Weekend Rant – Catching a breath

I didn’t think that I would ever say it, but I am actually looking forward to some repeats and the chance to catch up on a few shows that have been relegated to the sidelines due to lack of time. I may have to think of trimming the Watch List down to something more manageable as I simply finding it impossible to watch every single thing and have time for other activities and work. It may be a question of survival of the fittest, funniest and most fascinating that will keep me coming back. There are only so many hours in a week, even for a Couch Potato like me.

Highlights of this past week included the Final Four performing on So you think you can dance Canada? and all my votes have gone out for home girl Jayme Rae. Not only has she been on that Hot Tamale Train all season, but she has dominated the dance floor each and every time she has performed. I don’t think there is one thing that they threw at her that she couldn’t handle, and I voted my fingers off for the 2 hours following the show. The results are too be announced tonight, and I am pretty sure it will be one of the girls taking home the Title of Canada’s favourite Dancer. The guys were good but the girls were even better. The best thing is that they will be starting the auditions for season 3, and the Top Ten Tour will be hitting Montréal again so there will be the chance to see even more dance.

Dancing with the Stars is really heating up, and the good dancers are getting better while those who are more challenged are dropping off to the sidelines. I was a tad surprised to see Natalie Coughlin eliminated while Stoner boy (Louie) and Michael were safe (it is a popularity contest after all) since she was so much better on a technical level, but she had problems connecting with her partner (a shame) and the viewers. Mya and Dmitry are the hottest thing out there and may win the competition if they can out perform Donny Osmond who is turning out some of the best performances and may be the oldest winner if this keeps up. It’s great entertainment and a highlight of every week.

Glee is still my biggest highlight of the week and damn, the show keeps getting better and better. I love how we are seeing more and more of Will’s talent, the multiple love triangles, killer mash ups and even more Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), who steals every scene that she is in with take no prisoners mentality and do not F with me attitude. She is the perfect villain for our geeky gang, who are learning about life with a few hard knocks and reality checks. The music is phenomenal, I love how song and dance is back (and popular) again.

Smallville pulled out a well written episode with Roulette, and they finally got Green Arrow out of his self destructive pattern and back into skin tight leather where he belongs. The episode was well written, had nice balance and spotlighted more of the strengths of our characters than their weaknesses. I like how things are developing so far and this version of Lois is really kicking ass. It is nice to see Chloe developing more and more into an Oracle type character, and running things from the Watchtower, and hopefully it will be time (soon) for more Justice League characters and team ups to start happening. Still, I can’t really complain about this season and hope they have the chance to go for some fun and interesting episodes. I still would like to see some Red and Blue Blur action happening again and get out of the Black avenger stuff they are doing. Superman is iconic for his Blue tights and red cape.

The Sarah Jane Adventures are back on BBC with 2 episodes each week and I am loving the return to the Doctor Who Universe. The first four have aired (loved them) and the ever enigmatic Doctor will be around next episode. Now that K-9 has returned (yippee!), the cast has been rounded out and even though the series is written for children, it is still great to have new Who stuff, even after being terribly disappointed with the last Torchwood mini series.

If anything irked me this week, it was home grown Battle of the Blades and the departure of Barb & Ron who, in my opinion, were probably the best team in the competition and I can’t understand why the Judges booted them instead of Christine & Tie. In all honesty it should have been Ken & Jodeyne that left, but for some reason they got enough votes to keep them safe. With these shocking results this week, it looks like it will be Claude & Shae-Lynn that will win. I wish that the better skaters could have stuck around but if you don’t get the votes you are done for. Too bad, they looked great and skated very well together.

Weekend Rant – Fall & other Thoughts

This Fall has been much busier than I imagined, and between an intensive new job and the quantity of shows that I am following I haven’t had much time to Rant. Not that this is a bad thing either, as a large majority of it would be pretty negative about the writing in some of the shows that launched this Fall. The winners are clearly outnumbered by the failures, but shining brilliantly above the rest of the drabble is Glee. I don’t think that there is anything else on the Watch List that makes everything else stop and is such a highlight of the week. Glee makes me so happy that I can almost forget about some of the crap that I have been watching. The new Stargate Universe series is really not impressing me and I miss having something cosmic on the schedule.Most of my time has been consumed with dance related shows like So you think you can Dance (both the American and Canuck versions) and I am really hoping to see Jayme Rae win the competition here. She has that something special that you can’t really name, and it would be fun to see one of the girls win the second year. Our American friends are getting to the point of picking their Top 20, so as things tie up here they will start picking up steam down south. I just heard that Mia Michaels is leaving the show and find that a shame, she always brought astounding and profound creations to the stage and was a great, positive influence for the dancers that she touched. I hope that she will be back (the show can use her talent) and I hope it had nothing to do with the fact that Adam Shankman was made a permanent judge. If anything, I hope to see her work elsewhere.

Things have been heating up on Dancing with the Stars and I have a couple of favourites already. I am loving Donny Osmond and Mya and hope to see both of them go far. Mya has the hottest chemistry with her partner Dmitry and you can only imagine how much fun their training must be together. They look great together and this may be the year that Dmitry steps up and takes up the alpha male spot. The guys are really stepping it up this year and you can’t say that they are not good looking. I am pretty impressed with the level and quality of dance, and thankfully, so far, they have been cutting the deadwood and letting those with potential go further. It will be interesting to see how it plays out in the next few weeks as the Stars seem to be injury prone at this stage of the competition.

The new comedies have been catching my attention and Cougar Town and Modern Family are always good for a chuckle and have been pretty witty so far. Smallville is not that bad and although it has been given a death slot I am hoping to get some decent story. Lois and Clark is way more interesting than Clark and Lana, they just need to stop dumping on Chloe every 2 minutes.

Most of my regulars are true and dependable, like Bones and Supernatural, but I am getting pretty bored with Heroes and starting to lose interest with Flash Forward. At least South Park has come back for another series of episodes and has been as scathing as ever. I still have a few series to catch up with over the next few weeks.

Weekend Rant – Weekly Highlights & Sci Fi Fridays

This season is off and running, and with the quantity of programs I am currently following I have realized that there is barely enough time in the week to keep up with all of it, let alone rant about it all. It’s a very crazy and hectic and busy time of the year.

A few things stood out this week besides my regular addictions Dancing with the Stars (no surprise Kathy Ireland got the boot, and Tom Delay needs to be next) and the auditions of So you think you can Dance that were a huge treat from New Orleans. The Canuck version of SYTYCD has cut Austin (finally, I think Cody should be the next to go) and Amy (one blonde too many). I would really like to see Jayme win, but will say that the number done by Everett & Kim was the best thing done so far this season and may push both of them farther in the competition.

Glee continues to be my biggest highlight of the week and the guest appearance of Kristin Chenoweth this week was hysterically brilliant and makes me wish that she could be a permanent cast member. I love the integration of her character, the incredible vocals and

Other things that made the grade this week: The Amazing Race is always a winner, Desperate Housewives came back with all the claws out and some great story developments. The series always seems better when Marc Cherry is writing, even if the stories are not that plausible they make for great viewing. Big Bang Theory is still one of the funniest things on the tube but I am really loving Modern Family and all the hilarity. Cougar Town still has my attention but they better make sure it is not a one trick pony as it will lose my interest.

Survivor continues to shine with our villain Russell and his nasty games. His control seems to be slipping and I am glued trying to figure out if any of the other contestants are going to wake up and see how much of a manipulator he is. Rick Mercer came back this week with a decent season premiere, but the gang at 22 Minutes was so scathing that they made the week a whole lot funnier. It was nice to finally see some well thought out political satire concerning our current minority government and their terrible use of propaganda to try to convince the general public that they are doing a good job. It’s all smoke and mirrors and all they have done is spent more public money trying to convince the public that they deserve a majority government. It’s all very distasteful and about time that some one called them on their nasty games.

Friday has turned into one big Sci Fi/ Scy Fy night and while I love the idea of having a whack of genre shows one night, it has turned into a danger zone for shows that are on the bubble and in danger of being cancelled. Dollhouse may not be around much longer as the ratings are plummeting, and the stories seem quite disjointed this year. Smallville has had some interesting moments (I loved the inside Terminator joke concerning Brian Austin Green playing Metallo) so far this year and is starting to get into hotter Lois and Clark territory… I just hope they give it a chance considering the crappy time slot they dumped the series in.

Stargate Universe premiered and I am a tad unimpressed with the pilot. To me if feels like some of the best ideas of Voyager and Battlestar Galactica  were mesh-mashed together without making it work. I almost wonder if we are to discover that there are any Cylons on board or some other nefarious plot, and sorry to say but none of the ideas really feel fresh. I will give it a few episodes to see how it develops and pray that it isn’t another fiasco like Stargate Atlantis that lost it’s focus after the first couple of seasons and crashed and burned. I wonder if the networks take DVR viewing and recording into the equation as they look at the ratings, I have the feeling a lot of people record the Friday shows and watch them over the weekend.

I am looking forward to checking out the CBC’s Battle of the Blades, that teams up figure skaters with hockey players. It might make for some interesting combinations and I hope none of the hockey players forget that they aren’t in a game and take a shot at another skater… but then again it could be hilarious viewing. It’s a very Canadian thing.