Last week we covered the most interesting, most complex, most watchable characters on tv. (Trust me, that comment section is one to check out.) But the lovely Amy Berner reminded us of a good point in her comment: some characters are more crushworthy than best-of worthy.

Leah suggested we take that tv crush topic and turn it a post of its own.

That’s just what we’re doing.

And, as always, we fully expect/encourage/downright beg you to share your own answers in the comment section below. You’d be shocked how much enjoyment the Smart Pop team derives from your participation on this site!

My Personal Top-Five TV Crushes:

1. Pacey Witter (Dawson’s Creek). When I re-watch Dawson’s Creek now, I cringe my way through …

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This is probably an indication of a very boring life, but I was excited to see that ABC Family will start showing Friday Night Lights in syndication on September 7. Friday Night Lights is one of those shows that everyone says is amazing but I haven’t gotten around to seeing because there’s just so much out there, and because starting it seems like an undertaking I am not fully equipped for. (Also on that list: The Wire.) FNL is Jennifer’s favorite show, though, and we’re talking about putting together a Smart Pop book for next summer, so the timing works out nicely. And it’s just one more reason to appreciate ABC Family.

I not-so-secretly love ABC Family (which is why I’m working very hard to forgive it for The Secret Life …

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I’ve spent a lot of time this week with your Dollhouse contest entries. And while we’re a ways off from announcing winners, there are a few things I can share now about the essays we’ve received.

(A caveat: The figures below are in no way scientific. They’re the result of my very fallible note-taking, and they should be used for entertainment purposes only!)

We received almost 100 essays, in total. Just about every entry received had something great going for it: an inspiring, creative idea or great writing. And we’re going to have a hard time narrowing them down. I don’t envy Ms. Espenson her work! 

A very shoddy gender breakdown, derived solely from name-based assumptions:

• At least 54% of the entries

…

» Continue Reading “Your Dollhouse Contest Entries: A totally unscientific breakdown”

Since we now have an official end date for Lost (sadly, May 23) and with Dollhouse ending just last week, I’ve been thinking of my favorite series finales. The ones that did their fans justice and tied up all those pesky loose ends with touching scenes and lines.

Oh, when I think of my favorite, I think of Dawson’s Creek. (I can admit to watching AND loving that show without you thinking less of me, right?) There was laughter and lots of tears and happy endings and…more tears. The show wasn’t always great, but the finale definitely was.

Now, your turn. What’s been your favorite series finale to date?…

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Leah was nice enough to introduce me yesterday (thanks, Leah!), and you can read a little more about me on our about page if you’re interested. But for today, let’s jump right into the good stuff: what on earth are you watching this week?

I anticipate this blog becoming a great place for conversation, and one thing the Smart Pop team loves to talk about is what TV shows we’re addicted to. Once a week or so, I’ll ask our readers to share what they’re watching or what they’re most looking forward to watching. I think it’s a great way to talk about our favorite shows and possibly introduce something to the team we hadn’t thought to watch. We like to publish books on properties …

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Finished with your holiday shopping yet? Yeah, me neither.

The internet has brought us many wonderful things, but one of my favorites is easy access to an explosion of television-related merchandise. Below we’ve put together a few last-minute gifts for the TV addict in your life—none of which requires braving a mall.

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For the True Blood fan . . .
A 4-Pack of TruBlood or a Merlotte’s t-shirt

HBO is clearly at the forefront of the tv-related-merchandise game (check out the rest of their store here), but their True Blood stuff is the best. Their TruBlood is gorgeously packaged, and apparently pretty tasty. Their Merlotte’s shirt is a great, subtle bit of fanware (compare, for example, to shirts with the actors’ faces on …

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They say everything old is new again. This is particularly true in entertainment, as we now live in the Age of Remakes. Sometimes it feels like every other movie, television series, or song on the radio is something old that has been “reimagined”—a word that can send shivers up your spine if you have fond memories of the original.

I’ll go ahead and reveal that I always view such “reimaginings” with a healthy dose of skepticism. The storyteller in me asks if something was done right the first time, why does a new generation need to muck it up? The businessman in me understands that intellectual property that is already widely recognized has a built-in audience. And the geek in me was going to tune …

» Continue Reading “Red Spraypaint: A Professional Geek’s First Thoughts on the New V”

Consider: A woman inherited psychic abilities from her mother, including the ability to speak to the dead, and after initially looking on this as a curse, she’s come to accept it as a gift that gives her life purpose. She’s happily married to a man who didn’t know about her abilities when they met, but who has grudgingly come to accept them as real, despite his own rationalist views. She uses her psychic powers to solve mysteries, trying to put things right for the spirits she communicates with. What TV show does this describe?

There are, of course, two correct answers: Medium and Ghost Whisperer.

It used to be that Medium was on NBC on Mondays, and Ghost Whisperer was on CBS on Fridays, …

» Continue Reading “Melinda Gordon, Meet Alison Dubois”

There’s been some talk in the last week (and as early as June) about Hulu probably, sometime, starting to charge, for something. Working out my feelings, as an occasional Hulu user, about this turn of events has been tricky. But it also brought something to my attention that I hadn’t quite realized: Hulu is owned by the same people who own NBC, FOX, and ABC.

Which, for me at least, alters the whole whether-or-not-Hulu-should-charge conversation.

Now, I’m not going to pretend to know a whole lot about business models. But I do watch a lot of tv, and I know what’s liable to drive me away from watching tv online: having to pay for the privilege.

Which is really kind of …

» Continue Reading “Why TV Wants to Be Free”

You may have noticed: there’s a lot of television on Thursday nights.  My DVR tapes while I watch, and I still have to visit Hulu if I want to be caught up.

That, I suspect, is why no one’s yet realized: Fringe and Supernatural? Secretly the same show!

Consider the evidence:

Each show has an almost preternaturally earnest main character (Olivia and Sam).

Each show co-stars a Dawson’s Creek alum whose first name begins with the letter J (Joshua Jackson and Jensen Ackles).

And the kicker? William Bell is clearly science fiction’s answer to Supernatural’s Yellow-Eyed Demon.

Both prepared children for a war. Both seem to feel a vaguely creepy attachment for their biggest success. And as it turns out, conducting drug …

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