Happy return of Nurse Jackie day!

Nurse Jackie is my second favourite show currently on TV (next to Friday Night Lights), and I am so excited for the second season. Which starts today.

Unfortunately I don't have cable, so I will have to wait for some future day to watch, but I wanted to celebrate anyways. And say, if you haven't already watched the first season, DO. And I am a little bit envious of you.

Somewhere I would like to be tonight

Watching Lauren Ambrose with her band, the Leisure Class, play their first show in New York.

I recently rewatched all of Six Feet Under, a part of my favourite show trifecta (the others being the West Wing and Friday Night Lights). I love Claire. Yes, she's moody and annoying and self-centred, but I still love her.

Here is a perfect (fitting) moment from Six Feet Under:

So you think you can dance...

Spoiler ahead.

So You Think You Can Dance is my favourite show that is actually currently on TV.

Here is why:

I love these guys. They make my heart glad. I was so sad when Ryan didn't make it into the top 20. I'm hoping that he will be there next season - but Evan reminds me of Nathan Fillion a little, so that's good too.

Canadian Television - woo

If you need me, I will probably be ensconced in the cbc website watching the first season of Being Erica (warning, a video will start playing almost right away. It might be loud). I remember seeing ads for it a few months ago, and thinking that it looked vaguely funny, but recently a few people whose taste I trust have said good things about it. I woke up super early this morning and needed a way to pass the time, so I went online and watched the first episode. And then the second, and then the third.

The premise is slightly ridiculous (woman time travels to change the events in her life she regrets), but the show is really well done. The writing is quick and funny, and Erica (played by Erin Karpluk) is the same. She's 32, single (and searching), in a dead-end job (and quickly out of it), and she feels like a failure. I love the character because she never comes across as pathetic or desperate - she's just searching for her right path, with a lot of meandering (can I relate? Yes).

Canadian TV and movies often get a bad rap, and a lot of the time it's deserved; I hate to say it, but it's true. That said, there is some amazing stuff out there. If you live outside of the US and ever find yourself frustrated by the fact that the content on hulu.com is not available in whatever country you live in, check out some of the Canadian (or wherever you live) TV websites. I still curse the skies (and NBC et al.) occasionally when I can't watch a particular clip that's been featured on a blog or somewhere like that, but it's nice to have an alternative.

Before the show aired, Being Erica did some kind of blog promo thing - so I am putting up one of the clips that is especially dear to my heart.

I. Am. So. Excited.

The West Wing

I took the first season of The West Wing out of the Library last week. I have finally emerged, blinking, from my cozy den of television glory. Life seems a little bit grayer now that I have left my good friends at the White House. They are all so funny, and smart, and kind, and lovely, that I really miss them. I know they're television characters, and not real, but still... I love them. Will you marry me, Josh Lyman?

The only upside of leaving them behind? There are still six more seasons to watch. Yay.

5/5 stars.

Dexter

What do you get when you have a psychopathic serial killer who only murders other serial killers? A creepily awesome (or is that awesomely creepy?) TV show.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to start watching this show. I've been looking forward to it for so long, and now, in the damp heat of the long awaited Vancouver summer, I've gotten started. I made the mistake of watching the first episode right before bed last night, totally creeping myself out, but today, when it was too hot to go out into the real world, I spent the afternoon watching episodes in bed with the fan on and the covers off. Alexandra told me a while ago that the show involves lots of awesome food shots. It makes me hungry. But then, you know, the murder scenes kind of curb my appetite. It's confusing. But I like it.

Watch the opening credits. They are so good.

Damages

I took home the DVD set of Damages (the first season), starring Glen Close, and man, am I glad I did. I've only watched the first episode, and I actually gasped aloud a couple of times at the diabolical plot twists. I was looking for something to hook me, and boy has it. Glen Close is amazing, and her Golden Globe for this role was well deserved, I can already tell. A hard hitting, brilliantly paced legal drama with oodles of suspense.

5/5 stars (so far).

Flight of the Conchords

Oh HBO, what would I do without you? This show makes me grin, so much. I laugh out loud often, when I'm watching it with other people. When I watch it alone the laughs are internal... but my smile is constant. And wide.

Whereas Hot Rod (the movie from the other day) was really stupid and kinda funny, this show is kinda stupid and really, really, really funny. Flight of the Conchords, "New Zealand's 4th most popular folk-parody duo" take on New York. Bret and Jemaine are best friends, roommates, and bandmates. At least twice per episode they break out into song. My favourite so far is from the first episode: "The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room" (You're so beautiful, you could be a waitress / You're so beautiful, you could be an air hostess in the 60s / You're so beautiful, you could be a part-time model). See also: "Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros". And the songs are actually pretty catchy.

Other highlights: Fleetwood Mac jokes, and a pretty fabulous dream-David Bowie.

PLUS: I haven't had a celebrity crush in forever, and Jemaine Clement has succeeded in ending my dry spell. Hi.

HIGH-larious.

Love love love. And it's out on DVD!

5/5 stars.

Friday Night Lights

I've been saving this post for a while, because I still can't fathom how to put this television show's greatness into words. It's great. Unfathomably great.

I got into this show via Laineygossip. She would natter on and on about how if we hadn't seen it we had to watch it. NOW. I ignored her for a good six months, and finally decided, what the heck - I respect this woman's opinions on all matters celebrity, I should give it a try.

A show about high school football. If anything, I expected it to be good the way the O.C. was good. Enjoyable, highly cheesy, kind of silly. Not great "literature", but fun. Nuh-uh. Friday Night Lights is, bottom line, great. It is a great show. As in great actors, great characters, great writing, great cinematography. Effing great. I was hooked as of the first show. And I'm not a sporty girl.

This show has been consistently hailed by critics as one of the best shows on TV. And for some reason, hardly anyone is watching. Mostly, I think, because we all have preconceptions as to what we think this show is. And we're all, pretty much, wrong.

Convince your library to get this show. It doesn't seem to be available to rent very many places. OR - Season one is available on Amazon for $22.99. Buy it, watch it, revel in it, and then donate it to your local library to share the love.

I love the world.

I must be in a weird mood today. This ad made me cry (although crying at commercials is not a stretch for me, a fact about which I am glad). It was happy crying, mostly. I love happy crying.

I've been doing lots of library searching today, and reading library blogs. This clip came my way via Mazar, a Canadian (among other things) librarian whose site I found through the CLA's "Infonation", all about choosing a career in libraries!

Go books!