Some television shows get old after too many seasons, some manage to avoid that curse. Some get cancelled before we found out which. You will notice a pattern, most shows I love get cancelled.


Big Bang Theory is still one of the best shows on TV. It continues to be smart, funny, and has one of the greatest ensembles ever put together. The fact that the actors can nail all the scientific jargon alone is amazing, not to mention how hard it is to keep a straight face. Sheldon (Jim Parsons) is my personal favorite.

I still love How I Met Your Mother, but it has spent so many years leading up to the mom, that they better wow us. The show is still funny and the ensemble here is wonderful, but they are becoming "Friends 2" according to my mom. Neil Patrick Harris is legend.. wait for it.. dary!

Arrested Development was one of the greatest dysfunctional family comedies ever. I was pissed when they cancelled it, but happy to find out they are filming new episodes for Netflix. More Jason Batemen is always welcome.

Another great dysfunctional family comedy was Malcolm In The Middle. Fox needs to release the dvds already.

Chuck is so much fun. Loved it! 

Revolution is an interesting show.

I love Stephen King, so Haven and Under The Dome are right up my alley.

New Girl is only in it's second season, but I'm enjoying it. Zooey Deschanel is adorable.

I enjoyed Scrubs (the last season not so much), it had a great ensemble and it was silly/funny.

I'm not really sure why I like certain shows, I guess they just hit me the right way. My Name Is Earl is one of those shows. To me, it's funny. It's even funnier seeing people from the show turning up on Raising Hope, (they were created by the same guy). I think Raising Hope is even funnier than My Name Is Earl, something about the show just gets me.

The Office (US Version) and Parks And Recreation are two more examples of offbeat humor. They boast two truly great characters (The Office has Dwight, Parks.. has Ron). The Office also has all the Jim/Dwight pranks.

Reaper was fun. Ray Wise was a great Devil, and the whole bounty hunter for Satan thing was cool.

Tony Shalhoub was the perfect casting choice for Monk. The show was a great blend of humor, drama and action.

Psych is still going strong, still funny, still interesting. Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) is my hero.

Burn Notice continues to be action-packed, funny in the right places and the tricks they use are awesome.

I read The Vampire Diaries when I was I kid, but I prefer the show. Whether it be the books or show, Damon is always my favorite. The spin-off The Originals is quite good so far too.

Communicating with the dead is always cool, so I loved both Medium and Ghost Whisperer. I didn't like how they ended Medium though. But both shows were enjoyable.

In Tru Calling, Tru (Eliza Dushku) would repeat the day to save people. I love Eliza Dushku, she's just awesome. So of course it was cancelled. 

In a more intriguing and humorous look at life after death, you had Dead Like Me. Dying and becoming a Grim Reaper with a day job was a great idea. It was unfortunately cancelled after two seasons.

Another show with an intriguing premise involving death was Pushing Daisies. It was very quirky and lasted only two seasons. 

Two shows I miss came from the UK, Primeval and Hex. Primeval dealt with dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Andrew Lee-Potts is adorable. Hex dealt with fallen angels, ghosts (one of the main characters is one), witchcraft and other supernatural fun. Michael Fassbender is hot.

Other fun shows about witchcraft were Charmed and Secret Circle. I read the Secret Circle books when I was a kid and I enjoyed the show (it was cancelled after one season). Charmed was one of the best supernatural shows ever made.

Eureka was a town full of geniuses that always had things go wrong. It was smart, funny and had a great cast.

I can't wait for the new episodes of Warehouse 13. This is another show that blends humor, fun ideas, action, and good casting.

Sanctuary is another unique idea show, though I think it may have been cancelled (nothing says for sure).

Once Upon A Time is one of the shows I can't miss. I love the slightly fractured fairy tales.

Grimm is absolutely marvelous.

House was a good show, Hugh Laurie was brilliant.

Robert Downey, Jr. is the best Sherlock Holmes, but Jonny Lee Miller does a really great job on Elementary.

NCIS is always really good. Abby (Pauley Perrette) is one of the most fun characters, I even named one my dogs after her.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles had Summer Glau (who I adore) as a Terminator. She's not exactly your first thought when you think Terminator, but I liked it.

The 4400 could have gone longer, having an infinite number of abilities and 4400 different people's stories. It lasted four seasons.

Breakout Kings was a fun idea, criminals catching other criminals. It lasted two seasons.

The Event and FlashForward both got cancelled before they could really get anywhere and explain everything.

Carnivale answered some questions, but left others when it got cancelled after two seasons. I love Nick Stahl.

Even though Dark Angel was silly, I still liked it. I loved Jensen Ackles on this show (Love him more on Supernatural).

I love the Tremors movies, but the series was also fun.

Even though I hated the movie The Dead Zone, I liked the show.

Touch was an interesting series, but has now been cancelled.

Ringer showed potential, but was cancelled.

The Dresden Files was fun, a wizard named Harry (hehe).

No Ordinary Family was fun and cancelled before finishing.

Flight Of The Conchords was one of those shows, you're not really sure why you like it, you just do.

Lost and Heroes both started strong, then went downhill.

Jericho was another good idea show that was cancelled before fully being finished.

Roswell was teenage angst with aliens. Still fun, though.

My Boys was cute, but could only go so far.

Hot In Cleveland is really funny.

That '70s show started funny, then lost some of that humor.



Quote of the day: "This valley is just one long smorgasbord."----Tremors

A continuation of the last post.

Some have called Trick 'r Treat an anthology of interwoven stories. I prefer how Jason Pollock described it as "Pumpkin Pulp Fiction" in his review on Amazon.com. Stars Anna Paquin, Brian Cox and a evil little trick or treater named Sam.

Sydney White is a modern retelling of Snow White, set on a college campus, with an evil sorority sister instead of evil stepmother, and with dorks instead of dwarfs.

Amanda (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is not a very good chef and her family's restaurant is going to close because she can't pay the rent. Then one day she meets a strange man at a local market and things change. Suddenly the food she prepares is not only amazing but makes people feel what she felt when making it. And Tom (Sean Patrick Flanery) is under her spell in Simply Irresistible.

It's Serendipity when Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) meet and fall in love. To see if they are really meant to be together, they go their separate ways, to by chance meet up again. Years later, still thinking of each other, they decide to give fate a push.

If you're in the mood for a silly, campy B-movie with giant bugs, Infestation is for you. Stars Christopher Marquette, Brooke Nevin and Ray Wise.

There's an evil tooth fairy who can't come into the light in Darkness Falls. It's better than the description makes it sound.

If you think Cabin In The Woods is just a typical kids getting killed horror movie, think again. This horror/comedy is twist after twist of fun/weird. Joss Whedon does it again.

More hidden gems in upcoming posts.

As I forgot the quote of the day on my last post, this one has two.

"An idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you."----Inception

"Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."----Iron Man

In watching an obscene amount of movies, I have stumbled across some hidden gems.

Before he became a big name with The Lord Of The Rings, King Kong and The Hobbit; Peter Jackson made the horror/comedy The Frighteners. It centers around Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox, wonderful as always) who after a traumatic accident develops the ability to see and communicate with the dead. When he is the only one who can see a specter of death taking victims, he is called crazy and becomes the prime suspect. Jeffrey Combs is exceptionally weird as FBI agent Milton Dammers.


Melissa George gives a great performance in Triangle. It's a mess with your head, what the hell happened, type of dark thriller. Describe it too much and you could spoil the twists, so it's easier just to see it for yourself.


Tripp (Patrick Dempsey) walks into the bank for change and winds up in the middle of not one, but two bank robberies in the crime/comedy Flypaper. A trio with high-tech gadgets are after the vault and a pair of rednecks are after the ATMs. Things get worse when the bank is sealed shut and people start getting killed off. Tripp, now without his medication gets twitchy and works at solving the mystery. Ashley Judd is a teller in the bank, who Tripp has a crush on.


Steve Zahn and Jeremy Northam are two escaped convicts who arrive in Happy, Texas and are mistaken for a gay couple that handle child pageants. Also stars Ron Perlman as a marshal and William H. Macy is the sheriff who has a secret of his own.


After Dark Horrorfest has brought some surprisingly enjoyable movies. From Within starts with a teenager committing suicide, which triggers a string of more suicides, which seems to stem from a curse. Add in the religious fanatics and things get worse.


Another After Dark Horrorfest release, Tooth And Nail, is a post apocalyptic tale where a small group of survivors try to stay alive when they encounter a brutal gang of cannibals that include Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones.


It's just another kill or be killed day at the office. In a secret underground facility, all hell breaks loose between two rival squads of covert agents (all named for tarot cards) when they turn on each other after their boss is murdered. Operation: Endgame is a no holds barred, in your face, love it or hate it movie.


Ghost House Underground released the movie The Children from the UK. A family get together turns deadly, when the children become sick, then homicidal.


When stolen coins wind up in the possession of an inept barber (Steve Zahn), he finds himself pursued by crooks and a beautiful detective (Salma Hayek) in Chain Of Fools. Elijah Wood is adorable as a hitman named Mikey who hasn't actually killed anyone.


In Frequency, a rare atmospheric phenomenon allows John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel) to communicate with his father (Dennis Quaid) through a short wave radio, thirty years in the past. He uses the opportunity to warn his  father of his impending death in a warehouse fire, and manages to save his life. However there are consequences.


When David (Mark Ruffalo) sublets an apartment, he gets more than he bargained for in Just Like Heaven. The previous tenant, Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon, adorable in everything), starts haunting him. A very sweet romantic comedy.


A chain of events starts with the arrival of a mysterious case in Big Trouble. The characters involved are a former journalist, his son, an embezzling exec, his wife, her daughter, cops, feds, criminals, Russian mobsters, assassins, and a Frito loving drifter. The ensemble cast includes Stanley Tucci, Dennis Farina, Jason Lee, Tim Allen, Zooey Deschanel, and Ben Foster.




More in the next post.

I never made it through the first episode of Fringe when it originally started. Recently I decided to give it a shot again and streamed the first four seasons through Amazon. I could not stop watching. This show is one of the most intelligent, intriguing shows. Of course they would cancel it. Now I am trying to catch up on the fifth season. New episodes are being DVRed, but I missed the beginning, so I'm going to have to pay to stream them through Amazon. I plan on buying the entire series. I have adored Joshua Jackson since The Mighty Ducks, he was one of my favorites on Dawson's Creek, and in Fringe he is smart and sweet. Peter Bishop is an extremely likable character. John Nobles is amazing as his father (Walter Bishop), the crazy genius. Anna Torv is great as the fearless FBI agent Olivia Dunham. The three have wonderful chemistry and worked so well together.


Most of the shows I love I am able to watch the new episodes. In the case of Dexter and True Blood however, I don't have HBO or Showtime, so I have to rent or buy the seasons. True Blood has that wonderful mix of humor, drama, action, blood and sex. I am not a Bill fan though, I find him to be a huge douchebag. I prefer Eric, Pam cracks me up, Jessica is a ton of fun and of course I love Sookie. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Twilight books and movies, but the vampires should burn, not sparkle. In this show, they burn, which is how it should be.

Dexter is an interesting idea, (a serial killer who kills other killers), and Michael C. Hall does an excellent job portraying a nice guy next door/ twisted killer.

Supernatural was one of the best shows in the beginning, (the last few seasons, not so much). It mixes humor and darkness in an enjoyable way. I still love the boys fighting monsters, but after you've been to Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, where do you go from there? I love that they keep bringing Castiel (Misha Collins) back, but upset that there's no more Jo (Alona Tal) or Ellen (Samantha Ferris). With all the different monsters and mythology, you have an almost never-ending supply of ideas.

Joss Whedon has created some great shows, some last, some don't. All of his shows have such interesting characters, making it even harder when he kills some off. I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it was one of those shows that mixed everything together to make great television. It was funny, sad, thrilling, and always entertaining. The ensemble cast worked together perfectly. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Willow (Alyson Hannigan), and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) grew as characters over the years. The edition of  Spike (James Marsters), Faith (Eliza Dushku), Anya (Emma Caulfield), Tara (Amber Benson) and Oz (Seth Green) just made the show better. Angel was a good spin-off, but my favorite characters were Fred (Amy Acker) and Spike (in the last season). Firefly was cancelled before the first season was even finished. Nobody took to this fun sci-fi western. Luckily Joss has used the talented cast in his other shows. Nathan Fillion (Mal) showed up on Buffy, Alan Tudyk (Wash) and Summer Glau (River) were on Dollhouse. Dollhouse, another good show that was cancelled after two seasons. I love watching Eliza Dushku kick ass, as Faith or as Echo.

The Walking Dead has proved that not only can you make a cool zombie show, but that even the main characters are expendable. Most of the cast I have seen in other shows or movies, but the ones I know best are Norman Reedus (Daryl), who's been in such movies as Boondock Saints and Gossip, and Lauren Cohan (Maggie), from Supernatural and Vampire Diaries. 


Quote of the day: "This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then - explode."----Serenity

To say that I love movies would be an understatement. If I could afford to buy every movie or television show that I adore, I would have an even more obnoxious collection than I already do. I am a veritable encyclopedia of useless movie/ tv information, (that actor you recognize but can't remember their name, etc. more than likely I'll know it.) There are some movies I know verbatim, and therefore have to watch alone because nobody will join me.

I remember seeing Jurassic Park on the big screen (something I don't do very often, as it is usually not worth it.) This is still one of my absolute favorites, I can repeat every word. Dinosaurs are awesome, especially Velociraptors. Sam Neill is always a great actor, even if the movie he's in sucks. Jeff Goldblum can be good, he helps make Ian Malcolm's lines very funny. Samuel L. Jackson should have had a bigger part, he's a better actor than some of the ones who did. This is a prime example of the movie being better than the book.


Quote of the day: "Hang on, everybody - I wanna try something I saw in a cartoon once!----The A-Team