Posted Aug 20th 2008 10:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, The Shield
Already announced was that the seventh and final season of the amazing
The Shield will premiere on September 2nd, but now comes word that it will
The Shield finale will air November 25th. I know that gives us the full thirteen episodes promised but as it's been more than a year since we've had a new episode to chew on, forgive me if this suddenly feels like a really short-lived reunion. There is something so magically beautiful about what Shawn Ryan has created here; I'll go ahead and dub it the best cop show I've ever seen on television.
The thing you have to wonder about is how it's all going to end, and I do believe Ryan will give us a definitive ending here. Vic Mackey has been the "hero" of the series, but still ... should the Strike Team get away with all the shit they've pulled over the past six seasons? Shane's treatment of Lemansky deserves retribution, but is Shane necessarily a worse guy than Mackey? Remember how the first episode wrapped. There is a line of victims behind these guys, and each one is in it as deep as the guy next to him.
Continue reading No more hiatuses: The Shield will be over in three months
Posted Aug 18th 2008 8:02AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: News, OpEd, Ratings, Reality-Free
Pew Research Center's biannual survey on
how Americans get their news revealed significant shifts underway from print to new media, and even from television to the internet. But it looks like that idiot box remains our number one source for just what's going on in the world around us. The article shows the demographics to be pretty much where you'd expect them to be as far as who goes where for their news. The younger, more affluent and/or more educated you are the more likely you are to go online for your news. The older, poorer and less educated you are the more likely you are to rely on the TV.
I live in a pretty small town that's chock full of poor, uneducated people and I can assure you that most of those citizens still think of computers as that fancy technology they use in them colleges and whatnot. And the Internets, well that's where you go for
sin! But the young people, who have grown up with computers and the web are more savvy than their parents and if they can afford a computer, then they're online. Most are playing
World of Warcraft, but they're still on there.
Continue reading Where do you get your news?
Posted Aug 12th 2008 2:18PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Casting, Reality-Free
(S01E9) "He's looking at me all pervy, isn't he?" --Wendy Watson about Middleman 69
Well, if anyone was going to bring the leather catsuit from the
Avengers inspired intro sequence into the show proper, it would be a Middleman who'd been frozen since 1969. It was cool how the Middleman from 1969 was such a different, more hedonistic personality than the goofily straight-laced Middleman of our era. He carried himself more like James Bond ... well, more like Austin Powers, really. The casting of Kevin Sorbo in this role was just inspired as he really threw himself into the zaniness of the Middleman Universe.
It looks like the sexual innuendos are going to continue as there were again a few lines more explicit than you'd think ABC Family would be comfortable with ("I'm looking for some hooch!"). That said, the show is still relatively clean fun and there's a level of quality amidst the silliness and snappy dialogue that is sorely missed on most shows. The depth of the characters and the world they inhabit just continues to grow after each episode.
Continue reading The Middleman: The Obsolescent Cryogenic Meltdown
Posted Aug 12th 2008 8:23AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
With Maggie Friedman (
Dawson's Creek) behind it, I have to imagine that
The Witches of Eastwick ABC pilot project just announced may feature a younger cast than the 1987 film on which it is being based. The announcement specifically states that it is a variation on the film as opposed to the controversial John Updike novel. The book has been blasted for being misogynistic, while the movie offered more in female empowerment.
This will be third time someone has made a go of adapting the film for television. I can't help but think think of this as a more serious
Charmed. Will the male antagonist, played by Jack Nicholson in the film, remain throughout the series, or will he just be an early problem dealt with by the three witchy leads? Considering Friedman's resume also includes the horridly under-appreciated
Jack and Bobby and the brilliant
Once and Again, there are a lot of ways she could go with this.
Continue reading ABC sets up shop in Eastwick
Posted Aug 10th 2008 9:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Doctor Who, Awards, Reality-Free
Very rarely does a television series put out a standalone episode that is not only brilliant in and of itself, but also stands above pretty much every episode of that series. And yet, with the tenth episode of the third series,
Doctor Who did just that with "
Blink." Even more remarkable is that this episode barely featured the Doctor or then-companion Martha Jones. It had become common, due to the tight production schedules, for an episode each season to barely feature the Doctor, but this one absolutely blew our minds.
And apparently voices that matter agreed, because writer
Stephen Moffat was just awarded the prestigious Hugo Award for short form dramatic presentation for "Blink." I have to figure it's a large part of why he's been selected to take over as lead writer and executive producer of
Doctor Who from Russell T. Davies when the show returns for its fifth series in 2010. Based on this one episode alone, the show couldn't be in better hands.
Continue reading Doctor Who blinks and picks up a Hugo
Posted Aug 10th 2008 3:09PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E01)Primeval already has a pretty rabid following across the pond where two series, or seasons as they say in the States, have already been completed. It looks like BBC America will be combining these two seasons into one thirteen episode long run. A third season has been greenlit and is set to premiere in January 2009 in the UK. Presumably, should this do well here, BBCA will pick it up shortly thereafter, to avoid an extensive gap.
I'd heard about this show, time travel and prehistoric creatures running rampant in and around London. It's one of those shows that developed such a buzz across the pond, that we heard about it stateside even before it got here. I think the only other show I can think of that did that was Billie Piper's
The Secret Diary of a Call Girl. That's, of course, not counting
Doctor Who and its derivatives as we've been aware of that property for years. Things start off at a gallop, literally, and keep moving pretty much for the full hour.
Continue reading Primeval: Episode 1 (series premiere)
Posted Aug 9th 2008 3:34PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Reality-Free
I wish I could tell you that those plans included a television mini-series or at least a small screen film, but alas series creator Kevin Falls has moved on. In fact, his new series featuring a womanizer trapped in a woman's body, is currently coming together for FOX, so at least he's sticking with the "different." He did, however, take some time out to chat it up with
AICN about the bigger plans for Journeyman.
This was a show that was hugely under-appreciated by the mainstream, and almost dismissed out of the gate as a
Quantum Leap derivative by many of the sci-fi crowd. The show was so much more. There was such a heart of tragedy at the core of protagonist Dan Vasser's abrupt rips through time. Unlike
QL's Sam Beckett, Vasser is literally torn from his life no matter what he is doing, body and spirit, and hurtled through the timestream. Then add all that we learned about his first love Livia and there's just so much pain in the show, which makes for great dramatic television.
Continue reading Falls spills on plans for Journeyman
Posted Aug 9th 2008 12:01PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Casting, Reality-Free
When Johnny Galecki joined the cast of
Roseanne to be the love interest for the dour Darlene (Sara Gilbert), I thought they had a wonderful chemistry together. In fact, it was his turn on that show that lead to me ever even tuning into his new hit show
The Big Bang Theory. Well, that and the fact that it was populated with people who reminded me more of myself and many of my college friends than I should probably admit.
It was quite a treat when Gilbert appeared in three episodes throughout the last season as acerbic Leslie Winkle, intellectual equal to Galecki's Leonard, and just as socially out there. The chemistry between the two was immediate, and I found the dominance she established in their relationship to be a blast. The fact that this nerdy chick was more alpha male than any of the four male leads in the series is brilliant. So
Sara Gilbert joining the cast of The Big Bang Theory as a series regular is a great move for the show.
Continue reading Theory has it that Sara Gilbert is a good fit for Big Bang
Posted Aug 8th 2008 11:04AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, OpEd, TV Squad Lists
Let's face it, science fiction on television is always a challenge, and more often than not, these series fail to find a big enough audience to stick around. That's why the year after
Lost hit it big on just minor sci-fi elements, we had three ratings flops at once with
Invasion, Threshold and
Surface. And all three were good, for different reasons. So my question is why did none of them make
Sci Fi Wire's list of the top 10 sci fi shows canceled too soon? Because Sci-Fi Wire liked
Eerie, Indiana better!
Seriously though, while there were some good elements in their list, and I absolutely agree with their number one choice, there were some real problems and omissions as well.
Wonderfalls ranked way too high and
Homeboys in Outer Space didn't even make the list? Outrageous! So I've taken it upon myself to make my own list of
The Top 10 Sci Fi Short-Lived Sci-Fi Shows That Weren't Pulitzer Worthy But Went Great With Popcorn. And I intentionally didn't include any of the shows on their list, because I'm acting like a spoiled brat and I don't want to play with their toys.
Continue reading My Top 10 list is better than Sci Fi Wire's
Posted Aug 7th 2008 8:23AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(S04E22) The two night season finale is here and there are only four dancers left. On the guys' side we have Joshua and Twitch, two hip-hop dancers with very different styles. The girls are representing contemporary and jazz this year, with both Katee and Courtney. I can't say I would have expected this top four at the beginning of the season, but with the range of talent we had this year, it was hard to guess who might make it here.
With Mandy Moore joining Nigel and Mary on the judging panel, we were treated to a two hour extravaganza of dance dance dance! Each of the four finalists danced no less than five separate times, sometimes with only a commercial break between them. Those whiners at
American Idol talk about how exhausting that show can be, but can you imagine the physical strain these dancers go through? Especially as they ramp up to a show as demanding as this finale. Thankfully, it was packed from beginning to end with amazing numbers and amazing dancing!
Continue reading So You Think You Can Dance: Top 4 Perform
Posted Aug 5th 2008 11:04AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
During our
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Retro Squad week, I put out a
call for an episode of Buffy a newbie could watch to get a feel for the show. And you guys came through in a big way. Most insisted it was a show that needed to be watched from the beginning, but at the same time warned that there was some cheese-factor in those early episodes. Your votes pushed me to "
Hush," which I found to be incredibly enjoyable and a perfect introduction to the cleverness and tone of the show. Even better, it made me that much more eager to go back and watch the entire run of the show.
In the comments to that piece Doug Nelson asked if someone could do something similar for
Babylon 5. That got me thinking about other serialized shows of this nature like
The X-Files,
The West Wing and to an extent
Doctor Who and
Quantum Leap. We're a community of TV-lovers here, so we should help each other out. Thus, the TVS Starter Kits. And for Doug Nelson, it starts with
Babylon 5.
Continue reading TVS Starter Kit: Babylon 5
Posted Aug 1st 2008 11:19AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E08) Well, first off I have to give props to the make-up and effects departments. In some prior episodes there have been some pretty awkwardly awful effects scenes ("Eater" when her arm is bitten), but throughout this episode, the make-up on Doug Jones (the
Hellboy movies) was just astounding. It's interesting to me that at the NBC website and everywhere I can look, Jones is the only principal listed for this show.
I'll grant that his performance as patriarch Grady was a show-stopper, but John Pyper-Ferguson as his brother and Molly Hagan as his wife are just as integral to the effectiveness of the story and the emotional power that the character back-story provides. In fact, Doug Jones got third billing in the show credits themselves. I guess they just know where the strength of the show lie. And Jones is a proven master at playing the bizarre and/or downright creepy under heavy make-up, as he ultimately does here. With roles like the Silver Surfer (
Fantastic Four), Abe Sabien (
Hellboy) and El Fauno/The Pale Man (
Pan's Labyrinth), Jones is absolutely brilliant at bringing these characters to life.
Continue reading Fear Itself: Skin and Bones
Posted Jul 31st 2008 10:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: News, Industry, Reality-Free
BBC now stands for "Bad Bad Company." At least in regards to
the latest fines the BBC received from Ofcom, a record-setting £400,000 ($792,000). The infractions spread across radio and television hitting such high-profile television programs as
Comic Relief and
Children in Need as well as
The Liz Kershaw Show and
The Jo Whiley Show on the radio airwaves. Apparently it was a combination of having competitions in which the contestant has absolutely no chance of winning, and making up winners names when technical problems interfered with true results.
Continue reading BBC deceives viewers, pays record fine
Posted Jul 31st 2008 9:21AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance
(S04E20) I think by the twentieth episode of
American Idol we were just getting to "Hollywood Week." But here on
SYTYCD we're on the cusp of the "Final Four!" Last week, we lost Will and Comfort. Comfort was due, but I really think Mark should have been the one to go on the guy's side. But I can understand Will. Like Katee for the girls, he was the most technically proficient of the guys, but he just didn't connect with the audience in the ways that the other guys do. He didn't come across as aloof to me, but neither was he particularly charismatic.
It was nice to see Cat return to form with an absolutely hideous outfit. She looked positively lovely last week in classy dresses that fit her well. This week she wore a sparkly garbage bag cinched at the waist with shower poofs attached to the heels of her ... heels. Adam Shankman came back to the judging panel this week and was a little late to the praising the choreographers schtick they're doing this year. He got with the program with Tyce DiOrio and the flow of choreographer love continued unabated throughout the night.
Continue reading So You Think You Can Dance: Top 6 Perform
Posted Jul 30th 2008 6:06PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Paging Kirstie Alley. Paging Kirstie Alley.
HBO has optioned Liza Palmer's novel Conversations with the Fat Girl for a potential series. The novel deals with a fat girl whose best friend used to be fat, but now not so much. And now she's getting married to a jerk. Paging Steve Martin. Paging Steve Martin. Sure they're a good twenty or so years older than the principals in Palmer's book but that's still good casting! Maybe Nikki Blonsky (
Hairspray) would make a good Maggie.
I'm not sure that I see long-form series potential on this one, unless they're going to take a full season for the principals Maggie and Olivia to work out their differences. But what do you do after that? Especially considering that many of the insecurities that come with being an overweight woman seem to have evaporated by the end of the novel. Maybe it should be an extended mini-series or a movie instead? And why is HBO the one playing around with it? I'll admit that I haven't read the novel and maybe the characters are delightful enough to keep following around, but I'm seeing it quickly turn into something more like
My Big Fat Greek Life.
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