Musical Monday: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Once More With Feeling) - Walk Through The Fire (#42).

[Every Monday, I'm going to be counting down my 52 favorite musical numbers from musical movies and TV shows. I might not like the full movie/show, but the number makes the list for various reasons: 1) I have to like the song, 2) the visual of how the number is performed is most likely unique or fun, 3) both song and visual mixes well to create an exciting or powerful number. So let's get to the next on the list.]

This is the first musical number from a TV show that has appeared on the list thus far. I only have a few, but musical episodes are always some of my favorites, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer is no exception (Fun Fact: It was this episode that Darren Lynn Bousman used to talk the studio execs into letting him cast Anthony Stewart Head as the lead in Repo! The Genetic Opera). Anyway, I chose Walk Through The Fire in particular because it's a decent mix of drama and comedy--and because Spike has some really good lines in it. Anyway, that's about all I have to say on it.

TV Meme: Day 30 - Saddest Character Death.

Warning: If you have not watched Season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 3 of 24, or Season 3 of LOST, and you intend to, DO NOT READ THIS POST.

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We reached it, people! Day 30--the final day of the TV Meme. And today we're discussing the saddest character death. Of the three choices I came up with, my actual answer is the second of the three. So let me explain the others first.

My first thought, of course, was Charlie Pace from LOST. Sure, his character started to get a bit annoying in Season 2, but then he begins redeeming himself in Season 3. And right when you start to love him? He dies. Sacrificing himself within the Looking Glass Station, Charlie saves Desmond by locking himself in a flooding room. Then comes the iconic moment when he places his hand on the glass with a note declaring "Not Pennys Boat," Desmond putting his hand to the other side. And then he dies. The full scene can be seen here:

The final one I came up with is one I'm surprised actually took me that long, considering it's the most recent one of the three I've seen. The death I'm talking about here is, of course, Ryan Chappelle from 24. Chappelle was a very hateable character. Almost not even in a love-to-hate him kinda way. You just disliked this guy. But then comes the moment when Jack is told that he needs to kill him. Ryan is immediately flustered, showing he's not the tough a-hole he appears to be on the outside. The majority of the episode is dedicated to them trying to find the terrorist, but they end up in the wrong location, and time runs out. Jack takes Ryan to the designated train yard. They have their final talk. Ryan tries to dignify it by killing himself, but he can't go through with it. Jack then takes the gun and does it himself. I have to say, this episode had amazing writing. To take a character you hate and, in less than an hour, make you care for him so much to where you're nearly in tears by the time he's dead... wow. But it's not the best one (or saddest), in my opinion.

The winner, if you haven't guessed it by now from the warning at the top of this post, is Joyce Summers in Season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Previously Joyce having thought she was over her brain tumor, it suddenly resurfaces and kills her. The episode begins as Buffy walks into the living room and sees her mother dead on the couch. The rest of the episode is how everybody deals with the death (which also leads in to Willow and Tara's first on-screen kiss). I think what helps the sadness in this episode is the fact that there is no music playing throughout the entire episode. It's just this uncomfortable stillness and silence. Most movies or TV shows always accompany their major death scenes with dramatic music. This episode shows you how to make a highly effective death scene without it. Here is a short video of clips from the episode set to "Mad World":



And that's my saddest character death.

Thanks to everybody who made it through this last 30 days with me! It's been fun (and challenging) to come up with answers for every day, with some days where I just felt too lazy to do it. But I did it anyway! Below is a list of all the days over the past month and my answers:


Day 01 - An Unfairly Canceled Show (Dead Like Me)
Day 02 - A Show Needing More Viewers (Greek)
Day 03 - Favorite New Show From This Past Season (Glee)
Day 04 - Favorite Show of All Time (Boy Meets World)
Day 05 - A Show I Hate (Dancing With The Stars)
Day 06 - Favorite Episode of My Favorite Show ("And Then There Was Shawn")
Day 07 - Least Favorite Episode of My Favorite Show ("On The Fence")
Day 08 - A Show Everyone Should Watch (Glee)
Day 09 - Best Scene Ever ("Bohemian Rhapsody" - Glee)
Day 10 - A Show I Thought I'd Hate But Ended Up Loving (Battlestar Galactica)
Day 11 - A Show That Disappointed Me (Leverage)
Day 12 - An Episode I’ve Watched More Than 5 Times ("Road to Rhode Island" - Family Guy)
Day 13 - Favorite Childhood Show (Power Rangers)
Day 14 - Favorite Male Character (Eric/Cappie/Lafayette/Spike/Dexter)
Day 15 - Favorite Female Character (Sue Sylvester)
Day 16 - My Guilty Pleasure Show (iCarly)
Day 17 - Favorite Mini-Series (Harper's Island)
Day 18 - Favorite Title Sequence (Jack of all Trades)
Day 19 - Best TV Show Cast (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Day 20 - Favorite Kiss (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Day 21 - Favorite Relationship (from Gilmore Girls)
Day 22 - Favorite Series Finale (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Day 23 - Most Annoying Character (from Dexter)
Day 24 - Best Quote (from Greek)
Day 25 - A Show I Plan on Re-Watching (Dexter)
Day 26 - Biggest Season Finale Shocker (from Dexter)
Day 27 - Best Pilot Episode (Glee)
Day 28 - First Show Obsession (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Day 29 - Current Show Obsession (True Blood)
Day 30 - Saddest Character Death (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Thanks again, and I hope you enjoyed it!

TV Meme: Day 22 - Favorite Series Finale.

Going into Day 22, I honestly had no idea what I was going to choose. A few others have said it already, but I'll reiterate. What makes choosing a favorite series finale so difficult is that series finales usually suck. They don't live up to expectations, the content of the show has drastically declined by that point, or a plethora of other reasons that I'm sure you can figure out on your own. I've done Google searches to see what other people have said were their favorite series finales, and the majority of them are for shows I never watched (Newhart, Six Feet Under, etc.).

There are so many shows I have watched that have had disappointing (to some degree) series finales. Battlestar Galactica, while wrapping up pretty much everything, still left me feeling unsatisfied with the answers I was given. LOST, while giving me almost no answers, was simultaneously decent and disappointing. To be honest, those are really the only two (besides the better two I'm about to say) that I can recall even seeing. Most of the shows I've watched seem to get canceled before even getting a proper series finale. The one I was gonna go with for a while was that to Boy Meets World, but that didn't sit too well with me as a choice. Why? Because, essentially, it was just a montage episode. You know, one of those episodes that just has the characters recalling events from all the past seasons for the nostalgia factor. Of course, there were some great moments in this finale, specifically the classroom scene at the very end with Feeny telling them all (after they leave) that he loves them all. It's a tear-jerker scene.

But for all-around quality, I think I'm gonna go, yet again, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There was a battle of epic proportions. Every character got a shining moment (some more literally than others). There was good comedy. There was a major character death. There was a great "relationship" moment. There was a bit of final redemption. And there was a closer that was reminiscent of the opener, book-ending the whole thing nicely. I can't say I've seen a finale any more satisfying than this one.

TV Meme: Day 20 - Favorite Kiss.

Warning: There are spoilers in this post (this is primarily aimed at Rachel).

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I didn't want to do the same couple for Day 20 (Favorite Kiss) that I'm doing for Day 21 (Favorite Couple). So I'm changing it up a bit. Today, I'm going to talk about a kiss that was the talk of the town when it first happened. There really hadn't been much like it on regular TV before this, where gay/lesbian couples would straight-up make out during a television show (and actually, one of the characters is involved with the very first lesbian sex scene on network television). Not to mention they were just the cutest couple ever. Yeah, that's right, I'm talking about Willow and Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The first kiss happens in essentially one of the most depressing episodes ever, which I won't spoil... in this post, anyway. But my favorite kiss is probably from the Season 6 episode "Entropy," where they try to gain back trust with each other and, well... this happens:



Yeah. Best. Kiss. Ever.

TV Meme: Day 19 - Best TV Show Cast.

NOTE: I will be on vacation starting today, but posts will continue. I have set things to post on certain days... I'm on the ball! Not like you would have known one way or another, though... just felt like sharing.

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Day 19, best TV show cast, was always between a handful of choices. When I think of a great cast, I generally think that it has to be great from the main character down to the most inconsequential of characters. Or there are ensemble casts, where every character was cast just perfect for the role. And then, of course, the characters have to be good/engaging/entertaining, even if you just hate them so much you love them. It has to be a cast where you just can't possibly see any other people in those roles and doing it any better than the ones that were chosen.

So, of course, my mind went to two immediately. The first, of course, is LOST. It was a show that relied so heavily on its ensemble cast, and you came to know them so well, even down to those characters that may have been in one episode. Those characters still made an impact... sometimes literally (Arzt, anyone?). But I'm not choosing LOST. Why? Because everyone and their mother (Hi, Mrs. Thuro!) choose LOST for this. The second show that came to mind was Heroes. Despite it being the cool thing to hate Heroes after season 1, I stuck with it and actually enjoyed it (for the most part). Sure, it went off the rails, and there were a ton of missed potential moments. But we're talking about casting, not the show. Can you picture anyone else than Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura? Or Milo Ventimiglia as Peter? The casting for the show was perfect; the problem came from the writing. So why not go with Heroes? Because, well, I did say one of the requirements was characters had to be "good/engaging/entertaining," and some of them just got awfully boring or annoying after a while.

So where am I going with all of this? What cast am I choosing? The one that includes Xander, Willow, Giles, Tara, Anya, Angel, Spike, Faith, Dawn, and (yes) Buffy... and eventually another that I won't mention for Rachel's sake (it's a season 6/7 thing). But he's hilarious. Oh, and formerly Oz and Cordelia. If that wasn't enough, of course I'm talking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Forget LOST and Heroes, these characters are iconic and part cult history. They all have different personalities. They're all likeable in different ways (again, even if it's in a "love to hate" kinda way). What other cast could pull off vampires, werewolves, hunters, demons, 'key of light' thingy, witches, nerds, and lesbians (and sometimes nerdy lesbian witches) so well? Not really much more to say... so I'll leave it at that.

Five Great Things About Joss Whedon.

The last time I did one of these was almost a year ago with Keanu Reeves. I felt it necessary (and timing-appropriate) to do another... this time about Joss Whedon. Unlike Keanu, almost everybody who actually knows who the hell Joss Whedon is either appreciates, likes, or loves the guy. He's the guy that brought us the ever-so-popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. But besides those two shows, Joss has had the worst luck creating anything lasting on television. And you could even argue it only worked with Buffy, since Angel was canceled before it was meant to end, as well. But almost everything he touches these days is either canceled almost immediately (from Firefly to the current show Dollhouse, which even star Eliza Dushku doesn't seem to have much hope for in the 'lasting' department... at least from what I've heard). Luckily, most of it hits a cult status almost immediately, so he still makes some kind of money. But now, I want to honor 5 great things that have come about because of Joss Whedon... outside of the obvious (Buffy, etc.).

1. Nathan Fillion. Joss popularized the guy, even though Nathan had been around for nearly 10 years before Joss got a hold of him. First giving him a leading role in Firefly (and the later spin-off film Serenity), then a villainous role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and then yet another villainous (though superhero) role in the most recent Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, Joss has made the guy into the Bruce Campbell for this generation. Granted, this generation still worships Bruce Campbell, too, but they're like two peas in a pod. They really should work on something together...

2. Repo! The Genetic Opera. I know, you're saying to yourself "But Joss didn't have anything to do with that movie." And you're right. However, Joss' brilliant work with "Once More With Feeling," the musical episode of Buffy, brought notice to Anthony Head's amazing singing ability. And it was actually because of this episode that director Darren Lynn Bousman requested Anthony Head for the role, and the very episode that got the producers to agree with it instead of going with a more big-name star. And I have to say, with anybody else besides Anthony Head in that role, the movie would have been, as the Spaniards would say, el terrible.

3. Neil Patrick Harris as a triple-threat. We all know Neil Patrick Harris. But it wasn't until Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog that we realized Neil Patrick Harris could do amazing acting, show brilliant comedic timing, and sing magnificintly... sometimes all at once. For me, he went from "Doogie Howser" to "The best part of Harold and Kumar" to "Doogie Howser is gay?" to "the guy from How I Met Your Mother" to "Holy crap, it's Neil Patrick Harris. I wanna see more of him." But I didn't reach that last point until Joss Whedon got a hold of him.

4. Titan A.E./Toy Story. Does anybody else remember Titan A.E.? Personally, I think it's vastly underrated to the point where nobody ever talks about it. It has some great voice acting from the likes of Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, Drew Barrymore, and Ron Pearlman. It also has a fun, imaginative, and interesting story. And the story, along with its witty dialogue, was brought to us by none other than one of its screenwriters, Joss Whedon. Similarly, and I didn't realize this until not too long ago, Joss Whedon was one of the four screenwriters of Toy Story. He was up for the Oscar and everything. A man of many talents, huh? For the record, I included both of these together as more of a 'hidden writing credit' category.

5. Feminism in television/movies. Joss Whedon, in almost everything he does (especially if he's more personally involved), has strong female leads--oftentimes literally, physically strong. But where most filmmakers wouldn't risk it for whatever reason, Joss always shakes his finger at the male-dominated industry and does things his own way. Then again, maybe that's why he can't keep a project going very long (Hell, even his attempted adaptation of the popular Wonder Woman fell through, as no producers could agree with his vision... or he just couldn't get around to writing it. One of the two). But one thing is always certain where Joss Whedon is involved: females will never be mere damsels in distress.