Friday, May 26, 2017

Female-centered shows I love

It's pretty common knowledge that I'm more into TV than the average gal. But my obsession with a certain show has reached critical mass the past few weeks, and that show is Pretty Little Liars.

Y'all. What even? This show is on Freeform fka ABC Family, and (while the characters have now aged up) it's about high school girls. And I started watching it when I was 26! I am so not the target audience for this shiz. But I'm HOOKED. I tried to quit somewhere around season 2-3, but ended up binging to get caught up, and I've watched religiously ever since. And now it's the last season, and we're going to find out who Uber A/A.D. is (the girls have been tormented by this A villain for seven seasons; they've unmasked other As in the past, but this is the big kahuna).




It's also the first show I've been this into while acknowledging that it's a ridiculous show. I enjoy watching it, but I equally enjoy reading the recaps that crap on it, like this or this or this. Things are just silly at this point. Nothing is realistic. Ever. But I CAN'T QUIT WATCHING.

I even changed my flight so that I'd arrive in time to attend the ATX Festival panel with I. Marlene King (creator of the show). That's fairly cray. It's not as if she's gonna tell us who A.D. is. But still, it's the panel I'm most excited about at this year's fest.

In less embarrassing news, there are a few other shows I've been digging lately that are, like, actually good.



First up, Sweet/Vicious. This gem was cancelled by MTV after one season (because they needed more room in their schedule for reality garbage? IDK. MTV is not great at keeping decent shows around). We've got Bryan Cranston's daughter, Sam from You're the Worst, and a vigilante coming for rapists when the system fails to punish them. Yaas. I love that there's a show focused around this subject matter, and I love that the characters are developed and not completely predictable (e.g., the sorority girls aren't just bimbos). It's kind of like Dexter, except with better clothes and more laughs. And even though the story won't be continuing, the single season has a decent arc that won't leave you totally unsatisfied.




Another show I'm very into right now is The Handmaid's Tale. Based on a novel of the same name (that I haven't read, but now want to), it follows the lives of several handmaids, women forced into service as reproductive slaves. They're assigned to wealthy/powerful families so the husband can impregnate them and they can provide the family with a child. The whole premise is beyond fucked up, but I'm engrossed and terrified every time I watch it. Also, Elisabeth Moss is a damn dream as Offred, the central character. I never watched Mad Men, so I'm late to the party, but this woman can act. And the whole dystopian society/government overtaken by religious crazies is pretty timely, given all the crap going on in our world at the moment. We're not on this level, but christ knows what's going down in the future. And that makes this show scary AF.

My brain is mush and beyond ready for the long weekend, so I'm gonna end things here. What shows have y'all been into lately?