VP Jeebies
I find it hilarious that McCain has chosen some dumb-ass ex-beauty queen to be his vice president. It's just so seriously miscalculated that it's pure comedy. But, in all seriousness, this has to have been the most desperate, laughable and most-likely-to-backfire turn of events in the entire campaign so far. In a shallow, grovelling attempt to grab votes from those so enraged by Hillary Clinton's failure that they're considering voting for the opposition, McCain has handed the second most important job in the country to this woman. Now, I'm no big Hillary supporter anymore (in fact I think she's done some really nutty things these past couple of months), but to believe that any old woman would automatically win over the Clinton supporters is not only silly, but also damn insulting to Mrs Clinton herself. Sarah Palin sounds like an idiot, has questionable values, is against everything Hillary stood for, and has the White House experience of a fly, even admitting she's in over her head when it comes to international issues. For some bizarre reason, McCain's only criteria for a great vice presidential candidate were that they must be a) pro-life b) anti-gay and c) estrogen-heavy. And don't forget that if something bad happens to the 72-year-old (!) McCain, this lady will be our president. It's so ridiculous. If anything, this will only work in Obama's favor. How can anybody criticize him for being inexperienced when somebody who's only been the governor of Alaska for less than two years has been chosen as McCain's running mate? And the (today supposedly debunked) Bree Van De Kamp scandal she was involved with, as well as today's revelation that her 17-year-old daughter is knocked up just again prove what a fraud she is. Sums up the whole Republican party. Preach garbage about how clean your life is, when beneath the surface is a whole bunch of scandal and hypocrisy.

Ehh. I'm done ranting. Not out of frustration, by the way, but just out of my own hilarity at this turn of events. Low, Mr McCain, low.

25 Best #25-21
In less ranty news, I'm starting my top 25 list of my favorite ever shows. Seeing as everybody else is doing lists right now, I figured I'd jump in too.

25 Melrose Place (FOX) (1992-1999)
Creator Darren Star
Starring Heather Locklear, Thomas Calabro, Grant Show, Marcia Cross, Laura Leighton
It's funny to remember what Melrose Place was like during its first season (Who can forget the thrilling "Allison buys a new car" subplot?? Or Billy's scandalous dilemma over joining his families' furniture business!!??), but all of that changed when pint-sized ball-buster Amanda Woodward showed up, screwed everyone over (both metaphorically and literally, I may add) and produced some of the best catty wisecracks since Dynasty. Melrose Place was always on in the background while I was growing up, since my Mom was a huge fan, but I managed to catch almost every episode again in syndication, and it was so fun to watch the show's many ups and downs over the years. The best story arcs included Sydney getting lured into a cult by legendary porn queen Traci Lords, Kimberly blowing up the complex, Matt getting framed for murder by his bisexual lover, Syd becoming a stripper and a hooker, Jo's many, many psychotic boyfriends, her baby's psychotic British nanny, Brooke's ghost appearing in the pool, Kimberly's plan to lobotomize Peter, that swimming pool catfight and Amanda's huge rivalry with Allison at D&D. Of course, the show eventually flew off the rails and jumped about a gazillion sharks around season six, and the ridiculous high-school-murder-Rena-Sofer-badly-wigged-flashback arc pretty much sealed the deal. The show got canceled and failed to go out in a blaze of glory, but several seasons of campy, guilty pleasure-ific trash remain. So '90s, and so awesome.
Favorite Episode The show hit its pop culture peak with the infamous "tearing off the wig" episode The B*tch Is Back, with Kimberly rising from the dead and wreaking havoc.
Favorite Character It's hard to choose between the show's three ultimate bad-ass b*tches Amanda, Kimberly and Sydney, but Heather Locklear really did make the show, so Miss Woodward gets my vote.

24 The Others (NBC) (2000)
Creators John Brancato, Michael Ferris
Starring Julianne Nicholson, Gabriel Macht, Missy Crider, John Billingsley, Bill Cobbs
Barely anybody has ever heard of this but The Others was a short-lived horror series about a group of psychics, of various ages, who each week investigated paranormal mysteries ranging from the human to the supernatural. While only thirteen episodes were produced, every one featured either innovative storylines, or entertaining variations on familiar territory. Plus many episodes were written by the amazingly talented scriptwriting duo of Glen Morgan and James Wong, who's most memorable creation on the series was the terrifying "entrance demon" played by Kristen Cloke, who mercilessly targeted her victims with the sinister question of "what do you want?". Even to this day that creeps me out. The ensemble cast were all uniformly great. Julianne Nicholson (who went on to star in about a million quickly canceled series) made for a strong lead as the skeptical Marian, while I loved Missy Crider as the zen psychic Satori. A hugely underrated series canceled way before its time, and one of the last drama series to air on Saturday nights. Great theme song too.
Favorite Episode In terms of atmosphere, I loved Luciferous, in which Marian is tormented by a ghostly spirit living in her apartment's wallpaper. It took a great show to make such a corny premise both credible and scary.
Favorite Character Elmer Greentree was not only the dependable, headstrong spiritual leader of The Others, but Bill Cobbs instilled in him a slightly dark underbelly, of a fractured man with a shady past.

23 Thief (FX) (2006)
Creator Norman Morrill
Starring Andre Braugher, Mae Whitman, Malik Yoba, Clifton Collins Jr, Yancey Arias
One of those shows I don't think anybody saw, Thief was a short-lived FX drama which had its premiere date delayed by over a year due to Katrina, and then had its episode order cut short from 13 to just 6. Other than winning Andre Braugher an Emmy for Best Actor in a TV Movie or Mini-Series (even though it was never promoted as a mini-series), the show never got any other critical acclaim. But, despite that, Thief was truly memorable. Dark, brutal and depressing, the show was about a group of professional thieves in New Orleans who find their personal lives falling apart while preparing their latest scheme. At the center of the show was Braugher's character's relationship with his stepdaughter Tammi (played amazingly well by the disturbingly talented Mae Whitman), which was so much more convoluted than originally thought, coming to an emotional head when Tammi called him the n-word. Braugher played his response with saddened shock, while Whitman acted both stunned and in self-disgust of what she had said. The entire moment blew me away. Thief was depressing as hell, but featured such powerfully written characters (Malik Yoba's family man, Clifton Collins Jr.'s disillusioned Catholic) that you struggle to not feel sympathy for everybody involved. If anything, it'll really turn you off a life in crime. Everybody suffered on this show, and practically everybody died in the end too.
Favorite Episode Flight, which saw the team's plan finally put in action. Tense, dramatic, and featuring a really surprising death I did not see coming.
Favorite Character Even though she got literally fried in episode two, Linda Hamilton's fence Roselyn was pretty awesome.

22 24 (FOX) (2001-)
Creators Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran
Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Dennis Haysbert, Carlos Bernard, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Reiko Aylesworth
It's unfortunate that 24's reputation for great storytelling was kinda destroyed by season six, especially since we've had to wait nearly two years for the writers to prove us otherwise. But when you put things into perspective, 24, at its best, was innovative, dramatic and one hell of an adrenalin rush. Season one was so tight in its narrative, everything made sense, and every episode piled on an additional mystery to an already convoluted puzzle. Jack Bauer was like The Terminator, pretty much indestructible, and always chasing after some evil genius. Plus, we had that unintentional hilarity of Teri's amnesia, and Kim's numerous kidnappings. And to this day I still get chills at the memory of Nina looking up at that camera after slicing Jamey's wrists, her eyes so intense and lifeless. The other great seasons were three (Virus!Kick-assMichelle!Hotel!) and five (CrazyFLOTUS!EvilPOTUS!Aaah!), both excellently scripted and relentlessly entertaining. But, despite so much greatness, 24 is obviously deeply flawed as well. It's become notoriously more conservative in its later years, with it's over-reliance on torture nasty, and the criticism of Amnesty "Global" being plain gross. And the lack of strong female characters (besides Michelle, Mandy and arguably Dina, the show's ladies have either been so whimpering they're barely there, or so work-obsessed that they're cold and b*tchy is disappointing too. But before the show got buried beneath its own Republican morals, it was exhilarating genius.
Favorite Episode Day 3: 6:00am-7:00am, which features one of the most devastating death scenes I've ever seen on television. Proving further how great this show is, the character that died completely sucked in every way imaginable before this one episode.
Favorite Character Bad-ass, frequently naked, frequently murderous assassin-for-hire Mandy, who always manages to show up just before the sh*t hits the fan. Damn, Mia Kirshner's awesome.

21 Roswell (WB/UPN) (1999-2002)
Creator Jason Katims
Starring Jason Behr, Shiri Appleby, Katherine Heigl, Brendan Fehr, Majandra Delfino
Roswell always felt like one huge missed opportunity. Though it aired for three seasons, it frequently felt like it didn't know which direction to head in. This was probably down to network meddling, but even with that in mind the show usually felt a little unsteady. I really loved the first season's downbeat (almost subdued) nature, like a Dawson's Creek set in this weird world with aliens. The cast had genuine chemistry, and it helped that pretty much all the characters were interestingly written. None of them were really pigeon-holed, and even some of the less showy characters (like Maria, Kyle and Valenti) had a lot of depth to them. Season two saw the show obviously take advantage of its sci-fi roots, with some intriguing if unfulfilling arcs. I loved the Skins, but the alterna-alien New Yorkers were pretty embarrassing. It was also disappointing to see the show regularly cave in to fan demands, with Tess suddenly becoming a crazy murderer with little build-up. Season three was again unbalanced, but I actually liked the whole "Isabel getting married" arc, maybe because it looked like Katherine Heigl was for once enjoying her character. The show got canned (for the second time) but we at least got a neat ending. However ultimately disappointing the show was, I loved Shiri Appleby, Majandra Delfino and Colin Hanks, and the show at least kept me entertained every week.
Favorite Episode Surprise, which put Katherine Heigl center stage in a tense, shocking mystery that was definitely the highlight of the series for me.
Favorite Character One of the most genuine, relatable characters on TV, Majandra Delfino's Maria. Great girl, but only when she wasn't singing...

Footnotes
Apologies for not commenting on a bunch of people's blogs these past couple of days, I've kinda suffered from absent-itis there, heh. But I'll try and catch up.

Watch Me
I'm completely producing a cheap knock-off of tvfan's latest blog here, but here are the shows I'm planning on watching this new season (which I can't believe starts in like two weeks!)

90210
Airs Tuesdays at 8pm on CW
Premieres September 2
Cast Shenae Grimes, Tristan Wilds, Lori Loughlin, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth
This is undoubtedly gonna be major garbage, but the presence of Shannen Doherty is enough to make me tune in for a while. But with actors of questionable talents (Nip/Tuck's Eden, for one) and a whole bunch of lies, sex and Scientologists in its cast of characters, this could be the most addictive trashfest of recent times. Who knows?
Preview YouTube
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Dollhouse
Airs Mondays at 8pm on Fox
Premieres January 2009
Cast Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry Lennix
How can anybody not watch this show? A great cast, and a complete genius behind the scenes. The only worry is that its on Fox and the confusing premise, which could potentially alienate audiences. It could be a break-out hit, or it could be another Firefly.
Preview YouTube
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Eleventh Hour
Airs Thursdays at 10pm on CBS
Premieres October 9
Cast Rufus Sewell, Marley Shelton
I'm only tuning into this for Marley Shelton, who I love and is completely underrated by the way. The premise isn't exactly groundbreaking, while the show's been getting nothing but negative buzz since it shot the pilot. Still, love Marley.
Preview YouTube
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Fringe
Airs Tuesdays at 9pm on Fox (two-hour pilot at 8pm)
Premieres September 9
Cast Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Kirk Acevedo, Lance Reddick
Whatever the promo campaign tells me, I don't think this will be TV's equivilant of the second coming, but I'll still give it a try. Although neither the cast or the guys behind it (shocking, I know, but JJ Abrams doesn't exactly inspire confidence) really interest me. Still, it's a monster-of-the-week show, and I like that.
Preview YouTube
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Kath & Kim
Airs Thursdays at 8:30pm on NBC
Premieres October 9
Cast Molly Shannon, Selma Blair, John Michael Higgins
I've never seen the Australian show this sitcom is based on, but I think it's hilarious that two overly uglied-up actresses have been transplanted to the USA played by two gorgeous ladies in Molly Shannon and Selma Blair. That's Hollywood for ya! This show has gotten some negative buzz so far, but I love both leads, so I'll judge for myself when I see the first episode.
Preview YouTube
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Life on Mars
Airs Thursdays at 10pm on ABC
Premieres October 9
Cast Jason O'Mara, Harvey Keitel, Gretchen Mol, Michael Imperioli, Lisa Bonet
I was never going to watch this originally (the story doesn't really interest me), but the fact that ABC managed to get together such a great cast intrigued me. But, yeah, the storyline doesn't exactly blow me away so far. And the '70s location could either get old fast or become too campy for its own good. I'll at least tune into the pilot.
Preview YouTube
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My Own Worst Enemy
Airs Mondays at 10pm on NBC
Premieres October 13
Cast Christian Slater, Saffron Burrows, Madchen Amick, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell
The premise is overly confusing and Bourne Identity-lite, but the appealing cast is enough to make me tune in, at least for the pilot. Could it be the next big spy show, or will it leave me as cold and frozen as Christian Slater's overly-Botoxed forehead?
Preview YouTube
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Sadness
I was saddened this week to hear about Christina Applegate's double masectomy. It's tragic that she had to go through that, but if she thinks it's the best thing for her then we should all just support her. I saw her in Sweet Charity a couple of years ago, and she was really awesome, and in general she just seems like a really sweet lady.