Sarah M Vasquez

Dear mankind, if you ever decide to take away Hulu or the Internet from me, at least leave me with coffee and a never-ending supply of journals and working pens (keyword: working). I need something to entertain myself.

TV season is back this week and man, there are some great shows out there. I caught up on my current favorite shows and checked out some recommended shows during the summer, but now that school’s back, I know I won’t be able to watch any new episodes until finals or during a free weekend (which is NEVER).

So here’s a list of what I currently watch… (I’ll be honest, the purpose of this blog post is to write about these shows. I gotta get it out somehow.)

NBC’s The Voice: Oh dang, the second season was pretty good. The first season will always have a place in my heart for personal reasons, but this season had me tuned in each week. Like I wrote in my blog post for SoManyBands, I’m a sucker for a good sob story and boy, did some of these contestants have some to the point that I cried during more episodes (I blame Jamar Rogers). The competition was fierce this season (to quote X-tina), but there were far too many moments that annoyed me.

You might want to skip to the next show if you don’t wanna read me rant.

First of all, Erin Martin beating The Shields Brothers in the battle rounds? Please. She annoyed me and her voice just doesn’t sound genuine to me. I’m glad she didn’t make it past the first live performance. But it made me hate a little bit of Cee Lo that she even had that opportunity while actual talented singers like Jamie Lono and Sarah Golden and WADE were sent home because they competed with much stronger and confident singers. Ugh.

Another thing that annoyed me was Jamar being sent home (even though I’ll admit Juliet freaking killed it with her “This is a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World”), the audience feeling the need to yell “We love (coach’s name)” every time the coach tries to talk about a performance (Manners, people. They are filming live), and Christina Aguilera hating on her fellow Mouseateer Tony Lucca every chance she had. Geez woman, what did he do to you? I agree with Jordis Unga, a fellow contestant, when she said the guy never gets a break. I feel like she was constantly picking on him.

I was also annoyed that Aguilera felt this need to talk about herself in her comments. “I actually submitted that song for one of my teammates so good song choice.” “That song brought me back to a time when I sang it.” OMG, please shut up. I understand she’s fiesty and is in a man’s, man’s, man’s world with the other three male coaches and host, but there’s being a strong woman giving constructive criticism and there’s just being a bitch.

Ok, now that’s finally off my chest, I’m really happy Jermaine Paul won (Screw spoiler alerts. You had the summer to catch up). Of course, my choice would have been Jamar Rogers if he made it to the final round, but Jermaine is a good choice. I was pretty choked up during his “I Believe I Can Fly” performance. He sang it soooo well and with so much emotion that I pushed away that memory of junior year prom and believed that yeah man, if you think about it every night and day and if you just believe it, dreams can come true. His reaction to his win was great. I was cheering and fighting back tears with him. The best moment (after coach Blake telling him he did it!) was when he was singing “I Believe I Can Fly” again while he was hugging his wife. Aww. That’s the kind of love I want.

Oh, and my favorite moment, hands down, is when Jermaine peformed with Pip, Jamar Rogers and James Massone… I am always a sucker for cute guys wearing matching outfits, dancing in a choreographed routine and singing in harmonies. Especially when it’s four guys I was rooting for this season.

I can’t wait for Season 3, which starts tomorrow. I know it’s going to be another emotional season. I already teared up watching this promo. I think it’s because the dad reminds me of my dad. What is happening to me? I’ve turned into a mushy marshmallow.

And it should be noted that I became so obsessed with The Voice that I watched the entire season of the UK version (so great and so different than the U.S. Version, but more on that for another time) and recently discovered there is an Australian version as well (I plan to watch that when I have time). What can I say? It’s just a great show.

Smash: This show was pretty good until the very end. Ugh. Why!?! Why!?! Seriously, why!?! After all that drama and keeping us in suspense of who’s going to be Marilyn Monroe at the end of the season, it’s Karen!?! All because you dreamt she was Marilyn!?! Even though Ivy already knew more of the show? And actually has experience? No. I refuse to believe it. Just no.

I was drinking the Smash kool-aid until that moment and now… I was speechless. I think if Karen’s character didn’t freaking annoy me so freaking much, I wouldn’t be so upset. She plays the typical I’m-from-a-small-town-gal-trying-to-make-it-in-the-big-city-with-my-niceness-and-amazing-voice-alone. If I watch next season, it’s going to see how they explain the bad decision they made.

Glee: Oh Glee, how I have such a love/hate relationship with you. Some episodes make me roll my eyes and some episodes make me wipe my teary eyes. This season was no different. Although, some of the major characters graduated this season so that was sad. Not gonna lie. The last two episodes of the season made me cry. I’m such a girl. However, I will say, I still think Lea Michele/Rachel Berry is overrated.

There were a lot of great moments. The Michael Jackson episode story-wise was eh, but the music was awesome! Same with the Saturday Night Fever episode, although, I have some mixed feelings about it. I grew up to that movie and soundtrack, thanks to my pops. The music numbers were pretty great, but that album is sacred grounds to me. Please don’t fuck with my childhood. It’s already ruined with deaths of iconic celebrities from that era and tramatic remakes.

As you can see by the first three shows, I’m a musical theatre nerd. But don’t get me wrong, I do like other stuff too. I also like Revenge (damn good show), A Day in the Life (which appeals to the journalism nerd in me), Hart of Dixie (as someone who’s lived in a small town for a big chunk of her life, I can certainly relate and the cast is great), GCB (recommended by my UWeekly editor Sarah, but sadly, it got cancelled), Pretty Little Lairs (my guilty pleasure show. Although I don’t know how long they can make this story last until I finally put my foot down and say “Enough is enough. Gives these girls a freaking break”), The Glee Project (I just like watching the musical numbers. Man, I wish I can sing, because I obviously want my life to be a musical) and Battleground (politics usually bore me, but this one kept me interested).

A new favorite is New Girl. It’s reassuring to know there is someone out there around my age that is more awkward than I am. I saw the pilot when it first came out and was not impressed. Mainly because my insecurity got the best of me and hated Zooey Deschanel, because every girl wants to be adorkable like her and she seems to be every guy’s (well, the guys I tend to like) dream girl. Now that I’ve seen the whole first season, I’ll admit she’s freaking adorable. I hope that one day when I grow up, I’ll be as adorable as her.

And this show is awesome. OMG, there were too many moments that really made me LOL. I loved Max Greenfield since his Veronica Mars days, so I’m glad he’s getting the attention he deserves. His character is great and reminds me of a lot of my dude friends. Actually, what I think I love about this show is that all of the characters remind me of people I’m friends with to this day. It’s a little over the top at times, but man, it’s such a great show. Some of the best one-liners ever.

Alright, I’m done for now. Of course, The Newsroom wasn’t included in this list, because I already wrote about it.