joe, beta - Filed under 'TV'

July 15
2010

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@kessler
AMC
Ben Kessler
Television
The Walking Dead
TV
Zombies

The Walking Dead: an AMC original series debuting in October -- via @kessler [TV]

Um, totally awesome. This post from Ben Kessler's Tumblr slipped through the cracks, but I stumbled upon it today and freaked. out.

Ben is, among other things, co-founder of the awesome sandwichness blog Unbreaded.

Source: Ben Kessler //

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July 9
2010

Filed under:

FOX
Fringe
Fringe Bloggers
Television
Timelines
TV

"Fringe Timeline - Mythology Events in Fringe" [TV]

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via fringebloggers.com

Definitely go check out this wonderfully comprehensive timeline of events in Fringe, starting in 1770 (with an Observer sighting) and going all the way to this past season's finale.

Source: FringeBloggers.com

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June 30
2010

Filed under:

Comedy
Meg
Party Down
Pets
Sadness
Shmitten Kitten
Starz
Television
TV
Wall Street Journal

'Party Down' Cancelled Like the Catering For a Called-Off Wedding Reception -- via @ShmittenKitten and @WSJ [Sadness]

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June 29
2010

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GamesRadar
Hulu
Hulu Plus
PS3
Television
TV
Xbox 360

Hulu Plus brings TV on the web, uh, back to the TV with Xbox 360/PS3 support and more -- via @GamesRadar [TV]

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This is tasty and exciting and, unfortunately, I will probably dish out the money to subscribe.

No console support yet, but eventually it will be here. For now, go request an invite for a sneak peak at Hulu Plus here.

Source: GamesRadar

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June 2
2010

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CNET
Crave
E3
Gear Live
Hulu
Microsoft
Rumor
TV
Xbox 360

Hulu and Xbox Live to Make Sweet Love at E3? [Rumor]

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The word on CNET is that Xbox Live users can expect some lovin' from Hulu at E3, which begins on June 14th. What does this mean to you? Clickity click to find out.

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May 26
2010

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Quote
The IT Crowd
The Register
TV

Turing it on again: 5th season of "IT Crowd" confirmed! -- via @ElReg [Quote]

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IT Crowd creator Graham Linehan confirmed to reporters at a Bafta screening of the upcoming fourth series last night that a fifth instalment of the show had already been commissioned.

via theregister.co.uk

The fourth season has yet to commence but already loyal fans are assured of yet another season of the most excellent British nerdery this side of Dr. Who.

This put a smile on my face on an otherwise extremely trying day. Trust me: this smile is the product of maximum happiness, or it would not have penetrated the thick fog of quiet desperation that has taken up residence upon this day.

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May 25
2010

Filed under:

Entertainment Weekly
Geeks of Doom
LOST
New Tee Vee
Rant
The X Files
TV
Washington Post

Why I hope there isn't a LOST movie in our present, future, or sideways-present [Rant]

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Image by Flickr user wstryder via a Creative Commons License

I watched the LOST series finale. And I poked some fun at it, too. But, as an on-again-off-again fan, who sometimes spent nearly-entire seasons away from the island, I was more confused than many of the 13.5 million people who tuned in. That's why I was so interested in being one of the 437,000+ people who were talking about it on Twitter.

Some of the tweets served to enlighten, to catch me up, and to make me laugh my ass off. But what they showed was that I wasn't the only one who was less-than-expert going into the finale -- even the haters were glued to their televisions while they doled out shots of their digital hatorade to the twitterati.

But the big, stupid, fascinating question on everyone's minds when they meet up with someone they just know watched the last episode is: What did you think?

One of the biggest complaints is that too many questions were left unanswered. But that is the nature of the show itself, and to expect them to wrap it all up in a nice, neat bow for us is sort of disingenuous.

Yes, the ending pissed me off. No, it doesn't mean they were all dead the whole time. Yes, it does mean that they're not "alive" in that church when the whole thing wraps up. No, beyond that, I'm sure I know what the hell happened, and I don't think I care very much. But yes, I'll probably find time in the next month to actually read Entertainment Weekly's ridiculously verbose recap.

It was kind of interesting, used a pretty standard trope (funeral) for endings, and left plenty of room for the movie.

Yes, I said movie. And, obviously, I'm not the first one to talk about it.

I think it will happen, eventually. And, apparently, one of the co-founders agrees and said last year that it may not include any of the characters from the series, but it might happen. It will be over-hyped, and under-whelming. It will deliver on little but rivet fans to the big screen. In short, it will do everything the show did. Only, it will answer all of the lingering questions we still had after the finale, only to replace them with newer ones. Maybe not as juicy or profound, but new, shiny questions that we've never had the chance to play with before. Ones that only die-hards will care about, and only the elite super-die-hards will ever even consider defending with regard to connection to the original story

Remember The X Files (TV), The X Files (movie) and The X Files: I Want to Believe (movie sequel)? I do. I remember vigorously defending the first movie to once-loyal fans of the series. I remember defending the second movie to once-loyal fans of the series and first movie.

I remember epic bouts of geek-self-doubt during all of those conversations, where the normal person trapped inside of me -- whom I so rarely let see the light of day -- struggled to make it known that he knew how bad the movies were, and that the series was a joke by the time it started winding down, often Mulder-less and wandering in a sea of confusion, bad acting, and long-forgotten times of what was actually really, really good television writing.

I hope that doesn't happen to LOST, as much as I have railed against it in the past. I enjoyed bitching about it when I thought it was stupid, as much as I enjoyed watching unblinkingly when it wasn't.

Here's to no more pushing of the button.

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May 7
2010

Filed under:

ABC
FOX
Fringe
House MD
JJ Abrams
LOST
Modern Family
Television
The X-Files
TV
Wikipedia

Fringe, Lost, and TV in the Age of Abrams [Rant]

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Image via Wikipedia

Each week on FOX's Fringe, Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and John Noble run around trying to save good people (often including themselves and each other) from inexplicable death.The bigger picture involves a pattern of strange occurrences over many years, a parallel universe, a corporation of questionable ethics, and Leonard Nimoy. Actually, it sounds a lot like LOST (which makes sense, since JJ Abrams birthed them both) until you get to the Nimoy part. But Fringe succeeds everywhere LOST fails. At least for me--I'm aware that public opinion, as reflected in the ratings, is against me on this.

The show boils down to a formula that must have been at least partially inspired by The X-Files: A gal and a guy investigate crazy stuff, consult crazy people who know a thing or two about crazy stuff, and eventually become embroiled in the most crazy stuff of all. The formula isn't a sure thing, though. It requires a chemistry not often found on television these days. Two shows with a similar strength of chemistry are House, MD (FOX again) and ABC's Modern Family.

Hiring great actors isn't enough these days: we all know they're acting. It's a lot harder to embrace that escapist feeling when much of the mystery in television and film making has been lost to making-of documentaries and in-depth, behind-the-scenes interviews with cast and crew, both products of the DVD age that are meant to immerse us in the world of the story, but often--at least for me--just remind me that someone is being paid very, very well to make all this shit up.

So, since we know everyone is playing make-believe, we want to people who play make-believe really, really well together. Watching good actors play off a connection that isn't always casted for, with each actor winning their part in something of a bubble sometimes, draws us in and reestablishes a fourth wall and a desire and ability to suspend our disbelief that has steadily been dissolving in modern television.

Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and John Noble have that chemistry. They make the crazy stuff just believable enough in ways that shows like LOST just never seemed to do for me. My ability to suspend disbelief has suffered a dramatic decline, probably since I stopped reading fiction as often as I once did. Fringe toes a line that LOST just crosses, and ridiculous absurdity is on the other side.

Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of ridiculous absurdity to go around in Fringe. But what keeps me coming back is the execution and, above all, the sense of direction. And, in many ways, it seems to me that Abrams wrote Fringe and LOST with two very different audiences in mind. Some people like the plodding, blind-folded, elaborately designed plot arcs found in LOST--that's how those people prefer their immersion experience. Others, like me I guess, don't mind some head-spinning plot twists, but we need more of a sense of direction--an earlier reveal of the bigger picture and who the good guys and bad guys are, so we can apply our video game, comic book sense of conflict and pace from the very beginning.

In that way, maybe I'm something of a conservative television viewer compared to many other people. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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February 8
2010

Filed under:

Advertising
Commercials
Mashable
Super Bowl
Super Bowl 2010
Super Bowl 44
TV
Video

The 37 Commercials of Super Bowl 44 -- Via @Mashable [Video]

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I'm going to start off by giving all the credit for aggregating these to Mashable. I haven't watched them all yet, but I thought it would be convenient to have them all embedded in my own corner of the web. So, without further adieu.

Source: http://mashable.com/2010/02/08/super-bowl-ads-2010/

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January 20
2010

Filed under:

First Amendment
Law School
Quote
TV
Wall Street Journal
Writing

"Wanna Be a Lawyer-Turned-Television Writer? Read This" [Quote] -- Via WSJ

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Law school seemed like the perfect refuge for an English-major type who wanted to be able to buy his own condo. I wrote my application essay about my desire to be First Amendment lawyer . . .

But I soon realized that law school classes weren’t at all like my undergrad ones. Whoever wrote those cases clearly hadn’t read their Twain. Studying was very similar to reading an instruction manual for a complicated electronic device, except with less compelling characters.

via blogs.wsj.com

Peter Blake is quoted in this 2007 WSJ Law Blog article from a speech he gave in 2006. It's old but feels relevant. Blake graduated from Harvard Law and went on to write for "House, M.D." among other successful shows.

Source: A transcript of the original speech containing the above quote is also hosted by WSJ, but subscription is required to read beyond the first paragraph. It can be found here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116801307099268276.html

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