Another review/Way too much good television

Got an email yesterday from Enchanted in Romance. The Silver Spoon is rated 4 unicorns (which, for those of you, who are unfamiliar with this rating system, unicorns are like stars *grin*)!!! Here's an excerpt from Maitresse's review:

"Stacey Klemstein's very interesting, Aliens-on-earth story has some unexpected twists. It's written in crazy Zara's first person, only from the very beginning it is clear that it isn't Zara who is crazy but the whole situation that's out of hand. The question is not only who exactly are the bad guys, but also who is Zara? For readers, Zara is a strong heroine, and Caelan is not your ordinary silver-eyed alien hero. This is a whole new take on world building, with earth as the starter. "

Very cool, right? : ) I'm so excited! Click here to read the rest of the review. I need to update my website to reflect all of this. This is my second review and I still don't have the information on my site about the first one. I'm working on it, though!

_________________________________

Way too much good television...
I tell you guys about good books that I've read (LKH's latest, by the way, Incubus Dreams, was fabulous. I think she's transcending the mystery genre into something else, but I couldn't put the book down and it was close to 1,000 pages!) so I feel obligated *grin* to tell you about other good "stories" in other mediums -- just to be fair : )

I watch too much television. I freely admit it. It's a comfort thing for me, something I put on in the background just to keep me company. But I may also have a slightly addictive personality in that every year I swear I can't take time to watch any more new shows and yet...I always do. Have I mentioned that I love TiVo? TiVo is now my gauge as to how much I like the show. If it's on season pass (records all episodes without being told each time), then it's too late, I'm addicted.

So Season Pass Manager has the following new shows listed for me:

Lost: Seriously, if there's a better, more intriguing show on television right now, I don't know about it. Plane crash in the first episode lands forty some people on a deserted tropical island. But then strange things start to happen, some kind of weird animal/monster thing living on the island or something far more Twilight Zone-y? And every single one of the castaways has a secret. Plenty of clues are planted for you to begin figuring out what their secrets are. It's great fun to try to outwit the other castaways! The writing is smart, the chemistry between the male and female lead is almost palpable, and the character development is intriguing...damn, I wish I'd thought of this idea first : )

Cold Case: Not a new show, but a darn good one, nonetheless, that not many people are watching. The series (the CBS version, not A&E or whatever) follows the detectives on the cold case team as they try to solve cases that have lingered for months or even years. The best part about it, though, are the flashbacks where you get to go back in time to when the murder ocurred (usually the period is identified by music from that age) and you get to see the "victim" interacting with those people in their lives, one of whom is likely the killer. Great, great stories and again, a brain teaser. Can you figure it out before Lily Rush and her team?

Jack and Bobby: A touching show about brothers, one of whom will be president. And it has nothing to do with the Kennedy's. However, I must admit that despite the sharp dialogue and the intriguing role reversal (J&B's mom is an annoying infant of an adult while J is the only one with the maturity to handle any form of a crisis), I have recently taken it off my TiVo list. It's still a good show, but I think the writers are still trying to find their bearings and it's become an "issue" show. Racism, plagiarism, sexism, etc. All pounded into our brains by these fifteen minute soliloquoys by J&B's mom, who can be very grating. But still, worth checking it out. Particularly for the actor playing "Jack" -- what a very nice looking young man (ha! he's playing a 16 year old and he's only five years younger than me. Is it okay then to say that he's hot *grin*?)

Scrubs: Again, not a new show, but I've recently discovered it. I haven't laughed this hard at a television show in I don't know how long. The writing is absolutely phenomenal -- the dialogue is so crisp and witty, the best on television, in my humble opinion : )

Veronica Mars: I've heard it being called the new "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It's not. But it still has the potential to be a good show. Notice that I say "potential." It's an interesting situation/concept. V's best friend is killed. V's father is the "bumbling" sheriff who seems to have screwed up the investigation by accusing the girl's father of murder. V's father is removed from office and V is ostracized from her rich-kid friends, but she still has to live near and go to school with them. V's father becomes a private investigator and V helps out where she can. Turns out though that her father has never given up his suspicion that the girl's father is the one responsible for her death. V no longer knows who is right or wrong.

The writers are also not afraid of making the characters real with real problems. V has no friends (except for one she gains at the beginning of the first ep) because of what her father is done and how she stood by him, so they don't try to sugar coat high school, thank goodness. V also tells us at one point that her first sexual encounter resulted from being date raped while she was drugged. So, they don't shy away from the harsh stuff either. V is a strong character who is sharp and funny, but also clearly wounded and struggling with everything that has happened to her (her mother left after all the scandal and now it looks like V's mom may also somehow be involved in the murder case).

The one problem that the show has is that it doesn't give its viewers enough credit, doesn't believe we're quite smart enough. For example, V does surveillance on a hotel. In her convertible with the top down, right across the street from the hotel, camera hanging out right in the open. Um, I think I could even be more sneaky than that. Another example...she does a favor for the leader of a motorcycle gang and at the same time she busts one of the rich snotty kids. When one of the rich snotty kids comes calling to take it out on her, the motorcycle gang leader and his friends just happen to show up and save her. If the writers start to realize that even though this is a "teen" show, teen doesn't mean stupid, they have the opportunity to make this a really great story!

Okay, I think that's all...ooh, except Joan of Arcadia, which isn't a new show, but a good one nonetheless. I'll save that for another time maybe : )

What other new shows are you watching? What ones should I be watching instead? Which ones of my favorites do you disagree with? Let me know!

Talk to you tomorrow!