Ultra's Fic (and Other Stuff)

So, Gilmore Girls and Hart of Dixie certainly have their similarities, up to the point where they were even filmed on the same set, so Stars Hollow and Bluebell are practically the same place. They have similar plot points and episodes sometimes too, similar humour and such, which works for me and is largely why I like both shows so much, but I just rewatched one particular episode of Hart of Dixie and I've realised it isn't just a little similar to a Gilmore Girls episode, it's very, very similar, in a slightly jumbled way...

HoD episode 2x9 is called Sparks Fly and concerns a Basket Auction for charity, extremely similar to the concept of GG ep 2x10 A-Tisket, A-Tasket with the slight difference that HoD has girls bidding on boys and GG has boys bidding on girls. Seriously though, check out all the extremely similar things that happen...

(1)
- In GG, Sookie wants Jackson to win her basket, but Kirk gets in the way, leading to Jackson having to bribe Kirk for the basket and date.
- In HoD, Wade wants Zoe to win his basket, but Magnolia gets in the way, leading to Zoe having to bribe Magnolia for the basket and date.

(2)
- Rory & Jess go on a date in which she tricks him into eating gross food and laughs at his expense.
- Tansy & George go on a date in which she tricks him into eating gross food and laughs at his expense.

(3)
- Jess (deliberately) wins Rory in the auction, and when her boyfriend (Dean) objects, she says she has to go because it's the rules.
- Lemon (accidentally) wins Lavon in the auction, and when his girlfriend (Ruby) objects, he says he has to go because it's the rules.

(4)
- Lorelai & Luke end up on a date (without meaning for it to happen to start off with) and it's equal parts cute and awkward because we all know they should be together but they're not.
- Lemon & Lavon end up on a date (without meaning for it to happen to start off with) and it's equal parts cute and awkward because we all know they should be together but they're not.

On top of all this, in HoD, George makes up some fake lawyer stuff to get Tansy her dog back from her ex's new girlfriend which is so, so like that one scene in the film Legally Blonde where Elle makes up Latin law stuff to get Paulette's dog back from her ex.

So, I guess what I'm wondering is, were the writers just having a blank day and ripped off a bunch of stuff from GG and also Legally Blonde OR is this just the mother all of coincidence clusters??

(It's also possible that when I rewatch my favourite TV shows a lot, I start seeing more detail than is strictly necessary! lol)

When I first heard that Andrew Davies was adapting Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon into a TV mini-series, I was excited. His version of Pride & Prejudice (BBC, 1995) is my favourite period drama of all time and I have enjoyed some of his other adaptations too, so it all sounded promising. Then I heard that, since it was an unfinished novel, he felt he could be a bit freer to do what he wanted with it and that he planned to 'sex it up' a bit. This concerned me, not because I'm at all prudish about sexual content as such, but because, for me, that sort of thing just doesn't belong in Austen!

Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try when it aired...

( Spoilers under the cut )

tl;dr - Better than I thought it could be to start with, more sexual than Jane Austen would've made it, but in the end, an utter disappointment!

I get really frustrated when I get Writer's Block (WB), and that frustration only makes the situation worse. However, I have found that the way out of the dreaded WB is usually starting a whole new fic, and this has led me to take a stroll through my ideas folder and see what inspires me. Now the WB is on its way out the door as I have been so inspired by TWO of my previous ideas, and the weirdest part is that neither are fanfic, they're both original fics! This is really cool because as much as I love fanfic, I really want to expand on my original writing and even look and getting some of my stuff sent out to publishers to see what happens. Maybe this particular bout of WB has been a blessing in disguise :)