Fall TV Living Up to Expectations?

Fictionista

Last month I talked about the shows I was most looking forward to. Now, an accounting to see if the shows lived up to my expectations.

Scandal: Shonda Rhimes and company did not disappoint. It was a riveting hour full of intelligent writing, great scenes and OMG moments.

Scandal was just named the #1 Twitter TV show, based on Nielsen statistics and its premiere was watched by 11 million people. If you're not watching--and I don't understand why you aren't--Season 1 is available on Netflix. Get started. :-)

Sleepy Hollow: I am loving this show. It's fun and entertaining with clever writing and incredible chemistry between the leads. Last week's episode had Crane wondering if he needed to change his look to fit the period, which leads me to believe a make-over is coming. And I can't wait. Tom Mison is a good-looking man who needs to be liberated from his 18th century hair and uniform. It's already been picked up for a second season, but the first season only got an original order of 13 episodes, so it'll be a long wait in between.

As an author of interracial romance, it does my heart good to see the interracial pairings (BW/WM) on TV. Between Scandal, Sleepy Hollow and the Tomorrow People (best friends) fans of interracial relationships aren't relegated to niche fiction on the internet.

What new shows have caught your attention this Fall?

Tracey Livesay's debut novel, The Billionaire's Socialite Bride, will be published by Entangled Publishing in February 2014.  She blogs here on the third Monday of every month. If you like the flavor she's bringing, you can check out her blog, Mimosas at Midnight or Like her Facebook page.

Where's the sisterhood?

At our blog, we pride ourselves on being authors who write intelligent, strong, positive heroines. As a group of bloggers, we work to support each other in our publishing careers. When you are around these types of women, you forget that not all women are treated in the same manner. Three stories this week make that issue abundantly clear.

First, Disney faced a maelstrom of criticism with their choice to give Merida, from the movie Brave, a makeover. 

Original Merida

"Makeover" Merida

Second, H&M rolled out their summer campaign featuring a model more in line with the average American woman, only to face comments that she’s too fat and she needs to lose weight.

Finally, an Oklahoma City Thunder NBA cheerleader, was called out on a blog post, written by a woman, for being “too chunky.” The passive aggressive nature of the post is a thin veil for its meanness. The blogger thinks the cheerleader is beautiful, but she's just "discussing what men like." Did this post even need to be written?

The lack of sisterhood is disturbing and it’s very pervasive. Even on something like reality competitions where the American public votes, most of the winners turn out to be “attractive” boys, the magnet for the tween/teen girls who tend to vote. While watching Good Morning America on Friday, where they were discussing this week’s Dancing with the Stars finale, an anchor mentioned she thought the lone male left standing would win because young girls are the ones “who vote.” On shows like Survivor, where alliances are important, you rarely see women align together, even when they have the numbers on their side.

Am I the lone “conspiracist,” foil hat and all, for seeing a link between these stories? Or am I a seeing a problem where none exists? 

January & the Globes

January.

The first month of the year. 

A time of resolution. A time of revelations.

But not for me. I'm not promising myself I'll get to the gym more often or making a list of all the tasks I'll finally get to, like cleaning the closets or organizing my photos.

Oh no. January, for me, is all about the Golden Globes and fashion.

This was one of the best ceremonies in a long time, thanks to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. The ladies were funny and classy and they kept things moving. In fact, the only thing I didn't like about them was that I didn't see them enough! I hope they're back next year, but I wonder if repeat performances will ruin the perfection of this one.

That said, here's my breakdown of the ceremony:

The Hollywood Foreign Press (HFP) got it right: Ben Affleck and ARGO, if only to show the Academy is a bunch of dicks!

The HFP got it wrong: Hugh Jackman. I love Hugh, although not as much as most people. Still, that award belonged to Bradley Cooper. I understand my fellow WiseWench, Sofie Couch, may disagree with me, but Bradley was awesome in Silver Linings Playbook and I'll take his baby blues any day of the week! Come on, Sofie. Bring it!! ;-)

Best Monologue Joke:  "I haven't paid attention to the controversy surrounding Zero Dark Thirty but when it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron." 

Worst Sense of Humor: Tommy Lee Jones. Maybe the cameras got him at a bad moment. But Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig were funny. Come on, Tommy Lee, smile for the camera.

Off-camera moment I'd love to see: I love Ben Affleck. I've always been fan, even when it was hard to say so. But I would have loved to be in the seat beside Ben and Jen's table when the other Jen stopped by to chat. Runner-up moment: Jen Garner hanging out with Bradley Cooper and Victor Garber. Alias reunion!

Now, the fashions...

Best dressed

Anne Hathaway in Chanel. Simple and stunning. Beautiful.


Worst dressed

Rachel Weisz in Louis Vuitton. Daniel Craig was the only beautiful thing she was wearing and even he wasn't looking his best.


Overrated

Kate Hudson in  Alexander McQueen. Her body was banging, and she looked good. But that's it. JMO


Did you watch the Globes? What did you think? Who would you pick Hugh or Bradley?

Make sure you join me next month for my Oscar recap!


Tracey Livesay just signed a contract with Entangled Publishing for her interracial, contemporary romance, The Billionaire's Socialite Bride and the other two in the series. She blogs here on the third Monday of every month. If you like the flavor she's bringing, you can check out her blog, Mimosas at Midnight or Like her Facebook page.

Merging Holiday Traditions

I loved Christmas when I was a kid. I wish I could say it had something to do with the religious aspects, but it was the presents, the toys. It was the best time of the year because I got more toys than I could conceivably play with... although I did give it my best effort.

In our family, we opened gifts on Christmas morning. During the night, while we slept, Santa brought our gifts and left them out for us. There were four of us kids, and we all had our special spot. Mine was the single chair in the living room. When I came down Christmas morning, my chair would be covered with toys and clothes. Not wrapped, just neatly laid out.  The year I got a new bike it was parked next to my chair. The same with the chalkboard I received the following year. It was like a party. And later, after my parents woke and got their coffee, we attacked the wrapped gifts under the tree; the ones we'd gotten each other. It was a wonderful experience and although I couldn't put it in words then, when I got older I knew I wanted that same experience for my children.

My first week of law school I met the man who would become my husband. Now, this blog post is not the place for THAT story, but we were inseparable from that moment on. Christmases during the years we dated and the ones after we married, before children, we spent rotating between our two families. He was surprised the first holiday he spent with my family to learn we opened gifts on Christmas morning.

His family opened gifts on Christmas Eve!

As I expressed my incredulity, he went on to share his childhood experience of opening gifts at night on Christmas Eve. And all of his gifts from Santa were wrapped and nestled under the tree. I smiled indulgently, but I knew in my heart that if he was lucky enough to spend his life with me, our children would follow my family's traditions, not his weird ones.

Ten years later, we had a choice to make. We had three children and one was old enough to understand Christmas and look forward to it. We'd continued visiting our families during the holidays, but we both knew it was time to start our own family tradition, and that meant staying at home.

And settling the long debate of Christmas Eve versus Christmas.

We both had valid reasons for our preference and they were backed by years of emotions and memories. It wasn't easy, but we had to do what was best for the family we created, not the ones we grew up with. And in the end, we came up with a compromise that has since become our family tradition. We open gifts on Christmas morning, but they are all wrapped and nestled under the tree, even the ones from Santa.

From the W3 family to yours... Happy Holidays!!

What are some of your favorite Holiday traditions?

Tracey Livesay
True Love in black & white
www.traceylivesay.com
Mimosas at Midnight
Twitter: @tlivesay
Facebook: TraceyLivesayAuthor