Grey’s Anatomy

8 Things For Which I Am Thankful…

These are the (mostly television related) things that I am most thankful for this year. It has been another year of ups and downs and this is what helps get me through it all.

1. Family and Friends
I love my Austin family, but I am so excited to be home this year for Thanksgiving. The weekend will be comprised of dinner at my aunt’s house (including my Aunt Gilda’s sweet potato casserole, made with *lots* of butter and bourbon!), watching the Eagles game IN PHILLY (even though they have been playing horribly, #InChipWeTrust #FlyEaglesFly), building a gingerbread house from scratch with my niece for the first time, at least one trip to Wawa and one lunch from Lee’s Hoagie House, and drinking wine/catching up with old friends!

2. Jane Gloriana Villanueva
Jane the Virgin continues to be my favorite show on television. It is so funny and heart-warming and it just makes me happy. Jane, in particular, is such a fantastic, well-rounded, up-lifting character, and it is my life goal to be friends with her. I know she is not a real person, but a girl can dream. Seriously though, if you are still not watching this show, I am not sure we can be friends anymore.

janenutshell

3. Greg Berlanti
I pretty much live inside his brain Monday through Wednesday while watching Supergirl, Blindspot, The Flash and Arrow. I am also very much looking forward to the start of Legends of Tomorrow. I never thought I would be watching this many superhero shows, but they are all SO GOOD! I don’t know how Berlanti does it all, but this TV nerd is glad he works so hard to bring us great shows.



4. Netflix
I have been using Netflix since sophomore year of college and no one listened to me back then when I told them they absolutely had to be using this awesome new service. Netflix should have been paying me for how much I talked about it. Now, there are so many fantastic new shows, I do not even know where to begin. If you are not watching a least one of their original programs, I just don’t know what you are doing with your life. Also, sometimes you just need to watch your favorite episode of Friends or The West Wing at that exact moment.


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8 Servicewomen…

Since I gave you my list of favorite TV Servicemen for Veterans Day, I now present my favorite TV Servicewomen in honor of Independence Day.

1. Jill Perez – Enlisted, played by Angelique Cabral.
Perez is a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army assigned to a Rear Detachment Unit stationed at Fort McGee in Florida. She wants to be an Army Ranger and she smells like America.

2. Julia Richmond – Strike Back, played by Michelle Lukes.
Sergeant Richmond is the chief communication officer and field operative for Section 20, an elite covert British military intelligence and counter-terrorism unit originally formed within the Secret Intelligence Service.

3. Hollis Mann – NCIS, played by Susanna Thompson.
Before joining the Department of Defense, Hollis was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army and part of the Criminal Investigation Division.

4. Margaret ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan – M.A.S.H., played by Loretta Swit.
Major Houlihan was a member of the United States Army Nurse Corps and in charge of all the nurses at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M.A.S.H.) during the Korean War.

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8 Traumatizing Deaths…

There is something you should know about me: I am a crier. I thought about posting clips instead of images to go along with these choices, but I could not even bring myself to re-watch every scene. The current season of Sons of Anarchy is poised to kill off *at least* one major character and I have heard that something major may happen on Parenthood. Every week I mentally prepare myself just in case and I always have tissues ready. They came in handy last week for the unexpected Bones death. With all of that in mind, I decided to create this list of character deaths that have traumatized me.

1. Jenna Sommers – The Vampire Diaries, played by Sara Canning. This show set an early precedent that no one was safe when they killed off Vicki in the seventh episode, but I was still not prepared for Elena to lose both of her parental figures in one episode. John had not really been around that much, but Jenna was the one that took care of Elena and Jeremy day-to-day and she had only just learned of the existence of vampires.



2. Opie Winston – Sons of Anarchy, played by Ryan Hurst. Not only was Opie just a great character but, as my friend Rolee reminded me, he volunteered his death. He knew someone had to die, so he offered his own life to save his friends and help his club.



3. Joyce Summers – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, played by Kristine Sutherland. For this one, it was not so much the death itself that was traumatizing, it was the way Buffy responded to her loss. As the slayer, she was always the one person who could save everyone and this was really the first time that she could not do anything to change what had happened.



4. Catelyn, Robb and Talisa Stark – Game of Thrones, played by Michelle Fairley, Richard Madden, and Oona Chaplin. I only read the first book of this series, so I was not at all prepared for the Red Wedding. I knew Robb was supposed to die at the end of the season, but was not expecting the brutality of their deaths. The image of Talisa getting stabbed in the stomach is forever seared in my brain.

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8 Opening Credits That I Always Watch…

These days, a lot of shows do not really have a full opening theme, they just have a name card, but I really enjoy credits when they are done correctly. Most of my choices are due mainly to the music used for each show and sometimes it is hard to pinpoint exactly what about each one I enjoy, but they all make me really happy when I watch them…and I always watch these.

1. Grey’s Anatomy I am obviously referring to the original credits, as now they just flash the name of the show with random hospital sounds in the background. I just thought that they were creative and fit the mood of the show. I am not sure why they stopped using them, but I still miss them.

2. Jack & Bobby The music is from the movie The Patriot and was composed by the amazing John Williams. I love the combination of this soundtrack with clips of former U.S. Presidents speaking.

3. Deadwood This one is actually the ringtone on my phone. I love the music and the images used. It is beautiful, sexy and captivating.

4. Suits I am not really sure what it is about this one that I enjoy so much. I just think the music and the lyrics in the song really fit with the show. Love that Greenback Boogie!

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