Have you seen the trailer for season 4 of Game of Thrones yet?
If not, here it is! I’m going to avoid saying too much about it, other then to observe that my hated for King Joffrey grows with each passing hour.
Have you seen the trailer for season 4 of Game of Thrones yet?
If not, here it is! I’m going to avoid saying too much about it, other then to observe that my hated for King Joffrey grows with each passing hour.
Someday, I want to have my own tv network. I’ll call it Lisa Marie Television (or LMTV for short) and it’ll be like Lifetime but with the Lisa Marie difference. What’s the Lisa Marie difference? Sweetheart, if you have to ask, you’ll never know.
Anyway, as I wait for that day to come, I’m going to continue my series of posts on my favorites of 2013 by telling you about some of the best things that I saw on television over the course of the previous year. Here they are, in random order:
1) The series finale of Breaking Bad
Perfection.
2) The series finale of The Office
After a rough couple of seasons, The Office redeemed itself with a perfect conclusion. How can you do any better than Jim and Pam moving to Texas?
3) Children’s Hospital on Adult Swim
Without a doubt, the funniest 15 minutes on television.
4) Burning Love on E!
E! broadcast episodes of the hilarious, Bachelor-parodying web series in 2013 and gave everyone a chance to follow Julie as she pined for Blaze and asked lucky bachelors, “Will you hold my box?”
5) SyFy Saturdays
This year, my Saturday night ritual was to gather online with the Snarkalecs and watch an original movie on SyFy. And while all of the Normals (as we refer to the rest of the world) were going crazy over Sharknado, the Snarkalecs knew that End of the World was a hundred times better.
6) The only likable team won The Amazing Race 23
I can’t remember their names but I can remember that I liked them more than Tim & Marie, Nicole & Travis, and Leo & Jamal.
7) Bonnie and Clyde
Broadcast on three different networks and over two separate nights, Bonnie and Clyde was big, silly, over-the-top, glamorous, and full of style. It made me want to go out and rob a bank while looking good doing it.
8) Orange is the New Black
We lost a lot of good shows in 2013 but, fortunately, we also gained a few new ones.
9) South Park satirizes Obama and Game of Thrones
I like one of those targets and dislike the other (guess which is which) but the important thing is that both of them have reached a point where they deserve to be satirized. Not surprisingly, South Park continues to be one of the few show to have the guts to ridicule the topics that other shows are too cowardly to touch.
10) Bates Motel
Bates Motel was frequently uneven but it was always worth watching for Vera Farmiga and Max Thieriot.
11) The Space Kitten
That little space kitten that was singing Wrecking Ball at the American Music Awards? Adorable!
12) Jimmy Kimmel
Whether he was causing Kanye West to have a meltdown or posting fake videos on YouTube, 2013 was the year of Kimmel.
13) The Talking Dead
Look, we all know that The Walking Dead is great but, for me, The Talking Dead is usually the highlight of AMC on Sunday night. Chris Hardwick is adorable to begin with but the moment he choked up while discussing the death of Herschel confirmed that he’s not just a host. He’s a true fan as well.
14) Miley Cyrus at the VMAs
It was tacky, it was shocking, it was disturbing, it got people talking and overreacting, and it was everything that television should be. (That said, I would like to point out that — despite what some members of the media seem to believe — twerking existed long before Miley Cyrus decided to make it a part of her act. I was twerking back when Miley was still Hannah Montana.)
15) That episode of Girls with Patrick Wilson
One of the best 25 minutes of television ever, and not just because Patrick Wilson is super hot.
16) The Herstory of Dance and Intro to Felt Surrogacy episodes of Community
Without the guiding vision of Dan Harmon, Community‘s fourth season was undeniably rough. However, these two episodes reminded us that Community still had something to offer. (That said, I’m glad Dan Harmon’s back for season 5…)
17) Colton walks off Survivor …. again
Colton Cumbie is one of the most loathsome people to ever show up on a reality TV show so it was satisfying to see him utterly fail to win Survivor not once but twice.
18) The Big Brother Blog got a new writer named Lisa Marie
This year, Bill Lage asked me to write episode recaps for the Big Brother Blog. Of course, I said yes and, for three months, I had a lot of fun keeping people updated with what all of the loathsome people in the Big Brother house were up to. I made a lot of new friends and I even made a persistent enemy named Maggie Long, a poor little internet troll who just couldn’t handle the fact that I encouraged my readers to “Stay supple!” It was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it all over again in 2014.
19) Winter Storm Cleon caused the local news people to freak out!
Yes, we did get some snow and ice down here in December. Unlike you folks up North, those of us in Texas only see snow and ice every other year so, whenever it does show up, you can be sure that all of the local newspeople are going to panic. That’s exactly what happened this year and it was fun to watch.
20) Degrassi!
My favorite Canadian show came back!
Tomorrow, we take a look at ten of my favorite books of 2013.
Other Entries In TSL’s Look Back At 2013:
Seeing as how one of the first ghosts of Christmas Past was an episode of the Twilight Zone, it seems only appropriate that the same should be true of the 2013’s final Christmas ghost.
It’s debatable whether “The Changing of the Guard” is truly a Christmas episode. However, it does take place during the holiday season and it’s such a wonderful and sweet 23 minutes of television that it simply has to be shared and enjoyed.
The Changing of the Guard, which features a poignant lead performance from Donald Pleasance, originally aired on June 1st, 1962.
All of us here at the Shattered Lens hope that you have had and will continue to have a wonderful holiday season! Please enjoy The Changing of the Guard.
Tonight’s ghost of Christmas Past was recommended to me by the TSL’s own editor-in-chief, Arleigh Sandoc. This episode of the Twilight Zone originally aired on December 20th, 1985. Based on a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, The Star features two men — one a scientist and one a priest — exploring the remains of a long dead alien civilization and discovering a connection to our own society.
And yes, it is a Christmas story.
Today’s ghost of Christmas past originally aired on December 24th, 1953. In this episode of Dragnet, two stoic cops investigate the theft of a statue of the Infant Jesus.
Today’s ghost of Christmas past comes to us from my favorite country in the whole entire world, Canada!
Admit it, longtime readers — you knew that I was eventually going to have to find an excuse to include an episode of Degrassi in my holiday series, didn’t you?
Ghosts of Degrassi Past is a mini-episode from 2009. Holly J is, as usual, stressing out so the ghost of J.T. appears and teachers her a lesson about Christmas spirit.
It’s Degrassi at its best!
In today’s Ghost of Christmas Past, comedian Bob Hope entertains the troops fighting in Vietnam. Among his entourage is Raquel Welch, which ought to make at least one of our regular readers happy.
I had so much fun with yesterday’s Ghost of Christmas Past that I decided, “Why not see how Sabrina celebrated Christmas the next year?”
She celebrated it by accidentally casting a spell that made the entire world forget about Christmas! Agck!
Christmas Amnesia originally aired on December 11th, 1998.
In today’s Ghost of Christmas Past, Sabrina the Teenage Witch develops a case of egotitis so her aunts call upon a special person named Bob to help her with her problem. While spending the day with Bob, Sabrina discovers that Bob is better known as Santa Claus. When Bob is injured, it’s up to one teenage witch to save Christmas…
I used to love Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. Some of that was because I always wanted to be able to make things happen just by pointing her finger and saying something cute, just like Sabrina! However, most of it was because Sabrina had a talking cat.
This episode originally aired on December 19th, 1997.