what I've been watching

Because I know that you want to know, here are a few gems that I've discovered amidst the dearth of summer programing.

SYTYCD - that's right, it's that time again when I get all sorts of crazy about a reality tv show. I think it's the best but I'll leave it to you to decide. So You Think You Can Dance is back again with slightly different format (no results show) which shouldn't really change too much. Last week was the first real episode (I don't count the audition episodes) and I think they've got some great dancers this year. It's on Wednesday nights - set your DVR (the ability to skip over the commercials makes it oh so much more enjoyable).

The Newsroom. It's brilliant, takes place not so long ago in 2010 and draws on news stories that are still relatively fresh and pertinent: the BP oil spill, the tea party and the recession. And the characters are great too (I'm partial to Maggie). This is an HBO show, so if you don't have HBO, you may have to wait for it to come out on DVD or something - it may be available online somewhere. (BTW, who gave this girl HBO? The perks of living with roommates, that's all I can say.) Also, because it's premium cable, I think it's worth mentioning that it's totally clean. And by clean I mean there's no nudity/sex/violence - at least in the first 3 episodes, and it doesn't really seem like it's going to go that way, but I could be wrong. There might be a couple swears - I usually don't notice the language unless it's really bad - so maybe I'm a bad source, but as far as premium cable shows go, it's clean. It doesn't shy away from politics and it's pretty critical of republicans, so I'm not entirely sure if it's republican friendly, it might drive republicans nuts or maybe they love it, I just don't know. Any Republicans out there who care to weigh in? Also, there's a lot of talk about Utah in the third episode which was pretty cool.

Here's a clip from a scene that I particularly liked:

Bunheads. And now for something completely different - or maybe just a weird hybrid of the first two... hmm. This silly little show is surprisingly entertaining. Like Amy Sherman-Palladino's Gilmore Girls, this show is well written, filled with witty banter and pop-culture references. I may have watched the first 3 episodes last night - and despite musings that she show is slipping (I'll admit, I enjoyed the first 2 episodes more than the 3rd) I'm going to see where it goes. The pilot itself, stands alone as a quirky bit of fluffy goodness that hooked me right in.

So that's what I've been up to.