Processing...

So I have faithfully followed the first season of the Big C (fantastic acting, plot, camera, direction), Walking Dead (even more fantastic camera, plot, writing, good acting), Boardwalk Empire (spotless TV, perfect, Quality TV at its finest, great pacing of long-form narrative), and seen the latest season of Dexter (hello Julia Stiles, you rocked my world again), the Christmas Specials of Eureka and Warehouse 13 (I enjoy fun, cute TV so much), and what have I contributed to the blog??? Zilch.

Have I missed anything important out there, shows, specials? Please let me know...

BUT... what have I contributed to my dissertation? DING DING DING: Three chapters. Yay me... slacker...

Only two to go and I can hand this over after corrections and begin waiting...

I think I may actually survive this thing called dissertation... but I cannot wait to get back on here and discuss what I see in more then one-sentence TVeets on twitter. ;-)

BG

Dissertation woes

So, I do have quite a bit to say on religion and Caprica, Rubicon's first season, Raising Hope's throwback style, The Event's nice turn on: "Hiroshima was the aliens' fault" and so on... but I have to take a break from blogging, as you clearly already have noticed (thanks for e-mailing/checking on me :-).

I will however, accumulate my thoughts and will begin posting back logs once the crazy first draft is finished...roughly beginning of december.

Until then...

BG

AMC's Rubicon - Thoughts on the Sneak Preview/Pilot

I have been writing about some of the new summer’s shows and have not found much to praise except some notable series’ returns. The jury is still out on SyFy’s Haven, and I have maintained only a faint interest in Persons Unknown (what can I say, I get bored enough to watch it?). I had no hopes, let alone high hopes, for AMC’s Rubicon. Then again, I was maybe just a little hopeful -okay, I said it- after the basic cable network’s success (disserved success) with shows such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men. I was going to be VERY open-minded for this one.

Rubicon is the story of a widowed analyst, Will Travers (James Badge Dale (who earlier this year headlined HBO’s The Pacific) at a New York City-based federal intelligence agency, who stumbles over a code, he will surely try to break. We are spared from long, wordy explanations about this person and his past. Rather we hear it all in one quick dialogue: supposed to meet daughter and wife at Twin Towers on 9/11, was late, they’re gone, he is no longer late. The rest comes by simply exposing the character through action and interaction… almost feels like a breath of fresh air these days.

He works with his father-in-law and shows him his odd find first: Crossword puzzles that are seemingly repeating clues across papers, representing four branches of government… but what is the fourth branch? Only a day after asking him that, Will Travers’ father-in-law is believed to be dead. (and that train scene was at the same time expected and a total surprise… I love understatement and realism) While I am already wiggling in my seat thinking: Come on Will, you must see that that is odd… the series takes its time, lets him grieve, and meet a friend of his father-in-law.

What begins here with a game of phone-chess, I hope, will become a long and interesting friendship between the old and the new, the classic conspiracy movie and the hyper-tech-conspiracy thrillers we have now. Because the story unfolds slowly in the mind of this old friend, Ed Bancroft (Roger Robinson), and in the minds of the grey eminences from the ‘top floor’, who know the pattern was found, who wonder if they can move forward… We as an audience are as of now, kept as exactly that - outsiders looking in. The characters and plot play out so beautifully that I am finally not mad that nothing is given to the audience, because I care about the story more, than about the big mystery, I guess. But that is good television that is Quality Television without all of its soap-opera-origin trappings.

I think we can all agree that certain observations of genre rules (established by success more often than not, mind you) can be helpful in generating a great genre piece and for the critics to remain somewhat guided, and possibly a little objective.

What does make great thrillers, great? The best of the best thrillers excelled at doing something that made us excited, kept us invested until the end. Most televised thrillers have thus faced a seemingly impossible obstacle in the medium’s long form, or so it seems to me. And the first big conspiracy theory series of the summer, Persons Unknown, although entertaining, falls short of keeping me excited, especially due to its low-quality visuals, questionable performances, and lack of consistently moving plot; for a good thriller never stops.

The most successful thrillers and conspiracy films present the viewer with a maze, both narratively and visually. Camera work is used to enhance that feeling of never-ending winding streets and claustrophobia. The audience is pushed into a low-lit world of shadows, or sterile environments to become actively engaged in the unraveling of a mystery, even if it is just by hunching closer to the screen, or moving your head while trying to look around a corner you will never see around.

The villains are by necessity obtuse beings, often corporations and organizations, but this works for audiences because the foot soldiers, robots, and computer tech, and manipulation of ‘friends’ create direct points of conflict. The bad guys in Persons Unknown are not really bad. They are, but there is no one to fight that is tangible. Players on the screen as of yet, do not make villains. Pushing the grey-matter is not really the best choice for a conspiracy thriller. The background music is hardly ever more than a backdrop, but one that allows us to anticipate, breathe, and hold our breaths. And AMC’s Rubicon, even in it’s first episode, has made a big promise to audiences by masterfully incorporating these elements in what is but a brief snippet of what is to come. The claustrophobic tension is tangible and camera angles are executed perfectly. My favorite shot is Will Travers, who in accepting his father-in-laws former position, moving up the ranks, is walking up a staircase. The camera is positioned so that the walls take over most of the frame. Will is moving up, but pushed into a tight corner. Why talk if you can show, and make us feel… When Will goes to visit Ed Bancroft, Ed opens the door cautiously. And we see another small hallway, followed by another door, more locks, more doors. He walks into the kitchen with a pass-through… It’s a warm environment, homey, but it is box after box after box in the frame. And I am hoping we get to open them all.

Refreshingly, extra-textual references are not hitting you in the face, the story is suspended in the post-9/11 space-time continuum, but nothing more specific seems important as of yet; the big mystery is handled believably by understatement, rather than the over-hyped-panic-mode that we have unfortunately come accustomed to. I mean, honestly, do you think one small leak would be targeted with major operations from the get go? That would belie the intelligence we suppose goes hand in hand with a decent conspiracy plot, no? I rarely give praise after series premieres, as you, my readers, are well aware of, but here, I couldn’t help myself. And, if the series is what it promised, the next 11 weeks will be so much better for a little bright light in summer-TV-darkness.

BG

Ps.: Now the only thing I am not sure what to do with… Why is Sledge Hammer in the previews for the series???

Germany and Hollywood

That Germany funds foreign, and especially U.S. movies, is nothing new. But thanks to a friend I got to this on some of the latest German funded U.S. projects for the big screen.

http://bit.ly/cyQ7x6

Haven --- not a haven for starving summer viewers, not yet

Tonight, SyFy followed the season premiere of Eureka, which was quite fantastic, with its new series pilot Haven, not so fantastic. The story is based on a Stephen King story, The Colorado Kid, and opens up introducing the FBI Agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose). Her boss, a stern but fatherly figure gives her job-before-life advise and briefs her in her own living room, where she rests between half-unpacked boxes. And this is where the show already begins to display its weaknesses. The characters are somewhat sloppily developed and so is the plot thus far. I don't buy the story-line that opens to slow and illogically. Background info is sprinkled into the not horrible, but sometimes annoyingly mysterious dialogue. A road cracks so deep that one half-expects magna to protrude, but this is not discussed any further by either the agent Parker or the cop who rescues her after said crack causes her to run her car of the street. What we see, doesn't match what we're supposed to believe. The characters are presented curious and workaholic, but then everything done and seen doesn't fit the bill.

While this disconnect is 'somewhat' reminiscent of pie-eating Twin Peaks Special Agent Dale Cooper, it has none of the eeriness, none of the depth, neither visually nor in its writing, nor in the performances thus far (Although the performances aren't bad, they simply are not special in any way that would fit the promo promises of the series). The audience is informed, early and almost on an aside, about the orphaned Audrey, who has no family, who is driven by work... but I am missing a spark, a sternness as we've seen in Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs. Why am I getting the feeling that I'd like to direct and RE-direct this series? Possibly, because I still see potential.

The young woman is sent to Haven, Maine, to find an escaped convict and find him she does. He has been killed just before her arrival. When looking for the murderer she meets the town's inhabitants. We are introduced to a smug smuggler (and yes, I intended to display here the stereotype of the character, done so much better in USA's White Collar), an odd couple of brothers who run the local (and fully digitized!) newspaper, an antiques store owner and her childhood friend/ war veteran, presumably dealing with severe PTSD, and of course, local law enforcement.

The Chief and his son clearly will play a large part in solving the mystery around Agent Parker's connection to the town. For while she is hunting the murderer (or better yet, finding him VERY quickly), a 27 year old unsolved case is brought to her attention. An old photo in the local newspaper shows a young woman, roughly Parker's age one assumes, a boy in hand, that looks just like Audrey does. Instead of presenting any information whatsoever on the unsolved case, however, which could e interesting, we only get what we already knew. There must be more, maybe a genetic connection between this woman and Parker. ... Okay, I've got it, get us to the unravelling part, not mull over the main question... I do have a brain...I want to find out who that woman is, but not hear the question repeated for 20 minutes.

Actually, I wonder if I care.

But then again I am compelled to find some merit...

Already,

I am underwhelmed and admittedly see the shows promise more in the stern boss, [spoiler] who had followed her and spied on her and informed someone in town about her during this first case.

I am underwhelmed by the logic of the story. The main character finding out a person can control [spoiler] the weather and this FBI agent sets the woman up on a date - that's it? No questions asked? But, I am indeed curious to see what other 'curses' will be shown on the series. Will there be a spark of ingenuity along the way?

I am underwhelmed by the agent's personal interactions in the story, because they are illogical for the character as created thus far. But, I do want to see where the father/son and con-man/cop relationships lead, because they are already naturally interesting conflicts that one wants to know the truth about.

But this begs the question, how long do I care to see something good come out of what feels like a rushed, uncontrolled, and truly mediocre program? Recently, my comments have been less positive on what we are given by TV, but I am sorry, it certainly feels as if this summer, new programming is produced because it was expected to be, not imagined.

Crossing my fingers, I guess. I will give it three more episodes to wow me, then I'll just delete the DVR settings.

At least Eureka started its newest season with a bang and wonderful full season mystery possible set-up. That's something.

Summer Upset

Okay,

so I haven't been blogging in a while. Dissertation isolation had me in its grip and it always takes a while for summer season to get on its way. But I am back.

Much of what is out there is less then exciting, who are they kidding? While Scoundrels and The Gates on ABC are not bad shows, the 'crooked and supernaturals streamlining it'? Well... I don't know if I like the basic message implied here, or if I think that it is 'that' exciting. I do, however, pay my respects to the actors involved who do a decent job as far as I can tell by now.

Pretty Little Liars, also ABC, is one big upset on my plate. The basic story is as follows: Five young girls fall asleep in a barn in the woods after having snuck some alcohol. When they wake up, one of them is gone. The missing girl, Allison, and one girl's move to Island (Aria) effectively end the tight bond between the girls until the missing Allison is found dead in her own house one year later (just after Aria had returned with her family from her father's sabbatical).

A mysterious A. is sending somewhat threatening texts to the four girls and seems to know all the dirty secrets the girls have. The one that recently moved back to town has a fling with her teacher, another has a fling with a girl, another a fling with her sister's ex-fiance and the last... well, her mom has a fling with the cop that is after her daughter.

Overall, the storyline is movig along like my car was, just before its transmission gave out, the girls are in their late 20s/early30s and do act that way. They are nowhere near high school behavior or looks. On top of that, this show is actively promoting and pushing half naked highschool outfits, promiscuity, and teacher-student relationships that are developed so unbalanced that for the first time in a long time I am actually upset at a show for its treatment of female and young characters... And I don't even have a problem with AMC's Mad Men. On top of that the blind doesn't act blind in the show, the parents are really badly developed as are their storylines even when interfering with the ones of their children, and when little Miss "I kissed a girl" goes :"Something is wrong with me..." I don't believe any of it for a second. PLEASE PLEASE pull that horrible show that is neither entertaining, nor compelling, nor suspenseful. And Parents, PLEASE DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS WATCH WITHOUT YOUR BEING THERE TO EXPLAIN THAT ABOMINATION!

Which brings me to the next show that needs a facebook 'dislike' button after the first few episodes: Fox's Good Guys... So we have a cop that is extremely 80s, and idiot 80s as they come. Cars, women and nothing to actually deserve either. His partner is a bit of a nice, polished stiffman. Wow, who'd have thought, oppositional buddy characters... Like I said, 80s. The series has a hyper stylized look, flashy colors, costumes, writing.

What exactly is it supposed to be? I thought of Sledge Hammer with the buddy-line going on? Well here again, one of the two lead actors simply doesn't fit the masochinistic writing, is unbelievable and the hyper-stylization of the cop show simply does not work. If you want to see it well done chase an hour of classic Sledge Hammer (now on Netflix, I believe) with an hour of Psych (USA). There you go, and you got something good in your tummy, rather than some sad writers-team summer hick ups. So unless there is some major change in the next episode (my cut off episode) I won't be writing about Pretty Little Liars (does anyone know if the books are any good?) or Good Guys.

A show I am still very uncertain about is Persons Unknown, NBC's new summer series. The credits do not match the actual content in style (flashy/bare and high quality/low budget), but every single episode one or two things happen that make me go: "Huh? Wonder where they are taking this?" For those of you who know the film Cube (1997), this is exactly what you get on the base level. A bunch of people is taken to a place and left without any answers as to why, where etc. Just here the place is an almost empty town removed from civilization. But then, other people are placed in town, that are payed to partake. Or are pressured? There is a night manager who switches from helpless to sinister, a bunch of East Asian chefs running the local restaurant... So far so good. The show first caught my attention when a direct link between the cameras in this town and the outside world is made. Another piece of the puzzle here, another there, and in last week's episode a player in town is revealed... with a conscience. The 'thing' is no longer called a game, kidnapping, I don't know, but we hear the words "Don't you believe in the process?" mmmhhh... I will be watching a little longer and see where this interesting, no electronics thing is going...

But the summer held one MAJOR UPSET for me. Not because of the show, but because the, excuse my french, piss poor management behind it. Now, although some storylines in ABC's Happy Town needed much better treatment, especially the young girl and her love interest Greggy had some start-up problems, this show came with much that categorizing folks would add to their stack of Quality TV need be's: Character development, interweaving storylines, extra textuality (the House of Ushers, the movie references, the blue door... honestly, I drool a bit I think), high quality production, and a mystery I could get on board with. Every year one person in Haplin has gone missing without a trace. Dead flowers are left behind, there is no connection between the victims, the taking just stops at one point. Then, a man in town believes to have found the 'magic man' who he believes killed all these taken and murders him, spilling blood which brings back... the magic man? Or his hunters I should say. A magnificent Frances Conroy (mother Fisher in Six Feet Under) is presented as a delightful villain who just at the end of the series run may be something else than expected and the trickster in all of this is no other than Sam Neill (!!!!!!!!!!!).

And what does ABC do? It doesn't even finish the first season, but leaves us hanging when we find out that someone believed dead is at least linked to the magic man or maybe is the magic wo/man or whatever. The power structures in town are hinted at and connected to the Blue Door and you can tell this is the first season mid-point. This is where the story will take off, this is where they decide it didn't make enough money??? Why would they start a series like this in their weakest month and expect it to bring in a decent return in the first place?

Sometimes, I believe that the managerial strata of the TV shows is about as good at their jobs as the current cadre of political top-dogs (Obama excluded). And yes, I don't think they know what they're doing, because they have trouble adjusting to the times. Have any of these people in charge truly payed attention to the massive flow of truly mad letters on the net. People telling them they thought this was the only summer show worth while (granted: Eureka, Warehouse 13 and a few others had not re-/started yet) tell them, because they want to be heard, not ignored.

SyFy twittered on their official twitter page that it isn't the stations' fault that they cannot generate advertisment income online as they can on TV... Well, if google can make it work... That's all I am saying. I am gen-X, too. Get over it and stop producing BS. And that includes the A-Team and other melancholic trite.

Needless to mention that summer isn't a complete failure as I am holding on to HBO and Showtime with every penny I can spare in the dry summer months. Thank you grand fantasy soap opera True Blood for bringing me TV that at least entertains me and every now and then amazes me.

And then thank you to SYTYCD, because that Twitch and Alex routine... WOW

Okay, venting the spleen feels good sometimes!!!

Now, please, all write to ABC and tell them they are making a grave mistake. Thank you.

Alas, next week White Collar (USA), Eureka, Warehouse 13 (SyFy) and Psych (USA) are back and there are a couple more new shows to look out for like Rizzoli and Isles (TNT), starting on the 12th, and Covert Affairs (USA) starting on the 13th. We'll see how those play out.

So long, and keep the boob tube on.

BG

Dissertation

I am working through this... I swear. In June I will have dissertation and blog duty, nothing else. Promise I'll be back.

some great links from the past two weeks, and to good blog-reads

The ad prices are rising for Lost's final episode. Contradictory to industry news in an earlier link I put on NewsForTvMajors.

HBO's True Blood has become a ratings sensation in its second season and is scheduled to return to TV on June 13.

Battle Star Galactica's James Callis has found a new TV home onEureka.

The Television side battle to the FCC Broadband Plan.

Trying to keep Chuck alive. Pleading with Nielson

Courtesy of NFTVM: Twitter Experiments: CNN's John King is using Twitter as a focus group for his new show, while a character on Nurse Jackie will be shown Tweeting during this season's second episode, and his tweets will be posted on Twitter in real time.

And of course, don't forget to check out Antenna, NewsforTVMajors, FilmstudiesforFree, my new favorite on Masculinity today Brian-reel-to-real, and my new book reviews #;-) in the latest issue of Scope Magazine

Nurse Jackie

The series has returned as if it had never left. There is no tangible time rift, action is fluid, addiction unchanged, relationships had, are still in troublesome stages. Maybe that is why the brief moment of hallucination is something I almost forgot when I thought about what to write. I gotta sit on this one a bit longer. Please check back soon though. I will post a review by next week's episode.

U.S. States of Tara

EXCITED!!!

Colette is back and the series opened very strong. Now, if you have not been following the lives of the Gregson's in Kansas City's Overland Park before, this 2nd season opener might have left you... uncertain.

Dark and gloomy, beautifully eerie-shot yes had fast-paced, colorful inserts. Life affirming montages intercut with a woman's shadowy, nebulous figure walking through the lifeless house of a dead man. All hopes and dreams of normalcy not destroyed by actual scenes with Tara's other personalities (yet), but by the tangible looming return of insanity that stands behind all of this often painfully funny series. This show did not open season 2 with big action, big money, big shock, but very dark and subtle.

The final scene in the first season's final episode had the family at a bowling center. All together and at ease, but Gimme, the evil and rambunctious infant was hiding under the bench seat and the other alter-egos draped themselves around the family. No matter how much you embrace the weirdos in your life and yourself, something will always be hiding under the bench seat.

We never did get to the actual cause of Tara's MPD, and I doubt we will be given an answer this season, but, it stands to reason that, with the neighbors suicide being an alarming trigger, sexual assault may not be the (sole) reason for Tara to lock herself away sometimes and let others drive.

I am eager to see where the ride will take us viewers this season. Stay tuned for new reviews on a weekly basis.

Justified

I am starting to see where this show might be heading, but first I wish to say that the episode in and of itself was a bit on the weak and ordinary side. The similarities between In Plain Sight and Justified were even more obvious, but hey, nothing new under the sun, right.

Early into this show, two topics of interest have emerged for me thus far. Religion and Nostalgia.

Let me talk about religion first, because this is where I actually find merit in the series. It is shown ambiguously, shown as dangerously easy to manipulate. One could take the hospital speech as both the turn to good and the character's salvation in God, or, which is how I read it and see it played out, a possible future excuse for this maniac to do bad in the lord's name. Because we have seen this character wittingly abuse, not believe in, the bible in the previous episode, the ease with which the word can be tweaked, changed, altered is all to obvious. Religion then is rather a social point of view, and a tool of power, than a believe system in the world of Justified. But even smart religious people will tell you that religion has often been abused and used. So, while nothing new, I like that this series nonchalantly shows this.

Now I am waiting to see 'church goin' folks' and the other end of the spectrum.

The nostalgia is clearly manifested in the vestige of a rather classic Western Masculinity. Honor, love, and a sense of control, invincibility, and constrain are powerful ideas generated here. The calm demeanor of the elderly perp when facing the marshall, the simple interaction between Raylan and his superior, and the smirking ex-husband making fun of his ex-wife's new husband's non-masculinity all make us aware of a simpler time, one in which rules were laid out more clearly and perps could be handled, gender was defined by norms... While I'd like to have more order, I certainly do not want this skewed intolerant world image to return.

Unpredictable drug addicts and gun wielding racists are too often treated as fumbling idiots in the first two episodes. They do not really pose a threat. Is this because the show simply magnifies the superiority of the Stetson wearing marshall, or is it lulling the viewers into believing this simpler and very white washed world actually exists. I will stay tuned to see what will be next.

Made of Fire

I was hoping for something a bit bigger than what ‘Ghost in a Machine’ delivered. Some storylines are still stuck. There are to many storylines that are on hold, but I expect that the brief revisit of Amanda and Clarice, and the meet in V-World of Zoe and Lacey were just put in place to remind us that these plots are still there, waiting for our and the writers’ attention. If nothing else, this episode puts most of its characters in their place, setting the stage for what is to come. We should be in for a treat next week at the mid season finale. I sure hope they deliver, as the series is in grave danger to be cancelled.

This morning SyFy’s Craig Engler started a tweet-line on twitter to promote the show, generate new audiences, and briefly talk about live and DVR viewing. If the show cannot pick up an audience over the 1Mio it has currently, the future of Caprica is bleak, for us that is, because it may not have one.

The writer’s openly admitted in NY this week that they may have been too ambitious, too may storylines were introduced too quickly. And the show suffers by making it hard for new audiences to jump in even now, where the first season is not even at its mid point. But this richness of text also promises something big, something that may blow BSG out of the water, if, and only if, a real rhythm can be established within the show.

All this being said, the two main narratives followed in this week’s episodes were simply fantastic. The slow and steadily rising tension in Zoe as her father tries to manipulate her, so that she will give away that she does reside within the robot body, was, like everything in theBSG universe to the point and 100% relatable. While I believe to have earlier written about the mute Zoe, it here becomes more obvious then ever that there is but a child in the young woman, one that throws temper tantrums, and one that is now made of metal. This is not a teenager in love, or manipulatively so, as she was shown in the last episode. This Zoe is full of hate for her parents and full of regret. Graystone’s need to communicate with his daughter, have proof, even if this means he’ll torture his little girl, deepens the gap between him and his child. His attempts at reason and showing his love de facto push her in a corner even more. But, who takes parenting 101? The question is whether she will strike out; use the power her robot body has? Is Graystone not only the master of the machine, but also the reason for its madness and loathing?

Adama’s daughter is not unwilling to talk to him, rather, she called for him and now cannot be found. Her signs on the wall are obvious markers of her existence, he knows for sure she is there, but yet he is equally unable to talk to Tammy. He is in a world he does not understand, and her signs may reflect her maturing in this world, no longer daddy’s little girl that may need protection. Meanwhile he begins to adapt and ‘train’ for something possibly unwanted at this point. I was sad to not get a glimpse of Tammy this week or last, for her character is the most fascinating for me. She is thrown into this unwillingly, unknowingly and struggles to understand, use her powers, be herself, alone in the ‘verse. She also stands for all that is/was good and now is being corrupted, or at least she has her eyes opened to depravity. This may be part of her ancestry, but clearly she and her brother were kept far away from Tauron customs and way of life. What will innocence do when faced with the abyss of human immorality? Why was she not followed at all for two continuous weeks if she had just “awoken”?

Zoe, as Daniel Graystone pointed out, has partaken in the murder of hundreds of innocent people. Her character is that of a juvenile wanna-be-hero. Her reasons sound valid, but her reasons, as so much we see in both BSG and Caprica are fueled by fear and anger, and at the very very last by actual reason. She is a teenager. Fear and anger are overtaking all women in this serial: Grandma Adama, Amanda Graystone, Zoe, Tammy, and maybe Lacy. When you look at these women and toss in Clarice with her ambition, semi-power (as a woman of the cloth), and addiction to both opiates and religious power (she believes she can lead the movement)…

I wonder sometimes… but I believe this is the first female-centric, female-driven narrative Sci-Fi show there is…BG

Caprica - the uphill battle

Promises lie ahead. The next two episodes of Caprica are bound to be fast, explosive and leave us with a mid season cliff hanger that hurts us in all the right ways.
I think the attached blog nailed it.
The multiple layers were actually what alienated me in the first episode of the actual serial run (and the story-in-itself-opening-credits). The memories of a show that began so slowly and so contained as BSG did, were fresh in my mind and not to compare was hard.
BUT, Caprica is easily one of the best shows on air. It tackles all basic narratives known to mankind and the V-World is the manifestation of all the bad there is. A wonderful concept, the oldest concept, show us what we need to see but hide in something fantastical.
To paraphrase the show on what V-World is, it is: "a place where you can blow someone's head off", and yet you hurt no one. Or to take the other route, it is where everyone can build their own, private, man-made-heaven. (The concept of sharing does not, however occur to the fanatics crated for the show ;-) That heaven, however, BSG fans know, is more like the tower of Babel. This knowledge allows you to interact deeper with the show. Yes, you kind of know where the bid scheme of things is going, but it is how you get there...
That being said, it has some major problems, as I did point out in my last blog on Caprica.
If it doesn't begin to take it's audience more serious, a second season may be in danger. No Quality TV audience of around just a million has made cable networks happy, not with that price tag attached anyways.

And, writing that allows for such subtleties as the first episode's sexual orientation side by the most masculine man ever, and that doesn't heavily linger on the trinity speech, and guides us into a world so fantastically crafted, shouldn't have to talk about Viagra so blatantly, that it rips you out of the story entirely. It is like they address all the important issues in the best possible manner, by not attracting attention to those things truly trivial in a bigger scheme of things, and then they need to draw a hit-you-in-the-face with-it line between Caprica and our reality.

Growing pains aside, if you read this and haven't watch it, you certainly should.
BG

French Television uses Milgram Experiment Model for Reality TV

This article is in German, but here the English in brief:
France 2, in a documentary, discussed the most perverted reality TV competitions. Shows in which people free willingly hurt themselves, are degraded, degrade their 'opponents', public dissections... you get the gist. The directors wanted to finally end discussion about the power of television and proof that TV erodes our minds. A public execution, by the masses, through TV.
While an interesting experiment, the fact that the Milgram experiment reached the same numbers, without a TV set, just makes this somewhat trivial. Still worth a read.

Justified

Alright, so we got another Clint Eastwood-ian outsider-crusader on TV. From the very first moment it is clear that this man, Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) does not belong in Florida. He looks like the lone ranger, the music and actor choice are indicative of Deadwood, and placing him in Kentucky (and focusing so clearly on a lower class) are also somewhat reminiscent of the most salient and replicable traits of the HBO show.
That being said, the show was absolutely enjoyable, while not terribly special on first sight. The characters are superbly crafted, the ease with which relationships are established (kind of they aren't) is indeed reminding me of work of the Coen Brothers, some say it has attributes of The Shield. I am just thankful it is not the camera moevement.
Subtle and maybe not clearly visible on first sight, the characters are so wonderfully contradictory and supply rich conflicts; Olyphant's demeanor is cold as ice, which is spot on for the lonely gunslinger, the background of his character already being spun from two different angles ... What is not to enjoy.
Justified is a justified item to record on your DVR. If nothing else it is great entertainment. I am interested to see where this goes.
I'd like to point out, however, that there are some interesting politics shown in this first episode of FX's new series. The bad guys are not only racists, but come across as being about as intellectually sound as the tea party, or Fred Phelbs. Raylan tells Boyd, his childhood-friend-gone-big-bad-guy, that he knows his friend was out for money in bombing an ethnic church, which in turn makes him smarter than religiously driven fanatics. Let that statement sit a while. Criminals are smarter then religious fanatics. I tend to agree. In fact the placement of the false sermon in a church that has been trashed by fascism and poverty and all their trappings is quite perfect. Hiding behind the facade of righteousness and the bible. Raylan tells Boyd that he knows he'll do with the Bible what he wants, use it as another faced to 'justify' his behavior. Politics and Religion are what makes this show something special to watch at this time.
Justification is what Justified is all about.
I hope these conflicts nestled in binaries the series explores is a staple of the show and the 'name will be program'.
Let's see where FX will take it this time.

Scathing review, here.
Praise and Background Review, here.

For more on the show, the books it is based upon etc. Check out FX's website.

The Pacific

The series is just taking of, and it already holds much promise to become as acclaimed as Band of Brothers. The show even drew very clear and obvious visual connections to its counter piece, such as the sequence in which the boats make their way to the landing area. Normandy was much later and yet we as audience members are reminded of the blood bath immediately. And more specifically, we are reminded of the visuals presented to us by producers and directors before. A set of memories imprinted that now may confuse our very non-existent participation in either war.
What The Pacific did excellently, however, is the clear demarcation of this violence, and the one we are accustomed to in European Theater WWII imagery. The shooting at the single Japanese soldier, the use of human bodies as warning and to demoralize the troops...
It will take some time to see, how violence and the value of the human body will progress in the series...
Read review here.

Big Love - Over For Now

This final episode left me mildly entertained, but oddly surprised at the end. Oh no, not the J.J. thing. I believe I guessed right about three weeks ago, or so... Not that surprising, really.
I was surprised that all that female power-house struggle of the young was for nothing? Still they stand by the man? The only one striking out is the one woman who held power all along. Great moment Adalene, but we are not surprised you'd go that far if really threatened/hurt. Her borders were finally crossed and revenge was hers.
But I am going back to that last image of Bill and his wives, the emptying space in front of the podium, four people looking into nothing... It is not even that it leaves me mad, or I want to respond to the writers. I simply feel as if, this is just another excuse to string us along for another year of re-worked base-narratives that go nowhere, that lead nowhere, that answer nothing about these wonderfully created characters that always appear, if just for a moment, to actually change, transform, and grow. But constant retreat renders their actions almost useless and they remain, in the end, stuck where they began.
Should the following season be the last, and should it be done right, I think they seeded something great, though via obnoxious reinforced repetition, but... after being in it for all prior seasons, I am going to give it a chance. If the next season is neither the end, nor engaging with something brand new, I will walk on. This melodrama lives solely from its characters and their development. The meta-narrative is simply their show case. If they don't work, I don't really care what else could happen to them...
Read more and get a sneak on Season 5

War of The Russians

So it has been over 60 years ago that the War of the Worlds created a wide spread panic among listeners of Orson Welles's radio program, but the power of mediated sounds and images has not changed at all. A Georgian station decided to present a 30 min. 'what if' spiel on a Russian Invasion of Ossetia. They somehow forgot to keep rolling reminders of the nature of the programming on air. Way to go media power! #Facetious

Creationsim Caprica Style

Right off I will say that I don’t like it when love interests are unnecessarily introduced in any show, especially if there is no need for an additional point of conflict, as Adama has enough on his plate, no? BUT, I trust the writers and will either forgive or happily ingest what they supply.
Secondly I loath Tomas Vergis so much already that I know the writers and actor are doing it right, but I want the character to die… soon.
I think I am in love with this show… but hope to remain critical… if seemingly impossible re-reading my second sentence here.

“Know thy Enemy” made clear that the narratives are not a game to the characters. Christian style mortification, human vanity creating the afterlife to ensure death is not the end (you remember what happened to Babel, right?), Sister Clarice sharing her big moment of successful infiltration and avatar-program retrieval with opiates, Amanda alone, Graystone facing painful destruction and then there is Adama. Grounded, low-life, mob-attorney Adama, who is startled by V-World.

The only one beginning to enjoy herself, while mute in her body, is Zoe Graystone. Enjoying the early stages of flirtation, with a man she will never be equal to.

Reset Button and Auto Destruct

tinydancer79
Last week we had a wild ride to Mexico and back. Bordering insane, I quite enjoyed the border showdown between the Greens and the Hendrickson’s and felt that this display of parental love all around was fantastic. This week leaves me startled, oddly reset, and at odds with the producers that have decided to leave us with but one episode to clear this mess up. They are insane.
The political endeavors, a very smart and self-protecting Sissy Spacek out for blood, two men in a polygynous marriage, Adeline drugged, Wanda in a state of mental distress beyond understanding, Albee not realizing who is to blame for his lover’s death, seeking someone else to blame and going absolutely insane … In all of this Sarah’s leaving is the only foreseeable, controlled, logic plot point. Ben’s newly reset obligation to his family also expected. And while this monstrous amount of narratives drives me absolutely insane, none finding the devotion I believe necessary: I LOVE IT. Maybe I just want more then what they give…
Is it because I enjoy being tortured?
But everything we see here is not new, not unexpected, not really. Albee is a modern day homosexual Ophelia, stuck and insane, because he is left with the knowledge of happiness and love in a place where these do not exist. Wanda always has a premonition; she is haunted by knowing, and silenced by the (I think) unspeakable evil of what she is keeping hidden from sight, just like Cassandra was. The characters we have here in Big Love are by far the most classic figures of tragedy. And the trick is, that Utah offers all the necessary trappings for the story to unfold. Religious issues ranging from contemporary to century old conflicts, believes that have modernized and such that have not. We have hierarchies in place all around that allow for the most sophisticated plots without having to deal with courtroom dramas, hospitals, work places (which is where you can usually find these hierarchies). Big Love is an absolute exception in a world where family plots equal family comedy. Will it be a British or Greek tragedy? We will have to wait and see.

And if I were to write the end, I just might have Agamemnon killed in the end. His never-ending hysteria is what truly hurts my senses.

I'm Awake...

I certainly am now, after watching ‘There is Another Sky’. This episode demonstrates once again that Caprica is well thought through, rich in imagery and characters, and, for those of you feeling it is too slow, perfectly paced! The wealth of characters needs to be crafted carefully; else we’d have another ‘Lost’, where everyone leads NOWHERE (sorry fans of ‘Lost’, but we all know writers lost control of that one, more then once).
In last week’s episode, Tamara Adama realizes she exists only in V-World and takes ‘life’ in a stride; father Adama makes amends with his family, and Graystone presents a fruitful solution to the Holo-Band fiasco. V-World gets its own little entry (which is actually fantastic, as the plot is rich enough and visually stylized already), teenage Capricans show their privileged faces to us and really address the instability of the 12Worlds for the first time. Finally, the defense robots make a little more sense, although I am waiting for a clear narrative here still. Who wants to go to war with whom…? I wish there was a guide for the twelve worlds…
This episode allows us to figure out the game that is Caprica, as much as it allows the characters within the show to figure out their worlds anew. Everyone has been picked up and tossed where the story led them. Uprooted people that need to re-orient themselves (sexy-married Mob-Adama being the exception among regular cast members it seems). Adama’s family ceremony, Graystone’s move to the new –and oddly ignored- project, they all move forward. They are all awake, taking charge of their own lives. No standing still, no passivity, not even Amanda Graystone. Interestingly, the writers have decided that whilst talking about a robot, there is no need to cloud the ethics, work for diplomatic word choices when presenting the cylon… Always critiquing the world surrounding us, while subtly in BSG, is here more to the point, in your face... it is more urgent. But we still are watching entertainment, a show, one that passes many people by. The fine art of Sci-Fi fable is at work here, but it remains part of the machinery that it critiques. Granted, the critique comes from within, but participation is nevertheless required.
Caprica is humanity before its fall, before being humbled by its own mortality.
Nothing is simplified on Caprica: there was no child, but a child will be found.

And because that is, for all the geeks in you: did you see Kat from BSG was back as Pryah? Working for Graystone… Was she a cylon then? Or does this suggest that Daniel planted her Avator? But then how did she become a skin job? Or… is she the model that had to be ‘boxed’? Because she remembered being human? Have fun with that one. ☺

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/02/big_love_recap_bird_gang.html
Here is another look at last night's episode of Big Love.

Fallen and Risen Again

First of, just two questions because we all love to speculate, right? So what about JJ? Whose babies is he planting, or if that is not it, what is the evil plan behind it all? The creepy son did seem to show emotion right there when he looked at Nicky, but there is no doubt he will do whatever the plan is asking for. Right? There is just that quick flutter of his eyelids, the close up holding on that moment. Nicky is not screaming, but begging, pleading, for her to be allowed to claim her life as a woman. This show knows how to pull our strings and play them beautifully, although Nicky will possibly remain a psychological miracle to me forever. Her actions so unexpected at times, make this series so good, so realistic, too. For the broken is erratic, is full of logic that destructs itself, bit by bit by bit.
And then there are the Greens. I retract my earlier statement. Their evil has for the first time reunited what was broken, or so it seems. They came back at the right time, and for a long enough while, with potential for the future? Mom, Dad, Bill, Joey, and Ben all at their lowest, ready to rise to the occasion and try again to make things right. But then Mommy steps up to save her son and that, well, that was just pure genius. She demonstrated her motherhood, gave quick-thinking Bill an edge, and single handedly saved them all. The genius in the scene lied with the simple tones, the music that did not push the action, the quiet that allowed us to hear single calls for action, not screams, not tumult, just shock and surprise.
But all this is taken back to zero in the shows final moments today. Margene is ignored by Ben, and Barb stands alone, in thought. Pondering why she was not trusted again? Protection? But there is no argument. We are past family meetings and talking things out. This is where we are: the brink of the end. Ultimate loss of communication. Each one to deeply concerned with saving their own life, in whatever form necessary.

tinydancer79
It does not matter if we talk about business security, fertility, fighting for acknowledgment, love, or the right to be in the open. They all strive to make their life sustainable in a world that is hurting them. It hurts them by conventions, social norm, laws, regulations that protect no one, and religious pressure. It keeps them trapped in a past within their present. No real life, just an image of it, a faint promise ringing in your ears of that which is not and may never come.
What strikes me here is that the future they work towards, no matter how often they call upon ‘heavenly father’ no longer is in the afterlife. That was the struggle they faced last season, last year, last opening credits Then, marriage, and babies, priesthood, family and Roman still most often preoccupied their minds. Nothing is light now, no heaven to aspire to. All of their wishes now lie right here, on earth. And didn’t we see it coming, when Bill turned his back, on his knees, to the Holy rising behind him. His eyes firmly fixed on the ground. Who he now makes peace with is the man he blames for all the bad in his life. That, is acknowledgment. This season is the awakening.
Only few episodes left this season. Much is unresolved. Where does Alby go from here? Does he get that his wife did this or will he blame Bill? AGAIN: What is up with JJ and that creepy Walker family from Kansas?
9 Episodes is all they gave us this time around. But it works. The story is streamlined, straight forward, no deterrence, no new churches, just a few lose ends I believe they will resolve or bring to the next season. Just a good old fashioned burning all bridges. The less they carry over, the better, I think.
I sure hope this, in my eyes best season, will not be diminished in the aftermath by becoming redundant. For it would be to easy, to send the family through another trauma induced reunion once again. So momentum has to keep up. Only one question then remains. Where do we go from here?
-I can hardly wait.

Lost

tinydancer79
I am not sure where this last season is going, but am afraid there is no other way, but sit and watch.

surfacing

tinydancer79
Alhtough a necessary move to bring Barb to finally take charge meeting Anna once again, no less with a baby did not much but diffuse today’s episode. The Hendrickson’s just never have a minute of private rest. After all, how could you even in prime time soap drama, losen on the conflict. But this episode was finally the awaking of what bubbled under the surface for three, long, often painfully Bill driven seasons.

How cheap does the struggle of Viagra now look, how farcical in hindsight? How unbelievingly light this serial started, the foreshadowing never reaching a point of solution. Now is when true struggle finally finds its way to the surface, the pain of those following a screaming, illogical, more-then-struggling patriarch, who appeals to emotional weakness in his family, time after time. Today, after all is pointing towards the women understanding their own suffering in the face of promised after-lives for the first time, he tells them that all he wants and all they need is to no longer hide. But look at the problems arisen.

Many of them do not stem from having to hide. Not Bill’s struggle with a female power figure (yes, I will remind you that he mistook her for a secretary and that is how all started). And neither does his problem with Barb, where the hypocrite himself betrayed the promises he made before, unable to hold himself to the same standard as his wives, no matter how often he promises. Margene wants to be herself within the family, not the lowest one in the food chain. That, we are reminded of by Anna’s reappearance. Not the horrible events at the motel, where no one really hides anything. Not Nicky’s past, not Bill’s. Nicky has it just right: they are broken. The homosexual love ended so brutally (and in harsh contrast to religion), electroshocks and re-orientation manipulation, Nicky realizing, finally, what she really has lost (well, okay, I am not so sure why she had to lose the eighties), and most terrifying: the singing J.J. and the frightened eyes of a woman you thought had seen it all before, her horrors beginning again, looking no older then the child that almost was turned into nothing but number seven. A number on the ladder to god.

And in all of this, the Mormon church is REALLY beginning to look like a cult. One wonders how controlled, smart, and forgiving the authors, raised in Utah, struggling probably themselves to grow up, must be to have so slowly built up to this. What is this? A simple truth, when religion and religious believes become excuses, illusions, and fetish, they should be called for what they really have become.

On a side note, the side note: Mexico, more gayness, smuggling and old fiends returned… Could have lived without. Hope it doesn’t muddy the waters.

But here we are: Barb is in power, Nicky is a savior, and Margene is the advocating the right to individuality.

Sorry guys, all Bill had was: “You, of all people?”

Let's start a revolution

tinydancer79
So what is CBS doing? Undercover Boss is a new reality series that sends a boss, CEO, president into his/her own company, working as one of the workers. Working with their hands. Working. Then, after he/she sees what life is like for the everyday Joe, everything will be made better.
Is this the benevolent master of the slaves that removes what shackles their lives? Is this a sign that corporate America can change? Is this a promise? If so, is this designed to keep the masses at bay? Is this telling everyone to stay put, waiting for the high and mighty to see the wrongs and change their lives? Almost like the lottery, well, and much of TV, it lulls the subjects into place, into calm, into hope? Like a fairy tale. A big promise, or just TV without relevance? I'd love to hear what you think about this.

Missing Link

While I first was taken aback by the overflow of story-lines and subplots provided in Caprica - after all BSG had taken a little longer to introduce all players, questions, trajectories - I now, after only two episodes, am intrigued, fascinated, and 100% committed to the twelfth world. This is a place, a show, filled with all what makes humanity both good and bad, with all that has happened before, all that will happen again.

This society is advanced, in many ways. Students staying out after curfew occupy the time of cops, nothing bigger on their plates until this bomb that brought us here.

Homosexuality isn't argued about, but is so accepted that it is there but hard to catch in episode one. A friend had even to point out to me the subtle: "I would hit at a hot guy and your dad would leave with his sister", comment, so unimportant, it is something so trivial here, what better statement could the writers have made? Hooray for humanity that can see beyond something as laughable as a discussion of who someone else is allowed to enjoy live with. In this world, questions of right and wrong, and seemingly a full set of rules apply that tell your children thow to move about the day, or night. Rules, regulations...what else do we yet need to know about pre-cylon Caprica? Caprica before it's first hit in the stomach, its first loss of power?
What about the need to be part of this world? Adama,..., Adams, conformity, belonging. I am going to wait and discuss Adama-bad-ass in a later blog, so much yet to see.
Caprica

The show brings us law, order, science, family drama, teen drama, class clashes, religion (or religious insanity), and drugs/holo-bands that allow the cut from reality, polygamous life styles (not a problem for the old religion here again), and a teacher that weirds me out. It seems it all started because of the STO. The need to lay claim to a single god, to only one right answer, one way to reach the goal of higher moral existence that allows for whatever it is one seeks to find. Aaaah, we're back at the beginning. Once again. Arrogant human creature.
Now, as a good friend pointed out, we have a human avatar, knowing nothing of why, what, and where she is, surrounded by the very root of humanity's downfall. All that is within the seven mortal sins is lived in this space, that much we know from the pilot. It is the pit of human want. How will that make humanity look; a humanity that is far ahead of us, yet precedes the war?
There is much, we are not privy to as of yet. Why would they need all the robots if the worlds are at peace? How regulated are the worlds?
What happened to make Caprica what it is, brought together the 12 worlds? There is yet another missing link in all of this.

I am in.

Meet Caroline

tinydancer79

So I luckily have fallen sick and am forced to stay under covers for a little while. Else I may never have been able to finally catch up with my DVR related 'work' and thus the Dollhouse double features.
I have just finished "Stoploss" and "Attic" and am more than satisfied with the treasures the attic held. If you've given up on the series during the break and because it will finish as a completed series tomorrow you should give this show another chance. Coming full circle with its apocalyptic scenario it has married the dystopian fantasies of many great minds and given it the high-speed adrenaline kick of again very smart Joss Whedon.
For those of you that have not seen the series financed in part by Eliza Dushku (wanting to show she is more than a pretty face), the show is the ultimate foreshadowing in corporation exploitation, but not by brute force, at least not at the beginning.

Rather, you are being sold a promise of a better life for five years of yours. A classic devil trade, but not in the afterlife, your soul is not what is wanted, but your body. Your mind can be exchanged. Your mind can be altered to fit whoever pays for it. You're a doll dressed up to play make believe but don't know you're doing so.

Isn't that almost like reality is now. We trade our selves to bosses, friends, neighbors... so few chances to be one self.

But what is at stake on a grant scheme? I can hardly wait to see what the future will be like in Whedon's nightmare. I will now keep watching, and hopefully not be 'disengaged'. But after the doll announced she'll now meet her soul, I think I might not be let down.