2010 Season In Review (Mild Spoilers)

As this television season draws to a close I thought I'd share my thoughts on how my favorite shows fared.


Melrose Place: I worshiped the original Melrose Place and was excited to learn about the reboot. Granted, the season started out boring. They bring Sydney Andrews back from the dead only to kill her off five minutes later.

Auggie (Colin Egglesford) and Violet (Ashlee Simpson) were the most boring characters on the show and they have been removed. Riley and Jonah were boring and I wished them off the show as well. Until Jonah hooked up with Ella....Riley can still go. Heather Locklear is still awesome as Amanda Woodward and it's great to see Thomas Calabro, Josie Bissett, and Daphne Zuniga reprise their former characters.There is buzz that the show may be cancelled and that would be a shame. Melrose Place has finally smoothed out the rough edges and has begun to gel. It deserves a second season.



Big Love: Seriously, what the Hell happened this season. It was like a bad hangover following the prior season's awesomeness. You changed the theme song which is just awful. The story lines have degenerated into pure garbage. Illegal bird deals? Bill was just insufferable. And Margene's story lines have lapsed into a coma of stupidity that the show may not recover from.

To the Big Love writers, two of my favorite actors have left the show. I need something to keep me tuning in. Shape up and be as awesome as I know you can be.



Lost: For the shows' final season, I have been mildly disappointed. The alternate time line ran on way too long. It was good see some of the shows' former actors return but enough is enough. Only a handful of episodes left and nearly nothing has happened. There are questions that need to be answered and only two weeks left to get on the ball.

Oh, and last week's little slaughter fest of original characters made me cry. Not only because the victims were all favorite characters but Jack is still alive. Seriously, Lost, give a devoted fan something to treasure.



Degrassi: The Next Generation: How can you be my guilty pleasure show if I can no longer watch you. I have probably missed half of the season and the episodes I do watch are just deja vu. How many times can Sav and Anya break up in a season? How many times can Ally and Johnny insist they are over? How many times can Riley come out of the closet? Too many new characters and old favorites shuffled into a corner. I miss my guilty pleasure but thank God for Boycott The Caf.
Glee: Started out awesome. It has great characters, fun musical numbers and awesome guest appearances. But the recent episodes have been lacking in entertainment. We spend all this time rooting for Emma and Will but get nothing except angst and fighting. Same for Rachel and Finn. There is still hope for the show and hopefully it will get out of it's slump.


The Secret Life Of The American Teen: If it had just been the teenagers, I would've have never been sucked into this show. It's the adult cast that keeps me coming back. Molly Ringwald, Jennifer Coolidge, Mayim Bialik, Kathy Kinney, and Josie Bissett are simply awesome and make the show watchable.

Plus the show has that unapologetic, awesomely over the top dialogue and story lines that Degrassi used to be famous for. A girl convinced that her fantastic sex killed her father, classic. However enough with the pregnancies, couple swapping, and blink and you'll miss them love interests.


Desperate Housewives: This season has been 100% awesome. Great story lines, great use of humor and drama. The Fairview Strangler was predictable but the back story made is an awesome storyline. Love Drea De Matteo and was happy to see her on the show. Katherine's final storyline was wonderful. It was refreshing to have a lesbian storyline not be for ratings but be a natural evolution for the character. Top notch.

The Vampire Diaries

Let me start this review by saying I have never read the Vampire Diaries books,I am strictly reviewing the television series. If anyone can tell me what they changed in the television series I'd be most appreciative.

I am a fan of Nina Dobrev and it was because of her that I gave this show a chance. I thought I was going to hate it, but to my surprise I found myself enjoying it. Vampire Diaries is not your typical CW teen drama. It's a fun show with a great cast and decent writing.

Another pleasant surprise for me was the casting of Ian Somerhalder who used to play Boone on Lost. His portrayal of the vampire Damian is so fun to watch and oddly I find myself rooting for him even though he's essentially the villian of the show. While I don't recognize any body else from the cast, they are all pretty decent. Even though I like Nina Dobrev, her character is kind of one sided. I hope the writers concentrate more on fleshing out her character so that she seems a little less Mary Sue.

The cinematography and special effects are impressive as well. I especially like how they make the vampires "vamp out". The series does seem to borrow from various sources, I see a little bit of Bram Stoker, Lost Boys, and True Blood in mix, unfortunately it also seems to taking some cues from Gossip Girl as well.

The music used in the show is kind of irritating, mostly CW inspired douche rock but I was pleased that they used Placebo's Running Up That Hill, a personal favorite of mine.

I admit it, I like this show and will continue watching. The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday nights at 8pm on The CW.

Death Of A Cheerleader

Death of a Cheerleader is awesomely bad. One of those you will watch it but never admit you watched it kind of films. It's loosely based on the 1984 murder of Kirsten Costas by her classmate Bernadette Protti.

Kellie Martin plays Angela Delvecchio, an overachiever who transfers from catholic school regular public school. Angela is determined to have it all, yearbook editor, cheerleader, etc etc. Even though she does end up doing pretty well in school, she still feels that she is a failure.

The bane of Angela's existence is Stacy Lockwood (Tori Spelling) a popular rich girl who obviously can't stand Angela. This slight puts Angela's OCD into overdrive and she vows to win over Stacy. This of course leads to a death of a cheerleader.

I don't like to give away endings to film but the title, DVD cover, and trailer already have, so why not? The murder happens quickly and we are stuck with watching Angela lament her actions over and over.

I felt the main waste of this film was casting Valerie Harper as Angela's mom. Despite the fact that she's a seasoned actress who deserves more, all she is is a background character in the film. The same goes for Christa Miller whose stuck with the why bother role of the older sister. To round off this waste of talented actresses, Kathryn Morris plays a stereotypical goth girl. Look fast for Terry Quinn as a rather creepy principal.

The thing that sticks out about this film is that neither of the main characters are likable. Tori Spelling is typically bland and bitchy. Kellie Martin who's supposed to be a nice girl pushed to far starts the film off as rather unhinged.

This is a film strictly for people who like bad television movies or hate themselves.

Dead Like Me: Life After Death

This film took a long time to get here but trust me it was worth the wait. Dead Like Me: Life After Death is every bit as funny and quirky as the series that spawned it.

Our merry band of reapers are stunned when their boss Rube finally crosses over. They are assigned to slick business man, Cameron Kane. Under Cameron's tutelage, the gang starts caring less about their destiny's and more about fulfilling their own pleasures.

George is the only one who tries to keep it together but eventually she reveals her identity to her little sister Reggie. As she tries to help Reggie, George realizes that you can't fight destiny, you can only accept it.

The film is just like an episode of the television series. They are great comedic moments, perfectly wrong scenes, and sweet emotional scenes that will make you tear up. Fans of the series will not be disappointed and this movie is guaranteed to attract new fans as well.

Jasmine Guy, Callum Blue, and Ellen Muth reprise their roles from the series. The character of Daisy is played by Sarah Wynter. The original portrayer of Daisy, Laura Harris, could not do the film due to contractual obligations.

The film also stars Lost's Henry Ian Cusick and Degrassi/90210 actress Shenae Grimes.

Dead Like Me: Life After Death

For those of you who have never heard of the show, Dead Like Me was an awesome little dramedy that aired for two seasons on Showtime. Despite it's near genius writing and great cast it was then canceled.

The plot of this show revolved around Georgia Lass (Ellen Muth) a college dropout who just started working at a temp agency. She dies when a toilet seat from a space station falls from the sky and hits her. She's not dead though but has been tapped to be a grim reaper. As she learns to adjust to her new "undead" lifestyle and tries to help her family who are falling apart.

The show also starred Laura Harris, Jasmine Guy, Mandy Pantinkan and for the first season Rebecca Gayheart.

And now a movie, it's straight to DVD. Mandy Pantinkan is not returning, he will be replaced by Henry Ian Cusick who Lost fans know as Desmond. Laura Harris is being replaced by Sarah Wynter who I hear is from 24. (Sorry I never watched the show).

Update: After months and months of waiting, a release date for the film has been set. It will be out on DVD February 17th.

Here's a teaser trailer for the film