King & Maxwell

I finally got around to watching King & Maxwell! I had like 10 episodes recorded, so no time like the present! I’ve only seen the first three episodes.
Thoughts so far:

• I like that they aren’t glamorizing Romijn. She’s a good looking woman on her own and the character of Maxwell doesn’t seem overly concerned with getting her hair and makeup just right in the mornings when there is a job to do. Also simply due to her stature there isn’t a whole lot of her running to catch bad guys in heels. Which is awesome.
• "Have you ever seen me carry a purse?" Brilliant!
• I thought the shower bit in the first episode was a bit gratuitous, but not over done. They could have taken it farther and I’m glad they didn’t.
• I really appreciate the relationship between King and Maxwell. There doesn’t seem to be any flirty office romance going on. Not even a heavy mentor/mentee thing. They are professional equals in a lot of ways and for a male/female partnership that’s refreshing.
• The running gag of King never having his weapon on him is amusing, and nicely shown as a choice made by the character. He’s eight years out of the service. I don’t think he sees himself as an agent of anything any longer. He’s much more comfortable in the civilian world. Also, is eight years enough time to wreck your life, get sober, and become a lawyer? I dunno about that.
• Not totally sure how I feel about Edgar yet. Aside from the “gentle giant” persona he just mainly fills the role of “alternative genius who works the computer” that most shows have these day. i.e. Abby from NCIS (not hating on Abby, Gibbs loves her and so do I) It’s a convenient way to not have to go into “Well, how do we get these phone records/bank statements/other case solving info…” Exposition is much easier if it’s a line that is “Edgar did it.” 

Overall, I will keep watching. I know Christian Kane crops up in an episode as Maxwell’s brother, and I can’t wait to see that. Also, Chris Downey wrote episode three, so I love seeing my Leverage peoples at work!

I love televison.

Seems like an obvious statement. I have some ideas for a few essays I would like to post. I just need time (and motivation) to write them.

• Why this past season was one of the best for Leverage
• Why I love strong female characters in televison
• Why I hate (to love) strong female characters in televison
• What new shows I'm watching, and why you should too!  

How exciting! 

Sweet Home Louisiana

I'm moving home to Louisiana, and I'm going to try to revive this blog, perhaps with once a day posts.  They'll be about most anything, though probably tv or personally related.

Countdown

Ok, so I do love the end of the year for all the "Best of" lists. You most likely saw this one already because it's from the AV Club, but here is it.

p.s. they like Josh Duhmel in a cowboy hat too.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-25-best-television-series-of-2010,49229/1/

Snippet from Kung Fu Monkey

Ok, so Kung Fu Monkey is the blog of John Rodgers, who is a main writer/creator (i think) of leverage. He does a post game of Leverage eps where he answers questions from viewers. Now, the question I'm posting has been asked SO MANY FREAKIN TIMES that it's amazing he hasn't given it it's own post on his blog that when the question appears he can simply link back to it.

However, this is one of the best replies he's given and at the same time includes Burn Notice!

@Tom Galloway: One minor hitch in the fun train; I got the impression that the miner came to the team, not them finding out about the problem and contacting him. So now random folk from small, usually socially isolated, backwoods towns 500 or so miles away known about the Leverage crew and how to contact 'em? These guys are almost as easy to find as the A-Team! : -)

This is funny, because I had lunch with the fabulously talented and amusing Matt Nix the other day, and as we genially gave each other shit about our shows, the clients finding the Leverage team was one of his bugaboos. However, he admired it: "'How did you find the team?' Who gives a shit? We're Leverage! 'Why do you trust these people?' WHO GIVES A SHIT?! WE'RE LEVERAGE!"

At the same time, if I had to write what he had to write every week, I'd put a gun in my mouth. "Michael, my Yoga instructor's second cousin's niece got involved with meth dealers. You have to help her."

We actually did, way back when, write an explanation of how Leverage found the clients. It was in "Homecoming", where Hardison explained how his new tech setup scoured legal aid websites, headlines, etc, for potential clients, then contacted them through proxies. Not sure if it ever made it on the air. To tell you the truth, Matt's right -- who gives a shit? Our job as pulp writers is to deliver you the most interesting moments from the case of the week. We dug in early that we'd never reveal the client process, for both that reason -- it's boring -- and for a larger philosophical reason. We always wanted the audience members to feel like, at any time, the Leverage team could swoop in and help them. Details in this case would accomplish nothing but disillusionment.

Michael Caine off. that is all.

http://www.badassdigest.com/2010/11/07/coogan-vs-brydon-in-epic-michael-caine-off

The Three Glee's

I thought this was a good way of looking at Glee. I didn't realize that there are really only 3 main writers and that is what causes the rocky pacing of the show. Of course other shows that have needed time to work out their pacing get killed by Fox (*cough*the goodguys*cough), but Glee seems to grow stronger the more I grow to hate it.

http://cultural-learnings.com/the-3-glees/