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Posts tagged as “FOX”

TV Fall '09: The Complete Review – What is coming back

Following last year’s lead, it is now time for “the inevitable fall preview post that is on every TV blog!”
As always, it will be split into three parts (returning show, new shows, network talk)
No hazardous predictions this year seeing as I’m can’t seem to see very far.
Now, let us begin.

Back in all their glory; That, they are (not).


– Suvivor – Season 19 (premieres Sept. 17): A new season with a “treasure island” theme. Let’s pray that we’ll get a more interesting game than what we’ve been having for the past couple of years. I hope you love the Samoas because the 2010 edition was filmed back-to-back on the same location.
– How I Met Your Mother – Season 5 (premieres Sept. 21): Suit up! It’s time to go back in the game. Neil Patrick Harris is hosting this year’s Emmys so perhaps the show will garner more viewers. We should get finally this season some definite info on how Ted met his soon-to-be-wife…
– Two and a Half Men – Season 7 (premieres Sept. 21): Oh God, not this again.
– The Big Bang Theory – Season 3 (premieres Sept. 21): I was very reticent at the idea of watching this stereotypical show. But then I saw the first two seasons and liked it, a lot. It was much better than I expected it to be! The show was also renewed for two more seasons. Hopefully this year won’t be a crapfest.
– CSI: Miami – Season 8 (premieres Sept. 21): Put on your sunglasses. Utter a lame one-liner. You’re now ready to enjoy some terrible acting on your TV.
– NCIS – Season 7 (premieres Sept. 22): Not on my watch(list).
– The New Adventures of Old Christine – Season 5 (premieres Sept. 23): Nothing clever to say here.
– Gary unmarried – Season 2 (premieres Sept. 23): What the hell?! This was renewed?
– Criminal Minds – Season 5 (premieres Sept. 23):
– CSI: NY – Season 6 (premieres Sept. 23): I’ll probably check out the season premiere just to see the conclusion of last year’s cliffhanger (Hey, I had to prepare for that interview).
– CSI: – Season 10 (premieres Sept. 24): The show that wouldn’t die. I’m however dying of boredom when I’m watching this.
– The Mentalist – Season 2 (premieres Sept. 24): I’ll save you some time here: Go watch Psych instead.
– Ghost Whisperer – Season 5 (premieres Sept. 25): I don’t have to whisper to tell everyone how mediocre this series is.
– Medium – Season 6 (premieres Sept. 25): How well will Medium fare with the network switch? Tune it to find out.
– Numb3rs – Season 6 (premieres Sept.25): This endless equation continues for CBS thanks to great numbers. In the ratings.
– Cold Case – Season 7 (premieres Sept. 27): Obviously CBS doesn’t consider Cold Case “cold” enough to be classified. Ha. Ha. Ha. Get it?


– Heroes – Season 4 (premieres Sept. 21): Will my eyes heal once I gauge them out?
– Law & Order: SVU – Season 11 (premieres Sept. 25): Sorry peeps, I’m not interested.
– Parks and Recreation – Season 2 (premieres Sept. 17): Given that the first season got funnier by the episode, I’m looking forward to this one.
– The Office – Season 6 (premieres Sept. 17): Last season was pretty weak to say the least. I’ve heard good things about the upcoming episodes however, so cross your fingers.
– 30 Rock – Season 4 (premieres Oct. 15): Although a great show, I still feel that it’s The Sopranos of comedy (regarding its hype).
– Southland – Season 2 (premieres Oct. 23): The pilot didn’t really impress me (and I’m not that big on cop shows). There’s also this little Friday slot problem and the show being pushed back a month. Doesn’t show confidence…
– Friday Night Lights – Season 4 (premieres Oct. 28 – On Direct TV): The third season was much better than its second. It also opened the show to a whole range of new possibilities. Perhaps we’ll see the beginning of a two-season arc (the show having been renewed for two more years).


– Castle – Season 2 (premieres Sept. 21): Despite Nathan Fillion being on it, the show never really clicked with me.
– Grey’s Anatomy – Season 6 (premieres Sept. 24): Perhaps this year the onscreen drama will be more interesting than the backstage one.
– Desperate Housewives – Season 6 (premieres Sept. 27): The show can’t keep its 5-year leap momentum for long. I wonder how they’ll try to reinvent themselves this time around.
– Brothers & Sisters – Season 4 (premieres Sept. 27): I stopped watching the show two seasons ago. And, speaking of…
– Private Practice – Season 3 (premieres Oct. 1): …I gave up on this one last year.
– Ugly Betty – Season 4 (premieres Oct. 9): I’m assuming this is most likely the last season given its great schedule placement.


– Bones – Season 5 (premieres Sept. 17): Nothing to add here.
– Fringe – Season 2 (premieres Sept. 17): Answers shall be given. In that parallel universe where we’re not currently residing.
– ‘Til Death – Season 4 (premieres Sept. 18): You’re kidding me, right?
– House M.D. – Season 6 (premieres Sept. 21): As stated last year, I dropped out after a season and a half. The one good thing about House however is that his one-liners are funnier than Caruso’s.
– Dollhouse – Season 2 (premieres Sept. 25): The biggest surprise of last season was probably the renewal of Dollhouse. Epitaph One, despite its greatness and “bonus episode” aspect, was pretty much a game-changer that will be hard to play out organically inside the upcoming season. I wouldn’t hold my breath (again) for a third season. FOX putting it behind ‘Til Death and Brothers signals the end.
– The Simpsons – Season 21 (premieres Sept. 27): That other show that wouldn’t die.
– Family Guy – Season 8 (premieres Sept. 27): Their Emmy nom was so underserved. Go check out instead the early seasons of The Simpsons or, better yet, Futurama.
– American Dad – Season 5 (premieres Sept. 27): Still average.
– Lie to Me
– Season 2 (premieres Sept. 28): I won’t lie to you, I don’t care about this show. Even if it has Shawn Ryan as its showrunner.


I shan’t comment since I neither watch nor care about The CW shows.

– 90210 – Season 2 (premieres Sept. 8)
– Supernatural – Season 5 (premieres Sept. 10)
– One Tree Hill – Season 7 (premieres Sept. 14)
– Gossip Girl – Season 3 (premieres Sept. 14)
– Smallville – Season 9 (premieres Sept. 25)


– Dexter – Season 4 (premieres Sept. 27): I’ll sum up this upcoming season in two words: John. Lithgow.
– Californication – Season 3 (premieres Sept. 27): The move to NYC should mix things up a bit. I wonder how all of this will play out.


– Sons of Anarchy – Season 2 (premieres Sept. 8): I’m not really interested in the show, though I’ve heard great things about it.
– It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – Season 5 (premieres Sept. 17): Almost a year after the fourth season’s finale are we getting this fresh batch of episodes. About time I say.
– Nip/Tuck – Season 6 (premieres Oct. 14): Funny how the last two seasons were shot at the same time yet we won’t get a series finale until 2011…

Whew, that was a long first part.

There won’t be any script review tomorrow; instead you’ll have another kind of review with part deux of this wonderful list (albeit with new shows this time).

The teaser is out!

Not much time today to post something worth it but there’s one thing you should check out either immediately or tomorrow, post-Avatar Day: the freakin’ Avatar teaser.

Personally, I’m waiting ’til after I’ve seen the 15-minute preview on the big screen in 3-D.

More on that tomorrow.

Orbit (Script) – Review

Orbit (Script) – Review

Here comes another script review: Orbit.

The movie is based off the 2006 John Nance of the same name.
The script was adapted by Sheldon Turner who currently has a billion projects in development, including Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air and X-Men Origins: Magneto.

Obviously, spoilers abound in these neck of the woods.

The main story is about a father (Matthew Dawson) able to go into space after winning a lottery game made by NASA PRs. For a few weeks, he is trained at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center by Owen, an astronaut whom Mat “replaced.” Once the training done, he leaves Earth aboard the Intrepid with four other peeps.
But when he arrives in space, he finds out that the other members of the crew have died. He is now trapped alone, with a limited amount of oxygen left, and no way back home.
Thinking he is a dead man anyway, he uses his computer to gather his final thoughts that are, unbeknownst to him, beamed back to Earth where the rest of the world begins to follow his last (?) moments.

The concept seems very intriguing and exciting. However, the execution was in this instance pretty bad (borderline awful).

Let’s begin with the two main differences with the novel.
A major change made was with Dawson’s personal life (named Kip in the original work).
Whereas in the book Mat/Kip’s main drive for being in orbit is due to his son blaming him for his wife’s death, in the movie however the main reason for him trying out for the NASA lottery is more somber. Matt still has a 15-year old son (Brian), but in this story he has lost his other child (Danny) and both he and his wife (Cindy) have difficulties coping with it. His son loved space, which makes for a logical character motivation.
The other important change will be talked about later on and concerns the computer used by Mat.

Now, onto the actual movie.

First, a lot of screen-time is given to the actual training.
Mat only goes into space around page 35 (out of 115).
Even if the 20 minutes are supposed to set up the relationship between Mat and his mentor/rival Owen, ultimately this is just wasting a lot of valuable time. This is something that basically leads to nowhere (the training that is). Sure, we all know that the efforts put into building astronauts are immense, but why spend a fifth of the movie on it?

Moving on to once Mat is in space.

So, he discovers that all the onboard astronauts have died due to a sudden depressurization of the main cabin.
Given that he’s a newbie at these things, it’s understandable that panic sets in and he feels as if he’s a dead man floating.
Therefore I wasn’t too shocked to see him not being able to save himself. Who would be able to repair a broken spaceship?

That said, here comes the strangest part of the movie.

He begins e-mailing himself (or rather blogging) his last thoughts.

Yeah, don’t ask me how.
What I understood was that he hooked up to his Apple Computer a handy-talkie to make into a sort of “ham radio,” boosting his signal, allowing him to send messages (but not receiving any).

It’s like MacGyver MacGruber in space.

Remember that other important novel change?
In the original story, he actually writes on the spaceship computer, which makes way more sense than some pathetic attempt at product placement (yes, Apple is really written in the script).

And now we move on to the other huge pill to swallow.
As I’ve said before, he only has a few hours of oxygen left, and NASA is now aware that he’s trapped alone up there (thanks to his amazing Blogspot posts – true story).
What do they decide to do?
Put together in the span of literally a few hours a rescue mission comprised of Owen, two other astronauts, and an experimental shuttle (meaning one that has never, ever, flown).

The use of the latter allows this incredible exchange to occur:

RICHTER
(re: the experimental shuttle)
You ever seen anything like that?

OWEN
Sure.
Don’t you guys ever watch “Battlestar Galactica”…?

Priceless.

The departure of the rescue mission also reminded me a lot of Armaggeddon (not in a good way).

So, yeah, two utterly ridiculous plot points.
There’s also this pointless love story between Owen and the NASA PR lady.
Don’t even get me started on that.

Despite those (major) flaws however, a few good things came out of the script.
The space scenes are well-constructed and should be beautiful to see. I could easily picture them accompanied by some Bear McCreary-esque music.

The characters were also engaging.
So much so that at times what happened on Earth with Brian and Cindy seemed way more likable and interesting than what was going on elsewhere, starting with Mike.

Two small upsides, but still worth noting.

Bottom line: the execution of a great idea (man trapped alone in a spaceship) could have lead to a more interesting story that should not have lacked believability. Despite interesting characters, my disbelief couldn’t be suspended high enough, even if the story takes place way up in space (greatest pun?).

Orbit is slated for a 2011 release. Thomas Bezucha is currently on board to direct the pic for 20th Century Fox.
Last I heard it was one of the studio’s top priorities before a potential SAG strike (that never happened).