Tag Archives: lists

Favorite First Kisses

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Love is in the air around these parts today (or maybe that’s just the smell of all of the chocolate I’m devouring). It’s Valentine’s Day, and here at NGN our philosophy is that this is a holiday meant to celebrate love in all its forms, including love of media, television characters, and fictional relationships.

So today we’re going to get into the Valentine’s spirit with a countdown featuring one of the most romantic of all moments—the first kiss. So grab some chocolate and a glass of wine, click these links, and get ready to relive some of the sweetest, most romantic, and downright steamiest television moments in recent memory.

NGN’s Top 10 TV First Kisses

10. Chuck and Blair (Gossip Girl)
If you ever need a reminder of the way Gossip Girl earned the “pleasure” part of its “guilty pleasure” reputation, watch this kiss again. This first kiss and so much more is an example of the best this show could be—a decadent ride through New York City with sex appeal to burn right through the screen.

9. Castle and Beckett (Castle)
The “undercover kiss” is a common TV trope, but this is so much more. What started out as a ruse turned into something so much more when Beckett leaned in for that second kiss. Was it part of the act or was it a real expression of feelings? I think that second kiss answers that question plainly enough. After two and a half seasons of waiting, this kiss was like an explosion of sexual tension. But what really makes it one of the best of all time is Castle’s awestruck reaction.

8. Alex and Izzie (Grey’s Anatomy)
A bar might not be a common setting for a fairytale kiss, but that’s certainly the best way to describe this moment between Alex and Izzie. It’s “Old Hollywood romance” at its finest, a kind of kiss that left even viewers watching from their couches breathless and smiling (or was that just me?). And, like Castle, it’s Izzie’s barely-contained glee that makes this moment exceptionally memorable, a true standout among the many, MANY first kisses Grey’s has had over the years.

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A Galentine’s Day Celebration

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Happy Galentine’s Day, my beautiful tropical fish! In honor of my favorite fictional holiday (which really should be a national holiday), I want to take some time to celebrate the women of TV in a way that would make Leslie Knope proud. It’s going to be all about the love for the next few days here at NGN, and today I want to shine a spotlight on the love that can only exist between best friends.

I wanted to make this list longer than a Top 3, but sadly I don’t watch a lot of shows with healthy examples of female friendship right now. Let me know in the comments which shows I should pick up someday to rectify that situation.

Without further ado, I present NGN’s Top 3 Female Friendships on TV Right Now.

3. Snow White and Red Riding Hood (Once Upon a Time)

once-upon-a-time-season2-episode7-child-of-the-moon-red-and-snow

“I didn’t lose my family today – I protected it… My mother wanted me to choose between being a wolf and being a human. Granny did, too. You are the only person who ever thought it was okay for me to be both.”

Theirs is a fairytale friendship unlike anything else on television, built on a message of supporting the people you love and accepting them for who they really are—both the light and the dark. Snow and Red are two incredibly strong women whose friendship only makes both of them stronger. They bonded through a shared sense of being outcasts, and they formed their own little family that both would do anything to protect. Love is the driving force behind Once Upon a Time, and it’s the love between these two friends that gives both of these characters more depth than your average fairytale women. It’s no coincidence that Snow’s happy ending after the curse was broken involved finding her husband and then running into the arms of her best friend. This show tells us time and again that there’s more than one kind of true love, and Snow and Red’s friendship is one of the truest loves on Once Upon a Time.

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Son of a Nutcracker!: My Favorite Christmas Movies

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It’s finally here! The turkey is eaten, the shopping is underway, and the tree is ready to be decorated. It’s Christmastime once again, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a time when the joy of giving, the peace of a winter’s night, and the beauty found in simple moments with people you love aren’t just cliches. The holiday season is my favorite time of year, and it’s my hope that I can share some of the happiness I feel during this time with all of the people in my life—including all of you that read NGN.

As I get ready for my first viewing of one of my favorite Christmas movies tonight, I want to share with you my list of 10 must-see Christmas films and holiday specials. These aren’t necessarily the best or the most popular, but they’re my personal favorites—the movies I come back to every year when I want to get into the holiday spirit.

1.) Love Actually: If you don’t like at least some aspect of this multi-storyline romantic comedy, then you should probably check to make sure your heart hasn’t been replaced with stone. Sometimes sweet, sometimes sad, sometimes silly—this is a movie that celebrates the unashamed romanticism of the holiday season with some of the best British actors around. (Hugh Grant’s adorable Prime Minister is a personal favorite of mine.)

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Once Upon a Time Season 2 Wish List

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Nerdy Girl Contributor Leah shares with us her hopes for the upcoming season of Once Upon a Time (premiering September 30 at 8 p.m. on ABC).

As we’re getting closer to the Season 2 premiere of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, I’ve become more and more excited for what the cast and crew have in store for us this year. While there are many things I’d love to see in Season 2 (more magical creatures, more of the dwarves, more of the female friendships), here are a few of the big things that I’m wishing on a star to see in this sure-to-be magical second season.

Number One: A Charming Family Reunion
One of my favorite things about Once Upon a Time is the importance it places upon families and parent-child relationships. We’ve seen throughout Season One that being abandoned by her parents has had a profound effect on Emma, and her tearful confession in the pilot to Henry that “[…] at least she [Regina] wants you” makes us hurt with her from the start. Between that scene and the sequence (also from the pilot) that depicts Snow White and Prince Charming making the gut-wrenching decision to give the newborn Emma “her best chance” by sending her to safety through the wardrobe, I can’t help but yearn for a tearful, happy reunion for my favorite fairytale family. I know that the scene may not come right away, as Emma undoubtedly still has hurt and anger over being abandoned for all these years, but I trust that, with these writers, the payoff will be more than worth it.

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Starting on a Good Note: My Favorite TV Pilots

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It’s TV pilot season—the time when we are introduced to the shows that stick with us forever and also the time when we can see which shows won’t make it past midseason.

Let’s be honest; most pilots are not as good as the shows they end up becoming. There’s a lot that writers, directors, and actors have to get across to the audience in a pilot, and oftentimes the story suffers as a result of so much exposition. The actors haven’t had the time to really understand their characters and develop memorable chemistry with their costars. And the look of the show is often less polished than it becomes with later episodes.

However, every season there are at least a couple of pilots that stand out from the pack. Some even transcend the stereotype and become beloved episodes for fans of the show, and an even smaller group can be considered some of the best episodes of television as a whole.

As we get closer to the time when we discover which of this year’s pilots are winners or losers, I’ve been thinking about my personal favorite pilots. Some introduced shows I have always considered must-see TV; some introduced shows I stopped watching somewhere along the way. But they all have a few things in common: They seamlessly blend exposition and entertainment; they introduce the characters in a way that made me care about them right from the start; and they reflect the best of what the show ultimately ended up becoming.

NGN’s Top 10 TV Pilots

10.) Grey’s Anatomy (“A Hard Day’s Night,” 2005): This pilot did a great job of introducing a large cast of characters and making us feel invested in their lives before the first hour was over. Meredith Grey is a deeply flawed but relatable (and intelligent) female protagonist, which is a rare viewpoint through which to tell a successful pilot. The chemistry between Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey burns from the very first scene of the episode, drawing viewers to the relationship between Meredith and Derek even before much is known about them. This pilot also manages to elicit strong emotions after such a short time with these characters. I dare you to watch (or re-watch) the final scene with Meredith and her mother without getting a little choked up.

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A Special Kind of Bucket List

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This weekend is one of the biggest weekends of the year for nerds of all kinds. It’s time once again for Comic-Con, and once again I’m sitting on my couch in New York wishing I was in San Diego, getting the inside scoop on my favorite movies and TV shows while seeing some of my favorite celebrities.

As I was scrolling through my Twitter feed, longing to be at Comic-Con, I started thinking of what other fandom-related things I would like to do at some point in my life. Some of these are realistic; others are slightly less likely to actually happen. I’m sure I’ll be adding more to this list as time goes on. That’s the beauty of being a nerd; there’s always something new to be passionate about.

Nerdy Girl Bucket List:

1.) Go to Comic-Con.

2.) Drink butterbeer at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

3.) Hug Zachary Levi and/or Nathan Fillion.

4.) See a midnight screening of a superhero movie. (I can’t believe I haven’t done this yet.)

5.) Have a marathon where I watch all six Star Wars films in order on the same day.

6.) Finish Anna Karenina.

7.) Visit Ernest Hemingway’s house.

8.) Have an essay published in a Smart Pop book.

9.) Go to one of those events at a movie theater where they show previous films in a series before the new one’s midnight screening. (I’d love to do this before Catching Fire, Captain America 2, or the next Spider-Man film.)

10.) Meet John Green.

11.) See one of Team Starkid’s productions live.

12.) Stay at the Magic Kingdom until it closes at 3 a.m. during Extra Magic Hours.

13.) Get my sister to watch Firefly.

14.) Own the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One – Avengers Assembled box set, and watch all of those movies over the course of a weekend.

15.) Build my own lightsaber at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

16.) Go to the Toronto International Film Festival.

17.) See any of my favorite musicals on Broadway.

18.) Have breakfast at Tiffany’s.

19.) Own hardcover copies of all of the Harry Potter books.

20.) Attend a midnight release party for a book.

Now that I’ve shown you my Nerdy Bucket List, I want to see yours. What gloriously geeky things do you want to do in your lifetime?