Pop 'n' Fresh

Goodbye to You...

"Goodbye to you
Goodbye to everything I thought I knew
You were the one I love
The one thing that I tried to hold on to"

Oh, Michelle Branch, the words you sing are so simple and yet so true.

It's that time of year as the death knells toll on shows throughout the land. It's time to bid farewell to the clunkers, to the cult classics, to the shows that we didn't even know about. Some got a quick death - Viva Laughlin, quarterlife - others had a lingering death.  Thanks to information from the Futon Critic, TV Squad and TV Guide.com, here is your listing of those shows not long for this world or awaiting a final diagnosis:

No matter how many nuts Jericho fans can scrounge up, CBS announced this week that Tuesday will be the final episode of Jericho, the little show that could. It marks one of the most successful fan campaigns ever (though I recall the Roswell and Farscape efforts as just as large-scale and even more successful on some counts - Roswell got a whole third season and Farscape got a two-hour movie and webisodes) and has inspired other insane fans around the Internet.
Also on the chopping block are Kid Nation (my bet is that this show gets grounded, permanently), Cane (again, I suspect this won't be able to return) and Welcome to the Captain (buh-bye captain!). Those with fates to be determined are:
- The Unit (total unknown to me)
- Power of 10 (probably back)
- How I Met Your Mother (perpetually on the bubble, but I'm betting we'll have another year to wonder who the mother is)
- Moonlight (if this doesn't come back, I'm taking a long walk in the sunlight. Yes, that's a pseudo-suicidal threat)
- Rules of Engagement and The New Adventures of Old Christine (these two will be in a battle to the death. I think only one will be back to the CBS comedy block)

Over at ABC, things are just as scatter shot. The Sex and the City clone, Cashmere Mafia has been wacked, Big Shots was taken behind the barn, Carpoolers has stalled out and Cavemen failed to evolve into a hit (OK, enough with the puns, I promise). Also among the dead and dying are Notes from the Underbelly, October Road and Men in Trees. No definitive word on Eli Stone (it's done well as a Lost lead-out but probably not as well as ABC would have liked), Women's Murder Club (I'm betting on gone), Miss Guided (it's been messed around and barely even made it on the schedule - 50/50 odds).

The Peacock network hasn't made any enemies in my house (my cat and I are forces to be reckoned with). Its cancellations include the anemic Bionic Woman and troublesome Journeyman, the fluffy Las Vegas (I'll miss the eye candy and not much else) and SATC-wannabe Lipstick Jungle. Friday Night Lights is supposed to be super close to safe, but not so for others:
- 30 Rock (NBC head Ben Silverman seems to idolize this show and it's critically acclaimed. Pretty much a given it'll be back)
- ER (ratings are dropping for the aging former darling of the network, 50/50 shot for this one)
- 1 vs. 100
- Clash of the Choirs
- Phenomenon
- Scrubs (might shuffe off to ABC for the next 18 eps, which is fine with me)
- Law and Order (I don't think this show is going anywhere, but people are getting tired of the original edition of the franchise)

And Fox, oh killer of genre shows and other loveliness, has already kicked K-Ville and Nashville to the curb. Canterbury's Law was shuffled to Fridays and I'm sure that, along with Amy Sherman-Palladino's disastrous The Return of Jezebel James are both out the door (UPDATE: Ms. James is officially gone). Uncertain are the fates of Unhitched (guessing out) and New Amsterdam (wishing and hoping and praying that it's in). Back to You is balancing precariously on the bubble.

And, because I'm a scifi geek, I must also announcement tragic passing of The 4400 from USA, Blood Ties from Lifetime and The Dresden Files and (almost certainly) Flash Gordon from the SciFi channel. Fan campaigns abound this time of year.

Check back with updates as they appear. Final word on many shows won't come until there are ratings for the final episodes air in April or the May upfronts at the latest. You'll know the fates of Moonlight and New Amsterdam by the spastic cheers/howls of torment echoing from somewhere on Findlay's north side.

- Mariah

What do you mean I'm not compatible with the Supernatural boys?

As readers will learn in short order, several of our bloggers are huge "Supernatural" fans. In fact, my celebrity dream list reads: Alex O'Loughlin, Ben Browder, Jensen Ackles (Dean), Jared Padalecki (Sam).
  and Lee Pace.

Unfortunately, BuddyTV seems to think that I am not destined for either of the two Winchester boys.

 

Are You Compatible With The Supernatural Boys?

More on Supernatural. Created by BuddyTV

For their information, I love "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and I enjoy brooding men with daddy issues. Phooey on them. Maybe one of you guys will be their dreamgirl. Good luck...

-Mariah

Moonlight madness sets in

I have incredibly bad judgment. When the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy kicked off, I refused to see it. I thought it looked incredibly boring. Cut to a friend forcing me (I think there was a significant bribe involved) to watch it on DVD. Two months later, I was camping out at a Cincinnati theater with dozens of fellow geeks.

I refused to read Harry Potter until I was desperate on one Florida vacation, just after the fifth book came out. Then I sped-read the entire series and got completely hooked.  I jumped in and read every book, rewatched the movies and started replacing my little-used calculus theorems with Hogwarts spells/

So, while I'm a connoisseur of all things pop culture, I'm a horrible judge of what I'm actually going to like. I'm judgmental and easily prejudiced by bad reviews, one poorly written scene or stilted acting. God only knows what I'm missing out on thanks to my snap judgments. I discovered one such thing ;ast weekend.

In an attempt to be a solid fiscal citizen, I opted for the basic cable package ($8 instead of the $45 of the regular package. I have to repeat that to myself every time I turn the TV on, though). So when I got snowed in last weekend, there were minimal distractions for me. I decided to download the second episode of "Moonlight" and see if it improved since I gave it an oh-so-generous 15 minutes of review.

It was in that moment that my life changed forever. OK, it was about 2 hours of downloading later that my life changed, but still... Over the next day and a half I downloaded all the episodes and gorged on all of them. Then I rewatched them. Then I wrote a fanfic (shut up Jason). Then I headed to YouTube to watch a few dozen tribute videos. I've being obsessing over the show ever since.

Here's the quick and dirty: Mick St. John is a vampire in Los Angeles, turned by his wife on their wedding night in 1952. He's a little annoyed and lots of self-hating about this. Flash forward to 2008 when Mick is a private eye trying to redeem himself and meets a pushy blond reporter with a smart mouth and a nosy personality (hmm, that sounds familiar...)

Check out this (slightly cheesy) Moonlight for Dummies vid:

Surprise, surprise, Mick and Beth have all the makings for a forbidden love, all the angsty goodness you expect from a vampire story. The Romeo and Juliet angle is great, but what's better is that the characters are not particularly melodramatic. The voice overs are a little heavy handed, but I'm forgiving because the character doing them is such a fresh take and a unique personality.

Alex O'Loughlin is completely amazing. His vampire is the regular broody, self-flagellating type, but with a genuine sense of humor, ironic and smooth. He's sensitive, he's strong, he's a little awkward and he's dreamy. And for the swooning women such as myself, they managed to feature a topless Mick every other episode (the show's budget for ripped T-shirts must be huge). It's this character that gives the show its classic film noir feel

For the gentlemen, there is the Doctor Who-beauty Sophia Myles (last seen in one of the best Doctor Who episodes running from robots and falling for the Doctor). Beth asks all the cheesy questions you would ask if you ever met a vampire as warm(ish) and fuzzy as Mick. Myles has a great grasp on the role and the two have sizzling chemistry.

I love this show in part because it reminds me of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." No, not because of the plot similarities (frankly, any time you have a broody vampire and a pushy blond, the recipe will be relatively the same). Yes, it has a vampire detective with a convertible, but this is not Angel-redux. It has a very different feel from Joss Whedon's masterpieces, which were much more concerned with subtext than this show. Moonlight, so far, has been pretty straightforward: a vampire, crazy cases, a forbidden lady love.

The reason Moonlight reminds me of BtVS is because it inspires this rabid, heartsick fan base that is already planning tattoos, conventions and all manner of crazy behavior.

In fact there are plenty of cross-show fans out there. Many who recognized greatness in Buffy and Angel dig Moonlight, too. Check out these great examples of crossover vids:

Much like the first season of BtVS, "Moonlight" is still finding its footing and there are occasional hiccups, cheesy sounding lines and odd moments (the things which threw me off in the beginning), but the show overall is delicious and highly addictive.

My bloodlust for Moonlight's return is becoming nearly unbearable, but it's due back on April 25 at 9 p.m. on CBS.

-Mariah

Update: The last three minutes of the show are always the best part and fortunately someone has been nice enough to collect them all for the viewing public (and I haven't done enough YouTube-ing in the post, have I?). They are completely spoiler-ific, but really awesome exposition about Mick and Beth: