Something next to normal, that's the thing I'd like to try

* Via umadoshi, some speculation on Black Widow's MCU backstory based on the Age of Ultron trailers. I have to admit, much as I want Natasha's origin story, the mere mention of "how much Joss Whedon looooves his trained-as-a-weapon, mentally-brainwashed ballerinas" makes me go NO NO NO HANDS OFF DON'T TOUCH DO NOT RUIN THIS FOR ME WITH YOUR GROSS FETISHES, JOSS.

* Here's the live-blog of the Agent Carter TCA panel, as well as the Community panel.

* Also a live-blog of the Parks & Recreation panel, and an interview with Michael Schur about Parks & Rec's final season.

* Season 3 of Hannibal won't be on until the summer. It will also involve a time jump long enough for someone to get married, and Richard Armitage has been cast in a key role.

* Zachary Levi will star in the Heroes reboot. Oh, Zac. Why.

* Jennifer Lawrence interviews Eddie Redmayne and it's adorable.

* Bradley Whitford is guest-starring on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Yay!

* The cast of The West Wing reunites for the second annual Big Block of Cheese Day.

* More Twin Peaks cast announcements.

* Natasha Lyonne will be guest-starring on the upcoming season of Girls.

* Doesn't look good for #sixseasonsandamovie - Hulu is not bringing Community back.

* I knew about half of these "27 facts about the West Wing you probably didn't know."

* Go see Snowpiercer! Do it! (And if you're in the DC area, go see it with me! Seriously.)

* Mark Ruffalo talks about playing the Hulk.

* An interview with Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta about The Leftovers, which I am super excited about, based on early reviews.

* Laura Prepon will be in every episode of Orange is the New Black next season. In case you were worried.

* These Hunger Games posters are creepy and cool, as is President Snow addressing Panem in this clip.

* Kristen Bell is having another baby.

* Not surprisingly, Stephen Sondheim backtracked like crazy on his Into the Woods comments. I remain skeptical. ("Coincidentally" he watched the rough cut immediately after making those remarks? Coincidentally? Really?)

* The Orphan Black creators talk about the season finale and how they did that awesome clone dance party scene.

* Doctor Who returns August 23 with Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor.

* Jennifer Lawrence gives another typically Jennifer Lawrency interview.

* i had thought Michelle Forbes would make an excellent President Coin (a role which went to Julianne Moore), but at least she'll be in Mockingjay.

* The Tony nominees for Best Actress in a Musical sat down for a chat. (For the record, I think Idina Menzel would make an amazing Witch in Into the Woods.)

* Another interview with Sutton Foster about Violet. I realize probably no one else cares about this show, but it is so different and she is SO GOOD in it, I will keep linking, lol.

* In addition to a live Peter Pan musical, NBC will also at some point attempt The Music Man.

* Galavant, ABC's new "comedy musical fairytale" looks delightfully cracktastic.

* People knowing who Megan Hilty is continues to be the best thing that came out of Smash.

* LOL someone cut together the identical scenes from the Broadchurch trailer and its American remake, Gracepoint. Seriously, why even bother? And I don't know if it's because he's saying basically the exact same lines in a different accent, but David Tennant's American accent is SO OFF-PUTTING. Meanwhile, it's been announced that he's returning to Broadchurch for season 2, along with Olivia Colman and Arthur Darvill.

* Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen talk about Avengers: Age of Ultron.

* I don't actually read a lot of Brian Michael Bendis (though "The Confession" is far and away the best writing of the Civil War comics and I do have Alias sitting on a shelf waiting to be read), but this interview kinda makes me like him.

* Here's the first image of Ben Affleck as Batman.

* Season 2 hasn't even premiered yet, but Orange is the New Black already has a season 3.

* I haven't read the books, so tell me, do you agree that Game of Thrones is doing a better job of telling the story? Just from what I've heard, it doesn't surprise me to hear that the series is benefiting from the show's paring down and refocusing of the narrative.

* Sarah Baker talks about her role in last night's pretty incredible episode of Louie.

* An oral history of The West Wing OMG. (Also, Joshua Malina is the greatest troll of all time.)

* An interview with Graceland's creator about the season 1 finale and what's coming in season 2.

* The end of Breaking Bad (which I am not sure I will physically survive, someone pls check on me after the series finale, I may die from forgetting to breathe for 60 minutes) has prompted yet another look at the art of ending a TV series.

* Julianne Moore will play President Coin in the two Mockingjay movies, and Patina Miller will be playing the District 8 resistance leader. I approve of these choices.

* Kate Mulgrew talks about playing Red in Orange is the New Black.

* Meanwhile, her OITNB co-star Danielle Brooks will be appearing on Girls. Hey, they've discovered black people come in ladies, too!

* 8-year-old Sophia Grace Brownlee will NOT play Red Riding Hood in the Into the Woods movie. Granted, they've replaced her with a 12-year-old, but it's a definite improvement.

* Mindy Kaling talks about The Mindy Project's season 2 improvements.

* An interview with the writer and director of this week's Breaking Bad in which they discuss, among other things, how it ended up being baby Holly's Emmy submission next year, lol.

* A fun, drinky interview with Jonathan Banks. And Dean Norris talks about that thing that happened.

* George R. R. Martin is a Breaking Bad fan!

* The final season of Mad Men is being split in half, with 7 episodes airing in 2014 and 7 airing in 2015. Even better, they're going to film the whole thing at once, so I can only imagine how holding those last 7 episodes for a YEAR is going to test Matt Weiner's spoilerphobia.

* Well, The Sound of Music just got a lot more appealing. Still not a fan of Carrie Underwood as Maria or True Blood guy as Captain Von Trapp, but Audra McDonald as Mother Abbess is PERFECT casting.

* Allison Janney does an encore performance of "The Jackal." West Wing fans, you know what I'm talking about.

* Marvel is going to give us more of Peggy Carter, along the lines of the Agent Carter one-shot.

* Natalie Portman punched Tom Hiddleston while filming Thor: The Dark World.

So I saw Much Ado About Nothing yesterday! I liked it. It didn't knock my socks off or revolutionize Shakespeare or anything, but it definitely feels quite a bit like you are watching a home movie from one of Joss' dinner parties where they all got together and acted stuff out, which is weird and fun. Much Ado is one of those Shakespeare plays that somehow managed to escape me, despite having taken an entire course on Shakespeare in college. Which means I'd never actually read it, never seen it performed, nor watched any of the prior movie versions (er, are there any others besides the Branagh one?), so I'm probably the worst person to offer critical analysis beyond "oooh shiny," lol. Does anyone else have ~thoughts? Other than, obviously, that Amy Acker is the best and should always do physical comedy.

I also started watching The Newsroom this weekend. I KNOW. I watched the pilot waaay back when it first aired, but wasn't that impressed and didn't have HBO and couldn't be bothered to watch the rest of it. I love Sports Night and The West Wing, but The Newsroom had a little too much bad!Sorkin and not enough good!Sorkin. And after I tortured myself watching the entire run of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (OMG SO MUCH BAD!SORKIN. THIS IS ACTUALLY THE WORST SORKIN), I figured I was better off just pulling out my TWW DVDs when I needed a fix.

But then all of season 1 was available for free through On Demand this weekend. I've only made it through 5 or 6 episodes, but I'd say it is definitely not as bad as Studio 60? Which is damning with faint praise, I know, lol, but that was kind of what I was expecting, based on everyone's reactions. It helps that I actually agree with a lot of the criticism Sorkin is leveling at the cable news industry and our media consumption. I just frequently find the way he chooses to deliver his message to be obnoxious, and thus far it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em (to borrow one of Sorkin's favorite phrases) whether one of those things will outweigh the other on any given episode. I don't hate it enough to hate-watch it, but I don't love it, either. And those occasional glimpses of good!Sorkin are really tempting.

I will say this, though: GOOD GOD but he is terrible at writing romantic comedy. JUST STOP. PLEASE. I BEG YOU. Seriously, how is this the same guy who wrote The American President? And Jed and Abbey Bartlet? Once again, there's nothing as insufferable as the truly loathsome Danny/Jordan "romance," but I kind of start twitching every time the Don/Maggie/Jim nonsense comes up, or when Mac apologizes for cheating on Will for the billionth time.

Snagged from maharet83:

Pick 5 TV shows you like before reading the questions.

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. The West Wing
3. Veronica Mars
4. Mad Men
5. Parks and Recreation

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A linkspam:

1. LOOK AT THIS BRACKET, YOU GUYS! LOOK AT ALL THE LADIES. I am so excited for FMM!

2. The Fresh Prince of Downton Abbey. HEE!

3. West Wing Babies. AKA the story of my life. Yes, I chose my current career because of a TV show. WHAT OF IT?

4. Breaking news: The Hunger Games fandom is kinda racist.

(Which reminds me, I need to start browbeating my friends to go see THG with me...)

You guys! Something just occurred to me!

So, we all know Ben Wyatt, aka my future husband/government employee extraordinaire, right? (If not, there is a helpfully labeled icon right there to jog your memory.)

Who else do we know with the last name Wyatt who has a connection to government/politics? Toby Zieger's ex-wife/baby mama, Andrea Wyatt, U.S. Senator from the great state of Maryland!

THERE HAS TO BE A CROSSOVER IN HERE SOMEWHERE. LESLIE MEETS PRESIDENT BARTLET. MAKE IT HAPPEN, PEOPLE.

(Can you imagine the confusion when Leslie and Ben meet Sam? Hee!)

It's been a while since we had an Awesome Lady post. Unfortunately, I am ridiculously tired, so I don't have enough brain power to be eloquent.

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Spent the weekend doing fun things with mcmegan, which I will talk about when I get a chance, but for now, here be your Awesome Lady for today.

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