This week: Community is the most popular show on the internet -- Buffyverse-related news -- American Horror Story -- Comment of the week -- Commendation for meritorious service above and beyond the call of duty -- Most annoying characters on TV
No real cancellation/renewal news yet. I mostly have tidbits this week.
Apparently, Community is the most popular show on the internet. The show was recently named TV Guide's fan-favorite comedy and the actors the fan-favorite ensemble. The Big Bang Theory, a show with a sci-fi focus and an ensemble cast, gets MUCH higher ratings but didn't win in any category. (Here's the link to the full article on Gawker, which is an interesting read.)
Why do people like us (I tend to call us "geeks", even though that doesn't describe us at all) bond so strongly and get so passionate about shows like Community, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek and so on? If you have thoughts about this, I'd love to hear them, because it's been a huge part of my life forever but it's still a mystery to me.
Buffyverse-related news
Amy Acker, who has been on nearly every show I love, is going to be in the Person of Interest season finale. Yay!
Eliza Dushku is voicing She-Hulk.
And some actual Buffy news! With The Avengers coming soon and Cabin in the Woods making an interesting and surprising splash, there are a bunch of interviews with Joss Whedon in the news. And Whedon says he is still considering the possibility of the spinoff series Ripper starring Tony Head. I'm not holding my breath, but wouldn't it be nice? If The Avengers does as well as expected, Whedon will probably never return to television.
American Horror Story
American Horror Story ended (and I'll try to be vague, but if you haven't seen the first season and you're planning to, skip past this paragraph) with a lot of events that would necessitate recasting. Many have wondered what on earth they'd be doing next season. And here you go.
Comment of the week, and Commendation for meritorious service above and beyond the call of duty
My favorite comment this week was a lovely one by Suzanne on maxpower03's review of the season (and probably series) finale of Ringer. Suzanne said things about Max's review that I wished I'd said. Max closed his review with, "Thanks to everybody who has stuck with these reviews over the last couple of months, and congratulations for getting through the season with me. I feel like we deserve some kind of award."
So in honor of Max's determination to keep reviewing Ringer until the bitter end, I am pleased to announce that Max is this year's winner of P.U. award for stamina and persistence in continuing to review a series despite being assaulted weekly with bland characters, lingering plotholes and ridiculous plot twists.
Although the awards were never actually held, (the award ceremony took place only in my head), Josie Kafka was the recipient of the previous two Doux P.U. awards for hanging in there with FlashForward and of course, the source of the award's name, the original P.U. -- Persons Unknown.
Most annoying characters on TV
EW had an article (okay, not so much an article as a slideshow, the laziest of articles) of the 20 most annoying characters on TV. Several of their nominees are in shows we review.
(pictured: Dawn and Kennedy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Meg, Supernatural; Will Schuester, Glee; Henry Mills, Once Upon a Time; Nikki/Paulo, Lost)
While my vote would definitely go to Dawn on Buffy, part of me believes that children should never be nominated for awards like this. Look at what happened to poor Jake Lloyd, who has been blamed for ruining an entire Star Wars movie. It wasn't Jake Lloyd's fault. It was George Lucas's fault. For that matter, can we blame Nikki and Paulo for their brief adventures on Lost? I'd blame the show runners for trying to retcon characters. They should have known we'd never fall for something like that.
Anyway, for what it's worth. Who do you think is the most annoying character on TV, past or present?
That's it for this week. Opinions, raves, rants, questions?
I find it interesting that on tv.com a while ago the last 2 eps of Fringe were named Endgame, pt 1 & 2.
ReplyDeleteNow, it's Brave New World (1 &2)....Hum...
It is a sign that Fox will (has) give(n) the show the green light for a 5th season ???
I cannot wait for the second season of AMERICAN HORROR STORY!!! Season 1 was crazy and genuinely frightening.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm in the minority, but I've always loved Dawn – from her first appearance at the end of BUFFY VS. DRACULA (which is one of my top five favorite BUFFY episodes) through Season Six, Seven and even bits and pieces of her arc in "Season Eight."
I liked Kennedy too.
Nikki and Paulo didn't really appear enough on LOST for me to form any full opinion regarding their characters – whether they were annoying or not.
Two words - Westley Crusher. Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteDawn is a little unfair. I kinda got the impression that her being annoying was intentional. She was created to be Buffy's annoying younger sister, and she did it well. And I'm totally not just defending her because I used to have a crush on her.
ReplyDeleteMost annoying character on TV? Surely it has to be Neelix from Star Trek Voyager. Just ask Chuck from SFdebris. He even has a 'Stupid Neelix Moment' for every episode of Voyager he reviews.
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before, but Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer are expecting a baby later in the year.
ReplyDeletePractically everyone on Torchwood annoyed me I'm afraid. Except Captain Jack, of course.
ReplyDelete(To be fair, they sort of solved that problem...)
Chang
ReplyDeleteI know most Buffy fans hate Dawn with a passion, but I actually kind of like her, especially in the later seasons. Yes, she was annoying, but it was in a fairly realistic way. I always thought Connor got kind of a hard time, too.
ReplyDeleteMy nominee for most annoying Buffy character is split between Kendra and Whistler (I just rewatched "Becoming," can you tell?). They both have horrible accents and both actors give extremely grating performances. I really wish they could have used Doyle instead of Whistler; Glenn Quinn was so much funnier, and fit into the Whedonverse much better.
I have to disagree with the EW article about Supernatural, too. Meg is not the most annoying character by a long shot; Ruby wins that one by a mile.
But the most annoying character on TV is actually an easy pick. I'm surprised no one has mentioned her yet:
Lana Lang, ladies and gentlemen. No contest.
OMG, OHara. You're absolutely right. Lana Lang annoyed me every week for nearly ten years. It's a record!
ReplyDeleteWhile I can't disagree with ew, how the hell could they leave off Lori from Walking Dead and Tara from True Blood.
ReplyDeleteDawn Summers by far!
ReplyDeleteWhile she was meant to be an annoying lil sister in the beginning and helped move the plot forward for her first season (though only as a victim that needed saving) she was overly annoying, insecure, and whiny. But then season 5 ended and she became something worse: pointless.
They had NO idea what to do with her after she no longer needed saving as the Key.
She was just there- still completely annoying, still getting into trouble that any teenager should know better but especially one who knows what goes bump in the night. More she wanted to be a grown up the more she acted like a dumb child.
Then they suddenly had her knowing Sumerian and other info she had no business knowing as if she were really a genius this whole time and learned entire languages and cultures between episodes.
She did nothing but annoy and persist for three years, and it got even worse in season 8!
Dawn Summers by far!
ReplyDeleteWhile she was meant to be an annoying lil sister in the beginning and helped move the plot forward for her first season (though only as a victim that needed saving) she was overly annoying, insecure, and whiny. But then season 5 ended and she became something worse: pointless.
They had NO idea what to do with her after she no longer needed saving as the Key.
She was just there- still completely annoying, still getting into trouble that any teenager should know better but especially one who knows what goes bump in the night. More she wanted to be a grown up the more she acted like a dumb child.
Then they suddenly had her knowing Sumerian and other info she had no business knowing as if she were really a genius this whole time and learned entire languages and cultures between episodes.
She did nothing but annoy and persist for three years, and it got even worse in season 8!
Dawn Summers by far!
ReplyDeleteWhile she was meant to be an annoying lil sister in the beginning and helped move the plot forward for her first season (though only as a victim that needed saving) she was overly annoying, insecure, and whiny. But then season 5 ended and she became something worse: pointless.
They had NO idea what to do with her after she no longer needed saving as the Key.
She was just there- still completely annoying, still getting into trouble that any teenager should know better but especially one who knows what goes bump in the night. More she wanted to be a grown up the more she acted like a dumb child.
Then they suddenly had her knowing Sumerian and other info she had no business knowing as if she were really a genius this whole time and learned entire languages and cultures between episodes.
She did nothing but annoy and persist for three years, and it got even worse in season 8!
Casting news for Dexter
ReplyDeletehttp://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s64/dexter/news/a378255/dexter-casts-rome-actor-ray-stevenson.html
Thanks for the casting news, MischievousNinja. I'll put it in next week's. I don't know the guy. Anyone?
ReplyDeleteHe's great. He was in Rome as Titus Pullo, in one of the Punisher movies, and had a small role in Thor as one of the Aesir.
ReplyDelete