POC Media Week 2: July 23 – July 29

I did much better this week. Sixteen hours of entertainment had diverse people/characters while seven hours did not. This supports my guess that the books I read and movies I watch are critical. The Olympics helped too.

I have a long queue of books but TV/movie suggestions are appreciated!

Kevin Hart videos:
Pass. For obvious reasons. (approx. 30 mins)

ClutchMagazine:
Pass. The content of this online magazine targets urban African-American women. (approx. 30 mins)

That’s So Raven:
Pass. I loved this Disney channel show as a child!  Raven and her family are goofy and loving, and the show doesn't turn race into an "issue." (approx. 30 mins)

Who is Sugar:
Pass. Sugar is a super fabulous YouTuber. Her vlog covers everything from fashion, hair, and beauty. Her cat Tiny co-hosts. (approx. 10 mins)

Pretty Little Liars:
Pass. Same as last week. (approx. 2 hrs)

Continuum:
Pass. A classmate suggested I watch this show. I’m not feeling it after the first three episodes (I’m not the biggest sci-fi fan; take those elements away and the show is kina meh.) but there is a fair bit of diversity in the cast. I expected more Asians though since the show takes place in Vancouver. (approx. 3 hrs)

Miguel Street by V.S. Naipaul:
Pass. This book highlights characters from a slum in Port of Spain, Trinidad. (approx. 2 hrs)

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce:
Fail. This is the story of one man and that man is white.  (approx. 4 hrs)

Olympics:
Pass. The house party section of the Opening Ceremony was full of win. June’s hair? *swoon* I love it. And of course the Parade of Nations was a gorgeous sample of the peoples of the world. I love the Olympics. :) (approx. 6 hrs)

The Fellowship of the Ring (movie):
Fail. There are no people of color in Middle-Earth. At all. Stop looking for them. No existen. (approx. 3 hrs)

A Time to Kill:
Pass. Movie set in Mississippi about a white lawyer defending a black man. Random fact: I saw a clip of this movie years ago and thought it was To Kill a Mockingbird. (approx. 2 hrs)

Watching What Happens

I did not write a blog post about the season premiere of Being Erica because, truth be told, I found it a bit underwhelming. But, as I am not one to publicly bash my favorite show, I will wait until after the second episode to give a good critique.

So instead I turn to my favorite reality show. I watch way more reality TV than I would like to admit but since Top Chef is pretty respectable (it did win an Emmy after all) I don't mind talking about it.

I am very excited for Top Chef: All Stars. I think any fan who had been watching since the beginning (Remember that season? The one with the host who was not Padma?) always wondered what would happen if their favorite cheftestants went head to head. Now we will finally find out!

The official list is on bravotv.com so I won't rewrite it here. I do have my own list of the chefs I am most excited to see back.

From Season 1, I can't wait to see Tiffani back in the kitchen. She was bold, sometimes abrasive, and the inspiration of what I would argue is the most memorable Top Chef quote of all time: "I'm not your bitch, bitch!" She made it all the way to the finals and, as Tom Colicchio said, could have won. Maybe she she will prove once and for all that the original is still the best!

The return of Casey from Season 3 is also exciting. My heart broke when I watched the finale of her season because I felt she was just off her game that day. She had shown throughout her season that she is a phenomenal chef.

Season 4 had so many talented chef so it is not surprising that out of the four contestants they brought back I am excited to see three. Richard, Spike and Dale are very different chefs with very different personalities but there was never a time during the show that I doubt their passion and ability to put out delicious food. Sigh. Someone really needs to invent taste-o-vision. Or Top Chef needs to come to Toronto.

Fabio and Carla are returning from Season 5 and apart from being great in the kitchen they also had really fun personalities. Carla went all the way to the finale. There was some controversy, with some people blaming Casey (who was her sous chef) for the loss but I think that's nonsense. Carla had an off day and did not cook "her food." After learning that lesson I'm sure she'll be a force to be reckoned with.

I liked Jennifer from Season 6 because she was such a hard-core chef. She was clearly one of the forerunners from the beginning and I think she will do well in this new season.

And then of course there is Season 7's fan favorite. I really love Tiffany. She was fun and smiley and always brought her A game. I teared up just a tad when she got eliminated.

Top Chef: All Stars will premiere December 1st. I'll be watching. Will you?

Season Preview: Being Erica

This is my first article for the Varsity this year. I watched the season premier on Tuesday and was not at all disappointed. It really is great show. I encourage EVERYONE to watch it.

Missing Erica

Tomorrow is Wednesday and I have nothing to which I can look forward. She would come by every week to fill my heart with laughs and tears. But now she's gone. I miss her already.

Okay, maybe that's a tad overdramatic. But when "Being Erica" had it's season finale almost a month ago, I was left with an entertainment void that has been hard to fill. It's amazing how attached one can get to television.

This time last year, I was in South Florida preparing to move to the arctic tundra. My first priority was to catch up on pop culture. Though I would be a repatriated Canadian (I was born in Montreal, raised in Florida, and now lived in the Greater Toronto Area) I did not for a minute think I would be exempt from culture shock. So, I changed my homepage to cbc.ca and tried to learn Canadian culture by osmosis. It didn't work.

Flash forward to January. Walking through Union Station I was bombarded with the building's wall to wall "Being Erica" wraps. There was something unnerving about walking over the face of a smiling woman. Still I paid no attention. Until that fateful day when I accidentally clicked the sidebar ad for the show. Don't you hate that? You're on the internet trying to procrastinate and then some ad pops up and next thing you know you can't even remember what you were trying to do in the first place! Very annoying.

The ad brought me to the "Being Erica" website, which led me to the blog. It was hilarious. So I did the logical thing and watched the episodes that were online. Fabulous. From that day on I was hooked. I watched every episode as soon as I could both on TV and online. I would then immediately run to Erica's wall (because by this time of course, Erica was my Facebook friend) and leave comment. Then I would scurry over to the Facebook group dedicated to the show. It was great fun. Before I knew it, I had a favorite show in Canada.

That was invaluable. Prior to "Being Erica" I was scouring YouTube for episodes of my favorite American programs. I remember bawling because I missed the finale of "Top Chef Season 4." But now there was a show that was Canadian through and through: it was shot in Toronto with Canadian actors and was aired on CBC. That's as canuck as you can get with out picking up a hockey stick. There was a sense of community and exclusivity; I had the joy of both recognizing my city as the backdrop to the show and of knowing that for once Americans were clamoring to find a Canadian show. (A quick aside: I find it strange that ABC Family has picked up "Sophie" which was kind of lame in my opinion, while, as far as I know, no American stations have picked up "Being Erica.")

And then, all too soon, it was over. The show concluded with an emotionally charged cliff-hanger of a finale. Then nothing. The marketing team, who up to this point had been amazing on giving Erica presence off the show, cut the cord and left viewers desperate for more. The video blog that preceded the season was not resumed. Erica's Facebook page is not updated. And every Wednesday at 8:59 EDT I realize that there's nothing to watch.

Say Auf Wiedersen to Runway?

Now, I always take AOL news with a grain of salt but I was pretty distressed when I saw this article. Apparently, there is a good possibility that season 5 of Project Runway will move from BRAVO to the worst of all TV networks - Lifetime!

I know, I know, the horror is overwhelming. But it seems like the process is already underway. In my opinion, Lifetime had a good reason for trying to nab such a great show, but ultimately it will be a lose-lose situation for all parties involved.

BRAVO: Project Runway is a great show with a passionate fan base. Losing it would be akin to losing an arm - not fatal but really really painful. Not to mention the huge amount of advertising dollars that comes with Project Runway. TRESemme hair care, L'Oreal Paris makeup, Saturn, BLUEFLY.com, and ELLE magazine all poured money into making Project Runway a succes. Where is that money gonna go? Lifetime?

Lifetime: Sure they would be getting a great show to add to their line up. But the question remains: will the fans follow? I for one wouldn't watch Lifetime for anything. Also would Project Runway really improve their ratings? If people did tune in to Lifetime for Heidi's sake, they'd watch Project Runway and only Project Runway. Most likely they would use DVR to record it and skip the commercials - meaning that Lifetime advertisers would not reach a wider audience than they did before.

The Fans: After four succesful seasons on BRAVO, is it really necessary to move the show? BRAVO has a certain culture that the audience knows and loves. Lifetime has no culture. Or if it does, it is a dull bland culture that is about as enticing as cardboard flavored tofu. I could not imagine watching Project Runway and then seeing a commercial for Lifetime's next made-for-TV-movie about battered women. It just doesn't fit.

In other words no one would profit from this deal. Things should stay just the way they are: Project Runway continues to be one of the Top 5 shows on BRAVO and Lifetime continues to be a pathetic channel for pathetic women who have nothing better to do with their pathetic lives. That's just my opinion. But then again that's all that matters ;P