For The Triumph of Evil: Sleepy Hollow Keeps Me Watching

Well, well, well, this is the first episode that really gave me the creeps and it was exactly what I have been wanting from this show.  Honestly this was the first episode I truly enjoyed!  But, I can't help but wonder if I love this show for the right reasons.  Sleepy Hollow reminds me of so many other things, a lot of it feels unoriginal, reminding me of TV shows and movies that I happen love.  Does it's lack originality make it a bad show?  No, but I would love to see it break away from norms and give us a new and body original plot line.

Keeping in tone with it's Supernatural-like story line, Ichabod and Abbie fight a new demon this week, with the end of the world looming in the over-arching plot line.  The show opens with Abigail Mills being trapped in a weird and super creepy dream.  Dreams obviously play an important role in this series which is great!  You can do literally anything in this dream.  And Abbie's dream was a doosey!  For the first time I was really creeped out by the all white sandman type monster (fyi I typed this before they actually called him the Sandman, I'm pretty proud of myself).  NOW I'm interested!  I got a chill for SURE!  This is the kind of monster I was waiting for, this is the kind of body rocking chill I expected when I started watching.... One question though, Why hasn't anybody gotten Ichabod modern clothes?  He's been wearing the same outfit for awhile.

The dream sequences in this episode kept me going with their delicious creepiness! That wonderful tight nervous feeling you get in you chest when your heart starts to flutter and you want to turn away but you also can't stop watching.  This is the fear we all love!  Creepy Sandman white faceless monster was FANTASTIC!!  This monster is right up there with Leatherman from American Horror Story!  Ooooh, oohh, that part when he walked behind Abbie in Mr. Galezby's house I literally went "woo!" in fear and excitement.  Really it was a beautiful character design, I just adored it.

Beyond the fact that I loved this weeks monster, I am more and more impressed with Tom Mison's ability to move past his good looks and make a bit of a fool of himself as Ichabod.  I grew up with my parents reading me "Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" book.  Ichabod was made out to be awkward, superstitious, smart and butt ugly.  Well they got 3 of 4 things on Fox.  I really do like his Crane.  His bit with the scorpion venom was just precious.

The biggest problem for me with this episode is how much it felt like Constantine.  I mean, it literally felt like I was watching the movie (trust me, I've seen it like 20000 times).  If you haven't seen it, it pretty much follows the plot of this episode.  In Constantine, there is a tough cop named Angela who denies her abilities as a psychic that her twin sister, Isabel, never gave up on.  Isabel gets locked up in a mental institution and Angela does everything to deny the demons she saw growing up.  Enter a tall dark and handsome man, Constantine, who is a psychic himself.  Constantine forces Angela to face the demons she once saw.  Sound familiar?

This episode, despite being so close to Constantine, really impressed me.  Episode 4 here I come.

Ahhhh CBS Thursday, It's Like Coming Home Again (Spoilers)

Well, CBS has broken up my Nerd Thursday, moving Person of Interest to Tuesday, but que sera sera.  Big Bang AND Elementary are back!  The first half of this post is Big Bang, the second is Elementary.  Spoilers ahead for those who haven't watched, and if you haven't watched, I highly suggest doing so.

I'm so excited I'm smiling like Sheldon!

In an hour long back to back premiere event, The Big Bang Theory made a glorious return.  No matter how many changes they've made to the shows format that irk me, I just love these characters too much to care.  But I do miss the four boys hashing it out, being nerds actually talking about nerdy things.  Now it's kind of a show about 3 men's different relationships with women... and Raj.  I still miss Howard the Horndog.  I'm having a hard time adjusting to his married life, though Bernadette is adorable.

The first episode, "The Hofstadter Insufficiency", was just that, insufficient.  In an attempt to for a better relationship between every character, the writers pared Bernie and Amy.  To be honest, their plot line was just awkward and kind of unsatisfying, though I do love me my Amy Farrah-Fowler.  The second plot line revolved around Sheldon and Penny missing Lenard who was partying it up on the research ship.  What seemed like a plot that had the potential for extreme drama or comedy, came up a bit short.  Sheldon and Penny do have great chemistry, but I felt like I was waiting for something to happen that just never did.  The final plot involved Raj's new ability to speak to women.  Howard is his wingman at university party, where Raj ends up blowing it with the HR chair, and then having "a connection with her" all surmounting to... nothing.  The episode was a dud, but thankfully the following episode "The Deception Verification" was fantastic.

I wonder if CBS ran these episodes back to back, knowing the season opener was not going to wow audiences.  "The Deception Verification" not only had me laughing, but shielding my eyes and ducking my head in hilarious embarrassment, but we'll get to that.  The main plot involved Leonard getting home early and surprising Penny with a few private Sheldon-free days together.  Of course, Sheldon catches wise and cannot get over Leonard's horrible deception!  That plot was great and fine and whatever, but the real stars of the show were Raj and Howard.  After an enormous amount of estrogen gets into Howard's blood stream through applying hormone cream to his mother, he becomes a walking PMDD commercial.   Overemotional and convinced he's fat, Howard turns to Raj culminating in what me the most hilariously uncomfortable scene ever on TV.  Howard asks Raj if his boobs look bigger.  This results in a Boob-off that I cannot wait to see the bloopers for.  All and all this episode totally made up for the first, and in the end the characters remark that it's nice to all be together again, and really, that's how the show should be.

Sherlock may go 30 years between seasons but thankfully we have Elementary!  AND it's in London this go round! Well, at least this episode... Anyway, I am all in!  God, I just love this show with everything inside of me.  I didn't realize how much I had missed it until Jonny Lee Miller's first snarky line. 

In this episode we get to all of the Sherlock Holmes characters that really just don't fit in New York.  The episode gloriously opens with LESTRADE.  A ballsy, grenade bearing Lestrade.  Not the strait laced cop who leans on Holmes, no, no, this Lestrade is a crazy bad ass in his own right, not to mention Sean Pertwee son of none other than Doctor Who!  Of course Sean Pertwee is a brilliant actor in his own right, but hell, his Dad was a fab Doctor.  Meanwhile Sherlock is breaking cases in NY, with the hep of Lucy Liu's sexy beat down on a criminal Holmes has outed.  Oh yes, this was a fantastic opening sequence.

Seeing Holmes in London just feels right!  All around Shelock Holmes fans will be happy to see wonderful touches that just couldn't exist in NY like 221B Baker Street!  But what really excited me was "My GOD!"  "Mycroft."  AHHHHEEEEIIIIOOOOOO!!!!  That's something like the sound I made when Rhys Ifans walked on screen.  It's the kind of sound that can't be captured by onomatopoeia.  I've, in fact, already blogged about his casting:  HERE.  The connection between Ifans and Miller is instantaneous.  If Miller flared his nostrils any harder they would explode off his face!  AND I LOVED IT!   

Through the episode we not only got a glimpse into Sherlock's old life, but the usual brilliant performances from Miller and Liu.  Both actors have a season under their belts and have gone into season 2 with firmed grasps on their characters, probably after the explosive ending of season one.  Their relationship has gelled and fully formed making something absolutely beautiful, the perfect Holmes/Watson balance.  With a great opening episode following an insane last season I cannot wait to see where Elementary will take me!  You know what I can't get enough of?

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: I Can't Even!

OH!  OH!  I am just!  I... I... no. Words.  Silence.  I can't even.  I promise you, no other priemere this season will fill me with as much joy, as much pure undiluted happiness as Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  There was a possibility of being disappointed, there always is... but this... this was beautiful.  This is what TV is for people.  Now, if your familier with my blog, I sometimes do a pro/con style where I jot down notes during during a show and bullet them out in a pro/con fashion.  But since this was SO AWESOME, I am giving you a Pro/Not-Really-a-Con list.  If you haven't watched READ NO FURTHER.  Not only does my list contain spoilers, but also you would have no idea what I'm talking about as this contains quotes and blurbs on memorable moments.  Enjoy!

PROS

• THE MARVEL MOVIE OPENING TITLE SCREEN.  You know it's good when you get excited over the title screen.

• The immediate tie-in to The Avengers movie was awesome, your automatically back in the mindset of the Marvel universe.
• I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Marvel action figures of the Avengers in the opening scene.  In this universe, these are real people, not comic book characters.  Isn't that cool to think about?  When a kid buys a Tony Stark action figure it's because there is a Tony Stark and he helped save the world.  I cannot describe to you how mind blowing this is to me.  Thank God I'm not high because this entire blog post would be about the awesomeness of these real hero action figures.
• BOOM!  Start off with an explosion.  That is how you mother-effing start a show
• I've missed Joss Wheadon's writing on TV.  Not only is it brilliantly hilarious, but always poignant, beautiful and makes you think.

• From an exlosion to an espionage scene!  WELL!  Lieutenant Ward gets one hell of an introduction in the field.  An can I just say, that is one super awesome serving dish he has.  Not only does it scan finder prints AND is an x-ray machine and you can use it as a weapon.  Also makes chili and fries.
• YESSSSSSSSS COLBY SMULDERS!  YES!!! I WAS SO AFRAID SHE WASN'T GOING TO BE ON THE SHOW!!!  I AM SO HAPPY!  I LOVE HER SO MUCH!  BBBAAAAHHHH I CAN'T EVEN!
• One of the best lines of the night: "It means somebody really wanted our initials to spell shield."
• Agent Colsen- best intro on a tv show ever "Sorry that corner was really dark and I couldn't help myslf."  Classic Joss Whedon delivered flawlessly.
• Thank God Coulson isn't dead!  When he was killed during the Avengers I pulled a Colby Smulders "COULSON!"  But no, he isn't dead... even if he was shanked by "Asgaurdian Mussolini."

• "I think it's a little poop, with knives sticking out of it." -Coulson.  Oh Wheadon we've all missed you!
• Oh man.  Oooooh man. "He really doesn't know, does he?"  WHAT DOESN'T COULSON KNOW!?!?!?!?!  OH GOD HE REALLY DIED DIDN'T HE! DIDN'T HE!?!?!  Oh gosh, is he, like, a clone or something?! OH MAAANNNNNN
• I am eating up all of the references to the franchise.
• There are so many great one lines, a half hour in I've decided to stop writing them all because they are all too too good.  Joss, you are my hero.  For real.
• Fitz/Simmons are adorable.

• Oh yes, I am even mentioning the commercials.  Forget Thor, GOD LOKI IS THE HOTTEST THING EVER.  I could watch him smile all day long.

Yummy.

• YES!  Referencing so much!  Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. is where S.H.I.E.L.D.  tested the Tesseract!  EEEEEEEEEE!
• Centipese?!  What is that?!  Are we setting up something?  Next avengers movie?  Can't WAIT!
• "Sweaty Cosplay girls" at Stark Tower!  Oh yeah, I'd do it.
• The truth serum scene with Agent Ward was brilliant!  I love anything that subverts expectations...Especially when a big tough muscly guy says "gramsey"
• "This is a disaster"  "No, it's an origin story"  Brilliant writing.
• Falling in love with Fitz: check

• OH MY!  The Super-Soldier formula that made Captain America is being used in a bad way!  I love that they are using each Avenger backstory and tying everything together.  Not to mention that just like in Iron Man 3, the people being experimented on not only get super strength but become unstable and can blow.  All of these connections are so exciting to me.
• Agent May kicks so ASS for somebody who doesn't want to do field work.

• Mike Peterson's speech about what are we compared to the superheroes and Gods is brilliant.  We read comic books and watch movies because we think of superheroes as amazing.  We call them heroes for a reason.  We look up to them, we want to be them.  But at the end of the day we know they aren't real.  But can you imagine living in a world where superheroes and big green monsters and GODS exist!  Not to mention attacking aliens.  Can you imagine how small you would feel in that world.  They bring it up in Torchwood actually.  They talk about how people start killing themselves when they realize how small they are in the universe, how much they really don't matter.
• OMG I almost died when I thought they shot Mike and SO relieved when it was just the "night night" gun.
• An O84.... WHAT AN O84?!
• BAH!  Lola is a hovercar!
• YEY!  The GRRRR ARGHHH ending title monster is back on TV!!

Not-Really-a-Con

• ::sigh:: I hate that even though X-Men and the Avengers live in the same universe, the franchises are owned by different companies.  So, we don't get mutants, we get "gifted".  I mean, to be fair, Mike was not in fact a mutant, but still.
• "With great responsibility comes... a ton of weird crap."  Again, Spiderman, same universe, different parent company.
• Coulson's gotten a bit more intense, which makes me believe that something is wrong with him... like he really did die.

I went in with high hopes and I was not disappointed.  Hello fandom, we're going to make a great fucking team.

Oh Sleepy Hollow....

I am trying so so hard to like you.  Really I really am.  You encompass everything I love, an amazing legend, a dark concept, supernatural elements, a creepy factor... by all intents and purposes I should be eating you up.... But you are not giving my much to work with... well besides the hot Englishman and Orlando Jones (who is severely underutilized).  Other than that that, you really are not wowing me.  Honestly, did you ever see that episode of South Park where Butters tries to hatch an evil plan and his side kick keeps yelling "SIMPSONS DID IT!"  Well when I watch this show all I can yell is "SUPERNATURAL DID IT!"  The whole show just feels like rehashing of plots I've seen on the CW for years, from Buffy to Supernatural with a bit of Vampire Diaries thrown in for good measure.

And while I'm bitching, WHAT IS WITH YOUR SPECIAL EFFECTS?!  They are awful.  Like, SyFy channel movie awful.  You are on Fox for Christ sake, you have had some of the greatest scifi/special effects shows, hell, you spawned the X-Files! That show that kept people creeped out throughout the 90s!  YOU HAD FRINGE!  Some of the best Network special effects I've ever seen were on that show... Like this gem:

How dare you throw these b-movie effects at us and expect us to be wowed by them!  Guess what!  Not wowed, not happy, just supremely disappointed.  Sleepy Hollow should have SO MUCH going for it, but it was given some of the worst, most unimpressive special effects I have ever seen.  It is clear they are trying to mimic creepy effects that Guillermo Del Toro has used for years and just failing.  I want to get scared, I want to feel how I felt watching the first season of American Horror Story where I couldn't sleep thanks to the images burned into my brain.  That's why we watch.

So, I will give it a few more episodes, but I don't have any faith that I will fall in love with this show... at all.  Then again, it's on Fox, the channel that cancels shows without a second thought.  It doesn't matter the fan base or how many episodes in they are, Fox will cancel anything that holds them back, so I don't give Sleepy Hollow a much longer life span.  I give it maybe 2 more episodes before termination unless something really mind blowing happens.

On a happier note, S.H.I.E.L.D starts tonight WOOOOOOO!  And Person of Interest is back!  I'm kind pissed CBS broke up my "Nerd Thursday" by movie POI to Tuesday but I'm sure I'll get over it.

Sleepy Hollow Premiere (spoilers)

Filled with unnecessarily melodramatic camera angles and tricks, a kind of "I feel like I've seen this before" plot and music that sounds like it was ripped strait out of Sherlock... and the Headless Horseman with a semi-automatic.... Really?! Sleepy Hollow has one thing going for it though... a really engaging cast.  I was able to get past all of the flaws in the plot and filming, just because I wanted to see more of Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie... and I will watch Orlando Jones and John Cho in anything.  I'm kinda glad I watched through, because the episode did have its creepy moments.  I may have had one of two touches of the willies.  Oh get your mind out of the gutter.  

Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane was not a casting choice I understood.  Yes of course, Johnny Depp is sexy, but Johnny plays a great fool.  I didn't see handsome Mison playing kind of awkward scholarly Crane... but he pulls it off.  There is a charming innocence in his performance, combined with his rugged good looks and his lovely lovely accent I fell more and more in love with this portrayal of Crane...  Even if his brush with concrete was a bit Hocus Pocus-y.

Nicole Beharie scored her biggest break in this years Jackie Robinson biopic 42.  I feel like she really is the head and shoulders of this show (man I am just FULL of puns).  She gives a solid performance in a kind of weirdly written show.  I think this a great breakout TV role for her and she seemed to have INSTANT chemistry with Mison.  Since Fringe ended there hasn't really been a super kick ass, no shit taking, no tears woman on network TV and I think Beharie fills the role that Anna Torv left perfectly.

John Cho seemed to be the budding Renfeild of the show and BOOM dead.  At first I was sad to see him killed off so quickly, but from the preview it seems that he may not be as dead as... as well having your head pretty much torn off by a demon.  I hope to see more of Cho, I think he is a brilliant and all too underutilized actor.  The real eye catcher for me though was Orlando Jones.  I just love him, he can do no wrong in my eyes.  I don't know what it is but I find him so engaging... And though he didn't exactly fit the character description, he was a kick ASS Ford Prefect.  They seem to be spinning his character towards something sinister which I find all too exciting!

All and all I will give the show a few more episodes before I really decide.  It could go either way, the plot was engaging enough to keep me on, but it felt like they ripped a bunch of other shows apart and glued them into prime time.  I kept thinking, this reminds me of something Supernatural did or, this feels a bit American Horror Story.  I guess we shall just have to wait and see.

Fall Premiers, The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

It's that time of year my friends!  That time of year that makes me feel like I'm  getting ready for the Sadie Hawkins that my high school never threw.  The time of year where I am a wizard and my wand is my remote control.  That's right friends, it's fall premiers.  And while of course I am pumped for my returning faves, it's time to try out some new shows.  Now, I'm a bit terrible when it comes to giving new shows a chance, I generally know within one of two episodes if I'm in or out and 90% of the time I'm out.  But, this year it looks like we have some good'ins, but just my luck I'll get stuck with midseason cancellations (I'm lookin' at you Alcatraz).  So here are the top 5 shows I'm going to give a go, from least likely to keep watching to what will probably be my new favorite.

Sleepy Hollow

9/16 Fox

I have been a fan of the Headless Horseman Story since I was a kid and forced my parents to read Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow book over, and over, and over again.  You know, this one:

On top of that, I am probably Tim Burton's biggest fan and watch Sleepy Hollow on loop starting every October, so of course it would only make sense that I would check out Fox's spin on the legend.  Honestly, I don't have much faith in this show.  Ichabod seems a little too hott and waaaayyyy to brave.  And, come on, do we really have to modernize everything....?  Is that the only spin on stories people can think of?  Well, I plan to watch tonight despite my lack of faith, but then again, I had no faith in Fringe and it turned out to be one of my all time favorite TV shows.

Dracula

10/25 NBC

I am a sucker for Vampires, pun not intended.  No, wait, pun totally intended.  This show can go either way.  Dracula is one of my all time favorite novels, so it's going to hard to impress me.  I have been into the vampire genre since before Twilight was a dream in a Mormon mother's mind and Anne Rice was the reigning Queen of the Damned.  I just can't say no to Vampires.  Besides, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is oh, so pretty to look at.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

10/10 ABC

Okay, now it should be said I am only watching this show for one reason.  Just one.  Michael Socha, AKA Tom from Being Human. I am just so happy to see some of my favorite actors across the pond make it onto American network TV.  Actually Lenora Crichlow (Annie) also made it on a network show, but it looks so bad even her appearence on it couldn't get me to watch.  Anyway, I really don't enjoy the show Once Upon a Time, so I'm hoping Wonderland is different.  If not I really don't give it one or two episodes... Even if I do love Michael Socha.

The Originals

10/3 CW

It's a Vampire Diaries spin off with all my favorite characters with the exception of Damon.  Need I say more.  No I didn't think so.

The Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D

9/24 ABC

I can't.  It's just impossible to tell you how excited I am for this show.  It's Marvel and Joss Whedon.  It's the perfect combination.  How do I know.... HAVE YOU NOT SEEN THE AVENGERS?!  Get off this page right now if you haven't and watch it.  I'm not even kidding that is an actual command.  Beyond the fact that its a Marvel/Whedon collaboration, this show is an amalgamation of all things I have loved that are now gone.  It's like Fringe meets Heroes meets Torchwood meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets The X Files.  It's perfect... its... its... 

So that's my new fall line up which I am somehow going to cram in the already too many shows that I watch.  Have any suggestions?  Happy to hear you out!

Happy Watching Friends!

Bye Bye True Blood

Get your fill while you still can!  Though, if you ask me, the writing has been on the wall for this show since about season 3.  Overstuffed with characters and full of unwieldy plot lines, it's honestly a surprise True Blood has lasted this long.  But, the official announcement came today that the 2014 season will indeed be the shows last.  I kind of feel like a load has been taken off my chest, like I will no longer feel pressured to watch a show that I love to hate and hate to love.  After this seasons emotional roller-coaster (an amazing start with a supremely disappointing end), it's hard to see how the fanbase has stayed so loyal.

But how will it end is the real question.  The season finale left a lot open ended, with a hoard of Hep V positive vamps on the move toward Merlott's... I mean... Bellefluer's?  Right?  Not to mention Sam is somehow mayor, Sookie was seemingly forced into a relationship with Alcide, Tara was drinking blood from her possibly Hep V carrying Mama, Bill wrote a tell-all book basically about being a vengeful God and Jason is tongue-tied with Violet.  Again, too many characters, too many plots, too much to do in 10 episodes that are meant to wrap up the show.

Generally I have faith in writers, as a super-fan of many things, there have been times I have doubted other show I love like Doctor Who or Being Human or even The Vampire Diaries.... but I have little to no faith in the True Blood writers.... but will I watch anyway... OH COME ON YOU KNOW I WILL.... espicially if we get another glimpse of full nude Eric.  I would be okay with that.

Why You Should Be Watching The Mighty Boosh... If You Love Regular Show

So tonight, as is my normal Monday night ritual, I watched the new episodes of Regular Show... and got really, really pissed.  You heard me.  I got MAD.  Now don't get me wrong... I love Regular Show, I have often called it the best written show on TV, and when asked why I loved it so much I would tell my friends that it reminded me of the Mighty Boosh.  Just reminded me.  But tonight's episode if "Silver Dude" was a blatent rip off of the Boosh episode "The Power of the Crimp."  The whole point of "The Power of the Crimp" was that rip offs are lame.  I am so disappointed in Regular Show right now I could cry.

Okay, it's not hard to draw parallels between The Boosh and Regular Show, they have a similar character breakdown:

Mordecai/Rigby:  Vince Noir

Benson:  Howard Moon

Skips:  Bollow + Naboo

Muscle Man:  Bob Fossil

On top of that, the shows both deal with way out of this world adventures with the strangest of foes.  There has even been some cross over action with Rich Fulcher (best known as Bob Fossil on the Boosh) who voiced the Phone Guardians in the Regular Show episode "Butt Dial."  J.G. Quintel in fact has spoke of being inspired by the Boosh, which is awesome, because even though the Boosh has been off the radar for years, I still feel everybody should experience the genius.

Now, I have no problem with inspiration.  I love having a show on TV that makes me laugh and soak in weirdness as much as the Boosh does, but, there is a fine line between inspiration and strait up copying.  And I think Regular Show crossed that line tonight.  Not only are the plots of each eerily close, the last 5 minutes are pretty much the same in each.  Don't believe me?  Watch:

Regular Show :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6qBZsr7kg5A

The Mighty Boosh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kghvpAUiFBU

Of course, I am going to keep watching Regular Show because it's one of my favorite shows on TV, I just felt the need to vent about this.  I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get many hits on this blog post, but sometimes I just need to get things off my chest.  I feel a lot better now.  Thanks internet