It's a family drama, and that family just happens to be a royal family.

Hello Readers!

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!

Thanks for reading!

-Emily

"This is the story of 10 strangers and one night"

Hello Readers!

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!

Thanks for reading!

-Emily

"Hangin' out down the street / The same old thing we did last week"

Hello Readers!

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!

Thanks for reading!

-Emily

"-A"

Hello Readers!

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!

Thanks for reading!

-Emily

"Live from New York, it's Saturday night!"

Hello Readers!

A couple of weeks ago, Saturday Night Live celebrated their 40^th 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 40^th 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 40^th anniversary special? Do you watch SNL? Let me know! I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading!

-Emily