Full House TV Show

Full House was a comedy sitcom that became quite well known and helped to make several stars into household names. Bob Saget played a father who raised his household of three daughters with help from his friend (played by Dave Coulier) and “Uncle” Jesse (played by John Stamos). Bob Saget’s character was the strictest of the adults in the household and the one that most closely fit the idea of a typical parent. Dave Coulier’s character was goofy, and would best be described as “not all there”. Jesse was a musician and was much more lenient than all the adults. The oldest of the girls was DJ, who was a typical girl trying to be popular and liked by her peers. The middle girl was Stephanie who often struggled to make her own way in a family in which she had neither the responsibility of the eldest, nor the adoration of others like the “baby” of the family. The youngest daughter, Michelle, was shown as cute on account of her being so young. Michelle was played by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Using identical twins to play one character on the show allowed the show to more easily shoot without breaking restrictive rules on hours of work for young child actors.

A number of the stars from full house are still household names after their careers were made in Full House. Bob Saget has become a familiar comic and later hosted America’s Funnies Videos for a number of years, becoming famous for his very unfunny lines. John Stamos now acts in the medical drama ER. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson have matured and because brands of their own, with numerous products they have marketed to create a financial empire of their own.

The Bachelor TV Show

The Bachelor is a reality TV show that focuses on one “bachelor” and twenty-five women who fight for his attention to be chosen as his future wife. Various contests between the women help decide who is eliminated along the way. The man who the women are attempting to woo makes a great show each time of being very conflicted in his choice of who to keep and who to “send home”. Those who stay or leave from each episode are chosen in a rose ceremony, in which those who stay receive a rose, those who must leave do not.

A common criticism of the show is that it seems quite insincere at every step of the way. The women often may seem as if they are just claiming to be in the show for love while really hoping just to win versus the other women. The promise of true love that the show seems to promise, that the winner and the bachelor will fall in love, marry, and live happily ever after has proven to be elusive. The show has a terrible track record as far as the love lives of the couples after each season is over. Almost without fail, the couples are no longer together, so this show can not even really pretend to present a believable fantasy. The settings are often quite opulent though, and many are entertained by the drama of the competition as well as the wealth and beauty of the settings where the show’s events take place.

NCIS TV Show

NCIS is a crime drama TV show that is set within the Naval Criminal Investigative Service instead a police force, with a resulting focus on military related crimes involving the U.S. Navy or Marine Corps. Gibbs is the supervisor who achieves a legendary status amongst his underlings for his abilities to figure things out before anyone else and to suddenly appear whenever he is mentioned in a conversation. He often identifies strongly with the idea of honorable service and Marines, as he is a former Marine himself. Tony is a cocky, womanizer agent whose inflated self-opinion is held in check by those around him. McGee is a hardworking but insecure agent. Ziva is an Israeli Mossad agent on loan to the U.S. government who has become a de-facto NCIS agent. Abby is the lab technician who dresses as a goth and performs one scientific miracle after another within the confines of her lab or the computer. Ducky is the medical doctor who performs the autopsies and provides the medical expertise. Some of the traits are so exaggerated as to be understood to be gags, as they wouldn’t possibly happen in real life. Abby would never be allowed to dress as she does on a daily basis while working in a government agency. Gibbs’ ability to suddenly appear when mentioned borders on the supernatural. This is probably meant to be humorous or just exaggerate like a folk tale. The show is based quite firmly in a realistic science-based genre instead of a supernatural theme.

Bones TV Show

The Beverly Hillbillies is a classic TV show, no longer on air, about a family of hillbillies who become quite rich when they discover oil on their land, and decide to pack up and move to Beverly Hills, where rich people are supposed to live. The conflicts and humor arise out of the reactions of those around them as they commit social blunder after social blunder because of their unfamiliarity with the rules of proper society. The Clampetts were usually pretty oblivious even to the fact that they were breaking some rule or other, and there were rarely any lasting consequence other than embarrassment for others. Granny Clampett was particularly superstitious and prone to misunderstanding that were blown out of proportion and turned into fuel for an episode’s plot, while Jed, the patriarch, was the most levelheaded of the bunch (though still quite a hillbilly). As would be expected, the hillbilly tendencies and country manners (or lack of it) was exaggerated for humorous effect.

The show has been off the air for quite some time, and is not currently played regularly on any station. Nor is it likely to ever benefit from a revival of interest. Buffs of old movies and TV shows must turn to the internet in order to be able to catch shows such as this anymore. Of course, with the internet as an option, the lack of airplay for the show is not a problem, as you can select one of the show’s many past episodes to watch any time you desire.

Beverly Hillbillies TV Show

The Beverly Hillbillies is a classic TV show, no longer on air, about a family of hillbillies who become quite rich when they discover oil on their land, and decide to pack up and move to Beverly Hills, where rich people are supposed to live. The conflicts and humor arise out of the reactions of those around them as they commit social blunder after social blunder because of their unfamiliarity with the rules of proper society. The Clampetts were usually pretty oblivious even to the fact that they were breaking some rule or other, and there were rarely any lasting consequence other than embarrassment for others. Granny Clampett was particularly superstitious and prone to misunderstanding that were blown out of proportion and turned into fuel for an episode’s plot, while Jed, the patriarch, was the most levelheaded of the bunch (though still quite a hillbilly). As would be expected, the hillbilly tendencies and country manners (or lack of it) was exaggerated for humorous effect.

The show has been off the air for quite some time, and is not currently played regularly on any station. Nor is it likely to ever benefit from a revival of interest. Buffs of old movies and TV shows must turn to the internet in order to be able to catch shows such as this anymore. Of course, with the internet as an option, the lack of airplay for the show is not a problem, as you can select one of the show’s many past episodes to watch any time you desire.

Providence TV Show

Providence is a touching TV drama show about a doctor who returns to her roots and discovers greater happiness in her hometown. Dr. Sydney Hansen is a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills who is successful and wealthy. She travels back to her childhood neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island, where she encounters a slower pace of life and reexamines her priorities. After deciding to settle down, and switch her medical practice to that of family practice she explores issues like her family and romance within the setting of Providence.

The theme is a common one that has been seen many times. It is the story of the city-slicker who finds comfort in the intimacy of small-town life. It is a story of the comforts of the big city, wealth, and fame being unable to compare to the love of family and the closeness of sincere friends instead of the insincerity of a faster paced life. Another theme is that of the prodigal returning home, though in this case, the doctor has not committed any great sins needing forgivingness upon her return home, but just seeks to return to the comfort of family. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing that the show fits some well known themes so fully, because it is often the details that make a show succeed or fail. Providence is a TV show that certainly appeals to a particular audience with its feel-good storyline, but giving that audience what they like is a good thing; the rest can just keep looking.

Moonlight TV Show

Moonlight is a TV show about the paranormal, with a private investigator Mick St. John, who also happens to be a centuries-old vampire, his love for a mortal woman, and his dealings with the other vampires he knows in the Los Angeles area. His need for blood hinders his ability to have a normal relationship with his human lover, so he hopes to be able to return to a fully human state himself. His ex-wife, who originally turned him into a vampire centuries before seems to have discovered a way to do so, and has brought up Mick’s hope. The show has completed its first season in May 2008 and its future is uncertain. The show has officially been cancelled, but the results of a campaign to continue the series is still unknown.

If it is not continued, then the show will likely never be shown again by television networks. For those that have watched the show and grown to love it, internet TV is probably the only way to be able to watch it again. It will allow you to revisit Mick St. John from time to time, and to follow his adventures with his vampire friends and human lover when the memory of past episodes becomes fuzzy. If the show does continue into future seasons, it may do so on a different network, which makes viewing it through the internet even easier than the trouble that would otherwise ensue from trying to watch all of a program that has switched networks.

What Not to Wear TV Show

What Not to Wear is a fashion makeover show that originally aired in Britain, and now is also a U.S.-based series as well. In the U.S. version, the hosts of the show are Stacey London and Clinton Kelly. After choosing their subject from write-ins by fans, the show follows the “victim” for two weeks, often filming them in fashion disaster outfits with the help of their friends and family. After the hosts announce to the show’s subject that they are going to do a makeover, and get their approval of the process, they go through the subject’s closet. Unacceptable styles are thrown out, and then they all go on a five thousand dollar shopping spree in New York for a new wardrobe. Stacey and Clinton retain a large voice in the new clothes, while the subject picks out and models clothes based on the pairs’ advice. The subject also receives a hair style makeover, as well as a professional make-up job and tips (if female). In the end, the subject comes out in their new look before their gathered friends and family to bask in their applause.

The show does cater to a particular look, and Stacey and Clinton have a recognizable preference for a particular fashion sense. The show fails for those that may truly prefer a quirkier, more individual sense of style, and instead provides a mainstreaming influence for those few victims who were hoping to opt out of the herd in their view. Much of the time, however, the subjects on What Not to Wear do appear grateful after the fact, if embarrassed at first, because they may have felt oblivious to how to dress fashionably.

Supernatural TV Show

Supernatural is a TV show about two brothers who must deal with demon infestations as they travel about as seek to save their own lives and battle supernatural evil as many of the people around them remain unaware of the true threats they face. Sam and Dean Winchester come from a dark family history that is tied up in dealings with demons and they are constantly pursued by forces of demons. Their mother was killed by a powerful demon, and the two brothers follow in the footsteps of their father in combating demons and their plots. They are constantly on the run from police, who wrongly suspect them of countless murders as the result of their adventures. At the end of the past season, the third, Dean Winchester is in Hell, having previously sold his soul to bring his brother back from death. Supernatural will continue at least for another season, with no word on whether a longer run than the next season is planned for the TV show.

Catching the show over the internet remains one of the newest and most convenient ways of watching the show. Rather than watch the reruns on the CW during the offseason played in a haphazard order, internet TV watching of this show lets you maintain the order of the storyline if you decide to go back and refresh your memory of past seasons. It also makes it less confusing if you miss an episode and would be otherwise lost at the storyline, as you could go back and make sure you were up to date on any previously missed episodes.

House, M.D. TV Show

House, M.D. is a popular TV show about a sarcastic yet brilliant medical doctor, Gregory House, and his attempt to a patient’s mystery ailment. Hugh Laurie plays the Doctor on the series, strangely enough managing a perfect American accent despite his British nationality. Each episode is roughly formulaic with a patient first being admitted under a somewhat mysterious life-threatening condition. House and his staff proceed to test theories, throwing out the most probable as tests or daring experiments are performed. In the end, the patient is often saved from death of an incredibly rare condition through the brilliant work of Dr. House, and the clueless bumbling of his underlings. This formula is not absolute, of course, as the patients occasionally are not saved, and the case is solved too late, shortly after the patient’s death.

Part of the appeal of House, M.D. is its near impossibility. A doctor as wild and undisciplined as House would likely fail to be able to keep any job in a real hospital due to the risks of lawsuits and malpractice. While results matter, and in the show he is a virtuoso at diagnosing and curing rare disorders, his methods often cross the line into unethical and illegal. He is addicted to prescription painkillers as well, though the addiction is shown to interfere in his life, it does not interfere with his medical judgment or legendary luck. The show likely also appeals to many because House seems to operate outside the rules that everyone else must follow, and he thrives doing so.

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