CW's Beauty and the Beast — Preview Review

Michelle's thoughts on the Preview Review:

We recorded our first podcast and after listening to it I need to stop saying “um” and “like” so much! Overall I think it turned out well though. We mention the hope that Kristin Kreuk as the new Catherine will live up to Linda Hamilton’s portrayal of the character several times. It’s obviously a topic we feel strongly about. I love strong female characters and Catherine is so badass in the original I don’t want her character ruined. I really hope this show can pull off a strong, smart, independent woman. We rambled a bit but I think when we have a whole episode to talk about it will be easier to stay on target.

It’s been so long since I’ve had to wait week to week to watch a show, normally I wait until it comes to netflix and watch it all at once. At least a week will give lots of time to review the current episode and anticipate the next one. I’m excited for the first episode, I think it has a lot of potential. We love to watch TV shows and critique them and recording our thoughts in a podcast will be a natural extension of our normal conversations. This will be so much fun! We’ll be making fun of the show more than talking about how great it is, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love it. That’s the way we enjoy TV and we hope you’ll enjoy it too!

¨
John's thoughts on the Preview Review:

Our first podcast is now under our belts. We learned a few lessons, I don't get to play with paper during recordings and going off track is unavoidable.

Reviewing the podcast it was apparent that one of Catherine's most influential qualities was her ass kicking ways. We touched on the topic again and again. Linda Hamilton's performance was impressive for a couple of reasons. We rarely get to see tough ladies on tv, so when a woman holds her own it's like you've just witnessed the second coming, and Jesus is a woman. Catherine was uncompromising, but in an intelligent way. Too often there is a tendency to make women headstrong and then we get to watch them follow a painfully idiotic choice to its bitter end that usually involves being rescued by some dude. Catherine makes smart choices and then deals out, or takes, a few hard knocks because of them, but it always feels authentic and intelligent.

I'm hoping that the new Beauty and the Beast will stay away from Kirstin Kreuk's skillful, and finely honed, damsel in distress acting ability. In one of the promos she talks about the character Catherine having these suppressed emotions from her mothers murder. We want to see these emotions power the driven and tough Catherine as she ruthlessly seeks justice for her mother and Vincent. Maybe ruthless is too strong of a word, but you know what I mean. What I don't want to see is constant tears behind every close up of her all to angelic face. The rule to follow should be "Don't get pouty, get punchy!" #ToughGirlThursday should trend across twitter every episode!

On to the Beast, good ol' Vincent, now played by Jay Ryan, or Jay Ry as I pretend he's called. He has a tough act to follow. Not only was Ron Perlman in a full on Lionman costume he also looked like the most epic of 80s hair rockers. Jay Ry follows a similar approach and looks like he shares a barber with Skrillex, but sadly he does not take up the lionman mane. Instead he has a scar (from battle? from the secret serum? from Ron Perlman?) and gets all ugo in the face when amped up.  Vincent was a subdued character with watchable angst in the Perlman version. While Jay Ry's acting chops might be up to the challenge of quality angst, if it is typical CW fare (not counting Supernatural) it will no doubt leave me wanting to put a stake through its heart.

The search for a cure and conspiracy at the heart of Vincent's struggle is interesting and very ambitious. Vincent's struggles are going to be powerful if the show can give him enough, quality, outside factors to work with. They have plenty: the conspiracy, the infection, the cure, isolation, other beasts, his drive for redemption, his feelings for Catherine, but if they can't pull it together in a tight and convincing way it's all wasted. And abso-fing-lutely keep the medical drama out of the way.

Well that's all for now. Overall I'm excited for the show to start, but keeping my expectations low. Hopefully with a 9pm time slot the story will be... beastly.

Michelle's thoughts on the Preview Review:

We recorded our first podcast and after listening to it I need to stop saying “um” and “like” so much! Overall I think it turned out well though. We mention the hope that Kristin Kreuk as the new Catherine will live up to Linda Hamilton’s portrayal of the character several times. It’s obviously a topic we feel strongly about. I love strong female characters and Catherine is so badass in the original I don’t want her character ruined. I really hope this show can pull off a strong, smart, independent woman. We rambled a bit but I think when we have a whole episode to talk about it will be easier to stay on target.

It’s been so long since I’ve had to wait week to week to watch a show, normally I wait until it comes to netflix and watch it all at once. At least a week will give lots of time to review the current episode and anticipate the next one. I’m excited for the first episode, I think it has a lot of potential. We love to watch TV shows and critique them and recording our thoughts in a podcast will be a natural extension of our normal conversations. This will be so much fun! We’ll be making fun of the show more than talking about how great it is, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love it. That’s the way we enjoy TV and we hope you’ll enjoy it too!

¨
John's thoughts on the Preview Review:

Our first podcast is now under our belts. We learned a few lessons, I don't get to play with paper during recordings and going off track is unavoidable.

Reviewing the podcast it was apparent that one of Catherine's most influential qualities was her ass kicking ways. We touched on the topic again and again. Linda Hamilton's performance was impressive for a couple of reasons. We rarely get to see tough ladies on tv, so when a woman holds her own it's like you've just witnessed the second coming, and Jesus is a woman. Catherine was uncompromising, but in an intelligent way. Too often there is a tendency to make women headstrong and then we get to watch them follow a painfully idiotic choice to its bitter end that usually involves being rescued by some dude. Catherine makes smart choices and then deals out, or takes, a few hard knocks because of them, but it always feels authentic and intelligent.

I'm hoping that the new Beauty and the Beast will stay away from Kirstin Kreuk's skillful, and finely honed, damsel in distress acting ability. In one of the promos she talks about the character Catherine having these suppressed emotions from her mothers murder. We want to see these emotions power the driven and tough Catherine as she ruthlessly seeks justice for her mother and Vincent. Maybe ruthless is too strong of a word, but you know what I mean. What I don't want to see is constant tears behind every close up of her all to angelic face. The rule to follow should be "Don't get pouty, get punchy!" #ToughGirlThursday should trend across twitter every episode!

On to the Beast, good ol' Vincent, now played by Jay Ryan, or Jay Ry as I pretend he's called. He has a tough act to follow. Not only was Ron Perlman in a full on Lionman costume he also looked like the most epic of 80s hair rockers. Jay Ry follows a similar approach and looks like he shares a barber with Skrillex, but sadly he does not take up the lionman mane. Instead he has a scar (from battle? from the secret serum? from Ron Perlman?) and gets all ugo in the face when amped up.  Vincent was a subdued character with watchable angst in the Perlman version. While Jay Ry's acting chops might be up to the challenge of quality angst, if it is typical CW fare (not counting Supernatural) it will no doubt leave me wanting to put a stake through its heart.

The search for a cure and conspiracy at the heart of Vincent's struggle is interesting and very ambitious. Vincent's struggles are going to be powerful if the show can give him enough, quality, outside factors to work with. They have plenty: the conspiracy, the infection, the cure, isolation, other beasts, his drive for redemption, his feelings for Catherine, but if they can't pull it together in a tight and convincing way it's all wasted. And abso-fing-lutely keep the medical drama out of the way.

Well that's all for now. Overall I'm excited for the show to start, but keeping my expectations low. Hopefully with a 9pm time slot the story will be... beastly.