116 Comments? Are You SERIOUS?

I’m not mentioning the comments. I am NOT mentioning them. I am doing my best to ignore the fact that you seem to derive some sick amusement from writing comments when I have specifically asked you not to. You all know who the culprits are. Oh, you all know. And because of you, I have to write another Blog entry. Fantastic. Terrific. Wonderful.

Today, I’m going to be writing about television, and I am going to link up three of my favourite shows in a Six Degrees of Separation kind of thing, except I’m going to do it in WAY less than six moves.

To start with, an explanation. Sometimes I watch a show because it is, simply, undeniably brilliant. The Wire. The West Wing. Dexter. But sometimes I watch a show because of a sheer love of the genre. Supernatural did not impress me when I first watched it. Yes, they had a cool car, and there was good music, and there were monsters and fights and some quite effective scares, but it wasn’t original enough to grab my attention. But I persevered, and kept watching it for the odd gem of an episode, and slowly it became very, very good indeed.

Now I love this show. They have built up their own mythology, which they stick to and expand upon, much like I did when I came up with Skulduggery. The story develops, the characters grow, some bad stuff happens, and some even worse stuff is GOING to happen (again, just like in Skulduggery). What more could you want from a show?

My advice? Give it a go. If you enjoy the first couple of episodes even a TINY bit, then stay with it, and you will be rewarded.

The first link between this show and the next is easy. Jared Padalecki plays Sam in Supernatural, but before that he played Dean, in Gilmore Girls.

Yes, yes, Gilmore Girls- a show about a single mom and her daughter in a small town in America. Not what you were expecting, right? No monsters, no murder, and very little in the way of martial arts. But what it DOES have is rapid-fire dialogue- what we in the business call “banter”.

Whenever I go on tour, I bring a new Gilmore Girls season with me on DVD. It’s comforting to know that every night I can go back to my hotel room and sit down and just smile. I watched it, on and off, when it was shown on TV, but I really only became addicted when I bought the first season boxset, once I’d decided that Alexis Bledel was too cute to ignore any longer. Since then, I have to say, I’ve been in love.

But it hasn’t been easy. You see, there are only seven seasons of this show, and I’m one disk into the seventh- and I haven’t watched any more. Why? Because I don’t want it to end. Because I want that wonderful feeling of comfort to stay with me when I’m on tour and sleeping in strange hotels.

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of Gilmore Girls, take my advice- try it out. Give yourself a couple of episodes to decide if it’s for you. If it isn’t, no problem, you can put it to one side and move on. But if it is, and you’re like me, then you’ll love it.

Now, here comes the slightly contrived link, to get from Gilmore Girls to what is perhaps my favourite TV show of all time.

Milo Ventimiglia played the part of Rory Gilmore’s second boyfriend. He then went on to star in Heroes- which is a show I watch, but isn’t a favourite. An actor who had a cameo in Heroes is one Seth Green, who had a pretty major role in a few seasons of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.

Buffy. Buffy Buffy Buffy. Where would we be without you?

Buffy redefined genre shows on television. This was a blond teenager who went out every night and hunted vampires and demons when, really, she’d much rather be going out on dates. She was fun, and cute, and funny, and her friends were odd, and quirky, and loyal. The dialogue was snappy, the fights were awesome, the characters were cool.

Sure, it kind of dipped in quality after the first three seasons, but even sub-par Buffy was better than the best episode of Charmed. You haven’t heard of Charmed? Yeah, you’re not missing out on a whole lot.

Do yourself a favour- watch the first season of Buffy. If you like Skulduggery, I guarantee you will like Buffy. Action, horror, jokes, and a girl who kicks evil very hard in the face. She’s like Valkyrie’s big sister, or Tanith’s best mate.

And there you go- three TV shows, linked by actors, because I sat down to write a Blog and realized I had nothing to write about. Next time I’m stuck, maybe I’ll talk about my three favourite movies, or books, or comics, or bands, or ice cream, or sounds, or types of cloud (here’s a hint: it is NOT stratus).

Now, your golden god has spoken. Begone, my minions. And if you REALLY have to leave a comment, then why don’t you tell me whether or not you agree with my choices, and perhaps tell me YOUR favourite TV shows?

Not that I care, like...