Awake: A Show Worth Staying Up For

© NBCUniversal, Inc. / Neil Jacobs

I'm a pretty nerdy girl if I do say so myself. I get a kick out of all media that makes you think or takes your imagination for a ride. I was a huge fan of Lost, and I'm an even bigger fan of Doctor Who. I think realism is fine in TV shows, but sometimes you need to let writers and actors create something that can never happen logically. I became a writer, because I like learning about people, and it's great to see how people would react in extraordinary situations that we don't experience everyday. When I first heard of Awake, I knew it was going to be a hard concept to swallow. It reminded me of Lost and how after the second season everyone felt it was "too complicated" to follow.

I guess a lot of people like watching fun shows that don't require much thought, but I enjoy both. I love Modern Family just as much as I love Doctor Who. Even though an extended L.A. family with a touch of diversity is more easily swallowed than a show about a guy who has a time machine that is actually an old police box. I know these more complicated shows have their plot holes here and there, but sometimes you just need to take things at face value and just enjoy the show.

Awake is a show about a Detective (Jason Isaacs) who gets into a car accident where his wife (Laura Allen) and son (Dylan Minnette) die and survive. Wait what? Detective Michael Britten now lives a double life where instead of going to sleep he wake up in another world. In one world his wife lived but son died, and in another world his son lived but wife died. He's obviously seeing a therapists (one in each world) that tell him he's hallucinating the other world, but we don't know which is which.

At first I cared. I was trying to figure out the small details that would point me in the direction of the worlds being just a dream. But there were things in both worlds that make it seem like each world is the dream. But this show really pulls you in. The cases are sometimes interested, but the way the writers work with Michael's condition just make it amazing. From the pilot episode, things already crossover. Sometimes he 'cheats' and uses details from one life (watching his wife do laundry) to help his other life (helping his son's clothes smell how he remembered). Then he sees a women who he knew when she was younger who in one life is successful and the other is a drug addict. These are the plot twists that make me keep coming back.

In last week's episode, he finds out that in the world with his son, his son got his girlfriend pregnant. It scared him, but it turns out that his girlfriend lost the child. I thought it was going to end at that and be a very uninteresting plot detail, until Michael being the detective that he is, thinks of something. He asks Rex when his girlfriend lost the kid and he says that it was around the time of his mom's funeral. An even that never transpired in his other life, obviously. So he runs out to find Rex's girlfriend in his other life, and we find out she still is pregnant with Rex's child.

If this show isn't something you think is worth watching, then you're loss. But if you think it sounds as awesome as I think it is, log on to abc.com/awake at watch their episodes, but more importantly tune in on Thursday nights at 10/9c on NBC!

The Party's Over: House, M.D. Has Reached Its End

Copyright 2011 Fox Broadcasting Company ©

Just minutes ago (from the time this post is being written) it was announces that FOX's hit medical drama House, M.D. has been canceled. I watched religiously for 2.5 seasons. How's that? Well, I discovered House by channel surfing in 2007. I caught it on it's regular night, but it was a repeat of "Kids." Well, I bought the season 1 and 2 DVDs, soon watched season 3 religiously. I was a fan for season 4, but I thought their new angle was a bit rubbish, and during season 5 and beyond I only watched the show when I was bored or someone told me it was a good episode. I've watched 2 episodes this entire season (season 8).

So, when I first began watching, I discovered fandom. I knew of fandom from Lost, but House fans and forums were a bit more welcoming. It was weird, and amazing, to not just watch a show, but talk and discuss with other fans and bring it to a completely new level. It wasn't just brain dead watching anymore; it was participating. I started on livejournal, but soon it was taken to several other social media sites, and I was making friends. If you don't understand internet fandom culture this may seem a little ridiculous. But really, I've made so many friends, because of House, M.D. Some friends that live in different states or countries, but some that I've actually gone to concerts and late night show tapings with. People, I make butter beer with and have Harry Potter marathons. It's amazing to realize that you end up having way more in common than just that one tv show.

I don't want to say House, M.D. changed/saved my life, because that's such a cliche hyperbole, but I know my life would lack so much without it. The reason I was able to write about entertainment, and meet many people I thought I'd never meet (hello Jesse Spencer) was because of House. I also know I'll be keeping in contact with said friends way past the end of House.

I can't say I am sad to see the show end, but I can say I'm happy that it was. Without it I would never know Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Jesse Spencer and many other talents. Thanks David Shore and FOX, and thanks to all the people that have shared these years with me.