Fall TV!

    Well hello everyone!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I spent mine working, but in reality, that isn't so bad, considering I've spent the last three months not doing anything at all.  It's nice to have somewhere to go and something to do, however trivial or mundane at times.  I just got home from work, actually, and Tuesdays are typically very slow, so I spend most of my time reading and cleaning up the shop.  Even though I barely did anything, I'm still exhausted.  My chronic fatigue is rearing it's ugly head again, so I'm going to assume there's some sickness coming on.  I can't wait for that to manifest...  I also can't wait to crawl into bed with my book, but that's neither here nor there.

    Today I decided to talk about TV because I haven't in awhile.  In fact, some of my more successful or popular posts were TV re-caps, where I talk about what happened in a given episode and what my premonitions might be for future episodes.  Since fall officially starts this week, (especially with the weather finally cooling down to an acceptable temperature), we can expect our favorite TV programs to grace our televisions once more.  I'm going to list the TV shows I'm most excited to watch this season and shows that I might get into if I have the time.  We'll start with a few shows that I'm excited to see return to my weekly line-up.

(hypable.com)

    Once Upon a Time:  I've mentioned this show countless times here and there's no doubt it's my favorite anticipated series premiere on this list.  If you are unfamiliar with OUAT, fairy tale characters have been taken from their enchanted forests and castles and placed in a small Maine town due to a curse by the Evil Queen.  Obviously you'll have to start from season one to get the gist of it, but there's a lot of hidden mystery in this show.  I will be honest in the fact that I did lose a little momentum for this series last season when they introduced Frozen characters because I don't think they did any justice to the story.  HOWEVER, Emma is now The Dark One, (due to a series of unfortunate and unavoidable events), and her family has to deal with the repercussions of Emma's sacrifice.  There are a few new characters getting introduced this season that I'm excited about, including Merida, the Camelot crew, (I'm definitely calling them that from now on), which includes Merlin and King Arthur, and the return of Mulan!  I'm really excited about this season, so if you're new to this, just binge watch the first four seasons.  It should only take you two weeks, tops, and it's totally worth it.  GO DARK SWANN!  Also, LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUS POSTER!  Season five premieres this Sunday, September 27th at 8pm EST.

(seat42f.com)

    Arrow:  Arrow has had it's ups and downs for me, but I fell in love with this series after season two.  It's so complex for a CW show that I was initially surprised.  Who would have thought that the CW network, the same network responsible for the Vampire Diaries, would put out great programming like Arrow, The Flash, Reign and The 100?  The CW has become a formidable force when it comes to dramatic television and Arrow is no exception.  It is dark, gritty and very much a DC universe reminiscent of Batman in all his glory.  If you haven't started this series yet, I highly suggest you do so.  The first season is a little slow, but by season two you will be hooked.  We left off last season with Oliver Queen running away to his new, quiet life after faking his own death with the League of Assassins.  The Arrow is no more, but the GREEN Arrow will be born from the ashes.  This season we get the formal introduction of Speedy, Oliver's younger sister Thea Queen, and Laurel Lance as the Black Canary, taking over for her dead sister Sarah.  With so much that can happen to this new and complete team, there's so much to speculate.  Stephen Amell is still HAF though, amirite?  Season four promises to be just as great, if not better, than all it's previous seasons, premiering Wednesday, October 7th at 8pm EST.

(ign.com)

    Agents of Shield:  On the other side of the comic book spectrum, we have Marvel's Agents of Shield, who's last season finale led the way right into the beginning of Avengers: Age of Ultron.  I love the overlap of this series with the Marvel cinematic universe.  The show follows a team of individuals who are members of the S.H.I.E.L.D organization, (who we don't really know that much about, other than the fact that they're very much like secret agents and a task force to be reckoned with), as they investigate various happenings related to the MCU.  The first season set the ground work, although it started extremely slow.  It picked up quickly and now this show is an incredible testament for crossover potential.  Last season we were introduced to the Inhumans, Marvel's take on mutants, (because they can't legally say "mutants" because of copyright).  Skye, or Daisy, has discovered that's she's one of them and has to deal with her new role on the team as Quake.  I'm assuming we're going to dive deeper into the Inhumans story line this season with all the unanswered questions we received at the end of last season.  I literally can't wait to see what happens this season!  Season three premieres Tuesday, September 29th on ABC at 9pm EST.

(amazingracewikia.com)

    The Amazing Race:  This show is my guilty pleasure!  I watch this show with my dad and it's always nice to spend time with him watching a show we mutually love.  We get a kick out of all the different countries and places the racers visit on their way back to home base.  We also love watching the inevitable squabbles and annoying teams that make watching both laughable and painful at times.  It's one of the few reality shows that I watch religiously.  The 27th season, (WHOA), premieres this Friday, September 25th at 8pm on CBS.
    Dancing with the Stars:  Another guilty pleasure reality show I watch with my dad.  I loved last season, but this season looks ratchet, so I'm not sure if I'll watch or not.  That being said, I will most likely be drawn to the allure of Tom Bergeron's awesome personality at least.  It already premiered, so I'm behind at this point, but I can catch up on ABC.com.  Go Bindi!

   
    Those were shows I know I'll be watching the next few months.  These next shows are shows I'd like to make time for, if it's worth my while.  Still unsure whether or not I can commit to one or any of these, but we'll give it a try.
    Gotham:  I tried watching Gotham for awhile and I liked it a lot, but I missed a few episodes and never went back.  I enjoyed the dark, gritty world it portrayed, similar to Arrow, but still different.  Two very different cities, two different settings, two different groups of people, one old school Batman, another new school DCU.  This next season promises the beginnings of the Joker, whom we've all been dying to see come to life on this show.  Rumor has it the guy playing the Joker is really talented, so I'm curious to see how he brings the Joker to life.  That would be one of the only reasons I tune in.  Season two has already started on FOX.

(gamespot.com)

    Heroes Reborn:  I never watched the original Heroes, but I've heard nothing but good things about it from my friends who've seen it.  I would be doing myself a disservice if I watched this series without watching the original, but this new series looks so great!  I'd like to feel the nostalgia that comes from seeing an old character you love in a new show.  Zachary Levi seems to have somewhat of a presence on this reboot, so I'm willing to give it a go.  I'm not sure why I wasn't initially drawn to the original Heroes before, but I will have to find it on Netflix in the meantime and figure out why.  Heroes Reborn premiers Thursday, September 24th at 8pm EST on NBC.

    The Muppets:  I've always loved the muppets, so when I heard that they were trying to resurrect The Muppet Show, I almost fell out of my chair.  That being said, this is a lot different than what I was anticipating, although I think it could work for them.  The Office and Parks and Rec feel of this series makes me want to see the muppets in this environment.  I know it will not be what I am used to and I still crave the nostalgia that comes with the sing-song comedy that is the muppets, but I'm willing to give this thing a shot.  The Muppets premieres TONIGHT at 8pm EST on ABC.

    That's all I have for fall TV shows!  Hopefully I can get to all of them without cable at my disposal...  Which ones do you watch?  What are your favorites?  Are there any shows not on my list that you think I would like?  Leave me your recommendations and comments below.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Updates!

  I'm back!  Sorry that took so long, but I really needed a break.  A lot has happened since the holidays, so I'll try to catch you up to speed.  I have announcements, health updates and even a review of The Bachelor so far, which I've missed terribly!  I'm also going to be updating my "Book Reviews" tab with my most recent finished novel, The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon.  At this point, I'm going to try to get back into my regular blogging routine so I don't lose my luster, so we'll see how that goes, but I'm at least going to give it a shot.  Can't hurt, right?

  First things first: health.  Not that I really need to update you all on this, but I've been doing alright.  Over the holidays I did have a serious flare up situation, (just Christmas Eve and Day mostly, you know, the important days...), in which I could barely walk and that is not an exaggeration.  My husband had to carry me around at times, (which was less than stellar and incredibly degrading), but it was all due to a lack of drugs and once I got those back I went back to "normal."  Needless to say the holidays were a lot more stressful than I had originally anticipated, but I'm glad I survived.  More recently I've been battling the ever-present virus that keeps circulating around my profession.  Working with kids has its downsides and constant exposure to various illnesses is only one of them.  I ended up catching some sort of upper respiratory virus, which was actually the flu in disguise, and gave that to my mother, who has been miserable.  We currently have at least three boxes of Puffs Plus Vicks going downstairs as well as two boxes each of DayQuil and NyQuil, among other things.  Luckily I haven't been working because of back-to-back snow days, which have picked this week to drop at least two feet of snow on us.  So I've been spending most of my time inside, in comfy pants watching Netflix, reading and working on my colloquium for my internship.

  Nice segue, self!  Right now my internship is at a stand-still.  I recently made the decision, after the holidays, to forgo teaching at the high school level in favor of having the opportunity to teach at the middle school level.  Although I'm glad to be out of my high school nightmare, I'm currently in limbo regarding my middle school placement.  It's been about two weeks at this point since I officially left my freshman and although I miss some of them, I miss being in the classroom more.  I've been trying to be as patient as I can, but it's difficult when you aren't in control and there's literally nothing you can do to speed things up.  I've been trying to keep myself busy, but I feel like I'm slowly losing my sanity.  I don't want to lose anything I've built up over the last few months.  I feel like I haven't done anything meaningful with my life in awhile and that I need to do something productive to help reaffirm my passions.  That's partially why I've been trying to read more for leisure, just so I can become a more literate English teacher, (which should be a no-brainer).  I don't want to lose the connection I have to my subject matter and I don't want to lose my excitement over the prospect of teaching my preferred age group, but it's slowly getting less bearable.  I've been trying to come up with curriculum units I could do with an imaginary class, seeing as all my other intern friends are either planning or currently teaching their solo week plans.  I feel like I'm falling behind, but not by choice, and it's frustrating.  Hopefully I hear something about where I'm going by next week, but at this point I'm not holding my breath.  I'm just hoping something happens for me so that I can continue to improve and finish strong.  I didn't realize just how close we were to the end up until a few weeks ago, but by April I'll be expected to look for jobs for next year.  By May I'll hopefully have my Masters degree and register for graduation.  My final months of university are approaching.  YIKES.

  As I said before, I have a lot more free time on my hands at the moment, so I'd like to use it accordingly to improve on and rediscover my passions.  I got a lot of books for Christmas, so I plan on trying to get through as many of them as possible and add to my collection along the way.  I've been spending a lot more time on Goodreads, updating my profile and my lists so that I can get more accurate recommendations.  I've also been watching more BookTube YouTubers to get book recommendations and to see what's out there, what's popular and what other readers are most excited about.  I was seriously considering turning my YouTube channel into a BookTube channel, but I'm still working on that.  I've determined that I really don't like being on camera, especially now that I don't look my best when I'm sick and I'm very self conscious about my appearance.  I would, however, like to continue to blog and write about books, seeing as that's my area of expertise.  I will see if I can update my tabs to include a link to my Goodreads account, but until then you can find me here.  I will try my best to keep up with this and hopefully my love of books will continue to grow.

  Lastly, we have reviews.  I have been watching this latest season of The Bachelor with much enthusiasm.  Starting with over 30 women was exhausting, but now that we're already down to 11 it feels manageable.  The most important things I took away from the first three episodes are that Ashley's are still my least favorite kind of people, Canadians are awesome, there IS such a thing as too much country, (and whiskey), muscles and competition aren't everything, and there can be more than one virgin in the house at a time.  Needless to say it's been an interesting season so far, culminating into what I believe are the three top ladies at this point: Kaitlyn, Whitney and Jade.  It's obvious that Chris has a natural connection with Kaitlyn.  She's obnoxious, care-free and ridiculously funny.  She's not afraid to get down and dirty outside or open up about her feelings.  She seems like an all-around great girl and a great fit for Chris, who seeks normalcy above all else.  She's my front runner at the moment, so I'm rooting for her.

  Jade is my second favorite, solely because of her genuine nature and girl-next-door vibe.  She's quiet, but respectful and patient, and Chris notices her anyway.  I also think they would be great together, but we'll have to see if she stands out over Kaitlyn.  Jade totally deserved that Cinderella date!  Ashely I. was getting on my nerves, complaining about her lack of pampering.  The reason the sisters chose Jade is because she doesn't normally get this sort of treatment and deserved to get some, not because she would look good in the expensive, outlandish ballroom attire.  That wasn't the point and the fact that Ashley somehow missed that makes me think she's not long for this show.  Obviously she's not right for Chris.  Those Jersey girls can't be trusted around shiny objects...

  Whitney I'd rather not like, but I can't deny that her and Chris had a pretty rad date crashing that wedding.  Their connection is also obvious, so I'm curious to see if it will eventually outshine or succumb to Kaitlyn's or Jade's.  Next week's episode looks like we'll be seeing more drama unfold from unlikely sources, so anything is possible!  If you'd like another place to get recaps of The Bachelor, I particularly love Mel Got Served.  She's hilarious and has a unique approach to reviewing each episode.  She also does recaps of other popular reality television programs, so if you're into that, please go check her out!
  That's all I have for this week.  I think that's enough actually...  If I'm still not doing anything next week, I should be able to upload my blog on time, or at least at a decent time.  I'm thinking about adding one or two more shows to recap along with The Bachelor, but I'm having trouble narrowing it down.  I just started watching Agent Carter, in addition to Arrow, The Flash, Gotham and Agents of Shield, which are all returning from their mid-season finales.  I've gotten to the point where I have too many shows to watch that I've gotten behind, so I'm trying to catch up.  The Amazing Race is starting again soon, as is Vikings, which I'm very excited about, so maybe I'll leave it at that.  Let me know what you guys think and what shows you'd like recaps and/or reviews of.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.