Monday, March 12, 2007

TV Roundup

Rob and Amber, you have been eliminated. Oh, happy day! They can both be so smug and self-satisfied, and I did not want to watch a whole season of folks referring to them or speculating about what they might be doing. It was especially sweet because they have no one to blame but themselves. Or rather, Rob, who assumed he knew where they should be going instead of following directions. However, I could have done without the nasty letters. I mean, I may have wished many times, out loud, that I never want to see Rob and Amber again, but even so, I found those letters unnecessarily mean-spirited.

I'm getting weary of Mirna's nearly constant hysterics.

Still loving the ever calm Chas, and Ian doesn't seem nearly so bully-bossy this time around, which is nice. The Guidos I enjoy, although I also worry about them.

Survivor: I am so glad they're mixing up the tribes soon, I can't tell you. It has not been entertaining watching the rich get richer, and the weak get weaker, although as an analogy of society in general? Yep. Rocky is working my last nerve -- but then, I'm a girl, so I guess he would expect me to be, you know, emotional and stuff. I'm enjoying Earl, and Yau Man. Alex showed some smarts. Lisi and Stacy -- I don't get the hostility. Okay, I might not want to live with Dreamz either, but the blatant ignoring is just so junior high, and what did Cassandra do to them, other than help win challenges (unlike, say, Lisi)? Man, that is ugly. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Also, do they not remember they are going to be on national television? And if they don't make any effort to understand what Alex was warning them about, as in, we could have a revolution on our hands if we ignore the downtrodden in our midst? Buh-bye and good riddance.

Prison Break -- Oh, Lance! Evil, then joining with the forces for good, then evil...you're breaking my heart!

Speaking of heart breaking, Heroes! Claire's dad! And now their house is all blowed up! I'm not sure if Radioactive Man is still alive, though. I think...yes. Isaac is lovely to look at, except with the spooky vision eyes. Freaks me out, that.

24 -- I actually dozed off -- dozed off! -- during last week's episode. That just ain't right. I continue to be amazed that Jack, for whom this is still the day he arrived back in the US after two years in a Chinese prison (and we're not talking Club Fed), hasn't dropped from sheer exhaustion. Also, still waiting for Aaron, people!!! I caught part of Season Three in reruns the other day, and sigh... I so miss Tony and Michelle.

Battlestar Galactica. Okay, Starbuck has to come back. Just. Has. To. I'm not so much enjoying the yammer yammer of politics, I must confess. The sense of urgency, of heart-pounding drama, seems to have wandered off with the Cylons.

Last night, we happened upon the sort of series the BBC does from time to time. Last time, it was about modern children sent off to experience 1950's boarding school. They were getting great marks in "real life," but under the old system? Most failed. They had to forego modern toiletries, including deodorant, and they had gym every day. They also had to eat 1950's meals. One girl lost about ten pounds and was totally thrilled. The new one is called "Evacution," and is based on the evacuation of children during WWII. They've sent 12 city kids to live in the country, for a mere two weeks. As one (crying) child pointed out, they know when they'll be going home and that their families are safe, but still, she's homesick. They're getting some discipline from the farmer and especially his wife, and it was interesting to see the girl who clearly had "attitude" at home being proud of doing such a good job of washing the dishes (punishment for not eating all her "bubble and squeak") that she got to go on the farm tour after all. Indeed, the food seems to be one of the things the kids have the most difficulty with. Do kids in Britain truly eat nothing but fast food? That's the implication, which I find a little tough to swallow (HA!).

I seem to recall reading somewhere (that historical writer's memory for small details but not where she found them again!), that they later realized that in fact, the kids who stayed in London with their families, Blitz notwithstanding, were better adjusted than the kids who'd been sent away. I can imagine being with one's parents, no matter what else was going on, would be less stressful than being physically safer, but not knowing if they were all right.

And lastly, America's Next Top Model. Will that one girl who thinks she rules the cat walk please put on a few pounds? I don't care if she's the best model in the world; she looks unhealthily thin.

I should also note that I worked Friday night, from 8 to 10, revising Chapter One again, just in case you think I spend every evening at prime time parked in front of the TV. :-)

5 comments:

Leah Braemel said...

I don't watch any of those shows! In fact I watch very little tv yet through your blogs I feel I could follow them if I wanted to. Well, except for Lost - I've tried to watch that and gave it up.

But the BBC one sounds interesting. My father was evacuated during the war ... he was sent to a family where several members turned out to have tuberculosis, so his mother came and took him back after a few months.

My mother stayed with her mother in Gravesend - her memories are more like those of the children in the start of Narnia and Hope and Glory - running for bomb shelters during the night, collecting shrapnel the next morning, cheering when the school got bombed, cheering for the British fighter pilot who fought a German pilot in a dogfight over their neighbourhood, then realizing years later that she'd seen a man killed and never blinked at the thought. Between the two, my mother is more balanced than my father, but I don't think it had anything to do with the evacuation.

Michelle Rowen said...

I loved Rob and Amber and may not watch TAR without them on it. Sure they were cocky. They had a right to be! ;-)

Margaret Moore said...

Cool about your folks, Leah. I loved Hope and Glory! Great film, and oh, that country place!

Michelle, you don't enjoy the Chas??? So calm, so zen, so delightful! If you were saying you couldn't stand to listen to Mirna's screeching and screaming at Charla anymore, that I could understand. :-)

Amy Ruttan said...

So incredibly ecstatic that Rob and Amber were eliminated. Happy Dance time!

Loving the Chas, and Terri and Ian.

Michelle Styles said...

To answer your question about British children and fast food. It depends. Mine don't BUT there has been a high profile campaign to clean up school dinners by Jamie Oliver aka the Naked Chef. At the school where I am a governor, they had an essay on year on the Key Stage 2 exams -- describe your favourite meal -- a significant number of children wrote about pot noodles...

Have you had Life on Mars over there yet? If not, watch out for it. Philip Glenister is brilliant as Gene Hunt, the detective from 1973. It is a time warp thing. A police inspector (John Sims) is run down by a car and ends up back in 1973. Is he in a coma, mad or back in time?