Media Monday- JoeOntheTube Returns!

I’m a sucker for classic literature retold in a modern setting.  If you replace the swords and horses in Romeo and Juliet with guns and cars, or take Odysseus off the boat and put him in the 1930’s Depression era South escaping from prison it’s a guarantee that I’ll be the first in line to see it.  So when I heard about the new fall show Revenge on ABC which was a retelling of one of my favorite books, The Count of Monte Christo I was excited.  I’m sorry to say that Revenge had its last episode of the season this past week, but I thought that by writing this I could encourage you to catch up over the summer when there is nothing else worth watching on anyway.

If you’ve never read the original source material, The Count of Monte Christo (TCOMC), don’t let that deter you from watching this show.  In a nutshell, TCOMC is the story of a poor man wrongfully accused of treason and sent to prison by a rich and powerful family to cover up the fact that they were actually guilty of said treason.  In jail he plots his revenge and is educated by an old priest who also tells him the location of a vast fortune.  Upon his escape he retrieves the fortune and assumes the false identity of the fictitious Count of Monte Christo.  He then uses this vast fortune to exact revenge on those that wronged him.

Revenge follows a very similar storyline to TCOMC, it is the story of a young woman, Emily Thorne who’s father was framed for terrorism by a rich and powerful family the Grayson’s.  As a young girl Emily is sent away to numerous detention facilities and forgotten for the most part, only to be released at 18 and to find out she has inherited a huge fortune.  She assumes the identity of jet setting rich girl Amanda Clarke and becomes intertwined with the Grayson’s lavish lifestyle while plotting her revenge.  The twists come fast and furious the deeper she gets and the harder it becomes to separate her two identities.  

I haven’t said this yet, but let me make it clear, Revenge was the best show on TV last year.  It’s the type of show that hasn’t been around since Lost went off the air (If you didn’t like Lost, don’t worry, these two stories couldn’t be farther apart) full of mystery, excitement, romance, and plain old great story-telling.

It’s coming back in the fall so do yourself a favor and catch up on Revenge this summer on ABC.com or HULU.  You will be glad you did, JoeOnTheTube promises.

Drumroll, please!

We have an official guest blogger. Let's call it a merger, if you will. It is one of my favorite people writing about one of my favorite pastimes. I know you will enjoy his insights and takes on the many facets of television entertainment.

Meet Joe!

 JoeOnTheTube/Inside the BrierPatch

There are no two ways about it, I love TV.  I watch more than I should.  I talk about the shows I love and the shows I don’t.  It is rare that my DVR isn’t filled to near capacity.  I have at least one show that I watch every night of the week.  Some of them are must watch shows meaning that I have to watch them that night and then there are others that might sit on there for a few days. 

I love TV so much that I used to write about it on a daily basis on my site JoeOnTheTube.  That was before my son came along, and I started my own business.  Those two things just didn’t lend themselves to watching 4 hours of TV a night and then writing about all I watched So in January of 2010, I shut it down.  That didn’t change my love of TV or the critical way I watch it. 

I think we are in a golden age for TV.  There has never been such a wide selection of quality programing on.  Of course we used to only be able to count on the networks for great shows.  This all changed in the 90’s when HBO became a major player and raised the bar for the rest of TV Land.  Now we have almost every major movie channel producing great TV and many of the basic cable channels doing the same (that’s not to mention Netflix and Hulu throwing their hat in the ring with original programing).  

Jan and I talked about me writing a weekly post on Inside the Brierpatch about what’s going on in TV, what I’m watching, what you should be watching and why there is no reason to  get off your couch and drop $40 to go see a movie anymore.

This is just a short post to say hello and let the readers of Inside the Brierpatch know what to expect.  Leave a comment and let me know what you are watching, what shows you would like to talk about.  Ok, gotta go.  Parks and Recreation comes on soon.