Whine & Cheese

True Blood / Dead Until Dark (#14)

Time to kill the proverbial two bird with one stone... been meaning to do a post about one of my favorite TV shows and since I read the book that inspired it... it seems to makes sense to do a combo post, which means jumping ahead a few books in my book queue... scandalous I know, but I think you can probably handle it!

The show that I am talking about is HBO's True Blood.  Yes folks, we're talking vampires!  Again!  And my regular readers by now, well know my obsession with them (though I have yet to see the film version of Twilight ... and have only read the first two books in that series). 

The second series premieres this coming Sunday, but we spent the last week or so re-familiarizing ourselves with Season 1 has HBO had a bit of a 4-day marathon of past episodes.  Didn't watch the entire season, just the first 6 episodes since that was the point that I forced Todd to watch it... vampires are definitely not his thing, but I was enjoying the series so much that I said just watch an episode or two and if you don't like it you don't have to watch it... and he was sucked (ha!) in as much as I was... well, I am a bit more fanatical about it.

But even if I didn't have this things for vampires, there's a good chance that I still would have watched it as it was created by Alan Ball who was the mastermind behind one of my favorite HBO series (and perhaps, favorite shows of all-time) Six Feet Under... and given his other claim to fame, the movie American Beauty, you know he has a unique, dark, satiric way in his approach to the word and that is certainly the case with True Blood.  The show is sexy, funny (often in a wink and nudge way), violent, and usually a good surprise in each episode... and the cast is pretty awesome too...

One of the youngest Academy Award winnersr, the uber-likable/adorable Anna Paquin stars as telepathic cocktail waitress (yes, you read that right) Sookie Stackhouse... with a quite sassy friend Tara (think Rutina Wesley's take on the character as Wanda Sykes' cousin from Louisiana)... but the three selling points that really got me to get Todd try the show were:

Vampire Bill Comptom, Bartender Sam Merlotte, and Sookie's brother Jason Stackhouse

... or actors Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, and Ryan Kwanten....

And good news for the ladies and gay men (thank goodness Alan Ball is gay), all of them get naked... with Jason Stackhouse perhaps being the biggest himbo in television history... and they treat him as such with skimpy or as little clothing as possible (no complaints!).  But they are all incredibly sexy in different ways... Jason for the obvious reasons... vampire Bill for the forbidden and you can see how he smolders in that pic above... and Sam, your average good guy who just happens to fill out a pair of tight jeans quite nicely, thank you very much!

Oh,on a sidenote, two of them are putting on their Southern accents to hide their true roots... Moyer is British... and Kwanten is Australian (*swoon*).

Anyhow, the TV series is based on the books known as the Sookie Stackhouse or Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris.  The 9th book was just published, so this creation certainly pre-dates the whole Twilight phenomenon.  So after having the first season under my belt, I decided to give the first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, a try... and I am glad I waited as the book was pretty much the entire first season of the show.

That said, it was pretty much impossible for me not to compare the book to the TV series... and of course, I had all the visuals already in my head... typically I try to read the book before it comes out as a movie or TV show to avoid having those pictures in my head, but oh well.

I did enjoy the book.  My expectations were low as I didn't really expect it to be a well-written book, ala Stephenie Meyer and Twilight... though this is written for adults... and the vampires certainly act like adults in this one... no viginity is safe and kissing just ain't gonna cut it with this group!   So the writing was a nice surprise, though definitely "beach" material... light and entertaining.

But unlike a movie translation that would tell the story in approximately 2 hours (or less), the 12 hours of Season 1 allowed them to flesh things out (ha!) quite a bit... and while the main plot is similar between the book and the series, dare I say Ball seems to be more "inspired by" and taking things to his own direction.  The book is told from Sookie's perspective... so that limits things and pretty major storylines from the series were not in the book as folks like Jason and Lafayette (a flamboyant short-order cook at the bar) barely make it onto the page and, to best of my memory, Tara has yet to make an appearance.

So while I enjoyed the book, this is one of the rare instances where I really prefer the TV series/movie to the original material.  I hear that the upcoming season does borrow plot from Book 2 in the series, Living Dead in Dallas, but I am not still unsure whether I will read that one... certainly not before watching the show as I'd rather remain unspoiled... but I kind of wish the book and TV series were two separate entities, which granted they kind of are, but the show stilll seems to borrow enough from the book... and that ain't no fun knowing things in advance either, so it's kind of a conundrum! 

Express Lane: Issue 54

'Idol' Singer Paris Gives Birth To Egypt - The squeaky speaking voiced Bennett (and still only 20 years old) gave birth to daughter Egypt yesterday.  Guess geographical names are a family tradition. (10/7/08)

MOJO HD gets canceled, should vanish by year's end - Granted I didn't watch all that much on it, but hopefully Zane Lamprey and 'Three Sheets' will find a new home (and in HD please). (10/2/08)

Race driver Castroneves charged in US tax case - I'm guessing the DWTS champ's smile will be a bit dimmer thanks to failing to report to the IRS about $5.5 million in income between 1999 and 2004. (10/2/08)

Disney's 'The Lion King' Will Reign Over Las Vegas in 2009 - Despite a so-so success record of Great White Way success on the Vegas Strip, Disney will roll the dice for the first time at Mandalay Bay next year. (10/1/08)

Congratulations, Clay Aiken! - The "news" was greeted with a lot of snickering (incl. yours truly), but this Slezak EW piece strikes all the right chords of the struggle to "come out" in our own time and on our own terms. (9/24/08)

Bravo orders fifth season of 'My Life on the D-List' - Though Kathy & Co. might have to consider an upgrade to the C-List since the show just took home its 2nd Emmy last week. (9/22/08)

Emmys '08

Random thoughts from last night's Emmy telecast...

In the past few year's the Grammy's have made me feel like I am out of touch, but for someone who watches a fair amount of television - and some of it "good" - it was a tad surprising that I only had first-hand experience with only 2 of 10 major drama and comedy awards (best show, leading and supporting acting):  Jeremy Piven for  'Entourage' and Dianne Wiest for 'In Treatment' - and interesting that they're both HBO shows.

Speaking of Piven, while I think he is great as Ari on 'Entourage'... but three wins in a row??  Seems a bit of overkill.  I would have loved to have seen either Rainn Wilson or even better Neil Patrick Harris take it this year.  Also, falling under "I love it/but really?!?" The Amazing Race won its 6th consecutive award for best reality series and remains the only show to have won an Emmy in this category.  I'd be willing to throw American Idol or Dancing With The Stars a bone for this one...

Speaking of reality, of course we were well aware that this was the first year that a host of a reality series go to take home an Emmy.  The 5 nominees were the hosts for this year's show -- and while an interesting idea -- I have to agree with pretty much everything I read this morning... painful... particularly the opening.  Though I loved how they announced the winner with the now inevitable "after the break" teaser.  I still question the need for this category... but I thought Jeff Probst was a deserving winner, even though, for me, the show is past its prime.  I was rooting for Tom Bergeron, who is terribly entertaining and embraces the cheese of this genre on Dancing... pretty much anyone other than Seacrest, who has somehow become an industry upon his own and raked in 10s of millions along the way.

Speaking of Probst, he was responsible for a pretty good "search hits" night/morning here at W&C - as dozens upon dozens of folks are looking to see him in some state of undress - which I actually do supply here and here. 

While we came up pretty empty on the drama and comedy awards, we were familiar with many of the winners in the miniseries and TV movie categories - very odd since we rarely watch either of those two things... but we did see the two big winners of the night... and again, both from HBO... John Adams (which we still have to finish!) and Recount. 

No surprise, that I loved the Josh Groban (pictured above) TV theme show medley -- even if it seems to be getting mixed reviews this morning.  Given that his music is so often serious, it was nice to see him loosen up and have some fun... and he pulled off some odd choices (Fresh Prince, South Park).  I guess I would listen to him sing the proverbial phone book, because I would certainly buy an album of him singing all these theme songs!

The whole set set-up leading into the presenters was odd... and occasionally just misleading.  The Desperate Housewives ladies posing like they were on Family Feud was pretty awful and only surpassed by the horrendous teleprompter lines they had to go through when it came around to presenting their award.  And if was I wrong to think there was going to be some kind of M*A*S*H reunion and not two cast members from Grey's Anatomy popping out of the tent ... or later from the same set, Kathy Griffin and Don Rickles, who thankfully mocked the whole presenter shtick.  One of the few "winners" with this gimmick, was Martin Sheen's return to the Oval Office (pictured above ) which again made me wistful for a now dormant faith in the political process..

Likewise, it was fun to see WJM set and the Mary Tyler Moore coming through the swinging doors - but I am not alone this morning in noting that the frail MTM really needs to wear sleeves. 

Instance #56 that I am losing touch with television: I was not even aware of a show called Breaking Bad for which Bryan Cranston won an Emmy for leading actor in a drama series.

I guess I will give 30 Rock yet another try this year.  Other than my previously (oft?)-noted dislike of Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan, everything tells me I should love this show... but I have started and stopped watching the show on two different occasions.  I do love Tina Fey... and by far, she had the best speech of the night (pictured above)... and the line of the night (I had immediately rewind and listen to it again):  "I thank my parents for somehow raising me to have confidence that is disproportionate with my looks and abilities.  Well done.  That is what all parents should be."   

And I also loved her hat-tip to  fellow nominee, Julia Louis-Dreyfus... with Fey noting that when she questions her own acting ability, her husband tells her to "just act like Julia Louis-Dreyfus" ... kudos to JLD for coming up with the spontaneous thumbs-up and facial reaction to that (pictured above)!

Fall 2008 TV Schedule

It seems these past few weeks I've spent an exorbitant amount of time in front of the television -- and given how much one my think I normally watch -- that's really saying something... first it was the Olympics (pretty much on 24/7), then the Democratic Convention, then the Republican Convention, and tennis' US Open thrown in the middle of that mix as well.   

All this extra stuff got to be so much, I actually did the unthinkable -- stopped watching this season of Big Brother!  Shocking, I know!   We were 5+ episodes beyond after getting back from Beijing -- then was too wrapped up in watching the Olympics... that it just seemed like a sacrifice that needed to be made... and potentially dangerous for watching future editions as I seem to be surviving just fine without it.

This week the TV Guide Fall Preview edition arrived in the mail.  I remember being all excited to check out the new shows and figure out which ones to watch... or how I was going to watch them all... but this year, it looks like it won't be all that much (I think I just heard a sigh of relief from a special someone).   Not sure if it was last year's writer's strike that put brakes on new shows for this season, but pretty much not picking up anything new...

Here's the day-by-day run-down of what it looks like we'll be watching (and if you want to check out the fall schedule yourself, here's a link to TVG's grid):

Monday:  Dancing With the Stars, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother
Big Bang was our break-out hit of new shows from last season... and I think it's a crime that Jim Parson (Sheldon) did not get an Emmy nomination.

Tuesday: Dancing With the Stars: The Results
Shockingly enough, that's all folks

Wednesday: New Adventures of Old Christine
Again, a pretty slim night... with CBS moving the Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy to kick off a new hour of comedy on Wed. night.   Much like Big Bang, I think Christine is under-appreciated.

Thursday:  My Name Is Earl, Kath & Kim, The Office
And we arrive at the only new show on tap - Molly Shannon's Kath & Kim... it looks quite odd and I'm not sure how much Molly I can stomach, but will give it a try.  Earl is on really shaky ground, really stopped watching it the latter half of last season... and you may notice, the final part of NBC's comedy quartet - 30 Rock - is missing.  I've given the show a couple of tries and but my eh-ness over Tracy Morgan and (especially) Alec Baldwin seem to trump my love of Tina Fey.  Also MIA is Survivor: Gabon, again tempting since this will be the first Survivor season in HD, but pretty much tired of it (again a case of where you skip a season and don't really miss it).

Saturday:  Nothing
Remember when Saturday night used to be THE night for television - Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family, Bob Newhart, Golden Girls, Love Boat??? 

Sunday:  Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, Brother & Sisters
By far our biggest night of TV... ending with what, somewhat arguably, is now our favorite show - Brothers & Sisters.

But before you get too impressed with what I think is our lightest TV schedule of all-time... it will be more than a bit filled in with shows not on the Big 4 networks.  On HBO, we'll be watching the return of Entourage and give Alan Ball's (creator of Six Feet Under) new vampire series, True Blood, a try-out... and likewise I have heard good things about Little Britain.   On Showtime, recently admitted sex-addicted David Duchovny returns for a second season of Californication (where he plays a fairly sex-addicted writer)... and on USA, and even after seeing 3,427 commercials for it during the US Open, somehow I still want to give out Debra Messing's The Starter Wife a shot.

And then... a recent trend is a whole new season of TV starting in January... so it will be the return of such shows as 24 (totally scuddled last season by the writer's strike), American Idol, Lost (embarassingly enough, we still haven't watched the last 4 episodes of last season!), Scrubs ("debuting" on ABC at some point), and likely another cycle of Dancing With the Stars.  So our TiVo, despite a somewhat slow start, will still be pretty darn busy!

Express Lane: Issue 52

'Amazing Race' Honcho Teases New Season - Seems like TAR has been off the air for awhile (well not that long if it still got an Emmy nod), but TAR13 returns on Sep. 23rd.  As the article title suggests, expect mild spoilers if you choose to click the link. (8/1/08)

Thomas Jane Gets 'Hung' - Not sure if it's a compliment or a curse to be cast as the lead in an HBO comedy about a guy with a big... well, you know...  (8/1/08)

No 2nd Season for HBO's 'Tell Me You Love Me' After All - While it was a depressing and intense show, it was quite good... so a tad disappointed that HBO has had second thoughts about bringing it back. (7/26/08)

`Desperate Housewives' Creator Says End in Sight - Much like 'Lost,' Marc Cherry gives the ladies of Wisteria Lane three more seasons. I like this trend of shows having an end... get focused and get out while the getting is still good.  (7/18/08)

Amy Poehler Says She's Bound for `Office' Spinoff - It's been a big year for Amy - a movie, baby on the way, an Emmy nod today... and now word she'll star in the likely one of the more high-profile shows of the upcoming new TV season.  UPDATE: The show is not a true spin-off, just has the feel/sense of it... ala 'from the creators of...' - and also the show will likely not debut until 2009. (7/17/08)

Express Lane: Issue 51

Lance Bass Rumored to be on DTWS7, May Have a Male Partner - While it would be hot, I'm guessing the male/male speculation is more offensive?  Would they only be able to dance to songs by the Village People or say 'Relax' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood? (7/10/08)

Meet the 'Big Brother 10' Cast - It's baaaack (starting July 13), this season's hamsters include a gay cowboy, a Hooters waitress, a pro bodybuilder... and a 75 year old former Marine! (7/8/08)

Pet owners prefer McCain over Obama - I knew there was some reason I was still a bit unsure about Barack... (7/8/08)

Blake Lewis Dropped from Arista - Last year's Idol runner-up will have to fffff-fffind a new label if there's going to be a 2nd album.  Hard times for 'Idol' alums as past winners, Ruben and Taylor, have also got booted this year. (6/25/08)

You The Ones That We (Didn't) Want - Two of the runners-up of the *very* same reality show that put Max Crumm and Laura Osnes on Broadway as Danny & Sandy in the Broadway revival of 'Grease' are set to replace to duo next month. (6/24/08)

HBO Continues 'Treatment' - Ahh!  Just got thru the 43 episode, 5 days/week Gabriel Byrne therapy series last week (it ended in March!) and now word that it will be back... enjoyed it, but it was a big commitment! (6/23/08)

'Weeds' Goes Theme Song-less For New Season - With Agrestic up in flames and the Botwins headed to the border, it appears the Season 4 premiere was the last hurrah for Malvina Reynold's 'Little Boxes' as well.  So sad! (6/19/08)

Summer TV

Now that we've pretty much reached the midpoint of summer, I had thought we had slowed down on our television watching ... but a quick review of the TiVo seems to show we are still watching quite a bit.

As I'm guessing is the case with most TiVo owners, we have a backlog of shows... and a handful of shows where the season is already over, those would be ...

Lost - we still have 4 episodes (which I think translates to 4+ hours) to go on that, we tend to have to be "in the mood" for that hasn't happened since our return from vacation. 

Scrubs -  still 2 more episodes left on that.  I regretfully say what used to be one of our favorite shows has lost steam over the past season or two... but we'll get to these, hopefully before new episodes start airing on its new network, ABC.

John Adams - we still have 3 more episodes to go on the HBO miniseries + the little 15 minute "making of" feature. 

30 Days - The Morgan Spurlock documentary series airing on FX just wrapped up its 3rd season -- we have caught the episodes about coal mining and gay adoption, but still have the rest to go.

This American Life - Wonderful show based on the NPR radio show and the delightfully droll voice of host Ira Glass.   Got 3-4 more episodes on this one, I think.

Then there is a bunch of shows that are in-progress that we are keeping up with to varying degrees - that would include:  two Showtime series Weeds and Secret Diary of a Call Girl (just watched the 1st ep last night), Nashville Star (first time w/ this one, no American Idol) , Last Comic Standing, and Kathy Griffin's My Life on the D-List...

... and I certainly would not want to admit I have watched stuff like American Gladiators, Celebrity Family Fued, or TLC's The Singing Office... nope, would not want to fess up to that!

And there is still more on the horizon ... The Greatest American Dog premieres tonight and Big Brother 10 is set to start again on Sunday... and having seen the cute little creatures at the San Diego Zoo and having just read that house-fave Stockard Channing is narrating this season... going to give Meerkat Manor a try-out.

Plus we're recording (thank you TiVo wishlists!) anything having to do with China and/or the Olympics... and also catching this PBS series about the British Royal family. 

Yikes that seems like a whole lot, but it really doesn't feel that bad... I think!

Monday Mix

Already experiencing some "short timer's" syndrome with the short work-week ... especially since for us, it's one day shorter as we leave for San Diego on Thursday.  So pretty much my mind doesn't seem to be on any one thing today... so we'll just keep it going with a mix-up of stuff...

On the San Diego trip front, we wormed our way into taking our own car.  As mentioned earlier, the plan was for the 10 of us to pile into two cars... which required a pick-up and return trip up to us in Phoenix (everyone else is originating from Tucson). One of the things that both of our Dads have in common is a bit of single-mindedness and not budging from the original plan (which okay, I am more than guilty of at times... ok, maybe a lot)... so last weekend, there was no success in a suggestion to meet up with rest of the group along the way... but a week later... voila!... and, more than likely, we'll be taking the Cooper to SD. I think it will work out better... giving everyone a bit more space and not allowing "family" things to start brewing before the weekend of togetherness officially gets underway or to linger on afterward... haha! 

Ended up impulsively buying a "foot spa" over the weekend.  Won't get into the ugly details, but have been trying to fix my feet for awhile now... things tend to get "rough" when one goes barefoot pretty much all the time.  While have had some improvement via some methods... including the infomercial wonder, the Ped-Egg... and Miracle Foot Repair lotion (umm, might want to reconsider the "miracle" part)... still not totally where I woul like things to be.  Fortunately, the "spa" seemed to help to move things along... not so much the water part... but the little whirling device with interchangeable discs.   Ok, likely enough said... ha!

Last night, we finally got around to watching the season finale of Brothers & Sisters.  This is pretty much our favorite show on television right now... though we rarely watch it when it airs live (at the 9pm hour we try to wind down... and that is my "reading" time).  We were backed up a couple of episodes and the finale aired while we in Europe.  We weren't holding out on the finale because we didn't want to see it, we just didn't want the season to be over!  But last night, we finally watched it. 

Of course, having had all this time pass (over a month!) I didn't manage to stay un-spoiled on the big surprise.  I assume it is more than safe to talk about it now...

... but not sure how I feel about there being another illegitimate Walker sibling.   I am also a bit ambivalent about Rebecca, the first alleged illegitimate one, not being a Walker... granted there was no denying the chemistry between the former half-siblings, Rebecca and Justin...this latest familial twist smacks a bit of "making it up as we go along."  If the William did know about this new Ryan and if he was "R" part of the password... then why did he give all that money/inheritance to Holly?

But I hold off judgment until we see where it goes... and after all it is a tv show... and if Ryan (yet to be case as far as I know) ends up being a good-looking as the rest of Walker boys... well, who cares!

My New Food Network Stars

As I have admitted before, I am addicted to the Food Network.  If I am whipping up something new in the kitchen, it's pretty likely that I saw it on the Food Network... and probably from one of my faves - Rachael Ray, Paula Deen, Giada de Laurentiis, or Tyler Florence (probably in that order). 

I set up a TiVo season pass for The Next Food Network Star, but we haven't got around to watching it (believe it or not, we still haven't gotten around to watching the last 4 episodes of Lost!)... we'll see if we get around to it, since the last "next star" didn't work out so well.

But a couple of new-ish shows, have got my attention.

First up, is Rescue Chef with Danny Boome, meet Danny:

Honestly, I can't tell you a whole lot about this show... it's reminiscent of Tyler Florence's Food 911, with Danny coming in to helps a lucky somebody come up with new ways or preparing or learning the basics of a particular dish.  But most of the time, I am find myself having to "snap out of it" and remember this is a cooking show...

Is Danny adorable or what?!?  And Danny "Boome" how cute is that?  And to make matters worse (well, better) Danny is from the UK, so he has this swoony accent too... and he cooks!   If you want to check out the former semi-pro hockey player (nice!) turned au pair (huh?!) turned chef ... Rescue Chef airs on Saturdays (and since this is the FN, probably a bunch of other times).

Now, I do pay more attention to the cooking on this next show... even though it's worth tuning in just for the entertainment value... meet Pat and Gina, hosts of Down Home with the Neely's:

The husband and wife team are owners of a their family-run and very successful Bar-B-Que chain in Memphis and Tennessee... and you can probably guess that their specialty is good 'ole Southern cooking... and a line from their fellow Southerner and Food Network colleague Paula Deen would ring true for these two as well -- "I'm your cook, not your doctor."

But what makes this show so fun, is the flirty playfulness of Pat and particularly the sassy Gina... some of the episodes we have seen have provided more laughs than a network sitcom ... with Gina asking for some "sugar" (a kiss) after getting some adding some actual sugar to a dish... or doing her Tinkerbell impersonation as she morphs into the "Spice Fairy."  While it is lovey-dovey a good portion of the time, Gina can get comically impatient with her hubby if he is taking too long to chop some veggies.  The Neelys can also be seen on Saturdays (morning/early afternoon).

Definitely two great new(er) additions to the already chockful Food Network line-up!   

Express Lane: Issue 50

Chicago among 4 finalists for 2016 Summer Olympics - Other finalist cities include Madrid and Tokyo, but my hunch is that it will go to Rio de Janeiro, thus bringing the Olympics to S. America for the first time.

Country Rookie Julianne Hough Dancing Up Charts - Not too shabby, the 2-time DWTS champion's debut album enters the pop album chart at #3. (5/30/08)

ABC's New Schedule Features Stability, 'Scrubs' - Good news if you like what you watch on ABC.  Only 2 new shows in the fall + 3 more mid-season starts, including the long rumored network leap for 'Scrubs.' (5/13/08)

US Open's Cable TV deal from USA to ESPN, Tennis Channel - After airing it for an amazing 25 years, USA (and Universal HD) hosts the last Slam of the tennis season for one more year - then it's off to ESPN and the Tennis Channel.  Does this mean Tracy Austin is out of a job?! (5/12/08)

Fox Reality cancels Reality Remix - While it was a bit of reality overload, I will miss Kennedy's snarky/fun spin on the genre, the show will be replaced by what sounds like a more "Fox" (slimy?) weekly recap-ish show. (5/7/08)