Tag: michelle williams

Big, Blonde, Beautiful…and Bitchy

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In every television show, there is always that certain character you hate. For me, there are usually a handful. I am never simply indifferent about a character, I’m either a fan or their nemesis. And looking back on some of my least favorite characters, I’ve noticed a pattern with the females. They are almost always the female lead, blonde and curly haired and are known for being a HBIC. I can’t really explain my hatred, because I happen to love other fair-haired characters like Quinn Fabray & Caroline Forbes, who could also be considered a HBIC. But there is something about these 5 that have the power to make me want to shut off the tv. How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways…

Peyton Sawyer / Hilarie Burton, ONE TREE HILL

I have never loathed a character as much as P. Sawyer. I found her whiny woe-as-me demeanor to be exceedingly boring and annoying. My personal war against Peyton started in season 1 when she started hooking up with Lucas behind her BFF’s back. And yes, I am extremely anti-Leyton, but even after I accepted Brucas was dunzo I always thought Lucas deserved more than Peyton.

Jen Lindley / Michelle Williams, DAWSON’S CREEK

I never seem to be a fan of the character who chooses to be a rebel simply because they want to be known as a rebel. And that’s Jen. In addition, she attempted to break up my OTP in season 2, snatched Dawson’s virginity and caused drama for the sake of causing drama. Jen only got back into my good books in the series finale…and then she died.

Naomi Clark / AnnaLynne McCord, 90210

Naomi is Beverly Hills’ token spoiled bitch and I have never been a fan of hers. And while she got a bit more bearable this past season (I actually liked her with Max), all of that was ruined when she revealed she was preggers in the last seconds of the finale. And okay, that wasn’t necessarily her character’s fault but it definitely won’t help me like her more.

Marissa Cooper / Mischa Barton, THE O.C.

Because Marissa & Ryan were a power couple of the show, I also disliked Ryan by association. It wasn’t until Marissa kicked the bucket (and made me ecstatic) that I realized I actually liked Ryan. And his new girlfriend, Taylor, as annoying as she might have been was 10 times better than Marissa. Like the others, drama followed her around like a stormy rain-cloud and she bucked the system just to say she did. Her death was one of my O.C. moments.

Britta Perry / Gillian Jacobs, COMMUNITY

Britta is the newest addition to my list of hated characters. When she starts another one of her political debates I groan in sync with the rest of the study group. It doesn’t help that she constantly has a sour puss expression on her face and I can’t stand Jeff with Britta, but I would loathe her whether or not I was pro-Jeff & Annie.

Five Best TV-Music Moments

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You know those moments when the right piece music comes together with the right scene and it creates a blend of auditory and visual perfection? I live for those moments. Music has always been a big part of my life and it always plays a part in my overall assessment of a film or television program. These are the scenes that I constantly replay for the fabulous combo of acting and music. I literally got goose bumps and teared-up while re-watching the YouTube videos…for the millionth time, yes, I know how pathetic I am.

Hide and Seek, The O.C. –> Marissa shoots Trey to save Ryan. Cue Imogen Heap



Lean On Me, Glee –> The gang shows their support for Finn & Quinn


http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid398.photobucket.com/albums/pp68/caseycarlson/lean-on-memovff.mp4

Stumbling to Bethlehem, Joan of Arcadia –> Joan believes that she has been imagining her encounters with God
(starts around 4:35)



Stolen, Scrubs –> Elliott gets engaged, drama ensues



Angel, Dawson’s Creek –> Jen records a video for her daughter



TELEVISION THAT CHANGED MY LIFE, I: Dawson’s Creek.

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One blustery winter morning in 2004, my sister and I were lucky enough to have been blessed with a snow day. Midway through an intense AIM convo on the family computer, I was interrupted by my sister yelling, “Kate, what’s a condom?”

Yes, I attended Catholic school, but I was also extremely jaded and blissfully naïve. I had no idea what a condom was. I vividly remember typing the fated word into Google and receiving a bevy of information and photographs that gave me my answer and more. Looking back, I wonder if it really was LimeWire that crashed our computer…

I couldn’t imagine what kind of television program my sister was watching. This definitely wasn’t the Disney Channel. Nope. It was TBS reruns of Dawson’s Creek. I watched the remainder of the episode, which I later found out was 2.11 “Sex She Wrote.” Teenage drama, cheesy dialogue and boys giving monologues that profess their undying affection? Forget CSI and American Idol, I was hooked.

The walls of my room became peppered with Dawson’s Creek posters, eating up ink cartridges by the carton. I started a list of quotes I liked. I choreographed a dance to the theme song “I Don’t Want to Wait.” I even embarrassingly created my own character on the Creek, Kahle Weaverling. Yes, I am aware that this is pathetic.

I began setting tapes to record the show so I could watch after school. I purchased the first season on dvd so I could watch it from the beginning. I would countdown the days to the subsequent dvd releases and on most occasions, my mom would buy the dvd and have it waiting in the car when she picked me up from school. Gotta love mothers.

After some serious Wikipedia research, I realized that everything the critics had hated was everything I loved. I loved how the highschoolers spoke like learned scholars. I loved the sly sexual innuendos that the writers came up with to bypass network protocol. I’d like to think that’s where I got some of my wit. But most of all, I loved the will-they-won’t-they couple of Dawson and Joey. Pacey was good for a few one-liners but I never got all the Josh Jackson hype. I was never a fan of Jen either, but that might be due to my odd universal hatred of curly-blond haired actresses on tv shows. In fact, I disliked every character that threw a wrench in the DJ mechanism. I was a hardcore shipper and I was confident that my ship would sail all the way to the finale.

These were the days before I became a devoted reader of spoilers, so I walked into the show completely blind. During their countless fights I remained a very Dawson-like hopeless romantic, certain that DJ would reign triumphant in the end. My world was inevitably rocked the night I watched the Creek finale in its entirety for the first time. I cried uncontrollably, threw stuff at the screen and cursed Joey Potter for her poor choice in judgment.

If I ask myself what my favorite television show of all-time is, three titles immediately come to mind: Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill and Lost. OTH started out wonderful and if the show was anything like it used to be, it might have taken the title. Lost has to be one of the most beautifully crafted shows I’ve ever watched. I can’t fathom how people can say that the finale was not one of the finest two hours of television ever.

But if I look deep down to my core, there will always be a soft spot for the show that started my hideously long record of doomed couples. The show that had such precocious dialogue like, “Feelings and emotions have an inexplicable way of manifesting themselves in subconscious and not always self-aware behavior.”  The first show I obsessed over. The first show that I owned on dvd. The first show to severely piss me off. The show that ultimately made me love television.

I guess the Creek was right, “It’s the end of something simple…and the beginning of everything else.”

Three Reasons Why Television Shows Fail

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As I sit here watching last week’s exceedingly uninteresting new episode of One Tree Hill on Hulu, I can’t help but feel an extreme sense of loss. This program used to be so freaking good. Circa seasons 2-4, One Tree Hill had some of the most powerful and creative story arcs on television. Now what has this program come to? They’re bringing back the cougar and young guy story line, a psycho comes into the picture and pretends to be someone they’re not, and ugly ass Mouth is somehow the only one getting tail in Tree Hill. Remember basketball? The voice-overs with quotes from famous authors? The original 5 characters that we have come to love?

There comes a time in the life of every television program where the writers and executive board hit a road block. Some shows find a way to rise above and continue to produce good television. Others fall by the wayside and they become syndicated history. In my opinion, there are a few main reasons why good shows fail, they are as follows:

1. The characters go off to college: Chances are pretty slim that you and your 5 closest friends all chose the same college to attend. So this puts the writers in a dilemma: how do we keep the chemistry between our actors when they are all at different schools? Eureka! We’ll create a new school that is in their hometown (or close by) and have them all attend there. There is no actual Penbrook University, the college  Cory, Shawn, Topanga, and Angela on Boy Meets World all magically chose to attend. And in sheer coincidence, that’s where Jack and Eric also go to school AND where Mr. Feeny happens to end up. Joey Potter gets accepted at the uber prestigious and uber fake Worthington College on Dawson’s Creek. Jen and Jack go to school at the equally as fake and half as prestigious Boston Bay College. Where do both of these fake institutions happen to be located? Boston (I guess I kind of gave that away), which is conveniently 15 minutes away from their fake hometown of Capeside.  Dawson then loses his way (of course), drops out of USC (idiot) and moves to where? Boston. Shocker.

Most shows that document high school fail when the characters transition to college. All of the family dynamics are lost, presumably because the parents don’t follow them to college. A bunch of new characters are introduced which takes screen time away from the characters we’ve formed a connection with. Most of the time the circumstances that bring all main characters to the same place are stupid and usually involve some sort of loss of faith, death of a family member, or being kicked out of school for ridiculous circumstances.

2. A main character is killed off / leaves: Getting rid of an essential cast member is one boat that should not be rocked. Yes, Marissa was annoying on The O.C. But she was the source of a lot of drama and half of the beloved pair of Ryan and Marissa. Were the writers missing broody and angry Ryan so much they needed to kill off his girlfriend to get him moody again? It’s common knowledge that I loathe the character of Peyton on One Tree Hill, but her and Lucas’ departure from the show have killed it. Ever since Dr. Burke left on Grey’s Anatomy, I can’t imagine Cristina being happy with anyone else. Any story line pairing her with another guy makes me cringe. Grey’s hasn’t been the same for me since Burke left, and then they have the nerve to kill my beloved George?!  FML. I am so not looking forward to tomorrow’s Lost, where I have been told that losties just start dropping like flies.

3. Story lines get recycled: How long can a couple play-out the “will they / won’t they” before the audience explodes? Apparently Friends can do it for 10 years. How many times can someone attempt to kill Dan Scott? How many times does Clark Kent have to save Lana Lang before she realizes he’s got magical powers? Seeing the same thing over and over and over again gets tiresome. The program eventually becomes so predictable that it’s not even worth watching anymore.

Alas, I have a sinking feeling this will be the last season of One Tree Hill. It didn’t even get to redeem itself. I am praying that the CW will give OTH one last chance to make things right aka bring back Leyton, ditch the newbies, and start showing the geniusness I know the writers still have.