Email Roundtables

Roundtable #6 – It’s Not You, It’s Your TV Show

/ Jane Walker / Leave a comment

In this edition of the roundtable we attempt to discuss actors we love in TV shows we hate or have trouble with, or, at the very least, don’t particularly enjoy all of the time.

This week we did our email roundtable in person! Katie and Kerri

The view of Jane from Katie’s laptop

Kerri: Normally we discuss shows/things that we really love in our Roundtables so I thought that it might be fun to do that while also talking about shows that we don’t particularly like.

I will start by talking about Connie Britton who I absolutely loved on Friday Night Lights. And I still love her but my goodness, I cannot get behind Nashville. And it has actually made me start questioning her acting…and I know that is horribly wrong.

Katie: That show looks like a major stinker. Besides, I would always be looking out for Coach Taylor to sneak up and snuggle her from behind.

Kerri: I wish. It is a bit of a stinker although I have found myself humming the songs days later…

Katie: What’s so bad about the show/her performance?

Kerri: Nashville is incredibly soapy, which isn’t necessarily the problem, but I wish it was a bit more tongue-in-cheek or campy or something. Maybe it takes itself too seriously or thinks it is a better show than it really is. I haven’t quite pinpointed it yet and I keep watching it so there is clearly something there. Connie Britton is fine but I kind of feel like she’s given too much to do in the show. She is required to be this major country star which maybe I don’t completely buy. She does exasperated and exhausted so very well that I wish she was doing more of that in the show and less just bitchy country superstar.

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Roundtable #5 – Treme – More Auntie, Less Boyfriend Edition

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

We are a little more than halfway through the current season of Treme and thought it would be a good time to attempt discuss the latest episode, the season so far and the series as a whole. 

Image by Karen Apricot. New Orleans

Kerri: I’m pretty excited that we are discussing Episode 6 of Season 3, “Careless Love” (originally we were going to discuss the previous episode, “I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say”). I thought that the episode did some really great things that we haven’t seen much of this season and some other things that I don’t recall the series ever doing in a single episode. I felt like this episode made really great strides in getting the season to point where it now feels like the stories are moving. For me, the episode had a fair amount of propulsive energy. I think that is often lacking in other episodes.

Jane: I agree, Kerri. I’m glad we are writing on Episode 6. I am always the first to defend Treme. It is one of my favourite shows on TV. That being said, it pains me that Episodes 4 and 5 really disappointed me. They were very one-sided. Preachy even.  Episode 6 is getting back to the Treme I know and love.

Kerri: To me there are really only two types of characters on Treme: those who live in New Orleans and those who don’t. The people who don’t are usually idiots. I really find that hard to deal with and I have felt like we had been dealing with that a lot early this season. This episode did away with that entirely and was just a nicely crafted episode with a true beginning, middle and end.

Jane: I completely agree. I really appreciate how this episode veered away from the clear-cut good vs. evil storylines. The characters don’t have much room to maneuver when good and bad are so clear-cut.

Katie: Good point. I especially found that to be true of “I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say” (Episode 5). Annie’s parents were so obviously “not from New Orleans” and seemed to be speaking in generalities rather than actual words. Like, “But is Treme safe?”

Kerri: That’s exactly the scene I was thinking of, Katie. As excited as I was to see Isabella Rossellini, I was really disappointed with her character.

Jane: Ok here is my proclamation. My former fave Annie has finally begun to get on my nerves. Maybe it is because the Davis storyline isn’t doing anything for me. Or, maybe it is because Annie can’t sing. No matter how much I would like her to be able to sing.  Her parents visit really fueled my Annie dislike.

I was also disappointed, Kerri. Let‘s round these characters out, please!

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Email Roundtable #4 – Candy Corn Edition

/ kwoloszyn / 4 Comments

Kerri: There are a couple of Halloween episodes of television shows that made a pretty big impression on me when I was a kid.

Katie: A Halloween themed episode is almost certain to tickle my delight bone.

Jane: Up there on my list is the Community Halloween special where everybody is turned into Zombies. Although zombies aren’t my thing, I will watch a zombie apocalypse scored by ABBA songs any day!

Kerri: That Community episode is stellar, Jane, one of the more creative Halloween episodes I have seen in recent years

One of mine is the pretty much universally hated Halloween episode of My So-Called Life where Claire Danes meets a hot boy ghost! It was basically the exact opposite of the rest of the series, which, generally, is incredibly realistic. But I enjoyed it as a kid because I loved ghost stories and I also loved that the little sister, Danielle, dresses up as her older sister, Angela, for Halloween. That is something I remember doing myself, not for Halloween mind you…

Although, I think that what I like most about that episode is what I like about most Halloween episodes: Characters that you know well are allowed to act like completely different people. In fact, that’s what I like about Halloween the day too!

And obviously the “Treehouse of Horror” Simpsons episodes are also a childhood favourite. There is an awful lot you can do in an animated series that you can’t really do in a live action show. Basically, the rest of the series is forgotten for these episodes and the Simpson family and other folks in Springfield just play the parts of classic horror characters. My favourite: “The Shinning”.

Katie: The best Halloween episode, in my opinion, is from Season 2 of The Office (US). Michael was supposed to fire an employee by the end of the month but he left it until Halloween day. Then over the course of the episode he fires 3 or 4 unsuccessfully and 1 successfully.

Throughout the episode, Michael is such a dick but it’s only because he cares about everyone so much. He doesn’t want to fire anyone. The moment at the end of the episode when Michael is alone in his house, handing out candy to trick-or-treats is devastating. Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #3 – All Carb Edition

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

Why is TV so darned hard? Sometimes our brains need a break for Pete Campbell’s sake! In this edition of the Email Roundtable we attempt to discuss our TV guilty pleasures. 

Kerri: I think many people think of TV as a bit of a guilty pleasure in and of itself, don’t you think? I don’t subscribe to this notion personally (obviously!). These are usually the same people who claim that there is never anything good on TV, which is an evil lie.

Jane: Anyone who says that there is nothing good on TV needs to get cable. Or rent The Wire.

Katie: Those are the people who don’t realize how much TV they watch… it’s probably always on in the background, luring them in with it’s delicious rays.

Kerri: Indeed. That being said, not all of the TV that I watch can be classified as “good”. I’ve spent many an hour watching House Hunters (and its brethren).

How about you two?

Jane: I have two MAJOR guilty pleasures. The first is reality cooking shows. I will watch any show that involves cooking and elimination. My second is Criminal Minds. I have seen every episode. Which is kind of strange because I hate violence. I close my eyes during all the gory parts. I just love the characters. Those crazy FBI agents are like a family. An incredibly attractive family.

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Email Roundtable #2 – Family Dinner

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

In honour of Canadian Thanksgiving we attempt to discuss our favourite TV families.

Kerri: First off, Happy Thanksgiving to both of you! I thought this was the perfect time to discuss our favourite TV families old and new.  Anyone want to begin?

Katie: Erm, I don’t want to start this one. Lead the way!

Jane: I’ll go: My favourite TV family is the Keatons from Family Ties. When I was young I used to watch that show twice a day. Once at 5pm then again at 5:30pm when we were having dinner. I grew up thinking they were the perfect family. I remember one episode where they buried a time capsule in their yard so one day another family could learn all this neat stuff about them. I made my family do that too. We used a cookie tin. I wish I could remember what we put in there.

Katie: I’ve never seen the show – what was it about the family that made it so special?

Jane: Family Ties was Michael J. Fox’s break out role. He played the Republican son (at the time I just understood he REALLY loved money) of two hippie parents Elyse and Steven Keaton. They also had a really cool older daughter named Mallory (that’s who I wanted to be when I grew up) and a dorkier younger daughter named Jennifer. Later they had a son named Andy. I guess he was used to keep up the cute factor when Jennifer got older.

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Email Roundtable #1 – Pilots

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

In honor of the start to the new Fall TV season we attempt to chat about shows we loved right from the pilot.

Kerri: I am officially opening up our roundtable discussion about shows we love from the pilot.
Who wants to start?

Katie: I don’t think there has ever been a show that I loved from the pilot. Actually, the only one that I can ever remember watching from start to finish, while it was on air, was Lost. Even when I didn’t have cable anymore, I still found a way to stream the show the next day.

That being said, I think it’s pretty hard to LOVE a show from the first time you see it. Most pilots are pretty bad. The exceptions that immediately come to mind are Treme and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Actually, Lost had an amazing pilot. I think it might have been Lost’s best episode. That plane crash was so exciting! And different from anything else I had seen on TV.

Jane: I loved Freaks and Geeks from the pilot. Looking back though, I think the fact that Kerri had really talked it up and the fact that I had a giant crush on Seth Rogen helped.

Kerri: That’s interesting, Katie. And, not to get too much into it, but you are a bit younger than me and Jane. Maybe it has something to do with the way we watch TV now. We are less excited about the start of any TV season because we know we can watch shows in full on DVD or Netflix or other less legal ways.

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