Email Roundtables

Email Roundtable #16 – Family Time

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It was Louis Riel Day in Manitoba and Family Day in other parts of Canada on Monday. On that note, we thought we’d have a potluck-style Roundtable and discuss the shows we remember watching with our family.

Family and Car

Jane: Watching TV with my Grandparents created some of my favorite memories as a child and as a grownup. As a child there were strict TV rules. Bedtime was directly after Cheers and there was to be no talking during the final segment of Wheel of Fortune. My Grandpa had a thing for Vanna White and that was the only time she got to speak. Later in life my Grandpa’s favorite show was “the written news” aka The Weather Channel. My Grandma and I would patiently watch with him, until it was time for his nap, when we would flip to that crazy Hyacinth Bucket on Keeping Up Appearances. If I didn’t laugh at the funny parts my Grandma would explain them to me.

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Email Roundtable # 15 – Girls

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Norman Rockwell - Girl Missing ToothIn this installment of the Email Roundtable we attempt to discuss the new season of Girls and its most recent episodes.

Kerri: I want to start our Roundtable discussion by acknowledging something that, I think, we have all discussed over the last little while when talking about Girls. There seem to be two camps when it comes to the show. In one camp people dislike Girls an awful lot and sometimes this dislike verges on hate (and that isn’t even considering the outright sexism that is at the heart of some of this criticism). On the other side of things we have people who like the show quite a bit but have issues with it that range from the characters, to the writing, to the nudity, etc. I know few people who love the show outright and see nothing to be critical about. BUT I will say that the people who like the show seem to defend it – HARD.

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Roundtable # 14 – Television Do-Overs: The Big Fat Spoiler Edition

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In this edition of the Roundtable we attempt to talk about the things on TV we wish had gone a bit differently.

Kerri: So, I asked you both to think about shows/characters/story-lines, etc. that didn’t work for you on television. In these cases the specific thing was such a problem that you would have wished the creators had never done it in the first place or could go back in time and correct the problem. Would anyone like to begin with one of their picks? Continue reading →

Roundtable #13 – CanCon Edition

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In this edition of the Roundtable we talk about quintessential Canadian television, what that means and if we watch. 

CanTV

Kerri: I thought we should start this edition of the Roundtable by talking about our picks for the most “Canadian” of Canadian TV shows. Any picks?

Katie: Hockey Night in Canada, Just for Laughs, Mr. Dressup, Degrassi

Kerri: My picks are Hockey Night in Canada, Trailer Park Boys and Degrassi.

Jane: Road to Avonlea, Twitch City, Slings and Arrows

Kerri: And the big question, of course, is why are these shows so Canadian? Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #12 – Remounts

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With the return of Arrested Development right around the corner and the somewhat improbable talk of Twin Peaks starting up where it left off many, many years ago we thought we would attempt to discuss shows we would like to see return to the small screen. 

Kerri: Are you gals excited about the return of Arrested Development? Will you watch the new episodes?

Jane: Yes! I will be tuning in to Arrested Development for sure. I’ll admit that the prospect of Twin Peaks returning has me more excited. That could be due to the fact that I recently re-watched Twin Peaks.

Kerri: Actually, as I was thinking about this topic, I was also much more excited about the possibility of some kind of return to the Twin Peaks story. I feel like, despite Arrested Development ending “early”, it got more of a chance to do what it wanted to do. Twin Peaks ended in a way that I don’t feel many people were very satisfied with.

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Email Roundtable #11 – Television New Year’s Resolutions

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In this edition of the Roundtable we share some television New Year’s Resolutions with you. Happy 2013, everyone!

Katie’s Resolutions: 

3. I, Walter White, will remove myself from the drug game. Otherwise, I will surely die.

2. We, the writers of Parks and Recreation, will stop using Ann Perkins as whatever plot device we require. We will either take the time to develop her properly, or use her less frequently.

1. I, Katie Man, will never again watch an episode of Mad Men on my iPhone. No matter how much I want to watch the new episode over my lunch break, I will wait until I can watch it on a proper sized screen. Gotta respect good product.

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Email Roundtable #10 – A Few of Our Favorite Things of 2012 – Part 2

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In the interest of it being a particularly busy time of the year and because it is also the time of year for lists we thought we would forego our regularly scheduled Email Roundtable. Instead, we have each asked each other about a few of our favourite things from 2012. We attempt to discuss those things here. **Warning: this article probably contains spoilers**

Jane asks Kerri: What was your favorite challenge on a Reality Show this year? 

I really had to think about this one as I really don’t watch all that many reality shows these days. However, I do think that the way that the current season of Top Chef began was pretty brilliant. Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #9 – A Few of Our Favorite Things of 2012 – Part 1

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In the interest of it being a particularly busy time of the year and because it is also the time of year for lists we thought we would forego our regularly scheduled Email Roundtable. Instead, we have each asked each other about a few of our favourite things from 2012. We attempt to discuss those things here. **Warning: this article probably contains spoilers**

What this exercise taught us, is that we all love Christina Hendricks.

What this exercise taught us is that we all love Christina Hendricks.

Katie asks Kerri: What was your favorite episode from any TV show? (pt. 2, what were you doing while watching it?)

I’m going to cheat a bit answering my questions so please bear with me (and I plan to discuss more of my favorite episodes and moments in my next blog post). The sexy answer to this question is “Christmas Waltz, an episode of Mad Men that includes one of my favorite scenes in an episode of TV this year: the one with Don and Joan at the bar. Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #8 – Treme – The “Belly Full O’ Gin” Edition

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Because of the relative (and I mean very relative) popularity of our last Treme Roundtable we thought we would take a look at the Season Finale, “Tipitina”, as well as the season as a whole and where the show might be headed. 

Photo by MichaelTutton. 2012.

Photo by MichaelTutton. 2012.

Kerri: I’d like to say that I really enjoyed this episode. Although, there were times when I was pulled out of the episode by its, sometimes, technical showiness I found myself genuinely moved throughout.

I’m thinking, specifically of, in no particular order: The scenes with Toni and Terry, the final shot of Albert and the beautiful scene at the Bar Mitzvah.

Jane: I enjoyed this episode by the end. The montage gave me joy and hope, which I felt has been missing from later episodes this season. I had some issues with the episode as a whole, but as always, the powerhouse performances were enough to keep me interested.

Kerri: I always love a good David Simon finale montage, Jane. What were your issues with the episode as a whole?

Katie: I found the episode to be a touch didactic – but there were moments that transcended my general feelings of “meh-ness.”
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Email Roundtable #7 – The Fantasy Reality Edition

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In this “all-game” version of the Roundtable we attempt to discuss the reality shows we would like to be on. 

(Disclaimer: during this Roundtable, Jane was having some email issues but still, as always, did a wonderful job).

Kerri: Thanks for the suggestion for this Roundtable, Katie. In keeping with the reality show theme, I think we will make this an all-game version of the Roundtable (of course, we will still have our regular shout outs at the end). The first part of the game is (per Katie’s suggestion): which reality show, past or present, would you like to be on or think you would do well on? 

Katie: I have a lot of answers to this question, so please bear with me. The first is a game show, and it is the easiest game show on TV: Wheel. Of. Fortune!! I would love to be on Wheel because I know that I would dominate. It is so easy to win a lot of money and the contestants never really seem that smart.

Kerri: Personally, I would kill to be a judge on Top Chef. I know that’s kind of cheating. But, I mean, really? Would there be a better job? Or, better yet, a judge on Top Chef Masters.

Speaking of which, I’m enjoying the new season of Top Chef quite a lot so far. They have been shaking things up a bit, which is great and they came up with an ingenious idea to pick the contestants at the start of the season. I like!

Katie: To properly answer the question, I think I would do well at Big Brother. Being good at physical challenges isn’t much of an advantage, so I’m good there. Also, I consider myself a pretty good listener – so in a house full of loudmouths I feel I would do ok. The biggest problem would be the smell of 12 adult humans living in a small house. I’m pretty sure the smell would get to me. I can’t stand dirty people.

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