TV Finales

My top 5 favorite TV series finales:

• Lucifer
• Charmed (original)
• Orphan Black 
• Person of Interest
• Battlestar Galactica (reboot version)

Honorable mention:

• Mom
• The Big Bang Theory

I binged season 6 of Lucifer on Netflix yesterday, and it was amazing. I cried through the last half of the finale. I need to watch it again. And again. And...

~~~o0o~~~

More David Letterman

David Letterman's TV era has come to an end, but I haven't finished celebrating it. So, here are more links.

• David Letterman's Morning show.
• Sting and James Corden's duet to honor Dave.
• Dave's Final Top 10 List.
• Conan O'Brien's tribute to Dave.

~~~o0o~~~

Late Show

Tonight is David Letterman's last show. From the short-lived morning show, through Late Night on NBC and Late Show on CBS, Dave has been influencing comedians and entertaining people, myself included, for 33 plus year on TV. I'm having a difficult time imaging not having him in my life. Here are some of my favorite interviews with and tributes to him, so far.

• Seth Myers
• Jimmy Kimmel's on-air tribute
• Best Musical Performances on Letterman's Show
• Impromptu Performance of "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling"
• The First Late Night Show
• Jon Stewart
• Jimmy Fallon's on-air tribute
• Late Show Retrospective
• Jimmy Kimmel
• Dave on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show
• Norm Macdonald
• The folks who make the show comment
• Rolling Stone interview

I am going to miss his show more than I can say. I love Stephen Colbert, who is taking over the timeslot in September, but there is and will never be anyone like Dave. Here's to Stephen Colbert! May he make his own, lasting mark on late night TV, as himself, not as his Comedy Central character. And here's to David Letterman, for all the laughs, all the tears, and all the thoughtful conversations.


~~~o0o~~~

Late Night

I watched last night's CBS Special honoring David Letterman and it was awesome. I was so happy they were able to get clips from the NBC show. Here's a compilation of some of Dave's CBS show guests. And another compilation, this one of Jungle Jack Hanna and his animals. And here's a really good interview with Dave. I'm so going to miss spending my weeknights with Dave.

Can you identify the Avengers by their biceps? The actors were put to the test.

I haven't seen Avengers: Age of Ultron yet, but it's on the agenda for tomorrow. Movie viewing includes Sno-Caps, my snack of choice.


~~~o0o~~~

This Weekend's TV Viewing

This weekend's TV viewing:

Saturday: Orphan Black blew my mind in its first few seconds. If you haven't been watching this show, you're missing something special. Clones! All played by one actress! For that alone, it's worth your time.

Sunday: Game of Thrones devoted the entire episode to one sequence, the big Battle at Castle Black. Unlike the big Battle of Blackwater Bay in season 2, this left me a bit underwhelmed, perhaps because I knew what was coming, mostly as I've read the books after watching season 3. It was well done, though.

Veep aired two back-to-back episodes to end the season. The show feels like an extended sketch comedy, something I prefer on sketch shows like Saturday Night Live. I prefer my sitcoms to be more realistically filmed, more naturally acted, like How I Met Your Mother, but Veep, starring Julia Louis Dreyfus, is rather funny, a bit wacky, and always entertaining. The season ended with a fun twist.

Last Week Tonight starring John Oliver, a no-holes-barred political satire, proves one thing: John Oliver is brilliant. Unlike the show he used to be on -- John Stewart's show -- here he can say and show anything he wants without fear of censorship. He takes full advantage of that to great effect.

Watching TV

.

~~~o0o~~~

Bits and Pieces

Just a quickly thrown together post tonight because my allergies are killing me. Whole head feels stuffed, nose running like a faucet, and eyes itching. Just when I thought this nonsense was over and done, it comes back. *sigh*

So, some links for your entertainment will have to suffice.

• This bit of casting news for the upcoming Flash TV show gives me warm fuzzies.
• Some awesome street art in Brooklyn.
• Wonderful pillows. I love the Scrabble ones.
• This Doctor Who parody is darned near perfect.
• I'm in awe of this amazing fan-made Doctor Who trailer.
• The perfect gifts for Godzilla fans.

~~~o0o~~~

Monday Monday

Monday is finally not the annoying day it was back when I was working. Although, unless I have specific plans for something fun to do, it still has annoyances as it's cleaning day, so I can get the bulk of cleaning done and can get on with the week.

Watched the season finale of The Good Wife. Excellent episode, perfect way to end the season with hints of storylines to come.

Saw the movie Belle. Really excellent and educational as it's based on the life of a mixed race woman in England in the late-1700s. I highly recommend it.

In honor of Rubik Cube's 40th anniversary.


~~~o0o~~~

Season Finales

It's been a wretched allergy week so far, which wasn't helped by my taking photos in Central Park yesterday. Got great photos, but my nose and eyes may never forgive me.

It's also the time of year when the major network shows end for the season. Here are my favorites of the finales.

NCIS: Touching tribute to Ralph Waite. I got choked up, shed a few tears. Neat plot twist, too, re: the case at hand.
NCIS LA: Good episode, with a good cliffhanger. Characters left in danger, threat to the country, but no trauma for sheer shock value. The way cliffhangers should be done.
Person of Interest: Wow. Talk about a game changer. They accomplished that with room to spare. Next season should be amazing and I have no idea how they'll play it out. Lots to think about, too, re: surveillance of citizens.

Arrow: As they did last year, the Arrow folks pulled off the season's best finale of the ones I've seen so far. First, the main storyline was brought to an end with enough new plot threads started or extended, including a surprise or two, to make me eager for the third season to start. As for guest cast, it wasn't a matter of which characters returned but if any didn't. They packed a lot of characters and action, in two time periods, into one knock 'em dead episode. Kudos all around.

Marvel Agents of SHIELD: It was really good, hit all the right notes. Not really a game changer because the game changing comes from the movie-verse, but it all fits together nicely.

Nice resolution, of sorts, for Deathlok.

Lots more of Nick Fury than I'd expected. I was thinking cameo at the end, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much Fury got to add to the show.

Coulson seeing Fury for first time was priceless. So was their conversation after. The requisite shouting from Coulson, but the look on his face when he realizes how much Fury thinks of him was wonderful. I actually teared up.

May's battle with Ward was full on badassery. Loved it.

Skye held her own and was nicely smug about it. She has grown a lot over the series, which makes me happy. She has lots of potential.

Nice Fitz and Simmons interaction.

Multiple endings! The bit with Garrett at the end was priceless, in keeping with moments from the movies, a bit of uh-oh followed by a snort of laughter. Then the mysterious bit re: Skye. And finally, what the heck is really going on with Coulson?!

So, a nice finale that had a lot of the elements that make the movies so wonderful.

And some TV and movie-related links to round things out.

• Conan O'Brien presented a Star Wars audition tape a la Wes Anderson. Pretty darned funny.
• Constantine, based on a DC Comics character, is a new show for the fall that I'm looking forward to seeing.
• John Oliver, with Bill Nye the Science Guy, tackled climate change deniers on his new show
• An interview with Arrow's Stephen Amell about the finale and next season
• An interview with Person of Interest's showrunners about the change in direction for the show

And finally, these NYC Etiquette Tips are pretty darned accurate. And funny. And if you need a photo of a chickie in a hat, you should try this Etsy shop, Chicks in Hats.>

~~~o0o~~~

Some Miscellaneous Stuff

I really didn't want this to become a once a week posting blog, but since I retired, I seem to have less to say, not more, which is not what I'd expected. So, as usual, I can offer up links instead of actual content.

Continuing with my obsession of all things Game of Thrones, here's a nifty interactive map someone developed.

If, like me, you can't read those vanity cards at the end of Chuck Lorre TV shows because they flash too fast on and off the screen, now you can.

People are always looking for ways to destroy Peeps.


~~~o0o~~~

Random Entertainments

This bit of spam showed up in the comment moderation queue for my book review blog:

"I don't write a ton of remarks, but i did some searching and wound up here "Wear a Book Around Your Neck".
And I actually do have 2 questions for you if you do not mind.
Could it be only me or does it look like a few of the responses
look like written by brain dead visitors? :-P And, if you
are posting at other online sites, I'd like to keep up with
anything new you have to post. Could you list of the complete urls of your community sites like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?"

That was followed by a link for some streaming site that I'm sure I've seen in previous comment spam. I'm a bit surprised the spammer didn't ask for my mailing address, phone number, and Social Security number, too. The post the comment queued up for was a simple link to something fun and bookish. And I'm not sure why the spambot included an insult to other commenters. That's not a good way to get a comment posted. I suppose I'm lucky, though. In the last year or so, comment spam is way down for my blogs.

Another reason to love Hugh Jackman: Wolverine, the Musical.

Some other entertainments. I finally finished reading George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and found this Honest Trailer for "A Game of Thrones" to be particularly fun.

Continuing on the "Game of Thrones" theme, these charts are rather funny. And these cast Q&As are fun. And then there's this, "Long Story Short." "Game of Thrones" returns for its 4th season on HBO this Sunday. If you haven't figure out by now, it's my latest obsession.


~~~o0o~~~

Not a Quitter

Here's a philosophy I can get behind. Seen at Greenberg's Bakery.

I'd Stop Eating Chocolate But I'm No Quitter Pillow

And for you folks who are caught up with "Game of Thrones," you'll probably enjoy this video. It helps to be watching "True Detective," but it's not required.


~~~o0o~~~

Stuff for Fun

Everyone should look this good at 55. Why shouldn't Barbie flaunt her youthful looks? She'll be appearing in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue.

The new Flash series is getting a special guest star for its pilot episode: John Wesley Shipp, the original Flash actor! I'm one of the folks who loved that old show, so I'm really excited about this, even more than I was when the character of Barry Allen was introduced in a 2-part Arrow episode this season.

You can Make Everything OK. Or at least, you can try, thanks to the Make Everything OK site. Link found on Bored Blog Almighty.

And to conclude, some donuts from The Donut Pub. People might like fancy donuts, but I prefer them simple and basic.

Donut Trifecta

~~~o0o~~~

Some Things Occupying My Time

With the bone-chilling cold, snow, and waiting for repair folks, it's been a long week or so. I've spent a lot of time reading. With the 4th season of "Game of Thrones" set to start on April 6, I wanted to be sure to have the 3rd book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series read, and I made it! I am now ready for the big surprises in the show, as I much prefer to read before seeing adaptations, not the other way 'round. Only now it seems parts of book 4 will also be included in the show, so I had to start reading that.

A Game of Thrones, Season 4: A Foreshadowing includes clips and cast members answering questions. And this site has a nifty map of the realm.

Another favorite show is nearing its endgame. This article about "How I Met Your Mother" includes a clip that no matter how many times I've watched it has me tearing up.

Coca Cola's now-famous Super Bowl commercial has been parodied, with a few languages Coke neglected to include.

Not everything on my mind is TV-related. I've been keeping track of the continuing assault on women's rights, especially women's reproductive rights. This recent attack on abortion rights in Iowa could have chilling repercussions if it succeeds.


~~~o0o~~~

A Marvel Agents of SHIELD Rant

Spoilers to follow, if you didn't see this week's episode.

This article on Tor.com really gets to the heart of my problem with the series so far. I enjoy it well enough, but I don't consider it must-watch TV yet. It's too generic an action show. It doesn't really feel like part of the Marvel-verse. I kept hoping Captain America or Iron-Man or someone would swoop in at the end of the episode and rescue Coulson, because... Coulson! I get that they wanted the show to be about the non-super-powered beings at SHIELD who take care of the stuff the Avengers, et al, can't, but by building the show around Coulson, one of a very few non-powered beings who is connected to the Avengers, means not having those super-powered beings be part of the show in some capacity makes for a dull show, especially at the slow pace the mysteries of Coulson's death and Skye's parents are being played out. In addition, as a cliffhanger, this was dullsville. I'm betting tonight's Arrow will school SHIELD on how to do a mid-season cliffhanger/finale (and when did mid-season become a thing?). Arrow started as a show about a non-powered hero and has kept powers out of the show, until slowly introducing them, probably with the Flash tonight, but maybe later on, yet has moved storylines in 2 timelines forward at a pace that keeps ratcheting up the tension/suspense without defusing it, feeding us info at just the right times. SHIELD feels old hat while Arrow feels fresh and exciting. The folks behind SHIELD could take a few lessons from the folks running Arrow.

~~~o0o~~~

Death of the Fridge

Our fridge is dying. The freezer is pretty much unreliable right now, with things melting, then refreezing, which means I don't trust the refrigerator section of it, either. Repair guy says it's the compressor. RIP, Whirlpool Compressor. New fridge on order. I've mostly been eating non-perishables, or in restaurants. Fortunately, chocolate, while best chilled, is a non-perishable.

I have seen Thor: The Dark World. I enjoyed it immensely. I highly recommend it, even if you haven't seen the first Thor movie. Which I did, and enjoyed, but the sequel is better. Yeah, a sequel better than the movie it follows. A rare treat, indeed.

Favorite new show of the TV season remains Sleepy Hollow. Sorry, Marvel Agents of SHIELD, but despite being entertaining, you just seem to be lacking something, maybe the polish, audacity, and sheer fun that is Sleepy Hollow. And favorite new show of last season, Arrow, continues to entertain, kicking it up a few notches in its sophomore year.


~~~o0o~~~

TV Season Finales

Still fighting congestion from my week's stay with some cats. Ah, allergies.

I thought I'd weigh in with opinions on the season finales of some of my favorite shows. Here there be spoilers if you aren't caught up.

Castle
A nice, satisfying end to the season. Beckett's been offered a great job that would require her to move to Washington, DC. Castle, after a heart-to-heart talk with his mother, ends the episode by proposing to Beckett. The finale placed the show in perfect position to take the relationship of the two characters to a new level, or end it.

How I Met Your Mother
With one season remaining, we meet, at the end of the episode, the mother. None of the characters have met her yet. That will come next season. Nicely played.

NCIS
A nice change of pace from the everyone's in danger type cliffhangers we've seen from this show. A decade in, NCIS hasn't lost its mojo, and delivered a nice, thoughtful episode about actions and consequences. Team leader Gibbs has often cut corners to get the bad guys or find justice, as has his team, and an over zealous federal investigator has Gibbs in his sights. But a solution to make it all go away might not end well. The last scene jumps four months and we'll have to wait til next season to see what happened during those four months, as well as for the outcome. I can always count on NCIS to keep me guessing.

NCIS: LA
This spinoff of NCIS is still young enough to go for the jugular, with characters in jeopardy and a couple of old Soviet nuclear weapons in the wrong hands. The story had been built up over a number of episodes this season and there should be repercussions after the dust settles and the plot is thwarted come fall when the new season starts. Will someone be killed off? Will there be fallout from the kiss Deeks planted on Kensi? The only thing I'm sure of is that the bombs will likely be recovered or destroyed. I hope. ;)

Arrow
This new show, an adaptation of the Green Arrow comics, had a fine season, with many story threads coming together for a fine conclusion, while leaving plenty of fallout to fuel the start of the second season. A major death, a man-made earthquake that left major damage to the poor Glades neighborhood, some revelations, and some changing attitudes, mostly from Det. Lance, hold much promise. Probably my favorite finale this season.

Person of Interest
A real game-changer. The Machine is on its own! The major threat has been averted, but there's still more danger to deal with. And just what does it mean for the Machine to be independent? My second favorite finale. This is an intricately plotted show, like Arrow, being told in two timeframes. We finally learned how Finch's partner was killed and how he hurt his leg. Good stuff.

The Good Wife
Peter Florrick won the election for governor and Alicia Florrick decides at the end to leave the Lockhart Gardner law firm to go out on her own with Cary Agos to form their own firm. A game-changer, and an intelligently written series.

Elementary and The Big Bang Theory's season finales air tonight. Should be good. And there's the finales for Doctor Who and Orphan Black this weekend. With Warehouse 13 back on Syfy, along with the new show Defiance, and more shows returning in June and over the summer, TV is a year-round entertainment these days and a golden era for those of us who love our TV.


~~~o0o~~~

Got Game

Game of Thrones is back this weekend, and I've got GoT! You, too, can Join the Realm with this nifty little app for Facebook, and probably other social media sites, but you don't need to be on Facebook to use it. Just choose Download from the Save/Continue options. Save will ask you to authorize the app for Facebook, but download saves a PNG file (it says JPEG, but said PNG when I downloaded it) to your computer. You can make your own from a nice set of options, including graphics and colors and type in your text, or have the site make it for you. Here's the one I made.

Feeling: chocolicious

~~~o0o~~~

Harry Morgan

I'm at the age when a lot of the performers I've adored are in their '70s and '80s and '90s and it's reasonable to expect they won't be around for much longer. Some of those losses hit harder than others. When James MacArthur died -- one of my crushes -- the chance he'd ever appear in the Hawaii Five-O remake died with him. And it was hard when Robert Culp -- of I Spy and The Greatest American Hero fame -- died. These were actors I grew up adoring.

Harry Morgan has just died. So many people know him as Col. Potter from "M*A*S*H," and I loved him on that show, but he was never one of my crushes. He was simply an actor I have long enjoyed and admired. And by the time he was cast in "M*A*S*H," I'd already seen him on plenty of TV shows. And not just "Dragnet." The first thing I remember seeing him in was "December Bride," a sitcom from the second half of the '50s that led to a short spinoff, "Pete and Gladys" in the first years of the 1960s. Just going through the cast lists of these shows brings back so many memories. TV history in the making. So I can honestly say that Harry Morgan made me laugh for most of my life. Rest in peace, Mr. Morgan. And thank you for all those laughs as well as a few tears.

Feeling: tired

~~~o0o~~~

The Doctor is In

Doctor Who's new season (or series, as they say in the UK) started this past Saturday and outdid itself for awesomeness. Here are some links I've enjoyed recently about the Doctor.

Doctor Who's Top 11 Catchphrases
Doctor Who Series 1-6 Timeline
Is Stephen Moffat Tearing Apart the Fabric of Fiction?
10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Doctor Who
Karen Gillan on the Craig Ferguson Show
BBC Tribute to Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
"Goodnight, Sarah Jane": Music tribute by Talis Kimberley
Inside TV interview with Stephen Moffat
Doctor Who Insider and another one
Matt Smith's Hair (A Doctor Who Tumblr blog)
Another Stephen Moffat interview
Another Lis Sladen tribute
47 Years of Doctor Who Recapped in Only Six Minutes
The New Fashion of Doctor Who
Doctor Who Opening Credits - Buffy Style

And, coming this summer, the next series of Torchwood. Here's an interview with John Barrowman and Bill Pullman. And John DeLancie is joining the cast. Take a look at Torchwood: Friends Style.


Feeling: tired

~~~o0o~~~

Forgive Me, Blogosphere

It's been 5 days since my last post. Egads. I've been missing more days than not lately and I have no excuse. Not a good one, anyway. Call me lazy. Call me forgetful. But don't call me late for dinner. Okay, bad joke. Also, a very old joke. And I wish someone would call me for dinner because that would mean someone other than me would be making it.

Yes, I'm rambling. It's been one of "those" weeks. Anyone who has had "one of 'those' weeks" ever will know what I mean. This morning, for example, the library's public computer management system was under the mistaken impression it worked in a different branch. Rebooting fixed the problem, but I could empathize with it. Somedays, I wish I worked elsewhere. Still, I do love my work. It's the craziness that sometimes gets to me. Anyone who deals regularly with the public will know what I mean by "the craziness." I just got off the phone with someone who actually asked how she'd go about coming into the library. I suggested she just come in. Then she asked what she probably meant to ask from the start: What hours is the library open?

Nothing chocolicious to report. I have finished eating my pre-Passover Peeps. So far, I haven't met a marshmallow I didn't like.

I am also unexpectedly sad by ABC canceling All My Children and One Life to Live. I used to watch both shows, back in the '70s and '80s. I haven't seen them in decades now, but it's sad to know daytime soaps are nearly extinct. Truly the end of an era is upon us.

Feeling:  weary

~~~o0o~~~