Jane the Virgin

Jane the Virgin is an American serial comedy-drama television series that debuted on The CW on October 13, 2014. It is a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen created by Perla Farías.  On January 11, 2015, the show was renewed for a second season.

Set in the scandalous city of Miami, the series is about the surprising and unforeseen events that take place in the life of Jane Villanueva, a 23 year old, hard-working, religious young Latina woman whose family tradition and vow is to save her virginity until her marriage.  Jane is serious with a detective, her boyfriend of four years, Michael Cordero, Jr., who proposes to Jane. Her dreams of a simple life with her fiancé are shattered when a doctor mistakenly artificially inseminates her during a checkup. And to make matters so much worse, the biological donor is a married man, a former playboy and cancer survivor who is not only the new owner of the hotel where Jane works, but was also her former teenage crush.  This man, Rafael Solano, also happens to be the doctor's brother.  

I like this show because every episode leaves off on a major problem that needs to be resolved in the next episode (cliffhanger).  It leaves me wanting more every time.  Also there is not only the main plot with the main characters, but many sub plots with minor characters that make every minute of the show interesting.  The diversity of the characters on the show make it easy for the audience to identify with at least one character.  There are many different personalities, for example Jane, the goody- two-shoes, honest, faithful virgin, or her mother Xiomara "Xo" Gloriana Villanueva, the outgoing, sexy, singer who, as the result of a one-night stand, became the teenage mother of Jane. 

I think the show is definitely worth watching.  It is funny, romantic, and has a fun twist of both fun and scandal. I believe the show has a lot to offer, and has a plot that leaves a lot to work with.  

"Survival isn't who you are. It's who you become." -'The 100'

One of my favorite TV Series at the moment is The 100, which is one of the new popular shows that runs on The CW. This show first premiered on March 19, 2014; I didn't even know about it until I was looking through Netflix back in October and saw that a show called The 100, was recently added and nearly had a 5/5 star rating, so naturally I thought I would give the show a try and soon after starting it I was HOOKED!

"The Ark"

This series starts with one of the main characters, Clarke explaining what has happened and where she is. She states:

"It's been 97 years since a nuclear apocalypse killed everyone on Earth, leaving the planet simmering in radiation. Fortunately, there were survivors at the time of the bombs. There is now only The Ark, one station forged from the many. We're told the Earth needs another 100 years to become survivable again and man can go home, back to the ground. The ground, that's the dream."

Clarke, played by
Eliza Taylor

We soon find out that Clarke and many other minors are in "prison"!  Since they have been up in space for nearly a hundred years, all of their food, supplies and oxygen are low at The Ark. They believe they are the only humans left in the universe so to keep the human race alive; no matter what crime they commit they are sentenced to death. They shoot you out in space, they call it "getting floated". The only way you don't get "floated" from committing a crime is if you are under the age of 18. The reason why this show is called The 100, is because the people that are in charge of the Ark decide to send 100 prisoners down to earth to see if it is livable once again. 

I love the character development that happens once they are on earth, from the start of the season to the end. It starts out with the 100, acting like normal teenagers, partying, not thinking/planing how to survive and where to sleep. They mature into warriors, when they need to start fighting for their lives when they realize that some humans have been living on earth all this time and they aren't happy that they are living on their land. I also like how we learn more about how these teenagers used to live on The Ark through flashbacks, and how much their characters had to change to survive. 

I recommend this series to anyone that likes Action, Drama, and their minds being BLOWN multiple times throughout a season.  

I would rate Season 1 of The 100, 9.3/10.  The only reason why I didn't give it a perfect score is because the series starts out a little slow but by the third episode it picks up pace and keeps getting better with every episode. 

Doppelganger Madness

Nowadays all you see on TV really is reality shows. Which sometimes they can be funny, but they can also be simply boring. However, if there is one non reality show that is still on TV, and that I've consistently watched for five years, it would have to be The Vampire Diaries. I know what you're thinking, stupid vampires. Although the title is somewhat cheesy, the show is definitely not that.

The show has many different plot lines which I think is what makes it so strong. The series starts off in Mystic Falls, Virginia, focusing on the main character, Elena, whose parents had just died in a car accident that she was apart of. Eventually she meets Stefan, who is a vampire, and they begin dating. Along comes Damon, his "bad brother", who eventually Elena falls inlove with. It becomes one big love triangle followed by all the other subplots that help build the show. The first season premiering in September 2009 on the CW, gave audiences just what they wanted to see. The show wasn't just a typical story about a high school girl whose parents die and falls inlove with let alone vampires. The story focuses on other characters, not just Elena. Who is Stefan? What was he like in the past? How did he become who he is? Who is Damon, why is he the bad brother? What involvement did Elena's parents have in the vampire community. The show brings the audience into the lives of multiple characters, so you aren't just focusing on their love story, you're also focusing on other things. And I think it is a very hard thing to be able to pull off the plot line of vampires because it can be done in such a cheesy way. A good example of the cheesy plot line of vampires is Twilight. Although the books were somewhat good, the movies were just plain horrible. And so, due to the success of season 1, The Vampire Diaries continued, and is now starting its 6th season this October!

Anyway, I'm going to talk about one of my top favorite plotlines that they did in this show, and how they pulled this awesomeness off. The writers chose to deal with the topic of doppelgangers. When Stefan firsts meets Elena, he acts kind of weird to her because low and behold Elena is identical to the vampire that 1. turned him into a vampire and 2. he was inlove with. We find out this person is Katherine. Now although that's what peaked his initial interest in Elena, he later finds out they are completely different people. In episodes, we go back in time to 1864, and we are introduced to Katherine and we find out the kind of person she was and still is. For starters, she played both brothers at the same time. She acted as if she was inlove with both of them and they were all going to live together forever. She is very manipulative, is great at getting her way, and uses sex as a tool. Once the audience is actually presented with real life Katherine, we find out more characteristics she has. She is selfish and puts herself first for everything. Survival is her number one goal. Where as Elena is pure, she is selfless and falls inlove helplessly, and would do anything to save her friends or family. She does not lie, does not hurt anyone or anything. They are polar opposites which is why they both hate each other. Katherine believes Elena has somehow stolen her happiness. She believes that Elena does not deserve all the love she gets, and that she, Katherine, should be living the good life and not having a worry in the world. Meanwhile, the audience is realizing how psychotic really is because she is such a horrible person that kills anyone at any moment, and Elena doesn't. Elena does not like her because all she does is kill and or hurt the ones she loves most.

Katherine Pierce

 

     

Elena Gilbert

Being that these characters are 100% different, this required the actress, Nina Dobrev, to have an incredible amount of talent. Not only did she do both roles, but she made them completely different and pulled it off. If that doesn't scream amazing actress, I don't know what does. And as soon as you were getting use to two Nina Dobrev's, the writers choose to throw in another doppelganger. Say hello to Amara! The original Petrova doppelganger.

Just Amara

Amara turns out to be the original Petrova doppelganger. Petrova being the line of their specific doppelganger. Although Amara didn't last long on the show, it was important that the writers add her character in there. Amara helped shape where Katherine and Elena originally came from. She was a combination of both of them. We find out that she is the anchor to the other side. Meaning any supernatural creature that dies, has to pass through her, which causes her a huge amount of pain. In the first picture, she is seen as a statue. The witch, Qetsiya, sentenced her to that form for eternity because she was having an affair with Silas, the man that she was inlove with. Amara definitely put her love interests first like Katherine. However her love for Silas was pure, like Elena's. And finally after all the years of torture, when she is unfrozen, she chooses death for herself. She does this to rid herself of the pain, unlike Elena or Katherine. Elena would never throw her life away no matter how horrible things got. And Katherine wouldn't waste her life for something so insignificant, she would take control of it.

Seeing these three characters develop throughout the show definitely helped shape some insight on background stories. And I gurantee you that if any other show tried to do this, they would have a very, very, very hard time pulling it off like the writers of TVD did. And that goes for acting too. Nina Dobrev was able to take these three characters on and make them completely different through small things. In the photo above, you see Katherine with one hand on her hip, and kind of leaning foward, and then she draws back as if shes bored. Then there is Amara in the middle with her hands crossed over one another. Something that people did a long time ago in a way to show respect, or stay out of the spotlight. And finally there's Elena on the right with her arms crossed. They are crossed in a way as if she's nervous, but wants to continue on and see what happens. All three characters displaying small different movements, and this completely differentiates them. And because this plotline was so complicated, I fell inlove with it. It was done so well, it is basically now impossible to beat. 

LONG LIVE TVD

Life In a Small-town Isn't Always So Simple

            I like to consider myself a country girl at heart. I own the boots, I have the accent, I listen to the music and I love the food. However, living in Philadelphia and going to school in New York sometimes suppresses my country outlook. So when the show “Hart of Dixie” premiered, I couldn’t help but fall in love with its southern charm. Then, when the second season came on Netflix this past week, I couldn’t help but fall in love for the southern belles of Bluebell, Alabama all over again.

“Hart of Dixie” is a comedy-drama series on The CW about a talented surgical resident, Zoe Hart (Rachel Bilson), who was top of her class and aspiring to become an accomplished heart surgeon. However, after failing to be considered for the cardiothoracic fellowship in New York she is told that she must spend the next year as a general practitioner in order to get a recommendation for the fellowship. To make matters worse, her long-term boyfriend breaks up with her, leaving her in need of a dramatic life change. And that is the exact moment when she is offered a job in the small, southern town of Bluebell.

At first, Zoe tries her best to convince herself that moving from New York to Alabama is a logical decision. She tells herself that it will give her a change of scenery and it will allow her to be the head of a clinic, something she would have to work years anywhere else to achieve. However, when the city-slicker arrives in Bluebell, dressed in shorts too shorts for the gossiping elderly woman, speaking too fast for the ladies her age and trying to apply her complicated medical practices to the simple injuries of hunting, fishing and football, she begins to doubt herself.

In fact, by the second episode the entire town is already about to run her out of Bluebell. It isn’t until she realizes that the man who offered her the job in the first place, the same man who died weeks prior to her arrival, Dr. Harley Wilkes (Nicholas Pryor), is her biological father. If that’s not overwhelming enough, Dr. Harley had left Zoe half of his medical practice. After she comes to this life-altering realization, she decides to make peace with the townsfolk and stay in Bluebell. She befriends the Mayer, former NFL champ Lavon Hayes (Cress Willimans), and finds herself in an exciting love triangle with her flirty bad-boy neighbor Wade Kinsella (Wilson Bethel) and the well-educated, engaged, New York lawyer George Tucker (Scoot Porter).

I’m always curious about what makes certain shows my favorite and “Hart of Dixie” is no exception. Usually, if I love a television series it’s because I am very fond of the main characters. However, this does not stay true with “Hart of Dixie”. In fact, I absolutely loathe the main character, Zoe.  Of course, I find myself relating to her since she’s a young, loud, out-of place woman whose trying to balance her career with her oh-so awkward love life. But no matter the similarities I can’t help but yell at her through my television screen. She’s absolutely frustrating, to say the least. She has two guys pining after her, one of which is a hilarious, sarcastic, bartender who lives next door. The other is an accomplished lawyer who left his fiancé at the alter because he had fell in love with Zoe the second she came to town. However, Zoe’s reaction to having two amazing, worthy men fighting over her is naturally to tell them to date other people because she can’t decide who she wants to be with. But when they finally date other people she becomes absolutely furious. I know television series aren’t all about happy endings and riding off into the sunset but there is something to be said about a character that can never be pleased. For every episode where we see Zoe, the adorable, unpredictable doctor, we also get Zoe, the pessimistic, meddling woman. It is completely awful yet enthralling to watch.

I think that a large part of the problem is the team who produces and creates the show. Lelia Gerstein, the creator and executive producer of the show, had also worked on The O.C. for two years and then continued to work on Gossip Girl. Other producers and writers on this staff have also worked on Gossip Girl and other shows on The CW. These shows are known for constantly teasing the audience with limitless drama, predictable plot lines, and never-ending romantic issues. In Gossip Girl, we endured six seasons of each character dating, breaking up and getting back together with the same person. Hart of Dixie seems to follow this common romantic formula. In an interview with The Hollywood Report Gerstein comments on the similarities between the shows by saying, “Both shows are escape fantasy for women, so we have that in common..I think women who love Gossip Girl also love Rachel Bilson, I think there's a lot of crossover..”

What makes this show so unique to me and different from other romantic dramas is that the supporting characters are so strong and entertaining that they make up for what the main characters desperately lack. The supporting characters are all so quirky, awkward, and raw. For instance, Lemon’s friends, a group of young ladies who belong to a social group that resembles a well-mannered sorority, are extremely entertaining and truly represent the type of society that Blue Bell is all about.

The show is also well-known for its unique soundtrack. Shows such as Hart of Dixie and Nashville have made recent news for pushing the boundaries of musical arrangements by adding modern county artists to their soundtracks. Country is very rare to hear on television series since it has a reputation for being so separate from mainstream music. Some of the country music featured in this series includes artists Taylor Swift, Darius Rucker, Gloriana, Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland and The Band Perry. However, the show also dives into non-country bands such as Langhorne Slim, Cobra Starship, The Lumineers, FM Radio and much more.

Hart of Dixie will most likely appeal to a female audience because of it’s romantic take on medicine. Unlike the shows House and E.R, this medical drama focuses less on the day-to-day medical emergencies and more on whom Zoe is going to date next. Moreover, romance on the show isn’t simple but controversial due to the complications of the growing love triangle. The first half of season two was so popular among viewers because Zoe and Wade’s relationship escalated so quickly. Blogger Kaitlin Thomas explains this by saying, “[Their relationship] was a stabilizing force, an interesting study in how two opposites can attract in an explosive way. Their relationship became not only the emotional center of the show, but ultimately its bedrock”. It’s easy to see how a relationship so emotionally invested as theirs could be so entertaining to female viewers. However, this show keeps from being a superficial romantic drama by incorporating the quirkiness of living in the South as well as the outlandish personalities of the supporting characters. Critic Mandy Treccia from TV Source Magazine describes this by saying, “We are all TV watchers here so we know that in the land of television, happy couples equal boring. But in a show like Hart of Dixie that doesn’t need to be the case because there are so many outside factors to give the couple something to do other than stare happily into each other’s eyes.”

What’s more is that this show isn’t based solely on drama or romance but has an unexpected aspect of comedy. The show follows the very basic formula of common situational drama found in television series such as Gilmore Girls. Examples of this include a situation where two supporting characters run against each other for mayor. The voting ends in a tie so naturally, the townsfolk decide to let their famous chicken decide who would be mayor. Bets, screaming, and complete chaos take place in hope that the chicken picks the right person. It’s situations like this that make everyday life in a small town seem so enjoyable.

All in all, the show has come a long way from where it originally started. Treccia comments, “When it was time for midseason reviews, “Hart of Dixie” was the clear choice for most improved and that holds true now that the season finale has come and gone. The show still has its flaws (looking at you, Zoe Hart), but overall, the second season has been so much fun to watch. Season 2 deserves an overall ‘A-’ for the year.” The show has, without a doubt, transformed due to its expanding comedic relief, growing supporting roles and playful banter between romance and spectacle. Even if you’re not into medical drama or southern charm, “Hart of Dixie” can still have you laughing with its fast-paced comedy or on edge with its engaging, frustrating drama.


Coffee and Poptarts

As a Television/Radio major, one of the hardest questions that you can be asked is, “What is your favorite television show?” There are just so many options and so much room for ridicule. Often when thinking about my answer to this question I quickly flip through all my guilty pleasures and think “Oh no, I can’t ever mention I watch that, that’s so embarrassing”. Because what it comes down to is, no Park student wants to admit that after spending time and money studying television that they regularly watch Teen Mom 2. I feel as if I can finally, confidently admit out loud that my all-time favorite television series will always be, Gilmore Girls.

Gilmore Girls is a comedy-drama that started on the WB on October 5, 2000 and ended on the CW after it’s seventh season. The concept of this show itself is purely original in the simplest way. The show is about a mother and daughter who are best friends and live in a small, quirky town known as Stars Hollow, Connecticut. The mother, Lorelai, is a fast-talking, coffee guzzling, PopTart loving, quirky woman who treats her intelligent, quick daughter, Rory, more like a best friend than her child. The idea of the show is simple, however, the writing and the characters make this show exceedingly unique.

Gilmore Girls’ tagline is, appropriately, “Life’s short. Talk fast.” This is honestly one of the best ways to sum up the dialogue on this show. Rory and Lorelei talk in an extremely fast-paced manner filled with endless pop-culture references, which closely resembles the conversations between characters on “The Newsroom”. In fact, due to the fast-paced dialogue on this show, the average script for one single episode is 75 to 80 pages compared to the standard hour-long television show which is about 45 to 50 pages. In an interview, the writer of the show, Amy Sherman-Palladino declared, “TV is all about speed. TV is fast and furious. It’s gunslinger territory”. The writing on the show offers a lot of intellectual conversation and situational humor. Gilmore Girls is also well-known for using a master shot filming style, which frames the characters and dialogue together in one, long take. This shot truly makes the viewer focus on the dialogue rather than the action, unlike other drama series.

Second to the writing, what made this show so likable is that we each secretly wanted to be a Gilmore Girl. The copious amounts of coffee, the endless supply of PopTarts and the mother-daughter duo are all aspects of the show that are so heartwarming, simple, and easy to relate to. So why, if the plot is so simple, is this idea so difficult to reproduce? Many shows have tried to repeat the Gilmore Girl’s theme and have hopelessly failed. Amy Sherman-Palladino even tried to write a new series on ABC Family called “Bunheads”.  The plot, the witty dialogue, the small town, the quirky characters and even the same actresses make this show blatantly similar to Gilmore Girls. However, unlike Gilmore Girls, the show quickly fizzled and was canceled as of recent. In a review in “The Week”, Monika Bartyzel states, “For all its similarities to Gilmore Girls, Bunheads didn't start with the clear vision that structured Gilmore Girls”.  

The producers of Gilmore Girls were obvious about their motive from the start. They wanted to prove that mother and daughter could coexist in a world where boys, friends, the past and other dangerous topics were all laid out on the table. They wanted to prove that wit and intelligence were attractive and essential traits. And most importantly, they wanted to prove the necessity of coffee and PopTarts.