You can't be a huge fan of BTVS without rooting for girl-power!!!

So, it's 2 am and I can't sleep (mostly because I accidentally took a four hour nap today).  Well, my brother down from Idaho today and came to see me.  He mentioned something while I was working on my last post that made me think...he said that he's been skimming all the latest posts because they're all about guys...so I thought, "hey, what if I dedicated a post to him about all my girl-powery girl faves of my favorite TV shows...that'd be fun."  So, that's what this post is gonna be!  This is for you De-bi-su!!!!!

Buffy Summers - BTVS

The reason for this super-powered chica is pretty obvious.

Giles: Into each generation, a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a choosen one. One born with the...  Giles, Buffy: -strength and skill to hunt the vampires...  

Buffy: To stop the spread of their evil blah, blah, blah, I've heard it, okay?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1, Episode 1: Welcome to the Hellmouth

Yeah, she's the most girl-powery icon...she saves the world all the time and makes sure she looks pretty while she does it!  Hero, right there!

Rachel Berry - Glee

She'll win, and be the best.  She has a great voice, can dance, and takes charge.  Yes, she can be abrasive and annoying, and her storm outs are ridiculous, but she'll grow out of that (hopefully).  She's a girl who's not afraid to take charge...and therefore, hero!

Kate Austen - Lost

Yeah, she was a fugitive, but she is so awesome!  After the crash she was right there with Jack et al. taking care of everyone and exploring the island for new places to live...and she still somehow manages to look pretty after weeks and weeks and weeks of no real showers and dirty clothes...I don't know about you, but I'd be a mess.  And then again it is fiction, but that doesn't take away the inherent awesomeness!

Sydney Bristow - Alias

She was able to do the whole able to be anyone thing a lot better than Echo and she doesn't have to have her memory wiped all the time or be somewhat of a prostitute doing it!  Yeah, she's awesome...shutting down SD-6 and finding all the Rambaldi artifacts and stuff...what a great little CIA agent!

Robin Scherbatsky - HIMYM

She's got sass, confidence, personality, she's pretty, and she can be totally butch without seeming overly manly!  She was Robin Sparkles, with her Canadian pop music and music videos, she gave Ted a chance even after he blew it with the opening line of "I love you", and she has been the only woman to get Barney Stinson to actually settle down and have a girlfriend...that's one powerful girl!

Sarah Walker - Chuck

Besides being perfect for Chuck (which would in and of itself be reason for me to put her on this list) she is another AWESOME CIA agent.  She can do practically everything, she takes care of Chuck, she can beat the heck out of Nichole Richie (as well as any other foe that comes her way)...Agent Walker is pretty darn awesome!

River Tam - Firefly

I almost put Kaylee, Zoe, and Inara on here too, but I thought I'd just stick with the most iconically Joss Whedon girl-power chica and that, hands down, has got to be River!  Not only is she so crazy it makes you smile (and occasionally feel chills from the creepy factor) she can FIGHT!  She's a crazy genius with some mad martial arts skills...the scene where she kills all the Reavers at the end of Serenity......WOW!

Chloe Sullivan - Smallville

If you read my post on Valentine's Day you'll know that I have this crazy soft spot for Miss Chloe Sullivan!  I've always loved the Lois Lane-y girl reporter thing...and Chloe epitomizes it...maybe even better than Lois.  First of all, she dresses soooo sharp!  Second, I like her hair.  Third, she has powers.  And fourth, she helps the pre-Justice League.  Yeah, she's a pretty awesome lady!

Penny - The Big Bang Theory

PENNY!!!  So, I just found out that her last name hasn't ever been revealed...that's weird!  But she is so cool!  She loves her nerdy neighbors, and that makes me so happy!  I love how when she feels dumb it doesn't exactly make her uncomfortable...she's pretty much always comfortable in her own skin.  I also love how she time and time again realizes that when it comes to real life, she's the genius!  Penny rocks!

Cyd Sherman aka Codex - The Guild

Well, first of all she beat Axis of Anarchy!  K, so she's not the epitome of anything but a gamer.  But she's so awesome!  And she's a favorite of mine even if she's not a real role model in any way, shape, or form...she's Codex, and that makes her awesome!

Olivia Dunham - Fringe

I think agents are cool.  Olivia is no exception.  This FBI missy is so smart and level headed.  She tries nearly everything, and never stops until the job is done.  She seems like a very quiet, level-headed person, which happen to be very admirable qualities to me due to the fact that I am loud, easily obsessed, and easily distracted.  Plus, she has those subconscious powers which is really kind of awesome!

Dana Scully - X-Files

Like I said, I like agents!  Scully, also FBI, has the same quiet level-headedness of Agent Dunham, but with a healthy dose of skepticism and an over abundance of realism.  Even after alien autopsies and massive amounts of evidence that would lead even the least "take me to your leader", "I've been abducted by little green men" types to begin believing in extra-terrestrial life.  But not Scully (for the most part...pre-no Mulder), she sticks to her no supernatural and no alien lifestyle pretty darn well! 

Kara Thrace aka Starbuck - BSG

I almost published this post without adding her for one major reason: she's not quintessentially pretty or girly.  But she does rock, and that means she belongs here.  She's butch, in a more manly sort of way than Robin, she shoots guns, drinks, smokes cigars, pilots Vipers, hits, kicks, etc. etc.  She's Starbuck!

So yeah, those are my top picks...tonight anyway...I think I'm getting tired now, so adios personas!

~Manda

My favorite guys from my favorite shows

So I was recently talking to a couple friends of my brother's and I was listing off TV characters that would be my future soul mate...yeah, lame and extremely girly, but ever since then I wanted to make a list of the characteristics and characters that make up my future husband.... (P.S. no particular order...but Chuck is #1!!!)

Captain Awesome - Chuck

Very attractive, awesome, doctor.

Simon - Firefly

Ok, attractive, awesome doctor that lives on a spaceship!

Jess - Gilmore Girls

Well read and has good taste in all media

Green Arrow - Smallville

Definitely super rich...and hot...and he'll take me to Comic Con and we'll dress up (hahahaha)

Marshall - HIMYM

The sweetest and most faithful guy ever!!!

Topher  - Dollhouse

Adorable.  Geeky.  Genius.

Leonard and Sheldon  - The Big Bang Theory

Make that Adorable Geeky Genius ^2

Peter - Fringe

Cultured, has seen the world, would do anything for me...and crazy smart doesn't hurt.

Vaughn - Alias

Hot FBI agent....I can dream.

Ned - Pushing Daisies

Owns his own business...and the occasional superpower isn't all that bad....I just hope I'm not dead when I marry the guy.

Clark Kent/Superman...just in general, but in this case - Smallville

Superpowered hunk with an awkward, adorable candy coating...and glasses!

Jim - The Office

So absolutely and completely in love with me!

Anders - BSG

Can fly a Viper and play a mean game of pyramid...I think I could take or leave the Cylon thing though.

Finn - Glee

Sings, dances, plays football....and TALL!!!!

Chuck - Chuck

Where do I begin?  Cutest guy ever, Stanford graduate, great with computers and video games, computer brain, occasional supernatural-esque powers, CIA agent...and AWESOME!

Seth Cohen (cuz with him you always need a last name) - The OC

Good taste in music and comics, mondo attractive, can draw.

So yeah, I'm such a girl...but that's alright due to the fact that I am in reality a girl....so yeah...if there is anyone I forgot, please let me know!

~Manda

"Getting Closer"...starting to see the end!

Ok, so last night's Dollhouse was pretty cool! It's sad that the series is ending, but I have to admit that I'm way excited to see how it does! Here are a few things I liked about last night's episode:

Yup, this is Topher when he was crazy in Epitaph One

Topher and Bennett: Has there ever been a cuter couple in the history of television? I just absolutely LOVE the two of them and the way they are together! I got so excited when he kissed her (I actually smiled really big and then had a coughing fit due to the seriously annoying illness plaguing me...yuck!) They were just so sweet. It made me really want to be a crazy genius person just so I could be like one of them...so cute. And then, typical Joss, you fall in love with a situation/character and he rips it away fairly gruesomely and doesn't give you enough time to actually process what the heck just happened! Why Joss, why?! At least with Buffy the only people you killed were Buffy (who came back) and Tara (who no one really liked anyway)..and then of course *sob* Anya...that was sudden and painful. And then he had to go and kill Book and Wash in Serenity...oh Joss, the pain you put your viewers through (I mean, really, couldn't you have killed off Kennedy and Dawn at some point? Seriously, man...seriously!!!) So yeah, if you haven't seen it yet, he killed adorable, nerdy, geeky, slightly evil (but way too cute and the love interest of the one and only lovable Topher) Bennett. Yeah...the man sure loves torturing his viewers! And with this we begin to get a glimpse into why and how Topher goes crazy. If I smiled when they kissed I almost cried when she died! Topher was so happy! So sad!

Echo and Paul: So we found out what they got rid of in Paul's mind: His feelings for Echo. This made me way sad. He still likes Mellie, but now he and Echo...nothing?! So he kills Bennett after making us like her and then he takes the feelings from Paul's last three months and erases them? It feels like in Angel season 1 when he sent Buffy to LA and Angel becomes mortal and he and Buffy get all lovey-dovey but then things end up bad so he goes to the oracles and gets the day rewound and erased for everyone but himself...yeah, it's kinda like that. Frustrating! Poor Echo!

Finally, Boyd?!?!?!?! (and Claire/Whiskey): Ok, honestly...Joss Whedon can be rather frustrating! His shows are good (when he has control...and I know, I know, the fact that I say that means I'm a delusional, brain-washed Whendon fanatic...oh well) and all, but all the plot twists and stuff are surprisingly frustrating! I love Boyd!!! But it was already weird enough to find out he'd been hiding Claire/Whiskey and macking on her and stuff and then we find out he's the co-founder of Rossum?!?!?!?! Frustrating!! Mostly cuz I have to wait till next Friday and then the next to see how it all pans out! GAH!!! I don't think Boyd is bad even though he pretty much had Claire/Whiskey kill off a potentially favorite character of mine and make another favorite character start on the road to crazy town. I still don't think he's the evil, big bad! Call me naive and say I have the inability to understand all you want, but seriously, I don't think Boyd is evil...I may be proven wrong, but I doubt it! (k, he's probably a little evil...I just really like the guy!!!) And anyway...the whole him coming from law enforcement and having this dark past and stuff but then suddenly knowing what's best for everyone sure makes a lot more sense...I kind of like how no one really knows who he is...it's pretty cool!

So yeah, I know a lot of people really don't like the show and a lot of people really don't like Eliza Dushku and her acting and the fact that she's the lead, but I love it! I'm excited for the ending and excited for what Joss is going to be doing next!

On an unrelated note, be sure to watch Chuck. Tomorrow there's a two hour special and another episode is airing on Monday! Woohoo! Watch Chuck, love Chuck, and hope that it'll become a megahit and get a season 4!!!

~Manda

Fun things to read, see, and check out

K, so I was just kind of browsing all my favorite TV info spots and I came across a few things that interested me:

First: An unaired season 1 episode of Fringe is being aired three days before the next episode of this season. In it a teenage girl dies only to wake up as doctors are removing her organs and is now able to speak Russian and know highly classified information. The article alludes to the idea that this could somehow take place in an alternate universe, but it doesn't for sure say anything, so who knows. (J.J. Abrams and his alternate realities...what are we going to do with him?) The original article can be found here.

Second: I found an interview with Adam Baldwin about season 3 of Chuck. There were a couple of things that interested me on this one. First of all, I had no idea he was in My Bodyguard and Independence Day. (Now, I've only seen My Bodyguard once and I haven't seen Independence Day for a long long time...and both of those I haven't seen since I've known who he is, but...) Secondly he said something that just made me happy. He talked about how a lot of the Firefly fans have crossed over to Chuck...yeah, happy! That interview can be found here.

Third: While reading the interview with Adam Baldwin I came across this interview with George Lucas...he's pretty awesome, so I decided to share it! (I couldn't get the copy I wanted to work, the full interview can be found here.)

~Manda

Goodbye '09, Bring on the '10s

So I've been in Maine for Christmas break and although I am very grateful to get to be with my family the fact that I'm here means two not so fun things for my blog: First, since we live on an island covered in trees (and currently being hit with the first Nor'easter of the season) there are very few places that can get internet (our neighbor's house is one of them, but shhhh...don't tell anyone that we borrow it from them). And second, pretty much all the shows I watch are off for the holidays. I did finally finish BSG and HIMYM, so that's pretty cool. I've been reacquainted with Firefly, Arrested Development, Lone Gunman, and a few other shows. I've gotten to watch a few of my favorite movies, like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Blades of Glory, and Speed Racer. And I've gotten to spend time with my three little brothers and my parents, which has been pretty awesome!!!

Well, after I found some internet and got on sidereel.com I looked for something to commemorate a great 2009 and I found an article on the top 10 shows that got cancelled too soon. Of course they mentioned the scare that came with getting Chuck renewed and the disappointment that came with the cancelling of Dollhouse (the first of which I obviously rejoiced greatly for and the second I was cursing FOX along with other Whedonites, so they are big deals, don't get me wrong), but there was one thing really caught my eye, and that was a show that had seriously been one of my favorites: Pushing Daisies!!! The story of Ned, the pie maker that can wake the dead and his dead girlfriend, Chuck, who he can't touch cuz it'd put her right back into the dead "young tourist Charlotte Charles" status from whence she came, and the absolutely adorable Olive Snook, an employee of Ned's who harbors a serious crush on her boss. The characters were absolutely incredible and they had a story line to match. In addition to that it was pretty much Tim Burton on television. Pushing Daisies rocked and it was totally cancelled in it's second season.

**side note** I've had this theory for a while and this show kind of falls in line with it. I believe that shows that started the same season as the strike pretty much don't have a chance in survival...but that's a different story...back to Pushing Daisies. **end side note**

Yeah, I pretty much love that show! I adored Ned and all the flashbacks to the Longborough School for Boys and his sad stories that came with his powers. I loved the Chuck/Vivian/Lily/Chuck's dad relationship. Can't forget Emerson Cod and his search for his daughter and his relationship with the dog trainer lady. And I cannot even begin to tell you how much I adore Kristin Chenoweth...yeah, I love Pushing Daisies...great show!

K, so that's all I have time for, so happy new year, we're done with the naughties and onto the tens! Weirdly awesome!!!

~Manda

Awesome Firefly/Serenity pic

Ok, so my friend, Shuey, helped me get this pic off of IMDb because I just LOVE it! I decided that if I love it I need to share it!

A little intro, a little Glee, a little Dollhouse, and a whole lot of Joss

Dollhouse stars, Tahmoh Penikett (left) and Eliza Dushku (right) with Joss Whedon.

In light of the recent tragedy for all Joss Whedon Fans (FOX officially canceled Dollhouse and are burning off the rest of the episodes back to back on Fridays starting in December) I decided that I would like to post my televisional opinions online for no reason other than to maybe relieve those nearest and dear to me from having to endure hours of mindless television obsessed babble!

First off, if you are reading this and don't know me (pssh, like THAT's ever gonna happen) I need to get a few things straight. I love television! I really, really do. I am a rather huge Joss Whedon fan and love everything he has ever done (with the exception of Roseanne: not my kind of thing, and he had no controlling creativity on it; and the original movie of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: great ideas, obsessed with the show, but the movie was a swing and a miss, in my opinion). My pool of television genres is kind of large. I like dramas, action, dramedies, comedies, sci-fi, fantasy, etc., etc. There are a few things that annoy me to no end: reality shows, and poorly written shows with bad acting, no plot, bad directing, etc. (but who doesn't hate those kind...I know people like reality TV, and that's ok...but only idiots like bad television.)

Ok, after that, the real reason I'm dying to write! As I stated previously I am an incredibly HUGE Joss Whedon fan, and as such, currently numbered among those mourning the loss of yet another great series. I do find it interesting that when his shows were on the air for the long haul (Buffy: seven seasons; Angel: five seasons) they built him up a name and a fan base and they never really graduated from cult to hit. Now, granted Buffy just about died after season five but was then picked up by UPS for an additional two seasons, but it had a five season run before that. Well, to get to my point, when Joss's shows were doing well they never gathered huge fan bases, and when they aren't doing well (Firefly: partial season, Dollhouse: almost two seasons) they retain their Whedonesque fan bases and gain a few more, but the shows still die. Many people (including myself) would point their fingers at FOX for the difference between the long running series and the dead-and-buried-before-it-starts type. And with Dollhouse many point their fingers at FOX, but also at Joss for not having "learned his lesson" and deciding to work with FOX again. But let's remember, fellow Whedonites, what company produced Buffy, the show that got Joss off the ground? Yes, it was the evil people at FOX. No, they didn't air it, that was the WB (oh, remember the good old days, pre-CW? Wasn't that a great time to be alive?) but FOX was our friend for a while.

Dollhouse promo pic

Well, I know, I'm rather long winded, but just imagine the time this is saving my friends and family (and the potential strain on the vocal chords it could cause me), but I wanted to share something I read today. I was bored and trying to find something to do that wasn't boring like homework, house work, piano/voice practice, so of course I turn to the internet (sidereel.com to be specific) I wanted to read a little more on the cancellation of Dollhouse, so I looked it up on sidereel. I found the schedule for the back to back burn out of the final episodes of the season (which can be found here.) While reading on I found what Joss told the Hollywood Reporter about his reaction to the news of the (nearly inevitable) cancellation:

"I don't have a lot to say," Whedon wrote in a post on Whedonesque.com. "I'm extremely proud of the people I've worked with: my star (Eliza Dushku), my staff, my cast, my crew. I feel the show is getting better pretty much every week, and I think you'll agree in the coming months. I'm grateful that we got to put it on, and then come back and put it on again."

Whedon also addressed his plans. "I'm off to pursue internet ventures/binge drinking," he wrote. "Possibly that relaxation thing I've read so much about. By the time the last episode airs, you'll know what my next project is. But for now there's a lot of work still to be done, and disappointment to bear."

So, yes, sad that Dollhouse is dead and nearly buried (sad for the genius and the smokin' hot cast! and they are smokin' hot, not gonna lie), but according to Joss, he already has thoughts on what to do next. I personally can't wait till the final finale of Dollhouse to find out what in store for us Whedonites!

Yet another Dollhouse promo pic (with most of the smokin' hot cast)

Oh, and on a side note, I just found out (like two seconds ago) that Joss is a fan of one of my favorite TV shows on the air and he's going to direct an episode!!! Check THIS out!!! (woohoo!!)

On the really happening front, aren’t you directing an episode of Glee?
I am.

Is Glee your new favorite show?
That would be an exactly correct assessment. With Sarah Connor and Battlestar gone, my wife and I need a new obsession and it landed in my lap. And sang to us!

Are any Dr. Horrible or Buffy songs on the performance roster?
I would have to say a resonant ‘no way.’ The episode isn’t about me. It’s the next episode of Glee. Hopefully my hands will be invisible on the show. You’ll just go, “Why, that is remarkably good. It gives me glee.” That is my hope. I’ll be shooting in March.

The rest of the interview can be found here. They also talk about him and the Terminator franchise, and the sequel to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It's a great little interview, check it out!

~Manda