CliqueClack

I am a pumpkin-guzzling beast

To many, the start of the Fall season means going back to school, wearing a light jacket or sweater, and feeling justified in ignoring your month-old pedicure. To me, it means all things pumpkin; most notably, coffee and beer.

Yesterday I tweeted: “Let’s be honest. Starbucks‘ ‘Reunite with Fall Flavors’ sign should just read, ‘Reunite with your reason to live.’ #pumpkinaddict”

It was sort of a joke, until I realized today that I was walking into my house with a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte in one hand and a box of Dunkin’ Donuts Pumpkin K-Cups in the other. And I’d done the drive-thru at Dunkin’ early that morning, too.

Part of me realizes that it’s the fact that I’ve just had a baby, and am very, very tired, that makes me more likely to succumb to coffee’s charms. But it’s not just any coffee. It’s that intoxicating pumpkin flavor.* I just can’t get enough of it!

My husband doesn’t share my sentiment for the pumpkin nectar. He says, “Why does Dunkin’ Donuts think that ‘pumpkin’ is the same thing as ‘nutmeg and allspice?’ The pumpkin coffee does not taste like pumpkin.”

Once he said that, I started to realize that he was right. But it still tastes damn good.

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So You Think You Can Dance – Not quite the finale I was expecting

It took a while, but we got there. The better part of two hours was much too long to wait for the final announcement of the gal and guy who performed their way to the very top on So You Think You Can Dance.

From a personal standpoint, I already saw the show’s best episode a couple weeks ago. (And yes … it was, far and away, the best SYTYCD had to offer.) But these things have an order they need to march precisely to, a chain of command that must be kept lest the art of falling apart raises its head and complains it didn’t get its due. So we get “best of” re-performances from episodes past showcasing the judges’ picks.

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Flaming Schwarzkopf Experience will extract your ambient gene

Short lived in the early 1990s, and floating among the sound waves of sunny Southern California, was a rave-inspired station which featured a couple KROQ-FM alumni, club DJ Swedish Egil and personality/program director Freddy Snakeskin. The station, “MARS-FM,” was instantly accepted by the public and is talked about even today in lending a seminal hand in introducing the radio-listening American public to techno and rave. Alas, the station was short lived, lasting only a year, before its owners decided a more mainstream direction was they way they wanted to go.

For me, MARS-FM was not only innovative but gave me a different genre of music to explore. It gently introduced me into the fold and I was very accepting of what it had to offer: heavy yet energetic 100+ beats per minute grooves, layered sound, interesting group names and a sound I had never truly explored previously.

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The Liquidator & The Cool Ones DVDs return you to the Swingin’ Sixties

If you’re a fan of movie musicals and secret agent flicks, have I got a pair of doozies for you! The folks at the Warner Archive Collection have dug deep into the vault to bring some (rightfully?) forgotten films from the 1960s back to glorious life through their Manufacture on Demand DVD program. The Liquidator stars Rod Taylor as kind of a James Bond knock-off, and The Cool Ones is a 60s rock-and-roll musical that seems to be anything but rock-and-roll. Neither film was a success upon their initial theatrical releases, but one of them fares much better today as an entertaining curio than the other.

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Modern Family Blu-ray giveaway – Pick your favorite moment from season three

Season three was a season of revelations. Maybe they weren’t earth-shattering, but they were memorable to the show’s many loyal viewers. Who could forget Claire hitting the dusty campaign trail in her quest for a stop sign? As a woman who’s used to winning and stopping at nothing to over-achieve, Claire learned that sometimes you just have to accept defeat graciously. Maybe your favorite moment was the “Vote for Claire Mobile” driven around town by Cam and Mitchell, or Claire’s interview with reporters while she was missing a tooth? Or perhaps you found it hilarious when Lily dropped the “f-bomb” during the hideous Lite-Brite wedding?

Who could forget the first appearance of Betty Luke? Besides seeing what his sisters do to him to pass the time, we learned more about what makes the youngest member of the family tick with more insight into Luke’s world this season. He accepted the loss of his elderly neighbor/friend Walt in an unconventional way, he lied to his entire school to make everyone think he was a hero, and we found out he’s a prime candidate for that series about hoarding. Who knew so much was going on behind those mischievous eyes?

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VH1 reality TV a showcase for ignorance?

Anyone that has been keeping up with Clacking in Color knows that I am in love with television. In fact, I think I may be a tad bit obsessed with it. Perchance I’ll enlist in counseling. Just like the racially diverse actors and actresses that I commonly write about, I don’t discriminate against the sitcoms and serials that I watch. I like all kinds of programming — except for, well, reality television. That stuff is crap.

Now, I’m not knocking anyone who finds these kinds of programs fascinating. Hell, I’m a 25-year-old man and I still think Power Rangers is appointment television. Nevertheless, I feel as though a little bit of me dies whenever I’m forced to look at some of the latest reality shows — especially the urban ones on VH1 — and for the life of me, I can’t seem to understand why some of them are so darn popular. One in particular seems to really grind my gears — Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta. Some believe it’s entertaining. I feel it’s ignorance … on acid.

Since its debut on June 18, the “reality” show has followed the lives of the sassy (and good-looking) girlfriends of rappers and hip-hop music artists. The premise is fascinating. It’s the fights, back-stabbing, gossiping, cheating and gold-digging that makes it nonsensical. With the recent news of Steve Harvey becoming an advice-dishing talk show host, maybe these brassy ladies can book a gig with him to sort out their issues. I mean, seriously. Can’t we all get along? I’m all for seeing more chocolate-colored individuals on TV. Quite frankly, I think most networks could use a little more infusion of minority magic. However, shows like Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta, The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Basketball Wives reinforce negative stereotypes and tend to knock us back several years. If I wanted to go back in time, I’d call Doc Brown and board a DeLoreon. Alas, I like 2012.

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It’s time for USA to update its network formula

Few networks have as strong and as recognizable a brand as USA does. After a summer of watching and reviewing some USA offerings, I am starting to think about what works and doesn’t work in the network’s formula for its shows. We know the network for its blue skies, “Characters Welcome” approach to television storytelling. The shows are generally fun summer fare, often procedural and easily digestible. In general, this is an approach to TV that I enjoy, as I don’t believe every show can or should be, say, Breaking Bad.

The week-to-week formula on a USA show generally follows the pattern that Burn Notice has been using for six seasons now. There is a protagonist, Michael Westen, who is very good at his job, though of course his personal life is a mess. Every week, he and his team have a new case to deal with, but there is an overarching mythology that gets increasingly complicated as the seasons go on. This mythology is usually sort of confined to during the first five minutes and last five minutes of every episode, except for premieres and finales, which often deal exclusively with mythology. This is the formula, and while it may have worked in the early seasons of the show, it’s getting tired now. (Psych is an even older show, but it doesn’t really have a mythology so it’s been grandfathered in.)

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I’m breaking up with Bones, and it feels good

Relationships end for a variety of reasons; sometimes the two parties slowly drift apart, sometimes it’s sudden and tumultuous. Other times, it can be nice: all mutual and civil like. Those types of separations are – at least in my experience – a rare breed, but can often lead to most surprising catharsis. That’s pretty much how I felt after watching the premiere of the eight season of Bones; I don’t particularly dislike the show anymore … but I surely don’t feel compelled to invest any more of my time in it.

Our coverage of Bones has had a fairly interesting history in the four years of CliqueClack. The past couple of seasons, Julia and I have traded the show back and forth; once either one of us would get fed up with the direction of the show, we would punt the show back. Based on that history, I really shouldn’t be surprised that I’ve finally hit my limit. But once I get invested in a show – and watching for seven years is definitely what I call an investment – I rarely walk away. I’ve tried several times before, but no matter how many times I gave up on shows like Smallville and Gossip Girl, they always find a way to drag me back in, just like Pacino in Godfather III.

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Boardwalk Empire hasn’t missed a beat without Jimmy Darmody

The second season of Boardwalk Empire saw main character after main character end up dead and bleeding. By the time the season was over, three of the biggest players on the show were taken out one after the other. With so much turn around, I was wondering what the new season was going to look like. Would the show be able to survive without Jimmy antagonizing Nucky? Would the power of the Commodore be missed? Would the show be able to fill the void of Angela’s absence? After seeing the premiere, I’m not concerned at all.

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Kelly Kapoor as a real person: Why I can’t wait for The Mindy Project

The Mindy Project is hands-down my most highly-anticipated new show this fall. The pilot, if you haven’t seen it, was available early online, and it is everything I hoped it would be. In it, Mindy Kaling plays Mindy Lahiri, an unlucky-in-love OB/GYN. Yes, the premise is gag-inducing and the execution undoubtedly would be in anyone else’s hands. However, as Kaling fans know, you can put a tired premise in her capable hands and watch as she spins it into gold. Most people know Kaling as the annoying, shallow, slightly psychotic Kelly Kapoor on The Office. While she never had a large role, Kelly was always memorable. At first glance, the character seems wholly ridiculous: she treats celebrity lives as if they are her own, she’s terrible at her job, and she’s so vapid that she’s constantly in danger of sucking Scranton into a black hole devoid of any intellectualism or rational thought. But sometimes, I can totally relate to Kelly Kapoor. I’m not the only one, either. A lot of smart, well-adjusted women feel like they have a little Kelly in them. We would never actually buy a tapeworm from a creepy guy in our office, but we’ve certainly joked about it (and maybe secretly considered it for half a second).

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