Something Old, Something New

I refrained myself from writing a blog post last week because I thought I'd just wait a week for the conclusion before forming opinions. For some reason, forming opinions is a pretty big thing for me and I find it exhausting. So I waited (or procrastinated, whichever word you prefer).

"Something Old" was an okay episode. Except for the ending. Well, a little bit more than just the ending. I didn't like that they made Barney an insensitive fiancé when we had been shown, numerous times, that Barney is actually a very caring friend. The fact that he completely disregarded Robin's call was...disappointing. And, they had to top it off with Ted showing up all Ted-like. Seriously, we're not over this? I gave it the benefit of the doubt, and decided against going on a long rant about the whole "Ted and Robin, maybe?" thing. Maybe they didn't mean it the way I thought they did, the hand holding thing.

Unfortunately, they confirmed it in "Something New" that Ted still has a part of him thinking that Robin could be the love of his life. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME TED?! How long has it been? How many times have we been over this? And we're still not done yet? But, most significantly, it cheapens "The Robin" in which one of the steps was for Ted to tell Robin that Barney was getting engaged (to Patrice) because that meant that Ted was over Robin. Well, what now? That was nothing? I just... I thought it was over.

There's a theory that the titles "Something Old" and "Something New" refer to Ted's love life -- to Robin and the mother, specifically. SPOILER ALERT! They showed the mother at the end of "Something New" so the theory makes a lot of sense and hopefully right. I don't know if I can handle season 9 starting with Ted still hung up on Robin marrying Barney.

It actually surprised me how many fans care so much about what the mother looks like. I mean, just the appearance of her. I don't get it. I honestly don't get it. What she looks like is THAT important?Someone argued that what she looked like IS important, because the show itself has been teasing us with it all: the leg, the arm, the yellow umbrella covering her face, etc. Well, none of those interested me back then either. Then again, to me, HIMYM has really been The Barney Show since season...one. But seriously, someone tell me why seeing her face is so damn significant?

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Extended Trailer

Can't wait! Is Coulson going to be a big part of the whole show, or just the pilot where they explain what happened to him?

Pickups, renewals, cancellations

This past week has been insanely emotional for me. It's mostly because of all the things happening at Manchester United. However, this past weekend, TV networks announced their fall schedule; they announced new shows they picked up, the lucky ones renewed, and which ones are cancelled.

I'm incredibly upset that Go On was cancelled. More upset than I imagined I would. I was convinced that the show was safe. Not completely safe -- this is NBC we're talking about -- but I was pretty damn sure. And then the cancellation news came pretty early on Friday. It's a shame, really. Yes, the first few episodes weren't that great, but shouldn't that be expected for new shows trying to find their footings? The second half of the season was amazing, and it turned to be my favorite comedy show. The show had great character growth, and it turned into a very solid ensemble show. More importantly, WHY DID YOU TAKE MATTHEW PERRY AWAY FROM ME, NBC?! Seriously, though, the more I think about it, the more upset I get about this. I really am going to miss these people! Hopefully Matthew Perry can get another project/show soon, because I want him on my TV! Or maybe he can guest star on Parenthood as Lauren Graham's new love interest, now that Jason Ritter's new show, Friends and Family, is picked up. Or maybe Go On can get picked up by another network the way Cougar Town did.

:(

According to Twitter, NBC has announced that they're cancelling Go On. I really enjoyed the show! It's really a shame that it's a ratings game. Really hope that Matthew Perry finds a new show/project soon; I want him on TV!

Still no words on Community's fate...

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special

Warning: Spoilers ahead, obviously.

Ever since BBC officially announced David Tennant and Billie Piper's involvement in the 50th anniversary special, my interest in Doctor Who has shifted from the current season to the special. It's hard to care about the current episodes when we're promised Tennant back in the suit and maybe in the TARDIS! Which is a shame, because Clara's story should be quite interesting.

This is gonna be fun

I was listening to Emma Caulfield's episode of the Nerdist podcast from 2011 earlier today, and she mentioned that she loves football. She also brought up Friday Night Lights, saying that it's "not about football," as I've heard multiple times from other sources. That, along with, for some reason, the latest Nerdist podcast episode with Dominic Monaghan -- in which Dom talks about soccer, American sports, and the misunderstandings of soccer in America -- prompted me to search for the show on Netflix. And it's available!

I had no idea what to expect when I hit play on the Pilot episode. I've heard so many praises about the show, but I somehow managed to avoid any plot points. It's the pilot episode so they had to introduce all the characters, and I was a bit overwhelmed by all these names and faces thrown at me at the beginning of the episode. About halfway through the episode, I felt like I was getting the hang of it. I hadn't learned the characters' names yet, but I kinda understood who these people were supposed to be.

I knew that it's a drama show, and the fact that everything seemed be going nicely meant that something bad was going to happen in the episode. There were a few scenarios I could see playing out:

1. The Panthers are going to lose the game, putting Coach Taylor under pressure from the whole town. I thought that this was the most likely scenario; it's a little bit of drama, but not too much. Just enough for a pilot episode. But, I also thought that it would have been too obvious.
2. Coach Taylor would bench star quarterback Jason Street, or a few other star players, as a tactical surprise to the other team, and the whole town. I thought this had a slim possibility, as I couldn't see the advantage of doing this, since they seem to be the superior team throughout.
3. Quarterback Street would get a career ending injury. Street was portrayed as the nice kid who's got it all, which is why I thought this scenario would be both the most likely and the cruelest.

Of course, scenario three was the one. Their backup quarterback, Matt Saracen, was the character that clearly was built up to be the zero-to-hero character, which he ended up being. We didn't know how good he was because he was always overshadowed by Street. He was shy, quiet, and nice; the type of person who would be one of the main characters in a show. I don't think they've established that Street's injury is career ending; they suggested spinal cord injury, but I don't think it was confirmed. But I got the feeling that Saracen would be the new star, meaning that Street would be out of the team.

In any case, the third act of the episode had me in tears, which is very rare for a pilot episode, therefore I am incredibly excited to continue watching this show.

And hey, maybe I'd learn more about football through this show, and end up as a fan of the sport.

Cracked

I'm still on my David Sutcliffe run, I guess. He's currently starring in the Canadian cop show Cracked. Sutcliffe plays Aidan Black, a police officer transferred from Emergency Task Force to the newly created Psych Crimes unit after a public breakdown caused by PTSD.

I am watching the show just because of Sutcliffe –– I'm enjoying the fitted shirts he's been wearing –– but I believe that the show can be interesting and unique, not just another cop show, if they delved more into his struggles and his recovery, which in my opinion has only been an undertone of the series so far.

I'm not a fan of Aidan's partner, Dr. Daniella Ridley (Stefanie von Pfetten). I enjoy the last couple of episodes more because Aidan is partnered up with the other psychiatrist in the unit, Leo Blackett (Dayo Ade), instead. I feel like Ridley always pushes for the psychological reasons when solving a case, which I guess is her job, but she's just too pushy about them sometimes. For example, in the last episode, she kept on bringing up the suspect's possible PTSD. I know that she was right at the end, but I just didn't like how she insisted on it.

I really want them to get rid of Ridley. They can play it off as Aidan being unable to trust her again after the backstabbing, and they chose Aidan instead of Ridley. It's unlikely, because she's the one who helped designed the unit in the first place. However, I can stand her being around as long as they don't turn her into Aidan's love interest. That would be too much of a cliché. I was worried when she started talking about her and Aidan's closeness in one of the episodes; I hope they just leave it at that.

There's one episode left of the first season, and they have been renewed for a second season. The show started slow but it grew on me. I do like the cases they're involved in, and if they deal with Aidan's PTSD the right way, this could be a great show.