New Girl (FOX)

New Girl is a show that is new to FOX and plays on Tuesday nights at 8PM ET.  If you are a fan of Zooey Deschanel (famous from 500 Days of Summer, Elf, and The Happening), then this show will not disappoint.  She maintains her same quirky personality as every other character she plays, and is comedically awkward throughout every show.  The show kicks off with Jess (Zooey) moving into an apartment with 3 guys: Schmidt (Max Greenfield), Nick (Jake Johnson), and Winston (Lamorne Morris).  This comes following a breakup with her hippie boyfriend that cheated on her.

      Schmidt is a metrosexual douche bag who loves to take his shirt off.  He seems to be the most successful of the three guys and works a corporate office job.  There is not enough time in the day for him to obsess about himself, and without him the show would more than likely tank.  Although the show was built around Zooey Deschanel, I think Schmidt is the heart of the show.  He is a womanizer who quickly falls for the gorgeous (and I mean GORGEOUS) Cece (Hannah Simone).  Cece is Jess' best friend and is just one of the added perks to watching the show.  She is a latino sex goddess who knows exactly how perfect she is, but she has the downfall of falling for the wrong guy.  Cece is the exact opposite of Jess and they really seem to balance each other out perfectly.  You can see Schmidt and Cece starting develop kind of "friends with benefits" relationship that would make every man wish he was a little more Schmidt-like.

      Nick is a penny-pitching commitment-phobe that works as a bartender.  He dropped out of law school before the show, and it looks like Nick will never meet his potential.  He is a very negative person in most aspects, which actually helps him develop the best relationship with Jess out of the 3 guys.  They are so different from each other that they could not be more perfect for each other (you know how opposites attract).  Personally, I think the day will come when Jess and Nick develop a relationship beyond the friendship they already have, but so far that is just speculation.  As the season has developed, Nick has gradually started to come around as I think Jess has began to rub off on him.  He has become more adventurous and slightly more positive about life.

      Last and probably least is Winston.  He comes back from playing professional basketball in Latvia and the best days of his life are probably behind him.  He comes back from overseas to unemployment and an inability to get the girls who used to be attracted to him.  He is a quick learner who can pick up almost anything, but he is easily bored with repetitive jobs (and is therefore incapable of keeping one).  Winston doesn't come back from Latvia until the second episode.  Coach (Damon Wayans, Jr.) was the third guy roommate in the pilot, but when Winston gets back in the second episode, Coach is gone.  Coach was pointless to the show, but maybe he will reappear later on in the series.

      I give the show 3 out of 5 stars.  The high points are mostly taken up by Schmidt and Jess, but Nick and Winston have their shining moments.  If you are into comedies, I suggest the New Girl.  It won't have you rolling on the floor laughing, but if you have any sense of humor, it will provide a couple of laughs on an otherwise boring Thursday night.

Game of Thrones (HBO)

      Game of Thrones Season 2 has just begun on HBO.  It comes on at 9PM ET on Sunday.  I guess you could say I am more than ecstatic about this, seeing as how it is one my favorite shows currently still on TV.  If you are into the medieval times, monarchy, dragons, sword fighting, or money driven politics, then this is your show.  It has the gore and the sex that only HBO can allow.  If you haven't even heard of Game of Thrones, do not be alarmed.  I did not even watch the first season until after it was completely over, and if you do not have HBO you're probably in the same position.  After watching the first episode, I was hooked to the TV for a couple of days and wiped out the whole first season before I knew it.  Once I finished the last episode, I was dying to know what happened next.

       Multiple story lines collide and the "game of thrones" is set up throughout the entire first season.  Below is a very basic background and plot of the first season and how all of the characters come together to fight for the seven kingdoms of Westeros.  If you are an avid book reader, I would highly suggest reading the series as well as watching the show.  The books are about as thick as a dictionary, but they go farther into detail than the HBO series does.  I give this show 5 out of 5 stars and I have suggested it to almost everyone I know (including my parents who love it).  If you love action, sex, and great acting sprinkled with a bit of humor hear and there (mainly due to the dwarf Tyrion Lannister, played by Peter Dinklage), then give Game of Thrones a chance.  Personally, I think that Game of Thrones alone justifies purchasing HBO. Also, with the purchase of HBO, you receive HBOGO where you can watch the old episodes of Entourage and True Blood (which will be discussed soon on my blog).

[Spoiler Alert]

      As the name suggests, the first season of Game of Thrones sets us up for what will literally be a fight for the throne at King's Landing (the capitol of Westeros).  The king at this time, King Robert (Mark Addy), goes to Winterfell, the home of Ned Stark (played masterfully by Sean Bean) to ask him to be the Hand of the King (basically his second in charge and his main enforcer).  Ned Stark turns out to be one of the most loyal and likable characters of the show and quickly runs to aid his best friend King Robert Baratheon.  Names are everything in this series due to the dialect of the times.  If you have ever studied about or watched anything about the medieval times, you have heard Sir William of House Lancaster (meaning William Lancaster, with the Sir added on when knighthood is achieved).  King Robert is married to Cersei Lannister, daughter of the wealthiest family in all of the seven kingdoms.  The Lannister House is responsible for funding King Robert's endeavors and, therefore, has almost as much political power in the seven kingdoms as the King.

The picture above is of the Stark family.  The father holding the sword is Ned Stark.  The son in the top left corner is Robb, and the son in the bottom left corner is Jon Snow.

This picture portrays King Robert Baratheon, ruler of the seven kingdoms of Westeros.

      King Robert was in need of assistance because of the rumors that Viserys Targaryen and his sister Daenerys(Emilia Clarke) were building an army to take back the throne that they believe is rightfully theirs (due to the fact that Robert Baratheon overthrew there father Aerys to take the throne and they were forced into exile).  Viserys arranges a marriage between his sister Daenerys (a beautiful bleach blonde) and Khal Drogo (played by Jason Mamoa from Conan the Barbarian), leader of a nomadic clan of savage warriors called the Dothraki.  The Targaryen blood line is known to be associated with dragons which have been extinct for centuries.  Daenerys is soon married to Khal Drogo who terrifies her, but she receives dragon eggs as a wedding gift from the Dothraki tribe.  

This is a picture of Khal Drogo (left) and Daenerys (right).    

     Daenerys eventually warms up to Khal Drogo, but he is not warming up to the idea of crossing the "great salt sea" to win a throne for Viserys.  Viserys grows impatient and assaults his sister in order to receive results.  Khal Drogo learns of the assault and pours hot molten gold on Viserys head (assumed to be a sign of the crown he so desperately wants), and Viserys is killed leaving Daenerys as the only living person of the Targaryen bloodline.  At this point, King Robert sends an assassin to poison Daenerys, but he is sniffed out and leads Khal Drogo to believe that King Robert was behind it.  Enraged, Khal Drogo decides he will have his revenge by attacking King's Landing and taking the throne for his beloved Daenerys who is pregnant with his son and the future leader of the Dothraki.

This is a picture of Daenerys (left) and Khol Drogo (right) at their wedding ceremony witnessing a tradition in which two soldiers fight to the death.

      While sacking villages to fund this attack, Khol Drogo is wounded and eventually ends up dying because of the infection.  Daenerys pleads with a witchdoctor to save his life, but the witchdoctor tells her that the price of his life would be their son.  She sacrifices her son, but Khal Drogo ends up living as a vegetable and is unable to function.  Daenerys decides she will burn Khal Drogo's body (along with the witchdoctor who did this and the three dragons she was given for a wedding gift).  While Khal Drogo is burning in the fire, Daenerys is seduced by the beauty of the fire and walks into it as if to embrace death with her loved one.  When the fire goes out and the smoke rises, Daenerys emerges without a burn on her body and with three tiny dragons draped around her.  We see that Season 2 has dragons in store for us that follow the will of their "mother" Daenerys.  Although many of the Dothraki have left her side because of the loss of Khal Drogo, the followers that remain pledge loyalty to her and that is how the first season ends for Daenerys.

This is a picture of Daenerys at the end of season one with her dragon by her side.

      Back in King's Landing, King Robert is killed during a hunt and tells Ned Stark that he wishes for him to take the throne with Robert's passing.  When Robert dies, his oldest son Joffrey (who is to marry Ned Stark's daughter) takes the throne before Stark is able to tell the council of King Robert's wishes.  When Ned Stark brings Joffrey King Robert's wishes, he has Stark arrested on treason and eventually has him beheaded in front of the daughter who Joffrey is to marry.  This leads to Stark's oldest son Robb to mass an army in the North and lead a rebellion against Joffrey.

This is a picture of King Joffrey (wearing the crown) beheading Ned Stark in front of his daughter Sansa (girl crying in the background) who intends to marry in the short future.

      The last main storyline is that of the wall to the North of the Kingdom.  It separates the kingdom from everything north of the wall (wilderness filled with savage creatures).  This storyline isn't nearly as exciting for me but will be important later on in the series.  Jon Snow (bastard son of Ned Stark) is part of the Men of the Night's Watch that watches the wall and swears an oath to protect it (along with an oath of celibacy).  In the first season, I haven't seen much importance in the wall, but it will become an important storyline in seasons to come.

This is a picture of Jon Snow traveling to the north of the wall.  His oath to the Knight's Watch obligates him to watch the wall until the day that he dies.

      This information is just a very basic background to Game of Thrones.  If you are interested in the plot as stated above, then the detail and character development in the show will blow you away.  Another interesting character to watch is the dwarf Tyrion Lannister.  He plays the wealthy playboy who lightens up the story line with his lust for prostitutes and his thirst for alcohol.  Tyrion is the disappointment of the Lannister family, but he happens to be one of the only members of the Lannister family that I have started to side with.  In the end, everyone must choose a side.  Are you a Lannister? A Targaryen? A Stark?  That is for you to decide.

This is the picture of the dwarf, Tyrion Lannister.  One of my favorite characters on the show.

• I will begin posting on Season 2 shortly.  I'm new to blogging, so any comments are welcome.  The purpose of this blog is not to give every detail of the show, but to help give a background of the show and to get people watching.  I have no affiliation with HBO.  I'm just a huge fan and know anyone who watches will be too.

      

Awake (NBC)

      The first season of Awake has started on NBC starring Jason Isaacs.  It plays on Thursday nights at 9PM ET.  After only five episodes, I can officially say I am hooked.  Jason Isaacs plays Michael Britten, a homicide detective living in two different realities.  At the beginning of the season, Britten was in a car crash that literally split his life in two.  To put it simply, in one reality his wife was killed in the car crash and in the other his son was killed in the car crash.  These two realities allow him to spend a day with his wife, go to sleep, and wake up to spend a day with his son.  He also sees a different psychologist in each reality, both telling him that his other life is a dream and a coping mechanism for the loss of his son/wife.  It may sound complicated, but if you watch the first episode it all comes together seamlessly.

      I give the show 4 out of 5 stars.  It isn't my favorite show of all time (I do watch A LOT of TV), but it is probably one of favorite new shows this season.  It isn't one of those shows that you can predict the turnout.  Every show keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next.  The show is pretty clear about which reality he is currently in (i.e.: he will wake up next to his wife or bring his son to school; has two different partners in each life; has two different psychologists in each life).  The complex storyline is part of what makes the story so appealing to me.

[Spoiler Alert]

      As the season has progressed, the two realities sort to collide with each other as far as his homicide investigations are concerned.  For example, in Episode 3 his son was kidnapped by an escaped convict he put in jail.  I will keep names to a minimum since the storyline alone is confusing enough.  The convict was accused of killing a drug dealer that had sold his son drugs leading to his eventual overdose.  The man kidnaps his son so that Britten will help him prove his innocence.  He secretly sets up a meet with the kidnapper to talk about the terms to get his son back.  When they meet, the kidnapper tells him that his son is in the middle of a desert and will certainly die of dehydration if Isaac is unable to prove his innocence.  The man claims to know who framed him for the murder, but as soon as he opens up his mouth to explain, he is shot twice is the chest by Britten's ex-partner who had helped him on the case.  Unknowingly, Britten's partner had followed him to the scene and thought that the convict was assaulting Britten.  Britten proclaims, "You killed my son."

      Britten then hurries home with a brilliant plan in mind.  He takes some sleeping meds and wakes up shortly after next to his wife.  He then goes to visit the convict that kidnapped his son in jail (who is alive in this reality) and asks him about his place in the desert.  The convict refuses to help him unless Britten is once again willing to prove his innocence.  He goes on to say he has information proving that Britten's ex-partner (who shot the convict in the other reality) framed him for murder in order to steal money from the drug dealer that was killed.  Britten rushes to the partner's house (secretly with a wire tap) and tells him that he knows everything.  He convinces the partner that he will not tell anyone if he just receives his cut of what was taken from the drug dealer.  The partner finally gives in and is arrested shortly after.  Britten goes to sleep, wakes up in the other reality, and saves his son with only moments to spare.

      So far, all of the episodes have been along these lines.  The most interesting part is that the only people that know about his "dreams" (differing realities) are his wife, and his two psychologists.  The psychologists keep trying to convince him that the other reality is not real, and they both do certain things that prove it (making it even more confusing).  His bosses and partners have started to believe he is crazy due to his "psychic" ability (i.e.: seeing clues in one reality that help his cases in the other), and the weight of living two different lives is starting to weigh down on him.  However, Britten sees the situation as a blessing rather than a curse.  Check out the show and let me know what you guys think.  It is one of my favorite new shows of the season, so I thought I would get the word out.