brendala | Entries tagged with tv

The Five Stages of Grief you'll go through when Watching the Girl Meets World Pilot

The article linked above pretty much sums up my feelings about Girl Meets World (and I think it's required reading for any nostalgic 90s kids going into the show in the hopes of reliving their Boy Meets World nostalgia).

REVIEW TIME:

I WANTED to like Girl Meets World so bad. But it was just so damn difficult to sit through.The dialogue was painfully forced and unnatural (it made a million references to Cory and Topanga’s spawn “meeting the world” just like her daddy did). And the characters didn’t act like real kids (or real human beings for that matter) at all. ~~Cory-Jr~~ Riley was just a naive follower of her annoying, “bad girl” friend ~~Not-Shawn~~ Maya. And they had a “nerdy” male classmate who was basically a WAY WAY WAY more annoying clone of Minkus. And, because it’s a Disney Channel show, there was also a pretty boy love interest who had the personality of wet cardboard.

( Mild spoilers under the cut..... )

In the wake of Roger Ebert's recent death, this Mask of the Phantasm review from the Siskel&Ebert show back in the 90s began making the rounds on YouTube.

Even though the circumstances are awful; it's really great to see this again because I clearly remember being so thrilled when I saw this review on television as a kid. And I gained a tremendous respect for both men for having the humility to APOLOGIZE for skipping the movie back when it was in theatres in imploring their audience to overlook the fact that it's a cartoon and seek it out.

My only bit of contention is their dissing of Mark Hamill as the Joker. Because really.....Jack Nicholson has NOTHING on Mark Hamill! ~_^

RIP Siskel and Ebert

Attn:

sarajayechan ~_^

The Disney Channel is doing a sequel series to the classic TGIF sit-com Boy Meets World starring Corey and Topanga's daughter! The new series will be called 'Girl Meets World' and Ben Savage & Danielle Fishel have already confirmed that they're coming back for the new series.

I'm not sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, my inner nostalgic child is elated to know that I'll get to see Corey and Topanga as a grown up married couple with careers and a family (btw, the fact that those two are now old enough to have a teenage daughter makes me feel EXTREMELY old). I literally grew up with these characters. So getting to see them again as adults just feels right.
And if they ever have a huge reunion episode featuring Mr Feeny, Shawn, Corey's parents & siblings, Jack, Angela, and Minkus; I might just die of nostalgia overload (and I would NOT regret it!!)

On the other hand, The Disney Channel has a reputation for using it's live-action tween sit-coms as a way to promote their revolving door of untalented, cookie-cutter little pop stars. And it would kill me to see the characters of Corey and Topanga reduced to being incubators for the next Hannah Montana.

I'll try to keep an open mind and I'll definitely watch this when it premiers! On the bright side, it was recently confirmed that most of the old writing/creative team from Boy Meets World will be working on the new show. So at least we don't have to worry about this thing being helmed by some executive who doesn't get it.

So, how do my fellow 90s kids feel about this? Are you excited, terrified, or both?

I've spent a lot of time ranting about Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated (or, as I like to call it, "the-show-that-shall-not-be-named") and why I think it's awful, sexist, and poorly written. So I think it's only fair that I offer up my ideas on how I'd craft a reboot and add romance and drama to these characters without shoving any girls into fridges, making the gang act like hateful and heartless jerks, or turning any of the leading men into GODDAM DATE RAPISTS!!!!!!!

The Girls

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The Boys

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The Relationships

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tl;dr: I did this so that no one can accuse me of being an armchair quarterback next time I unleash my feminist/fangirl rage at this show (and so I could show off my nifty doodles ^_^). Let me know what you think!

I caught season one of this new drama while browsing my Netflix queue and it was a pleasant surprise! I went in expecting a dopey, unintentionally funny teen soap with a wacky premise and got something pretty cool and unique instead!

( Review under the cut... )

I caught some of the live-action Fairly Oddparents movie ("Grow up Timmy Turner") on TV today. My immediate reaction was:
"HOLY HELL!!! CGI WANDA & COSMO ARE %&*#$ING CREEPY!!! GET THEM OFF MY TV!!! AAARG!!!"

However, I kept watching beause, believe it or not, it had enough good things going for it to keep my interest (as long as I covered my eyes when the fairies showed up >_<).

( Review under the cut... )

After witnessing the unfathomable, childhood-destroying train wreck that was Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated, I have decided that there's no way in hell I'm tuning in for the upcoming second season. I gave the show too much of my time already in the hopes that it would redeem itself in the end and it failed. BIG TIME!

However, I will forgive it and take back ALL my criticisms if the second season opens like this:

( G-rated comic under the cut..... )

Now that Mystery Incorporated has ended it's American TV run, I feel the need to post this essay. I know I've ranted about this subject excessively already. But this write up is my attempt to calmly explain why the way this show went down bothers me so much. I hope you all will take the time to read it and let me know what you think. Even if you're not a Scooby Doo fan and never watched Mystery Incorporated, I'm interested in hearing your opinions on the issue of feminism and what's appropriate in a franchise that's marketed toward children.

The Fridging of Velma Dinkley

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The Fridging of Velma Dinkley

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THE HUB TV NETWORK ADDS TRULY OUTRAGEOUS ANIMATED SERIES
‘JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS’ TO PROGRAM LINEUP
BEGINNING MAY 31
Acquired Series Kicks Off with Special “Jem and the Holograms” Marathon
Presented on May 28; Network Also Acquires Animated Favorite “Conan the Adventurer”

I already enjoy reliving the early 90s by watching Doogie Houser and The Wonder Years back to back on the Hub. And now I can watch Jem on TV without having to whip out my DVDs (or my torrents). Here's hoping that a new TV run will get Hasbro to put season 3 out on DVD.
**crosses fingers**

[source: Toonzone]

THE HUB TV NETWORK ADDS TRULY OUTRAGEOUS ANIMATED SERIES
‘JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS’ TO PROGRAM LINEUP
BEGINNING MAY 31
Acquired Series Kicks Off with Special “Jem and the Holograms” Marathon
Presented on May 28; Network Also Acquires Animated Favorite “Conan the Adventurer”

This is a clip from the next direct-to-DVD Bambi sequel:

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This is a clip from the next direct-to-DVD Bambi sequel:

( Read more... )

I have a bunch of seasons of Law&Order: Special Victims Unit in my Netflix instant stream. And I recently saw an episode from season 7 that I had never seen before. And now I wish I was still ignorant of it because it was one of the most horrible things I had ever seen on television.

For those of you who don’t know, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (“SVU” for short) is a show about a bunch of detectives who specialize in sex crimes and child/elder abuse cases. And anyone who is a fan of SVU knows that the show has taken a turn for the weird in its later seasons. It used to be a fairly straight forward crime drama about a team of badass detectives who solve sex crimes and put perverts in jail. But the latest seasons have employed wacky, twisty-turney plots and have an annoying tendency to throw realism out the window. One recent stinker had the sex crime detectives retrieve smuggled exotic monkeys from hallowed out basketballs at the airport. No, seriously! And the monkeys weren’t rape victims or anything; the detectives just felt like rescuing them!

But fans of this show accept that kind of madness because, at the end of the day, the main appeal of this show is watching two smoking hot detectives (Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson) track down rapists and child molesters and, occasionally, beat the living snot out of them. And a good, cathartic time is had by all. But this season 7 episode (delicately entitled “Fat”) was so appallingly bad I just had to rant about it. Stabler acts horribly out of character. The writing is shit. And, worst of all, the plot resolution actually excuses the actions of a pair of sadistic rapists with the most stupid and insulting reasoning I have EVER seen! I still can’t believe something this horrible and insulting to rape survivors made it to air!

Needless to say, this review has spoilers galore and a huge TRIGGER WARNING.

( Review under the cut... )

I apologize if these comics are becoming redundant and/or annoying. But Mystery Incorporated lead me on and then burned me big time. So please indulge me here.

This comic was started as a way to "celebrate" Mystery Incorporated returning from it's ridiculously long hiatus on January 31st. But Cartoon Network recently took the new episode (Mystery Solvers' State Finals) off their programming schedule. So, uh, I guess this is just yet another "vent about Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby's character assassinations just because I can" comic. Enjoy!

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