In Which I Do Surveys On TV Shows and Firsts

[rockinlibrarian]

I have made a lot of progress with One Book this week, so it's time to take a break and mess around on the Internet. And TWO PEOPLE posted SURVEYS yesterday. What timing! Anymore YEARS can go by without those surveys, those surveys I was so addicted to once. I think they happen a lot on Tumblr anymore, but as I've said, Tumblr bewilders me.

So, Two Surveys

First, my Lycoris penpal @friedapaula did one similar to the music one I did the other week, but this about TV shows. I've never seen one about TV shows before! So, here:
TV Shows Challenge

Pick five of your favorite TV shows before reading the questions.

1. Sesame Street. To reiterate that I was obsessed with it before it got pulled into political discussion.
2. Freaks and Geeks, which I just watched a bit of the other day.
3. Firefly. Frieda had this listed for #2 and I almost left it, but then I realized the questions would be the same and that didn't seem fair. So it's here now.
4. Community, to throw in something that's actually on the air. Sort of. You know the stupid network just put the show on hold AGAIN?
5. Sherlock... eh, I guess I'll stick with that, even though the fangirls annoy me. I thought of doing some other Martin show like The Office but I've seen Sherlock more times, so I'll keep it.

1) Who is your favorite character in 5?
Oh come on. It would have been John Watson even if I WASN'T madly in love with his actor, you realize that?

2) Who is your least favorite character in 3?
The bad guy in "Heart of Gold." Not only is he a reprehensible person, but he's not even interesting, and I rather hate his acting, too.

3) What is your favorite episode of number 1?
That is not a show you pick by episodes! But it was the home of the single greatest moment in TV history, Kermit and the Girl Who Wouldn't Stop Saying Cookie Monster. My kids have been into quoting that lately, too.

4) What is your favorite season of number 4?
Ida know, two maybe? It hit its stride there. But most of my favorite eps are in the other two seasons. So actually, I have no idea.

5) What is your favorite relationship in 2?
Romantic: Ken and "Tuba Girl" Amy. Non-romantic: the general Weir family dynamic. Apparently I like relationships with my name in them.

6) What is your least favorite relationship in 3?
LEAST favorite relationship? How can there possibly be a least favorite relationship on that show? I'm really straining and I can't think of a relationship, romantic or not, that I don't enjoy the chemistry of. Also, why do you keep asking for my LEAST favorites about Firefly? That's not fair.

7) How long have you watched 5?
Right after the second episode aired in the States. Couple people online were gushing about it so I watched those first two eps online and then caught the third when it actually aired that weekend.

8) How did you become interested in 4?
Also online gushing. It sounded out-of-the-ordinary and obsession-causing so I got season 1 out of the library, and then I couldn't stop

9) Who is your favorite actor in number 1?
I will go with Caroll Spinney for longevity's sake. Human actors, dang I love everybody (not that I don't love everybody among the Muppeteers, too, but I can single out Spinney. Oh, unless you count Jim. That goes without saying). Sonia Manzano had a conversation with me on Twitter once so I'll claim her if only for that.

10) Which show do you prefer more: 1, 2, or 5?
Prefer for what? For being a world-changing institution that I've written research papers on and it's my dream job to work on some day? That would be 1. I would say I enjoy 5 the most, but when a certain person is not on camera I get ANXIOUS. I don't have that problem watching 2, so... but, on the other hand, WHILE he's on screen, yeah I don't want to watch anything else...

11) Which show have you seen more episodes of: 1 or 4?
Nobody can compare to 1, seriously. PERCENTAGE-WISE, Community wins since I've seen every episode of three seasons. But that's going up against FORTY-three seasons... which I've been watching all my life...

12) If you could be anyone from 3, who would it be?
I AM Kaylee already, are you kidding? Okay, no, I WOULD be Kaylee, because Kaylee is me WITHOUT INHIBITIONS, which is of course the Ideal Me. So, definitely Kaylee. ...except I'd never have a fling with a stupid, scuzzy mechanic I just met. Nor would I be interested in that dork Tracey. Simon, yes, I definitely would have fallen for Simon. When I was younger.

13) How would you kill off your favorite character in 5?
NO! You couldn't! Actually, he would die IN MY ARMS. No, seriously, I had a dream the other night where I was in SOME kind of crime show starring Martin-- though there was no sign of Sherlock so I'm not sure if that was actually it-- and I was playing some kind of random victim-of-the-week but it was PERFECTLY IN-CHARACTER for our two characters to hook up and I was like "I can live with that," but then we went to investigate the laboratory that was doing secretive government experiments or something and they RELEASED THE STINGERS which were flying stingers without bees, some kind of weapon, and I got stung so I thought "Oh okay, so this is where I'm killed off, and he holds and kisses me passionately while I die in his arms? Right, that part," but then I looked over at him and HE'D gotten totally nailed with Stingers and was OUT COLD so I thought "OH so I guess I hold and kiss HIM passionately while he dies in-- no, he can't die, he's the star of the show. Well whatever," so I went to do my part with enthusiasm, because I didn't care if the character was dying or not as long as I got to make out with the actor, and then, after a bit, the director or someone I assume jumped in and said "Okay, great, now let's do--" and Martin shot her a look and said, "Excuse us, we are IN THE MOMENT, thank you," and that was just awesome. Anyway. Was that more about my subconscious than you wanted to know?

14) Would a 3/4 crossover work?
Probably. HAVE they done that? There were some Firefly JOKES on Community at one point, I recall-- does anybody remember that, and what it was? Obviously it would be a Firefly spoof/tribute on Community rather than vice versa. That's the way the show works after all.

15) Pair two characters in 4 that would make an unlikely, but strangely okay couple :
Who on that show HASN'T been paired together? My favorite couple is Troy and Abed, but not in a romantic sense. I'm not one for insisting very close friends cross over into romance. But if it actually made sense, yes that would be strangely okay.

16) Give a random quote from 2.
The only thing that's coming to me is Nick crying "John Bonham's dead!" because I appreciate the sentiment. There are so many actual better lines than that, though.

AND NOW a survey on FIRSTS, by way of vovat:

Firsts
First Job: Babysitting. But this is sort of confusing with the next question. My first job I got an actual payCHECK for that was all official and whatnot was Dairy Queen.

First Real Job: ...would be Dairy Queen if that's what you mean, but if you mean "Job using my degree," that would be substitute teaching in my old school district. Though I used my degree at the Children's Museum, technically, too, except that I had the same job as some high school kids so I don't know if that counts.

First Car: that I ever drove, a blue Pontiac. That I owned in my name, a Dodge Intrepid. It kind of blew up. Just kind of.

First Record/CD: The first non-kids'-record record I ever got for my VERY OWN was a 45 of "We Are the World" when I was 5. The first CD that was technically mine was I think the Beatles' red collection... huh, funny, I think my parents kept that, I don't have it any more... anyway, at that point I didn't have a CD player of my own, anyway, but it WAS technically my CD. And the first CD I bought for myself with my own giftcard was a Simon and Garfunkel Greatest Hits. I remember being proud of that, thinking, "This is my very first CD of my own."

First Sport Played: I played T-ball one year. Pretty much the only organized non-gym-class sport I ever played.

First Concert: Probably one of my dad's shows with the Westmoreland Choral Society. Rock concert? Chicago, I think.

First Foreign Country Visited: Canada, when I was seven. Niagara Falls and I think we did Toronto on that trip, too.

First Favourite TV Show: Supposedly, actually, see survey above, Sesame Street, but I don't actually remember that, because as far back as I can remember-- when I was about 3-- I'd already become terrified of it. I got over that in high school, if you wondered. In preschool I was a big fan of Scooby Doo and Little House on the Prairie, though. And supposedly Wonder Woman, but I don't remember actually WATCHING that much.

First Favourite Actor: Hmm, I think, tied to my answer of the next question, it was Dick Van Dyke. I recognized him places, basically. I can't remember when I may have first developed any particular favorite actor otherwise.

First Favourite Actress: Julie Andrews, and what do you know, she's STILL my favorite actress, being that she is JUST A FREAKING GODDESS, THAT'S ALL. When I was young I was very aware that she was both Mary Poppins AND Maria Von Trapp, which were both two of my favorite movies, and my grandmother had the actual BROADWAY CAST (instead of movie) soundtrack to My Fair Lady and that was her, too, so I held the three soundtracks together in my heart as some kind of Trifecta of Awesome.

First Girlfriend/Boyfriend: Official? Jason. Blerg, boring answer. I dated a guy just before him whom I affectionately refer to as "Boring Jon" but he was so boring I don't think I ever went so far as to call him my boyfriend. Also I kind of dated a kid at camp for like a day in high school. See, I spent most of my life getting huge unrequited crushes on people, rather than actually dating people. First Crush would be a much more interesting question. That was Fred Savage. Unless you mean real life crush, then it was the kid two lockers down from me in 7th grade who once told his buddy to stop picking on me. My hero. The story is so wonderfully pathetic, I've been meaning to tell it here for years.

First Encounter with a Famous Person: I can't remember anyone before Mr. McFeely at the Children's Museum when I was already at least 22. He said "Are those [large blue bins] for the donations?" and I said "No, they're for this school group's coats," and that seemed like a totally disappointing first conversation to have with Mr. McFeely, really, I had to tell him NO, how disappointing of me.

First Brush With Death: My death or other people's? A few times in cars skidding on ice? But my sister died when I was six; that was my first DEALING with death.

First Film Seen: Supposedly I saw The Muppet Movie in the theater when I was 18 months old, eating green beans, but I don't remember that. The first theater movie I REMEMBER seeing is Cinderella, when I was four or five.

First Favorite Recording Artist: Billy Joel. Unless you count the aforementioned Julie Andrews.

First Favorite Radio Station: 96.1 when it was an Adult Contemporary station, because that's what my mom listened to in the kitchen and it was familiar to me.

First Book I Remember Reading: All my early book reading memories are of being read TO. I don't know if that's what this means. Also, are we talking ANY book or just novels? First novels I had read TO me were either the Winnie the Pooh books or the Little House books. No clue of the first picture book. First book I read, I have a distinct memory of wanting to show off reading The Night Before Christmas the Christmas Eve I was six. No clue what the first novel I read was. Books were too ingrained in my life for any to stand out.

First Comic Book - Never did comic books. I liked reading the comics in the newspaper though. Of the comic BOOK comics, I liked Spiderman and Little Orphan Annie, but, like I said, only in the newspaper.

First Action Figure - Strawberry Shortcake? It was actually Lemon Meringue Pie who had blonde hair like me, Annie (who had straight chin-length slightly-reddish hair) had our Strawberry Shortcake. For something more ACTION-figure-y, when we moved into our new house when I was five, the kid before had left a little Chewbacca behind. I didn't know anything about Chewbacca at the time (like whether or not he was supposed to be a good guy or a bad guy!), but, what the heck. He could hang out with my toys if he wanted.