Everyday Goddess

TNT Takes Over Summer Television

You could literally watch television on one network this summer and have a ridiculous amount of excellent entertainment to see you through. And that network is TNT.

Check out this lineup:

Men of a Certain Age, premieres TOMORROW NIGHT, Wednesday June 1

Franklin & Bash, premieres TOMORROW NIGHT, Wednesday June 1

Memphis Beat, premieres Tuesday June 14

Hawthorne, premieres Tuesday June 14

Falling Skies, 2-hour premiere on Sunday June 19 (Father's Day, cute)

Leverage, premieres Sunday June 26

Rizzoli & Isles, premieres Monday July 11

The Closer, premieres Monday July 11

It's an embarrassment of riches, seriously.

Out of the above shows I've previewed Men of a Certain Age, Franklin & Bash, Memphis Beat, Falling Skies, and Leverage. And the show I'm most looking forward to is Falling Skies. Although I would like a little more emphasis on the female characters going forward (I've seen the first 3 hours), I'm really hooked by the story, and the creatures look great. Don't miss the Falling Skies web comics available for free from Dark Horse Digital. The viewer at Dark Horse is really awesome. I read them on my laptop and the way it pages along makes reading a comic book page your laptop pretty effective, all things considered.

I totally still want a Nook Color or an iPad, but I feel one degree better about not having one since I've seen how the Dark Horse online comic viewer works.

Speaking of tech, I emailed my contact at TNT to ask about online viewing of their shows this summer. Since I'm cable-free, I'm currently STILL WAITING to watch the second summer episode of In Plain Sight (USA) on Hulu, so I was very curious what TNT's model was going to be. Here's the 411:

Episodes will be available the next day to viewers who pay a cable, satellite or telco provider for access to television content, and a week later on our sites. Episodes can be found via Hulu but aren’t available on Hulu. Full episodes are available on our sites and our partner sites.

So that's somewhat of an offshoot from the HBO GO model, where you can watch their shows online if you are an HBO subscriber. Or, as I like to think of it, the why-I'm-not-watching-Game-Of-Thrones plan. If you subscribe to cable, satellite or telco, you can watch TNT episodes online next day. Cable-free television lovers, one week later. Which is SO much better than the 30-day waiting period on USAnetwork.com that I find myself unable to complain about it even though I'd rather they be online right away.

It is amusing to me how nice they've matched up their various evening line-ups when I don't watch TV like that anymore. Gotta admit that The Falling Skies/Leverage pairing *almost* makes me wish I could get TNT in on Sunday nights. The Leverage season premiere, "The Long Way Down Job," definitely left me wanting more. That show is so fun.

I have to admit, I've been devouring the TNT screeners as they come my way. I find myself looking at the back of the disk cases where TNT has a pie diagram with each show in a slice. It's just amazing how many awesome shows they're pulling off at once. It's like someone designed an entire season of shows just for me. I'm in love.

Of course, it wasn't too long ago that I was in love with a tech named Tivo. I had to unplug from its friend Cable, but I still remember the joy. So in the spirit of good tech, I share this: Tivo Turn On The Love, featuring the results of a national survey about Tivo and relationships (yes, really), and page down for "Useful Tips For Love in the Digital Age" by (my new guru) Greg Behrendt.

And finally, for your computer viewing pleasure, enjoy this great TED roundup: 15 Fascinating TED Talks on Love & Sex. If you're cable-free, perhaps you can watch them while you're waiting for your television to become available online.

I totally went trick or treating when I was in high school. Totally.

A friend of mine lent me Freaks and Geeks recently. It's so fascinating that it takes place right at the beginning of the 80s. It's like getting a peek into the world of my childhood babysitter. It feels like there was a sort-of 70s cool still clinging around that went away when the 80s really took over.

I started high school in 1985, and watching Freaks and Geeks is a strange mix of the familiar and the foreign. I was smiling when Sam goes trick-or-treating as a freshman. OMG, I thought to myself. I totally did that, too!

Only when I went to pull the picture to scan it, it turns out that it wasn't my freshman year. No, my friends, I totally went trick or treating as a sophomore in high school, circa 1986.

I was Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club, and I think my friend was just doing dark and moody alternative chick - we didn't use the word "goth" for the only one girl who dressed like that on a daily basis.

And yeah, we totally hit the woman's house where we got lectured for being too old to trick or treat.

Three other thoughts about Freaks and Geeks, from 3 disks in:

So many big names were in it, but all this Bones fan can think is, OMG, little Sweets!

Man, I hate the guidance counselor. Like, I get that he's funny, and I loved the episode where he rocked out, but the role must be triggering some high school reaction from me, because I feel just like the kids in his office during most of his scenes.

And finally, I totally spied Matt Czuchry as Teenage Guy #1 in "We've Got Spirit." I could hardly believe it, but there it is on his IMDB page as his first television gig. Awesome.

"Memphis Beat" premieres on TNT Tuesday June 22, with original music from Keb' Mo'

What is it about summer television that's so delicious? Maybe it's that if you're old enough to remember that Beverly Hills, 90210 in the summer was a HUGE new thing, all summer television takes on an air of being a special present, where once there was none. Maybe it's that summer TV has a feeling of freedom and fun more often missing during the "regular" TV season. Maybe it's that it's mostly cable shows. Who knows what it is, but man, I love summer television.

There's a new show coming on Tuesday that's going to be a particular fav: Memphis Beat. I've already seen the pilot via a screener from TNT, which airs Tuesday June 22 at 10/9c. Which may be today, depending on when you're reading this.

Memphis Beat is a new crime procedural featuring Jason Lee as Detective Dwight Hendricks, Alfre Woodard as new boss Lt. Tanya Rice, and DJ Qualls (of Hustle & Flow greatness!) as uniformed cop Davey Sutton. Now, the show hits the "Memphis" note pretty hard going in ("Uh, it was a catfish po'boy, actually, Dwight"), and it took me a little while to really feel it coalesce and hit a stride (and to shake off the My Name Is Earl residuals). But at the end of the day, I'm a sucker for the South and the Blues, and Memphis Beat serves 'em both up pretty damn sweet.

The pilot sets up A LOT of interesting characters and character interactions, including Dwight's mom and his partner, and a hint about troubles in Tanya's personal relationships, too. And I love the look of the show. I even enjoyed the mom shtick that Lt. Tanya Rice throws about like honey on fly paper. I can't wait to see her relationship with Dwight develop.

Here's the funniest thing to me, personally - A friend just gave me Keb' Mo' to check out, and then today on Facebook I found out that Keb' Mo' is the composer for Memphis Beat, contributing original music compositions and performances to the show! That's all kinds of kismet. Bluesy, guitar-laced kismet.

So Memphis Beat is in the Tivo, and I am ready to love it. But I am DEFINITELY rooting for the demise of the boob lamp.  ;)

Other shows I'm watching this summer include SUPER MOST FAVORITE AWESOMENESS In Plain Sight, Merlin, Leverage, Hot in Cleveland, and Neighbors from Hell. And looking forward to The Closer (premiering July 12), My Boys (premiering July 25), Eureka (premiering July 9), and Rizzoli & Isles (premiering July 12 - and I LOVED the pilot!). Oh, and Doctor Who of course, if my Tivo and Time Warner will ever play well together when it's on - I've missed every episode since the angels, but I'm figuring they'll repeat and I'll see them eventually.

I've got blogs. Here's what's new - Now With Linky Goodness!

Over at my directing blog, my May update is up: May came in like a lamb and went out like a lion.

Over at my review blog, I wax poetic about two of my favorite things: My Unemployment Salvation: Nintendo & Netflix.

And here's some other stuff I've been loving around these interwebs:

Over on TBS, Neighbors from Hell premieres tonight.

Anyone But Me is a kick-ass web series.

On Twitter, FEMINIST HULK SMASH.

Love this Roger Ebert column about racism: How do they get to be that way?

And FINALLY, Tosh.0 is back! Hooray! Thankfully, he is not dressed as fruit.

The exact moment I stopped hating the word "cougar."

Hil-LAR-rious:

The Numb3rs Wedding Ceremony

This may be the geekiest thing I've ever done, but I thought this was beautiful, so I saved it on my Tivo and I just finally transcribed it. Would I use it in my wedding? Yes, yes I would, although I present it here with the scripted asides and character names. The Biscuit, I mean Dr. Larry Fleinhardt, performs the ceremony:

At the request of the bride and groom, I’ll keep my remarks short and not technical. Well, as you all know, the four fundamental forces of physics: electromagnetism, strong nuclear interaction, weak nuclear interaction, and gravity.

(Colby Granger - So I wonder what the technical version sounds like?)

(Dr. Larry Fleinhardt - I heard that.)

We’ve been talking here about the forces that bind the universe. But what binds humans? Love.

Powerful in small spaces, yet with profound effect on distance. Love defies time, outliving both its source, and its object. Love is faster than light, for light requires time in order to travel through space. But love reaches its object instantaneously.

Love journeys forever, into infinity. And it’s here, binding together two lives.

Can we have the rings? Symbolic of eternity, and rendered in a beautiful element.

Amita Ramanujan, do you take Charles Edward Eppes to be your husband? (Yes, I do.) Charles Edward Eppes, do you take Amita Ramanujan to be your wife? (I do.)

I pronounce you: husband and wife.

Beautiful.

OK, it would actually be one degree geekyfunnier to 1. Use this in your wedding, and 2. Cast someone to deliver the Colby Granger line.

Netflix TV Queue: Engaged!

When I got laid off, I did a review of my finances. Saw that unemployment was not going to cover my bills. Decided that nothing on the list was going to go. And promptly upped my Netflix subscription.

Hence my supreme employment motivation, but the point here is that I am finally working the television queue concept on my Netflix. Specifically, I started a second "profile" on my account just for television and subscribed to a 2-disk-at-a-time plan so I get one disk from each queue at any given time.

An aside, even when I wasn't using the 2-queue system, I loved the whole story about Netflix announcing they were going to kill the multiple profile feature and then later announcing that they weren't going to kill the multiple profile feature due to user response. Thank goodness because I have aspired to 2-queue Netflix consumption!

Without further ado, here is my current television queue in all its multiple-seasons, multiple-disks glory:

Deep Space Nine (I'm on the last disk of season one right now)

Angels in America

Generation Kill

The Wire (I've already seen seasons 1 & 2, so I'm dying to complete my viewing!)

Deadwood

Whew! We'll see what year it is after I get through all that.

Now, not to leave my Tivo feeling abandoned, I must give a shout out to two newer shows I've been LOVING and one show that premieres tonight and OMG I CANNOT WAIT!!!

Loving: Men of a Certain Age and Community. It amuses me that I like these shows for two opposite reasons. Men of a Certain Age often feels like watching National Geographic. "Observe the middle-aged man in his natural environment..." Although I still feel I missed something in Terry's girlfriend's storyline. She got mad because he stayed on set for an opportunity instead of joining her for a surfing lesson? I'd be the one leaving her!

Meanwhile, I love Community because I so totally identify with having friends of all different ages and types. Community is so out there and SO community college at the same time. Last week on Community there was this bit about the Cookie Crisp Wizard where at the end one of the guys admits that he didn't even get the gag they were perpetrating because when he was little Cookie Crisp was a burglar. I turned to my friend I was watching the show with and said, "Wait, when you were growing up it wasn't a wizard?" I love that shit.

TONIGHT TONIGHT TONIGHT: In Plain Sight on USA. One of my absolute favorite shows, and I simply cannot wait to see it again. It will be something to look forward to on this day when I have two job interviews on the westside, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon, so I will be out all day. Dreaming about curling up on my couch with Mary and Marshall.

What have you been watching? Plowing through television DVDs or "live"?

Anxiety Sometimes Takes My Breath Away

The last few years I've suffered from occasional anxiety. It's mostly pesky, but I spoke to my doctor about it. Knowing I'd have to be dying before I'd take serious medication, he suggested St. John's Wart and vitamin B6, which I sometimes take like asperin for a headache. I've also changed my habits in terms of food, exercise, and sleep. All this has helped significantly.

More recently, I also noticed that I'd started to occasionally have trouble breathing. Again, pesky enough that I - convinced it was the onset of adult asthma due to L.A. smog - described it to my doctor. I said I felt like I was forgetting to breath, holding my breath and then having to concentrate and take deep breaths. I felt like I wasn't getting enough oxygen. 

I was completely floored when he said with confidence, "That's anxiety."

"But... but..." I was taken aback because never when this would happen was I feeling - to my mind - anxious. Anxiety, to me, is a sense of stress, a sense of slight panic in your chest.

I did have a firm knowledge of just *when* the breath thing was happening:

• In the car, driving along, thinking about stuff.
• In my office, sitting at my desk, thinking about stuff.

And somehow I knew almost immediately that he was right. Somehow this was another form of anxiety. Anxiety that I didn't even recognize as anxiety because it's happening way in the back of my mind/body or something. Totally weird.

Frankly, I was just really glad that I wasn't somehow developing asthma. It's better to have to stop and take a few deep breaths rather than feel, to my mind, actually anxious. Have at it, body. Works for me.

So this morning, I was sitting in my office on the last day of my six-month gig in the Awards Office at Sony. I started having trouble breathing, and then I started laughing, because I've got no idea if it's anxiety about my pending unemployment or if it's the completely evil cold that attacked me on Monday night. Maybe a little of both?

Either way, I'm going to be fine. Definitely looking forward to spending some time relaxing and getting organized this weekend, starting with dinner and movie at my apartment tonight, just me and my Netflix. Tonight I've got Baadasssss! (How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass), and tomorrow night I've got four episodes of Deep Space Nine (Season 1, Disk 2). Not to mention that there's new Caprica and Numb3rs tonight, hooray!

My 2010 Oscar Predictions

I really like what Sasha Stone has to say on Awards Daily about the five kinds of Oscar Predictors. I have always been the wishful thinking type. "You pick those you hope will win, or think SHOULD win instead of those you truly believe have the best chance of winning." Not only have I never won an Oscar poll, but I've had absolutely no doubt I'm simply donating my $5 to the winner when I enter.

This year is different, of course, because I've been working in an awards office since September. I've read every awards-related blog post on sixteen blogs for almost six months. I've tried not to comment or twitter too much on the films, though, because I felt it would be inappropriate.

But now that my gig is almost over, the ballots are in, and the Academy Awards are almost here, I thought it would be fun to note my predictions on my blog for the first time ever. I'm also hosting an Oscar party for the first time this year. A comfy pajama Oscar party. Since we're not hitting any red carpet, I thought why not go the other way and watch the Oscars the most comfortable way I know how?

Yes, I'm totally serving prawns in honor of *my* favorite film of the year, District 9.

So, without further ado, here are my predictions for Oscar night. I think you'll see that I've still got a little wishful thinker in me. I'm sure my guests and fellow poll players will appreciate that this weekend. I'm fairly sure I'm still donating my $5 to the winner.

Best Picture:  The Hurt Locker

Best Director:  Kathryn Bigelow

Best Actor:  Jeff Bridges

Best Actress:  Meryl Streep

Supporting Actor:  Christoph Waltz

Supporting Actress:  Mo'Nique

Original Screenplay:  Inglourious Basterds

Adapted Screenplay:  Up In The Air

Art Direction:  Avatar

Cinematography: The Hurt Locker

Editing:  District 9

Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker

Sound Editing: Avatar

Costumes: The Young Victoria

Makeup:  Star Trek

Documentary:  The Cove

Foreign Language: The White Ribbon

Score:  Up

Animated Feature:  Up

Visual Effects: Avatar

Song: The Weary Kind

Live Action Short: Kavi

Animated Short: French Roast

Documentary Short: The Last Truck

I'm kicking off my weekend with the Spirit Awards viewing party. The nice thing about the Spirit Awards is that I actually get to submit that wishful thinking ballot.

Oh, I really want to go District 9 for adapted and the bunny film for documentary short. See, I'm already leaning towards wishful thinking votes on the day... I'm way too much of a risk taker to win pools.

My Oscar Ballot For Best Picture

If I had one, it would look like this:

1. District 9
2. Precious
3. Up In The Air
4. Inglourious Basterds
5. An Education
6. A Serious Man
7. The Hurt Locker
8. Up
9. Avatar
10. The Blind Side

And yes, I've seen 'em all!