Sunday, December 30, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Friday, November 30, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Wahoo! Great Joss Whedon News
Welcome to the "Dollhouse": Joss Whedon Returns to Television
You read that headline correct. I think I just wet my pants with excitement.
Joss Whedon is making his return to network television, with an original drama series entitled Dollhouse. Series, which will reunite Whedon with former Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Eliza Dushku (who will star and produce Dollhouse), has received a seven episode commitment from FOX.
Dushku will star as Echo, a member of an elite team of secret agents each of whom, according to James Hibberd at TV Week, has "the ability to be imprinted with custom personalities and abilities for special assignments. When they return, their newly acquired memories are wiped. The show follows Echo as she takes on a variety of assignments—some romantic, some adventurous, some uplifting, some illegal—and gains awareness of her role and confinement."
The idea for the series was hatched by Whedon at a lunch with Dushku, who was allegedly instrumental in bringing Whedon back to network television. The series concept was sold to FOX a week later.
For an interview with Whedon, check out Hibberd's Q&A at TV Week, in which the auteur talks about the potential WGA strike, returning to FOX, the future of that Ripper spin-off, and whether Nathan Fillion will pop up on Dollhouse.
More details emerging about Dollhouse, this time from Variety:
"Beyond Dushku's character, the show will also revolve around the people who run the mysterious "dollhouse" [the lab] and two other "dolls," a man and woman who are friendly with Echo. Then there's the federal agent who has heard an urban myth about the dolls, and is trying to investigate their existence.
Whedon admitted there's a little dose of The Matrix in the plot -- "I do have that entire movie tattooed on my brain" -- and said Dollhouse will enable him and Dushku to explore some political and social issues."
Dollhouse is expected to launch sometime in 2008, with production beginning as early as the spring, thanks to in-depth episodic outlines for all seven episodes written by Whedon.
A little Halloween treat for you all. Me, I'm already drooling with anticipation.
You read that headline correct. I think I just wet my pants with excitement.
Joss Whedon is making his return to network television, with an original drama series entitled Dollhouse. Series, which will reunite Whedon with former Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Eliza Dushku (who will star and produce Dollhouse), has received a seven episode commitment from FOX.
Dushku will star as Echo, a member of an elite team of secret agents each of whom, according to James Hibberd at TV Week, has "the ability to be imprinted with custom personalities and abilities for special assignments. When they return, their newly acquired memories are wiped. The show follows Echo as she takes on a variety of assignments—some romantic, some adventurous, some uplifting, some illegal—and gains awareness of her role and confinement."
The idea for the series was hatched by Whedon at a lunch with Dushku, who was allegedly instrumental in bringing Whedon back to network television. The series concept was sold to FOX a week later.
For an interview with Whedon, check out Hibberd's Q&A at TV Week, in which the auteur talks about the potential WGA strike, returning to FOX, the future of that Ripper spin-off, and whether Nathan Fillion will pop up on Dollhouse.
More details emerging about Dollhouse, this time from Variety:
"Beyond Dushku's character, the show will also revolve around the people who run the mysterious "dollhouse" [the lab] and two other "dolls," a man and woman who are friendly with Echo. Then there's the federal agent who has heard an urban myth about the dolls, and is trying to investigate their existence.
Whedon admitted there's a little dose of The Matrix in the plot -- "I do have that entire movie tattooed on my brain" -- and said Dollhouse will enable him and Dushku to explore some political and social issues."
Dollhouse is expected to launch sometime in 2008, with production beginning as early as the spring, thanks to in-depth episodic outlines for all seven episodes written by Whedon.
A little Halloween treat for you all. Me, I'm already drooling with anticipation.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
From Watch with Kristin-Smallville
Just a little giddy good news to help ring in the new season of Smallville, which starts tomorrow night.
Reliable insiders tell me—and the CW confirms—that James Marsters (swoon, Buffy's Spike) is returning for four episodes of the superseries during the new season.
We last saw Marsters's character, Dr. Milton Fine (aka Brainiac), in Smallville's fifth season finale.
While it's unclear exactly how James is returning, I can tell you he's reprising the exact same character, he's returning to set very soon and his episodes begin airing in January. He also appears on CBS' Without a Trace this season.
'Tis good news, no? If you're happy and you know it, sound off in the Comments section below!
And don't forget to tune in to Smallville tomorrow night.
Reliable insiders tell me—and the CW confirms—that James Marsters (swoon, Buffy's Spike) is returning for four episodes of the superseries during the new season.
We last saw Marsters's character, Dr. Milton Fine (aka Brainiac), in Smallville's fifth season finale.
While it's unclear exactly how James is returning, I can tell you he's reprising the exact same character, he's returning to set very soon and his episodes begin airing in January. He also appears on CBS' Without a Trace this season.
'Tis good news, no? If you're happy and you know it, sound off in the Comments section below!
And don't forget to tune in to Smallville tomorrow night.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
24-back in January
The clock has reset for "24's" Day 7!
Fox has set a start time for Jack Bauer's 7th worst day.
"24" will have a three-hour premiere over two nights, 8-10 p.m. Jan. 13 and 9 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 14. Original episodes will air in its regular 9 p.m. time period every week and into June.
In addition to the previously announced castings of Janeane Garofalo and Cherry Jones as President Allison Taylor, as well as the surprising return of Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) from the presumed dead, the executive producers also announced that Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) survived the gutting of CTU.
They'll transfer to Washington, where the seventh season is set, and where Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) faces trial for all those broken fingers and whatnot in pursuit of justice. What will be even better is if the new setting leads to sharper writing and a coherent plot.
Here's the press release Fox sent out this morning, which explains (sorta) Tony's resurrection:
"The innovative, addictive, Emmy Award-winning television series 24 resets the clock for Season Seven with a special two-night premiere event Sunday, Jan. 13 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and Monday, Jan. 14 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
In keeping with FOX's commitment to airing original programming year-round, the intense season will unfold in 24's regular 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT time period beginning Monday, Jan. 14, and will continue to air all originals all season into June.
"Day 7" of 24 will continue the show's unique and trend-setting format with compelling new elements. With CTU dismantled, the show's setting moves to Washington, DC, where JACK BAUER (Kiefer Sutherland) faces trial for his actions in the pursuit of justice. Bauer's day gets off to a shocking start when former colleague TONY ALMEIDA (Carlos Bernard), last seen in "Day 5," returns after being left for dead by a terrorist conspirator in CTU's infirmary.
"Tony's uncertain fate near the end of 'Day 5' left the door open for his return," said executive producer/show-runner Howard Gordon. "And since there was no silent clock at the conclusion of his last appearance – the 24 tribute to a major character's demise – we always kept this as a possibility."
Bernard's return highlights a list of notable cast members clocking in for Season Seven, including the previously announced Cherry Jones ("The Heiress") as President ALLISON TAYLOR and Janeane Garofalo ("The Larry Sanders Show") as FBI Agent JANIS GOLD. Colm Feore ("Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee") will play First Gentleman HENRY TAYLOR and Bob Gunton ("Desperate Housewives") is White House Chief of Staff ETHAN KANIN.
FBI Agents assigned to the team investigating the crisis befalling Bauer include Garofalo's Agent Gold in addition to Annie Wersching ("General Hospital") as Agent RENEE WALKER, Jeffrey Nordling ("Dirt") as Agent LARRY MOSS and Rhys Coiro ("Entourage") as Agent SEAN HILLINGER. John Billingsley (PRISON BREAK) portrays security specialist MICHAEL LATHAM. Although CTU is no longer, CHLOE O'BRIAN (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and BILL BUCHANAN (James Morrison) are back for another momentous day of shocking events.
As part of News Corp.'s global commitment to fighting climate change, 24 has pledged significant and innovative changes to its production practices with the goal of saving energy and reducing carbon emissions. Created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, 24 is a production of Real Time Productions and Imagine Television in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran, Howard Gordon, Evan Katz, Jon Cassar, Manny Coto, David Fury, Kiefer Sutherland and Brian Grazer are the executive producers
Fox has set a start time for Jack Bauer's 7th worst day.
"24" will have a three-hour premiere over two nights, 8-10 p.m. Jan. 13 and 9 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 14. Original episodes will air in its regular 9 p.m. time period every week and into June.
In addition to the previously announced castings of Janeane Garofalo and Cherry Jones as President Allison Taylor, as well as the surprising return of Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) from the presumed dead, the executive producers also announced that Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) survived the gutting of CTU.
They'll transfer to Washington, where the seventh season is set, and where Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) faces trial for all those broken fingers and whatnot in pursuit of justice. What will be even better is if the new setting leads to sharper writing and a coherent plot.
Here's the press release Fox sent out this morning, which explains (sorta) Tony's resurrection:
"The innovative, addictive, Emmy Award-winning television series 24 resets the clock for Season Seven with a special two-night premiere event Sunday, Jan. 13 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and Monday, Jan. 14 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
In keeping with FOX's commitment to airing original programming year-round, the intense season will unfold in 24's regular 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT time period beginning Monday, Jan. 14, and will continue to air all originals all season into June.
"Day 7" of 24 will continue the show's unique and trend-setting format with compelling new elements. With CTU dismantled, the show's setting moves to Washington, DC, where JACK BAUER (Kiefer Sutherland) faces trial for his actions in the pursuit of justice. Bauer's day gets off to a shocking start when former colleague TONY ALMEIDA (Carlos Bernard), last seen in "Day 5," returns after being left for dead by a terrorist conspirator in CTU's infirmary.
"Tony's uncertain fate near the end of 'Day 5' left the door open for his return," said executive producer/show-runner Howard Gordon. "And since there was no silent clock at the conclusion of his last appearance – the 24 tribute to a major character's demise – we always kept this as a possibility."
Bernard's return highlights a list of notable cast members clocking in for Season Seven, including the previously announced Cherry Jones ("The Heiress") as President ALLISON TAYLOR and Janeane Garofalo ("The Larry Sanders Show") as FBI Agent JANIS GOLD. Colm Feore ("Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee") will play First Gentleman HENRY TAYLOR and Bob Gunton ("Desperate Housewives") is White House Chief of Staff ETHAN KANIN.
FBI Agents assigned to the team investigating the crisis befalling Bauer include Garofalo's Agent Gold in addition to Annie Wersching ("General Hospital") as Agent RENEE WALKER, Jeffrey Nordling ("Dirt") as Agent LARRY MOSS and Rhys Coiro ("Entourage") as Agent SEAN HILLINGER. John Billingsley (PRISON BREAK) portrays security specialist MICHAEL LATHAM. Although CTU is no longer, CHLOE O'BRIAN (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and BILL BUCHANAN (James Morrison) are back for another momentous day of shocking events.
As part of News Corp.'s global commitment to fighting climate change, 24 has pledged significant and innovative changes to its production practices with the goal of saving energy and reducing carbon emissions. Created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, 24 is a production of Real Time Productions and Imagine Television in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran, Howard Gordon, Evan Katz, Jon Cassar, Manny Coto, David Fury, Kiefer Sutherland and Brian Grazer are the executive producers
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
Latest Eagles CD News
Here's an update along the Long Road to the release of Long Road Out Of Eden: the track list has been revealed! The first Eagles studio album in 28 years will have 2 discs and 20 songs total, as follows:
DISC ONE:
01 No More Walks In The Wood | 02 How Long | 03 Busy Being Fabulous | 04 What Do I Do With My Heart | 05 Guilty Of The Crime | 06 I Don't Want To Hear Anymore | 07 Waiting In The Weeds | 08 No More Cloudy Days | 09 Fast Company | 10 Do Something |
11 You Are Not Alone
DISC TWO:
12 Long Road Out Of Eden | 13 I Dreamed There Was No War | 14 Somebody | 15 Frail Grasp On The Big Picture | 16 Last Good Time In Town | 17 I Love To Watch A Woman Dance | 18 Business As Usual | 19 Center Of The Universe | 20 It's Your World Now
DISC ONE:
01 No More Walks In The Wood | 02 How Long | 03 Busy Being Fabulous | 04 What Do I Do With My Heart | 05 Guilty Of The Crime | 06 I Don't Want To Hear Anymore | 07 Waiting In The Weeds | 08 No More Cloudy Days | 09 Fast Company | 10 Do Something |
11 You Are Not Alone
DISC TWO:
12 Long Road Out Of Eden | 13 I Dreamed There Was No War | 14 Somebody | 15 Frail Grasp On The Big Picture | 16 Last Good Time In Town | 17 I Love To Watch A Woman Dance | 18 Business As Usual | 19 Center Of The Universe | 20 It's Your World Now
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Great News For Tim Minear Fans (Like Me)
ABC, 'Wonderfalls' Duo Get Religion
Tim Minear, Todd Holland producing televangelist drama
August 28, 2007
Having had a rough run of luck at FOX -- "Drive," "The Inside," "Wonderfalls" -- writer-producer Tim Minear is taking his next project to ABC.
Minear and fellow "Wonderfalls" alum Todd Holland will executive produce "Miracle Man," a drama about a disgraced televangelist who finds a path to redemption. ABC outbid FOX for the project by offering a pilot commitment.
"It's about losing everything and starting over and finding that there is a higher purpose in life," Minear tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It's about a man who says, 'I don't know how to be good, but I'll try to be better.'"
The show will cover familiar ground for Minear, who attended evangelical schools growing up and whose father is an engineer for Christian radio shows. "Miracle Man" will take some cues from the scandals that brought down the likes of Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker, but Minear says the show won't make light of anyone's beliefs.
"It's a love letter to the religious," he tells the HR.
The show will focus on a fallen televangelist who has lost all faith -- until he discovers that God is working through him to perform actual miracles. Minear will write the script and Holland, who's also an exec producer of ABC's midseason comedy "Miss/Guided," will direct. Twentieth Century Fox TV is producing the pilot.
Tim Minear, Todd Holland producing televangelist drama
August 28, 2007
Having had a rough run of luck at FOX -- "Drive," "The Inside," "Wonderfalls" -- writer-producer Tim Minear is taking his next project to ABC.
Minear and fellow "Wonderfalls" alum Todd Holland will executive produce "Miracle Man," a drama about a disgraced televangelist who finds a path to redemption. ABC outbid FOX for the project by offering a pilot commitment.
"It's about losing everything and starting over and finding that there is a higher purpose in life," Minear tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It's about a man who says, 'I don't know how to be good, but I'll try to be better.'"
The show will cover familiar ground for Minear, who attended evangelical schools growing up and whose father is an engineer for Christian radio shows. "Miracle Man" will take some cues from the scandals that brought down the likes of Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker, but Minear says the show won't make light of anyone's beliefs.
"It's a love letter to the religious," he tells the HR.
The show will focus on a fallen televangelist who has lost all faith -- until he discovers that God is working through him to perform actual miracles. Minear will write the script and Holland, who's also an exec producer of ABC's midseason comedy "Miss/Guided," will direct. Twentieth Century Fox TV is producing the pilot.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Check It Out, Eagles Fans
Eagles long-awaited new single, “How Long”!
Eagles have finished the video for "How Long." It is their first single from the upcoming album Long Road Out Of Eden. The video for "How Long," recently filmed in Los Angeles, premieres worldwide at midnight EDT (8/20 at 12:00AM) on Yahoo! Music. It is scheduled for its broadcast debut next week on Country Music Television.
Eagles have finished the video for "How Long." It is their first single from the upcoming album Long Road Out Of Eden. The video for "How Long," recently filmed in Los Angeles, premieres worldwide at midnight EDT (8/20 at 12:00AM) on Yahoo! Music. It is scheduled for its broadcast debut next week on Country Music Television.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
About Damn Time
New Eagles music on the way
The first Eagles album of new tracks in more than 28 years will be out in October. And Thursday, the first single, How Long, from the album Long Road Out of Eden, hits radio at noon ET. The video for How Long premieres at midnight ET on Monday on Yahoo.com and later on Country Music Television. The album will be sold only through Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Walmart.com.
The first Eagles album of new tracks in more than 28 years will be out in October. And Thursday, the first single, How Long, from the album Long Road Out of Eden, hits radio at noon ET. The video for How Long premieres at midnight ET on Monday on Yahoo.com and later on Country Music Television. The album will be sold only through Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Walmart.com.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Joss Whedon News
Joss Whedon announces new script, updates projects
By Tamara Brooks
July 28, 09:26 PM
"Before [the Q&A], I want to answer the question that's been on all of your minds. I can see it in your beady little eyes - What have I done of you lately? Well, I wrote Wonder Woman...and that's enough about that."
And thus began fan-favorite Joss Whedon's panel Saturday late-afternoon. A lot of people showed up to honor the man many call their master now, greeting him with two lengthy ovations.
Breaking News:
"I'm getting sick and tired of not entertaining you guys enough." To that end, Joss is concentrating on doing "smaller scale" projects in order to get more works finished and out to the mass on a faster pace. "There are so many really creepy things swimming around in my head and I really need to get them out." That got the crowd very excited, and rightly so.
Starting with "Drew Goddard is tall and kinda sexy," Joss then announced that the two of them have collaborated on a script called Cabin In The Woods - "The horror film to end all horror films. Literally." It's not on the market yet but with a statement like that, it should be pretty dang interesting to say the least.
Projects in the works:
Goners - Joss is in the process of rewriting the fantasy/thriller and is his primary focus.
Ripper - The Buffy spin-off featuring Giles the Watcher is in talks/negotiations and, depending on the script, "there's a very real possibility that in the next year [he'll] finally be able to film" it. Stating that he had diner with Anthony Stewart Head "the other night" about it, "As [Head] said, "I'm for it." It will be a 90-minute piece produced for the BBC with distribution later. There are more discussions to be had but "everyone seems to be on the same page...[and it] can happen, should happen, will happen soon."
Sugar Shock - Joss' first original comic creation with Fabio Moon doing the art. Launched yesterday on Dark Horse's MySpace and is 100% free.
Serenity - A new comic is launching in late Winter from Dark Horse. Also, the Collector's Edition of the movie will be released August 21st. When someone shouted out for a sequel to the film, Joss responded by saying the new DVD edition of was coming out because "people keep buying the damn thing," implying that it's a possibility.
He's also composing the score for a short ballet he's doing with Summer Glau. The crowd dug the idea prompting Joss to state in surprise, "Boy, was I expecting silence." Entitled The Serving Girl, he's already found a choreographer and will film it once he's finished the score.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Comic - In regards to the current volume, officially known as Season 8, when asked if and when Oz (played by Seth Green) returns, Joss stealthy replied, "I can't tell you when but you don't have to ask if." He later added that while he doesn't know how long Season 8 will be ("I can't stop writing the Buffy comic. It's like a drug."), he "definitely know[s] how [it] ends and [he knows] how Season 9 begins."
When asked if he was doing anything more with the character Fray, a vampire slayer of the future, he replied with a yes. Adding "[I'm] not sure if I'm supposed to be saying that...but I did."
Angel: After The Fall - The comic he's working on with Brian Lynch, who will be the writer. It will be a twelve-issue maxi-series from IDW that shows what happens after the series finale battle with the evil law firm known as "Wolfram and Hart. " "What happens is very bad," he says conspiritiorily.
Projects not in the works:
Angel movies - "It's called Bones - Season 2."
Heroes - He was asked if he's been asked to direct any episodes and if he would. While he loves the show and would be honored, Joss regretfully doesn't have the time to really get involved, especially since he "can't do a little bit of anting."
Writing for Other Comics - Coming to the end of what his wife refers to as his "Merry Marvel Midlife Crisis", Joss wants to "concentrate on smaller, creator-owned things and filmed entertainment" and will only do solo-shot issues here and there, if any.
When asked if he was working on a musical, while he'd love to, Joss state that "musicals are the single hardest thing to write...Not only is it my dream, it is a plan. As I live, it will happen but I'm not sure when."
A fan brought up the possibility of Joss directing the seventh and last Harry Potter film when the time comes. Whedon expressed his interest in his usual understated manner - "Yeah, I could probably find a weekend for that."
Other Highlights:
An fan requested he do the "Dance of Shame". His response? "Guys...you're killing me. I love you, but I'm not going to dance."
A young boy got up to the microphone and really won everyone over. He became a fan because his dad wanted him to watch Firefly. Initially reluctant because his father usually has "lame taste," five minutes into it and he was hooked. His question: "What was going through your mind when you came up with the idea? Were you watching Star Wars and said, wow, I wonder what would happen if Clint Eastwood was in this?'" Joss responded, "No, but from now on yes."
By Tamara Brooks
July 28, 09:26 PM
"Before [the Q&A], I want to answer the question that's been on all of your minds. I can see it in your beady little eyes - What have I done of you lately? Well, I wrote Wonder Woman...and that's enough about that."
And thus began fan-favorite Joss Whedon's panel Saturday late-afternoon. A lot of people showed up to honor the man many call their master now, greeting him with two lengthy ovations.
Breaking News:
"I'm getting sick and tired of not entertaining you guys enough." To that end, Joss is concentrating on doing "smaller scale" projects in order to get more works finished and out to the mass on a faster pace. "There are so many really creepy things swimming around in my head and I really need to get them out." That got the crowd very excited, and rightly so.
Starting with "Drew Goddard is tall and kinda sexy," Joss then announced that the two of them have collaborated on a script called Cabin In The Woods - "The horror film to end all horror films. Literally." It's not on the market yet but with a statement like that, it should be pretty dang interesting to say the least.
Projects in the works:
Goners - Joss is in the process of rewriting the fantasy/thriller and is his primary focus.
Ripper - The Buffy spin-off featuring Giles the Watcher is in talks/negotiations and, depending on the script, "there's a very real possibility that in the next year [he'll] finally be able to film" it. Stating that he had diner with Anthony Stewart Head "the other night" about it, "As [Head] said, "I'm for it." It will be a 90-minute piece produced for the BBC with distribution later. There are more discussions to be had but "everyone seems to be on the same page...[and it] can happen, should happen, will happen soon."
Sugar Shock - Joss' first original comic creation with Fabio Moon doing the art. Launched yesterday on Dark Horse's MySpace and is 100% free.
Serenity - A new comic is launching in late Winter from Dark Horse. Also, the Collector's Edition of the movie will be released August 21st. When someone shouted out for a sequel to the film, Joss responded by saying the new DVD edition of was coming out because "people keep buying the damn thing," implying that it's a possibility.
He's also composing the score for a short ballet he's doing with Summer Glau. The crowd dug the idea prompting Joss to state in surprise, "Boy, was I expecting silence." Entitled The Serving Girl, he's already found a choreographer and will film it once he's finished the score.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Comic - In regards to the current volume, officially known as Season 8, when asked if and when Oz (played by Seth Green) returns, Joss stealthy replied, "I can't tell you when but you don't have to ask if." He later added that while he doesn't know how long Season 8 will be ("I can't stop writing the Buffy comic. It's like a drug."), he "definitely know[s] how [it] ends and [he knows] how Season 9 begins."
When asked if he was doing anything more with the character Fray, a vampire slayer of the future, he replied with a yes. Adding "[I'm] not sure if I'm supposed to be saying that...but I did."
Angel: After The Fall - The comic he's working on with Brian Lynch, who will be the writer. It will be a twelve-issue maxi-series from IDW that shows what happens after the series finale battle with the evil law firm known as "Wolfram and Hart. " "What happens is very bad," he says conspiritiorily.
Projects not in the works:
Angel movies - "It's called Bones - Season 2."
Heroes - He was asked if he's been asked to direct any episodes and if he would. While he loves the show and would be honored, Joss regretfully doesn't have the time to really get involved, especially since he "can't do a little bit of anting."
Writing for Other Comics - Coming to the end of what his wife refers to as his "Merry Marvel Midlife Crisis", Joss wants to "concentrate on smaller, creator-owned things and filmed entertainment" and will only do solo-shot issues here and there, if any.
When asked if he was working on a musical, while he'd love to, Joss state that "musicals are the single hardest thing to write...Not only is it my dream, it is a plan. As I live, it will happen but I'm not sure when."
A fan brought up the possibility of Joss directing the seventh and last Harry Potter film when the time comes. Whedon expressed his interest in his usual understated manner - "Yeah, I could probably find a weekend for that."
Other Highlights:
An fan requested he do the "Dance of Shame". His response? "Guys...you're killing me. I love you, but I'm not going to dance."
A young boy got up to the microphone and really won everyone over. He became a fan because his dad wanted him to watch Firefly. Initially reluctant because his father usually has "lame taste," five minutes into it and he was hooked. His question: "What was going through your mind when you came up with the idea? Were you watching Star Wars and said, wow, I wonder what would happen if Clint Eastwood was in this?'" Joss responded, "No, but from now on yes."
Thursday, July 26, 2007
This Just In.......
Star Trek XI news:
07.26.2007
Big Movie News from Comic-Con
J.J. Abrams and his creative team for the new Star Trek movie wowed the audience at Comic-Con in San Diego this afternoon as they revealed a casting coup: Heroes star Zachary Quinto will be playing Spock! And, to the delight of all 6,500 in the capacity crowd, Leonard Nimoy joined Quinto on stage as Abrams confirmed the elder Spock's involvement in the new film.
We've been waiting for over a year now since the next Star Trek movie was originally announced, but there hasn't been any real hard news other than who is writing and directing. But now, we have something to go on! Abrams also revealed new artwork for the second teaser poster. The lettering may be familiar — and once again we get an Original Series look — but this time the logo is inverted and written with starry letters, all on a white background. You can see a larger version by clicking here
07.26.2007
Big Movie News from Comic-Con
J.J. Abrams and his creative team for the new Star Trek movie wowed the audience at Comic-Con in San Diego this afternoon as they revealed a casting coup: Heroes star Zachary Quinto will be playing Spock! And, to the delight of all 6,500 in the capacity crowd, Leonard Nimoy joined Quinto on stage as Abrams confirmed the elder Spock's involvement in the new film.
We've been waiting for over a year now since the next Star Trek movie was originally announced, but there hasn't been any real hard news other than who is writing and directing. But now, we have something to go on! Abrams also revealed new artwork for the second teaser poster. The lettering may be familiar — and once again we get an Original Series look — but this time the logo is inverted and written with starry letters, all on a white background. You can see a larger version by clicking here
Friday, July 20, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Friday, July 6, 2007
Buffynews
Scott Allie, Editor
BUFFY NEWS
Updated 7/6/2007
I was going through some old mail, and came across this email. Edited for secrecy . . . ! We were making plans for Tales of the Vampires, even as I was wrapping up the original Buffy monthly.
From: Scott
Date: July 7, 2003 4:01:59 PM PDT
To: Joss
Subject: Tales of the Vampires & Buffy
Joss,
Hope you had a good 4th of July. I spent it with hillbillies, so of course it was great.
You should have received a package of art samples by now. Please note the paintings by Eric Powell (The Goon, Arkham Asylum) and Ben Templesmith (Criminal Macabre); both of these are guys I'm considering for covers. Your feedback appreciated ...
Also, I would love to get some input from you on what to do with the regular Buffy comics series. My (modest, attainable?) dream: You give me one page telling me where to go after the conclusion of Season Seven. I really want to move beyond the TV show, but I don't want to do it without your approval and a little of your guidance. I could have said my dream is you writing this for me, but I'm trying to be realistic. I would of course do whatever you wanted with the damn thing, and would really like some direction. What do you say?
Scott
Note the date. July 2003. That was the first time I asked Joss to guide the comic beyond the show. We wrote back and forth a couple times that day, and his immediate response was that it sounded good, but not that he'd have any more involvement than what I suggested. It was another email, two years later, when he first used the terms "Season Eight" and "exec produce."
I seldom go through old email, but we're working on the Buffy Panel to Panel art book, which includes Tales of the Vampires, so I was doing some digging. I no longer have the email when Joss sent Season Eight #1, but as you can see, this email, four years old, set those wheels slowly in motion. It was more than two years before I had the first script-lo and behold, from Joss himself-and so much more than a page of direction.
When he first used that term, "exec produce," in October 2005, I didn't think much of it. I never know what people mean when they apply film terms to comics. "Cinematic storytelling"? For a lot of people that just means panels that are wider than they are tall. "The comic writer is the director"? Then who's the writer? I think I've seen people use the Executive Producer credit in comics, and usually it's either been the editor (who should more accurately be called Best Boy, Caterer, or Assistant to Mr. Bonaduce), or the Editor in Chief or Publisher, or maybe the rights holder. Joss is actually none of those things on the Buffy comic.
He's the Executive Producer.
The job that Joss did on the TV show, there's no perfect parallel in the world of comics-just as no title in comics is exactly the same as "director." Hell, even "writer" in comics doesn't really mean the same thing as it does in film. He was the boss, to whom everyone had to defer-including any writers, directors, or Assistants to Mr. Bonaduce. He guided the creative direction. Executive Producer can mean different things, and involve different tasks, but in Joss's case on Buffy--comics or TV--it means that the overall story comes from him, that the individual stories are worked out directly with him, and that each script goes through him. All talent is hired under his direction. Just the other day, we sent the script for Buffy #10, written by Joss, to artist Cliff Richards, my old buddy from the old run of Buffy comics. But it was Joss's idea to hire him. I offer opinions, sometimes Joss even asks for 'em, but it's all up to the big guy. Another advantage--with an Executive Producer like Joss on board, Fox gives us a pretty open field to play in. There's no better way of doing a licensed comic--because the studio has no desire to interfere with the guy who gave them the thing in the first place. Thank god.
Joss has years of experience of making great stories while working with talented writers. That was his job on every episode of Buffy, though he shared it on Angel and Firefly, and later season of Buffy. He knows how to give those writers the room to do their best work, while making sure that everything stays true to the vision and style. But just as Jane Espenson's episodes of Buffy (or Angel or Firefly) were usually the funniest, you can expect her contribution to be a crackup--and Brian K. Vaughan's Faith arc, starting in September, will absolutely read like a BKV comic.
I mean, why else would the Executive Producer have approached him?
Don't forget about the Equality Now auction on Ebay. Go to this link http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=joss-whedon-supports-charity, or type in www.ebay.com/josswhedon. The auction doesn't end until July 12, so turn in them bottles and cans and do your part for Equality Now and Joss.
See you in San Diego!
BUFFY NEWS
Updated 7/6/2007
I was going through some old mail, and came across this email. Edited for secrecy . . . ! We were making plans for Tales of the Vampires, even as I was wrapping up the original Buffy monthly.
From: Scott
Date: July 7, 2003 4:01:59 PM PDT
To: Joss
Subject: Tales of the Vampires & Buffy
Joss,
Hope you had a good 4th of July. I spent it with hillbillies, so of course it was great.
You should have received a package of art samples by now. Please note the paintings by Eric Powell (The Goon, Arkham Asylum) and Ben Templesmith (Criminal Macabre); both of these are guys I'm considering for covers. Your feedback appreciated ...
Also, I would love to get some input from you on what to do with the regular Buffy comics series. My (modest, attainable?) dream: You give me one page telling me where to go after the conclusion of Season Seven. I really want to move beyond the TV show, but I don't want to do it without your approval and a little of your guidance. I could have said my dream is you writing this for me, but I'm trying to be realistic. I would of course do whatever you wanted with the damn thing, and would really like some direction. What do you say?
Scott
Note the date. July 2003. That was the first time I asked Joss to guide the comic beyond the show. We wrote back and forth a couple times that day, and his immediate response was that it sounded good, but not that he'd have any more involvement than what I suggested. It was another email, two years later, when he first used the terms "Season Eight" and "exec produce."
I seldom go through old email, but we're working on the Buffy Panel to Panel art book, which includes Tales of the Vampires, so I was doing some digging. I no longer have the email when Joss sent Season Eight #1, but as you can see, this email, four years old, set those wheels slowly in motion. It was more than two years before I had the first script-lo and behold, from Joss himself-and so much more than a page of direction.
When he first used that term, "exec produce," in October 2005, I didn't think much of it. I never know what people mean when they apply film terms to comics. "Cinematic storytelling"? For a lot of people that just means panels that are wider than they are tall. "The comic writer is the director"? Then who's the writer? I think I've seen people use the Executive Producer credit in comics, and usually it's either been the editor (who should more accurately be called Best Boy, Caterer, or Assistant to Mr. Bonaduce), or the Editor in Chief or Publisher, or maybe the rights holder. Joss is actually none of those things on the Buffy comic.
He's the Executive Producer.
The job that Joss did on the TV show, there's no perfect parallel in the world of comics-just as no title in comics is exactly the same as "director." Hell, even "writer" in comics doesn't really mean the same thing as it does in film. He was the boss, to whom everyone had to defer-including any writers, directors, or Assistants to Mr. Bonaduce. He guided the creative direction. Executive Producer can mean different things, and involve different tasks, but in Joss's case on Buffy--comics or TV--it means that the overall story comes from him, that the individual stories are worked out directly with him, and that each script goes through him. All talent is hired under his direction. Just the other day, we sent the script for Buffy #10, written by Joss, to artist Cliff Richards, my old buddy from the old run of Buffy comics. But it was Joss's idea to hire him. I offer opinions, sometimes Joss even asks for 'em, but it's all up to the big guy. Another advantage--with an Executive Producer like Joss on board, Fox gives us a pretty open field to play in. There's no better way of doing a licensed comic--because the studio has no desire to interfere with the guy who gave them the thing in the first place. Thank god.
Joss has years of experience of making great stories while working with talented writers. That was his job on every episode of Buffy, though he shared it on Angel and Firefly, and later season of Buffy. He knows how to give those writers the room to do their best work, while making sure that everything stays true to the vision and style. But just as Jane Espenson's episodes of Buffy (or Angel or Firefly) were usually the funniest, you can expect her contribution to be a crackup--and Brian K. Vaughan's Faith arc, starting in September, will absolutely read like a BKV comic.
I mean, why else would the Executive Producer have approached him?
Don't forget about the Equality Now auction on Ebay. Go to this link http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=joss-whedon-supports-charity, or type in www.ebay.com/josswhedon. The auction doesn't end until July 12, so turn in them bottles and cans and do your part for Equality Now and Joss.
See you in San Diego!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Cloverfield
'Cloverfield': What the heck is it?
One of the coolest things about Transformers actually happened before the movie started: A trailer for an unnamed J.J. Abrams project premiered before the film, and it's been causing huge amounts of speculation and discussion online.
The movie -- its working title is Cloverfield -- appears to be a monster flick told from the point of view of people on the ground. The trailer depicts a group of New York partygoers who are suddenly interrupted by a huge explosion. Go here for a more detailed description and here to watch it on YouTube; if the video disappears, just search "Cloverfield" to find it again.
A website for the flick has popped up, though right now it only features a photo. It will reportedly be directed by Felicity's Matt Reeves and written by Lost's Drew Godard.
The rumors are swirling: Why all the secrecy? Is this an original monster movie, or does Cloverfield have anything to do with Lost? Is it a Godzilla movie? Is it a Voltron movie? Whatever it is, the publicity campaign is already working.
Posted at 11:21 AM/ET, 07/05/2007 in 'Lost', Movies | Permalink | Comments 26
One of the coolest things about Transformers actually happened before the movie started: A trailer for an unnamed J.J. Abrams project premiered before the film, and it's been causing huge amounts of speculation and discussion online.
The movie -- its working title is Cloverfield -- appears to be a monster flick told from the point of view of people on the ground. The trailer depicts a group of New York partygoers who are suddenly interrupted by a huge explosion. Go here for a more detailed description and here to watch it on YouTube; if the video disappears, just search "Cloverfield" to find it again.
A website for the flick has popped up, though right now it only features a photo. It will reportedly be directed by Felicity's Matt Reeves and written by Lost's Drew Godard.
The rumors are swirling: Why all the secrecy? Is this an original monster movie, or does Cloverfield have anything to do with Lost? Is it a Godzilla movie? Is it a Voltron movie? Whatever it is, the publicity campaign is already working.
Posted at 11:21 AM/ET, 07/05/2007 in 'Lost', Movies | Permalink | Comments 26
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
One of the Greats
And now, a very special presentation! And isn't this poster one of the most misleading of any classic SF movie?
Oh No! Not Harvey.
Harvey Birdman going down
Who will protect me from these lawsuits now?
The New York Post (I read it only for the Page 3 girls, honest) reports that Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is ending its run after 39 episodes. The series, which helped launch CN's "Adult Swim" block back in the carefree days of September 2001, will air a new episode Sunday, July 15 (11:45 PM). That'll be followed by a 30-minute sendoff special July 22 (also 11:45 PM), in which Harvey falls into a drunken spiral after his methods are questioned and his past legal wins are overturned.
No word on what will happen to the characters, although I understand Peter Potamus is supposed to appear on the next season of The Biggest Loser, Avenger has something lined up with Animal Planet, and Myron Reducto is going to show up on Heroes -- although it will be a small part.
Artwork copyright HB. All Rights Reserved.
Comments (0)Tue Jul 3, 2007 1:57PM by Mike Raub
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Funny Commentary
No, I don't have an iPhone
I’ve been asked to leave Los Angeles. The iPhone has been out for over three days now and I don’t have one yet. In this town that’s unacceptable.
Okay, I didn’t get one Friday when they came out. All of the CAA agents made their assistants sleep out in front of Apple stores for four days to secure the first shipment. That’s understandable.
But by Saturday afternoon I was starting to get the threatening calls. Did I not understand WHY I had to have an iPhone? Did I really think I could exist in the world without visual voicemail, the ability to activate my itunes, or with no touchscreen capability? How was I going to browse the web while driving? If I wanted to live in the stone age, fine, but not in SoCali.
I pleaded: My Sony Erickson allows me to text message, take photos, download ringtones, play games, set alarms, IM, organize my calendar, and make phone calls. “Sony Erickson?!” they scoffed. They hung up and two hours later my pet was missing.
I called the police to complain. They asked what I was calling on. When I told them they sent over a black-and-white and took me downtown for questioning. Did I not understand the iPhone allowed me to activate and sync video? I said I was allowed one phone call and they said, “Not on a Sony Erickson you aren't.”
On Sunday I went to the local park pool for a dip. All of the mothers became hysterical and yanked their kids out of the pool. I heard one yell, “We value keyboard video in this neighborhood!”
The pressure continued. On Sunday night someone burned an apple in my lawn.
Someday I’ll get an iPhone. I’m sure the price will go down, more keen features will be added, and I’ll again be able to rejoin civilized society. I just have to time it right. I don’t want to get thrown out of Cleveland either.
posted by Ken Levine @ 7/02/2007 04:07:00 PM 2 comments
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Good News
That woman deserves her revenge, and we deserve to die.
It's about frickin' time:
KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR
On November 6, the two Kill Bill films will finally be released as a single 4-disc special edition DVD set. If, like me, you held off on buying the individual DVD releases of Volume 1 and Volume 2, because you knew a combined set would eventually be issued, your patience, at long last, is about to be rewarded.
I expect a plethora of brand-new shiny extras will be included in the set (two whole discs' worth, it would seem!). And some shiny new gore, as well: Amazon says the set will be rated NC-17. (More likely, it'll be unrated, since the MPAA doesn't give official re-ratings to DVD director's cuts.)
Via ADDTF, further via Cinematical.
posted by Tom the Dog @ 7:04 PM
It's about frickin' time:
KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR
On November 6, the two Kill Bill films will finally be released as a single 4-disc special edition DVD set. If, like me, you held off on buying the individual DVD releases of Volume 1 and Volume 2, because you knew a combined set would eventually be issued, your patience, at long last, is about to be rewarded.
I expect a plethora of brand-new shiny extras will be included in the set (two whole discs' worth, it would seem!). And some shiny new gore, as well: Amazon says the set will be rated NC-17. (More likely, it'll be unrated, since the MPAA doesn't give official re-ratings to DVD director's cuts.)
Via ADDTF, further via Cinematical.
posted by Tom the Dog @ 7:04 PM
Saturday, June 23, 2007
This Sounds Pretty Good
Pilot Inspektor: NBC's "Journeyman"
What is it exactly that sparks our imagination when it comes to time travel? Is the notion of traveling beyond our lifetimes to catch a glimpse of a future world, unfettered by the bonds of our mortality? Or is the sense that we all would love a chance to travel backwards in time and get a shot and fixing the wrongs in our own lives?
In NBC's new fall series, Journeyman, Dan Vassar (Rome's Kevin McKidd) gets an opportunity to do the latter when he finds himself unwittingly traveling back in time to points within his own life. It's the first time travel story on television that I can think of that doesn't use a time machine (thank god!); instead the wherefores and hows of Dan's ability are left a mystery... for now, anyway.
Created by Kevin Falls (The West Wing), Journeyman deftly manages to combine several different genres--sci fi, relationship drama, action, romance--into one slickly produced package that is beautifully directed by Alex Graves (The Nine). The effect is more akin to The Time Traveler's Wife than Quantum Leap, presenting us with a series that can be at the same time procedural and loosely serialized, as Dan is forced, each week, to prevent/cause some change in the past and figuring out the limitations and causes behind his time traveling ability.
This being a drama rather than a wish-fulfillment fantasy, Dan's ability is more of a curse than a blessing and, as a lead character, Dan is a wholly flawed hero (the very best kind, one could argue); he's married to a beautiful woman, Katie (Gretchen Egolf), with whom he has an adorable moppet of a son, but their marriage is tested by several factors, including the fact that Dan is a recovering gambling addict who drove his relationship to the brink of failure. He's a brilliant reporter, but his job is in jeopardy already when he begins to have unexplained absences... and time-travels while behind the wheel of a car, resulting in a spectacular auto collision. Oh, and did I mention that his wife Katie was once the girlfriend of Dan's estranged police officer brother Jack (Reed Diamond)?
There's also the ghost of Dan's dead fiancee, the beautiful Livia (Moon Bloodgood), haunting the proceedings. Livia died years before in a mysterious plane crash, putting Dan right into the orbit of his bro's girl Katie, who is seen in the past giving Dan the once-over. We're not told what exactly led Katie to leave Jack for Dan, but it's clear that her decision is one factor in the distance between the two brothers.
In the past, Dan saves the life of Neal Gaines (Christopher Warren), a man attempting to kill himself; not unsurprisingly this has major consequences in the present day and Dan is forced to clean up the mess he created... while also attempting to save his marriage in a dramatic and romantic reveal after Katie begins to believe that, rather than time traveling as Dan claims to be doing, he has turned to drugs. If you've seen the teaser trailer, you know exactly the moment I'm talking about, but rather than spoil it for everyone else, I'll be deliberately vague and just say that it involves Katie's wedding ring, a toolbox, and a certain patio.
Of course, this is a weekly drama, so there's never a happy ending at the end of the first hour. In the past, Dan is lead into temptation by a run-in with Livia; if he sleeps with her in the past, is he really cheating on Katie? (Short answer: yes.) But it underscores the notion that he's still, after all of these years, in love with his dead fiancee. And with the power to travel through time, couldn't Dan alter the past and save her life? The pilot episode doesn't answer this question though it does raise several others with a jaw-dropping reveal late in the game. As for what that is, you'll have to watch the series this fall. (I can't spoil everything now, can I?)
Besides for the lush visuals (check the scene with the falling bits of calendar) and taut plot, Journeyman also sports a fantastic cast. Gretchen Egolf (Roswell, Martial Law) is wholly believable as a suspicious but loving wife, going out of her skull trying to figure out what's going on with her husband and whether she wants to hold onto him. Moon Bloodgood is perfectly cast as the mysterious Livia; you can see why, years after her death, she has still managed to infect Dan's thoughts and dreams. As Dan Vassar, Kevin McKidd is absolutely magnetic in this role, presenting Dan as a man of constant inner conflict, propelled by a reporter's need to seek the answers to all of life's mysteries. McKidd presents Dan as a wounded man, humbled by his circumstances, attempting to atone for his past and unable to fix his present life. In the hands of a lesser actor, Journeyman could have crumbled under the audience's disbelieve at Dan's time traveling abilities; instead McKidd grounds the series with a palpable gravitas. You do believe that this guy's guy can really travel through time and that he has as difficult a time wrapping his brain around that as the audience at home.
NBC has given Journeyman an amazing sign of confidence by granting it the plum post-Heroes timeslot on Mondays at 10 pm. It's a testament to the depth of this series, the creativity of its creators, and the strength of McKidd's leadership that the network would get so fully behind a high concept like this one.
If Journeyman proves as thought-provoking and thoughtful as the pilot episode indicated (as well as lure in both male and female audiences), the Peacock may have finally found a promising companion for its sole break-out drama hit. Fingers crossed
What is it exactly that sparks our imagination when it comes to time travel? Is the notion of traveling beyond our lifetimes to catch a glimpse of a future world, unfettered by the bonds of our mortality? Or is the sense that we all would love a chance to travel backwards in time and get a shot and fixing the wrongs in our own lives?
In NBC's new fall series, Journeyman, Dan Vassar (Rome's Kevin McKidd) gets an opportunity to do the latter when he finds himself unwittingly traveling back in time to points within his own life. It's the first time travel story on television that I can think of that doesn't use a time machine (thank god!); instead the wherefores and hows of Dan's ability are left a mystery... for now, anyway.
Created by Kevin Falls (The West Wing), Journeyman deftly manages to combine several different genres--sci fi, relationship drama, action, romance--into one slickly produced package that is beautifully directed by Alex Graves (The Nine). The effect is more akin to The Time Traveler's Wife than Quantum Leap, presenting us with a series that can be at the same time procedural and loosely serialized, as Dan is forced, each week, to prevent/cause some change in the past and figuring out the limitations and causes behind his time traveling ability.
This being a drama rather than a wish-fulfillment fantasy, Dan's ability is more of a curse than a blessing and, as a lead character, Dan is a wholly flawed hero (the very best kind, one could argue); he's married to a beautiful woman, Katie (Gretchen Egolf), with whom he has an adorable moppet of a son, but their marriage is tested by several factors, including the fact that Dan is a recovering gambling addict who drove his relationship to the brink of failure. He's a brilliant reporter, but his job is in jeopardy already when he begins to have unexplained absences... and time-travels while behind the wheel of a car, resulting in a spectacular auto collision. Oh, and did I mention that his wife Katie was once the girlfriend of Dan's estranged police officer brother Jack (Reed Diamond)?
There's also the ghost of Dan's dead fiancee, the beautiful Livia (Moon Bloodgood), haunting the proceedings. Livia died years before in a mysterious plane crash, putting Dan right into the orbit of his bro's girl Katie, who is seen in the past giving Dan the once-over. We're not told what exactly led Katie to leave Jack for Dan, but it's clear that her decision is one factor in the distance between the two brothers.
In the past, Dan saves the life of Neal Gaines (Christopher Warren), a man attempting to kill himself; not unsurprisingly this has major consequences in the present day and Dan is forced to clean up the mess he created... while also attempting to save his marriage in a dramatic and romantic reveal after Katie begins to believe that, rather than time traveling as Dan claims to be doing, he has turned to drugs. If you've seen the teaser trailer, you know exactly the moment I'm talking about, but rather than spoil it for everyone else, I'll be deliberately vague and just say that it involves Katie's wedding ring, a toolbox, and a certain patio.
Of course, this is a weekly drama, so there's never a happy ending at the end of the first hour. In the past, Dan is lead into temptation by a run-in with Livia; if he sleeps with her in the past, is he really cheating on Katie? (Short answer: yes.) But it underscores the notion that he's still, after all of these years, in love with his dead fiancee. And with the power to travel through time, couldn't Dan alter the past and save her life? The pilot episode doesn't answer this question though it does raise several others with a jaw-dropping reveal late in the game. As for what that is, you'll have to watch the series this fall. (I can't spoil everything now, can I?)
Besides for the lush visuals (check the scene with the falling bits of calendar) and taut plot, Journeyman also sports a fantastic cast. Gretchen Egolf (Roswell, Martial Law) is wholly believable as a suspicious but loving wife, going out of her skull trying to figure out what's going on with her husband and whether she wants to hold onto him. Moon Bloodgood is perfectly cast as the mysterious Livia; you can see why, years after her death, she has still managed to infect Dan's thoughts and dreams. As Dan Vassar, Kevin McKidd is absolutely magnetic in this role, presenting Dan as a man of constant inner conflict, propelled by a reporter's need to seek the answers to all of life's mysteries. McKidd presents Dan as a wounded man, humbled by his circumstances, attempting to atone for his past and unable to fix his present life. In the hands of a lesser actor, Journeyman could have crumbled under the audience's disbelieve at Dan's time traveling abilities; instead McKidd grounds the series with a palpable gravitas. You do believe that this guy's guy can really travel through time and that he has as difficult a time wrapping his brain around that as the audience at home.
NBC has given Journeyman an amazing sign of confidence by granting it the plum post-Heroes timeslot on Mondays at 10 pm. It's a testament to the depth of this series, the creativity of its creators, and the strength of McKidd's leadership that the network would get so fully behind a high concept like this one.
If Journeyman proves as thought-provoking and thoughtful as the pilot episode indicated (as well as lure in both male and female audiences), the Peacock may have finally found a promising companion for its sole break-out drama hit. Fingers crossed
Friday, June 22, 2007
More Heroes:Origins
Heroes Spin-off Talk: Origins Begins When Original Ends
Shedding new light on the game plan for Heroes: Origins, series creator Tim Kring told reporters on Thursday that the companion piece to NBC's freshman hit — which will introduce several "specially enabled" newcomers — will surface once Heroes' sophomore run winds down. "Right now, the idea [is] that Heroes will run as continuously as we can throughout the season; obviously, there are a couple of breaks along the way," Kring said. "Then, when Heroes ends at the end of April, Origins will begin and run through May sweeps." — Additional reporting by Dana Meltzer Zepeda
For more on Heroes' second season and the show's "global" plan to drum up interest in it this summer, see the TV Guide News Report.
Shedding new light on the game plan for Heroes: Origins, series creator Tim Kring told reporters on Thursday that the companion piece to NBC's freshman hit — which will introduce several "specially enabled" newcomers — will surface once Heroes' sophomore run winds down. "Right now, the idea [is] that Heroes will run as continuously as we can throughout the season; obviously, there are a couple of breaks along the way," Kring said. "Then, when Heroes ends at the end of April, Origins will begin and run through May sweeps." — Additional reporting by Dana Meltzer Zepeda
For more on Heroes' second season and the show's "global" plan to drum up interest in it this summer, see the TV Guide News Report.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark!
Exclusive: David Anders Is a Hero!
Categories: heroes
Omigod! Omigod! Omigod!
Honestly, I'm downright giddy to be breaking the news to you that David Anders—known as the wonderfully sinister and sexy Sark to Alias fans—is joining the cast of Heroes!
Though NBC has not yet announced it, my Heroes moles tell me it's official: Anders has been given the much coveted series-regular role of Kensei, a Sark-ish character who just so happens to be 1,000 years old, for the upcoming second season of Heroes. I'm told Anders starts work on the show on Monday.
Hear that? It's the sound of Alias fans around the world shouting "Yippee!" as they bust out a happy Snoopy dance. And you Heroes fans should be, too, because, hot damn, the show just got even better.
Anyone else excited? Well, spill it in the Comments section below, will ya?
Comments (25) Posted by Kristin Veitch on Tue, Jun 19, 2007, 11:37 AM
Categories: heroes
Omigod! Omigod! Omigod!
Honestly, I'm downright giddy to be breaking the news to you that David Anders—known as the wonderfully sinister and sexy Sark to Alias fans—is joining the cast of Heroes!
Though NBC has not yet announced it, my Heroes moles tell me it's official: Anders has been given the much coveted series-regular role of Kensei, a Sark-ish character who just so happens to be 1,000 years old, for the upcoming second season of Heroes. I'm told Anders starts work on the show on Monday.
Hear that? It's the sound of Alias fans around the world shouting "Yippee!" as they bust out a happy Snoopy dance. And you Heroes fans should be, too, because, hot damn, the show just got even better.
Anyone else excited? Well, spill it in the Comments section below, will ya?
Comments (25) Posted by Kristin Veitch on Tue, Jun 19, 2007, 11:37 AM
Monday, June 18, 2007
The Closer-Season 3 Opener
I love this show.
»Amrie’s Take on TV: THE CLOSER
One of the greatest things about this column and this website is the incredible chances we get to talk to the brilliant minds that make our favorite shows more terrific than we think possible. Case in point, I recently had the opportunity to spend some time on the phone with the very charming creator, executive producer, and writer of the TNT original series, The Closer, Mr. James Duff. James was well spoken, smart, friendly, and he truly cares about every single aspect of his baby, his show.
James talked about what’s in store for the season, starting with the season premiere. “I think we reintroduce all of the characters in an up front and unusual way,” James said. “Crime scenes are being video taped now and this is going on across the country. You get a video-graph of the crime scenes. This is a great way to start watching the show.” James went on to add, “You get stand-ups with every single member of the squad, while you’re being introduced to one of our most heinous grimes. You see how police procedure works via our characters.”
“You get a feeling for whom each one of these characters is. They’re all introduced up front. It’s a very easy way to meet everyone again. It’s also authentic.”
As we continued chatting, he added, “There is one other thing. We have 2 of our most amazing guest stars, [and] an interview unlike any we’ve ever had before. She’s [Brenda] either got to get a confession from this boy or have him put on suicide watch and he’s not suicidal. Or she’s going to have to let him go. That’s a pretty severe dilemma. It’s at the second act, you can tell we’re not anywhere near through. That particular challenge is a difficult nut for her to crack.”
He summarized again, “[It’s] the best way to meet our characters and one of the best interviews ever.”
When asked to expand on what to expect this season for our various characters, James continued to talk about the season premiere. “The season starts with budget cuts for the LAPD. Provenza is being pressured to retire. They are being told there’s no overtime.” In another one of his informative asides, James went on to mention that “the LAPD just announced no overtime [for real]. We felt like that was coming. It was life imitating art.”
But back to the characters we know and love (or love to hate in some cases)! “Gabriel is stepping up. He wants to be more of a force on the squad. For the last two years, Taylor has been [Brenda’s] nemesis. Brenda has had to confront him on several occasions. Taylor is either getting with the program, or playing a much, much deeper game. [We see something] instead of protagonist/antagonist going at each other. Though it doesn’t look like it at first, Brenda and Gabriel are going to have a lot of issues with each other as they go along. It creates a lot of conflict. In the 4th episode, Ruby, the best episode we’ve ever done [editor’s note – keep reading for more info about that ‘sode], it creates a huge problem in both solving the crime, and getting a confession and keeping the squad together. Brenda faces the worst and most awful person she’s ever sat across. It looks like Sergeant Gabriel might lose his job. He does something that’s pretty shocking.”
The ever important question of relationships was brought up and James had this to say about what we can expect. “[Gabriel and Daniels] have been very under the radar. They’ve been trying to not let anyone in the squad know. They’ve been very successful. Eventually, that information may come out. They may have to deal with the fact that everyone knows that they’re dating and what that means to the squad and how the squad will function.”
As for what we can expect when Brenda’s parents come to town (played by the wonderful Barry Corbin and Frances Sternhagen), Brenda “finds herself in a different situation because she has a security detail that she didn’t anticipate. She’s also not on active duty at the time they arrive. The bungalow [she’s started sharing with her boyfriend Fritz] is very small. [Her parents] were going to be staying in a hotel, but they find out that she’s got a security detail and her father refuses to leave her.”
Things get a little rough for Fritz and Brenda, if only for the fact that Brenda’s parents “are very interested in the Fritz and Brenda relationship. Fritz is worried about how the father is going to take them.” James goes on to add, “Not without reason, I would say!”
Have you every wondered about the idea of Brenda having a baby? Well, so have James and the writers. “That’s a discussion we’ve had and it’s an interesting questions. She’s going to go through a health crisis this year, and that issue will come up…it’s definitely something we’ve discussed. Her biological clock is ticking. Some people might say it’s about to explode….I think she’s afraid of pregnancy.”
James went on to detail what we can expect from this season’s 4th episode, the episode that he calls their best ever. The episode is called Ruby and it’s about an 8 year old African American girl that is abducted. “That’s how it starts,” James begins, “child abductions are very serious. If you don’t the child in the first hour, I think there’s a 75% likelihood that the child is dead. She’s trying to get her admission. The guy is a racist. It creates some pretty explosive tension. It involves Provenza, it involves Buzz, it involves Daniels, and the whole squad.” The question becomes “how do you get a confession twice? I don’t want to say anymore because I’ll give it all away. This would be an interesting episode of television, no matter who was involved in it. It’s actually a super-sized episode, too; it runs over the hour.”
Throughout the interview, James threw out so many random facts that the casual observer would never know. To satisfy my curiosity, I asked him where he gets his information and where he gets his ideas for the amazing stories that they tell each week.
He had so much to say on the subject! “The more authentic the world is, the more authentic our characters appear. There’s not a lot of Science Fiction. DNA doesn’t solve a lot of crimes because it doesn’t in real life. DNA is great when you’ve got the criminal and you can tie them to a place. It doesn’t generally lead you to anyone.”
As for his technical advisors, whom he thinks are “fabulous?” “Detective Mike Birchum. He’s a member of robbery homicide at LAPD. Their elite detective team. He’s worked on several high profile cases. We also have Former DA Gil Garcetti. He worked in the district attorney’s office for almost 30 years. We have it from both sides. What’s legal and what’s real, and what would really happen. Gil and Detective Mike don’t always agree. Gil’s looking at it from the legal way, and Detective Mike is about how do we actually catch these guys. We split the difference a lot of times.
As for where he gets his story ideas? “Most of them come from stories that allow us to explore a theme. The theme of the first episode signals our overarching theme. How do you keep a family together? That’s sort of the struggle that we’re going to face all the way through the year. The theme of the third season is family.”
James took a minute to reflect on some other show’s choices. “Other shows say ‘ripped from the headlines’. We like to say our stories are ‘ripped from the heart’. We try to find crimes where a lot of time, though you don’t want to, you sometimes find yourself identifying with the murderer. It’s sometimes easier to do than you think. Murderers look at themselves as victims.”
James was filled with great information, and he went on to explain what he experienced growing up. “I also have a lifelong interest in the intelligence community. My uncle was part of the military intelligence. He was Chief of the Internal Security in the US Air Force for two years in Vietnam. I sort of grew up with it in my family. He told me chilling stories. There were some things I heard as a twelve year old that I shouldn’t have heard!”
James was incredibly likeable, and seemed genuinely thrilled to be discussing his show. He wanted to summarize what to expect for the upcoming season of The Closer. “For starters, I hope I was okay,” he said. “The only thing that I would say is that we have our first five episodes all cut together and put together. We’ve done something a little odd. Last year we did protect and serve. Things just don’t go as you would like. We’re concentrating much more on the characters this year. I hope that this pays off. We’re going to be doing that.” Hey, I think it worked for Without a Trace when they hit the 3 year mark and started exploring characters. It can only help an awesome show get that much better!
You can catch the season 3 premiere of The Closer, presented without commercials, at 9PM. You don’t want to miss it – it sounds like it’s going to be one great season!
-Amrie (mytakeontv@thetvaddict.com)
Popularity: 1% [?]
This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 5:38 am and is filed under My Take
»Amrie’s Take on TV: THE CLOSER
One of the greatest things about this column and this website is the incredible chances we get to talk to the brilliant minds that make our favorite shows more terrific than we think possible. Case in point, I recently had the opportunity to spend some time on the phone with the very charming creator, executive producer, and writer of the TNT original series, The Closer, Mr. James Duff. James was well spoken, smart, friendly, and he truly cares about every single aspect of his baby, his show.
James talked about what’s in store for the season, starting with the season premiere. “I think we reintroduce all of the characters in an up front and unusual way,” James said. “Crime scenes are being video taped now and this is going on across the country. You get a video-graph of the crime scenes. This is a great way to start watching the show.” James went on to add, “You get stand-ups with every single member of the squad, while you’re being introduced to one of our most heinous grimes. You see how police procedure works via our characters.”
“You get a feeling for whom each one of these characters is. They’re all introduced up front. It’s a very easy way to meet everyone again. It’s also authentic.”
As we continued chatting, he added, “There is one other thing. We have 2 of our most amazing guest stars, [and] an interview unlike any we’ve ever had before. She’s [Brenda] either got to get a confession from this boy or have him put on suicide watch and he’s not suicidal. Or she’s going to have to let him go. That’s a pretty severe dilemma. It’s at the second act, you can tell we’re not anywhere near through. That particular challenge is a difficult nut for her to crack.”
He summarized again, “[It’s] the best way to meet our characters and one of the best interviews ever.”
When asked to expand on what to expect this season for our various characters, James continued to talk about the season premiere. “The season starts with budget cuts for the LAPD. Provenza is being pressured to retire. They are being told there’s no overtime.” In another one of his informative asides, James went on to mention that “the LAPD just announced no overtime [for real]. We felt like that was coming. It was life imitating art.”
But back to the characters we know and love (or love to hate in some cases)! “Gabriel is stepping up. He wants to be more of a force on the squad. For the last two years, Taylor has been [Brenda’s] nemesis. Brenda has had to confront him on several occasions. Taylor is either getting with the program, or playing a much, much deeper game. [We see something] instead of protagonist/antagonist going at each other. Though it doesn’t look like it at first, Brenda and Gabriel are going to have a lot of issues with each other as they go along. It creates a lot of conflict. In the 4th episode, Ruby, the best episode we’ve ever done [editor’s note – keep reading for more info about that ‘sode], it creates a huge problem in both solving the crime, and getting a confession and keeping the squad together. Brenda faces the worst and most awful person she’s ever sat across. It looks like Sergeant Gabriel might lose his job. He does something that’s pretty shocking.”
The ever important question of relationships was brought up and James had this to say about what we can expect. “[Gabriel and Daniels] have been very under the radar. They’ve been trying to not let anyone in the squad know. They’ve been very successful. Eventually, that information may come out. They may have to deal with the fact that everyone knows that they’re dating and what that means to the squad and how the squad will function.”
As for what we can expect when Brenda’s parents come to town (played by the wonderful Barry Corbin and Frances Sternhagen), Brenda “finds herself in a different situation because she has a security detail that she didn’t anticipate. She’s also not on active duty at the time they arrive. The bungalow [she’s started sharing with her boyfriend Fritz] is very small. [Her parents] were going to be staying in a hotel, but they find out that she’s got a security detail and her father refuses to leave her.”
Things get a little rough for Fritz and Brenda, if only for the fact that Brenda’s parents “are very interested in the Fritz and Brenda relationship. Fritz is worried about how the father is going to take them.” James goes on to add, “Not without reason, I would say!”
Have you every wondered about the idea of Brenda having a baby? Well, so have James and the writers. “That’s a discussion we’ve had and it’s an interesting questions. She’s going to go through a health crisis this year, and that issue will come up…it’s definitely something we’ve discussed. Her biological clock is ticking. Some people might say it’s about to explode….I think she’s afraid of pregnancy.”
James went on to detail what we can expect from this season’s 4th episode, the episode that he calls their best ever. The episode is called Ruby and it’s about an 8 year old African American girl that is abducted. “That’s how it starts,” James begins, “child abductions are very serious. If you don’t the child in the first hour, I think there’s a 75% likelihood that the child is dead. She’s trying to get her admission. The guy is a racist. It creates some pretty explosive tension. It involves Provenza, it involves Buzz, it involves Daniels, and the whole squad.” The question becomes “how do you get a confession twice? I don’t want to say anymore because I’ll give it all away. This would be an interesting episode of television, no matter who was involved in it. It’s actually a super-sized episode, too; it runs over the hour.”
Throughout the interview, James threw out so many random facts that the casual observer would never know. To satisfy my curiosity, I asked him where he gets his information and where he gets his ideas for the amazing stories that they tell each week.
He had so much to say on the subject! “The more authentic the world is, the more authentic our characters appear. There’s not a lot of Science Fiction. DNA doesn’t solve a lot of crimes because it doesn’t in real life. DNA is great when you’ve got the criminal and you can tie them to a place. It doesn’t generally lead you to anyone.”
As for his technical advisors, whom he thinks are “fabulous?” “Detective Mike Birchum. He’s a member of robbery homicide at LAPD. Their elite detective team. He’s worked on several high profile cases. We also have Former DA Gil Garcetti. He worked in the district attorney’s office for almost 30 years. We have it from both sides. What’s legal and what’s real, and what would really happen. Gil and Detective Mike don’t always agree. Gil’s looking at it from the legal way, and Detective Mike is about how do we actually catch these guys. We split the difference a lot of times.
As for where he gets his story ideas? “Most of them come from stories that allow us to explore a theme. The theme of the first episode signals our overarching theme. How do you keep a family together? That’s sort of the struggle that we’re going to face all the way through the year. The theme of the third season is family.”
James took a minute to reflect on some other show’s choices. “Other shows say ‘ripped from the headlines’. We like to say our stories are ‘ripped from the heart’. We try to find crimes where a lot of time, though you don’t want to, you sometimes find yourself identifying with the murderer. It’s sometimes easier to do than you think. Murderers look at themselves as victims.”
James was filled with great information, and he went on to explain what he experienced growing up. “I also have a lifelong interest in the intelligence community. My uncle was part of the military intelligence. He was Chief of the Internal Security in the US Air Force for two years in Vietnam. I sort of grew up with it in my family. He told me chilling stories. There were some things I heard as a twelve year old that I shouldn’t have heard!”
James was incredibly likeable, and seemed genuinely thrilled to be discussing his show. He wanted to summarize what to expect for the upcoming season of The Closer. “For starters, I hope I was okay,” he said. “The only thing that I would say is that we have our first five episodes all cut together and put together. We’ve done something a little odd. Last year we did protect and serve. Things just don’t go as you would like. We’re concentrating much more on the characters this year. I hope that this pays off. We’re going to be doing that.” Hey, I think it worked for Without a Trace when they hit the 3 year mark and started exploring characters. It can only help an awesome show get that much better!
You can catch the season 3 premiere of The Closer, presented without commercials, at 9PM. You don’t want to miss it – it sounds like it’s going to be one great season!
-Amrie (mytakeontv@thetvaddict.com)
Popularity: 1% [?]
This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 5:38 am and is filed under My Take
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
A Pulp Fiction Weekend.........G-8 Cover #1
For lack of anything better to post for the next few days, I have some covers from the pulp novels G-8 and His Air Aces. No doubt a contemporary of Doc Savage and co.
These are some great , spine chilling images. Thanks to Dave's Long Box for the idea.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Help Cast Supergirl
Help Cast SMALLVILLE’S SuperGirl
June 12th, 2007
Hoping to inject some new life into an already aging franchise, the CW announced yesterday that SuperGirl would be joining the cast of SMALLVILLE next season. Yes, SMALLVILLE has officially run out of ideas. Yet rather then rip the show for going to the ’superhero well’ once again (see: last season’s addition of Green Arrow), we thought we’d think positive and offer up a few SUPER suggestions for who we would like to see in the role of SuperGirl come September 2007.
Naturally, the first name that comes to mind is an adorable and feisty detective who unfortunately finds herself among the ranks of the recently unemployed. Yes, we realize Kristen Bell isn’t from Krypton, but really, isn’t Neptune close enough?
Second on our list is a more unconventional choice, but a casting coup nonetheless. Not only would Liza Weil bring some serious acting chops to SMALLVILLE, we’re confident that by channelling her inner Paris Geller, krypto-freaks don’t stand a chance.
A few more choices include TRU CALLING’S Eliza Dushku (hottest SuperGirl ever!), Amanda Seyfriend (love her on BIG LOVE) or Gabriel Union (isn’t about time the whitest city in America — Smallville, KS — got a little more diverse?)
Agree, disagree, post away with who you would like to see as next season’s SuperGirl. And no, this girl is not an option!
Popularity: 1% [?]
Posted in Smallville
June 12th, 2007
Hoping to inject some new life into an already aging franchise, the CW announced yesterday that SuperGirl would be joining the cast of SMALLVILLE next season. Yes, SMALLVILLE has officially run out of ideas. Yet rather then rip the show for going to the ’superhero well’ once again (see: last season’s addition of Green Arrow), we thought we’d think positive and offer up a few SUPER suggestions for who we would like to see in the role of SuperGirl come September 2007.
Naturally, the first name that comes to mind is an adorable and feisty detective who unfortunately finds herself among the ranks of the recently unemployed. Yes, we realize Kristen Bell isn’t from Krypton, but really, isn’t Neptune close enough?
Second on our list is a more unconventional choice, but a casting coup nonetheless. Not only would Liza Weil bring some serious acting chops to SMALLVILLE, we’re confident that by channelling her inner Paris Geller, krypto-freaks don’t stand a chance.
A few more choices include TRU CALLING’S Eliza Dushku (hottest SuperGirl ever!), Amanda Seyfriend (love her on BIG LOVE) or Gabriel Union (isn’t about time the whitest city in America — Smallville, KS — got a little more diverse?)
Agree, disagree, post away with who you would like to see as next season’s SuperGirl. And no, this girl is not an option!
Popularity: 1% [?]
Posted in Smallville
Monday, June 11, 2007
This Could Be Good.........or Not
Supergirl moves to "Smallville"
The hit CW series "Smallville" will be adding another Kryptonian to the cast when its seventh season kicks off in the fall. Casting for the role is currently underway.
This will be the classic version of Supergirl. From the press release:
On SMALLVILLE, the seventh season premiere kicks off with the arrival of Supergirl, whose name is Kara, as Clark’s (Tom Welling) 19-year-old cousin. She was born on Krypton and is the daughter of Zor-El, Jor-El's brother. Kara possesses all of Clark’s powers and one he doesn’t yet have ─ she can fly! Kara also has a strong, rebellious streak that puts her at odds with Clark, and puts her onto Lex’s (Michael Rosenbaum) radar. In addition, she takes a romantic interest in Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore).
This is sure to be a much-discussed event among fans of the show and the comic — especially given the recent controversies surrounding the portrayal of women and girls in superhero comics. (There's far too many sites to link to on this one ... ) Whichever way the producers go on this is likely to have some kind of impact on this debate, with Hollywood either pointing the way toward a better portrayal of female characters in the superhero genre or simply reinforcing the portrayals that more and more readers — male and female — are finding objectionable. (I'd expect some kind of news/announcement on casting sometime around, oh, I don't know, maybe end of July, which is, coincidentally, the same time as Comic-Con!)
Jun 11, 2007 at 06:48 PM by Tom McLean in Television | Permalink | Comments (0)
The hit CW series "Smallville" will be adding another Kryptonian to the cast when its seventh season kicks off in the fall. Casting for the role is currently underway.
This will be the classic version of Supergirl. From the press release:
On SMALLVILLE, the seventh season premiere kicks off with the arrival of Supergirl, whose name is Kara, as Clark’s (Tom Welling) 19-year-old cousin. She was born on Krypton and is the daughter of Zor-El, Jor-El's brother. Kara possesses all of Clark’s powers and one he doesn’t yet have ─ she can fly! Kara also has a strong, rebellious streak that puts her at odds with Clark, and puts her onto Lex’s (Michael Rosenbaum) radar. In addition, she takes a romantic interest in Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore).
This is sure to be a much-discussed event among fans of the show and the comic — especially given the recent controversies surrounding the portrayal of women and girls in superhero comics. (There's far too many sites to link to on this one ... ) Whichever way the producers go on this is likely to have some kind of impact on this debate, with Hollywood either pointing the way toward a better portrayal of female characters in the superhero genre or simply reinforcing the portrayals that more and more readers — male and female — are finding objectionable. (I'd expect some kind of news/announcement on casting sometime around, oh, I don't know, maybe end of July, which is, coincidentally, the same time as Comic-Con!)
Jun 11, 2007 at 06:48 PM by Tom McLean in Television | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Way Back When
I stol.....borrowed this idea from Tom the Dog's blog. I went to PopCultureMadness.com and looked for the year I turned 18 (1970) and clicked on the hit record for that year. Most I remember, a few I don't. The list definitely shows my age though. Check it out.
1.
I'll Be There - Jackson Five
2.
(They Long To Be) Close To You - Carpenters (I make no apologies, I loved Karen Carpenter's voice)
3.
ABC - Jackson Five
4.
Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross
5.
The Wonder Of You - Elvis Presley
6.
Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
7.
I Want You Back - Jackson 5
8.
Evil Ways - Santana
9.
25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
10.
Give Me Just a Little More Time - Chairmen of the Board
dc.writeln(''); // -->
11.
The Letter - Joe Cocker
12.
Montego Bay - Bobby Bloom
13.
Band Of Gold - Freda Payne
14.
Get Up - James Brown
15.
American Woman - Guess Who
16.
The Love You Save - Jackson Five (damn the J5 WERE hot that year)
17.
Venus - the Shocking Blue
18.
Make It With You - Bread
19.
I Think I Love You - Partridge Family
20.
Let It Be - Beatles
21.
Still Water (Love) - Four Tops
22.
Get Ready - Rare Earth
23.
Hey There Lonely Girl - Eddie Holman
24.
Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) - Delphonics
25.
Spirit In The Sky - Norman Greenbaum
26.
In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry
27.
No Time - Guess Who
28.
Fire and Rain - James Taylor
29.
Thank You Falettin Me Be Myself Again - Sly and the Family Stone
30.
We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters
31.
Mississippi Queen - Mountain
32.
Instant Karma - We All Shine On
33.
War - Edwin Starr
34.
What Is Truth - Johnny Cash
35.
Lola - Kinks
36.
Tighter, Tighter - Alive and Kicking
37.
Yellow River - Christie
38.
Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
39.
Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynne
40.
Uncle John's Band - The Grateful Dead
41.
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkle
42.
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
43.
Okie From Muskogee - Merle Haggard
44.
Up On Cripple Creek - The Band
45.
Roadhouse Blues - The Doors
46.
Oh Well - Fleetwood Mac
47.
Kentucky Rain - Elvis Presley
48.
Funk # 49 - James Gang
49.
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - Hollies
50.
Our House - Crosby Stills Nash and Young
51.
All Right Now - Free
52.
Cold Turkey - John Lennon
53.
Cecilia - Simon and Garfunkle
54.
Fresh Air - Quicksilver Messenger Service
55.
Who'll Stop The Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival
56.
Question - Moody Blues
57.
Mama Told Me Not To Come - Three Dog Night
58.
Superman - The Ides Of March
59.
Woodstock - Crosby Stills Nash and Young
60
Ticket To Ride - Carpenters
61.
Spill the Wine - Eric Burdon and War
62.
Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young
63.
Summertime Blues - the Who
64.
Carolina In My Mind - James Taylor
65.
After Midnight - Eric Clapton
66.
1984 - Spirit
67.
Rubber Ducky - Ernie (Jim Henson, Sesame Street)
68.
Empty Pages - Traffic
69.
Big Yellow Taxi - Neighborhood
70.
Court Of The Crimson King - King Crimson
71.
Living Lovin Maid (She's Just a Woman) - Led Zeppelin
72.
Funky Chicken (part 1) - Willie Henderson
73.
Julie Do Ya Love Me - Bobby Sherman
74.
Green Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf
75.
Oh My My - Monkees
Number
Ya know, that wasn't a bad year at all. I was expecting a lot worse.
1.
I'll Be There - Jackson Five
2.
(They Long To Be) Close To You - Carpenters (I make no apologies, I loved Karen Carpenter's voice)
3.
ABC - Jackson Five
4.
Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross
5.
The Wonder Of You - Elvis Presley
6.
Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
7.
I Want You Back - Jackson 5
8.
Evil Ways - Santana
9.
25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
10.
Give Me Just a Little More Time - Chairmen of the Board
dc.writeln(''); // -->
11.
The Letter - Joe Cocker
12.
Montego Bay - Bobby Bloom
13.
Band Of Gold - Freda Payne
14.
Get Up - James Brown
15.
American Woman - Guess Who
16.
The Love You Save - Jackson Five (damn the J5 WERE hot that year)
17.
Venus - the Shocking Blue
18.
Make It With You - Bread
19.
I Think I Love You - Partridge Family
20.
Let It Be - Beatles
21.
Still Water (Love) - Four Tops
22.
Get Ready - Rare Earth
23.
Hey There Lonely Girl - Eddie Holman
24.
Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) - Delphonics
25.
Spirit In The Sky - Norman Greenbaum
26.
In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry
27.
No Time - Guess Who
28.
Fire and Rain - James Taylor
29.
Thank You Falettin Me Be Myself Again - Sly and the Family Stone
30.
We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters
31.
Mississippi Queen - Mountain
32.
Instant Karma - We All Shine On
33.
War - Edwin Starr
34.
What Is Truth - Johnny Cash
35.
Lola - Kinks
36.
Tighter, Tighter - Alive and Kicking
37.
Yellow River - Christie
38.
Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
39.
Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynne
40.
Uncle John's Band - The Grateful Dead
41.
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkle
42.
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
43.
Okie From Muskogee - Merle Haggard
44.
Up On Cripple Creek - The Band
45.
Roadhouse Blues - The Doors
46.
Oh Well - Fleetwood Mac
47.
Kentucky Rain - Elvis Presley
48.
Funk # 49 - James Gang
49.
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - Hollies
50.
Our House - Crosby Stills Nash and Young
51.
All Right Now - Free
52.
Cold Turkey - John Lennon
53.
Cecilia - Simon and Garfunkle
54.
Fresh Air - Quicksilver Messenger Service
55.
Who'll Stop The Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival
56.
Question - Moody Blues
57.
Mama Told Me Not To Come - Three Dog Night
58.
Superman - The Ides Of March
59.
Woodstock - Crosby Stills Nash and Young
60
Ticket To Ride - Carpenters
61.
Spill the Wine - Eric Burdon and War
62.
Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young
63.
Summertime Blues - the Who
64.
Carolina In My Mind - James Taylor
65.
After Midnight - Eric Clapton
66.
1984 - Spirit
67.
Rubber Ducky - Ernie (Jim Henson, Sesame Street)
68.
Empty Pages - Traffic
69.
Big Yellow Taxi - Neighborhood
70.
Court Of The Crimson King - King Crimson
71.
Living Lovin Maid (She's Just a Woman) - Led Zeppelin
72.
Funky Chicken (part 1) - Willie Henderson
73.
Julie Do Ya Love Me - Bobby Sherman
74.
Green Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf
75.
Oh My My - Monkees
Number
Ya know, that wasn't a bad year at all. I was expecting a lot worse.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Jericho WILL Be Back
CBS One-Ups God, Rebuilds Jericho! (Holy Frak!)
Categories: jericho
You did it! Holy frak, you did it!
Not since Family Guy's miraculous resurrection has a fandom actually been able to bring a show back from the dead...until now. Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment, just posted on the official message boards that Jericho is coming back! Here's what you need to know:
CBS has ordered seven new episodes.
There could be more, but only if the ratings improve.
-->-->-->-->The DVD is out Sept. 25.
The creators will be "continuing the story of Jericho in the digital world until the new episodes return."
-->-->-->-->Nina likes you! "On behalf of everyone at CBS, thank you for expressing your support of Jericho in such an extraordinary manner. Your protest was creative, sustained and very thoughtful and respectful in tone. You made a difference."Skeet Ulrich himself has weighed in, and he downright loves ya: “I’m so thankful to our fans for not only their passionate support but their tireless efforts to revive our show. The whole cast and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to be together again, and I look forward to the chance to give back to the fans with more of the story that brought us here.”
I couldn't be more thrilled, and I do believe this is thawing out my cold, cynical reporter's heart. I never thought I'd see the day!
Now, Dawn Ostroff? Your move...
Comments (43)
Posted by Kristin Veitch on Wed, Jun 6, 2007, 3:57 PM
Permalink
Categories: jericho
You did it! Holy frak, you did it!
Not since Family Guy's miraculous resurrection has a fandom actually been able to bring a show back from the dead...until now. Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment, just posted on the official message boards that Jericho is coming back! Here's what you need to know:
CBS has ordered seven new episodes.
There could be more, but only if the ratings improve.
-->-->-->-->The DVD is out Sept. 25.
The creators will be "continuing the story of Jericho in the digital world until the new episodes return."
-->-->-->-->Nina likes you! "On behalf of everyone at CBS, thank you for expressing your support of Jericho in such an extraordinary manner. Your protest was creative, sustained and very thoughtful and respectful in tone. You made a difference."Skeet Ulrich himself has weighed in, and he downright loves ya: “I’m so thankful to our fans for not only their passionate support but their tireless efforts to revive our show. The whole cast and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to be together again, and I look forward to the chance to give back to the fans with more of the story that brought us here.”
I couldn't be more thrilled, and I do believe this is thawing out my cold, cynical reporter's heart. I never thought I'd see the day!
Now, Dawn Ostroff? Your move...
Comments (43)
Posted by Kristin Veitch on Wed, Jun 6, 2007, 3:57 PM
Permalink
Monday, June 4, 2007
"The Riches" Review
from ew.com
The Riches (2007)
A-
FOR 'RICHES' OR FOR POORER Scam artists (Driver and Izzard) steal a family's identity in FX's arresting take on the American dream
Prashant GuptaCredits
Start Date: Mar 12, 2007; Genre: Drama; With: Minnie Driver By Gillian Flynn
Fueled by regret and ambition, the Malloy family is seeking a shinier identity. ''I'm going to get us the life we deserve, whether we want it or not,'' proclaims patriarch Wayne Malloy (British comedian Eddie Izzard). FX's The Riches is the most precise of the spate of dramas addressing the American quest for constant improvement and boundless materialism. On HBO, The Sopranos has Carmela's terrified money-squirreling; Big Love's plural family is crushed by credit-card debt. Showtime's Weeds forces a suburban mom into drug dealing to maintain her upscale lifestyle. They're all clever thrusts at the costs of consumerism. But The Riches — which wraps its first season on June 4 — is even more excruciating and fascinating: The Malloys are Travellers, Irish-American gypsies working scams in the Deep South. Inherent outsiders, Wayne, his wife, Dahlia (Good Will Hunting's Minnie Driver), and their kids have gone way inside, assuming the identities of a deceased family — the Riches — in an exclusive McDevelopment called Edenfalls.
The Riches is only loosely interested in the culture of the Travellers — codes and traditions surface here and there, but it'd be nice to see more. Instead, it's primarily concerned with the true cost of upward mobility. Wayne, conning his way into a job as a high-stakes lawyer, finds himself jammed into an alien conformity. (One of The Riches' many ironies is that the once-rootless Wayne works for a real estate firm — and one that discriminates against outsider types.) Dahlia, newly released from prison, rebounding from meth addiction, is trying to shift into a life that requires more deceit than her old grifter existence ever did. Young son Sam (Aidan Mitchell), a kid who's most comfortable in dresses and lip gloss, finds himself crammed into suits — clipping on an occasional barrette for comfort. The weight on this family is palpable; just keeping their new lifestyle afloat is overwhelming. ''Is that what's going to be on my tombstone: Here lies a guy who came up with $19,876.74 a month?'' asks Wayne.
The Riches is a crystalline look at our current societal tug-of-war: We're encouraged to scale back, simplify, live contentedly...but also demand the absolute best for ourselves and our families. The drama is also an acting showcase: Driver is heartbreaking as a woman trying to mend a broken spirit in bewildering surroundings; Izzard gives a tense, spirited performance as a guy too sharp for his old life and too decent for his new one; and Margo Martindale is a gem as a boisterous neighbor with sorrows of her own. In fact, everyone on The Riches has private sadnesses to brave, which ultimately makes the show a wellspring of empathy — for insiders, outsiders, and in-betweeners. B+
Posted May 30, 2007
The Riches (2007)
A-
FOR 'RICHES' OR FOR POORER Scam artists (Driver and Izzard) steal a family's identity in FX's arresting take on the American dream
Prashant GuptaCredits
Start Date: Mar 12, 2007; Genre: Drama; With: Minnie Driver By Gillian Flynn
Fueled by regret and ambition, the Malloy family is seeking a shinier identity. ''I'm going to get us the life we deserve, whether we want it or not,'' proclaims patriarch Wayne Malloy (British comedian Eddie Izzard). FX's The Riches is the most precise of the spate of dramas addressing the American quest for constant improvement and boundless materialism. On HBO, The Sopranos has Carmela's terrified money-squirreling; Big Love's plural family is crushed by credit-card debt. Showtime's Weeds forces a suburban mom into drug dealing to maintain her upscale lifestyle. They're all clever thrusts at the costs of consumerism. But The Riches — which wraps its first season on June 4 — is even more excruciating and fascinating: The Malloys are Travellers, Irish-American gypsies working scams in the Deep South. Inherent outsiders, Wayne, his wife, Dahlia (Good Will Hunting's Minnie Driver), and their kids have gone way inside, assuming the identities of a deceased family — the Riches — in an exclusive McDevelopment called Edenfalls.
The Riches is only loosely interested in the culture of the Travellers — codes and traditions surface here and there, but it'd be nice to see more. Instead, it's primarily concerned with the true cost of upward mobility. Wayne, conning his way into a job as a high-stakes lawyer, finds himself jammed into an alien conformity. (One of The Riches' many ironies is that the once-rootless Wayne works for a real estate firm — and one that discriminates against outsider types.) Dahlia, newly released from prison, rebounding from meth addiction, is trying to shift into a life that requires more deceit than her old grifter existence ever did. Young son Sam (Aidan Mitchell), a kid who's most comfortable in dresses and lip gloss, finds himself crammed into suits — clipping on an occasional barrette for comfort. The weight on this family is palpable; just keeping their new lifestyle afloat is overwhelming. ''Is that what's going to be on my tombstone: Here lies a guy who came up with $19,876.74 a month?'' asks Wayne.
The Riches is a crystalline look at our current societal tug-of-war: We're encouraged to scale back, simplify, live contentedly...but also demand the absolute best for ourselves and our families. The drama is also an acting showcase: Driver is heartbreaking as a woman trying to mend a broken spirit in bewildering surroundings; Izzard gives a tense, spirited performance as a guy too sharp for his old life and too decent for his new one; and Margo Martindale is a gem as a boisterous neighbor with sorrows of her own. In fact, everyone on The Riches has private sadnesses to brave, which ultimately makes the show a wellspring of empathy — for insiders, outsiders, and in-betweeners. B+
Posted May 30, 2007
Can't Wait For This
from tvsquad.com
Tek Jansen comics are coming
Posted Jun 4th 2007 6:41PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows
Annie told you not long ago that Oni Press wanted to create a comic book series based on Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen character. Well, it looks like it's actually going to happen. Indie Comics News has an audio interview with artist Scott Chantler about the upcoming five-issue series.
Chantler states that the comic series will be a little "less goofy" than the animated shorts featured on The Colbert Report, but it doesn't sound as if the comics will stray too far from the basic idea of Tek Jansen being an idiot in super hero clothing. In the first issue, Tek manages to turn a peaceful visit from aliens into an all out intergalactic war.
Chantler is a freelance commercial illustrator who's previously worked for such clients as McDonald's and Reebok.
[via CC Insider]
Permalink Email this Comments (1)
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
My Must See Again Movies-Part Deux
Finally,
AS I stated before, these are movies that I've seen and loved and will stop everything to see again if I'm surfing Dish Network and one of them is showing.
Grosse Point Blank
From Dusk Till Dawn
Eight Men Out
Miami Blues
Random Harvest
Shane
Malice
The Grifters
Body Double
Body Heat
Office Space
A Few Good Men
and....Anything by the Coen Brothers
That's it for now. I'll add as I remember more.
AS I stated before, these are movies that I've seen and loved and will stop everything to see again if I'm surfing Dish Network and one of them is showing.
Grosse Point Blank
From Dusk Till Dawn
Eight Men Out
Miami Blues
Random Harvest
Shane
Malice
The Grifters
Body Double
Body Heat
Office Space
A Few Good Men
and....Anything by the Coen Brothers
That's it for now. I'll add as I remember more.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Lost vs. Heroes
Very interesting article from CHUD comparing the LOST finale to Heroes.
Last night’s episode of Lost threw down the gauntlet for all of American television, daring other shows to shake up their status quo in as major and exciting way as they did. But coming a couple of days after the finale of Heroes – a finale that even the show’s zombified fans must see as wildly disappointing – the finale of Lost reads like a major fuck you to the sorry attempts at serialized storytelling it has inspired.
Tim Kring’s Heroes has often been seen as an answer to Lost – where ABC’s show is all about the mysteries and teasing things out for as long as possible, NBC’s superhero spectacular is unwilling to leave its viewers in the lurch for more than a couple of episodes. It’s part of the show’s basic modus operandi: where Lost has faith in your intelligence and stamina, Heroes knows that its audience isn’t that bright. Never mind Lost’s ambitious literary and philosophical references (‘You’ve always been a hero!’ is about as philosophical as Kring’s hunk of junk gets), Heroes wants to keep frustration levels at a minimum. To be fair, that isn’t just because the producers know their program appeals to people who hate to think – they’ve watched Lost’s trajectory and understand that it’s easy to lose the luster of being the hot new show in a blink of an eye. It’s good business sense to keep things as simple as possible on Heroes.
But that’s where the show failed in its finale. Well, it’s one of many places. Lost’s finale had more action, excitement and tension in its first twenty minutes than Heroes’ last three episodes had in their entirety. The final battle between Peter Petrelli and Sylar, which has been building for months, was a complete letdown that ended up being a quick fist fight in the street. It’s mystifying that the show didn’t spend more money on those climactic moments (let’s just forget how badly written and directed the finale was – that’s a given with Heroes. Compare how Heroes looks with how Lost looks, just from a cinematography point of view); Heroes is one of NBC’s big hits, and you would think that a couple of extra bucks would be freed up for the big finish. Hell, we’ve seen how other shows deal with limited budgets – shows like Battlestar Galactica set up episodes that can be filmed on the cheap, allowing them to splurge on terrific sequences like the Galactica’s atmospheric drop and rescue in the opening arc of the third season. Instead we get a couple of punches and Hiro dropping into an ancient Japan populated by a handful of people. (PS, they’re ripping off the end of Evil Dead II there)
Still, budgets are a reality. One of my favorite TV shows of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, would run headfirst into the budget wall all the time (although almost every season finale of Buffy was more spectacular than the finale of Heroes, and that show was on third rate networks) – you just hope that the writing and acting can make up for the cheesy snake monster or whatever failed effect is highlighted that week. But Heroes, being one of the most consistently poorly written and directed shows on network TV, doesn’t even have that going for it. The finale sucked from a production value point of view, but it also sucked when looked at as a climax of any sort. Most of the characters we’ve been following all year end up together… for no good reason. Rather than having most of these people actually play roles in the finale, Kring and company have them stand around uselessly. By the time the final minutes of the show happen, Kring and his writers have had all the characters do whatever little bits they had to do – kill Linderman, help Horned Rim Glasses Man find a floor in a building (easily the lamest role a ‘hero’ has ever played in an epic), etc – but because of the show’s incredibly poor pacing we’re left with a paradox: all of these events took too long to happen, and occurred only after the show spent hours and hours spinning its wheels, but at the same time they all happened too early. So while it seems like the show slapped about three episodes of filler in there at the end, it still ends up feeling like the non-Peter and Sylar stories blow their loads too early. Instead of having a massive climax where all these stories wrap up in a short time span, we get trickles of wrap up and then a final fight where most of the characters – including at least one character IN the fight – are utterly useless.
That’s to be expected, though. I am not giving in to hyperbole when I say that Heroes is one of the worst written shows I have watched (just look at the episode before, when Hiro learns to be a swordsman in an afternoon and yet doesn’t bother popping into the other room to tell his friend that he’ll be working for a couple of hours, thus giving the writers a cheap excuse to send that friend into some half-assed danger), so having the finale be not just filled with badly conceived narrative but also bad dialogue (see the entire exchange between Shaft and Peter Petrelli) is no surprise. What’s most annoying is how the Heroes finale sums up the show’s contempt for its audience, and how it’s completely different from how Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse approach Lost’s viewers.
The anti-climax of Heroes comes not just from the cheap and boring final confrontation, but from the fact that the events of the last minutes – the ‘How to Stop An Exploding Man’ of the episode title – are so transparently obvious to anyone who has watched the show. Heroes has spent most of the season building to this ending, and when the writers got there they chose the single most predictable way to pull it off (despite the thing being full of plot holes. For instance, if Cheerleader shot Peter in the head, he would die but get better as soon as they pulled the bullet out, so that seems like a good way to stop him from blowing up). I think they did this for the simple fact that it makes the fat-headed fans of Heroes feel smart – ‘I called that ending!’ Of course you did… so did anyone who watched any previous episodes and had a concept of basic storytelling clichés.
Meanwhile Lost went the absolute opposite direction, delivering a finale that was a complete mindfuck, an ending that no one could have guessed six weeks ago. That’s because the producers know that the fans of Lost – intelligent, literate people, mostly – love the sense of excitement that comes from having expectations challenged, not met. The crowd that loves Heroes is the same crowd Robert Zemeckis cuts his trailers for – the people who want to know exactly what they’re getting when they walk into a theater, the people who choose McDonalds over local food when traveling for that same reason. These people are the lowest common denominator, and Heroes shovels its shit into their happily gaping maws on a weekly basis.
There are other ways in which the Lost finale spanked Heroes – for one thing Lost has characters that feel three dimensional, who have contradictions and hidden depths, quite the opposite of Heroes’ cheap carboard cut-outs (the character who got closest to having anything resembling depth was Nathan Petrelli, and he got blown up… although I’m sure he’ll get better next year), and these characters evolve and change in interesting – and not predictable (hello, Peter Petrelli and Hiro Nakamura arcs of gaining confidence) – ways. Lost has a more exciting and intriguing concept and set up as opposed to Heroes’ Comic Books’ Greatest Hits stories. But when the dust settles at the end of this week, the truth is that the biggest difference is how the two shows treat their fans. I’d rather have Lindelof and Cuse think of me as so smart that they can throw in tiny hints and also little bits of disinformation to keep me guessing over Kring thinking his fans are too stupid to be able to deal with actual shock or excitement.
Source: CHUD
Last night’s episode of Lost threw down the gauntlet for all of American television, daring other shows to shake up their status quo in as major and exciting way as they did. But coming a couple of days after the finale of Heroes – a finale that even the show’s zombified fans must see as wildly disappointing – the finale of Lost reads like a major fuck you to the sorry attempts at serialized storytelling it has inspired.
Tim Kring’s Heroes has often been seen as an answer to Lost – where ABC’s show is all about the mysteries and teasing things out for as long as possible, NBC’s superhero spectacular is unwilling to leave its viewers in the lurch for more than a couple of episodes. It’s part of the show’s basic modus operandi: where Lost has faith in your intelligence and stamina, Heroes knows that its audience isn’t that bright. Never mind Lost’s ambitious literary and philosophical references (‘You’ve always been a hero!’ is about as philosophical as Kring’s hunk of junk gets), Heroes wants to keep frustration levels at a minimum. To be fair, that isn’t just because the producers know their program appeals to people who hate to think – they’ve watched Lost’s trajectory and understand that it’s easy to lose the luster of being the hot new show in a blink of an eye. It’s good business sense to keep things as simple as possible on Heroes.
But that’s where the show failed in its finale. Well, it’s one of many places. Lost’s finale had more action, excitement and tension in its first twenty minutes than Heroes’ last three episodes had in their entirety. The final battle between Peter Petrelli and Sylar, which has been building for months, was a complete letdown that ended up being a quick fist fight in the street. It’s mystifying that the show didn’t spend more money on those climactic moments (let’s just forget how badly written and directed the finale was – that’s a given with Heroes. Compare how Heroes looks with how Lost looks, just from a cinematography point of view); Heroes is one of NBC’s big hits, and you would think that a couple of extra bucks would be freed up for the big finish. Hell, we’ve seen how other shows deal with limited budgets – shows like Battlestar Galactica set up episodes that can be filmed on the cheap, allowing them to splurge on terrific sequences like the Galactica’s atmospheric drop and rescue in the opening arc of the third season. Instead we get a couple of punches and Hiro dropping into an ancient Japan populated by a handful of people. (PS, they’re ripping off the end of Evil Dead II there)
Still, budgets are a reality. One of my favorite TV shows of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, would run headfirst into the budget wall all the time (although almost every season finale of Buffy was more spectacular than the finale of Heroes, and that show was on third rate networks) – you just hope that the writing and acting can make up for the cheesy snake monster or whatever failed effect is highlighted that week. But Heroes, being one of the most consistently poorly written and directed shows on network TV, doesn’t even have that going for it. The finale sucked from a production value point of view, but it also sucked when looked at as a climax of any sort. Most of the characters we’ve been following all year end up together… for no good reason. Rather than having most of these people actually play roles in the finale, Kring and company have them stand around uselessly. By the time the final minutes of the show happen, Kring and his writers have had all the characters do whatever little bits they had to do – kill Linderman, help Horned Rim Glasses Man find a floor in a building (easily the lamest role a ‘hero’ has ever played in an epic), etc – but because of the show’s incredibly poor pacing we’re left with a paradox: all of these events took too long to happen, and occurred only after the show spent hours and hours spinning its wheels, but at the same time they all happened too early. So while it seems like the show slapped about three episodes of filler in there at the end, it still ends up feeling like the non-Peter and Sylar stories blow their loads too early. Instead of having a massive climax where all these stories wrap up in a short time span, we get trickles of wrap up and then a final fight where most of the characters – including at least one character IN the fight – are utterly useless.
That’s to be expected, though. I am not giving in to hyperbole when I say that Heroes is one of the worst written shows I have watched (just look at the episode before, when Hiro learns to be a swordsman in an afternoon and yet doesn’t bother popping into the other room to tell his friend that he’ll be working for a couple of hours, thus giving the writers a cheap excuse to send that friend into some half-assed danger), so having the finale be not just filled with badly conceived narrative but also bad dialogue (see the entire exchange between Shaft and Peter Petrelli) is no surprise. What’s most annoying is how the Heroes finale sums up the show’s contempt for its audience, and how it’s completely different from how Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse approach Lost’s viewers.
The anti-climax of Heroes comes not just from the cheap and boring final confrontation, but from the fact that the events of the last minutes – the ‘How to Stop An Exploding Man’ of the episode title – are so transparently obvious to anyone who has watched the show. Heroes has spent most of the season building to this ending, and when the writers got there they chose the single most predictable way to pull it off (despite the thing being full of plot holes. For instance, if Cheerleader shot Peter in the head, he would die but get better as soon as they pulled the bullet out, so that seems like a good way to stop him from blowing up). I think they did this for the simple fact that it makes the fat-headed fans of Heroes feel smart – ‘I called that ending!’ Of course you did… so did anyone who watched any previous episodes and had a concept of basic storytelling clichés.
Meanwhile Lost went the absolute opposite direction, delivering a finale that was a complete mindfuck, an ending that no one could have guessed six weeks ago. That’s because the producers know that the fans of Lost – intelligent, literate people, mostly – love the sense of excitement that comes from having expectations challenged, not met. The crowd that loves Heroes is the same crowd Robert Zemeckis cuts his trailers for – the people who want to know exactly what they’re getting when they walk into a theater, the people who choose McDonalds over local food when traveling for that same reason. These people are the lowest common denominator, and Heroes shovels its shit into their happily gaping maws on a weekly basis.
There are other ways in which the Lost finale spanked Heroes – for one thing Lost has characters that feel three dimensional, who have contradictions and hidden depths, quite the opposite of Heroes’ cheap carboard cut-outs (the character who got closest to having anything resembling depth was Nathan Petrelli, and he got blown up… although I’m sure he’ll get better next year), and these characters evolve and change in interesting – and not predictable (hello, Peter Petrelli and Hiro Nakamura arcs of gaining confidence) – ways. Lost has a more exciting and intriguing concept and set up as opposed to Heroes’ Comic Books’ Greatest Hits stories. But when the dust settles at the end of this week, the truth is that the biggest difference is how the two shows treat their fans. I’d rather have Lindelof and Cuse think of me as so smart that they can throw in tiny hints and also little bits of disinformation to keep me guessing over Kring thinking his fans are too stupid to be able to deal with actual shock or excitement.
Source: CHUD
Friday, May 25, 2007
Too Cool
From Variety:
'Family Guy' meets 'Star Wars'
Toon kicking off season with approved spoof
By JOSEF ADALIANThe Force is with "Family Guy."
Fox's animated hit will kick off its fifth season this September with an hourlong episode that retells the "Star Wars" saga using "Family Guy" characters.
Lucasfilm has blessed the event, which will have the Griffin family acting out all the key scenes and narrative from "Star Wars: A New Hope," the first installment of the franchise. "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane is a major "Star Wars" fan and was personally involved in getting Lucasfilm on board, an exec from 20th Century Fox TV said.
Not surprisingly, family patriarch Peter Griffin will play the role of Han Solo, while mom Lois will appear as Princess Leia. Evil baby Stewie will be Darth Vader, natch.
Brian the family dog will serve as Chewbaca, while son Chris is Luke. Robots R2-D2 and C-3PO will be handled by Cleveland and Quagmire, respectively, while creepy old guy Herbert gets the Obi- Wan character.
Plot of the episode has the Griffin family stuck at home during a blackout. With no TV to entertain them, Peter decides to tell a story --- leading to the "Star Wars" flashback.
Planning for the seg began more than a year ago, with the "Family Guy" execs getting Lucasfilm on board. MacFarlane is set to show off footage from the episode at this weekend's Star Wars mega-convention in Los Angeles.
MacFarlane and the "Family Guy" writers have shown a strong interest in "Star Wars," serving up several mini-spoofs of the franchise in years past.
In addition to the "Star Wars" tribute, "Family Guy" will also mark its 100th episode next season, with a two-part special set to air in November.
'Family Guy' meets 'Star Wars'
Toon kicking off season with approved spoof
By JOSEF ADALIANThe Force is with "Family Guy."
Fox's animated hit will kick off its fifth season this September with an hourlong episode that retells the "Star Wars" saga using "Family Guy" characters.
Lucasfilm has blessed the event, which will have the Griffin family acting out all the key scenes and narrative from "Star Wars: A New Hope," the first installment of the franchise. "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane is a major "Star Wars" fan and was personally involved in getting Lucasfilm on board, an exec from 20th Century Fox TV said.
Not surprisingly, family patriarch Peter Griffin will play the role of Han Solo, while mom Lois will appear as Princess Leia. Evil baby Stewie will be Darth Vader, natch.
Brian the family dog will serve as Chewbaca, while son Chris is Luke. Robots R2-D2 and C-3PO will be handled by Cleveland and Quagmire, respectively, while creepy old guy Herbert gets the Obi- Wan character.
Plot of the episode has the Griffin family stuck at home during a blackout. With no TV to entertain them, Peter decides to tell a story --- leading to the "Star Wars" flashback.
Planning for the seg began more than a year ago, with the "Family Guy" execs getting Lucasfilm on board. MacFarlane is set to show off footage from the episode at this weekend's Star Wars mega-convention in Los Angeles.
MacFarlane and the "Family Guy" writers have shown a strong interest in "Star Wars," serving up several mini-spoofs of the franchise in years past.
In addition to the "Star Wars" tribute, "Family Guy" will also mark its 100th episode next season, with a two-part special set to air in November.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Lost Finale Review by Tim Goodman
"Lost" season finale: No one gets out of here alive.
Coming out of story hell and a long night with a sick kid, so you'll have to cut me some slack for the slight delay in getting to Matthew Fox as Jim Morrison and the rest of the hijinks that happened on the two-hour "Lost" season finale last night.
I loved it. I picked up immediately that it was a fast-forward situation with Jack in a full beard, all gone to hell and hooked on pills, discovering he couldn't live life off the island. That's right, off the island. It was a great twist and a good tease to a series that has been a lot more assured the last month or so and began moving with real confidence. Last night there was an assured swagger to the finale. Not only was the pace fast, the teases taut, and the answers plenty, the writers took a compelling gamble (though one not too difficult to unravel or further complicate). They told viewers that in the future, all (or maybe all) of the people on the "Lost" island get off. They get their wish. But in Jack, our guide through this series, the writers definitively say, "Be careful what you wish for."
Again, it can't be said enough that this is a series that at least tries, it swings the bat. After meandering a bit and getting spanked for it, "Lost" has been one very motivated series. The question, though, is was this finale a good idea? We know they get off the island (or, just to be safe, that SOME of them get off). How much drama does that suck out of the coming seasons? I'm willing to bet that there's plenty of smart ways to tweak the drama and keep fans captivated. So don't sweat it.
Getting off the island, as seen through the looking glass, was the major twist. But Charlie also died - with some dignity, no less. (Of course, I'm not totally convinced he had to go out that way. If he could get to the hatch door before Desmond - and trying to save Desmond seemed to be the point - couldn't he have just closed it from the other side? Weren't there enough wet suits? And let's say that a grenade CAN explode underwater, because I guess that makes some sense, didn't Charlie think both he and Desmond could withstand the blast and get out alive? Would the substation fill up that fast? Just thinking out loud here.) Oh, a lot of Others got all blowed up. That was fun. Hurley ran some dude down in a VW Van. Jack beat the bejesus out of Ben, which was loooooong overdue. Rousseau and Alex were united and tied up dear old dad. Penny's still out there (which hopefully means more Desmond next season, brother). Walt showed up (and growed up). Locke couldn't walk, then could walk. In the future, someone is in a casket and nobody shows up for the funeral. Who is it? Oh, much happened. (And yes I used blowed and growed in this paragraph on purpose.) Much happened indeed.
"Lost" returns in January of 2008. I'm actually all for that. No reruns. No "Day Break" breaking things up. And it will be fun to muse about what happened. Starting now.
Posted By: Tim Goodman (Email) | May 24 at 01:58 PM
Listed Under: Lost | Permalink | Comments (63) : Post Comment
Coming out of story hell and a long night with a sick kid, so you'll have to cut me some slack for the slight delay in getting to Matthew Fox as Jim Morrison and the rest of the hijinks that happened on the two-hour "Lost" season finale last night.
I loved it. I picked up immediately that it was a fast-forward situation with Jack in a full beard, all gone to hell and hooked on pills, discovering he couldn't live life off the island. That's right, off the island. It was a great twist and a good tease to a series that has been a lot more assured the last month or so and began moving with real confidence. Last night there was an assured swagger to the finale. Not only was the pace fast, the teases taut, and the answers plenty, the writers took a compelling gamble (though one not too difficult to unravel or further complicate). They told viewers that in the future, all (or maybe all) of the people on the "Lost" island get off. They get their wish. But in Jack, our guide through this series, the writers definitively say, "Be careful what you wish for."
Again, it can't be said enough that this is a series that at least tries, it swings the bat. After meandering a bit and getting spanked for it, "Lost" has been one very motivated series. The question, though, is was this finale a good idea? We know they get off the island (or, just to be safe, that SOME of them get off). How much drama does that suck out of the coming seasons? I'm willing to bet that there's plenty of smart ways to tweak the drama and keep fans captivated. So don't sweat it.
Getting off the island, as seen through the looking glass, was the major twist. But Charlie also died - with some dignity, no less. (Of course, I'm not totally convinced he had to go out that way. If he could get to the hatch door before Desmond - and trying to save Desmond seemed to be the point - couldn't he have just closed it from the other side? Weren't there enough wet suits? And let's say that a grenade CAN explode underwater, because I guess that makes some sense, didn't Charlie think both he and Desmond could withstand the blast and get out alive? Would the substation fill up that fast? Just thinking out loud here.) Oh, a lot of Others got all blowed up. That was fun. Hurley ran some dude down in a VW Van. Jack beat the bejesus out of Ben, which was loooooong overdue. Rousseau and Alex were united and tied up dear old dad. Penny's still out there (which hopefully means more Desmond next season, brother). Walt showed up (and growed up). Locke couldn't walk, then could walk. In the future, someone is in a casket and nobody shows up for the funeral. Who is it? Oh, much happened. (And yes I used blowed and growed in this paragraph on purpose.) Much happened indeed.
"Lost" returns in January of 2008. I'm actually all for that. No reruns. No "Day Break" breaking things up. And it will be fun to muse about what happened. Starting now.
Posted By: Tim Goodman (Email) | May 24 at 01:58 PM
Listed Under: Lost | Permalink | Comments (63) : Post Comment
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
One Last Word (or 2) About The Heroes Finale
from http://tomthedog.blogspot.com
Two things about Heroes, one very spoiler-filled
This is not the spoiler-filled one.
Lisa Schmeiser over at Teevee writes about how serialized shows like Lost and Heroes have driven away viewers -- including herself -- with long mid-season hiatuses.
What I think is funny about the article is that she uses her background as a comic book fan to illustrate why she won't wait for Heroes to take seven weeks off. Comic books, she says, keep a regular schedule, and wouldn't dare lose readers by taking hiatuses.
Everyone who reads comics is already laughing, I'm sure, but I'll explain what's funny to you non-comics readers. This comes a week after the release of new issues of two enormously popular comics, Mark Millar's Ultimates 2, and Frank Miller's All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. The punchline: the previous issue of Ultimates 2 was released eight months ago, and the last All-Star Batman and Robin came out a full year ago.
Long, unscheduled, and mostly unexplained breaks between new issues of comics have become the norm for the industry. Ask anyone who has waited way longer than they should have for Wonder Woman, or Astonishing X-Men, or All-Star Superman. Or take Civil War, a massive crossover event, on which several other tie-in comics depended. Each issue of Civil War that was late impacted every other comic that connected to it, making them late as well. Basically, Marvel's entire roster of books was disrupted by Civil War's perpetual lateness.
Quite the contrary to Lisa Schmeiser's argument, comic book fans should be trained by now to be the most tolerant of hiatuses in TV shows. Ask anyone who is still waiting for Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk, which has taken over a year between issues, with no sign of the next one in sight. Bonus punchline: Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk is written by Damon Lindelof... co-creator of Lost.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the spoiler-filled one. It talks about the end of the season finale.
Here are three other ways Peter Petrelli could have been stopped at the end of the episode, rather than having Nathan fly him away. Three ways which make me think the show's characters, and the writers, have not been paying attention this past season.
1. Hiro could've frozen Peter in time. Or teleported Peter to a safe distance, then teleported back out of the blast zone. Hiro has had all season to think about what he would do when the explosive crisis arrived. These things never occurred to him? And when Peter sees Hiro, does he ask him to use his miraculous powers to save the day? No, he asks him to kill him with his sword, which makes Hiro hesitate long enough for Sylar to attack. If either of them had a brain, they would've had it done before Sylar made his final move.
2. Claire could've just shot him in the goddam head already. We've already seen it demonstrated twice this season that a head wound only hinders the regeneration of either Claire (big stick) or Peter (shard of glass) until the foreign object is removed from their brains. Shoot Peter in the brain, then take the bullet out later either when they're sure the danger of Peter exploding has passed, or until they get Peter to an area of safety where he can explode without harming anyone else. [EDITED to note: of course, considering the size of the gun she was carrying, rather than lodging a bullet in Peter's brain, she might've blown half of his head off. Which might be slightly tougher to regenerate from.]
3. Or, duh, Peter could've flown away all on his own. Has everyone forgotten he's got the same power as Nathan?? It's so simple, so obvious, that it makes the writers look like chumps for not exploring it. Or it makes it seem the writers think the audience are chumps, and won't think of it. If Peter can't use his other powers while he's going nuclear, that has to be explained. (Maybe it has been, but I haven't seen it; we already know Peter can combine other powers, like invisibility and telekinesis.) The same goes for Peter using Hiro's powers. Maybe Peter hasn't mastered Hiro's powers, but I think we've seen him freeze time once. If he can use Hiro's powers, he could've teleported himself away.
And there's a fourth way this could've gone, which, for all I know, we'll find out next season is what happened:
4. Fine, have Nathan fly Peter away, so they can have their brotherly bonding moment. But when Nathan gets Peter out of harm's way, he lets him go and flies away from where the explosion's going to be. After all, Nathan knows Peter can regenerate, so why wouldn't Nathan just toss him in the air and take off to save himself? Maybe he did -- we'll have to wait and see.
P.S. In case you were wondering, I still really, really liked the episode (despite other quibbles I won't go into), and can't wait for season two.
Two things about Heroes, one very spoiler-filled
This is not the spoiler-filled one.
Lisa Schmeiser over at Teevee writes about how serialized shows like Lost and Heroes have driven away viewers -- including herself -- with long mid-season hiatuses.
What I think is funny about the article is that she uses her background as a comic book fan to illustrate why she won't wait for Heroes to take seven weeks off. Comic books, she says, keep a regular schedule, and wouldn't dare lose readers by taking hiatuses.
Everyone who reads comics is already laughing, I'm sure, but I'll explain what's funny to you non-comics readers. This comes a week after the release of new issues of two enormously popular comics, Mark Millar's Ultimates 2, and Frank Miller's All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. The punchline: the previous issue of Ultimates 2 was released eight months ago, and the last All-Star Batman and Robin came out a full year ago.
Long, unscheduled, and mostly unexplained breaks between new issues of comics have become the norm for the industry. Ask anyone who has waited way longer than they should have for Wonder Woman, or Astonishing X-Men, or All-Star Superman. Or take Civil War, a massive crossover event, on which several other tie-in comics depended. Each issue of Civil War that was late impacted every other comic that connected to it, making them late as well. Basically, Marvel's entire roster of books was disrupted by Civil War's perpetual lateness.
Quite the contrary to Lisa Schmeiser's argument, comic book fans should be trained by now to be the most tolerant of hiatuses in TV shows. Ask anyone who is still waiting for Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk, which has taken over a year between issues, with no sign of the next one in sight. Bonus punchline: Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk is written by Damon Lindelof... co-creator of Lost.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the spoiler-filled one. It talks about the end of the season finale.
Here are three other ways Peter Petrelli could have been stopped at the end of the episode, rather than having Nathan fly him away. Three ways which make me think the show's characters, and the writers, have not been paying attention this past season.
1. Hiro could've frozen Peter in time. Or teleported Peter to a safe distance, then teleported back out of the blast zone. Hiro has had all season to think about what he would do when the explosive crisis arrived. These things never occurred to him? And when Peter sees Hiro, does he ask him to use his miraculous powers to save the day? No, he asks him to kill him with his sword, which makes Hiro hesitate long enough for Sylar to attack. If either of them had a brain, they would've had it done before Sylar made his final move.
2. Claire could've just shot him in the goddam head already. We've already seen it demonstrated twice this season that a head wound only hinders the regeneration of either Claire (big stick) or Peter (shard of glass) until the foreign object is removed from their brains. Shoot Peter in the brain, then take the bullet out later either when they're sure the danger of Peter exploding has passed, or until they get Peter to an area of safety where he can explode without harming anyone else. [EDITED to note: of course, considering the size of the gun she was carrying, rather than lodging a bullet in Peter's brain, she might've blown half of his head off. Which might be slightly tougher to regenerate from.]
3. Or, duh, Peter could've flown away all on his own. Has everyone forgotten he's got the same power as Nathan?? It's so simple, so obvious, that it makes the writers look like chumps for not exploring it. Or it makes it seem the writers think the audience are chumps, and won't think of it. If Peter can't use his other powers while he's going nuclear, that has to be explained. (Maybe it has been, but I haven't seen it; we already know Peter can combine other powers, like invisibility and telekinesis.) The same goes for Peter using Hiro's powers. Maybe Peter hasn't mastered Hiro's powers, but I think we've seen him freeze time once. If he can use Hiro's powers, he could've teleported himself away.
And there's a fourth way this could've gone, which, for all I know, we'll find out next season is what happened:
4. Fine, have Nathan fly Peter away, so they can have their brotherly bonding moment. But when Nathan gets Peter out of harm's way, he lets him go and flies away from where the explosion's going to be. After all, Nathan knows Peter can regenerate, so why wouldn't Nathan just toss him in the air and take off to save himself? Maybe he did -- we'll have to wait and see.
P.S. In case you were wondering, I still really, really liked the episode (despite other quibbles I won't go into), and can't wait for season two.
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