What if God was one of Oz?

When thinking about possible Halloween costumes, just remember sometimes simplicity is the best option.

So it is October and I haven't been on in a while so I thought I would bring back the Halloween theme profile and enjoy the month. New entries to come that will be awesomely Halloween themed.

Hung, a better review from someone who has seen couple of episodes

After True Blood last night I decided to watch HBO's new show Hung, which is sadly not a show about the slightly autistic Asian American Idol contestant turned international mockery, but about a guy with a big penis (love the high concept there. I should have sent that to IFC's podcast). It was slow moving in the first 20 minutes, so I wasn't very disappointed when I had to leave, cutting my television watching short. I knew I wanted to come back to it though because the pilot was directed by Alexander Payne and I love me some Alexander Payne ( ala Election). I ended up doing so and I liked the series. I was going to write a review on it for today, when I came across a better review (surprise, surprise) from AV Club. One of the major reasons why this is a better review is because the person who wrote it actually has seen the first 4 episodes, so when he gives you hope to keep watching, it has more grounding than my ramblings you could be reading right now.

Hung "Pilot"

by Todd VanDerWerff June 28, 2009

Hung debuts tonight on HBO at 9 p.m. CDT.

There’s maybe no TV creator better at charting America’s uneasy relationship with its money than Dmitry Lipkin. His shows almost always have over-obvious elements or brutally stereotypical characters, but they’re uniquely tuned in to the way Americans feel about the cash they do or don’t bring home. His The Riches, which lasted two seasons on FX, was yet another suburban satire, anchored by two great performances from Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver, and as a suburban satire, it was a little cliché. But as an examination of just how fake all of the money that piled up in the real estate bubble of the mid-aughts was and just how terrified everyone involved was to lose that money, it worked terrifically. Lipkin tried to push things too far toward broader, over-arching satire on that show, but on his new series, HBO’s Hung, he grounds his commentary on American society in a much more pressing economic reality – the long, seemingly empire-ending slide into bankruptcy we find ourselves in now.

Hung is set in Detroit, one of the ground zeroes of our economic catastrophe, and its opening shots feature a stadium being torn down, abandoned factories, utter desolation. These all play under a monologue from gym teacher-turned-manwhore Ray Drecker (don’t worry; this all comes up in the first five minutes … and the advertisements) about how the country his parents loved has turned into a cesspool. It’s the sort of pragmatic, ever-so-slightly self-centered economic conservatism (what’s up with all the taxes?, basically) that drove much of Tony Soprano’s rage at the emasculation of the American male (though Tony had other things driving his rage, granted), and it’s perfectly contextualized here as the driving force behind a man who seems to have lost himself from his storied youth. From there, Ray loses his house to a fire and his kids to his ex-wife, and as he slowly finds himself slipping farther and farther off the economic radar, he has to turn to desperate measures.

The best thing here, surprisingly, is Thomas Jane, one of those movie stars who never happened, now turning to TV parts. Jane’s low-key charisma never quite worked on the big screen, where current male lead parts require someone with a bit more spark, but as a TV everyman, he’s surprisingly charismatic, turning Ray’s every word and move into what feel like last-ditch options, the things someone would do when backed into a corner. Jane’s easy-going nature and the brutal sense of disappointment he projects as the character makes the idea that Ray would come to the idea of becoming a prostitute so easily work almost better than it should. Ray’s such a good-natured guy that you get the sense he thinks sharing his gift with the world is something he’d jump to fairly quickly.

Ray, you see, has a big penis. (And thank God I don’t have to write for an outlet that makes me write around the show’s central premise and the reason for its title.) And that big penis is known for giving women a good time in the sack, as evidenced by his ex-wife and a one-night stand who found him especially invigorating. When he goes to a session designed to help people pull themselves up by their bootstraps and is asked to find his special gift (or, as the seminar leader puts it, his “tool”), he realizes that the only thing he has going for him is that penis. So, of course, prostitution.

I realize as I write this that this all sounds a little too TV-y, so to speak. It’s definitely a high-ish concept, not as high concept as, like, Ray discovering he’s a secret sex robot or something, but also not so low concept as to never sell to a major network. Even if the idea of Ray becoming a prostitute is the necessary evil Lipkin must indulge in to get this show on the air, though, most things about his journey in the pilot are shot through with the kind of observational skill Lipkin brought to much of The Riches. That seminar Ray attends is one of the simultaneously saddest and funniest things I’ve seen on TV in a while, bouncing between the desperation of a bunch of people who’ve watched their dreams dry up, their absolutely awful ideas for how to pull themselves out of the holes they find themselves in and the genuine humor in those ideas. Ray’s friend and former sexual conquest Tanya , for example, wants to create a loaf of bread with poetry at its center (like a fortune cookie), and in the hands of character actress Jane Adams and from Lipkin’s script, this idea veers between funny and depressing so quickly that it almost sells the entire pilot.

Similarly, the first gigolo job Ray gets called out on ends unexpectedly, in a terrifically shot and edited little sequence where a hotel peephole becomes both another character and a silent commentator on the action. Alexander Payne, of Sideways and Election fame, directed the pilot, and his deceptively flat style is a good match for the desolation that surrounds Ray at every moment and the wry tone of the script. He also gets great performances from Jane and Adams, whose duo forms the central axis point the series will revolve around (without spoiling too much).

Hung is far from perfect, it should be said, just like The Riches was. In the pilot, at least, Ray’s ex-wife Jessica is played by Anne Heche at her Anne Heche-iest, though the script does her no favors by making Jessica the kind of emasculating witch that too many ex-wives on TV are. Lipkin gives Jessica some choice lines (“I’m only shallow because I CHOOSE to be!”), but the whole idea of the ex-wife who’s a constant, nagging premise at the edges of her ex-husband’s life is so lifeless and dull at this point, that I don’t need to ever see it again. There’s also stuff within the premise that feels a little too forced (like the idea of Ray living in a tent while he repairs his house that burned down), as though Lipkin wants to remind us at all times that we’re watching a comedy, not a drama with comedic elements. The music, in addition, is often a bit too twee, as if trying to remind us at all times to smile. And, yeah, the story in the pilot is a little shaggy, even if I liked the structure of how the pilot got Ray back to the point where he started the pilot.

But I’d recommend you start watching Hung. Like most HBO shows before it, it’s a bit of a slow builder, but it’s trying to chart out a very particular world. In this case, though, that world feels so immediate because it’s the world that you and I and everyone else in this country is living in right now. Hung has some rough edges, but at its center is a very good show.

And then Buffy actually staked Edward

As a fan of movie mash-ups, this one might move to the top of the list. It may even be higher than the Brokeback to the Future amazing mashing of greatest. Rebellious Pixels have created a mash-up of Twilight and Buffy in which Buffy brings to light all the crazy stalkerish and creepy things that apparently all of the starstruck teenage girls don't realize. What completes and makes this mash-up awesome is when Edward says "You're like my own personal brand of heroin", Buffy responds with "What are you, 12?". Not romantic Edward. Bella should have dusted you at that point.




Yea, yea, she sorta dusts Cedric Diggory, but really, doesn't matter. Too bad Edward doesn't get all wrinkly face, but that would ruin his prestige as a sparkly vampire...ha. I do have to admit that Twilight does have an awesome soundtrack. So question, if Buffy staked Edward, then does that mean no New Moon? We can only hope...wait a second. Did Edward Cullen just get hit by a taxi cab? There is a God!

Why do I let these things get me addicted?

I wanted to write an entry on the Real World/ Road Rules Challenge because every season I get sucked in and addiction prevails, but I was scrolling through Slate and one the writers did a great article on how she is also addicted to the show, along with ESPN's Bill Simmons who dedicated an entire podcast to MTV show.

The Real World/Road Rules ChallengeIt's been on for 17 seasons. Why I can't stop watching.

By Bonnie VaughanPosted Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at 9:26 AM ET

Real World/Road Rules ChallengeHere's a fun little wakeup call: The Real World/Road Rules Challenge is wrapping up its 17^th season tomorrow night. That's right, 17: still too young to drink but plenty old enough to drive. It's just one season behind the most durable reality challenge series, Survivor, and three ahead of Emmy magnet The Amazing Race. It shows up twice a year, as predictably as Memorial and Labor Day, and it's just been renewed for four more seasons.

It's also the only reality challenge series that never gets old. In a genre that has made a fetish of sticking to formula, the Real World/Road Rules Challenge freshens up the franchise every season. Even the title sequences change each time around—and for this season, The Duel 2, it's a doozy. In an homage to host country New Zealand, the contestants stomp and flail and grimace and flap their tongues in an excruciating approximation of the Maori dance known as the Haka. You want to look away … and you just can't.

Now I'm the first to admit it: I'm too old for this show. At least, I should be. It's about a bunch of self-absorbed twentysomethings, for heaven's sake—the spawn of an incestuous liaison between the absurdly tenacious (and increasingly sleazy) The Real World and its own spinoff, the now-defunct Road Rules. But by rolling a soap opera, a reality show, and a sports event into one energetic, artfully edited bundle, it transcends its tawdry origins. The sleeper hit of MTV, RW/RR: The Duel 2 has been winning its time slot among its 12-to-34 target demographic on cable and broadcast, with its audience growing season to season (unlike The Hills, which has seen its numbers drop).

Each season, around two dozen cast members from the two parent shows—equal numbers male and female—are jetted to an exotic locale and bunked up together in a Real World-style luxury pad. All the requisite reality TV stereotypes are present and accounted for, often in multiples: the psycho, the good guy, the gay, the lesbian, the bisexual, the minority, the meathead, the drunk, the asshole, the bitch, the sweetheart, the floozy—even the cancer survivor. The usual frat-house shenanigans ensue—everyone parties, vomits, fights, hooks up, and behaves as badly as humanly possible.

So far, so formulaic. The twist is that each morning, hangovers be damned, these players have to make the unlikely transformation from party animal to warrior. Each one is either a repeat player—a "veteran"—or drafted onto the show from the most recent Real World installment—a "rookie." Different themes are rotated from season to season—Battle of the Sexes, the Inferno, the Gauntlet, the Duel—each determining the mode of combat and team formats, which vary from men vs. women; "Good Guys" vs. "Bad Asses"; veterans vs. rookies; or, as in this season's The Duel 2, no teams at all. Players compete in a series of extreme challenges that result in elimination playoffs so brutal, they'd make an American Gladiator weep.

Elimination rules also get switched up season to season. (It gets confusing, but you quickly learn to just go with the flow.) These changes work to shake up the natural patterns of dominance—veterans ganging up on rookies, males picking off females, meatheads freezing out the gays. One game-changing maneuver was Season 12's Fresh Meat challenge, when veterans were forced to partner up with complete newcomers, throwing off alliance patterns carried over from previous challenges.

Each season RW/RR amps up the intensity of the challenges as well. For the first few years, the series had a distinct Survivor meets Fear Factor vibe—there was jousting on slippery poles, suspension in slop-filled tanks, wrestling with muddy pigs, puzzles. But somewhere along the way, RW/RR turned into the Thunderdome. Challenges began involving harnesses and helmets and ropes and straps and chains and platforms suspended hundreds of feet in the air—all of them requiring Herculean levels of endurance and fearlessness. The one-on-one elimination rounds became as fierce as MMA. Ankles get sprained, shoulders dislocated, kneecaps busted. One guy even got a hernia. But nothing stops these players—they pummel and kick and slam one another when they're in battle and connive, cheat, and backstab when they're not. All this for a $300,000 prize that gets split between maybe half a dozen people. It's deliciously barbaric.

To keep up with the game's constant evolution, veterans show up a little more enhanced each time. Guys who were merely built in previous challenges return as pumped as Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. The girls beef up too—breast implants are now practically de rigueur. They'd all be right at home in the WWE. (In fact, one former RW/RR player is—Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, from The Real World: Back to New York. He recently graduated from the ECW to Raw.) In 11 years, RW/RR has managed to create its very own monster breed of reality star.

RW/RR's hard-core arena-style athleticism hasn't gone unnoticed in the sports world. ESPN's Bill Simmons frequently writes and chats about RW/RR. He recently devoted the full hour of his B.S. Report podcast to deconstructing The Duel 2's first episode with ESPN producer Dave Jacoby, another die-hard RW/RR fan, ruminating on everything from the prowess of the players and the intensity of the challenges to the sheer size of the guys. "I really feel like The Duel II should replace the NHL as our fourth professional sport," Simmons declared. "It's more interesting, it's easier to follow, it gets higher ratings. … What are we waiting for?"

It's indisputable that the train-wreck factor is a huge part of RW/RR's appeal. These kids are Real World and Road Rules alumni. They're professional narcissists with rock-star attitudes, ready and willing to do anything it takes to stand out from the pack. They're A-listers in their own personal blockbuster movies, headliners in the Madison Square Gardens of their minds. Between seasons, many of them get hired as hosts on the party circuit. (Two cast members are already confirmed for StudentCity's Ultimate Spring Break Experience in 2010.) They all hang out together off-screen, and relationships of every stripe come and go. All that drama gets brought back into the game: Players drag all the grudges and hookups and betrayals and broken hearts that prevail in this incestuous, hermetically sealed little world right along with them into each new season.

Because you get to know everyone's foibles, you're given the luxury to form relationships with the characters and anticipate what's going to happen—that C.T. (the psycho) will get in a fight the very first night and get eliminated, again; that Paula (the floozy) will latch onto one of the alpha males; that Evan (the asshole) will screw somebody over to get ahead; that Evelyn (the lesbian) will keep getting voted into the elimination round and keep winning; and that Diem (the cancer survivor) will manage to coast on the sympathy vote but never quite make the final cut. Yet there's also always a new twist. The only predictable thing about the show is the way host T.J. Lavin praises players by saying "You killed it" in his skater-dude monotone, week in and week out. But I'd rather hear that than Survivor's "I'll go tally the votes" any day.

How can Bravo make Real Housewives of New Jersey better?

I had high hopes for Real Housewives of New Jersey. Big hair, big House, big Wallets I thought would be money for big drama, right. Well drama New Jersey has, but addictiveness and entertainment value comparable to its Real Housewife cousins it does not. So I thought to myself, what could make Real Housewives of New Jersey better? After acknowledging that scrounging up an entirely new cast was out of the question, I realized that the show really does have potential.
1. Find a Jill, Nene, or Vicki. I watched Real Housewives of New York to watch Jill mock everyone which made me laugh. I watched Real Housewives of Hotlanta to watch Nene insult everyone which made me laugh. I watched Real Housewives of the GOP to watch Vicki make a fool of herself while drunk which made me laugh. But no one, absolutely no one purposely makes me laugh on Real Housewives of New Jersey. Yea, Teresa's obsession with her mosquito bite bubbies is occasionally funny, but there is no comedic note to that show. There has to be some mafia welding Jill leaving amongst the gates of that gaudy community they live in.


2. Make the housewives less incestuous. Pretty much everyone on that show is related. I know that you were trying to go for the "mafia" family mentality, but really it isn't working. I watch Real Housewives for constant bitching amongst middle aged rich women, but there can't really be bitching when over half the cast is related.

3. Get rid of boring, spineless Jacqueline. First, she isn't funny. Second, she doesn't bring drama. Third, she can't stand up to her sisters-in- law. Fourth, she has no personality. The only reason why you have her is because you were expecting that she would bring drama because she is related to Caroline and Dina, but besties with Danielle. Yea, I understand that in most cases this would yield drama, but in the case of Jacqueline who can't even stand up to her 18 year old daughter, all you have is an empty space.

4. Keep Dina. Dina is the best part of that show. She doesn't care that what she says will hurt someone. She is always causing drama. And she is crazy, just like when she was on My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding. She always knows when to start things with other housewives. Her and Jill (NYC) and Nene (ATL) would have fun together.


We can only hope something great comes from the last supper.

I'm a Celebri-Wannabe... Please let me Stay!

Yea, I know, I haven't posted in a while but it is because I have been busy. Ya know, with appendix bursting issues and watching way too much reality television. Reality television like I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here. Oh this show is effing amazing. It isn't amazing because of an unique jungle setting (umm remember Survivor) or its new idea of having a collection of celebri-wannabes (wait a second, wasn't that the Surreal Life). It couldn't even come up with an original challenge idea (didn't there used to be a show where people ate disgusting bugs and testicles like every episode...FEAR FACTOR!). What makes I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here amazingly addictive is well, just watching it.


The cast!
Yes, the cast is diverse, actually known, and still wanting the attention and the publicity that being on a celeb-reality show will give. First there is Heidi and Spencer, whom I guess people are calling Spiedi now. Being too rich and famous for the show because you know, they are on the lucrative and critically acclaimed career maker called The Hills, Spiedi were on the show, then threatened to leave the show, then decided they would stay on the show, then left the show, oh and then spent the night in a cabin with like 2 spiders, and decided to come back to the show. Between being bipolar and talking to God, Spiedi have pretty much made the show. Sadly they left the show because Heidi had a stomach ache. They aren't the only ones though. There is Sanjaya who looks like he has smallpox which go nicely with his awesome mohawk, Janice Dickenson who looks like someone punched her in the face, Patty Blagojevich who actually tried to sell her spot but no one bothered to bid for it, Two Baldwins whom for years I just thought were the same person, John Sealy who I sorta remember playing basketball before becoming Tom Arnold's bitch, Lou Diamond Phillips who is actually still looking for his career (here's a clue, it's still in the 80's) and there are some other people too who don't really matter. Now put them in a jungle and let them tear labels off of dry shampoo and widdle trees!

The Ninth Cast Member
God. At times I feel like I am watching Jesus Camp, the movie that gave me nightmares for weeks. I have a question first. When did Stephen Baldwin become John the Baptist? Seriously, Stephen Baldwin baptized Spencer Pratt. If that doesn't make for a good television show then what does? (good writing, good acting, interesting plots, actual celebrities) Not only were there baptisms, but Heidi prayed her way through the spider-infested cabin and Spencer told about his life touching moment of praying for a double date with Miley Cyrus and it coming true. If only someone could mock them... like Janice Dickenson.


Blagoje-what?
I hate my life too, but seriously Patty, shut the fuck up about your husband. Wait, that is why you are on the show. To give sympathy for your husband. Well don't worry because Spencer has your back. He even said that as soon as the show is done he is going to go to Chicago and stage a rally and let everyone know the truth: that Rob Blagojevich actually offered him the senate seat but Spencer is just too rich and famous to be surrounded by those people in the senate. The Hills have seriously done wonders for his career as... I have no idea, the Hills never told me what Spencer does.


Sanjaya
One word--Crazy. He actually made a broom to sweep the dirt because the campsite was just so dirty. I would like to remind the body that the entire show takes place outside, in a jungle.

Besides over playing it (NBC is currently airing this show 5 nights a week and at times for 2 hours), I don't know what they could do to make this awesome concept better. I know, get rid of that dumb TRL host that no one remembered the name of because he wasn't Carson Daily.

Happy Earth Day- "The Power is Yours!"

"Looting and polluting is not the way. Hear what Captain Planet has to say!"

Yea Geordie....I mean LaVar Burton!

Shows You Aren't Watching, but Probably Should: Kings

Sometimes network television forgets to tell us about great new shows that they have been airing, other times we don't realize that these shows exist until they win an Emmy or our hip best friend tells us about their greatness. Couple shows come to mind like Arrested Development and Firefly, but Kings is think is a bit different. Major difference between those shows is that most people won't remember Kings once its inevitable cancellation occurs, like Firefly, and also its not going to last long enough to get nominated for an Emmy to save its demise, like Arrested Development.

What is Kings about? Well it is a revisionist story of the bible, yes a bible story, of David and King Saul. It takes place in a time where kingdoms still reign, like the main kingdom Gilboa, that resembles the US a lot, governed by King Silas. The story begins during Gilboa's war with Gath, which is kinda like the Iraq War. The storyline pretty much follows the David-Saul storyline with David, the main character, getting the attention of King Silas by taking down Goliath, not a giant but a tank. Then David is invited into King Silas' kingdom and becomes a military advisor.

What makes the show different from most on television right now is its style of writing and acting. Kings is written like it is for the stage. The acting a is a bit vorbose, but it is expecting for the other the top, but appropriate writing style. At times it seems as if you are watching a Shakespeare play and not an hour drama on a Sunday night. But as the show progresses, the writing style becomes less pretentious and more in line with the story in which the series is portraying. What adds to the uniqueness of the show is the acting, with Ian McShane, who made Deadwood into the great series that it was, as King Silas. Michael Green, the creator of Kings, even claimed that when he was writing the original draft of the series, he had McShane in mind for the role of King Silas the entire time.

The other reason why you should probably be watching Kings is because it won't be on the air much longer. Who knows if this is because of the unique writing style that tends to be a bit pretentious, or because NBC's lack of advertising. My current favorite is NBC's inability to keep Kings on a consistent night, first being on Sunday when it initially aired, then moving it to Saturday night, and now moving it to the Summer. This show will probably be forgotten once it is cancelled, but in the mean time, check it out. You might like it.

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Top Gear Season 10

Yes, I am reviewing Top Gear Season 10, or as they say across the pond Series 10. Since it is being realized today to the public for viewing on your television after you buy it at a lovely large retail chain, I wanted to admit that this season was pretty kick ass. Being one who watched many of the episodes because one Travis made me and also because I secretly was watching them on my own. What happened during Season 10? Well two of my fav Top Gear moments.

First we have motorhome racing. Being a child of parents who didn't realize they weren't 70 years old and dragged me around the country to motorhome rallies and taught me all about the differences between Newmar and Country Coach (yea, you don't knwo what that is), I appreciated this challenge. Richard Hammond figured that since most drivers use motorhomes as their vehicles transportation and then the drivers sleeping accommodations, life would be much easier for the driver if you just made a motorhome that could double as the accommodations and also the racecar. With this innovative idea, the guys then raced motorhomes, which really might sound like a great idea, but in the end, would a racecar driver really want to race a large home on wheels even if it does have a bathroom.

Of course, the second fav was the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment with David Tennent, I mean the Doctor, I mean the old doctor? Whatev, still lost to Billie Piper, aka Rose, aka the Doctors former companion, even if Billie cut the hammerhead corner in her episode. Maybe you should have worn a black see through top David. If only he had the TARDIS...wait a second!:

Suit It up for St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Ted and Barney!

If the Captain met the Doctor

Goodbye Amy

hmmmm...

that's all

"He's gonna leave, he's gonna leave!"

I love this effing commercial



I want to hang out with that kid. He is awesome.

Totally stolen from the Ausiello files but it had my fav Bryan Fuller talking about heroes...so yea:

Exclusive: Bryan Fuller's Rx for 'Heroes'

Dec 10, 2008, 06:17 PM | by Michael Ausiello

Categories: Heroes

Pushing Daisies fans will probably take a hit out on me for saying this, but something good has come out of the comedy's untimely death: It's freed up Bryan Fuller to rescue Heroes from the villain known as "What the Frak Have They Done to a Once-Great Show?!" In his first interview since rejoining the series as a consultant, the writer-producer-genius behind such acclaimed season 1 hours as "Company Man" reveals where it all went wrong, what it'll take to make it right, and who's gonna have to be sacrificed before that can happen.

AUSIELLO: Where did Heroes go wrong, in your opinion?
BRYAN FULLER: It became too dense and fell into certain sci-fi trappings. For instance, in the “Villains” arc, when you talk about formulas and catalysts, it takes the face off the drama. And I think the goal for everybody is to put a face back on the drama. You have to save something with a face; otherwise you don’t understand what you’re caring about. I thought the "Villains" arc started out very interestingly, and then became sort of muddy and dense and I couldn't get my hooks into the characters to understand their motivations. I also started to feel confused about what people's abilities were. One of the great things about the first season is that the metaphor for their abilities was very clear. Those metaphors seem to have gotten complicated in the past two seasons. I share that concern with everybody on the writing staff. It's not like I'm coming in and saying, "This is what you need to do to fix it!" Everybody knows what needs to be fixed and everybody is sort of rowing in that direction.

Your work starts with episode 19, yes?
Yes. I'm fortunate to be coming into a very exciting story line. [Former co-exec producers] Jeph [Loeb] and Jesse [Alexander], before they left the show, set so many great events in motion with the "Fugitives" arc [kicking off Feb. 2]. It really is a fresh start. All of the characters are back in their real lives. You see Peter as a paramedic. Claire is looking for colleges. We get away from the world of formulas and quasi-magic.

Are the "Fugitives" episodes leading up to 19 solid?
Yes. Episodes 14, 15 and 16 are amazing. The whole "Fugitives" arc starts out very strongly, and then it gets a little dense in the middle in terms of the mythology. So I came in right at the point where everybody was realizing, "Oh, we're getting too dense here and we need to put faces on stories because there is no face to a formula; there is no face to saving the world." So it's turning this big ship back into a character stream, and everyone on the writing staff shares that desire. We need to get back into a character place, because that's where this story started: Very clean, superhero metaphors to everyday life. That's the path that we're taking. But it is a big ship so it's going to take a little while to turn it.

Any plans to trim the sprawling cast?
People will die. And some will return. Matt’s wife [Janice] comes back. We’ll find out what happens when you have a superbaby. We're also going to tell fewer stories per episode. We're going to limit it to three or four with one big one that you can wrap the stories around. We're altering the structure of the show so that there's a very clear A story that takes up a larger percentage of the show so that that story gets traction.

Are you looking at Season 4 as a complete reboot of the series?
It's not necessarily a reboot as much as it is going back to the basic spirit of the show and pulling people back in. I don't think the issues with the show have been about the serialization as much as about the density of the stories that have been serialized.

Will you be part of the show next season?
That's the idea.

Will the recent behind-the-scenes changes at NBC impact the show at all?
It's really hard to imagine Heroes without [Universal Media Studios president] Katherine Pope, because she has been such a proponent of the show. She was so instrumental in [setting] the tone and style of the show in the first season. She is as vital a piece as any of the players on the show at this moment. Her contribution can't be undervalued. It'll be very interesting to see how things shake out.

What's your working relationship with series creator Tim Kring been like since returning?
It's actually been very positive.

Who gets final say: you or Tim?
Tim. I’m a consultant. My job is to help facilitate the vision of the show, and the vision has been a little inconsistent. But “Fugitives” is such a great sea change. I think people who have been critical of Heroes will come back.

I guess I will come back now

...wait, Obama did too

Slate compares Obama's influence on the character of Matt Santos during the final season of The West Wing. The similarities are weirdly acurate. We can just hope that Obama doesn't offer McCain Secretary of State.

Election Day Jitters, Josh Lyman Style

True Blood: Taking vampire staking one step further

Insanity:



...possibly too far. Whatever happened to the innocent, non-death implying "dustings" Buffy taught us about so well. Is it really necessary to have all the blood come pouring out of his mouth dousing Sookie like she is in some sort of water bondage video. Then his skin and other undead parts come unraveling down and gather messily up on the floor. Really, was all of that needed to show that Bill killed his own kind? Apparent vampire deaths are disgusting in the True Blood universe, unlike Buffy's de-humaning of vampires, because every time a vampire's 'dead' body is found, the reactions on the characters' faces is quite disturbing.

Anyways, vampire death by a vampire means that we get to see a vampire tribunal next week. The previews for the next episode made it totally look like the beginning of The Warriors, so we can only hope for an assassination of the lead vampire, saving Bill, making him have to escape all the other vampires as he tries to get back to Coney Island, I mean Bon Temps, LA.

Any big Halloween plans?

"Oh, you know, the usual: slapping on my sexy nurse duds and rolling tweeners for their chocolate."

Nooo David Tennant, NOOO!

Upon hearing David Tennant's announcement that he will be done as the 10th incarnation of the Doctor after these forthcoming four specials for this year, I cried, yelled, and cried again. Apparently he had already decided going into the role in 2005 that he was only going to do it for three years. Three years? Three years for the Doctor? Seriously. You are considered one of the top actors in British television and you felt it was only suitable stay in the role for three years? I understand that you don't want to be typecasted or whatever other stupid reasons for leaving the show, but you don't understand the necessary reasons for you to stay on the television series. Here are my reasons why you, David Tennant, should rethink this stupid decision to leave Doctor Who:

1. You are my favorite Doctor. This was a hard decision for me of course. You cannot make these decisions lightly. Really, it was down between you and Tom Baker, the fourth doctor, and you. I always like Tom Baker's awesome scarf, but your sassy sense of humor totally beat him out. Besides, your incarnation's knowledge of pop culture totally won me over.

2. You made Geek Chic awesome again. Who can pull off a better skinny suit than you?

3. The Doctor can only regenerate 12 times. That means he only has two more shots at it, which also means you, David Tennant, are making the possibility of Doctor Who lasting longer than Top Gear, a slim possibility. Only three more people can become the Doctor. Maybe those people will stick around longer than three years.

4. As much as a love Doctor Who, I totally get confused whenever a regeneration occurs. I am already used to one face, character, incarnation, and then I have to suddenly get used to another face, character, incarnation. This is hard work. Super hard work. Not only will I have to get used to another Doctor, but most likely another companion, unless you pick up one in these specials that you are using as a nice gesture for your early departure.

5. I have to wait an entire year until they introduce the next Doctor, so during all of these specials I am just going to keep thinking that you are going to die or something bad is going to happen (which I guess death is also bad too, but I couldn't think of any other examples). I am also going to be thinking who the next Doctor is going to be, and then when they announce who the next Doctor is, I will just start imagining them in the role, instead of you. How does that make you feel?

David Tennant, you have made me sad.

Countdown to BSG Return

Sci Fi Channel's Press Release from last week concerning the return of Battlestar Galactica:

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA RETURNS ON SCI FI
JOURNEY’S END DRAWS NEAR FOR ACCLAIMED SERIES

Final Episodes to Begin January 16, 2009

New York, NY – October 16, 2008 – On Friday, January 16, 2009 at 10PM ET/PT, SCI FI’s critically acclaimed drama series Battlestar Galactica will return with the remaining episodes of its 4th and final season. The 10-week run will culminate with the series finale on March 20th.

Picking up from last June’s jarring cliffhanger – the Colonial fleet and their new Cylon allies led by Admiral Adama and the Galactica crew discover Earth to find it a barren nuclear wasteland – the finale season promises to be rife with drama, action and revelation.

Battlestar Galactica is the gripping saga of humanity's last remnants and their struggle to find a new home while fleeing from their deadly Cylon enemies. Redefining the space opera with its gritty realism, Galactica’s intensity, issues-driven topicality, and command performances have garnered it numerous awards, including three Emmys and the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award. The show was twice recognized by the American Film Institute (AFI) as one of the most outstanding programs of the year. The series is executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, and the outstanding ensemble cast is led by Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer and Grace Park.

Being the loser that I am and totally pumped for the return, I created this (but totally stole the idea from The Chicago Tribune)

I am that fracking cool!

Words of Not So Wisdom from RW/RR Challenge: The Feminazi v. The Male Chauvinst

"Robin doesn't know where her strengths lie on this island. I don't want to sound like a male chauvinist, but doing the dishes, she's awesome at it"

No, Johnny, you don't sound like a chauvinist at all. Everyone should know where you believe their strengths lie.

So you say it's Halloween TV time

Yes, it is that time of year again. The time where television shows try to amuse us with Halloween themed episodes and scary antics by our favorite television characters. It happens every year, but do you remember your most fond and cherished Halloween themed episodes, because I sure do. Here are my top ten. Enjoy!

10. "The Middle Earth Paradigm"- The Big Bang Theory

How do you make a group of geeks feel awkward? Invite them to a party. How do you make them feel even more awkward? Make it a Halloween costume party. In everyone else, Halloween is a holiday in which, as said in Mean Girls said, girls dress up as sluts with some sort animals ears, and others wear some sort of generic costume. In Geek world, parties don't have dancing, but they must require costumes, themes for those costumes, and then prizes for the best of those costumes. The show would not be complete without a fight for who gets to be Frodo.

9. "Halloween"- The Office

The Office wouldn't be complete without the dreaded office Halloween party in which everyone feels it is necessary to wear costumes and forget that they are working as adults and not 10 year olds in their 4th grade classroom. While everyone is having fun on Halloween, Michael tries to figure out a way to fire someone, while Pam and Jim attempt to get Dwight a position with another company. The best part of this episode is the interactions amongst the people working. It just reasserts that Halloween should not enter the workplace.

8. "Tricks and Treats"- Freaks and Geeks

Oh to go back to the days when you couldn't figure out if it was cool to go trick-or-treating or go bash mailboxes with your friends. The great dichotomy of everyone episode is comparing the activities of the geeks to the activities of the freaks. Sam goes trick-or-treating with Bill and Neal, while Lindsey decides to go hang out with the "freaks" drive about town causing havoc. Even though the series takes place in 1980, it is the most true to the actual life as a teenager, especially when deciding if you are young enough to still go trick-or-treating which i maintain I am still young enough to do.

7. "Escape from Witch Island"- Dawson's Creek

In an effort to add excitement to a dull school project, Dawson decides to make a documentary, with the help of Joey, Pacey and Jen. The gang head to a small island near Capeside, rumoured to be haunted by the ghosts of some 18th century girls, killed after being accused to witchcraft. Joey finds similarities between her own life and that of one of the dead girls. After some exploratory conversations, Jen and Pacey make the decision to become more than just good friends, albeit on a casual basis causing awkwardness and Pacey's slow realization that he is in love with Joey.

6. "The Slutty Pumpkin"- How I Met Your Mother

Ahh, the Slutty Pumpkin episode. Essentially the same as The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, except, the great pumpkin is a girl dressed as a pumpkin who Ted learned studies penguins and combines Kaluha and root beer to make a drink known as the Tootsie Roll because it tastes like an alcoholic Tootsie Roll whom Ted met at a Halloween Party in 2001. Ted waits around every year because he forgot to give his phone number to this girl, thus causing him to go to the same Halloween party every year awaiting the "Slutty Pumpkin".

5. "And then there was Shawn"- Boy Meets World

Talk about nostalgia. When I think of halloween episodes I always think of this. Even though it didn't air as the halloween episode, it is still one of the greats from a tv series that allowed my uneventful friday nights as a young pre-teen bareable. Pretty much the entire episode is mocking typical halloween-type horror films and uses many of the themes in horror films to carry the plot of the episode. Even Jennifer Love Hewitt makes an appearance as the unforgettable Jennifer Love Fefferman.

4. "Haunted"- Dead Like Me

A crazed serial killer strikes on Halloween, and the reapers must pick up all the souls of the victims. The busy workday cuts into George and Mason's trick-or-treating, while back at home, Joy must casole Reggie into the Halloween spirit following a session with a psychologist. Can't give too much away about this episode because it is the series finale, but isn't that perfect. The halloween episode is the final episode of a tv show about reepers...awesome.

3. "Treehouse of Horror V"- The Simpsons

The Simpsons annual Treehouse of Horror is a look forward to even come Halloween season, but the glory days of the Treehouse of Horror came last century, circa 1994. Treehouse of Horror V told three stories: The Shinning, Time and Punishment, and Nightmare Cafeteria. The most well known story from this episode would of course have to be The Shinning. Pretty much the Simpsons become caretakers of Mr Burns mansion, Homer becomes insane (Jack is a dull boy style) because there isn't a television, tries to murder his entire family, but everything is put back to normal once Homer finds a television. Moral of the story: lack of tv watching may lead to murder.

2. "Spookyfish"- South Park

South Park is always known for their holiday episodes, from Timmy's retarded turkey to the Christmas poo, but when you think about great South Park Halloween episodes, yes many come to mind, but everyone remembers Spookyfish. Pretty much the plot was a bunch of beings from an alternate universe (the 'other' South Park) show up in the real South Park (very Doctor Who style) and cause havoc. The "spookyvision" of the episode really did increase the scare-factor of the show, I know Barbra Streisand scares me constantly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSlzrR5iBIA&feature=related
(I couldn't embed this, so go watch it there)

1. "Halloween"- Buffy the Vampire Slayer

My all time favorite Halloween episode has to be Halloween from the second season of Buffy. It is a running joke from the series that Halloween is the safest day of the year for the slayer because Vampires think of Halloween as a day of rest and don't hunt of Halloween, but every other year Buffy had a Halloween themed episode. This episode is great because it questions they what if scenario of what if someone cast a spell on everyone to make them into the costume they are wearing. This would mean small children would turn into witches and goblins, but most importantly, adults would turn into military soldiers (Xander), Damsel in distress (Buffy), and a slutty ghost (Willow).Happy Halloween television watching!

Only 8 Days until Halloween