TV – Zakiya N. Jamal

From Page to Screen: Confess

Posted on April 5, 2017April 4, 2017 by Zakiya N. Jamal in From Page to Screen

*Warning: Spoilers from the novel Confess by Colleen Hoover will be in this review. Read at your own risk.*

Confess is my favorite Colleen Hoover book so when I heard it was being turned into show I had my reservations. The book was phenomenal and I just couldn’t believe a show could do it justice. But then I heard Katie Leclerc from Switched at Birth was playing Auburn and I was like, “Okay, now I’m intrigued.” So yesterday I binged watched the whole seven episode season and it was totally worth the watch.

On the show, Auburn moved to L.A. (in the novel it was Dallas, Texas) to be closer to her son A.J. and try to get custody of him from A.J.’s paternal grandmother, Lydia. On the lookout for a job, she stumbled upon a art gallery where she met Owen, who ended up hiring her for the night to help him with an art showing he was having that night. Naturally, there was strong chemistry between them but with Auburn trying to gain custody of her son Owen was the last guy she needed to fall for. He was keeping a big secret and Auburn’s association with him could be the one thing that stopped her from getting her son back.

The show definitely made some changes from the book but nothing too major. The time between A.J.’s father’s death and the present is longer (in the show it’s 10 years). Also, Auburn’s job is different. In the novel she worked at a hair salon but on the show she works in a nursing home. Additionally, her relationship with Trey was way more serious in the show than it was in the novel. Again, these changes were small and didn’t really bother me.

The only change I kind of had an issue with was how they changed Auburn’s back story and the reason why she gave up custody of A.J. to Lydia. I won’t spoil it because it doesn’t really get revealed until later on but the change seemed strange to me. As in, I don’t know why the show writer thought it was necessary. I thought the explanation behind why Auburn gave A.J. up to Lydia was fine in the novel. Still, this wasn’t such a big deal, especially in the grand scheme of things.

A change I really did enjoy was Auburn’s roommate, Emory. In the novel, she and Auburn are more friendly than actually friends. However, in the show they were actually really close. Emory and their other coworker were there for Auburn and that was something Auburn didn’t really have in the novel. She really only had Owen’s support and as much as I love Owen I liked that Auburn had friends to turn to in the show.

Overall, the show stuck to the most important parts of the novel. I loved Owen and Auburn and their chemistry was just as good as it was in the book to me. Also, I hated Lydia and Trey, A.J.’s uncle, even more in the show than I did in the book. I liked that the show proves just how manipulative Trey is because there are scenes that weren’t in the book since the book is only told in Owen and Auburn’s point of views.

The show also handled all the plot twists so well. The flashbacks were set up perfectly and I liked how the end, which is my favorite part, was revealed. Also, my favorite lines were in the show, which made me incredibly happy.

Even knowing how the show would end, I was totally hooked, which is why I watched it all in one sitting. I definitely suggest giving the show a watch, especially if you loved the novel as much as I did.

You can find Confess on go90.

Currently Binge Watching: Gilmore Girls

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

I’ve loved Gilmore Girls for a while now so when I found it was being added to Netflix, naturally, I freaked out. For those who don’t know the show follows the lives of Lorelai Gilmore, a 32 year old mom, and her daughter, Rory, who is about to turn 16.

Lorelai, who comes from a wealthy background, left that life behind when she got pregnant at 16 with Rory and has since denounced that part of her life, only seeing her parents on holidays. However, when Rory gets accepted into a prestigious private school, Lorelai looks to her parents for help to pay the tuition. Her parents then require the girls to come to their house every Friday for dinner in return for paying Rory’s tuition.

Besides this awesome family dynamic this show is full of wit, pop culture references, and interesting townspeople who bring life and hilarity to the show. The show is not only funny but also heart warming. The mother-daughter relationship between Lorelai and Rory is great to watch especially because Lorelai became a mother at such a young age.

Lorelai and Rory often alternate between being gal pals and actually acting as mother and daughter, which is fun to watch. Especially when Lorelai switches into parent role. It’s kind of strange actually but of course necessary.

Overall, I’m excited to be rewatching this show from the beginning. There were some things I completely forgot about and many scenes I’m excited to watch again.

How Long It’ll Take Me To Catch Up: Sadly, I’m currently on the struggle bus in school so I’m still only on the first season. But once holiday break arrives it’ll take me no time at all.

Do I Need Start From The Beginning: Absolutely, yes! First of all, I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to. Even if you’ve seen the show before the first season is one of the best if not THE best season. So many great one liners!

Stars: 5 out of 5, duh! Like I said before, I love this show. Definitely a must watch if you haven’t seen it (or even if you have).

Switched at Birth Recap: “Oh, Future!”

Posted on July 1, 2014July 15, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

Let all the Bemmett shippers release a happy sigh. Awwww!

A lot went down in this episode and overall it was fantastic. Let’s begin.

Turns out Bemmett wasn’t the couple that was preggars this season. Instead it’s Emmett’s Dad (Cameron) and his girlfriend (now wife), Debbie. In a very shocking twist Emmett, Bay, Melody, and her new beau, Gabe, went to Cameron’s house for a housewarming party that turned into a wedding and then a baby announcement. Awkward!

Emmett was not in a congratulatory mood, especially since he didn’t even want to go to the party in the first place. The only reason he went was because Bay really wanted to go. Or at least that’s how she made it seem. The truth is she found out that Melody was offered a job in Wisconsin and was scared Emmett would leave with her. Therefore in a poor attempt to show that maybe living with his Dad wouldn’t be a bad idea she insisted on going to the housewarming. Oh Bay. Always scheming.

Obviously Bay’s plan failed not that it mattered because Melody decided she wasn’t going to leave because she had too many reasons to stay (including her hot boyfriend and of course her sons). Emmett eventually accepted that he’s going to have a little bro and by the end actually seems a little excited about it.

The best part of this episode was seeing Bay and Melody be so friendly and Melody saying Emmett needed both of them in his life right now. It’s a big step up from how Melody first felt about the Bemmett pairing. They’ve come a long way.

Speaking of new friendships Kathryn and Sarah Lazar hit it off over lunch when Kathryn tried to explain why she couldn’t get the slutty news reporter character taken out of the book. Although Sarah argued that Kathryn could’ve tried harder she let it go as long as Kathryn agreed to accept the fact that there would be a movie based on Sarah’s switched at birth book.

After that the two became gal pals, drinking wine and even calling Kathryn’s publisher and telling her off. And then what better way to seal a new best friendship than to ask if they’ve ever slept with your spouse. Yeah, that’s not weird. However, Sarah took it in stride, and honestly told Kathryn that although she did try once John never cheated. You go John!

As Daphne and Bay prepare to graduate Daphne has to seriously consider her financial options (college is not free, unfortunately). Bay tells her J&K would be happy to chip in but Daphne isn’t for it. Instead, with the support of Regina, she applies for a Latina scholarship. Although I do get where she’s coming from the truth of the matter is she’s not actually Puerto Rican and it would be unfair if she did get the scholarship.

Also, Regina kind of flipped out on John and Kathryn when they offered to pay Daphne’s tuition but truthfully she was just upset that they could give Daphne something she couldn’t. In the end Regina realized that if there was an opportunity for Daphne to go to a good school and reach her dreams then Regina shouldn’t stand in the way. It was a great moment for them and I get where Regina’s coming from. It’s hard to raise your kid one way and then have someone swoop in and change the game but she definitely made the right choice. To have someone pay your tuition in full is a blessing not a charity.

Lastly, we got to see some great interactions between Mary Beth and Travis (I missed them!). The (cute) couple staked out a BBQ restaurant in the hopes of seeing Travis’ favorite football player, Derrick Coleman, the first deaf offensive player in the NFL. Awesome!

As they waited for Coleman to arrive Mary Beth and Travis ended up in a fight because Travis didn’t want to talk about his family and claimed that Mary Beth never wanted to talk about hers either so she shouldn’t push it. However the truth is Mary Beth felt Travis didn’t want to hear about her brother but she really does want to talk about it. After working it out Travis accepted that Mary Beth needed to talk about her brother even if it made her sad and Mary Beth accepted that Travis wasn’t ready to talk about his family just yet and then all was well in the world again. And of course Coleman did show up and it was fantastic.

That’s about it for this week. Toby comes back next week, yay! But someone gets hurt next week as well. Not yay. I have no guesses on who the person could be (just kidding it’s probably Wes) but it definitely will have something to do with the gun Regina’s getting. Oh, dear. I guess we’ll have to wait until next week to see how this all goes down. Check out the preview below.

Sources for GIF: ABCFamily and Tumblr

Why I’m No Longer Impressed By Scandal

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

Scandal has become more and more disappointing to me as this season progresses. What started as a high paced political drama about a political fixer, who actually did her job, has now turned into a melodramatic soap opera with plenty of cliff hangers that don’t have much shock value.

For the last few episodes I was able to guess what would happen (if you’re not caught up there are spoilers ahead!).

When the California governor turned out to be in love with Mellie? So obvious.

Huck and Abby being the ones to “kidnap” David rather than it being Cyrus’ hit man? Again, not really a nail biter.

It’s possible that because of my obsession with television I’ve just become great at guessing what will happen next but honestly I’m sick of hearing people continuously talk about how great Scandal is.

Is it entertaining? Sure. But it’s not greatly scripted, edited, or acted out.

For starters, the show began with Olivia Pope, being an independent force as a political fixer who made her own choices. Now Olivia doesn’t fix anything and instead the show only focuses on her “love triangle” with Fitz and Jake. It’s a little bit of stretch to call it a love triangle, however, since really it’s clear that the only thing standing in between Fitz and Olivia being together is his marriage and presidency. Otherwise they’d be in Vermont right now.

Jake is only there to keep Olivia company and keep her warm at night since she can’t be with the one she really wants. In summary, he’s her security blanket.

The storyline of this show no longer focuses on the dirty inner workings of politics and the blood thirsty, backstabbing inner workings that happen within the American government. Instead those things only come second to all the love affairs and relationships on the show.

Every episode seems to be more and more about who’s sleeping with who and less and less about who’s actually running the government.

Lastly, what was really the last straw for me was tonight’s episode in which we were promised a jaw dropping ending in the last 30 seconds. Many fans seem to be satisfied with the “shocking” ending of this episode but I am not.

First of all, the ending was a classic cliff hanger that happens in many shows. There’s a gun shot, screen goes black, and everyone’s left wondering who got shot? It’s a tired ploy to get viewers to Tweet about the show and guess who died, not a stroke of cinematic genius.

Moreover, it seems obvious to me that James is the one that got shot. For one thing, it would provide the writers with another story line because Cyrus will be furious if that is the case. Also, James’ death get’s way more players involved than David’s death. Of course Olivia’s team will care if David is dead but the whole White House will care if James is dead. Plus, then there’s the question of who’ll raise his daughter since Cyrus is really not fit to be a stay at home father and didn’t really want the baby in the first place.

I admit I could be wrong but I’d put money on it being David because that would provide the writers with the best material but honestly who got shot isn’t relevant here. What is relevant is that so called surprising and jaw dropping ending was nothing I haven’t seen done before in other shows. I was expecting much more by the way the episode was being hyped up but again found myself disappointed.

Although I do believe Scandal is an entertaining show, which is why it gets so many views and why I keep watching it, it’s not the greatest thing since sliced bread. People talk about it so much because it’s exciting. There’s sex scenes, affairs, murder, and drama. However, just because a show has these things doesn’t mean it’s Emmy worthy. It just means the writers know how to catch an audience’s attention.

I know people will disagree with my opinion so have at it in the comments. I rest my case.

10 Ways to Enjoy Your Snow Day

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Blog

In honor of the first snow day of the semester here’s my top 10 favorite ways to enjoy the unexpected day off.

1. Drink hot chocolate

Nothing feels better than sitting indoors, wrapped in a warm blanket, drinking some hot chocolate while watching the snow fall. Delicious!

2. Binge watch your favorite TV show

Another wonderful activity you can do in the safety of your own home (and bed) is catch up on your favorite shows. What’s better than comfortably watching Fitz “earn” Olivia while wrapped in some blankets (and drinking that hot chocolate).

3. Read a book

I know this one isn’t for everyone but really if you haven’t tried reading a book by the fire place (even if it’s a fake one) you don’t know what you’re missing. Nothing is better than getting lost in a good book on a snowy, wintery day.

4. Cuddling

There’s no better time to invest in a cuddle buddy then on a snowy, winter day. If you don’t have an actual cuddle buddy (it’s okay don’t be ashamed) there is now an easy solution for your problem: a cuddle pillow! However, if this sounds as weird to you as it did to me you could always just keep it old school and cuddle with your teddy bear. No shame in my game.

5. Movie Night (or day really)

Missed Frozen last weekend? Still haven’t seen all The Fast and Furious movies (RIP Paul Walker)? Or just want to see some Disney classics for the fifth time? Well lucky for you we live in the 21st century where almost every movie you could think of is available at your disposable via the Internet. Enjoy!

6. Build a snowman

do you want to build a snowman? — Source: Tumblr

If you’re more daring than I and actually want to go outside in this whether there’s many things you can do, the first of which is building a snowman. So grab anyone that’s crazy enough to join you, get a carrot, some sticks, and maybe some accessories you don’t plan on using anytime soon and get to work.

7. Snowball Fight

Source: www.georgetownvoice.com — Source: The Georgetown Voice

This is the best way anyone could voluntarily get me to go outside in the snow. Nothing is better than getting your team together and facing off with another team for a snowball fight. Definitely a fun time in the snow.

8. Snow Angels

I’m never one to voluntarily lay down in the snow and get all wet. However, something about making a snow angel just makes you feel like you five years old again. Plus, you can always change into some dry, warm clothes after you’re done.

9. Igloo

I have never successfully made one of these but I would love to be able to. I think this would be so cool (literally). It’d be a little house made of snow to play in. Maybe one day. *sighs*

10. Sledding

I’ve never actually gone sledding but I have gone snow tubbing and I think it’s kind of the same thing. Either way I love it. It’s really fun and doesn’t take much skill unlike skiing or snowboarding. Definitely one of my favorite winter activities.

Happy Snow Day Everyone!

Currently Binge Watching: 30 Rock

Posted on December 30, 2013December 30, 2013 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

Tina Fey is most definitely one of the funniest if not THE funniest woman in Hollywood. I loved her on Saturday Night Live (SNL) and I finally now have the chance to watch the acclaimed 30 Rock series (thanks to Netflix) even though it has now since ended.

First, Fey’s screenwriting is fantastic. Nothing proves this more than the fact that she wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls, a classic.

Fey created this awesome comedy sitcom that shows the hilarity of working on a variety show similar to SNL. Fey acts as Liz Lemon the main writer for The Girlie Show who struggles with social norms and would rather stay home watching TV and eating food then going out to the club (I can relate).

I’m not sure how much of Liz Lemon stems from Fey’s own personality but Lemon is a very relatable character. Along with Lemon and her team of writers are Lemon’s new boos, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), her friend and actor who I like to call crazy Jenna (Jane Krakowski), the famed movie star who joins The Girlie Show cast, Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), and my new favorite NBC Page (I didn’t even know NBC had pages), Kenneth (Jack McBrayer).

This cast brings a lot of hilarity and funny situation that kept laughing way late into the night as I stayed up to complete the first season last night. This is definitely a show that everyone can get into and most certainly should. I give it five out of five stars.

How Long It’ll Take Me To Catch Up: Probably a week. I’m obsessed.

Do I Need to Start From the Beginning: You should. Its funny right from the start.

Stars: 5 out of 5