Tommorowland

This 30 for 30 challenge has been especially challenging during this very hectic week! Therefore today's post is simply a link to another blog for Mad Men fans. I loved the finale and thought this article was a great summary. Already can't wait for the next season!

Friday Five

If you read this blog you know I like TV. For today’s “Friday Five” I present my Top 5 Current (still on-air and in season) Favorite TV shows.

5) The Office
I admit the past few seasons have been lacking but I’m hoping it turns around soon.
4) Project Runway
Mondo is the clear favorite in my opinion
3) Glee
Sue Sylvester is still the best part of the show
2) Mad Men
Season finale on Sunday! Can.Not.Wait
1) Modern Family
I guarantee you’ll laugh at something Phil Dunphy says

Team Kevin! Team McKinley High!

Today is bittersweet... it's season finale night for two of my new faves for the fall/winter TV season. While I'll be sad to see these shows leave for a while it is necessary to make room for the important shows coming up in the new year (I think you know what I'm talking about). First is Glee, which has received ample press on the breezy blog. I'm not ashamed to admit that this completely unrealistic show full of "teenagers" breaking out into spontaneous songs has won me over. I love the characters, song selections, and haven't made it through an episode without LOL-ing at least once (I feel validated using teenage acronyms to describe a high school musical brand of show). If you haven't watched an episode yet tonight is your last chance until it returns in April after American Idol - a.k.a. the cult I always unsuccessfully try to avoid getting sucked into each year. To inspire you to watch tonight click here for a gallery of quotes from the best character (Sue Sylvester) and then enjoy one of my favorite songs from the season:


The second finale airing tonight is Top Chef. While this show has been on for several seasons this is the first one that I tuned in for. I'm not much of a cook so cooking shows aren't really on my radar. Competitions and reality TV however? All over the radar. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this season and if you'll remember it even inspired me to attempt making homemade guacamole. While that didn't turn out so well for me I've still loved the show and just realized to stick to my gift of eating food instead of making it.

Tonight I'm pulling for Kevin Gillespie of Atlanta to be named Top Chef. Not only does Kevin rock a fantastic beard, he also promotes slow food and simple cooking. After my second favorite contestant Jennifer was eliminated last week it's down to Kevin vs. the Voltaggio brothers tonight. While the Voltaggios may have one of the coolest last names ever, it's unfortunate that they don't possess the cool personalities to match it. That might be a little on the harsh side - but Michael just comes across as arrogant and I don't think his brother Bryan has cracked a smile all season. Here's a video of the final three chatting before the final challenge so you can make your own judgments on beards and personalities:


Happy viewing!

Jim & Pam Forever

Emily Blunt gets him in real life, Jenna Fischer gets him in TV life...so many women to be jealous of - I mean happy for. I'll be picking up a copy of this week's Entertainment Weekly:


There's also three videos on the EW site that are well worth your 3 minutes to watch, click here, here, and here for each of them. I really am happy that Jim & Pam are actually getting married. After so many shows in the past have beat the "will they or won't they" couples story line to death I am glad that this show is firmly saying "they will and we're moving on". I still remember watching that Poker Night episode when Jim finally confessed his feelings for Pam and then it ended with the infamous kiss. I screamed, the girls watching with me screamed, the boys watching with me were scared. Then we all had a moral debate over whether Jim should have kissed Pam since she was engaged. That's what we do. And for the record, I was firmly on the side of "Pam's not married yet, Roy is a jerk, and Jim and Pam are clearly soul mates so the kiss was completely acceptable." And look where they are now! Excuse me while I go watch this video to relive the greatness...

The office - Jim & Pam
by Himura86

Update: I'm Watching Glee

I'm not ashamed to say that last Wednesday after work I finally watched the first 2 episodes of Glee that had been waiting for me on my DVR...and then after that hour and a half I proceeded to watch the 3rd episode in real time. That's right - 2.5 hours of the same show in one sitting. I know most of you are likely thinking "She has way too much time on her hands," but I can assure that I would only sacrifice 2.5 hours of my life for a quality television program...unless there was a marathon of The Hills or something like that on (don't judge, it's too easy to get sucked into that black hole of reality TV). Here are my two favorite clips from the most recent Glee episode, although after watching them back I think they are better when you watch them in context with the whole episode so that's what I would recommend. I promise I won't link to videos every Wednesday...

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

The signs are clear my friends: the weather is cooler, college football has started, and Christmas decorations are for sale at Walmart; yes, the season of Fall is upon us. This is an exciting time not only because of college football but also because it means new TV shows are back!! While I'm looking forward to catching up with old favorites such as The Office and 30 Rock I also have high expectations for the new show Community. I actually laughed out loud several times when I watched the trailer which is a good sign. The trailer is below if you haven't already seen it and a good review of the show is here.



Another show I'm planning to watch but just haven't found the time yet is Glee. I've had several friends say that it's great and it's received good reviews so I intend to give it a chance. The first two episodes are on my DVR so hopefully I can watch those before I get too far behind. Here's the trailer if you haven't seen it...catchy songs.



There really haven't been any other new shows that have peaked my interest. I did watch The Jay Leno Show on Monday night mainly to see what Kanye West was going to say after the VMA incident and also because Jerry Seinfeld was the guest. It was basically a total knock-off of The Tonight Show. I think the only difference was Jay wasn't behind a desk which actually made me think it looked more like Oprah once they sat down. And then to further affirm that feeling Oprah appeared! It was confusing and awkward and I think the only way I will watch again is if there is a guest I want to see or if there is nothing else on. In which case I should probably just turn the TV off and read a book...or watch one of these other shows already taking up space on my DVR! Because I'm sure you're curious what takes up most of our DVR space, here are my thoughts on some different shows I'm currently watching:

Mad Men - Loooove it, each episode gets better and I really love reading these recaps too. Peggy Olson has been my favorite character this season although I am missing Joan, she hasn't had nearly the screen time she's had in past seasons.

Top Chef - I started watching Top Chef Masters when it was on a few months ago and was totally surprised that I enjoyed it. I mean it's a show about cooking and my version of cooking involves a frozen meal and a microwave. I assumed the fact that OU graduate Rick Bayless won the honor of Top Chef Master may have had something to do with my interest. Yet, when the non-master version of Top Chef started I decided to give it a chance and now I'm hooked! It has even inspired me to try to cook more. Of course on my first attempt to make homemade guacamole I cut into the jalapeno and immediately began cursing at the pain my fingers experienced from the juice. And then when I cut into the avocados I discovered the importance of making sure an avocado is ripe before you plan to eat it. Awesome. Anyway, Jen & Kevin are my favorites and I'm sure when they started cooking they made rookie mistakes too, right?

Project Runway - For some reason this season has been pretty boring to me so far. I think the challenges are uninspired and Michael Kors (my favorite judge) has only been present for one out of the three episodes. I do think that the right person has gone home each time (Seriously how did Mitchell even make this season??) and I hope that as it gets down to the truly talented people it starts to get more exciting for me. My current favorites are Carol Hannah and Shirin (yay for Richardson, TX!)

Biggest Loser - In the past this is a show that I've watched once it gets down to about 5 contestants because what I really love about it is seeing the transformations and the episodes seem to drag. I think this could be solved if they made it a one hour show instead of two, but no one asked me. However I admit that if I watch an episode long enough it usually makes me cry. Case in point, last night I watched the first hour of the premiere and teared up a few times. This season is about second chances and hearing each person's story was actually really touching. The contestants this season have been through a lot and because their stories are so intriguing I think I might find myself watching more often than I have in the past. No favorites yet although Abby's story was the one that brought the tears.

And I think that's it...as if there would be room for more, right!? I'm starting to think that I might need to get a new hobby that doesn't involve television. Until then, happy premiere week everyone!

Mad Men = Happy Rebecca

Mad Men is one of those shows that has received a great deal of critical acclaim but has yet to receive the corresponding number of viewers (see also: Arrested Development). Because it received so much hype and won awards last year I decided to put it in my Netflix queue and see what all the talk was about. I admit it took me a few episodes to get into it but by the end of the first season I was hooked. I am by no means a professional TV critic so while I agree with the critics this time my general standard for watching a TV show doesn't usually involve their opinion. Instead a TV program will stay on my watch list if I can answer 'yes' to the question "does it keep me entertained?" (see: The Bachelorette)

I'm entertained by Mad Men for several reasons: I love the clothes, the history of the era, the advertising, most of the characters, and of course all of the drama. I enjoy reading recaps and opinions of each weekly episode on Monday mornings and have found my favorite to be this one. While I loved reading recaps of The Bachelorette for humorous purposes, the Mad Men recaps are always filled with things I missed or more information on the subsequent world events happening during that time period.

If you have yet to tune in to Mad Men I suggest catching up by watching a YouTube video that recaps the first two seasons in 3 minutes here and then jumping into the third season (we're 2 episodes in). Of course you could always wait and watch the first 3 seasons on DVD and then watch the fourth season in real time; however, the sooner more people start watching the sooner I have more people to discuss the show with and let's be honest, that's half the fun of TV... so start watching!

Hoedown!

I went to the beach with some friends this past weekend and since it rained Friday morning we spent some time in the condo relaxing and watching TV. We landed on the fourth hour of the Today show, known as the "Kathie Lee Gifford & Hoda Kotb" hour. Prior to Friday, I had only seen the Saturday Night Live parody of the show and after watching the actual show I now have a much greater appreciation for the skit. It is incredibly similar - I mean I always assumed Kristen Wiig was going a little over the top with her Kathie Lee impersonation but it's actually not that far off. Her facial expressions are the best! I encourage you to watch the videos below to make the comparison for yourself. The first clip is the SNL skit and the second one is from what we saw on Friday. For the best part of the real show fast forward to the 4:30 mark, Hoda tells her not to drink the wine yet and Kathie Lee pays no attention. Hilarious!

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Zack Morris

Saved by the Bell played an important role in my life. It was the first show that I became overly excited about and that I watched reruns of hundreds of times. I remember my parents frustration over the difficulty of waking me up on weekdays for school only to find me wide awake bright and early on Saturday mornings waiting for cartoons and Saved by the Bell to come on. And thanks to my dedication to watch episodes multiple times as well as the Saved by the Bell trivia board game I own(ed), I believe I will forever remember useless trivia about the show. I remember: the A.C. in AC Slater stands for Albert Clifford; Kelly & Zack's song at the Max was A12, A new dance named "The Sprain" was invented by Lisa Turtle when Casey Kasem held a dance contest at the Max, and Slater's chameleon that died was named Artie - just to throw out a few examples of said useless knowledge. Who knew my dedication to Saved by the Bell would only be the beginning of many future obsession phases with different TV shows?

Mark-Paul Gosselaar was on Jimmy Fallon this week in character the whole time as Zack Morris and I loved it!! The video is below, if you were or are a Saved by the Bell fan I definitely recommend checking it out:



And here's an interview where Mark-Paul discusses the appearance.

Speed Cup Stacking

Sport Stacking (aka Speed Cup Stacking) is an absolutely amazing phenomenon/sport that I was introduced to 2 years ago at my church's women's retreat (we're a very competitive bunch). It is highly addictive and I am so amazed at the professionals! I think the best time I've ever recorded is somewhere in the 5+ seconds range...and that was after many rounds of practicing! The world sport stacking champion was on Ellen yesterday and he was under 3 seconds both times he performed/played/stacked cups (not sure what the correct word is there, I mean it's not really a sport - it's stacking cups, so compete or play doesn't seem right). Fast forward the video to 2:20 or 3:04 if you just want to see the stacking.