Life's Too Short for Downton Disappointment

Recently I made myself rewatch Season 1 of Scandal. See, I have about 10 episodes from the current season saved on my DVR, and I just can't make myself watch. I can't remember why I liked the show so much, with all the "Hi, hi, hi" Fitz/Olivia conversations and the B 6-13 drama.

So I rewatched Season 1.

Y'all, Olivia Pope is the best. She dominates every situation, she gets sh*t handled. But what I really miss is the one-off storylines. I miss all the different clients and their drama! I've moved onto the first couple episodes of Season 2, but I don't think I'm going to watch all the way through. I've been reminded of why I love the show, but I haven't been convinced I need to keep watching.

Speaking of shows I've abandoned, I rewatched the first two season of Downton Abbey recently. Season one and two were amazing. All the Mary/Matthew drama, Sybill being her little feminist self, Mr. Carson doing his best Sam the Eagle impersonation - SO GOOD.

And then season 3 begins. And all the deaths come. I made it through the first couple of episodes of season 4 before I gave up. When they did the Anna rape scene, I was done. And I really don't think I want to watch any of the last season. I just want to pretend the show ended with Mary and Matthew getting engaged in the snow. It was perfect. I don't need to know more.

Another show I abandoned years ago  caught my attention last week. Grey's Anatomy killed off a major character. If you still watch and haven't been spoiled yet I won't go into details, but even I was shocked the character was killed!

I shouldn't have been though. Grey's never hesitated to kill off anyone. I gave up on the show the season of the George/Izzi drama. I watched the season opener after that season to find out who lived, and then I never watched again.

It sounds like I give up on shows a lot. I guess I do give up on quite a few! Life is short and if I'm not enjoying something I don't see the point of spending hours watching just to finish it. I do tend to stick with comedies more than dramas, probably because I still get enjoyment from the comedy even when the show starts to suck.

So know I want to know: do you still watch the shows I've mentioned? What has you hanging on? And what shows have you given up on?

Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles...

Don't Even Blink - My Favorite Doctor Who Episode

Psst - if you are reading this in Bloglovin or another feed reader, click through and check out the new look! 

Blink is one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes ever. It's the tenth episode of the third series of the show (David Tennant's second season) and I love it. 

For one, the star of this episode isn’t the Doctor. It’s Sally Sparrow, played by Carey Mulligan. The entire episode revolves around her. This makes Blink one of the few entirely stand-alone episodes. It has a Twilight Zone kind of feel (I mean that in the best way possible, I love the Twilight Zone) in that you could watch this one episode and know everything that you need to for the story line. You don’t need the full history of the Dalecks or Cybermen, you don’t need to know who Jack Harkness or Harriet Jones is. It actually doesn’t even matter who the companion is (it’s Martha, but who cares?) because the Doctor is a pretty minor element of this story.

Ok, this episode does set up a lot for future episodes (for Whovians, did you just tear up thinking of Angels Take Manhattan? Because I did) but that doesn’t matter for the story line. All you need to do to appreciate the gloriousness of Blink is to watch it. 

This episode is so good that it is one of the episodes recommended by Sarah Bessey in the Beginner's Guide to Doctor Who who just can’t sit through the cheesiness of the Ninth Doctor (who I’ve already defended). Really, if you have never seen an episode of Doctor Who and just want to spend an hour seeing what it is about, watch Blink. The first time I saw it, I was on the edge of my seat. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it now (I may have watched it three times in the past week…) but I appreciate it more every time. To me, the Weeping Angels are one of the creepiest Whoverse baddies there are (the Vashta Nerada and the Silence are up there too).

In fact, I refuse to ever own a statue now. Back when my husband and I were dating, we went to a home and garden show and I might have freaked out in the statuary section. I kind of hate that I even put an image of a Weeping Angel in this post (that which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel itself, right?)

I’ll be back soon with more Doctor Who updates. If you’ve seen this episode, did you love it as much as I did? Or am I just a little too cuckoo for this storyline?   

While you're here, check out some of my recent posts!

An AT&T Debacle

Hey there! I know I usually post on Mondays, but I have a very good excuse. I had an AT&T tech at my house from 9 am to nearly 8 pm yesterday. Seriously. And we still don't have all our services back. In fact, they are sending ANOTHER tech out today. (If you follow me on any of my social media accounts you already know this because I ranted all day yesterday! If you don't want to hear more about my issues, I'll give you a pass. Maybe check out Pinterest board called laughter is best? Or watch this cop dance to Shake it Off?)

Ok, for those of you still with me, let me begin my tale of the AT&T debacle. And before get going, let me make it clear that yes, I know this is totally a first world problem. But it was still a problem!

So the first technician got here about 9 am. He ran new lines, got us new equipment, tried all that. He left late morning/early afternoon to go check a pedestal or something on another street and came back over an hour later. He did some more work, other techs came by to check on him, still nothing. Around 3:30 he told me he was going back to that pedestal and that he'd be back in ten minutes or so. I got a text around 4:15 saying it was taking longer than he thought. An hour later I asked if he knew how much longer. He replied "still nothing..". I asked if it would be done tonight. He replied "Doesn't look like it." Finally I asked if he would be back tonight to put the box back together. He never responded, but he does have iPhone read receipts so I know he read it at 5:40 pm. And then I never heard back. 

My husband was home by then, and there is all kinds of AT&T stuff going on in the neighborhood. James stopped a couple of the guys and told them what was going on, and one of them came over and helped us out. He closed up the box that the first tech had left wide open in the backyard, and put all inside equipment back together. He spent probably 2 hours or so helping us, including going to the platform where the first tech disappeared. 

Except this guy came back and explained that there seems to be an issue at that platform. He explained that he couldn't do anything because the first tech had not handled things correctly, including lying on the ticket and saying that we had left and he couldn't access the house anymore. 

Cue my head exploding. 

I literally spent all day dealing with this yesterday, and that guy had a the gall to say he couldn't do his job because of us? Sigh. Well, after the second tech left, I had to call AT&T and talk to someone there because he couldn't do anything further. (That guy really did the best he could. He went above and beyond for us! Unlike the other guy...) But like I said, we got another appointment for today.

This has been frustrating on so many levels. First, I had the day off yesterday and had big plans. Cleaning the house and sorting the clothes from my closet purge while binge watching Doctor Who and clearing my unwatched shows of the DVR, that kind of thing. But you can't really clean much when you have a random dude walking in and out of your house all day. And no internet make binge watching Netflix impossible, and no cable means no DVR! I couldn't even watch DVDs because the guy had all the tvs showing that same dreaded screen: 

I know, that isn't that big a deal. But it was my only holiday off work until Memorial Day! And I'm heading out on a whirlwind trip to DC this weekend, and I needed today to get caught up on all things bloggy/get the house in shape before my husband destroys it in my absence. 

What is most frustrating is learning that the first tech wasted much of the day, disappeared, and then lied about it. That I am absolutely livid about. And yes, I have his full name and ID. I'm not sharing it here because I'm not that mean. I have spoken to his manager and also given his info to AT&T corporate. And yes, I also sang the praises of the second tech that took the time not only to help me, but to explain what was wrong. I made sure the local person I spoke with would tell the second tech's manager, and I plan on following up to make sure they did. The manager I did get to speak to was actually nice and helpful, and the corporate guy I spoke with was helpful as well. (The one I called earlier in the day was NOT.)

Here's the thing. I totally understand that some things can't be resolved right away. I understand that there are shorts in the line and other technical people have to come fix it. What I don't understand is someone disappearing mid-job and leaving things open and unfinished. Maybe he couldn't have gotten everything back online, but he could've not left a mess behind. Maybe he could have told me he wasn't coming back. (Should I consider myself AT&T ghosted?) 

On the bright side, at least I did have the day off and didn't have to take it off for this. And they did get the internet working. Not well, but enough to write this! And as I said, I've spoken to a local manager who gave me all his contact info, so if things don't go well I have a local contact to figure out what's going on. 

Basically, it has been a frustrating experience but there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Now that my rant is over, tell me. What is your horror story with cable/satellite service? As much as I've ragged on AT&T today, I've dealt with worse companies. (Cough, Time Warner and Cox, cough.) Most of the AT&T people I dealt with today were nice and tried to help in a timely fashion...I know that isn't the case with every company! So, someone please tell me they've had worse problems with cable/internet than this! :)