Love Bites

So now that most of the shows have stopped for the summer hiatus I was left with that empty feeling of having nothing to watch, except for a couple of shows that broadcast off season, and those that I'm still behind on (Gossip Girl, I'm talking about you).

With that, one of my favourite shows has also been cancelled! Brothers & Sisters has been one of my top 5 shows, the excellent script and interesting characters could have gone on forever! (I'm going to miss everyone except Tommy, what a weak and annoying character! ...any whoo...) That being said, I do think that the way it ended was perfect, it came full circle, finishing off the series as a whole but not ending all of the characters story (Six Feet Under I'm talking about you, even though it was the best way to end for your series), but the lives of my beloved character continue.

My point of the matter is that all that contributed to me desperately searching for a new show to fill the gap, I even reverted to watching Veronica Mars again. Probably the 5th time now, but it stays brilliant and always makes me happy, something about the underdog being smarter and more resourceful and more butt kicking than everyone else just sits well with me.  Any case, so I saw the new shows starting in the Fall Season, about 3 or 4 I'm interested in.  But I needed something now!  So as I saw the list of all the new shows broadcasting, I wasn't very optimistic about a couple of the titles, just judging them on their titles. Seriously!  How good does Franklin and Bash sound!? That’s the sarcasm font by the way, for future reference! So I've found the show The Block AU, which I've always been a huge fan of, and they started a new season after a couple of year hiatus, but now it's back and bigger than ever, but that’s a reality show and does not really fill that gap.

Becki Newton

For the past few weeks I've seen this show popping up in the list of shows, Love Bites. And I though uhm... Interesting title, but nah!  And it kept on popping up, and so I decided, let’s watch one episode and see how it goes.  Needless to say, 45minutes later I was grabbing the next three episodes available.  Love Bites is charming, funny, witty, goofy, real and thought provoking.  It is basically a couple of short bites about love related stories strung together by the different characters.  But what is fascinating is that each episode feels like a whole movie, and when it's done you just want it to continue on and on.  They look at the random things in a relationship, at the serious, the quirky, the gross and the real.  And they are not shy about it, but also not disrespectful of anything or anyone.  And it's cleverly funny while still having a much deeper meaning that makes you reflect on life and relationships.

The casting is also quite interesting, Becki Newton (Amanda from Ugly Betty - another one of my cancelled shows that I really miss!), that telepathic cop from Heroes (Another one), Greg Grunberg, and Constance Zimmer (from Entourage - never felt it - & Boston Legal - and another favourite, executives are really stoopid!) are regulars, but then every episode has guest appearances and cameos of well established stars and all of the characters interlink in some way, even if it is meaningless, it’s still fun to go 'Oh, it’s that guy!'.  

Greg Grunberg & Constance Zimmer

I was also surprised to see that the writer for this show, Cindy Chupack, was also the writer of Sex and The City and Everybody Loves Raymond. (Incidentally two shows that I do not like at all.  So grab your pitchforks folks!)  However this show is produced by the same producers from Love Actually (Easily on my top 10 movie list), so now I get why I like is so much, the whole concept of love stories mixed into life and each other.

All that’s left to say is, that void has been filled, it makes me happy and I'm also learning a couple of new things which is great!  My favourite line thus far is from episode 3 where the mother of a gay son, concerned about the reaction of her husband, explains to him the ‘lingo’:

"I'm setting the alarm for 7, so we can help with brunch. That's gay for lunch. They do brunch."

So do yourself a favour and pop some popcorn, pop in Love Bites and just relax and enjoy. Well deserving of a large popcorn thus far, and even better if you can share the popcorn.