Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Summer Media Picks n Things

Happy nearly summer, reader! What are we watching over here at chez Professional Critic?

1. Kittens! Better than any show or book is a cat family I'm fostering. I'm enraptured by the shennanigans of four one-month kittens and their patient, sweet mom, barely out of kittenhood herself. Each kitty has a very distinctive personality--feisty, shy, adventurous, talky. Some are better at the litterbox than others, if you know what I mean. If you have the time this summer, consider becoming a foster family with your local shelter/rescue organization. It gives animals a break from the stress of being in a shelter, which in turn helps them get adopted more easily, which reduces the number of animals being euthanized every year. Donations to spay/neuter programs are always needed, too.

On to the media march!

2. Veep with comic genius Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Not too many people are watching this show, so I hope HBO doesn't ax it as it did Enlightened. Still mad about that. Dark and downright filthy, Veep has an amazing cast: Tony Hale from Arrested Development playing a more functional version of Buster Bluth, Anna Chlumsky is the suffering Chief of Staff and Sufe Bradshaw as the acid-tongued assistant.

This clip is extremely NSFW:



3. Game of Thrones. I like it. I don't love it. Two of the main characters are somewhat wooden actors, sorry to say. Looking at you, John Snow and the Queen of Dragons. Couldn't they have done better with a show this expensive? Bit of a headscratcher, that.

4. Arrested Development! After canceling my Netflix account months ago due to tired content, the restart of one of my favorite shows prompted me to resubscribe. I'm only a few episodes in and looking forward to watching and rewatching, as there are always jokes I don't catch on the first (or second) viewing.

5. Nashville, a nighttime soap opera that is about country music the way Friday Night Lights was about football--sort of, but not really. They laid the drama on rather thick in the season finale, which verged on the ridiculous, but I'll be back. What can I say? I love me some Connie Britton and the music, much of it by T-Bone Burnett, is quite good. Catch up this summer if you missed this one.

This clip has one of my favorite songs, sung by an Australian and a Brit. Amazing:



6. Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23. Alas, this very original and very funny show starring the always wonderful Krysten Ritter, who played Jane in Breaking Bad, was canceled, but it is definitely worth watching.

7. Finally, if you don't know Maria Bamford, it's time--she is an amazingly talented comedian/weirdo. Start with The Maria Bamford Show on YouTube. You will love.

Happy watching!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too love veep!

Professional Critic said...

I'm so happy to hear this! It is so hilarious, I want everyone to watch.