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Posts tagged as “TV Shows”

Atlantis rant

I saw the other day the latest Atlantis episode (you know, the show that just got canceled in favor of an all new other spin-off).
The episode revolved around McKay having a brain problem somewhat similar to Alzheimer due to a parasite.
I didn’t know if I was supposed to laugh or cry during the “stupid McKay” scenes, I guess it was almost cringe-worthy.
Anyway, the formula of the episode was pretty similar to previous Stargate episodes. Unfortunately you know from the start that someone will save the day and that McKay will be just fine by the end of the episode.
The life saving event I’m talking about occurred only 3 minutes before the end of the episode, a record.

It went something like this:

SHEPPARD: Holy crap, the episode ends in 3 minutes and McKay still has the parasite inside him! He’s going to diiiiiiiiie!!!!
DR. KELLER: Don’t worry John, I have an idea for a brain procedure that wouldn’t work in real life but as you know we’re on a Sci-Fi show so everything is going to be all right!
SHEPPARD: Okay, what is it?
DR. KELLER: I am going to puncture a small hole in McKay’s forehead.
SHEPPARD: OMG! He’ll be scarred for life!
DR. KELLER: Don’t worry John, next week there will be no trace of the operation and everything will go back to normal.
SHEPPARD: Okay, what next?
DR. KELLER: The small hole I will make will allow for the parasite to leave the body.
SHEPPARD: What do you mean “leave”?
DR. KELLER: It’s going to “slid out” of the 1 inch hole, fall to the ground and then Ronon will kill it with his awesome gun.
SHEPPARD: Oh, cool. That seems like a pretty believable operation given that you’ll have to do all that in this cave, using a survival kit, and in under 3 minutes.

I just love realistic sci-fi.

Online shows and college love

You know how I talked about The WB’s online launch on August 27?
Well now there’s another, again, new kid on the block.
And his name is Strike.TV

Yes, that’s Kristen Wiig.

The idea for Strike.TV, like Whedon’s Dr. Horrible, was thought out during, you’ll never guess this, the writer’s strike.
Strike.TV allows for screenwriters to create a content that will be filmed and produced, while still maintaining ownership of their work.

The writers behind the site’s content include writers for The Office, How I Met Your Mother and much more (see the above trailer).
Several original series will be available on the website such as Global Warming, with Aasif Mandvi and Kristen Wiig.

The site will be paid, similarly to Hulu, with short ads before the program.
Strike.TV is expected to open to everyone later this month.

And what about that “college love”?
Well you certainly know that ABC, NBC and Coe like to stream their shows online, and also like to cash in the checks they earn with the ads in them.
Fox is soon going to join them with Fringe and The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
On September 8 and 9, both premiere will be streamed simultaneously with their TV broadcast.
The catch is that this stream will only be available to college students, or rather people surfing the web with .edu domains. Why .edu domains in particular you may wonder. Well Bill Bradford (the VP of “content strategy”) saw that .edu domains were among the top visitors for Fox’s website and came up with the streaming idea.
Brilliant.
Especially when you know that “.edu people” are also the number one people to download illegally shows, such as, you know, the leaked Fringe pilot.

TV Books are back from the future (and the past)

TV Books are back from the future (and the past)

Following on the steps of previous book posts, it seems that everyday I discover more and more books about screenwriting and especially, surprinsingly, TV writing.

On television writing I have found several other books that, according to the Amazon peeps’ reviews, seem worthwhile:

Marilyn Webber‘s Gardner’s Guide to Television Scriptwriting. Webber has written other writing books on other specific subjects (such as Sitcom writing, TV Animation, Feature Animation, etc). The book seems to be hands-on although not updated in its examples (West Wing, 24, and Gilmore Girls among others).

Martie Cook’s Write to TV: Out of Your Head and onto the Screen. Cook has dedicated writing sections for each of the areas of TV shows (Comedy, Prime-time Drama, TV-Movies, Reality TV and even TV News Magazines Shows and Kid Shows). The book also contains sections on writing characters, dialogs, pilots, as well as tons of pitch/business advices. An extended preview of the book can be found here.

Ellen Sandler‘s The TV Writer’s Workbook. Sandler has written for shows such as Everybody Loves Raymond (where she was co-exec). Her TV writing book is therefore more focused on sitcom writing, although still touches on drama writing as well as networking.

Also, just for giggles, I’ve found out that there’s a TV Writing book that came out way back in…1990. Notice the high-tech computer on the cover.
The accuracy of the information provided in this bok vis-à-vis contemporary television landscape cannot be guaranteed.

Last but not least, there’s a “how-to” television writing book with the brits in mind. That’s right, a book that covers everything you need to know if you want to write for the BBC. It was written by William Smethurst. And let’s not forget that the BBC is probably the only “serious” television option opened to anyone.

More and more TV Writing books seem to come out every year, which begs the question: Is television writing becoming popular and hype?