TV Season Recap Podcast Adventure!

Ashitakas Angels Podcast #3 - Ashitakas Angels

Long time no podcast, dear readers. That's right, Mind Grapes and I decided to do another podcast. This time around, we decided to do a sweeping season recap! Exciting, I know. We basically talk about all the shows we watched (in part or in total) and give our general impressions (plus bonus haikus! yay!). Just be warned, it's a long one. So, do whatever you need to do to settle yourselves in...grab your favorite beverage, pick your favorite chair, etc., and let the beautiful yet (hopefully) entertaining chaos that is an Ashitaka's Angels podcast overtake you.

ETA: Please ignore the random musical interlude around the 4 minute mark. Don't really know what happened there. Oh yeah...we're professional.

this man really needs to be on my tv screen every week

Leeeeeeeeeeeeee Paaaaaaaaaaaaace!!!!!!!!!! Be in my life more!

It's been such a long time...

I feel really bad about not writing on the blog for as long as I have, but school lately has been kicking my ass. This is the first time I'm able to finally sit down and have a go at the blogging for a long time.  Because of this, this post is going to be a roundup of all the things I've wanted to talk about the past 2 weeks, but haven't been able to because of being busy.

Things That Are Happy Making:

• Adam Baldwin as agent John Casey on Chuck.  I love Chuck.  I think it's a really funny, cute, clever little show that more people should watch.  But my absolute favorite part of the show?  Casey.  Adam Baldwin can say more in Casey's signature "grunts" than most actors can say in words.  This is my favorite Chuck scene, by the way.
• The last episode of Fringe was by the far the best episode of the whole show.  I like Fringe, but I normally don't really pay that much attention to it while I watch, but this episode had me on the edge of my seat.  I was actually really upset that we have to wait until January for the new episodes.  Walter and Peter are still the best parts of this show, and I find that their relationship is really interesting and kind of sweet (in a twisted sort of way).  Ya'll need to become acquainted with Walter.  He's a riot!
• Speaking of best episodes of television shows, the True Blood finale.  Fantastic.  Normally for me, this show is a mixture of cheesy badness and sort of goodness, but the finale was all goodness.  Sam and Tara are still my favorites, and I can't wait to find out what's up with Admiral Cain.  (I really hope Lafayette's not dead though!).  For the lols: Sookie...can you feel my influence?
• The oldest ever Lolcat!  From 1905!  And it still can't get a cheezburger!  Words cannot describe how awesome this is.
• HBO has bought the rights to turn the "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series by George R R Martin into a television series!  I love these books!  I just finished "A Clash of Kings" and I'm already on to "A Storm of Swords".  If they do it right, this show is going to be awesome!  Tricia Helfer for Cersei!
• New promo for season 2 of Flight of the Conchords:

• Twilight in Fifteen Minutes: SAY MY NAME, BITCH!  Also, OMG LEIK HI MAH NAME IS ISABELLA SWAN.  Plus, OMG EDWARD IM SO BORED IM SERIOUSLY GOING TO DIE OMG.  The Twilight fandom can be pretty amazing sometimes.
• I don't know guys, I may be more excited for Lost to return than Battlestar Galactica.  I don't know what's wrong with me, but I've been on such a Lost kick lately.  I can't wait until the DVDs come out!  New season 5 promo pic.
• Now, this doesn't mean I'm not excited for Battlestar.  Oh my freaking god am I excited for Battlestar!  Here's the new promo for the season:
• OMG ADAMA IN THE AIRLOCK, WHAT?  Here's a mysterious website with mysterious clues for the upcoming season: You will know the truth.  These last episodes are going to be epic.
• Prince Caspian on DVD.  For Narniaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!
• The Killers' and Kanye West's new CDs.  Music is good too, people!
• Hugh Jackman in Australia.  Rugged...

Things That Are Sad Making:

• So, I knew I would have to mention this sooner or later, but Pushing Daisies has been cancelled.  I think I felt like if I didn't mention it, it would make it not true, but alas.  This is especially hard because the last few episodes have just been amazingly good.  Our drunk, Twilight-watching friend, The Derelict, has a wonderful rant about the subject here. 
• Heroes.  This is the stupidest show on TV at the moment and I can't believe I keep subjecting myself to it every week.  I liked this show during the first season.  I didn't love it by any means, and I always felt like people praised it way more than it deserved (I love this article: News Flash: Heroes Was Always Bad), but I enjoyed it nonetheless, mostly because it was something new and fresh and exciting and I really liked some of the characters (Ando! Nathan!).  Now that all the newness has worn off however, it's just...bad.  And it gets my blood boiling more than any other show.  This show has crappy dialogue, annoying characters, horrible acting, inconsistent characterization, and totally indiscernible plots.  And don't even get me started on what the show has done to Sylar.  That, my friends, is the worst crime of them all.  It's gotten so bad, I was happy that Elle got killed off so Kristin Bell can be free of this crappy show.  Fly away, Kristin Bell!  Fly away, to bigger and better things (like a Veronica Mars movie).  And yet, I keep watching out of some sick hope that maybe it will get better (or for the fact that it comes on after Chuck so I just leave the TV on out of habit).  I can't wait until 24 comes back in January so I will have no choice but to stop watching.
• House.  Why?  Why do the writer's love Thirteen so much? WHY?!  You know, I didn't hate Thirteen when she was first introduced, but the fact that she is shoved down our throats constantly every single week has made me LOATHE her.  She has freaking more screen time than House for gosh sakes!  Her character isn't even that interesting, and Olivia Wilde isn't even that great of an actress!  So why do the writers insist on giving her so many story lines? She makes me miss Cameron....and I used to hate Cameron!  I know this sounds silly, but Thirteen is ruining this show for me.  I was way more interested in this week's episode of Fringe than I was House.  And that makes me sad, because House was a show I used to consider a favorite, and now I barely care about it.  Go DIAF, Thirteen!  Even professional television critics agree with me!
• The saxophone.  Tis the devil's instrument.

A plea...

Pushing Daisies comes back from its 3 week hiatus tonight with a brand new episode!:

Episode Title: Oh Oh Oh…It’s Magic

Episode Summary: Ned reluctantly agrees to help “The Great Herrmann” (guest star Fred Willard), a famed magician whose animal assistants are being mysteriously killed off. The magician has been a surrogate dad to Ned’s half-brothers Maurice and Ralston (Alex Miller, Graham Miller) ever since their father walked out on them. Meanwhile, Dwight Dixon (guest star Stephen Root) insinuates himself into the Aunts’ lives, but Lily is instantly suspicious of his motives.

thepiemaker.com

What I'm most excited about in this episode is getting to see Ned's adorable twin half-brothers again! Yay!

Ok, here's the "plea" portion of my entry:  Please please please watch this show!  There is a very big danger of it being cancelled because of low ratings, and it would be an absolute crime if that were to happen.  This is one of the most wonderful, creative, beautiful, inventive shows I've ever seen before in my entire life and I really think people are missing out, and that's a shame.  I've talked the show up a lot in my past entries, and I don't know if there's anything else for me to say.  So here's this awesome video I found that really sums up the magic and whimsy and sweetness of the show and the Ned and Chuck relationship.  Watch the video and remember to watch Pushing Daisies at 8 tonight on ABC!

Project Runway Finale!

I don't have too much to say about the finale, but I figure I should at least mention it.

A big old CONGRATULATIONS are in order for Leanne who knocked it out of the park.  I can't say I thought hers was necessarily better than Korto's, but I did like it more and I think the judges picked the right winner.  It reminds me a little of the Jillian vs. Christian thing during last season's finale.  While Korto's line was very beautiful and wearable, Leanne's was more high-fashion, artsty, and creative.  I personally prefer the extreme creativity and inventiveness of Leanne's line, because I had never seen outfits like hers ever.  Plus, I am obsessed with this dress:

So pretty!  I'm also happy Leanne won because I've been rooting for her for the whole competition.  Not only has she produced some of my favorite looks from this years competition (the Diane Von Furstenberg challenge comes to mind), she's also very cute and funny and seems to be a really cool girl.

I have to give it up to Korto too.  She's extremely talented and I think will be around in the fashion industry for a while.  And while it's no secret that I'm not Kenley's biggest fan (and she continued to act just as snotty and mean in the finale as she does every episode), even I was surprised at how much I liked her collection.  So all in all, a good finale to a bit of a lackluster season.  Here's to season 6 on Lifetime!

As far as last night's Pushing Daisies goes,  LOVED IT.  Again.  But dude, this episode made me cry!  Twice!  Once when Chuck was talking about how she thinks they may have upset the balance of the world by bringing her back and Ned's like "what are you saying?  Do you want me to touch you?" and he looked at her with those sad, tear-filled, puppy eyes.  And another when Ned was talking about his lousy, dead beat dad who abandoned him and how he prayed as a child everyday that he would come back and take him home.  SOB!  This show isn't supposed to make me sad!  There are only supposed to be smiles involved!

9/29-10/2 Weekly Television Recap

Chuck-  Another reason why this show is so great?  They used a Flight of the Conchords song this episode.  Awesome!  As for the episode itself?  I thought it was really good.  Pretty much the same as what I come to expect from this show.  My favorite part of any episode is still Casey though (and he totally loves Chuck! Aw!).

Heroes-  I liked this episode better than last weeks overstuffed premiere.  I thought a lot of the story lines were pretty interesting.  Except Claire's.  Girl is REALLY starting to bother me.  The bank story line was OK, however I absolutely HATE what they're doing with Sylar.  If they make him at all sympathetic or try to redeem him in any way I am going to be so pissed.  I like Sylar because he's just straight up bad ass evil!  Not because he's this morally complex character!  Save evil-Sylar!

House-  I was really happy we got to learn about Taub this week instead of having Thirteen shoved down our throats like most weeks.  I actually liked his story line involving his wife too, and hope that they stay together because they both seem pretty cool (his wife was way prettier than him though).  This was probably the best episode of the season so far.  Jury's still out on the private investigator, but I thought it was cool that he found out Cuddy went to Michigan.  Shout out!

Fringe-  Walter is still the best thing about this show.  Everything he says is hilarious.  Root beer float, heh.  The lead actress still bugs which is disappointing.  Although the writing for her isn't really doing much help--Olivia is kind of a boring character.  Creepy bald guy is creepy, and I like that they've added a new mysterious villain (or is he?) to the show.  I didn't think this week's case was as good as some of the other weeks, but it seemed as though the episode was more for learning about Walter, having Peter buy into the program, and exploring the father/son relationship between the two.  Something which I'm surprisingly interested in knowing more about.  I like those two's dynamic.

Pushing Daisies- THIS SHOW IS THE MOST WONDERFUL SHOW IN THE HISTORY OF SHOWS!!!!!  I spent the entire episode with a giant grin on my face.  It is just AMAZING!  "He's stalking you" = greatest Emerson line ever, and if Lee Pace gets any adorabler I won't be able to stand it!  I LOVE THIS SHOW!

Project Runway- Wow, dudes, that was intense.  One of the most intense runway shows I've ever seen!  With the tears and the yelling and the insults.  Wonderful!  I'm a little ticked off however that Kenley wasn't eliminated.  It was so obvious that hers was the worst outfit, yet the producers want to up the drama by having someone get eliminated next episode.  Whatever.  I'm just hoping Jerell makes it to the final 3, because he's just so awesome!

Supernatural-   Mary was a hunter WTF?!  This was an awesome, awesome origin episode.  So many things were explained and in a totally meaningful way that made sense.  I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did, what with Sam being absent pretty much the entire episode, but it was...amazing.  And tragic!  It was so sad to see that Mary didn't want her children to grow up like she did.  And seeing John when he was young and cute and sweet and nothing like the hardened and bitter man we met in season one totally broke my heart.  Add that to the extremely brutal way in which Mary's parents were killed, and this was one depressing episode.  It also added a ton of questions to the mythology.  It really excites me that the yellow-eyed demon's endgame is still in effect, AND the forces of good are concerned for what's happening to Sam.  Is there a Sam vs. Dean showdown in our future? Probably.  And I'm not sure whether that makes me excited or breaks my heart.  I think both, heh.

My pick for favorite episode of the week:  Pushing Daisies!!! With Supernatural at a very close second.

The most whimsical show on television is back!

That's right...Pushing Daisies premiers tonight at 8 on ABC!

I would really encourage everyone to give this show a chance.  I know that its ratings last season weren't that great, and it would be a shame if it got cancelled.  It's one of the most creative shows on television, with great characters and relationships, and really interesting stories and mysteries not seen anywhere else.

I can't wait to see more of Emerson being snarky, Digby being cute, the aunts being crazy, Olive singing, Chuck being spunky, Ned being awkwardly-lovable, and Ned/Chuck being amazingly adorable.

Bring on the pie!