My Shameless Love

In January I read a pretty harsh review of Showtime's new "comedy"* Shameless, calling it crass, preachy, pretentious and easy. Of all the features of a series I might hate, those are probably the four I have the hardest time getting over. But then I heard the series' praises sung by a couple friends with excellent TV taste, so I reluctantly put it on my list- somewhere before things like True Blood, which are notably not up my alley, but after surething favourites like Shameless' writerly neighbour in programming, Episodes. When I finally got round to it, it took me 2 days to get through the pilot. And about 16 hours to get through the entire rest of the first season. Once I got to know these characters I loved them like people I'd been watching for 6 seasons already and I absolutely had to know what would happen to them next.

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Casting the Pad

As we learned last summer, Bachelor Pad is a grimy, low-rent ick-fest that is very very difficult to turn away from. So when the casting for the second season was announced this week, I was shamefully excited. They went for the occasional dramatic but boring pick (obnoxious Melissa from Brad's season) and a couple people I've never heard of, completely can't remember or super don't care about (Graham from DeAnna's season, Erica from Lorenzo's,  Ella from Jake's and Alli from Brad's).

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Ashley's Boys

It's that time again, when the season of The Bachelorette is just starting to get good and I'm starting to get jealous and fall for a ridiculous band of reality TV stars and their manufactured romance. So, in keeping with a tradition 3 years running, I present to you this year's Bachelor Scale. Now, the key difference between this year and years past is that at this stage in the game I don't dislike anybody. In fact, other than drunk Tim and evil Bentley (seriously, all villainous interviews aside, I still don't understand the appeal of the overly-coiffed, slow talker), I didn't really dislike any of the guys this season. That's new. Thus, this year's scale only goes from Love to Apathy, not all the way down to Hate. Last year, my scale (which tracks my love for them, not how right they are for the Bachelorette) correctly predicted the final 4 guys and the order in which they'd go (as well as the no-contest winner Roberto), mostly because Ali proved to be awesome and had very good taste in men. Jillian's season I made the scale too early and got a lot of the guys wrong (my beloved Reid wasn't even on my radar yet and fell depressingly low), though the awesomeness that was Michael did rank excellently high very early on. This year, I've waited long enough that I think I have a good idea of who these guys are. Whether they're right for Ashley is a whole different story. So far, though endearing in her own little way, Ashley's proved little more than that she has terrible taste in men (Bentley and Brad Womack? Really?!). But despite some bad decision-making skills, she has a fantastic crop of guys this year. So fantastic that it was a real pain trying to decide who fell where on the top end of the scale (and a thorn in my side that I didn't get to include last night's eliminee- West, one of my early favourites). 

So without further ado, HERE's the breakdown of this year's remaining bachelors from Love to Apathy (complete with beautiful full-colour scale): 

Obsession: Your Summer Abed Fix

In case, like most TV-loving people, you're terribly lonely and missing your favourite shows now that summer is upon us, Variety is here to save your day. Your best friend Abed is back, if only in print, to give you his predictions for this year's Emmy race. Here's the link to the hilarious article from the savant's point of view. But be wary of the bitter sweet reality that Abed lives in a world where Community isn't a TV show and therefore the absurd and unfair fact that it undeservedly won't be in the race is lost on him. Not lost on him? The fact that his beloved Cougar Town won't be there either.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037818/

Enjoy!

TV from the Inside

On any scripted TV show the showrunner is king. It's their show and they'll decide where it'll go (while managing their writing staff, overseeing production, coordinating contracts and liaising with the network- for starters). Watch this video for one-of-a-kind insights from 7 of TV's current showrunners- you'll never take your favourite show for granted again. Highlights include how much Frank Darabont (The Walking Dead) loves his show and everyone he works with as well the mere presence of TV titan John Wells (Shameless, The West Wing, millions of other things) and my current favourite showrunner Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood).