The 30 Day TV Meme (what exactly is a meme anyway?):
Day 1: A show that should have never been cancelled
Easy. GILMORE GIRLS. I blame Amy Sherman-Palladino for the downfall of a fantastic show that ended entirely too soon.
Day 2: A show you wish more people were watching
Hmm... either Army Wives or Covert Affairs. I love both of these shows, but it seems like outside of a couple of friends and my family (at least as far as CA goes), not many other people watch them. Obviously there are people watching them... CA was renewed for a second season after like the 4th episode of the first season, but they're not people I know. So next summer when they both come back (fingers crossed on AW!), watch them!
Day 3: Your favorite new TV show (aired this season)
Well technically we're in between the end of the summer season and the beginning of the fall season, so I'll say Covert Affairs since that came out when I was on vacation, which by the way, it doesn't seem possible that that was almost 2 months ago, but it was.
Day 4: Your favorite show ever
NCIS. Hands. Down. This is another show that I just started watching a little over a year ago, but let me tell you, I've seen every episode at least twice, and most of them I've seen way more times than that, and if a show can keep my interest that strong in such a high concentrated amount. Let's face it, I get distracted easily, so the fact that NCIS has kept my attention so well is kind of a big deal.
Day 5: A show you hate
I realize I'm going to get flack for this, but I don't care. I really hate Grey's Anatomy. I think it went from a good hospital drama to a completely outrageous circus disguised as a hospital. Too many good actors have left the show for bullshit reasons, and it shows. Yes, having a season finale where numerous people randomly get shot gets a lot of attention, but if it was a good show, it would have gotten the same attention with something understated. No one gives a flying fig about the other episodes from the most recent season, and that's because they sucked.
Day 6: Favorite episode of your favorite TV show
This is mean! There isn't an episode I don't love. I guess if I had to pick one about the others, it would probably be Twisted Sister. I love how dedicated McGee is to his sister (and real-life step-sister... Don Bellasario keeps it in the family!) and of course, it's the big reveal of the book he's been working on in secret... probably because he "loosely" based all of the characters off of his co-workers. Whoops. Anyway, I like it because it's one of those turning-point episodes where we start to see that McGee isn't as green as he used to be.
Day 7: Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Another bad question! Probably Judgement Day Part 1&2. I know that Jenny was dying of something (rumors online speculated that it was muscular dystrophy) anyway, but I really hate how she was killed off of the show, and then they brought in Vance. I hate Vance a little less now than I did at the beginning of season 6, but I don't think it was fair what they did to Director Shepherd's character. She's actually an intelligent and competent woman in season 3 and most of season 4, but then in season 5 they turned into an obsessive maniac. Plus, I read online that Lauren Holly had no idea that she was being killed off of the show, and I think that's crappy. At least when Kate was killed off, Sasha Alexander wanted off of the show.
Day 8: A show everyone should watch
This may sound silly, but everyone needs to watch just one episode of 19 Kids and Counting. Even if you don't believe in the Duggar's policy regarding the number of their children, you can't deny that those kids are some of the most polite and well-behaved children out there. Go watch an old episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 and follow it immediately with an episode of 19 Kids and you'll see what I mean.
Day 9: Best scene ever
The scene from Friends where Rachel finds out that she's pregnant. I love love LOVE that Phoebe tricks her into thinking that she's not pregnant so she'll have clarity on what her thoughts on having a baby would be! The look on Rachel's face when Phoebe tells her the truth is priceless... my bet is that they did that in one take.
Day 10: A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
*shifty eyes*... NCIS. You can ask my sister, when she first started watching it in the early part of last summer, I absolutely hated it. I think I only watched bits and pieces of the show, but other than Law & Order: SVU, I had never found a one hour crime drama that I liked. Now I'm hooked.
Day 11: A show that disappointed you
White Collar. On paper, I thought I would really like it, but I got bored after the first couple of episodes. I watched a few episodes this summer because my parents watch it, and I liked them okay, but I still expected more from that show.
Day 12: An episode you've watched more than 5 times
According to iTunes, I've watched Caged (from NCIS, of course) five times. It's the episode where McGee is held hostage in a woman's prison... I'm not surprised that I've watched it that much! Any McGee-centric episode is high on my list!
Day 13: Favorite childhood show
The first show that I remember being in love with was Full House. I actually cried when the last episode aired. I usually cry when the last episode of a show airs. But that was the first. I remember I got really irritated with Michelle and how she basically got to do her own thing when she was so young, but I loved DJ. Donna Jo was the shit. And of course, now I find Uncle Jesse foxy.
Day 14: Favorite male character
If it wasn't for the whole surprise daughter thing, I would have said Luke from Gilmore Girls, but he handled that whole situation so poorly and it destroyed his relationship with Lorelai, so scratch that. Probably Gibbs. He's a very complex person, and yet I feel like every time the writers bring in another dimension of his character, it makes sense. It's like, "Oh, why didn't I see that all along." I'm a big fan of consistency on TV shows, and NCIS does a really good job with that, especially with Gibbs.
Day 15: Favorite female character
Annie Walker on Covert Affairs. Even though the first season just wrapped, I feel like we know a lot about her character already, and she's one strong woman!
Day 16: Your guilty pleasure show
Keeping Up With the Kardashians/Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami. No judging, you all have guilty shows too!
Day 17: Favorite mini series
I honestly can't think of an entire mini-series that I've watched.
Day 18: Favorite title sequence
NCIS! I love to dance to the music, and up until recently, they always update the clips. Even when Gibbs left at the end of season 3, when they had the credits for Mark Harmon on screen, the videos behind his name were of him on the beach in Mexico. Now that's dedication to consistency!
Day 19: Best TV show cast
I'm starting to feel like a broken record, but NCIS totally wins this one too. For one thing, the actors are all actually friends in real life. Pauley Perrette and Sean Murray are BIFFLES4LYFE, and when Lauren Holly first joined the cast, she rented a condo with Cote de Pablo (who also had just joined the show), Michael Weatherly, and Pauley Perrette. They were friggin' roomsicles! And even though Mark Harmon is always the one who get interviewed by the bigwigs, he makes a point to emphasize that NCIS is an ENSEMBLE show and that while his names comes first, without the other actors and behind-the-scenes crew, he would be nothing. Now that's love.
Day 20: Favorite kiss
Ross and Rachel in Central Perk. YOU KNOW THE ONE.
Day 21: Favorite ship
McAbby! I know it happened a long long time ago, but there's so much chemistry between them. Plus, they really get each other. Until Vance came around, the only person who really appreciated McGee's tech skills was Abby. And Abby gets jealous every time McGee dates someone new (who usually turns out to be a wack job, so good job for her having that kind of insight) which would be understandable right after they broke up sometime in season 2, but when she's still getting jealous 5 years later... SHE'S DRIFTING INTO RACHEL GREEN TERRITORY!
Day 22: Favorite series finale
I already covered how the ends of shows make me cry. So if I had to pick, I'd say Gilmore Girls. No, it wasn't perfect because Luke and Lorelai didn't get married, but Rory graduated and miraculously got a real-person job (with Obama!) so I feel like it ended in a good spot. Plus Richard actually tells Lorelai how proud he is of her for what she's done with her life and how she's raised Rory.
Day 23: Most annoying character
Meredith Grey. Look in the dictionary for "whiny self-absorbed bitch" and there's a picture of Meredith, I guarantee it.
Day 24: Best quote
From Army Wives: The mind plays tricks on us at times like this. It has to. We need it to. It's how we're able to power on and do what needs to be done. Even something as mundane as doing the dishes that are piling up in the sink, or going out, getting up and doing what needs to be done for your loved ones. The future doesn't stop. We all search for strength on that first day or two. I did. But whether what I found was true strength or some part of our DNA that makes us want to reach out and help, I don't know. Times like this we question our own strength, our ability to hang on and not crumble. It's one of the things I admire most about the army wives I've met. Must be a military thing- this capacity to press on despite the obstacles, to see a mission through to its completion. No matter what happens that makes us question the world we live in, life goes on, as cliché as that sounds. One generation passes the baton to the next generation and the cycle of life continues. Regeneration- life renewed. What is it that the poets keep trying to hammer into our heads? Winter becomes spring, night becomes day, as one wave crashes onto the shore and disappears, another one appears behind it, and another and another. I guess we humans just plain want to stick around. The ride must be worth the price of admission. And it's not in us to give up hope, even when any reason for hope has dwindled to almost nothing. This communal spirit, this crazy insistence that we all are connected in each other's caretaker, it keeps us from sinking into despair, or sliding into the abyss. What is it about the human touch- holding a loved one close and feeling their warmth, their heartbeat. I mean this is the Army and frequently our loved ones are far away. But their warmth doesn't have to be. At times it feels totally random. It's roll of the dice on who lives and who dies. At some point words fail us and we're left with silence. Silence and time. I read something once, to live in hears you leave behind, is not to die. I don't know what each of you is going to do today, but now is the time to tell those you love, that you love them. Like we loved Amanda and she lives in our hearts still, and will never be forgotten. Me, I think I'm going to pick up my kids up and take that ride down to the ocean like they wanted. The water's beautiful this time of the year. Besides, they know where the gold starfish are.
Just rereading that made me teary-eyed. Good stuff.
Day 25: A show you plan on watching, old or new
I really want to watch Rissoli and Isles, even though the summer season ended. But I want to see what Sasha Alexander is like in a major role that isn't Kate. And she plays a medical examiner!
Day 26: OMG WTF? Season finale
NCIS always ends their seasons with a bang. Let's review:
Season 1: Kate was taken hostage by Ari, and Ari attempts to shoot down Marine One.
Season 2: Kate gets sniped by Ari, after taking a bullet to save Gibbs when the team is trying to prevent Ari from launching a guided missile at a Navy ship returning home.
Season 3: Gibbs gets blown up on a merchant ship, suffers memory loss and thinks he's still fighting in Desert Storm, and ultimately retires to Mexico to live with Mike Franks.
Season 4: Tony's car gets blown up while NCIS is watching in MTAC and thinks he was in it when they find his badge, gun, and cell phone in with the charred remains. Director Shepherd finds evidence that her father, who allegedly killed himself years earlier, is in fact still alive.
Season 5: Director Shepherd, Tony, and Ziva attend the funeral of another NCIS agent in LA, while Jenny discovers that her cover may have been blown on an undercover op years earlier, and now that person is killing off people involved in that mission; first the agent whose funeral they went to, then Jenny, and eventually Gibbs (but the last never happens, thankfully). Vance becomes the new director of NCIS, and he splits up Team Gibbs, sending Tony to be an Agent Afloat, Ziva back to Israel, and McGee to the Cybercrime unit.
Season 6: Tony kills Ziva's boyfriend (and Mossad partner), and Ziva's apartment gets blown up. Ziva permanently moves back to Israel, until her father sends her on a mission that ultimately ends with her being held prisoner in Somalia.
Season 7: The members of the drug cartel that Gibbs killed the leader of years earlier (because he killed Gibbs' wife and young daughter) are now after Gibbs, and go around trying to kill the people Gibbs holds nearest and dearest. The show ends with the cartel woman going into Gibbs' father's shop and flipping the sign on the door to closed. Creepy.
Day 27: Best pilot episode
Covert Affairs! I was completely hooked on the first episode, so much that I watched it 3 times in less than 48 hours, and part of that time I was traveling.
Day 28: First TV show obsession
In more recent years, Gilmore Girls. I don't know if I was really obsessed with Full House because I was so little, but that may have been the actual first.
Day 29: Current TV show obsession
I'm not even answering this. If you can't figure that out by reading this survey, you're dumber than I thought.
Day 30: Saddest character death
When I watch the episodes after Kate's death on NCIS, I cry more than I do when Jenny died. Jenny's death was handled very differently. It was basically swept under the rug... and then her house was lit on fire. Kate's death was very public. We got to see each of the team's thoughts around her death, and how they all reacted. Like when Tony starts to pick on McGee (like usual) when McGee makes some stupid comment about how Kate probably doesn't look that bad from the front because of the type of bullet used to shoot her in the head, and then McGee asks Tony to stop because he just can't handle that kind of criticism that day, and Tony actually stops. It's one of the few times we get to see Tony respect McGee. And when "Kate" scolds Gibbs for being late to her funeral, even thought it's such a sad moment, it makes me smile a little bit because it's very ... Kate.
Okay, that's all! Snaps to you if you read it!
~ Christine
