Alias Revisited

So after many signs and finishing re-watching the whole of Brothers & Sisters, I felt the need to re-watch Alias from the beginning. I haven’t watched it since I got season 5 in 2008.

Firstly it looks SO weird on the big screen... Victor Garber’s face was not meant for such a big screen! Haha.

And I know I’ve watched Alias to many times, and the commentaries, when I can watch the pilot and season 1 finale without the commentary, but hear it in my head anyways! But it is still one of my all time fave shows, and had some of the best commentaries of any show past or present! I plan to go back and watch them all (or at least the cast ones) once I’m done.

Season 1 is awesome, but I’ve seen it the most, so it is easier to multitask to, until one of my fave parts comes up. My fave season one alias’ are, Victoria King, and Christiana Stephens.
Season 2 is perhaps my fave season, it’s the one I really got into the show, and since I only saw the finale of season 1 on tv, where I really fell in love with it! It also has some of the best eps. Phase One is awesome, not only did they take down SD-6 and the Alliance, but Syd and Vaughn finally made out!

My fave season 2 alias, and perhaps all-time fave alias is the one that Sydney makes out of stuff she buys at the Rite-Aid drugstore, turning herself into a blonde sorority girl with a skirt made out of contact paper – in order to escape the CIA tail.

The sad part about re-watching it all, is that I only can remember bits and pieces about what is happened in the last 3 seasons...I remembered a lot of season 3, but now I’m into season 4 and for the most part I have no idea what is coming, with a few exceptions here and there. Its kinda fun, because its almost like new, but also sad, cause I feel like I should remember.

What I’m finding interesting is that now 10 years later, Bradley Cooper is now this big movie star...I mean Jennifer has done okay, and the others were pretty big before, but Bradley went from best friend Will, to action/comedy star. I’m sure somewhere out there people who have become obsessed with him, are going back and watching him in Alias and getting hooked on it – like I have with SO many people and shows. It’s a little weird to look at it that way, but at the same time, its nice to know I was there first! –However, I haven’t seen most of his movies :P

A little under 2 seasons to go, and I’m having so much fun. Alias is one of those shows I loved as a teen and way back in the day, but the love is still there....just hidden under all the new stuff! I still get just as much enjoyment out of silly expressions and accents from Jennifer Garner, as I did back in the day! I miss JJ Abrams having tv shows. Alias did cliffhangers, and surprises like no other show! LOST was way too ensemble to have the same heart that Alias had. But I miss JJ tv. He's become all big time movie guy now!

oh and I’m also trying to watch the 3^rd season of Damages, so I’m trying to alternate, but Alias is much easier to watch and not stop. But I’ll get there. 

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Carlie

A Sense of Accomplishment

So Friday night I had the whole place to myself which was awesome! The house is so peaceful when its empty. It was the prime environment for TV viewing. I managed to finish off Damages season 2. I was surprised by the ending, but also can understand how season 2 didn't have quite the same sparkle that season 1 had. The whole environmental case/issues were not quite as flashy or interesting as murder and attempted murder. But I did like season 2. Once I started watching, I was very keen to watch more. Its very addictive. They really know how to end an ep on a cliffhanger, or giving you a tiny piece of the puzzle. The problem is that it doesn't have great re-watchability. But that's okay. I don't plan on re-watching it much. I am interested to see what the commentaries are like that are included on the season 2 DVD. Pity how the cast commentaries I am dying for, don't exist, but shows that I don't really care about manage to get them. -Not fair!

Anyways, now I guess I'll have to find time to start season 3 at some point. I'll wait a while though, too many other things in the lineup.

Once I was finished Damages, I was able to start season 12 of ER, which I bought after Christmas, and have been holding onto. Season 12 is the last season I watched on regular tv. Mid season 12 channel 9 stopped showing the eps, and I downloaded the rest, from then on. Its a little weird getting my head back into that period, having watched really old eps in my Christmas eps of tv viewing. -I miss Carter!
But man was it a tough day for kids with all the eps I watched today - little kidnapped girl getting rescued only to die of a gunshot wound, kids with aids, and little girls getting shot on christmas eve. SAD!
I was SO excited to get up to the ep with the baby chimp though. Its quite entertaining.
And I'm getting up to John Stamos' eps which is gonna mess with my head this week cause he's in Glee. Oh well.  I've got season 13 to watch after that, and then more stuff from Amazon will arrive. -So I am never without tv to watch.


In current TV news, Off The Map is still staying good. Maybe its because the stories/characters etc are actually getting better, but maybe I'm liking it better, because now I am getting to know the characters and letting them grow on me. But I'm really mad because I heard Rachelle Lefevre got a new pilot for next season, meaning she probably won't be sticking around. Which sucks cause I was actually liking her character Ryan the most! They've also set it up so she probably won't be able to come back. Damm.
Oh well. I'll live. The other characters are becoming less annoying.


I liked Harry's Law better last week, this week started off good, but by 20/30 minutes in I was pretty bored. Its a pity, its got potential, but doesn't really do a lot. Plus they seem to be going back and forth between trying to be quirky and trying to be a serious law show with a bit of humor. They need to find a better middle ground.


Even less on tv this week than last. Which sucks, but at least some shows will be back next week. And Glee is back this week, so that's something. Nothing is sitting on a cliffhanger or anything which is good. I HATE that! I'll probably catch up on a few things I have sitting in my tv folder that I haven't been rushing into watching. That or I'll race through ER. I do love ER.


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Carlie

The Good Wife and Other Stories

This weeks ep of The Good Wife was awesome! I am really loving the show this year. Rita Wilson was back - which is awesome enough, but the whole equity partners vote was a GREAT storyline. Lots of great Diane and Will stuff. Those two are fun together.
Oh and I was not expecting that from Cary! Then I suppose I should have seen it coming. But I was surprised by him kissing Kalinda, not sure what to make of it. Maybe he's playing her, maybe its something else. -I guess we'll find out.
I must also say, while I don't care for the whole Peter/politics storyline, I do love Mr Gold. He's entertaining, and I did like the little bit of politics that were included this week. -Nobody wants Childs in charge.


Modern Family -
This week I actually enjoyed the Cam and Mitch stuff. The adoption stuff was fun. Phil at the spa was funny. Claire wasn't that interesting this week. No Luke was a pity, he's hilarious. Gloria and Jay's fight over the crypt wasn't terrible either.

Mr Sunshine - Yo Yo Ma!!!! Awww I miss The West Wing.
I actually liked this weeks ep. Definitely better than last weeks. I was glad to Jorge Garcia back. He's fun. I liked the Ben getting to know people stuff. Its still not great, but its okay.
But why must Andrea Anders character Alice come to work dressed like that?! Seriously, does she turn tricks at night? Okay maybe its not THAT bad...but its not very professional...even in that sort of environment. 
-I worry that Roman is growing on me. I don't think that's a good sign!


I've still got a whole disk of Damages season 2 left. But I did watch another ep of Cougar Town - I've not seen the first 5 of this season. Its sorta my filler show, when I don't feel like concentrating or need something to watch for 20 minutes.


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Carlie

Catch Me Up Television

Brothers & Sisters - I really enjoyed the ep...even though Kitty is STILL MIA! But apparently she'll be in the next ep, so that makes me happy. -Can't find any explanation for why Calista was away.
I liked Brody. He was kinda fun, I hope they bring him back. Looks like they're sending Tommy away again though...I guess he was just filler till Kitty came back. :(
Justin going crazy about what was in the muffins after they were baked with the flour formerly known as "Joaquin" was too cute and funny.
-While I missed Scotty...and Saul, the best part was no Luc!


Parks and Rex - Nice ep. Andy and April are so cute, I'm glad they are back together. Take out Tom and it would have been great. But it was nice to see Ben out and about.

Community - Kinda boring this week, 'cept for the whole secret service chick and Abed thing. Abed is way more entertaining than anyone else. Oh and Jeff's Real World Seattle audition was TOO hilarious!

30 Rock - SOOOO much better without Tracey Jordan! But I didn't love the whole Abby storyline...she was WEIRD.

Modern Family - Sorry Cam and Mitch, but your storylines are always boring, but Luke was entertaining. I loved Gloria cutting Phil's hair (love the air bunnies)and 'singing' karaoke...and the fight between Phil and Claire and he had no idea! Gold.
 
Private Practice - This ep was crazy in the best possible way! While it was a little strange not having Addison there, it didn't leave any great hole in the story - that cast is amazing! Plus call backs everywhere!
I swear this ep would have made a great 100th ep (for next season, or the one after) if it wasn't for Addy not being there!
-The refs to the size of Sheldon's manhood (by gesture), Amelia's filtering, Sam's book, the custody case over Lucas, Naomi pushing Maya to have an abortion, refs to old eps/cases, running issues - like the Violet/Cooper/Charlotte who knows who better triangle,
-oh and in case you hadn't watched the first 3 seasons of the PPP, Charlotte and Cooper's story in a nutshell was in there too. -sans dead daddy.

And poor Coop, he's not really a "man-child". Well in some ways he kinda is, but he's always been a lot more a grown up than most of the others. And for a guy who started out as the guy who dates dozens of women he meets in chat rooms, he's been more monogamous than...Violet, Addison, Pete, and Naomi  and Sam!!!! - I mean come on! They have no excuse! Bad Sam. Very bad Sam! -That might finally break up the AddiSam...but I never wanted them to hate each other.
-I was glad to see an explanation for Charlotte's missing ring...but seeing as she was wearing it in Connecticut, who knows...maybe she wore it to keep Archer away...anyways, it was nice to have a very reasonable explanation.
Poor Charlotte....I think her potential friendship with Amelia is kinda doomed, but maybe they'll get over it. -Charlotte needs a friend...other than Sheldon.


Grey's Anatomy - Apparently it was a physical comedy ep....Meredith squinting the whole ep was very amusing! As was the 9inches estimation between Callie and the OB...shameful that the OB didn't know how wide 9inches was.....
Other Good bits -THE HOUSE! Its actually being mentioned, built...love it! Meredith giving herself an eye exam and Alex offering to do work on her face to counteract the effects of her squinting. Mer and Christina discussing the grossness of leaving toothpaste in the sink. Mer getting excited over her patient getting the real meds, and not the placebo - very cute.
Bad bits - Stark asking out April....and her saying YES! WTF?! She's like 12 and he could be her father! Christina and Owen having the kids argument...soooo not caring.

-Lexie and Avery...not sure if I like it or not. I'm going with liking it for now. They both need to move on and do something! They got boring...mostly Avery....
-Where do their golf balls go when they play golf of the roof?! Doesn't seem safe....
Adele's memory/stability issues is interesting. I'm guessing that will be their arc leading up to some kind of thing for the finale. And I am SO over fertility issues...the next couple that has fertility issues on tv is really really gonna piss me off! -Well I'll be mad at the writers, not the characters themselves obviously.




Off The Map - Oh its getting good. The characters that used to really bug me, are now starting to become the most interesting. I like Ryan a lot now. Charlie's place is awesome...wonder how long before they all start hanging out there?


A lot of shows are on break this week. Which makes me glad that the eps were generally really good this week. Good enough to get me through. I think Parenthood, Raising Hope, and The Good Wife are on. At least that's something. In the meantime, I've got a few things still to watch. Plus I'm almost half way through season 2 of Damages and loving it!


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-Carlie

Don't Ever Leave Me Again!

So last week there was pretty much no new tv, other than the thursday night shows, and the mid season shows.
P-Rex was great. Hilarious even....but Rob Lowe's character is still annoying. 30 Rock wasn't bad either. -Loving that I am finally caught up on that now...although more pressure to keep up.
Community was good at first but got weird halfway through. Still not sure about Off The Map...its too 'over the top' in terms of cases, its always something super dramatic...and that music is starting to bug me too - its SO depressing. None of the characters are that thrilling either...its just lacking something.
Harry's Law oddly enough is actually still kinda good. Its a little quirky...I've missed that -David E Kelly is back on the job.

A few shows are back this week, the rest come back next week.
Parenthood was good in bits and pieces tonight....Adam getting stoned was AWESOME! I love it when those guys dance! -Fave line "My crotch is vibrating" when Adam's phone rang... Peter Krause rocks my socks. He's hilarious! He's so much more fun in comedys than the serious serious drama that was Six Feet Under (as awesome a show it was...).  
-Haddie is such a pain in the neck though, poor Jabbar, Sydney and Drew got no screen time!

The Good Wife was back this week too, but I'll get that later, I'm saving room for other things for now.

Super excited for the PPP to be back finally! - Its been extra annoying cause it was supposed to be on a few weeks ago, but bumped for a repeat of the pilot of Off The Map. So I've been looking forward to this ep for a LONG time.
It will be good to have Grey's back too....but I'm not nearly half as excited for that show as I used to be.


In DVD news...I finished season 2 of Private Practice on Friday morning, having only the finale left. I watched the special features friday night. I remembered so much of the 2nd half of the season, but its weird how little I remembered from the first half. At least the finale wasn't nearly as stressfull this time around. I remember tears flowing, and jumping around, not being able to sit still when Katie attacked Violet.
I must say I love the good Charlotte/Violet scenes in season 2. (and 3 too). They are always fun. I hope we get some more in the future. They really have no choice but to be friends...or its gonna be a world of trouble for Coop!

I've also watched the Brothers & Sisters commentaries from season 2, and will get to the season 3 ones soon.
I also am finally getting back to Damages season 1. Its less fun the 2nd time around, knowing what happens and all, but I want to rewatch it before season 2. -Plus its fun to pick out locations I know in New York.
When I'm done with that I'll start ER, or Grey's...depending on what I feel like. It might be a little too much John Stamos, between Full House, Glee and ER...hmm.


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Carlie

Catch Me Up!

So.......it sucks that these days I have very little time for TV....I miss it!

So Mad Men is back...I've watched 3 eps and am enjoying it. Its the kind of show I love to watch, but wouldn't obsess over it and watch the eps multiple times.
-Oh and after all the things I've been watching lately, I'm so glad Christina Hendricks grew up and got not-annoying. -Like Amy Adams! They both just used to play annoying characters on tv in the early 2000's.

I finished season 1 of Damages....and boy that show surprised me! I had no idea just how epic it was in terms of storyline planning. I can't wait to see where they go in season 2....they've got some interesting things to explain.

And now that I've finished Damages, I'm finally catching up on the rest of United States of Tara. Its not that I didn't want to watch it - but it was taking forever to download. And its not the kind of show I like to watch tons in a row....it messes with my head too much.

I'm almost done with season 4 of Las Vegas now, hopefully I'll have finished season 5 by the time I leave for the US in Sept....Not that it really matters where I leave it since it never got an actual finale cause of the writers strike not working out well for a lot of shows. (not that I don't support the writers).
The problem will be not hating season 5....Its just not the same without Ed.....and I guess Mary, but Mary wasn't the same since season 3....she lost all her good character traits....and got super annoying and weird. (Nikki Cox's uber-skinniness season 3 didn't help...)

There's a few new shows starting up soon, and some oldies coming back, so I'll have to try and make room for them in my limited tv schedule....


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Carlie

LAS VEGAS....

....just for something different.

This weekend has been good for watching TV. I watched the last Crossing Jordan/Las Vegas crossover eps, which were the worst of the lot. Nowhere NEAR as good as the previous 2!

Then today I got to watch the Delina in a Box episodes (oddly titled Delinda's box), which were awesome. Very dramatic for season 3/4 of Las Vegas! - I also watched a few more since the arvo was all wet and dreary. The Christmas ep was so good! Some good drama in there and some decent other stuff too. And even I got sad when they blew up Danny's car! That's a cool car....even if I never really liked the colors.

In other news, I think I'm finally on board with Community. Although some eps rock and some really really suck....But for the most part its enjoyable.

Tomorrow its back to a busy work week and there will be little time for tv. I've only got 3 eps of Damages left, so I might be able to finish that this week!



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Carlie

Not Enought Time!!!

So I raced through season 2 of Las Vegas, and through season 3....but then the day after I finished that I started working full time....so I finally got to start season 4 yesterday, a whole week after the finale of season 3!

Now that I'm up to season 4 I have to watch it on the old original downloaded eps, so the quality is annoying, but better than nothing.

I LOVE season 2....Silver Star is one of my fave eps, and the one where the girls go out to the desert....and the one with Michael Buble in a bubble....
Season 3 was still good, but I was never a fan of the new building....and the stories started going down hill...
I don't remember hardly anything of season 4...so its TONS of fun to watch. I've only watched 2 so far, but should get time for more this week. -However I do recall the quality going downhill....and it was all Danny and Delinda, and as cute as they are....it was always supposed to be Danny and Mary.....
-which brings me to Mary's little tantrum from the premire eps.....she was acting like Danny was cheating on her behind her back and everyone knew....I always liked Mary, but that was crazy in a bad way! By the end of season 4, she had dated someone else, as had Danny...I dunno...I guess I can see her issue with Danny and Delinda never telling her, but other than that - she had no dibs on Danny anymore! (which I think was an actual line....)

anyways...moving on. I'm still in loved with Delinda's wedding dress from season 3! SOOOO pretty!

Oh and in other tv news....I've started watching Damages and am really loving it. Its addictive. I've got a few eps left of season 1 to go. I'm loving Covert Affairs - Piper Perabo and Kari Matchetts new spy drama....not up to Alias standards, but still really fun! Hot In Cleveland is still entertaining. United States of Tara has its ups and downs. And I'm still not sure about Community...I watch it when I don't feel like something else, or something I can do other things while I watch. The Good Guys is stupid and silly, but when watched with Vanessa can be appreciated!

I've also been watching a lot of old SNL, from the last few seasons....I'm enjoying having Amy Poehler there. The ep with Amy Adams was fantastic! And not just cause her and Kristen Wiig sang 'What is this feeling' from Wicked!!!

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Carlie