I blame it on the turkey.

People eat way too much of it on Thanksgiving, and — I theorize –the tryptophan-laden beast leaves them in a haze that makes really bad made-for-TV holiday films seem not only palatable but, gosh darn it, great!

I’ve already started watching them, and I’m can’t get enough!

ABC Family’s ‘25 Days of Christmas’ began the day before Thanksgiving — the promos way before that — and somehow the combination of B-movie stars and done-to-death Santa scenarios is totally charming.  I’ve found a tear in my cynical eye more than once, believe you me.

How can you miss with classics named…

“Sons of Mistletoe”

“The Dog Who Saved Christmas”

“Naughty or Nice”

“Cranberry Christmas”

“Holiday in Handcuffs”

“Santa Baby 2″   (After they saw the first one, they did a sequel?  Amazing!)

And just to make sure a few of their offerings are actually quality — remember, some people don’t eat turkey — ABC Family landed all the “Harry Potter” films, several Pixar animations, and true classics from my childhood like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

So, if you like turkey — and even if you don’t — cable television is ready to serve it up on a big ol’ holiday platter.

White or dark meat?

Here’s your chance to win a $25,000 national prize, or one of up to 265 local prizes including game systems, gaming tables, portable digital book readers, and much, much more.

Grand Prize: $25,000 cash. (ARV: $25,000)

Local Prizes (265 – 1 per local area): Sponsor’s choice of a 32″ Flat Panel HDTV (ARV: $750) OR a GPS Navigation System, Portable Reader Digital Book, and $100 Gift Card (ARV: $750) OR a Digital Photo Frame, Mini HD Camcorder and Digital Camera (ARV: $750) OR a Clock Radio/CD, Wine Refrigerator, 10-Piece Cookware Set, Countertop Mini Grill and $50 Gift card (ARV: $750) OR a Touch mp3 player and Netbook Computer (ARV: $750) OR a Game Table (ARV: $750) OR a Gaming System, Gaming Accessories and $200 gift card (ARV: $750) OR a Home Theater System and Blu Ray Player. (ARV: $750)

Keep an eye out for “retail locations, service locations or other venues” in your area who are offering the local portion of this sweepstakes.

• Sweepstakes Entry Form
• Sweepstakes Rules

Sweepstakes Ending Date : December 26, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. PT

Premiere dates have been st for a bunch of my favorite shows for 2010.

ABC Family has two hit shows coming back on January 4th. The Secret Life of an American Teenager returns for its 3rd season at 8pm while Make it Or Break It returns for their third season at 9pm.

The remainder of the premiere dates are after the jump.

Southland makes its debut on TNT on January 12th. TNT will air Season 1 that initially aired on NBC followed by the season 2 episodes that are currently being filmed.

Project Runway returns to the Lifetime Network on January 14. The show will also return to where it all began; New York City. Let’s hope a return to the Big Apple will be a return to Project Runway’s glory days of being a good show. Let’s face facts, this past season had talented designers, but entertainment wise, it was quite a dud.

January 21 marks the return of Supernatural to the CW network after an almost 2 month hiatus. THANK GOD… or the devil.

January 22 will be the series finale of Dollhouse on FOX.

Emmy-award winning United States of Tara returns for their second season on March 22 at 10:30pm on Showtime.

Sorry I’ve been so MIA lately!

Coming home has been so much fun and we’ve been doing so much stuff. I gots me hair did. And have spent much time watching cheesy ABC Family Christmas movies like Holiday in Handcuffs.

I also have been holding the baby like it’s going out of style.

I will definitely be posting some new stuff up here soon, so please don’t lose your faith in me, and make sure to come back!

ALSO please vote for Ms. Adaline for the Peak Performance competition, the days are growing fewer, and she deserves that moolah!!

If you go vote now I’ll include a photo of baby boy…

Ok I’ll do it anyway because he’s so gosh darn cute.

Greek: Friend of Foe?

The Next Iron Chef: Umami (Deliciousness)

Mythbusters: Myth Evolution
Waterheater Rocket, Corner Shot, Car Cling, Liquid Lock Pick, Snow Plow Rocket Replication

Castle: Kill the Messenger

The Office: Shareholders Meeting

30 Rock: Sun Tea

Ugly Betty: Blue on Blue

Greek: The Wish-Pretzel

Promocional de Kyle XY

Está ya disponible la tercera temporada de la serie Kyle XY, uno de los materiales de culto de ciencia-ficción más recientes de la televisión. La historia de Kyle, un muchacho con extraños poderes y sin recuerdo de su pasado, comienza a desenrrollarse en estos episodios, en donde tenemos las primeras pistas de lo que hay realmente atrás del mismo. Si tú fuiste de los que siguieron este programa, no puedes dejar pasar este paquete. La serie es original de ABC Family, y se transmitió en México por Sci-Fi Channel.

I signed up for Jessica Sprague’s “Holiday in Hands” last week some time, sign up closes tonight so be sure to sign up. The class is free! I’ve taken a few of Jessica’s classes and have loved them. Very well thought out and organized.

Class starts today, and we already have two assignments. She’s a slave driver!

Assignment one is to write down (or blog) our values and goals for this Christmas. Since I type faster than I write, I’ll be posting my assignments on my blog. Lucky you!

Alex and I spoke about this last night actually. We decided that we’ll continue the tradition of watching the 25 days of Christmas on ABC Family, as a family. Alex wants to put up Christmas lights this year (the outside) since we’re actually IN a house! We will also put up our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, after the kids have all gone to bed! The excitement of waking up to a house fully transformed is very, very exciting! We will also make a gingerbread house, as well as several different types of cookies!

As I’ve mentioned before, we only celebrate Christmas every other year. We’re trying to teach the kids that Christmas isn’t about presents, that’s what birthdays are for! Asking our family to conform has been a little difficult, but, I’ll continue to try! We donate gifts and clothing to kids who need them.

I’m excited for Christmas this year, but also a little worried. Assignment 2 requires us to spend 20 minutes a day… slowing down. Slow is not a speed my body understands!

Sign up for the class ends today! Check out www.JessicaSprague.com

With the Paley Center’s “Dawson’s Creek: A Look Back” panel and the release of “Dawson’s Creek: The Complete Series,” I’ve been on a DC high the past week and a half.  Imagine my delight in finding someone who was not only just as enthusiastic but also chock full of insider stories only true fans like TDW readers could appreciate. And when you combine that with the fact that this guy is also partly responsible for introducing Beverly Hills 90210 to the world, well, that pretty much makes him a teen drama god.

After reading all the DC and 90210 goodness executive producer Paul Stupin shared with me, you’ll never want TDW’s stroll down memory creek to end!

TeenDramaWhore: How was the Paley Center panel?  How did it come about?

Paul Stupin: It came about for two sets of reasons. The first was that there are a  lot of die-hard Dawson’s supporters and fans out there that could support such a event. And the second key element is Sony is planning to issue this monumental all-seasons of Dawson’s DVD collection.

TDW: Yeah! It came out yesterday and I went to three different stores and finally found it!

Stupin: I just think it’s the coolest thing ever. So it was a good opportunity to call some attention to the DVD collection while at the same time having an event for the fans. It was really fun for me because when I did Dawson’s, I look back on it as a very special and rewarding time in my life and to be able to talk about it and see some cast members and see Kevin [Williamson, creator] again was just a blast.

TDW: I’m sure. I wish I could’ve been there!

Stupin: Yeah, you would’ve liked it!

TDW: Oh, I’m sure. Well let’s go back even further, to 1997-1998, and Kevin Williamson comes to you with this idea to make this semi-autobiographical show. What made you come on board?

Stupin: Well, that’s not exactly how it happened but I can tell you. I had read an early draft of this film that he wrote. At the time, it was called Scary Movie but that was going to turn into Scream and they used the original title for something else. I had read a draft of that and I had really responded to the writing. One of the things I loved about it is not only did it have some smart thrills and chills but it also had this great sort of teenage/20-something dialogue. I just loved his voice and I loved the different perspectives that he had brought to the horror genre so I pushed really hard to his agent for Kevin and I to sit down. Originally, I wanted to run two areas by him. The first area was sort of a younger X-Files-esque kind of show and the second one was just a really smart, young ensemble sort of show that could tap into younger characters’ voices. I had ran programming at Fox, so the idea of doing a family show was kind of not on the board because Fox had Party of Five. So we started to talk about potentially doing a show about a number of younger characters who live on the same street. Then Kevin sort of went away and came back and sort of pitched to me a bunch of characters living on the same creek, which, of course, was semi-autobiographical. What made that so interesting is that it specified the idea and made it something unique and took us to a place I had never seen before. And the other thing that made that original pitch so exciting was the characters. He pitched to me the characters of Dawson [James Van Der Beek] and Joey [Katie Holmes] and Jen [Michelle Williams] and how that triangle would work. And then as we were talking about that, we came up with the idea of incorporating another character into the mix who could be a confidante for Dawson and that’s how the character of Pacey [Joshua Jackson] originated.

TDW: I think you really hit it when you said the show was unique. There are a couple of specific things that people are still talking about today and they really want the inside details of how it happened. I know you guys went over a bit of this at the panel but I’d love to hear it from you yourself.  So if we can just go over a couple of different storylines, I’d love to hear what you guys were thinking and the genesis of those. So the first one is in season 2 when we have Jack [Kerr Smith] announce that he’s gay [Episodes 2.14 & 2.15, To Be Or Not To Be... & ...That Is The Question].

Stupin: I think there were two reasons for that. The first reason is it was a great way to integrate in a gay character on our series and to do it from the perspective of the kids we’d come to know and love on the show from the get-go. So the thought of involving Joey in a relationship with Jack and seeing that relationship take a completely unexpected turn and then understanding the emotional impact it would have on Joey’s character, and what it would do to Dawson and Pacey–all that seemed really interesting. And at the time, the thought of integrating a gay character and following that journey seemed really powerful and a way to tap into a whole set of emotions that would make our show even more memorable. One of the things that I love about Dawson’s is that it sort of wore its heart on its sleeve. Not only did it capture the voices and that sense of teenage yearning and teenage love and first-time love, and the power and the strength of all that, with love comes heartache as well in many stories. I think it enabled us to tell a really emotional and powerful story for a character that we’d really come to enjoy in the form of Jack. So that was one element to it and I think for Kevin it was a very personal story as well, and it was a way to again put a whole different perspective on the teen ensemble drama in a way that it hadn’t been done before. The second element to it was the fact that when Joey started that relationship with Jack, it was not going to go on forever. The key relationship in our series was what was going on between Joey and Dawson and Pacey, so the Jack character, that romance, was ultimately going to come to an end. And I think there was the thought of what a powerful way to see the relationship head south when the character starts to realize an insight into his own sexuality.

TDW: Going back to the Dawson-Joey-Pacey relationship, I read in Jeff Stepakoff’s book “Billion-Dollar Kiss” that Greg Berlanti–whom I adore–was the one to suggest putting Joey and Pacey together. I was wondering how accurate that story was in the book.

Stupin: Well, at the top of every season, we’ll sit and we’ll talk about [our plans]. We take a couple of weeks and we talk about each character and where we were going and what the sort of macro-issues were that we want to cover over the course of that particular group of 22 episodes. And Greg was definitely a part of that and the thought  of telling sort of a whole Joey-Pacey romance did in fact come out of that, absolutely. But I think you can go back, you can look at the pilot and you can look at the chemistry–and I did, in looking at the pilot last week–you can look at the chemistry between Joey and Pacey and you just know they’re sort of two peas in a pod and sooner or later that element of the triangle is going to get explored. So it’s definitely true what Jeff had in the book but I think that Greg was building from the seeds that were established in the original conception of the show, to tell you the truth.

TDW: Right.  Going to a more somber note: this probably came early on for you guys given how you plan the season but a lot of people were really surprised and devastated when in the 5th season Mitch [John Wesley Shipp] died [Episodes 5.03 & 5.04, Capeside Revisited & The Long Goodbye].

Stupin: Yes.

TDW: I’m wondering what the idea for that was. We never knew if it was casting reasons or storyline-dictated.

Stupin: It wasn’t really casting issues. The thing with Mitch was every year we would figure out a way to have 1 or 2 sort of emotional stories between Dawson and his mom and dad. In the first season we had all that great stuff with her affair with a newscaster. That was just sort of natural. The second season we have the story with mom and dad trying the open marriage, and it’s arguable as to how memorable that actually was. It seemed like such a fresh idea. I’m not sure that it translated quite as well as the idea initially seemed. And then after that, when the inter-relationships between the teenagers grew ever-more prominent and people became much more invested, it felt like the parents–though still important–were not quite as much a part of the storylines. So that’s when we would always try to include them, to have them in different things, to have great sort of Dawson-mom, Dawson-dad scenes but I think we were straining a little bit. And I think that when we got to the point of deciding the fate with Mitch, it seemed like we weren’t using him altogether that much in the series, in the seasons. We were using him but we weren’t using him in a huge way. There weren’t any financial or casting considerations. It really did come from the creative angle, in terms of how would it affect Dawson’s character if in fact this happened to his dad, and exploring that, and exploring the unexpected tragedy of it seemed like another way to really heighten the exploration as to who Dawson was, so that’s basically where that came from. And I remember talking to John Wesley and mentioning that the one thing that this would provide is that it was going to take the Dawson-father storyline to a really heartbreaking sense of conclusion and, at that point, we weren’t using him as much as we had in the past.

TDW: How does that contrast, then, to the decision in the series finale [Episodes 6.23 & 624, All Good Things... & ...Must Come To An End] to have another death and this time it be Jen?

Stupin: It was so interesting last week; it came up that in a way it was a great book-end for the series. It frankly never occurred when we were talking about the beginning or the end of the show but one could argue that the series began with a catalyst and that was the arrival of Jen. And the series ended with a catalyst as well, and that was the departure of Jen. And the one thing that I think that it did is it really brought a sense of emotional resonance and power to that final episode, because one of the things with a final episode you want to be able to do, you want to be able to end a series in a satisfying and emotional and interesting way. And if we essentially had the last episode in history for Dawson’s Creek, we could talk about and we could explore issues of mortality involving some of our characters. Then when we talked about it, if we were going to be dealing with the characters’ mortality, she seemed like the most natural character in which to explore that.

TDW: Going back to the catalyst idea, it could be extended that that was really what it took for Joey to finally make up her mind between the two boys.

Stupin: Yeah, I think a little bit. I think the interesting thing was the series sort of ends twice. It ends in the episode before then [Episode 6.22, Joey Potter And The Capeside Redemption] where we get the sense that finally Dawson and Pacey are going to be friends and Joey did actually get to Europe. And I think that had a sense of closure. Then we took it another step and went to a sort of even more sort of larger-than-life ending of exploring who she was going to end up with. I think that was the big question: who was she going to end up with? And I think that that was handled pretty well, too. Like I personally love the thought that what this show was really about was not the romance of Dawson and Joey but about the strength and depth of that friendship and how that friendship was going to exist forever.

TDW: So if you had to answer the question, in your heart of hearts, do you think Dawson belongs with Joey in a platonic, friends soulmates sense and Pacey in the romantic soulmate way?

Stupin: In my heart of hearts, I think we ended it the right away. I think that what she did have in the romance with Pacey was as powerful as the friendship with Dawson. And I think that we were able to come up with a sense of satisfying closure for both of them. ‘Cause I will tell you, weirdly enough, when I was looking at The Sopranos–I’ll weirdly liken it to the conclusion of The Sopranos, at least from my weird perspective, because I was a fan of that. I like to think, in my mind, that Tony Soprano is still out there–maybe it wasn’t going to last forever, but maybe he’s still out there with his family, still dealing with the issues and still dealing with all the balls he was juggling. And in my mind, I like to think that Dawson and Joey are still out there in our alternate TV universe, still communicating with each other and still sharing the inner-most aspects of their hearts and still dealing with their friendship as adults, and that Joey and Pacey still have that romance. Because I feel like what we were able to come up with was, for me, an emotionally-satisfying conclusion for both stories which doesn’t let anyone down. And I know there are people who think Dawson and Joey should’ve been together romantically and I totally understand that point of view but I think we did the right thing.

TDW: Well, as a Joey and Pacey fan, I completely agree with you!

Stupin: Well, I can tell you this: that decision wasn’t made until the last hour was being shot and so if you look at the first hour of that final two-hour, I think at that point we were leaning toward her ending up with Dawson and so there are a few, I think, little cues–for the life of me I don’t remember exactly–that were set up to lead us in that direction and then, frankly, in the last hour, when the last hour was being shot–because it wasn’t shot as a two-hour; it was shot as two separate 1-hours–that when we came up with that conclusion, it caused us to shift things around a little bit. So I’ll tell ya, we were undecided up until the very last minute ourselves.

TDW: Wow. Well, switching gears slightly, you spoke about Dawson and the way he would communicate with Joey. Going off that, both Kevin Williamson and James Van Der Beek are on Twitter these days. I was wondering, had the service existed when the show was on the air, how do you think Dawson would’ve used it, if he would’ve used it? As I said, They’re both on it now, and Dawson was very much a storyteller.

Stupin: Well, I think Dawson might’ve used it to express his emotions. I think he might’ve used it as a shorthand way of communicating with both Joey and Pacey. It’s certainly easier to communicate things to someone by Twitter than it is necessarily in real life. He might’ve, at some point in our storytelling, he might’ve used it to express something that he might not have been so willing to express in person.

TDW: When you look back on the show and the television landscape then and now, what do you think the show’s legacy is?

Stupin: You know, I think for me it’s–well, first of all, I’m so proud of the show. I think the characters were amazing. I think their stories were amazing. I think the quality of the writing, the quality of the direction was–of course I’m biased but I think it was just top-flight. And I really do think it took the young adult teen genre and elevated it from just a niche kind of show to something universal and iconic. I think adults could look at it. When we were doing it we never looked at it as just a teen show.  We looked at it as just a smart, interesting, relationship show that happened to deal with teenagers and though our core audience was teenagers, it was written for everybody, for people in their 20s, their 30s, their 40s. And I really think it managed to transcend all of that and bring an element of quality and exploration to the genre that really took it to the next step.

TDW: Do you have a favorite episode or storyline?

Stupin: You know, I’m so biased. It’s like trying to pick if you have 120 kids which one’s your favorite. But I think for me there are certain sort of moments that I love. There’s certain episodes, like the pilot because it introduced us to that world, and I remember so much of it almost like it was yesterday. The first season-ender when Joey went to visit her dad in prison, I loved that. I loved the detention episode [Episode 1.07, Detention]. A lot of them are some of the original ones. But then I think I love the episode when they graduated high school [Episode 4.22, The Graduate]. I thought that was just sensational. I love the one-hour ender as well as the two-hour series finale ender. I think there’s so many. The episode where they studied and it was an all-nighter [Episode 2.07, The All-Nighter]. The episode where Joey had to enter the beauty pageant [Episode 1.12, Beauty Contest]. I just love all of those.

TDW: Well, conversely, do you have a big regret or something you wish you did differently?

Stupin: Yeah. My biggest regret would probably be, as I think about it–and it was a mistake we made–was the character of Eve. Remember that character?

TDW: Yeah. You guys even have a joke about that in the episode before the series finale.

Stupin: Yeah. I don’t think the first episodes of season 3 really were as memorable as the other episodes. And I think that whole notion of “Is she Jen’s sister? Is she not?”–I don’t think that was that effective. I don’t look back on that run of episodes as my favorites.

TDW: Yeah, I think the fans do agree with that.

Stupin: Yeah, but you know what, we turn it around.  In the middle of that season we turned it around with–

TDW: With Joey and Pacey.

Stupin: Yeah, with Joey and Pacey. And that certainly helped get us back, I think, to our roots.

TDW: Going more to your history, I know you played a bit of a role with the creation of Beverly Hills 90210.

Stupin: Yes, I did.

TDW: What influence, if any, did that show have on Dawson‘s Creek?  If you learned anything from how viewers took to what was really the first teenage show, as Dawson’s Creek is largely considered the next step in the genre.

Stupin: Well, two things. And it’s an interesting question. The first thing: when I hired Darren Star to write 90210, I felt as if his voice was just so unique in terms of his ability to write characters and come up with dialogue and wit that seemed like it would be a particularly good fit if he put into teenager characters’ mouths. So in a way I think that when I read Kevin’s voice, I felt some of it was the same in terms of being clever and sharp and smart and pop culturally-savvy. I felt like I had found another voice who was capable of taking the genre to the next step. So I felt like both Kevin and Darren brought originally a really unique sense of humor and sharpness to their creation of characters and dialogue. So I think there was a similarity there. The one issue that I took away from 90210, that was very effective in 90210, was the mix of issue-oriented episodes and personal inter-relationships. Though, when we jumped into Dawson’s, we veered away from doing the issue-oriented episodes and explored further just all of the great inter-relationships.

TDW: Going further ahead to the rest of the genre and the teen dramas that are on today, do you think Dawson’s Creek influenced them?

Stupin: I’m sure it did, though I can’t say–you know, again, I’m biased. I don’t know. In my mind, I’m undecided as to what the next real step in the genre is after Dawson’s. I’m not sure what it is. I haven’t watched enough of the shows. I hold, of course again I’m so biased, but I hold everything up to the prism of Dawson’s. I don’t know if any of them that have come since have quite represented that cultural milestone that Dawson’s did.

TDW: Do you think Dawson’s Creek would fly on The CW today? Because it’s so different than what The WB was.

Stupin: Yeah. I’m not sure. I’ve often thought would I be able to sell Dawson’s today? Would I be able to pitch that as a series and get it going, and I’m not altogether sure. Because now, when you look at Dawson’s, we sold it off the strength of the characters and off of the strength of Kevin’s voice being so fresh. Now, I think that the networks are looking for slightly higher concepts. So I’m not altogether sure that a Dawson’s would be able to sell today.

TDW: I have to ask, then, why do you think the 90210 spin-off sold?

Stupin: Oh, I see, are you talking about bringing able to bring it back, for instance?

TDW: Well, no, not for it to be a spin-off. But the 90210 concept today is working.

Stupin: Well, I think the 90210 concept–everyone, myself included, has fondness for that original show. The thought of sort of putting two new outsiders into that world and bringing the  show back is a great way to hook people into a whole new group of characters, and I think it was a great idea. The thing with Dawson’s is I don’t know if bringing the world of Dawson’s Creek back with a bunch of new characters would generate quite the excitement. Because I think when you think about the show, you think about Dawson and you think about the very unique 3 characters, the 4 characters we had, and the actors that played them. And I’m not sure if it was brought back again–I certainly wouldn’t want to redo it with a new Dawson or a new Pacey. So the question would be could we go back to Capeside with a whole new group of characters, and I’m not sure we would be able to put together a new group of people as memorably as we did originally.

TDW: Right. You know, they say lightening strikes once.

Stupin: Right. And you know, I’m afraid you always run the risk of–when you make a sequel to a movie that’s not as good, it kind of reflects negatively on the original movie.

TDW: I completely agree.

Stupin: And I like to think of all our episodes as being so special, I’m not sure it’s something you could bring back.

TDW: Well, my biggest disappointment right now is that Dawson’s Creek is no longer on any channel in America.

Stupin: Really? You know, they gotta get on that! Wasn’t it running like forever in the early morning hours?

TDW: It used to be on TBS. When I was in high school, it used to be on at like 10am. And then they pushed it to 4:30am, 5:30am and then it just faded away there and now it’s not on at all.

Stupin: I’m not sure what the design is on that because I always like to know that Dawson’s is out there.

TDW: I know, I know. It saddens me that it’s just not in repeats anywhere anymore in this country.

Stupin: You know what, those things tend to be cyclical. Maybe in the future you’ll be channel surfing one night. Knowing you, you’ll know way before then but maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

TDW: Fingers crossed.

Stupin: Exactly.

TDW: Well, let’s bring it back and finish on today. You’re with Make It Or Break It on ABC Family. Just looking at your career over the years, what is it about Make It or Break It that you’re here now?

Stupin: Well, what I love about Make It Or Break It is I’m a big fan of the genre, having originally developed 90210 and then developed Dawson’s. When I left to become a producer, I never really thought that my first real success would be in the same genre as 90210 because I actually never thought that lightning would strike twice in that genre for me as quickly as it did. But after I ran Dawson’s, you know, for six years, I developed a real love for the genre. And the thing that I love about Make It or Break It is the idea. It’s a fresh idea, it’s a fresh world. And it provides a pretty unique prism in which to explore sort of teenage relationships in a really unusual way. I mean, these girls aren’t normal teenagers. They’re elite gymnasts and there are rules against relationships as they’re pursuing their passion. How do they deal with that? And how do we deal with the same elements of teenage love and relationships and heartbreak but from a whole different perspective? And I love that about it, and I also love the relationships between the main characters and their parents and their parental figures. I think they’re a really organic element to the show and give us an opportunity to deal with really unusual family situations as well. So that’s why I love it. And also the gymnastics is just really cool. It’s a lot of fun just to see the gymnastics.

TDW: Oh, the gymnastics is just phenomenal to watch.

Stupin: So I think that Make It Or Break It is just such a special show. We’ve done 10 episodes and I think it’s just starting to get its sea legs. I think it has a huge successful life in front of it, I hope.

TDW: Well, best of luck to you on that!

Stupin: Thank you!

Come back next Sunday for another exclusive interview!

TDW Interview Index

Not only are we out of stuffing, but several shades of felt.  Need to stop off and restock tomorrow.  Our stuffs should be complete by the end of the week, which is excellent considering we got a craft show to attend in less time than that.  Seems that the place sold out right away, but we were lucky enough to still get in though we are limited to a card table instead of that anime styled tower shield type of table.  (You know those ones that are made to look like they are made out of real wood, but are stuffed with cork and raccoon fur?)  I figure it’s actually a bonus, not only did we have to pay a little less for the entry fee, but now we can stack up our wares on a small table to further accentuate visual abundance of awesome. 

Which reminds me, I need to get some pics up, blast!  I’ll have the cuteness up shortly.

Off-topic, has anyone else noticed a complete dirge of anything decent on TV since early October?  What an utter waste of a month in terms of programming.  ABC Family I’m most certainly glaring at you on this one, you of all channels should have been on the ball with your supposed “13 Days of Halloween,” only to show America’s ‘funniest’ home videos and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  A big ol’ “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” and an oscillating middle finger are definitely pointed in the direction of your colossal fail.  “Nosferatu” has better voice acting than half of the things they picked out to show for gawds sakes.

At least AMC delivered in October.  Sadly they only seemed to buy the rights to Halloween, 13 Ghosts, and the two House on Haunted Hill remakes, and those get quite stale after quintuple airings per day.  But they get a big fat A for effort at least.

ABC Family…pfft.  Shenanigans.

It is here!  One of my favorite channels this time of year is ABC Family.  I have written posts before about my love for the holidays and confusion for some Christmas movies (aka “Holiday in Handcuffs“), but I can’t get enough of Christmas/Holiday programming!  Today starts the Countdown to the 25 days of Christmas – meaning that ABC Family isn’t waiting around, is dusting off their Christmas movies early, and starting tonight with two of their original movies – Snow and Snow 2: Brain Freeze.  While these are not my favorites, I am so happy to see them on the TV guide.

Wondering what other Christmas classics and made-for-TV movies will be on the schedule?  Check HERE.  Enjoy!

Guess what’s on ABC Family tonight. The Prince & Me 3: A Royal Honeymoon!!! I cannot express how excited I am for this movie. The original The Prince & Me, with Julia Stiles and some blond guy is one of the best movies ever made. The sequel, The Prince & Me 2: The Royal Wedding, is also pretty amazing. It has the original blond guy, but be warned – a horrible new chick with bad hair. She almost makes this a bad movie. But don’t worry, the plot is just TOO amazing to be considered anything but a fantastic cinematic experience. Which is why I’m so looking forward to this movie tonight! Check it out tonight at 8 pm on ABC Family. It won’t even interfere with the season finale of Mad Men (though please, lots of repressed angst, or a royal honeymoon on the alps with lots of ball gowns? Like that’s even a serious question.).

Sunday.  The day of respite before the last week for the first quarter of school.  So much to do and so little time to get it done in.  I got up this morning and got the kids up so we could all get ready for church this morning.  Luckily we didn’t need to get there early at all because I didn’t have to do sound and the kids didn’t have to do anything special during the service either.  We all ate some breakfast and took turns taking showers and watched “Sabrina” while others got done.  We finished up getting ready and then were out the door to church.

We got to church and had a nice service.  Although Heather and I were not a fan of the sermon this morning.  For several reasons.  It was pledge Sunday, which I realize that all churches have to do in order to try and budget on their next year.  However, I think Heather and I have a negative feeling about it after attending “Pearce Memorial Church” while we lived in Chili.  The church is affiliated with Roberts Wesleyan College and when we were there, they were constantly asking for money to keep the church going and every other Sunday was a sermon about tithing for the church.  They are doing this to a church that has a majority of college students who are broke anyway!  That’s why we decided to go back to my hometown church in Webster.  Less drama.  Well, today we had the exact same style of sermon.  I don’t know if it’s a Methodist thing or what is going on, but we are starting to get turned off by this chruch now too.  I suggested to Heather that we find another church again, but she thinks we need to just stay for the sake of the kids.  It will be interesting to see what we do once the kids are no longer around.  So, we weren’t totally happy with the sermon at church but made it through.

We got done with church and came home.  Heather and I changed clothes and got ready for our FanForce meeting today and then we went back to the church and picked up the kids.  We brought them home and dropped them off and then headed to Denny’s on the Vestal Parkway and had our Binghamton FanForce meeting.  The meeting went well.  I was worried that no one would show, but a few did show up a little ways into the meeting.  We had a good meeting and I was happy with how things went.  There wasn’t much to talk about, but we did discuss some upcoming events and then we finished up with the meeting and my wife pushed me out the door to get home.  We got home and I watched some football while I took a nap.  After I took my nap, I conintued to watch some NFL football on Fox and then worked on trying to catch up this blog as well as editing out the last three episodes of “Galaxy Cast” that Ian and I recorded last night.  I got done with that just in time to eat some dinner with the family.

After dinner I played a little “Call of Duty 4″ on my PS3 and then watched two episodes of “Family Guy” the Seth McFarlane almost live show, and then I watched “Stargate:  Universe” online.  After that, Heather and I went to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 14 of “Star Wars – Medstar I:  Battle Surgeons, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry…..Chapter 14 (Part 1):  Dhur asked them if they wanted to see something interesting as Jos, Zan, Tolk, and Barriss entered the bar.  It had been four days since their insane day-long moment of triage.  Jos offered him a seat as he pulled out of his pocket a metal ball that was glowing and Jos said he was not impressed.  Barriss said it looked like a military cam droid and Dhur said she was right.  Dhur said he got it from a harvester that found it in his field after a recent skirmish.  He said it was pretty much dead with no functions working and Jos sai that it still wasn’t anything to write home about.  Zan guessed that it wasn’t the droid they were interested in and Dhur said he was right as he put the droid on the table and activated it.  A holoprojector scene appeared of a video taken in a force with dead troopers lying around.  Then a trio of humans arrived wearing black and purple thinskins and carrying slugthrower carbines.  Barriss said they were Salissian mercenaries and that she had heard that Dooku had hired some and dropped them off to help scavenge for droid parts.  Dhur said that the Seperatists had hired the Salissians to do the things that the droids could not, and the Salissians would do anything as long s they got paid for it.  As they watched them scavenge some more, Dhur explained that the droid was able to get these images because it was on power reserve.  They the video showed the three Salissians dropping their rifles, raising their arms and backing away as Tolk noted that they were caught off-guard…..

Welcome to the second installment of the season in review. Let’s get moving, shall we?

THE SEASON’S TOP FIVE SHOWS EVERYONE SHOULD BE WATCHING

1. “Fringe” (Fox)

Photo credit: Fox

I’ll say this point blank: “Fringe” is the best show on television no one is watching. Season 1 started off slow, but by the time the “Dreamscape” episode aired in late November of 2008, I was a full-blown fan. In interviews promoting the show, both the creators and cast (Anna Torv, John Noble and Joshua Jackson) kept saying that “Fringe” was the product of all the lessons and mistakes that sometimes made “Alias” and “Lost” frustrating to watch as viewers. And it’s true. Each episode ties up the weekly mysteries, while answering over-arching, series-long questions and introducing others: What is the Pattern? Are there numerous parallel universes that stray farther from each one? Will these characters ever meet their alternate selves? What is the coming war?

When the two-hour “Fringe” pilot debuted at Comic-Con 2008, I was left feeling a bit disappointed with the heavy-handed storytelling. There was nothing, aside from the sci-fi aspect, that lured me in to the world of Massive Dynamic, Agent Olivia Dunham (Torv) and this weird, kooky world these characters lived in. But the “Dreamscape” episode that I mentioned earlier – the one with the killer butterflies – was one of the first instances where I caught glimpses into each character’s complicated pasts, and I loved it. It didn’t matter that you had to suspend reality to believe 98% of the things these people were exposed to or that it raised questions about multiple existences and realities; becauseOlivia, Walter (Noble) and Peter (Jackson) believed it, so could you.

The only reason why this show – one that does improve each week – is on here is because of Fox’s aggressive scheduling plan. While it is commendable for them to believe in a heavy genre show like “Fringe” to put them in the line of fire (Thursdays at 9 p.m.), after weeks of heavy competition and its inability to steal viewers from “CSI” or “Grey’s Anatomy” and retain its “Bones” lead-in, the show (heavily DVRed) is struggling to make its case for a Season 3. Last year, Fox aired it on Tuesdays at 9 p.m.; judging from the lack of quality scripted fare that night, the net should look into moving it back to its original timeslot some time in the near future.

2. “Stargate Universe” (Syfy)

Photo credit: Syfy

The third “Stargate” series comes in the form of “Battlestar Galactica’s” little brother. The original “Stargate: SG-1″ was the catalyst for “Stargate: Atlantis,” which recently ended, and now the noticeably darker and heavier “Stargate Universe.” A few episodes into its inaugural season, I’m still not sure what the purpose of the show is .. and usually, my patience wears thin. Not so here. I’m not saying the show is the second coming of “BSG,” because it isn’t, and that it’s perfect, because it isn’t. It is, however, a unique journey from the known to the unknown.

When news first broke out about “Stargate Universe” and reading the character descriptions of each of the major players, I was excited. The franchise was skewing younger and grabbing hold of the sci-fi geeks out there, and for the most part, they executed pretty well. Already by the second episode, two main characters hooked up and a couple weeks later, the people stranded on the ancient Destiny ship thought they would never live to see the day. Is “Stargate Universe” good for the casual viewer? Probably not, but it knows its audience well and hell, it feeds them on a silver platter.

3. “Greek” (ABC Family)

I began watching this college-centric show when it first began a few years ago, but lost interest in the beginning of Season 2. So when I caught the last episodes of its sophomore season on a whim, I was surprised at how well the storytelling and the acting had improved from the pilot. ”Greek,” like the rest of the ABC Family lineup, has a very narrow audience – and not unlike Syfy’s ”Stargate Universe” – has perfected the art of its demo (teens and young adults).

The show centers on a college campus - one of only a handful of series that have made the higher education setting work for longer than a season – and the highly competitive Greek system. Concept-wise, “Greek” is simple.  What makes it stand out is the complex character arcs that ultimately drive the show into every which way you can think of. And by keeping two lovable exes (Cappie and Casey) apart for almost the entire run of the series (the Season 3 fall finale aired Monday), it’s almost impossible to predict what will happen next. Almost.

4. “Being Erica” (SOAPnet)

Photo credit: SOAPnet

So I am cheating a little by including a Canadian show on the list, but “Being Erica” – which just aired Season 1 in the U.S. on SOAPnet - might as well be on cable somewhere. (Lifetime, anyone?) For those not familiar, “Being Erica” centers on Erica Strange (Erin Karpluk), a 32-year-old who travels to her past with the help of Dr. Tom (Michael Riley). Each week, she has the unusual opportunity to relive past events and do things the right way. It’s a mix of drama, time travel, comedy, romance and bad ’80s hairdos. Along for the ride is her best friend (and secret crush) Ethan (played by “Wonderfalls’” Tyron Leitso), who happens to be dating someone else.

“Being Erica” takes the leap we all wish we could: If we had the chance to relive (enter specific moment here), what would we do? Because it’s female-driven, it is not just another cute, wrap-it-up-in-a-box-with-a-bow-on-top show we’ve seen time and time again. Consequences for decisions made or changed in the past and present are shown; while some repercussions may be livable, others can be devastating and life-altering. Erica Strange’s name might be weird, but she’s really just a woman trying to figure out her life and where she stands in the world.

5. “Better Off Ted” (ABC)

ABC hit the jackpot when they premiered Victor Fresco’s hyper and neurotic half-hour workplace comedy “Better Off Ted,” starring Jay Harrington (“Desperate Housewives”) and Portia de Rossi (“Arrested Development”). Paired with “Scrubs,” which has a similar tone and style, the show couldn’t ask for a better complement … except maybe “Grey’s Anatomy.” The dialogue is witty, quick-paced and funny, and the quirks of each character are embraced and explored in some way, shape or form, rather than muddled down (i.e. the episode with de Rossi’s tightly-wound Veronica as a magician’s assistant).

The oddities are what makes this satire a breath of fresh air. It’s not everyday you see a lab scientist frozen in a chamber at work for an indeterminate number of days. It’s certainly atypical for a company to install a new motion-sensor system that somehow cannot detect darker skin. “Better Off Ted” is one of the best shows on television (Season 2 premieres Dec. 8), even if the ratings say otherwise.

Hello, Well Ovbiously Tomorrow Is HALLOWEEN!! And To kick It Off Here Is A Huge List Of Movies That Will Be Broad casted Tomorrow: I Have Organized Them By The Channel.

FX- TV-14 Movies

Ghost Rider

Halloween H2O- 20 Years Later

ABC Family- TV-PG & TV-14

Scooby Doo-TV-PG

Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed-TV-PG

Edward Scissor Hands-TV-PG

Batman-TV-14

Batman Returns-TV-14

Batman Forever-TV-14

MTV-TV-14

Scream 3

Halloween-Ressurection

E!-TV-14

20 Most Horrifying Hollywood Murders

Comedy Central-TV-14

Scary Movie

Scary Movie 3

Even Though I Wrote TV-14 All These Movies Are PG-13 But The TV is stupid and puts tv-14 :p…..Well Since I’m In The  Halloween Spirit…

CONTEST TIME!!  =)

*Post Your Costume Name With A Picture

*Leave Your Name E-Mail And Website (Optional)

*Winner Gets On My BlogRoll For 1 Month A Post All About Them And Author On My Site

* Runner-Up Gets Blogroll For Life.

Have Fun!

~Jaayy =)

It’s a few days before Halloween and already the first lull of the fall television season is upon us. With only a handful of cable and broadcast fare on the tube in the next few weeks before the onslaught of November sweeps, it’s the only time you can get your “Monsters vs. Aliens” fix instead of the toe-tapping, music-infused “Glee” or the city grit of “CSI: NY.”

Once December rolls around, however, couch potatoes won’t be relegated to boring holiday specials or annoying reruns. “Scrubs,” returning for a ninth season without some of its stars, will premiere Dec. 1 with back-to-back episodes. “Better Off Ted,” starring Jay Harrington and Portia de Rossi, will premiere the following week after its “Scrubs” lead-in. Is this a blessing in disguise? Without much competition during December – and most likely less eyeballs – it will be interesting to see how they fare and if this move may affect their long-term runs.

NBC will likely be moving up the “Chuck” premiere from March to January, after reports that the net is close to ordering six additional episodes from its original 13-episode pick-up. According to reports, this would mean that the January move will break the show up into a pre- and post-Olympics run, something I thought might be possible after the net canceled “Southland,” which was supposed to premiere last week.

Photo credit: ABC Family

Even though “Greek’s” fall finale has not aired yet, it has already set its midseason return for Jan. 25 in a new timeslot: 10 p.m. This is a great move for ABC Family, since they will have its first three-hour lineup in 2010 beginning with “Secret Life of the American Teenager” at 8 p.m. and “Make It or Break It” at 9 p.m. Monday nights are already crowded, so with the addition of three more programs (albeit for an extremely targeted audience) on the queue, you might have to choose carefully.

Photo credit: ABC Family

Here are some casting news from the past few days:

• When ABC Family’s “Make It or Break It,” about a group of gymnasts aspiring to make it to the Olympics, returns in January, it will feature a familiar face. Nico  Tortorella (right), previously seen on The CW’s ”The Beautiful Life” as Cole, will return to the hourlong drama and reprise his role as musician/pizza guy Razor. He was in three episodes during the front-end of the show and was a potential love interest for Emily Kmetko (Chelsea Hobbs) before he departed. (Zap2it)
• In what could be an interesting casting shuffle, “Cougar Town’s” boy toy Nick Zano may be moving into “Melrose Place.” If the deal goes through, he would be playing a doctor who doesn’t take life too seriously. I still remember when he was a MTV VJ … how times have changed. (EW) 
• Lisa Kudrow will be guest starring on fellow “Friends” co-star Courteney Cox’s “Cougar Town” as a dermatologist Cox’s character Jules keeps going to … even if it might not be the sunniest of experiences. (E!)
• If anyone’s still watching “the forgotten,” starring Christian Slater, maybe a guest spot from Dawson himself will boost morale. James Van Der Beek will go dark for his latest stint, playing a sleazy financial broker. I’m not sure whether this will even help the struggling crime drama in the slightest. (EW)

Sunday.  God’s day of rest, but not the Crissman family day of rest.  We got up fairly early this morning to get ourselves going for the day.  Not only did we have church, but my parents were here and Tara had a soccer game this afternoon as well.  I got myself up and started to take a shower.  In the meantime, the kids got up and got Heather awake too.  My mome and dad got up not too long after.  I got out of the shower and got ready for church and had some donuts for breakfast.  The kids watched “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” before Heather and I left for church.  The kids stayed behind to go to church with my parents because I had the sound board to do for the service today.

Heather and I got there and I set things up.  The service went okay, but it had it’s moments of foibles.  The main one was when the soloist went up for a solo and the microphone wasn’t even on.  The one tape deck didn’t flip over and we had some minor issues, but I dealt with each of them as they came.  I made it through the service with the audience not know what was really wrong or what had happened.  I guess you could say that is what my job is.  We got done with church and headed to Wendy’s to have a light lunch while the kids were in Sunday School.  We then split up and Heather went home with my parents to the house to change clothes while I went to pick up the kids.  I then brought them home and they changed clothes and ate a quick sandwich and then we headed over to the field to have Tara play soccer.

Tara’s game went okay.  She played as hard as she could, but the best way I can describe her games are mass chaos.  She runs around after the ball, but the coach does nothing to correct the fact that we have what we refer to as the “ball blob”.  But, I can’t make comments because I didn’t take the time to coach myself.  I told Heather that I may need to coach this team next year.  We got done with the game and walked to the cars and then drove home.  On our way home, Heather and I drove past a table that was on the side of the road.  It was a nice looking table, so we turned around and looked at it.  It’s older and needs some TLC, but it was a nice looking table set.  So, we quickly scrambled and got the table into  the car.  It took a while, but we came home with a table with three leaves and four more chairs.  Now we have a table for Christmas for a big family dinner. Yeah!

We got home and my parents packed up the car and then decided to leave.  Heather and I came back into the house and I took a quick nap and so did Heather and then I played some “Call of Duty 4″ on the PS3 while Heather worked on some jackets for Marsha.  After playing for about two hours or so, we then ordered some pizza and wings for dinner and ate with the kids upstairs and then I went back downstairs and continued playing my game for about two hours.  I finally finished my challenge with the G36c and all I have left is the MP44.  I’m not a fan of that gun on the game because it bounces around so much.  But, I guess I’m gonna have to figure out how to get 150 headshots with that gun somehow.  I then stopped playing the PS3 and watched “Amazing Race” and some reruns of other shows like “Seinfeld” and then Heather and I headed off to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 4 of Chapter 9 of “Star Wars – Medstar I:  Battle Surgeons, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry……Chapter 9 (Part 4):  As Mathal smiled to reveal his fangs, Bleyd agreed that it would be plenty of time.  Then Mathal asked if Filba still has his hands in this business.  Bleyd said he was a trusted employee, but truthfully he didn’t trust the three ton slug any farther than he could throw him.  Mathal said excellent and that he would set up the operation with his vigo.  But Bleyd thought to himself that he ahd his own operation to take out their viscera.  Bleyd then told Mathal hat he had five kilos of a high grade bota that he would like to offer to the vigo as a gesture of good will.  Bleyd told him he had to hide it on the quarantine deck.  Mathal asked if it was contagious, and Bleyd said it was nothing like that.  He told Mathal that all products coming from the planet surface have to be quarantined because of it being a cess pool, besides it helps him hide some things.  Mathal told Bleyd he should consider working for the Black Sun after the war.  Bleyd then offered for them to go collect the vigo’s gift, but was trying his hardest to hold back his smile….

I was looking at the FBI’s Ten most wanted fugitives list online this afternoon.  Check it from time to time to see if my wife’s father shows up on there.  Let’s face it, I’ve got a better shot of seeing him on there than Mr. Lozinsky showing up for christmas dinner one year.  

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm

Well he wasn’t on there but it did give me the opportunity to read up on the latest updates to the worst of the worst the FBI is hunting. Bin Laden is there of course and I read up on Jason Derek Brown.  He’s a rich, murdering, play boy who likes to show off his toys at clubs while being the center of attention.  Oh and the report also said he also has bisexual tendencies.  If that was me I’d turn myself in just to clear that misconception up.

Show’s why I don’t/can’t work for the FBI.   First of all I’d never pass the obstacle course at the academy. Rope climbs are the bane of my existence.  Second I’d just say all criminals were gay, hope they had a problem with that and turned themselves in to set the record straight.  I’d call it projects “Who ya’ll calling  gay?  I ain’t no gay”

One thing I did notice was how awful the Ten most wanted logo was. I hate to critique stuff like this, especially if I’m not getting paid to, but it doesn’t look right.  I want my fugitive hunting logos to be bad ass, macho, gritty.  This looks more like a logo for a really bad sitcom that was on after full house during the T.G.I.F. line up in the 90’s.  

It's a wacky show about husband and wife rouge fugitive ex FBI agents rasing eight fugitive children they adopted in an online auction. Tune in for the humor, hilarity, and hijinks this fall on ABC

A nice wholesome family show

****PLEASE NOTE THIS FAMILY DOES NOT CONTAIN WANTED FUGITIVES.  I JUST GRABBED THE PICTURE OFF A GOOGLE SEARCH TO USE IN THE JOKE.  IF YOU SEE THEM DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ARREST THEM.  THEY COMMITTED NO CRIME***