BravoTV celebrated the holiday weekend by playing reruns of its’ own historic and hysterical battle scenes with some veterans who should only be seen through one’s rear view mirror, left in the dust. As much as they would like to believe that we could become drawn back into these old wars, they seem to have forgotten that we are still in control of our television remotes. There are dozens of channels and networks which provide all of the wonderful and interesting programming that exists outside of those rehashed episodes the Bravo folks offered this weekend.
Last week, the ABC series “Revenge” finished its’ first season with a finale that did just what good programs should do – left us waiting and wanting more. It was a wonderful reminder that scripted television can be so much better than what we have come see as anything but reality TV. We can spend days debating and speculating about the whereabouts of Amanda Clarke’s mother, or whether the plane explosion really did happen, actually killing two key witnesses in the grand Grayson terrorist conspiracy. We can mourn the fact that Jack Porter may become a father – or if the fake Amanda has had other dalliances.
While waiting for the return of “Revenge” and other programs, through those little miracles of On Demand, HBO and Showtime, our household has found programs which the two of us can watch together, without one or the other leaving the room, shaking their head in bewilderment. Over the past month or so, “Homeland” became a favorite – no, an obssession. It is so well written, with terrific plotlines and acting that you find yourself unable to turn off the TV without watching just one more episode for the night because you really do want to know what is going to happen. It has every element of a good book or a great movie. There are spies, CIA operatives, corrupt politicians – I know, that’s redundant – war heroes of questionable loyalties and terrorist sleeper cells. It also has Claire Danes, who has proven that she can act the hell out of any role she is given. If you need proof, I suggest you watch “Temple Grandin”, and then tell me if I’m exagerating.
Having come to the end of Season One of “Homeland”, we’ve now moved on to “Game of Thrones”. Now, I have to say that it took a little getting used to as a new viewer. The family feuds and battles for crowns make the women of Bravo look like amateurs. At the risk of sounding cheeky, I’d say that heads will roll – often and in full gory detail. There is a bit of shock value in terms of the nudity and sexual content. The wenches, ladies, queens and whores who service the men in this epic drama make Tony Soprano’s Bada-Bing girls look downright chaste in comparison.
Aside from all of that, it is story-telling at its’ finest. All things medieval come into play. Evil kings and queens, witches who perform terrible spells, corruption, treason, betrayals and conspiracies are everywhere. For good measure there are also dragon eggs which hatch into infant dragons when placed in a fire. From set design and scenery, from costumes and dialogue, it is a television gem, and well worth the time for any viewer. It’s both magic and magical. It also means that one bowl of popcorn can be shared in front of one television, and that the stories can be discussed without one of us rolling our eyes in exasperation.
If you have any of your own suggestions or favorites, I’d be happy to hear about them. I guess you know by now, that I’m open to just about anything. I’m going to go now – I hear popcorn being made in the microwave and I don’t want to miss any sword fights.
Empress
realhousewifeofaiken 
If you like to read there are 5 books so far in “A Game of Thrones” fantasy series. They are fantastic! Each chapter focuses on a character and things are rarely black and white.
Thank you Michelle, and consider them added to my Summer reading list. 🙂
OK , Now I know that I have the patience of the average toddler. I just downloaded the first 4 books (as a bundle) onto my e-reader. 😀
I couldn’t put the books down. Enjoy 🙂
I don’t know if anyone here watches Castle. An internet pal of mine put me on to it a couple weeks ago and I’ve been in marathon mode with it since on YouTube. Season 4 just ended on TV so it’s one of those shows you’ll have to wait for it to come back unless you can get it all on demand (if you want to watch it on TV).
The premise is a murder mystery writer, Richard Castle, shadows a homicide detective, Kate Beckett, for inspiration for his writing. The show always starts with a dead body being found and the two of them setting out to solve the crime.
Apparently this show has quite the internet following and there’s even a book penned under the name of Richard Castle for the show called Heat Wave which is the book that R Castle was doing his ‘research’ for in Season 1. The main character in the book is Nikki Heat which is the fictional character based on Kate Beckett from the show.
http://www.amazon.com/Heat-Wave-Nikki-Richard-Castle/dp/1401323820
It isn’t a real heavy show most times and the only real gore, if there is any, is over with in the first 5 minutes or so. If you’re into police stories complete with wishing the characters would just ‘get together’ already, this may be a show worth checking out.
Here’s ABC’s website for the show http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/castle
Here’s the YT channel I’ve been watching it on. http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperKateBeckett
Far more interesting than the rag channel has offered in months if not years. Tried watching Bravo for a couple seconds the other day and just couldn’t. I can take the shows on a first run basis but reruns and 2 year old reruns at that, I just can’t.
I do watch Castle and I will check out the books. (There goes my e-reader budget 🙂 )
I don’t know why that link posted the way it did. I should have just mentioned the books and let google fingers do the walking.
I needed a nap yesterday..so I turned on BRAVO…. NAP TIME INDEED !!! YEA..
Plus we had bands of rain from Beryl…and loss of power off and on yesterday…UGH
So of course didnt care about TV….. BUT…did get to watch HARRYS LAW…gonna miss that show…
Next week tv viewing is packed with LOTS of new shows…. Guess I better get caught up on sleep now……
Diva
They didn’t even give “Harry’s Law” a fighting chance. They put it up against things like The Amazing Race and it couldn’t compete. You’d think that if NBC could land a star like Kathy Bates, they could at least find a better time slot for her.
It pissed me off that they kept changing the days/times for it to air… I wrote an EMAIL to NBC…TOld them that they are doing the viewing public a disservice by cancelling Harrys Law… and IF they think they can divert my attention back to their trashy offbeat red headed step bastard channel BRAVO..they got another thing coming..NOT GONNA HAPPEN>
Off course the email will suffer the same fate as Harrys Law….DELETE….
I really like “Damages” which started on FX. When they decided to stop airing it, DirecTV picked it up. Naturally, I don’t have the dish any more, so I’ll have to find the episodes online or wait for rentals. This July it’s coming back but it’s the final season.
I[‘ve been watching Next Food Network Star, also Design Star is starting on Tuesday on HGTV. I am going to miss The Finder, Harry’s Law. I’m not sure if The Firm is going to be renewed. The Glades & Rizolli and Iles are coming back, not sure about The Closer.
Donna, Thanks for the heads up re: Design Star. I like that and Next Food Network Star. Now I have to go reset my DVR. 🙂
If anyone is interested, The History Channel is airing a 3-part miniseris – “The Hatfields and the McCoys” with Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton. It begins tonight.
Hope you dont mind…here’s a nice link to it…
Guess what time DINNER will be served ????
Now this is something Mr Ford and can enjoy watching together…..WHOOP WHOOP
http://www.history.com/shows/hatfields-and-mccoys
Don’t mind the link at all. Hubby mentioned it a couple of days ago, but now that I see it’s with Kevin Costner, I may have to watch this one. 😀
Thanks for the reminder. DVR is set even if Kevin Costner is in it.
even if Kevin Costner is in it 🙂
Ah, the difference between the genders.
Not necessarily, Mom hated him too. She was a Patrick Swazy fan.
Well, I can’t disagree with her about Swazye.
I’ve been waiting for this one 🙂
Hell’s Kitchen & Master Chef are coming in June of Fox TV
WELL…. I have to say the only disappointing thing about H & M last night ….the makeup on Tom Berrenger…. But I KNEW it was him w/o even reading the credits before the show started….
We watched PAWN STARS before the show started ….Mr ford has a habit of watching something and getting INVOLVED so I wanted to be sure we would be watching H&M together..SOOO…on PAWN STARS this guy brought in a rifle that belonged to CAP HATFIELD>. Or so the paperwork says…. I wonder now how much interest will be generated for him about the gun now after this airing….. hmmmmm
Part TWO tonite…. So far I am enjoying it…..
Diva
We liked it too, so far. I didn’t even recognize Tom Berenger at first. As for the rifle – I’m guessing that H&M could do wonders for the value of that little treasure.
IT WAS THE EYES I RECOGNIZED…Those dreamy eyes…. LOL LOL
Powers Booth looked good also..I still see him as JIM JONES.. Love his voice….
LOTS of PEOPLE in this show…. WOW….
Which one is Tom Berringer? Watched part 1 late last night. Looks good so far.
He plays Jim Vance – Devil Anse Hatfield’s (Kevin Costner) uncle.
The one that was insulted which supposedly started the whole feud. Correct?
Yep, he instigated that and a whole lot more. Berenger was funny about the character in an interview. He described him as a “raccoon with rabies, a psychopath, a misogynist, and throw in a pinch of Bruce Dern. That’s the recipe.”
He also said that “The Hatfields and the McCoys” was the hillbilly version of “The Godfather”. I think that’s just about right. 🙂
Too funny.. I just read that on a plastic surgery site on him…. THE GODFATHER QUOTE..Some say he got the MICKEY ROURKE SPECIAL done…LOL LOL
I’m seeing the ‘family’ type connection as it goes on. I’ve never known much about the feud itself but I’ve heard the names all my life. I wonder if it was really all just about an insult though. One deserted the army and got rich, the other didn’t and wound up in prison as a POW.