lol, i can't say that what i'm watching is better.

but i'm watching a lot of stuff on dvd that is still in production -- burn notice and leverage.

and i try to catch big bang theory when i can.

that's it for me and new tv, tho. you know me: late to every party.

castle sounds fantastic, but so far i've not been able to catch it in real time.

Big Love is awesome sauce.

I was not interested in the setting/topics, but a friend talked me into trying it, and now I'm addicted to the melodrama. Plus Chloe Sevigny is magnificent in it.

For the love of all that is under the top, don't watch that Spartacus show. It's got tabloid writers cringeing in their living rooms, it's that lurid.

Also, I'm not sure I needed to see that much of John Hannah. Some people are better kept in their waistcoats.

Whereas, I've been watching the (ahemmed) Beeb miniseries Garrow's Law, about 18th C. British criminal procedure reform, and it's really interesting and funny and well-done. I've just seen 3 of 4, and I think the 4th is airing tonight (in which case I expect to see it next week).

I'm glad you're giving The Good Wife a chance. FWIW, it's gotten quite a bit more interesting in the last couple of episodes when the political conspiracy plot kicked into a high gear. And WORD about the femslash potential.

I didn't even realize that Caprica aired on TV! Eh. I don't know if I'm invested enough in that universe to track it down, frankly.

Though I'm still a little vague on what The Bad Husband was actually convicted of.

Y'know, I think it's some type of political corruption -- I wanna say, embezzlement or misuse of public money when he was the State Attorney. But I'm not 100% sure. Peter's claiming that he's innocent of that charge (while admitting to the whole sleeping-with-prostitutes thing.)

Hahaha, I did not even know Caprica was a series! I thought it was a TV movie or at best a miniseries. Tells you how out of touch I've gotten with the BSG fandom.

There have been references to specific instances of misuse of funds, but the writers either don't want to tell us in order to keep everything a big surprise, or don't actually know. I hope it's the former.

Carthage must be destroyed Brotherhood....

White Collar isn't srs drama bzns, but it sure is fun and pretty!

It's terribly fun and pretty. :) The pilot is borderline sublime. IMHO eps 2 and 3 are just okay (but still shiny and fun) and it's all uphill from there. But you'll know by the end of the pilot whether or not you're in love. And since it just came back from winter hiatus, (and only has 8 eps to catch up on at the moment) it's totally worth trying.

Did I mention the pretty? And the fun? And the Tim DeKay?

It definitely picked up again at episode four and as of now, IMHO, it's back around the same level. It was a lot of (the procedural version of) monster of the week episodes, understandable for a show feeling out its own formula, but as of eps 7/8, we've had some good, juicy larger-arc stuff going on, and the character stuff has been delightful throughout.

I've seen people bitching and moaning about the predictability of some of the plots and pacing and maybe spelling things out more than your smarter-than-average (read: media savvy) viewer might need w/ the plot-of-the-week stuff, which I can't exactly argue with. But the truth is, from what I can see, the plots (which yeah, could be more awesome, I guess, IDK, I think they're fine enough, though they don't exactly make me think hard) are very much in line with your average USA Network fun-action-crime-drama, particularly early in their run.

And if you go in not expecting your mind to be blown by that aspect of it, you'll probably be happier. Again, I don't have a problem with it, but if you're the sort to be like "I didn't need them to explain that twice, why do they think I'm stupid?" it might pay to dial that down in advance.

But the character stuff, MAN OH MAN. And the acting on the part of the leads, and the dialogue, and the OUTRAGEOUS chemistry between the leads. Slashy-as-fuck doesn't begin to cover it, but it's also the sort of mutual respect/admiration relationship between the leads that works even if you don't think of it in terms of them wanting to suck each other off. It's pretty damn textual canon that these two guys have a mutual crush, adore each other, and really get off on how smart the other is, as well as on the canon d/s bondage aspects of Neal's tracking anklet and the fact that he's effectively Peter's indentured servant for the next four years.

Then there's the whole awesomeness of Peter's wife (who yeah, could use more to do, and I trust that she will this season) and their relationship and the "are they really being that frigging blatant about that? Wow. They actually said that out loud" canon support for OT3 w/ them.

And the NYC location shooting stuff? Absolutely delightful, IMHO (and I'm a total sucker for that.)

If you've got to minutes, this vid http://fv-poster.livejournal.com/9503.html <- isn't terribly spoilery for anything (particularly w/out context)... it's just 2 delightful minutes showcasing how adorable and into each other the characters are.

Is it epic, subtle, thought provoking drama of the Damages variety? Nope. But it's surpremely entertaining and far from brainless, it's easily the slashiest thing I've seen since Merlin or even Smallville, but even better (imho) it's a slashiness based on characters who genuinely like and respect each other, but with a delicious, delicious thread of long term bondage and D/s with a HUGE helping of competence kink.

Eps 2 and 3 did dip in quality, but hey, that's far from uncommon in all sorts of genre shows. I really feel like it's been all uphill from episode 4 on, and that they're really hitting their stride right now. Matt Bomer's not just pretty as fuck, he's also a really good actor, IMHO, and Tim Dekay's always fabulous, and for my money, it's the most entertaining hour of TV on right now. And LOOOORRRDDDD is it slasharific in a "they're not even trying to hide that these characters love each other, in fact the creator and the actors have both said in interviews that the heart of this show is the relationship between this men" way.

I really think it's worth a try, there aren't that many eps to get yourself up to speed on, and if you love the pilot as much as most of my Flist does, it won't take long for you to be up to speed and joining in the real time "was I high or did they just top themselves in terms of slashiness and OT3ness AGAIN this week" squee. :)

(thus ends the pimpage)

Yayyy! And yeah, part of the awesome of the show is that while is total, total slash CRACK, it's not *just* that, and in fact, the awesomeness of the Tiffanie Amber Thiesen character is extremely refreshing. (again, saying yes, it'll be awesome when we get around to giving her more than being Peter's awesome wife, but she's doing very good at that right now.) She and Peter have such a mature, loving, communicative marriage, I'd say it's up there (well, for values of up there that include this show only being a half season old and not the srs bzns drama that FNL is) with Coach/Tami.

It's like, THEY TALK, and don't keep secrets and she's supportive, and (and this is something the creator talked about in interviews with regards to creating the character), while Peter's very much a workaholic whose obsession with Neal is epic and a basis for the premise of the show, Elizabeth isn't some stereotypical put upon spouse who feels neglected because Peter's married to his job. She knew what she was getting into when she married Peter, and she loves him for who he is and totally has his number and they both know it. The creator has mentioned in interviews that he's sort of modeled her after the Abigail Adams character in the recent John Adams HBO miniseries, a strong woman who is awesome in her own right and gets exactly who her husband is, and signed on with her eyes wide open, and is supportive and understanding without being a doormat. Well, he said it better than that, but having seen both the miniseries and WC, I get where he's coming from with her.

There's some really amusing talk in some corners of the fandom of how hard/impossible it is to focus on *just* the slash, because the relationship between Peter and Elizabeth is obviously so strong, she's impossible to write out/handwave away. Luckily, there's chemistry with her and Neal as well (not that that's hard, part of what he is is a walking, talking, blue-eyed fountain of chemistry), and even if you don't want to go the slash or OT3 (in a sexual way) route, it's definitely a fun show for everyone.

And when I say it's slashy-as-fuck, I mean that not as a slasher (I do tons of slash, but I'm far from exclusively slash-driven, I just <3 a good romance)... it's more that I think that this is the best kind of slashable show. The sort where even if you take the sucking-each-other-off possibility out of the equation, it's clear in the text that there's a deep, respect based affection between the characters (both Peter/Neal and, to a less-screentime-extent since it's not the show's focus, Peter/Elizabeth) that even if you take erections out the equation entirely (er, not for Peter/Elizabeth, obviously, they're married and totally into each other), their friendship is still epic and deeply satisfying. It's just also really, really fun to see that Neal canonically ships Peter/Elizabeth and that Elizabeth (even if you're viewing it w/out slash goggles) canonically ships Peter&Neal.

And while on the surface it would make total sense for Peter to be jealous of someone as ridiculously good looking and charming as Neal (and he is really, really ridiculously good looking and charming that stills and even vid-snippets don't begin to cover) flirting with his wife, there's such an obvious level of trust and love between them (and a certain respectful tone to Neal's flirting w/ Elizabeth) that it seems impossible that that would ever be a problem.
GAH NOW I WANT TO GO REWATCH THE PILOT.

I'm glad you like The Good Wife. One of the reasons I stayed away from Damages was the way Close's character was portrayed in reviews and ads as The Ball-Busting Ambitious Bitch. I... don't really want to see much of that, in part because I prefer to have some sympathy for the viewpoint characters.

I'm a bit mournful about the cancellation of Saving Grace, which had its flaws and its unevenness, but holy cow, was Holly Hunter wonderful, and I loved her relationship with Laura San Giacomo.

I'm coming back to this post much later now that I've watched more TV.
I agree with you completely about Saving Grace; I had exactly the same reaction, despite the many fine actors involved.
I changed my mind and watched Caprica after a bunch of people said it was good, and it's pretty good! I never watched BSG so the fact of it being a prequel or whatever has no real impact on me. Unless it means that later on I have to watch BSG.
So much to watch (and read) and so little time.

I have to walk that back a little bit and say I tried watching more Caprica last night and couldn't get through that much middle-aged powerful man's angst. The suffering of the corporate overlords is so mighty and great.