My Guilty Pleasure

Whether it's trashy reality TV or the latest teenage drama, we've all got that guilty pleasure. It's that show we love to watch but hate to admit we love it. I've had a lot of them over the years - America's Next Top Model, Gossip Girl, Miss Match to name a few. But my most recent guilty pleasure is the Vampire Diaries.

I started watching it about this time last year when it was already half way through its first season. It was during that Christmas break when everything stops airing and I was looking for something to kill the time. So I figured, hey, how bad can it be? But the truth is that after the first couple of episodes I was hooked (though I never admitted it to my roommates). What got me was how fast paced the show was. Instead of waiting around for episode after episode for Elena to figure out Stephan's a Vampire they hit it pretty quickly. But what really got me was how easily they killed off characters.

Now don't get me wrong. I hate it when shows kill off my favourite character (I'm still recovering from the loss of Wash and Tara). But they just didn't waste anytime and even though you may have liked the character, you didn't know enough about them before they died...like Vicki. We actually find out more about her after she's dead then when she was alive.

But all of this come down to - why is it wrong to admit you watch these shows? There's nothing wrong with liking mindless TV. Sometimes it's exactly what you need to recover after a long day. And you might find other people like it too. My sister mocks me for the guilty pleasure shows I watch, but then realizes how good they are once she starts watching them. And now she's hooked on the Vampire Diaries too.

In the end we all need those shows that helps us unwind after a bad day at work, school, or whatever. Something that we enjoy even though we shouldn't. Our guilty pleasure.

TV Crossovers . . . I Why Love Them

Okay, so now that it’s been about two weeks since my last/first post I figured it was time to do another one. Yeah, I know, I’m really not good at keeping up with posting, but since no one is actually reading this yet it doesn’t really matter. Besides, I’ve been pretty crazy running around like a mad woman trying to find a place to live in September. Oh, and did I mention I have a deadline for Sunday cause I’m flying off to England to visit my sister for the rest of August. Anyway, this really doesn’t have any bearing on what I plan to talk to you about today . . . TV crossovers!

In my opinion, TV crossovers are amazing when they are done right. The thing is that it only works with TV shows that are set in the same universe. Take Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel for instance. They had a number of crossovers throughout their run and they worked really well. My favourite of all time has to be when Buffy comes over to Angel and he becomes human for a day. Now that he’s human he can’t keep up with her in battle and is too vulnerable. So in the end he has to choose between being with Buffy and being a champion. That is the most heart-wrenching episode and no matter how many times I watch it I still break down at the end . . . oh the amazingness of Joss Whedon.

What got me thinking about it is last night there was a crossover between two of SyFy’s shows Eureka and Warehouse 13. They are both fun little shows that, while not great with character development and plot some of the time, are entertaining. In the latest episode of Warehouse 13 Fargo, the director of Global Dynamic in Eureka, comes over to upgrade the computer system at the warehouse and chaos ensues. The thing is that they are not shows that I’m particularly attached to, but the moment I heard that someone from Global Dynamics was coming to the Warehouse I got excited . . . for no other reason than I love crossovers! And now there’s potential for artifacts to show up in Eureka and cause more havoc for poor Sheriff Carter.

To sum up – TV crossovers are great! Even if they are between two shows that you aren’t really following they are still fun to see how characters from different shows deal with each other. But only when the shows make sense to cross over. I can't stress this enough. Sometimes they just make absolutely no sense like when Stewie showed up on Bones. Please never do that again, but bring on more Eureka/Warehouse 13 crossovers!

I Have Thoughts!

Right now I’m spending most of my time at work researching blogs for promotional purposes. That got me to thinking that I, as a PR wannabe, should probably start up my own blog. It’s amazing to see how blogs about someone’s life are being followed by thousands of people across the world who don’t even know the person. It seems blogs are the way of the future so I should get in on the action. Having decided somewhat randomly to give a shot and try out my blogging skills, I’ve spent some time wondering why I should even blog. I mean, what would I blog about and why on earth would anyone even care?

Answering the first question was pretty easy. My first thought was I’ll write about interesting things happening in my life! The problem is, I’m not sure there are enough interesting things going on (that other people would care about…and we’re back to the second question). So I spent some time thinking about what I’m good at, what I like, etc. And then it hit me . . . I watch TV . . . a LOT. Now that’s not to say that I don’t do other things too (believe me, I’ve got a lot going on), but I love watching TV to help me relax. As a result, I’ve wasted away countless hours watching the latest episodes of, well, pretty much anything . . . except reality TV.

Great! So I’ll write about my thoughts on television, and what the heck, I’ll also throw in stuff about movies and life in general. That’s what all blogs do these days right? Okay, I’ve got my topic of blogging, but now the big eternal “so what?” question. This is the phrase that I had drilled into me in English class over and over again. Why should anyone care about your thoughts on eighteenth century criminal narratives? Why does it matter today? What is the point of studying it? But I digress. The big question here is why should anyone care about my thoughts? I’m not an authority in the entertainment world. I have no education of the film industry. I just watch a lot of TV. The truth is, I don’t really know why anyone should care, but people do. They want to know strangers’ opinions on things. Heck I follow TV blogs and yet I’m sitting here wondering why anyone would follow mine! I think Amy Adams says it best in Julie and Julia – “I can write a blog. I have thoughts!”

So here we are. I’m starting up a blog. I can’t promise how regularly I’ll update it or even really what I’ll end up writing about, but who knows, maybe someday I can be a real blogger too!