grits (on the side)

betheball:

jamandtelly:

Why Felicity Is Kind Of Terrible (And Why I Still Love It)
So. Felicity is the least J.J. Abrams show that J.J. Abrams has ever made. There are no explosions or mysteries or supernatural enigmas, unless you count the explosion of passion between Elena and Tracy, or the mystery of why people think Julie’s a good musician, or the supernatural enigma of Felicity’s hair. But I’ve never had a problem with works outside the oeuvre, and I’ve been totally obsessed with Felicity for a few weeks. It’s like Gilmore Girls. But without all the adults and banter.
And that’s reason number one why it’s not very good. It’s about 100% feelings. Whereas Gilmore Girls is 70% feelings and 30% hilarity, Felicity just plods along, making sweeping generalizations about life and carefully documenting every emotional epiphany that Felicity has (honestly, how many times can that girl realize how she feels before she runs out of ways to feel??). The humor that there is comes from low-caliber jokes that the characters make. Watching Felicity is like hanging out with a group of reasonably entertaining friends who all sleep with each other constantly, except more irritating because there’s this one girl who won’t stop confessing her feelings to you. It’s exhausting.
But honestly, I don’t think I would have noticed how boring Felicity is, if it hadn’t been for this goddamn love triangle. Felicity just dates Ben and Noel, over and over. She takes a couple breaks for some other guys who, surprise, break up with her because of her feelings for Ben and/or Noel. But mostly it’s just a long game of do-I-love-Ben-do-I-love-Noel-who-do-I-love-what-help-me-I’m-so-lost. It was cute for a while. But seriously.
I’ve only just finished the second season, and this number is probably a little off because I just counted on my fingers real fast, but I’m fairly certain she’s gone back and forth 8 times. That’s 4 times a season. FOUR TIMES A SEASON.
But in spite of it all, Felicity is still queued up on Netflix instant watch. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because it plays to the need to see relationships form. Nobody wants to see the middle, just the first kiss. As annoying as Felicity is, it does give us exactly what we want: a whole bunch of first kisses between ~soul mates~ or whatever. We don’t want to see Felicity kiss guys she’s not that into, or guys we’re not that into. We don’t want to see her kiss Ben or Noel in that we’ve-been-dating-for-two-years-and-I-still-love-you-but-it’s-not-that-exciting way. We just want to see out-of-the-blue first kisses with people we know she’s meant to be with. Felicity has four of those per season (on average).
But there’s also something powerful about seeing someone else having emotional epiphanies, especially when you’re waiting for one yourself. When you’re trying to make a tough decision, or figure out how you feel, or recover from a rough breakup, it’s nice to see a girl who waffles on average four times per season figure out exactly what she wants. It gives you a little hope. Makes you think maybe you can sort out your crazy web of feelings too.
But it’s terrible, and I think I’ll stop watching it soon.
…just as soon as I finish this episode. (I can’t believe Noel got married!)

You’re only up to season 2. There are no supernatural enigmas …. YET.

Felicity’s on my short list of TV shows I can watch over & over. What’s on yours?

jamandtelly:

Why Felicity Is Kind Of Terrible (And Why I Still Love It)

So. Felicity is the least J.J. Abrams show that J.J. Abrams has ever made. There are no explosions or mysteries or supernatural enigmas, unless you count the explosion of passion between Elena and Tracy, or the mystery of why people think Julie’s a good musician, or the supernatural enigma of Felicity’s hair. But I’ve never had a problem with works outside the oeuvre, and I’ve been totally obsessed with Felicity for a few weeks. It’s like Gilmore Girls. But without all the adults and banter.

And that’s reason number one why it’s not very good. It’s about 100% feelings. Whereas Gilmore Girls is 70% feelings and 30% hilarity, Felicity just plods along, making sweeping generalizations about life and carefully documenting every emotional epiphany that Felicity has (honestly, how many times can that girl realize how she feels before she runs out of ways to feel??). The humor that there is comes from low-caliber jokes that the characters make. Watching Felicity is like hanging out with a group of reasonably entertaining friends who all sleep with each other constantly, except more irritating because there’s this one girl who won’t stop confessing her feelings to you. It’s exhausting.

But honestly, I don’t think I would have noticed how boring Felicity is, if it hadn’t been for this goddamn love triangle. Felicity just dates Ben and Noel, over and over. She takes a couple breaks for some other guys who, surprise, break up with her because of her feelings for Ben and/or Noel. But mostly it’s just a long game of do-I-love-Ben-do-I-love-Noel-who-do-I-love-what-help-me-I’m-so-lost. It was cute for a while. But seriously.

I’ve only just finished the second season, and this number is probably a little off because I just counted on my fingers real fast, but I’m fairly certain she’s gone back and forth 8 times. That’s 4 times a season. FOUR TIMES A SEASON.

But in spite of it all, Felicity is still queued up on Netflix instant watch. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because it plays to the need to see relationships form. Nobody wants to see the middle, just the first kiss. As annoying as Felicity is, it does give us exactly what we want: a whole bunch of first kisses between ~soul mates~ or whatever. We don’t want to see Felicity kiss guys she’s not that into, or guys we’re not that into. We don’t want to see her kiss Ben or Noel in that we’ve-been-dating-for-two-years-and-I-still-love-you-but-it’s-not-that-exciting way. We just want to see out-of-the-blue first kisses with people we know she’s meant to be with. Felicity has four of those per season (on average).

But there’s also something powerful about seeing someone else having emotional epiphanies, especially when you’re waiting for one yourself. When you’re trying to make a tough decision, or figure out how you feel, or recover from a rough breakup, it’s nice to see a girl who waffles on average four times per season figure out exactly what she wants. It gives you a little hope. Makes you think maybe you can sort out your crazy web of feelings too.

But it’s terrible, and I think I’ll stop watching it soon.

…just as soon as I finish this episode. (I can’t believe Noel got married!)

You’re only up to season 2. There are no supernatural enigmas …. YET.