The Axe has fallen

Poor Elizabeth Reaser. I hated Jane Doe/Ava/Rebecca, her character on Grey’s Anatomy, but never had a problem with her as an actress. I watched her new show, The Ex-List, since it premiered. I thought it was worth watching, even though Bella, her character did some boneheaded things and didn’t always make smart decisions. I was interested in most of the characters (except for Cyrus, who seemed superfluous), and wanted to see where things were headed. Even though I wondered how long the conceit of Bella always dating a guy from her past could be maintained (and what would happen if the show lasted longer than a year), I was willing not to let my skepticism ruin the experience. So too bad CBS canceled The Ex-List already. The show didn’t even last a month. Boo!

In other tv news, Life, one of the shows that I most enjoy, has (maybe) been given a new lease on…life. Sorry. It’s been moved out of the Friday night ghetto, into a prime Wednesday night time spot. Of course, this means that the show will actually have to earn better ratings, but I hope that the change in night will draw in viewers. Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi are amazing in their roles, and even though I loathe the part that Donal Logue is playing (what purpose does Tidwell serve?), I always welcome the chance to watch him on tv.

Where I’ve been

I disappeared for a bit, mostly due to the fact that I wanted to finish up the pair of socks I was knitting (for me!). I realized that I’ve really been knitting a lot in September. I’ve only read four books this whole month, and usually I read that many books in a week. So yeah, I’ve been knitting a lot, which means that I’ve also been watching a lot of tv on dvd. I still can’t believe how much I’d forgotten about Veronica Mars and Grey’s Anatomy. I’m not just talking about specific events in individual episodes. I’d forgotten love interests, major plot points, and really important instances of character development. If you’d given me a pop quiz on Veronica Mars two weeks ago, I would have failed miserably. Troy? Forgot him. Piz? How could I have forgotten Piz? Plus, I’d actually forgotten who had planted the bomb on the bus, although I did remember that that character was a bad guy.

So far, I’m not finding that I forgot the same amount of stuff in relation to Grey’s Anatomy. I wonder why this is. Perhaps it’s because Grey’s is much more present in general pop culture, so I had a better chance of being reminded of things that might otherwise be forgotten. I started with season two, since that’s what I had, and am now going back through season one. I liked Meredith better when she had some bite, and I think that the return of her spark is what made me enjoy the second half of season four as much as I did.

I went to the Andiamo Motorcycle Run this past Sunday, September 14, and I will be posting pictures of that tomorrow.

Dated!

I started watching my Grey’s Anatomy season 2 dvds and was really struck by a lot of things. The first was that the show used to be really good. Even in the midst of that goodness, I noticed that watching episodes one after the other revealed patterns that were not obvious when the shows were spread out over a whole season. The writers seemed to like some lines a lot, and used them in various episodes, giving them to different characters. The Izzy/Denny story line seemed even less probable this time around; what would make them fall in love so quickly, and why weren’t stronger measures used when Izzy’s actions were revealed? Why weren’t the police called? Something that big couldn’t stay a hospital matter.

Derek was really indecisive, and his wishy-washiness really angered me a lot. He wanted to have his cake and eat it, too, and now I see why other characters considered him so insufferable. I still feel for poor Mer, though, and don’t think that she was as annoying as other viewers find her. A lot of crappy stuff happens to her, and it’s not usually her fault.
So that show has held up reasonably well. But then I finished with Grey’s and decided to watch Veronica Mars. I got hooked on that show after having heard so many of my friends rave about it. I’d spent 24 snowy hours of a blizzard watching all of those episodes, and then the first half of the second seaon. So when I popped in the first dvd of season 1, I was prepared to be bowled over all over again. While the funny lines are there, the acting is off and the really low production values are kind of glaring. There are green screens for everything, including every car scenes. The supporting actors are often pretty terrible. The videography is cheap-looking. So I don’t know if I wasn’t into noticing things like that back then, or if I just didn’t care. I sort of think I didn’t notice.

With both shows, it’s fun to watch characters evolve, and to see little things that I forgot happened. I had remembered that Veronica and Logan hadn’t gotten along in the beginning, but I hadn’t remembered that she and Weevil hadn’t been pals to begin with, either. It seems to me that Grey’s has aged better, but that probably has to do with a more polished cast and way higher production values. Also, VM is so steeped in teen culture, which changes so quickly that even things from last year can sometimes seem dated. Paris Hilton guest-starred in one of these episodes, and now she’s not even relevant as a punch line.