The HBO Original Series, True Blood, has definitely made a captive audience out of me. As I've mentioned before, I've read the books that this series is based off of and as usual, I think the books are far better but I love the show as well. As seems to be common when books are turned into television series, the producers have veered off of the path of the original story line. It seems with this season they have gone completely off the path. So far, nothing that I have seen in this season has been in the books at all. I'm still loving the show, but for those of you who haven't read the books I strongly urge that you do so, so that you might see how the author originally intended her story to be told. Anna Paquin plays the telepathic barmaid, Sookie Stackhouse. Many of you might recognize her for her work as the character Rogue in the X-Men movies. Stephen Moyer plays the mostly proper and old-fashioned vampire, Bill Compton aka "Vampire Bill". The incredibly dashing Alexander Skarsgård plays the flamboyant, heart throb, viking vampire Eric Northman. The television show seems to have a slightly more skewed involvement between Sookie and the supernatural community at large and less of one of Sookie in the vampire community in specific than the books.
The CW series, Supernatural, has got me so hooked that I feel like I'm going through major withdraw while I wait for the next season to start in October. Supernatural is about a family who hunts monsters, seriously. In the beginning of the show, we learn that Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) were raised as monster hunters by their father, John Winchester (Jeffery Dean Morgan), after their mother was murdered by a monster. There father has gone missing, leaving behind his journal, and they feel obligated to find out what happened to him and carry in his footsteps as necessary. The plot thickens as we later learn that the two men play a much more pivotal, and vital role in the grand scheme of things and as such become caught up in a very twisted war between angels and demons.
I sincerely hope to see more of the angel character Castiel (as played by Misha Collins) in this season than there was in the last. With his introduction in season 4, episode 1, Castiel swiftly became my favorite Supernatural persona. He's acquired his own fan base, dubbed "Misha's Minions" and due to his work in Supernatural has grown to be a quite popular actor. He founded Random Acts which is an organization that encourages people to do random acts of kindness. Random Acts has fostered acts that range from in depth charity missions to restore Haiti, to people randomly passing out flowers to people they meet on the streets. It is very inspiring. I digress, though.
The Vampire Diaries is another CW television show that has sucked me in and left me hanging waiting for the next season to start in October. Nina Dobrev plays the young and innocent Elena Gilbert, Paul Wesley plays the repentant, somewhat broody vampire Stefan Salvatore and Ian Somerhalder plays the roguish, ladies-man vampire Damon Salvatore. I am aware that this show is based off of a series of books with the same title by L. J. Smith. Sadly, I was unaware of the books until after I was several seasons into the show and have yet to read them, though I do plan too. In the show, the Salvatore brothers have come back to Virginia to claim their family home. While there they find Elena Gilbert, both brothers are immediately stricken with Elena as she is the doppelganger of the vampire who turned them, Katherine Pierce. Katherine strung both of the brothers along in a love triangle while they were human, and then further so once they were turned. Damon was madly in love with Katherine, but Katherine merely saw him as a toy to play with. However, Katherine was in love with Stefan, who did not share the intensity of her feelings.
Now, Stefan and Elena are in love leaving Damon to once again be left in the cold, as he too has fallen for Elena. Alas, Elena's life is in jeopardy because she is the doppelganger to Katherine. The story has many twists and turns and I can't wait for the next season to arrive. Truth be told, Elena kind of gets on my nerves... she's just a little too good. Meanwhile, I have been routing for Damon to win Elena's affections from the beginning but even more so as his character has taken on less of a crude cast and has become somewhat softer.
Ian Somerhalder is another one of those inspiring actors having founded the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, that has a mission to save animals from all acts of cruelty, neglect and the invasion of humans into their habitats. He also works with his family to salvage old wood and use it to create furniture and works of art through the Built of Barnwood company.
Warehouse 13 is a Syfy show about two secret service agents, Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) who are reassigned to Warehouse 13. Warehouse 13 is a government warehouse that collects and safely stores items that have taken on supernatural/magical qualities. Each of the items of note either once belonged to someone of note or were a part of some sort of historical or mythological event. For instance, there is an episode in which Myka uses Marlyin Monroe's hair brush, which turns Myka's hair from brunette to blond. Many of the artifacts can cause harmful effects, such as a key that was owned by H. P. Lovecraft that when touched made other people percive the who touched the key as a Lovecraft-ian tentacled monster of one sort or another. This led the person who touched the key, and was thus the object of the hallucinations, to be beaten to death by those who hallucinated the monster instead of the human. Therefore, artifacts are considered to be wild and dangerous, and so are neutralized and kept in the Warehouse away from the populace. It is Pete and Myka's job to "grab, bag and tag" the artifacts that they are sent to find by their boss, Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek). Claudia Donavan (Allison Scagliotti) joins the cast in season 4, episode 4. Claudia is a young woman who is super smart, incredible at hacking computers and designing new devices... even if she does have a rap sheet. Claudia is probably my favorite character on the show, I adore her personality and her sense of fashion.
The show Bones is about an FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) is teamed up with Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and her team of scientists at The Jeffersonian. Dr. Brennan's specialty is examining bones, and so is soon dubbed "Bones" by Booth. Although she does not take to the nickname initially, she soon accepts it with ease. Booth is a passionate man who relies on his intuition to guide him through life whereas Bones is an incredibly intelligent, calculating, not at all humble and unemotional woman. Somehow though, the two end up making the perfect pair as they work together to solve crimes, primarily of a murderous sort. It becomes evident at some point that Booth has fallen in love with Bones but it isn't until much later do we see Bones begins to reciprocate these feelings. Women viewers (and probably even men viewers) all over shed a collective happy tear on the night that Bones crawled into bed with Booth. Nine months later, a very pregnant Bones gives birth to a baby girl!
I cried a little to learn that House M.D. was coming to an end with its 8th season, but what a wonderful end it was! Dr. Gregory House M.D. (Hugh Laurie) works at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital as a diagnostic specialist. He views his patients not as people with compassion and empathy but as puzzles to be solved. His philosophy is that all patients lie, and so he sends his team members to break into patients homes to find environmental factors, drugs, etc. If a patients case is boring, he won't take it. He plays pranks on the management, his staff and his best friend, oncologist Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard). He's become addicted to Vicodin after years of use to stop the pain in his injured leg. He usurps authority and crosses all professional boundaries. In short, he's a major ass. But he is a brilliant ass, and that is what keeps him his job. He's the best, and the hospitals greatest asset.
The most interesting thing about Hugh Laurie is that although his American-English is perfect, not a hint of an accent he is actually from Oxfordshire, England and not only has a very heavy English Accent but also, his voice is not nearly as deep as it is when he speaks as House. I was awed when I first heard him talk as himself, he is an amazing actor and more impressively an amazing voice actor.
Doctor Who. Who doesn't love Doctor Who? OK, don't answer that. That would be blasphemy. I haven 't watched but a handful of episodes from the old Doctor Who but have watched all of the recent ones (marathon style-- thank you Netflix) and absolutely loved the show. Doctor Who is about a Time Lord named Doctor. The name of the show comes from the obvious question he is asked a million times, "Doctor Who?" The Time Lords are as the name implies, lords of time. The are able to move about in time and space with the use of their ships called TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space). The Doctor's TARDIS happens to appear externally as a blue Police Call Box, as the Doctor believes that it's something that would be easily overlooked. Internally it is full of lights, buttons and wires.
This Time Lord travels a lone, without a home to return too because his mortal enemy, the Daleks have destroyed Gallifrey. The Doctor was a young Time Lord, thirsting for adventure and so he stole the TARDIS and ran off to explore the world. While he was gone, his home was destroyed and so he believes himself to be the last living Time Lord. (Though in one episode, the TARDIS given a human form, that of an attractive woman, says that she was a young TARDIS, thirsting for adventure and so she stole a Time Lord and ran off.) In his adventures, he has taken on several different traveling companions (always women) for a time. Showing them the history of their planets, the futures and entirely new planets. Always there is some crisis for the Doctor to save the people from, even though generally speaking Time Lords don't get involved.
You might notice at this point that I haven't mentioned who played the Doctor. Well that's because the Doctor has taken on many forms. Whenever he becomes injured, seriously ill, or simply wants too, the Doctor (as all Time Lords) can regenerate himself, which completely changes his outward appearance and in many cases personality. So, no single actor can claim the role for too long. When I first started watching the show (the newer one) it was with the ninth actor to have played the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his traveling companion was Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). When the Doctor is forced to regenerate he becomes the tenth Doctor and my personal favorite (David Tennant). Rose spends some time with the Doctor but is eventually forced to be left behind with her mother and ex-boyfriend in a parallel world for her safety (and the safety of the worlds). The eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) brings a new traveling companion to the mix, Amelia "Amy" Pond (Karen Gillian) and her boyfriend Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill). There is a strange twist in the story line involving these two young lovers, one that is vital to the Doctor's story as a whole and since I have already spilled enough, I won't spoil this part for you. I'm excited for the next season of Doctor Who to begin again. It looks like they have something scheduled for Christmas day!
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