Five Drinks Into TV: 10 Reasons You Should Try Vampire Diaries

Tom's Take:

For years the only vampire fiction I liked was the Joss Whedon universe in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I still refuse to watch Twilight due to their absolute failure in having Vampires able to walk around in the daylight without harm. However, recently I got an ache to find a Teen Drama to get addicted to, and so I gave Vampire Diaries a try. For the first two or three episodes, it was exactly what I expected in terms of pure teen angst with Vampires that were able to walk around in the sunlight. Then the show started to grow on me, and I forgave them this flaw. I mean, at least they have magic rings to explain why they can walk in the sun. I have fallen in love with this show, not as some dramatic masterpiece by any means, but as a guilty pleasure that I will actually defend to my friends for being well written and compelling television. So let's take a look at what Vampire Diaries does right.

Five Drinks Into TV: How I Met Your Mother Season 8 Episodes 11 and 12 "The Final Page"

Tom's Take:

I haven't spent a lot of time talking about How I Met Your Mother recently, because to be honest it hasn't been very good in recent seasons. The show peaked in Season 4, and since then it has been very inconsistent, with only a handful of episodes that have held up to my high standards of what this show can be. To be frank, I feel like the writers drew the show out just to keep it going, when they should have aimed to end it a couple of seasons ago. All that said, I want to talk about these two episodes, because they were really good and a return to form and why I loved the show to begin with.

Five Drinks Into British Television: Torchwood Series Two

Tom's Take:

Torchwood Series Two was a vast improvement over Series One, because I think I fell in love with the team during this series, which made their conflicts more compelling, and made the conclusion of this series even more heartbreaking. Since it was the characters that really made this series worthy, I think I'll focus on them as I talk about this series.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 25 Finale!

Tom's Take:

Clearly I am wrong about everything.
Denise, who I had discounted, pulled this one out and became the Sole Survivor of Survivor Phillipines. Congratulations to her, and I think she was a very worthy winner. She played a strong social game, and was absolutely correct in her analysis that sometimes listening is really the best thing to be done. She survived every Tribal Council, and really dominated in her Final Tribal Council Performance, which is an often underestimated aspect of the game that really should be considered more. I mean the Final Tribal Council is almost more important than the rest of the game combined. So congratulations to her, and to Lisa for winning  America's Favorite, which let's be honest was mostly based on her Christian pull, but still it was nice to see.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 25 Episode 13 "Gouge My Eyes Out"

Tom's Take:

And there's your final 4 people. Congratulations Malcolm, Denise, Lisa, and Skupin for reaching the Survivor Finale! I hope to do a full overview of everyone afterwards, but first let's do a little speculation on Final 3 and Final 2 Scenarios. Let's go.

First off, I think Malcolm wins any Final Tribal Council he's in. And I think Denise beats Lisa and Skupin in a  Final 3, so let's delve into the three other final 2's that don't include Malcolm.

Denise vs. Skupin:

I give Skupin; RC, Lisa, and Penner for fans of Skupin, and Abi, and Pete for disliking Denise.
I give Denise; Jeff Kent for not wanting a returning player to win, Carter for being on the same tribe as Denise, Artis for hating Skupin, and obviously Malcolm.

I'm calling this 5-4 for Skupin, but I could easily see Pete flipping and voting for Denise, or Penner approving more of Denise's game, so I give him maybe a 52% in this one.

Skupin vs. Lisa:

I'll give Skupin; RC and Penner. I think Lisa gets everyone else.

I'd call this 7-2 for Lisa. I think she's actually picked the perfect person to go to the end with if it's a Final Two.

Lisa vs. Denise

I'm giving Lisa; Skupin, RC, Artis, Pete, Abi Maria as a Tandang majority vote. I'll also give her Penner because I don't think he likes Denise as much.

Denise gets; Malcolm, Jeff Kent, and Carter.

So Lisa beats Denise 6-3.

I guess that means my projected winners in a vacuum would be Malcolm, Lisa, Skupin, then finally Denise. Let's try and delve into why below.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 25 Episode 12 "Shot Into Smithereens"

Tom's Take:

Wow. Lisa's brother almost brought an end to Malcolm. Luckily for me and the rest of the Malcolm fans, he won immunity. I continue to root for him to win, although now I've decided I want him to go to the end with Abi. That would make for a fun but very lopsided Final 2.

Five Drinks Into British Television: Torchwood Series 1

Tom's Take:

So after finishing Series Two of Doctor Who, I decided to start Torchwood Series 1. Naturally, I really enjoyed it. But I suppose the question is. How does Torchwood measure up versus Doctor Who?

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 25 Episode 11 "Hell Hath Frozen Over"

Tom's Take:

Good job producers. You found a way to get Abi Maria to win immunity. And we finally saw an end to Penner. He got much farther than we initially thought he would, but he never really had a strong chance at this game. He just didn't make the right moves.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 25 Episode 10 "Whiners are Weiners"

Tom's Take:

This was a fun episode, although sort of predictable with the way the alliances are set up now. If I'm right then it looks like right now everyone is against Abi Maria. Of course within the dominant alliance, we've got three pairs maneuvering around each other and coming together for a problematic final 4. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, and whether they force the issue on the next episode or wait until they get rid of Abi merely because she's annoying.

Five Drinks Into Survivor Season 25 Episode 9 "Little Miss Perfect"

Tom's Take:

Another great episode.of Survivor. I love how dynamic this season has been, and we're in for on of the craziest final 8's of all time. Am I wrong in thinking that there are 4 pairs operating this season. How will they align down the road?

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 25 Episode 8 "Dead Man Walking"

Tom's Take:

Wow, what an episode. On the one hand, I'm a little worried that Tandang will Pagong the rest of Dang Rayne, but on the other hand, I'm just thrilled by the incredible drama we got in this episode. I mean, I had no idea who was going home. When they finally got to the votes, I was convinced it would be Peter. Multiple people made moves in this episode, and unlike other critics, I don't think there was any bad gameplay per se, I just think that everyone who tried to make a move got blocked. Jeff Kent wanted Penner out, but Penner won immunity. Lisa wanted Malcolm out, but Malcolm brainwashed Peter. Malcolm tried to take out Peter, but Lisa got to Skupin. The result was an absolute mess, and in the end it was Jeff Kent that went home, due to a very odd vote from Penner. Did he think Abi Maria was the target, or did he want Jeff Kent to go?

Five Drinks Into TV: Doctor Who Series Two

Tom's Take:

Doctor Who Series Two is a pretty big departure from Series One. The Tenth Doctor seems a bit more evenly matched with Rose Tyler, although I'm not sure if I think there's necessarily very much sexual heat between the two. Their relationship isn't really like that, as it has the British tendency to be less physical and far more cerebral. At least that's how I see it. These two characters inspire each other, rather than long after each other, but either way we still want them to be together, and are heartbroken when they're split apart.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 25 Episode 7 "Not The Only Actor On This Island"

Tom's Take:

It's  time for the merge! And I guess the new tribe name is Dang Rayne, which I think is actually really cool. Also we get some clarity on the jury situation as RC is the first member of the jury, which means that either there's an 8 person jury for final 3, or a 9 person jury for final 2. I personally prefer the later, and I think the evac of Dana will force the issue, but I guess we'll see. Jeff Probst supposedly doesn't like Final 2's, so that could play a part I guess.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 25 Episode 6 "Down and Dirty"

Tom's Take:

We're down to twelve people! Does that mean jury has started? This episode also featured some awesome negotiations, which lead to a lot of whining from Artis. I don't know why he hates Skupin, but he does, which  is why I want to see them go to tribal council!

Five Drinks Into TV: Castle Season 4

Tom's Take:

Season  Four of Castle is at times over angsty, but most of the time it keeps away from that and brings the funny. It's really only the beginning and ending of the season that engage with Beckett's running investigation of her mother's murder, and the season is better for it, even though I really liked the season  finale. The premiere of the season felt off, since it was TOO focused on the angst. I also didn't really like Castle's douche phase, although I appreciated that it was necessary.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 25 Episode 5 "Got My Swag Back"

Tom's Take:

And the Matsing Tribe is gone. Jeff is right. This tribe was decimated, and at the end of the day, Malcolm and Denise are left to be split into the Tandang and Kalabaw tribes. Both find themselves in surprisingly good positions, since their new tribes are apparently too focused on separate issues to take them out. That coupled with Dana leaving the game allowed both Denise and Malcolm to make it to the final twelve, which I assume means they'll at least be on jury.

Five Drinks Into TV: Caste Season 3

Tom's Take:

Season Three of Castle is a bit inconsistent at times, but overall continues to push the main characters along on their journeys. We as the audience are treated to the fact that we are really growing to love these characters. The show has reached a point this season where we feel comfortable and familiar with these characters. We don't even want challenging character development, and romantic tensions, we just want to tune in for our beloved characters, and the clever dialogue. That's not to say there isn't challenging character development, or romantic tension, but it's not really what we're tuning in for.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 25 Episode 4 "Create a Little Chaos"

Tom's Take:

Oh Matsing Tribe. Why were you so terrible? Why couldn't you have won just one immunity challenge? And why do I still think that Malcolm and Denise have a shot at this thing? Meanwhile Kalabaw finally gets some airtime and we find out that there is a gender split in that tribe, which could lead to some interesting post merge situations. Meanwhile the Tandang tribe continues to boil over as Abi Maria is clearly crazy, RC has grown too complacent, and Peter is loving every moment of it. So let's get into rankings!

Five Drinks Into TV: Castle Season 2

Tom's Take:

Castle Season 2 kept the show on the right track by continuing to push the simple formula for a cop show while still finding emotional resonance for the characters. Castle's relationships with his daughter Alexis and his mother Martha continue to make him a bit more complex of a character than the comic portrayal Nathan Fillion provides would lead most to believe. Also, I have officially developed a crush on Stana Katic, the actress who plays Beckett. The way Castle and Beckett flirted in Season 2, leading to both fairly openly pining over the other provided good emotional material, but it was ultimately for the best that the writers kept them from getting together so early.

Five Drinks Into TV: Castle Season 1

Tom's Take

So I've just started watching Castle, even though it's been on the air for over four years, and the first thing I'd like to say is that I've been missing out. This is a good series, and it stars Nathan Fillion who is an alumnus of Joss Whedon shows Firefly, and Buffy. How did I let this show go for so long without giving it a try? I think it has to do with the genre, since I'm a little wary of cop shows, but this show is more than that. I think this show succeeds in a lot of areas that Bones fails. It is constantly surprising me, as so far I only have about a 30% success rate with predicting who the killer is, it is very funny with Nathan Fillion hitting the material out of the park, and I think the two leads have even more chemistry than Booth and Bones did, and I was a big fan of them.