Countdown to New Shows: Spring 2010

I’ve been enjoying the returns of Chuck and Gossip Girl so far, but there are still so many other shows I need back on my screen. Here’s my countdown.

• Flash Forward: March 18 (Only 2 short days)
• The United States of Tara: March 22 (6 days)
• Supernatural: March 25 (9 days)
• True Blood: June 13 (89 long days)

What shows are you awaiting?

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• My Fall TV Viewing Schedule
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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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• Countdown to New Shows: Spring 2010
• The Return of Happy TV
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The Return of Happy TV

I like dark shows. Porbably more than the average person.

I loved the seedy underbelly of the small Pacific northwest town Twin Peaks.

I couldn’t get enough of the depressing and violent near-future depicted in Strange Days.

But even I have to throw up my hands sometimes and say, “Please show me some color, some light, some happiness.”

Pushing Daisies (RIP) gave me some of that. I ended each episode feeling happier than when I started.

I’ve got a few current shows I go to for the happy. Gossip Girl and 90210 amuse me with their ridiculousness. And Castle thrills me with the rapport between Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic as they solve sometimes grisly murders.

My number one go-to happy show, though, is Glee. It’s exuberance is infectious. I don’t always like the songs they sing. In fact, I rarely like musical performances in my TV shows and movies. I don’t always like the characters or the choices they make. But it is all put together in a package that can’t help but make me smile.

What about you? Are you in love with Glee, or do you dismiss it as an over-hyped, over-sold disappointment? Do you prefer your TV to show stark, gritty reality; dark depravity; lighthearted, feel-good fare; or some combination of all of these elements?

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Related Posts:

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• Thoughts on the new fall season so far
• Countdown to New Shows: Spring 2010
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My Fall TV Viewing Schedule

[digg=http://digg.com/television/My_Fall_TV_Viewing_Schedule]Now that the fall lineups have been announced, my viewing plans are falling into place. Mondays and Thursdays are still full, especially now that NBC has announced that they will not move Chuck to Fridays.

Mondays, I’ll be on CBS, watching How I Met Your Mother at 8 and giving Accidentally on Purpose a Chance at 8:30. I’ll be recording Gossip Girl and most likely watching it at 9. Then to ABC for Castle. I am okay with the thought that I am breaking up with Heroes, but we’ll see if Mr. PCC records it on his DVR.

Tuesdays, it appears that no one has given me a reason to break up with 90210, so I’ll be all CW, all the time, watching 90210 at 8 and Melrose Place at 9.

Wednesdays are free until 9, when I visit Fox for Glee and then move to ABC for Eastwick.

Thursdays are pretty standard. Watch Vampire Diaries on the CW at 8 and DVR Flash Forward. Stick with the CW for Supernatural at 9 (obviously) and record The Office and Community/30 Rock. [Edited to add: Thanks to Rainn Wilson and Twitter, I realized that Joel McHale has a show coming out this fall: Community. I watched the preview at Zap2it, and it looks pretty funny.]

Fridays, I’ll be watching Dollhouse, but that is pretty much it. Thanks, Fox, for picking up this show for a second season.

My weekends look free. When DirecTV announces when it will play Friday Night Lights, I’ll update the spreadsheet I keep so that I won’t miss out on a new show I am interested in. (Yes, I’m that much of a TV geek. I make a spreadsheet each May and use it when the new shows premiere in the fall.)

Most of my favorite shows and ideas are slated for midseason: Chuck (NBC), Lost (ABC), Better Off Ted (ABC), The Body Politic (CW), Happy Town (ABC), V (ABC). I haven’t decided if I will follow Tyler Labine to Sons of Tucson.

Here are links to night-by-night grids to help you do your own fall TV planning, spreadsheet suggested but not required.

ABC

CBS

NBC

Fox

CW

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Monday Poll Results

So, my friends and readers are not so much into the reality television.

• Chuck was the big winner on our poll, with 24% of the vote.
• How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory tied for second, with 18%.
• Everything else tied for third place, with 12%: Heroes, House and Gossip Girl.
• 24 brought up the rear, with 6%.
• None of my readers watch Dancing with the Stars. That makes me happy.

So, did you enjoy the poll? Do you want to see more polls in the future?

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Dorota from Gossip Girl Is Our Newest Web Star

According to this post, Blair’s handmaiden will be the focus of the Web-only spinoff from Gossip Girl.

Will you watch? I know I will.

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Coming Out of the Gossip Girl Closet

I have mentioned before that I watch Gossip Girl and enjoy it.

But what began as a minor dalliance last season has grown into a full-fledged love affair. Chuck has matured from a one-note villain to a mature, vulnerable, layered bad boy–Jordan Catalano has some real competition for my small group of favorite bad boys from teen shows I’m probably too old to watch anyway. Jenny has become someone to root for rather than someone to tolerate. Vanessa doesn’t get that much screen time. Serena and Dan’s break-up allowed both characters to actually become interesting. And Rufus and Lily, like their children, seem to work better apart than together.

Another part of Gossip Girl’s appeal is its complete lack of typical teen life. Do any of the popular girls at your school dress like a 1890s schoolmarm? Do they spend most of their time in bars drinking martinis? Do any of your 15-year-old friends convince their parents to let them drop out of school to work as an intern in a fashion house? And do you try to get many of your male friends to stop selling their bodies to royal trophy wives?

Teen dramas have been slowly moving away from actual teen experiences. My So-Called Life was a hyperrealistic look at the life of a high school girls while she grew and found her own identity. The high school setting was important to the show, and the day-to-day struggles of early 1990s teens was the show.

90210 focused heavily on the high school life, but with a wealthier class of high school student, it also included a more adult lifestyle than MSCL. Parents were important characters, but also in most cases heavily flawed and oblivious.

One Tree Hill took us farther away from the classroom, as absent parents let their daughters do whatever they wanted, from hosting a webcam that caused just the sort of creepy stalker problem you would expect to visiting strip clubs with the local geek. One character became emancipated, and his girlfriend was allowed to marry him. Her parents, who we never saw again after the wedding, agreed to the underage nuptials so that they wouldn’t lose their daughter.

And Gossip Girl has taken this trend to a whole new level. The “teen” characters live fabulous lives, going out to bars, navigating adult relationships, and wearing the latest designer duds. The occasional nod to their attendance at high school usually comes up in the form of a discussion about where they will go to college. And no public institutions–it’s Ivy League or bust, baby.

I continually wonder why these shows even need to be teen dramas. Why can’t they be workplace dramas with actors who play closer to their real ages. The plots would be more believable, and the 18-34 year old crowd would still get the fabulous clothes and hot girls and guys. The only difference would be the lack of pretense that any of these people or problems have even a passing relationship with high school.

That said, I can’t wait to watch tonight!

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Thoughts on the new fall season so far

Perhaps my sights were set very low, but I have been loving my little teen soaps so far this season.

Two episodes in, Greek has been fun to watch, full of pop culture references, and even full of life lessons–sometimes you just need a new R.A. to remind you why you love Silly Putty, or something like that.

I enjoyed all the Chuck and Blair fun on Gossip Girl Monday night. But, what was up with the “British” dude? I found it interesting that Blair didn’t seem too hurt that he thought she was a lowly American when she obviously thinks she is our version of royalty. I guess she was too busy dealing with her hypersalivation to realize he had really challenged her personal sense of entitlement. His bad accent, after making me wonder why Chuck didn’t coach him, made me wonder if all British accents on American TV sound bad on purpose. People who aren’t British sound fake. People who are actually British sound fake even though they are actually British. Is there a special American-television British accent that actors strive for, even when they know better? Do they sound as fake when doing interviews in their native dialect?

I even thought Hilarie Burton killed it as the girl who finally got the man of her dreams. I always wish she had set her sights a little higher, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

I forgot to watch 90210, so I’m waiting until I can catch it online to have a judgment there. I will confess that although I was a casual viewer of Melrose Place, I’ve seen probably only three full episodes of 90210. The only time I watched regularly was when they played episodes in syndication on Sundays afternoons. I would catch about 15 minutes while I was waking up after a long weekend of partying in college. So I have no expectations. And I don’t think I’ll be regular viewer. I plan to watch How I Met Your Mother and Samantha Who? on Tuesdays from 8-9. This plan may change if 90210 ends up being a lot of fun to watch, but I’ve been struggling over the glut of programming on Mondays and Thursdays. We have two DVRs, but not in the main room I watch tv in. The plan is to watch Chuck and Heroes live on Mondays on the hi-def, DVR-less TV while recording How I Met Your Mother and Samantha Who? on (gasp) the VCR. Then, I’ll bring the tape out to watch on Tuesdays at 8, since nothing has become my go-to replacement for Gilmore Girls in that timeslot. (Even when Gilmore Girls was bad, it was still pretty good.) Hubby will record Sarah Conner Chronicles on his hi-def DVR for us to watch later, maybe over the weekend. I’ll also be recording Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill for later viewing on the non-hi-def DVR in my bedroom. Thank god for multiple TVs!

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Related Posts:

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• Pop Culture Roundup, May 27
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