We Have a Winner

Tonya, who tweeted about the contest, is our winner.

Tonya, please email your mailing address to popculture AT jennifer-roland.com so I can get your book in the mail.

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The TV Schedule Is Feast or Famine

I know I’ve rambled on about this before, but why do all the decent shows come on at the same time?

Mondays are okay right now, because Chuck is still on hiatus. So, I watch How I Met Your Mother, the second half hour of One Tree Hill, and Gossip Girl. I watch Castle live if I’m up, on DVR if I’m too sleepy.

Tuesdays are a wasteland, with only 90210 to entertain me.

Wednesdays at 8 are also completely useless, but then 9pm is packed. Glee is on then, Modern Family and Cougartown play on ABC, and now Friday Night Lights is back.

Thursdays are full, but not unmanageable, with FlashFoward and the Vampire Diaries at 8, and Supernatural and The Office/30 Rock at 9.

Wouldn’t networks be more successful if they didn’t force us to timeshift our shows? The more we timeshift, the less interested we are in watching shows live. The less we watch live, the less valuable the ad slots become. And, the less likely we are to even watch on TV at all, turning to the Internet more and more to watch our favorite shows on our own schedules.

And, wouldn’t shows all do better if they weren’t in direct competition for viewers? Put Vampire Diaries opposite Mercy, which is unlikely to have much audience crossover. Put Modern Family and Cougartown opposite NCIS or NCIS: LA. And, please, put something decent on opposite Melrose Place. Then everyone is more likely to find a show that appeals to them in every timeslot, rather than every show crammed into four slots throughout the week, with nothing in the others.

I’ve had to give up on shows in the past because I can only handle two shows in each timeslot. One to watch, and one to DVR. That’s is why I gave up Grey’s Anatomy a few years back. (Well, that and the fact that it was chore to watch a show filled with characters who had become completely unlikeable.) And why I’ve never given some shows I would probably like a chance.

What hard decisions have you had to make? Have you gotten a back-up DVR so you can record more shows? Have you prioritized your shows so that some are always live, some are DVRed unless the live show is in a repeat, and some are Internet-only?

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Call for Supernatural Submissions: Visions of Winchesters Blog Carnival

The Visions of Winchesters blog carnival is coming up again. Please submit your recaps, previews, news, and spoilers no later than 5pm Pacific, Tuesday, October 27.

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Win a Copy of Spotted: Your Only Unofficial Guide to Gossip Girl

Crissy Calhoun loves Gossip Girl.

That is obvious from the loving tone she use to describe the show and its creators in Spotted: Your Only Unofficial Guide to Gossip Girl.

Calhoun pulls together actor and character sketches for the main cast. She describes in detail every pop culture reference, every nuance, and many of the notable outfits in each episode. She compares the plots of the episodes to the books. She even discusses the gaffes, logic flaws, and character development problems and inconsistencies in each episode.

I have always loved these types of episode breakdowns on my favorite shows, so I jumped at the chance to receive an ARC of Spotted from ECW Press. I didn’t learn as much about the world around me as when I read the unofficial guide to the X-Files, but I learned a lot about New York society and the original book series. (No, I didn’t read them.)

I also found out about the backgrounds of the creators. Josh Schwartz’s profile was particularly interesting because he has been behind some of my other favorite shows, such as The O.C. and Chuck.

I am amazed at how prescient Cecily von Ziegesar was in creating the all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-important Gossip Girl blogger for her books. Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage seamlessly updated the concept to include texting and instant messaging, but the core concept remained the same.

Spotted covers seasons 1 and 2, episode-by-episode. It was released in September, so it includes some of the more recent developments off-screen—most notably, the hookups and breakups. I hope to see future installments that cover the rest of the shows run. Perhaps it could be a subscription service with a printed annual compilation at the end of the season.

Uber-fans may also be interested in the Gossip Girl book box set due out in November.

Enter the random drawing by:

• Commenting on this post.
• Tweeting a link to this post in Twitter. You’ll need to comment letting me know that you tweeted. Include your Twitter username for verification.
• Posting a link on Facebook. Again, comment letting me know that you posted the link.
• Adding Pop Culture Curmudgeon to your blogroll. Comment that you did that and include a link for verification.
• Posting something about Pop Culture Curmudgeon or the contest on your blog. Comment that you did it and include a link for verification.
• Subscribing to the RSS feed or email feed. Comment that you did it to be entered.
• Following Pop Culture Curmudgeon on Twitter. Again, comment with your Twitter username for verification.
  

You receive one entry for each action, so you can potentially receive seven entries.

The winner will be announced October 30. Entry deadline is 11:59 p.m. Eastern, October 29, 2009.

No transfers or substitutions.

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Slutty Is Not a Costume

Halloween is approaching, and we gals who have put off our costume planning are faced with three costume options at the store: slutty nurse, slutty witch, and slutty cat. Could we show a little more originality, please?

I grew out of the slutty costumes in about 1988. I was Madonna in eighth grade (1986), and I wore a tube skirt my mom sewed for me, a tank top, a bow in my hair, and tons of bracelets and makeup. Then in 1987, I was Jane of the Jungle, wearing a very skimpy leopard print tunic. I would so have been sent home from school for that get-up now.

Since then, I wore more clothes and actually had more fun with my costumes. I was Madonna again in college, but it was a more mature Madonna, with a black suit and bustier.

I have been a pimp, with a full-on polyester leisure suit, snazzy white loafers, and a kicking purple hat.

I have been Ophelia after she died, wearing twigs in my hair and dirt on my skin.

But my favorite costume of all time: the year I was a bong. I wore an orange knit column dress with a carb made of a paper towel roll and a funnel complete with a green and red tissue paper bole.

What amazing costumes have you worn? What are your plans for this year’s costume party extravaganza? (I won’t be wearing a costume, as Halloween night will find me sitting in Autzen Stadium watching the Ducks take on USC.)

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I Don’t Want Sports on Primetime Network Television

I don’t mind the regularly sheduled stuff such as Sunday Night Football. But the World Series is taking Glee off the air for a couple weeks, and that bugs the hell out of me. Why can’t there just be a free sports channel available over the air. Then the sports could be in their place and my shows wouldn’t be pre-empted.

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I Should Probably Quit Writing and Just Be a Whore

So, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner think women are missing out on a lucrative career opportunity: prostitution.

Apparently, we’ve all been squandering our God-given assets by just having premarital sex for free these past few decades. We could have been earning a buttload of money completely tax-free if we’d been selling our sexual services.

Of course, the gentlemen don’t look at the emotional consequences of selling your body. Or the potential health ramifications. Yes, their sample high-priced hooker “Allie” requires her clients to wear condoms. But, not all hookers do. (Case in point, Elliot Spitzer paid a higher rate to avoid condom use.)

They also don’t look at the damage done to the men’s relationships with their girlfriends and wives. Those who don’t wear condoms risk their partner’s health. They risk their entire relationships if their partners find out not only that they are being unfaithful but also that they are paying for it. (Somehow it seems worse if someone is paying for sex.)

What do you think. Do you think women would have a lot more economic power if we sold our bodies? Would you do it to make money?

Levitt and Dubner make their argument for prostitution as a career choice in their new book Superfreakonomics. Read an excerpt here.

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Award Shows Shouldn’t Be Taped for Later

Spike TV’s Scream Awards were held over the weekend, but we don’t get to see them on TV until Oct. 27.

Do we really have so many award shows that we can’t show them all at least the same day they happen? Live would be preferable, but the same day would keep me from, well, wanting to scream.

This ridiculous delay is even more asinine when you consider that the network owns the awards. Why would they possibly want to squander the award show hype by keeping it off the screens for 10 days?

If you want to know who won or to see some of the video of the event, visit the official page. Or, don’t. I mean, if the awards really mattered, Spike would play them on their network right away, right?

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My Rant on Women and Sci Fi

Today, I’m ranting about women and sci fi on my writing blog.

If you saw the original post on how women are ruining science fiction, you will have the necessary background to understand my rant. If not, read it here. Then, feel my pain as a woman and as a lifelong sci fi fan.

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The Lazies

After a completely lazy weekend that involved more WOW than I would like to admit, I feel like this picture of my dogs summarizes my attitude right now. If I weren’t so lazy, I might come up with some sort of loldogz-esque caption. Instead, I will let my guys speak for themselves.

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