Today will have some highlights and some lowlights. First the highlights. Winners of the Vero Profumo samples (and I decided to give away two): HikerChickNH and Minette. Just click on the Contact Us link over on the left and send me your address.
This is a Super Bowl commercial from Pepsi that I think is hysterical. I’ve worked tangentially with Deaf groups for a couple of decades, and they had a lot of input into this commercial, and it totally gets Deaf humor. I applaud Pepsi for, first, making a commercial that is funny and also making one that tells us more about others without being patronizing.
Lowlights — anyone seen that Moment of Truth thing on Fox? When it comes to TrashyTV, almost nothing can scare me off my Moral Pedestal. My thinking is if some idiot signed up to be tortured emotionally for money, then I’m happy to be entertained by that. Moment of Truth asks the contestant questions ahead of time while they are hooked to a lie detector… so ….they already know how bad these questions will get — along the lines of “Do you think you will still be married to your husband in five years?” “Do you hesitate having children because you’re not sure your wife is The One?” and “Have you ever made a pass at your girlfriend’s friends?” and far, far worse. The contestant answers the question, and if they answer it truthfully, according to the lie detector, they advance on and can win more money, up to a million. The queasy looks on the faces of the wives, husbands, moms, children of the contestant are what I can’t watch. Despite the fact everyone agrees to be on this show and knows what will happen, and it should fall into the “morally okay” category I reserve for Voluntary Emotional Torture Victims For My Entertainment… but it just ain’t working this time. I feel vaguely overtly sleazy when watching.
But what am I gonna do? The writers are on strike, my staples like Friday Night Lights, Gossip Girl, Brother and Sisters, and October Road are going on hiatus shortly as they run out of episodes. American Idol is just boring so far this year. Bruno and Carrie Ann make me sleepy. I only have three more seasons of The Wire to run through – and I’m trying to go slow and savor them – Dexter is being cleaned up for regular TV. I ask you, what in the world would you do?
Oh, perfume? I’m also feeling vaguely sleazy about all the J. Lo Perfumes that I just bought. Look for us to work all of that into a perfume review in the future.
For those of you that watch teevee, what are you going to watch while we move into re-runs early? For those of you that don’t watch teevee, we need a list of trashy books to help us over the habit!
8-|J LO PERFUMES??……We have truely lost you somewhere….you probably think it’ll give you a great butt (did I say that???)….anyway,spring is on its way,so we can send someone to your house to sneak them out…..AND there is absolutely no way out of this TV messahoola….so, name some great trasy reads…we’re running out…..and this will save the world….carry on perfume soldiers…..and did you notice,I got my words straight this time….uh….no wine yet:”>
North and South. I know, I know… it’s like, great, another long drawn-out romance like P&P, but I’ll admit I’m one those people who watched P&P a million times. BBC miniseries fill the spaces of everyday life.
And um, Jacqueline Carey is pretty trashy. It’s smut, and badly written smut at that. That makes it a pretty good candidate. It’s about this divinely beautiful, politically savvy courtesan who happens to feel intense pleasure from pain because it is a god-given birth trait (?) and moves about in a make-believe Europe having sex with everyone. It is really good in that awful sort of way, like celebrity magazines. The funny thing is, she’s always totally duped in the end, for all her savvy. But that is always because her nemesis had such a “deeply laid scheme”. The problem is, the heroine is deeply, deeply attracted to her nemesis (who is a woman) but torn by her love for her Jesuitical bodyguard, I forget his name, but I imagine he looks like Legolas or something, who of course, is part of the only group on the entire continent not having kinky sex (indeed no sex at all!)… Yeah. Exactly.
And James Joyce is pretty trashy, too, that drunken Irish piece o’ crap Ulysses. No? Just me, then.
I wonder how much our perceptions are determined by the name and bottle? I tested the Juicy Couture recently, and probably I’d find it boring but better executed than most “artistic” niche brands, but I hated it simply because it was Juicy Couture.
everyone should be watching LOST, full episodes from seasons 1-3 are available on abc for people to catch up and it started last night. woot!
TV stalling usually happens at this time of the year all over the world. :-w The strikes in US don’t help, I know.
J-LO: you, never!! 😮
Yes, J Lo. It’s all March’s fault, really, and I’ll let her explain that when we get ’round to posting on it. 🙂
Oh man, TV is brutal these days. We’ve begun watching “Breaking Bad” on AMC(?) and we’re enjoying it. It’s not as funny as I had hoped given the “dark comedy” commercials played up, but it’s very good.
I recommend dusting off the Netflix subscription and getting lots of movies plus any shows you might have missed. One of my favorites is “Dead Like Me.” But there is also “Weeds” and I’m sure other people will come up with some good ones.
I need to check this out.
Love Dead LIke Me, that was an awesome series, I still don’t know why they canceled it, such a shame
It’s getting bad- I’ve practically memorised all of the episodes of shows on the Food network I like and I can name that CSI in the first 3 seconds. I’ve been taking my work PC home so I can watch Netflix streaming (when the frack are they going to make that work on my Mac? Grrrrr:((:-w ) and getting DVDs out of the library.
I haven’t found anything good-trashy reading-wise, sadly..
The issue with Mac & Netflix is related to digital rights management. Apple uses its own form, Microsoft uses another. Netflix aims to resolve the problem “sometime this year”, but they’re not saying how. Hopefully that means before 12/31/2008. /:) Here’s an article that discusses the issue:
http://tinyurl.com/3b4jmo
We had a CSI and CSI: Miami marathon two Christmases ago. I wonder what that says about me that I did that one two Christmases ago and Dexter this last Christmas. Death, morbidity… yeah, holiday cheer allright!
There’s little on the network channels I watch anymore … except Lost, which just started up again last night. I watch the History, Discovery, and Travel channels & have gotten rather addicted to them. My trashy Friday show is Most Haunted on the Travel channel … I love watching the crew members freak themselves out! Other favorites are Bizarre Foods, No Reservations, and Universe. Ice Road Truckers is coming back to the History Channel and I’ll no doubt watch that.
If there’s nothing on, I have a Netflix plan so I always have a quality movie or two from my queue sitting around, and books, always. Currently reading “The Scent of Desire” by Rachel Herz, and “Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land”, by John Crowley.
That reminds me, I need to check my Netflix queue, nothing has come in this week!
Wha – whut? J-Lo samples? Should be good readin’ 🙂
I’m hooked on AMC’s new series, Breaking Bad. Potential to be really great. Plus, it’s filmed in Moi’s hometown, so I get to play “name that street corner.”
House is a staple, of course.
What is that about? I don’t even remember seeing it advertised.
that was very funny.
don’t watch a lot of tv even though i work in the biz, (i am hard at work when most of prime time tv is playing) so most of what you’re talking about i haven’t seen except in bits and snatches. i am excited that dexter IS coming to network tv, though. even if it will be cleaned up. it should still be strange. i loved the actor in six feet under.
I know when I used to work at a local TV station in the evening, I never watched TV. Weird how that works!
I think Dexter will play pretty well. The main actor is brilliant all the time and especially brilliant in this, and good writing and acting find an audience.
I have a no TV house. Cable only ships in the Internet, TV only used for DVD/video. My suggestions: rent sets of old series you loved. Have you seen Firefly? You MUST see Firefly. And then watch the movie they made afterwards, Serenity. And I could spend a week or several re-watching Homicide: Life On the Streets.
Books: I’m a big fan of fun mysteries. Donald Westlake is really funny. Sue Grafton’s female detective is real, gutsy & interesting. And Lawrence Block is almost always a winner, too. If you want something a little edgier try some Neil Gaiman. American Gods was fun. And I love the one he co-wrote with Terry Pratchet, Good Omens. Good, funny, smart, just a bit creepy stuff.
Re: perfume. Trying AG Myrrh Ardente today. I might love it. I keep having moments when I think wait, is that cream soda/root beer & then no, it’s not & my nose is stuck to my wrist again.
If you like science fiction movies, you really must check out “Sunshine”! One of the best SF movies in years – intelligent and thrilling. It’s by the guys who did 28 Days.
I do have Firelfy on DVD, but haven’t watched it, it’s on my list!!!
Firefly is brilliant -cancelled way too soon – I’ve seen each episode 10 times. Also good on DVD The Red Dwarf Series. It’s a cult Sci-Fi comedy show from 1988, very well done.
That Moment of Truth show…really really awful, had to turn it off after 5 minutes. WHY would people put themselves and their families through that? Just not worth it.
My guilty pleasure trash right now is “Dirt”. For me it replaces Nip/Tuck which was also kind of stylish/trashy.
Oh hey, rosarita…I also have a secret crush on Stephen Colbert, so I know just what you mean!
I still can’t believe I watched it… twice! AT least I was doing other stuff while it was on, because I really couldn’t watch it a lot of the time.
Hooray for Trashy Friday!
We’re lagging behind the rest of the world here with tv shows, say by a season or two depending on the show. I’m a tv freak too and my week cannot go by without a fix of House, Medium (just saw the season 3 finale, love it!), L&O SVU, Prison Break, Without a Trace, Nip/Tuck.
I also watch an insane number of Brit crime dramas, docudramas and documentaries on Discovery, NGC, Animal Planet, History (Bear Grylls is my hero!!) but don’t like reality shows much.
MY Moment of Truth/guilty pleasure – I’ve been watching *the* crappiest, trashiest show evah, the Brit ‘Mile High’, which basically is about sexual escapades of an airline crew (LEE, please do not read this 😀 ). The show is mindlessly shallow, features regular boob-flashing and gratuitous (but not graphic) sex and makes you think that “Footballers’ Wives” were snubbed at the BAFTAs. But it’s perversely enjoyable! 😀
Now that Mile High thing sounds like something I’d enjoy. YOu know, if you’re going to make trashy TV, at least have it be fun and campy!
“Homocide”? Man, I wish we could correct our posts. Uh, please read “Homicide”. x(
lol, didn’t read before I posted below. great minds & all that, I 2nd the Homicide suggestion.
Yeah, misspellings like that me think I’m not eating enough of the right things to protect my brain.
If you loved Homicide also, I’ll have to check out Firefly.
Debbie
You bought….you bought JLO? Why, Patty, why?
As for TV, maybe you should just forget it and get the Homocide series. Rewatch your DVD’s.
It’s March’s fault, she MADE me!!!
That commercial was G-R-E-A-T! 🙂 I’d never watched House and thought, “not another hospital show (even though I love Grey’s Anatomy)”… Well, I’m hooked darn it. So that’s what i’ll be watching, and of course, the never-fail pick-me-up of old Friends episodes 🙂
I really need to start with House, but with Season 1. I have trouble coming in late on a series, so I think that’s the way to go!
Patty-you would enjoy seeing season 1 of House, but it’s very formulaic-just jump in-there’s not much to figure out, just interesting, weird twists and great acting. And Hugh, sigh.
Moment of Truth is very useful, prompting one of those Teachable Moments at our house. Which went something like this: I came in and watched it for 2 minutes with my 13- and 11-YO girls, and told them that crap is like leering at a traffic accident, and if I ever caught them watching it again, I’d take their allowance, yank their shared computer, and investigate getting one of those parental control things for the TV. Other no-go shows on my list: My Skanky Sweet 16, anything involving Flava-Flav or Tila Tequila, those ho housewives from the OC(?), “reality” shows featuring people eating bugs till they puke, getting tattoos and/or living in group houses, shows where there’s a lot of bleeping going on… which leaves, what, the Disney Channel, Telemundo and PBS? [-(
This is why I’m glad my kids are grown! I don’t mind grown folks watching this crap, like me, but I sure wouldn’t have let my kids watch it when then were under the age of 16, minimum.
I am a big fan of House. I LOVE Hugh Laurie. Also–I missed the first season of Project Runway, so I am watching it on DVD. I am afraid to come near The Moment of Truth (I seem to have some sort of atavistic belief that if I watch this, the sleaziness will rub off on me–actually, now that I think of it, that makes a lot of sense):)
Project Runway is so fun, but I’m not loving this season as much as others. The Year of Santino was truly the apex of its brilliance, though I do like most of who is left this year and am enjoying it more now.
I watched it both times it was on, and I do feel much sleazier. There’s something about the premise that seems like a good thing… tell the truth. But does anyone out there really want to hear the truth? Not me, I say!
Ok, confession time: when my son is home, we watch Project Runway, and hours of America’s Next Top Model. But it’s not fun when he’s not here…:(
I’m liking Celebrity Rehab. I’m a big fan of Dr. Drew from Loveline. The show is kindof trash-tastic, plus it’s probably more effective than anything on TV for scaring anybody off drugs and booze.
i had missed that one! Is it over now? Probably have re-runs. Thanks!
It’s on now in VH1, Thursday nights at 10:00pm (at least on the East Coast). I think they’re on week 4 now?
I don’t watch a lot of TV, but DH turned me onto two of the shows mentioned above, 30 Rock and the Graham Norton Show – both are absolutely, hilariously brilliant. Am also still addicted to Monk. Keep meaning to rent some of the shows from Bravo (a channel our long string of expletives deleted cable company refuses to carry). Basically, however, I’m a book sl*t and mysteries are my comfort food – highly recommend anything by Iain Pears or Arturo Perez-Reverte.
good when more than one person recommends the same thing.
I can’t figure out why I have a hard time reading like I used to. Up until my kids were almost teenagers, I easily plowed through a book every couple of days, and then I just… couldn’t concentrate anymore. I blame them. 🙂 I think it’s my eyes getting worse and needed glasses to read, it just puts a crimp in my reading style. But I’ve worked at it and gotten better in the last few months, going through at least a book or so every couple of weeks, so that’s good!
Big second for both Pears and Perez-Reverte!
I’ve only seen Moment of Truth in commercials, and it looks like the kind of car wreck you want to avert your eyes from, but just can’t. It’s getting surprisingly (?) a lot of discussion with my teacher colleagues though, with some interesting “what don’t you want to be asked”? scenarios. I say…let’s turn it over to the students to pose the querries to the teachers. Hah! They know how to properly embarass us :d
I watch little TV, except doctor shows and nerd stuff (Discovery, Nature, PBS). House rocks, one more episode, but I’ll happily watch reruns. I can watch Hugh, even with the show’s standard formula, chugging pills anytime.
I’m with you on House, which is about all the TV I watch except for CNN & PBS. Our cable supplier is awful and we don’t get tons of channels that people do in other parts of the country, so I spend a lot of time online, watching Stephen Colbert (who is my secret crush, not so secret now that I’m posting it, but wouldn’t you love to get those glasses off?) on Comedy Central’s website, and reading blogs. I go to bed really early, that helps too.:)
AHHHH, I love Stephen Colbert – I find him irresistibly sexy! Glad you think so too.:d
Not sure why House didn’t catch my regular rotation. Every episode I’ve watched early on, I liked and thought it was entertaining. Well, good time to catch up with it!
My daughter told me about Moment of Truth, but I have my limits. Is it worth any amount of money to humiliate yourself forever in front of millions of people? They are probably lining up around the block!
I watch BBC America, especially Torchwood (Sexy-Sci-Fi) and the Graham Norton Show (which is hilarious). Bad Girls on LOGO (a womens prison soap opera) The Wire, of course, The L Word on Showtime, Project Runway Bravo, Prison Break, and all the Ice Skating I can find, love that Johnny Weir.
My strategy is to stock up on books that are at least 500 pages. I’m starting with Ken Follets Pillars of the Earth. Any suggestions?
Bad Girls – the most entertaining terrible tv of the past decade – good choice Joan.
I’m loving series 2 of Torchwood. And documentaries. Am I middle-aged in my tastes? Probably…
I’ve seen that Bad Girls as I’m spinning around the remote, I’ll stop next time on it, thanks! I love good trashyTV.
I’ve gone through the first of the Follett books, and it’s really a nice, fun read. Have the second one and am enjoying it too.
For longer books, it’s not wrong to read Gone With the Wind for the 10th time, is it?
Hi Patty – great pepsi commercial. I don’t really watch tv – technically – I do watch shows via Netflix Watch Instantly, or I get dvds in the mail. These days I’m working my way through 30 Rock on Watch Instantly, and it’s hilarious!! If you haven’t watched it, DO. Also, if you’ve never seen Arrested Development, every episode is LMAO funny.
Ok, is that true about Dexter being cleaned up for regular tv? That will just break my heart.
30 Rock is one of a handful of shows that actually makes me laugh out loud. Great characters and writing, I love it even more than The Office and My Name is Earl. It’s the new Mary Tyler Moore Show. I get angry when it’s not on and it seems like it hasn’t been for a couple of weeks.
Matt, I’m so glad you love it, too. It just kills me!
I really need to watch 30 Rock. This will give me a chance to catch up on last season. So that’s a good thing! I used to watch Arrested Development the first season and loved it, but then I couldn’t find it or something else came on at the same time. That was before I got my big mondo Dish HD-DVR that records two chanels at the same time. 🙂
Highly recommended.
Yes, they are cleaning up Dexter for ABC or CBS during the strike. They said they’ve just taken out nudity and language, but left all of the dark premise of the show alone, which I think they have to if they have any hope of it being interesting. Dexter was my Christmas show this year, that’s what I watched on my Christmas vacation, and it is superb.
So… if they just take out nudity and bad language, I’m pretty impressed they are bold enough to show it on regular TV. I think it’s great! 🙂
Michael C. Hall is absolutely brilliant. So if it’s just the nudity and the language, I’m ok with it. But commercials, yikes. I guess it doesn’t matter, really – I watch it all on dvd or online anyway. I hope they keep the gore…mmmmm. Ha, I do make-up, both beauty and special effects, so I love that stuff.