To Cancel or Not to Cancel: The Fate of T.V. Shows I Love

So the fall t.v. seasons are coming to an end one by one and as each one reaches it's finale, I stay tuned to see if some of my favorite characters will be coming back for another season. Quite a few are staying but I'm reading some sad news too. So stick around with me and see which of your favorite shows are making a return, which are in danger and which shows are getting their last call.

1) The Vampire Diaries (The CW)- I started watching TVD when it first premiered but stopped after the first few episodes. Then I found the first two seasons on Netflix and was hooked. The  season four final is fast approaching and good news for all of us, we'll be going back to Mystic Falls later this year for a fifth season of our favorite vampires, werewolves and witches (oh my!). This one is confirmed for another season. In fact, it's doing so well, The CW ordered a spin-off series with The Originals staring Klaus!

2) Beauty and the Beast (The CW)- This show debuted this year about the detective Catherine (Beauty) solving crimes with Vincent (the Beast) who has a bit of an angry issue thanks to a government experiment gone wrong. I flipflop with this show. I don't need to watch it every week but I have been keeping up and I'll be interested to see how they are going to shake things up in season 2. This show was on the fence for a little while but The CW ultimately picked it up.

3) The Carries Diaries (The CW)- I watched this prequel to Sex in the City every week and definitely got my fix of easy, breezy fun. However, I'd heard that ratings weren't great and this show didn't get picked back up by The CW right away,  Luckily, The CW believes in the show as much as I did because they've decided to renew it for another season. However, it is unknown just how many episodes have been ordered.

4) Cult (The CW)- I decided to watch Cult because I really liked Matthew Davis and thought the concept sounded really cool. Though I'll admit that they didn't take the time to develop the characters very well, I did enjoy the show and was sad to see when The CW pulled the remaining episodes from air. I do hope they put them out somewhere because this show was a lot of fun. It's just too bad others didn't see it. Cult has been canceled.

5) Supernatural (The CW)- A few years back, I started watching this show even among the rumors that season 5 would be the last season. However, Supernatural got renewed and is still going strong. The proof? It got renewed for a 9th season the same time as TVD.

6) Nashville (ABC)- I didn't mean to start watching Nashville. I told myself "no". But I took an overtime shift at work and my co-worker wanted to watch the first episode. I got hooked. Great music, a fun rivalry and loads of drama has kept me tuning in every week. Lucky for me, I'll be able to tune in for a season 2. It's been confirmed!

7) Once Upon a Time (ABC)- If you're anything like me, you were enchanted by Once Upon a Time season 1 and felt season 2 was a little lackluster. I liked the story line better after the second half but I felt like the spliting the family up should have been the second half of the season. However, we are definitely going to get a chance to see what the new world split will mean because Once Upon a Time has been renewed.

8) Smash (NBC)- Dueling divas, beautiful voices and fun, broadway music had me from the beginning. I think Smash's second season is even better. They did so much to try and save this show and in the end, it wasn't enough. Sadly, the two hour finale will be Smash's final curtain closing. Smash has been canceled.

9) Bates Motel (AMC)- I wasn't sure about this show. I love Freddie Highmore and Max Theriot so I decided to give it a whirl even though I've never seen Psycho and I am so glad I did. Creepy, well acted and so full of suspense, this show is gripping from start to finish. Happy to say the network agrees. The light on Bates Motel will stay on for another season. The renewal is confirmed!

Other shows I love coming to an end:

1) Dexter (Showtime)- Dexter really hasn't been canceled. Michael C. Hall and the producers have just decided to end the series on a highnote instead of dragging it on and killing it slowly (after all, Dexter does make his kills pretty kick). So season 8 will be Dexter's final season and I am terrified for the fate of America's Favorite Serial Killer.

2) How I Met Your Mother (CBS)- For years we've been waiting to meet Te'd wife, the mysterious lady that launched 8 seasons. The final season of the show has been announced and hopefully we finally will. Like with Dexter, this show still has good ratings and people still love it. They are just going to go out while people do instead of dragging it along. So prepare for one last season of fun and then get ready to say goodbye to Barney, Ted, Robin and Lily and Marshall (since those last two are one person).

So there you have the fate of some of my favorite shows. Anything you love that isn't going to be returning

Buffy fashions

Welcome, gentle viewers, to the 90's!

So maybe you're starting Buffy for the first time or the fortieth, one thing that you have to brace yourself for is the wild 90's Buffy fasions and there are some doozies. We're talking mini-skirts, barettes, bangs, character t-shits and baggy clothes (for the guys) galore! So I thought it might be fun to go through the fashion evolutions of Buffy with several of the main characters. Prepare your eyes for some pretty outrageous makeovers and unders as we live 7 seasons of highs and lows.

So we can't talk about fashion and Buffy without first looking at it's star. Let's take a walk through the many looks of Buffy...

Buffy- the early seasons

The first few seasons of Buffy had it's star flip-flopping a lot. It seemed like she was constantly at war with her age. Sometimes they wanted to remind us how young Buffy really was by throwing her hair up in a ponytail, giving her some high wedges and arming her with a lollipop and sunglasses. Other times, they wanted to sex her up giving her the 90's trademark miniskirts and cropped shirts. She wore a lot of pale colored dresses and skirts during the day and went with darker colors at night. Buffy's hair is in a constant state of change so you'd be hard pressed to find it looking the same in two episodes. In the beginning of season 1 it looks almost brown sometimes before they finally decide to keep it blonde.

Buffy- the later seasons

It's during the later seasons, pretty much right around the time she gets to college, that what I consider to be the "trademark Buffy" style starts to emerge. From about Season 5 on, Buffy's hair is light blonde and switched between super long or chin length short. She also varies it by wearing it wavy or straight. What I consider to be very Buffy is the spaghetti strap shirts or sleeveless tanks and the low riding trousers. She also wears quite a few long jackets in various colors. I think these seasons showcase the Buffy most people picture. It's all reds, black, and whites with leather pants and square-toed boots. Oh, and hoop earrings. Lots and lots of hoop earrings, especially when her hair is up.

Wanna dress like Buffy? Check out this my Buffy Polyvore collage:

Buffy- Slayer Style by amberinblunderl featuring high heels

Though Buffy went through quite a few changes, I don't think anyone changed their look as much as Buffy's witchy best friend Willow. Let's take a look back at some of Willow's looks.

Willow- the early seasons

In the earlier seasons, it was no question that Willow was young. In fact, most of the time she dressed younger than her age. We're talking t-shirts with cutesy characters on them, overalls, braided pigtails and I'm not sure if anyone can forget the pink fluffy sweater with the yellow flowers on it. She dresses in a lot of bold patterns and crazy colors. Her hair is always long and straight and most of her clothes are baggy and don't show her figure. In the early seasons, Willow dresses to fade out. She's a geek and she doesn't want to be noticed and it shows in her wardrobe. 

Willow- with Oz

Now, when Willow goes into college, her life is going pretty well. She's got herself a boyfriend who she's wild about and she's rooming with her best friend. Her newfound confidence is definitely evident in her wardrobe. AS the college year starts, Willow has adopted Oz's (her boyfriend) slacker style a little more. She wears a lot of long flowly skirts in wild colors and a lot of earth tones. I always remember Willow in this phase of her life in her matching brown felt jacket with Oz pictured above. Her hair is much shorter and flipped out and we get a lot of funky jewelry. She gets sort of witchy chic with a little bit of hippie tied in.

Willow- with Tara and beyond

As Willow finallty comes into her own as a witch, her style truly transforms. Gone are the days of overalls and pigtails. While her style was morphing into hippie chic with Oz, it goes full blown hippie with Tara. Now Willow start to wear a lot of long flowy sleeved tops that hug her figure and in the later seasons she goes back to more pants. We see a lot more make-up, sparkly jewelry and she bares her stomach more often. She definitely get a little more sexed up. It's great to see Willow confident!

If you want to hone in your witchy style, check out this Willow polyvore collage I put together:

Willow Style by amberinblunderl featuring high low skirts

Now that we've covered both girls so let's look at some of the men of Sunnydale. I'd like to start with everyone's favorite librarian!

Giles- through the seasons

In the beginning seasons, Giles is oh-so-deliciousy British. We're talking lots of tweeds in boring brown colors and plain shirt with ties. His straight laced ways are perfectly portrayed in his clothing. As Giles begins to carve out his own path and separate from his Council roots, his style morphs. He still goes for suits a lot of the time but he streamlines them. They are much more updated, better fitting and look mordern. Otherwise, he wear simple longsleeve sweaters and jackets. A bit of his rock-n-roll Ripper days begin to come out in his style which gives us a much more laidback look.

Do the gender swap Giles in this fun polyvore collage:

Giles- Librarian Chic by amberinblunderl featuring a pencil skirt

Finally, I think we should take a look at the one person's (alright, so person status is debatable) fashion that really doesn't change much at all.

Spike- through the seasons

Spike is the one character that you don't see change his look. He drove into town like a bat of hell, meant to be unapologetically rock-n-roll and he's stuck with it through the seasons. In the beginning, we saw him in a lot of open button up red shirts with a tight black tee underneath and dark pants. Let's not forget the stomp your face combat boots and peroxide hair. He also has his trademark black duster (which was driven over by a truck to look worn in) and chipped black nail polish.

As the seasons continue, we see lots of glimpses of Spike earlier in his life. He's either the bumbling poet William with his dirty blonde hair longer and loose or punk in the 80's with white washed jeans and a black tee shirt with cut-off sleeves. In the later seasons, he looses his colored shirt and is mostly pictured in black t-shirts and black pants and his duster. There is a stint where he goes into regular clothes while his mind is recovering but when he's truly himself, he's got on all black, all the time.

Check out how you or your guy can hone in on the Spike style:

Spike- Vampire fashion by amberinblunderl featuring spike jewelry

I hope you've enjoyed looking at some of the Buffy characters through the seasons and talking about their fashion with me. It's been interesting seeing how the characters have evolved and how that is reflected in their clothing. It's been a doubly interesting experience since I finally got around to playing with polyvore. Hope you all enjoyed!

Please let me know if you decide to make your own Buffy collage on Polyvore. It's super simple and I'd love for you to share yours in the comment section below!

Top 5 Favorite Settings in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

You can't hear Buffy the Vampire Slayer and not think about that charming little town she comes from. Sunnydale is synonymous with its little sign that keeps getting knocked over by Spike and the graveyards Buffy roams and the hampster in Willow's room.

But the truly lovely thing about Buffy the Vampire Slayer is that Whedon didn't just stop after creating dynamic characters and amazing plots. He went further and wanted to make the small town of Sunnydale into a character itself. It's got a sunny exterior where people live and shop and sleep and eat, completely unaware of the things that go bump in the night. Then, you delve a littler bit deeper and it's got a darker side--the graveyards, the dead-end alleyways, and of course, the Hellmouth it's sitting on. Just like with a person, Sunnydale has a great blend of light and dark which is one of the reasons Buffy the Vampire Slayer is so great.

So I'm here today to talk about my top 5 favorite nook and crannies of good old Sunnydale and I hope you'll come with me to visit!

5) Sunnydale High's library- You all totally knew this one had to make the list. It's the first place the Scoobies and Giles came together so of course, it needed to be included. What I loved about the library was that on the surface, it seemed so normal. Rows and rows of books, a stuffy British librarian looking up as you walk in the door, a red-headed girl with her nose pointed to a computer screen and a metal cage to keep some of the pricer items. But then you look a little closer and start to see large, dusty tomes about angels and devils and vampires, oh my! You see a bouncy little blonde girl in the corner with headphones on, hitting a punching bag and sometimes you catch sight of a naked guy curled on the floor locked in the metal cage.

I loved how safe it felt. The library was the place for the Scoobies to meet. It's where Buffy found out she was destined to die and where they discovered Angel's dark past. But locked away safe in those walls, surrounded by books, it always felt like everything would be alright. The Scoobies worked together, studying and talking and plotting to get through the toughest supernatural problems and the worst social situations.

And then the Hellmouth opens up and a monster comes up out of the library floor and suddenly, their safe haven isn't so harmless now. It's sitting on top of such great evil that it can't contain it. To me, that scene symbolized how fragile youth can be and how things like safe places don't really exist in the real world. So many good and bad things happened there that I can't help but look at it with fond memories!

4) Sunnydale High After the Fire- I loved roaming the halls of Sunnydale with the Scooby Gang and discovering previously unexplored areas of their school. Like with all high schools, there were a lot of really good memories there. That's why going back to Sunnydale after the mayor goes crazy on it and they are forced to burn it down is one of the most profound experiences in the show and makes for one of my most memorable settings.

Sunnydale High's ruins are the literal translation of the Gang growing up. There is nothing to come back to so they have to go forward onto even scarier Big Bads with the reminder that you can never really go home. Watching them walk through the remains gave me goosebumps in the later episodes because I can remember it the way it was with them. Seeing it reduced to darkness and trash and burnt ruins is awful but I couldn't look away.

3) The Magic Box- I just said that you can never go home but you can find some place new to build on. With Giles' apartment and later, The Magic Box, that's exactly what the Scoobies did. However, right from the beginning, we know that The Magic Box isn't safe like the library was. The previous owners have been murdered, there are break-ins all the time and they have to clean up this store at least three times after Giles buys it but it is a place that has everything they need and a perfect excuse to talk vamps sans the weird looks.

Of the Scoobies bases, the inside of The Magic Box is the most interesting to look at in my opinion. I love that they are surrounded by the tools of their trade and can always find what they need. It also happens that one of my most memorable episodes "Tabula Rasa" occurs in The Magic Box. For those of you that don't remember, this is the episode where Willow is using magic like crazy and accidently makes the entire gang forget who they are. This makes Spike and Giles believe that Spike is his son due to their "nancy boy" accents and that Anya is engaged to Giles since they both own The Magic Box. I LOVED that episode and it was so fun how The Magic Box was used as several clues to help them "figure out" who they were and what they were doing before falling asleep.

2) Spike's Crypt- As a Spike fan, it's pretty lucky that I didn't add "under the tree in Buffy's yard" too since some of my favorite scenes are Spike chain smoking outside just waiting for her to come out so he can exchange some lame insults her way. But, I digress. So, back on topic, Spike's Crypt is a must for me. The reason being is that I loved seeing how it changed as Spike began to settle into his bachelor pad in the cementary. Not only did the top become a little more homey but he did amazing things with the underground part. I loved the rugs that were obvious stolen thrown across the floor mixed with the gigantic bed. I guess it's that odd mixture of dust and old things with new things like the borrowed chair and television that made me love any thing going on in this neck of the cementary.

One thing I could never figure out though was if he slept in the stone coffin above (which he is pictured in sometimes) or the bed down below (which he is pictured in sometimes). I also love that in the beginning, his crypt is sort of creepy but as he finds his place in the Scooby Gang, the crypt becomes a little more domesticated to the point where Buffy drops off Dawn to be babysat there. Also, it doesn't hurt that this scene was filmed there:

In case you don't remember, let me refresh your mind. This is the first kiss Spike and Buffy share where Buffy wants to kiss him. She disguises herself as Buffybot to discover what Spike told Glory while she tortured him. Spike tells her that he didn't reveal that Dawn was "the key" and Buffy says that she'll go tell Glory so Spike won't be hurt again. Spike tells her not to, that he'd rather die and it earns him this tiny kiss. Many more are to follow in his place but this is by far one of the sweetest.

Now... for my number 1 spot in Sunnydale...

1) Buffy's kitchen- In the show, Buffy's house is the one thing that always remains the same until the very end. People come and go from it, it turns into different things at different times and it isn't always safe but it is always hers and it is always there (until Sunnydale is no more). I could have done the entire house but I decided to be a little more specific and chose the kitchen.

I think of the kitchen as the wind down place. After a hard night of patroling, a killer fight with a big bad or with each other, the Scoobies wind up in the kitchen to top off the hectic day or night with a snack. When Joyce is alive, she is usually there with a snack ready to go and a happy smile and when it's just Buffy, the fridge is still almost always full. It's had some of the most intense character scenes (i.e. Spike and Buffy talk about their night in Touched, the Scoobies tell Spike that Buffy left in Season 7 when they didn't back her) but it was able to maintain its calming demeanor. They gather to discuss the end in the kitchen. When one of them reaches into the fridge for a soda, I as a viewer, know that everything is going to be okay, even if it isn't at that very second. Buffy's kitchen is my breathing room, it lets me feel like there is at least one place they can go to let everything sink in which is why it is my number one favorite spot in Sunnydale.

Honarable Mention:

I know that the Sunnydale Project is all about Buffy but I have to make a mention of LA and Angel. Since it's in LA, I didn't include it in my list but I have to get this awesome setting a shout out:

The Hyperion Hotel- This old hotel becomes Angel Investigation's base of operations after their old one was destroyed. I love that they are such a small agency yet they are located in this huge hotel full of rooms in various stages of decay. Angel always has the coolest places but Hyperion Hotel totally takes the cake in the awesome category. Plus, I think it's fun that as more people join their little investigation business, more and more rooms are fixed up to accommodate them. With each episode, we see a little more of the hotel and get to know a new room or corner.

So those are the places I'd love to visit if Buffy's Sunnydale was real. There are a ton more that I could add to this list: the Sunnydale cementary, Giles apartment, The Bronze, Angel's mansion, The Operative center and caves and more but I had to give you five and I'm pretty pleased with the list (and cheat) I came up with.

What do you think of my list? Which places would make your top five?