Athena

Yes, I do agree that in many ways S2 was worse, but the show had reached a point of no return for the ship. I couldn't get into it in S3 and the ending just left me dissatisfied because so much had happened. It's like the writers tried to take back Tess and everything in S2, but I couldn't forget it so it was bad for me to watch them try to salvage it. It felt the actors had largely given up on the show; it felt like they were phoning it in at times. The spark wasn't there anymore. I was discussing this show with someone else earlier in the year and we both sorta cringed when we remembered how it got after S1. I have not seen it since the original airings though.

Max and Liz from Roswell were a good ship in S1, but S3 and S3 really ruined it. Ugh. I do agree the actors had a ton of chemistry. Pacey/Joey were probably one of the best things about Dawson's Creek for me. I could never get behind the vacuum that was Dawson/Joey. Dawson didn't seem to have chemistry with anyone.

Haha. I do listen to classical music and jazz, but not as much that I watch television shows or read books. It is a good point about live action TV characters watching TV, but I do remember that The Simpsons did this a lot though.

I'm also not convinced of Watson's acting talents, but then again, I haven't seen any of her post-HP projects. I don't think she is necessarily a bad actress either, but I am not sure if she could ever get to be like Blantchett who has a lot of prestige and talent. I often compare English actresses to Kate Winset who got a star making role, but I watched Beautiful Creatures thinking she had potential and screen charisma. She's made her mark by doing a lot of prestige and awards bait movies. I do wonder if Watson will keep doing it. She doesn't strike me as having a lot of range right now. I think Kirsten Dunst still makes some questionable comments.

I hope he isn't a love interest, but he probably will be. Oh well, he's easy on the eyes and it'll be good to have new Companion blood in addition to 12. I'm slowly starting to look forward to the premiere to see how this all plays out.

As a Canadian who does a lot of contracts, I've gotten paid either bi-weekly and monthly. Most often the latter is with a smaller company. I am not an employee so they often will just write a cheque. Not everyone does direct deposit here either even if you are an employee. Some small companies who rely on most of their profits from other companies will wait until that goes through before they issue cheques to their employees.

Donna was also my favourite New Who companion. Her journey was wonderful. I thought Catherine Tate showed a lot of range notably in "The Forest of the Dead" episode (she was the best part of this two parter) and "Turn Left". In the scene where she realizes her children are not real and she loses them, she showed a lot believable anguish. I loved how she was 10's best friend. The ending didn't make sense, but I like to think that she gained some confidence in herself. When we see her again, she has moved on and does seem happier than before she met the Doctor.

When I read the books as a kid, I also borrowed The Little House Cookbook from the library. It looked so good even then. Has anyone tried the recipes from it?

Shipping happens to me easily and it actually helps make me watch a show. I do watch some shows for acting and chemistry. You get attached to the point where you can ignore a lot of bad things on the show if you still have characters together, but only so much. When the writing affects your ship, it can be bad. I think we've all had ships that have been ruined by contrived writing (cheating, love triangles, parents, death, etc). I've been able to get over cheating for many of the ships (Emmett/Bay, Jackie/Hyde, Wade/Zoe ) even. The one ship that was utterly ruined for me and resulted me in hating the characters whenever they were together was Gossip Girl's Chuck/Blair. I rewatched some of the earlier seasons where they even had a good period, but the writers torpedoed it with the hotel trade plot.

Lots and lots of episodes and storylines. Up until a certain storyline on Friday Night Lights, it was an almost perfect show IMHO. Then the S2 finale happened which introduced a murder storyline and a chemistry-less relationship from it. Argh.

I'm not particularly attached to this superhero or know it as well as I do Spider-Man and X-Men, but the cast is shaping up to be very interesting. As always, low expectations to see how they do this. I've liked Charlie Cox in everything he has done more or less. I'll be interested to see how D'Onofrio does. I had mixed feelings about his acting in L&O: CI so we'll see how he plays Kingpin.

Around the time Halle Berry won the Oscar, there was a recent X-Men movie I think. I was perplexed when she won. Granted, it wasn't for X-Men and I haven't seen Monster's Ball, but she was bad in these movies. I remember that stupid accent too and she just seemed annoyed to be on set or in the movies. Storm is a great character and she wasted it. In an alternate universe, I could maybe see Lupita Nyong'o as Storm. At least her accent and vocals are correct. I didn't care for Jean in the movies either. I liked the Phoenix character in the book because she was like anti-love triangle and also cool, but Jean's waffling between the men was irksome.

Toby is probably my favourite character. I still like Bay and Emmett and I don't mind most of the parents, but Toby is the sweetest. I'm glad Gabreel is older than me too. He does have a serious baby face though. He's playing ten years his junior on this show. I'm not crazy with the way they went with the marriage plot. We all knew it would fail, but at least it kept Toby on the show. It also resulted in a very poignant scene with John when they talked about Toby's marriage being over.

@aradia22 , I think you and are kindred tv/movie spirits. Roman Holiday is one of my favourite films and the ending is beautiful and perfect yet painful. While I did see it as a kid, I had watched enough movies to know that this was not a typical "Hollywood ending". It was atypical of its time though the 1940s onwards had less rosy happy endings too. I do agree the term has been stretched. I think in a romance, a Hollywood ending is where everyone lives happily ever after. Even then, the Nicolas Sparks movies prove that a lot of audiences want a neat albeit contrived, not everybody lives ending either. Maybe it's the neat package as if all wrapped up that makes Hollywood endings. When watching foreign cinema or shows, I do notice that there are endings that wouldn't take place in Hollywood or big production NA movies whether it is a lot more self-sacrifice and grim storytelling or the plot and story just ends without much resolution which mimics life.

I'm a bit curious about this too. I loved the book growing up and I thought the film version they did about ten years ago was good, but it wasn't the musical. I wonder if they will follow the stage tradition of having the same actor play Hook and Mr Darling.

I think Cary Elwes was a brunet in that film and it didn't suit him. I didn't care for Carrey's character either. If he had been Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Jim Carrey maybe.

I like Cumberbatch, but the acting isn't my issue with the show. I do agree with you that the show is overrated. Not to long ago, I had an online dating profile and listed "British shows" as a TV interest among other things but was decidedly vague. Every time a man brought this up in a message, they would ask "Have you seen Sherlock?" as if it was the only UK show they knew. This happened at least five to ten times which makes me wonder about Sherlock's popularity with certain demographics.

Hi @Chas411 . Thanks for getting this thread started. I'm one of the mods on this forum. My love affair with Batman begin with the DCAU Batman: The Animated Series. I've seen more or less all the adaptations past and present and read a couple of the major Batman works. I've been a fan of Ben McKenzie since "The O.C." so interested to see if this show sinks or swims. Low expectations after what happened to Smallville.

A couple of caipirinhas, please! Also that cheese and some fish too. No ass shots necessary, thank you. I think my favourite was when they hung out with the fishermen. That seemed to have happened quite naturally with their connection to the security guy. It was a nice insight on a small group who work very hard but who seem to know how to enjoy life as well.

Cary Elwes was the dreamiest as Wesley/DPR in The Princess Bride. I almost sigh every time he says "As you Wish," He was cute in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, but nothing after that iconic role. Too bad his career didn't quite take off.

Replying in Misfits forum and All Episodes Talk thread.

I mentioned the show on the "Once great shows that got so bad..." and @millahnna and @aradia22 offered some good replies. I didn't think this was a great show objectively speaking, but I really enjoyed it and was even addicted to it in S2 and S3. A lot of this was because I grew attached to the character of Simon and then his relationship with Alisha. It was also a funny and different kind of show when it aired. I did not watch S4 or S5, and while I know what happens, I have little interest in every doing so. aradia22: Another reason I gave up on the show beyond my character attachments was that in S3, the show was starting to show signs of running out of ideas for drama. Howard Overman wrote almost every episode; he was the only writer in S1-2. This single writer formula works for a couple of series at most which is probably why he reset everyone's powers in S3. Maybe it was also the lack of Nathan, but S3 lacked spark compared to earlier seasons. Leigh-Ann's write up about it sums up my own view of it too. I didn't mind Rudy, but he didn't have Nathan's charisma. Overman wrote the epic romance and the Superhoodie storyline into a corner and the result left me dissatisfied. It didn't feel like he had any foresight or long term plan for the characters or decent exit strategies. This showed a lack of care to character development or growth. I started poking through some plot holes in S3. Also, all five seasons apparently happened in the course of one year which is wild because it was clearly more than that on the show.

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's complete run. Please remember this isn't a complete catch-all topic -- check out the forum for character topics and other places for show-related talk.

I'm there for both of those films, but what is JJ Feild doing lately? He never really made it into film. Maybe Hiddles can also get with Feild's former costar Felicity Jones in the romantic department.

It's very difficult to explain and unravel the inner workings of FIFA. It really is similar to a dictatorship in that there is almost no transparency and the people in power realized money can be made off the most popular sport in the world. It probably started off slowly and the longer FIFA were in power, the more corrupt they have been over time, all behind closed doors. John isn't kidding about the sport being a religion for people. It affects people emotionally. If change were to happen, they would also be affected by how to do it. It can be very difficult for people and organizations to cede or change an international body that is almost as old as the IOC. Taking the religion analogy further, I guess it's similar to how the Vatican and the priest system took money from Europeans through most of its history until Martin Luther and the Reformation resulted in being creating separate Christian traditions and churches. I actually hope that one day, different national football bodies would create an alternative FIFA. This would have to be an international body and a lot of organisations would have to come together to do this. A lot of us would like FIFA to be reformed or gutted or something, but creating an alternative international event/body would also not be easy. Taking the World Cup and international matches away from football fans is something I can't quite imagine. Interestingly, one of the reasons football is popular is that it is cheap. You only need a ball. It's a big bonding experience between children who grow up with it especially when you're so poor that the game is one of the only entertaining things in your life. It is difficult to score and do well in, but that's what makes it so addictive for those that play and watch it. A lot of stars of the sport come from very humble beginnings, and it's a very "American dream". They can make it big and become rich and famous playing a game they love.