I Like Tea

nerdcakes has given me a top five to do, which I believe means that I may pass on top fives to you if you so wish, or something. Here be dragons...

Top Five Close Female Friendships On Television (incorporating shockingly little still-on-the-air TV, I suspect)

0. This does not count, but I have been watching The West Wing in its entirety this summer and there is that episode where CJ, Abbey, Donna and Amy get drunk together. And it was the best thing ever.

1. Rory and Paris on Gilmore Girls. Oh oh oh oh oh. I love all the female friendships on Gilmore Girls - Rory and Lane, Lorelai and Sookie, and of course the grandmother/mother/daughter friendship/love too - but I do adore Rory and Paris so very much. (Plus, there was that episode where Rory, Paris and Lane got drunk together and it was the best thing ever. This may be something of a favourite trope.) They're both these ambitious, brilliant young women who have a fair bit of rivalry going on but nevertheless are really good friends. Mostly. Sorta.

2. Bree and Katherine on Desperate Housewives. (Have not seen S5 yet.) Rivalry, gossip, dark secrets, and friendship. I guess when you live on Wisteria Lane it makes sense to befriend the neighbours...

3. Alex and Gina on Joey. Really and truly there's no reason for Alex and Gina to be friends except that Gina's Joey's sister and Alex lives next door, but somehow they are, and very quickly, and yet it's believable. They hang out together and even though they're different kind of people it works.

4. Alice and Tina on The L Word. (Excluding season 6, which I have yet to see.) I like that they are close friends but that at the same time it's not a simple friends-forever situation, where Alice can get annoyed and hurt and betrayed with Tina over the whole Henry thing, not because he is a man that Alice wants but because he's a man full-stop and it's in some sense a betrayal of Tina's identity. (We'll gloss over the Alice-suddenly-stopped-being-bi thing, and all the rest. Because, yeah, sometimes The L Word is written with appalling character consistency, but at the same time it does a wonderful job of presenting a bunch of women who are friends and who have fun and who do crazy things sometimes.)

5. Meredith and Cristina on Grey's Anatomy. Oh, these two. Grey's is usually good on the female friendships, and in a sense these two are the obvious ones to pick. They're each other's 'person', and like Rory and Paris crazily ambitious, and also fiercely protective of one another. Sure, they're also horrendously self-involved and self-obsessed, but they're like sisters and sometimes go on honeymoons together. What's not to love?

-- I went to see Bill Bailey, who was terribly funny although the show was very British-Isles-centric with very little nodding to being in Dublin. Mock our politicians, Bill! You can pretty much do all the Gordon Brown gags with Cowen!

-- Song and Writing workshop was a success, and I now have various songs stuck in my head.

-- Some of you know this already, but I got my final degree results and have moved from being in that murky waiting-for-results stage to being a graduand waiting some fateful day involving Latin, gowns, and ceremony.

-- I've been getting into The West Wing, which I never watched when it was on. It is utterly addictive and I am glad to be able to watch it in that compulsive-boxset-viewing way.

-- Out of people who've told me they've read Every Summer, no one seems to have Lynn as a favourite character. Poor girl.

-- I am still quite excited about the idea of California Dreams on DVD. I am also adding Seasons 2 and beyond of Sweet Valley High to the list of 'things I wish were on DVD'. I blame the fabulous recaps at 1bruce1.

... something wonderful and marvellous and spectacular!

Once upon a time, I lamented the fact that the wondrous, cheesy, brilliant early-90s show California Dreams was not available on DVD. I thought wistfully of Tiffani and Jake and their love for one another, and that time Tiffani both developed and cured a steroids problem within the twenty minutes. I thought of Tony and Sam, of Jenny (before she left) and of her tedious brother, and Lorena, and of Sly. I thought of cheesy musical numbers, some of which (embarrassingly) I still remember, not to mention the sometimes rivalry over who got to sing the song (solved by sharing!).

The first two seasons are out on DVD. I am blaming final-year-hermit-life for not letting me know of this magical thing sooner. For it truly is wonderful.

(More embarrassingly: only discovered because I was wondering whether another great 90s show-set-in-high-school-and-aimed-at-kids, Hang Time, was available on DVD. It is not, and this saddens me, but I hope that in a few years I can link back to this post and go "Once upon a time, I lamented the fact that the wondrous, inspiring, basketball-tastic Hang Time was not available on DVD...")

( Boston Legal series finale )

So, the Irish Simpsons episode?

( Thoughts )

supehsunny asked me for: Top Ten Fictional characters on TV

(I tried doing this with characters on TV shows that are still running, but I am watching very little TV these days. So. All TV, ever. Or at least whatever came into my head.)

1. Norm Peterson (Cheers). He has all the best lines, sits there drinking and never pays for it, and is never drunk. A good life.
1a. Morn (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), inspired by Norm, sitting there drinking silently until he turns out (still without speaking a word on-camera) to be just as interesting as the rest of the DS9 crew.

2. Ally McBeal (Ally McBeal). Neurotic. Brilliant. A head-in-the-clouds lawyer with short skirts who turns things into musicals, and the reason I became a devotee of all (well, most) David E Kelley shows. The dancing baby is freaky, obviously, but there is something charming about a belief in Love-with-a-capital-L (plus, who wouldn't if inhabiting the same space as Robert Downey Jr?), and I can definitely relate to the way Ally does not have two feet on the ground.

3. Meredith Grey (Grey's Anatomy). Meredith is one of those love-or-hate kind of characters, and I got sucked into the Meredith-love about halfway through Season 2 and just never went back. The McDreamy obsession still makes no sense to me whatsoever, but apart from that, Meredith's one of the most interesting characters on TV. In a deathwishy sort of way. Like Ally, despite all the romantic drama, she's a (mostly) good friend, and good at what she does professionally. And every additional bit of Meredith backstory only serves to make me terribly happy.

4. Tara Maclay (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). 'Family' is one of my favourite BtVS episodes ever. I adored Tara, who was more low-key than many of the supporting cast (compare to, say, Anya) and more ordinary-girl in a lot of ways, despite being an incredibly powerful witch. Also, the 'can we just skip it?' speech gets to me every time (though not as much as the evilness of the following episode). Plus, even through the shyness, she gets to comment on Spike's leg cramp and say things like 'Oh my god, I'm cured. I want the boys!'

5. Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother). supehsunny knows that this one needs no explanation.

6. Shirley Schmidt (Boston Legal). Partly because I already yammered on about the boys, but partly because Shirley is the classiest and smartest of them all. And she has slept with everyone and is more professional about it than the rest of them combined.

7. Niles (The Nanny). I seem to like characters who get the best lines and are deadpan. And the butler is so very good at that.
7a. Moriarty (Star Trek: The Next Generation). Played by the same actor, and a hologram who tries to take over the ship. You have to have a certain fondness for them.
7b. Niles (Frasier). Same character name, if entirely different actor. I love Niles's fussiness, ridiculous love for Daphne, and bickering with Frasier.
7c. Giles (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Giles rhymes with Niles and therefore this can be slipped in here. (*waves at nerdcakes*) Giles is a Hero Librarian. What more can you ask for?
7d. Miles (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). O'Brien. Because he gets tortured a lot, poor thing, but is the most real of the lot of them. And the first Irish person in space. And, um, still going with the rhyming thing.

8. Cristina Yang (Grey's Anatomy). Forget House, Cristina wins at being snarky and fabulous.

9. Kerry Weaver (ER). Unless of course Dr Weaver wins. Brandishing a crutch, making out with cute psychiatrists and/or firefighters, and getting back at Romano after his death... it's all good.

10. Paris Gellar (Gilmore Girls). I mean, I thought about listing Rory or Lorelai here. Really I did. But they're too cute and too perfect and too sweet, and Paris is crazy and irrational and ambitious and demented and I am terribly, terribly fond of her.

I'm not sure what these character choices say about me...

(Top ten request-y poll still up here.)

First round of these, not in any particular order (either the doing-of sets of ten or, probably, the order in which the ten here will appear).

nerdcakes asked me for Top Ten TV Couples. I have interpreted this as Couples That Are Actually Couples And Not Just Couples In My Head. Mostly.

1. Denny Crane and Alan Shore (Boston Legal)
Okay, yes, I debated whether this should not instead be on the soon-to-come 'pretty gay ships' list, but, sheesh, as pretty as Alan Shore is, Denny Crane is less so, and anyway is the true manly best-friend drinking-on-balconies dancing-together being-each-others-flamingo love of Alan and Denny not entirely canonical?

2. Ross and Rachel (Friends)
They are sort of iconic, aren't they? I still, still, still squeal with delight at that bit in Season 2 with the kiss, and then at the very end. And, yeah, Ross has his blah-moments, and Rachel has her ditz-moments, but I have realised that even though I adore Phoebe, and spent far too many years having a crush on Chandler, and am fond of Joey, and understand Monica, Rachel and Ross are the ones I'm rooting for, and rooting for to end up together because they do work. (And I do find that finale problematic, what with the abandoning of her job etc, but shhh. They're each other's lobsters!)

3. Robin and Barney (How I Met Your Mother)
'Sandcastles in the Sand' is my favourite episode yet of HIMYM. And it didn't even need the hook-up at the end. It had James Van Der Beek doing a Canadian accent (by way of Scotland, but anyway). It had a second Robin Sparkles video! And then, and then, Robin/Barney. And I adore the way it's been handled since - no instant oh-now-we're-a-lovely-couple rubbish, but still enough of a will-they-won't-they situation to keep it interesting.

4. Frasier and Lilith (Cheers, Frasier)
I may want to be Lilith when I grow up. She is amazing. Plus everyone knows there's no relationship more beautiful and overanalysed-to-death and guaranteed-to-be-dysfunctional than that between two psychiatrists.

5. Rory and Jess (Gilmore Girls)
It was going to be Lorelai and Luke here, but Luke got ridiculously grumpy and silly towards the end of the series, and growing up I always wanted to be Rory anyway. (Shh, no mocking.) And Jess, for all his faults, wins out over dishwater-dull Dean, or tedious Tristan, or lounging-around Logan. Plus he goes and writes a book! Very exciting.

6. Bree and Orson (Desperate Housewives)
Okay, I will confess here that I have yet to catch up with Season 5 of Desperate Housewives, but I got through Season 4 over the Christmas holidays in a Wisteria Lane marathon session, and gosh, he's as nuts as she is, and they're just so perfect for each other.

7. Brenda and Nate (Six Feet Under)
Totally screwed up, and yet, and yet. I mean, half of what I adore is the screwed-up-ness, and the lack of a happily-ever-after scenario for them. I love that they're complicated and messy and angry. Though mostly I love the fact that this is a pairing involving Brenda, who is totally nuts and my favouritest of the SFU characters, and she is far far more interesting as a love interest for Nate than Lisa, who makes teeth-grinding happen every time she's onscreen.

8. Jordan and Dr Cox (Scrubs)
Another screwed-up pair, but in a happy comedy way. There's never any doubt really that even though they drive each other crazy, they're hopelessly in love, and there are some wonderfully sweet moments between the two of them.

9. Fred and Wesley (Angel)
Many reasons to love these two, including their bookish-yet-kick-ass-ness, but mostly, mostly it's about the fact that they kissed to the Self Esteem song in the puppet episode. That's twoo wuv, that is.

10. Bashir and O'Brien (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
'I wish Keiko was more like a man' and 'I love Ezri, but I like you more'? Adventures on planets together and holodeck silliness? If there was an episode where O'Brien didn't seem to love Bashir a bit more than his wife, I didn't quite catch that one...

(Top ten request-y poll still up here.)

So, some thoughts on Grey's Anatomy Season 5 so far: ( spoilery )

Mamma Mia is my favourite movie of the summer. Which isn't really saying much, as I am hopeless at actually getting to the cinema and see things on the big screen while they're still there, but yes, fabulous.

The Abbey's production of An Ideal Husband, which was wonderful, reminded me that although I love Oscar Wilde ridiculously much, The Importance of Being Earnest is still his best play in all its triviality. No one can beat Oscar for one-liners, though.

I am told Gossip Girl is utterly brilliant so I have Season 1 on DVD and will start watching when I have time, probably circa 2015. I've read the first eight books (I think eight - the last one I read was the one that ended with a spectacular kiss that I'd like to pretend closes the series entirely as it would make far more sense than any other pairing) so am curious to see what the TV show is like. (Every year it gets that little bit stranger to watch teenage characters on TV, seeing seventeen-year-olds being far more sophisticated and worldly than you are...)

Am very excited about the new Harry Potter book coming out this summer, and also vaguely-despairing at the fact that the release date falls during CTYI Session 2, which means that I will be probably be fighting a losing battle in trying to teach people who are reading the book underneath their desk. :) Although it also means that I get to use the "behave or I will spoil the ending for you!" disciplinary technique in the couple of days before everyone will have finished reading it. Yay!

(Okay, I am also very excited about CTYI this summer. Because I love my nerd camp, and I really really love the fact that when I'm working there this summer I'll actually have time to sleep as well as work.) :D

Also: important fact for anyone studying history - the Sweet Valley Sagas are not a reliable source. They lie.

Also also: I am really liking this season of Desperate Housewives.

Also the third: I cannot take Edgar Allan Poe seriously after The Simpsons.

I really wish California Dreams was available on DVD.

Though I can't quite believe that Saved By The Bell is available. All five seasons. Plus The New Class. And The College Years. (I also cannot believe that The New Class went on for seven seasons. Everyone knows The New Class was vastly inferior, even if Screech was still around.) I guess Saved By The Bell was more successful (I mean, Tiffani Amber Thiessen did 90210, Mark-Paul Gosselaar did/is doing NYPD Blue, Elizabeth Berkley went on to do porn Showgirls, etc, and I can't think of a single thing I've seen the California Dreams cast in), but still...

They had Tiffani! And Tony! And Sly! And Jake with his motorbike! And there was one episode where Tiffani was on steroids that Sly had procured for her for the purpose of succeeding on the volleyball team, and when it all got too much for her Jake hugged her, and everything was back to normal by the end of the episode. Ah, you gotta love those shows where the status quo cannot be interfered with in any way, and where continuity and the writers are barely on nodding terms with one another.

Also, where every episode ends with a musical number that somehow reflects The Things We Have Learned In The Last Half Hour. (It's like Barney, in a way. With surfer dudes. AWESOME.)

ETA: have stumbled across this fansite. Am now completely lost in nostalgia. Oh, Tiffani and Jake, your love was so beautiful and pure! (And I had forgotten about the Jake Starts Smoking episode!)

I had my last exam of the year - History of Europe, 1000-1250 - on Friday. Yay! The exams have been okay, nothing too appalling thrown at us, and it's great to be finished and not have to study medieval history ever again (it's compulsory in first-year history in Trinity, but next year I'm taking modern history courses).

I also finished up teaching the Scriptwriting class at CTYI this week, so now I have ... three weeks 'til I'm back there for the summer TAing. I adored it. Normally when I do stuff with groups it's a once-off thing, a once-off Q&A or workshop or whatever, so it's really great to actually get to develop a rapport with a group and then get to go back the next week and the next and actually know everyone's name and all that. Plus being there during the summer is basically like going back as a student. Except with, y'know, responsibilities, and not having to do afternoon activities. But the food's the same.

NB Irish readers, Grey's Anatomy is starting on RTE this month, I do believe. It is highly, highly addictive. Watch it. Seriously.

That is, assuming there are any Irish readers of this LJ who still bother to wait for RTE to start showing things.

I've been watching the first season of The Nanny, which in my head was sort of a very sweet, very innocent family-appropriate show. Kind of along the same lines as 7th Heaven, you know? Turns out it is chock-full of innuendo and somewhat less innocent than I pictured. Not so much for the five-year-olds. But it's fantastic, and still funny over a decade on.

I know, I know, the weather's gorgeous outside and I am hiding out inside watching DVDs. I'm not a sun person at all. I can live with it.

Dear universe,

Please note that when I say I'm watching Angel, I mean that show with the vampires and blood and death and werewolves and mystical pregnancies and evil lawyers and puppets and alternate dimensions and demon karaoke bars and flashbacks with truly awful Irish accents.

It should then go without saying that leaving comments encouraging me to read certain spiritual texts about, um, actual angels is not the natural follow-on from that.

... in other news, I was in Longford yesterday doing a workshop as part of a Writers Showcase thingy that was going on. Filling in at the last minute, which was both fun and scary. The early morning was painful. But it went well and all the groups - there were five in total, five different writers/storytellers - seemed to have fun with it.

Also, in between frantic-reading-for-college-purposes, I have managed to squeeze in a little bit of reading-for-fun.

( Teen Idol - Meg Cabot )

( Lucky - Alice Sebold )

( Crunch Time - Mariah Fredericks )