The past few weeks have left me wanting to hibernate and just curl up with my usual company of books, tv shows and movies, foregoing social interaction. While this says nothing of my friends, it says something about me and my love for solitary confinement. A lack of well-written prose aside, I plan to keep you all updated on the going-ons of my life and since, as mentioned above, I plan to hole up with fiction, let me just enumerate what's going to occupy my time these days (with the exception of work, of course.)
Television shows: (Catch-up, re-watch, begin...)
Despite its candy colors and sweet romance, this inventive dramedy never veers into saccharine territory. Lee Pace (MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY) stars as Ned, a piemaker with a very special gift: he can bring dead things--from his dog Digby to rotting fruit to people--back to life with a simple touch. But the second he touches them again, they return to their previous state. If he doesn't, something else meets a dire fate. He uses his ability to solve murders and collect the reward with his business partner, a private detective named Emerson Cod (Chi McBride, BOSTON PUBLIC). But when he begins to look into the death of his childhood friend and lost love Charlotte "Chuck" Charles (Anna Friel), Ned can't allow her to remain among the dearly departed. Since Ned and Chuck can never touch, PUSHING DAISIES presents a fascinating, romantic courtship, but it's perfectly countered by the sour humor of Emerson and the jealousy of witty waitress Olive Snook (Kristin Chenowith). Like Tim Burton meets AMELIE, this series arrives from Bryan Fuller, the creator of cult favorite series DEAD LIKE ME and WONDERFALLS. This release includes all nine episodes of the fantasy show's first season. (Plot from
Rotten Tomatoes.)
Ever since FRIENDS went off the air, it seems like every new TV sitcom about friendship that ever came out was called as "the next FRIENDS". None came close to being one.
Seven years since, and I've once again come across a new show that's being billed as "the next FRIENDS". It never gets old, I guess.
Happy Endings is about an ex-couple and four of their friends. The premise is about dealing with being friends with your ex and the series stars Elisha Cuthbert (who everyone loved to hate on 24). The show is created by David Caspe. I checked the guy's credentials on IMDb and this is his very first TV series.
I'm a bit excited for this one, if only because most critics say it does fare well and may in fact be the FRIENDS of this decade.
I also like the fact that the girls on the cast are two of the better young female comedians I've seen in a while -- Eliza Coupe, who was on Scrubs and Casey Wilson, who appeared on Saturday Night Live. (Review from
HERE.)
From Reveille and NBC Universal Television Studio comes a documentary-style look into the humorous and sometimes poignant foolishness that plagues the world of 9-to-5 in the half-hour comedy "The Office," based on the award-winning BBC hit. A fly-on-the-wall docu-reality parody about modern American office life, "The Office" delves into the lives of the workers at Dunder Mifflin paper supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Regional manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell, "The Daily Show," "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," "Bruce Almighty") is a single, middle-aged man who is the boastful tour guide for the documentary. With unshaken enthusiasm, Michael believes he is the office funnyman, a fountain of business wisdom and his employees' cool friend. He has no clue that his employees tolerate his inappropriate behavior only because he signs their paychecks. Painstakingly trying to be liked and look cool, Michael comes off alternately absurd and pathetic. His prize possession is his "World's Greatest Boss" mug -- which he had to buy for himself. Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer, "Miss Match") is the reasonable and friendly office receptionist who bears the brunt of Michael's routines. The bright spots in Pam's day are her conversations with Jim Halpert (John Krasinski, "Kinsey"), a likable sales rep with a good sense of humor who should have found a better job years ago, but is too comfortable with his office mates and routine to leave. Jim shares his working space with Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson, "Six Feet Under"), the arrogant assistant to the regional manager. Dwight is intensely irritating to normal people and Jim spends a lot of time finding new, interesting ways to drive Dwight crazy. Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak, "Punk'd") is a young, smart, self-possessed temp, who quickly figures out the real office politics despite Michael's attempts to instill the official point-of-view. "The Office" is executive-produced by Ben Silverman, Greg Daniels, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Howard Klein. (Review from
Rotten Tomatoes.)
Modern Family is an American family comedy series that airs on ABC. It is created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. The mockumentary follows the families of Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill), his daughter Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen), and his son Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), who all live in Los Angeles. Claire is a homemaker mom married to Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell). They have three children: Haley (Sarah Hyland), Alex (Ariel Winter) and Luke (Nolan Gould). Jay is married to a much younger Colombian woman, Gloria (Sofía Vergara), and is helping her raise her pre-teen son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez II). Mitchell and his partner Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet) have adopted a Vietnamese baby, Lily. (Blurb from
Wikipedia.)
Books:
Being a Greek god is not all it once was. Yes, the twelve gods of Olympus are alive and well in the twenty-first century, but they are crammed together in a London townhouse-and none too happy about it. And they've had to get day jobs: Artemis as a dog-walker, Apollo as a TV psychic, Aphrodite as a phone sex operator, Dionysus as a DJ.
Even more disturbingly, their powers are waning, and even turning mortals into trees—a favorite pastime of Apollo's—is sapping their vital reserves of strength.
Soon, what begins as a minor squabble between Aphrodite and Apollo escalates into an epic battle of wills. Two perplexed humans, Alice and Neil, who are caught in the crossfire, must fear not only for their own lives, but for the survival of humankind. Nothing less than a true act of heroism is needed-but can these two decidedly ordinary people replicate the feats of the mythical heroes and save the world?
"With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. But Sookie suspects otherwise and she and Sam work together to uncover the culprit - and the twisted motive for the attack. But her attention is divided. Though she can't 'read' vampires, Sookie knows her lover Eric Northman and his 'child' Pam well - and she realises that they are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, she is drawn into the plot -which is much more complicated than she knows. Caught up in the politics of the vampire world, Sookie will learn that she is as much of a pawn as any ordinary human - and that there is a new Queen on the board . . . "
