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Most of my posts since mid-January have been brief birthday wishes. Obviously, I am pressed for time and brain cells.
Today, dear friends, I have put aside some time for your amusement (I hope). I have continued through SG-1 and must post some s6 reactions just as soon as I remember what those episodes were and how I reacted, but that will be a whole post in itself.
I have tried a few new shows, and I have scattershot comments. I'll put spoilers for each behind cuts. Please don't spoil me either! Thanks!
Leverage
We've only seen three episodes of Leverage. Mostly, I like it--which surprises me, because I am generally turned off by revenge, and Leverage is the ultimate revenge fantasy. Some of my friends seem really to enjoy it, and I couldn't resist![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aurora_novarum's Leverage/SG-1 crossover "Wargames Didn't Play Out Like This" even though I'd never seen Leverage. We gave it a try when it came up on Netflix in "View Instantly!"
So tell me, friends who enjoy it: is it really crackfic every week? Because all three episodes so far have been pretty crack-ridden! I don't just have to suspend disbelief; I have to lock it in a box and shoot it into orbit!
I do enjoy the characters, even as I think, "This could never possibly work." I like Hardison: he just struck me from the start as the one of these people I could actually enjoy spending time with. Parker is great fun to watch. Eliot gives me trouble--he's a killer, and I like my heroes not to kill the bad guys, even if they deserve it. I like that Sophie and Parker get scenes together and they never seem to be talking about guys! My gosh! Male creators and writers can write women like this?
The show is clever, even if it's completely farbot. I don't feel compelled to watch it, though; I don't say at the end, "Let's watch another!" as I do with the next show.
No spoilers here; I haven't seen enough!
The John Casey Show (aka Chuck)
Chuck was another show I watched because friends enjoyed it so much. Brilliant Husband watched some and gave up. I thought he'd watched several episodes. Only when I finally decided I had to try it did I find that he got no further than the crotch scene with Chuck and Morgan in the premiere; he saw that and thought, "I don't need to see any more of this!" He got past it on his second try (and I on my first).
I really like Chuck. He's smart, he's cute, he's sweet. He deserves a much better life than he gets. I kind of like Sarah, although I have some misgivings (under the cut). But why do I keep watching?
Adam Baldwin plays John Casey. Adam Baldwin: Col. Dave Dixon on SG-1, Jayne on Firefly, the guy you've seen lots of places but who never plays the lead. He may not be the lead, but he owns this show.
We're well into the second season now, and I'm still loving it! I do get to the end of an episode and say, "I want another!" (but we never do, because it's always bedtime; we do, however, sometimes cheat and watch the opening scenes of the next episode, because there aren't any previews on the disks). I love Ellie and Awesome. I even kind of like Morgan. (Jeff I could do without, seriously.)
SPOILERS THROUGH 'Chuck Versus Santa Claus'
I squeed over Chuck and Sarah's cuteness initially, but it wears a little thin. Sarah obviously has problems both with intimacy and with keeping real life and cover separated. I like her, but I get very frustrated. Chuck frustrates me a little less, because he never meant to become an agent, so I understand his mistakes a little better. From "Chuck Versus Santa Claus," I'm both anguished for poor Chuck and amazed that he could forget that Sarah is a killer! He knows that she has committed pre-emptive killings. He doesn't know why she killed what's-his-name in the Christmas tree lot, but he should be a little less surprised. He should also stop trusting people like Jill and Ned. Face, it, Chuck: nearly everyone you know is a spy of some sort.
My love for Ellie and Awesome only grows with time. Apparently Devon was supposed to be irritatingly perfect, but, like his creators (as they revealed in a DVD interview), I couldn't help but like him. I'm glad they didn't make him a Russian spy after all! He's really dense about some things, but he loves Ellie terribly, and he has a good heart. (I loved Bruce Boxleitner as his dad!)
Still, it's The John Casey Show for us! He gets the best lines, even when they're just grunts! He pulls off unbelievable lines to Sarah about her feelings for Chuck: "Keep it in your pants, Walker"; "Just because you can't keep your chocolate out of his peanut butter...". She seems torn between anger, disgust, and "You can't have just said that!"
His lines with Chuck are winners too: after twisting Chuck's ear: "What was that for?" "Kissy sounds! You're a man! Have some self-respect!" "I don't want to know about your feelings. I don't even want to know about my feelings."
Chuck's best lines are with or about Casey: "Casey doesn't have a calm center. Casey has an angry center." "I feel we really made progress here" (used more than once!).
The character is so over-the-top that he shouldn't work, but Adam Baldwin makes him work. The best of the Baldwin brothers! Oh, wait--he's not related. Maybe that's why. (Hey, Alec can be funny, but I know whom I'd rather watch!)
Oh, and I think I've won overredbyrd_sgfic to The John Casey Show, too. Just passing on what other friends did to for me!
I Spy
I was stunned by Robert Culp's death. I loved Greatest American Hero back when it ran, but I I hadn't looked for it again until he died. I couldn't believe he'd grown older! He was still Bill Maxwell to me, though that was a quarter century ago. Now I do want to see it again, but our TiVo couldn't find it, so we recorded an episode of I Spy instead.
I had never seen I Spy. I don't know why. I kind of always knew it existed, but when we turned on the one episode we got fromRerun Retro TV, I discovered I didn't even have the premise quite right! I knew it was about a tennis pro and his trainer posing as spies, but I thought Bill Cosby was the lead and played the tennis player, and Robert Culp was the sidekick. Okay, that was backwards.
When we watched the opening credits for the episode "It's All Done with Mirrors," Bill Cosby's name is there, but all the scenes showed Robert Culp! I did figure out Cosby wasn't the lead. The episode was surely quite atypical (details after the cut), but I do have remarks that shouldn't be spoilers.
First: those men go around with no shirts on an awful lot! I think at least half the episode must have had one of them shirtless! (I could also not help but notice they were never both shirtless at the same time, but then again, the episode was atypical.)
Related to that: I found myself repeatedly thinking, "Wow, I never knew Bill Cosby looked--" before my brain started screaming, "NOOOO; that's Cliff Huxtable you're talking about!" My first exposure to Cosby was Fat Albert. As I recall, Cosby showed up himself in non-cartoon scenes to dispense fatherly advice every episode. Cosby has always been a father figure to me: Fat Albert dates to 1972, folks, so it was around before I can even remember. He looks good in a three-piece suit, too--NOOOO! Brain says NOOOO!
It's slightly less disturbing to see Robert Culp looking really good, because a) I always knew he'd been a leading man (even if I hadn't seen it) and b) he never came off as a father figure to me. Slightly loony uncle, absolutely, but he was my favorite on GAH (more below). My reaction to him outside shirtless was a little more, "Put on some sunscreen, man! You'll burn!"
I found parts very funny, although some unintentionally so.
This episode featured Kelly Robinson (Robert Culp--it takes work to get his name right after years thinking Cosby was the lead) being kidnapped, brainwashed, and turned loose to assassinate Alexander Scott (if I repeat their full names, I might keep them straight). Naturally, that meant he spent almost the whole episode acting out of character (I'm guessing here, but I bet I'm right), the two men spent much of the episode apart, and there was probably less humor than usual. Clearly, I must watch more episodes.
I have to say, the funniest bit came when the "nurse" who helped brainwash Kelly showed up and flashed a mirror in his face while Kelly was holding a crowbar. She's flashing this shiny round thing at him while he lowers the crowbar to his crotch and keeps it there, pointed slightly up and wiggling, looking anguished. The camera focused on the crowbar rather a lot. We were laughing fit to die. I do have to think the director and actors have got to have realized how that looked. Right?
Conclusion: must watch more episodes to see if other episodes are even funnier (these guys are both hilarious!)and to see if they usually go around shirtless. (I think my LJ friends are corrupting me; I never used to say things like that before I got on LJ myself. Thanks, gang!)
Musings: Chuck as Greatest American Hero for the aughts?
Think about it: in the eighties, we had a show with a fairly normal but really, really sweet guy in a frustrating job who suddenly gained unexpected powers. He had a devoted girlfriend and a crusty FBI handler (who really cares for him). No-longer normal guy keeps his day job, tries to keep his new job secret. I love crusty handler best.
For the aughts, we have a more powerful woman and a far more aggressive agent, but we still have a really, really sweet guy in a frustrating job who suddenly gained unexpected powers. He has a devoted CIA handler pretending to be his girlfriend who really has feelings for him, and a really hard-core NSA handler (who denies really caring for him but I don't entirely believe him). No-longer normal guy keeps his day job, tries to keep his new job secret. I love slightly psycho handler best.
What do you think?
Today, dear friends, I have put aside some time for your amusement (I hope). I have continued through SG-1 and must post some s6 reactions just as soon as I remember what those episodes were and how I reacted, but that will be a whole post in itself.
I have tried a few new shows, and I have scattershot comments. I'll put spoilers for each behind cuts. Please don't spoil me either! Thanks!
Leverage
We've only seen three episodes of Leverage. Mostly, I like it--which surprises me, because I am generally turned off by revenge, and Leverage is the ultimate revenge fantasy. Some of my friends seem really to enjoy it, and I couldn't resist
aurora_novarum's Leverage/SG-1 crossover "Wargames Didn't Play Out Like This" even though I'd never seen Leverage. We gave it a try when it came up on Netflix in "View Instantly!" So tell me, friends who enjoy it: is it really crackfic every week? Because all three episodes so far have been pretty crack-ridden! I don't just have to suspend disbelief; I have to lock it in a box and shoot it into orbit!
I do enjoy the characters, even as I think, "This could never possibly work." I like Hardison: he just struck me from the start as the one of these people I could actually enjoy spending time with. Parker is great fun to watch. Eliot gives me trouble--he's a killer, and I like my heroes not to kill the bad guys, even if they deserve it. I like that Sophie and Parker get scenes together and they never seem to be talking about guys! My gosh! Male creators and writers can write women like this?
The show is clever, even if it's completely farbot. I don't feel compelled to watch it, though; I don't say at the end, "Let's watch another!" as I do with the next show.
No spoilers here; I haven't seen enough!
The John Casey Show (aka Chuck)
Chuck was another show I watched because friends enjoyed it so much. Brilliant Husband watched some and gave up. I thought he'd watched several episodes. Only when I finally decided I had to try it did I find that he got no further than the crotch scene with Chuck and Morgan in the premiere; he saw that and thought, "I don't need to see any more of this!" He got past it on his second try (and I on my first).
I really like Chuck. He's smart, he's cute, he's sweet. He deserves a much better life than he gets. I kind of like Sarah, although I have some misgivings (under the cut). But why do I keep watching?
Adam Baldwin plays John Casey. Adam Baldwin: Col. Dave Dixon on SG-1, Jayne on Firefly, the guy you've seen lots of places but who never plays the lead. He may not be the lead, but he owns this show.
We're well into the second season now, and I'm still loving it! I do get to the end of an episode and say, "I want another!" (but we never do, because it's always bedtime; we do, however, sometimes cheat and watch the opening scenes of the next episode, because there aren't any previews on the disks). I love Ellie and Awesome. I even kind of like Morgan. (Jeff I could do without, seriously.)
SPOILERS THROUGH 'Chuck Versus Santa Claus'
I squeed over Chuck and Sarah's cuteness initially, but it wears a little thin. Sarah obviously has problems both with intimacy and with keeping real life and cover separated. I like her, but I get very frustrated. Chuck frustrates me a little less, because he never meant to become an agent, so I understand his mistakes a little better. From "Chuck Versus Santa Claus," I'm both anguished for poor Chuck and amazed that he could forget that Sarah is a killer! He knows that she has committed pre-emptive killings. He doesn't know why she killed what's-his-name in the Christmas tree lot, but he should be a little less surprised. He should also stop trusting people like Jill and Ned. Face, it, Chuck: nearly everyone you know is a spy of some sort.
My love for Ellie and Awesome only grows with time. Apparently Devon was supposed to be irritatingly perfect, but, like his creators (as they revealed in a DVD interview), I couldn't help but like him. I'm glad they didn't make him a Russian spy after all! He's really dense about some things, but he loves Ellie terribly, and he has a good heart. (I loved Bruce Boxleitner as his dad!)
Still, it's The John Casey Show for us! He gets the best lines, even when they're just grunts! He pulls off unbelievable lines to Sarah about her feelings for Chuck: "Keep it in your pants, Walker"; "Just because you can't keep your chocolate out of his peanut butter...". She seems torn between anger, disgust, and "You can't have just said that!"
His lines with Chuck are winners too: after twisting Chuck's ear: "What was that for?" "Kissy sounds! You're a man! Have some self-respect!" "I don't want to know about your feelings. I don't even want to know about my feelings."
Chuck's best lines are with or about Casey: "Casey doesn't have a calm center. Casey has an angry center." "I feel we really made progress here" (used more than once!).
The character is so over-the-top that he shouldn't work, but Adam Baldwin makes him work. The best of the Baldwin brothers! Oh, wait--he's not related. Maybe that's why. (Hey, Alec can be funny, but I know whom I'd rather watch!)
Oh, and I think I've won over
redbyrd_sgfic to The John Casey Show, too. Just passing on what other friends did I Spy
I was stunned by Robert Culp's death. I loved Greatest American Hero back when it ran, but I I hadn't looked for it again until he died. I couldn't believe he'd grown older! He was still Bill Maxwell to me, though that was a quarter century ago. Now I do want to see it again, but our TiVo couldn't find it, so we recorded an episode of I Spy instead.
I had never seen I Spy. I don't know why. I kind of always knew it existed, but when we turned on the one episode we got from
When we watched the opening credits for the episode "It's All Done with Mirrors," Bill Cosby's name is there, but all the scenes showed Robert Culp! I did figure out Cosby wasn't the lead. The episode was surely quite atypical (details after the cut), but I do have remarks that shouldn't be spoilers.
First: those men go around with no shirts on an awful lot! I think at least half the episode must have had one of them shirtless! (I could also not help but notice they were never both shirtless at the same time, but then again, the episode was atypical.)
Related to that: I found myself repeatedly thinking, "Wow, I never knew Bill Cosby looked--" before my brain started screaming, "NOOOO; that's Cliff Huxtable you're talking about!" My first exposure to Cosby was Fat Albert. As I recall, Cosby showed up himself in non-cartoon scenes to dispense fatherly advice every episode. Cosby has always been a father figure to me: Fat Albert dates to 1972, folks, so it was around before I can even remember. He looks good in a three-piece suit, too--NOOOO! Brain says NOOOO!
It's slightly less disturbing to see Robert Culp looking really good, because a) I always knew he'd been a leading man (even if I hadn't seen it) and b) he never came off as a father figure to me. Slightly loony uncle, absolutely, but he was my favorite on GAH (more below). My reaction to him outside shirtless was a little more, "Put on some sunscreen, man! You'll burn!"
I found parts very funny, although some unintentionally so.
This episode featured Kelly Robinson (Robert Culp--it takes work to get his name right after years thinking Cosby was the lead) being kidnapped, brainwashed, and turned loose to assassinate Alexander Scott (if I repeat their full names, I might keep them straight). Naturally, that meant he spent almost the whole episode acting out of character (I'm guessing here, but I bet I'm right), the two men spent much of the episode apart, and there was probably less humor than usual. Clearly, I must watch more episodes.
I have to say, the funniest bit came when the "nurse" who helped brainwash Kelly showed up and flashed a mirror in his face while Kelly was holding a crowbar. She's flashing this shiny round thing at him while he lowers the crowbar to his crotch and keeps it there, pointed slightly up and wiggling, looking anguished. The camera focused on the crowbar rather a lot. We were laughing fit to die. I do have to think the director and actors have got to have realized how that looked. Right?
Conclusion: must watch more episodes to see if other episodes are even funnier (these guys are both hilarious!)
Musings: Chuck as Greatest American Hero for the aughts?
Think about it: in the eighties, we had a show with a fairly normal but really, really sweet guy in a frustrating job who suddenly gained unexpected powers. He had a devoted girlfriend and a crusty FBI handler (who really cares for him). No-longer normal guy keeps his day job, tries to keep his new job secret. I love crusty handler best.
For the aughts, we have a more powerful woman and a far more aggressive agent, but we still have a really, really sweet guy in a frustrating job who suddenly gained unexpected powers. He has a devoted CIA handler pretending to be his girlfriend who really has feelings for him, and a really hard-core NSA handler (who denies really caring for him but I don't entirely believe him). No-longer normal guy keeps his day job, tries to keep his new job secret. I love slightly psycho handler best.
What do you think?
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