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Those of you who have stumbled upon this page on the site may wonder, from whence the name of this section?
I swear, it's not as smutty as it sounds. Honest.
I've never made any secret of the fact that I'm a complete slave to my hormones when it comes to television shows - hey, I have been known to watch The Young and the Restless just to ogle Shemar Moore. (But only during the holidays. When there's nothing else on. And I'm zapping the channels and I come across it. Really.) However, it's become a running joke among some of my friends (and you know who you were, and anyone who was at Wolf SG-5 in Blackpool might just know it too) that my, shall we say, admiration for certain actors can be boundless.
Notice how I say certain actors like there's not that many? Not so - there's a helluva long list. Add to this the fact that I have an addictive personality and an obsessive loyalty to characters I love, and it's a recipe for disaster.
With the result that I've been calling myself a fangirl slut for years.
Fangirlslut.com came about when I was on instant messenger with a friend of mine (again, she knows who she is) and she was trying to convince me to start up a Gary Dourdan website. (The answer, by the way, is still no.) When she couldn't make that work, she suggested that I do one for my many TV boyfriends. She called it Neen's Guys, I, being pretty giddy by that point, quipped "I can see it now - fangirlslut.com" - some things stick, what can I say?
So when I wanted to do a section like this, what else was I going to call it?
Skating
When I said I have an addictive personality, I was not kidding. I've also been that way from a young age. A very young age. Please also bear in mind that I was very young when Torvill and Dean were tearing up the record books in skating, and they were everywhere. Skating was everywhere, and thus, I've literally grown up looking at the sport. (And yes, it is a sport, and I'll debate that with anyone.)
Torvill and Dean were, and still are, one of my favourites, and I always loved Scott Hamilton, but at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, my little six year old heart (no, that's not a typo, I told you I started young) was stolen by a man called Brian Orser, and it's belonged to him ever since. There was a very meaningful love of Kurt Browning right after that, until 1992, when I first clapped eyes on the skater who would ruin me for all others, Elvis Stojko. True fanaticism didn't hit with him until 1994, but when it did, boy did it ever. Eight years later, a very wonderful friend sent me the Canadians Gala from 2002 with the tribute to him on it - I cancelled all engagements that night and cried till I was blind!
However, living in Ireland meant that skating info was few and far between, until the advent of the Internet and dear me, how did I embrace that medium. I joined lists, read bulletin boards and I think at one point I had enough photos to give me wallpaper every day of the year. Somewhere along the line, I stumbled onto an Elvis Stojko list, where I made wonderful friends who loved him as much as I did. During Worlds in 1998, held in Minneapolis, most of those friends were at work during the Men's Short Program, while I had a ringside seat, courtesy of the blessed Eurosport. We were all online, they were trying to follow the scores via Icecalc, and I harmlessly posted that I was watching it, did they want me to tell them what was happening? They said yes, I posted, with some of my own inimitable comments, and ended up continuing… cue much snark, the odd sleepless night and early morning, and worse spelling than I've ever put anywhere!
Fame
Another addiction that began at a ridiculously young age, though its recurrence has it roots in the fact that a British satellite channel called TCC decided to re-run it when I was fifteen. Caught an ep by accident, decided to dance down memory lane, and before I knew it, I was hooked again. This time, I was able to appreciate the more "adult" jokes in it and see more interactions between the characters, and in particular be blown away by the performance of Gene Anthony Ray (Leroy) and what a great job he did over six seasons of the show - I don't think that a character has ever grown and evolved as much as Leroy did in that show. Savage Streets is still, in my opinion, one of the best episodes of any one hour drama ever, and of course, Fame is where I first saw the work of the wonderful Michael Cerveris, who I had the luck to meet in London in 2000.
Neon Rider
Why I watch all these great shows that no-one else has ever heard of, I do not know, but such is my lot in life. Neon Rider was a show about Michael Terry, a psychologist who set up a program to help troubled teens; instead of juvenile detention, they'd work on his ranch. The show was well written and well acted and deserved a much better reception than it ever got. And of course, it's where I first became a fan of the wonderful Peter Williams, our Pin Mon!
Star Trek
This one can be blamed on a good school-friend of mine who insisted that she was going to get me into Trek if it was the last thing that she did. She succeeded with Next Generation, namely by giving me Peter David's book Q-In-Law during a midterm break and telling me to read it. Read most of it that very night and adored it - colour me a fan. This was when season three was starting over here, and Sky One were beginning repeats of seasons one and two, and I stayed for the rest of the run as RTE played ping-pong with the timeslot. Come Deep Space Nine I was there for a while, went in and out of it, but attended a one day convention where the last ten episodes aired back to back, all on my own, and couldn't cry at the end of it. I made up for it when Sky aired it though. Voyager I was more out of than in, and Enterprise never grabbed me at all…but Next Gen is my show!
Babylon 5
Oh JMS, how I adore thee. Though Channel Four tried to wear us down, changing the timeslots, cutting scenes out of episodes and basically treating the show incredibly badly, I hung in there and prospered. Adored Franklin and Garibaldi (but not like that, cause eeew), occasionally got driven up the wall by Sheridan, screamed at the end of War Without End (copped the twist about two seconds before Marcus did; he said "Dear God, a Minbari not born of Minbari" as my head was exploding) and waited until the week between Christmas and New Year's to see the last five eps. Was away for the last three, got my sister to tape them, got my best friend and fellow addict to tape them as my backup. Got home, refused to go out and (thankfully) was alone in the house to look at the last three episodes. And my God, how I wept.
Rent
"How do you document real life when real life's getting more like fiction each day?" An entertainment report on Sky News that I watched when I was supposed to be studying for my college exams is responsible for this - it was all about this hit Broadway show that premiered the day after the death of its composer, Jonathan Larson. The music, what little I heard of it, sounded cool, the story sounded interesting, and I managed to find the cast recording in Dublin. Listened to it, fell in love, and when the show came to London in '98 (with four of the original Broadway cast - Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Wilson Jermaine Heredia and the wonderful Jesse L Martin) I went over for a week and saw it four times. Which was nothing to what happened when it came to Dublin and I saw it 22 times in a couple of months - hey it was the summer holidays, I had nothing to do, what do you want from me?
Stargate SG-1
I'm trying to figure out who I can blame for this one, because it's not my fault, oh no. People were telling me for ages that I should watch this show, that it was brilliant, and I knew that McGyver was in it, and that there was a cute science guy, and that Peter Williams and Christopher Judge (a TV boyfriend since his days on Sirens, yet another brilliant show that no-one's ever heard of) were both there too, but I never got around to seeing an episode. Then one Friday afternoon, I was at home, it was five o'clock and Mother was keeping dinner until six until my sister got home. I was bored, I was hungry and in an effort to take my mind of these factors, I found that Sky One were re-showing Stargate SG-1 episodes and tuned in. Wouldn't you know it, my first episode was Holiday. Not knowing anything about the show, that episode turned me into a die-hard Sam/Daniel shipper ("It's nice to know you don't just like me for my looks") and another obsession was born. This is the fandom where I began going to conventions again, and in so doing met some great people who became really good friends of mine…I bless the day my sister got delayed at work!
Buffy
My pal Joanne spent months trying to get me to watch this show, and I kept telling her I didn't need another obsession. What happened to change my mind? A one-day Deep Space Nine con that also showed three eps of Buffy. Joanne came along, and we saw Helpless, The Zeppo and Bad Girls and by the end of that, I was way more interested, and probably the rest of the gang were ready to kill me with questions. The next day I think pretty much ran through the rest of season three, all those eps, one after the other, ending in Graduation Day. By the end of that, I adored Giles, I adored Oz, I loved Oz and Willow, and I was a convert. It's been a slippery slope from there. And in season seven, we got DB Woodside, and despite the fact that we didn't know if he was evil or not for a while, my standing comment, "He could give me detention anytime" still stands!
Angel
Like I wasn't going to watch the spin-off? Not that I was a great Angel fan, (in fact I think I was the only person at the one days who couldn't see the appeal initially) but Glenn Quinn (may he rest in peace) I did like (Covington Cross and Roseanne anyone?) and hey, it was Joss. Some great moments in season one, even though I disturbed all my friends by falling for Wesley long before it was fashionable to do so (and while we're at it, season four Wesley? Season four, creepy that's-not-love-Fred-that's-obsession Wesley? I've got issues) and it's gone from strength to strength since then.
The West Wing
So, my cousin kept telling me about this great show that I just had to watch. He would quote it, he would tell me about the eps, and I kept missing it. Until I saw What Kind of Day Has It Been? while I was moving out of my room while the house got renovated. (Long ugly story, you don’t want to know) Resolved to keep an eye out for the new series (and I caved on the spoilers, ringing my sister at work the morning after it aired in the States, knowing she'd have looked up who got shot. I asked, she told, and that was all I knew. I hung up the phone happy.) In true RTE style, we had to wait nearly a full year to see Two Gunmen and in true RTE style, they showed part one and took the show off the air for a week to make way for the monthly Crimeline show. By the end of the two-parter I was hooked, and with Channel Four showing repeats of season one and a tape trading site, I was off to the races. And when In This White House came along and I was bitten by the Leo/Ainsley love, I went looking for fanfiction. Couldn't find any, so I wrote my own. Then I kinda forgot to stop. Then I fell in love with Josh (Yes, it was the Band Gazebo speech that did it) and then Toby (the hug with Ginger in Two Gunmen) For the longest time, I was kinda "meh" when it came to Sam, then midway through season three I fell. Of course, he announced he was leaving a few months later, but not before I found an uncon ship to pair him with. Am now feeling the Will Bailey love, so there's no end in sight to this one!
C.S.I.
All Nora's fault. All of it! Another show I kept meaning to check out, but never got into on a serious way. RTE however were to have a hand in this, by stopping the show after a few episodes. When they resumed, it was near the time that the first set of season one DVDs were released, and as luck would have it, the last two eps on the box set hadn't been aired on RTE. So Nora tells me, she said, "You'll love it, and if you start looking at it now, you can borrow my DVDs and you'll be all caught up." (This was, I think payback for the West Wing. Which was payback for Farscape. But anyway) So I started looking at it, liked it. Borrowed her DVDs, mainlined twelve eps in three days. Thank God for summer holidays. Fell in love with Warrick, as she knew I would. Found a grievous lack of fanfic, began to write my own, pairing him with Sara. And then the rest of the gang came to play, as I fell for Greg and Archie and Bobby and Nick, and even Grissom a little, and that's all she wrote!
C.S.I. Miami
All Heidi's fault. All of it! We met in West Wing fandom, both being Leo/Ainsley fans. When Miami aired, she kept mentioning how funny it was seeing Emily Procter as Calleigh, when she kept thinking of her as Ainsley. I mentioned that I hadn't seen it, it hasn't aired over this side of the Atlantic yet, and thought no more of it. Until she offered to send me a tape. She wore me down, but I told her that if I started writing fic for this show, I would kill her. She swore that I'd be ok. Now, when the tape arrived, on a Monday, I was sick, having been coughing for three weeks. On the Tuesday I went to the doctor, who told me that I had bronchitis, that I needed time off work. (Best timed bout of sickness EVER) This lead to me mainlining six episodes in one day, and when the final episode finished, I lay back in my bed, stared at my ceiling, and said words that I can't repeat here. Heidi had neglected to tell me that I surely would fall head over heels for Speedle and when I fall head over heels for a character, fic happens. I've still not forgiven her fully. Plus which, I've also checked out Empire Records and now I'm just dying to write a CSI Miami/Without a Trace crossover where Jack (Anthony LaPaglia, Joe from Empire Records) can tell Speedle to "Stay on the couch!" I'm easily amused.
Cupid
Ah, Cupid, how do I miss thee, let me count the ways. A great show, cancelled too soon, but mercifully repeated on Saturday mornings recently, resulting in me managing to get eight of fifteen episodes on tape and cause me to become a born-again fan. Jeremy Piven as Trevor Hale, Cupid the god of love, exiled to Earth until he manages to match up 100 couples, is the funniest thing ever, and the most quotable TV character not on The West Wing. The only problem arose when Jeffrey D. Sams, Trevor's room-mate and best friend Champ, turned up as the very easy on the eyes Detective Lockwood on C.S.I. Which resulted in me fighting crossover bunnies where Trevor goes to Vegas. My sister's thoughts when I mentioned this to her, hoping that she'd talk me out of it? She got this look on her face from which I instantly knew what she was going to say next. I begged her not to, she went and said it anyway. "Wouldn't you love to see Trevor and Greg talking to one another?" Yes, I would and that's the whole problem!
24
No-one to blame this on but me. I'd heard about it, I wanted to see it because I thought the concept sounded cool. Twenty-four episodes later, and I'm getting used to the screaming, the pounding hearts and the feeling of incredible whiplash. My parents are used to me and my sister meeting on the stairs during ad breaks because we literally cannot watch it in the same room as one another. The insisting on going spoiler free (the bitterness over the last Smallville recap of the season on TwoP which spoiled me for the last scene!) the massive droolage over Jack, Tony and David Palmer…happy days! And season three coming up - DB Woodside! That's too much pretty for one show!
Smallville
Again another one where there's no-one to blame but me. Saw the ads, caught the start of the show over Christmas 2001. Got quickly addicted, fell for Lex, and Clark and Pete and even Jonathan (mock not the love of Bo Kent!) and did I mention Lex? Loathe Lana, adore Chloe, worship Lex (did I mention that?) and yes, the slash vibe is strong in this show, even with me! A friend of mine begs me to write it, I say no no and no again. And this time, I mean it, dammit!
Birds of Prey
This one, I'm blaming on the good folks at DMZ Events, who showed the first two episodes at one of their one-days. No-one else liked it, but no-one else had sat through Shemar Moore in The Young and the Restless. I wasn't kidding about that before. In spite of the fact that they gave him precious little to do in the first two episodes, and what they gave him rendered him as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike, there was just enough of him to keep me happy...especially when he took off his shirt, and we all know by this stage that yes, I am that shallow. There was also quite a bit of chemistry between him and Huntress, always a plus, enough to get me watching when CNX began showing episodes. The rest is history, culminating in the wondrous sight of Shemar and Mitch Pileggi acting side by side...I may never recover.
Farscape
Can't believe that I forgot this one! All Nora's fault, probably payback for something or other, and I'm not sorry in the least! Great writing, great acting, a show that kept me on the edge of my seat - and my mother and sister too, since they were the ones who heard me screaming all over the house after the season three finale. Which was nothing to the season four (and series, and please don't start me on that) finale, where I was basically unable to speak for a day after seeing it. And this is me! John and Aeryn are one of the best couples on television ever, I still feel cheated over not seeing more of Jool and D'Argo, and while I'm at it, can I just express my undying love for Anthony Simcoe? The D'Argo's Conga deleted scene and the interview where he talks about getting his own ship are worth the price of the DVD all on their own!
NYPD Blue
This is a show that I dipped in and out of for a long time, mainly because Channel Four and RTE couldn't decide on a decent timeslot between the two of them and had a tendancy to move it off the air for Pro/Celebrity TiddlyWinks. A decent timeslot on Irish television got me back into it, all the more so when the wonderful Esai Morales came into it as Tony Rodriguez, and when the season one DVDs came out, I rolled the dice, hoping that I could put aside my hatred of Horatio Caine aka David Caruso and look at the eps that I remember loving all that time ago. A few eps in, I remembered why I loved John Kelly so much, and I still can't get over loving DC as him and hating him equally as much as Horatio. Dennis Franz rocks the house, as always, and I'd forgotten just how damn adorable Andy and Silvia were when they were just getting together..."Don't quit on me now..." -- I almost sobbed! And on a season nine note - am I the only one who's disturbed at how good Mark-Paul Gosselaar is? Zack Morris, all growed up!
Boomtown
This is paired with CSI Miami on Irish tv for the autumn 2003 lineup, so I decided to give it a try. After one ep, I was hooked, after two, out came the tapes. I never in my life expected to fall for Donnie Wahlberg as an actor (it's disturbing to me that I remember his first incarnation of fame with NKOTB) but as Joel, he's just amazing. Fearless, Mykelti Williamson, rocks, and Neal McDonagh is likewise amazing. A fine ensemble cast, and Joel and Teresa are the greatest un-couple ever!
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