Guh, research! Yay, the O.C.

 So, I haven't even had time to watch Fringe this week...I'm afraid that I'm going to let my TV shows down and they'll start thinking I don't love them or something...but I will be back, and hopefully soon.  I've just been seriously SWAMPED with school right now!  This past week I realized I had a huge project that was due soon, so I've been spending every waking moment not at rehearsals, work, school, or performances working on this project.  But one thing happened this week that I'd like to share.

I was sitting in my now permanent spot on the couch working on said project and my roommate, Hannah, came in and saw I was listening to the commentary of an episode of the OC.  She wanted to sit out here and work on homework with me but she thought I was INSANE for watching (and loving) commentary (I really wanted to know if I'd enjoy Josh Schwartz's commentary as much as Joss Whedon's...still not sure, cuz I wasn't really paying attention), and said that the only way she would sit and work on homework with me is if I allowed her to change it to an actual episode...I reluctantly agreed.  Afterwards I told her how I hadn't posted in a while and the only TV I'd watched was an episode of Chuck and a couple episodes of the OC (which I'd already seen so I just had them playing while I researched)...and she said I needed to blog about our little conversation about commentaries...so, this is for you Hannah!!!

To everyone in school, good luck with the end of the semester and finals and stuff!  And to those of you not in school, hope you enjoy yourselves, and hope you all are looking forward to summer and the fun and joy it brings!!!  Love all of you who read this!  Sorry it's occasionally a little boring!

~Manda

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

Gratitude, Opinions, Arts Funding, and Facts

So, I'm in bed today trying to not be sick (and failing) mainly due to all the sing, sing, singing I've had to do and still have to do this week...I can NOT afford to be sick!!!  So, what to do when you're in bed and sick of homework and can't sleep?  Research of course!  First off I'd like to say how grateful I am that I'm not a total gleek-head!  There are some OBSESSED people out there!  It's like with Buffy, no matter how obsessed I am with the show, I know for a fact that there are always people worse than me.  I don't theme my living place around the show, I have no replica props, set pieces, or costumes from the show, no matter how on top of the latest news for the show I am, I'm not obsessed enough that I'm the first to hear it, etc.   I'm glad for that fact about Buffy and about all the other shows I love...oh so glad!

On another note, can I just tell you how WEIRD it is to be in love with a show with such a HUGE fan base?!?!? That's sort of a new thing for me.  It almost makes me want to hate the show, but then I go into my own little world and pretend that I'm the only one who's ever heard of Glee and that I know everything there is to know about it and I'm happy again and go back to obsessing over the audio/visual, idealized throw back to my high school days of being a somewhat star vocalist of my high school choir...ahhh, that's better!

Well, the point of this post is Glee. I was doing my little research thing (and realizing how MANY gleek-freaks there are out there and being grateful to not really, TOTALLY be one) And I found a quote from the creator, Ryan Murphy, that made me sit up, gasp, and cover my mouth with both hands (causing me to almost drop my computer) out of a mix of delight and surprise.  He was talking about the episode where Neil Patrick Harris guest-stars.  Apparently he was a rival of Mr. Schue's in high school, and he apparently hooks up with Sue in this episode...wow...but that's not what wowed me about this article.  There are three little sentences that just make me so happy, as a TV fanatic and as a musician...and here they are:

"It's a very great, sweet, important episode. We wrote it for Neil and for Joss. The whole episode is about arts funding and the importance of arts funding in high schools."

First of all, they didn't just ask Joss to come...or NPH for that matter...they WROTE the episode for them!!!!!!!!!!  (YAY!)  And second of all ARTS FUNDING!!!  This is one big reason I just ADORE the show!  They make choir and music seem awesome.  As a music major and love of all things art related I am so in favor of the push for arts funding, and with the massive numbers Glee has raking in I think they might have some pull...but then again, the people who are the anti-arts types are generally not the types to be watching a show all about song and dance...too bad :(  (Curse you all who believe that the world is strictly scientific and that arts are of no value...you know who you are...I went to high school with a few of you and you heard a piece of my mind then...argue me and you'll hear it again!!!)

For being a little weirded out by the fact that this show is incredibly popular I do just love it so much!  Nearly everyone listens to music (even you "strictly science, art is stupid" wierdos...you might think you could live without art, but I know the truth...you have no idea how much of your life is CONSUMED by the work of artists), and for everyone who listens to music there is a different taste.  I have been pleasantly surprised by the nice balance of music the show has.  My favorite pieces are the Broadway and the Classic Rock, I don't really care for the other stuff, but the cool thing about the show is that you fall in love with the characters and there voices and that makes you want to hear more (at least for me anyway) and that's the beauty of the show.

A couple little tidbits of info I found out that was awfully intriguing:

• Rachel gets a boyfriend whose name follows the Glee custom of being incredibly cheesy: Jesse St. James...hot lead vocalist of Vocal Adrenaline and the actor, Jonathan Groff, was her counterpart when she was in Spring Awakening (this info makes me kind of sad cuz I'm a HUGE fan of Finn, but hey, I've gotten used to this kind of disappointment from the many shows I've watched :(  but still!!!)
• Puck has a fling with Mercedes
• We see Artie out of his wheelchair (but it's only in a dream he has)
• Lady Gaga has given permission for Glee to do one of her songs (she's a freak, and she bugs me, but she has some really fun music!)

Well, I believe I just wrote all this and didn't make too much sense with my buzzing, foggy head and my shallow breathing as a result of feeling like I have about a dozen of those little sword-shaped toothpicks stuck in my throat, but it was fun!  And if you don't agree with me on a few of these things, that's fine...this is just the place I publish my opinions about things TV related...yeah, bye!

~Manda (the sick)

Yay!...I mean ok..wait, huh?

So, everyone pretty much knows I'm a big Joss Whedon fan. No surprise there. But one thing that may come as a bit of a surprise (and one thing I unfortunately have to remind myself of sometimes) is that he does some really weird things...that are just WEIRD! Last night's Dollhouse for example: weird!

Seeing Topher 2.0 in Victor again was pretty funny, but huh? And Mellie killing herself...the fact that Paul is all of the sudden in love with her again and not with Echo is still really weird, but come on! And probably the oddest thing: Boyd!!! Really, you make the guy that everyone likes into a seriously deranged psycho?! He played crazy pretty well, but it was just weird. And then he goes and blows himself up...k, dolls aren't like innocent children, they're directionless thoughtless empty shells of human bodies...but that was still weird.

I still like Dollhouse, and yeah, even liked the episode, but it was a little too dramatic, and too odd for my taste. oh well, it's almost over. I just hope the final episode is awesome!

~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

K, Joss is doing this right!

So he says that Dollhouse won't live on in any other media forms cuz he's said all he needs to say, but still, that's too bad. Finally, after it's gotten cut, he gets to take his show in the directions that he wants and do what he wants (something that if he had done this on a cable network would've most likely have happened from the beginning, but who knows.)

I just finished watching the latest episodes and oh my goodness!!! Yeah, there were things that weren't my favorite, but when you have to push all you wanted to do and say over the course of seasons into just a few episodes, that sort of ends up being the case.

The second episode, "A Love Supreme", was amazing! I'm glad they got to air the two together because the first one was a little frustrating and felt too stand-alone. I loved the training scene with Echo and Paul. I also loved that Paul was the one that Alpha was actually after and that he imprinted himself with Paul. I loved pretty much all of it!!!!! Awesome!

For some reason it all felt Buffy-y in a way. I'm not saying that Echo acted like Faith, cuz there is no way she did, she was Echo, and I'm not saying that it felt full of girl-power-y vampire-slayage. No,it was the intense emotion, the fact that Paul kept himself at a distance with Echo even thought it was highly apparent that feelings were mutual between them, the high action, the scene with Alpha and Echo fighting, the absolute can't-go-on desperation when she heard Paul's voice. All that, to me, felt reminiscent of my favorite show in the whole world! And of the parts of Buffy that it did feel like, I kept getting reminded of season five when Tara is crazy, Dawn is a pain, but needs protection more than anything, the unrequited love of Spike for Buffy, Buffy going catatonic, the Winnebago, yeah, the end of season five (after a few times watching it tho, it's so incredibly dumb and frustrating the first time through). It was also a little like the last two episodes of season seven in that way, highly intense, highly emotional, you get to know the characters better in those episodes than at any other time in the show...(k, thought: those were both series finale set-ups...duh Amanda...silly me, that's why it feels like Buffy! Oh wow, took me long enough to figure that out!) but yeah, that's what it felt like...pure Joss!

Well, can't wait for next week...and now I really want to crack open my Buffy DVDs again and remember why that show is pretty much always number one! But alas, I now have to go to work...too bad! hahahaha...Well, let's enjoy this awesome end to Dollhouse!

~Manda

Some Joss related stuff to check out

Ok, so a few days ago I was really not wanting to go to sleep so I was trying to see what was up with Joss Whedon with the airing of the last episodes of Dollhouse beginning to air. As I was looking around I read this article on sidereel.com where the quotes felt totally out of context so I decided to check out the original interview (or first see if I was going to be able to find it.) I found the original article that the sidereel.com article was based on and at the bottom of the page was the original interview the article had been taken from. The original article felt much more Whedonesque, and the interview was great! They were both pretty long, but totally worth the time and I highly recommend checking them out if you have the time (or are like me and really just don't want to go to sleep). The original article can be found here and the interview is at the bottom.

Enjoy!

~Manda

The beginning of the end

Gah....you ever get that feeling that no matter what you do you just never have enough time for everything and thinking that makes your stomach hurt? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that feeling is called finals! It's disgusting! And yet, with this ever constant painful time crunch, what do I revert to in the middle of the night and the early hours of the day? Oh yes, I find solace in a little bit of TV watching! Healthy? Probably not. Smart? Nope again. Does it make any sense? Nuh-uh. But does it make life oh so much easier? You betcha!!!!

Well, I really don't have enough time for just any television, just the important shows, i.e. the beginning of the end of Dollhouse. (And that's only 84 minutes of television, so that's not too bad, right?) And oh my, was that a good decision (y'know, watching that 84 minutes of television). If you saw it you should know what I mean.

Summer Glau's Performance of an uber creepy, pretty, adorable genius was awesome! And the doublemint Tophers....how great was that?! The Bennett/Topher dynamic kinda rocked too!

I am busy and don't have a ton of time to blog, so I'll just leave it at that. But if you enjoy Dollhouse you should seriously consider catching up on the newest episodes if you haven't...I have a feeling we'll see some extreme Joss genius in the final days of Dollhouse.

~Manda

Suit-Up!!!!

When I get stressed I do probably the worst thing possible! I start a new series. If I hate it then it's the perfect solution: I get my fix and don't end up wasting too much time. When I love it...well, then there's a problem, and I currently have a problem.

I am Amanda, and I'm a television junkie. It's a sad state of affairs. Now granted, I do have standards, but times of stress are probably my biggest weakness to the alluring nature of the one-eyed monster. I have recently discovered (during a time that I should be focusing on all things educationally musical) the joys, the pleasures, nay, the insane AWESOMENESS that is How I Met Your Mother.

I started watching it for who knows what reason, but I had heard from multiple sources that it is "legen-wait-for-it-dary"! And it is....oh yes, it is! I knew I'd love Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris from what I had seen of them (mostly through the Whedonverse), but it's even better than them! It's a sitcom with a laugh track that I actually enjoy! It's amazing! No...it's awesome!

Well, I just wanted to share that little insight of my life with you. I love How I Met Your Mother. I can't wait to see all of it! (Just learned what a "slap bet" is....awesome!) That's all, gotta get back to Quando Men Vo and Beethoven's 6th Symphony...wish me luck!

~Manda

As previously stated...

After watching an exciting (and odd) season finale of the Guild (spoiler alert: Codex wins!!! woohoo!!!) I found out some sad news. As I have previously stated: I really don't love FOX, and today I found another reason to harbor that dislike. I was reading an article about the midseason line-up and in addition to the depressing cancellation of Dollhouse (but at least they are smart to finish it off...they'd have chaos on their hands if they didn't) and the benching of J.J. Abrams's Fringe (so the two shows they decided to make the new 50 minute shows get axed? how fair is that?! And when will FOX learn not to do sci-fi anymore...it just doesn't work for them like it used to) I learned that due to the filming schedule for Glee it will be taking a 4 month hiatus. It will air it's winter finale December 9 and not return till April 13. When it does return it will be on Tuesday nights rather than Wednesdays. (Learning this really made it make a lot more sense that Joss was directing an episode in March...I was scratching my head about that one.) I don't understand FOX. I loved it in the '90s, but now I believe it to be rather frustrating! At least I'll have Chuck to get me through the times of being Glee-less. (Ahh, NBC, thank you for your wonderful shows!) So, that's my little bit of info. Sad, true, frustrating, and exciting all rolled into one nice, neat, little article!

~Manda

Happy Thanksgiving: TV style!

So, after (and before) the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and pie, we need to remember why we really have this holiday: to remember to be grateful for what we've got! This (thank goodness) means we can show our gratitude for television too! So I decided I'd put together a little thanksgiving list of the top ten things I'm grateful for that couldn't be possible without the great invention of Philo T. Farnsworth's (now granted, all of mine are probably going to be from my lifetime, and probably from the last ten-ish years of it...I haven't been alive all that long...I need to learn!!!)

10. Heroes - I was keeping up at the beginning of the season, but then I got really busy with school and other stuff. Now granted, it has gone a little down hill, but my obsessions with loving comics, Milo Ventimiglia, Zachary Quinto, the really cool characters with really cool powers, among other things keep me watching!

9. J.J. Abrams - even tho I haven't been keeping up on Lost, this man is incredible. His stories are so intense, and his characters so complex. He tends to snowball out of control a lot, but that's fun too! And in addition to his TV-ness, he did a wicked awesome job on Star Trek (wow, that was an AWESOME movie!!!)

I didn't have room for everyone, so I just put these two cuz I found pic with both of them

8. Great actors that make great TV - I didn't really know where to put this, but it is a necessity. Although actors aren't my favorite part of TV, they do make it awfully enjoyable! So I'm grateful for Eliza Dushku, Hugh Laurie, Tahmoh Penikett, Summer Glau, Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Kristen Bell, David Boreanaz, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Zachary Levi, Adam Brody, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, as well as others mentioned in this post (and I could seriously go on and on...there are some awesome actors!!!)

7. sidereel.com - I actually think this could have a number one spot being that it is the way I watch most of my TV, but it just seems wrong for it to be ahead of all my shows and my favorite TV geniuses!!! But I am very grateful for the wonderful invention of sidereel!

6. House - I became a fan of this great show over the summer and if I'm not watching Glee or the Office (or Battlestar Galactica) I am so watching House! It has managed to stay pretty awesome even tho House has kicked the vicodin habit. Love that show!

5. The Office - I still say that season 2 is my favorite, but there is something about this show that calls me back week after week. I kind of have a feeling this something's name sounds like Kohn Jrasinski or Him Jalpert, but I'm not sure (hahaha, I'm a dork, yes!). Regardless of the reason, I have had many a laugh (and surprisingly a cry) over this show! It is a great show!

4. Battlestar Galactica - this was going to be number six (it just seemed so fitting...hahaha) but I couldn't have it be after the Office and House. I started watching it this semester and have on more than one occasion found myself watching it instead of doing something I actually should be doing (don't tell my mom...hahahaha). It had to have a higher number this Thanksgiving!

3. Glee!!! This show has made this season of television so amazing! I love the music, the actors, the stories, and the fact that they are starting to show a little consistency in all those things. It also makes me not hate FOX quite so much! hahahaha

2. Josh Schwartz - He created the O.C., Gossip Girl and Chuck. I had never even considered watching the O.C. till I had already fallen in love with all things Chuck. I have since then actually seen just about every episode and have come to love his humor and wittiness, and I've now been able to see a lot of it in Chuck (in addition to the O.C./Chuck crossover actors -- I love it when that happens!!!)

1. Joss Whedon - Ok, I don't think this number one spot surprises anyone! He created the best shows and has helped with the whole turning television into an art form. I believe he is on the frontier of the television world with this Dr. Horrible business. He's my hero and I hope to meet him someday. (And this number one spot includes him and all the great things he has created...especially Buffy the Vampire Slayer!!)

Ok, in addition to this little list I want to share two of my favorite Thanksgiving episodes I've seen on television (and actually remember).

Pangs: BtVS season 4. I don't think I could ever forget how many funny moments are in this episode, but one sticks out in my mind always: Spike tied to a chair getting hit over and over by arrows that are flying through Giles's house. Also the touching-ness of the help Angel feels he needs to give and how he tries to hide his presence from Buffy. Awww...so sweet (and the follow-up episode in Angel where she goes to LA, he becomes human, realizes it's a bad idea, and erases the day from everyone's memory but his is very awww-worthy too).

The Homecoming: the O.C. season 1. Now granted, I don't know this as well as Buffy (and that's kind of a "thank goodness" sort of thing) but I've been thinking about the beginning of this episode a lot this Thanksgiving. The nearly incoherent ramblings of the darling Seth Cohen make the show, and they make this episode as well. In the beginning of this episode he begs his mother to not cook the dinner at all and she wants so badly to make the holiday unforgettable for Ryan. He also works on dating Anna and Summer at the same time (which in so many ways make season one so incredibly enjoyable). Oh, Seth Cohen on Thanksgiving, great times!!!

So, Happy Thanksgiving to all! Lets be grateful for all we get to have, and in addition to all those great blessings, let us not forget to be grateful for our television!!!

~Manda