Category Archives: Classic TV Clips

The Anti-Valentine Post: TV Break ups

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The thing about Valentine’s Day is…I hate it. I’m not against romance, flowers, and chocolates per se. In fact, I downright enjoy them.  (Well, maybe not flowers. I have issues with taking their fate too seriously.) But I don’t want it thrown in my face, even if it is only for one day out of the year. Ugh. Just, ugh.

Despite my personal feelings, Valentine’s Day seems to be trucking along this year, and with it, the inevitable Vday blogs. To that end, I present my anti-Valentine list. Because as much as I enjoy romance, I also enjoy heartache. (Not in my actual life, of course, but on my TV screen.) C’mon admit it: You like the angst and the drama that goes along with a well-done fictional break up. It might hurt, but, as the song says, it hurts SO GOOD.

There’s no real science going on here; my requirements were the following:
Must haves:
1.) The couple has had a significant relationship.
Optional additions:
1.) Angst, angst hitting you in the face, so much angst you almost can’t take it.
2.) Humor. It happens, sometimes, within a good break up.
3.) It’s not so much heartbreaking as it is, HELL YEAH! YOU GO GIRL (or guy)!

In ranking order, here are my 10 favorite TV break ups:

10.) Michael/Jan – The Office (Their most recent, season 5.)  
I was a huge supporter of Michael and Jan back in the day. I thought Jan was a misunderstood character, I thought that, while dysfunctional, the two were good for each other: His flakiness balanced out her rigidness. He was there for her when she got fired; she was there for him when he was broke. But by season 5, I was tired of Jan. Having a baby from a sperm donor, because “this one had to count?” Manipulating him into believing he was going to be a part of baby Astrid’s life? Flat-out telling him not to date other women, while treating him like dirt? Sorry, Jan Levinson. You are now dead to me.
Which is why it was SO satisfying to see Michael finally stand up to her, defy her orders, and go for it with one Ms. Holly Flax earlier this season. You go, Mike!
Vodpod videos no longer available.

9.) Nate/Brenda – Six Feet Under
In the history of TV relationships, has one ever been as tumultuous as Nate and Brenda? You hate them, you love them, they’re great together, they’re terrible together, they make up, they implode… It was stressful enough watching it on screen; I can’t imagine ever being in a relationship like this one. Still though, they had something, as dysfunctional as it was.  After everything, including a sketchy first meeting, the death of a parent, Nate’s unexpected fatherhood from another woman, an impending wedding, and Brenda’s increasing sexual trysts, things finally blow up. I watched this season knowing they were going to break up, waiting for it to happen, watching the tension build and build throughout the season…and the payoff was nothing short of awesome.

8.) Willow/Oz – Buffy the Vampire Slayer
One of the best things about Joss Whedon’s relationships is one tends to love them all. I love Xander and Cordy just as much as Xander and Anya. Watching Buffy and Angel together is heartbreaking, but so is watching Buffy with Spike. Heck, even Buffy and Riley had some tender moments. (Lest we forget: “You’re a little peculiar.”) To that end, I loved loved loved Willow and Tara. What a beautiful romance, right? If I had to pick one person for Willow to be with for the rest of her life, it would be Tara. (You know, if Josswasn’t EVIL in that way.) Even so, I also loved Willow and Oz, because that was such an important relationship for Willow. The reason almost all of Whedon’s relationships work is because they represent a certain period of a character’s life. Oz was the right person for Willow in high school – she was just discovering herself, what she was capable of, and Oz was there to support her in that adorable non-verbal way of his. And, like most high school relationships, things started to fall apart once the couple moved on to college.
Isn’t that what relationships are really about? You try people on, and they fit for awhile; you outgrow them and move on to someone new until you find that one person who fits permanently. Whedon said of his Buffy characters, “No relationship gets more than two years.” Considering the time frame of the show, (sophomore year of high school through senior year of college) I think that’s about right. Those are the crucial years where we learn and change. Relationships come and go, and even when they don’t stick, that doesn’t mean they disappear or lose all their merit. The transition from Oz to Tara is the epitome of this life lesson. That’s what makes Willow and Oz’s final scene so beautiful. Man…now I really want to go watch some Buffy.
(Please ignore the crappy video and subtitles as much as you can – this was the only version I could find.)

7.) Barney/Ted – How I Met Your Mother
You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. Remember the heartache that Barney suffered last year when Ted ended their friendship? It took two car accidents on the same day to bring these BFFs back together. I’m a big fan of this bromance, and when Ted told Barney he didn’t want to be friends anymore, my heart broke a little. A lesson to everyone out there: Don’t sleep with your best friend’s ex. It’s just never a good idea.

6.) Charlotte/Trey – Sex and the City
Oh, Char and Trey…they were doomed from the start and yet I couldn’t help but care. First with the “alrighty” proposal, then with the pre-nup, then the impotence, and Trey’s horrible mother, and the separation, and then when everything seemed to finally be on track, Charlotte finds out she’s reproductively challenged. (And not to make light of a terrible condition, but that phrase does make me giggle a bit whenever I hear it. So politically correct!)
So y’all know the story right? They find out they can’t have kids, Charlotte wants to adopt, Trey and Bunny decidedly do not. Charlotte starts fertility treatments that play havoc on her hormones, Trey convinces Charlotte not to have kids, they start sleeping in separate bedrooms, Trey buys Charlotte a hideous cardboard baby, their marriage collapses.  I love this relationship, and not just because Trey says things like, “I’m sorry Charlotte. May I offer you a hanky?” when they are finally able to have relations. I love it because of what their relationship does to Charlotte. It changes her entire outlook on life. As Michael Patrick King said, “She finally got her fairytale wedding, and it went horribly wrong.” What a delicious story! Charlotte was never my favorite of the gals, but this plot line made me love her. It made her human. She was no longer the annoying princess waiting for her prince charming. She was damaged. She was interesting.
My favorite part of the episode comes at the end, when Trey shows up for the Home and Garden shoot. It’s a great metaphor for their whole relationship: Pretty on the outside, disaster on the inside. Trey’s earnest declaration and Carrie’s voice over kill me every time (I actually am tearing up thinking about it.)
**So I don’t have a clip of the scene I want, but I do have part of the episode here. The clip runs from 11:33 to 13:17.**
Vodpod videos no longer available.

5.) Buffy/Angel – Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the first time, season 2)
Oh, the eternal debate in the Jossverse: Angel or Spike? It’s unsolvable, really: Neither side will ever reach an agreement, and those of us who simply can’t make up our minds never will. They’re both wonderful. Is Spike a wee bit hotter without a shirt on? Of course. But, then, there’s Angel. An never-ending, unfulfilled love. They can never really be together, and that is why they have to be together. (Of course, then there’s the whole Angel/Cordy debate, which you shouldn’t really get me started on because I might never shut up. Quick answer: I’m for it.)
But forget about all that. Forget about Angel leaving town, Spike becoming lovestruck for Buffy, forget Cordy and Angel’s adorableness, all of it. Just go back to season two, when Angel and Buffy were all the rage, and remember how good it felt to feel so bad for Buffy. Girl never gets a break.
The actual break up of Buffy and Angel is questionable. Did they ever really break up? Did they ever stop loving each other? In my head, no and no. However, the aftermath of it all, after Angel turns evil, after the big fight, at the end of the day, it’s this scene that sticks with me. It’s this scene that makes me cry. From Giles’ speech to Buffy refusing to blow out her birthday candles, it’s heartbreak all the way. Perhaps the saddest thing of all is Buffy’s conversation with her mother:
“What did you do for your birthday? Did you have fun?”
“I got older.”
and
“Go on,  make a wish?”
“I’ll just let it burn.”
Stab me through the heart with a stake-  I’m done.
Vodpod videos no longer available.

4.) Carrie/Aiden – Sex and the City (the first time, season 3)
The thing about Carrie and Aiden is, they were never going to work. Carrie’s attachment to Big is too deep, and Aiden is too insecure to overlook it. (Not that he should; I’m just saying, guy’s insecure.) Then there’s my whole theory about how Aiden was too good for Carrie, but that’s a different post for a different day. (Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE Carrie. She’s my second favorite character from my favorite show of all time… Please don’t throw garbage at me.)
My first thought was to put their second break up on the list. It’s all dramatic, with the fountain, and the yelling, and then the quiet yet powerful ending: “The next day, Aiden moved out.” Fade to black, credits. It’s a punch in the gut, every time. As a viewer, you wish they could make it, even though you know it’s not meant to be. (The remedy to the post-Aiden blues? Watch this episode. As I said to my parents (through our collective tears) when after we watched it, “See. (sniff, sniff) That’s why she can’t be with Aiden.”
So there’s that. But there’s also the break up from season 3 – after Carrie tells Aiden she’s been sleeping with Big. While it doesn’t have the sucker punch of season 4, it’s just…well, it’s just so sad. Here are two people, who really do care about each other, trying to make something work and failing. Plus there’s the sad music, and afterwards, the brave face Carrie puts on for Charlotte. As Michael Patrick King said in his commentary for this episode, “No matter what’s going on in their own lives, the girls are always there for each other.”  Now that’s love.

3.) Luke/Lorelai – Gilmore Girls (the second time, season 6)
I can’t even talk about this one. The only reason it’s on here is because it HURT so much when it happened, and not the good kind of hurt. It broke my heart and made me sad all summer, and then things just got worse in the next season and…yeah. I have to stop talking about it.
I’ll just say that, I’ve only seen this episode once, and hadn’t seen this scene since it aired until I went looking for it on Youtube. Even so, the sound of Lorelai’s voice telling Luke she picks the wallpaper over him has remained in my head for almost three years. It’s just. So. Heartbreaking. Damn you, Amy Sherman Palladino! Why? WHY? If you’re going to break  a couple up, take your cue from the masters above. (See:  Whedon, Joss and King, Michael Patrick.)

2.) Sam/Diane – Cheers (the first time, season 2)
Talk about a sucker punch. It’s one of the greatest scenes in all of television, and one only tends to remember the funny parts: The slapping, the nose pulling, the line “This is it. We’ve sunk as low as human beings can sink.” It’s hilarious, until it isn’t, and that’s how they get you. Also, simply as a piece of TV history, it’s incredible. An almost 10 minute scene between two people, with that much intensity? Can you imagine if a show attempted this today?  (I wish one would, actually. I miss those scenes.)
 

and, drum-roll please…my number one TV break up:

1.) Ross and Rachel – Friends (the first time, season 3)
Could it be any other way? This episode is, IMO, one of the best of the series, and perhaps one of the best in all of television. Everything works, from the Ross/Rachel banter (“A mistake? What were you trying to put it in, her purse?”),  to the hilarious scenario of the rest of the gang getting stuck in Monica’s room (“Do you think I need a new walk?”), to the intensity played by all the cast when the inevitable happens. Half of the show is basically a mini-play, and it never gets old. It also never gets any less sad, even though we all know Ross and Rachel get together in the end.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the whole thing, but here’s the crux of the piece.

So…depressed yet? Ready to toss Valentine’s Day out the door? Or are you forever a Charlotte, always believing in love?

“Now this is a story all about how…”: Top 10 TV Theme Songs

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“….my life got flipped turned upside down, and I’d like to take a minute just sitting right there and tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air.”

I could go on. Do you want me to go on? I’m doing this all from memory, you know. (Ok there is no way for you to check that, but trust me, I am.)

For awhile now, I’ve been wanting to do the counter to my blog last fall on my top 10 opening sequences. That blog focused on the credits as a whole – including both song choice and creativity with video. But let’s face it – there’s a lot of boring opening credit sequences with kick ass theme songs. So today, I’m going to present to you my 10 favorite. The choice was not easy. Ultimately, I decided to go with original theme songs (sorry Gilmore Girls!) with one notable exception, because it kicks that much ass. (I’ll give more of an explanation when it comes up below.)

Requirements: 1.) It must kick ass, and, as an added bonus, psych me up to watch the show.  2.) Have amazing harmony. 3.) Have either clever or hilarious lyrics (or both). 4.) Be catchy, to the point where I can’t get it out of my head. (I currently have about 25 theme songs rolling around in my head as a result of this blog.)

Here they are in no particular order….

“Stand behind me come one May…”
A Different World

For the youngesters who may be reading this: Back in the 80s, there was The Cosby Show. From that came a spinoff called A Different World. Originally it was supposed to focus on Huxtable daughter, Denise, but she left the show after one season, and it was retooled. A lot. So, even though it’s technically a spin-off, it really has nothing to do whatsoever with The Cosby Show, except when Denise is brought up occasionally, usually by Dwayne Wayne (hee!) who had a major thing for her. Denise eventually returned to New York, married a Navy man, had a stepdaughter who would later star in a show that Dawnn Lewis, who played Jaleesa Vinson, one of Denise’s roommates on A Different World was in for the first season. Until Denise left. The moral of this history lesson is twofold: 1.) I watched way too much TV growing up and 2.) I freaking loved A Different World. It’s totally a guilty pleasure show, and I know that. Still though, you could do a lot worse then Debbie Allen as executive producer, Jasmine Guy as your lead, Patti LaBelle as a frequent guest star, and freaking Aretha Franklin singing your theme song.

“On a wing and a prayer.”
The Greatest American Hero

Ok, full disclosure: I’ve never seen this show. It was before my time, and I guess never in repeats on Nick at Nite. Considering it only ran from 1981 to 1983, I’m guessing most people didn’t see it. But the theme song! Oh, the theme song! If it’s good enough for George Costanza, it’s good enough for me.

“Your dreams are your ticket out.”
Welcome Back, Kotter

Now this DID rerun on Nick at Nite. Probably for John Travolta, but either way, I spent my youth watching the Sweathogs try to make something of themselves.

“You’re gonna make it after all.”
Mary Tyler Moore

I mean, obviously. I never really got into this show – in high school, it began to rerun on Nick at Nite, and my parents were delighted. I’m all for watching reruns of shows of yore, but for a solid six months, this was ALL THEY WATCHED. EVERY NIGHT. TWICE A NIGHT. I’d come downstairs from doing my homework, it’d be on. I’d head into the den after dinner, wanting to watch a current show, and it’d be on. I’d wake up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, it’d be on. So you’ll excuse me for not having MTM as part of my TV history. I’m all for watching now – it’s been 10 years, I think I’m recovered. Plus, you know, Liz Lemon before there was a Liz Lemon. Regardless of my history with the show, I can’t deny the theme song rocks.

“Sha nananaa”
Family Ties

So 80s. So corny. So great. And not that it has anything to do with the song, but without this intro, I couldn’t do my Merideth Baxter Birney impression. (Anyone can do it really; it just consists of spinning around in a kitchen and stopping by placing your hand on the table.) Man. What happened to this show? It was fantastic! Alex P. Keaton, ditsy Mallory and her boyfriend Nick…great stuff. I’m not inspired enough to go out and get the DVDs, but why isn’t it in reruns anymore? I’d totally go for a Family Ties marathon. Especially if they showed the one where Tom Hanks plays Alise’s alcoholic brother, who is so hard up that he drinks a bottle of vanilla.

“We gotta be the luckiest dreamers…”
Growing Pains

There’s a lot of versions of the song; this one is my favorite. (Don’t tell anyone but I secretly love a Capella.) Do I really need to say anything more?

“Here we cooooommeeeee!”
The O.C.

Here is my exception to the rule: The O.C. It’s actually a song by Phantom Planet that was written years before Seth Cohen existed. But I had to include it because it’s one of the few theme songs that actually gets me pumped, every single time. The piano, the surf, Adam Brody..it all works for me. (In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit  I stopped watching the show somewhere in season 3. But I think we can all agree: It was amazing in its prime. It’s just too bad the prime only lasted about a year and a half.)

“In west Philadelphia born and raised, on the playground was where I spent most of my days.”
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

I’ve not seen this show in years, and can still recite the song on command. (Well, not this long version, but the shorter, regular one that normally ran.) The lyrics – remember the requirement of hilarious and/or clever? Well this is the epitome, don’t you think?

“We’re bopping along in our barrell…”
Wonderfalls

Most of you didn’t see this show that only aired four episodes. I’m doing you a favor now by showing you the theme song. (You’re welcome, Liz. Look, there’s your boyfriend!) Not only was the show brilliant (all 13 episodes are available on DVD and a must-have) so was the theme song. Oh Wonderfalls. I miss you. You were so great.

And saving the best for last…..

“Be glad there’s one place in the world…”
Cheers

This song is so great, I spent about 15 minutes trying to decide which version to embed. (They’re subtle differences, but they are there.) I finally decided to go with original. Y’all, Where Everybody Knows Your Name  is the reason I am writing this blog. In my Great Cheers Rewatch, I not only rediscovered the bar, I rediscovered the theme song. (Not that I forgot about it, but you know what it’s like when you watch/read/listen to an old favorite again after a long absence.) Others may disagree, but in my humble opinion, this is the greatest theme song ever written. It meets all four requirements with flying colors. (Not sure about the humor? Check out the full version, below.) Not to get all corny on you, but this song, to me, is like coming home. Maybe because I grew up watching the show and it was my Favorite Thing Ever for many years, but, it’s just comforting, you know? And it gets me excited, every time. (Again with the piano; what is it about that instrument?)

More on this after I finish my great rewatch.

I know there’s a lot I missed. Runners up include Friends, Everwood (though it is all instrumental), Laverne and Shirley, Who’s The Boss?, Different Strokes and Saved by the Bell. Any more you would have included?

Video of the Day: Rounding out the TV Theme Songs, here is the full version of my ultimate TV theme song.

Brings a tear to your eye, doesn’t it? My personal favorite clip is the water gun fight.

Emotional Overload: Next time, remind me to encorporate some humor

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In 2005, I tried to watch Six Feet Under. I got through the first season and partway through the second before I had to stop.

It’s not that the show wasn’t good; it was excellent. Maybe a little too excellent. I was going through an awkward period in my life -that post-college phase where you’re no longer a kid, but you don’t quite feel like an adult, and have no idea what you are supposed to be doing in life.  You spent 20-some years going to school and now that it’s over…what do you do next? (Anyone? Anyone?) I wasn’t in the happiest state. So, watching a show where bad things continue to happen to (semi) good people was a little too much to handle. For weeks, I found myself in this constant state of melancholy. It wasn’t overwhelming; it was just always there. I tried and tried to place it, and then one day it just hit me: it’s Six Feet Under. I had to stop watching, or I’d end up in a permanent state of depression.

So I did. And I felt better. (But don’t worry – I caught up in 2007 during the Writers’ Strike, and damn, that’s some good TV.)

I have had a similar feeling all day today, and I know why: I had the most depressing weekend of film and TV watching.

With the Academy Award nominations announced last week, by Friday, I had added a slew of films to my Netflix queue. The problem? I currently had three movies from Netflix sitting on top of my DVD player, where they had sat, untouched, for weeks. I wanted to see them; they just weren’t exactly, “Hey, come watch me!” movies. But I have a goal to see as many nominated films/films with nominated actors and directors, etc. as I can before the awards. My actual goal is to see everything, but I know this is not possible.

So, Friday night, I watched Mr. Saturday Night, on my queue from when I added Helen Hunt films after The Great Mad About You Re-watch. You guys…this is a real downer. And honestly, not particularly great. The only real reason to see it is for David Paymer’s Oscar-nominated performance. But seriously – the life of a mediocre-at-best comic, who’s basically an asshole? Not exactly uplifting. Why, Billy Crystal? Why?

Saturday, I had tentative plans to hang out with Liz, eat soup, and have an Aaron Sorkin/presidential marathon. But, I was sacked with a major headache that took up most of my day. So I stayed in bed and watched Stevie, a documentary by acclaimed filmmaker (and graduate of my school and film program!) Steve James. I saw this movie when it premiered at my school’s film festival back in 2002. It’s a great piece of film-making, if self-indulgent on James’ part. However – the story follows this dude, Stevie, whom James mentored while a student at Southern Illinois University. Years later, James decides to visit Stevie, see what he missed, and it turns out Stevie has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing his 8-year old niece. The film follows Stevie and his family for the 2 1/2 years in between the abuse charges and Stevie going to jail. Again, this is a great film. But not exactly uplifting. Also, it has these great shots of the southern Illinois landscape, which just made me homesick for my college town. (Weird, I know, in a documentary about child abuse, but there ya go.)

As if that wasn’t enough, I accompanied my parents to see The Wrestler on Sunday. I’d seen it before, and wanted to see it again, to soak it in a little more. The first time I saw it, I liked it a lot, thought Mickey Rourke and Marissa Tomei were excellent, and that the film was sad but not overwhelmingly sad. This time…I was heartbroken. It affected me so much more. I don’t know if it’s because I had already seen it, and so could concentrate more on performance and noticing little things, or if it was because I was with my parents, whom I knew would be more affected by it, or what. But by the time Randy walked in for his last match, and Sweet Child of Mine started playing, my heart was beating a mile a minute, my lip couldn’t stop quivering, and the tears came.

So there was that.

Then there were the SAG Awards, which were kind of depressing only because Sean fucking Penn won best actor over Mickey Rourke AND Richard Jenkins, Hugh fucking Laurie won best actor over my boy Michael C. Hall, and Dexter did not win best acting ensemble.

To top it all off, I decided to end my weekend by watching the  Cheers season 5 finale (More on this re-watch in a later blog post.) I wrote my immediate reaction to that in my personal blog. Here is what I said:

“Have a good life.”

I just watched the last episode of season 5 of Cheers. The one where Diane leaves. And um….I just spent the last 10 minutes weeping. WEEPING.
Maybe I am a little overly emotional this weekend, but, damn.
I watched the first four seasons pretty quick. (Side note – the final episodes of season 4? When Diane is spying on Sam and the politician? some of the hardest laughing I’ve ever done, right there.) 
Then I got to season 5, and Sam and Diane were finally happily together, and I started slowing down my watching. I didn’t want to get here. I remembered what this episode did to me.
It’s weird, how I watch old TV. I can watch it through my adult eyes, but I can also turn that off, and watch it through the same eyes I did as a child. So, when I watch old episodes of Lois and Clark, for example, Adult Sarah recognizes that this is not stellar television. But Child Sarah remembers how pretty they are, and how wonderfully schmoopy they are, and how I would get so excited on Sundays, waiting for 8 o’clock. It’s a nice thing to be able to do, actually.
This is how I’ve watched Cheers. And it doesn’t help that Cheers is actually a stellar show, both in acting and writing. So, Adult Sarah can get some of the more adult jokes she didn’t get as a kid. But Child Sarah still holds on to that feeling and joy she got to watching Sam and Diane. And Child Sarah was absolutely heartbroken when Diane left. (Let me just stop here and say – I totally watched the show through repeats. I was only a year old when the show started. I discovered it in sixth grade, and fell in love immediately. So, Child Sarah was heartbroken watching the reruns. In case there was any question.) 
Anyway, Child Sarah was heartbroken. Even though she knew that Diane left the show. She cried then. And it hurt just as much tonight, even though I knew it was coming. Again.
But you know what I had forgotten about? I forgot that Sam flashed forward in time halfway through, and imagined his life with Diane, and that they had grown old together. And I completely forgot he flashed again, and that is how the show ended. So, I was already getting ready for a good cry during the scene where they say goodbye to each other. But the part after? Oh, man.

Sam and Diane were the first TV couple I ever cared about. I LOVED them. LOOOOVED. Just ask my parents or my sister. You think Luke/Lorelai was bad? They had nothing on Sam and Diane. I don’t remember this, but my sister said that when the show ended, I cried and cried – not because the show was over, but because Sam and Diane didn’t end up together.

And yeah, it’s just a TV show, and I know that, and I’m tired and it’s been kind of an emotionally exhausting week, and weekend, so that isn’t helping any. And yes, this now happened over 20 years ago. But, it still makes me sad that Shelley Long left the show. Sure, we wouldn’t have had Rebecca, or Robin, and maybe Lilith wouldn’t have joined the cast as a series regular. Maybe the attention would have stayed on Sam and Diane, and the supporting cast wouldn’t have gotten more to do. And without that, maybe there would have been no spin off, no Frasier, and then we wouldn’t have Niles or Marty Crane, and that would be a shame in the world of TV.

But I do wonder what would have happened, had she stayed. Because this right here is freaking beautiful.

~~~~~~~
Now, my reaction was most likely 50% Cheers and 50% emotional exhaustion from all the other media I’d seen over the weekend. But the bottom line is, I cried for a good half hour last night. And getting ready for work this morning, a bit of the song from the above video got in my head, and I got all teary again and had to force it out of my head. (Which, BTW, is not an easy thing to do.) And all day today, I have had the same feeling of melancholy I expressed above.

The point of all this? Well, I guess it’s twofold:

1.) It’s kind of amazing how much good storytelling can affect a person.
2.) I am in need of a laugh, and some mindless, lighthearted entertainment.

To that end, I give you something that never, ever fails to make me laugh, as my Video of the Day

Oh Lauren, how I miss thee

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Just went over to EW.com, in need of a break after reading grant applications all afternoon, and was pleasantly surprised to see Lauren Graham gracing the front page!

lauren_l1

Almost didn’t recognize her with blonde hair, did you?

Anyway, there’s an interview with her by EW’s Michael Ausiello that’s worth checking out. She talks about playing Miss Adelaide in the upcoming Guys and Dolls revival, her potential new show with Arrested Developmentcreator Mitchell Hurwitz (!!!), and is pretty blunt about her feelings on the Gilmore Girls ending. I’ll put that here:

I also think a lot of fans…
…were disappointed with how it ended.

Yes.
But for me, when you have a bad breakup, going back and dating the guy again is not really going to change the breakup. It didn’t end in the way I think any of us would have liked — and that is a disappointment for me as well. And a sadness, really. When the reruns come on now I think about the path it took, and it makes me sad. I wish we would have known it was the end when we shot the final episode, quite simply. But we can’t go back and change that. And I’m not sure a movie would help. What helps me is to try and do other things in my life and do work that I like. I don’t know that going back to the show is the answer. But there are people who are still really devoted to it, and I understand that, too.

Wow, Lauren. I do believe that’s the first time I’ve heard you – or anyone else from the Gilmore camp – admit you kinda fucked up the show. It’s…oddly satisfying. Read the rest of the interview here.  Buy tickets to Guys and Dolls here.  Please buy them! I’m not going until April and want to make sure it’ll still be running.

Video of the Day: Man, I miss this show. I haven’t watched it much since it went off the air; I needed a break, as when it WAS on the air, I watched an average of 2 episodes day. (Seriously.) Maybe I’ll re-watch it this year. Anyway, this is one of the best scenes in the series, IMO. What makes it is the faint rattle at the end. Please come back to my TV screen soon, Lauren! I miss you!

(For the record, I can recite this whole scene from memory. I did it once in front of a friend, and I think it scared her.)

Tivo Alert!

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First of all, could he be any cuter? Second, NPH is hosting SNL!!! How perfect is that? And why has it never happened before? (Ok, ok, full disclosure – I’ve known about this since it was first announced mid-December.) Third, I hope he does magic. Fourth, I hope he sings. Fifth, I hope the writing is actually decent. Besides watching Tina Fey as Sarah Palin last fall, I haven’t watched an episode of SNL since…well, since Tina Fey hosted last year. (See any patterns here?) And before that…years. Maybe I caught a stray episode in college? Once Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri left, so did I.

Set your Tivos and DVRs, readers! This Saturday, Jan. 10th at 11:30 – NPH hosts SNL! Be there.

Video of the Day: Something on par with this Saturday would be amazing. This will never not be funny. “I got a fever!”

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