Blogs I Love, part I: Pamie.com

I am a big fan of time-wasting sites — anybody who has ever been stuck in a cubicle job can tell you that sometimes the only way to get through a day when no work is coming down the pike is to find a text-heavy site and dig right the hell in. During my first such job, I had found these compelling Big Brother S1 recaps on salon.com. I never felt a need to watch the show, because I got all the details I needed from these recaps, complete with a side of snark. Years later, I did a google search for Big Brother Recaps and got routed to Television Without Pity. There, I have been subjected to tons of such recaps, for many shows, both fictional and unscripted. Amazing site, populated by a cast of distinct and personable writers. A few of these writers’ blogs have become regular staples of my daily reading, and I’m going to try to point you guys to some of them. Todays is pamie.com.

Pamela Ribon gave great snark to the better part of the run of Gilmore Girls — an excerpt from the end of the pilot reads as follows:

Mr. Nutritious brings over the food, but breaks down and yells at Rory that she shouldn’t eat that. He says she doesn’t want to grow up to be her mother. Rory smiles. “Too late,” we all say together, as bluebirds fly in through my back window and circle my head with their sweet song. A rainbow sprouts from my Diet Coke. As we pan back outside the diner window, Lorelai is still asking Rory about CuteDean and Rory still isn’t talking. There’s so much cuteness in the air the entire room smells like the inside of the Gerber baby’s diaper. I find some sludge stuck to the bottom of my tongue. It’s sugar. And what’s this feeling in my stomach? Is it homegrown love and warmth? Why, I do believe it is.

…and so it went for about five seasons, that she continued to quip her way through these recaps. Particularly great is the season (I forget which one) that surrounded Ribon’s marriage, as she peppered every recap with tales of her wedding planning and such. It’s just great stuff, especially if you read it as a companion piece to the show.

Pam’s new occupation is that of show-runner — she is the head writer for ABC’s “Samantha Who?” Starring Christina Applegate, supported by Gilmore Girls’ Melissa McCarthy (which, that first conversation is something I’ve always been curious about,) as well as a whole bunch of other awesomes, the show was working, and hitting…. Then came the Fucking Writer’s Strike. I’m a supporter of the writers, so Pamela’s blog is compelling reading for me, as she chronicles her life on strike.

It could easily have devolved into a self-pity fest — I mean, imagine getting exactly where you’ve always wanted to be, just to have this shit happen — but instead, the newer entries are fresher than ever, full of wit and charm. She is not letting the strike wear her down, and it’s admirable. The second entry on her page at this writing has a great callback format that would make Carter-Hays envious. Go check her out.