If you want something really, really bad...

That`s it, Vampire Diaries is going on my "I may watch it once the Season is over and I can see where it went" list.

This show used to be legitimately good from mid-Season 1 to all of Season 2, still enjoyable in Season 3 and admittedly I liked parts of Season 4. But this year, I`m sick of the writers aiming for the nadir of the nadir of storytelling - and succeeding every time. I just love annuling development for the lulz because that in no way makes me feel I wasted years watching it in the first place. *sarcasm* And their deluded interviews, obvious incapability to figure out what isn`t working and passive-aggressive asshole tweets. It`s like they think they are the SPN TPTB.

I knew dividing attention between running three shows would be too much but the old warhorse should be something of a self-ran, not an implosion. And The Tomorrow People ain`t good either, at least as long as they refuse to center it around John. That leaves The Originals which is legit good. But a batting average of 1 out of 3? Not that impressive.

Thank God Teen Wolf is currently rocking so hard.

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 )

Since we`re nearing the Season Finales of most of my shows, I thought I`d do one more little update on how they fared this year IMO. As a little aside, though, can I ask: what is up with this habit to pump up the Seasons to 23-24 episodes lately? Because lets get real, writers had trouble filling the usual 22 eps and at least 1/3 of it was mostly filler and/or shit. I get they want to reduce reruns but before upping quantity, you should up quality.

Anyway, here goes:

Pretty much all my crime shows, Castle, Bones, NCIS, NCIS LA and Criminal Minds can be summed up with: I still watch those, I still like some characters/concepts and some episodes truly entertain me, others, not so much. Now, NCIS LA has to be the less tired of all of them because it is the youngest whereas NCIS (going into Season 11!!!) is more of a chore.

Elementary is a new one I started this year and it entertains me for an hour each week, to be forgotten till it`s next on. I don`t have a problem seeing Sherlock as Sherlock Holmes, though. It has always been a character I could accept in wildly different incarnations so this one? No prob either. Am impressed that so far they are staying true to the "no romance" mandate.

Hannibal I just picked up but I already know, it wouldn`t work for me longer than probably this one Season. I like it but it is mini-series material for me.

My sitcoms are still
- The Big Bang Theory - still watch it but the best episode this Season for me (the one where the girls discuss Thor`s hammer) also made me sad because the show had this kind of nerd humor all the time and now it simply doesn`t. I still laugh during episodes but it`s more generic humor now.
- Community - I enjoyed the beginning of the Season but the last few eps? Just not my thing. Didn`t really feel like Community and wasn`t funny so it`s probably just as well that it`s coming to an end.

Now for the more genre fare.

New shows I picked up this Season are:
Arrow - I really do like how the show has developed, the overarching story, the characters, it feels much more cohesive than in the beginning. Also, I think Stephen Amell is better than just his abs in my opinion. NowOllie is a somber, brooding character but islandOllie is a hoot and a half and pre-islandOllie is a fratboy douchebag and I think he manages to make them distinct characters from each other.

Beauty and the Beast - yup, I`m apparently one of two people still watching it because the romance works for me. I absolutely get why people would walk away from the show in disgust and boredom because the romance is the only thing it has got going for it. So if that doesn`t grab you, it will be a bust.

Defiance, I just started but so far, I`m invested.

Returning shows were:
The Vampire Diaires - an odd Season, I can see why it got some hate but individiual episodes still entertain me and I`m curious for the Finale

Person of Interest - I put this down as genre because of reasons but nevertheless, it kicks major ass. I haven`t loved every ep this year but the main story arc and character work? Fantastic.

Grimm - Apart from one storyline this year (three guesses on what is), I loved the second Season. I love Nick`s camaraderie with all of his Wesen friends and allies.

Game of Thrones may be halfway through Season 3 already but it`s hard to judge till a year/book is finished so I will just say: good stuff.

Fringe ended - sniffle and Samnat got dropped.

In conclusion: I still watch way too many shows.

I know this Season of Vampire Diaries has its problems - for a while there even I was getting fed up and I generally seem to like it better than most, from reading reactions and reviews - but I believe the next episode will flip the entire show on its head.

And it could be either awesome or terrible but if they do what I think they will do, it will be daring. Right now, I`m kinda wibbling in a good way.

Now that all my fall shows have roughly two thirds of their Seasons done, I thought I`d do another "progress" report.

Castle - same old, same old, the actually handle the coupleness of the main pairing reasonably well
Bones - I continue to watch for the interns. Hopefully, the Palant story is supposed to be done the next time it rears its ugly head. Tedious to the extreme.

Both NCIS and NCIS LA -the cases are pretty much bla-bla at this point and they don`t even slightly bother to put a Navy-jurisdiction spin on it for the most time. I still like the characters, though, on both teams. So depending on how they are written, I enjoy the ep. "Corresponding fish" might be the best thing ever, though. *g*

Criminal Minds - watch it out of habit mostly
Supernatural - took a VERY disappointing nosedive in quality after ep 9ish, now we`re back to the same status quo that I got sick of YEARS ago. Eh. ( spoilers )
Arrow - I`m easy, I just love Oliver kicking ass and shooting arrows in between moping in the batcave with Diggle tryin to cheer him up/talking him into and out of things

The Vampire Diaries - Strange Season. Stuff still happens at a fast pace and the characters are as amoral and teenager-y as ever but something doesn`t quite work. ( general spoilers )
Person of Interest - each episodes just manages to be so suspenseful, I`m usually at the edge of my seat when watching, loving it
Elementary - so far enjoying it quite a bit, though maybe I`m the only person on the planet who prefers the Holmes character to Watson. I like Joan and I like Lucy Liu but the quirky genius asshat draws me in more
Beauty and the Beast - major missteps recently, don`t know what they were thinking
The Big Bang Theory - normally I still like it fine but a recent episode made me nostalgic for the days when this was more profoundly tethered to geek culture instead of generic sitcom, the "who can pick up Thor`s hammer" discussion, almost against their will? Gold.

Okay, does anyone want to ( spoilers for Vampire Diaries 4.09 )

Okay, I have to comment on that: ( Vampire Diaries 4.07 )

Some more "one sentence or less" TV ramblings this week:

Elementary 1.03 - great episode but highly disturbing IMO

Arrow 1.02 - seriously love Oliver in all of his angsty broodiness

Person of Interest 2.03 - Awwww

The Vampire Diaries 4.02 - missing Ripper!Stefan and not!Stelena soooo much

Supernatural 8.03 - not too happy about faux Season 1 tension, stop that

Beauty and the Beast 1.02 - still not entirely terrible, though glad pushy!Cat might be done

Haven 3.05 - Nathan, Nathan, Nathan *shakes head*

Finally finished my marathon rewatch of Vampire Diaries. All three Seasons, 66 episodes in pretty much two weeks. And it is incredibly rare for me to do a major rewatching of my shows at all. Individual scenes? Sure but hardly the whole thing. Somehow though, once I started it became quite addictive. The narrative flows (more or less) quite smoothly at a wonderfully fast pace. The only bad thing? Now I'm really revved up and going for Season 4 and it's still two months away. Sigh. :/

Some things stood out even more starkly to me though in watching them all one after another:
- Mystic Falls is the most party-crazed town in the universe. I have never in my life seen so many dances, balls, get-togethers, soirees and parties. Why these people have wardrobe other than lavish gowns or tuxes, I don't know. Also, at every single event someone is killed. Granted, some of them are immortal but mayhem happpens. So why won't these people stop throwing parties? Or going to them? *g*

- Stefan hates dancing. Damon loves it. And I mean LOVES it. Damon Salvatore is the most dance-loving vampire in the history of vampires. He dances on bars, railings and okay, sometimes even dance floors. :D

( More )

And last but not least: :)

- I love that there are so many supernatural characters you can have long (loving) torture scenes with. With the shirtless writhing. And the blood. And the touching. And the screaming. - Again, don't judge me. Ahem. *g*

Little tidbits from Comic Con I gathered so far:

Aww, Grimm brought the entire cast. And they were cute together. From what was said, Season 2 sounds intriguing. ( General spoiler )

Vampire Diaries - I had hoped to see a few new faces in the line-up but okay. Yeah, Zach Roerig was there but sorry, Matt is just the least interesting character for me. Gotta wholeheartedly agree with ( Spoilers again )

A cute story from the panel: a fan asked a question that maybe the Con people thought was going in the wrong direction and preemptively cut the mike on her. The cast boo-ed that decision, telling them not to do it anymore and that answering the questions was what they had come for and getting to ask these question was why the people had queued for hours. So to please let them ask whatever they wanted, as Ian said.

Now, from what I gathered, the real "question" that they cut was rather inocuous in the end. Just an excited fan wanting to say hi to Trevino. And yes, as a con goer those kinds of things are annoying if you want true questions and juicy answers but geeze, let them ask it for gods' sakes.

The Merlin panel wasn't on yet as far as I know but I saw a spoiler-y interview. Only Colin Morgan and Katie McGrath there, though. Too bad, I would have liked the whole cast, at least the core characters. Again ( spoilers )

Lets see how SPN does today. Maybe they can finally give some spoiler that won't suck.