By way of Ted at The Late Adopter, a bunch of 1940’s D-listers reminisce about the Depression Decade, VH-1 style, in I Love the ’30’s. Hey, isn’t that one of the Sonic guys? (The married one, not these two.)
Category: Television
Who Watches the Watchmen? Tim Kring, apparently.
As I noted a few weeks ago, NBC’s Heroes has been a guilty pleasure of mine this past season: It serves up poorly-scripted, wafer-thin, and yet undeniably scrumptious slices of z-grade fanboy cheese every week, and it’s close to the only network show I watch these days. (And the “Company Man” episode of a few weeks ago was good television by any reckoning.) That being said, the show’s outright plagiarism is getting more and more marked, to the point where I’m fast losing interest. Series creator Tim Kring says he doesn’t read any comics, which I find somewhat hard to believe. And there’s always going to be some overlap in the superhero genre, just because there’s only so many ways you can tell the same sort of story. But Monday’s episode not only showed the writers continuing to lift liberally from the famous “Days of Future Past” arc from the Claremont-Byrne years of X-Men, but brazenly ripping off one of the key plot points of the mother of all contemporary graphic novels, Alan Moore’s Watchmen. And I don’t mean homage or tip-of-the-hat — I mean straight-up, unabashed, actionable stealing, right down to Linderman’s Ozymandian monologue. For shame. Do Kring & co. really think their fanboy/fangirl viewership isn’t going to notice?
The Alan Colmes Project.
“It sounds harsh, but think of most of the Fox Democrats, at least those who appear on the opinion shows, which take up half the network’s airtime, as one of three types. They are either scary liberals, losers or enablers. Representatives of each type may score some points for Democrats when they appear on-air, but ultimately they help further Fox’s larger narrative about Democrats and liberals and what they stand for.” Also in Salon, Alex Koppelman takes a gander at FOX News’s usual go-to stable of kept Dems.
Of Baltar and Lear.
I grow; I prosper: Now, gods, stand up for bastards! As you may or may not know, both Battlestar Galactica and Slings and Arrows end their third seasons tonight. All in all, a solid evening of quality television…Get thee hence to the Tivo, so say we all. Update: There‘s too much confusion, Saul can’t get no relief? Ok, that’s just plain bizarre. Update 2: FTL Jump the Shark? In case you skipped the comment thread, Ron Moore talks about last night here, and seems to confirm the goofiest aspects of the Season 4 finale. Huge spoilers if you haven’t watched yet.
Ship of State.
“It’s interesting for me as a writer when we can move the chess pieces around a little bit, when you’re dealing with suicide bombing on the show but suddenly it’s not those other people who are doing it, but your characters. You’re able to examine the moral questions of it in a different context because you’re not burdened by the direct analogy of saying, ‘If Laura is George Bush and the cylons are the enemy, how do you deal with it?’” Salon’s Laura Miller has a sit-down with Ron Moore, creator of Battlestar Galactica.
Battle Stations: Wave Four
As Season 3 winds its way down next Sunday, Sci-Fi announces that Battlestar Galactica will get a 22-episode Season 4 in 2008. Hmm…this may or may not be a good thing. At its best, such as the New Caprica arc earlier this season, BSG is really something…still, to my mind, it’s showed signs of strain lately, particularly regarding the recent events surrounding Starbuck (psycho/prophet), Baltar (pariah/prophet), and the Adamas (at each others throats again.) How many times can they reboot the characters, and still be taken seriously?
Tony’s last Aria.
We try to get out, they keep pulling us back in: AICN Coaxial points the way to this trailer for The Sopranos‘ final season, beginning April 8 on HBO.
So long, from the Home Office.
A fond farewell to Calvert DeForest, a.k.a. Larry “Bud” Melman, 1921-2007.
Salon of the Cave Bear.
“The implication of these careful cultural signifiers: The caveman has grasped not just literacy and reason but also the affectations of the modern hipster aesthete. (That knowingly antiquated racket might easily have been stolen from a Wes Anderson set.)” Old friend Seth Stevenson ruminates on the proposed Geico caveman TV show for Slate.
Straight Outta Springfield | Pegg Legs It.
In the trailer bin today, Homer and family are ready for their close-up in the third preview for The Simpsons Movie, due out this summer. And Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz‘s Simon Pegg embarks on a ruthless fitness regime, tiny shorts and all, in the new You-tubed teaser for Run, Fatboy, Run.
