The Fills Are Alive...

Warner Bros. Television Distribution, Buena Vista Home Entertainment Disney–ABC Domestic Television

As I impatiently wait in the purgatory that is the pre-Fall TV season, I decided it's about time I sent an 'Elevator Love Letter' to Alexandra Patsavas. Music supervisor extraordinaire, Alexandra has selected, mixed and supervised tracks of some of the most beloved TV shows. With The OC, she led the trend for the return of music promotion through TV integration. The OC's theme song, California by Phantom Planet, made it impossible to get through the opening credits without singing at the top of my lungs. And while Seth Cohen was dubbed uncool, his love for Death Cab absolutely was. 

With the first six seasons of Grey's Anatomy, Alexandra had music lovers clamoring to itunes immediately after each episode. Tracks from Grey's Season's 1 and 2 swung so hard, they still sting so good. She dropped the gauntlet and set the tone with the pilot's opening track 'Portions for Foxes' by Rilo Kiley. That was the beginning of the long tracklist synonymous with Grey's Anatomy, rising well beyond the background and soundtrack of the show. Listed below are some of the early favorites 1. because I can't control myself and 2. because with these particular tracks, it's almost impossible to separate them from the show.
‘Somewhere Only We Know’ Keane
‘You Wouldn’t Like Me’  and ‘Where Does the Good Go’ Tegan and Sara
‘Sunday’ Sia
‘Breathe’ Anna Nalick
‘How to Save a Life’ The Fray
‘Chasing Cars’ Snow Patrol
'Break Me Out' The Rescues (this live performance is way sweet too)

Alexandra even featured a Taylor Swift track before she went pop. And that's only Grey's! F me, Gossip Girl! Again, with the pilot's opening track – gauntlet dropped, tone set with Peter Bjorn and John's 'Young Folks.' Like Grey's, there are far too many excellent tracks to list, I can only scratch the surface, otherwise I'll go so deep, I'll dig a tunnel right out of the Internet. Here's a few highlights:
‘What Comes Around’ Justin Timberlake
‘You’re a Wolf’ Sea Wolf
‘Rolling in the Deep’ Adele
‘We Are Young’ Fun

Alexandra took her love of music and turned it into her own firm, Chop Shop Supervision, later leveling up to her own music label, Chop Shop Records. She's supervised music for movies including The Twilight Series, Hunger Games, and Perks of Being a Wallflower. And for a slew of other TV shows including Mad Men, Selfie, Scandal, iZombie, and Chuck. Her IMDB page reads like a dream resume.

In the very simplest of terms, Alexandra made a career out of fangirling music. Fucking awesome. Meanwhile, my fangirling efforts – including a long history of camping overnight for concert tickets or hands shaking over the keyboards for the clock to strike ten – still takes the form of drawing hearts and stars, making over-earnest proclamations and nicknaming favorite rock heroes – Jackie Jack, Ry Ry, and Dave. You know, Alexandra, we all show our love of music in different ways. But sending a love letter for all the ways you've shared your love with us.

Shonda, I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down

Buena Vista Home Entertainment Disney–ABC Domestic Television

Okay, so here’s the deal. I have had long, going on eleven-year, relationship with Shonda Rhimes. There is much love, admiration and respect. While I skipped Private Practice, I did indulge in Scandal. For the first season, I got swept up in the white hatting of it all. But as the second season wore on, each of the characters became more and more unredeemable. I had to phase it out. Still, I caught the premiere of How To Get Away with Murder. The series STARTED with nearly every character being unredeemable. 

I'm going to take a beat here and backtrack for a sec. In 1999, the world was introduced to Tony Soprano, ushering in a new dawn of antiheroes. Ever since, a myriad of antiheroes including Dexter Morgan, Walter White, Don Drapper, and Jax Teller have followed suit. They have compelling storylines and as content moves to premium channels, the flexibility to go darker and more violent is ripe for the taking. But starting with all unredeemable characters, creating worlds where every character is an antihero, feels empty and un-relatable.

This Spring, since the fallout of killing off a certain beloved Grey’s Anatomy character, Shonda's been talking a lot about what it takes to keep a good show going – obviously, she would know. Killing off characters is part of the deal. Additionally, part of the deal was Meredith falling in love and getting her happy ending. Shonda didn’t want to break that deal with a divorce storyline. And I get it, but here’s my counter, when I signed onto Grey’s, it was a balance of irreverent and funny friendships and relationships, with the struggles of accomplishing a life or death job. That no longer describes the Grey’s of today. Grey's today is heavy and sad, and the relationships are few because so many have been killed off. It’s actually hard to re-watch seasons (normally a favorite pastime) because to re-watch is to go through all the central characters that have been killed off. Characters make jokes like, 'don’t die' and two seasons later, they do just that. While antiheroes are hard to relate to, so are Shonda’s epic disasters and death tolls at the end of each season. Grey's is now a series of land minds with no escapism in sight. 

I don't need rainbows and superheroes. I just want a version of reality that's skewed without being tragic. I support you, Shonda, I just gotta ask, 'where did the good go?'

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Buena Vista Home Entertainment Disney–ABC Domestic Television

I have now broken up with Grey's Anatomy three times. The pictures above do not represent those three times, instead they represent happier times before our break-ups.

Break-Up One: Story-lines revolving around cancer Izzy and worse, post-cancer Izzy (not to mention post-Denny Izzy) for the simple reason of too much Izzy.
Break-Up Two: Lexi and Mark not only dying, but prior to their last episode, unrequited.
Break-Up Three: Derek dying. Actually, that's not true. I've been out on the additional cast members this whole season – Derek's sister, Meredith's sister, Gina Davis – none really resonate. Meanwhile Meredith deals with the general heaviness of life and marriage, with no escapism for me in sight. Derek's death just gave solid reason for this latest break-up.  

Maybe I'll be back or maybe I'll find another medical series to fill the Seattle Grace void. I've dallied around with other shows, there was doctors in the jungle (Off the Map), nurses from Iraq (Mercy), doctors on motorcycles (Night Shift), and doctors with voice overs (Emily Owens MD). Maybe one of the Fall 2015 shows will deliver. Though, I've already ruled out Heartbreaker, a show about a heart transplant surgeon. The title is too saccharine for my taste. That leaves me with one other potential rebound – I'm looking at you, Chicago Med.