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icepixieI know one of you people would like to take on the task of addicting me to Gilmore Girls. See, now that I've finished rewatching all the seasons of Northern Exposure that I consider my personal canon, I'm looking for shows with similar qualities. (Yes, Twin Peaks is at the top of my Netflix queue. I don't know why I didn't watch it earlier. And I tried a couple episodes of Men In Trees, which is billed as NX-meets-Sex & the City. Yeah, well, it's way more S&C than NX, and I can't stand that show. Hence being unable to make it through a complete episode of this series without rolling my eyes and changing the channel.) The TV Tropes Wiki, a fascinating site in its own right, cites both GG and NX under the category of "Quirky Town."
My question is, how quirky? And what's the show about, besides, "Single mother in small town; massive UST with some guy named Luke"? (I know nothing about this show beyond what I've gleaned from skimming y'all's posts about it over the years. Well, that and the fact that whoever plays the daughter bears a remarkable resemblance to Sasha Cohen.) I've never been able to get into a show about high school students, so I'm wary of that angle. And I get the impression that this season took the express train to hell. Should I bother if it'll all end badly?
I'm willing to try out a variety of shows in order to find one or two to fill the NX void in my life. I'm already a fan of Wonderfalls and Ballykissangel, and neither Corner Gas nor Ed are on DVD in any way that I can access them, so in absence of those particularly good candidates, I'm looking for suggestions. Broadly, the three things I'm looking for most, singularly or in combination, are:
1.) Quirky characters/quirky town
2.) Magical realism (this can include dream sequences)
3.) Stories obviously written to make English majors happy. Basically, writing that's already excellent, but also with a penchant for metaphor, symbolism, and/or quotation from and allusion to literary/philosophical/mythological works. The ability to play games like "Spot the Jungian Archetype" can only be a plus.
...4.) Okay, the UST and ensuing 'ship doesn't hurt.
...This means I should really give Buffy a fifth try, doesn't it? I don't know what my problem is with that and Angel. I don't actively dislike them; I just can't get into them. Firefly was a near thing as well.
Anyway, if you know of something I should try, let me know. Perhaps Slings and Arrows? I've heard good things about that one...
Book and movie suggestions along these lines are welcome as well!
(Okay, now that I've actually taken steps to make use of my unemployed free time, surely I will get a dozen calls offering employment, my dead-in-the-water freelancing career will take off, and I'll start racking up volunteer hours. This is the rule of the universe.)
My question is, how quirky? And what's the show about, besides, "Single mother in small town; massive UST with some guy named Luke"? (I know nothing about this show beyond what I've gleaned from skimming y'all's posts about it over the years. Well, that and the fact that whoever plays the daughter bears a remarkable resemblance to Sasha Cohen.) I've never been able to get into a show about high school students, so I'm wary of that angle. And I get the impression that this season took the express train to hell. Should I bother if it'll all end badly?
I'm willing to try out a variety of shows in order to find one or two to fill the NX void in my life. I'm already a fan of Wonderfalls and Ballykissangel, and neither Corner Gas nor Ed are on DVD in any way that I can access them, so in absence of those particularly good candidates, I'm looking for suggestions. Broadly, the three things I'm looking for most, singularly or in combination, are:
1.) Quirky characters/quirky town
2.) Magical realism (this can include dream sequences)
3.) Stories obviously written to make English majors happy. Basically, writing that's already excellent, but also with a penchant for metaphor, symbolism, and/or quotation from and allusion to literary/philosophical/mythological works. The ability to play games like "Spot the Jungian Archetype" can only be a plus.
...4.) Okay, the UST and ensuing 'ship doesn't hurt.
...This means I should really give Buffy a fifth try, doesn't it? I don't know what my problem is with that and Angel. I don't actively dislike them; I just can't get into them. Firefly was a near thing as well.
Anyway, if you know of something I should try, let me know. Perhaps Slings and Arrows? I've heard good things about that one...
Book and movie suggestions along these lines are welcome as well!
(Okay, now that I've actually taken steps to make use of my unemployed free time, surely I will get a dozen calls offering employment, my dead-in-the-water freelancing career will take off, and I'll start racking up volunteer hours. This is the rule of the universe.)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-10 10:18 pm (UTC)Hmmmmm... Next time it's on, then...
YOU ARE SUCH A PERSISTENT DEALER. Yeah, I'm in the middle of the second season.
MWA HA HA HA.
The pilot didn't impress me much, but once Oliver died, everything suddenly got ten times better.
That was my experience as well. Although I haven't made it to the second season yet...got distracted by UST-ing detectives.
Didn't you mention some major shipping!crack in there somewhere, though?
I don't think so... I know I commented to someone that I'd seen a die hard slasher mention that Geoffrey and Ellen had made her like a het ship, but so far, I'm not really seeing it in the show.
I really enjoy the ex-Mountie dude, though.
...I think I may need to look into Due South at some point soon. It sounds kind of crackalicious.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 02:53 pm (UTC)Meh?
I know I commented to someone that I'd seen a die hard slasher mention that Geoffrey and Ellen had made her like a het ship, but so far, I'm not really seeing it in the show.
Yeah, of all the reasons to be interested in the show, Geoffrey and Ellen just... isn't one of them.
...I think I may need to look into Due South at some point soon. It sounds kind of crackalicious.
I remember really liking it... when it first aired... and I was ten.... still, what vague memories I have of the show are good.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 03:28 pm (UTC)Moonlighting. (In which the main characters are only detectives because it gives them something to do while bantering with each other. Heh.)
Yeah, of all the reasons to be interested in the show, Geoffrey and Ellen just... isn't one of them.
Indeed. I would think Oliver is a big enough reason all by his lonesome.
I remember really liking it... when it first aired... and I was ten.... still, what vague memories I have of the show are good.
People on Teh Intarwebs seem to love it, including most of the fannish folks I've known for several years. Mmmm, Mounties in Chicago-which-is-really-Toronto...
no subject
Date: 2007-01-12 04:31 am (UTC)oh dear....
Indeed. I would think Oliver is a big enough reason all by his lonesome.
Awww, poor loser ghost. Death was such an improvement for him.
People on Teh Intarwebs seem to love it, including most of the fannish folks I've known for several years. Mmmm, Mounties in Chicago-which-is-really-Toronto...
you know, someday you may actually run out of 90s tv to watch. WHAT THEN???
no subject
Date: 2007-01-12 07:33 am (UTC)Yeah, they make Team Torchwood look like geniuses. I think they only have actual mysteries to solve in maybe half the episodes.
Awww, poor loser ghost. Death was such an improvement for him.
Rather freeing, in a way.
you know, someday you may actually run out of 90s tv to watch. WHAT THEN???
...I'll get Showtime and HBO?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 02:17 am (UTC)I... find that very hard to believe. Do they fight in BBQ sauce too?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 02:39 am (UTC)Well, they did do soap once. No, twice. David was in drag for one of those scenes.
You know, I think this would be explained so much better if you watched the following YouTube clips:
Post Office chase
Retrieving diamonds from a clockface
Mops as light sabers
Tied together by pantyhose in a shower
In a grave
David's excellent surveillance techniques (watch at least to the middle, 'cause Cybill Shepherd's delivery of "You are toejam" is hilarious)
Using a three-story roof as a diving board
Dr. Seuss ripoff
This is the kind of thing they do instead of working cases. It's also why the production costs were so high and they were always late with episodes.
But keep in mind that this won awards as a comedy almost as many times as it did as a drama, so they're expected to look like a live-action Warner Brothers cartoon on occasion...
no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 05:53 pm (UTC)You are made of evil. Absurdly stupid evil.
Still more competent than Torchwood. Better writing, too.
But, oh, how I miss the days when Bruce Willis had hair.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 06:08 pm (UTC)It does provoke that reaction at times, doesn't it?
You are made of evil. Absurdly stupid evil.
By "You are made of evil," are you implying that I have possibly hooked you on another TV show?
Still more competent than Torchwood. Better writing, too.
Yeah, they do at least catch the criminal 99% of the time, even if it's mostly through dumb luck. And it has way, way, WAY better writing. There's one episode that actually makes me cry. For legitimate reasons.
But, oh, how I miss the days when Bruce Willis had hair.
Until I saw this show, I don't think I had ever realized he had hair...
no subject
Date: 2007-01-22 10:48 pm (UTC)NOOOOOOOOO! Well, I'll keep an eye out for it next time I'm renting DVDs, but I think I can resist the evil this time. Good stuff, though.
There's one episode that actually makes me cry. For legitimate reasons.
You know you're a sad, sad person, right?
Until I saw this show, I don't think I had ever realized he had hair...
RIP, Bruce Willis's hair.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-23 05:59 am (UTC)Mwahahahahaha!
but I think I can resist the evil this time.
You say that now...
Good stuff, though.
One of my favorites.
You know you're a sad, sad person, right?
Type in "Womb with a View" into YouTube's search field. Watch at least the baby shower and hospital clips. Everything in the season prior to this episode was Grade A Awful, and Maddie was pregnant for an interminable amount of time, but this episode is actually done really well. Even if it does have Bruce Willis-as-Baby Hayes wearing footed pajamas and bouncing around in a "womb" made of plastic. And then being taken away by a "special emissary from God" to be ensouled as the new Cosby or Family Ties kid when Maddie has a miscarriage.
..okay, I realize that's probably not selling you on why the episode is good, but I SWEAR, it was all done really well and it's very sad.
RIP, Bruce Willis's hair.
He looks better bald anyway.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 02:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 06:09 pm (UTC)