Sunday:
The Amazing Race – Still as awesome as ever. We’ve never missed an episode.
And that’s pretty much all we watch on Sunday. We use the extra time to catch up on DVRed shows.

Monday:
DVR:
How I Met Your Mother – We’ve only watched 1 or 2 episodes from this season. Still okay, but I’m ready for him to meet their mother, already.
2 Broke Girls – Watched the first episode. The rest of still waiting. Might delete them.
Two and a Half Men – Watched the first episode. Laughed our asses off, but still don’t think the show will survive losing Sheen. We’ll give it a couple more.
Mike & Molly – Haven’t watched any from this season yet. Not sure how they’ll keep it from getting stale.
Hawaii 5-0 – The writing’s bad, the plots are ridiculous and the science is worse than CSI’s, but this is probably my favorite show on television right now. Love it.
Watch:
Terra Nova – It’s okay. It’s different, which is nice. But also kind of dumb.
House – We’ve about given up on this one. We used to love it, but they’ve sent him so far off the deep end he’d never be allowed to practice again. And he’s a jerk.
Castle – Still love it, but I’m glad they’re moving away from the super-heavy drama and back to the light fun banter.

Tuesday:
DVR:
Last Man Standing – Haven’t watched it yet, but Tim Allen’s pretty damn funny.
Body of Proof – I hate this show. My husband makes me tape it, so I suspect he’s got a little thing for the character I refer to as “slutty M.E.”. He hasn’t watched any of this season’s yet, so maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll cancel it and I can delete them.
Watch:
NCIS - Meh. Not stellar so far. My love for the cast keeps me there, but it’s getting stale. The teen passed up this week’s, saying the show’s gotten boring.
NCIS:LA - Ditto. Meh. Not happy with how G’s background has played out, and the rest of it’s getting boring.
Parenthood – Love this show. Madly. The writing and the acting are so awesome.

Wednesday:
DVR:
Modern Family – So funny. We’re still crazy in love with this one.
Revenge – I’m shocked by how much I’m loving this show. We’re an episode behind (maybe 2 now) but it’s delicious.
Watch:
Survivor – I wish they’d quit bringing back former players. It changes the game dynamic. Still not a fan of the Redemption Island 2nd-chance thing. And make Russell’s nephew stop crying, ffs.
Criminal Minds – I’m so happy the team’s back together I don’t even care what happens in the show. As a bonus, though, the plots have been good, too.
CSI - Meh. Ted Danson’s kept me from giving up on it, but I end up multitasking a lot. Doesn’t hold my interest anymore.

Thursday:
DVR:
Grey’s Anatomy – I actually officially quit this show two episodes ago by deleting it with like 12 minutes left in the episode. Bottom line: I don’t like these people enough to care what happens to any of them.
Watch:
The Big Bang Theory – Losing it’s magic for me, although Sheldon and his ohmigod, she did NOT just say that girlfriend keep me coming back.
Person of Interest – My husband and the teen like it more than I do. I like the fact they made the premise kinda-sorta-maybe almost feasible rather than relying on psychics or seeing dead people, but both main characters speak in monotones and it grates on my nerves.
Nothing at 10pm, so DVR catch-up hour

Friday:
DVR:
Blue Bloods – We haven’t watched any of this season’s yet. Mostly on Friday nights I just mourn the lack of Flashpoint.
Watch:
Fringe – I don’t like this show. At all. But it’s my husband’s favorite so I’m stuck with it. The only thing I ever liked about it was the relationship between Walter and Peter and the writers have slowly and systematically destroyed that.

Saturday:
DVR:
Harry’s Law – We’ve only watched the first episode from this season, but it’s a really good show. Love Kathy Bates. We DVR the replays on Saturday nights because the DVR’s full on its regular night. (If they stop replaying it on Saturday nights I’ll cry.)

What’s your favorite show this season?

Holy DVD releases, Batman! Just from the “New and Noteworthy” screen, I came up with this list of movies I’ve been waiting to see:

Unknown (Liam Neeson AND Aidan Quinn!)

The Adjustment Bureau (I think I’m going to want this to be a Bourne movie and it’s not, so I’m doomed to disappointment.)

The Eagle (Don’t really have high hopes for this one, but hello Channing Tatum!)

Battle: Los Angeles (Hoping for cheesy action/disaster movie cheesiness on a grand scale.)

Red Riding Hood (This is a little out of our usual viewing box, but the trailers intrigued us.)

True Grit (My husband wants to see this a little more than I do, but I’m always up for a good western.)

Gnomeo & Juliet (For the song, if nothing else.)

I Am Number Four (I’m not even sure I know what this is about, but the trailers looking interesting and it might be fun for the whole family.)

No Strings Attached (Looks cute. The only movie I’ve ever liked Ashton Kutcher in was The Guardian, though—and, whoa, did I like him in that a lot—and I’m lukewarm on her, so I might wait for Netflix streaming.)

The King’s Speech (I’m really meh about this one, but I adore Helena Bonham Carter. Madly.)

Tangled (This just looks fun. Waiting for my sister to get her copy back from our uncle so I can abscond with it.)

The movie I currently have from Netflix on disc: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, but I can’t get the family to watch it. While he’s in four of my all-time-favorite movies (Con Air, The Rock, Gone in 60 Seconds and National Treasure—but only the first one) Nic Cage has little credibility with the younger crowd and my husband’s just not interested.

Have you seen any of these? Recommendations? Warnings? And what movie do you most want to see? (Here at Casa Stacey, it’s Harry Potter 7.2, though we won’t brave the theater the first week. Maybe not even the second.)

And, of course, all I want to do is watch The Last of the Mohicans for the umpteenth time, which is totally my mother’s fault.

That scene, when they first start walking and we see Uncas watching Alice? *swoon*

And the men running straight up the side of a mountain to rescue their women? *swoon*

My favorite line: “If they don’t kill you, they’ll take you north…”

No no no. MUST. WORK.

Which movie’s your weakness? The one that, if you stumble across it channel-surfing, you can’t look away until the end credits.

We finally joined the rest of the world and signed up for Netflix. We’d been using Gamefly for video games since I got tired of being screwed by our brick & mortar video store (which is now out of business, heh), but we had no way to rent movies.

We like it so far. Our DVD queue is dominated at the moment by Battlestar Galactica. So far we’ve seen the miniseries and the first four episodes of season one and we’re really enjoying it (as long as we block out TK’s commentary, because he has a knack for pointing out errors & inconsistencies). Of course, the last episode on the disc was a “to be continued” cliffhanger, so now we have to wait rather impatiently for the next disc.

It was the streaming option that finally sold me on the service. So far, much of what I want to watch isn’t available for streaming and waiting for the DVD will suck (see above note about DVD queue being clogged up with Galactica), but we did stream Zombieland. (Mr S, TK and I all enjoyed it.) I’m hoping, someday, to catch up on Desperate Housewives, which I’ve never seen but always wish I’d watched.

And Friday means Freebie Fridays at eHarlequin.com! If you need a suggestion for your shopping cart, I just finished Once and For All by Jeannie Watt (Harlequin Superromance) after Jane recommended it to me, and I really enjoyed it. A lot of emotional layers, a ranch, and a strong romance!

Forest Whitaker was originally cast in the role of Sawyer, but opted out of the role to direct “First Daughter”.

Let’s imagine that for a moment…

…and give thanks for “First Daughter”.

It also stars Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina, John Hawkes and John C. McGinley. I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t recognize Rebecca De Mornay. And here’s the blurb:

Stranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a nasty rainstorm, ten strangers become acquainted with each other when they realize that they’re being killed off one by one.

Probably as late as two-thirds of the way through, the husband asked me what I thought of it and I shrugged. “Meh. Pretty standard cheesy horror-lite. But it’s not like there’s anything better on.”

Then some stuff happened. We both perked up a little and when the movie was over, we said simultaneously, “That was a pretty good movie”.

The twist was not only awesome (though, I feel, a little scientifically wonky), but the writers played fair. The clues were there to be found, from as early as the opening credits.

But I couldn’t help but wonder—how many people turned the movie off halfway through? Not only was it standard killer picking off guests at isolated motel fare, but it wasn’t even that good. If John Cusack hadn’t been in it, I would have shut it off. Or if the husband had insisted on finishing it out, I probably would have read.

If it was a book, it probably would have been relegated to the DNF column. And that would have been sad because the last third of the movie was interesting and unique and compelling.

So that’s the writing lesson I took away from the movie:

It doesn’t matter how incredibly awesome your show-down scene is or how mind-blowing your ending plot twist. If the lead-in chapters aren’t also compelling and interesting, the reader may never get there.

Okay, it does have an impressive cast: Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Helena Bonham Carter, Aidan Quinn, John Cleese, etc. And I’ve heard it best represents the book.

But…

My husband and I believe, as parents, our job is to not only stay on top of the education he’s receiving at school, but to fill in any gaps. And, I’m sorry, but studying classic literature by watching a movie made in 1994 is a gap. A big gap.

That’s why we decided it’s time to step in and I just returned from Walmart where I bought a DVD copy of a true cinematic masterpiece and the definitive Frankenstein film:

That’s right, the 1974 film by the brilliant Mel Brooks: Young Frankenstein, starring Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, and Teri Garr.

Our son’s education is very important to us, and we take that responsibility very seriously.

The good: LL Cool J. I love him and I think he doesn’t get enough credit as an actor. He’s also eleventy billion kinds of hot, which doesn’t hurt.

The not-so-good: Everything else. It’s got that glossy, soap opera sheen I associate with CSI: Miami. Zero chemistry in the team. That guy that played Robin in Batman—a litte bit of interest in his angsty backstory, but not enough to make me care about his flatly-acted character. And what’s with having a Bond-ish “M” character?

The biggest problem I have with the show, though, is all their high-tech crap. They don’t have top of the line stuff in Quantico WHY?

On to the real NCIS, which is one of my favorite shows: I loved the episode. I could have lived without the “Welcome new viewers!” personnel recap, even though it was done pretty seamlessly. Oh, I missed Tony…excuse me while I heave a great mooning sigh.

BUT…

That little glitch there at the end pissed me off. (Only slightly spoilerish, but it might ruin the element of surprise the episode turns around…

Really…

You’ve been warned)

In the time it took three battered people to shuffle down a hallway, a certain sniper instantly teleported himself from a mile or so out to the end of said hallway?

I don’t like my emotional, victorious endings diluted by a healthy dollop of WTF.

NCIS fans who watched NCIS: Los Angeles, what did you think of it?

Friday night I watched The Holiday. It was okay. Kinda cute. Though I’m apparently the only person on Twitter to feel this way, I wanted more Jack Black and less Jude Law. Then, last night, the boys and I watched Paul Blart, Mall Cop. It was funny (and one of those movies that’s funnier if you’re watching it with 14 and 8 year old boys), but it was also kinda sad. Since a lot of the humor came from the sad, it was…eh. I must say, though, that once Blart got himself all decked out in the black and had that “You have my woman, I’m gonna kick your ass” look, he was pretty hot. Jack Black and Kevin James. I guess we know where sense of humor ranks on Shan’s hotness scale.

Anyway, after the boys went to bed, I watched Resident Evil. Back when I bought it, a long time ago, I think I knew what the movie was about, but I’d forgotten. The story sucked me in and then…BAM! Zombies!

:hide:

I recently blogged about my ability to totally freak myself out, yet there I was, watching a zombie movie. Alone.

Fortunately, I have my attack dog.

Scary, isn’t she? I haven’t read that book on how to survive a zombie attack, but I’m guessing it takes more than a little ankle-biting to take them down.

Hell, Mini even gets her ass kicked by the smaller of our cats.

And yet, once I got to my bed (after a death-defying run up the stairs because you know that’s when zombies get you, right?) I turned out the light and drifted off to sleep.

One thing about Mini—she’s high-strung. There’s no sneaking around my house at night because I’ve got a small, furry, high-pitched yappin’ alarm system. And she quickly learned the sounds of the neighborhood, so there aren’t any false alarms, either. After the settle in period, she’s barked hysterically at night twice. Once, something was dragging our garbage can around and the other time my car had been rummaged through. Even though she’s not going to rip anybody’s throat out, I sleep 100% better when the husband’s away now because I don’t have to lie awake, straining to hear the serial killer coming up the stairs.

I did fall asleep to the question of what I would do if she DID bark. The only weapon I have at hand is a small stun gun, which led me to wonder if that would work on a zombie.

Wouldn’t the electrical charge actually HELP the undead?

I guess if I was smart, I would have brought a lighter and a can of hairspray to bed, no?

Dear Lil Rounds: (“I’m Every Woman” by Chaka Khan) I didn’t like that at all. I thought it was blah and bland and…not good. Just slightly better than average karaoke, and you’re already topping my list of who I want to see go home.

Mr S says: 5.5

Dear Kris Allen: (“She Works Hard for the Money” by Donna Summer) Ooooh…intriguing. Interesting arrangement, and I’m pretty sure I like it. A little odd, but in a good way.

Mr S says: 7.5

Dear Danny Gokey: (“September” by Earth, Wind & Fire) I don’t know why, but I thought it was cheesy. Maybe because you did it disco style and disco is so not my thing. (I don’t think. ABBA’s not considered disco, are they?) You’re a little hammy for me.

Mr S says: 7.5

(Random question from him I can’t answer: Who’s the long-haired blonde guy with the blonde chick they keep showing in the audience?)

Dear Allison Iraheta (“Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer) I thought you couldn’t decide whether you were doing it rock or doing disco, and it was a hot mess. I don’t think it’s time for you to go home, but I didn’t love it.

Mr S says: 7

Dear Adam Lambert: (“If I Can’t Have You” from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack) After last week’s performance I asked Mr S if he thought you could do a ballad. Apparently you can. And, ohmigod, can you. Wicked, dude!

Mr S says: 9.5

Dear Matt Giraud: (“Staying Alive” by) I’m a little biased by the fact you shouldn’t be up there to begin with, but dude, that sucked. You’ve got a wicked sexy bar repetoire, but since you burned through that you’ve been mediocre. Sorry. I think you’re sexy, but you’re not at the same level as some of the others.

Mr S says: 7

Dear Anoop Desai : (“Dim All the Lights” by Donna Summer) Gah! The only version I know is Laura Branigan’s and sorry, but candle, you no holds it. As to what Randy just said, yes, you can sing. Unfortunately, you can’t perform.

Mr S says: 5

My favorite of the night: Adam
Mr S’s favorite of the night: Adam

Two I think should go home: Matt and Anoop
Two Mr S thinks should go home: Lil and Matt