You Know, I Was Just Thinking…

The random thoughts in my head at 6:30am on a Friday. Take ’em for what it’s worth and leave the change by the door.

A note to all future suitors of Betty Suarez…get tested.  For a short little thing with bad hair, braces, and those glasses she sure gets a lot of play.  Beauty comes from within blah, blah, blah.  Only in Betty’s world does she get more play that Amanda (or Marc for that matter). What’s prompting this little outburst?  How about word that Val Emmich is joining UGLY BETTY as Jesse, a recurring character and potential love interest for Betty.  So just to recap, first it was a Betty love triangle featuring Walter and Henry.  The writers had us fall in love with Henry only to bring in Gio to compete for Betty’s affections and win (spoiler alert – Christopher Gorham (Henry) isn’t a series regular anymore).  And now it seems that they are setting up for a Gio vs. Jesse showdown?  Save a little for the rest of us, Suarez.

I understand that Mindy Kaling is a busy woman, but if I have to look at my iGoogle page and see “London Sole” one more time I might cry.  I’m really starting to hate those purple pumps.  If this make no sense to you than you aren’t a devoted reader of Mindy’s blog like I am.  Sister-friend, throw us a bone.  I hate shopping, could care less about fashion, can’t really afford a thing you talk about on your site, but you make me laugh like no other.

Speaking of untouched blogs, Bill Simmons aka The Sports Guy is taking a 10-week hiatus from his columns at ESPN to write a second book. Yay for you and your book writing, but I don’t want to go ten weeks without The Sports Guy. I’m selfish…deal.  I’m not sure I buy the whole book writing excuse.  I think it has much more with Bill’s own inability to write about the Red Sox when they are behind the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the AL East (although we’re only down by 1.5 and the Sox are on fiyah).

I’m trying to be grateful for what I have, but the Saturday schedule for Comic Con is really bumming me out.  The idea that I’m going all the way to San Diego and missing panels for shows like LOST, (possibly) CHUCK and THE OFFICE?  It just shatters my brain.  But on the bright side I’m going to San Diego to indulge in 4 days of all things TV…I’ll stop complaining

I am so in love with my new Mac – I don’t think it’s healthy.  I just got the new Mac Book Pro on Sunday and I must say it’s just lovely.  This whole week I’ve found myself rushing home just to play around with it (that’s what she said…sorry I couldn’t resist…that’s what she said.  Ok I’m done….that’s what…).  There’s so much for a former PC girl to explore.  Oh and my transition to a Mac gal will be complete with the purchase of my iPhone tomorrow.  Fingers crossed that they won’t be all sold out (I have a feeling they might be).

This is the first year that I could have attended a lot of the panels at TCA but with my new job I couldn’t swing it.  But it seems that The Hollywood Reporter’s Ray Richmond couldn’t be more pleased about that.  He recently wrote:

“…It isn’t about the evolution that’s come to define news gathering in the new millennium; it’s that those who crave cogent, intelligent discussion have fewer and fewer places to turn. If that comes across as elitist, it may be because the Internet has served to lull us into confusing superficiality with insight and enlightenment.

This manifests itself at TCA in youthful bloggers who often are more interested in who a show’s star is sleeping with than giving programmers hell for putting viewers to sleep. That isn’t a slam at those who blog. Heck, I maintain one for this paper myself. It’s simply an acknowledgment that just as the online world tends to blur the line between anecdotal guesswork and reportage, TCA has made it tough to differentiate a media event from a straight-out promotional tool.

I’m not a journalist, hell I don’t even identify myself as a writer, but I have a deeper passion for TV than many of these staunchly seasoned writers attending the TCAs. This rant really isn’t in direct response to Ray Richmond’s piece but more to the general sentiment.  There is a reason that blogs have become a destination for some many  TV fans – it’s because they aren’t getting the level of engagement and indulgence they need from the traditional newspaper sites.  Blogs aren’t controlled by the networks, editors, etc.  We are free to write what we want to write about.  Listen, 7am on a Friday morning is not the time my bleary mind should be writing about this because I know I’m not giving it the attention that it deserves, but it’s clear to me that the old timers are getting nervous and lashing out. They’re scared.  They should be. If they want to combat the issue of losing readers to blogs then they must reevaluate what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.  There’s a reason that TV lovers are flocking to blogs and unless the newspapers and others traditional new sources figure out why their readership is leaving and adjust accordingly things are going to continue to diminish.

I don’t mean to slam Ray Richmond personally, but when you put something like that out there you are making a general statement about bloggers even if you counter it by saying you are a blogger yourself.  Blogging is no longer solely identified as a result of site structure and functionality but has a social connotation and that was what I believe Ray Richmond was trying to influence.

And come on, we’re talking about TV here.  You are a critic if you critique. Television is a subject art form.

With that I’m off to eat some Fruity Pebbles and see if I can find out who John Krasinski is sleeping with this week. (…I kid).