Simply the Best

A friend of mine at work today asked me what shows I would consider my favorites of all time. Oh the pressure! I hate dealing in superlatives because it really stresses me out. Does picking my own personal bests of the best DEFINE me? Is this like that episode of Friends where we find out Rachel lies and says her favorite movie is Dangerous Liaisons but it's really Weekend at Bernie's?

I mean, there's my comfort food...Sex and the City and well, Friends. I'm still watching these night after night in reruns. No matter that the DVD's are in reach. We've talked about this.

Then there's those tv landscape altering shows...the Lost's and The Soprano's.

But what about those yummy guilty pleasures? Would you judge me if I said that I fondly remember rushing home to watch Party of Five to see Bailey's Intervention? And that my roommate and I sat speechless and teary eyed all through the episode sipping white zinfandel? Yes, white zinfandel. Go ahead and continue to judge me. I was young and foolish...but not so young and foolish as to not appreciate the genius (ok, hotness) of pre-Lost Matthew Fox in his earlier role as Charlie.

Once upon a time I was big on Ally McBeal, The Practice and Happy Days. Not really in that order, but you get the gist. And I totally wanted to go off to private school once I starting watching The Facts of Life.

Calm down. I'm not equating The Facts of Life with, say, The Sopranos. But, in its era, it is one of those shows that I rushed home for.

Which brings me to something else. We don't rush home anymore! Not for TV. In this post-DVR world, it's all about spoiler alerts and On Demand. I kind of miss worrying if I taped over the finale of Felicity with 90210.

Ah, Felicity. If only she hadn't cut her hair, I might be DVR-ing THAT favorite as we speak. Well, DVR-ing it AND drinking maybe a nice Cabernet?

Let's Do the Time Warp Again

90210 is within reach. And while I'm sure I'll get sucked into the high school hi-jinks, I'm watching it for the same reasons you are...to see Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty go home again.

And, I'm pretty pysched to see Rob Estes (the one and only Kyle McBride from Melrose) popping up on that show, too.

But something is bothering me.

Shows set in high school are all the rage now (I'm talkin' to you, Gossip Girl), but a lot of well known stars from MY youth are showing up on these teeny bopper shows in the grown up role, and it's making me realize something.

I'm kinda old.

Ish.

I mean, this weekend I got introduced to One Tree Hill (shout out to that certain cute Boston boy who turned me on to One Tree Hill, by the way). Now let's keep in mind that I am still watching season 1 circa 2003, but I tune in to this thing and the bad guy father is none other than 90210's brief bad boy John Sears (Paul Johansson)?! Remember, John Sears was the dude that screwed over Kelly? And now he's playing the dad?

And I'm sorry, I cannot handle Moira Kelly as the MOM. She'll always be the sassy Cutting Edge skater to me.

Well, I guess this is what happens. We may all have to get older, but we can at least relive our lives once lived by lockers over and over again courtesy of the TV. So, it turns out you CAN go home again...or at least stop by in a cameo role.

By the way, how come I never even SAW Varsity Blues and yet all I can hear in my head as I write this is James Van Der Beek in the trailer yelling "I don't want yer life!!!"

Brand Identity

I can face it. I'm not really the MTV generation anymore. I'm more of a VH1 gal. But, I do try and keep up with what the kids are up to these days.

So when I saw promos for the MTV Video Music Awards featuring Russell Brand and Britney Spears, naturally I thought...who the hell is Russell Brand??!

Now, lest I end up with a Ben Stein-style influx of hate mail again, I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed the wave of possible celebrity that Russell must've surely ridden in on to warrant hosting these awards. I decided to do the only responsible thing a journalist would do.

I googled him.

I still don't know what Russell Brand did to get this hosting gig, but I did learn a few things, like:

Russell Brand was voted "Shagger of the Year" 2 years in a row in The Sun.

MTV REALLY wants to lure you to their awards to see what Brit Brit will do next.

Also, perhaps most curiously, MTV still has music videos.

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Where the Boys Are

I'm kind of a sucker for cute boys. So, when an ESPECIALLY cute one in Boston suggested I check out Date My Ex: Jo & Slade, how could I resist?

Oh dear. Cute boys are always getting me into trouble.

Well, I did check it out. I would've liked to check out the pilot (get it together Bravo - make it easier to watch episodes online!) but instead I watched a random episode.

Now, if you don't know the premise, from what I can tell from my non-scientific random sampling, Jo dates 3 guys on each episode, and then picks one to stay on to the following week. The big twist is that her ex Slade Smiley lurks and gives her advice on who to keep around and also tells the guys what's what.

Slade Smiley. Possibly the fakest porn/cartoon name I've ever heard. Ok, actually, the only porn/cartoon name I've ever heard.

Oh and there's some weird Spice-Girl-Castoff-looking host or friend or something that also chimes in from time to time. Chris Harrison, she is not. Anyhoo, I don't really know what happens with these dudes once she collects them all, but I can tell you what I would do.

Run!

This is the biggest bunch of tools I've seen in one place since I worked on a home makeover show.

Ick.

It's mildly amusing. It's certainly a different spin on the Bachelor premise (how many can they possibly do, by the way?!). But, I don't like any of these generic pretty boy soulless guys. Not one bit. And, this 'reality' show is so fake and contrived that I'm surprised these guys aren't reading their lines off a teleprompter.

I feel bad for Jo. It must suck having the only dating options be someone they have to pay to hang out with you reality cartoon characters and the ex with the cartoon porn name.

Get with it, Jo! There are way cuter boys east of LA. Take it from me.

Hot and Bothered

I hate the summer. TV mostly sucks, and I'm forced to try out these bad reality shows, even though I know what the outcome is going to be: wasted time.

But, I watched Pamela Lee's Kid Rock's Solomon's Anderson's new reality show, "Pam: Girl on the Loose" anyway.

Anderson's been doing the talk show circuit, proudly telling anyone who'll listen that at least SHE is not going to prostitute her kids out for this show...she'll just stick to prostituting herself.

Ok, so she's more noble than Lohan or Denise Richards, the other reality bottom feeders who would probably throw puppies in traffic if it would give them the spotlight and some more cash. Pammy's show is harmless. It's not going to burn out your retinas like those other shows did, but there's just not really much to say.

Then again, I don't think Pam's audience has ever been that interested in hearing her speak. Ahem.

The other problem with this show, besides being devoid of any real plot, is the fact that it's so over the top with its cutesy for cutesy sake graphics-gone-wild appearance that it's like when my 13 year old nephew got a new Mac and went nuts trying to make a home movie and used EVERY SINGLE EFFECT AT ONCE.

OK, fine, I don't actually have a 13 year old nephew, but if I did, I imagine that's what it would be like.

It's ok, Pammy's world is inflated and make believe, too.