Category: TV

“The Walking Dead” Speak

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I’ve been a fan of The Walking Dead comic since shortly after the first issue was pulled off a printing press.  The Walking Dead is the best comic series being regularly published today.  I’m especially excited about the new AMC tv series that will bring the comics to life.

Quint over at AICN recently posted an interview with The Walking Dead creator, David Kirkman.  Here are a few tidbits…

AMC is giving us a huge deal of support and they have already shown that they have a lot of confidence in the show just by immediately picking up the six episode first season without ever even starting to shoot the pilot…

I’m actually writing the fourth episode in the six episode first season…

…Frank Darabont… His vision for this show is so unique and the pilot script is so strong that I think that that’s why AMC got behind it so quickly. I think Darabont’s hand in this is the thing that is driving it. I think that he’s going to turn this into a pretty awesome television show…

To read the entire interview, simply click here.

“LOST” Answers Found

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I’m happy to say that I started watching LOST with season one, episode one and never missed a single show.  When the series first started I was intrigued by the mysteries of the characters and the island.  Somewhere along the way I began to think that we’d never get all the answers we’d want, but I was still enjoying the ride, so I went along.

Unlike many, who felt the final episode was a let down because we were left with questions unanswered, I felt that the finale was a fitting ending to a series that was always more about characters and questions than storyline and answers. If you want to read a really cool account of what the LOST finale means [supposedly written by someone who actually worked on the show] then click on this link to io9.com’s repost of a piece that originally ran at Dark UFO.

Comics on the Fringe

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If you’re a regular viewer of Fringe, then you know all about the alternate universe which is very similar to ours.  It’s an interesting concept and fun to see how things are just tweaked a bit and yet those tweaks make all the… I would say “all the difference in the world,” but I guess I should instead “all the difference in the universe.”

One of the characters on the show likes comics books and so several slightly different prop comics were created for the alternate universe.  Bleeding Cool compares the alt. reality comics with those from our universe.  Slightly tweaked comics can be seen here.

TV’s Most Shocking Moments

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Recently TV Squad ran a piece called the 50 Most Shocking TV Moments.  So using just their list, I came up with my top ten [beware, there are spoilers, but my guess is you already know them]:

10.  Snakes and Rats – ‘Survivor’ — ‘Season Finale’ (Aug. 23, 2000)
Sue Hawk’s rant was the talk of Survivor fans and helped make the show must see tv.  It shocked viewers and still is considered one of the “highlights” in the show’s history.

9. Mama of Anarchy – ‘Sons of Anarchy’ — ‘Albification’ (Sept. 8, 2009)
Sons of Anarchy has had a lot of shockingly brutal moments, but the rape of Gemma at the hands of white separtists was brutally shocking.

8. A Family Affair – ”The Shield’ — ‘Family Meeting’ (Nov. 25, 2008)
Shane and his family had been on the run and it was clear that there wasn’t a good ending waiting, but the fact that Shane killed his wife and kids and then himself was a shocking end to a character who had been on the show since the first episode.

7. Sinéad O’Connor Declares War – ‘Saturday Night Live’ — ‘Tim Robbins/Sinéad O’Connor’ (Oct. 3, 1992)
Sinéad O’Connor killed her career with her misguided act of protest.  She’d have better off to go on Oprah and jump on the couch.  O’Connor’s act of tearing up the picture of the Pope was and is so shocking that it’s only been seen on tv once since it happened.

6. Jumping the Couch – ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ (May 23, 2005)
Tom Cruise was a box office superstar who could do no wrong… well, not counting that Brooke Shields incident… and then he started jumping on Oprah’s couch.  Again and again.  Faster than you could say whacky, Tom’s career was hurting and he was the butt of jokes everywhere.  Shocking then and even more shocking that his career still hasn’t fully recovered.

5. A Kiss Is Not Just a Kiss – ‘Star Trek’ — ‘Plato’s Stepchildren’ (Nov. 22, 1968)
I had just turned ten years old and still remember the first interracial kiss on television and how controversial it was.  At the time  didn’t understand the hoohal.  I mean Kirk was kissing all kinds of aliens, so why the big deal about kissing an attractive human?  Still, public reaction makes this a shocking moment.

4.  Two for the Death of One – ‘Lost’ — ‘Two for the Road’ (May 3, 2006)
When Michael shot and killed Ana Lucia I was shocked. Then Libby suddenly walked in, and Michael had to shoot her to cover up shooting Ana Lucia (which was done to cover up his release of Henry).  Well played, Lost writers.  You shocked us!

3.. Rocker Shocker – “American Idol’ — ‘Elvis Presley Week’ (May 10, 2006)
Many, myself included, thought that Chris Daughtry could win it all.  Everyone, including Daughtry himself was caught by surprise when he was voted out in the fourth spot.  After finding out he was leaving, Daughtry told Ryan Seacrest,”I’m a little bit in shock.” Who am I to argue with Daughtry.  Shocking it was.

2. “Chloe … Edgar …’24’ — ‘Day 5: 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.’ (March 6, 2006)
Some folks are expected to die on “24” but who would have thought that CTU geek Edgar Stiles would bite the bullet?  He was such a popular character, a love story seemed to be blooming and he worked in the CTU headquarters.  Who could be safer?  Definitely shocking.

1. Boob Tube, The Sequel – ‘Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show’ (Feb. 1, 2004)
I remember watching the half time show and thinking that Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson would put on a good show.  When the, ahem, “wardrobe malfunction” happened, I remember thinking, “Did I just see that?”  Everyone else in the room had the same look.  Shocking indeed.

Here are a couple of other shocking tv moments that didn’t make the TV Squad’s list, but should have:

  • At the end of the first episode of the very first season of The Shield when Vic Makey kills the undercover cop.  That action completely changed the tone of the show and set into motion all the events to follow.
  • Season 19 of Survivor finale – Russell does not win after dominating the game, finding idols with no clues and completely out playing, out witting and out lasting all ofther contestants.

It would be shocking if I forgot to thank Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine for the link.

Hawaii 5-0: Tweaked and Ready to Book ‘Em

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The other day Chris Mills posted that there is a new version of Hawaii 5-0 coming to CBS.  The new show stars Alex O’Laughlin, Daniel Dae-Kim, Scott Caan and Grace Park.  The new  Hawaii 5-0 has tweaked a few things and looks interesting enough for me to give it a shot.

The one thing that I wish they hadn’t messed with was the theme song.  Nothing beats the original version when it comes to Hawaii 5-0.  Don’t believe me?  Chris Mills posted the new theme along with the original [and even a third riff on it for a show that never made it to series].

Survivor: Final Thoughts

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If you’re a Survivor fan, then there’s a good chance that you thought that this past season was the best yet.  Once again, I felt that Russell deserved to win and once again he made it to the finals only to lose.

After Russell’s first time on Survivor, I declared him the best to have ever played the game.  Now I’m not so sure.  I was going to write a post about why my feelings changed, then I read Survivor host Jeff Probst’s final blog about the season and decided he summed up my feelings about my change of heart better than I could.

The Frazetta/Stallone Connection

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A couple of days ago when I was looking for art to accompany my post about Frank Frazetta’s passing, I considered a ton of pieces.  The decision was a tough one because Mr. Frazetta had created so many iconic images throughout his career and because so many had made such an impression on me.  One that I had considered was the Judge Dredd cover that Frazetta had painted for Mad magazine.  I thought that the cover might be an interesting choice since it had a Sly Stallone connection.  Ultimately, I decided against it.

Today, as I was reading Mark Evanier’s blog, I came across a piece about Frank Frazetta that included a story about how that Mad cover came to be and why the painting’s background had to be yellow.  It’s an interesting post even if you’re not a Stallone or Judge Dredd fan, but even more so if you are.  Plus it gave me the opportunity to post the Frazetta/Stallone connection art.

A 2nd Season is Justified

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Yippee!  FX has ordered a second season [13 episodes] of the new fan favorite series Justified.  That news has made my day.  From The Hollywood Reporter:

“We are very excited about the tremendous, widespread acclaim that Justified has received from both audiences and television critics,” said FX president and GM John Landgraf.  “Graham Yost, Tim Olyphant, Elmore Leonard and their talented partners have crafted a uniquely ambitious and entertaining series which is everything we aspired to when we developed the show.”

“Lost” Cast Tooned Up for Saturday Morning

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I recently discovered the art of Michael Blaine Myers, Jr. through a post called Lost: The Saturday Morning Cartoon over at io9.com.  As you’ve probably figured out already, Myers drew the cast of Lost [including the smoke monster] as they’d look in a Saturday morning cartoon.  Cool idea and cool end result.

You can see more of Michael Blaine Myers, Jr.’s art here and here.  It’s worth checking out!

Iron Man 2: Black Widow

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After busting on the last Iron Man 2 poster, I am happy to report that I really like THIS new Black Widow character poster.  It has a dramatically cropped photo of the very curvaceous Black Widow.  The big “2” created in the “Iron Man” colors and style clues us in to the fact that it’s an Iron Man 2 poster… and for anyone who doesn’t pick up on it, there’s IronManMovie.com listed below it.

Yeah, this poster is a winner!

Elmore Leonard Feels Justified

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TVGuide.com just posted a piece titled Elmore Leonard: Justified Gets It Just Right.  I’m happy that Elmore Leonard, who wrote the novella that the series is based on, is as happy with the show as the rest of us [on the night it premiered it ranked No. 1 on cable in overall viewers and in its time slot beat the broadcast networks among men 18-to-49].  I was was even happier to learn that…

…Leonard has begun work on a new Raylan Givens story which he hopes might inspire plots for the show’s second season, if FX renews the series… And if they don’t, Leonard says he will pen a couple more Raylan stories and publish a collection.

[Not the] Greatest Cartoons in History

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Earlier this week CoedMagazine.com listed their choices for The 10 Greatest Saturday Morning Cartoons in History.  So, using just their top ten, here is my top four:

  • 4.  The Superfriends
  • 3. Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends
  • 2.  H.R. Pufnstuf
  • 1. The Wacky Racers

I have to tell you, their choices stink.  First of all, how are H.R. Pufnstuf, Sigmun the Sea Monster and Land of the Lost considered cartoons?  If these shows qualify as “cartoons” then The Monkees and The Banana Splits should have made the list.

I’d always thought that “cartoon” indicated animation.  Using that criteria then why didn’t Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, Tom & Jerry, The Roadrunner, and others not make the cut?  Bah!