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.