Gone, But Never Forgotten

Friday Night Lights, My beloved Veronica Mars, Pushing Daisies.... Arrested Development! What do all these shows have in common? For whatever reason we didn't watch them (I mean we the public. Not me, personally, of course. I watched all these bitches!) and they were cancelled.

All the shows listed above, however,  ran for at least two seasons. So at least their networks gave them a chance. But there are shows out there that were never even given the chance... Shows that if perhaps the powers that be threw a little more money behind, could've really taken off. Shows that the cancellation of is nothing less than an egregious error, a blight on television history that cannot be rectified! I count down for you now:

The Top Five Shows That Were Cancelled Before Their Time!

5. Wonderfalls. I can't lie. This is the only show on this list that I did not watch as it aired. Why? Because I never heard of it! I think you really dropped the ball, advertising wise, Fox. Boo! But thanks to the wonderful invention of Netflix, I found this little gem and can include it in this list!

Wonderfalls, created byBryan Fuller and executive produced by Tim Minear, tells the story of Jaye, a recent Brown University graduate who now works a dead-end job in a Niagra Falls gift shop where she is surrounded by inanimate objects that communicate with her. Sounds crazy, I know. But it's typical Bryan Fuller genius (he also created Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me and the first – and best – season of Heroes) and the show was fabulous! Check out a classic scene below:

4. Undeclared. This is the show that actually inspired this list! I find that a story helps distract from the misery I am experiencing when at the gym. Instead of hip-hop or electronica- inspired playlists, I opt to stream comedies on my iPhone and Undeclared fits the bill perfectly! I've been watching it the past two weeks.

Created by the now revered Judd Apatow, Undeclared follows six freshman at an unnamed California university. The series features writing (and acting) by the uber-funny Seth Rogen, Apatow favorites Jay Baruchel and Jason Segel, and who is that playing English cutie Lloyd? Oh, that's right! It's the devastatingly sexy star of Sons of Anarchy (and my dreams), Charlie Hunnam! Every episode of this show has me laughing out loud – the one where Adam Sandler visits, or the one where Ron (Rogen) gets a free keg from the multi-cultural department and demands his roomies help him drink it all – but episode 6... Episode 6 had me cracking up on the elliptical yesterday! Marshall has a cold. He doesn't want to go to the school's health clinic though. He'd rather have the very pretty Rachel take care of him. But Ron knows he needs help. So he pulls Marshall from his bed under the guise of going to get fake IDs made from their student ID card, when the following hijinks occurs. You dropped the ball again, Fox. Dropped. The. Ball!

3. Freaks and Geeks. What can I say about this show that hasn't already been said? It's a critic's darling, yet nobody watched it! Why, people???

Freaks aired for one season on NBC before being dropped for low ratings. But I still to this day don't understand why no one watched it! Hello? James Franco, Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, Busy Phillips, JAMES FRANCO!!! The series made Time magazine's 100 Greatest Shows of All Time list, as well as TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever and Entertainment Weekly named it #13 among the best shows of the last 25 years! The show deserves every one of these accolades and more! Created by Paul Feig and Judd Apatow, the series focused on a bunch of teenagers growing up in the 80s. My crowd would've called them burnouts, but watch the show and you will fall in love with each and every one of them. Busy Phillips, anyone who watched one episode of this series knew you were bound for stardom! Feast your eyes on Freaks and Geeks!

2. Firefly. Many have theorized about why this series didn't catch on. I'm still flummoxed. Brought to us by the creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel and more recently Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and The Avengers, Joss Whedon, Firefly is part science fiction, part western and all brilliant!

Set in the year 2517, Firefly follows the crew of starship Serenity, captained by the charming, yet crass, Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds. Mal and his first mate, Zoe, are veterans of the Browncoat Rebellion. They currently work as smugglers, trolling the galaxy looking for their next score. The series has a hard core following. They call themselves, of all things, Browncoats! Stop by Comic Con, Dragon Con, Anachro Con, any kind of con, and you're likely to find a Browncoat roaming the halls. In fact, Firefly fans are so vocal, they managed to make enough noise that Whedon got funding to finish up the story with the film, Serenity. Alas, their love was not enough to save the show and it was cancelled after just one season. To blame? What do you know...Fox! You suck, Fox!

I love all members of the Firefly cast, including Nathan Fillion as Mal (Swoon), Gina Torres as Zoe, the hilarious Alan Tudyk as Zoe's husband and Serenity pilot Wash, kick ass Summer Glau as River, the lovely Morena Baccarin as Inara, Chuck's awesome Adam Baldwin as Jayne and the uber-adorable and likable Jewel Staite as ship's mechanic Kaylee.

I couldn't find a good clip of Firefly to share, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It's fabulous. But it on Blu ray, yo!

1. My So-Called Life. I cannot think of my teen years without thinking of My So-Called Life, for nothing summed up what it felt like to be a teenager in the 90s like this show did. And few shows have achieved such cult status as this show either! ABC did this little show a real disservice but putting it on opposite ratings juggernaut, Friends. The show was doomed before it started. 

Nevertheless, the show from the creators of Thirtysomething, never ceased to break new ground. I thank them for their offerings. We should all be thanking them for introducing us to Claire Danes, then 15 but already a little dramatic power house! Who could resist those longing looks she'd throw at high school cutie, Jordan Catalano (pretty, pretty Jared Leto)? I'm pretty sure that every woman my age fell in love with Jordan Catalano. Not because he was worthy but because Claire Danes loved him and she could make us feel anything. 

I miss this show. I miss Jordan and Angela, Ricky and crazy Rayanne! Thanks to Netflix and Hulu, I can relive my youth any time I choose!

Who knows what would've happened to these shows if they aired today? TBS saved Cougar Town from extinction, as Direct TV did for Friday Night Lights. And Netflix is reviving Arrested Development this Spring! Alas, it's too late for these little gems. Thank goodness for the Internet, so brilliant series such as these, though may be gone, will never be forgotten!

Sunday Shoutouts 2: Return of the Shoutouts!

It's been a while since I've done a Sunday Shoutout, so here are a few of the things I've seen and appreciated recently!

First, the premier for Season 6 Mad Men was announced! Woot!

AMC will begin airing the next season of the best television show ever created on Sunday, April 7. Spring, here's one more reason you are my favorite season! I can't wait to catch up with Don, Peggy, Joan, sexy silver fox Roger Sterling and even creepy Pete!

KMS Free Shape Quick Blow Dry. Those of you with thick hair, heed this! My hairstylist recommended this to me. My individual hair strands are fine, but there's a lot of it on my head and it takes forever to dry of a mornin'. Standing there with your head bent forward waiting for your hair to dry? Ain't nobody got time for that!

But the Quick Blow Dry helps hair dry faster while adding heat protection and shine to your hair. Truly, I love it! It did speed up my dry time significantly (now I can actually get it all dry instead of arriving at work with still damp hair because this non-morning person did not get up early enough to dry her entire head of hair)! And my hair is noticeably softer. Thanks for the tip, Rachel! I give this product two enthusiastic thumbs up!

Ipsy.com! Have you heard of this site? Well, maybe I should be thanking the uber-beautiful and trendy and sweet Kandee Johnson for turning me onto it! Makeup lovers, remember this website, because it promises to be awesome. For the low, low price of $10 a month you can get a monthly glam bag mailed to you filled with all kinds of beauty goodies – and these are not lame samples, these are high quality, name brand items!

This month's bag contains a sample size of Big Sexy Hair Volumizing Spray, Pacifica's Tuscan Orange Body Butter, a FULL SIZE Nailtini nail color, Josie Maran Argan Oil and a Soho makeup brush! If you're counting, that's worth way more than $10, so in the wise words of philosopher Charlie Sheen, WINNING!

The CW's The Carrie Diaries. Based on Candace Bushnell's prequel to her other novel, Sex and the City, The Carrie Diaries should not be compared to the HBO show (also known as a half hour of perfection) or really, to the Carrie Diaries book. Many changes have been made, but the feeling and heart of the show feels true to me, so I'm game!

The show centers around Carrie Bradshaw, a senior in high school trying to regroup after the death of her mother. She lives in small  town Connecticut, but dreams of life in the big city - Manhattan! In the pilot, Carrie begins an internship at a law firm, hoping to distract herself from life without Mom. When she snags her hose when falling on the sidewalk (a classic HBO Carrie Bradshaw moment!), she's forced to go buy more at Century 21, where she bumps into an edgy reporter from Interview magazine! Now she's swept up into the glamorous New York lifestyle!

The series takes place in the 80s so the soundtrack is kickin'! And the costumes are totes 80s, so I love them! Of course, as with the original Carrie Bradshaw series, each episode is narrated by our leading lady. But there's no Samantha. No Miranda or Charlotte. Not even a Big. At least not yet. But, fans of Sex and the City, I recommend you check out the Carrie Diaries. But I urge you, don't overanalyze! It's not meant to be a literal prequel to the HBO show. Just sit back and take it for what it is – a fun, fashion-filled romp, a fan letter to New York City through the eyes of one much younger, much more innocent Carrie Bradshaw. Enjoy!

Got my glam bag from Ipsy today!

Have you heard of Ipsy.com? If not, you need to! It's a cool little website. Each month for just $10 you can have a personalized "glam bag" sent to your house filled with deluxe samples and full size beauty products for you to try out. I just got my first bag today and I think I'm in love!

First, you get a little makeup bag. This one is cute. It's navy with a star pattern on the inside. I got a sample size of Big Sexy Hair's Spray & Play Volumizing Hairspray. That little baby is hanging out in my drawer for those occasionally necessary afternoon perk-me-ups!

I also got a small tube of Pacifica's Tuscan Blood Orange Body Butter. Mmm-hmm! Can we talk about this stuff smells? Orange and mandarin with a touch of raspberries... I want to eat my hand! It feels amazing too - love it!

Also in the bag? A crease brush from SOHO. The brush is ergonomically designed to be comfortable in your hand. I needed one of these, so yay! The bag also had a full size bottle of Nailtini nail lacquer. I haven't ever used this brand, but I'm surprised because I am a nail polish junky! It's very RED which isn't really my style, but I'll probably try it out anyway.

Lastly, a bottle of Argan Oil! Please, this bottle is worth more than the $10 the bag cost me alone! Argan Oil can be used on your face as a moisturizer, on your hair to smooth out split ends, you can even put it in your bath water as a bath oil! It's just great stuff and I'm excited to have it!

So, if you haven't done it yet, head on over to ipsy and sign up for your own glam bag. I can't wait to see what they send me in February!

I Think, Therefore I'm Single

So… here’s a little update on the whole resolutions thing. I’m doing great at the gym!

I’ve been trying to go three times a week. Last week, even though there were two days I really didn’t want to go, I dragged myself in and left feeling pretty good afterwards – I just have to remind myself of that feeling the next time I really don’t feel like going….

The dating thing? Yeah… That’s a little harder! 

Online dating, what you think it will be:

What it actually is:

What is up with men on dating websites? So, I don’t want to sound like a snob, but… If I put in my profile that I have a master’s degree and I’m working on a second one, and you can’t even string together a complete sentence…maybe you can go ahead and assume that I’m not going to be very interested… Just sayin’.

And I try to hold a conversation, but it’s only been a couple of weeks and I’m already sick of doing all the work! Example chat room conversation:

Random guy: Hey.

Me: Hi there! How are you?

RG: What’s up?

(I’m already wondering what kind of response he’s looking for here… What exactly does he think is up? Obviously not much as I’m clearly sitting at home chatting on my computer…)

I decide to try and spice things up, so I go peruse his profile and notice a picture of him and a couple buddies at a comic book convention. I put in my profile that I like comics though I see no mention of it in his. I’ll use this as a window.

Me: Saw your comic con pic. You’re a Spiderman fan?

RG: Yeah.

Yeah.... Yeah?!? What exactly am I supposed to say next? I type some variation of that's cool and then the conversation completely fizzles. And this is just an example of many conversations I've had! It has me asking, has the creation of Facebook and texting, etc. made it so we no longer know how to hold on a conversation? Where are the questions bro? Or are you expecting me just to swoon at your “Hey” and throw my cell number at you so we can meet up for meaningless sex? What about my profile gave you the impression I was that type of girl?

I'm not expecting to meet a rocket scientist in OKcupid or Plenty of Fish, but I do wonder, where does a girl go to meet a decent, semi-intelligent SINGLE man these days? I'm really starting to think, that I think, therefore I'm single!

5 Things I Learned From the Golden Globes

Sunday was the Golden Globes – one of the few chances for Hollywood's golden stars of film to rub elbows with the unwashed masses from television. But seriously, how great was it to see Amy Poehler hobnobbing – even canoodling – with George Clooney???

This year was one of the best yet. Tina Fey and Poehler were way more beautiful and witty than the host from the past few years, Ricky Gervais! On top of being entertained, I learned a lot! Here's the scoop:

1. I need to see Silver Linings Playbook. Like, NEED to.

I love Bradley Cooper. I love Jennifer Lawrence. Put them together and that's reason enough to go, in my book. But the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave J.Law the award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical over Meryl Streep, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Emily Blunt. Those are some serious names, y'all. And it's got me thinking she probably did a pretty good job. I gotta check it out!

2. Jodi Foster is cuckoo catchoo. Like, seriously. Not because she's a lesbian. Not because she thought it was witty to come out without really coming out. But because seems to be under the impression she can be an actress of her stature and still expect an amount of privacy. Jodi. you already have as much privacy as you're going to get. You want more? You may want to look into a new career.

3. The world needs to have more awards for Anne Hathaway. I love this woman. She is talented, she is beautiful and she can SING! I thought her speech was adorable and touching and I could watch her win shit all day long.

4. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are adorable. I have loved Ben Affleck for years. I love that he's not afraid to make fun of himself. And he's a damn good director! I hate that he was not nominated for Best Director for the Oscars! If you ask me, both of them need to look good ol' Academy straight in the eyes and say, "Argo fuck yourselves!" 

See the movie. You'll get that one.

Seriously. See the movie. It's great!

5. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are the bomb.com! 

There were many highlights from the evening courtesy of these two, including Tina Fey asking Taylor Swift to stay away from Michael J. Fox's son because she needed some alone time to heal. As I saw on the Internet the other day, when is someone going to write a song about Taylor Swift titled, "Maybe it's Me"?

Here's some other winner from the duo:

"When it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron" -- Poehler referring to Kathryn Bigelow, the director of the movie "Zero Dark Thirty," a movie featuring the torture of terror detainees.

"I have not seen someone so totally alone and abandoned like that since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars," Fey to Anne Hathaway about the latter's performance in "Les Miserables."

The way they introduced George Clooney: "This next presenter is so handsome he makes young George Clooney look like garbage. Please welcome middle-aged George Clooney."

Great show ladies; hope to see you next year!

This year I resolve... to make more resolutions!

It's that time of year, kids. Time for all the boys and girls to share their plans for the upcoming year! It's trite I know. But I'm hoping by making my resolutions known, you all will keep me accountable. Maybe this will be the first year I keep all of my resolutions!

1. Hit the gym!

Everyone says this one, I know! So why should I be any different? Seriously though, I was member to our town's nicest gym, owned by the local hospital and I loved it. But I let laziness and illness get me kicked out of a great program where I got to go for free. This year I'm back in and I plan on staying in!

2. Be more organized!

I've never been a neat freak, though I'm not a slob either. But in 2012, I went back to grad school, joined the Junior League and decided to find a social life. This left me little time for the unimportant things like housework. So, what does any smart girl do in 2013 when she's looking for solutions to life's problems? I hit up Pinterest! There I found all kinds of great suggested schedules for dividing housework up throughout the week! Another quick visit to shabbyprincess.com for some cute scrapbooking downloads and now the following hangs on my refrigerator!

Somehow, having things broken up like this, makes housework seem like a less daunting task. I don't have to mop all my floors – I only have to do the bathroom today! It makes the whole thing seem much more approachable and doable. Three days in and my kitchen, bathroom and living room all look gorgeous! And I am much less stressed about the rest of it! Whew!

3. Stop taking everything so personally.

This one is a hard one for me. I have a habit of thinking everything someone says is a dig at me in some way. Call it insecurity, call it being oversensitive, whatever. It's a problem I've had since I was a child and I need to get over it. So, in 2013, if you have a problem with me, you're going to have to tell me about it, because I am going to be over in my own space trying to assume that you don't! Did that make sense to anyone but me?

4. Get back on the horse, romantically speaking.

I've been knocked around a little emotionally the past few years. Because of that, I've been a little hesitant to put myself back out there. But this year, I'm going to do it! So friends, this is your invitation for setups. If you know someone, help a girl out. This is the year when Ginny starts to date again.

5. Take time for myself.

School, pets, Junior League and other community commitments has sometimes had me feeling a little spread thin. So this year, I'm taking time for myself. I vow to take time to stop and smell the wine, when needed. So friends, if I tell you I need to be alone one night, it's not because I don't love you and don't want to spend time with you. It's just because I need some quiet time for myself to rest and replenish. I hope you understand. In the end it will make me a much happier, relaxed person.

That's all, folks! My resolutions for 2013! I'll try and keep you updated on how well I'm doing at keeping them. Wish me luck and happy new year!