cancelled.

In the cancelled column(so far)

The Mindy Project

Battle Creek

CSI(though it's getting a 2-hour wrap-up movie/episode(movisode?)

Constantine

The Following

Backstrom(you know your show is bad when you have to beg people to watch it on Twitter, as the writers of the show did to me). The ads for the show did nothing to try and sell the show; it was bad, and the ratings reflected that.

Bones got renewed; I wouldn't be at all surprised if there was an announcement about this being its last season though..it's not holding my interest the way it used to.

[What I'm watching]

Call The Midwife, especially last night's episode-the second time this show has made me ugly cry this current season. 

I found it interesting that(even though they had a vaccine at that point)that diphtheria was still an issue.Most people get vaccinated against it so you don't see it so much in the developed world. Though there was an episode of House where a patient had diphtheria. I just had  a Tetanus/diphtheria/ pertussis(whooping cough) booster recently. The area around where I got the shot on my arm  had a HUGE  bruise on it-a common reaction apparently.

Then there was a storyline with a baby whose bones kept getting  broken.They thought that the parents were abusing their baby. Eventually Dr. Turner figured out that it was Osteogenesis Imperfecta-which they didn't know much about back then-they didn't have the benefit of being able to Google stuff like doctors today do.

Dr. Turner blamed himself for not catching it quicker. He was overworked because he was subbing in for several doctors who decided to go on vacation, so he  had that going, and then he had the situation with the baby who had Osteogenesis Imperfecta,and it was too much. But it was resolved, in a way that was very touching,but then he got to save a life so he was *back*.

Orphan Black is the other show I am loving. I got my dad into it(and to Hannibal too).

[Still digging Dig]

In this week's episode, we found out a little bit more about each element of the story;Jason Isaac's character's daughter was

[Really digging Dig]

The USA series Dig, which stars Jason Isaacs, is a couple of episodes in, and  I am enjoying it immensely.It's The Da Vinci Code with  a  big helping of end of the world stuff. It's way more entertaining than I'm selling it as. I don't usually do spoilers but imma put some spoilery thoughts behind a cut(spoilers, obviously..)

[Finally getting around to talking about Broadchurch]

S2 of Broadchurch is starting off pretty good, IMO(it's helping pass the time 'till Hannibal   come back  in June.)

The story picks up more or less where we left off.  I'm curious about Claire..just every aspect of her life..(sorry,I can't say much more..don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the episode yet.)

Lots of new characters;I  want to know more about Claire.. and the two barristers, played by Charlotte Rampling and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. We know that Charlotte Rampling's character used to be Marianne Jean-Baptiste's character's boss.. some time ago. Interested in hearing the back story there because there obviously is a lot more than the one comment she made.

Joe's trial is going to loom large in this season(and I happened to read a spoiler, which I will NOT repeat..but it did make me wonder where they are going to go with S3.). Several plot threads will be mixed in,which is good..Hoping it doesn't seem too shoehorned in there.

[Last Man on Earth/Broadchurch S2]

Finally watched the first 2 episodes of Last Man On Earth today..I LOVED it. Admittedly, when I heard the premise for the show,I was like "yeah..no thanks" because the apocalyptic thing has been overdone

But this, this I liked. Will Forte plays the titular Last Man(though, as he finds out, he's not the last person on earth..he meets Carol-well, discovers her existence-just as he's about to kill himself. She gets on his last nerve, but they need each other,for what it's worth.

I have this strange feeling that there may be more survivors than we're being lead to believe. We saw  a flashback, but it wasn't clear how long ago it was meant to be-I'm hoping we'll get a flashback to before everything went to shit(the apocalypse was caused by a pandemic of some sort)

Apparently the ratings weren't the best. Fox(among other networks)want a hit show desperately.
Problem is,they greenlight all these shows, get them filmed, and..they're crap.And it's a whole lot of recycled ideas. Remakes of shows(Hannibal gets a pass because it's actually GOOD-and that's not just me saying that because I'm a Fannibal. Ok, maybe a little :P

In other news, Season 2 of Broadchurch starts tomorrow on BBC America.I am very curious to see where they go with plotlines this season, given that the reveal of Olivia Colman's character's husband(got that?) being the killer was a gut punch. Matter of fact, I would say it is as much of a gut punch as Hannibal's S2 finale.

[tv ramblings]

Not much interesting among the pilots for the 2015-2016 season.A lot of remakes(Luther, and a modern version of Frankenstein among others)

Supposedly there is going to be *another* Chicago Fire spinoff. I loved that show..until it turned into too much of a soap opera for my liking.

Looking at what *doesn't* get greenlit is rather interesting.Don't get me wrong, there is a lot that makes it through that you wonder "why?'. The answer to that is "(insert name of network here but NBC is the biggest offender) need to fill their schedules and they kinda don't care what they put on".

(Do not get me started on how they're dealing with Hannibal.We'll be here all damn day.Seriously.)

File this one under "Trying too hard because you know the show is shit". Rainn Wilson has been going around saying his show Backstrom is NOT like House. If we're going by the ads, yeah, it kinda is,Actually, it comes off like a(bad) mash-up of House and Hannibal(truly!). House was good(the last season has't aged well though). But every show that has tried to be like it since it went off the air(Rake, anyone?That show was godawful and got  sub-basement level ratings. The promotion for it called it "The new House". Lemme tell you, that backfired on them.Big freaking time. Nothing could have saved that show) has failed.

Backstrom looks like going the same way.Also, it's had a bit of a history-originally it was going to be on CBS but they changed their minds, and I guess they did a lot of tweaks to it..that may not be enough to help it though-and I like Rainn Wilson a lot.He deserves better.

[armageddon it?]

I watched the first part of Revelation:End Of Days on the History channel. History Channel..who aren't sure what they want to be or what they're going for with this.

Before I go on,I think it's probably a good idea to state two things:If you have absolute  opinions about religion, quit reading.

Secondly,I was raised in a church that doesn't really go for the fire and brimstone stuff so much except for a few times a year,though I did get the heaven and hell stuff in CCD.

So I always view anything having to do with "The Rapture" and "End Of Days" with a bit of skepticism. That being said, I have read a few of the Left Behind books.. meh.In the later books in the series they get into some questionable theology.

You start to get into questions of "Is the Bible literal?" or are the things in there metaphors or something else?

One thing that I like is that they are honest about the fact that they use clips from YouTube  at the start of it when they're hearing the noises. However, I could do without all of the shaky cam.Not only are they trying to present this is as a "End of the world" scenario-but it's not believable-as a matter of fact, I think that it veers into bad horror movie-ville-there were a lot of horror movie homages-I quit  counting after a certain point-there was one scene I was almost positive was a shout-out to The Road.

The smartest people are the ones you want to root for(and are unlikely)-the prepper fristance.He's the one the cops think has kidnapped the kids(which turns out not to be the case-more about that in a minute!)The cop doesn't believe the prepper at first but by the end of the first episode he's a believer.Literally. And you can tell(and it's hinted at in the previews for tonight's episode) that it's going to be "us against them"-the believers and the non-believers.

It's rather convenient that one of the groups is is Israel when the shit hits the fan.

The cop(who is the father of one of the missing kids,later to be revealed to be raptured, is slow to believe but by the end of the first episode he believes.

There's a second wave of raptures(not sure that that's biblical..I think that the British scholar cited a bible verse;can't remember which one it is r/n.)

Strangely, when the second wave of raptures happens as they're trying to get the hell out of Dodge Jerusalem, their driver is raptured which is kinda random.

Got a pretty good sense of who is going to come out of this alive(though I saw at least one of the deaths coming a mile off.)

[tv randomness tbh]

*Bones has had record low ratings this season and there is talk that this will be their last season(though the producers/show runners have said that's not the case but the not-so-great ratings may force their hand just a bit. I think it may be for the best, if we're being honest. At least House ended at the right time(some people may disagree, I know. And I don't acknowedge the Season 9 finale that someone wrote. That was just bad fanfic.

Granted,Hannibal gets less than stellar ratings, and it's only had 2 seasons,with S3 filming right now..Bones has had 10 seasons and it is definitely played out at this point. Grimm has the same issue(with less than great ratings)


One of the big issues with Grimm is that they have 2 or three episodes right in a row, and then they aren't on for a month or more.

*On a TV-related note: My parents now get a bunch of pay channels(Starz, Showtime, and a couple of others. )Gonna LOVE being able to watch Homeland, etc. or see if there's a good movie on. They also get Movie Channel and there are a lot of good movies on there at any given time.

*I listen to a TV-related internet radio show which has a focus on Once Upon A Time but they do talk about other shows(including Hannibal) but they are *always* having trouble with technical issues.

[more tv things]

Still liking Selfie  and The Mysteries Of  Laura.

Gracepoint is really good, but..David Tennant's accent is all over the place.That is my only criticism of it.Truly. I love everything else about it.

Gotham is SO good-very dark, very noir.


TLC(The Learning Channel) I love you, but Extreme Cheapskates is so played out at this point. Someone removing their own tooth to save money?Really? and someone else MacGyvering a AC unit out of a styrofoam cooler with a styrofoam cooler, ice, and a fan.Yes, really.

Don't get me started on how TLC still keeps the Duggars around, especially since their opinions have gotten a lot more extreme recently.

What I'd like to see more of:Extreme Couponing. I love seeing people with 4 or 5 grocery carts.. and they only wind up spending like $5 on all their groceries. And  their stockpiles of groceries. I like it when they buy the groceries to give to their church.

I'd like to do that; the only problem is that California doesn't double coupons(that's why you never see  a lot of people from California on Extreme Couponing).Doubling coupons is the best way to save money the way that those couponers do.

[tv things]

There's a new Dallas series on TNT that got cancelled.But there is some talk that another network may pick it up.One of my online friends LOVES Dallas. I pointed out that when it looked like Hannibal wasn't going to be picked up for a second season,there was talk that there were a bunch of interests who were interested in airing it. Hopefully Dallas gets another chance.

It sucks that TNT won't let their shows find an audience..Dallas is far from the only victim of this. TNT has cancelled some great shows, like Monday Mornings(a medical drama).That was a show I would have LOVED to see get a second season.It just didn't have enough of an audience to make it.

There are a lot of new shows this season that are not going to make it.Unfortunately, as funny as it is, Selfie is probably going to be one of the first new shows to get cancelled.And that's a shame.

I really wanted to like Blackish because..Laurence Fishburne.But I just don't care for it.

OTOH, some of the shows(like Mysteries of Laura)that have been getting mixed reviews,I really like.

There have been a lot of Criminal Minds-alikes(none of which I think are going to last) And Criminal Minds  is starting to get played out. CSI,on the other hand, is still really good(admittedly, I have a soft spot for it.) I hadn't watched NCIS for a few years because it got ridiculous.. but I was intrigued by the ads for this week's episode so I DVR'd it and watched it later..I really enjoyed it,apart from some half-assed CGI.

I used to love Chicago Fire, but it's a soap.It was starting to get that way when I quit watching and it is even more so now.

[tv things]

*Didn't really care for Laurence Fishburne's show Blackish. I might try watching it again On Demand.

*One of my friends was raving about Gotham;I watched it and am now hooked.

*Mysteries Of Laura is still really good-quite a bit less of her kids in this  week's episode.They're good only in small doses.

*Gracepoint, the US remake of Broadchurch, starts this week so I will be writing a review  soon.

*Thursday's episode of Bones confirmed what I suspected. It has jumped the shark(I mentioned the fact  that I thought the season finale last season was convoluted on Twitter and someone said that it's been that way for a while. Whilst there were some good episodes last season, the last half of the season(especially the season finale) left a lot to be desired.

Unfortunately, the producers/show runners don't seem to think that Bones has run its course yet.There's talk that this could be the last season, but the producers  act like there *could* be one more after this. God I hope not.

I wonder, if they make a decision about Bones' fate if they will leave it 'till the last. I remember with House's final season, they announced it in February;which was late; but it gave them enough time to wrap things up.

My other problem with it is that there was a lot that reminded me of S2 of Hannibal. I mean,  it's a tenuous link at best but there were a couple of things  that I noticed. There was also a  major character death which upset a lot of fans.

(Not the first character death on TV this week by the way; a female character on Chicago Fire (who happens to be a lesbian) was killed off. The reaction to it was almost identical to what happened when Beverly was killed off on Hannibal.Except Bryan Fuller did a lot better job explaining the reasons why he did what he did than the show runner of Chicago Fire did.

[the new fall tv season]

I watched two of the new fall shows, Red Band Society and The Mysteries Of Laura last night. I liked both of them, though, interestingly,both have gotten some so-so reviews. This is going to be a spoiler-free review(in case you want to watch both of the shows online or on demand).

Red Band Society is about a bunch of kids who are in a paediatric  hospital, each with their own set of issues to deal with. They adult characters, especially Dave Annable's  character, and Octavia Spencer, who plays Nurse Ratched(but with a heart of gold). I am looking forward to seeing where they go with it.

 The Mysteries Of Laura stars Debra Messing, who I've always been neither here nor there on, if we're being honest. But I quite like her in this show. There are enough twists and turns to keep it interesting(there were two in the first episode-one which I didn't expect-didn't figure it out 'till the  end, and one, involving her husband that was a touch predictable.)

Also, I saw a lot of people complaining about the kids on the show-that they're kinda unnecessary. I disagree. But it would be nice to have them in smaller doses.

Interestingly, both Red Band Society and The Mysteries Of Laura are both based on Spanish TV shows.

I'm not really planning on reviewing many of the new shows..I think I'm going to watch Selfie and Blackish, but that's it. And I'm going to watch the premiere of Bones next week and blog about it-whether it's still worth watching or not. Their season finale last year was terrible. Luckily the Hannibal  season finale aired not long after and it got the bad taste of the Bones finale out of my mouth.