Imagining Kensi's boyfriend - Part 2: Deeks and the Norway/Sweden of it all

Now, it is no secret that I love the dynamic between Deeks and Kensi on NCIS:LA. They are so incredibly dysfunctional as people and yet work so well together. They are without a doubt two of the most frustrating characters to enter the TV scene and still so much fun and nicely realistic. So I am looking mildly forward to seeing how things will turn out between them. And I will write about it!

But today I am going all Nordic and extremely shallow on ya'll!

In my last coverage of imagining Kensi's boyfriend Jack Larsen I emphasized the fact that he would be Swedish-American. This may come across as quite strange to those readers that are not Scandinavian are not aware of the relationship between Norway and Sweden. As I explained earlier Norway is a former colony of Sweden, they were always poorer and had less military power and influence. However Sweden has always been a big country, was the leading power in Europe at one point, is influential in international matters and hold a greater military power. Today the countries stand on far more equal ground but there are still lingering remains of dissatisfaction between them and how Sweden treated Norway

Seeing that Deeks is 100% Norwegian-American (looks the Norwegian part to a tee and is of full Norwegian descent (the actor, that is)), his family would probably have moved to America from Norway in early 20th century, right around the time they got their full independence. So Deeks would have gotten to known presumably strong nationalistic ideas, filled with pride and a bit of dislike towards the Swedish. Plus, stereotypes of the perfect Swede and the coolness of everything Swedish are abound everywhere and he would have seen them (there is no way escaping them sadly). I am guessing that someone with a turbulent past like his would have found his identity (at least in part) in being a descendant of Vikings and a Norwegian. No one messed with the Vikings and they had a wonderfully rich and interesting culture and Norway is a wonderful country.  He would have found strength in that and would still in his adulthood. Because the Vikings were conquerors and ruled the world and

So I can imagine him fussing over Mr. Jack Larsen being Swedish with Nell and Eric (he would never do it with Sam and Callen!) and Neric would not understand in the slightest but lend a sympathetic ear. He would then fuss about Vikings and their culture. That'd be the beauty of it, a completely Scandinavian reference which no one would get except Nordics or those that love Nordic history!

Some might say I am probably reading way too much into this but that is the fun part of it. Making connections and creating things :)

And to add a comment:

I found a comment on TV Line (Click here!) about how Deeks' turbulent past lends to his inability to establish a romantic connection with Kensi. I just wanted to say: The incredible relationship dysfunction between the two characters goes both ways. Kensi is just as dysfunctional as Deeks. So in theory, two dysfunctions should be wonderful together. And lest we forget, the spark is there and it just has to be flamed. Hell, they've kissed twice and are eerily comfortable playing romantic partners. And please do not turn this into another TIVA! Look to the Caskett dynamic and go from there.

Some changes coming up on TV Matters and Me

I have been thinking it over for the past few days and I have decided to do some changes on the blog. The change comes about because of several things:

1)I have just started watching Parks and Recreation! What a wonderful series. It has me completely hooked and I love watching it. It has top notch actors, wonderfully strange and sweet characters, great humor and some incredibly tender moments in between. One of my conditions for liking a show is that it has to make me laugh and PaR manages that with aplomb. I grin and laugh heartily when watching and it makes me happy. 

2)I have taken the decision to stop watching Criminal Minds. For the moment I will be taking a break from the show and will only dip into the 9th season every once in a while. CM is a great series but its quality has been lacking greatly in the past few years and I do not find myself enjoying particularly watching it so enough is enough. 

3)I want to make the blog better and change the focus of it. 

So what are the great changes that are coming?

1)I will start writing about Parks and Recreation. I already have derived much material from it which I really want to write about and cover in more detail. It has got me going creatively and it offers a lot of good material.

2)I will no longer write about Criminal Minds. I will leave up the posts I have at the moment but I will not write anymore about it for the time being. 

3)I am going to focus writing more about TV culture in general with a particular focus on how I, as a European, approach American media and its various aspects. How the area I come from, my country and culture and experiences shape my approach to media and how it influences me. I will also start writing about Nordic/Scandinavian TV culture and our approach to it. 

4)I will be adding the TV matters and Me opinion column!

With all the changes coming up I will continue my usual segments:

-Taking NCIS:LA apart

-Conspiracy theories series

-Character focus

-The perils and pitfalls of the English language

-Regular shallow segments 

-Viewing media with a feminist perspective

-Approaching racism in media and culture

-Thougts about various negative aspects of culture

I am looking forward to continuing running this blog and using it to sharpen my English skills and writing as well as media literacy. I will not write as much next autumn as Uni starts but the goal is to write 1-2 posts a week. 

Here's to another fanta fabulous year of TV Matters and Me

The stupidity of interviews and the gems in between

I hardly ever watch interviews with the actors from my favorite shows. That does not mean I do not like the show. It is a personal decision and there are several reasons why:

1)Distancing myself from the show - I am a fan of many shows but I have many other delightful and wonderful things which take up my time and I just do not have the energy of keeping up with interviews as well as spoilers.I am to much of a Nerdfighter for that :)

2)Distancing myself from the actors - I will be absolutely clear that I appreciate the work they do and respect them but they are real people that deal with the perils and pitfalls of fame. I am a big believer in the right to privacy so to me, it feels like prying into people's lives (which I have zero business doing) listening to interviews with them. Fame has a strange way of turning real people into unrealistic figures and there is just a lot of ickiness that follows. And to be 100% honest, it feels super weird to listen to the actors and see them and to be honest, very uncomfortable. I feel uncomfortable seeing pictures of them (particularly commercials and paparazzi photos or anything personal) as it feels like a break of privacy. I like them as onscreen characters a lot and respect them as actors but that is enough. There is a reason for why I do not read gossip beyond the local newspaper which has pretty much no gossip at all.

3)Distancing myself from Hollywood and show biz - I am no liker of Hollywood, the darker sides of fame (I am a fangirl but at a good level), the shallowness and showman ship that follows. It freaks me out to be honest and goes against many of my personal principles. I will delve into it one day but I will have it suffice now to say that it is one my personal goals to stay as far away from it as possible. Which I do.

4)Interviews are so often dumb - I feel like everytime I dare listen to an interview it feels stupid beyond belief. A few highlights for me have included serious European geography mishaps, whining about youth and old age, the 'OMG someone that can speaks more languages than English' remarks, endless discussions about make-up and style and what not and the endless, incredibly pointless gossip. Basically, nothing real but everything dumbed down and shallow. I was disappointed to realize recently that an interview I saw was actually carefully rehearsed. There was nothing spontaneous or fun in it, it was rehearsed like a play and to be honest, I did not like that.

I am happy as a lark to read interviews with actors but I steer clear of listening to them. So when I do, I sometimes encounter real gems. 3 stand out to me.

A radio interview I listened to with Renée Felice Smith. It was so enjoyable to listen to and it delved into all sorts of interesting background stuff about the show which I really liked. And I had no idea actors actually did such throughough research for their job as she described doing in order for it to be more truthful in their acting. I thought they showed up and delivered their lines. It was 15 minutes of radio delight and as someone that grew up with the radio being constantly on, it was a nice delight.

This interview with Daniela Ruah - It got my attention instantly and has made me think over certain things quite a lot. It felt spontaneous, real and delved into some very interesting questions regarding handling fame, privacy, show business and its underbelly and the ever controversial idea of 'sexy' photoshoots. It got to me straightaway and I have since discussed the contents with a friend and it was interesting to see an inside view of fame. It was so interesting to listen to and I have to hand it out to Ms. Ruah that she did it incredibly well.

And this gem with Jake Gyllenhaal. He is a wonderful actor and his work is consistently good. I have not seen the movie which he talks about in the interview as I was uncomfortable with the level of violence being displayed in the trailer and I do not like to style of such films. However, what floored me was when he spoke about the intensive research he did. 50 rides with LAPD is a lot! And apparently, Mr. Olsen also rode with them when preparing for Deeks. I do wonder if the LAPD has a special officer handling actors that want to tag along! But what I liked most was the intense respect with which he spoke about police officers and the job they do. It was inspiring to see and it felt really genuine.

Click Here!

So among all the trash interviews (the worst price goes to an interview which began with a monologue about the old age of the interviewers versus the interviewees, I signed out when I felt my brain go dead AND I could not hear what they were saying properly which is a problem for me) there are some excellent gems.

Recent updates from the TV world - The 'TV Matters and Me' opinion column 101

I am back! My vacation has been absolutely amazing and a good break from this blog but I have now returned and will continue to share my insights and opinions of TV culture throughout the year and continuing. I really like maintaining this blog and I am glad to see that my number of readers is rising. So here's to another year of TV Matters and Me, otherwise known as 'Picking NCIS:LA apart and critisizing'. And here is my take on recent event. It has crossed my mind, the possibility that one of these days I will be 'hunted down' by someone from the NCIS:LA franchise and asked to please stop picking the show apart ;) Sadly they ended up with a fan like me!

NCIS - Cote de Pablo is quitting
I read recently that the actress Cote de Pablo has decided to leave NCIS. This has apparently garnered some controversy. This is one of the moments where reality kicks in. The people on the TV screens are not just mindless machines playing characters, they are real people leading their own lives beyond the scope of the camera. Being an actor on TV is well paid but it is a very difficult, time consuming and demanding job and does not offer much leeway. It requires more of people than the rest of us realize and with it come many downsides and demands, fame being one of them. I fully respect and appreciate the actress's decision of walking away. Cote De Pablo has given us 8 fabulous years of Ziva and wonderful acting. Ziva will always be one of my favorite characters on TV and even if there will not be more new material with her, there will be 8 season which is enough. Cote De Pablo is a wonderful actress and I'd personally like to thank her for her contribution to NCIS and making it such a wonderful show. I wish her all the best in the future.

NCIS will of course change but we will still have Tony, McGee, Gibbs, Abby, Ducky and Palmer. It'll still be good ol' NCIS and I am looking forward to seeing how the show will develop. So this does not worry me in the slightest. It'll be sad to see Ziva go but NCIS has always bounced back and will no doubt continue to do so.

NCIS:LA

My good ol'd pick apart show. Apparently, they began shooting the first episode of season 5 today and they begin straight off from where they left. My own opinions of the extremely bad finale can be found here (under 'Popular Posts') so I am rather skeptical of how they will pull this off. Because, they have a lot to redeem and fix. But NCIS:LA has a strange ability to bounce back so I am not hopeless about the episode. I have not watched a NCIS:LA episode in a long time but I grin and laugh each and every time I watch the video 'Jungle Cat'. It never gets tired and it makes me happy. The sheer absurdity, silliness and childish joy in that scene is a wonderful blend and it is one of the reasons I enjoy the show so much.

So thank you to NCIS:LA for bringing me some great lightness and grins. You really do it well!

And on a side note - Why oh why am I not living in Connecticut at the moment so I could have seen Barrett Foa in the Music Man?! I love musicals and it'd have been such fun.

Castle

I have been re watching old Castle episodes and this series is just such gold, it's absolutely amazing just how much fun it is to watch and how well done every single episode is. I have been a solid Castle fun for 3 years now and will continue to follow. I am super excited about next season and it'll be so wonderful to see how they will work things out.