I'm sure SOMEONE has talked about the new shows that are going to be bombarding the networks this fall, but I wanted to throw in my two cents anyway.

NBC

I'm glad they renewed Parks and Recreation.  It really is a quality show and deserves a little more time to be as big as some of its comedy predecessors.  After all, The Office was nearly canceled after its first season...  I'm a little sad Kath and Kim was canceled, but I'm realistic.  It was only a matter of time.  Anyway, moving on to the new shows.

There really aren't that many on NBC.  I was surprised, though I think that they have been the smartest network about canceling and saving shows.  FOX and ABC are really rushing into things lately.  FOX was always like this, but it's starting to surprise me coming from ABC.  Of course, no one can be as stable as CBS.  Just saying. 

So...new shows on NBC.  There's a new sitcom-type show called Parenthood, a new medical drama Trauma, and Jay Leno's new show.  I'm sorry to say, but the only new show I think is worth watching is the new one with Joel McHale called Community.  McHale plays a lawyer whose degree has been found out to be not so valid in the U.S. and he has to go back to community college in order to finish and return to his practice.  It looks like sort of a dramedy (sp?)  and I have little doubt it will be funny.  :)  There's an extended preview under the cut below that I embedded from NBC's website.  Check it out.  Community will be on Thursdays at 8:00/7:00c.

The CW

As far as networks go, the CW has to be at the bottom of the barrel.  Everyone knows that this was a floundering network from the start.  All of their hit shows but a few have been stretched beyond their means.  I know that there are plenty of Smallville fans out there, but I also know the series has taken a crazy downturn in the last few seasons.  Also, I kind of keep up with One Tree Hill through info I get from my brother.  (He's a huge fan.)  Apparently, two of their very important and main characters have left the show, yet they are continuing into the next season.  The only show I really haven't gotten sick of and hasn't overstayed its welcome has been Supernatural.  The CW has really been kept afloat a lot of the time by reality shows such as America's Next Top Model and such.  There's also those teenage dramas like 90210 and Gossip Girl...  Oh well. 

Okay, new shows!  Hmmm...there's something called the Blonde Charity Mafia which is a documentary-like series about 20-something socialites in Washington, D.C.  There's also a re-make of Melrose Place.  The Beautiful Life is about the cutthroat world of fashion modelling, the Vampire Diaries is about two brothers who are also vampires fighting over a mortal girl, and Parental Discretion Advised is about a 15-year-old girl who is sick of foster care, becomes an emancipated minor, then finds her parents who are like kids themselves, then they have to figure out how to live with each other.  I have to say that the only show that looks good for the new season is Parental Discretion Advised.  The rest seem cliched or I feel like I want to roll my eyes at them.  (I'm sorry for the personal bias, everyone.  I just feel like, sometimes, The CW doesn't try hard enough.)  Unfortunately, this looks to be a mid-season replacement show.  Info is HERE on The CW website.  :)


ABC

This network has a plethora of new shows.  Castle is returning as a full-season show, which I find incredibly exciting.  This will have the same time slot as it did this past spring: Mondays at 10/9c.  Because there are so many new shows, I'm going to link to ABC's website for the new season, and just talk about the show's that seem interesting.  Website is HERE.

Flash Forward is the first show that piqued my interest.  It stars Joseph Finnes and John Cho.  Description: "A mysterious global event causes everyone to black out simultaneously for two minutes and seventeen seconds, and each person sees a glimpse of their lives six months from now. When they wake up, everyone is left wondering if what they saw will actually happen".  The cast seems promising for this one, and the description is definitely intriguing.  Flash Forward is on Thursdays at 8/7c. 

The Forgotten is about civilian crime solvers helping the police identify missing people's remains.  It also looks interesting and different.  This is on Tuesdays at 10/9c.

Happy Town is centered on a small, quiet town where nothing really happens...until a secret from the past stirs up questions.  Amy Acker is in the starring cast.  It looks promising.  The show does not have an airing time or date, so I'm almost certain it's a mid-season show.  :/

There's also a comedy/mockumentary-style show called Modern Family.  This may be good as there certainly have been great mockumentary comedies in the past that have hit our screens (The Office and Arrested Development just to name a few).  This one is on Wednesdays at 9/8c. 


CBS

Lots of old favorites are returning.  Of course, I'm most excited about The Mentalist.  :)  Again, there are a lot of new shows, so I'm only going to highlight the ones that have sort of piqued my interest.  HERE are the descriptions of all the shows. 

First of all, I had NO idea Medium moved networks!  Shows how much I pay attention.  The only show that's really grabbing my interest at the moment is Three Rivers.  Alex O'Loughlin from Moonlight stars in this drama as a transplant surgeon.  The show revolves around the lives of organ donors, recipients, and transplant surgeons.  Sounds interesting, and I'll probably give it a decent chance.  I just hope CBS doesn't cancel it like 3 Lbs.  :/


FOX

Last, but not least.  Lie to Me is back for a full season.  I'm a bit happy about that.  Fringe was (without a doubt) renewed.  Of course, we have Glee.  :D  If you have not seen the preview episode yet, WATCH IT!  It's fabulous, and I truly hope it lasts on this network.  I almost have a feeling that this show would have done better on a network like NBC or even ABC.  In the fall, Glee is going to be on Wednesdays at 9/8c. 

HERE is a list of FOX's fall and winter line-ups.  There really isn't that much that's new in the fall.  Winter looks to be a bit more packed.  24 is returning for at least one more season.  Sons of Tuscon is a comedy in which three brothers hire a con-man to be their father.  That may be funny...  Past Lives is a show in which investigators use their clients' past lives in order to help them with their investigations...yeah...  That's really it. 


So, there's my (very detailed) two cents on the subject of the Fall 2009 line-up.  I feel a little bit better about it compared to last season.  Here's hoping for the best.  :)

I don't think there was a moment where I wasn't screaming at the TV. 

( Review 04x22 )

I had the opportunity of going to the Gene Siskel Film Center at the Art Institute in Chicago this past weekend to see a movie as part of their Asian American Showcase 2009.  I enjoy a good Independent Film, and I saw a great one: Karma Calling.  The director and cast members were there to answer questions after the movie.  It was quite amazing.

It took them three years to make and complete this film.  The director advised us to blog, Twitter, or Facebook about the movie if we loved it.  I'm doing just that.  It was an AMAZING movie, and I really do appreciate the process of a filmmaker just wanting to get their work out there.  The film will be shown at Cannes later this year, and there are showings around the U.S.  Go to the website if you're interested and get out there and see it!  I would recommend it to anyone.  :)

Pimping done for today...  Back to schoolwork and such.

Well, now, it's officially online!  :D

Go to the library page here to see the official version.  I don't think it's as good as mine, but it will do.  ;)

Also, I'm going to get some of those Alphabet Drabbles done today if nothing else.  That's what happens when it snows a few inches in April; I don't really want to go outside.  :/

Have a Happy Monday, everyone! 

So, the Best Friend works at the library here at uni. She needed some of our friends to pose for a READ Campaign poster that they're going to be putting up all around the campus. I'm sure you've seen these posters. They were all around our grade schools and such. Anyway, we decided to take the picture today, and here's the result:
( Clicky for silly motivational poster )

Yes, we're silly, but, oh well.  I guess it's for a good cause...

I just heard "Carry on My Wayward Son" on the radio while I was wasting time at work. 

Happy SPN day, all! 

I'll probably write a review later if school work doesn't eat me first...

 "Viva la libertad -- A Friend."


Respond however you'd like...

I'm sure most of you have seen or heard about the MacGruber skits on SNL.  This past Saturday, the Best Friend, rt2788 , and I were tuning in, and these commercials came on.  We thought they were skits at first, but NO.

All I have to say is: RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON!!!!

Ad #1:



Ad #2:



Ad #3:

I'm beside myself with excitement!  I'd scream out loud right now, but I'm in class...

Paul McGann coming to Chicago TARDIS...

I'm seriously beside myself.  lol  :)  I'm going to make sure I get tickets nice and early this year. 

The first fake!Adventure!Post Pt. 2 has been deleted to make way for the real one! Now that my finals are all over, I finally have time to post pics and vids of the rest of the con! Enjoy! :D


Saturday Night

After a late lunch, we headed back to the hotel for the Lis Sladen panel. I hadn't been to the con before, and I was surprised with the question format of the panel. If we had a question, we were all given a chance to line up in the aisle and would pass the microphone they gave us down the line as we went. I thought that was wonderfully (and somewhat) personal to nearly be face-to-face when we were asking the questions instead of staying in our seats and just standing up.

I can't remember every question, but there are some that stick out in my mind. One man asked about balancing family life with acting. Lis said her family always came first and that she stopped a lot of her acting when her daughter was born. She also said that she always thought people saw her as Sarah Jane with regards to acting. She said she felt like she was behind others sometimes because there was so much time between acting jobs in her career.

There was also a question about her nearly dying on the "Revenge of the Cybermen" set. Lis asked how many people hadn't heard this story before because she wasn't going to tell it if most of us had. A suprisingly large number of people hadn't heard the story, so she said she'd tell it and those who heard it could "put up and shut up."

Lis said that they were filming in a cave that was supposedly cursed. One day her and Ian Marter (Harry Sullivan) were on the set reading over this page of script that seemed strange to the both of them. Lis made a red arrow on her script to remind her to ask the director about the strange scene. The next day they were wrapping up filming for the day and they still hadn't done the strange scene. Lis asked the director about it, and he didn't know what she was talking about. Both her and Ian went back to look at that part of the script, and it was gone! There was the red arrow still on the page from where she'd marked it, but there were no typed lines. She said it was extremely weird and she still didn't know what that was to this day.

It was later in the filming when she nearly died. In the cave, there was a small body of water on which they were filming. Lis had to float across it on this plank of wood, and they flimed her paddling on it. When they looked back at the footage, they realized they had no film of her pushing off of the bank and starting to paddle across. Lis said that she was nervous, and she thought that the raft would be carried away by the current of the water. The man who designed the raft assured her that this would not happen. It did, and she was either going to get caught on a group of rocks down the little stream or be caught under the current of the water. During all of this, they were still filming! She said that she was terrified of going under because she's terrified of being submerged in water in general. She can't even put her face under the shower! :( Finally, one of the crew dove in to save her. She didn't want to swear, so she said she was really "p-ed off" when this happened.

After the story, there were several questions about the Sarah Jane Adventures. One girl asked if K-9 was ever coming back to the show. Lis said sorry, but not in this series. She was hopeful for the next series, though. :) Lis also made mention of how mischievous the kids are on the set of the show, especially Daniel (Clyde Langer). She has a lot of fun filming with them. She talked about how in the old series, when she was with Jon Pertwee, you can always see him turning to her and speaking to her. He was always telling her to slow down and not get in front of him when they were running. Now, she said that she does that to the kids on her show. (Awww.) :)

The best piece of discussion about the show that Lis brought up was how the show is really a comforting escape for children or anyone who is too overwhelmed with the state of the world today. Sometimes all the bad and horribleness is too much, and children need somewhere they can see that good wins and everything will be okay. Lis said that she thought this was a very important message to send out. This is just another amazing statement that shows how Lis is so wonderful (and adorable)!

There was a man who had his turn to ask a question right before me. He started off complimenting Lis, incredibly, about her appearance and her work. He then finished his question with: "Then when does one become such a diva to charge for photographs and autographs?" It seemed like chaos erupted then. The moderator of the sesson stood up and started yelling at the man, telling him that Lis was NOT charging for photos and autographs, but it was the con that WAS. Every (or so we thought) attendee knew it was the con that was charging, and NOT Lis. Lis didn't hear anything beyond "diva", so she asked that he finish what he said. The moderator repeated the question for him. Lis wasn't mad. She was very serious about it. She said it was a fair question, but it wasn't the time or the place to ask it. He could have taken someone aside and asked them anytime while he was attending the con.

It was finally my turn. Trying to recover from my embarrassment over the last question, I tried to gather my thoughts. Lis told me to "lift us up" with my question. I made sure I thanked her first then when on to ask my question. You can see the vid of it just below that mrsdrtennant so generously taped for me:


Here are some of the end of the panel including Lis doing "Eldred must live"...:





After Lis' panel, it was time to line up for the Women of Big Finish photos, which included India Fisher, Lisa Bowerman, Ciara Janson, and Laura Doddington.  I was really there to see India Fisher who I LOVE in the Eighth Doctor, and now Sixth Doctor, audios.  This line turned out to be the longest one that we would wait in all day.  At this point, they were taking their time sine the lines weren't as long anymore.  We sat, played card games, and swapped stories with fellow con-goers while waiting. 

It was in this line that I found out why Lis Sladen's photograph session had been moved from 11 to 1.  Apparently, Lis' handlers (the assistants assigned to take her from place to place at the con) had gotten the schedule mixed up.  The handlers and Lis had gone over to JCPenny in the mall to look around.  The handlers didn't realize they had to leave for photos before 11, so they stayed too long.  After hearing this story, I had images of unwitting fans who had no idea there was a con going on and spotting her in JCPenny, being terribly confused. 

( Line pics! )

The Big Finish photos went smoothly.  While I was in line, I met this woman who was a self-admitted Lisa Bowerman stalker.  She wasn't weird or anything.  She was just making fun of her fangirliness.  She mentioned that she was going to wait around later to try to get a picture and have a brief chat with just Lisa.  I wasn't aware I'd get that opportunity, and I mentioned to her that I'd like to do that with India.  When I finally got up to take my Women of Big Finish picture, I couldn't figure out how to tell India how much I enjoyed the audios without excluding the others.  Instead, I said nothing!  I look a bit awkward in the pic, but it went well otherwise.  :)

( Big Finish pic! )

Because it was about 6:30 when we were finished with the Big Finish pictures, we decided just to wander around until it was time for the Masquerade.  Somewhere in all the waiting, we spotted India Fisher talking to a small group of people in the lobby.  I was really hesitant to approach her because I didn't want to seem like a crazy fan.  I just wanted to say how much I appreciate her work.  Slowly, I wormed my way into the group.  A really wonderful and nice fellow fan assured me it was okay just to jump in and say hi.  As soon as I was about to do this, India told the group (which included Jason Haigh-Ellery) that she was going to run some things up to her room and come right back down.  This left Alex, mrsdrtennant , and I talking to Jason Haigh Ellery.  Let me say that he is AMAZING.  We talked about several of the Big Finish audios, and he asked mrsdrtennant  if she listened.  She said no, and he joked with her that "he couldn't talk to her anymore", and then tried to fake push her away from the group.  It was great!

India was soon back, and left talking to these two awkward fan boys.  I think she was somewhat grateful thatmrsdrtennant and I joined in the conversation.  I told her how much I just loved the audios, and then we somehow got into life and travelling and randomness.  She was just adorable, girly, and amazing.  :)  She was sipping a martini and kept correcting her Britishism to American terms so we could understand her.  We assured her we could understand anyway, but she kept on with it.  She asked us to describe what Match Game was like because she was doing the intermission for the Masquerade and didn't know what she was doing!  After we described it to her, she said it sounded like a British game show they had, so she thought she'd be all right.  Then, she was gushing about her cranberry Coach bag that she'd recently got in the Florida Keys because she'd just never seen anything like it before and HAD to splurge on it.  Apparently, they don't have Coach in England.  o_O.  I did not know this.  The conversation ended up with me getting invited to have a drink with her in the bar, and I said I couldn't.  She asked, "Why?  Are you 16 or something?"  I said, no, I was 20.  :(  She was sad, but I told her I'd see her later at the Match Game intermission in the Masquerade.  She gave us BIG hugs before she left, and called Alex the "little quiet one in the corner".  :D

Apparently, when I was caught up in talking with India Fisher, Alex andmrsdrtennant spotted Lis Sladen in the elevator.  The doors opened, she waved to everyone, and the doors closed again.  Random!

 

( India Fisher! )


After this, we just waited around outside the Ballroom for the Masquerade to start.  We chatted with a few fellow fans.  As we were about to go in, we ran into India again.  She was running terribly late for the Match Game panel meeting, so we were trying to help her squeeze through.  She asked us if we thought she could cut through all the people, and we said we didn't see why not.  I told her to "use her celebrity" because everyone should know that she was doing the panel and needed to get up there quickly.  "My celebrity," she giggled.  "Oh, I love you."  Eventually, she was able to get through everyone, and we found our seats for the show.

The Masquerade was AMAZING!  There were quite a few participants, and they were, for the most part, BRILLIANT. dw_cosplay</lj>  has a great report on the Masquerade show as a whole. 

( A few of the contestants )

The Match Game was HILARIOUS!  India had no idea about a lot of the old Doctor who facts, and had to ask Nicholas Briggs, who was sitting next to her, for a lot of the information.  At one point, she just answered "Rhino" for several of the questions.  Great stuff.  :D

( Match Game pics )

After the Masquerade was Mysterious Theater 337 in which they poked fun at "Terror of the Vervoids"  it was hysterical.  :)

It was about 11:30 when we left the con and stopped at Burger King for some well-deserved junk food.  The night was quite amazing, and I'm looking forward to next year's con!  :D

Here's some random pics of silliness and TARDIS awesomeness:

( Random!pics )

And... My swag from the con:

( Swag! )


If you want to check out mrsdrtennant 's story of the con, you can go to her journal.  There's even more silly pics and randomness over there.  :D

Thanks for reading everyone!  See you at TARDIS '09!

P.S.  Does anyone know who the man was dressed at the Masquerade as the First Doctor?  Him and his wife were really nice people, and I regret not asking to get a picture with him because he loved my costume.  Thanks all.  :)