geri_chan

Posting this a bit late, but here is the fic I wrote for the annual Be the First challenge for writing in fandoms that don't have any fanfic yet. This year I wrote a story for the TV series The Courtship of Eddie's Father:

Eddie is a Punk Rocker (3351 words) by geri_chan
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Courtship of Eddie's Father (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Eddie Corbett, Tom Corbett (The Courtship of Eddie's Father (TV))
Additional Tags: Father-Son Relationship, Family Feels, Post-Canon
Summary: When Eddie was a child, he could tell his dad anything, but now for the first time, he's keeping a secret from his father.

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Who is Mr. Ratburn, you ask? Or maybe you already know because you watched the PBS cartoon Arthur when you were a kid, or you watch it with your kids, or like me, you just like watching it even though you're an adult. Anyway, Mr. Ratburn is Arthur's elementary school teacher in the show, and he just got married to a man! The episode, called Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone, is really sweet and funny, and while the announcement of his engagement causes some comical turmoil among the students due to a misunderstanding, there's no drama about the fact that Mr. Ratburn is marrying a man, and the kids are all happy that he's found someone nice who cares about him and vice versa.

Real life has been kind of rough lately, so it's nice to get some sweet and happy news, even if it's for a fictional cartoon character. I actually really liked Mr. Ratburn a lot and thought he was a great character even before this. He starts off as the teacher that Arthur and his friends dislike because he's strict and gives a lot of homework, but the show gradually developed him into a fun and three-dimensional character. He's one of those teachers who are strict but really care about their students, and the kids gradually come to appreciate him and the fact that he is a pretty cool and quirky guy as they get to know him better: he's an amateur puppeteer, he loves poetry, he really loves cake, and he used to be in a punk rock band! (I mentioned the latter fact to a friend, who jokingly told me that I know a little too much about this show.)

Anyway, congrats to Mr. Ratburn and his groom! (Oh, and Jane Lynch guest-stars in the episode, too.)

Well, this sucks. I was looking forward to watching The Great American Baking Show but ABC has decided to stop airing the show after judge Johnny Iuzzini was accused of sexual harassment by former employees. I realize that me not getting to see a TV show is pretty trivial in comparison, but I do feel really bad for the contestants. Filming of the series has already been completed, and presumably Iuzzini was already paid for his participation, so who really gets hurt most by this but the contestants? His reputation will take a hit and his career will probably suffer, but that would have happened anyway once the allegations were made public. But the contestants won't get to show off the bakes that they worked so hard on, and while ABC says the winner will be announced later, I expect it will probably just be a brief statement and they won't get their shining moment of glory.

I realize it's a difficult situation. It would insensitive to say the least if ABC continued to run the show as if nothing had happened, and it wouldn't be practical to edit Iuzzini's scenes out of the show since he's an integral part of it. But OTOH, the contestants are being punished for something that isn't their fault. I kind of wish that ABC had just put the episodes online for streaming and let viewers decide whether they want to watch the show or not.

The holidays are coming up, and some of you guys might remember that I've talked about Christmas in Japan before, and how it's traditional to have a "Christmas cake" that's a sponge cake with whipped creams and strawberries. Well, I regularly watch an NHK cooking show called Dining with the Chef, and Rika Yukimasa has a recipe for "Rika's style strawberry shortcake" in case you would like to try making one at home!

For a limited time (until Dec. 8) you can watch the episode where she makes the cake, along with a delicious-looking main dish of stewed beef and a shungiku (chrysanthemum leaves) salad.

I forgot to include S.W.A.T. on the list of "new fall shows I've been watching," so I thought I would mention it in today's post. It was on my "must see" list because it features Shemar Moore (formerly of Criminal Minds) as main character Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson. Compared to many other cop shows (*cough* Hawaii Five-0 *cough*) that still portray threatening and/or beating up a suspect as an acceptable way to extract information, S.W.A.T. tries to be a little more thoughtful and sensitive about things like racism and police violence. However, it is primarily an action show, and there are plenty of the expected car chases, gun fights, and explosions that one would expect.

When a white S.W.A.T. team leader accidentally shoots an unarmed black teenager, he is replaced by Hondo as a PR move by the police department bigwigs in attempt to stave off public outrage. Though he's aware of the real motive behind his promotion, he decides to be more than a figurehead and tries to use his position to restore trust in the police to the community.

Thus far, I'm enjoying it, although it's still in the "pretty good but not great" category for me. While Moore is more than charismatic enough to carry the show as the lead, his S.W.A.T. team members don't seem as distinctive to me, and I don't get the same sense of chemistry that the Criminal Minds team had. But it's early days yet, so perhaps the other characters will get better developed as time goes by, and perhaps I'll warm to them more.

 I talked about a show I dropped yesterday, so I thought today I'll talk about the new fall shows I'm watching.


( The Good Doctor, Wisdom of the Crowd )

Some quick thoughts on shows that I'm currently watching: Criminal Minds, NCIS, Bull, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: LA, and Scorpion. Contains a few spoilers below the cut if you haven't started watching the current season yet.


( Spoilers below the cut... )

I recently watched a fascinating program on author Kazuo Ishiguro on the NHK World program First Class, in which he gives a lecture to students studying English literature in Japan (a mixture of both foreign and Japanese students). Part 1 aired on May 28th, and unfortunately is not included in the "On Demand" videos streamed on the NHK World website. However, if you're a fan of Ishiguro, you still have a chance to catch Part 2 on June 3rd and 4th: check your local TV listings for the exact time(s), or you can download the NHK World app to watch shows live. (The latter comes in very handy for me, since the local PBS station only airs a limited selection of NHK shows.)
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As I mentioned in the other day's post, I enjoy watching NHK World TV shows. They're really great for people who are interested in learning more about Japan and Japanese culture. Shows like Journeys in Japan take a look at interesting places in Japan, while Tokyo Eye 2020 focuses--as the title suggests--on Tokyo. There are also cooking shows like Dining with the Chef, or if you're interested in anime and video games, you might check out Imagine-Nation.

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