The Closer: I always miss this show when it goes off the air. The show is typically clever and to boot, Kyra Sedgewick does a great job as LA's Deputy Police Chief Brenda Lee Johnson. This week, the show ends with Brenda and her fiance, FBI Agent Fritz Howard leaving a church that is dubbed "pretty"--leaving me to believe that they will be doing an extra teaser episode before the season starts next year, complete with a wedding in said church... or at least that we'll have one with the first episode of next seasons start. Oh, and it isn't all Kyra Sedgewick, the cast is excellent.
True Blood: The American Vampire League has unveiled that vampires exist but because of a synthetic blood called Tru Blood, they aren't really a danger. Meanwhile, Anna Paquin (who I've liked since her roles in Fly Away Home and Almost Famous) is Sookie Stackhouse, a mind-reading waitress in a dive in Louisiana. Her best friend has anger management issues and her boss is madly in love with her--silently of course (and he may shape shift into a dog? Twillight anyone?). Because she can hear people's thoughts, she discovers that the white trash Rattrays intend to harm a visiting vampire in town ("Bill"), and she saves him-- thus, beginning their relationship. Meanwhile she lives with her Gran and her brother, Jason (local hound dog) has just killed local girl, Marjorie Pickens and is arrested for it. The end of the show sees Sookie getting the crap kicked out of her when the Rattrays come back seeking revenge from when Sookie saves Bill. If done right, the show could be good. I liked the first episode, but I'm still reserving judgment until I see a few of them.
Project Runway: The Astrological Sign challenge was a doozy. Though I think it was only a matter of time before Blaine was gone. My picks for top three this year are: Korto, Leanne and Jerrell with Suede or Joe making up the 4th position at the Runway (so as not to let on who the final three actually are... they usually have a 4th person show-think Austin Scarlett or Chris from last year). I would also include Kenley in my prediction because I like her stuff but I think after she's done all the challenges so far, she is much more of a one-trick pony. She likes her look and sticks with that but I don't think that will win her any spots considering who she is up against. My big thing with PR since they've made the deal to go to the Lifetime Channel, is that it has been WAY too easy to predict who will be off the show after the first 20 minutes. One of the things I liked before was that it wasn't always clear who would win. Now, I think the slant is too much. When Stella started talking last week about how she was feeling confident, the show was all but over for me. Please go back to the old format! We can tell whose clothes suck, you don't have to go and make it so obvious at the beginning of each episode.
Terminator, The Sarah Connor Chronicles: This show is managing to halfway decent, even though we all know the ending pretty much. John Connor is growing up and his mom is protecting him and teaching him to fight against the robots of the world that turn into Terminators. Right now, we just have the one Terminator looking to kill John Connor and Summer Glau (of Firefly/Serenity awesomeness) is acting as the protector Terminator who malfunctions at the beginning of the episode as she starts to "wake up" to a more human consciousness-talking about love and faith. My problem is with the character of Catherine Weaver. She's a Terminator running a major corporation seeking to build the robots that Sarah and John are trying to dismantle. She's played by Scottish actress/singer Shirley Manson, who is awesome (notwithstanding that Garbage kicks arse!) But I am leery of the storyline. Lame/evil conglomerate run by a robot while Summer Glau's character Cameron, gets a consience a la Robin Williams' Bicentennial Man or Haley Joel Osment in AI? Might be too much unless done flawlessly. We shall see. I am reserving judgment on this season.
90210: Same cheesiness. Though the show didn't change too much. More of the same? I was hoping they'd mix it up a little and at least give us a little more to go with. Silver's mom is drinking again and is violent and Kelly is going to have to go and tell her off to protect her little sister. Only other thing interesting is that I hear that Shannen Doherty isn't sticking around much longer. She's done her shout-out to her fans and could be done for a while. I'll bet she shows up later. The money should be good. We'll wait to see if we see David Silver (he's busy on Sarah Connor Chronicles for now anyway.) The bowling episode made me yawn. We'll see if it is any good for a couple more episodes before I delete it from my Tivo line-up.
Update: EW did an article What Would Make You Keep Watching? Pretty much what I'm saying. Boring. I think they should have made the bad girls bad for MUCH longer, Naomi's bad could have been so good had they stretched it out. Instead she went from bad to good girl in a blink. How do they fix it now? I have no idea if it can even be done.
Fringe: Okay, so my Tivo bailed on recording Fringe the first time around so I got to see the special reduced commercial episode on Sunday night. I liked it. I like JJ Abrams (as evidenced by the LOST obsession) but I think that it will be a good vehicle to change things up every week and explore different topics instead of getting stuck in a rut like sometimes LOST gets stuck in. I mean, an ode to a child's first technological mystery (the tin can with a string in the middle as a "phone") means to me that Abrams intends to embrace his inner "boys with toys" mentality. I like the actress playing the lead and who wouldn't like Joshua Jackson. The only place I see the show getting stuck is this big bad pattern business. Hopefully they have learned their lesson with LOST as to how these shows get stuck in not revealing the big questions. Good stuff!
Entourage: Bratty Vincent Chase comes back to LA from living the paradise life down in Mexico. My favorite part of the show right now is how Eric is fighting to make it into his own.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Pittsburgh: Moby is A Prick?
I watched this documentary called Pittsburgh, about Jeff Goldblum going with his girlfriend back to his hometown of Pittsburgh to do The Music Man. His good friends Illeana Douglas and Ed Begley Jr. went with him too.
So, I really do like Jeff Goldblum and like him even more now that I've seen this documentary. He seems like a real decent guy. He shunned the big Michael Bey role to stick to a promise he made to do the musical in PA. I also really always have liked Illeana Douglas' work as well since I saw Grace of My Heart back in the 90's, and the excellent and cancelled-too-soon tv show, Action after that. And later, she was a pal to Lisa Loeb on the #1 Single show.
Come to think of it, maybe Illeana met Moby through Lisa Loeb? This guy is known for being a vegan and warning young stars about their drug-riddled habits. But after three weeks he decides that he needs more space and that he can't continue their budding relationship while on the road. I think that is fine, and if it isn't working out, it isn't working out. However, what I did see that made me cringe is ...well, let me ask you this? How much of a jerk do you have to be to break up with someone while walking around surrounded by people and as King of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade ? Ugh. I'd like to warn MOBY to chill with all the porn he seems to like watching so much and to worry about his own status as a good person rather than Amy Winehouse. Whatever. I've never even heard of anyone being broken up with that badly before. It really left a sour thought in my head for this guy. I liked his music before. So sad that he's really like that.
Anyway, Pittsburgh is a good documentary and quirky Jeff Goldblum is what you get. If you like him, you'll like it. Thumbs up.
So, I really do like Jeff Goldblum and like him even more now that I've seen this documentary. He seems like a real decent guy. He shunned the big Michael Bey role to stick to a promise he made to do the musical in PA. I also really always have liked Illeana Douglas' work as well since I saw Grace of My Heart back in the 90's, and the excellent and cancelled-too-soon tv show, Action after that. And later, she was a pal to Lisa Loeb on the #1 Single show.
Come to think of it, maybe Illeana met Moby through Lisa Loeb? This guy is known for being a vegan and warning young stars about their drug-riddled habits. But after three weeks he decides that he needs more space and that he can't continue their budding relationship while on the road. I think that is fine, and if it isn't working out, it isn't working out. However, what I did see that made me cringe is ...well, let me ask you this? How much of a jerk do you have to be to break up with someone while walking around surrounded by people and as King of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade ? Ugh. I'd like to warn MOBY to chill with all the porn he seems to like watching so much and to worry about his own status as a good person rather than Amy Winehouse. Whatever. I've never even heard of anyone being broken up with that badly before. It really left a sour thought in my head for this guy. I liked his music before. So sad that he's really like that.
Anyway, Pittsburgh is a good documentary and quirky Jeff Goldblum is what you get. If you like him, you'll like it. Thumbs up.
Monday, September 8, 2008
L-O-S-T Season Prep: Lindelof as Fanboy
Frank sent along this article from io9 in prep for Lost this season:
Being A Fanboy Helps In Damon Lindelof's World
There's a reason that Lost's Nikki and Paulo died so quickly after fans refused to accept their insertion into ABC's time-traveling/teleporting island drama, according to show co-creator Damon Lindelof: The writers felt exactly the same way that the fans did, only earlier. The reason for that? The writers are the fans, apparently.
Lindelof explained how the writers' room can act as a petrie dish for their audience:
We're writing a television show that's supposed to be consumed by the masses. In the same way that a gladiator in the Roman arena lived or died based on whether or not he was entertaining, we feel like an instantaneous thumbs up, thumbs down response is huge for us. More importantly, the majority of the writers on Lost are fanboys. There's a ripple effect that occurs where we say, "Nikki and Paolo are not working. We don't like them, the audience isn't going to like them." By the time the audience starts complaining about Nikki and Paolo, we've already written a script where they get buried alive.
Not that this means that the fans will always get their way, he warned. After all, there is a plan at work: "The uber-mythology has to stay the same because there's stuff we've set up that has to pay off," he explains... although even that plan can change:
In our minds, Mr. Eko was going to be a character who made it to close to the end of the show, but because Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was so unhappy being on the show, we had to say, "Alright, life intervenes. Who else can we tell the story with? Can we re-jigger Locke to have it be him, or can we make Benjamin Linus a little bit more of a man of faith?" You adapt the characters as you go.
Also, when someone gets a DUI, their character has to die as punishment. It's the law in Hawaii, apparently.
Being A Fanboy Helps In Damon Lindelof's World
There's a reason that Lost's Nikki and Paulo died so quickly after fans refused to accept their insertion into ABC's time-traveling/teleporting island drama, according to show co-creator Damon Lindelof: The writers felt exactly the same way that the fans did, only earlier. The reason for that? The writers are the fans, apparently.
Lindelof explained how the writers' room can act as a petrie dish for their audience:
We're writing a television show that's supposed to be consumed by the masses. In the same way that a gladiator in the Roman arena lived or died based on whether or not he was entertaining, we feel like an instantaneous thumbs up, thumbs down response is huge for us. More importantly, the majority of the writers on Lost are fanboys. There's a ripple effect that occurs where we say, "Nikki and Paolo are not working. We don't like them, the audience isn't going to like them." By the time the audience starts complaining about Nikki and Paolo, we've already written a script where they get buried alive.
Not that this means that the fans will always get their way, he warned. After all, there is a plan at work: "The uber-mythology has to stay the same because there's stuff we've set up that has to pay off," he explains... although even that plan can change:
In our minds, Mr. Eko was going to be a character who made it to close to the end of the show, but because Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was so unhappy being on the show, we had to say, "Alright, life intervenes. Who else can we tell the story with? Can we re-jigger Locke to have it be him, or can we make Benjamin Linus a little bit more of a man of faith?" You adapt the characters as you go.
Also, when someone gets a DUI, their character has to die as punishment. It's the law in Hawaii, apparently.
Samurai Girl: "Infant Girl Survives Tragedy...
....to be adopted by a powerful man." Turns out our 19-year old heroine named Heaven is that girl of prophecy...they do a good job of myth building with this story.
On a side note, ABC Family is doing a couple shows I like right now. I really like The Middleman (the Nakatomi Protocol episode was my favorite- I got a kick out of seeing the Bruce Willis references.) I also watch The Secret Life of the American Teenager...mostly because I was dying to see Molly Ringwald, but all stereotype-embracing aside, it really is a sweet little show.
Back to Samurai Girl, these are 3 two-hour graphic-novel style vignettes, I assume in preparation for a running tv show. I liked them. Yes, though there are no vampires, they sort of steal from Buffy, Blade (location of their hq) and maybe a little Kung Fu mixed in together (after all they embrace the comparison when her friend calls her Grasshopper). But those are all good things and the show does them well.
Heaven's brother's best friend is conveniently both a matial arts sensei as well as the brooding hot guy love interest. Heaven has two good friends she stumbled on who have her back too. There is ADD Cheryl who likes a little bit of everything and is Heaven's gal pal. Then there's Otto, the dufus comic book/sci fi movie loving/video game playing computer whiz who has a huge crush on Heaven. Otto reminds me of Spinelli on GH. I'm wondering if some of the writers are cross-overs from that ABC soap. Hmmmm. I guess not, but he did work on an episode of October Road and the Otto/slipper-wearing side of him does remind me somewhat of Physical Phil on October Road. His internet/tech prowess is certainly convenient, regardless.
Best about this show is that an empowered young woman is taking control of her life. What makes it even better are some of the Kill Bill-esque sword fights (another nod to David Carradine!)
If it is a series ever, and any of what I'm talking about here interests you, I have no reservations about telling you to watch. The teaser episodes portend a solid show.
On a side note, ABC Family is doing a couple shows I like right now. I really like The Middleman (the Nakatomi Protocol episode was my favorite- I got a kick out of seeing the Bruce Willis references.) I also watch The Secret Life of the American Teenager...mostly because I was dying to see Molly Ringwald, but all stereotype-embracing aside, it really is a sweet little show.
Back to Samurai Girl, these are 3 two-hour graphic-novel style vignettes, I assume in preparation for a running tv show. I liked them. Yes, though there are no vampires, they sort of steal from Buffy, Blade (location of their hq) and maybe a little Kung Fu mixed in together (after all they embrace the comparison when her friend calls her Grasshopper). But those are all good things and the show does them well.
Heaven's brother's best friend is conveniently both a matial arts sensei as well as the brooding hot guy love interest. Heaven has two good friends she stumbled on who have her back too. There is ADD Cheryl who likes a little bit of everything and is Heaven's gal pal. Then there's Otto, the dufus comic book/sci fi movie loving/video game playing computer whiz who has a huge crush on Heaven. Otto reminds me of Spinelli on GH. I'm wondering if some of the writers are cross-overs from that ABC soap. Hmmmm. I guess not, but he did work on an episode of October Road and the Otto/slipper-wearing side of him does remind me somewhat of Physical Phil on October Road. His internet/tech prowess is certainly convenient, regardless.
Best about this show is that an empowered young woman is taking control of her life. What makes it even better are some of the Kill Bill-esque sword fights (another nod to David Carradine!)
If it is a series ever, and any of what I'm talking about here interests you, I have no reservations about telling you to watch. The teaser episodes portend a solid show.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Good Luck Chuck: I Want a New Drug
I watched Good Luck Chuck last night. Underwhelmed is perhaps an understatement. Don't waste your time. The only thing I got out of this movie is that Dane Cook looks like Huey Lewis...in a sometimes creepy way. I want a new drug if I'm ever forced to watch this thing again.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Uncle Kenny Passes Away...
So, on the 4th of September, my Uncle Kenny passed away... technically, I think he is my great Uncle as he is my father's Uncle. He is married to my Great Aunt Lou who was the younger sister to my Grandmother... Leah. I know he wasn't in the best of health in recent years, but he was such a good person that everyone who knew him loved him. I know he will be sorely missed. My Dad's cousins and all their kids and grandkids will all miss him as will everyone in his extended family and all the people who loved him down at the condo.
A cool thing about Uncle Kenny that not many people know about? He was a town doctor in Indiana, Pennsylvania and so took care of Jimmy Stewart's father when he wasn't doing well. Jimmy Stewart personally called and came to see him on several occasions to check on him.
Big hugs to the family and an especially big hug to Aunt Lou...I'm so sorry for your loss.
A cool thing about Uncle Kenny that not many people know about? He was a town doctor in Indiana, Pennsylvania and so took care of Jimmy Stewart's father when he wasn't doing well. Jimmy Stewart personally called and came to see him on several occasions to check on him.
Big hugs to the family and an especially big hug to Aunt Lou...I'm so sorry for your loss.
Review: Cullen Is No Lestat: Twillight Series
So, I've read the Stephenie Meyer Twillight series recently, and I've now dubbed it to my friends as "Anne Rice Lite". Let's just say that he might be younger in vampire years, but Edward Cullen is no Lestat. All in all I thought the series was cute. Not that the term "cute" is always a good thing, but these were cute in a good way. I think that if I were a 10-14 year old girl, I might even be ga-ga for Edward Cullen, but I'm not and I'm not ga-ga for him now. I'm just bored. Here's my take on the Twillight Series, but don't read unless you're perfectly willing to read some spoilers:
Twillight (Book 1) : Okay, I get it, we meet the Cullens, the book takes a while to figure out a reason for the family's strange behavior. Bella, the teenage girl who is completely adult and independent is our heroine. She moves to the unsunny Northwest and takes care (cleans/cooks) for her father, the bumbling distant (but, still caring) sheriff in town. She and Edward begin their journey together. I see the appeal and I'm curious enough to come back for more. I'm most interested in the Tribe and how the local native americans have physically reacted to the "unnatural" presences of vamps. Also cool? Vampire Baseball is a fab and fun idea.
New Moon (Book 2): So, here is where it loses me on the Edward and Bella romance. They fall for each other awfully fast. He leaves to protect her and she collapses and spends the rest of the book trying to figure out how to move on with her life. For me, I thought that for a strong independent young woman who had been "the adult" in her relationship with her mother to all of a sudden fall so desperately in love that she would stop eating and collapse in the wilderness was a stretch. She seems so wildly practical that the teenage drama of reacting like that just didn't fit at all for me. Where she finds when he runs to be away from her probably death was the best part. Well, that and Jacob... who starts in this book to be endearing but grows in later books to be a great character.
Eclipse (Book 3) : This was my least favorite of the four books. I thought there was a lot of set up, that Bells spent a lot of time worrying, and that I wasn't ever under the impression that the Cullens would lose their battle to protect her. Jacob makes much more sense to me for her and I love his character development here. I guess I'm a Jacob and Bella fan.
Breaking Dawn (Book 4) : This was my favorite of the four books. A real Dracula, a corrupt "government", breaking the rules.... and Bella gets to become a real mate for Edward. Now she's a real 17-year old grown-up... forever. The baby was kind of creepy and I can't say that I enjoyed her name at all... but all in all, if they're going to be in love and fight for one another... this is the way I prefer to see it done.
In the end, I have to say I give them a solid C+ as a whole. I mean that as a good C+ because I was engaged enough to read all four books, I was engaged enough to keep reading and I was engaged enough to really really like some parts of the books. However, in the end I was a little disappointed. I kept hearing rants and raves about these as the next "Harry Potter" so I had fairly high expectations. But if you want a story that skims the edges of emotion and romanticism that Anne Rice still owns, you'll enjoy. I will say that I am a Joss Whedon fan so I really enjoyed Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan as well as an Angel, but I thought those relationships matured from flirty, eyelash-batting romances to deep and true love romances. Here, he looks at her goofy, hangs around a little and bam... she's in love. I was a teenage girl once (and still act like it when I can) and to Bella and Edward? I just don't relate. I've liked bad boys before and I think I would have liked this better if he was more of a bad boy. Just being a vampire alone doesn't fit the bill, if he isn't bad... then he's just a goody-two-shoes, and *yawn* that doesn't do it for me. Sorry.
I haven't read any Charlaine Harris (though I am excited to see True Blood on HBO), nor have I read any Laurell K Hamilton, but I get the impression that those vampire series are intended to be more campy than the serious nature of the vampire that has lived for generations. My friend Chris Golden-personal trainer extraordinaire-is pals with Rachel Caine and he says her Morganville Vampire books are really good. I'll be checking those out soon.
I am stoked to see the movie Twillight though, I think that Robert Pattinson is the perfect guy to play Edward.
Twillight (Book 1) : Okay, I get it, we meet the Cullens, the book takes a while to figure out a reason for the family's strange behavior. Bella, the teenage girl who is completely adult and independent is our heroine. She moves to the unsunny Northwest and takes care (cleans/cooks) for her father, the bumbling distant (but, still caring) sheriff in town. She and Edward begin their journey together. I see the appeal and I'm curious enough to come back for more. I'm most interested in the Tribe and how the local native americans have physically reacted to the "unnatural" presences of vamps. Also cool? Vampire Baseball is a fab and fun idea.
New Moon (Book 2): So, here is where it loses me on the Edward and Bella romance. They fall for each other awfully fast. He leaves to protect her and she collapses and spends the rest of the book trying to figure out how to move on with her life. For me, I thought that for a strong independent young woman who had been "the adult" in her relationship with her mother to all of a sudden fall so desperately in love that she would stop eating and collapse in the wilderness was a stretch. She seems so wildly practical that the teenage drama of reacting like that just didn't fit at all for me. Where she finds when he runs to be away from her probably death was the best part. Well, that and Jacob... who starts in this book to be endearing but grows in later books to be a great character.
Eclipse (Book 3) : This was my least favorite of the four books. I thought there was a lot of set up, that Bells spent a lot of time worrying, and that I wasn't ever under the impression that the Cullens would lose their battle to protect her. Jacob makes much more sense to me for her and I love his character development here. I guess I'm a Jacob and Bella fan.
Breaking Dawn (Book 4) : This was my favorite of the four books. A real Dracula, a corrupt "government", breaking the rules.... and Bella gets to become a real mate for Edward. Now she's a real 17-year old grown-up... forever. The baby was kind of creepy and I can't say that I enjoyed her name at all... but all in all, if they're going to be in love and fight for one another... this is the way I prefer to see it done.
In the end, I have to say I give them a solid C+ as a whole. I mean that as a good C+ because I was engaged enough to read all four books, I was engaged enough to keep reading and I was engaged enough to really really like some parts of the books. However, in the end I was a little disappointed. I kept hearing rants and raves about these as the next "Harry Potter" so I had fairly high expectations. But if you want a story that skims the edges of emotion and romanticism that Anne Rice still owns, you'll enjoy. I will say that I am a Joss Whedon fan so I really enjoyed Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan as well as an Angel, but I thought those relationships matured from flirty, eyelash-batting romances to deep and true love romances. Here, he looks at her goofy, hangs around a little and bam... she's in love. I was a teenage girl once (and still act like it when I can) and to Bella and Edward? I just don't relate. I've liked bad boys before and I think I would have liked this better if he was more of a bad boy. Just being a vampire alone doesn't fit the bill, if he isn't bad... then he's just a goody-two-shoes, and *yawn* that doesn't do it for me. Sorry.
I haven't read any Charlaine Harris (though I am excited to see True Blood on HBO), nor have I read any Laurell K Hamilton, but I get the impression that those vampire series are intended to be more campy than the serious nature of the vampire that has lived for generations. My friend Chris Golden-personal trainer extraordinaire-is pals with Rachel Caine and he says her Morganville Vampire books are really good. I'll be checking those out soon.
I am stoked to see the movie Twillight though, I think that Robert Pattinson is the perfect guy to play Edward.
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