Showing posts with label Television news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Television news. Show all posts

Friday, June 28, 2013

Worst Television Of 2012


I would like to first apologize for this being so late, I've had a slue of delays and I didn't wanna abandon the project unfinished, all seems sorted now, so I can finally finish this, yay me!

2012 In Review:

The Best And Worst
.... And Afew Things Inbetween

Part 4: Worst Of Television

Ok so we've finally come to the final leg of this, the worst of television from the year that was 2012 in television, sorry this took so long, just alot of stuff went on in between time and i had to go dig up stuff to make sure shows and movies i wanted were from 2012, and not like, the year before or this year, or some other crap. but anyway, here we go, right into the last straightaway with the pedal down, oh and be prepared this one is gonna get pretty sarcastic.

Alright, lets get to this... a'room'a zoom zoom!

Worst Television Series Of 2012

 American Horror Story: Asylum


Now, before you rip me to bits like rabid fanboys, let me explain my thoughts on this, I would like to first start out by stating i was one of the biggest voices cheering for the first season of this critically and audience loved series, it was brilliant and envelope pushing beyond what non-pay television here n the USA had seen in a long time. And with that said, like most, I happily and excitedly waited for its second year, and its new story to begin, with high hopes and excited mind, i wanted to see this amazing hive-mind of writers, who were able to sweep almost every award show that gave out awards for television the year before, take on the dark and twisted world that was 1960s mental asylums, with all the crooked doctors and nurses who didn't care, and all the crazy religious fanatics who believed they could cure mental illness through religion. The whole idea just seemed tailor made to let them run with. The problem was though, they let them run abit to wild with things, and what started out as an interesting story about a group of mentally ill people, a possible nazi war criminal hiding as a staff doctor, and a reporter trying to expose the mistreatment at the asylum, slowly became a bloated, overly complicated, and under producing story that just seemed to cram as many different sci fi/horror plots into one story, in a sense, stuffing the story until it burst at the seems, it was just to much for one season, it wasn't for lack of trying, it just seemed to get away from the writers and, well, by the time they realized it, it was to late, it had all gone horribly wrong and the crazy train was so far off the rails not even Ozzy Ozborn could have gotten it back to where its supposed to be. Lets hope next year's story "American Horror Story: Coven" makes up for this mess, else this might be the next Heroes, by which i mean a show with a brilliant first season and then it takes the slow slip and slide ride to horrible tv junction.

Worst Drama Of 2012

 The Mob Doctor


I don't really think this one was much of a surprise for anyone, I ripped this steaming pile apart when I saw the pilot, touting it as the next Lone Star, meaning a series that on the surface looks awesome, but on a second look, you notice that its so flawed its painful, and has atleast one character that their whole reason for being in the show is to remind you of the premiss every single time they open their mouth. Its just painful to watch and so very hard to stomach honestly. I understand that complex shows sometimes need a character to remind you of whats what and who's who, and all of that, but honestly, this just had the plot beat into you every chance, ok we get it, she's a doctor that has to work for the mob though she doesn't want too, ok we get it, thank you, continue with your story, assuming you have a story, if not, just shut your fucking mouth and not let things get to far. Stuff like this just proves that for the few good episodes they had, that we need to kind of come back to the old days of anthology type tv shows, maybe as a means of creating a pilot for a spin off series and testing it before it goes to production? Seriously, we need to get back to stuff like that, because if they were to run this as part, it'd maybe be a 5 part series, then it would be done. The story just wasn't there to keep this thing interesting, or worst getting invested in.

Worst Comedy Of 2012

The Mindy Project



I know there might be some flack for this one, but, I just don't get it. I didn't find Mindy Kaling funny on The Office, and I don't find her funny in this, where she's doing some weird mix of her character from the office and every female lead in every romantic comedy ever made. Seriously, i just don't get it. People are all "oh this show is funny" and i'm all "no, its not, one or two funny lines per half hour does not make a show funny, it makes it lazy." but to each their own i guess. Kaling plays a rather dumb and annoyingly spacey doctor in her late 20s, in what seriously sounds like it was a rejected pitch to a Renee Zellwiger project that help her cling to the last bits of her non-Bridget Jones related fame, plus her cast is just plain annoying, they're all snotty uppity dickheads who think they're all that there is in life or have their heads up their asses, its just plain annoying, and when they try to change things up, by either doing something actually funny, or attempting to show off that Mindy Kaling is moderately attractive, it just ends up failing epically in what looks like it should have been an outtake every single time. Seriously, I just don't get it, maybe there is something funny there, but i'm not seeing it.

Worst Animated Series Of 2012

Allen Gregory


Hollywood, are you listening? Good, get this through your heads, JONAH HILL IS NOT FUNNY, oh sure, he can play a second or third stringer in a funny movie, or even a moderately funny film, but on his own, he's the worst, he makes David Spade and Norm McDonald seem funny. Yes, I just said that. Seriously this series was just horrible, and all involved should be burned at the stake... thats all.

Worst Sci Fi Series Of 2012

Merlin


Oh, how i have been waiting for this trainwreck to slide just far enough over the line from "So bad its funny" and tumble into "just totally utter shit" as it falls off the cliff into the shit abyss of disrepair and depression. And in its final season, it finally happened. Now before i get to far into it, i'd like to state this show has always been a tad shit. but it wasn't the kind of shit that was just painful to watch, it was campy and goofball written to seem like serious sci fi, it never had a chance, it was historically inaccurate to the point it was painful, and it was almost comical how they made King Arthur, one of the most important fictional characters of all time, and made him nothing more then a really really stupid self absorbed spoiled rich kid that has utterly no clue whats going on around him. Both of these things became painfully evident in the final season, as well as the show's lack of creativity to create proper villains, it was constantly Merlin, Arthur and Co. against Morgana Pendragon, Arthur's banished sister, whom they never mention is his sister after the third season. It just got so painful in the end, like how the show basically forgets its ban on magic in Camalot, which is the whole reason why Merlin is nothing more then a manservant in this version of the tale, or the fact that for a guy who's ment to hate magic, Arthur sure as hell goes running to his people that he knows know how to use it, and yet, is willing to have outsiders of his inner circle that use it put to death. Its just full of giant plotholes... seriously, this show started out as camp filler till Doctor Who aired, and just became total and utter crap by its end. I wouldn't even bother watching it till the end, because the ending is just utter shit as well. Seriously, just go watch something else instead.

Worst New Show Of 2012

Outcasts


Oh boy, oh boy! If you ever wanted a guide on how to NOT write a sci fi mystery set on another world, this would be it, this trainwreck had just enough shit factor to force out The Fades as the worst possible new series from 2012, and as you all know, with my love of sci fi, its painful to give a bad review to anything of that genre, well not Merlin, because it really really sucked dead donkey balls, but everything else, whole other story. As for the plot of Outcasts, its a vaguely told mixture of a space opera, a western, a murder mystery, political drama, and just enough of a hot welsh girl named Fleur welshing about to keep you from falling asleep each episode, ok well almost, you'll still nod off at some points. As for the story, its sort of hack and slashed together from various other sci fi series and films, humans out among the stars in a post earth world, living on a harsh planet that might have a lifeforce of its own and just might not want us living on it, clones that were banished to the outlands during a paranoia agent spreading rampant among a population, said clones become sort of like native americans, or any other people that are one with the land. the whole time they're trying to find supplies and waiting for more settlers, with harsh weather and political and social mysteries afoot. Oh and apparently, humans had been on the planet they're on before millions of years ago or something... honestly I stopped caring about this awhile ago...

Worst "One And Done" Series Of 2012
AKA "So Glad It Didn't Last Long"

The Fades


On paper, The Fades sounded like a great idea, the story of angels dealing with rogue ghosts here on earth using super powers and whatever, again, it sounded good ON PAPER, in creation and execution however, not so much, not so much indeed. You start out meeting Paul, an awkward depressed child who really only has one friend, and through a series of events, you discover that Paul, literally comes back from the dead, and is infact, an angel, though in this series angels are protrayed like Shinigami or Soul Reapers or a Redeemer of sorts, dealing with what they call "Fades", which are ghosts that have been on earth for long periods of time, simply because they don't know what their unfinished business is. Along Paul's journey, which he takes with his annoying best friend who talks in pop culture references, mostly star wars ones apparently, and his eventual girlfriend Jay, Paul discovers he's not alone with these powers, he eventually meets Neil, who explains that Paul, like him, is what is called an "angelic", and that its their job to deal with the fades. Neil is a horrible waste of life really, a scotish drunk who spends his time either forcing and manipulating others to do things his way, or if he's not doing that, he's beating up, pullling a gun on, or kidnapping and torturing those he calls his friends. Seriously, Neil is a prick. Anyway, the story parts that aren't about Neil's douchebaggery, are about how the Fades have discovered if they eat the flesh of z recently dead being, they once again are given flesh. Its a really complicated and really stupid story honestly, is so full of holes it sad, its almost like they decided telling the story of Neil's dickery was more important then the concept of the story, seriously it was shit. I was seriously expecting more a guy that wrote the bulk of such great shows like Skins, Shameless, Cast Offs, and both This Is England '86 and '88.

The Sophomore Flop

Smash


I know, alot of you right now are saying to yourselves "But BC, you love Glee, how can you hate the show thats basically Glee for the more adult viewers? Its just not possible!" well sadly, those people saying such things, either didn't watch the trainwreck that was the second season of Smash, or they just enjoy when something brilliant, becomes something utterly pointless, boring and just drifting by on its one time success. See, Smash, season 1, was excellent, it was brilliant and wonderful and it had only enough Angelica Houstin that you didn't spend time wondering what the hell happened to her between The Aadams Family movies and here, but season 2, when it wasn't trying to literally unwork everything done in season 1, or trying to force two new and utterly bland characters with their vague and confusing half assed musicial on you, all the show did was spin its wheels and have everyone cat fight. Seriously, this show was such a great, fresh, new idea for NBC, but now, they ruined it, as they do with most things that become hits for them, its truly a shame, because they really had the start of something here, but now we'll never know just how far they'd have gone with it, will we?


Ok well thats it for my best/worst of last year, sorry again for this one being so late, but, real life duties called and i couldn't put them aside, i've got a backlog of stuff to get put up soon, so expect more posts from me in the near future... so, until then, blessid be.

--- 


BC

Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Reality Shock 10/30/2011

The Reality Shock 2.0:
Issue #3: ..Like A God Fire Phoenix I Rise..

Welcome back once again my dear friends to the show that never truly ends, mostly because whenever I feel I've had enough, somehow, someway, sometimes through funky ass shit that happens every single day, and sometimes by means of afew loyal followers (by which I mean mostly my friend Ashley) reminding me that its been so very long sense I've sat down and wrote out one of my much beloved sermons of truth and blunt honesty. I have to admit, I had a feeling I might not be so good at this after about a year or so break, but I'm surprised to discover that not only am I feeling the energy flowing like I used too, but I'm feeling like everything is old times all over again, which is really pretty good, cuz they were good times, atleast I thought they were, but hey I could be wrong. I do know one thing though, after a year off, and the 6 prior years of writing this soliloquy of serendipity, I still have no real clue how to write a proper opening paragraph. Amazing how somethings never change no matter how long of a gap you have to bridge isn't it?

Alright, with that out of the way, lets get down to it, shall we? And away we go... A'room'a'zoom'zoom!!

So the first things first, I wanna address a movie that a lot of people have been asking me my opinion on, now, I do get asked about many things still all this time after letting my pulpit of truth fade into obscurity, and sense I've brought this out of retirement, I figure I'll answer one of the most recent and most persistent questions I've been getting, and that is, being the big Shakespeare fan that I am, what is it I think of the upcoming movie Anonymous”, where in we are expected to believe that the great bard himself, William Shakespeare, was infact a fraud, a sort of Milli Vanili of his time, with the real writer of his work being The Earl Of Oxford, who believes that his writing deserves to be shared, but feels if he were to present it himself, it would only be heralded because of his status, instead of the actual talent. Now, though I understand the logic of that sort of theory, there has never been anything supporting this theory other then the theory itself, which though often debated over the last 30 or so years sense it was first put forward, there has never really, to my knowledge, never really been anything to support it, other then the original idea itself, which though a fun debate among classic literature lovers of the world, has never really been much more then that, a fun debate, until now. Now, as for my ideas and beliefs on this, though I will more then likely find the film to be a well acted, well written, beautiful bit of briefly controversial film, I believe it will be nothing more then just that, a film of fictional record, I've always been of the belief that Shakespeare is, as he always will be, one of the greatest writers of all time, maybe I'm too stuck in my ways, but I just can't believe one of the greatest dreamers that never quit dreaming, was basically Cyrano De Bergerac with out the giant penis nose, and played for the whole world to love, not just one woman. Its just not possible. But I am sure the film will be great though, and I look forward to seeing it.

Speaking of period based films, Ukrainian goddess Milla Jovovich, who normally is one of the most easy going and friendly people in the acting world, taken it upon herself to call out the film studio releasing her recent action/adventure steampunk like revision of The Three Musketeers, for their lack of proper advertizing of the film. Saying its ment to be more of a family friendly action adventure instead of a balls to the wall action film thats not for all ages. She has been taking to every media she can to state this. Some might find it in bad taste that an actor is speaking badly of the studio in the promotion for the film, but infact, going by what many critics are saying, she has a point, and this isn't a case of a star trying to incite bad blood between them and the studio, much like Richard Dreyfus did when he called out both Oliver Stone and Lionsgate films for not “hitting hard enough and making the world feel bad for George W. Bush” in the film “W” the George W. Bush biopic where Dreyfus played Vice President Dick Chaney, Milla simply wishes to show that her film is being mistreated by the studio, and she's just trying to save the film from ruin. What makes this case sad is, the film did bomb here in the states, though it did well everywhere else, and the studio is trying to make it out like Milla's questioning of their way of promoting the film is why it bombed, because they felt letting her promote the film with such an attitude, would be bad for them, which really is a shame, because the film is actually really good. It also looks bad on Milla Jovovich, who, in all honesty is possibly one of the nicest, respectful, friendliest of all the famous person I've ever come across, seriously she answers every single twitter, facebook comment, direct message, facebook PM, sent by every single fan, as long as its not lude or insulting or disrespectful ofcourse, she even goes out of her way to bring us all into her daily life, posting pictures of her kids and husband and her doing the silliest and cutest things, or video or pictures from the set of whatever film she's working on, and talking about how she loves sharing it all with the world as she does. Making someone that nice and caring to her fans look bad really just makes the studio look like shit, specially sense she was right.

Speaking of Milla's level of interaction with her fans, in my year off, I've discovered Twitter with alittle trail and error, learned that its not the waistland of endless self whoring like I figured it would be, infact I've discovered that many a famous person who's on twitter is a lot like Milla, taking the time to interact with their fans as much as possible, it kind of amazes me really, sure most of them are from outside of the United States, but still, the point remains, fame is fame, and here in America, its unheard of for a star to personally interact with their fans via social media, sure you get ones like Ashton Kutcher who doesn't so much interact with the fans so much as preach to them and preside over them, or Courtney Love who doesn't so much interact, so much as post drunken pictures of herself mostly naked or wearing something skimpy, but there is really no attempt to interact with the fans like they're people. I was amazed at the idea of this, and I figured sense as I writing this, I was having a conversation about this very thing with my charity case homeboy Mojo, I would share it all with you as well. And after a small amount of twitter and facebook stalkery as well as fumbling through my half wrong attempts at other languages, i've gathered that other then each country's super huge high end megastars, most famous people the world over, are very nice and respectful and friendly, as long as you are the same to them. When I talk about this, I always mention Lauren Socha, BAFTA winner for best supporting actress for her role as Kelly Bailey on the amazingly good sci fi dramedy Misfits, who literally lets her fans into every single part of her daily life, often sending pictures of herself and her family and friends, or her dog out to the masses, as well as often putting on her webcam via twitter and talking with the fans for hours, often with her friends, cast mates, her family, at random times during her day, sometimes even while sitting in bed when she can't sleep, she's covered up respectfully before you pervs get the wrong idea, she always answers questions about the show, what she's doing, what her brother who is going to be a semi regular on the next series of Being Human is doing, afew times even asked for fans to sell her a car, and offering to send a weekend afternoon having lunch and watching football (soccer to us americans) with anyone in Derbyshire who could get a good friend of hers who had been fired a job, even giving out her mobile number afew times for the fans, even promoting her show by stating if she can, she'll be live tweeting and using her cam to interact with fans during each episode of the upcoming series of misfits. That kind of full access is completely unheard of here.

There are a lot of others who are just as interactive with the fanbase the world over, I just use Lauren as an example because I find myself laughing at how far into her life she tries to integrate her fans to make everyone feel like they truly know her. Steve Pizzati of the now canceled Top Gear Australia is the same way, though his mostly involves him posting videos of him driving high end supercars around exotic racetracks stuff, which is great, but just rubs salt in the wound of people like me, who actually liked the aussie version of Top Gear and wish they'd keep making it, oddly, the loss of the russian version of Top Gear, which I also enjoyed, doesn't sting as much. Ah well, thats how it goes in life I guess.

By the way, if anyone who hasn't yet, and would like to follow me on twitter, you can at @ThisBrokenMind which some of you might take as me poking some fun at the fact most people think I'm crazy, but its actually shortened from the line “I am trapped here in this broken mind, and all I can ask is just be kind, to me.” a line some of you might know from the Molly Venter song “Good Mother” about watching her other slowly lose her sanity and memories as she got old. Speaking of Twitter accounts to follow, you all should give my friend Rose a follow as well at @EloquentParrot she mostly drops stone cold bits of truth about UK current affairs shows and provides hilariously truthful and blunt commentary on the UK version of The X-Factor, but its still rather entertaining, plus she can totally use the followers. Anyone else I know with a twitter account, don't get upset I'm not ignoring your accounts, I just haven't gotten your permission to plug yours, out of respect I won't do that kind of thing without y'alls permission or knowledge.

Now that I've mentioned it, all of you who are wondering what I think of the American version of The X-Factor, don't worry I plan on getting to it in length in abit, I just have afew other other things I'd like to mention before hand, so stay tuned faithful readers... or you know, skip down if you wish, it'll be there either way if you wait and read the rest of just jump then read back.. or if you go and make a sammich then come back and read the rest. Damn its 3:45am why am I craving a sammich?

Anyway, on to other things...

I'd like to give you all a heads up on an upcoming little known and little talked about film called “Chronicle”, which I'm betting could be the next District 9 type of sleeper. By which I mean people will dismiss as looking brilliant and having a brilliant concept, but they'll wait till it comes to dvd/blu ray/on demand to watch it, then they'll kick themselves for not shelling out the cash for theaters because of how amazing and wonderful the film is. Chronicle, is the story of three Portland Oregon based teenagers, who while recording themselves goofing about in the woods outside of town, are all exposed to a mysterious chemical they happen across, and as they go around their days videoing themselves as teenagers tend to do incase something is oddly youtube worthy, they start to develop superpowers given to them by the chemicals in the woods, the film goes from lazy loser teenagers mucking about with a handicam, to the story of three teenagers working together to train themselves in how to use their new found powers, and how they slowly start to turn on each other as well. The film is shot like Cloverfield, meaning first person view, so you feel you're right there in the middle of everything, a style that most seem to dislike for some reason, but I personally love to death, because of the surreality of how it puts you in the scene, while breaking the 4th wall, with out really breaking the 4th wall. Look for it February 3rd of 2012.

Why are people making such a big deal out of the suit for Catwoman in the upcoming Batman: The Dark Knight Rises? Yes it looks like a generic sneaking suit with knee boots, but do you people not realize, that Catwoman never started out to be a master thief? The character of Selena Kyle was originally a hooker who wanted a certain necklace so bad she decided to steal it from a high end jewelery store, and she discovered in the process, she had a nack for theft, and thats how Catwoman was born, she didn't start out in the more commonly known and perfectly named leather catsuit, infact if you look into the comics, she didn't wear the trademark catsuit until AFTER the 1960s Batman tv show that starred Adam West decided to make the character into the definition of female supervillain sexy, infact Catwoman wasn't even that major of a villain until that show made her as such, and also, female villains weren't really written as sexy and flirty toward others until that show put the idea forward as well. So everyone bitching that the Catwoman suit that we've all seen on set pictures of so far looks cheap and unimaginative, remember, not every character starts out in the suit we all know of them in, but by the end, they end up in them, so shut up and wait to see what happens, you'll get to see Anne Hathoway in skin tight leather and Emma Peel sized knee boots soon enough.... perverts.

So before we continue, I have to eat abit of humble pie, which for those interested, tastes abit like Shepard's Pie, but the kind with carrots in it, not the awesome kind with corn, peas and bacon. Also, if I offended you by not referencing the type of shepard's pie you're used too, oh well, it literally changes from town to town and region to region all over america and the united kingdom, even if its a traditional united kingdom dish. Anyway... I have to eat some humble pie, because as many of you are aware, I've many times stated I refused to go anywhere near the scripted original programing produced by MTV, no I don't just mean the “reality” shows that are totally scripted, or their “documentaries” I mean the actual scripted programing, after they ruined their chance to make a daring ambitious take on UK cult series Skins, and that horrible horrible attempt at making 1980s cult crapfest Teen Wolf, which according to Kayla Patterson ripped off Twilight 20 years before Twilight was published, because everyone knows Stephanie Meyer created werewolves and vampires, into girlwank fodder for Team Jacob, and after their much hyped The Hard Times Of R.J Burger fell flat of the target, and countless other attempts I'm probably forgetting thanks to expensive therapy, I must admit, after all of that, MTV has actually put out afew quality programs, three infact, which I feel are in need of mention; Death Valley, which is basically Cops, but set in a town over run with zombies, oh sure you'd think the idea would get tired rather quickly, but amazingly it doesn't, but then again, honestly, who doesn't love killing zombies? Another actual hit they have is the show Awkward, which is basically the tv version of the amazing but overlooked movie Easy A, both of which seemed overlooked by most, but truly are enjoyable. And ofcourse, the biggest highlight I have to mention, infact if I don't my friend Ashley will hang me from a tree and toss rocks at me, is ofcourse the relauch of Beavis and Butthead, which thankfully, didn't show its age, nor did it cross the line to straight up pandering to bring back fans, their relaunch had no frog baseball, nor did it have Cornholeo roaming about, it just established them back where they belonged, mocking music videos (and now reality shows too) and pop culture in general. I can't believe I'm about to say this but, good job MTV, you're officially now ahead of NBC and CBS in my “get out of the television shithouse” program.

You know, when I did my skit with the cast of Jersey Shore when I was hosing the prime time emmy awards, we had to constantly change the script, not to make if funnier, but because those wacky macaroni rascals couldn't pronounce certain words. Serious, I'm not kidding, if you saw my skit with them, I played a mafia liaison, but because none of them could say the word “liaison”, we changed it to they would simply refer to me as The Godmother... I know it made it abit trite to some, but god bless those guidos, they tried as hard as they could, they just couldn't say that word to save their lives.... not even that little orange one that looks like a cabbage patch kid...” - Jane Lynch of the hit series Glee on her dealings with the cast of Jersey Shore.

Lindsey Lohan working in a morgue is the most hilarious thing I've ever had the privilege of picturing in my head, whichever judge in LA made that happen, I thank you. I thank you hardcore. I thank him almost as much as I thank the person who thought the idea of the show H8R, where Z-List famous people spend a day trying to convince someone that called them names on the internet they're good people... shame it got canceled three episodes in.

Some movies you all should check out if you haven't yet; Rubber; the story of a tire that lives in the outer area of Lancaster California, is named Robert and one day, not only becomes self aware and alive, but also discovers that it has an unyielding need to kill as it rolls across the California sands heading toward LA, and somewhere along the way stops to watch a lot of classic car tv shows, movies and classic nascar. Attack The Block; a British attempt at a ghetto vs. aliens film, which starts off abit silly and kind of dumb, but after the first 15 minutes picks up and becomes one of the most delightful films I've seen in the whole humans vs. aliens genre in a long time, plus it helped me get the bad taste of the film Skyline out of my memory, which was a much needed scrubbing, plus there is talks of making a tv series based on it, which I could honestly see working, not for long, but maybe a 6 episode run with as much of the original cast as I can.

Some Television you all should check out; The Fades; a story of humans with angelic powers who fight to prevent the end of the world brought about the undead, its perfect Halloween time watching. Bedlem; a UK series about a mental hospital being turned into an apartment complex, its losely based on the former Danvers Mental Institution, one of the most horrific places in america, that was turned into a high end apartment complex. Once Upon A Time; a rather interesting and dark twist on fairy tales set in smalltown Maine. A little side note about The Fades, if you saw the rather well made and delightfully trashy Stanley Park pilot from BBC last year, and you're as clever as me, you'll notice the neighborhood where they do the exterior shots of one of the character's homes, is the exact same neighborhood where that pilot was shot.

You know, I will admit, after much shock and teasing by every woman I know for the fact I didn't know Zachary Quinto, one of my favorite actors of the modern era is totally gay till he came out of the closet last week, I will say this, after seeing his Halloween costume he posted on his twitter, I would have known. Seriously, if you've not seen him dressed as “new york city's fireworks on july 4th” go hit up his twitter (giggity), seriously its the most hilariously gay thing ever, Check it out once you stop laughing at the fact I said “hit up his twitter” in a serious tone and with a straight face.

Everyone keeps telling me I should love Terra Nova, its got everything one could want; dinosaurs, adventure, that guy from Avatar everyone thinks is a good actor for some reason.. but I just can't fully get into it, I just keep looking at it and thinking of things they did wrong, like not bringing back proper building materials and equipment, or proper scientists who have actual knowledge of dinosaurs and what would be found in a world like that, or how they seem to have no issue at all destroying an entire other timeline that they know nothing at all of, because, you know, fuck those guys and their reality, no one cares about them, they can go to the shitty deny's on the other side of town from now on. All of it just adds up to me having a giant question mark and the word “Hmm..” over my head about the show. Also, I'm not that impressed with what will probably be the final season of House so far either.

I don't really care what anyone says, I'm super excited about the upcoming new movie starring The Muppets, plus I seriously love the spoof trailers, Epic. Now if I could only get someone to look at my Fraggle Rock movie script....

I know a lot of you are wondering about this, so I'll put all your wondering to rest, YES I am super excited about The Avengers the more set photos and clips I see, I love that they aren't really putting much info out there other then that they're united to fight against Loki and his trickery. I'm also rather excited that word has come down that all the ties that bind these recent marvel movies together leading up to The Avengers, will continue to bind them all together after they come together, plus word that Avengers 2 will have a different cast but cameos by the current ones, I seriously can't wait. Seriously though, Marvel Studios, buy back the rights to Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, and all the stray little kittens that are out there split among other studios, you need a full shared film universe, not just half of it. Plus, the marvel universe isn't the same without Peter Parker swinging around NYC, or mentions of Reed Richards inventing things, or the mention of mutants and the x-men in general, or even The Punisher and DareDevil running about the city working overtime, fighting crime, fighting crime. Plus with marvel putting out statements they feel their movies are chapters in movie sized comic books, and plan on using them as such, and that they wish to tell key storylines on the big screen, the awesome sauce is just amazing right now. So excited.

I might get flack for this, but, I would watch an entire episode of The Cleveland Show where you follow Cleveland Brown Jr. around all day just seeing what his day is like.

Alrighty, so as promised, once I finished everything else I had to say this week, I would spread forth my thoughts on the American take on the UK megahit series The X-Factor. And though I had thought of maybe just ignoring it and maybe writing about something else, like, how I hate there are 8 tv shows on tv about cake making at the moment, or 4 about midgets, or how I think its stupid the Hillsborough County Prison, where we keep pedophiles and child porn cases in my section of New Hampshire, is right on the highway, but also right across the street from a mini-golf/ice cream and burger stand, or something like that instead. But because I'm a people pleaser, I have to give the people what they want, me commenting on the rookie year of the American version of The X-Factor, and thus, because its what the people want, its what the people shall get, so lets get into it, before I start rambling about how awesome local television personality Fritz Weatherby is, which will mean nothing to all of you cuz you don't have a clue who he is... so.. lets get down into this...

Ok so, some of you might be amazed to discover, that I do not actually have any prior experience with The X-Factor, I always figured it was the same thing as American Idol, seeing as they have the same roots, assuming that, I figured there no reason to really pay attention to anything but the winner each year, after all one can only really put up with so much Simon Cowell in their life before you realize you wanna stab every douchebag in a tight dark teeshirt a haircut they stole from Richard Dean Anderson after his awesome kentucky waterfalls mullet phase, who thinks because they discovered 5ive and S Club 7 they're somehow entitled to be jerks to everyone.

I was amazed though, that though both concepts are alike, they are different in many key ways, and on theory alone, I'd actually give X-Factor an edge over the idol machine, I never liked the idea of Idol having an age limit, thats just moronic, because a music dream doesn't end at 30, and if you think it does, you're an idiot and no one cares what you think anyway you stupid Justin Bieber fan. I like that in X-Factor you have someone working with the contestants, molding them, instead of just tossing them out there on their own and expecting them to wing it, then tossing a winner out there expecting them to fly or fall on their faces, you have someone thats a go too thats in the business and can help you along if needs be, that should, assuming the mentor knows what they're doing, make for a better act by the time its over and done. I also like the sudden death aspect of X-Factor better, it allows for us to cut through all the dragging out of quarter and semi finals, though I do feel the build up rounds are abit much, you've gotta literally sing like 8 times before you make it to live tv tapings, and even at that point you can get cut one final time before it gets to the voting. That seems abit high pressure, but I guess that fits the idea of the show. I also rather like that they include groups and hip hop, I felt this gives you an all in one show vs. the many failed spin offs of the genre where they'd try to find group or rapper on their own and just failed miserably do to the lopsided ratio of shit talent picked to fill slots in a show of this nature vs. actual talent.

I only have three major issues with The X-Factor, and really two of them are more personal nitpickery instead of actual issues. My first issue, though it might sound abit narrow minded, is the lower end of the age spectrum, now I'm not saying there aren't talented young kids who could be out there putting the game on its head and making that big figga skrilla, but a lot of them at like 12 to 14 or so, aren't mentally or emotionally ready for what they'll have to deal with, plus, I just don't see how giving a not raving review of the work of someone that young could make the judges look like anything but an asshole, seriously who isn't gonna boo someone for telling a 12 year old kid they tanked a performance and then tell them the critical feedback they need to make it better? Most kids that age group, those watching live, and the viewers aren't gonna hear the important feedback to make it better that they'll be given, they'll just see a judge telling a little kid they fail at singing a certain song. No one wants to be THAT asshole, even if its important to their growth as an artist, it just looks mean. Unless that kid is Justin Bieber, then hate him all you like, specially now that its legal in most cities in the UK to hunt Bieber with a crossbow from Midnight to 6am. My other issues, as I stated are more nitpickery, I do not feel just because the judges felt the need to make two groups, to round out the groups category, that those two groups, which really aren't that good, should be pushed along to live shows simply because it seems the judges refuse to admit they might have been wrong, seriously, if you've not seen the show check on the website, they're “Lakoda Rayne” and “inTENcity”; one is a country pop girl group thats name sounds like a porn star and they all dress like slores, and the other is a random mash up of 10 not exactly talented kids that sound like a theme park show, its painful to watch. My last bit of nitpickery is in the choice of former Pussycat Doll and lover of wearing dresses so short and tight one most carefully sit down in them or they split in self destructive zones, Nicole Shrerzinger, as a judge. Ok I get it, she's hot, and not everyone is gonna wanna perv at cougartastic and completely insane Paula Abdul, but the problem is, even though she looks good in a tight slore suit, and apparently can sing moderately well, she doesn't really have the knowledge base of various genres of music or artists to properly work with the group she was given to work with, the over 30 group. It seems like a mistake to me, and that sucks because some of the over 30s could win the whole thing, infact I think the three that are left as of the top 12, have strong chances to win it all, with very few that I can see giving them a run.

Which leads me to my next point of interest, the actual talent of the show. Now, I have to admit, I see what the other critics have been saying about the show being a case of how many talented sob stories can you cram into one show, but Idol falls into that trope too, so I can let it go, but, also, unlike Idol, the talent that makes it through, thanks to the crowd, is infact very talented, not so/so with hopes of them growing in the Hollywood rounds, if you don't bring the very best, you don't have a chance in hell. As for the actual talent in general, they've got some great voices, and some I feel are just there because they're more of a package or a stage show, then a voice. Recent elimination and possibly the saddest of the sob stories and James Brown sound-alike, Dexter Haygood, for example, was more of a stage show then a singer, that doesn't make him any less talented then the others, but it makes it harder to showcase him, his unique but talented voice, and the stage show that a man who sounds like him would need, in a show of this nature, he's more of a go see them live singer then a listen to them on the radio singer, where in contrast, you have someone like LeRoy Bell, a man who was part of the short lived late 1970s soul group Bell and James, has written songs for Elton John, as well as played with Sir Elton as well as B.B King and many others, who when you listen to his voice, you just sit in wonder of how a man with such an amazing voice and such an ear for music, could have been overlooked for as long as he has been. But LeRoy is all voice and no real show, as a contrast to Dexter. Seriously, its mind-boggling, look him up.

There are other amazing talents as well that I feel have a chance at the crown, south Florida's contender for new latin diva Melanie Amaro, and lifetime original movie Stacy Francis, who will show down for the most powerful of the female voices, both have a chance at taking the whole thing if they keep with themselves on track. Other stand outs with a chance to actually make it to the winner's circle include; Rachel Crow, the youngest, and by far the most entertaining of the finalists, she might be more suited to be the likes of being an acting/singer double punch for a company like Disney that makes its own child stars then sets them loose in the wild after they grow up, but its ok, she's awesome. Other possible winners are Josh Krajcik, a guy who, when not trying to look like me, but sing astoundingly better then I wish I ever could, is normally making burritos at a shopping mall eatery. Josh's voice is amazing and has such a soulful sound to it, it just amazes me that this guy never went past the singing in bars stage of music. Another is rapper Chris Rene, who, not only is one of the most uplifting and positive stories in the competition, also set the internet on fire with his audition song, an original rap called “Young Homie”, which even had my mother, who is by no means a hip hop lover singing along and standing up and cheering by its end. As well as posibly the dark horse in this race, young soul singer Marcus Canty, who sounds like a soul singer straight out of the early 1990s, before R&B became bald idiots like Usher taking their shirts off and showing their abs more then about singing, plus, Marcus has the right to claim he sang right to a visibly turned on by his actions Rihanna, who was assisting judge LA Reid with selecting his final four, gotta put a guy who can use his voice to visibly get one of the world's most sought after women hot in the pants for him, in contention for the crown.

Fun Fact I found out this week; You might not know the name Shuki Levi, but if you were a child, or had a child between 1983 and now, you have heard his voice, or music he's composed, Shuki started out in the early 1980s as a failed pop singer, who was asked by Kenner toys to write and preform the theme songs as well as product the in show music for cartoons based on their biggest toy properties at the time; M.A.S.K and Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors, Levi wrote and recorded all the music for both series, even the themes, both of which most 1980s pop culture historians claim to be among the best themes of the era, from there Levi became in demand, creating themes and music for everything from Disney's Gummi Bears, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or if you're in the UK Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles) to every single adaption of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Levi still puts out albums of his own music from time to time, though most critics find it odd that a guy that made an artform out of writing a theme to a cartoon or a show where people in spandex and motorcycle helmets do parkour to defeat people in foam rubber suits while pyrotechnics go off wildly behind them, can suck at making actual music for the masses. … And thats a fun fact, that I learned this week, and felt the need to share with you, because after all, knowledge is power, and knowing is half the battle, and knowing makes you, a superstar.

Songs I'm feeling this week: “Lucky” Katie Kole, “A Change Is A Coming” LeRoy Bell, “Dominion Road” The Mutton Birds, “Love The Way You Lie” Meghan Tonjes, “Empire State Of Mind” Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, “Shipping Up To Boston” The Dropkick Murphys, “White Trash Beautiful” Everlast, “The Transformers” Lion, “Creepshow” Kerli,“Tessie” The Dropkick Murphys, “Joline” Queen Adreena, “Feel This” Porsah Laine, “Companion To A King” Mieka Pauley, “Into The Mystic” Jason Isbell, “Self Destructive Zones” Drive By Truckers, “Sticks That Make Thunder” Steeldrivers, “Kabuki” by Aloan, “Window pain” Opeth, “Over The Hills And Far Away” Nightwish, “Akhasmak Ah” Nancy Ajram,
The Longest Road” Morgan Page and Lizze (various remixes), “From The Delta To The Golden Gates” Barbra Blue.

And thats where I'm gonna finish ride thats so wild that Mr. Toad wishes his name was involved in it, even though I've no idea why I made a Wind In the Willows reference in this day and age, with so little giving a crap about it because it doesn't involve vampires or werewolves, but for now, as I always do, I shall end it with some random thoughts, to dazzle, amaze, annoying, and bewilder you all... so.. here we go...

I seriously do not care for 98% of reality tv. At what point did the world decide Nickleback still deserves radio play? And on Canadian rock bands, why haven't Big Sugar or The Tragically Hip get the love they deserve instead? I'm thinking about giving afew followers of mine alittle segment where they give me a list of music they're listening to whenever I get around to writing this each time, kind of an interactive thing. I really feel glad I sat down and wrote this out, I forgot how much I missed it. The reason I was away so long is because nothing really interesting happened in entertainment, it was all just reality tv show “star” bullshit, and well I just don't give a fuck who Kim Kardashian's giant ass is married too now, people who are famous because they sucked the neverwas brother of a has been pop singer from the 90s off on video, really shouldn't be “famous”, thats just how I see it I guess. I'm so happy Haven's getting a third season, my life needs more Emily Rose in it. I'm getting really tired of all these Paranormal shows out there on tv, seriously, I don't care if Donny Most from Happy Days had an encounter with a ghost, because more then likely, that ghost was the ghost of his career, its been dead sense 1984 after all. American Horror Story is a lot like Marchlands, but instead of Alex Kingston hotting things up when it gets boring, you have Dylan McDermitt with out pants on, somehow that doesn't really seem like a great trade off to me. Speaking of Alex Kingston, if you haven't seen her short “River Song: My Story” from the final episode of Doctor Who Confidential, you have too, its a wonderful and beautiful thing. I'm so excited Misfits comes back tonight!!! Also, seriously I'm getting tired of waiting for the new Being Human series to start. Speaking of Being Human, I'd love a shirt that says “Team Annie” mostly because, well, Annie's awesome. And finally, one last thing I wish you all to remember, and take with you always, “Akhasmak, aah. Aseebak, la. Wi gowah ilroah hatifdhal habeebi illi ana bah-waah. Bahibbak, aah. Wa afarkak, la.” Remember it always, for its how I feel for all of my fans who love what I write, thank you all so very much.

And that is where I shall end it for this installment my fellow Indigo Children, so until next whenst we meet, I wish you all good times and blessid be your souls.


BC


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Good Bye Sarah Jane Smith




Saying Good Bye To A Sci Fi Legend:
Elisabeth Slader Of Doctor Who Fame
Passes Away Of Cancer at Age 63.

I've never hidden the fact that I grew up a fan of the british sci fi series Doctor Who, i've always been rather vocal about my fanship, my likes, my dislikes, all of that fun stuff. I can remember sitting on the floor of the living room on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons watching the reruns of the classic series on both PBS stations in the area, Boston's fabled WGBH channel 2 and New Hampshire's WENH (More commonly called NHPTV), both aired two episodes per day on the weekends, back to back, at different times, and always different ones, so I got a rather good amount of Who in my life growing up, which really isn't all that surprising, given how many people I know that claim my personality is an almost exact copy of The Doctor himself.

Anyway I'm writing about this because of some rather sad news that came down the news line today, the passing of Elisabeth Sladen, known to the world better as Sarah Jane Smith, one of the most beloved characters in the series, and the one to appear the most next to fan favorite Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), who, sadly, also passed away not long ago as well. Sarah Jane also was the first character to break off and expand the Who Universe, being the star of the failed spin off K-9 and Company, where she and K-9 would have went around their small town in the countryside of England solving mysteries, possibly with a van. She was also one of the few members of the cast of the original show to make it into the relaunched series in 2005, appearing in a handful of episodes as well as her own spin off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, which this time around lasted four years before Elisabeth's death effectively canceled the program, how this will addressed, if at all, no one really is sure.

Though to say she'll be missed is an understatement as many who fans will tell you, most of us had our first exposure to Doctor Who during the three and a half years of Elisabeth's first run on the show, working with the two that most old fans argue over being the best to play the role of The Doctor, first working with John Pertwee and his successor, Tom Baker, the man most credit with taking Doctor Who from being a british sci fi series into the international cult series that its become, most people will tell you their first memories of Who involved Sarah Jane and K-9 to some degree, fortifying herself into Nerd Lore forever, where she shall forever stay. Because thats the joy of nerd lore, you're never forgotten.

So like many, I will be mourning the loss of one of the best loved sci fi characters of all time... Rest in peace Elisabeth, you've long sense earned it.

---

BC

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Our First Look At The US Remake Of Shameless

So bouncing about the net today, I happened across a link to Showtime's Youtube page, they normally use it for boring things like letting that woman that created Weeds talk about each episode, which would be fine if she didn't look like Julia Louie Dreyfus and Bruce Velanche's love child, but today, they decided to give us all a treat, the very first preview of the much debated american remake of the monster british hit series Shameless.

For those of you that don't know what Shameless is, shame on you for being under that rock you live under! And also shame on you for probably also watching Jay Leno. But anyway, Shameless is the story of the Galligar family, headed by Frank Gallagher, possibly one of the best written characters in British television, its the story of him, his children and the people around them as they live their lives in a fictional estate outside of Manchester (england, england, across the atlantic sea), in its seven or so series on the air, its evolved from a simple dark comedy about life for the lower class, into a wildly funny, sometimes dark and dramatic commentary on life, the large expanded cast are just as important and interesting as the main characters, its kind of like if The Simpsons was live action and weren't scared to take on dramatic situations to balance out the goofball and make it seem realistic. If you haven't seen it, you really should its so very good. Also, if you go through my archive and look through my "Telelvision Shows Everyone Should See" lists, its on there.

So I'm sure you can all understand that when you have a show of this caliber, acclaim, respect and cult status, when word comes around that its going to be remade for another country, instead of just importing it, there will be a giant uproar demanding it be kept as it should be, or not made at all. After all, fans are rabid beyond belief. Seriously, every fanbase is rabid beyond logic no matter what, don't believe me? Go find a fan forum for The Magic Roundabout and look how rabid they get... go on, I dare you. Or if you're to scared to do that, go piss off the 6 people that liked the British version of The Office and see what happens, and don't let them tell you "Hot Love On The Hot Love Highway" makes the show redeemable, thats commie talk.

Anyway, before I say anything else, here is the trailer...



Now, lets get the obvious out of the way, there is almost no way to compare it fairly to the original material, yes, its set in Chicago's Cabrini Green amidst all the urban renewal, which is as close as you're gonna get to a British estate here in the states, we don't have low rent homes, we have housing projects that are all apartments, so they've done the best that can there, its not a huge issue, but I know its one the fans will bitch about, simply because fans bitch about everything. Secondly, William H. Macy is probably the perfect choice for the american version of Frank, if you aren't aware of just how awesome William H. Macy is, go watch Pleasentville, and then go watch Mystery Men to punish yourself for not ever seeing Pleasentville and also for doubting how great an actor William H. Macy is. He'll do an incredible job as Frank, though I have to admit, I miss the original character's thick accent, with it being Chicago I was kind of hoping for either a thick Chicago accent or an Irish one given the city's large Irish population, but no problems really. The rest of the cast seems pretty well suited, I was kind of pissed off Ellen Paige passed on being Fiona, I felt she would have made a better one, but we shall see. I am abit leery as to why late on in the first series that horribly bland girl that plays the horribly bland Bella in the horribly offensive to the world Twilight films will be showing up, but I guess as long as the rest of the cast keeps their caliber of acting up, I won't really care all that much.

So on a whole, I'm alot less iffy on this version of the series, I'm optimistic, I'm not willing to deem it the next All In The Family or anything, but I'm feeling less sickly about it then I was before.

So, fans, thoughts?

-----

BC

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Jay Leno can go to hell...

There isn't a corner of the world that hasn't heard about the recently war ignited over the late night talk show genre here in America, everyone's taking sides and expressing opinions on the matter, because, well when something of this nature happens, apparently more obscure people of note have an opinion on it then have an opinion on Michael Jackson's death. So with all of these former, forgotten and faux celebrities come out of the woodwork to express their ideas on the matter, and while my inbox is getting bombed with emails asking my opinion, I figured its time to finally break my silence and say what I think, after all, this is the internet and well, thats what its for, people to bitch about things they have no control over as if their opinions matter... well that and porn. Anyway, put on your protective gear cuz this is gonna look like an abattoir by the time I'm done.... Ready? here goes..

FUCK JAY LENO

No, I mean it, is this 2010 or have we traveled back in time to 1990 somehow? Has no one learned from the last time this happened? Does no one remember when Johnny Carson retired, and Jay bitched, wined and schemed till he got his way back then too, honestly, how many people have forgotten that Johnny's first choice for replacement was then Late Night host David Letterman, and NOT Tonight Show fill in host Jay Leno? Oh yes, how often we forget the past in the entertainment business, and ironically, as its always been said, those who forget the past, are doomed to repeat it. And guess what? We are repeating it, right now, and whats worse is, it looks like changes are, it'll end the exact same way as it did 20 years ago, which ofcourse means that NO ONE has learned a lesson from this. And honestly, that just depresses the hell out of me.

For those that don't know about the late night wars of the early 1990s, let me give you a short recap, legendary Tonight Show host Johnny Carson decided after somewhere in the area of 30 years or something, it was time to take his final bow, he felt he had run his course and that it was time to pass the torch to a younger generation of comedian to allow his show to grow and continue, Johnny's original choice was the man who's show followed his on the late night roster, former weatherman turned comedian David Letterman, he felt that Letterman had the right edge, the right feel, and was ready to take the big chair on the longest running highest rated late night talk show of all time, there was only one problem, Tonight Show fill in host, failed actor and failed comedian Jay Leno, who for some reason felt that because he was back up, he deserved the job, even though ratings on nights Leno hosted would drop a moderately noticeable amount. Carson tried to talk some sense into Jay, explaining that it was time for a younger generation to take over his show, and just as Jack Parr had passed the torch to Carson, whom he deemed to be the perfect man for the job, that it was Carson's right, and his duty to give the iconic talk show over to who he felt was the correct person to lead it into the future, Carson felt Letterman was the man to rest that responsibility on the shoulders of. Leno ofcourse decided to take a fit over this, because lets face it, Jay Leno is just a bitchy child who takes tantrums until he gets what he wants, which could be why Jay never really got anywhere in real hollywood, he was a supporting actor in like two films, and at this point had also been dropped by Doritos as their spokesperson all because people refused to work with him anymore given his annoyingly bad "I'm better then you're treating me" attitude, so against the wishes of the great Johnny Carson, Jay protests with the network to allow him to take over the show, in the press its made out that the struggle for power as an executive at NBC who, like many before and after, ignorantly said Leno was the right choice and painted Letterman out to be the one taking a fit. Letterman claims it to be untrue, and scathed the network in his monologues, Jay gets his way, and is named the host of the tonight show, and Letterman heads off to CBS where he crushes Leno in the ratings, proving that NBC picked the wrong choice, and the great Johnny Carson, as the professional that he is, kept silent and gracefully retired to play golf and enjoy watching the new generation of comedians grow and become what he saw in them when he'd featured them on his show. Ever the professional and not wishing to give anyone ill will, Johnny never publicly spoke of the late night wars, though his final appearance on television being on David Letterman's show, delivering a Top Ten list, as well as the fact Johnny stated not long before he died that he would send Letterman jokes to use and gave him permission to use his old sketches, firmly states where the now late king of late night's allegiance lay. Johnny Carson picked Letterman, the fans picked Letterman, the critics picked Letterman, but NBC picked Jay Leno. NBC were morons, their only good move in the whole debuckle was to name then Simpsons' writer Conan O'Brien as the replacement of David Letterman as the host of Late Night, though as we all know, that will eventually come to bite them in the ass.

So now, we fast forward to 2009 and after announcing afew years before that he was going to retire from his ill gotten place as the host of what was, until he took over, the crown jewel of late night programing, Jay Leno finally says he is stepping down. Jay announces he will pass the reigns to Late Night host Conan O'Brien, a man that many praise the same way that Letterman was praised, and has been called the future of late night comedy, ironically, Jay did what Johnny had tried to do, Conan names Saturday Night Live has been Jimmy Fallon as his replacement on Late Night, and moves himself, his family, and his whole crew to Los Angeles, reuniting with former sidekick Andy Ritchor, and spends the summer months preparing for the take over, Leno finishes out his run, and unlike when Johnny retired years ago, there is no fanfare or hype made about Leno's final show hosting the tonight show, there are no major guests, there are no tributes, there is no Bet Middler with her giant chest squeezed into a little black dress singing Wind Beneath My Wings to Jay while he bawls in joy and sadness that his time is over, nothing, Jay's final show goes unnoticed by anyone that didn't know it was the final one. Which honestly speaks volumes in itself I think.

Over that summer though, while Conan prepped for realizing his childhood dream, the dream that every comedian dreams for, to host the iconic Tonight Show, the show that been the starting point for so many different comedians, and sent so many on to to become superstars, Jay had other plans. Jay decided somewhere a long the way, that he didn't want to step down, because, apparently, he learned nothing from Johnny Carson's talk with him about knowing when the end is at hand, and that its time to pass the torch. jay starts to wine and cry and throw tantrums again, much as he had in the early 1990s, using the same backstabbing, underhanded tactics, and though they will not give him back The Tonight Show, NBC gives Jay the 10pm slot every weeknight, to allow him to basically retire from the tonight show so he can host the tonight show, but on earlier and called "The Jay Leno Show", The Jay Leno Show debuts to what we in the business call "curiosity ratings" meaning they are high out of curiosity, not because people want to see the show, after its first two weeks, The Jay Leno show tanks in the ratings, and NBC, like the morons they are, continue to back the wrong horse in this race, claiming the first two weeks ratings are average instead of looking at the sliding decline that they have been doing after that peak. Conan's Tonight Show debuts to mad rave reviews and continues Conan's unique offbeat humor and his love of obscure, lesser known music acts from a very broad range of genres, and comedians blended with star power that made his version of The Late Show such a hit, he also brings back old sketches and bits from his time before reunited sidekick Andy Ritchor left the show years before, much to the delight of the fans.

But sadly, with Jay on at 10pm and basically doing the same show as The Tonight Show, Conan's ratings aren't the blockbuster NBC wishes they were, and instead of looking at the real problem, which is ofcourse Jay Leno, his stale comedy and his ego, NBC points blame at Conan, who privately damns the network and Jay for what they've done, and how it seems like Leno is trying to ruin his career just to get the spotlight back, but professionally says very little, and does not point fingers, because unlike Jay, Conan is a respectable professional, who will not dispresect another to get ahead until he had no other choice or is forced to do so. At this point Jay's ratings become even lower, and the show is bombarded with lawsuits from every major comedian, even Howard Stern who blasts the show for stealing their NFL preview bit that involves former NFL player turned commentator Terry Bradshaw and a chicken, Stern and his lawyers send video tape from Howard's old program to both NBC and The Jay Leno Show, proving they ripped off the bit, which does not go over well with the network who discover that its true, Jay's been stealing jokes, as the ratings sink more, and less and less stars wish to go on Jay's new show, in January of 2010, 7 months after this whole horrible mystery ride began, NBC decides its time to pull the plug on The Jay Leno show, they rush series to fill the 10pm slot weekly into production and state that after their coverage of the Olympics, there will be some shake ups with the network.

Thus takes us to where we are now, Jay Leno, unwilling to give up the spotlight to a younger, funnier, critically loved and beloved by fans comedian, who rightly deserves the job, and NBC stuck with their thumbs in their asses on what to do about it all, Jay refuses to do the right thing and retire, even threatening to leave for another network many times in his monologues, and Conan pissed that he was only given 7 months to do the job he was promised and uprooted his entire life for, NBC makes an offer to give Leno 30 minutes each night, and Conan from midnight to 1am, pushing back Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan finally speaks out, and claims that he will not stand by and watch as an iconic and important series such as The Tonight Show is run into the ground and held captive by a washed up, broken down old failure of a comedian who can't let go of the spotlight, and that if they give Leno that timeslot, he will leave. Conan finally stands up for himself, his friends, and his fans who have supported him the whole way, and thus, the internet roared with joy for him. There are, at this time, no final choices made, there is no definitive answers to who is going, who is staying and where others are going, but one thing is clear, Jay Leno can go to hell.

Now don't get me wrong, I have no real ill will toward Jay other then in a professional sense, he does alot charity work, he does alot of benifits things like that, which is great, but as a professional, and as a comedian, I find him lacking, i find his professional attitude and how he does business deplorable, he's sneaky, underhanded and backstabbing, he thinks he is owed alot more then he is in this business, when infact, he is nothing more then a failure, he got the fill in host job because Johnny felt sorry for him, not because Johnny believed in him, and yet, he will not open his eyes to see that, because he doesn't understand that he isn't all he believes himself to be, he thinks he is bigger then the show, when infact, he is so very below it. I also find his comedy unfunny, he reminds me of those old parodied comedians working some backward hotel in the middle of nowhere, you know the kind that need a rimshot for every job and actually think "take my wife, please" is a funny punchline still. There is a reason that Leno stopped doing his stand up engagements at Foxwoods and other places like that, because he wasn't selling tickets, because no one finds him funny anymore, though to be truthful, not many ever really found him funny.

So if you can't tell by now, I'm rather "team conan" on this one, honestly, I find him funny, i find that he is willing to research and find just the right style of joke for just the right bit, and he hits a vain with just about every demographic he's aimed at, which really is what a comedian should do if they are in that place, or just winging it and making stuff up as he goes off random in a way that never seems to fail, Conan is the better choice, he is the better comedian, he is the better professional, and well, Jay Leno can go to hell.


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BC

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

New Doctor Who Series Trailer

Trailer for Matt Smith's first run as The Doctor



I still don't know about this guy, I don't, I mean sure, alot of it is because I'm a huge David Tennant fan, I mean like to the point alot of people i know say the character's personality and mine were almost identical, but still, I just don't know about this guy. Maybe its because I can't really find any of his work out there to compare to really, or, because I am just not ready to see the guy who has tied John Pertwee as my favorite actor to ever play the ironic role of The Doctor leave the show, I don't honestly know for sure. But there is just something I don't really get about this guy just yet, but to be fair, I was the same way when Tennant began, and sure, he was Jarvis Cooker in space with hot welsh and british girls, but still, he was awesome and beloved, and stepping into the shoes left by a man that the fans cried out to stay, really isn't gonna be easy. So I'm gonna give Matt a chance, I don't expect a brilliant thunderous cheer of joy and adulation, but, one never does know.

As for the trailer itself, it looks rather good, we know River Song will be back, and I guess someone on the writing staff felt the need to take the piss on the idea of the fans saying Matt Smith looks to much like Rob Paterson from Twilight, specially when paired with new sidekick Amy Pond who has a striking almost resemblance to Bella from Twilight as well, because there is a vampire episode, personally I find that hilarious that they'd poke fun at the fans with that, apparently there are more Daleks, but its Doctor Who, there has to be Daleks or it just doesn't work. Odd though, no sign of Jenny, The Doctor's Daughter (based losely on the character of Miranda Who, the character that Rose Tyler is also losely based on), I figured she'd show up next series, maybe do some traveling with her father, but I guess they don't wanna give everything away just yet, so there is hope still! But other then that, the trailer looks pretty alright, obviously there will be some fan nitpicking, but thats normal, so, really who knows what the future does hold? Maybe i'll be wrong about Matt not doing the role well.

But you know, i'll tell you this.. even if i don't love this series and Matt as The Doctor, I've been a fan sense i was 7 years old and wanted to be The Doctor just as long, so i'm gonna watch it no matter what. And I hope alot of the long time viewers will as well.


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BC

Friday, September 18, 2009

Sometimes TV Gets It Right

Earlier in the day, word came down from the TV Gods at ABC Family, that the network notorious for canceling excellent programing for no reason, has almost redeemed itself in my eyes after the unjustly canceling of The Middleman, today, word came down from the evil lair that is Disney/ABC's media headquarters, that the fledgling series based off the film that is the 1990s biggest cult juggernaut, 10 Things I Hate About You, will get a second season. Word was sent out stating that ABC Family intends to air the remaining 10 episodes of the first season in January 2010, much to the rejoice of many.

As anyone that read my review will tell you, I was among the masses ready to pan this series to the depths of hell for treading such sacred ground, but like many others, i was soon eating my words as I watched the series progress, and found myself loving it, and excitedly looking forward to the next episode. I am overjoyed it was allowed a second go round, and I hope it garners a third as well, my only real hopes for once they start to film season three, they do two things; 1) as I have said before, expand to an hour long program, because once you start to get settled into it, its over, I know less is more, but come on, it can handle the hour long format, and 2) Find a role for the great Julia Stiles, her role in the original film as Kat Stratford defined and jumpstarted her career, and most of us who came of age to the original film would love to see her appear as a teacher, or an aunt to the Stratford girls or someone that makes expanded cast appearances. Personally, I'm hoping they could write her in as a Teacher or Aunt, because I would LOVE to see Julia and her signature role's new owner Lindsey Shaw try to out Kat each other, would be hilarious.

Sometimes the TV does indeed get it right. Today is a good day.


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BC

Saturday, May 30, 2009

New Doctor Who cast is set now...

...and that new cast is, unknown Matt Smith replacing the exiting David Tennant as The Doctor, and also unknown Karen Gillian replacing, well replacing many in the fast few years that were seen as great companions to the man from Galifrey, who travels through time and space in a blue 1950s police box thats bigger on the inside then it is on the outside, putting things right that once went wrong and hoping that each time that the next leap will be the leap home....

Here are some images of the two who will take over the show in 2010...




I don't know, they still look abit too much like the stars of Twilight for me. Though I can't say much about the acting ability of either, with both having so little roles to their credit and those few things being very hard to find in the media gathering markets, so I can't really speculate on if they will be good in the roles or not, and I don't feel its right to really judge them on the way they look. After all I had hardly heard of anything David Tennant did before he took over the role of The Doctor, and after my knee jerk reaction to it, to which my friend Rose can attest too me having, I quickly found out Tennant was probably my second favorite to play the role, next to John Pertwee.

See, for those of you that don't know, I have abit of an affliction for the series Doctor Who, it was one of the few shows me and my father could enjoy together to the day he died, whatever difference we had, we'd put aside and watch an episode, or a marathon, or whatever was being aired on PBS at the time. As I grew up, still loving the show, it was pointed out by a close friend of mine, whom i call Rose, after Billie Piper's character of Rose Tyler, who she resembles in both personality and slightly physically, that I apparently in personality resemble the modern take of the character, most notably Tennant's version of him. Its been a source of comedy for her and I for years, so much so she at times called me The Doctor, no one else really gets it, and thats fine, I don't really care, but its always been a thing for me, it even lead me now and then get emails from Billie Piper herself, which is totally awesome.

I will stop rambling and say this, though i am uncertain of the show's future, I will state, both Matt Smith and Karen Gillian have their work cut out for them working out of their respective shadows, Matt is trying to step out of the shadow of the man alot of people say defined the role and made it fresh and new again, and Karen is stepping out of the shadows cast most notedly by Billie Piper and Catherine Tate, the two of the recent crop of companions who most feel were best in the role, and though they might not seem like a big deal, you have to remember, with out someone to travel with, the doctor is kind of a pointless god like being who just wanders about space trying to not effect anything, which really isn't that interesting.

I do see Matt Smith eventually rising to his own, or he'll be a quick switch, kind of like Chris Eccleston, who did very well in the role, but came off abit too street thug in the long run. As for Karen, well its always been harder for the companion to stand out on their own, given how many good ones their have been in the over 40 year history of the series.

I guess time will tell.

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BC

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Canceled US Television Shows for 2008-2009 Season

So with the fall 2008 to summer 2009 television season coming to an end here in the united states, I figured we could have us a look at what shows have bid their final cast call this year, some will be missed, some make alot of sense, some i wonder how they made it to tv in the first place.. So lets just right into it...

Canceled US Television Shows for the 2008 - 2009 Season


ABC


* According to Jim (Final episode airs June 2)
* Boston Legal
* Cupid (1 unaired episode)
* Dirty Sexy Money (Final 4 episodes air July 18-Aug. 8)
* Eli Stone (Final 4 episodes air June 20-July 11)
* Homeland Security USA (5 unaired episodes)
* In the Motherhood (3 episodes to air in June)
* Life on Mars
* Opportunity Knocks (6 unaired episodes)
* Pushing Daisies (Final 3 episodes air May 30-June 13, will continue as comic book)
* Samantha Who? (7 unaired episodes)
* The Unusuals (Final episode airs June 17)

My Thoughts:
Not alot of surprise here, but that doesn't mean afew don't make me mad, Eli Stone, Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies were amazingly well done and enjoyable shows that deserved alot more ratings and alot bigger of a push from the network then they got, for nothing else then to thank them from keeping their timeslots out of the toilet during the writer's strike last year. My biggest complaint is the canceling of Life On Mars, sure it was a remake of a great british program, and yes, the finished product is ALOT better then the pilot I saw over the summer last year, but still, everyone knows a crime drama takes atleast two seasons to get going, I guess everyone forgets that eh? The rest are aging sitcoms that should have been ended long before now, or rip off of Life On Mars cop shows.

CBS

* Eleventh Hour
* The Ex List (7 unaired episodes)
* Game Show in My Head (7 unaired episodes)
* Guiding Light (Last episode airs September 18)
* Harper's Island (Last episode airs July 11)
* Million Dollar Password (Final episode airs June 14)
* Swingtown
* The Unit
* Without a Trace
* Worst Week

My Thoughts:
There really are only two surprises on this list honestly, the canceling of the longest running television show in history, Guiding Light, now I'm not a fan of soaps really, granted now and then I'll watch one for the camp hilarity of stories about secret pregnancies, murder and rape thats forgotten like 5 months later, and people coming back from the dead with an eye patch, graying hair and a vendetta, but after 57 years on the air or something like that a tv show has earned the respect enough to just keep doing what it does. Plus I'm pretty sure its ratings are better then The Price Is Right, which really should get the axe, because really, there is nowhere in the country that stuff costs what they say it does, also Drew Carey's a douche. The other surprise for me is Swingtown. Now I've always loved well done period pieces, I find that it interesting how much details goes into those sort of shows, and sure, some might roll their eyes and lightly chuckle at the idea of a drama set in a small community in the late 1970s that has embraced the "swinger" lifestyle, but it was just so well done, and well acted, its just another case of CBS mishandling a great show, like they did with Jericho and how they passed on Babylon Fields. It almost makes me wonder if any show that doesn't have the following of the elderly or the letters C S or I in its title, they have no idea what to do with it. No other surprises really, they said from the start the Harper's Island was going to be a 13 part miniseries, plus i don't really know how they could keep it going given its premise anyway, shame though because its really good. The rest, I'm not really said to see go, afew aging dramas that were past their time and afew failed comedies. I guess I don't get my wish of no more Big Bang Theory or Gary Unmarried this year, stupid TV Cancellation Faeries never do come through for me, I need to stop doing assassinations for them, they never do come through.

The CW


* 13: Fear Is Real
* 4REAL (1 unaired episode)
* Easy Money (4 unaired episodes)
* Everybody Hates Chris
* The Game
* In Harm's Way (5 unaired episodes)
* Privileged
* Reaper (Final episode airs May 26)
* Stylista
* Valentine (4 unaired episodes)

My Thoughts:
My only real complaint here is Reaper, that show is just so brilliant and well acted, and just made of win. Reaper was canceled for lack of ratings, atleast thats the claim, though i could argue that a show thats only promoted around Halloween, given its premise and storyline, really never had a chance to begin with, but i can still be bitter. Thing is, in truth, Reaper wasn't canceled because of ratings, looking at this list and doing alittle research will tell you, all of The CW's comedy is on this list, which means they will be the first network to be with out any comedy programing at all, and instead plan on replacing them, the two dramas on that list and the one reality show, with more teenager aimed dramatic shlock, even a rip off of that horrible Twilight series is coming from them. A network with not comedy makes no sense, it sounds almost like they're aiming for ratings failure. Good luck staying at the bottom with your teenager aimed angst and turmoil ridden shows about pretty young people doing dumb things.

FOX

* Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? (Final episode airs in August)
* Do Not Disturb (3 unaired episodes)
* Don't Forget the Lyrics (Final episode airs June 19)
* Hole in the Wall (8 unaired episodes)
* MADtv
* Prison Break (Will be a Direct-to-DVD movie)
* Secret Millionaire
* Sit Down, Shut Up (8 unaired episodes, may air in Summer)
* TALKSHOW with Spike Feresten
* Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

My Thoughts:
So this is abit of a confusion, Fifth Grader and Lyrics were always a nice easy to make summer ratings win for FOX, I'm not sure why they'd feel the need to cancel that but I guess thats the way they wanna roll. Kind of a shock Secret Millionaire got killed honestly, you'd think any show that knocks rich people down a peg would be worth a second try. Even though I knew back in december that MadTV was off the air come June, it still kind of sad to me, the only show brave enough to take on Saturday Night Live, and actually be funnier and more current, for half the budget, getting the axe after 14 years is kind of a kick in the face. As for Terminator, they stated all along this would be the last part of the show more then likely, given with the movie Terminator Salvation being the end result of the series' future and all, and their thinking that sending back another terminator to change the past again would be abit not television friendly of an idea. The rest, meh, I don't really care enough about to bother caring.

MyNetworkTV

* Celebrity Exposé (several unaired episodes)
* Jail (Final episode airs July 14)
* Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed
* Masters of Illusion
* Street Patrol (Final episode airs August 4)
* The Tony Rock Project
* Under One Roof
* Vice Squad
* The World's Funniest Moments

My Thoughts:

Seriously, does anyone really care about this network? its closing its doors in June and gonna become a subscription service for indie channels, and really all those channels want is WWE Smackdown, which is infact the only show they're keeping.

NBC

* America's Toughest Jobs
* The Chopping Block (Final episodes air June 19-July 17)
* Deal or No Deal
* ER
* Howie Do It
* Kath & Kim
* Kings (Final episodes air June 13-July 25)
* Knight Rider
* Life
* Lipstick Jungle
* Medium (Moving to CBS)
* Momma's Boys
* My Name Is Earl
* My Own Worst Enemy
* Superstars of Dance

My Thoughts:
The canceling of My Name Is Earl is abit of a shocker, I mean most NBC sitcoms that make it 5 years always seem to make it far enough to go the distance, but i guess not this time. ER we all knew was ending, and we all knew Scrubs was moving networks, so those aren't much of a shock really, nore are the rest, they were all sub par programs that didn't do much as far as ratings go and were horrible as far as writing goes. The gameshows are abit of a surprise, but all networks cut their gameshows, so that makes sense they'd follow through. Plus Medium got picked up by CBS so, who knows. NBC's gonna have a huge problem anyway, they'll need programing once Jay Leno's new show tanks, and they need to fill those slots again. Good luck with that. Idiots.

Only other things getting canceled that I care about really are The Middleman and The Starter Wife. I do love the middleman ever so given its geektastic nature, as for The Starter Wife, I do love anything with Debra Messing in it, oh the horrors I would brave for that woman, among them actually watching Will and Grace.

Well thats that for now... check y'all soon

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BC