If you want something really, really bad...

I`m still watching way too much shows but since about the new Seasons are about a third-to-half done, my impressions on some:

Supergirl - didn`t really like the Pilot but it got better, popcorn-TV for me

Flash - got held hostage by trying to build up Legends of Tomorrow too much (same goes for Arrow) but I like the Zoom mystery

Arrow - see above pretty much, too much backdoor-Piloting but a strong Bad Guy in Damian Darkh for the overall Season arc

Grimm - don`t know why people aren`t liking the Season so far, I think it`s stronger than last year

The Originals - also stronger than last Season so far

Sleepy Hollow - the spark seems gone somewhat, though also stronger than Season 2

Agents of Shield - I don`t know, it seems the show just never really finds its footing, sigh

Teen Wolf 5.B - not sure where it`s going right now

100 and Agent Carter only just started but I liked the debuts well enough. Legends of Tomorrow itself? Could be a bit too wacky for me but I like the characters.
Several shows, especially procedurals, I`ve fallen behind on. And I can`t just muster up the interest to get back into Gotham. I like dark but not sour.

My summer shows have come or are coming to a close so couple thoughts on them:

Teen Wolf Season 5.A Started out good but fizzled towards the end. Again. And it cemented something for me. If this were Team Arrow, Scott would be the Felicity of the group. So ( general story spoilers if you will )

Dark Matter I kept with it because it is Sci-fi and it got kinda better once I learned the character`s number-names but it never bowled me over.

Killjoys Ditto with the watching on the Sci-fi effect and it legitimately had better character work than Dark Matter but it also failed to grab me.

Defiance The same odd mixture as previous Seasons. My favourite relationship has always been Nolan/Irisa father/daughter and they continue to mine this. Albeit often in annoying ways but at least it gets a lot of play in the story. Second-fave are the Tarrs and they always get a lot of play.

Beauty and the Beast I often don`t know whether I should laugh or cry but I made a pact with myself to watch this till the bitter end. Thing is, the Beast mythology they developed could be decent but the romantic dialogue is apparently ghost-written by George Lucas himself. No, strike that, both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith had better and more believable romantic dialogues so I don`t know who is writing this one.

Fall Season 14/15 officially kicked off and I watched a couple of Pilots this week:

Scorpion - I was reasonably entertained by the Pilot but am not sure how much the source material can be milked in terms of a weekly show.

Gotham - wasn`t aware this was gonna revolve around Gordon as the protagonist and figured it would be Smallville for Batman, however I did like the Pilot and enjoyed all the little comic book gimmicks and references. Problem I see is in the premise itself since you know where these characters end up and how long it`s gonna take so for the time span that - I believe - the show will cover, there can be hardly any longterm victories. Which can get pretty depressing.

Forever - if you`ve seen Sherlock/Elementary, Castle and maybe a dash of Highlander, you`ve basically seen this show. Since I happen to like those shows and think Ioan Gruffud does a charming and likeable lead in this, I`ll keep it for now. In the end, it`s an innocent little crime procedural, neither spectacularly good nor bad.

NCIS New Orleans - hated the backdoor Pilot but gave this one a try pretty much solely because the NOLA backdrop fascinates me. Also, I like Scott Bakula back from his time leaper days and don`t blame him (unduly) much for Captain Furrow. The show stays with the NCIS formula, for good or ill. The funniest thing to me was that it both starred a grown up Lucas Black aka Caleb Temple from Amercian Gothic as well as Steven Weber who was in the same show. I will say the actual Pilot was better than the backdoor one.

As for returning shows, I didn`t hate anything I watched this week. Was pleasantly surprised by Person of Interest which pulled off the new circumstances better than I expected. Shieldis still a mixed bag for me, some good scenes, some boring ones and upgrade!badass!Skye? Le Sigh.

Oh, I did hate one, what in the everloving fuck is currently going on with Haven? A super-hammy, one-note "villain", a super-pathetic, creepy "hero" and in the midsts of this poor Duke and Dwight who deserve to live in a better town that hosts a better show. Also, whoever was responsible for that boob thing, both idea and special effect, can kiss me where MY laser beams come out. Urgh.

I...I just saw honest-to-God tentacle sex on a live action US tv show. My life might never be the same again. *g*

So, renewal/cancellations seem to be about through now, yes?

Most of the shows I watched made it through. With some dinosaurs it`s not even a question anymore. Like, hands up who thought Big Bang Theory was gonna get cancelled? Yeah, thought so. Some renewals also put some shows into I`m certain-they-will-be-renewed-next-year-as-well-territories. Both Grimm and Person of Interest are now going into their respective Seasons 4. And therefore syndication-stuff. Meaning, baring any cataclysmic ratings collapse, they will each get a Season 5 as well. Both are reliable and solid performers, something more valuable than big hits that bleed viewers year to year.

Also, most of the decisions didn`t surprise me. Other than renewing Beauty and the Beast. Like Seriously, CW? I thought this was gonna get axed for sure. And I even tentatively still watch it so this isn`t hate-speak but it was the fucking lowest-rated drama show of their entire Season.

And in the end the cancellation of Community surprised me, too. It wouldn`t have every other Season before this one but I thought for sure they were going for "Six Seasons and a movie" now. Hm.

The Tomorrow People was not unexpected but also a little bit sad. I mean, the show itself was never particularly good. Its subset, though, which I like to call the "John Young show"? That was reasonably fine. Oh well.

A bit sad CW didn`t pick up Bloodlines. Not because it was good or anything but for the sole reason I had hoped Singer and the nepotism duo would go there. Think about it, it could have been a paradise for their dog-fucking fantasies.

Almost Human and Dracula have been cancelled as well. Both expected. And both could have been executed much better. Some shows, the premise already sucks. These two could have had potential but alas.

Oh, and I see CBS picked up the NCIS New Orleans thing. Well, I hated the backdoor Pilot so I doubt I`ll be watching. But hey, they could have X-overs with the Originals seeing as they are both set in the city. Now, I think NOLA is fascinating but is there something to the sudden uptick in its use as a show location?

As for the Pilot schedule - and I say this as someone who loves superhero stuff in any variation - I`m not terribly sure being avalanched by five million comic book-y shows AT ONCE will be a good choice. I spoiled some of my favourite food ever (well, it used to be) by overconsumption.

Meanwhile, I`m at the point where I would sell my soul for ONE (good) Sci-Fi space adventure show. I mean, I`m sure there is still an audience out there and yet noone, absolutely noone puts even one on. With the lack of competition, it should be guaranteed some success at least.

If you think about it, the shows that found favour in recent years because they were new and fresh in a way (and brought on oodles and oodles of copies and clones) were something that wasn`t on in general. Right now, everybody only seems to be following trends, atm superhero genres. Where are people MAKING trends?

Helix is a perfectly serviceable little Sci-Fi show - I tend to love premises like this for movies - but why in all the heavens does it have elevator music for credits???

Not only doesn`t it fit this show thematically at all, in my entire life I`ve never seen a show that would have benefited from an elevator musical theme. That music is weirder than anything going on in the show.

A belated Happy New Year to all.

Hoping against hope of achieving at least some this time, I made some resolutions for 2014, namely:

- get in shape more; yes, losing weight would be an important sub-goal but it`s not just that, as I noticed on my last vacation when a simple hiking trip nearly made me collapse: I`m in lousy, lousy shape, I was never very sportive but it used to be better than that

- trying out my new keyboard, no, I can`t play but I bought it (two years ago) to actually learn to play a bit and since then it`s sitting there, gathering dust

- getting together with a couple of old buds where we have been saying we should get together some time for ages now

- read more books; again, I love it but in recent years haven`t read all that much because when I get home from work, I usually slump right in front of the computer and stay there till bedtime and on the week-ends I catch up on all my shows

- go out a bit more, I love going to the movies but, like with reading, rarely do these days

For the last two, I would actually welcome some recs. Like what kind of movies you guys are looking forward to. I usually miss so much because I don`t even know what`s coming out.

But I`d especially grateful for book-recs. In the spirit of starting out, I just finished the Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier, a cute little time-travelling fantasy romance tale which was actually quite enjoyable and have the Hunger Games lined up. Which is not to say I only read youth lit, my taste buds are actually pretty diverse, fantasy, Sci-Fi, romance, comedy etc. Not too much into autobiography and stuff that gets marketed as "the rousing tale of one woman`s dramatic journey to..."
Or as I like to call it "you move to the African bush, what did you expect, lady?" I can love protagonists who are dark and broody and even mean but stupid is a deal-breaker.

So hit me. Metaphorically. :)

There is a quite a few of genre shows on right now and this Season brought - at least for me - quite a few surprises.

Case in point: The Originals - the backdoor Pilot sucked and I totally thought it would limp on and get killed in the ratings. The subsequent episodes were entertaining enough but didn`t bowl me over. With the latest ep, I think, the show did what TVD used to do back in Season 1, the progression of "horrible" to "hm" to "hey, that show ain`t half bad". Surprise: pleasant.

Marvel`s Agents of Shield - like probably many others I was going gaga with excitment over this show because Marvel reigns so supreme on the big screen now and Whedon and Avengers. What happened? I watch the episodes and am just not feeling it. Yes, episode 4 was much improved. BUT, it didn`t mark a signifcant upturn in either. The only thing that`s changed for me is that I like Skye better than in the beginning. Doesn`t mean I`m invested in any of the characters. Surprise: unhappy.

Arrow - loved it last Season and still very much digging it now. This right now is superhero feeling at its best for me. Sure, it`s like mini-Batman so what? I love Batman. :) And, unpopular opinion: I really dig Stephen Amell as the lead, I think his acting is fine for the role.

The Tomorrow People - the last two eps were much improved. Problem: the clear reason is their focus on supporting characters. Bigger problem? The last episode without a shadow of a doubt proved to me that I would LOVE to watch this show if John were the lead. He eclipses Steven in charisma, being interesting and just about everything else. So fuck you whoever came up with the idea for your horrible storytelling instincts. Oh, I just remembered it is Plec and she did so well on the Originals. Now I`m at a loss. Why is she fucking up two out of three shows?

Dracula - such a BIG disappointment. What the hell happened? How do you make Renfield cooler than Dracula? And I normally have no problem with Jonathan Rhys Meyer but I read the following somewhere: "you know what would make Dracula better? Vampires." Sorry, but it`s true. Surprise: very unhappy.

Btw, since it has supernatural elements I`ll mention it here: Reign - it`s not good, it`s not terrible. You can watch it. But there is not much reason to.

The CW seems to be the last network that gets on premiering its new shows/new Seasons. Starting with the vampire block. I was curious how both would do as Vampire Diaries Season 4 was rocky and The Originals backdoor Pilot had ( spoiler )-gate.

I thought one was fun though instead of Stelena or Delena are they sneakily trying to build up ( spoiler ) as the new power couple of the show? ( Yet more spoilers )

And the other one was Elijah ( Originals spoilers )

Did anybody watch the premiere episode of Sleepy Hollow?

I adore the movie and went through phases of "YAY" when the show was first announced to "NOOOOO" when they ix-nayed the period setting and would instead put it in modern times. Then back to "Cool" when I saw the first trailer.

My first verdict would be: the trailer didn`t lie. It looks fun, genuinely scary at times and I do like the twist they took to turn it into a larger story. Not their fault that I`m probably going to be soured on what used to be some of my most favourite genre stories for the next fifty years due to some asinine other take on it.

The leads are unknowns - at least to me - and I really like them both. The guy playing Ichabod is a major charmer and certainly easy on the eyes. Abby, the female lead, is sympathetic and competent without being oversold. Thank you, unknown writers. (No idea who created this show and too lazy to look).

For now, a definite keeper.

Also tried out Under the Dome (edited because the show bored me so much, I couldn`t even remember its proper name :) which just wasn`t my cup of tea. The premise sounded cool but somehow I envisioned something like those Fringe episodes where they went to a "cursed" town, only longterm. Instead it quickly turned into another variation of "asshole characters doing asshole things (which I could live with) AND being boring doing so (which I can`t)." A most definite "nay".