What I did on my Christmas Vacation by Helen

Not much.

Usually that is A- okay with me, but I kind of have a laundry list of things to accomplish.

To Do List:

1. Wash Winter Jacket- When you're wearing it every day, you don't realize how gross it is getting. Why do the cuffs get so dirty? We've had a couple warm days, so now's the time to do it. Well, it will be clean just in time for the next round of storms.


2. Write thank-you notes to students. I try to always write personal notes, I think it's important and it's how Big Helen raised me.

3. Get rid of clothes I don't need anymore or that don't fit (about half my closet)

4. Clean my "basement". I don't have a basement, but a huge utility closet which used to be very organized, but has been looking rough and I want to be able to walk in there and find things if necessary.

5. Refinance Mortgage- personal goal is to reduce my mortgage by at least the amount that my condo fee is. It's a weird number that I've become fixated on. Freeing up that money would allow me to save, or have it on hand for a car payment.



6. Make Eye Doctor's Appointment- I'm having to pull too much printed material towards me to read it. Not good.


7. Read for required book club and read for fun. I need to read Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War for my TAH (Teachingn American History) Grant Book Club. (Did you know that I have a professional blog as well, Encounters and Exchanges in US History) (I don't need to have it read till January 26th, but I was really, really trying to be proactive.) For fun I started reading Twilight. It's definitely good, and I can see what the tweens and middle-aged moms are swooning about, but I haven't been completely sucked in, yet.

And I'm sure there's more that I've forgotten...

How much of this have I accomplished, you ask? Well, the first one and bits and pieces of the others, and that's it.

Notice take down Christmas decorations isn't even on this list.....nor is watching Alias Seasons 2 and 3 on DVD....hmmmmmm.........

Since this blog is supposedly about tv.....

From my good friend Kristin Dos Santos (formerly Kristin Vietch, formerly Watch with Wanda) at eonline.com


WINTER PREMIERES
* Denotes series returning from a winter break, rather than season or series premiere.
Monday, Dec. 29
The City (MTV)

Sunday, Jan. 4
Brothers & Sisters (ABC)*Desperate Housewives (ABC)*

Monday, Jan. 5
The Bachelor (ABC)Gossip Girl (CW)*One Tree Hill (CW)*Secret Life of the American Teenager (ABC Family)True Beauty (ABC)

Tuesday, Jan. 6
90210 (CW)*According to Jim (ABC)*The Biggest Loser: Couples (NBC)Law & Order: SVU (NBC)*NCIS (CBS)*Nip/Tuck (FX)Privileged (CW)*Scrubs (ABC)

Wednesday, Jan. 7
13: The Fear Is Real (CW)Damages (FX)Knight Rider (NBC)*Law & Order (NBC)*

Thursday, Jan. 8
30 Rock (NBC)*ER (NBC)*Grey's Anatomy (ABC)*Kath & Kim (NBC)*My Name Is Earl (NBC)*The Office (NBC)*Private Practice (ABC)*Ugly Betty (ABC)*

Friday, Jan. 9
Flashpoint (CBS)Monk (USA)*Psych (USA)*

Sunday, Jan. 11
24 (Fox)

Monday, Jan. 12
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)*How I Met Your Mother (CBS)*Kyle XY (ABC Family)Samantha Who? (ABC)*Worst Week (CBS)*

Tuesday, Jan. 13
American Idol (Fox)

Wednesday, Jan. 14
Wonderland (DTV 101)

Thursday, Jan. 15
Bones (Fox)*CSI (CBS)*Smallville (CW)*Supernatural (CW)*

Friday, Jan. 16
Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi)Friday Night Lights (NBC)

Sunday, Jan. 18
American Dad (Fox)*Big Love (HBO)Family Guy (Fox)*Flight of the Conchords (HBO)King of the Hill (Fox)*The L Word (Showtime)Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Showtime)The Simpsons (Fox)*United States of Tara (Showtime)

Monday, Jan. 19
House (Fox)*

Tuesday, Jan. 20
Fringe (Fox)*

Wednesday, Jan. 21
Lie to Me (Fox)Lost (ABC), two-hour premiere

Thursday, Jan. 22
Burn Notice (USA)*

Monday, Jan. 26
The Closer (TNT)*Trust Me (TNT)

Wednesday, Jan. 28
Life on Mars (ABC)*

Thursday, Jan. 29
Hell's Kitchen (Fox)

Monday, Feb. 2
Chuck (NBC),* 3-D episodeHeroes, Vol. IV: Fugitives (NBC)*Medium (NBC)

Thursday, Feb. 12
Survivor (CBS)

Friday, Feb. 13
Dollhouse (Fox)Terminator (Fox)*

Sunday, Feb. 15
The Amazing Race (CBS)

Sunday, March 1
Celebrity Apprentice (NBC)

Sunday, March 8
Breaking Bad (AMC)

Monday, March 9
Castle (ABC)

Tuesday, March 17
Reaper (CW)

Thursday, March 19
Kings (NBC)

Tuesday, March 24
Cupid (ABC)

Wednesday, April 8
The Unusuals (ABC)

Thursday, April 9
Harper's Island (CBS)


What am I most excited about?

Sorry, it isn't 9-0.

Sunday, January 18th- I get "Big Love" which I've described my love for in a previous post. This show hasn't been new since 2007 (damn, the writer's strike) so I'm really excited, and I actually currently have HBO

Same week, Wednesday, January 21st- LOST- sigh- I want to be better about posting thoughts, ideas, and easter eggs for people- but do I keep the separate blog- 4 8 15 16 23 42

A new Amazing Race in February! Yay! Josie and I will try out eventually. Her son will be so proud.

I'm sure Natalie and Stacey have marked their calendars for AI, what about you?

Coming soon to a theater near you....

Hollywood often looks to the world of literature for inspiration for film. How often are we disappointed by the movies that they create?

When the first Harry Potter movie was set to come out in 2001, I decided I would hold a voluntary book club for the kids to inspire them to read it before they saw the movie. I had a small crew for that first club, basically all the girls in my homeroom, so about 10 of them. We had lunch together one day a week and discussed a chunk of the book. (You're probably wondering why kids would do this book club even if it wasn't required. What you need to understand the "thrill" that is eating in the classroom with the teacher. To quote Ron Burgundy, "I'm kind of a big deal.") I continued these clubs for a couple years, sticking mostly with Harry Potter. In 2004, while reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban with my fourth graders, I thought, "why can't we go to the movie too." Since then, after we have our book club I put out an invitation to families to meet at the movie and view it together. Over the years, I have conned my fellow teammates into also doing these clubs, and then we fill up the movie theater. ( I was so excited one time when I heard the theater employees remarking that the movie was sold out because there was "some Reading (the town where I teach) book club here".)

The latest book club centered around "The Tale of Despereaux" by Kate DiCamillo. I'm sure many of you aren't familiar with the wonderful world of children's literature, but Kate DiCamillo is an AMAZING author. Despereaux actually won the highest award in Children's Lit, the Newberry Award and DiCamillo was a previous honoree for another awesome book you may have heard of called "Because of Winn Dixie". As I tell the kids, what makes DiCamillo such a gifted author is her ability to write very, VERY deep books, with meaningful themes, for kids that aren't necessarily difficult for kids to read.

Today my fifth grade teammates and myself, and about 25 fifth graders and their parents attended the movie. When the lights came up this afternoon, I turned to my students and said, "well, that wasn't the book that we read." It's really disappointing to see such an amazing book as this one, turned in to a pretty lame story. The movie was completely different. The character names, and the setting remained the same, but so much was different. I couldn't help but wonder what an author feels when they see their blood, sweat, and tears hit the big screen, totally different than what they slaved over?

I've been pretty satisfied with the Harry Potter movies, the Chronicles of Narnia movies, Jurassic Park (which scares the beejezus out of me every time I watch it), the new Charlotte's Web, and others. Then there are those of which I love both the book and the screen adaptations, for different reasons. (like Gone With the Wind) I was personally happy with the Tim Burton "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", as opposed to the 70's musical "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".

I am currently riding the tween wave and reading "Twilight" and I've heard mixed things about this movie adaptation. Any favorite books, made into terrible movies, or great ones?

Crocker, Betty Crocker.

A cook, I am not. I wish I enjoyed cooking, I really do. I'm just not an experimenter when it comes to dishes, and I'm sure my indifference towards cooking stems from my ADD when working in the kitchen and my loathing for cleaning up.

I was inspired by Theresa over at Boston Dish with a holiday recipe that she posted. She described a Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle. Now I LOVE trifle and I LOVE all things pumpkin, so this got me interested. I e-mailed the recipe to Big Helen, and she was intrigued as well. Big Helen collected the ingredients (being a good mom, she had most of them on hand including the Trader Joe's Gingerbread Mix) and a la Rachel Ray, I went to work making the trifle. (I used to like to watch Rachel Ray on 30 Minute Meals, and I was always annoyed when she would open the cabinet and everything she needed was right there in the front of the cabinet.)

It was pretty easy, I haven't made pudding since I was a kid (since they invented Instant Pudding and pre-made Pudding cups) and it got a little globby. I think I may have used every spoon in my kitchen but overall, I'm proud of what I was actually able to do.

Please cross your fingers that it tastes good, and I don't somehow kill my family!

The whole time I was making it too, all I could think of was "Friends". I'm sure you all remember the fabulous Thanksgiving episode where Rachel makes the "Traditional English Trifle", with her layer of lady fingers, layer of jam, more lady fingers, Beef sauteed with onions, and then bananas with whipcream on top. Funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLAD9_HxnuA

Merry Christmas Eve!!!!

The Christmas Season

As an adult, I have tried to figure out how I want to celebrate the Christmas season. I am fortunate to teach elementary school and that allows me to have a little kitchy fun with the season through the kids. I don't normally wear ridiculous sweaters, but here are my school friends posing at a gift shop in Disney World last year.



I love Christmas music; plain and simple. It must have been several years ago when I discovered the Oldies 103.3 here in Boston plays all Christmas music from Thanksgiving Day till Christmas Day. Right around Thanksgiving I always replace one of my other radio presets with Oldies and jam for the following month. I noticed around Halloween that the Paper Store had way too much Christmas stuff already crowding out the Halloween stuff. This doesn't mean I didn't stop to look, I was sucked in. It made me realize that retailers were really hoping to be saved by Christmas this year, and since Thanksgiving was going to be so late, they weren't going to waste any time. Imagine my surprise when I found out (via Facebook no less) that Oldies had started their 24 hour Christmas music on Veteran's Day. Crazy!

I love the classics from elementary school like Jingle Bell Rock and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. (Which Natalie and I, may, or may not have performed with our West Elementary Class of 1988 handmotions at a karaoke bar in Malden a couple weeks ago.) From Oldies, I have fallen in love with some fabulous classics and other obscure tunes. One is a favorite of my grandmother's- "Hawaiian Christmas song", also known as "Mele Kalikimaka". The version that I could get off Itunes is by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. (I wish blogger let you link sound files- does it?) I also have found that I love Elvis Christmas. Now of course, I love "Blue Christmas" and "Here Comes Santa Claus", but last year I discovered "Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me". Fabulous! This year I'm finding a particular enjoyment in the Beach Boys, "Little Saint Nick". It's so 60s, but so funny- Run, run, reindeer!
I guess I have about a week left to enjoy my Christmas music before it takes a sad turn, and with two oncoming snow storms, I better dig through my trunk and find my Nutcracker, Harry Connick Jr., and Josh Groban.

More decoration photos in an upcoming post!

Be my guest, be my guest....

As most of you know, New England has recently been hit with some crazy weather. Last Thursday night we were socked with a terrible ice storm. The storm focused it's agression on New Hampshire, Central Mass, and here in the Merrimack Valley. I woke up last Friday to no power. I was shocked that I still had school and was completely freaked out by getting ready for school by the light of a flashlight!

It's almost one week later and there are people still without power! (kind of makes me realize how archaic some things in our world still are) One of those without power is my friend Melissa. I took her and her brand new kitten, Dusty, in last Friday night, and they've been with me mostly ever since. Boy has this been an experience. I am a huge animal lover- I did not grow up with a cat or dog, but I love them and have been a petsitter to a ridiculous amount of animals. Living with animals is a whole other issue for me.

Now Dusty has been a pretty good guest, but he's tried to eat everything off my coffee table, knawed on the corner of my laptop, and dragged diswashing detergent out from under the sink. He's exhausting.....does anyone know if Kitty Day Care exists? Here are some shots of him and some of his antics and favorite spots to hang (including a plastic tub of crayola products that sits under my coffee table)

Snoopy Phone

This isn't TV related, but I thought some of you out there might get a kick out of my daily life. My friend Stacey recently posted over her horror of the updating of Monopoly. I commented to her that you don't realize how much kids don't know about anymore. Since I work with 10 and 11 year olds all day, I see this first hand. It it can be pretty damn funny.

I'm a pretty big Snoopy fan, and the kids love to give me Snoopy/Peanuts themed things (which helps me receive less other junk). One of my students brought in a Snoopy phone to share with me. (I wasn't totally clear whether it was visiting or a gift, but suffice to say it was a funny experience.) The phone was a rotary dial one. Every day I would find crowds of kids around it, dialing it, fascinated by it. They would ask me, "Ms. Sellers, how does this work", "how do you dial", and my personal favorite, "how would you call 911". I explained to them that we had to dial only 7 numbers back then and it was a little easier. We also didn't have 911, I think we dialed the police directly or called "0" for the operator. They were also frankly puzzled by the cord for the jack. I'm sure they never see hardwired phones of any kind. They've probably only ever seen cordless or cell phones. They wanted to know if I could plug the phone into the computer. I had to explain to them what a modem is- another thing they have no knowledge of.

The best punchline of all was when I overhead one of my students calling for pizza and saying, "yes 500 pizzas please, and charge them to Ms. Sellers". Priceless.....

Big, big Love

A year or so ago, my school friends (CONE) got me into "Big Love" on HBO. I did not have HBO, but they were really into this show about polygamy in the suburbs. I got the first season on Netflix and was hooked. Within the last year, Polygamy has become very "in". A lot of former FLDSers (Fundamental Latter Day Saints) have written scathing books about life in these compounds both in Utah/Arizona and down in Texas. Big Love tells the story of Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton, yes from Weird Science) a former Mormom LDS member who was raised on a compound. For about 15 years he lived a "normal" existence as the owner of Home Plus (the Utah version of Home Depot) and the husband to Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Barb later fell ill with cancer (happened off screen before he show started) and Nicki Grant came from the compound and helped to care for her. Nicki is played by the fabulous Chloe Sevigny. She's definitely someone you love to hate. The third wife, Margie, is played by the delightful Ginnifer Goodwin from "Mona Lisa Smile" and "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton". If you were a "Veronica Mars" fan you will find many of our favorites with smaller regular roles; Amanda Seyfried, "Lilly Kane" plays daughter Sarah. Tina Majorino, Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, plays Sarah's straight arrow LDS friend Heather and Kyle Gallner, who played Beaver plays a friend also from another polygamist family.
As a historian, it is really interesting to think about this idea of concubines and multi-wives through history. There are so many ancient cultures- like Egypt or China- where you hear about "first wife" having a hold on power. The big issues with crazy compound polygamy as often seen in the news is the child abuse and welfare abuse. It kind of makes you wonder, if these people want to live that way, and can support themselves, what's the problem? The new episodes start in January and if you have HBO, all the episodes are currently on On Demand. (Like other HBS shows, some of the episodes might seem a little pornish, but hey that's your warning!)

Ghosts, Spirits, and things that go bump in the night

I've always enjoyed, while also being slightly terrified of, the paranormal. I'm always fascinated by those mediums who can tell "who" is around you- and I've always wondered who would be there. (I guess probably my favorite aunt, Marie, who always helps me get great parking spaces especially at the mall!) As a kid, I was kind of obsessed with the show "Unsolved Mysteries", while also getting nightmares from many of the episodes. I'm home tonight, watching some t.v., and I'm watching "Ghost Whisperer". I think I've only watched this show one other time. I have to say, it's pretty good. I believe Stacey may be a fan as well. (I should always know, Stacey picks the great shows; Veronica Mars, Buffy, Project Runway, and so many more.) I've been prejudiced against this show because it bumped a personal favorite of Stacey and myself off the air, the fabulous Joan of Arcadia. I also find Jennifer Love Hewitt mildly annoying and too pretty, etc. I guess she was handpicked for this role by the big medium, James Van Praag who the show is based on. The show just had a big twist (that I won't reveal here just in case) but in the vein of the Fast Forward on Desperate Housewives and the Flash Backs and Forwards on Lost, with it being a big change that added something interesting to the show.
I guess I could add another Supernatural themed show to tonights blog. FRINGE!
This is a new show that I've been really enjoying, although I will admit that I sometimes watch it with one eye closed. I know that Mommy Esq. also enjoys. I really have always loved anything by J.J. Abrams (Felicity, Alias, Lost- amazing) The Boston/Massachusetts/New England based stuff definitely adds to my interest in this show. It's nice to see Joshua Jackson, Pacey, back in action.
Any other paranormal shows I should be watching?

Holiday Faves

So, I've been neglecting this blog. I honestly don't know where time goes- the last two months have absolutely flown. November is one of my busiest months of school and it's hard to catch your breath. It's not that I haven't been watching tv, because of course I have. I think I just don't always give it my full attention, and it becomes bacground noise.

The holiday season officially begins this week (although the retailers of America would like us to think it started on Veteran's Day) Tomorrow (Tuesday) night a fabulous classic, "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" will be on ABC. Even my closest of friends may not know that "Snoopy" is my thing at school. As an elementary school teacher, it helps to have a thing, because then the kids buy you less random crap. (No parents and future parents who read this blog, we teachers do not want cutesy teacher plaques or teacher quote books. Get us B&N or Dunkin Donut Giftcards, please.) I show all the different Peanuts specials, and the Thanksgiving one is probably my favorite. The best part is that I serve the kids (actually the whole fifth grade) the Thanksgiving that Snoopy serves to Charlie Brown's guests; popcorn, pretzels and jelly beans. Snoopy also serves toast, but that would be a whole lot of effort. The kids get the biggest kick out of this! Another funny aspect of the whole thing is the confusion the kids have over Peppermint Patty. Every year at least one kid asks, "is that a boy or a girl?" Hmmmmmm......time for some diversity lessons.

I have so many Christmas favorites- Frosty, Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and the Peanuts Christmas- where of course the euphemism of the "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" comes from. (One of my students actually made me a Charlie Brown Christmas tree which I thought was so sweet, and Natalie was totally horrified by!) The favorite Christmas special has to be "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Oh, how I love this! Just today while I was teaching about Canadian Provinces and Territories, and I compared the Yukon Territory to Yukon Cornelius.

PS- Don't forget to watch for the Snoopy balloon in the Macy's Day Parade!!!

Behind the Eight Ball!

An apology to all of my peeps out in blogger land. My lack of blogging is attributed to the swamp of report cards and conferences, and will be surfacing soon (maybe even tonight)

Thanks!

Soaps!

I've been a pretty big Soap Opera addict since I was a teenager. Ever since the start of middle school, and I got home by about 2:20 in the afternoon, and I discovered first "One Life to Live". Pretty quickly I also adopted my sister's favorite, General Hospital. Eventually I added All My Children. At some point in middle school, I found "Soap Opera Digest" and it was love at first sight. I coveted this magazine. I read it cover to cover, and over again. I read and memorized information about shows that I didn't even watch. I remember being excited when I first went on to vacation to Florida and found "Another World" on tv there, because it wasn't shown here in Boston. ( I always said, if SATs had just been based on Soaps and Royality, I would've been golden.) In college, I convertedly briefly to being a "Days of Our Lives" fan, but have remained pretty loyal to the ABC shows.

Life carried on and I would watch in the summer or on vacation. Everything changed in March of 2004. Jeremy had kindly bought Stacey TiVo for Christmas and we had all been excitedly been recording programs. ABC starting running promos for a baby switch and crossovers between AMC and OLTL. Needless to say, I decided to tape. Then I was hooked. I taped All My Children everyday till this summer- 2008. I was one of "those" people. I loved my show. When my friend JoEllen mentioned to me in the fall of 2005 that she was going to "Super Soap Weekend" at Disney World with her sister-in-law, Randi, I freaked! Two of my favorite things in one- Disney and Soap Stars! I basically booked myself then and there to go the following year.

On Veterans Day Weekend of 2006, off I went to Disney with Josie and Randi. It was an experience like no other. We had such a blast! It was also the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT which made it even better. The way it works is that lots of different stars from the ABC soaps are there and are available for meets and greets with "fans" if you as the fan are able to get a "Fast Pass", like they use for the rides. We dragged ourselves to MGM at 7:30 in the morning and were greeted with lines like I've never seen before, and Christmas decorations but that's another story.


Believe it or not, we were too late to get fast passes! So we had to settle for just "seeing" people pretty close! Which was very cool! Now, what's even just as good as seeing your favorite soap star, is seeing all the crazies who also want to see their favorite soap stars! You realize pretty quickly that everyone who is there, are people who are hard core Soap watchers. You have to think that these people are probably home watching these everyday. (Unless they had TiVo like me or the recent addition of the fabulous SOAPnet.) These people are hardcore. They wear amazing t-shirts, and proudly display all of their tokens from previous super soap weekends.
(see bottom)

We had so much fun, that we convinced some other school friends to come along last year. The best part was that two of my friends had never been to Disney. They aren't soap fans either, but that's okay. We had a (whirlwin) blast, visiting all four parks in two days! And best of all, we got up and dragged ourselves to get to MGM really, really early to get our fast passes. (No joke- I think we left around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m., and Disney shuttle service doesn’t even run then so we had to walk to MGM from the Caribbean Beach hotel! I felt a little funny about trying to meet a soap star, because I'm not a crazy fan or anything. I decided to go for the lovely Alicia Minishew, who plays Kendall Hart Slater on AMC. The best part was that there were such crazies in front of me in line, I looked like a really normal, nice person. She was very nice! She said I had a great energy- ask Josie, she really said that. (See picture below)

Of course we were ready to make this a yearly tradition! And then we found out that there would be no Veteran's Day Weekend this year because the holiday falls on a Tuesday. So no trip to Super Soap! Then the boom fell- this will be the last year, ABC is pulling the plug! I think the shut-ins will hopefully revolt!

I was home today- and apparently they've decided to have a tornado on AMC and kill of one of my favorite characters, Babe, and bring back Bianca with a big secret. And then they are going to do some big baby switch on OLTL. Here we go again........once you get out, they suck you back in!


Long, dark, walk....we're crazy!

The lovely Alicia Minishew "Kendall" and me!

We decided to wear matching shirts too! It actually helped in the crowd.

It was really nice of Luke and Laura to celebrate their anniversary so that Randi, Josie, POTW and myself could be part of the celebration.

Dedicated Carly fans from GH.

The Real Housewives

Have you seen this delightful series? Oh my...

I have to say, I never watched the original, Real Housewives of Orange County. I don't know why, I just never got into it. Boy did I love last year's Real Housewives of New York City. That Ramona is such a piece of work and the fabulous Jill Zarin. And she always introduces herself as "Jill Zarin".

The Real Housewives of Atlanta, focuses on some lovely ladies, several who have professional athlete husbands (Lisa and Deshawn), one has recently divorced a professional athlete (Sheree), and then two other ladies who are my favorites. NeNe and Kim have been friends for "years". Kim looks like my old hairdresser, as she has a whole lot of blonde hair. She claims to look like Carrie Underwood or Faith Hill. She could be Carrie's mom or something. She made some really strange comment about being "29". There is just no way, it has to have been a joke. I mean she looks good, but not 29 good. The most intriguing thing about her is her mystery Sugar Daddy whom she refes to as "Big Poppa". He is allegedly a "celebrity" who wishes to remain anonymous. Any guesses on who we think he is? Is he married? NeNe is just hilarious, over the top, loud and an all around good time. (Natalie and I would have a field day with her.) NeNe's already clashing with Sheree, always good tv.

Apparently, Bravo is also set to air "The Real Housewives of New Jersey". Seriously.....
Based on what I've heard from Natalie, we could have potential for some really fabulous tv here.
Hopefully they'll all have au pairs and we'll have secret inside into their homes!

***UPDATE- according to Natalie, "Big Poppa" may be Quincy Jones, which seems like a good possibility. I didn't hear them say his initials, but the fact that big producer was willing to work with her without ever hearing her sing makes sense.

Shows you will watch over and over and over......

I know that I'm not alone in this. Sometimes it is a comfort just to pop in a favorite movie as comfort or background noise. (I wrote all of my college papers listening to Steel Magnolias or Shag- yeah, I've got some weird southern fetish.) The creation of "TV on DVD" has really changed my watching habits. I find my attention span isn't long enough usually for a movie, and an episode or two of a great show can be the perfect fit. (If I have school work to do- it's Pride and Prejudice (BBC version) all the way)

My greatest obsession the last couple years has been "Veronica Mars". It's an addiction. A serious, serious addiction. It's so depressing that it is only 64 episodes. Every couple months, I rewatch the whole series. This week I was so bored of tv, I popped in the first disc, and just sighed. Kristen Bell is just amazing. The show is so clever and well written. She's so underused on Heroes and although I genuinely enjoy Gossip Girl now, I only ever started watching it so I could pretend that it was Veronica doing the narrating. Boy would Veronica hate Blair and Serena!

I also love, love Alias and Lost. I own the whole Alias series, and periodically enjoy rewatching that too. Both of these shows involve complicated story lines, with chunks of dialogue that aren't in English- which is hard if you aren't totally paying attention.

DVDwise in the last few years I have also discovered Big Love, and The Tudors. I'm intrigued by Mad Men and a few others.

Anyone else find themselves watching more DVDs and less regular tv?

No new 9-0 this week, so what am I watching?

It was a really busy week.....and I have to say it didn't seem to be a great tv week. No new 9-0, no new ANTM ( a clip show already Tyra), and kind of anti-climactic Project Runway finale ( For the record, I really like Korto, but she kind of tanked the last few episodes- nerves. Leann deserved to win and I would wear her clothes.)

I thought I might mention a new show that I've been watching; The Ex-List, Friday nights at 9 on CBS. Friday nights are a tough night for tv. I have fallen in love with a bunch of shows that have died Friday night deaths (Joan of Arcadia, Miss Match and others). With TiVo and DVR, Friday night shows seem to have a better shot because people may not necessarily be home to watch them, but they may instead be recording them. (I don't know who I'm kidding, I'm so tired on a Friday night, that I'm usually home.)

The Ex-List stars Elizabeth Reaser as "Bella Bloom". Bella has recently broken up with her (hot) boyfriend because he doesn't want to get married. They share custody of their dog, so we get to see him a lot which is nice. For her sister's bachelorette party, the girls go to a psychic. The psychic tells Bella if she's ever going to marry it needs to be within the year, and that she has already met/dated this person. Bella finds herself looking for "signs", and strange coincidental things pop up that bring her back to old boyfriends.

It's a cute show, so far. You'll recognize Elizabeth Reaser as the chick from "Grey's Anatomy" who was the Jane Doe that Alex fell in love with. Her sister is played by Rachel Boston who you may remember from the 60's themed show, American Dreams. (a Sunday night show that I know my mother and I, and Monica and her grandmother used to love to watch and discuss.) She played Beth, the older brother's wife. I barely recognized her- she looks a little Hollywood thin now.

Anyone else found anything new to watch?

Hi- My name is Helen and I'm addicted to....

shows about huge families! I have this really weird fetish for shows about giant families. I'm not entirely sure, but I think this is rooted in the fact that a lot of my growing up was spent as an only child. (I think my family would balk at this, so I guess that I should explain. I am the much youngest of three; my brother is 11 years older than me and my sister is 9 years older than me. To put this into clear perspective, my brother went to college when I was in first grade. I'm close to them and I love them, but I always wished I had a sibling who was closer to me in age.)

Needless to say, I love this crazy trend of reality shows about families. I love "John and Kate plus 8". I think Kate is a lunatic, but she seems to be improving. She won't let the kids get dirty and she yells at John a lot, but I enjoy them immensely. Ten years ago I was obsessed with those specials that Dianne Sawyer and Ann Curry did with the Dilley septuplets and McCaughey septuplets. My mom and I would watch the specials and discuss at commerical breaks while I was away at college. As I got back in my mind, I realize there was also an earlier obsession with the Dionne Quintuplets. They were the world's first surviving quintuplets who were born in Canada in the 1930s.

In the last few years, my large family obsession has fallen to the Duggars from Arkansas. I found the Duggars initially in their specials, "15 Kids and Moving". (They were also part of a larger series that I of course season passed called "Kids by the Dozen".) They look like they just fell off a FLDS compound ( and mormonism and the show "Big Love" is a whole other obsession). They are actually just Fundamentalist Christians, who wear prairie skirts and the girls never cut their giant braids, but hey whatever floats your boat. I loved all their wholesomeness, and adorable kids that just kept coming and coming. The kids always seemed sooooo well-behaved.

You can imagine my happiness and excitement when i found out they would be having their own series, delightfully called "17 Kids and Counting". I have watched four episodes so far. And I have to tell you, I'm afraid, very afraid. I guess I didn't want to know this much and I'm kind of weirded out. The oldest Duggar, Josh aged 20, got engaged in the third episode. Uh, ahem, he got engaged to his homeschool network sweetheart. She got a lovely half carat diamond. And now they get to hold hands. That's right people, they are "courting" and can hold hands. They are saving their first kiss for their wedding day. I'm pretty sure that Laura Ingalls got more action on her buggy rides with Almanzo Wilder on her buggy rides around DeSmet, South Dakota in 1880.

I've also seen a little misbehaving amongst the chillin's which secretly makes me happy.....

Can you name that Duggar?
http://health.discovery.com/convergence/duggars/duggargame.html

Bye-Bye Adrianna!

I hope you all have watched and I'm not letting a cat out of the bag. I think that it is safe to say that druggie/child actor wannabe Adrianna is gone. She looked pretty gone in the last scene! The question will be, what does this mean for Naomi who tried to help her friend get rid of her drugs at school.

The Annie and Ethan baby/health class thing was a total rip off and poor man's version of the Veronica Mars episode where they also had a baby for health class. Come on Rob Thomas, seriously!

Who else was getting a really creepy vibe from the new girl and the English teacher? I got really nervous and didn't like the direction it was going in at all. (I felt the same way when I watched "Juno" and Jason Bateman and Ellen Page had a really odd friendship, that as I would like to say, made me feel funny inside.) Obviously at the end of the episode, we see the new girl differently, but I think I'm done with Ryan the English teacher. Too brooding or something....

Did I miss anything? The father/principal and Naomi's mom are going to look for their son, blah, blah, blah- although this made me realize that Annie and Naomi share a half-brother. The crazy grandmother likes to skinny dip when the pool boy is there. OK.

I think I gave up too soon on Privileged......

OK, Nat, the Amazing Race?

I apologize if I offended any other haters of Sci-Fi, like my dear Natalie. Yes, this blog should be about fluffy, rich kid shows. I just felt the need to branch out:)

Sunday night was the premiere of probably one of my FAVORITE shows hands down;
the Amazing Race. I've watched every season of this show (and if you're looking for a great show to randomly record, they replay all the old seasons on the Game Show network) I haven't traveled a great deal, but in my mind I would like to think that I would and could do more travelling.

I got really into this show back when Natalie and I were living in Stoneham, and we used to keep our own version of a blog of the race, of how we would have approached each task, etc. This began our obsession with actually going on the race. We joked about how we would always be hungry, and wanting to stop and eat and that we would want to sing songs from "Wicked" through the Sahara Desert. We figured the producers would probably tell us we couldn't, because they wouldn't be able to get the rights to the songs. We discovered places that looked so beautiful and we wouldn't definitely want to go to. And conversely we found places we had no interest in EVER going to (sorry India and Vietnam). In fact, we always love to watch as teams combust by the time they are packed like cattle into a train car deep somewhere in rural India. Heh, heh, heh.....

Lately my friend JoEllen at school and I are talking about teaming up. We figure we could do it as long as they filmed in the summer, and our principal would love it. JoEllen says she will do all the weird eating, as long as I handle all the height stuff. (Easier said than done, but I would try:) The new crop of Racers don't seem too spectacular. The Bee Keepers are classic:) I always love the couple in crisis- this time we have an ex-NFL player and his wife from Florida. Why do people think this physically and emotionally taxing race is the place to see if they are meant to be? It makes better tv for us when they start yelling at each other.....There's the newly dating couple, another great idea. (This guys seems especially needy in that he was whining in the preview that his teammate was spending too much time talking to other teams, when she should be spending time with him. Maybe she figured out quickly that you were annoying, dude.) Some geeks, frat boys, token Southern blondes, and others. No standouts for me yet. I will report back next week.

Your homework is to learn how to say "Go faster" in the following languages:
Portugese, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Chinese,

And if in doubt, it seems to be okay if you just say "Muy Rapido" to anyone around the world:)

Heroes vs. The 4400

I've had some requests, specifically to talk about Heroes some more. (So Erica, if you're out there and reaidng this blog, I expect some posted comments from you.) This season more than ever, I've been seeing a lot of parallels between Heroes and one of my now dead favorites, the 4400. When I ever saw Mohinder inject himself with the essence of Maya, all I could think of was when they began selling shots of promicin ( the stuff that the 4400's produced in their bloodstreams.) Let me back up....The 4400 was a little show on USA that premiered in the summer of 2004. It was essentially about a group of people who had previously disappeared (kidnapped) and were returned to earth. We think initially by aliens, but we find out later that they were taken by people from the future, given abilities, and sent back into earth's timeline to change things for the better. They could do all sorts of things; heal people, precognition, telekinesis, and some other crazy ones.

From the beginning, I thought Heroes was a lot like this show. The parallels keep growing. The 4400 was only on for 4 seasons; and since they are cable seasons they were short. (The first season was a mini series of like 5 episodes, then three more seasons of 13 episodes or so.) In the third and fourth seasons, normal people were clammering to be "special" like the 4400s and began taking shots of promicin to gain their own abilities. This seems to have been implied to us by Future Peter (the very appealing Milo Ventimiglia) that people are taking shots of Hero blood to be like them.

Speaking of Peter, after finally watching all of the first two episodes- The Second Coming and The Butterfly Effect, I had a big question. Most of you know or have actually seen me multitask while watching tv, i.e. I don't pay as close attention as I should. I was totally perplexed near the end of the episode when Future Peter was talking about "dropping" regular Peter into the body of Jesse (the lovely Francis Capra). Was I supposed to know that? Did that happend on screen? There better be a lot more to Francis Capra's guest starring role than just seeing his reflection when Peter sees his reflection! How many of you were wishing that Elle would have paused in front of his cell on Level 5 and do a double take? I was- Just throw the Veronica Mars fans a bone, Tim Kring!

The Remains of the Day

I'm back in the swing of things at school, and that is limiting the amount of shows that I can keep up with. (doesn't working suck) I've had to start making some decisions this week. I've had to face the reality of shows that just don't fit in my schedule anymore, or ones that I'm just not interested in anymore.

Shows I'm letting go of:
1. Desperate Housewives- this is one of those shows that I'm telling myself I can watch every once and awhile, but I'm not going to kill myself to tune in every Sunday.
2. Ugly Betty- this Thursday night conflict was becoming too much, and I'd rather stick with NBC. And, Henry my tv crush is not coming back this season, so I'm out.
3.ANTM-I'm really bored with this show, anyone else?

Shows I'm on the fence about:
1. HIMYM- I really want to stick with How I Met Your Mother, but the conflict with Gossip Girl and Dancing with the Stars will put me over the edge. I need a dual tuner TiVo, so keep that in mind for me for Christmas:)
2. Big Bang Theory- also hysterical, but again Monday night conflict
3. Dirty Sexy Money- Another one that I enjoyed, but I don't think my life would be over it if I missed it

Shows I might try and add back in:
1. ER- it's the last season (yes, Monica it's the truth) and this is a show that I love and whose reruns I watch constantly on TNT
2. My Name is Earl- another funny, funny one that I lost touch with last year because of Betty

Shows for DVD:
1. House
2. Bones

And I will be honest- I allegedly started this blog to talk about 90210- it might be soon fitting into one of the categories above........(it's kind of painful to watch)

Oh, yeah. I forgot about Heroes.

I'm totally exhausted tonight- all kinds of exhausted. But, Heroes is on. I kind of forgot about
Heroes. It was a show that I was kind of in to, a year and a half ago. Last year was such a let down. If I recall, we only had it till December and then it never came back. Somehow we all managed to fill our time during the Writer's Strike.....

Anyway- I do really like Heroes. If you are a friend of mine on Facebook you will see by my status update that I had forgotten how hard it was to multitask and enjoy the show at the same time (you see I tend to blog, or do other computer related things, or five other things while I'm watching a show- hey, natalie loves to vacuum) The issue of course with Heroes is that two of the key characters converse in Japanese. Can't read the all important subtitles if you are doing other things at the same time.

On to the exciting part- I had TOTALLY forgotten that a favorite actor of many of the people who read this blog is going to be on Heroes this season. They just briefly showed his picture.

Francis Capra!
FRANCIS CAPRA! (Weevil)

The amazing cast of Veronica Mars will be reunited!

Now if they could only get Jason Dohring.....

Skinny Bitches

So, according to "Us Weekly", our new lovely ladies of 90210 are signficantly thinner than their counterparts from our generation. Shenae Grimes is reportedly 90 lbs.!

Also, according to the magazine, the girls, especially on screen sticky sweet Annie, is a chainsmoking mega bitch! Well, duh- she's HUNGRY! Apparently she refers to the show as "her show".

Looks like Nat better cook up some megaburgers, stat!

This week the other networks catch up with the CW and Fox and begin most of their major season premieres. What are people excited for? Heroes? Amazing Race? Office?

I enjoyed some show commentary from fellow bloggers Goddess in Progress and Nancy at the Zimmer Zoo, about their tv committments.

There are so many shows out there they have interesting hooks behind them, and I just don't have time to watch.

Anyone else suffering?

A BOMB is dropped

Highlight to reveal.....

Dylan is the father?!?!

Suprising and yet not Surprising. It doesn't match my earlier prediction but it does at least go along with how the "original" series ended nine years ago, so that makes me happy.

Topics to discuss:

1. Okay- Naomi and her mother do not look like they could be mother and daughter. Naomi looks WAY too old, and her mother looks WAY to young. And, we're supposed to believe that the mother has an older child (son) with the principal guy?

2. Am I supposed to care about Naomi and Silver's "friendship"?

3. I like Stacey's thoughts- when will we see the periphery people- a personal favorite/blast from the past from the original series, remember when Matthew Perry (who I secretly love) played the Tennis star who fooled around with his dad's guns and Brandon was very torn about what to do?
or another favorite, Gabrielle Anwar (lately of "Burn Notice" and "The Tudors") starred as the figure skater who just wanted to be normal.

Sigh......

PS- I never even watched all of "Privileged", but I'm slowly being pulled into "Fringe"

CREEPY- but the first two episdoes have been heavily Boston based, and I love me some
J.J. Abrams

Hmmmmmm......

Thoughts on last night?

I'm not ready to give up. If we think back to those very first episodes, that were horrid.

Things i didn't like last night:

1. Naomi's dad cheating- felt just like Donna's mother, the holier than thou Felice Martin, being caught at the Bel Air Hotel (in the fabulous Color Me Badd episode)

2. Naomi looks way too old- and seriously were are supposed to believe that is her mother

3. Jackie Taylor- times have been rough for her- sad that she has fallen off the wagon again

4. Why would Annie feel the need to run out of the bowling alley to help Naomi- silly and unrealistic

Things I'm still digging:

1. Silver- I really like her character and interaction with Kelly

2. Kelly, of course- now I did have moment last night where I felt like it was a stretch for her character to be involved in this show (outside of her interactions with Silver). But for us I'm sure, we say keep the Kelly stuff coming- and allegedly she was supposed to do 6 episodes, but maybe now she'll be doing 11.

I only watched a little of "Privileged" so I'll get back you on that.

Episode 2.0

Well, everyone tomorrow is our second (or do we consider it our third since the premiere was clearly two episodes) episode.

Is Jackie Taylor back off the wagon? Will we get to see Brenda directing the new musical? Will Annie be just as annoying?

After we enjoy this episode, I encourage everyone to stay on the lovely CW network for the premiere of another new show called, "Priviliged".

Twenty-three-year-old Megan Smith (Joanna Garcia, Reba) has a Yale education, a relentlessly positive attitude and a plan to conquer the world of journalism, despite the fact that she is currently slaving away at a tabloid rag. Megan's plan is thrown off course when, in one whirlwind day, she gets fired, meets cosmetics mogul Laurel Limoges (Anne Archer, Ghost Whisperer) and becomes the live-in tutor for Laurel’s twin teen granddaughters in the heady Palm Beach world of wealth and power. The girls, Rose (Lucy Hale, Bionic Woman) and Sage (Ashley Newbrough, The Best Years), are beautiful, rebellious and less-than-thrilled with their new tutor, but Megan is determined to win them over as she enjoys the perks of her new job - breathtaking private suite, gorgeous convertible and live-in chef Marco (Allan Louis, Stomp the Yard).

If you watch, let us all know what you think!

The Day after....

Ok, so I've heard from some of my girls. And in the words of Life Cereal, "They like it!" (Mark, as the only male I know who's read this blog, I'm interested to hear your thoughts.)

Apparently it was the largest debut for a scripted series on the CW.

I'd like to comment on a few things you guys had to say-

Nat- totally agree, very racy opening- you know how I feel about kids being exposed to this kind of stuff too young. (I heard Jennie Garth commented that this 90210 was too racy for her girls to watch)

I agree with Allison- too much in one episode. It seemed like 2.5 episodes in one. I also agree that we got introduced to A LOT of information in this Jumbo sized episode. And yes, I would not handle it well if I had just moved thousands of miles away and then been dumped- and had my fabulous "A" paper being ripped off by the "Sweet Sixteen Girl".

Issues of Continuity- now you all know I love continuity, probably why I teach Social Studies, and I have a memory like a steel trap.

I thought it was interesting that it was implied that Silver and Naomi have matching friendship tatoos (doesn't everyone) that they got when? Because if you do the math, Silver's father (Mel) cheated on Silver's mother (Jackie) when she was in 8th grade. How many 8th graders do you know with tatoos? Hopefully none. I'm also slightly bothered by the implication that Mel and Jackie were remarried, and then divorcing AGAIN. (Jackie looked kind of messed up in the preview)

Kelly's son- we see/hear Kelly on the phone with Sammy's father- she says, "He's been asking for you". I guess this father could be several people we know or don't know, but I'm going to be honest I didn't think it would Brandon. (I've learned recently that many of you didn't continue with the show post college years, and I watched up to the very last moment.) Kelly and Brandon were off and on and off and on, and there was cheating, and a called off wedding. He left before the last season, and Kelly ended up with her "soulmate" Dylan. (You all recall the back in time Wild West episode.) Brandon might simply end up as the father because he is more willing to come back to the show and Dylan is not.

So the question is, are we invested in this show even without our old friends? I think the answer is clearly yes. Will this group develop into, a group? I kept thinking how the Walsh twins were the glue who brought the gang together. Will Annie and Dixon be able to do the same?

***How painful was Nat trying to work the espresso machine?

Allison and Natalie- Gossip Girl reairs every Sunday night at 6pm. I wouldn't be surprised if they do this with 9-0 too. It works out well, because I also like to watch "How I met your Mother" and this allows me to see or tape both.

Next week, "Lucky Strike"- Harry and Debbie plan a family bowling night, disrupting Annie and Dixon's Friday night plans; Naomi has a disappointing evening with her father and Dixon finds Silver asleep in his car, prompting Kelly to confront her mother Jackie"

Faboo!

So far....so?

Natalie asked if we all could remember where we were when the orginial series. Well, after doing some calculations, it would appear that I was in 8th grade, sigh. Not a pretty time for anyone. All of my peers from this same age group have been yapping about 9-0 for weeks. This is killing my friend JoEllen who cannot understand our fascination with this silly show. Reminding myself that it started when I was 8th grade and realizing that it ended the year after I graduated from college, just proves to me that these were my formative years. I mean, I can define so much by about all of their outfits and music.

I digress.......We're about 45 minutes into the show, and I thought I would pause momentarity and put down a few thoughts (since I'll have to go to bed soon, you know school started last week and I get up at the crack of dawn)

Ok, Erin Silver- I'm actually liking the character, and the dark hair. I'm pretending that she is dying it because of the tough alternative character that she is. What's her big secret? What did Naomi do to her? and is Mel Silver out of the picture again? Jackie and Mel had ended up getting back together, but not getting remarried. Kelly certainly implied that Jackie was in some kind of bad shape.

Annie is awfully sticky sweet. It's almost like Annie is Brandon, and Dixon is Brenda (the more rebellious one.)

Anway- I'll write more tomorrow night, after I read tons of other things, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

***Still watching- more thoughts

Brandon is the father of Sammy, Kelly's son???????

Linda Grey (SueEllen Ewing from Dallas) is Ethan's grandmother and friend to Tabitha.

One Day left...

The time has almost come. Tomorrow night at 8 will be here before we know it, and we will finally be able to see if this show lives up to any of the hype.

I think one of the most interesting things to pop up this weekend has been the confirmation that the character called "Silver" will indeed be Erin Silver, the little sister of Kelly and David. I think the character was written with this in mind, but since they were able to get Jennie Garth and her mom, Ann Gillespie to join, making this character be Erin made sense. (I had to do some math with my fellow Bev9er PHd candidate Melissa to decided that Erin was indeed born in 1992, so she should actually be 16. However, Melissa and I are unhappy that this new Erin is being played by a brunette actress. Clearly Erin was a platinum blonde child. Maybe we'll find out that this new "wild child" character will be dyeing her hair.)

Are we ready?

OMG!

People! Look at this!

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20221152_20221173_20221579,00.html

Favorite Episodes

This summer I was fortunate to obtain "Soap Net" for the first time. It's been a long time coming and I can tell you the day I realized I had it was like Christmas!

Soap Net shows repeats of Bev 9er. It shows two a day during the week and 3 on Saturday, and the same 3 on Sunday. My friend Melissa and I have long had very in depth conversations about episodes while we should be working out at the gym. A lot of analyzing goes on between sets.

The weekday episodes have just turned over and they are currently showing Season 1. Now even though I already own them on DVD, I was very excited to set the old TiVo to tape a few favorites.

Today I watched "Perfect Mother". You all remember; Brenda is jealous of how cool Jackie Taylor is and doesn't realize how wonderful Cindy Walsh is until Jackie shows up coked out at the Mother/Daughter fashion show.

I had been waiting and waiting for Season 3 to come out- because not only is this the fabulous senior year, but it also includes the Beach Club episodes, and the Brenda/Donna visit to Paris.
Do you know that these seasons have like a total of 3o episodes each? Ahh...the good old days. Now we barely get 20 episodes of a show a season, and only if the writers and actors are all cooperating.

There are so many to choose from-What are some of your favorites?

I have Spoilers...

Now, I will admit that I am addicted to spoilers. I'm someone who used to hunt for Christmas and Birthday presents and practically open up wrapped gifts. (Thankfully, I've outgrown this.)
I love to ruin tv stuff for myself. (Ask Natalie what happened when recently watched "The Departed". Damn you, Wikipedia!)

So- I have some juicy stuff on our new show.....What I'm going to do is post it below but hidden. If you are so interested, all one has to do is click and higlight the section to reveal the info.
Does that work for everyone?

Breaking News- Highlight below if you want to be mildly spoiled

So- Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty have been filming beaucoup scenes together.
"Kelly" as the guidance counselor has brought back successful British director "Brenda" to direct the school play when the director backs out.

Get this: she even invites Brenda to stay with her and HER 4 year old SON! AND.....
Brenda is BABYSITTING the little boy when Kelly's boyfriend, and English teacher at the school, (not Dylan, not Brandon, thankfully not druggie Colin or boring Matt) stops by and meets Brenda at the door!

Hmmm....apparently the ladies have been filming lots of scenes.....

Uh Oh

From my friend Perez Hilton

The CW released a statement on Monday announcing that they won't be sending critics any advance screeners to review of their special premiere of the new 90210.
In other words, the two-hour premiere will not be seen by anyone beforehand.
The show must suck if they're not giving out screeners for reviews.
That's a bad sign!
The statement read, “The CW and our studio partner CBS Paramount Network Television have made the strategic marketing decision not to screen ‘90210’ for any media in advance of its premiere."
And they seemed to want to emphasize the following, "We're not hiding anything . . . simply keeping a lid on 90210 until 9.02, riding the curiosity and anticipation into premiere night, and letting all our constituents see it at the same time.”
Or could they just be hiding that it sucks?
Either way, we'll be tuning in to watch the premier.


I've recently been starting to get nervous- like this might all blow up!

Now, you all know I love tv, and so do you- admit it!

But, do the rest of you find that as "adults", it's really hard to keep up with shows! Even with DVRs and TiVos- I'm actually panicking at the thought of trying to watch How I Met your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Ugly Betty, The Office, My Name is Earl, Heroes, Lost, Gossip Girl, 9.02, ANTM, and whatever else I've forgotten
(Sorry, Gretchen- I'm trying to let go of The Hills. But when the marathon is on, I'll be tied to it I'm sure)

What are you all addicted to?

***I forgot my all time favorite show- the Amazing Race- I like to pretend in my head that I could go on this show, but the sleep deprivation on a sidewalk in India would do me in....

A Break from Bev 9er to discuss the proprietor

I was tagged by Mommy Esq.

The subject is….“6 UN-spectacular things about me”

Rules:
Link the person who tagged you.
Mention the rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. I am the world's slowest eater. If you dine with me, I will drive you crazy. People have told me this is actually a good thing because it helps with your digestion and keeps you thin (allegedly). I have always been slow. I vividly remember remaining at the dining room table when everyone else was already done, and pulling out my homework and working on it along with my dinner for hours. (Ironically, Most of you know that I am a teacher and have 25 minutes or so to eat my lunch, and that includes a trip to the bathroom or the copy machine, and even returning a phone call, so somehow I do actually eat my lunch then.)

2. I have terribly "flat feet", really I have NO arches. All you regular people know that you will leave wet footprints or footprints on the beach of your toes and heals, and the rest is arch. Not so for Helen. You see my whole big, flat foot. Being plantar challenged is actually annoying because you don't always fit in fun shoes, and it causes pain in your ankles, knees, and lowerback, so like Gretchen at Dandelion Garden, I'm cracking all over the place.

3. I love Disney World. Sigh. I was the last kid in Andover to ever go, not till 8th grade. I've loved all 6 visits. Love the cleanliness, and communism of the whole thing.

4. I am addicted to Facebook. I don't know what I will do when I start school again. Is it bad that I start a lot of conversations with, "in my status update..."

5. I am gigantically disorganized. I like to say that the state of things, like my living room, reflect what is going on inside my head. (I'm an artist you know:)

6. I love TV, pure and simple. It has long been a very good friend. Cannot function without it. Always need the background noise of some familiar show or movie (Pride and Prejudice, Veronica Mars, Alias)

Mommy stole all the bloggers I know except the men, Husband and M, so I'll try them and add a few real life friends non-blogging friends, MOTC, Natiqua, Amy and a blogger on facebook, the other sister, Stacey.

Breaking News- Donna out!

Bad News, 9-0 fans! Tori Spelling is OUT! Apparently she got word that Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty were to be paid 40,000-50,000 dollars an episode and she was being offered only 20,000!

What do we think? Will the show be the same with vacant Donna? Is she smart to play hard ball?

Yet another veteran returns

Guess who else has signed on? The lovely Ann Gillespie, a.k.a. Jackie Taylor (Silver).




So, at this point, I wish they would just can the new cast. I mean, who wants to see them anyway. Just bring back all of our old favorites!

Date and Time

Well it's only a few weeks away now; the birth of A and B, and also the premiere of "90210".

Tuesday, Septemeber 2nd at 8:00, and good news folks, it's a 2 hour premiere! Yay! When will we gather for our Beverly Hills, 90210 party?

http://www.cwtv.com/shows/90210

Here's Annie- our new Brenda, but will she be as bitchy?




Actually- it's good casting because she and Lori Laughlin could be mother and daughter, or sisters!:)

Promo Photo

American Teenager and who should be watching it

So, this is getting a little bit away from my original reason for starting this blog, but I thought I would give it a shot.

The other day, my gym trainer (it's not that fancy) and I somehow started talking about , "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" and the fact that her daughter who is going into 7th grade is watching. This child (and she is a child) was one of my fifth grade students two years ago. I noted my alarm that I really didn't think this show was appropriate for her. This is a kid who is going through a big evolution, from very independent tom-boy, to super cool cheerleader in one year. Her mom is quite naive to what she is becoming, and how much worse it could become. Her mom said she would talk to her about the show, but noted that the child did not want her mom in the room while she was watching it. (bells- she knows she shouldn't be hearing what they are saying)

I watched the show again the other day, thanks to TiVo. It's kind of terrible, but I find it somewhat intriguing. It is an odd show- they discuss things very blatantly, however not graphically. (i.e.- is oral sex, sex) I kept thinking that this is not a show for this 12 year old to be watching. Thankfully her mom brought up the topic to me again, and I told her I was glad she was talking to me about again, because I was fretting about her watching it (always a teacher)

I feel so bad for kids these days- they are exposed to SOOOO much more then we were. Those who know me, know how I hate the underage drinking of Laguna Beach and even though I love Gossip Girl, what they do on the show is ridiculous. I know I was pretty clueless when I was watching "Grease" and "Dirty Dancing" as to what was going on. But where those movies depending on innuendos, the kids today are being inundated with way too much, too soon.

Think back even to our beloved original 9-0, and how long it took Brenda and Dylan to sleep together and how "sensitively" it was handled. Somehow, I think the new 9-0 will not be as innocent.

Thoughts?

The Bitch is Back- Confirmed

Brenda is back in her old zip code!
“Shannen Doherty will be returning to 90210,” Gabe Sachs, executive producer of the CW’s new spin-off, said during the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills on Saturday.
“Shannen is looking forward to returning to 90210,” Doherty’s rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.
Doherty, who played the twin sister to Jason Priestley’s character Brandon Walsh for four seasons of the original Beverly Hills, 90210, will return as Brenda Walsh when the new show premieres Sept. 2.
Now, Brenda will be a visiting drama teacher who directs a musical at West Beverly High School.
Jennie Garth was the first original 90210 cast member to reprise her role as Kelly Taylor, who will be a counselor who at West Beverly.
Earlier this month, Tori Spelling, who played Donna Martin in the original, was also announced as a returning cast member but said she would be unable to appear in the pilot of the spin-off after giving birth to her daughter in June.
“I’m looking forward to returning to 90210 in a later episode,” Spelling told PEOPLE earlier this month.
According to Sachs, original cast members won’t just have cameos. “They will be in multiple episodes,” he said at the TCA event. – Elaine Aradillasa and Mark Dagostino

The Return of Joe E. Tata

Rumor has it, the beloved Nat and some new kind of Peach Pit will be in the first episode.

Fabulous....


Also- i just discovered I have "Oxygen", the network, I didn't just discover that I could breathe!
Oxygen is the home to the fabulous, "Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood". This show is great crap. No one set it better than the 20 year old girl doing my nails today; Tori is hideous looking! No matter what she does! And her musings about her fear about losing her husband because she stole him away from his previous why, is quite amusing.

Check it out....

Let's check our tally:

1. Jennie Garth- in
2. Shannen Doherty- maybe in (and if so, will definitely have scenes with Jennie)
3. Tori Spelling- in after she finishes her maternity leave (how do you have maternity leave when you don't have a job hmmmmmmm.......)
4. Luke Perry- not in
5. Brian Austin Green- not in, hasn't been approached
6. Joe E. Tata- in?
7. Ian Ziering- desperate
8. Gabrielle Carteris- has not been heard from since the end of her talk show

A Plug for another show you may like..

Since I believe we have very similar interests here, I would like to plug another show that you may all want to invest in this summer.

"The Secret Life of an American Teenager" airs Tuesday nights on the fabulous ABC Family channel.  (MommyEsq, the Ashley Tisdale movie has actually received decent reviews!)

Very cute, and filled with angst, some twists and turns that I didn't expect, and the main girl, Amy as played by Shailene Woodley, is adorable. Oh, and Molly Ringwald, yes MOLLY RINGWALD, plays her mother. Delightful!

Check it out!

First post, of many (I promise)

So, many of you have given me bunk that I wasn't very good about updating my Lost blog. I intend to continue with that one as soon as new spoilers, etc are available.

Until then, my friends we have new things to celebrate! The upcoming birth of KJ's twins- of course! But even better, the new 90210!

Ahhh...the brilliance of Rob Thomas, no not the lead singer of Matchbox 20, but the man who gave us Veronica Mars. Rob was so brilliant to revive the best series of the 90's. I have to say I was somewhat shocked by the announcement. Probably noone was more shocked than the old cast, who then scrambled to be part of the show.

The immediate front runner was Jennie Garth, the recent darling of "Dancing with the Stars". Allegedly Rob really wanted her and constructed a whole part for her where should be a fashion teacher at West Beverly. As a purist, I was horrified. Old Kelly Taylor may have wanted to be a fashion teacher, but the Kelly that evolved through the series, the psychology major, would've wanted to do more for the community.(Granted, Kelly did evolve to be a drug addict, model, part-time lesbian) Needless to say, I was very happy when I heard that in the rewrite, our Kelly Taylor will instead be the guidance counselor. Yes, more appropriate.

Tori Spelling and Ian Ziering have also been DESPERATE to get on this show. So far, sounds like Tori will make a couple appearances. She was initially supposed to be in the pilot, but that has been pused back because she recently gave birth to Stella Doreen (that's a tough tag, eh) No luck yet for Steve Sanders.

However, BIG breaking news- Shannen Doherty is in negotiations! Wow

How much do you all know about the new show? I borrowed from Wikipedia- just easier

"90210 looks at life through the eyes of Annie Mills (Shenae Grimes) and her brother Dixon (Tristan Wilds), whose first day at West Beverly Hills High School leaves no doubt they're not in Kansas anymore. The Mills family, including dad Harry (Rob Estes) and mom Debbie (Lori Loughlin), has relocated to Beverly Hills to keep an eye on Harry's mother Tabitha (Jessica Walter), a feisty-but-faded former television star and a charter member of the Betty Ford Clinic. For Annie and Dixon, the awkwardness of being the new kids is made worse by the fact that their dad has taken a job as the high school principal. The school is one big culture shock for Annie, a sweet and friendly girl with a passion for the theater, and Dixon, a star athlete and scholar who was adopted by the Mills family after they took him in as a foster child. Annie and Dixon have a close sibling relationship, which they'll need to help them cope with all the new cliques and classmates, including Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord), a hot, spoiled, rich girl; Ethan (Dustin Milligan), a popular jock whose abilities rival Dixon's; Navid (Michael Steger), an aspiring reporter who heads up the school's daily newscast; and Silver (Jessica Stroup), a rebel who produces and stars in a YouTube-type video series. Even the faculty seems hip and sophisticated at WBHHS, such as smart and funny teacher Ryan Matthews (Ryan Eggold) and beautiful guidance counselor Kelly Taylor (guest star Jennie Garth). The Mills family has just begun to realize how much their lives are about to change.

If you haven't watched it yet, check out this kind of cheesy trailer.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNDQYPjNYgQ

Let's Discuss- come on you all know we are a special club- graduates of '95 and '99, this was our show- will we love this one as much?