Why "Hostages" is like "Gilligan's Island" in a Very Bad Way

There comes a time in everyone's TV show schedule that you ask yourself "Why am I still watching this show?" This TV season, I have a few shows that are like that. The one at the top of my list, however, is Hostages.

Hostages is like Gilligan's Island stuck in the world of 24. Why Gilligan's Island you might ask? Because nothing makes sense and the more you ask questions, the more ridiculous the entire show becomes.

Gilligan's Island had the nonsensical questions like "Why would the Howell's bring so much money on a three hour tour?", "Why did Ginger bring her entire wardrobe?", "If so many random people were able to find this island and get back home, why couldn't anyone else? Or why didn't the castaways just leave and hope to be saved like the rest of their visitors?" The beauty to Gilligan's Island though was that questions like that were okay. The show was ridiculous but that's what made it lovable.

Hostages, however, lacks the charm and goofiness that Gilligan's Island had. And it's an action drama, so I'm not saying that it should have those things. It really shouldn't. Unfortunately, the ludicrous situations just keep on happening.

Where do I start? Here are my list of questions:

• Why are the writers determined to make Agent Duncan Carlisle seem like he's doing this for a good reason? In my book, if you take an innocent family hostage, you are in no way a good person.
• Why are the writers determined to make any of these kidnappers seem like good people? What is with all of the "He's a good guy" discussions??
• If they aren't watching Dr. Ellen Sanders because, in their words, "they're not worried she'll try to run," then wouldn't that be a good reason for her to run? If she disappears, they no longer have a reason to hold her family hostage. If they can't contact her, what can they do?
• Why would Hilarie Burton's Samantha ever be attracted to Tate Donovan's Brian Sanders? I'm sorry but after her previous attractive TV boyfriends, Chad Michael Murray and Matt Bomer, it is literally torture on the eyes to see her with someone who looks far too old and not the slightest bit attractive.
• Who takes someone hostage and then brings them out and about to have an affair? And on top of that, send false text messages from the man to the woman saying he loves her? If they want things to not seem suspicious, wouldn't it be best to not have the guy sit there confused?
• Is there a reason the kidnappers want Jake to be in danger of being killed by his drug dealer friends? Wouldn't him getting killed make them lose some of their edge?
• Why did Duncan help cover up Morgan's pregnancy? Why would he care?
• Why didn't Ellen just kidnap Duncan's daughter and hold her until her family was released?
• Why hasn't Ellen gone searching at the hospital for his wife yet? I don't think she's thinking about leverage.

The ultimate questions I have about the show, though, are these: Why did the creators think this was a sustainable plot for an entire series? Wouldn't it have just worked better as a movie?

And my final question for all of those watching it: The show has awful ratings so what do you think will run out first? The show or the plot?

Watch Hostages on CBS tonight if you are easily entertained by ridiculous plots like I am.

Halloween is Most Definitely the Best Time of Year

For those of you who know me, you know I love to decorate for the holidays. I decorate for Valentine's Day, Halloween, Chanukah, Christmas, and any other chance I get: For example, my mom's birthday is St. Patrick's Day so I get to do double decorations for that and for Father's Day this year, we threw a Hawaiian luau in the backyard, complete with our own "tiki bar".

As much as I love decorating for all of these different holidays though, nothing will ever compare to the rush I feel decorating for Halloween. Every year, I wander the Halloween stores looking for the perfect decorations. Over the years, my family has collected everything from a headless woman, a giant skeleton bird, and a creepy scare crow. There are still so many things I would love to get and I'm sure one day, I will. Halloween is my yearly challenge. I'm always determined to outdo myself. My largest challenge is how far we can stretch the cobweb. Although, I'm pretty sure nothing will ever compare to 2011 when we stretched cobwebs from the tree, over the footpath, onto the house. Before the cobweb challenge though, we focused on entertainment. For our 2008 Halloween, my sister cackled from the bedroom window with the strobe light running and we blasted scary music onto the street. My favorite memory from that year though has to be when my mom abruptly opened the door before a group of middle school boys had the chance to ring it. They nearly fell backwards they were so scared. Last year, was mine and my husband's first Halloween at our house in California. Our decorations looked fantastic, although, they were somewhat destroyed by the Santa Ana winds. Being from Colorado, I'm still surprised by this. These decorations held up through countless snowstorms and yet could not survive the wind out here. The other disappointing part of last years Halloween was the amount of kids we didn't get. Although, my husband was quite pleased to have so much leftover candy!

Here are our decorations from 2011:

Here's our decorations from last year:

This year, I'm eager to start some new traditions. Here's my list:

• Interactive Murder Mystery Party: I'm been wanting to do this for at least the last four years and we are finally doing it this year! I am incredibly grateful that my sister's boyfriend writes Murder Mystery Theaters!
• Carving a pumpkin: Yes. I've never actually done this and I've found an amazing website where I can get patterns of Spike, Buffy, and Dexter - as I said earlier, I like challenges. Which means my first carving ever will be of someone's face. Yikes.
• Halloween Festival: I've never gone on a hayride before or walked through a corn maze or picked a pumpkin from the patch. All of these things must happen and we've decided to go next week.
• Make/Bake Tasty Treats: I love to bake and therefore plan to try making Carmel Apple Cupcakes and Pumpkin Cupcakes. I also bought a candy making kit. I've never made candy before but it sounds like fun!

My other tradition is watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I watch each of the Halloween episodes: Halloween, Fear, Itself, All the Way, and I throw in the episode Hush. If I'm still awake and ready to continue watching something, I switch for something light and watch the Halloween episode of Friends, "The One with the Halloween Party". Because I'm eager to expand my traditions, I've got some other shows and episodes to choose from too:

• Chuck: Chuck vs. the Sandworm and Chuck vs. the Aisle of Terror
• Castle: Vampire Weekend and Demons
• Psych: This Episode Sucks
• Beverly Hills, 90210: Halloween and Things That Go Bang in the Night
• Dawson's Creek: Friday the 13th and Living Dead Girl
• Party of Five: Personal Demons
• Veronica Mars: President Evil
• The Big Bang Theory: The Middle Earth Paradigm, The Good Guy Fluctuation, and The Holographic Excitation

The only thing I will never do for Halloween is go to a Haunted House. I know this is a big tradition for a lot of people but I absolutely can't stand them. If I set it up, that would be another story. I love spooking other people but I hate being spooked. Having people or objects jump out at me is not my idea of a good time.

What are your October/Halloween traditions? Do you watch any shows or movies every year for the holiday? What do you normally carve on a pumpkin?