Happy Birthday, Dove Cameron!

Yeah I found out about this, like, literally seconds ago (as of writing this sentence). So since Dove's a big thing on the network and since I like Liv and Maddie, Happy Birthday Dove!

And some other things for some general housekeeping, I guess, to make this more than just a two-line post. We've already talked about the future of this blog in one of our recent posts, about the big announcement of Girl Meets World ending. The future isn't changing because, again, it's just one show of the many we review (and the many more we theoretically can review but just don't bother yet for one reason or another - probably because it just sucks too much and feels like a chore just watching). There's much to talk about with just GMW for the time being too, even after it closes out its final episode. Just general thoughts about the show period, and breaking down some key points about its quality and history in at least some semi-organized essay format. Mike seems to have the impression that...if I don't necessarily actively dislike the show, that I have little good to say about it. Which isn't true! It's just that I have more thoughts about how disappointing it's been than thoughts about how good or great it's been. Off the top of my head I can name two truly great episodes - Meets Money and Meets She Don't Like Me. Both of those are 2nd and 3rd/Final Season episodes respectively, when the show's supposed to really hit its stride and be over the First Season Disney Channel curse already. I guess three episodes if you want to count World Meets Girl (I'm glad I'm not the only one who did like it, yay!) Oh, and I really liked Meets Texas Part 1, although Parts 2 and 3 kind of helped to sink it. That's four really, really great episodes I can name off the top of my head that really stick out in memory. Through the entire series run. That's a problem, especially for a show like GMW that's supposed to have been birthed directly from a really great kid/family-com (that I fondly remember) and a writing staff that's supposed to be automatically greater than the writing staffs of the other shows. Somehow. I can name probably three or even four from Jessie's first season alone - Gotcha Day, Tempest in a Teacup, Used Karma, Are You Cooler than a Fifth Grader...eh, that's where it tops out for now. But still. I can name some great episodes from second season - Make New Friends but Hide the Old, Why Do Foils Fall in Love, Kids Don't Wanna Get Shunned, Throw Momma From the Terrace, Break-Up and Shape-Up, Punch-Dumped Love (well, the B-plot stank but still)...that's no less than six right there. I could even probably name some from lackluster Season 3 - The Telltale Duck probably being one of the last the show had to offer, but also The Cheapskate, the Primate and the Blind Date; Under-studied and Over-done; Help Not Wanted; even Lights! Cameras! Distraction! even though that was kind of the watershed episode that marked the end of any real hope of quality from the show, and the extremely mean-spirited undertone massively helped to undercut the message the episode was going for. Even There Goes the Bride was a legitimately beautiful episode, probably the last earnest effort from the show period (we certainly didn't get it from the show's actual finale) with probably about as much emotion and effort as you're going to find from GMW (and don't give me your nostalgia-tinted biases otherwise though I'm willing to hear you out and be convinced otherwise and yes this is just me goading you into commenting below.) Even in the abhorrent Season 4 I can name one or two episodes that were good even if they were nowhere near great - Dance Dance Resolution and Identity Thieves.  

I'm getting a little off-topic now especially with the whole "Happy Birthday Dove!" thing so howabout I name some great LaM episodes. Season 1: eh, that was so long ago I'll have to look up a list and jog my memory. Kang-a-Rooney, the first Halloween episode, was pretty great. Season 2 had a lot - Kathy Kan-a-Rooney; Detention-a-Rooney; Bro Cave-a-Rooney; Rate-a-Rooney; Band-a-Rooney; Prom-a-Rooney; Ask Her More-a-Rooney; SPARF-a-Rooney. There are more but it's starting to become less a list of great episodes and more just "how much of Seasons 2 and 3 can I list from memory?" But seriously, Seasons 2 and 3 were great. Many of those episodes I listed were consecutively aired. 

Another thing I've been meaning to do is a better outlook/prediction of where these types of television shows are headed. I already did that in our 100th/1 year anniversary post but back then the future was especially murky. It was clear both networks were struggling and Disney Channel and especially XD seem to be outright failing, and at the time I was mostly thinking just how long until the networks collapse completely and end up being either void spaces on the channel finder or replaced with something entirely different (maybe sold to another mega-corp to become, I dunno, The Real History Channel: All Morons Embarrassing Themselves In Front of Millions, No Actual History). But now there are apparent strategies in place, and those strategies are pretty interesting. But again, that will be its own post.

So yeah, uh, go out there and celebrate Dove being, I dunno, what is it, 21 now? Yeah. If you're legal age I guess go ahead and toast one for her, responsibly, and don't pull a Debby drive drunk. If you're not, uh, watch a good episode of Liv and Maddie I guess. I have a cold so toasting isn't really a desirable option for me anyway, and it's freezing and gray as a Civic listed on Craigslist so there isn't a lot of outdoor options for me anyway. Maybe it's warm enough for you, and you're not-infected-enough that you can relax with a cold one on a patio or something.

On a finale Dove-related note you may be wondering if there might be a possibility of us reviewing the live version of Hairspray that Dove was in. The answer: not in a billion years.