Television Binge Watching #MFRWAuthor

For two weeks, I participated in MFRW's 52-Week Blog Challenge on Fridays. I was really happy about the 3rd week's topic--bingeing on TV shows. So happy, I wrote my post before realizing I'd already committed to Chrys Fey's "I Survived" Blogfest last Friday. Waste not, want not, as my mother would say. Even though, it's not Friday, here's my post.

TV Shows I Binge On

If you follow my blog, you know I love watching movies and television. Never ask me to name my favorite book, movie, or TV show. I can’t. My favorites change like Michigan weather. Binge watching takes favorites to an extreme. Let me tell you about some shows I’ve binged on.

photo: IMDB

Firefly: science fiction adventure. Long gone, but not forgotten. After watching the movie Serenity, I found a DVD with all fourteen episodes. Watched them all the way through and then over again several times. What’s not to like about Captain Reynolds (Nathan Fillion)?

photo: IMDB

Stargate SG-1: action/adventure. I missed all ten seasons when they were on originally. I’d catch one here and there, but not faithfully until we got Amazon Prime. Binged on all of them, just not all at once. Interesting premise (traveling via a portal to different planets) and a great cast.

photo: IMDB

Farscape: science fiction, action/adventure/romance. Totally missed this series during its four-season run. Besides the sci-fi aspect, I loved the creatures designed by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The romance started slow and built. I just hated the way the series ended.

The above were shows I binge-watched because they were no longer on. But I have other favs besides science fiction. Here are my current ones. Thank goodness, we’re getting the Ovation Channel now on cable.

photo: IMDB

Murdoch Mysteries (aka The Artful Detective): mystery. My sister gave us the 1st season on DVD for Christmas one year. She is so lucky to live near Detroit because she gets a Canadian channel and watches new episodes as they're released. For ten years, Detective Murdoch, with the Toronto Constabulary, solves crimes in the 1890s using unusual at the time (but commonplace now) scientific methods. Meanwhile, he and Medical Coroner Dr. Julia Ogden danced around each other in a will-they/won’t-they romance. Based on books by Maureen Jennings. Before Ovation came to our cable network, I went to the library and borrowed the DVDs.

photo: IMDB

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: mystery. Another recommendation from my sister. Phryne Fisher of Melbourne solves mysteries in the late 1920s in this Australian three-season series. Based on the books by Kerry Greenwood. I'd read the first book, Cocaine Blues, first in the series before watching the TV series. Love the period costumes, Phryne’s battles over injustice, and her banter with Detective Jack Robinson. I haven't seen all the episodes but, sheesh, would they just kiss!

photo: Amazon

Father Brown: mysteries on PBS. You might recognize the actor who plays the sleuth-priest in a 1950s English village from Doctor Who (Rory's dad) and Harry Potter (Ron Weasley's dad), Mark Williams. He's accomplishes are a hoot. As I've said with regard to most of my favorite shows, it's the cast that makes the show.

See what I mean about not being able to choose one?

Do you binge watch? What are your favorites?

Who's For Dinner: Joss Whedon

I’m starting a new feature here. Who’s For Dinner? No, I’m not into cannibalism. LOL On Fridays, my guests will tell who they’d like to have dinner with. The person could be real or fictional, living or dead. It could be a dinner party with many guests or a single person.

 

photo: IMDB

Since it’s my blog, I’m going first. I’d like to have dinner with Joss Whedon. He’s a screenwriter, director, and producer, most notably for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Avengers: Age of Ultron., Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And, my all-time favorite, Firefly (TV) and the spin-off movie Serenity. What I didn’t know is that he wrote the screenplay for Toy Story and many other movies and television shows.

photo: IMDB

 What would we talk about? I’d ask him why (spoiler alert) he killed off two characters in Serenity. That meant, if he ever brought back the Firefly crew, those two wouldn’t be in it. Unless he did a prequel series. But after fourteen years, I guess that’s not a possibility. For those of you who don’t know about Firefly, the science fiction adventure series lasted only fourteen episodes in 2002-2003 before the network killed the show. Then it became like Star Trek with an avid following.

Firefly’s appeal (to me and I’m sure to others) was the humor. Look how that humor shows up in his other shows and movies. More importantly to me as a writer of science fiction romance was the dichotomy of the worlds. Firefly takes place 500 years in the future with a central government (“civilization”) and on wild Old West-type outer planets. The firefly (a type of transport ship) was crewed by renegades who tried to avoid any contact with the government.

I would thank Mr. Whedon for his inspiration that encouraged the writing of my Outer Rim series. When I began writing The Pilot, my critique partner couldn’t believe I’d never seen Firefly. In fact, she gave me the Serenity DVD so I could see the similarities. Holy cow! I then found the DVD with all the Firefly episodes and I was hooked. Though late to the party, I became an avid follower of not only Firefly but all of his work. He is so creative and versatile.

Not to stay in the past, I’d ask him what’s coming up. Considering how prolific he is, I’d ask how he balances work and family. I will try not to fawn over him, but I’m sure I’ll act like a total Fan Girl and gush.

My Outer Rim series:

The Outer Rim series, standalone books in digital and printer editions, are available at most online retailers.

I hope you’ll come back next week. Patricia Kiyono will be here with her guest.

Happy November

I never thought I’d say that. November in Michigan is always gray. Gray skies equals gray mood. Surprisingly, the first two days of November this year have been bright and sunny, warm even. Just goes to show how changeable Michigan weather is.

Are you well rested this morning with that extra hour of sleep yesterday? Although I really don’t like sunset coming so early, it’s great to wake up to the sun. Makes me want to get working earlier.

Speaking of work, I finished the revisions on the second Alex O’Hara novel, The Case of the Fabulous Fiancé and it’s off to my editor. Now to play catch up on all the household stuff that I’ve let go--cleaning up my garden, dealing with bills and paperwork, all the "fun" stuff. And wouldn’t you know, the next Alex O’Hara story that has been percolating in my brain for months is yammering at me to write.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) started yesterday. As fascinating as it sounds (write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days), it’s not for me. I admire those people who can do it. To accomplish that goal, you have to write as fast as you can. No going back to fix anything. Just keep moving forward. As I’ve mentioned in interviews, that’s not how I write. Someone calls it circular writing. I write some, go back and revise, write more, go back, and so on. I tell new writers to find the method that works for them. I found mine. And it works for me. Still, I’m sending best wishes to all who enter NaNo.

Speaking of interviews, Kam Brook interviewed me today with a terrific review of The Case of the Bygone Brother. http://www.superkambrook.com/2015/11/author-showcaseinterview-and-review-of.html?m=1

This month I’m taking an online class sponsored by the Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal chapter of RWA, “Lessons from Firefly, Learning from the works of Joss Whedon.” All I had to do was see the word Firefly and I was in. I was a latecomer to the fans of the sci-fi show that only last for 13 episodes on television back in 2002. Once I saw the film Serenity, I got the entire series and watched it over and over. So I’m curious about these lessons. Should be fun.

Thanks to everyone who participated in my two blog hops last week. Nancy Gideon’s Haunted Open House Blog Hop and Patricia Lynne’s Trick or Treat Book Blog Hop. Lots of winners—Tricia D. won a copy of The Pilot and everyone had a chance to get Switched for free. (If you scroll down to the previous post, you can be a winner, too.)

Have a great week!

Who Are You?

Have you ever taken those personality tests on Facebook? You know, which character in Firefly, Downton Abbey, etc. are you? What did they tell you about yourself?

photo from wikia.com

I’m guilty of doing them. I say guilty because I should be writing instead of playing games. That means I shouldn’t be playing solitaire either. But I digress. 

I only play if I know the show/movie/book. Like Firefly. I wanted to be Kaylee. I love her. She’s such a free spirit. According to the game, I’m Zoe. That was a surprise. Zoe is a leader. She’s strong, loyal, and she carries a big gun. Most importantly, she always has the captain’s back. I wouldn’t mind having Captain Mal’s back. But Zoe is so serious. I want to be a free spirit. Oh, well…

Why do we play those games? Sure they’re fun, but do they really tell us anything we don’t know about ourselves?

Sometimes I think we know the characters in our books better than we know ourselves. For our hero and heroine, we do character charts, we know their background (all the way back to childhood), we know their faults, their weaknesses, their strengths. Readers think we make up all that stuff. To some extent, yes. My characters “tell” me more than I make up. When I get stuck, I “interview” the character. As the “reporter” I type the questions then answer as the character. Oh, my. The things I learn.

With the characters we make up, we can examine their lives objectively. With our own? We know who we want to be, the traits we want the world to see. But really, who are we?

By the way, I’m The Chosen One. According to the game “What’s Your Patronus?” mine is a stag, the same as Harry Potter’s. Now I can’t wait to find a game for The Matrix. Will I be Neo?

Doctor Who

For several months, I’ve seen references to Doctor Who on different blogs. Doctor Who? What? My curiosity finally got the best of me so I “Googled” it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a science fiction adventure television series that has been around since the early 1960s about which I knew nothing. I had to correct that.

After reading as much as I could online, I set my DVR to record episodes. Did I ever pick the right time! A marathon of Doctor Who episodes ran all last week leading up to the 50^th Anniversary Special on Saturday. It will probably take me all winter to watch the episodes and specials.

For those of you, like me, who are unfamiliar with Doctor Who, it is a British television program about a humanoid alien and his human companion(s) who time travel to different parts of history and the future to save the world. They travel in a blue police call box (which looks a little like an old American-style phone booth) that is much bigger inside than out--like the tents in the Harry Potter series. To explain the change in actors, the Doctor “regenerates” after a life-ending incident into a new body and with a new personality.

Doctor Who reminds me of Star Trek (the original series) and Firefly, television shows that ended too early for the viewers. Unlike those shows, Doctor Who returned after a fifteen-year gap. Thank goodness for fans. Also unlike Star Trek and Firefly, the network listened to the fans and revived the series.

Why is it that networks give up on shows too soon? Even write-in campaigns or a huge following on Facebook can’t save programs viewers love if The Powers That Be declare it’s kaput. I almost hate to invest time and interest in a new show because it might not return.

I’m glad I let my curiosity lead me to a new program. I’m late jumping on this bandwagon but not too late. I am thoroughly enjoying this discovery.

I'll be writing about Thanksgiving on Saturday during my usual spot on The Roses of Prose blog. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving to all.