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TV Analysis

The Golden Balls

by Alex on January 12, 2009

Viewers (and others) of Flight of the Conchords will be able to purchase the show’s songs the day after the episode airs on iTunes and SubPop.com.
An album of 15 tracks should be available April 14, following the conclusion of Conchords’ second season on HBO.

Thanks for coming, bye.

Wait…

Haven’t I forgotten to talk about something else?
Right.
The Golden Globes.

Let’s see…

30 Rock and John Adams continued to prove last night that they are awesome by winning all their Globes.

Cue in the big “Duh” for WALL-E’s win as best animated feature and Mad Men as best drama.

Even though his performance in The Dark Knight was epic, Heath Ledger winning seemed more of a tribute to me.
How else do you explain the fact that The Dark Knight wasn’t even nominated in the other categories?
But they nominated Mama Mia.

Haven’t seen Slumdog Millionnaire yet but I love Boyle’s work so I say good for him.
Congrats as well obviously to Simon Beaufoy for best script.
Funny how there isn’t any distinction between drama and comedy in the script category.

Shocked at Paquin’s win but I was more shocked to discover the other day that she already has an Oscar that she won at the age of…eleven (for The Piano).

Gabriel Byrne finally got some recognition.

Speaking of In Treatment, have you guys seen the format-change for the show?
Two epis on Sunday and three on Monday.
Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of the show?
Live with Paul one day at a time with one of his patient?

We’ll see how this turns out but I’m kind of scared now.
Seems like way too much information per night.

Anyway, guess we’ll have to wait for the big O now to see how many standing ovations there are.

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Flash Bump

by Alex on January 10, 2009

in Entertainment Talk,News,TV Analysis,Writing

The Watchmen case seems to be fast-tracked and as predicted Fox and WB are on the verge of finding common ground.
Do I smell settlement?

Meanwhile, some other news have been popping up the last couple of days.

The HIMYM cast got a raise on their paycheck.
HBO has renewed The Life and Times of Tim (yay!).
E.R. is never going to end.
Swoosie Kurtz is going to stint on (dare I say Bryan Fuller’s) Heroes.
Mad Men’s season 3 is indeed going to premiere this summer. With or without Weiner, although there’s probably as well going to be a settlement.

On the Flash Forward front, Robert J. Sawyer (the man behind the original book) is often making comments on his own blog about the project and seems very pleased about it (as in the polar opposite of Moore’s feelings towards the Watchmen movie).

Sawyer has also confirmed the epicness of the show, comparing it to Lost, and how Goyer and Braga “have mapped out five seasons of Flash Forward” (110 episodes).
Rob Sawyer will as well probably write a couple of episodes.

Besides this, there is an interview out with David Goyer posted on SciFi Wire about the show.
Goyer tells that the season-format will not be too dissimilar to 24’s as each year hitting reset and having its own flash-forward, with a glimpse of what is to come at the end of the preceding season.
I must admit I am kind of disappointed with that formula.
Heroes failed miserably and 24 really dragged on after the first couple of years.
But then again, those shows weren’t planned beyond the season.
Still, I would have preferred the one major flash-forward across several years instead of four that could ultimately reduce the magnitude of the first one.

The premiere is currently set for Fall ’09, with the first season starting to shoot Feb. 21.

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TV Mid-Season ’09: The Complete Review — What is new

by Alex on January 7, 2009

in Featured Posts,TV Analysis

Post image for TV Mid-Season ’09: The Complete Review — What is new

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Part 2 of 2

Let’s finish the round-up with the brand new shows that are going to pop up in the next few months.

Fresh new shows for fresh new schedules.

– Harper’s Island (premieres April 9): Lots of retooling and backstage changes for this “Scream meets 10 Little Indians” show. The showrunner is currently Jeffrey Bell, who has written some pretty great Angel and X-Files episodes, so hopefully Harper’s Island will be worth my time.

– Kings (premieres March 19): The David v. Goliath myth set in an alternate place in “present times”. Ian McShane and the preview has definitely gotten me intrigued.

– Castle (premieres March 9): Despite me disliking the pitch (a novelist helping the NYPD solve crimes), it stars Nathan Fillion, so I’ll definitely be watching at least the first epis.
– Cupid (premieres March 24): Reboot of Rob Thomas’ show, by Rob Thomas, without Jeremy Piven.
– The Unusuals (premieres April 8): Even though I strongly dislike procedurals, I might check this one out. I read the pilot last summer and it had some interesting characters.

– Lie to Me (premieres Jan. 21): Tim Roth stars as a human lie-detector. The show could be a potential hit, seeing as it is right behind American Idol: Fight to the Death Edition. I’ll definitely check it out just because it’s Tim Roth starring.
– Dollhouse (premieres Feb. 13): Despite being a Whedon-prod with an awesome cast, I have my doubts about the show due to too much behind-the-scenes waves.

– East Bound and Down (premieres Feb. 15): A funny pilot with Danny McBride who has very quickly made a name of himself with Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express and Drillbit Taylor.

– The United States of Tara (premieres Jan. 18): The long-awaited Diablo Cody/Spielberg HBO show about a housewife with dissociative identity disorder. I also read the pilot way back when, sounded interesting. The filmed version is supposedly out on the Sho website for online viewing.

– Trust Me (premieres Jan. 26): Mad Men in today’s world, and funnier. At least that’s what it sounds like to me when I read what the show is about. Eric McCormack (Will from Will & Grace) and Tom Cavanagh star in this new dramedy about two BFFs that are creative partners at a high-levelled Chicago ad agency. Sounds good to me. I guess we’ll see how it turns out.

2009 is going to be a great year for new shows, I can sense it.

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TV Mid-Season ’09: The Complete Review — What is coming back

by Alex on January 6, 2009

in Featured Posts,TV Analysis

Post image for TV Mid-Season ’09: The Complete Review — What is coming back

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Part 1 of 2

As we know, who says new year, says new schedule.

Time for The Complete Review’s awesome second part about the mid-season.
Let’s get it on and start things off with what is coming back.
I am not here talking about shows that premiered in fall, rather shows from last year that we have all been waiting for (or not?).

They’re back again. With a full stomach.

– Flashpoint — Season 2 (premieres Jan. 9): As previously reported, including the last 4 episodes from Season One, the second season should be comprised of 22 fresh episodes. Can it still be the hit it was last year? Only time (and Nielsen) will tell.

– Friday Night Lights — Season 3 (premieres Jan. 16): The season that has already been shown on DirecTV. I’m waiting for the HD release to watch it. Has it refound its Season One epicness?

– Scrubs — Season 8 (premieres Jan. 6): If you still haven’t heard, don’t be confused; Scrubs has moved to ABC due to shitty programming by NBC (amongst other things). If you want to get spoiled on the season/series-finale, there’s an interview with Bill Lawrence (the show’s creator) talking about that and what will happen once he and Zach Braff leave at the end of this year (yes, the show will probably continue in some form).
– Lost — Season 5 (premieres Jan. 21): They got off it. Now how do they go back?

– 24 — Season 7 (premieres Jan. 11): 24: Redemption was crap, and so were the first 15 minutes of the Season 7 premiere. Mix that with Tony Almeida coming back from his grave as a villain, and you’ve got another crappy 24 season on your hands. Or perhaps not?

– Reaper — Season 2 (premieres March 17): Cool first season, although I preferred Chuck to it.

– Big Love — Season 3 (premieres Jan. 18): Never saw the point of this show.
– Flight of the Conchords — Season 2 (premieres Jan. 18): I am told it is awesomely great.

– The L Word — Season 6 (premieres Jan. 18): Haven’t watched the show since Season 3 so can’t really comment on it.

The Big Unknown
The Tudors — Season 3 (Spring): How can a historical show continue to reinvent itself? By changing History.

– Battlestar Galactica — Season 4 (or rather 5) (premieres Jan. 16): This show has disappointed me so much since the third season, I just want to get it over with.

– Damages — Season 2 (premieres Jan. 7): The first season was epic and the second is supposed to begin where we last left off our awesome characters. Unfortunately it is quite probable that this second season will be less formidable than the first, though still quite entertaining nonetheless.

The Big Unknown
Rescue Me — Season 5 (Spring): The latest season was just okay with completely useless mini episodes. Let’s hope Rescue Me can wake up (I was about to do a Rescue Me play on word but waaaaay too easy). Michael J. Fox is coming back to TV with a role as Janet’s new love interest.

Now that we’ve seen new seasons, we’ll get a good look at the fresh new shows coming our way for this mid-season.
My guess is: awesomeness is coming.

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Cash troubles

by Alex on December 18, 2008

in Entertainment Talk,News,Technology & Art,TV Analysis

All FOX-produced shows have been asked to cut 2% off their budget. The shows include 24, Family Guy, Life on Mars and Dollhouse.
Speaking of Dollhouse: there won’t be any webisodes contrary to what was originally planned.
Dollhouse is probably the most doomed show on TV. Ever.

THR has meanwhile announced that three TV writers (Bill Oakley, Mike Rowe, and Patric Verrone) have inked a deal with the Machinima website (based on machinima itself: digital movies made with already existing or new VG animation) to create an online series.
They will be paid upfront fees for pilot-writing and then if the pilots are successful, they will move on to become online series in themselves.
As far as I’m aware this is a first and is not at all guild-covered.
So what gives, Patric Verrone?

I saw this afternoon Seven Pounds. A pretty good movie, although I don’t see why everyone wants to compare it to The Sixth Sense and all the promo is axed around a “twist” at the end.
In my opinion there isn’t any twist in the movie, and if they call what happens at the end a twist, then I sure as hell found that one out less than 30 minutes into the movie. Therefore: crappy twist.
I highly doubt that thought of Smith’s character’s motivation as a “twist” and I am sad to see ads taunting a so-called “secret”. It just downplays the whole emotional drama that emanate from the characters. It’s not a thriller!
As for the actual movie, as I said, it was really good. Will Smith has a wonderful performance in it (he has come a long way from Prince of Bel-Air!).
Oscar nom (win?) anyone?

Also, HBO has picked up to series Hung by The Riches’ creator Dmitry Lipkin and Colette Burson about a high-school basketball coach in financial trouble finding a way to use his best asset: his giant penis.
I think you can now guess what the title means.

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