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Doux News: May 6, 2012


This week: Renewals and cancellations -- A lot of speculation -- Summer plans -- And a bit of movie news

As we joyously announced earlier in the week, two of my favorite shows -- Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries -- were officially renewed.

Eight seasons. It gives me pause that Supernatural is going to outlast Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek The Next Generation. I wasn't even sure I liked Supernatural when it began; every week in the early first season, I complained that it was a poor Buffy ripoff (remember when we called Supernatural "Buffy with dudes"?) and considered dropping it. (I'll confess that the main reason I kept watching was Jensen Ackles, who is still a crush of mine.)

And now Supernatural is heading into the Stargate SG-1 and Smallville longevity arena, both of which (arguably) outstayed their welcome and ran out of good material before the end. Although most fans would agree that Supernatural hasn't been as strong in the past two seasons since creator Eric Kripke stepped down, they're still producing good episodes and now they have a new showrunner -- Jeremy Carver, one of their strongest writers. I still look forward to Supernatural every week and I still enjoy reviewing it.

Like other fans, I'm hoping that Misha Collins will return in some way, shape or form in season eight. Which brings me to my tweet of the week. When the renewal was announced, Misha tweeted:

Breaking News... Season 8 is official! Fun fact: If Jensen got Jared pregnant when they first met, they would have a 7 year-old.
A fourth season for The Vampire Diaries, too. Again, who knew? I remember struggling through those first few episodes and dropping it like an anvil, and now it's one of the highlights of my week. What The Vampire Diaries does best is that it keeps surprising me with unexpected twists and turns that nearly always work and occasionally make my jaw drop. It's witty and smart, and the cast (most of it) is just wonderful. Nina Dobrev in particular is a strong lead, and Ian Somerhalder is a delight each and every week.

Isn't it interesting that both Jensen Ackles and Ian Somerhalder had continuing, boring and ultimately unsuccessful roles on Smallville? Plus Ian Somerhalder was the least successful of the original cast of Lost. It isn't just the talent of the actor; it's matching the right actor with the character. Dean Winchester and Damon Salvatore. Yum.

And here's the speculation section

As we head into season finales, we're still waiting for official renewal news for a number of shows we cover here. It's looking good for some: Castle, Once Upon a Time, Revenge, and, surprisingly, Community. The fate of The Secret Circle and Nikita is less certain. (We've had a ton of requests to cover Nikita. If it's renewed, we probably will.) No one seems to know how many shows the CW is planning to cancel. Fortunately, we won't have too much longer to wait.

The almost certainly gonna get the boot category includes: Alcatraz (which I gave up on long before the final episode), Awake (which I really love, so it's just too bad), and Ringer (which Max did such a terrific job reviewing this season).

We haven't put up a renewal/cancellation post this season, mostly because TV Line does such a great job and we're just not interested in most of the big network shows. Do you think we should do a scorecard? Maybe next season?

We do have a list of finale dates. The next couple of weeks are going to be busy.

Summer plans

This might be a good time to talk about what we're reviewing this summer. Jess is currently reviewing the fifth and final season of Eureka, and will also be reviewing Warehouse 13. Dr. Nana Mom will be covering Alphas and Haven. I'm going to review the fifth seasons of True Blood and Breaking Bad.

We're planning lots of retro reviews, too. As previously announced, June is Prisoner Month; we're going to post reviews of the entire sixties classic series, with a new review going up every other day. ChrisB will be catching up with early reviews of Castle, Josie and Mark will be catching up with the first season of Community, and Mark will also be working on Merlin. Josie is planning to finish Twin Peaks, and at some point, Max will be doing retro Mad Men. Ben and I will finish original Star Trek (yes, we slowed down. It's been busy.) Nadim will be catching up with Revenge, too, if it's renewed, and it certainly sounds like it will be. And J.D. is going to be posting movie reviews nearly every week this summer.

(I hope I remembered it all. Let me know if I forgot something!)

Movie news

I'm usually aware of what's going on with my favorite shows. The movies? Not so much. Our movie reviewer J.D. is on top of it, though, and last Monday, he posted a movie news column. The response was strong enough that he is planning to continue -- not every week, but when he has something to say. Yay!

(And this is the perfect spot to praise an article ChrisB wrote for us this week: TV or the Movies? It's no mystery which side I come down on.)

I do have one movie comment this week. I am thrilled that two movies that Joss Whedon wrote or directed (The Avengers, Cabin in the Woods) are kicking super major butt at the box office at this very moment. Joss Whedon created my favorite show of all time. Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered as an almost unnoticed mid-season replacement on a tiny channel back in 1997, and instead of vanishing unnoticed as expected, it changed the face of television. It certainly changed my life. If I hadn't been so obsessed with Buffy that I simply had to write about it, this site probably wouldn't be here today.

That's it for this week. Opinions, raves, rants, questions? Post a comment!

5 comments:

  1. Summer plans


    Oh ! That's interesting ! I'll keep checking your blog on a daily basis !!

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  2. Billie, I am so glad you are reviewing Breaking Bad. It's my favorite show right now and I cannot wait to see what craziness season five has in store for us.

    Meanwhile, having finished Fringe, I started the first couple episodes of the Vampire Diaries. I'm not gonna lie, right now I'm not very into it, but if you and Josie are both fans, I know it must start to get good eventually right? And I was interested in hearing that someone from the site might start reviewing Nikita. Never seen it, but assumed it would be CW-fluff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dean Winchester and Damon Salvatore. Yum.

    I am right there with you! Plus, love the photo at the top! Crossover, indeed. Now, that would be something to set the DVR for...

    The lack of info on the Castle renewal has me flummoxed. The season finale is tomorrow night -- I would kind of like to know if it's the series finale!

    Although I won't be surprised if it doesn't get renewed, I would like Alcatraz to surprise me. I've actually become quite a fan, surprisingly since I thought the pilot was a bit weak. But, it has really grown on me and become one of the shows I look forward to every week.

    Miguel -- hang in there with Vampire Diaries. It gets better about half way through the first season and great by the end of the season.

    Thanks for the plug, Billie. As always, a great article.

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  4. Miguel, definitely give it eight or nine episodes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Summer plans...Haven! Yippee!
    I've decided to hold off on Vampire Diaries and just watch the whole series (someday) all at once via whatever format is available at that time...watching Buffy, Angel, Supernatural, Veronica Mars, Firefly, Torchwood, Dr Who, Six Feet Under (gee, did I watch anything when it originally aired???) etc. that way has been great...and I just can't fit another show in my lineup!

    ReplyDelete

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