And Now I Talk About Exciting TV.

Beating a meme horse.

It’s official. I have made the appropriate sacrifices, drawn the correct arcane circles (aka given up food and did the re-budgeting) and, for the first time ever, I have a ~##Premium Cable Channel##~. And because Comcast is truly the Devil’s temptress, they granted me a free trial of Showtime when I subscribed to HBO. That’s right, I’VE GOT HBO, BITCHES. And Showtime. Let’s talk TV, shall we?

I may as well just get it over with: I subscribed to HBO because of Game of Thrones. Prior to the announcement that Game would become a TV series, my feelings on HBO are best summed up thusly:

That's right. I used MS Paint. ~free-mousing it~

Don’t get me wrong, I love the shit out of some of HBO’s programming. Rome and Deadwood were freaking amazing. The Sopranos et al were ground-breaking shows. But I could watch most of that online. Or, failing that, I could wait until it all came out on DVD. I’m patient like that and I don’t watch much TV. Plus, I begrudge every penny I have to pay out in bills. And there’s no way my penny-pinching fingers were gonna loosen up enough to pay for extra TV. Or any TV, really. This is also the first time I’ve had cable.

– WHAT? THAT IS NOT SAD. NO TV IS A GOOD THING. Right?

– Right.

So anyway. I find having this much television to be a little over-stimulating, if I’m honest.

This is my over-stimulated face. Charmante, non?

The self-portrait above is particularly apt when taking the On Demand features of Premium Cable into account. That’s a lotta Premium Cable to handle.

Anyway. Yes, I got HBO because of Game of Thrones, but as it turns out, there are several other series that I’m bloody excited about. One of them premièred last night: Mildred Pierce. I almost always like Kate Winslet. And I’ve always been a Todd Haynes fan. I figured that the acting would be good, the look would be sumptuous and that the story, if depressing, would be well-told. Right on all counts, so far! I think I remember seeing Haynes talking about some of the reasons that he was drawn to Mildred Pierce and one of the main points he made was how the story/setting paralleled so well with what’s going on in America right now, i.e. a depression. These parallels are clearly drawn, within the series.

I’d imagine that the job-hunting segment was pretty hard to watch, for anyone who’s ever been unemployed for a good length of time. Don’t know about you, but my experiences with employment agencies have been just about as productive as Mildred’s. Except instead of ‘housewife’ insert ‘historian’. Either way, good-fer-nothin’ and very much anti-crumb-sweeping. Pffah. As if.

 

DON'T MAKE ME SWEEP CRUMBS. PLEASEEEEEEENOOOOOOOOOO.

I’ll be keeping an eye on MP. In many ways, I’ve been dying for a television mini-series. I really miss the wonderfully corny ones from the 80’s. The Thornbirds, Lace and who could forget Master of the Game?!!? I’d totally watch re-makes. Except for the Thornbirds. Because I don’t think that Hollywood would be able to execute that with the restraint that it needs. It was cheesy enough the first time round and nothing says ‘restrained romance’ like Richard Chamberlin in a soutane. Tssssssss!

Tonight marks the return of both Nurse Jackie and United States of Tara. I have mixed feelings about these shows. I loved the first season of both. Their second season, I loved a little less. We’ll see how the third works out. I guess that, in both cases, I’m wondering where the story can go. We’ve got some more background to figure out in Tara, but in Jackie, I just don’t know. We shall see. As a side note, am I the only one who wants to slap the shit out of Eddie, from Jackie? There’s just something about his face. Same with his role in The Sopranos. Ahem. Testament to acting-skills?

The Borgias is another show that I’m really looking forward to. Jeremy Irons as Italy’s naughtiest Early Modern pope? Come ON! I’m all over that like a rash. Only thing is…argh. I know it’s going to be terrible history. I just know it. And it’s no fun to watch a period drama when someone’s tearing it to pieces over silly little details, like, say, its historical accuracy. Nevertheless, sometimes I can overlook stuff like that. Particularly when it has nothing to do with my area of expertise. Particularly when Jeremy Irons is involved. So let’s hope for the best.

And now, Game of Thrones.

This is a scientific representation of my excitment-levels.

OK. There’s been a TON of hype about this. I won’t even start linking, because I’d never stop. Suffice to say, the buzz has been overpowering; Martin’s rabid fan-base playing no small part in this. At this point, I’ve almost stopped thinking about the series because my expectations were coming close to absolutely, maniacally, unattainable. I.e. ‘Unless HBO somehow manages to shoot real dragons into my living room, I’m gonna be disappointed’. THAT kind of unattainable. So, less said, the better. But I’ll probably write about it here. When it airs. On 17 April. On HBO. Wiff dragons. And imps. And stuff.