Texas Forever

It wasn't the Best Drama Emmy - which I really wish it had been - but FNL did win two Emmys last night, for writing (YAY WRITERS!) and for Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor.

I can't think of any other show that has had the profound emotional impact that FNL has had on me. Not even The X-Files. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

The Most Important Excel Spreadsheet Ever: Fall TV 2011

Hey guys! If you've found my blog from my Tumblr, my Twitter or my most recent HelloGiggles Open Letter (to Fall TV, duh) then you know what this is about... oh yeah and that subject heading up top probably tipped you off...

So if you click here you should be able to see and download my color coded Fall TV 2011 spreadsheet! It's nothing super fancy but it's got all the network shows on it and you'll get a glimpse of what shows I'm going to be watching this Fall!

Some things to remember -- I simply don't have time to watch everything and even though it looks like I do, I don't. So please don't give me a hard time if I'm not watching or recording a certain show. That being said, I love to talk about TV and tell you about it and well, being that I currently WORK on a TV show (coughcough watch The Finder when it premieres in January coughcough) you should totally feel free to chat with me about TV shows whenever you want. 

I've been blogging here, predominantly about TV, for the past four years, and although a lot of my online work is now delegated to Tumblr, Huffington Post or HelloGiggles, I still do check in here on occasion with stories about the behind-the-scenes day-to-day of the television industry and also when I want to freak out over something. Also did you guys watch Up All Night? Second time watching the pilot and I loved, loved, LOVED! Thank goodness Will Arnett is finally on a show that seems to have a real chance of sticking around!

YAY! TV! Oh and in case that link didn't work for you, here's the spreadsheet again:

Me? Assistant? NEVER AGAIN

The Co-EPs' assistant is out of town this week, so I'm covering for her.

That means, I am being an assistant again. Did you guys know that being an assistant kind of SUCKS? Like bigtime? I mean I love the Co-EPs so much (and no big deal but they used to run the room at Friday Night Lights so I have to fight off a panic attack of excitement every time I talk to one of them) and it's totally easy for me to cover for their regular assistant but in general, being an assistant is just kind of annoying as shit.

All in all, this is good motivation for me to get my shit together and write my face off the next few months so I can land an agent when The Finder wraps. There's no way I am going back to the world of assisting. NEVER AGAIN!

The Walking Dead

Man, I already fucked up. Was going to be keeping my TV commentary over HERE but then it ended up on Tumblr... okay WHATEVS just know that I weighed in on all this public discussion over the creative direction and writing on The Walking Dead. You can read about it here.

New Beginnings! (Featuring Runon Sentences, Digressions, and Excessive Use of Caps Lock)

Exciting news YOU GUYS! I got a new job! And for the first time in my Hollywood career I can actually publicly talk about where I am working which is a big weight off my shoulders. (And I guess I can tell you guys about my current/soon-to-be-old-job as well? More on that to come...)

So, what am I doing? Well, in case you didn't catch it on Twitter yesterday, or you weren't aware from the evolution of this blog (aka my recent descent into tumblr), I've finally decided that I want to really make a go at a career as a TV writer (no not a TV blogger - and I love all those of you who do, but it just ain't my cup of tea).  This spring I brushed up my sample (it's a half hour comedy pilot about crazy chicks in their 20s - think a lot of my stories from when I first lived out in LA) and sent it around and got help from all the amazing executives I currently work with, and some of my agent friends... 

Now let me tell you, getting a writing job in this town is NOT easy. Far from it. To get a staff writer job you need an agent or manager - which I do not have (yet) - and to get a Writers Assistant job (which is often like a baby writer) you either need to have already been a PA on the show or know someone on the show or be related to someone on the show or like sell your soul or give up your firstborn or something... so that didn't happen either (even after I had the president of the studio putting in calls for me. For real. PRESIDENT OF THE STUDIO. THIS IS A MAN WHO REPORTS TO RUPERT MURDOCH. Calling people. Telling them to hire me. And then... crickets... It is HARD you guys). 

A few weeks ago I didn't think it was going to happen. I had sort of waved off this staffing season as my first real try and my boss and I had started to brainstorm how we'd try to get me onto a cable or show or at least an agent or manager, both of us thinking that I gave it my best and that was that. But then, finally, FINALLY, I got a bite! 

After a great interview with the amazing Co-EPs (um, who used to be on Friday Night Lights by the way... Yes, FNL YOU GUYS! AKA MY FAVORITE SHOW IN THE HISTORY OF SHOWS! LIKE THEY WERE SO CLOSE TO TIM RIGGINS. TIM RIGGINS!) and lots of help and support from some writers and studio executives I was offered the great gig of Writers PA on the new Fox show The Finder, which, for those who don't know, is a loose spinoff of the show Bones! And as of next Monday, I'm starting over in the writers offices on the Fox lot.

So that's pretty damn cool. I'm stoked. The writing staff Hart Hanson has hired (he's the showrunner) is AMAZING (including my friend Aaron Ginsburg, who was so kickass in helping me get this gig/figure out how to make this transition to becoming a full-time TV writer/listen to my regular existential crises) and I'm going to be working with and learning from some of the best writers in this town - I'm super-duper excited and a little bit pee-my-pants nervous. I mean, making the jump from the corporate world to the non-corporate world is SCARY (I think I'm already driving Hart's assistant nuts with my endless questions. And I'm showing a lot of restraint too! I swear!). But hey - I want to be a writer and this is how it goes - no more corporate stability for me!

Seriously though, I'm so excited to just learn the ins and outs of a show from the side of the show (as opposed to the studio side) - and really excited that I get to be around smart, creative, and talented people all day (seriously, did you guys see that Josh Friedman is a consulting producer on the show? I watched his pilot Locke and Key last night and it was so damn good... I mean, I am going to be around these insanely talented scribes everyday!).  I can't wait to just soak in the smartness. (I'm just gonna sit back and soak it all in like I do the sun. And I'm really damn good at soaking in the sun. I mean, I have tanorexia, that is how good I am).


But never fear, my loyal readers (seriously, there are a bunch of you who I don't know personally but have been reading my shit for going on five years now, and, that means so much to me) - when I can I'm going to continue to work on my own stuff.  I mean shit, if I've gone almost four years of balancing all the outside writing on top of the corporate jobs, then this is going to be so exciting to actually be at a place where "I'm a writer" is the norm.  Even better, I've started the process of meeting with managers and have had some agents helping me out, so hopefully by the end of the show's wrap I'll be in a position to really get out there for pilot and staffing seasons.  Additionally I'm working on two features (one with my dear friend Sarah, aka Twitter's shinyunicorn), have a great plan for a comedy book, and will continue to post to HelloGiggles, CulturePop and the Huffington Post. Oh and I have a whole bunch of new TV pilots in the can, including a project I am obsessed with that's about badass lady stoners (seriously. Just go with it).

So, please go check out the "backdoor pilot" of The Finder here, and I'll definitely be sure to keep everyone in the loop about when the show premieres and what I am up to and all that jazz!  BUT NO SPOILERS. You guys KNOW how I feel about spoilers. I don't like 'em and I don't give 'em!


I'll do a post on my current gig some point later this week. I'll tell you all about the studio I work at and the shows I've been working on (hint: "When you're a spy...") and show pics of the ridiculous wrap gifts we've gotten over the years and the fun stuff like that. It's a little bittersweet to leave but only because I love my boss here SO MUCH (I seriously get teary-eyed thinking about leaving him), but he's so supportive and wants me to go off and do my thing and spread my wings and all that jazz... so off I go!

I think one of my favorite parts about all this is now I get to dress like a schlub. I'm sure at some point I'll miss wearing all my bright dresses, skirts and fancy tops, but oh my god I am going to be able to wear hoodies and sparkly TOMS and no make-up and even shorts... like EVERYDAY. NO MORE HIGH HEELS! 


THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST EVER!

the most wonderful tiiiiiiiiime of the yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaar

I'm having an identity crisis. Do I post here, or do I post at tumblr? I'm thinking I really should be combining the two, but until then, I might be doing some re-posts and duplicate posts and who knows what. SO JUST BEAR WITH ME YOU GUYS, OKAY?

So, over at my tumblr I just geeked out over TV pilots - I've been getting a bunch of the new shows already this week and hoping that the pilot library at work only increases as the week progresses. I'll provide comments here or on tumblr or Twitter as they come to me. (And when appropriate - watched a pilot last night I was NOT supposed to have so I'm remaining tight-lipped on some). I don't want to spoil any shows, and as I'm not ACTUALLY a critic I'm not going to give reviews either - just my opinions! YOU KNOW I'M GOOD AT THAT! Oh and because it's my biggest pet peeve when the clips networks release are the worst ever at conveying the actually strength of a pilot, for any of those shows with trailers that make them look shitty, I'm for sure going to encourage you to watch. Like Bent, for example (just go read my tumblr post and you'll get it).

But yeah, I love pilots. I love TV. It's this time of year when I remember why I moved out to LA in the first place, and am so very thankful that I did!

MY HEART ACHES WITH NOSTALGIA FOR MY YOUTH!

OMG. This is the BEST THING EVER.

Honestly I think my favorite part might just be the VHS title card for Walt Disney Home Video.

'Glee' kinda sucks but "Fondue for Two" is AMAZEBALLS

Ew. I just said AMAZEBALLS.

I don't watch Glee anymore. It kind of sucks. I mean it probably doesn't but I just sort of stopped caring and I only really kept watching it this year for John Stamos anyway.

But then they go and create this web series "Fondue for Two" and it's all about Brittany and it's seriously the best thing ever.

By the way, I bet Neva could totally outfat Lord Tubbington.

all the commentary on NBC's programming directive that you'll ever need

Source: The TV Addict

the only thing they love more than justice is wearing scarves

It's like our Law & Order, just more British:

Hey I relate to those British people! I TOO LOVE SCARVES! AND TEA! (And I also love Jamie Bamber - of Battlestar Galactica, DUH!)

Actually, that hilarious clip has effectively convinced me to watch the UK Law & Order. Which is ironic, considering I've never even seen one episode (not even one) of the American version.

SKINS aka Partying with High Schoolers

When I was in high school, I was one of those girls. You know the ones - the popular, over-scheduled, well-rounded girls, not quite of the Mean Girls caliber, but certainly cliquey and self-involved.  And yes, I partied. But I'm pretty sure the parties I went to in high school looked NOTHING like the party depicted in this extended trailer of MTV's new show Skins.

Skins - MTV Shows

Racy, huh? This makes me wonder if this is an accurate depiction of high school parties today. And if it is, well then, shit. I'm never having kids.

Farewell 'Terriers', Hello 'Lights Out'

As you guys know, I'm a huge fan of the FX show Terriers - so no surprise here that I'm super bummed it was announced today that the show has not been picked up for a second season. Considering its horrible ratings, this isn't much of a shock, and I imagine we should be thankful to have gotten 13 episodes of such a show in the first place, but still, I can't help but be saddened by the news.

However, we are lucky that FX has remained committed to quality programming, and the future only holds more of that. We've got a second season of Justified coming soon, as well as Archer, but more importantly, I'm looking forward to the January premiere of the new show Lights Out. I watched the Lights Out pilot late this summer, and it was fantastic. Holt McCallany is a really captivating presence onscreen and I've been informed that the episodes only get better from the pilot, which means this should be one helluva of a damn good show. Furthermore, this might be one of the best promos ever:

It gives me chills. The music? The editing? I mean shit, this looks damn good!

So, I bid a fond farewell to the greatness that was Terriers, and look forward to the next great show FX will bring us - hopefully Lights Out lives up to that expectation.

On the Job

Behold! An exchange between me and my boss:

Me [4:12 PM]:
  I am rereading my email to you regarding the Showtime pitch and realizing I sound like an overly professional bitch with NO FEELING, which is totally unintentional.
  As I am not at all professional.
  But this also explains why that Syfy assistant thought I was like 35 and wore pencil skirts.
Boss [4:12 PM]:
  HA

We are really professional you guys. Seriously, though, the day I wear a pencil skirt...

Banksy does 'The Simpsons'

Here's last night's epic - and statement-making - opening intro from The Simpsons, directed by reknowned graffiti artist Banksy.  Check it out:

Some thought-provoking stuff, right?

This & That

+I've started a little guest-blogging stint for Zap2it.com - check out my piece "Stamos on Stamos" (more entries forthcoming) for a little taste. Mayhaps my dream for the "Stamos vs. Stamos Reality Show" is closer to becoming a reality. The irony in all this - at least, it's ironic to me - is that I never was really a diehard fan of John Stamos. It's just my nickname. And I happen to share the name with someone quite famous, which has led to a lot of funny posturing and comparisons (from my end, obv).  Thanks to Twitter for confusing everyone...

+In the world of TV and TV-watching, I'm already feeling pretty burnt out. Last night I was going through my DVR and caught at least 6 shows I'm already sufficiently behind in. Thing is, I am totally okay with that. That's the thing about people who work in television - they don't actually have time to watch TV. As long as I watch all the pilots and sort of just stay looped in, I am totally okay with not devoting the hours upon hours required for watching everything. Especially when I'd rather spend my free time Monday night working on my writing.

+Speaking of writing, it's so fun being in a class again - granted, it makes me really long for college days, but it's pretty great walking around the UCLA campus and going to classes.  Even better is this writing class is going to force me to start and make a dent in a new project entirely - I'm looking forward to that.

+I'm still convinced we're having an earthquake every five minutes. Okay, not that often but I swear to God I feel earthquakes all the time.

+I kind of want to learn how to play golf. It was the one country club sport I never learned, mostly because I spent most of my time at the club in the pool or being forced to tennis lessons. I feel like now I might really enjoy golf. I'm going to look into that.

+Why is it that the month following Labor Day is always so packed and stressful? It's as though this is the real start to the year - the real time for resolutions and plans.  Not sure I'm sticking to any of my goals. I think I need to find a better balance for my weekends where I am a little more productive and a little less not-sober. Ha. Or I need to figure out how to survive on less sleep. I once heard that Bill Clinton trained himself to get only 5 hours of sleep a night and it made a world of difference. How can I do that?

Watch 'Lone Star'

The reason I'm live in LA and work in the entertainment industry is because I love the opportunity for imaginative storytelling through television.  What I've learned to love since I've been out here is that the process of making and creating a television show is an incredibly collaborative experience that comes forth from amazing talent, talent that often needs to be shared, stretched, and nurtured. That's why TV is such an incredible media - like a book series we watch characters grow and evolve over many hours and many weeks. It's really something.  And that's why it saddens me when deserving shows don't get the chance to start that journey.


Thus I present arguably one of the best pilots from the 2010-2011 television season; Lone Star. Whether or not the show itself is as good, I have no idea - and maybe none of us will if it doesn't get enough viewers next Monday. Do yourself a favor and get a glimpse at this beautiful pilot below, and give the show a chance Monday at 9pm. Tell your friends. It'd be really nice to see some quality, high-concept, unique programming succeed.

The best part about My Generation? The iPad App

In case you haven't yet, check out my latest rambling column/post/blog item up at Huffington Post - "The Horrifying Return of Fall TV." Or just read the comments because there are lots of trolls blowing up my shit and it is seriously entertaining.

Now, on a related note I want to talk about My Generation, a pilot I've followed sort of since it was first picked up by ABC.  First of all, this subject matter (the show was previously titled "Generation Y") is of interest to me simply as a former trend-forecaster who still occasionally is a freelance trend-forecaster and likes to stay abridged of trends generally (yeah that was superfluous but whatever) and happens to be a member of Generation Y. So I like, know this shit.

So I read the pilot and I thought... meh. Which was accompanied by a shrug. Then I watched the pilot, which was certainly better than I expected, but still didn't have me jumping out of my seat with joy at discovering the MUST-WATCH BREAKOUT HIT OF THE NEW SEASON!

And then came the marketing... that horrible, HORRIBLE marketing campaign that makes little to no sense and happens to just annoy the shit out of me.  You've seen it - those weird billboards that have pictures of Jaime King with the miserable tagline "You know this ring comes off, right?" or something equally indecipherable.

So then I started thinking about the premise of My Generation a little more - it's about a group of kids who graduated from high school during the height of the Enron scandal - so these kids are about a year or two older than me (I guess two? They graduated in 2000... so yeah, two years older than me) - and then are reunited ten years later and discover they are interconnected in all sorts of crazy soapy ways like baby-daddy drama and unrequited love etc etc etc. And it's all just such a SHOCK to their little lives.

Now, pause for a moment. These people - have they heard of FACEBOOK? Because I can tell you right now, I am Facebook friends with a lot of my high school graduating class even if I haven't talked to them in about seven years, and even if I wasn't great friends with them in the first place. So I have some sense of what these people have been up to the past few years.  Apparently this does not apply to the characters My Generation is based on, so okay, yeah, that's a believable premise and what not... you know, considering that EVERYONE IS ON FACEBOOK. And what not... but whatever... I can attempt to get past this.

But iffy premise and annoying camera-in-the-face-a-la-Real-World narrative tricks aside, My Generation is totally fucked. It's in probably the toughest time-slot of the TV season - Thursdays at 8pm, up against such stalwarts as Bones and The Big Bang Theory.  Frankly, I think the show is going to tank, with the time-slot issue being a major contributing factor. And I don't want to get attached to a show that's probably going to get canceled in the first place... so why watch?

At this point the only redeeming quality about My Generation is its kickass iPad app. Seriously. Check out the app - it's AWESOME. Not only does it make me want an iPad, but it miraculously increases my interest in the show, and actually hones on my initial curiosity - a sense of accelerated nostalgia, reminiscing about high school, the confusing life-stage of the twenty-something, etc. If I actually got sucked into this show, that is, assuming the second episode is a significant improvement upon the first, then I could see myself obsessing over this app, and having a good time with the transmedia interaction. But unless people are raving about the second episode, there's a good chance I won't be watching.  So yeah. Bummer.

I still would like an iPad though.

I'm pissed I didn't think of this.

OMG BUT WHAT IF LOST DOESN'T WIN THE EMMY FOR BEST DRAMA?

I just had a moment where this very thought flitted through my little brain. LIKE OMG WHAT WILL I DO!?! I'm having a minor anxiety attack.

Oh wait... wait. It passed.

[Obligatory Bones Post to Kick-off Fall TV Excitement]

Fall is almost here. I can smell it. It smells like the end of summer and back to school and changing leaves (okay, not in LA or anything, but you know what I'm going for here) and more importantly:

FALL TV IS UPON US!

So what shows are you guys looking forward to? First of all, I am a recently converted and VERY obsessed Vampire Diaries fan and the promo for the new season has me anticipating that show SO SO SO much (YEAR OF THE KAT!!!!!!). I'm also excited for the approaching sixth season of Bones... ish.  I say ish, because, well, you know... THERE'S A NEW GIRL. What am I talking about? Check out the newest Bones promo - hot off the presses, I might add, and you'll see what I mean...

So, what do you think? I'm thinking I'm willing to give this season the benefit of the doubt but come on, I was an X-Files fan and I remember what Season 6 of THAT show looked like (Diana Fowley anyone? Contrived plot device used to keep couples apart anyone?) so let's just say for now, I'm staying wary.  But please keep David Boreanaz in fatigues. For like, ever. Ooh and perhaps the Most Important Discussion Point, like, ever: Emily Deschanel's bangs - yay or nay?