Theater Thursdays: Memory Lane Edition

It's been a slow television watching week, but that doesn't mean we haven't dug in to a few things here and there. Once shows start to come off their winter break I'll be a bit more involved in Stories, but until then here's what I've been watching.

Television

I'm still making headway through Buffy Season 2. I'm getting up near the end of the season now and although I remember most of the story lines, it's great to see it through again so that I can remember some of the smaller details. This week brought some pretty classic moments: Angel telling Buffy he loves her, Angel turning evil again after he and Buffy do the dirty nasty, and learning that Oz is a werewolf. It seems to me that the second half of Season 2 is really where the show caught it's stride, with the trademark humor and the whole cast finally clicking into character. I may have also convinced the husband to watch the show with me too!

We also caught an episode of the new Restaurant Impossible, which is a blatant and total rip-off of Tabatha's Salon Takeover… except in the restaurant world. I admit that I actually like Tabatha's show (though not so much her), but this episode of RI failed to impress. This is a guy who is suppose to be rejuvenating a restaurant to make it profitable again, yet he turned around and ordered plastic lawn chairs for the new dining rooms? Really? Plus he's no where near as genuinely condescending and confrontational as Tabatha. This guy, Robert Irvine, is just a whiny prick that throws temper-tantrums. If I wanted to see that, I'd watch Flipping Out… but I don’t.

Finally, I watched a few words of The L Word with the husband. I think it's more of a "him" show than a "me" show, but I have enjoyed the episodes I've seen so far. Poor guy has to explain to me what's going on whenever I catch an episode, but we've nicked-named one of the girls Pixie… and that's about all I can remember of the characters. Pixie is crazy possessive and also kind of my hero for being out and proud insane.

Movies

The A-Team came in the mail from Netflix. My husband is a huge action fan. If there's explosions and bad acting, he wants to see it. And even though we successfully dodged A-Tem in the theaters, it was only inevitable we'd watch it at home. And watch it he did while I tried my hardest to bury myself in World of Warcraft. The thing with A-Team is that Bradley Cooper is so hot that I can't help but stare at him, so I ended up watching it a little. I'm pretty horrible about movies because I'm that guy that goes "that is so not real, it could never happen!" Of course I never say that in movies I'm liking, but still… In any case, I had to remind myself that The A-Team never purported to be realistic, so saying whatever action shot just happened isn't real was pointless.

And just for shigiggles, we also watched X-Men 2. That has to be my favorite of the three actual movies, so I always enjoy spending a couple hours watching that flick.

What Did You Watch

So what's on TV that I'm missing, or what movies do I need to add to the queue? I'm excited for Ru Paul's Drag Race to start up again soon, and of course our regular stable of shows will be back shortly, but what are you looking forward to starting back up?

Theater Thursdays: Not So New Edition

Well, it's not quite theater centered, but y'all should already know I love me some alliteration.

I figure Thursdays, for all my love of the day, would make a perfect day to discuss what I've been watching in the realm of television, movies and theater (whenever we get the chance to go). I don't think I'll take this column as a critical analysis (or hack-job analysis as is more likely with one of my pieces), I do think it'll be fun to discuss what I've been watching. There will likely be spoilers, but considering I'm almost always behind on my TV watching and what not, I doubt that there will be too many. Join me and discuss what you've been watching in the comments!

I'll be honest and state up front that I'm just not much of a TV person. There are a few shows that I love and will watch regularly, but in general I just turn on Comedy Central of MSNBC and let it go in the background while I'm on my computer gaming. My husband watches far more TV than I do, which in turn means I get caught up on a few more shows than I would on my own devices.

Finding myself drawn into his Stories is a side affect of living with a TV watching person though. I would not watch Grey's Anatomy on my own, but since he watches it I find that get more and more interested in his shows. Keep that in mind as we dive into what I've been watching this week!

Television

First, I've started re-watching Buffy on Netflix. Yes, I am one of those geeks that thinks Buffy could be the best show that ever existed, and it is possibly one of only two shows that I've cared to go back and re-watch again and again. I'm in the middle of Season 2 and just watched the Halloween episode where Xander runs around in his camo's with a tank top on most of the show and… wait, where was I? Hmmmm… anyway!

The L Word has also been playing in our house this week. My husband has been getting into the show, and I've caught on to it after a couple episodes as well and have so far been enjoying it. I think we're both big fans of Shawn and her bad girl with a heart appeal, but we're already getting annoyed with the petty, controlling characters on the show. I suppose getting to a point where you have strong opinions about the different characters is a good thing though as it means your getting invested!

We also watched Grey's Anatomy this week. I'm not exactly sure how far behind we are with this season, if at all, but the episode we watched was the episode about a school shooter that opened fire on his campus and, of course, all of the victims came to the hospital that is obviously close to everything. It was a rather timely episode given the shooting in Arizona this past weekend. What stuck out to me in the episode was the mother of the shooter and her reaction to the whole event, as well as people's reaction to her, then drawing the parallel to the Arizona shooter's family… It wasn't super happy fun TV, but it was interesting and poignant.

Movies

Netflix brought us two movies this week: The Expendables and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. We saw Sorcerer's Apprentice at the movies when it released and I had just about the same impression of it at home as I did on the big screen. It's enjoyable and fun, but nothing I care to cherish forever or watch again. The fact that Nicholas Cage was in it and he didn't annoy the hell out of me actually speak volumes for the movie, but he is still in it, so it can't really get over that hurdle.

The Expendables… was not at all what I thought it was going to be. I truly lost track of the movie half way through and just focused on my laptop because it just stopped making any sense whatsoever. I was expecting an action-comedy, but was getting a "serious" action movie vibe instead. In a movie filled with action stars, I do expect to see some great fights, explosions, etc., and those were all present, but I do also expect a bit of self-awareness and in-jokes, perhaps some subtle jabs at the genre itself. Instead it felt like they wanted it to be a for seriousness movie with a bunch of not-for-seriousness actors.

What Did You Watch

That's what I watched this week. Most of our regular Stories are on winter break still and since it's Oscar season, not many movies have bee released that appeal to us. While I enjoy a good drama, my husband is not a big fan of any movie that is too serious, so Oscar season is usually a bust for us.

But what have you been watching? Tell me about it in the comments!