I’m watching Heroes tonight. On live TV. With commercials. How quaint.

I’m bacheloring it up this weekend as Abby and Lexi are off watching grandma compete in a triathalon (as hilarious as that sounds, could you survive a triathalon?). So I’m throwing a Tick Party. We’ll be watching episdoes of the mid-1990s animated series The Tick (not the short-lived live action version).

Since I doubt anyone will want to stick around for all three seasons, I need to pick the best episodes to screen. So here are my choices and side comments.

Continue reading Tick Party: The Best Tick Episodes Ever →

Even though the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series ended in 2003, we’re finally getting a glimpse at what happens after Dawn asks that fateful series ending question, “What are we gonna do now?” Creator Joss Whedon is releasing the comic book Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home that is effectively the eighth season of the TV show. Whedon talks with TV Guide about the series, including details like the lack of comic book breast implants for Buffy and why we won’t see much of Spike in the comic book (doh). You can also check out the Dark Horse Comics site for a sneak peek at the first five or six pages of issue #1.

Despite being a geek, I’ve never really been a comic book geek (except for a brief foray into the G.I. Joe comic books around the time when Destro broke ranks with Cobra to form his own terrorist organization). But this is probably the strongest temptation I’ve ever felt to get into comic books.

So how do you become a comic book geek?

Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 →

The 37Signals guys rave about the fashion design reality show Project Runway, and I think they might be tapping into part of why I like the show: the creative, make it work philosophy.

I watched five minutes of America’s Next Top Model last night and I found myself fighting a desperate urge to strangle Oprah-wannabe Tyra Banks. It doesn’t take much to run a phrase like “you’re still in the running to become America’s next top model” into the ground, but she does it, and then dances on the poor phrase and mashes her stiletto heal into it. But beyond Tyra, the show has little focus on the actual creativity. During the judging we’re only given brief glimpses of the photos, the actual result of the whole show. Instead we have to watch the model squirm in front of the judges while they point out the most inane of flaws (you’re not showing any neck, you look too manly, your nose looks too big from this angle). The show has minimal connection to reality–I find myself scratching my head at every picture. The show’s only saving grace is the potential for a cat fight. (which is really the reality genre’s biggest strength)

Project Runway, on the other hand, has a little more meat. The clothing is the point of the show and we get a good look at it. Plus it’s a lot easier to have an opinion on a dress and see what works and what doesn’t, as opposed to some goofy high concept fashion shoot. It also helps that Project Runway requires some creative and practical skill, not just being skinny and flirting with the camera. Now I’m not saying modeling is easy, but I just can’t muster any sympathy for the stick figure girls who rely more on their bodies than their brains. Give me some creative types working against the clock anyday.

Carry on.

We finished the final episode of season six of Gilmore Girls, an early birthday present for my wife, which means we finished a year’s worth of TV in seven days. Have I mentioned how much I love DVD?

And now it’s time to rant. If you don’t want season six of Gilmore Girls spoiled, you better stop reading here.

Continue reading Gilmore Girls Grates On Me →

My TV viewing habits have completely changed with the advent of DVD. I’ve never watched a lot of TV. In the past there were a handful of shows I’d actually make a point to watch, either going out of my way to be at home at the specified day and time, or I’d actually program the VCR (Joan of Arcadia on Friday night? Seriously, no wonder it only lasted two seasons).

But I can probably list those shows on one hand: The Tick (I used to tape it when it was on Saturday mornings), The Simpsons, Freaks and Geeks, Everwood (a shortlived addiction), Joan of Arcadia.

However, since DVDs have come out you don’t have to watch TV shows at a specified day and time, you don’t have to wait for each new episode to come out, and you don’t have to watch commercials. I love it.

Continue reading DVD Has Changed How I Watch TV →

Several times this summer I’ve caught the ABC reality TV show Brat Camp. The show places nine troubled teens in a wilderness therapy camp against their will. They have 40 days to deal with their demons and get home in time for Christmas. The kids have issues with drugs, anger, running away, violence–just about the worst situations you can imagine.

And the show makes me cry.

I’ve talked with other teens who think the show is hilarious, watching these angry, illogical teens rant and swear. And that part is entertaining, if simply because it’s shocking, but I find myself swept into the emotional rollercoaster. I get choked up watching. I think I’ve managed to hold back the tears, but it’s insane how often they well up during the show.

Continue reading Brat Camp →