Saturday, December 29, 2007

Will There Be Anything Good to Watch in January?

I've been looking around various sites trying to decide what I will watch in January. I'm already suffering withdrawals from Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. DH will have one more episode shown in January, and then ... nothing. I'm one of those few people that didn't get into Lost, so that's not even filling me with glee. The networks are trotting out a few new shows to try and a couple of them look pretty good.

It's corny, I know, but I can't wait to see American Gladiators! I loved the first incarnation and I admit that I watch the reruns on ESPN classic almost every day. I had the biggest crush on Gemini, and yes, those women scared me. Looking through the cast, there are a few new gladiators that I'm gonna keep my eye on. Crush, for example, is a relatively well known female MMA competitor. Those are some tough cookies, so I expect nothing less than balls to the wall effort from her. Toa, who reportedly is a relative of The Rock, is also a very impressive specimen. One thing that has not changed, however, is that those women still scare me.

I'm a big American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance fan, so I have high hopes for Dance Wars. It looks like it will be the best of both shows. Bruno and Carrie Ann seem to know their stuff, and I'm curious to see them build their teams for this competition. I really hope we don't have to go through weeks of bad auditions ala Idol, but an episode or two would be good. The commercials have been great and I'm really excited. American Idol is back, too, but because of the endless bad auditions, I usually don't watch until at least the Hollywood rounds.

I love Lucy Liu, so I hope I love Cashmere Mafia. The concept interests me, but I didn't care for Sex and the City. It keeps getting comparisons and that scares me. I like Women's Murder Club, and hope the interaction between the women is more like that. I want to see them work, I want to see them be successful in this mans world, I don't want to watch them sit around and talk about / complain about sex and men or fashion. I'll watch the first few episodes before I decide whether to love it or not.

These shows, in addition to the last episodes of The Amazing Race and Crowned (yeah, I know) should tide me over until February. And then what? Well, heck, then Big Brother and Survivor! Woohoo!

What are you going to be watching in January? Have I missed anything good?

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas Specials

I admit that I was a bit disgruntled to find The Grinch on television before Thanksgiving this year. Thanksgiving first with the Macy's parade, and then the specials begin. And the remakes of classics irritate me. If it's good, leave it alone. I'm a purist.

One of my favorite Christmas movies is "Miracle on 34th St." You know, the movie where a "nice old man" named Kris Kringle is institutionalized for thinking that he's really Santa Claus and a lawyer defends him in court. I prefer the original one, of course, with Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn, and a young Natalie Wood. The new one is okay, but it's not the same. There's an innocence that's missing, or something. One of my favorite scenes is Kris getting the bubble gum stuck in his beard, and the look on his face. I love watching the struggle on little Susan's face as her faith in Kris does battle with logic.

And Christmas just isn't Christmas without Charlie Brown. I tear up every year when the the other are so mean to him. He's so earnest and he tries so hard. And Linus' speech about the true meaning of Christmas is classic. And although we laughingly disparage that little tree, it still means something to us. It's more of the spirit of Christmas. I love the music, too. In fact, I change the ringtone on my phone to that skating song for the season.

Music, ahh. I love music and catchy tunes will always catch my attention. I don't know how I missed this special for the first ten years or so of it's existence, but for the last twenty years or so "A Year Without a Santa Claus" has been one of my favorites. This is the one where Santa gets sick of the ungrateful people and decides to take the year off, so Mrs. Claus sets out to prove to him that he's still appreciated. This special features a couple of awesome music videos.



This is another one they tried to remake, but failed miserably, as far as I'm concerned. Thanks to the miracle of DVR's, I can watch my favorite specials any time I want ... but not before Thanksgiving.

Anyway, these are a few of my Christmas favorites. What are some of yours?