da ali g show

i still just don't get this show.

but that's ok, i'm REALLY not the target audience.

scrubs

i never watched scrubs when it first aired. from what i've seen of the show when i manage to catch it randomly on television, i've been less than impressed. it seems immature, goofy, & sort of direction-less. so, while i tried to keep an open mind for season one, i didn't have the highest of hopes.

but i have to admit, i was pretty into disc one. on the pilot, we were introduced to every single main character (& most, if not all, of these characters remained throughout every season, which is a good sign). all of the characters were really solid & strong, which is typically not the case with most of the pilots i've watched so far. the humour was pretty well-defined (& i actually LAUGHED!). & the show, in general, was a lot of fun.

it seems as if, through the years, scrubs has lost a lot of what made it great in the beginning. the humour perhaps lost something, or the characters have maybe become caricatures of themselves. i'm not completely sure, but i do know that something happened over the years. something bad.

i did enjoy the first seven episodes of scrubs, but knowing what it becomes within a very few years, i'm not totally sure i'm willing to dedicate any more time of my life to this one. but i did enjoy what i saw & i won't be so quick to bad-mouth the show from now on.

alf; 2

i don't have much to say about this one. i mainly agree with sham.

i have fond memories of this show from when i was a kid. i don't know if it just didn't hold up, or if i'm just a completely different person now. but, i was bored to tears by this show.

there was, admittedly, one gem on this one (though, as sham explains below, it's from disc two).

i'll save you the trouble of watching ALF at all.

watch this instead.

alf

so first let me say that we fucked up a little. well.. i did. or, if i feel like passing the buck, the designer of the dvd case messed up. we decided to watch alf because jessica already owns it and i hadn't ever seriously tried to watch it. when i opened the dvd case, there was one disc visible and another disc behind it. normal. totally normal. so we sit through a whole disc and are confused and complaining about the fact that the show just jumps right in, the family is totally comfortable with alf, and clearly we are missing out on something. so, of course, the next day jessica brings it to my attention that we were watching the second disc! that whole time! chuckles all around, and then it is realized that the second disc i had seen before in the case is disc number three. the little paper insert that always comes in dvds? the first disc is BEHIND that. really now? i mean, i know i should have just looked at the disc numbers and figured it all out to begin with. but seriously. poor design.

disc two involved a lot of not-so-funny jokes and a lot of me groaning. now that everything has been straightened out, here we are watching disc one. but you know what? we're cheating. we're watching the pilot and the original un-aired pilot (which are apparently VERY similar)... and that's it. honestly, i don't think i could handle much more alf.

i don't really understand how this show got picked up. nevermind how it made 120 episodes. i love the muppets (or other comedic puppets), and would probably think this would have been a great show premise. i absolutely have to be missing something. i think i laughed twice through all the footage i watched. the laugh-track was painful to hear because i had no idea what they were laughing at. i really can't think of much else to say here. maybe i'm tired. maybe i don't full grasp alien-related humor. and maybe... just maybe... this show isn't funny and america was wrong.

my so-called life

i'm going to go ahead & steal a gem from a review i once read for this one.

if you don't like my so-called life, then i don't like you. seriously.

premiering four years after beverly hills: 90210 blew away the world by openly discussing topics such as sex, racism, drugs, & rape, & four years before dawson's creek shocked everyone with affairs with teachers & teenage sluts (think about that for a moment...when angela chase was 15, dawson was 11. ELEVEN!), my so-called life certainly lacks the controversial nature of other shows geared toward teenagers in the 90s. i mean, imagine this: angela DOESN'T sleep with jordan when he propositions her. whoa.

but what it lacked in the Controversial Department, it certainly made up for in the Realism Department.

my so-called life is the only (not first, or best, but only) show that accurately depicts teenage emotions & the torment that is high school. naturally, not everyone can relate to angela chase. she's miserable, depressed, EPICALLY unhappy, & it's utterly painful to watch her do anything or say a single word. this was certainly not everyone's high school experience.

BUT IT WAS MINE.

angela chase, you are me. you would have understood how i felt in high school. we could have listened to the cranberries in our rooms TOGETHER. we could have dyed our hair red TOGETHER (& oh, how i ached for her hair when i was 15). we could have giggled & obsessed about jordan catalano TOGETHER (i love how he, like, LEANS). we could have just, you know, like, hung out TOGETHER. we would have found solace in each other's misery.

but alas, the world at large couldn't fully grasp what angela chase was all about (much like how i felt it couldn't understand me when i was 15) & the show was cancelled after only one season. but oh boy, what a doozy of a season.

was my so-called life just too REAL for society? too ahead of it's time? like i said, despite the major gay character & a little adultery, my so-called life isn't terribly controversial. it's not the sex & drugs that got this one cancelled; it's the misery. the world at large simply just did not want to know what it feels like to be an unhappy teenager. it's easy to pretend that your teens are happy & enjoying life. it's much harder to know that they hate everything & would really rather not exist (as angela puts it, "you know what i'd really like? to be put out of my misery."). could society really just not deal with knowing what life was REALLY like for teenagers in the 90s?

let's consider the options. on season one, disc one of my-so called life, rickie is tormented for being bisexual. angela deals with the after effects of a nasty (& untrue) rumour that she slept with jordan. then, she has to deal with him telling her that, because of the rumour, she may as well sleep with him. THEN, she has to deal with him telling her that he doesn't have any actual interest in her at all. (epic). rayanne gets wasted & is escorted home by a police officer. brian (oh brian krakow...jordan may be a fox, but you always won my heart in the end) is continually made fun of, put down, & teased for being a brain. sharon is so angry at angela for dropping their friendship that she won't even set foot in the chase household. NONE OF THESE PEOPLE ARE HAPPY. they are all very, very, very unhappy.

at least in beverly hills: 90210, the characters would eventually learn to turn their smiles upside down by the end of an episode or two (even when faced with drug addictions & rape attempts). on dawson's creek, dawson would over-analyze everything until it didn't seem like such a bad thing anymore & he would figure out a solution to any problem. on my so-called life, however, even lasting ONE day at school was nearly too much for angela chase to bear.

& yes, i think that's a reality that society did not want to face.

which is sad, because really, in angela chase, i've always found a kindred spirit. & that last episode...(is it cheating if i discuss things not on the first disc? ok, probably. so i'll leave it vague)...that last episode man, is heartbreaking. & sadly, i'll never know what happens after that last moment between angela & brian. & that breaks my heart.

i miss angela. i wish that we had been able to have more time together.

instead, i've got to cherish what little time i DO have with her. season one, disc 2? disc 3? disc 4? yes. i salute you, angela chase, for showing the world what being a teenager is REALLY like.

& really, i agree with you, "can't people just cheer on their own? like, to themselves?" the world would be a better place if society had opened their ears to what angela chase had to offer.

the prisoner

i didn't stumble upon this one by myself. i've had two friends recommend this one to me on separate occasions. so today i thought, why not.

i have to admit, i am a little taken aback by the fact that season one, disc one consists of only one episode, the pilot (aka "arrival"). i don't feel that i can sufficiently judge the show based on only one episode, but to be fair to the rules of the game, i've got to.

first off, for anyone who doesn't already know about this one, it's about number 6, who resigns from his government position only to awaken to find out that he's being held captive on an island until an absent number 1, the man in charge, finds out WHY number 6 resigned from his position. the village number 6 now lives in is called simply "your village," & it's self-sustaining. number 2, the second in command, changes mid-episode (& i'm told this is a common occurrence). number 6 spends his days trying to escape from the island, but the ever-changing number 2 thwarts his every move. no one on the island knows why they are there, & they don't seem to care. oh yeah, & there are giant white orbs that suck number 6's face & knock him unconscious every time he strays outside of the village. at least, that's as much as i can piece together so far.

oh, i think i get it. basically, LOST already existed. it premiered in 1967 & it was originally entitled "the prisoner."

i admit, i'm still pretty confused about this one. but, that's probably the point. more questions were raised in the pilot than answers were given. i also don't particularly care much about number 6 yet, but to be fair, we've only spent an hour together so far.

i am pretty intrigued by this show. i want to know why number 2 keeps changing. & who are numbers 3-5? & why did cobb go by "cobb" & not a number? &, more importantly, where did cobb GO at the end of the first episode? & why is number 6 assigned such a low number, when there are clearly at least a hundred other people already on the island? where did all these people come from? what the hell are the white orbs? &, most obviously, who is number 1? at this point, i sort of imagine him like dr. claw from inspector gadget. (i'm sure i'm not very far off).

semi-futuristic & very bizarre, the prisoner proved to be quite interesting. i'm willing to give season one, disc two a chance (& by season one, disc two, i really mean episode two) to see what the show is all about. i have a feeling i really can't judge this one by its cover (& by cover, i really mean pilot episode).

so, the prisoner season one, disc two, i'll "be seeing you" very soon.

dawson's creek

to be perfectly honest, & despite what i sometimes pretend in nostalgic conversations about my childhood with friends, i watched very little of dawson's creek when it first aired. in fact, i've maybe only ever seen the first season before. & mostly, it was viewed at my friend courtney's house because my parents thought it was a little too "adult" for thirteen-year-old me.

that being said, i'm surprised by how much of disc one i actually remembered, nearly word for word. i'm not sure why i netflixed it to begin with, but once i put it in my DVD player (DVD player...did i even HAVE one of those in 1998?) i was overwhelmed with memories.

oh yeah, james van der beek CAN'T actually act. & that's riiiiight, joey WAS a major bitch. & michelle williams' clothes really are still THAT bad. oh &, you know what, pacey still is that fucking ADORABLE. (i always was a pacey girl, dawson is too pretentious for me.)

other than that, i admit there's very little to say. i COULD go into a long discussion about how it revolutionized teen television. on the first disc alone, pacey sleeps with his english teacher, mrs. leery cheats on her husband of 20 years, & jen admits that she is not only not a virgin, but a major slut! surprise surprise! or, alternatively, i could mention how, without beverly hills 90210 (my personal favourite), dawson's creek would never have been able to exist.

but really, what's the point?

the truth of the matter is, all of the characters are pretty annoying. i don't like dawson at all, & i perhaps like joey even less. jen is tolerable. pacey is, as always, the shining star of the show. the acting is subpar. the plot is a little melodramatic for my tastes. the dialogue is cringe worthy (not because it's so bad, but because it sounds more like an emerson student than a 15-year-old cape cod high schooler). &, as a 23 year old, i find myself able to relate to very little of the show.

but honestly, none of these things will stop me from acquiring season one, disc two. after all, isn't that how all season one, disc ones should be judged? do these three or four episodes keep my attention enough to make me want to invest more time & energy? do i find myself caring enough about if joey & dawson will ever kiss? or what ends up happening between pacey & the english teacher? or if jen & grams ever find common ground?

yes. yes i do care. very very much.

season one, disc two? absolutely.