Entries Tagged 'television' ↓

So Long



First off, the “Life” finale kicked all kinds of butt. Sadly, today's viewers appear to be more interested in graphic autopsies than the whodunit aspect. Gonna miss this one if it doesn't come back. Hope the DVD is loaded with extras.

I’ve been really hard on the “Sarah Connor Chronicles” for most of this season, but I actually *liked* the season/series finale. It all seems to make sense -- right now anyway. Also, I think I figured out why little Savannah is an important piece of the puzzle.

Closure

Been a long time coming. Last week of tweaking the werewolf spec before sending it off to contest land. I've settled on the Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship and Screamfest. Thought about entering Austin or Scriptapalooza as well, but that money might be more useful elsewhere -- like in my pocket! It's way too easy to catch contest fever and wind up with very little to show for it.

Missed the “Life on Mars” series finale, but the spoiler over on "syfywire.com" makes me glad I did. Sounds ridiculous. Hope the folks behind “Lost” are paying attention. I wish “Life” and “Sarah Connor Chronicles” had more time to wrap things up, be prepared for their respective season -- most likely series -- finales to contain loose ends.

Still watching “Dollhouse”, not exactly sure why. I no longer drink the Whedon flavored Kool-Aid in mass quantities… maybe the occasional sip or two.

The new “Cupid” was okay, not as good as the original -- ratings weren‘t that hot either. Didn’t see a lot of chemistry between the two leads. Bobby Cannavale has a tough act to follow after Jeremy Piven.

Sci-Fi to SyFy

When the Sci-Fi Channel floated the idea of changing their name to "Beyond" a while back, I understood where they were coming from. Trying to soften their image. Reach past the hardcore base and attract some casual viewers. Made sense. But this alternate choice is just plain stupid. Who is "SyFy" supposed to appeal to? Bad spellers? The kewl hyp kidz? Should we be prepared for upcoming flicks like "Alien Allig8t0r" and "Dragonphiya"?

Next Friday

Things aren’t looking good in Hollywood -- or anywhere else -- these days. Read all about the doom and gloom here.

ABC axed “Life on Mars” earlier in the week. No big surprise. I had given up on it a while ago. Intriguing premise that was never able to find its footing.

It’s doubtful, but I wish NBC would give their “Life” a shot on the USA Network. Aren’t characters supposed to be welcome there?

The CW dusted off the cobwebs and “Reaper” had its mid-season premiere on Tuesday. Good episode, but didn't resolve any of the nagging questions from last season. Also got killed in the ratings -- something like 2.3 million viewers?!

After a false start, I’m back on track with the new script -- giving the sequence method a try this time around. Been busy mapping out the story with index cards... so far so good. The old script is getting a polish for some upcoming contests.

Just a quick hit and run:

“One Missed Call”

Another Asian horror remake gone bad. Really wished I “missed” that one. Didn’t care for the original, so I should have known better. Check out Shannon Sossamon in a much more interesting flick,
“Wristcutters: A Love Story”.

Fringe: Ability

Great episode last night. There are times when it feels like the writers have been digging through some discarded “Alias” scripts, but I think the overall quality of the show has improved since it came back from the break -- and now we have to wait until April for new episodes?

The Vampire Diaries

An example of the “Twilight” effect? The CW is developing a series based on the novels about a girl caught up in a love triangle with two brothers who also happen to be vampires. Sounds like a good fit for their audience, especially with Kevin Williamson involved. My old pilot spec had a supernatural love triangle -- along with every genre cliche imaginable, but maybe it's salvageable.

Destiny Calls

Last night’s season premiere of “Lost” was a bit of a departure. The show has always stuck a tentative big toe in the sci-fi waters for a few seconds, but this time it dove in head first. What happened to all the promises of a logical explanation to everything? Hopefully, time travel won’t become a big mess like it did on “Heroes”. Ratings weren't that -- though it came in third place behind "Criminal Minds" and the premiere of "Lie to Me".

Heroes: Duality

I'm officially done. "Heroes" is dead to me.

Supernatural

Might come as a shock to some, but “Supernatural” has been the best genre show of the fall. Better than “Heroes” or “Sarah Connor Chronicles”, probably cheaper too. It flies completely under the radar on the CW -- which only seems to have eyes for “Gossip Girl”. Great episode tonight. They’ve ventured into areas that even “Buffy” was reluctant to explore with the whole angels vs. demons stuff. It’s like a beefed up “Frailty” meets "Prophecy". The show is still about good battling evil, but there’s a murkiness to it all that really works. Will definitely get this season on DVD.

Worst Enemy Axed!



Can’t say I’m surprised about this one -- kinda shocked the low rated “Sarah Connor Chronicles” and “Knight Rider” were picked up for the rest of the season. “My Own Worst Enemy” was a good idea on paper, just didn’t pan out in the execution. Is this a harbinger of things to come for Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse"?

Legend of the Seeker



It’s been a long time since “Xena” and “Hercules” ruled the syndicated airwaves. This new fantasy series “seeks” to regain the crown. The production values were pretty decent, cast likeable and New Zealand always makes a great fantasy locale. Action wasn’t that bad, but the slow-mo stuff might start to grate after a while. I thought the dialogue was weakest aspect -- that and the main villain, all he lacked was a long mustache to twirl.

As far as the plot goes, there’s a reason why folks keep going back to the same well, bringing up Arthurian elements: it works! Some ideas just resonate with the masses -- it’s important to keep that in mind. Dunno if “Legend on the Seeker” will last, but its heart seems to be in the right place.

Heroes: Dying of the Light


All in all, tonight's episode wasn't that bad. Robert Forster makes a great heavy. Nice touches of comedy with Hiro and Ando in Africa. We even got a decent fight scene between Peter and Sylar. After a rought start, it feels like things are slowly coming together. BTW, Claire Bennet's superhero name should be: The Possum!

New V series?


Old news by now, but the thought of a new “V” series brings back a lot of memories --mostly of the hot alien leader, Diana. After “Invasion” and “Threshold” flopped, I’m not exactly sure how they can pull this off. The revamped “Battlestar Galactica” is a “hit” for the Sci-Fi Channel, but it would get killed on one of the big three networks. There’d probably be a major attempt to make things more “realistic”, but cheese was a major part of the show’s charm. Who could forget the hybrid birth? Twins!

Life On Mars


Never saw the U.K. version, so I didn’t know what to expect, but this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I have to say, the marketing was a bit off. The commercials were all about the 70s and bad fashion, instead of focusing on the characters and their relationships -- which is really odd since the show follows “Grey’s Anatomy”. In my mind, a man trying to save his girlfriend from a killer, should be the heart of the story -- the stuck-in-the-70s stuff is just window dressing. I think audiences/viewers like to be asked questions. What if you had an affair with the wrong person? What if someone kidnapped your child/spouse? What if you only had days to live?

‘What if some major disaster separated you from your family?’, probably gets more traction than, ‘What if a giant, radioactive dinosaur woke up and started devouring the city?’ If you can put the audience in the shoes of your protagonist, especially with genre stuff, that’s half the battle.

Fringe Pick Up


No “Fringe” tonight, but Fox picked it up for the rest of the season. Highest-rated new show among 18-49 year olds -- not overall viewers because that distinction would belong to “The Mentalist”, which is handily kicking Fringe’s butt. Meanwhile, “Sarah Connor Chronicles”, “Heroes” and one of my faves, “Life”, can’t seem to stop the bleeding...