The Fangirly Show: Episode #4 Fangirling Over Girl Power

Ellen and Whitney get deep into it while discussing strong females on TV and movies, diving into which shows are doing the ladies proud and which have some explaining to do.  How are gender politics affecting fandoms?  And is SNL doing right by its ladies?  Plus, a rapid fire game of Either/Or to get to know us better.  Star Wars or Star Trek?  Friends or Seinfeld?  Listen to find out!

You can listen and subscribe HERE on iTunes or you can go HERE to listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

girl power

Get With the Program: Jane the Virgin

jtvAirs: Mondays at 9:00/8:00c on The CW

UPDATE: The show just got picked up for a full season!

TV show equation:  Jane the Virgin  =  telenovella / Spanish language + occasional Spanish language x better production quality x cheeky self-awareness.

Premise in a Sentence:  At its most basic, Jane accidentally gets artificially inseminated after spending her life maintaining her virginity.

But this show has gone absolutely bonkers.  In the best way possible.  She was inseminated with a sample from her boss, Rafael, who she also had a romantic moment with 5 years ago.  Jane had gone in for a simple exam, but her doctor, Luisa, was discombobulated after walking in on her girlfriend cheating on her.  Luisa realized her mistake when she walked into her next appointment and saw her sister-in-law, Petra.  Oh, yeah, Luisa is also Rafael’s sister.  Also, Jane’s boyfriend, Michael, who she has been holding off for two years, proposes in the midst of all this.

I think that is all I am going to give you for now, because some of the other reveals are far too delicious to spoil for you and I really want you all to give this one a shot.  Even though it has only had two episodes, I’m going to go out on a limb and declare this one my favorite new show of the season (the only possible competition is Marry Me, which get the Happy Endings bump).

If you are anything like me, you heard the premise or saw the promo and had to keep from rolling your eyes, but this show won me over in it’s clear awareness of the ridiculousness of the premise.  If you watch some of those more soapy dramas like Scandal and Revenge and find yourself thinking “Oh, boy, that would never happen in real life but I love it anyway”, then you are really going to like this one.  The show’s humorous narration basically calls out how unbelievable some of the plot can be and to great effect.

This cheeky quality helps the plot to be a lot more fun, but it also helps the show to have tender moments without getting too schmaltzy.  Gina Rodriguez plays the titular Jane with a lot of heart and strength.  Jane’s romantic entanglements are already promising to be intriguing and the other relationships already range from sweet to over-the-top scandalous.

I triple dog dare you to get to the last 10 minutes of last night’s episode,  in which they dropped at least 5 bombshells, and tell me that you are not hooked.  You can’t turn down a triple dog dare.

Marry Boff Kill: New Fall 2014 TV Shows

You may not have noticed, but we love TV here at Fangirly.  Like, love love.  So much so that I attachments I form to my shows are lasting and real.  I thought I might try and predict which shows I want to spend my life with/have a one-night stand with/give the axe.

Marry:

gothamGotham – As Whitney so perfectly summed up yesterday, this show has some things working against, but from where I sit, it is one of the most promising of this new crop of shows.  I’m a little hesitant to tie myself to a show that is almost exclusively comprised of villains as that may get trying, but i have faith in the human decency of Baby Commissioner Gordon.

marry meMarry Me – Do you know what else I have faith in?  The creative team behind Happy Endings.  Comedies always take a bit longer to find their groove, so even if I am not sold on this one within the first few episodes, I am going to stick with it.  I initially gave up on Happy Endings after the first couple of episodes.  It makes me weep to think about how I was part of the problem.  I will not do the same thing to this show.  If only for the possibility that someday the whole cast of Happy Endings will guest star as Wilson’s old college friends or something.  Have I mentioned that I love Happy Endings?

the flashThe Flash – Those smarty-pants at DC Comics and The CW know how to guarantee an audience for a new show.  Just air a back door pilot during a show that already has a rabid fan base and then guarantee crossover episodes for years to come so that said fan base has no choice but to also watch the new show.  I also saw this pilot at Comic Con and it promises to be a fun, poppy, comic book romp.

Boff:

janethevirgin_pilot_1_1200_article_story_largeJane the Virigin – I am not just picking this because it is humorous to boff the “virgin show”. Back when the promo for this show came out, it would have gotten a kill, but early buzz is pretty good with great reviews for star Gina Rodriguez and it is not too hard to convince me to watch a sweet CW show.

Mulaney – Please be good, Mulaney, please be good.  There is a lot riding on this one for me.  If it is good, I will get a weekly dose of John Mulaney’s patented blend of dorky, pop culture infused stand up.  If it is bad, I will cry.  The multi-cam format with a laugh track has me worried but I am trying to be optimistic.

gracepointGracepoint – I haven’t yet gotten around to watching the UK source material, Broadchurch, but I feel like that may work in my favor for this US version.  Bonus boffability points for David Tennant with an American accent. I’m weirdly into it.

Kill:

selfieSelfie –  There is so much here that I want to like.  I mean, Karen Gillan in a My Fair Lady retelling?  What’s not to like? I don’t know but this looks kind of stupid.

Scorpion – CBS hammered the final nail in this show’s coffin when it obnoxiously self-promoted on my beloved Big Brother.  Stay out of my trashy television!

Cristela – This show seems to be cashing in on the ethnically-diverse-female-who-pokes-fun-at-her-weight card that Mindy is already working.

 

Ellen