From the Conan Show and presented without further ado…
The Batgirl Audition Tapes.
Category Archives: TV
So… about Wonder Woman 1984…
Yesterday director Patty Jenkins took to twitter to offer a still from the now filming Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel to her very popular Wonder Woman film, starring Gal Gadot, and set in (duh) the year 1984.
The image caused much curiosity:
Yep, that’s Chris Pine in an 80’s getup (though check out the people behind him… if nothing else, the movie sure does seem to want to get the aesthetic of 1984) … thing is, and SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN IT, Chris Pine’s character in the original Wonder Woman appeared to, well, not make it out alive.
Which begs the question: How the heck is he in this film?
If you have even a casual knowledge of the Wonder Woman TV show featuring Lynda Carter, you should know that the series had the character appear in both World War 2 and, in subsequent seasons, the “present” of the 1970’s. What was curious about that series is that actor Lyle Waggoner played two roles in the series. In the first, taking place during World War 2, he was Major Steve Trevor…
In the “new” adventures of Wonder Woman, set in the then present, he played… Coloner Steve Trevor Jr.!
So it would seem the Wonder Woman movies are perhaps doing something similar, having Chris Pine appear in both eras. The question is, will this be a distant relative of Chris Pine’s original Steve Trevor from the first WW movie?
You know what?
I don’t really care too much about that.
What intrigues me much more is the fact that this movie is set in 1984. Clearly there must be some reason for setting it in that year versus, say, in the “present”.
Thinking back to 1984, I recall world events of that time and wonder if those will play a role in the movie. The Soviet Empire was on its way down but the Cold War was still in effect (the Berlin Wall would come down in 1989). There was a feeling, at times, that nuclear conflict might happen.
Conversely, and within the U.S., there was the issue of cocaine and drugs in the U.S. The TV show Miami Vice premiered in 1984 and for better or worse it became something of an aesthetic of that era…
So I’m wondering… could this movie take a little more from something like Miami Vice rather than world events at the time? Or will it be a little of column “A” and column “B”?
Stay tuned… same Wonder channel, same Wonder time!
Whose property is it anyway…?
I love the internet. It allows me fast access to near unlimited information, be they technical information, opinions, reviews, analysis, articles, etc. etc. etc.
I’ve learned much, almost every day, and while at times reading people’s opinions (and trolls) can be frustrating, sometimes you have to take the good with the bad and sort things out on your own.
One thing that I’m noticing, however, is that this opening in allowing people to opine on things like movies, books, and TV shows and I’m realizing this leads to a sense of ownership of these properties on the part of fans.
I’ve long pondered why there was an almost literal lynch mob around the release of Batman v. Superman, a movie I liked quite a bit -moreso in its Ultimate Cut- and its director Zack Snyder. Whatever your opinion of the film is, to many it was as if Mr. Snyder had committed some kind of unforgivable sin with what he did with the characters.
After the film left theaters, the anger turned toward the Ghostbusters remake, though to a somewhat lesser degree, yet for many this too was some kind of unforgivable sin against a beloved property and the people behind it should be… I don’t know, what exactly?
More recently, there appears to have been something of a repeat in the release and the fan reaction with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. To many fans, the movie was a betrayal of the original Star Wars films (I don’t know… I have the film but as of yet haven’t seen it).
Today and over at Slate.com, I found this article by Willa Paskin which focuses on fan theories regarding the Benedict Cumberbatch starring Sherlock series, specifically that many fans of the show feel the character of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were/are lovers…
The case of the fractured fandom
I find that speculation, which isn’t terribly new regarding Holmes/Watson (the idea that they might secretly be homosexual lovers has been around since at least the 1940’s and likely before!), nonetheless in this era of the internet allowed groups of people, including someone mentioned within the article itself, to really go to town with developing this theory and offering examples of how the creators, in their opinion, were pointing towards this alleged relationship.
Which brings me to this point: Speculation and/or scorn toward the way characters are handled by fans is perfectly fine, but bear in mind: These characters are the property of others and they will do with them what they choose.
Sure, Sherlock Holmes is now in public domain, but the Sherlock TV show is being made by the BBC under the control of several individuals who make the decisions of how the show will progress. They can, if they want to, read the many fans’ opinions on how the show should progress and whatnot, but ultimately they decide the direction of the show.
(A digression: I suspect the show is done and will not return for a fourth season. I could be wrong, but that’s just my opinion).
Similarly, whether you liked them or not -and its certainly your right to love or hate them!- the people behind Batman v. Superman and the Ghostbusters remake were granted authority to use these characters and create these properties by the people/companies that control them.
The films themselves may have been great or horrid, but them’s the breaks… not everything works out and with properties such as Batman and Superman, just because one version comes out not to your liking doesn’t mean the ceiling’s about to fall in on any future incarnations of said characters. Superman survived the release of the not very good Superman III and the outright terrible Superman IV and Batman certain survived the release and ridicule which came after Batman and Robin.
I guess my point is this: Sometimes fandom needs to back off, at least a little, take a breath, and understand that your pleasure/disgust and speculations regarding property X are just that: YOUR opinions on it.
Do you hate Batman v. Superman? Do you feel the characters in Sherlock are lovers? Do you feel The Last Jedi was a betrayal of the original Star Wars films?
That’s perfectly legitimate… for you.
And you have every right to either hate these works or love them or speculate about their meaning or anything else you desire.
My worry -and the great danger- is that when fandom becomes powerful enough to dictate the release of new creative endeavors, then we’re treading into dangerous waters.
I feel fandom did affect what DC has done since the release of both Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad. One has but see the Justice League film to see that end result.
Will the pressure of fans lead, if it should happen, to have Sherlock season 4 reveal that Holmes and Watson are lovers? Will we have a Last Jedi redo where Luke Skywalker is treated “better”?
I worry when fans become such a powerful force.
But I suppose I also worry too that certain properties have become as big as they are and brings out these emotions in people.
The other day I looked up the top films of 1979 (don’t ask) and it surprised me that the #1 box office film of that year was… wait for it… Kramer vs. Kramer. The other nine films, in order, were:
The Amityville Horror, Rocky II, Apocalypse Now, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alien, 10 (the Bo Derek film), The Jerk, Moonraker, The Muppet Movie.
Interesting list, no? Only two of the movies were sequels and/or part of a series (Rocky II and the James Bond film Moonraker) while a few others became series and/or had sequels but at this point were original works.
Compare that list with the top box office films of last year, 2017:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast, The Fate of the Furious, Despicable Me 3, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Wolf Warrior 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman.
Of these ten films, a whopping EIGHT of them are part of a series and/or are sequels to other films and one of them, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, is a somewhat-sequel/remake of an original work. The only “original work” is actually a live action version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast animated film!
So, essentially, NONE of the top 10 highest grossing films of 2017 were “original” works from start to end.
None.
In conclusion, perhaps it’s no wonder, given how many sequels and cultural blanketing these works have created, that fans become so enmeshed in these works.
Roseanne…
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few days, you’ve heard the sordid saga of Roseanne. She starred in a rebooted version of her old Roseanne show and it was a big hit, landing on the top three of TV shows being seen, according to Nielsen ratings.
And then she threw it all away by tweeting a racist statement regarding ex-Obama official Valerie Jarrett. (You can read some of the shenanigans here).
Tom Arnold, Roseanne’s ex-husband, appeared on CNN and offered his opinion about this situation, which you can read about here. In so many words he states that he isn’t surprised by what happened and implies it is his opinion Roseanne is self-destructive person who was bound to blow up the good that was created.
My 0.02 cents?
I feel for Roseanne.
I think there’s something broken within her. Further, I worry she suffers from either mental problems and/or medication (self or prescribed) problems. Mind you, I’ve got little more than suspicions regarding this (though her pointing out that she was taking Ambien as an “excuse” -a lame one at that- for her racist tweet indicates she is indeed taking at least one medication).
If she isn’t already, Roseanne needs to see someone, whether it be a psychiatrist or psychologist, and look into what is going on within her.
I’m not a fan of Roseanne’s show. Indeed, I’ve never seen one full episode of the original or new series and therefore will not miss it now that its gone.
However, as destructive as Roseanne has been to her career, one has to feel sympathy for those who worked on the show, both in front of and behind the cameras, only to suddenly find themselves without work despite being in an incredibly successful show.
A great shame.
We may have reached peak internet…
Over at avclub.com I found the following article by Dan Nellan:
Some maniac set the entirety of Rush’s 2112 to old Peanuts clips
Truly, I don’t know whether to applaud –hard– or cry. Equally hard.
The internet. It’s truly like the proverbial box of chocolates.
Here’s the video, by the way:
Gut punches… TV cancellations!
Yesterday news broke on several TV show cancellations… and one case of a network not airing any more episodes of a show.
First up, Fox announced the demise/cancellation of three very good comedies. From CNN.com and written by Sandra Gonzalez, this article which notes…
Brooklyn Nine-Nine cancelled (also The Mick and The Last Man on Earth)
The article hews toward the (bad news, IMHO!) of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s demise after five seasons and, I must say, I’ll miss the show. It’s been a fun run and I suppose one should be happy with five seasons -which, let’s be clear, is quite good- but the show wasn’t slowing down. It was still a very fun, at times outright hilarious comedy with a quirky, interesting cast and well written episodes.
Sadly, the show simply didn’t have terribly good ratings so away it went.
The good news?
Looks like the show may have a chance to be picked up by a service like Hulu or Netflix. I’m skeptical (I’ve heard that before with shows that were never seen again) but hope, as they say, springs eternal.
The two shows the article doesn’t focus on as much is The Mick (2 seasons) and The Last Man on Earth (4 seasons), both of which were also, IMHO, incredibly funny shows, though the later does require a bit more patience from viewers.
I felt The Mick was an enjoyable show that featured potentially nasty yet lovable characters. Yeah, they were slobs, snobs, and losers, but they were presented as less than the caricatures they could have been.
For me, The Last Man on Earth was really tough to get into, at least during that first season. The main character was such an asshole that it was difficult to want to follow his “adventures” in the post-apocalypse. My wife, to her credit, stuck with it and I gave the show a second chance and… it clicked.
The appearance of the main character’s brother -and his eventual sad fate- humanized him. Yeah, he remained for the most part a clueless asshole but his heart was clearly in the right place.
I’ll miss all three shows.
Finally, from i09.com, Evan Narcisse writes…
Syfy says this season of The Expanse will be the last one on the Network
Unlike the shows I mentioned above, I gave up on The Expanse after its first season, which I thought was decent enough but didn’t “grab me” like it did other shows.
And, to be very clear, The Expanse certainly grabbed many other viewers!
In fact, many consider this one of the best sci-fi shows airing on TV currently. Critically acclaimed or not, the Syfy Network won’t be airing it anymore because it costs them too much to do so and they only have the rights to air the episodes on a first run basis. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Syfy Network does not have any rights to digital or streaming of the show, which obviously cuts down on the returns (ie money) the network could have made on what is a very expensive show to produce.
It’s a cruel thing to lose shows one likes, and this year so far (lest we forget, Ash vs. Evil Dead is another goner), seems crueler than others.
Ash vs. Evil Dead… R.I.P.
There were some rather dodgy statements coming from cable company Starz! and the people behind Ash vs. Evil Dead that season three of the beloved cult show may well be the last.
Turns out, it is.
Cheryl Eddy over at i09.com offers the news…
Aw, hell, Ash vs. Evil Dead will not get a fourth season
As I said above, there were hints this was going to be the case. Bruce Campbell, Ash Williams himself, mused during an interview that if the show wasn’t renewed for a fourth season, that would effectively be the last time he’d play the character.
It was a curious statement to make and it made me think he knew more of what was going on than he was willing to say…
I’ve seen all but the last three episodes of this season and, though I’m a huge fan Bruce Campbell’s Ash and love me some Evil Dead, this latest season was… not particularly good. In fact, I’m still where I was, stuck on episode 5, when I wrote about my ambivalent feelings about the latest season of the show.
I will repeat something I’ve said many times before: I’ve enjoyed the first two seasons of the show, the second more than the first, but felt each season had a weak ending. Nonetheless, there was a beautiful balance between the absurd and the gory and I really, really liked the characters introduced around Campbell’s Ash.
This season, though, the original writing show runner left due to clashes with one of the series’ original producers (I wrote about that here), and strangely enough his plans to make Dana DeLorenzo’s Kelly Maxwell turn out to be Ash’s daughter (something which, if you watch the first two seasons of the show realize was in the works from the start) was replaced with… bringing in another actress to play Ash’s daughter.
I don’t want to slam the actress, but the role to where I’ve seen the show has been… thankless. There would have been, IMHO, much more meat in the bone if Kelly’s character turned out to be Ash’s daughter and we wouldn’t have had to introduce a new character and try to incorporate her into the story in any significant way.
But that’s not the worst of it.
Again, I’m repeating stuff I wrote before (and, if you click the link above you’ll read what I originally wrote), but this season of Ash vs. Evil Dead has featured our main characters curiously split from each other, doing their own thing and that, too, is dull. It was fun to see Ash reacting to the others and vice versa. But now, they’re spread out and floundering.
Now, I haven’t seen any of the episodes after #5 and, therefore, have half a season -when its done- to go. I hope things pick up. I especially hope, given that this is likely the last we’ll ever see of Ash, that the show finally has a strong ending.
We’ll see.
John Kricfalusi
Is the above name at all familiar to you?
No?
Well, there was a time many years ago when John Kricfalusi, aka John K, created and oversaw a cartoon show that was, IMHO, an absolute delight. The show was Ren & Stimpy and one of its funniest bits, the bonkers “Happy Happy Joy Joy” song…
The show was extremely silly bordering on psychotic and, for me anyway, was absolutely hilarious.
Now comes the following, presented on Jezebel.com and written by Hazel Cills…
This bit of news, one in a very long line of such very sad, stunning, infuriating bits of news regarding men in high positions behaving very badly (and that’s putting it in the nicest terms possible) was also…
Not all that surprising to me.
Why?
If you scroll down the above article and reach the comment section, you’ll find a comment made by yours truly regarding this situation. Understand, I have no “inside knowledge” unique to me regarding this situation. I have never met (at least to my knowledge) the man or any of the people involved in this story.
What I did have to say was the following:
I too loved the first run of Ren & Stimpy and was sad when it was done. Then, the show was revived and had a more “adult” bend and I recall seeing a “behind the scenes” video with John K. and a few of his staff working on some new concept for the show and…
…damn…
He just seemed soooooo damn… creepy.
I’m going by (likely) fading memory, but he was talking to either one or two women on the staff and showing them some concept art he created for some new character a -again, my memory may be foggy here- chicken. The chicken was plucked and looked like male genitals and John K. was giggling about its name (I forget that completely but it was some sexual double-entendre).
The women he was with were laughing but they seemed, to me, really uncomfortable… then again, it could have been me watching the whole spectacle.
As I said, I had such a creepy vibe from seeing that clip. The subsequent Ren & Stimpy show was pretty horrid and that was the last I ever cared for John K. and his stuff.
The bottom line?
The news of John K.’s alleged behavior isn’t all that surprising to me, given the very uncomfortable feeling I had following seeing the above video.
Bear in mind, the reason this video was presented was to promote the then new Ren & Stimpy show. For me, anyway, all it did was make me real uncomfortable regarding John K.
Jumping the shark…
Several years ago the term “jumping the shark” was coined by a very clever fellow to explain the point where a popular/enjoyable TV show reaches a point where it suddenly is no longer that.
The term/reference, for those unfamiliar, relates to an episode of the once very popular TV show Happy Days (it had a whopping 11 seasons, airing from 1974 to 1984), and had one of the most popular characters in Henry Winkler’s Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli. It was his character in an episode presented in the 1977 season of the show that had the proverbial “jumping the shark” moment.
Quite literally!
Here it is -and, yes, Ron Howard (that Ron Howard) was still in the show and driving the boat. He was still primarily known as an actor and hadn’t yet transitioned to the powerhouse director he subsequently became:
The absurdity of the scene and subsequent pointing out of it made the term “jumping the shark” shorthand for the moment a TV show crosses the great Rubicon and, through the silliness of that moment, is no longer looked upon as the powerhouse it used to be.
In the case of Happy Days, the show would continue for several more years after presenting audiences with this particular sequence, so while it was silly (and that’s the nicest way to describe it), it was hardly “fatal” to the TV show.
The fact is that TV shows that become popular can do so in several ways. It can be a relatively slow process, where the show may start out barely hanging on while interest grows each and every day to the point where the show becomes a powerhouse. It can explode almost from the get-go, a so-called “water cooler” type show that almost everyone comes to love almost right away (The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones are two such recent examples).
Here’s the thing though: Good as any TV show is, there is always a risk that things will get… stodgy. Dull. Repetitious. As funny and fascinating as the term is, many shows lose steam and audiences and eventually get cancelled without necessarily giving a “jumping the shark” type moment.
Way, waaaaaaaay back when a cartoon show appeared on one of the “big four” networks and, to put it bluntly, the show absolutely blew me and my future wife away. The show premiered in 1989 and it was so damn funny I distinctly recall gasping for air in a few of those very early episodes, so hilarious was the product.
I followed the show for a number of years but somewhere around the fifth season or so it was like a switch had suddenly turned off in both me and my (by then) wife and, quite suddenly, we no longer had an interest in seeing the show. In fact, the show, The Simpsons, continues today, having reached an incredible 30th season, easily the longest running TV show out there today.
And neither my wife nor I have seen a full episode of it in some 25 years. In fact, the very last full The Simpsons anything I saw was the feature film, which I felt was pretty damn mediocre and didn’t exactly change my mind and make me want to see the show again.
Please note: There was no “jumping the shark” moment regarding the show. We just felt like we’d gotten our fill and no longer felt the need to catch any more of it.
As the saying goes, your mileage may vary and, given the show still airs today, clearly there is still considerable interest in the series. But for me, there is absolutely none.
Yesterday I watched the latest -the fifth- episode of Season 3 of Ash vs The Evil Dead. This represents the half-way point of Season 3 as there are 10 total episodes in the season.
I’m a HUGE fan of the character of Ashley “Ash” J. Williams (and Bruce Campbell, the actor who plays him), who first appeared in the movie Evil Dead, then Evil Dead 2 (the best of the lot, IMHO), then Army of Darkness, before disappearing for many years before being revived in the Starz! series.
As I said, we’re in the third season of Ash vs. The Evil Dead and as much as I like most of what’s come before, I’m finding this season… not that good.
Don’t get me wrong, the regular nonsense is there: Plenty of blood and guts mixed with tongue in cheek humor and a main character who remains a complete idiot. However, something about this season seems… off.
To begin with, the cast has been curiously split apart, with Bruce Campbell’s Ash often doing things on his own while the various other main characters we’ve followed to date (Ray Santiago’s Pablo Simon Bolivar, Dana DeLorenzo’s Kelly Maxwell, Lucy Lawless’ Ruby Knowby), seem to be off on their own doing their own thing. In fact, it occurs to me we’ve seen very little of these characters together. They are often split up in their own stories and, frankly, while interesting characters they don’t have the same level of interest in this viewer as Ash does. In fact, their best moments are their incredulous reactions to Ash, something that can’t happen if they’re not around him.
But it goes beyond that.
The story itself, after two solid season (which, for the record, I felt nonetheless stumbled in their conclusions), is starting to show its seams.
Ash is a blowhard idiot, a delight to watch stumble along yet somehow always get the upper hand over evil. But its becoming clear many of the show’s ancillary characters are simply cannon fodder, killed without much thought which makes you realize how capricious the story lines are. We present a new character, we kill them off, they come back evil, and are subsequently dispatched by Ash.
Ash, still standing, doesn’t seem to suffer so much as a scratch, even though he does get slapped around like one of the Three Stooges.
Thing is -and I realize I’m offering a “serious” critique on what is, at its heart, a purposely goofy show- why hasn’t the Evil simply gotten rid of Ash already?
I mean, he’s mortal.
If its too difficult (now anyway) to take over Ash’s body, why not simply have a spirit take over a human body, purchase a gun, stalk Ash, and when he least expects it, blow his brains out?
Instead, the Evil creatures are becoming tediously predictable in their actions, taking over their human hosts, showing off their ugly mugs (usually while screaming/cursing at Ash), then moving around and around, slapping -or worse- Ash before he gets a bead on them and takes them out with maximum gore-age.
I really liked seeing this for a while but now, after three movies and while in the third season of the Starz! show, its becoming… predictable.
Dull.
There are still five episodes to go in the third season and, intriguingly, in an article by Nathalie Caron over at SyFywire.com, she notes…
Bruce Campbell says “Ash is done” if Starz! cancels Ash vs The Evil Dead
The fact of the matter, it would appear, is that Starz! may well not renew the show after this season. Perhaps the costs are too high and the ratings no longer justify a continuation. Perhaps the principles in the show also recognize this particular creative endeavor is reaching its end-point.
Who knows.
But based on my current feelings regarding Ash vs The Evil Dead’s third season, I’ll repeat what I said before: The formula is starting to become too apparent and I’ve found myself far less impressed with this season versus the ones that came before.
Maybe it is time to lay poor Ash to rest, before he “jumps the shark”.
Channel Zero: No End House (2017) a (mildly) belated review
Currently in its third season, the Sy-Fy (its still hard to write it this way!) series of mini-series’ second “season”, consisting of the six episode No End House, had the following intriguing trailer…
Originally published on the creepypasta website and distributed over the web, Channel Zero takes some of the more popular short stories posted and makes them into these mini-series.
No End House concerns a group of late teens (out of high school, just into college) who hear about the “No-End House”, a horror themed home that appears in random places throughout the world and which one enters and encounters six scary rooms before exiting.
But… do you ever exit?!
We start with Margot Sleator (well played by Amy Forsyth) who has had a recent tragedy in her life. Her father (played by John Carroll Lynch, also quite good) recently died and she’s become something of a recluse, living in her home with her mother but, in the year since his death, not venturing out much.
Her best friend Jules (Aisha Dee, again, quite good) arrives in town after spending a year in college and re-connects with Margot. She tries to get Margot out of her depressive fog and the two venture out to a nightclub.
There, they meet up with old school friend J.D. (Seamus Patterson, also… well, all the actors are pretty damn good in this film) and acquaint themselves with Seth Marlowe (Jeff Ward).
While Margot originally doesn’t want to stay, she’s attracted to Seth and changes her mind. The foursome talk about all kinds of things, including the legend of the No End House, which is rumored to be stationed in their very town.
Few know exactly what No End House is about, other than the fact that it appears in random towns and those who enter it go through six scary rooms before emerging outside. The experiences are vague as each person apparently experiences a different thing.
The four head out of the club and find No End House and enter… and then things change.
I don’t want to give too much away here but suffice to say that entering the No End House is a hell of a lot easier than exiting it, and what one finds within is eerie and life-threatening.
The series is quite creepy, offering interesting revelations about the various characters before reaching its climax. Who is good and who is bad? What does one gain and what does one lose upon entering the No End House?
Further, the acting, as I stated above, is uniformly good while the cinematography, sound effects, and editing are top notch.
As for the writing, most of the questions one has regarding the No End House are answered by the end.
Most, not quite all.
Worse, while the series goes on for six approximately 45 minute long episodes (the extra 15 minutes were for commercials, of course), it felt at times the story was being dragged out longer than it should have been.
One of the bigger problems I had at the very end is that I’m left with no real answers as to what the No End House is, and that wound up bothering me perhaps more than it should have. Is it a force of good or evil or is it just “there”, corrupted by those who enter it?
In the end, I find myself in a very curious position. While I like almost everything about the series, by the end it felt like a) it went on longer than it should and b) the answers given/the story told were interesting but didn’t constitute a world-shattering product.
When all was said and done my reaction was: “Eh… it was ok” and that’s hardly a ringing endorsement.
Still, there is stuff here to like and I don’t want to give the impression the whole thing was a waste of time. Perhaps the problem lies in me and I was expecting more than I got and therefore was disappointed.
Still, it is what it is. No End House is a handsomely mounted, well-acted, and for the most part well written mini-series that nonetheless ends with more of a whimper than a bang.