Summer Shows

When I was a kid, summer was for re-runs.  There was never anything good on TV which was fine because we were usually outside playing until quite late at night (we played kickball and dodge ball until the street lights came on and then played flashlight tag until our moms yelled for us to come in -- we must have gone through hundreds of D batteries a summer!). 

Nowadays, most networks have summer replacement shows or start their viewing season a little later in the year so that it carries over to the summer.  For example, Walking Dead season 3 premiered in February, Game of Thrones aired March 31, Long Island Medium aired last night and Breaking Bad Season 5 airs mid-July.  True Blood season 6 starts in June and I also think a Bachelorette is starting soon.  A couple of my favorite shows will be starting back up this summer and I can't wait! Necessary Roughness (USA Network) airs on June 12 with John Stamos joining the cast (whoop! whoop! that Uncle Jesse sure is cute!) http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/05/02/necessary-roughness-john-stamos/.  Falling Skies (TNT) has a big 2-hour season premier on June 9 http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/05/04/falling-skies-capetown-film-festival/
and HBO's Newsroom returns July 14.  My favorite neurotic house flipper returns on July 9 on Bravo (Interior Therapy With Jeff Lewis).  USA is also airing a new show called Graceland on June 6 (it has nothing to do with Elvis); looks pretty good and I'll probably set the DVR. And finally, my husband's favorite show, Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family) season 4 premieres June 11 (just kidding!  One night he walked in the door and asked if the girls and I were watching "Pretty Little Housewives Say Yes to the Dress"). 

The summer is also a great time to catch up on shows or episodes you might have missed (via Hulu or Netflix, something like that).  Summer is actually when I started watching Lost.  I had really wanted to watch when it first aired but missed a couple of shows and thought I'd be too far behind.  ABC re-ran the show, in order, over the summer and we were hooked. 

Well, It's Official!

I have turned into a major geek!  I just asked my husband to buy me a ticket to Anaheim so I can attend this weekend's WonderCon.  http://www.comic-con.org/wca  A couple of years ago when we were in Vegas for my birthday some "Con" was in town -- it wasn't Comic Con but it was something to do with the film industry and each of the hotels on the strip was host to a movie.  We stayed at Paris during that trip and we had a bunch of the cars from Transformers in front of our hotel as well as a huge Bumblee Transformer. 

Two of my favorite shows -- TNT's "Falling Skies" and the History Channel's "Vikings" are presenting at WonderCon and I'll bet they're will be lots of spoilers. 

Sunday will be the 5th episode of Vikings (I think they filmed 9 episodes for the 1st season).  I've seen some spoilers on the internet and twitter so I think I kind of know what goes down between the main Viking and the Earl and it's not going to be pretty.  I do hope this show gets picked up for a 2nd season. 

Falling Skies, sadly, will not air until the summer (June 9, 2013) with 10 episodes.  But my DVR is already set.  Lots of questions still need to be answered:  What's going on with Hal?  What's up with the new alien we saw on the season 2 finale?  Is Ann having a normal baby or an alien baby? 

Obviously I have a thing for strong men with scruffy beards (please see previous post regarding Ben Affleck in Argo).  Oh, and let's not forget the guys from Duck Dynasty!  

It's OK Thursday

It's OK . . .

...to be excited about tonight's Fantasy Football draft!  Whoop!  Whoop!

...to be dreaming of Fall sweaters and boots and bonfires. 
...to be excited about the changes at work.  It's all Good!
...that I'm in between sizes.  Current size pants is waaaayyy too big, size down fits good everywhere else but is a little snug in the waist.  Do they make half-sizes for short, curvy adults? 
...to wish there was something good to watch on Sunday nights.  Falling Skies is over for the season and so is The Newsroom. 
...to totally hate this season of RHONY.  Ramona annoys the crap out of me and is horribly crass, Sonja is way too old to be acting like a sex-starved teenager and Aviva has so many issues.  Heather is unlikable but I do like Carol and the Countess. 

Tuesday. Blah.

I normally dislike Tuesday's as much as most people hate Monday's but this one wasn't too bad.  One of my dearest friends in the world is attending an event at the hotel so I got to see her yesterday and today and all we do is laugh when we're together. 

Sadly, Falling Skies ended Season 2 on Sunday night (aka "Mom's Alien Show").  The finale was good but not as great as I had hoped.  I had read some spoilers which maybe I shouldn't have.  I had some different expectations and the show left me with a lot of unanswered questions.  Which is probably their intent so I'll be sure to watch Season 3!  Noah Wylie's character, Tom Mason, is freakin' awesome.  I love how he protects his family and does the right thing even if it's not popular.  He's a man's man without being a bulked up steriod freak action figure.  He's just a regular guy in a post-alien invasion world. 

I think I'm participating in a Fantasy Football League with some guys from work.  This is normally Coach's area of expertise but the guys asked so I thought I'd get in on the fun.  The League is mainly 20-something year-olds so I need to come up with a super girly name to totally embarrass them when I beat them week after week.  Something like, "My Pretty Little Princess" or "Unicorns & Rainbows 4Ever"  or maybe "Glitter Goddess."  I'm thinking of showing up to our draft wearing my Namath throw-back jersey and a box of cigars.  They've also been after Champ & I to go to Karaoke with them one night.  Dear Lord that will be interesting.  I don't sing.  I mean like, I can't even whistle and I have a feeling these guys like country music or hard core rap. 

Everyone seems to have had a good day #2 at school.  T is loving being a college student.  Today I mailed her first care package.  She had ordered an Otter Box for her phone and of course it came in after she left for school,  I also sent her some of her Hotty Toddy thank-you cards (she has a couple of thank you's left to write to the ladies who wrote her Rec letters), some stamps, a Barnes & Noble gift card she left at the house and some other stuff.  KJ is enjoying being a 7th grader.  She had an upgrade due so Champ surprised her with an iPhone.  Last night they were too cute sitting on the couch together ordering Hello Kitty covers for her new phone.  He's a good dad. 

Champ got some great news the other day!  He was asked to participate in something really huge, on a national level with a lot of exposure.  I am incredibly proud of him.  He has done so much for the sport of lacrosse in the state of Alabama and he does it not for the money (trust me, there is none!).  He does it for the kids and for pure love of the sport.  When I told my brother about the opportunity, my brother's response was "Get the F out of here!!!"  My brother is the total opposite of me and does not have a potty mouth.  So for him to drop the F-bomb is pretty huge! 

Falling Skies

I like Star Wars but not Star Trek.  I liked Lost but always felt like I never knew what the hell was going on.  I have no idea who Dr. Who is.  So my family is totally baffled by the fact that I luv, luv, luv Falling Skies on TNT (Sundays @ 8 PM, Central Time).  http://www.fallingskies.com/

I am a history geek through and through and I think that is one of the reasons why I like the show.  The main character, Tom Mason, a former history professor, is trying to hold what's left of his family together after an alien invasion.  The show, now in Season 2, started off in Boston and the survivors refer to themselves as the 2nd Mass.  In the first season, there were a lot of historical military references.  Second season, not so much.  However, if you look closely during certain scenes, there are political slogans, cartoons or grafitti in the background.  This season the survivors were visited by a rogue pilot (named Churchill) who encouraged them to make the journey to Charleston where a larger group of survivors are trying to rebuild the country. 

“It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.”

Patriotism is a major theme of the show.  The rag-tag Resistance started off hunkered down at JFK High School and the mural on the school depicts Lincoln and great moments in American history.  The use of the bulletin board in the school lobby to showcase missing children reminds you of lower Manhattan following the days of 9/11.

Religion is a subconcious topic of the show as well.  Lourdes is assistant to the 2nd Mass's resident doctor (who's really a pediatrician and is sometimes in waaaay over her head) and we've seen Lourdes lead the survivors in prayer.  There is also a character named "Pope."  I like Pope but most viewers don't. 
I've always been a fan of Noah Wylie from his ER days.  Noah Wylie works because he's just a regular guy.  He lost his wife in the invasion and is trying to keep his 3 sons alive (the oldest played lacrosse!).  He's not a jacked-up ex-Marine out for alien blood.  He was handed a gun and will use it to keep his family and the rest of the 2nd Mass safe. I also like Will Patton (Remember the Titans, Armeggedon).  He's great as the gruff, battle-hardened leader of the 2nd Mass.  The actor who plays Ben, Tom's middle son who has some alien issues himself, reminds me of a younger Leonardo DiCaprio.  The aliens are insanely creepy and there have been some genuinely super scary moments. Oh!  and they just got picked up for Season 3.  Whoop!  Whoop!!!