Tangled Green Thoughts

[journal] I was addicted to movies as can be seen by my previous post "I'm a Film Whore."

Now I'm on the tailend of renting movies, having exhausted all the good ones with my manic renting spree. With my itchy fingers still greedy for more viewing pleasure I've branched over to television to DVD converts.

Two huge pros in the case of Television DVDs over Movie DVDs:

1. I can fit a 22 minute or a 45 minute show more readily into my schedule (ie, in between my poker sessions)
2. If I hit with a great movie, it's over after 2 hours, but if I hit with a great series I have 3-4 years worth of programming

Here are some that I've found addicting:

Nip/Tuck - It centers on the lives of two plastic surgeons, one wholesome the other whoresome (in a charming way). Within this premise the series explores a wider range of topics than just the superficiality of outward appearance (as the title of the series suggests). Much of the writing is devoted to Sean (the wholesome doctor, pictured on right) and his family dynamics, but to say that appearances and guilty pleasures isn't a large draw for this show would be a lie (Phew, thank God for Christian, pictured on left). (8/10)

Sliders - This is an old 90s science fiction series that ran for five seasons. It followed a group of four people "slide" into parallel worlds, where the time is same but the dimension is different.

Somehow the earths they slide to diverge from our earth at some point in their history --- maybe the allies lost to the axis or women have more power than men. The series was very interesting in this manner until season 3 started and a new producer took over and Hollywooded everything.

Season 1 and 2 were great. At some points however, it was getting a little tiring how every world they slid to had their doubles as the most influential, pivotal people on the planet and the episode followed a strict formula: some oppression/difference, their double is leader of oppression or resistance, work with resistance using what they know from our world, solve entire world's problem and slide out 5 seconds afterwards (Yes, our world is the best and other worlds should follow our ways and culturs, which incidently is the North American way) I'd say 1/3 the episodes from season 1 + 2 were like this, 1/3 were okay and 1/3 were great. (7/10)

Six Feet Under - This was the first TV show I rented. It is based on a small family run funeral home. The cool thing about the series is that the beginning would start with someone dying and the episode would then center around that person's death (their family, the cause of the death, the after-effects). In the first episode, the main characters, themselves, lose their father and so they, along with the throng of episode leads, share in grief. It explores how people deal with the loss of a loved one from the silent bottle-it-up types to the openly destructive types. One son is gay too and it was the first show I saw that dealt with this issue (he was in the closet to his mom) in a serious but at times totally hilarious manner. (8/10)

24 - Dark, suspenseful espionage at its best. The fact that it's done in real time was a genius device. It makes every second of the show important and draws you in because you seem to be living with these people. Each episode is one hour of real time. For example the first show starts at midnight (movie time) and ends at 1 am in the morning. The next episode takes off where the other left off at 1 am and continues to 2 am. It goes on like this for 24 hours, therefore 24 episodes and the name 24. I'm not in very far in this series but I'm totally hooked. (9/10)

Sex and the City - This show is so girlie-popular that I probably don't need to say much. Four contrasting best girlfriends (promoter, writer, lawyer, gallery organizer) who live in New York. They meet up regularly and share their stories in a no-holds-barred kind of way about everything sexual. The best part about the series is the dialogue on sex from the four different ladies with their four different frameworks. One is witty, another crude, another analytical and finally prude. (8/10)

The Sopranos - A gangsta with a heart. I tried this one out and although I thought it was good, I was ultimately let down by the hype surrounding it. The writers tried to add depth by not just focusing on the mob part of the lead's life, but also his family and outside life. Unlike Six Feet Under where the business aspect and the personal aspect of the lead's life was interesting, I found The Sopranos to only have an interesting business aspect. The Sopranos spent a great deal of time focusing on the lead's relationship with his mother (I think they felt it was important since the premise of the show had the lead narrating to a pscyhologist and psychology always has to do with your mother) which was so boring and she was so annoying that I had to fastforward through all her scenes. I know they really tried hard to say, hey this guy is not just mafia, he's also a person and they tried to show us, but it was sooooo boring. It was like they introduced us to some mafia politics and intrigue (awesome!) and then they had the character come home and play with ducks in his pool (paint is drying). More murder and mayhem(wow, awesome!) and then his mom leaves the frying pan on too long and it catches fire (fast forwarding quickly). (7/10)

The Ali G Show - BOYAKASHA! Hilarious impersonation comedy. Ali G is one of three personas acted out by a British comic. He somehow manages to secure interviews with people in the media and plays dummie gangster. His style is characterized by acting very stupid. For example interviewing a veterinarian he pretends he doesn't know the difference between veterinarian and a (war) veteran so he says things like "So wot is da reason why dey ad to send so many Vets ova to Vietnam? Was there some sort of aminal (sic.) emergency?" and he would somehow, hilariously, play out this misunderstanding for like 5 minutes at the frustration and expense of the other person who truly believe he doesn't understand (probably because of his gangsta get up). It was so funny because that guy was actually both kinds of vets so Ali G kept asking why people who took care of animals also had to go to war. He has two other personas who are equally funny. One is a German VJ and another is a guy, Borat, from Kazakhstan (who always says, "In my country," and it usually is something extremely sexist). (8/10)

Some other shows that I'm really interested in checking out: Lost, Band of Brothers, My So Called Life, Freaks and Geeks, The Amazing Race (first season), The West Wing. I should slowly be receiving them.