R-FLEMING: I don't know about you, ladies, but my life has been hectic and then some lately. When I spend all day driving daughters and husband around, walking dogs, dashing into the grocery store/hardware store/gas station/Michaels for bags of tiny mirrors that have to be delivered to the high school (CURSE YOU SCIENCE TEACHERS AND YOUR "HANDS-ON PROJECTS"!!!) and, of course, squeezing in some time to actually, you know, make my living by writing a book-- whew! After a day like that, the only thing I want to do is fall back onto the sofa and veg out in front of the tube.
So what am I watching? Youngest and I are both into SLEEPY HOLLOW with super-dreamy Tom Mison playing an Ichabod Crane that old Washington Irving would never recognize. SLEEPY HOLLOW and our other fave, ONCE UPON A TIME, have several things in common: 1) smoldering bearded men in leather pants 2) strong female characters 3) plots that are so utterly absurd you just have to surrender your right brain and go with the flow.
Youngest tried to get me to watch REIGN, which is ostensible about Mary, Queen of Scots during the years she lived in France, but after seeing one episode, I declared a boycott. I could maybe excuse the modern prom-dress stying, or the fact the ladies of the court wear their hair like they're headed for a hippie music festival. But when the writers changed Mary's attendants names from Mary, Mary, Mary and Mary, to Kenna, Greer, Lola and Aylee (Aylee?!?!) that was a bridge too far.
Ross and I like to watch AGENTS OF SHIELD, which has plots, superheros, backstabbing, Clark Gregg (love him!) and conveniently wraps up by our bedtime on Sunday (9pm.) My very favorite show, ELEMENTARY, has just started up its third season! I remain impressed with the writers of ELEMENTARY, because setting up and solving a decent mystery in 45 minutes of screen time is close to impossible - and they consistently do it. I only figure out the murderer in about half the episodes, unlike my old fave CASTLE, where I could usually spot the killer by the second commercial break.
As you can tell, I look for sheer escapism when I watch TV. No doctor dramas, no heartfelt families struggling with blah, blah, blah. And, hopefully, nothing that gets cancelled in half a season.How about you, Reds? What are you watching?
LUCY BURDETTE: I have a one-track mind right now, and it's on NASHVILLE. I know it's a soap opera (geez will every single character have slept with every other character by the time the run is over?), but I love it anyway. Yes, I'd like to shake them all and tell them to talk to each other, but I wouldn't miss an episode. Love the music too!
This is off the TV topic, but when we're in Key West, we can walk to the Tropic Cinema. So we've seen two movies recently--GONE GIRL and THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU. Both recommended, especially the latter if you want something funny and poignant, with an upbeat ending. The ending to Gone Girl was true to the book--brutal...
RHYS BOWEN: Of course for the last few weeks I've watched Giants, Giants and more Giants. In fact I've developed arthritis in the hips for not moving for three hours at a time. But my current favorites are the new Sherlock Holmes, Call the Midwife and The Amazing Race. But I have to confess that the nerdy side of me comes out watching TV and I'm often to be found staring at Nova and the origins of the universe.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I was mesmerized by OUTLANDER, even on the episode when I said to Jonathan--this is kind of repetitious, isn't it? But I didn't care. It was gorgeous. And I want all those knit scarves. MADAM SECRETARY and THE GOOD WIFE, both wonderful. Cannot wait for more GAME OF THRONES. Sherlock, of course, and Amazing
Race. You know my guilty pleasure is Project Runway, still. Being on the road so much is making me miss everything, but Jonathan is dvr'ing like mad. He happily watched baseball, knowing we'll see our favorite shows together when I get home. HOMELAND is waiting! (I have never seen Nashville, Lucy! Dare I begin...?)
HALLIE EPHRON: I confess, I do veg out in front of the TV at night. Two shows I try not to miss: THE GOOD WIFE and SCANDAL. The former is seriously good, amazing writing and acting; the second is outrageous and just ridiculously addictive. I'm addicted to ANTIQUES ROADSHOW and SHERLOCK (will there be more episodes?) Am I the only one who watched the PBS show about penguins? Mesmerizing.JULIA: How about you, dear readers? What's the must-see TV at your house?
Must-see guilty pleasures around here include NCIS, CASTLE, and BONES . . . ELEMENTARY, SCORPION, and MADAM SECRETARY . . . .
ReplyDeleteI've tried to watch SCANDAL but in a paraphrase of the immortal Miz Hepzibah of Pogo, it is to barf. Ditto THE GOOD WIFE-- so preposterous. (Courts and law firms are not run like that. They'd all be disbarred, even in Cook County. But Chris Noth is eye candy, and Kalinda is a truly original character.)
ReplyDeleteELEMENTARY creeps me out. I watch CASTLE out of habit, ditto GREY'S. I did like THE PARADISE last year but it seems to have gone downhill this season.
I watched VERA tonight, and it was interesting (it helps to have the closed captioning on so you can understand their accents). MADAME SECRETARY is like SCANDAL-- totally divorced from reality, and Tea Leone is so wooden. And THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA are anything but mysterious.
Mostly I'm loving GRIMM and, oddly, FOREVER (a cross between CASTLE and THE IMMORTAL).
I watch mainly D.C. news on C-Span... but the scene in that lovely city is SO dismal now I have been turning to an all-day channel LMN - ( on Time Warner it is Ch. 80 ) They run 2 hour movies on mostly mystery or thriller topics - Some are SUPERB! Some not so hot.. But great daytime escape and munchies screen! Thelma in Manhattan
ReplyDeleteWho has time to watch TV with the JRW's all writing absorbing new books, and sharing the work of other writers with excellent series? I have a hard enough time keeping up with my evening reading, without watching TV series.
ReplyDeleteThe only shows I ever see are Castle, if I remember that Dancing With the Stars is on, and once in a great while Nashville. But not consistently enough that I have any clue what's going on. And yes, there's an awful lot of social incest in that Tennessee town!
However, having been a longtime fan of Outlander, and having reread every book each time a new one comes out, I watched six of the eight episodes with a friend, when I visited her in Chicago. It's fabulous, and worth the time to figure out who is whom. It's been a long time since I've had a crush on a movie/TV person (Tony Curtis was the last one), but I'm swooning over Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser. Hubba, hubba.
Karen, I've got Outlander on my "must read" list--she's gotta be doing something amazing to have as many rabid fans as she does.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for reading our books instead of watching soap operas LOL
Must-sees are The Walking Dead (I hate zombies but it's really about how people and civilization survives) and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. After that, some The Voice. I used to really like Sleepy Hollow but they got a little too demonic and The Blacklist (James Spader is delicious) but coming on at 9 on a Monday is tough!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Outlander and look forward to Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey to start up. I saw the first episode on Showtime of a show called The Affair that kind of intrigued me -- the first half was him telling the story and the 2nd was hers and they were of course similar but different and they're telling this to an officer so some crime has been committed.
Warning: Blantant Self-Promotion Head!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am trying to launch a weekly Meme from my blog where people can talk about what they watched this last week on their blog and link up to mine. It's not taking off, but if any one wants to participate, here's the link to this one. I post a new one every Saturday: http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2014/11/november-1sts-weekly-tv-thoughts.html
Oh, and Julia, where are you that Agents of SHIELD even airs on Sunday? ;)
My favorites? My top show right now is ONCE UPON A TIME. Wonderfully addictive and just so much fun. I also really enjoy CASTLE. (And of course you figure out the killer by the second commercial break because that's they are only in one scene and it's by that point.) I actually recap both of these shows.
In the list ofsthows that haven't been mentioned that I watch, I love ARROW and am already more than hooked to the new series THE FLASH.
And I can't leave out BIG BANG THEORY. Cracks me up every time - even the reruns.
It seems my USA Network shows are ending, and the new ones aren't nearly as interesting to me. Having said that, I'm looking forward to the final season of WHITE COLLAR. Anxious to see how that one wraps up, and I loved it.
Mr. Right is a singer-songwriter, among other things, so we are glued to the TV during THE VOICE. No HBO, so we'll have to wait for OLIVE KITTEREDGE on Netflix, but I am looking forward to DEATH AT PEMBERLEY on PBS Sunday.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of Agents of SHIELD like you, Julia, because it's a sort of modern-day Man From UNCLE and because my wife's cousin is a co-exec producer on the show! (We travel in famous circles.) Am starting to like FOREVER, but it has logic problems you could drive a truck through.
ReplyDeleteHallie, I was mesmerized by the Penguins, too. Watching the fathers turn the babies over to their mothers… and watching the mothers race to get there in time, so they could feed the babies… let's just say I cried. Then I made anyone who dared to sit near the TV watch it with me, again. And I won't let anyone delete them from the DVR!
ReplyDeleteThe Goodwife is now my favorite series, but I admit to lusting after Sherlock.
Must see TV at my house is Scandal, The Good Wife, Call the Midwife (we've accidentally referred to it at times as "Call the Good Wife), How to Get Away With Murder, Mike and Molly and The Big Bang Theory.
ReplyDeleteLove shows, and books, with strong take-charge female characters, which most of the above have.