ShadowDenizen

And Mischa was apparently a total drag on everyone.

They have GOT to make a "Behind the Scenes" special on this show.... Ex OC guest speaks out I take this with a grain of salt, since Cam Gigandet seems kind of assy himself, and his biggest claims to fame are being a Vampire in "Twilight", and getting naked in "Burlesque". (Though I gotta say, I can kinda see Ben Mckenzie being a bit of an ass, too...)

SIGH. That's one of my least favroite things in the early going; you need a fraeking flowchart to determine who's "Allied" with whom!

Ok, definitely liking the first group way wore than the second group. Almost everyone in the second group just seemed "off" to me.... Both Caleb and Zach will very quickly be pushing my "HATE" buttons for the summer I think. And I agree that it's good Frankie didn't make it onto America's Team (yet.) It gives me hope there may be some genuine twists for the season.

Agreed. But that is the "type" Big-Brother actively seeks to cast, sadly.

Let the hate-watching begin! I think it was as smart move to begin with 8 instead of 16 people; let us get to know some of the cast right away. However, I don't think the "Intro Videos" served as a particuarly good into to any of the characters... For instance, Cody's video annoyed me the most, but inside the house, he seemed at least mostly low-maintenance. How the hell did Nicole graduate from ANYWHERE? I think a "Girl-Power" alliance could work; I"m just sad that it's streamlined by Paolo. (And "El Quatro" definitely ranks up there with some of the worst Alliance names in BB history.)

I got Shovel Ready through my book-club accidetnally, and I was surrpised at how much I liked it!!

Atrocious writing aside, I thnk one of the reaons the show has gone downhill so quickly is due to the fact that they lost sight of what the show was about- a group of underdogs! (More specifically, a group of outcast underdogs in a high-school.) By the same token, you cna't have constant slushie-ing either; you need to give your "heroes" some victoires to temper the drama. But by giving everyone their heart's desire right out of high-school (particularly Rachel, who has arguably been the focal point of the show since Season 1) , you've essentially lost any sense of empathy the viewing audience migth have left for the character. I would have been much happier if the opening night of "Funny GIrl" was the series finale. (And Sam's "Hearts Desire" was to appear on the side of a bus? Riiight. Good job, writers.) And agreed that the recycled plotlines did no-one any justice.

Yes, RIB have been driving this show into the ground since S2 with the atrocious writing and stories. But I think the noobs get a bit too much of the blame for that decline; other than a few standouts like Chris and Lea, the Noobs were on-par (acting-wise) with the S1 cast. And (as Coxfires mentioned above) it would take an uber-talented thespian to make anything worthwhile out of the drivel that RIB had them sling. (Though, to be fair, I think Alex and Ryder both tried their damndest to make that "Catfishing" storyline even semi-plausible. And Becca also tried her best to make Kitty more than 1-dimensinal Quinn-clone.) Which is why I hope the Noobs return (even in a small capacity) in S6.

Yes, the arc of Winn's (and Dukat's) character are one of the things that I'm most looking forward to hearing poeple talk about during this process.

I think the show could have survived gettnig rid of the Cor Characters and bringing in new ones. (Look at Grey's Anatomy!) It's all in how you handle it (or if the network LETS you handle it.) Heroes was supposed to be an anthology series, but rather than letting it be that, TPTB insisted on keeping the same cast. (Of course, Heroes has way more problems than that, inlcuding their over-reliance on Sylar and continous revamping/retconning of the existing storylines. (As an aside. that's also my fear withn the new Star Wars movie. That people are SO excited about the Old Cast that they can't get as excited for the new cast (whihc are SUPPOSED to be the focus of the new trilogy.)

Just finished the Prince of Thorns trilogy by Mark Lawrence. And wow! If you like gritty, dark, violent fantasy with a main character you both hate and empathize with, then this series is for you. It's probably the most visceral, punch-you-in-the-gut series I've read in quite some time. (It's almost Games of Thrones-ish on a MUCH smaller, less-epic scale.) Haven't tried "Prince of Fools" yet, which is the start of a new trilogy set int the same world. Other random recs in the fantasy genre? The Dwarves quartet by Markus Heitz. Can't recommend enough! This is Infinitely readable and engaging, with likable characters in a well-defined fantasy world. The River of Shadows quartet by Robert Reddick. What can I say? I"m a sucker for ship/sea-based fantasy! Year of the Dragons quartet by Jame Calbraith. A fun mix of transtional fantasy/steampunk and Eastern mythology. (He's startin a new series in the same world.) The Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling.

Thw two that stand out to me over the last few decades, both of whom should have beein nominated in the Best Actress category? Bjork for Dancer in the Dark. Say what you will her off-screen antics, or the egomania of Lars Von Trier.... Bjork totally knocked it out of the park on this one. To this day, I cannot watch those last 15-20 minutes without bawling like a baby. Fernada Montenegro for Central Station.. The layers of depth and complexity she brought to an initially unlikable character was a total revelation.

Gotcha. :) Clearly the intent was to introduce Winn in a way that encapsulates her persona for much of the series, but Keiko was partially at fault, too, I think.

When this show was airing, it was THE hate-watch for me. Like Bkwurm1 my friends also would only let me rant for 5 minutes about it before they shut me down. When they asked WHY I kept watching? The only answers I could come up with? A) I've been watching since S1; I'm committed to watch to the bitter, bitter end, and/or B) I'm a masochist. To be fair, there were a few TINY spots of brightness... TW was, as mentioned, SUPERhot. AM was brilliant in almost every scene she was in, and JH in his Green-Arrow leathers.

Even by BB standards.... These are the tooliest tools that ever tooled. I hate them all already.

Ah, the Chen-bot. What would BB be without her? Discussing her clothing choices is almost as much fun as discussing the show itself!

I find Ennis a mixed bag. He had THE seminal run on "Hellblazer", and I LOVED Hitman. (It was like Ennis trying to restrain himself for the mainstream, and it kinda worked.) Plus? One word: Dogwelder. But I gave up on Crossed after the 2nd miniseries, since it didn't seem like it was going anywhere and was more about the gross-out factor. I haven't tried "The Boys" yet,

Wow, so I'm in good company. I've always disliked WOlverine. (He and Deadpool are my 2 biggest pet-peeves over at Marvel, since I've come to grudgingly accept [and mayeb even like] the Punisher as I get older.) And, while he was originally an interesting character, Marvel has now also overplayed the "Thanos" card.

I love reading your thoughts on episodes, Meushell! I dunno; learning about important concepts of Alien Cultures (including religion) seems fine by me, as long as they're not presented as empirical truth. Just becuase you learn about something doesn't mean you're asking people to live by those ideals. Keiko straddles the line for me in this episode, but if Vedek Winn hadn't been so obstinate as well, they might have come to better conclusion. Keiko seemed willing to bend a little, in at least ackwnoledging that the Bajrans view the "Wormhole Aliens" as Prophets. It was Winn's insistence that the REST OF THE WORLD view them as Prophets that was the real breaking point. But, this did do ALOT to set up the character of Vedek Winn, and she turns out to be one of the most compelling characters in the show for me. IMOP, DS9 is the BEST of the Trek shows for making you empathize and identify with secondary characters without beating you over the head with them. (Garak, Gul Dukat, Vedek Winn, all are awesome, and used perfectly for their roles... Even some of the tertiary characters stick in my mind after all these years, where I'm hard pressed to tell you the names of a handful of Voyager or TNG ones.) This also sets up the character of Bareil. (He kinda sucks.)

Darren Criss (who has a great bubbly personality and good sense of humor) totally should have been allowed to do more. I mean, Wilson bethel does still set the standard, but I think Darren could have given him a run for the money...

A little early, but I'm opening the threads for the first episode of DS9; Season 2. Welcome aboard; This is where it starts to get REALLY good.... (Barring Vedek Bareil, of course; he kinda sucks.)

Opening up the thread for comments on the finale of DS9: Season 1. Two Words: Vedek Winn.

I think this might be the first REFERNCE to it, but IIRC Rom actually DID try to space Quark in an earlier episode!! (This was before they had the characterizations for most of the characters down.)

Read up until the New 52 relaunch and end. You'll be much happier. :) Everything from Sinestro Corps War on was pretty aces. (I mean, there were a few clunckers, but mostly it was well-planned, tightly plotted saga.) With the New 52? Came MASSIVE GL bloat. They split into FOUR titles, each with differnet leads (which left Guy Gardener and Simon Baz [who has been CRIMINALLY underused] largely out in the cold. (Not counting the "Larfleeze" spin-off and the ongoign "Sinestro" which just started.) The "Third Army" and "First Lantern" story arcs were godawful, and after Geoff JOhns left, things went even MORE off the rails.... (Let's not even discuss "Lights OUt", or the fact that they turned SUPERGIRL into a Red-Lantern! (As an aside, DC is really pushing their "Franchise Titles" to the brink with bloat. kinda like Marvel is doing with Avengers (and to a lesser degree X-Men.)