30 Days of Television - Day 10

A show you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

I've said it several times already, but after the pilot of The Flash I really never expected by the end of the Season I'd declare it having a better season than Arrow. It started off a little rocky, but it really took off and was killer good playing with the audience's emotions.

They had freaking Mark Hamill reprise his role as the Trickster for crying outloud!

Grant Gustin is the perfect Barry Allen. He's adorably charming, honest, can cry like no one else I know on camera, he fits the character perfectly. Jesse Martin as Barry's guardian/foster father, Joe West, plays the role with strength and grace. Candice Patton is good in her role as best friend and love interest. And Tom Cavanaugh - FauxWells... oh what a perfect villain. Complex, confusing, intriguing, evil and yet so... I don't know. We felt right along with Barry the convoluted emotions the truth brought.

That they've stated Tom will be back for the second season makes me happy.

I really didn't expect to love The Flash. I thought it was going to be cheesey, a classic spin off... but it wasn't. It's awesome. I can't wait for Season 2. I need to add it to my DVD collection!

courtesy of greerdanvilles on tumblr

30 Days of Television - Day 03

Your favorite new show

If you follow me on twitter you know that The Flash is how I spend my Tuesday nights. I absolutely LOVE this show, and I was planning on hating it! I normally don't like spin offs (though Fraiser was much better than Cheers) and I wasn't truly sold on the cast. The only reason I watched the pilot at all was because Jesse Martin was cast as Barry Allen's "surrogate father" of sorts, and I LOVED him in Law & Order.

When the character of Barry Allen was introduced on Arrow, I absolutely LOVED him. Grant Gustin is so freaking adorable as the nerdy superhero. I was totally on board with Barry and Felicity hooking up (which didn't really happen and I'm still kinda upset about that), his chemistry with Stephen Amell (who plays Oliver Queen on Arrow) was also natural. It was hard not to hope good things for his show.

The pilot, I felt, was a little more awkward, and I wasn't quite sold on the show... until the scene where Barry visits his father. No one cries so convincingly as Grant Gustin. He breaks my heart EVERY WEEK. There is no one better suited to play the character - if ever there was perfect casting in a role, Grant is it. The dialogue is tongue in cheek, the characters sympathetic (though I'm still not sold on Ronnie or Caitlin), the stories interesting. With the time travel element it definitely keeps the viewer guessing/wondering.

The Flash has really found its rhythm after the Arrow-Flash crossover last fall, and is already set for a second season. The spin-off is an excellent one and I can't wait for the next episodes!

30 Days of Fangirl-ism - Day 8 - Fandom you thought you wouldn’t get into but did

I have three of these, most of the shows that I get into they're because I've seen the promos and decided to check them out. These three were shows that I had no desire to watch the first go around even though a lot of my friends were.

All of my Disney friends seemed to be into this show when it started. I thought it looked completely hokey (and honestly it pretty much is), that the acting seemed more geared towards soap stars, and they were going to mess with my fairytales. Didn't care to watch. Then I was stuck in Montana while my dog was being put to sleep thousands of miles away in Alaska and I just needed something to get my mind off of it - so I put on Once Upon A Time. Besides the second season was in full swing and people were talking about how attractive Captain Hook was - and after seeing a few pictures I had to agree. But I wasn't going to jump into the story at the end of a second season. So I had to catch up.

Seriously Captain Guyliner is everything right with this
show. Even if I am a Nealfire fangirl, I can appreciate
the beauty that is Colin O'Donoghue.

And darn it - the pretty people won me over. The dialogue was horrible, incredibly cheesy (and I'm still not sure if the actors are just committed to the lines/story or if it's more of a Star Wars idea of "we know this is lame so let's just over do it to make it entertaining"). But I loved the twists to the classic tales - especially how Rumpelstiltskin was tied into every single one of them! The fact that they were in the modern world was also intriguing... and I LOVED the story of Rumple and Baelfire... especially when we figured out that Rumple was searching for him still. I wanted to know who Bae was in the "World Without Magic."

I didn't like season 2 as much though I DID love Captain Hook (aka Captain Guyliner). Who know that villain was so sexy?! We also got adult Baelfire in our lives, and all I could think was "why did Emma go for such an average looking guy?!" Ha ha. Boy have I changed my tune! Season 3 would find me falling more in love with Neal Cassidy (aka Adult Baelfire... aka Michael Raymond-James!) only to watch him die three episodes into the return from the winter hiatus. Still not over it, as well all know... and my interest had dropped significantly (one hot pirate is not enough).

I guess I'm kinda like Rumple's actor Robert Carlyle. The story of Rumple and Bae is why I got interested in the show, and without that storyline it's just not as much fun to watch. I wanted to stick with the show, but as the 4th season got closer the less desire I had. I didn't want to watch the nods to MRJ or the Neal character as it would make me sad all over again, and I couldn't get into the corny lines in the promos. I just wasn't feeling it.

And the more I read people getting excited the less I was interested. I'm somewhat more interested in the second half of the season - but even that with some of the "spoilers" we've been given as to who the guest stars are... I'm worried it'll just tick me off. So I'm content to not follow the show - for now - and hope for better things.

And no if they just brought Neal Cassidy back I don't think it'd make it better. As much as I selfishly want MRJ on my screen each week in that role that I love, I'm pretty sure it'd be a bad choice from a writing perspective.

Arrow was another show I just had no desire to watch. I didn't know what it was, honestly, so even though a lot of my friends were talking about it I didn't care to learn about it. Then my friend Aimee kept badgering me to give it a try. That I'd like it. That it was fun. That she wasn't expecting to like it but she loves it. All that good stuff.

So after getting over my OUAT craze and looking for something new I gave in. And I'm SO GLAD I did. Arrow is in no way like OUAT (other than it's fantasy) it's a superhero show - based on The Green Arrow comic series. It has better writing for the most part, the story is completely compelling and all characters are fleshed out and used well. They aren't forgotten when the new storyline comes along - they are all integrated. The creators have a clear vision for the show and how to get there. The cast is strong, and most episodes leave me an emotional wreck (I still blame OUAT/Michael Raymond-James for that. I was sane until "Quiet Minds").

Arrow is quite possibly my favorite series on TV right now (Blacklist comes close but I'm annoyed with their overly long hiatus at the moment).

When promos for Arrow's spin off series "The Flash" started, I was less than eager to watch. I just wasn't expecting it to be as good. Then the casting list emerged and I decided to give it a try just because of who plays Joe West (Jesse Martin - who was one of my favorite actors on Law & Order). The show started off a little rocky - it wasn't as good as Arrow's pilot - but I stuck with it and I'm so glad I did. It's a lot of fun. I really love Grant Gustin in the role of Barry Allen. He is the boy next door, perfect unsuspected hero.

And no one can cry like Grant can.



So there are my three shows that I was NEVER going to watch that I ended up getting hooked on.