Luckylyn

Max and Kyle were fun. I was sad when the actor playing Kyle left but so glad he returned for the finale so he and Max could be together.

I’m Your Man

I’m reading the nonfiction book In Broad Daylight by Harry Maclean. A man named Ken McElroy terrorized the people of Missouri for decades. One day he is murdered there should have been several witnesses but the people of the town refuse to help find the killer. Based on what I read so far this is a situation where I can understand how people can turn to vigilante justice.

I found A Little Daytime Drama a little boring. I wished they had more fun with the soap opera genre. There could have been some humor to liven things up.

I’m on the fence on Loki/Sylvie. I think that romance needed a little more time to build. I can understand how viewers could view it as incest. I don’t necessarily hate it but I’m not particularly into it either. I am invested in Sylvie on her own and find her back story compelling. So I am looking forward to more which surprises me because I wasn’t super into Loki as a character before the series. Now I am excited for more and seeing how these characters respond to the events of the finale.

On the shows Boys Meets World (Corey/Shawn) and Scrubs (JD and Turk) there were running jokes about the male best friends being so close there practically a couple. JD and Turk on Scrubs even had their own love duet called Guy Love. I never felt baited by that. Yes they would act like a couple but it was clear they weren’t really going to end up together. Nick and Schmitt on New Girl also had that best friends who act like a couple vibe but sometimes it was a Schmitt as overbearing Dad and Nick as child dynamic too. The Dad/Son thing lead to a hilarious rivalry between Nick and Schmitt’s daughter. Seeing a grown man argue with a preschooler because they want Daddy Schmitt’s attention lead to my favorite Nick line. Ruth is showing off a dress her dad bought her and Nick points out that her dad used to buy him clothes too. She asks him why and he says “Before you I was his baby girl” I felt the show acknowledged Nick/Schmitt’s dynamic really well in the episode where Schmitt spontaneously buys Nick a cookie and Nick is weirdly dismayed by it. Was that what Sherlock was trying to do but they botched it? The show runners were so contemptuous of shippers while also egging them on. I never understood what they were trying to do. Other shows played around with this type of dynamic so much better.

Sometimes there’ll be a fanbase for a ship that the show runners didn’t intend. On One Tree Hill there are people who shipped best friends Lucas/Haley. They were never romantic on the show. Haley marries his brother. Still the writers would occasionally acknowledge the Lucas/Haley ship. When Lucas’s book turns into a movie he mentions the producers wanted him to change it so the character based on him ends up with the one based on Haley. Luke jokingly proposes to Haley when showing her the engagement ring he picked out for his fiancee. I love that the scene ends with her teasing him by taking the ring telling him he’ll have to get another one for his girlfriend. So the writer’s acknowledge the fanbase for Lucas/Haley exists, but never gives fans false hope it will happen. That show wasn’t perfect and I quit watching before it ended but it at least did okay by letting Lucas/Haley be best friends.

Regarding Carry On, although the Harry Potter similarities are there it is an interesting world on it’s own. I really like getting to know these characters. The book’s romance is compelling because There’s a twist where

If you tease people they are going to get annoyed when there’s no pay off. Yet show runners never seem to get that. I hate when writers bait a ship and then act shocked that people are shipping that pairing. I’m still pissed at The Magicians for building a whole storyline on Q and Elliot’s feelings for each other. The entire season Q was desperate to save Elliot from the monster possessing Elliot. There was this unique love triangle where the monster seems to want Q but Q wants Elliot. They had a whole episode devoted to revealing that Q wanted a relationship with Elliot. Elliot regretted turning him down and was clearly resolved to go after Q once they were reunited. But the season ends with It made me feel toyed with and I dropped the show. I can accept when my ship doesn’t work out as I hoped but won’t tolerate writers purposely baiting something they know is never going to happen. The writing was going in one direction and then abruptly shifted confusingly leaving things unresolved. There wasn’t a good build up to justify how things turned out. If they wanted that conclusion they really need to write it in a way that made sense.

I find I am biased in favor of Ryan Paveey because I like to look at him. He started out stiff, but I think he’s improved. He also has chemistry with most of his co-stars. The funny thing is with Christopher Russell is when he’s a supporting character I like him but I never like him as the lead. I never see chemistry between him and his co-stars. Meanwhile I think Brandon Penny can act well but I never see sparks with him and his love interests so he’s an actor I don’t enjoy. I think I can forgive weak acting skills if I think there’s good chemistry between the leads. The ones for me that are whole package of good acting and chemistry are Andrew Walker, Paul Campbell, Luke Macfarlane, Chad Michael Murray(which is a surprise because I went through a phase of being bored of him).

Claimed took time to get going. I liked it but got a little frustrated waiting for a werewolf to finally appear. It’s the beginning of a new series so the ending resolves some things but has a cliffhanger. I do like it more than the prison camp spin off. In the Black Dagger books I feel like this book is branching off the series into a interesting direction.

I’m reading Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. This book involves characters at a magic school with danger and political intrigue with a focus on the character Simon and his roommate/nemesis Baz. The chosen one sets on a course to solve a mystery but his magic skills are wildly inconsistent. He’s powerful but his spells have the potential to cause more damage than help. I’m getting a “What if Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were roommates vibe.” I’m finding it very entertaining.

I thought it was his way of pointing out the online support for Burton to take over Jeopardy like how online fans supported Reynolds becoming Deadpool.

I think Mike Richards hiring as host was shady to begin with since he was already working as Executive Producer when he essentially hired himself for the job. I was so confused when this guy I never heard of was selected. There were other people who were better suited who got passed over.

I don’t mind some angst for couples. I just don’t like the ones that act almost like they hate each other. Ups and downs in relationships keep things interesting but writers need to remember the characters are supposed to love each other. Then there are couples that are toxic but compelling to watch. sometimes drama is entertaining. Also there are couples that aren’t toxic but the writer’s play the “will they/ won’t they” game too long and I don’t care anymore about if the couple get together anymore.

Arrow was a show I loved but then got worse. Too many characters added in that I didn’t care about, Oliver doing stupid things unilaterally and screwing over Felicity and Diggle, and bad writing. I feel like once spin offs started too much became about using Arrow as a springboard for the next show rather than developing Arrow well.

Gary on Parks and Rec becoming mayor after years of his coworkers treating him terribly.

I loved watching Hart to Hart. That’s a great example of a happy couple. Couples who acted like they loved each other and didn’t do the miserable couple trope: -Parks and Rec : Leslie/Ben, April/Andy, Ron/Diane, Donna/Joe(Donna almost broke up with Joe because of the lack of drama but then ends up happily married to him) . Ron telling Donna not to confuse drama with happiness was one of my favorite lines. -Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman - Scully/Mike -The Good Place - Chidi/Elenor, Jason/Janet -Growing Pains - Jason/Maggie -Friends- Monica/Chandler (I hated the Ross/Rachel drama and grew to hate that pairing by the end) -Living Single - Overton/Sinclair

I saw a spoiler on YouTube that Jason is going to miss his wedding to Carly because Britt gets kidnapped to test if the Jason/Carly marriage is real. Sounds like a stupid test. Even if Jason was madly in love with Carly and only had platonic feelings for Britt he would miss is wedding to rescue Britt. The show’s established a nonsensical “Jason the mob hitman is hero” pattern. It’s always Jason to the rescue 🙄

I’m reading Claimed by JR Ward. It’s a another spin off from The Black Dagger Brotherhood. She’s adding werewolves to that universe. Wolves were referenced in one of the prison camp books. So far I haven’t liked the prison camp books as much as the Black Dagger books. I am enjoying Claimed more than the prison books. It’s slower paced but I feel like the romance is developing better. For this book, a woman who works at a nature preserve is determined to protect the wolves who live there while dealing with threats from people endangering the animals. A new employee with his own secret agenda works with her to protect her from those targeting her . There’s also a subplot featuring Xhex from the Black Dagger Brotherhood. One thing I appreciate about the series is that the characters don’t stay static after they fall in love. Ward revisits the characters as they experience ups and downs. They continue to evolve throughout the series.

I love Morticia and Gomez. So many shows have spouses act contemptuously towards each other. Morticia and Gomez adore each other and it’s great to see. Ten and Donna are a great platonic pairing. I really enjoyed that friendship so much. Donna’s my favorite companion on Doctor Who.

I like shipping and don’t see anything inherently wrong with it. I like romance. But it’s a problem when people take things to extremes. I don’t like that shippers who aren’t bothering anyone are lumped into the same group as those you do harass people.

Here’s another video about Pro-shippers vs Anti-Shippers that’s a great follow up to the one I posted before. It’s long but worth a watch because it really deep dives into a lot of fandom issues. I really appreciated one person in the comments saying “There shouldn’t be limits over what can exist but nothing is free of good faith criticism.” You are free to enjoy what you like but others are free to express opposing opinions. Nuance should be allowed. Harassment isn’t okay. I will never understand the argument that “I am harassing this person online to stop harassment online.” Why can’t people disagree without threats and name calling? Supporting or not supporting a ship shouldn’t be taken to the extreme of being a mark against your character as a person. There are things someone might find compelling in fiction that they would never support in real life. I support speaking out about content you think is problematic but don’t support the vitriol. Problematic content is allowed to exist and people’s opinions positive or negative about it should be allowed too. Also what is considered problematic isn’t set in stone. Two people can have very different opinions on what’s offensive. “Opinions are like assholes. Everyone’s got one and thinks everyone else’s stinks.”

I want a Fosse/Sondheim Mashup for Season 2. Bonus if we somehow also get a Starlight Express reference. It doesn’t always have to be about romance either. They could tackle family strife. I could see a whole family or maybe just siblings getting stuck in Schmigadoon. I really think this premise could go a long way.