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Doux News: March 15, 2015

This week: Con Man, the web series -- News from our corporate overlords -- Assorted television news, including this week in casts and a lot about Sleepy Hollow and the Reverse Flash poster --This week in movie news -- This week in cats

When someone says the words 'web series', my eyes usually glaze over. Maybe not this time.

Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk (have I got your attention?) just successfully crowdfunded a web series called Con Man that will star Tudyk as a science fiction actor stuck doing conventions for a living. Fillion will play his former co-star and more successful friend. (No, no Firefly-related parallel there.) We're getting at least eleven episodes that will include guest appearances by Firefly actors Sean Maher and Gina Torres, Whedon-related actors Seth Green, Felicia Day and Amy Acker, plus... who is James Gunn?

Science fiction conventions are great fun, and could be a terrific backdrop for a clever series. The one problem I have with cons as comedy is when fans are ridiculed as obsessed morons that live in their parents' basements. Let's hope that smart guys like Fillion and Tudyk don't go there.

News from our corporate overlords

As we suspected, HBO Now, the new HBO streaming service, will debut in April -- just in time for their ratings killer, Game of Thrones.

Netflix's new series Between, which sounds apocalypty, will start airing May 21. The difference is, we're not getting the usual full season Netflix dump: the six episodes will air once a week. It's such a crazy idea, it just might work.

Speaking of Netflix -- Daredevil trailer! How's that for a segue? Our own Mark Greig will be covering Daredevil for Doux Reviews, by the way.




Assorted television news, including this week in casts

-- Sleepy Hollow showrunner Mark Goffman has been fired. Or is leaving. At any rate, he's gone, and they're actively searching for another showrunner that can save this once innovative property. Apparently, that doesn't guarantee we're getting a third season. It just means there's a strong possibility. And even though I had already adjusted to the idea that Sleepy Hollow would be canceled, more of Tom Mison's Ichabod Crane would make me happy if they treat him well.

By the way, I don't usually read comments on big TV sites for obvious reasons, but I've been reading them on every article about Sleepy Hollow. The theories about what went so massively wrong with the second season include some interesting speculation. For me, the most interesting was that they were trying to shift the female lead from Nicole Beharie's character to Katia Winter's. If you think about what we were getting, that makes sense. Although if they had done even a cursory investigation of what the fans think -- I love Beharie, never cared for Winter, and I think I'm a fairly typical fan of the show -- they wouldn't have gone in that direction. If indeed they did.

-- The Fall has been renewed for a third season consisting of five episodes. And -- this might constitute a spoiler -- both lead actors will be returning.

-- 12 Monkeys, the Syfy time travel show, just got a second season. I guess I'd better try it again. What do you guys think of the show?

-- The Arrow/Flash spinoff might go direct to series. The TV Line article I linked includes speculation about the three other DC characters they plan to add.

And Reverse Flash (Tom Cavanaugh) just got his own poster. The CW is clearly into this.

-- Wayward Pines, a new Fox show based on a series of books, premieres May 14. I'm planning to review the pilot episode (and only the pilot episode) because I've read the books, which start out like a mystery but are actually science fiction, and I hope that wasn't a spoiler. They're not great novels and I wasn't crazy about them, but I'm interested enough to check it out.

-- The Walking Dead spinoff already has a two season order. Gee, who does that? A network that has lost Breaking Bad and Mad Men, maybe? The first season of six episodes will air this summer, and by the way, I'll be reviewing all six. Plus here's a last minute addendum: David Alpert, The Walking Dead's executive producer, was interviewed during the SXSW film festival this week, and he offered a few interesting tidbits about the spinoff. Not a lot that we don't already know, though. (I doubt the title Fear the Walking Dead will make it to prime time.)

-- Tyler Hoechlin is leaving Teen Wolf and won't be in season five. That makes me sad because he was a major reason I kept watching for so long.

-- Lucy Lawless will have a role as a mysterious woman on the Bruce Campbell/Starz series Ash vs. Evil Dead.

-- The American version of Luther has been delayed because of the difficulty they're having finding an actor comparable to Idris Elba for the lead role. Why does this not surprise me?

-- The CW has announced dates for their May finales:
  • Monday, May 11: The Originals and Jane the Virgin
  • Wednesday, May 13: Arrow
  • Thursday, May 14: The Vampire Diaries and Reign
  • Tuesday, May 19: The Flash
  • Wednesday, May 20: Supernatural

This week in movie news (contributed by Samantha M. Quinn)

-- Star Wars updates: First we got the news that Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) is set to star in the in-between stand alone Star Wars film, but we now have a title and a release date: Star Wars: Rogue One, December 16 2016. The same press announcement included a date for Star Wars Episode VIII: May 26, 2017, a full seven months earlier than expected.

-- Ghostbusters is now going to be a shared universe franchise, with another film being developed that will have male leads (Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum). This might be just crazy rumors, but apparently the Russo brothers (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) are in talks to direct this other Ghostbusters movie. Early rumors are stating that these two movies would share a sequel by teaming up and then the fourth movie would tentatively be a prequel.

-- Joe Manganiello (True Blood) is close to signing up to play Death Stroke in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie. Not much more is known about the casting or what role the character will play in the movie, but he is expected to be more of a pre-super villain character. In other DC movie news, Chris Pine is being eyed to star in the Green Lantern reboot movie which won't even be starting production for a few years yet. However, the character will probably show up in the Justice League movie which is going into production next year.

This week in cats

Josie Kafka just forwarded me a wonderful New Yorker link that includes... sushi cats. It's worth clicking just for the photo.

Time just published a piece on 152 black cats auditioning for a movie. Sadly, none of them got the part. Again, it's worth clicking just for the photo.
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

3 comments:

  1. Ah thank heavens the Sleepy Hollow showrunner is out. Word is he wanted Winter as the lead not Behaire, and the fans weren't having any of that.
    Third season, please.
    Alcide as Deathstroke..okay if we can't get Manu Bennett I'm okay with that. Stephen Lang is my ideal Slade Wilson for the older years.
    Con-man sounds awesome. I hope we get spared the usual digs at the fans, yes.

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  2. I've been enjoying the first season of 12 Monkeys. It hasn't grabbed me as much as Continuum, and it isn't one that I ever feel super compelled to watch close to airing, but it is still pretty decent. It has some good time travel twistiness, several interesting characters, and occasionally some nice humor. I don't know if you'd end up liking it better if you tried it again, Billie. It's pretty much in the "moderately decent" zone, not the "this is so awesome!" zone. But I was happy to read the renewal news, so hopefully S1 will wrap up well and I'll actually want to see more!

    Yeah, they need to lose that title for The Walking Dead companion series. It's interesting that they went with just six episodes for the first season, like the "mother show." I'm kind of glad it is only six. I'm not too sure I need another show in this universe, but since Kim Dickens is in it, I'll be watching. I've loved her since Deadwood. Hopefully, I won't develop the same unhealthy obsession with the new series. I like having that six-month sanity break over the summer! :)

    A desire to have Katia Winter as the lead on Sleepy Hollow is beyond my ability to comprehend. How you could watch even one episode of that show and think anyone beside Nicole Beharie should be the female lead? Utter nonsense.

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  3. Billie thank-you for those pictures, they made my afternoon. Most of the other news wasn't about shows I watch or movies I will but I am looking forward to your reviews of the Walking Dead spin-off.

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