This week’s post
is about a new show called The Royals. It premiered on E! on March 15. While
I’ve only seen two of the three episodes, so far I like what I’ve seen.
The show is
centered on a fictional British royal family set in modern-day London. In the
opening of the first episode, we find out that the king’s oldest son has died.
The heir to the throne is now Liam, if there’s even going to be a next kind at
all.
The king thinks
his son is dead because of the monarchy and announces to the family that he’s
thinking of having it abolished. This of course leads to instability within the
family.
Between the
drug-addicted princess, the evil uncle vying for his brother’s crown, and the
controlling queen who has come accustomed to the royal lifestyle, it’s hard to
know exactly which way this show may go.
But that’s what
I think this show needs if it’s going to survive in a struggling TV market.
While it’s too soon to say if this show is going to grow legs, you can enjoy
the royal unrest Sundays at 9 PM on E! Let me know what you think!
I’m back to a review this week, and my show of choice is Mixology. I’d
heard about it from a couple of my friends, so I thought I might as well give
it a try. Sorry for the episode spoilers (this is pretty much a play-by-play of
the first episode).
The show opens on Tom and his two friends Cal and Bruce. Tom’s fiancé
has just left him, and now he’s back in the game. His friends are super
supportive about him finding a girl. They pick one out at the bar and encourage
him to go talk to her. As Tom walks away, they decide that she's way out of his
league, and they think he’s going to get eaten alive. At the start, it looks
like his friends might be right about that. His opening line has the words “I'm
a stranger” in it.
Then we get a little backstory on Tom. His dad left when he was six but
he didn't figure it out till he was nine. He was always trying to make his mom
happy, which Bruce’s voiceover says ruined his relationships with girls for 10
years. Then Tom and Laura met in college and later got engaged. When Laura
breaks up with him she says, “I'm just not feeling it anymore - everything
about you repulses me.” It’s a self-esteem hit for Tom.
Back to the present, Tom thanks Maya (the girl he approached) for
talking to him. Then we get a little backstory on her. Maya is the third of six
girls, and her father raised her like a son. She loved conflict and hated
people, so she became a lawyer. She says to her friend Liv that she has to date
pro-athletes - they're the only real men left. It makes you wonder if Tom is
going to get anywhere with Maya.
You begin to think Tom’s going to give up when he admits to not being
very good at talking to women. And then things get worse when he starts talking
about his ex and begins to cry. Maya, clearly fed-up with Tom’s whining, says,
“Your fiancé left you because you're a sniveling little bitch. Every girl wants
a nice guy, but that they also need a man. Figure out what you want and go
after it. That's what real men do every day. It's not that difficult.”
From a girl’s perspective, this is great advice. And it seems to be
exactly what Tom needs to snap out of his funk. He gives Maya a hug and then
asks for her number. When she tries to refute him, he says he’s only following
her advice. As she writes down his number she says, “You realize this has been
the worst pick-up in human history.” He jokes it’ll be a great story to tell
the kids.
When he goes back to his friends, they are extremely impressed with him.
When Liv arrives, Maya recounts the story, and she says it felt good to give
him her number.
A couple of other characters are also introduced in the episode. There
are two sisters. The older one, Jessica, is there to meet Ron who she knows
from an online dating site. He shows up and throws up in Jessica's bag because
he’s so drunk. He says he'd offer to buy her a new purse, but he just lost all
his money. Then he leaves.
Ron is still outside the bar when Liv goes out to take a phone call. He
asks her for gum, but she doesn’t have any. There’s something between them, and
he asks her to stay for a drink as the camera flashes to her engagement ring.
Finally there’s Kacey the waitress who breaks up with Dominic the
bartender. When she confronts him about his reaction to their break-up, he
calls her by the wrong name, which makes her mad.
Anyways, I guess I’ll have to watch the rest of the series to find out
what happens with the rest of these people. So far, I think it's a pretty realistic portrayal of bar life.
If you’ve watched, I’d love to know your thoughts!
I’m taking you
guys back on another #ThrowbackThursday today, and my show of choice is That
’70’s Show.
Set in the
Wisconsin in the 1970s, the show follows a group of teenagers who are dealing
with the last few years of high school. I won’t go more in detail about the
plot. It really doesn’t get any more complicated than that.
Anyways, the
reason I like this show is mostly because of the main character Eric. As I’ve
mentioned before, I have a soft spot for sarcasm. There’s nothing quite like a
well-timed sarcastic line, and this show is full of them. I suppose that’s more
of a nod to the writers, but I think it’s also a good fit for Topher Grace as
an actor.
Of course I
can’t talk about sarcasm and not mention Red, Eric’s dad. The typical man’s man
of the ’70’s, Red is all about his tools, drinking beer and his catchphrase “my
foot up your ass.” He came off hard and tough most of the time, but deep down
has a soft side.
I’m also a
sucker for a good relationship dynamic (as you also already know). I’m not
entirely sure what it is, but for some reason I really like Eric and Donna’s
relationship. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Donna holds the power. She
makes the decisions, but it’s in a very comical way because Eric doesn’t really
have much of a backbone in the first place.
And finally,
there are the scenes when the teenagers are smoking pot. I mean let’s be
honest, you can’t have the ’70’s without some grass. The scenes work because
they’re funny. If they were going for authenticity I think it worked – it’s
made my dad laugh once or twice.
But that’s all
for this week. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
So I can’t say
too much about this week’s show - for one because I could accidentally say a
spoiler, and for two because even though I’ve been watching it for 5 seasons, I
still don’t know what’s going on.
Maybe you’ve
already guessed that I’m talking about Pretty Little Liars. The show is based
loosely on the novel series of the same name. I’ve never read the books, but
I’m a big fan of the show.
The main reason
I keep coming back every season is because I need to know who A is. For those
of you who watch the show, you probably feel the same. For those of you who
don’t, I can’t even begin to describe what A means.
I also really
like the weekly scare the show gives me. The show’s genre is drama
mystery-thriller, and I’ve got to say it lives up to that name. The thing that
I think works best about the show is that it isn’t too heavily focused on any
one of those three descriptors. It has a nice balance even though every episode
leaves me hanging.
I’d love to go
on, but I don’t want to spoil anything. All I can say is that I don’t think
you’ll be disappointed if you give this show a try. Here’s a little something
to pique your interest!
If you’ve seen
it, I’d love to know your thoughts!
A couple of
weeks ago, Saturday Night Live celebrated their 40th anniversary
with a star-studded live three and a half hour show. It had its ups and downs,
but overall I really enjoyed it. There were montages galore, which was great
for me because I mean who doesn’t love a well put together montage? I thought
it was really cool that they included a montage of audition tapes.
Anyways, what I
thought about most while watching the show was how much of it I’ve missed. I
only started watching SNL on a weekly basis a couple of years ago. I had seen
the odd show before (specifically the Best of Will Ferrell SNL complete disc
set thanks to a lack of things to do in a small town and a couple of my best
friends), but other than that it didn’t really register on my TV radar.
I couldn’t tell
you exactly what made me a regular SNL watcher, but I can tell you about a few
of the people that keep me tuned in now.
First and
foremost is Kate McKinnon. I cannot get enough of her on the show. She is so
good at her characters, and she hardly ever breaks. She’s just hilarious. Kate
made the 40th anniversary show on Celebrity Jeopardy with her Justin
Bieber impression. If you haven’t seen it and want a good laugh, here it is.
I also really
love Aidy Bryant. She gets some out there characters, but she pulls them off
with ease. I think my favourite character of hers currently is Tonkerbell, the
sarcastic, full of attitude half-sister of Tinkerbell. She’s a solid performer,
and she devotes herself to her characters, an attribute to be respected on live
TV.
The third reason
I keep tuning in is Taran Killam. He has a pretty extensive film and TV
background and only joined the SNL cast in 2010. He does some good impressions,
and he rarely ever breaks. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s just
something about him that makes me like him.
I also really
like newcomer Pete Davidson. He’s kind of a geeky little guy, but he’s funnier
than I thought he’d be. I especially like his spot on Weekend Update as
“resident young person.” It’s pretty funny writing, and he delivers it really
well.
Some oldies but
some goodies that I love include Kristin Wiig, Seth Meyers, Bill Hader, and Andy Samberg. Kristin
played a cast of characters during her time on SNL, and a lot if not all get a
laugh from me. Also, her movie Bridesmaids – one of my all-time favs!
I miss Seth at
the Weekend Update desk. If I could stay awake for his show, I would. If I had
the time to watch it everyday, I would tape it. While I like Michael Che at the
desk this season, no one will ever beat out Seth for me.
Bill Hader also had a lot of great characters. It’s probably a super SNL cliché, but I have to say it – I loved his
character Stefon. He also made a brief appearance on the anniversary show, and
it was great. Also Bill as
veteran reporter Herb Welch is great as well. But that’s all I’ve got for you
this week.
Finally, there's Andy Samberg. I've already written a post about his new show, so you all already know how much I love him. What I loved most about him on SNL was that he was hardly ever in live sketches. His strength on the show was in SNL digital shorts. It was mentioned on the anniversary show that a lot of SNL's audience really like the pre-recorded clips in the show, and I think Andy had a lot to do with that. Here's the one he and Adam Sandler starred in for the anniversary. Enjoy!
Did you watch the 40th anniversary special? Do you watch
SNL? Let me know! I’d love to hear from you!
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