Veronica Mars

Okay I've always wanted to see this show. All I had seen were clips on Youtube occasionally and they made me want to see it. I didn't really know much about it but I know it was grouped with Buffy in some things I saw; at least humor-wise. So that meant I had to give it a try.

Basically the show is about the main character who shares her name with the title (aka Veronica Mars). Her dad runs a private investigator business and she takes part in it because it's a family thing. The idea is pretty good with some really unexpected twists and some very expected twists. I went through the first few episodes really fast and kept wanting to watch more, but then the excitement sort of died off halway through Season 2. I didn't watch any episodes for a few months and didn't really want to. It seemed like a lot of the same was going on, Veronica throws out witty comments while figuring out the newest mystery that always somehow affects her.

I do like the humor, and the relationship between Veronica and her dad made me laugh a lot. The humor would keep me watching, but the seemingly repetitive use of arcs such as Duncan disappearing got annoying. The levels of drama sometimes reached somewhere way too high for me and that also made me not so willing to continue. But I did get through seasons 1 and 2 although I wasn't able to get through season 3. I just didn't want to waste my time on it. I figured there was no way it would get better so I just stopped. Plus the show was cancelled and they may have left off season 3 on a cliffhanger which would just bother me to no end because I'd never know the end.

I give it: 6/10

Mari-Kari

Mari-Kari is an animated series on FEARnet which is supposedly anime and in it, Shannen Doherty voices both Mari and Kari.

Here's how FEARnet describes the whole idea of Mari-Kari:
"Mari and Kari are identical twins. They're best friends and never apart. Mari is the liveliest girl you'll ever meet. Kari is too. Her problem: she's dead. From there it just gets weird.

Mari-Kari centers around a grade school girl and her super-spooky, revenge minded wraith-of-a sister. Calamity and hilarity are hard-wired in. Set in the ordinary world of Mari, viewers see how her supernatural sisterly bond affects her life at home, at school, on the bus, at the mall - and how her life and her sister's lack of one makes them a very scary pair. Theirs is a relationship that has dire affects for anyone who tries to get in the middle of it. A cast of unforgettable characters round out the Mari/Kari duel, from Shari - the Perez Hilton of Gilles de Rais Elementary to Larry - a lovable dead kid who lives in the shed behind Mari and Kari's house.

Mari-Kari begins with Mari as she returns to school after the recent and unexplained death of her sister, Kari. The annual Sadie Hawkins dance is quickly approaching, and in a loose nod to Steven King's Carrie, we will see Mari get picked on and ostracized - not because she's a freak - but because she's just too darn sweet. A hilarious mix of karma and carnage ensues as Kari unleashes her wrath on the shallow, narcissistic and unsuspecting students who torment sweet Mari."

It's interesting how Shannen can get such a good range because Mari and Kari are two very different characters. The introduction of Larry (who is also dead) in episode 4 is interesting because it's obvious that Kari has a crush on him. When Kari says "You're a boy right?" Larry answers, "Actually, I'm an unholy demon, banished to this dimension, to gather and devour souls for my master Beelzebub, but I used to be a boy." Humor added to gore (a lot of gore) makes for a pretty entertaining show.

The episodes are short and sweet and are free online. If you want to watch it you can go to the main page for Mari-Kari on FEARnet here.

I give it: 9/10

True Blood

Well, since this blog is pretty much my way of keeping track of what I've watched, I put this show on here even though I only watched three full episodes. Either way, I'm not giving it a rating because it's not fair to judge it based on the small amount of it that I did watch. I know I've watched the first few episodes of True Blood before, but seeing how I always get sucked into like eight different shows at once. I didn't get sucked into True Blood though.(pun intended), I only manage to keep up with a few of them. So I started to rewatch True Blood and try to remember if I liked it or not.

Starting on the first episode, I did remember bits and pieces of it. This show is yet another of the plethora (I like that word) of shows that are about vampires and love and supernatural stufff like that. Except this time, the vampires have southern drawls which at first is funny but then gets annoying. The way Bill says "Sookie" which is the main character's name really started to get me annoyed. But the main reason I stopped watching is because everything was about sex and every other scene seemed to have some kind of sex going on. Either weird vampire/human sex or human/human sex was happening. But either way, it got repetitive. Maybe I would have continued watching if I could really see a plot line developing at all, but I couldn't really, and so it seemed that the whole show was just about the relationship between Bill and Sookie. And I don't like my vampires tame; I like them murdering, not falling in love (unless it's with me). So unless you're looking for a much less tame version of Twilight or The Vampire Diaries or whatever other vampire shows/movies you can think of with all the supernatural romance stuff, here's True Blood.

Better Off Ted

This is one of my favorite comedy shows but sadly it got canceled. I really hate when that happens. Like most comedy shows, there isn't really a clear plot to it, it's just funny. Better Off Ted does have a new plot for certain episodes but the episodes don't connect to each other at all which is nice because you can just pick any random episode and watch it without having to see the other ones to know what's going on.

BoT revolves around the character Ted who is a businessman in a company called Veridian Dynamics. In the show the company is portrayed as an institution that doesn't care at all about it's employees. Veronica is my favorite character on the show. She's Ted's boss and is crazy and acts like a sociopath. She says really awkward things that often don't make much sense ("What is it with everyone and their questions this morning? "Where'd you learn to drive?", "Will you marry me?", "Why would you say that to my baby?"") and confuses fawns and monsters. She never shows any emotions at all and is really good at using one-word answers for things.

Lady: "Can you describe your job?"
Veronica: "Yes"
Lady: "How would you describe your job?"
Veronica: "Cleverly"

One of the best parts of the show are the commercials that are in almost every episode for Veridian Dynamics. They aren't product advertisements, they're more like the company's philosophy. I remember looking forward to the commercial every time there was a new episode on. Here's an example of one of the better ones; or at least one that isn't made a lot funnier by the pictures they show as they say the lines because a lot of times the pictures accompanying the words are what makes it hilarious.

Commercial: "Veridian Dynamics. We're a family, just like yours. But we don't waste our time throwing leaves around. We put our family to work. We mean real work. Not just eating mush. Our Veridian Dynamic family works for every member of your family. Even the dead ones. And we're working to bring them back and copy them, in case you lose them again. We love our family, which is why we work nights, weekends, and major holidays, because that's when families should be together. Veridian Dynamics. Families. Yay."

Most of the charm and appeal of the show is hard to explain, so you should probably go watch it to see what I'm talking about. There is nothing at all I can complain about here except that the show got canceled unfairly. It only ended up with 2 seasons and there should have been many more. The only possible improvement would be adding guest stars occasionally because that would spice up the show. But even without any guest stars I would watch this show over and over again.

I give it: 10/10

30 Rock

If watching the entire first season in one day doesn't show how quickly I got addicted to this 30 Rock, I don't know what does. After hearing a lot about it, I decided to start watching it one weekend. And it didn't take much time after that for me to catch up to the new episodes. 30 Rock has a mix of crazy people, awkward people, and people who are just plain insane. 30 Rock is based on a show originally called The Girlie Show, but after an adjustment in management, the character of Jack comes in and changes everything.

One of the highlights of the show is Liz Lemon played by Tina Fey. And every time I see Tina Fey I can't help but see Sarah Palin. Liz is a really awkward character who frequently talks about cheese and her awkward life stories. I love the flashbacks to little Liz because they're hilarious. Liz's awkwardness is about half the show (at least to me): "If I have learned anything from my Sims family: When a child doesn't see his father enough he starts to jump up and down, then his mood level will drop until he pees himself." Her obsession with food is also one of the best parts of the show: "I'm gonna go talk to some food about this".

Jack (Alec Baldwin), the head boss of the show, tells things like they are. He's not afraid to say what he wants to say:  "Women your age are more likely to get mauled at a zoo than to get married". He always tries to help Liz with her problems (and she has a lot of them).

Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) is the insane character. "I don't want to disappoint my Japanese public. Especially Godzilla. Hahaha I'm just kidding. I know he doesn't care what humans do". He believes in strange things and makes up things that are just weird. Along with him is the other star of the former Girlie Show, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) who is also insane. The other characters on 30 Rock have to cater to Jenna and Tracy because they are the stars and there is no show without them. So even when the two act like small children, they have to find some way to get them on stage.

The character of Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) cannot be forgotten. Kenneth is a page at the show so he has to do everyone else's dirty work. He's another awkwardly funny character: "I want to see a show where women get their hair cut while listening to salsa music". He also takes everything literally and doesn't understand simple things very well.

My favorite thing about 30 Rock is it's quotability. It's almost like every line from the show is funnier and funnier. It also has all different types of humor which I love. I also relate it to being creepy and stalking my life, although it might have been more that my life was 30 Rock for a period of time. Kenneth offering to serve paninis right before I actually go eat one for dinner was a little bit creepy. And there's no such thing as a post about 30 Rock that doesn't include the Muffin Top Song.

I give it (I wish I could go over 10): 10/10

Tosh.O

This is yet another "here watch an internet video so I can try to make funny comments about it" show. It's not that it isn't funny, but how hard can it really be to base everything off of videos you show? Just like RayWilliamJohnson on YouTube, but he doesn't get paid for it and isn't on an actual network. The "here's a clip -insert 'funny' comment here-" shows just annoy me. Maybe it's just me who thinks it doesn't take any kind of talent at all to stand there and comment on videos.

Whatever parts of Tosh.O you do remember are the videos that you go to look up after the show. His comments aren't nearly as funny as the clips he shows. One segment of the show is "Web Redemption" in which he gets someone who made a fool of themselves and put the video on the internet and he brings them there to make fun of them. This is just annoying. As if they haven't had enough people making fun of them because of something that got caught on video, now national television gets to see them even more humiliated. Then there's how he uses half the show to make fun of certain races and/or genders for stupid stereotypes that are way overused in the first place. I know there was some other show exactly like this on Comedy Central before (at least I think it was Comedy Central) and I don't know what happened to it. Maybe it horribly failed just like I expect Tosh.O to in the pretty near future. Personally I'd rather watch RayWilliamJohnson because it's easier to find the videos after you watch his video. Even though both Tosh and Johnson annoy me, I would only watch them to find funny videos.

I give it: 5/10

Invader Zim

This is an old cartoon that aired on Nick but was cancelled for who knows why. There aren't very many episodes, but it's hard to watch them only once.

Zim is an alien who is made fun of on his home planet because he is known to be a screw-up. Also, in his society you're thought of to be better the taller you are and Zim isn't tall at all. So, as a joke, the leaders of his planet send Zim to Earth which they didn't think was inhabited. Turns out, Earth is inhabited by people (what a twist) so Zim embarks on his journey to take over Earth. His nemesis is a human boy named Dib (no I don't know what up with the 3 letter names; oh and Dib's sister is named Gaz) who does everything he can to expose Zim as an alien. Zim even attends human school to try and fit in and nobody in the school ever suspects that Zim is an alien no matter what Dib does to try and expose him. Zim doesn't bother covering up his green skin yet people think nothing of it.

The main part of the show to me is GIR, Zim's robot accomplice to destroying the world. If this little guy does not make you go "aww" something is wrong. GIR squeaks when he walks. That's just the cutest thing ever. He also has an obsession with tacos, taquitos. and cupcakes which is really funny. The video shows every reason why GIR is the cutest thing ever so I don't have to write a long thing about why I love him.

I admit the show is pretty immature, but that's because it's intended to be a kid's show. And it excels at doing that. Plus who doesn't love going back and watching old cartoons for laughs?

I give it a: 10/10

Dead Like Me

I first found this show surfing through random things on Netflix and I'm glad I did. I like shows about death, just because I find death interesting, and this one is good on that aspect. The show ran on some obscure network (I don't even remember which one) and only has two seasons... plus a movie. Admittedly I don't plan on watching the movie just because I read the reviews on Netflix and not a single one says anything good about it. I'd rather not waste my time. Plus I saw that not all the original actors were in it, which I typically don't like because it's comparable to changing the character entirely.

Anyways, Dead Like Me is a show about a teenaged girl named George (she goes by George her real name is Georgia) who gets killed in the first say... 20 minutes? of the show. By a toilet seat. From the space station. Flying down to earth and hitting her. Within a few moments of dying, George discovers that she is destined to be a Grim Reaper. Basically, her job is to take the souls out of bodies before people die. They get their assignments through a highly secretive and new-aged way: Post-Its. The Grim Reapers in this show can still be seen and interact with the living, although their appearances are changed for obvious reasons. George has trouble dealing with her death and often finds herself going back to watch how her family deals with the event. She's also someone who hides behind sarcasm and is a straightforward person who hardly ever smiles (though she smiles more and more as the show progresses). I especially like the character Mason who is another Grim Reaper. Or more I like who plays the character which is Callum Blue (look that's him on the left). Cute and has a nice accent going on but he, or rather his character, can be a complete jerk. The writing on the show is good and I like some quotes I can use often from it like "Who was using the defibrillator paddles to make grilled cheese?". But there's also some serious thought-provoking stuff in the show too.

The strange deaths in the show are worth mentioning too. Not one episode goes by without anyone dying except the one where the Gravelings (the ones who plan out how deaths happen) take a vacation. Seriously though, death by flying toilet seat and having to be known by other Reapers as "Toilet Seat Girl"? Sorry George. Other weird deaths that I remember include having the sign from "Der Wafflehouse", a restaurant the group of Reapers visit a lot, fall on the cashier and kill him. There's also a death by falling piano, getting run over chasing a dog across the street, and a lot of other ones I don't remember. The show is well written, it just drags on at some points and at times it's almost like there is no purpose to the episode.

I give it: 8/10

Pretty Little Liars

When I first saw the name of this TV show, I instantaneously thought "Oh great another girly gossip show", but I still gave it a shot solely because I saw that Holly Marie Combs (Piper from Charmed) would be on it. I'm glad I watched it and now I'm hooked.

Pretty Little Liars is based on a series by the same name by Sara Shepard. In regards to how accurate the show is to the books, I really don’t know because I have not read the books yet. The show is based on a group of girls whose friend Alyson recently died. But not very long after Alyson's death, the girls begin  receiving messages all from the notorious "A" which makes them think it is Alyson. "A" knows all their secrets and sets out to ruin the girls' lives. This sets up the series’ premise of finding out just who “A” really is. After the first episode, I became immersed in the series. Originally, I lamented over another great show that would never get the respectability it deserves. That was until I realized that this show wouldn't be passed over and that people actually were watching it.

So if you wrote off this show because of the cheesy-sounding name, remember that saying everyone rolls their eyes at; "Don't judge a book by its cover". Give the show a chance and you may be surprised at how good it actually is.

I give it: 8/10