TV Show Review: Delirium (pilot episode)

One of the saddest parts about loving young adult fiction is when a book is set to be made into a movie or TV show and that project is dropped (especially if the book is part of a series and the project gets dropped after the first or second movie--looking at you Mortal Instruments!!!).

This is sadly a review (well really me just promoting it because I have nothing bad to say) about a TV show that was based off of a series that only made it as far as a pilot.

You may recognize the actress playing the main character in Scream Queens (I know lots of you teens out there are super into this series right now! :)), American Horror Story or Unfabulous. I personally loved her most in Nancy Drew back in 2007 but I digress.

This pilot was based off of the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver. I found this book series quite randomly one day on the shelves here at McKinley and found the cover interesting, so I picked it up. Before I knew it, I had read the entire series.

The idea is that, in this dystopian world, love is not permitted. Love is so bad that it is considered to be a disease that will make you go crazy and die. This show takes the idea of this and runs straight into politics. This was an aspect not introduced in the series but one that I think would have added a great deal to Lena's world (Lena = main character = Emma Roberts).

In the TV show, you have the added idea of two politicians competing for a position in the government. One seems to be against the censorship of love while the other is all for it. Now, granted, we were only given one episode for this show so I could be totally wrong on a lot of this. I'm just going off of what I got from the episode. You are also introduced to numerous characters that don't even appear until the second book to add to the government plot.

The first episode hits hard taking you through almost the entirety of the first book. I'm guessing they planned to do a lot more regarding Lena's life in the Wilds (the area outside of the city where those against "curing love" live), as well as go much farther in depth with the DFA (Deliria-Free America organization) and the characters associated with it.

Sadly, as this was not picked up for a full series, we'll never know the direction it was to take. Regardless, the first episode had me hooked and I loved seeing these books in action. The casting choices were fantastic, in my opinion, and I wish we had more.

TV Shows to Watch Out for

I'm not going to write too much of an intro for this. This is just a friendly reminder to check out some of these awesome TV shows this fall. This should be a great season for shows and these are all super appropriate for you so no worries about your parents questioning your taste in television!

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: Ghost Rider and DC's Legends of Tomorrow
I'm mashing these two together because, frankly, some people prefer Marvel, some prefer DC and some (like myself), love both.

Agents of SHIELD has been running for a few seasons now (3 going on 4!) and follows the storyline that's also currently running in the Marvel movies (Iron Man, Captain America, the Avengers, etc.). The cool thing about keeping up with this show is catching all the hidden bits and pieces in the show that match up with whatever movies have just been released or are about to be released. This is great for any superhero lover, especially those interested in Marvel. Agents has a great balance of lighthearted humor with action and feels like you're watching an hour long version of an Avengers movie.

Now, if you like Agents but you want a little less humor and a little more salty and gravely characters (think bad guys), give Legends of Tomorrow a shot! It stars a time traveler (Doctor Who fans, ironically, it's the actor who played our beloved Rory!) trying to save the world by assembling a team of "misfits," so to speak. He gathers Firestorm, Atom, White Canary, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, Heat Wave and Captain Cold! You may actually recognize Captain Cold and Heat Wave from another show they did together.

Supernatural
Talk about an oldie but a goodie--I remember this show debuting while I was in high school and all of my friends being super into it. Somehow, I missed the boat on this show and never truly caught up. That said, if you're into anything spooky and, dare I say, "supernatural," this is perfect for you. There's a solid level of suspense that makes things just scary enough and there's enough seasons to keep your attention for quite a while (11 seasons already out and season 12 is starting up on October 13th!).

I think the best part about this show, though, is that, after ten years, the two main characters are the same actors. It's always been Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. They're both really great guys and do a fantastic job in this show.

The Librarians
I know, I know, it's super cliche for a librarian to recommend a show about librarians, but it's so much more than that. Have you ever seen the National Treasure movies? How about the Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons. Think lots of puzzles, and all sorts of plot lines that deal with actual history and facts. If you enjoy learning and puzzles, this is a great show for you.

The TV show is actually a spin-off of the movie series of a similar name, the Librarian, starring Noah Wyle as the one and only...librarian. But the title of librarian is much more than helping people find books and put materials people returned back where they belong. This Librarian is in charge of all the world's treasures. It's his responsibility to find and keep items like Excaliber (the sword, and also his pet!), the Judas Chalice and Pandora's Box safe and sound in the library. The show is exactly that but with many more well-known objects.

The Crown
Now this is a brand new show so I can't actually give you a review for it but I can tell you that, if you enjoyed Downtown Abbey or historical shows at all, this is definitely for you. Oh, and did I mention it's basically a BBC show? I mean, it's technically a Netflix original but it stars Matt Smith (...former Doctor Who--I promise it wasn't intential for me to choose two shows with Doctor Who ties!) and Claire Foy (star of the BBS drama Wolf Hall). I'm not quite sure how interesting this is going to be but I do trust Matt Smith an awful lot! If you end up watching it, let me know your thoughts!

Stranger Things
Let's be real, isn't this all anyone's talking about right now?! Stranger Things is fantastic. Honestly, I feel like 2016 is a year full of suspense and supernatural TV shows and I'm okay with that. Now, as I'm writing this, I still have two episodes left of season 1 but I can't think of a single part of the show this far in that was bad.

I'm honestly afraid to give a synopsis of this show because you start out basically just knowing there's a group of young boys that play Dungeons and Dragons together and are best friends. After that, the plot moves quickly and has plenty of supernatural (and some times scary!) twists and turns. There is a definite 80s vibe to the whole show, which may bother some, but I thought it gave the show a more classic vibe and I enjoyed seeing the combination of current special effects with older film styles.

Banned Books Are Fun!

Did you know there's a list of books that are actually banned in some places? I'm sure you probably did but it's amazing to me the number of popular young adult fiction books I found on the list. The most amazing part to me was seeing books I actually had to read for school on these lists--books like the House on Mango Street and Kite Runner were quite popular requirements for class back in my day.

One set of books frequently challenged, or banned altogether, which shouldn't be surprising to you, are books written by John Green. Yep, every single one of them has been challenged or banned in the recent years. I find that, when a book becomes extremely popular, that is when most people tend to challenge its presence.

But how does a book become banned or what criteria does a book need to meet to even be challenged? There's no real set of reasons a book will be challenged but the most popular reasons are offensive language, sexuality, violence, drugs, racism and occult or satanic content. Of course, all of these are up to the eye of the beholder. Something you may find offensive may not be offensive to someone else.

That's where book banning becomes complicated and how, thankfully, lots of books that are challenged remain on our shelves today.

Of course, this blog entry wouldn't be complete without a lovely list compiled of frequently challenged (and awesome) books to read yourself!

1. the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
2. the Giver series by Lois Lowry
3. Looking for Alaska by John Green
4. the Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
5. the House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
6. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
7. the Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
8. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
9. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
10. Internet Girls series by Lauren Myracle (ttyl is the first in the series!)