Over at The Live Feed James Hibberd has the ratings breakdown for the series premiere of V.Roughly 13.9 million viewers watched the first episode and this does not yet account for DVR views. Hibberd notes that V is "the highest-rated 8 p.m. drama series debut since ... ABC's LOST". There was news on other sites earlier this week about ABC replacing the original showrunner Scott Peters with Scott Rosenbaum who worked on NBC's Chuck. How this affects the show probably won't be seen by us until early spring as ABC made another change and will only be airing 4 episodes this year.
Showing posts with label Check. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Check. Show all posts
NewsFlash: Ratings don't suck, mostly
The Sci-Fi Wire (my favorite news source) has the ratings lowdown for nearly every show we cover here at the Doux. The good news is: FlashForward, Fringe, Supernatural, and Stargate Universe are doing fine. The bad news? Heroes, Smallville and Dollhouse are in deep crap. We're not surprised, are we?
NewsFlash: Dollhouse completely screwed
According to Ausiello, Dollhouse is going to sit out November sweeps. The rest of the thirteen will air back to back in December, instead. So that's it, then. (Thanks for the tip, Patryk.) And in the same news cycle, I just learned that The Vampire Diaries has gotten a full season. That makes sense.
NewsFlashFoward: ABC Orders Entire Season
Great news for all us nascent FlashForward fans. ABC has just announced that they have picked up FlashForward for an entire season. It even OutPerformed Survivor.
Good news? Boring news? Do you like the show? Do you think that we, too, can call ourselves Flans? (Or is that treading on sacred ground?)
Good news? Boring news? Do you like the show? Do you think that we, too, can call ourselves Flans? (Or is that treading on sacred ground?)
Battlestar Galactica: Sometimes a Great Notion
Some thoughts from Jess Lynde ...There is a great article over on the Chicago Tribune about last night's BSG. I didn't find it spoilery, but read at your own risk, as it does address that final reveal. It is quite lengthy, but includes an interview with Ron Moore and thoughts from the episode's writers and directors. Here's the link:
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/01/final-fifth-cylon-ellen-tigh-battlestar-galactica-dualla-dee-.html
Some good stuff from Ron in the interview, especially regarding the final reveal of the episode. But I think my favorite part of the article is this bit from David Weddle about his inspiration for the title and the theme of the episode:
"The day the staff finished putting the cards up on the board with Ron, and the day before we began writing, I flashed on my favorite American novel, Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. It is a much underappreciated and towering work. Anyone interested in fine literature and great story telling should read Kesey's masterpiece.
"The book opens with a childish rhyme that enunciates the theme of the book and what to me was the theme of our show. `Sometimes I live in the country. Sometimes I live in the town. Sometimes I get a great notion. To jump in the river and drown.'
"In Kesey's book, the hero---Hank Stamper, an Oregon logger---does constant battle with the river that runs past his home, a river that has claimed the lives of pets and loved ones and comes to symbolize the vast and indifferent power of the universe that both gives life and cruelly snatches it away again. In his notes to himself as he was writing the book, Kesey scribbled something that has become one of the shorthand phrases Brad and I use while writing scripts. Kesey wrote: "Try to make Hank quit." By that he meant: take this strong, heroic character and pile one misfortune on his back after another until he finally falls. What happens in that moment? Does he despair? Does he get up and go on? For me, there is no more defining moment for a character.
"We tried to do this with almost all the characters in this episode: Adama, Laura, Kara, Lee. We ripped everything out from under them then sat back to see what they would do. What were their individual breaking points? And if they did break, would they stay broken or grope toward a recovery?"
***
Interesting stuff. I like the dark place to which they took this episode. Dee's suicide was heartbreaking, but made absolute sense. When you've lost everything and all hope is stripped away, someone is bound to break. Dee was a powerful choice, given that she's always been the quiet, calm center, refusing to give up and providing strength to others. If Dee can't continue, where does that leave everyone else?
There were a number of great scenes and shocking moments in this episode, but I think my favorite scene was when Adama, Laura, and Lee returned to Galactica and faced with all the hopeful faces of the crew, Laura simply couldn't say anything. Powerful stuff. My second favorite scene was when Leoben freaked out after finding Starbuck's body and admitted he was wrong about Earth. Even crazy, faith-driven Leoben doesn't know what to make of Kara. Whoa!
I've got tons of questions about the 13th colony, the timing of its destruction, and the final five. And, of course, what the heck is Kara? I'm looking forward to where it goes from here.
Jess Lynde is a highly engaged television viewer. Probably a bit too engaged.
What was it about the early 1980's?
What was it about the early 1980's that seemed so full of despair in light of making snowballs during a nuclear winter, and yet brought us MTV and silly TV shows that we are embarrassed to have even watched? Growing up during this time I, like many of my school-mates felt the awesome sense of the futility of life after we saw The Day After. And if Ronald Reagan and the Soviets didn't blow us up, well then we always had to look forward to computers doing it for us like in Wargames. So many of us developed the attitude that if the world was going to blow up, why were we wasting our time at school? It's not like things got better the next year with the first (big) PG-13 movie Red Dawn, even less of a reason to be at school. Especially if our hopes of freedom lay in the hands of Patrick Swayze.
However we had New Wave music, the growth of Rap (remember the Fat Boys?), The Brat Pack, oh I could go on. Throughout this time there was a general sense of the world being chaotic and disaster looming overhead. But I also remember this sense of innocence and silliness that I don't see today. Being a kid back then, tattoos, piercings, and sexual openness were very rare things. Look at the youth of today and they have been exposed to so much more that affects them and their thinking in a more direct way. I suppose one could argue that everything is relative, but if that's the case how much farther will kids go twenty years from now? In the 80's parents worried about their daughters being influenced by Madonna -- look back at how girls who loved Madonna dressed -- Now compare that with how mom's dress and how their daughters emulate Christina, Brittany, Jessica & Paris.
Ah, the innocence of the 80's gave us such sophisticated TV shows as Square Pegs, to help us deal with the Fast Times. Or Whiz Kids for those of us who were afraid of the War Games being played by the politicians. Technology was continuing to grow and this weird Science would even give birth to the Misfits of Science. I couldn't even imagine such TV shows being given the green light these days.
Maybe it was that overwhelming sense of dread that allowed us to more fully enjoy the 80's in an innocent way that compared to today makes the 80's look like the 1950's. Oh and just in case you doubt that some shows made back then would never be made today, I present my last piece of evidence, the smoking gun if you will (and a show I did watch and enjoy) perhaps you also watched it?
However we had New Wave music, the growth of Rap (remember the Fat Boys?), The Brat Pack, oh I could go on. Throughout this time there was a general sense of the world being chaotic and disaster looming overhead. But I also remember this sense of innocence and silliness that I don't see today. Being a kid back then, tattoos, piercings, and sexual openness were very rare things. Look at the youth of today and they have been exposed to so much more that affects them and their thinking in a more direct way. I suppose one could argue that everything is relative, but if that's the case how much farther will kids go twenty years from now? In the 80's parents worried about their daughters being influenced by Madonna -- look back at how girls who loved Madonna dressed -- Now compare that with how mom's dress and how their daughters emulate Christina, Brittany, Jessica & Paris.
Ah, the innocence of the 80's gave us such sophisticated TV shows as Square Pegs, to help us deal with the Fast Times. Or Whiz Kids for those of us who were afraid of the War Games being played by the politicians. Technology was continuing to grow and this weird Science would even give birth to the Misfits of Science. I couldn't even imagine such TV shows being given the green light these days.
Maybe it was that overwhelming sense of dread that allowed us to more fully enjoy the 80's in an innocent way that compared to today makes the 80's look like the 1950's. Oh and just in case you doubt that some shows made back then would never be made today, I present my last piece of evidence, the smoking gun if you will (and a show I did watch and enjoy) perhaps you also watched it?
Pray for New Orleans
I write about television and science fiction, not the state of the world. I try hard to stay non-political when it comes to reviews and articles (although my political leanings tend to creep in, because I'm giving my opinion.) Maybe I have no right to speak... but fuck it. I absolutely have to say something about the current situation in New Orleans.
A few years ago, right after graduate school, I took a temporary job in southern Mississippi. I spent a good bit of my off time in the beautiful Gulf coast cities of Gulfport and Biloxi, because it was gorgeous there; there was a lot of fun stuff to do, like casinos and shopping and miniature golf and driving down that beautiful coastal highway. And I vacationed in New Orleans, touring the French Quarter and the Garden District.
I don't care where you are politically; if you're honest with yourself, you must admit that what is happening right now should not be happening. And it's clear to me that with one party in charge of all branches of government, there's only one place to lay the blame. I find it hard to believe that this would be happening if New Orleans were, say, Kennebunkport, and the residents white and middle-class, instead of black and poor.
For several years now, I've been ashamed to be an American. My level of shame has just overflowed, like the levees of New Orleans.
I promise I won't post anything else that's political. Or I'll try. If there's a major earthquake here in California and the level of response is like the current one, I may go back on that promise.
A few years ago, right after graduate school, I took a temporary job in southern Mississippi. I spent a good bit of my off time in the beautiful Gulf coast cities of Gulfport and Biloxi, because it was gorgeous there; there was a lot of fun stuff to do, like casinos and shopping and miniature golf and driving down that beautiful coastal highway. And I vacationed in New Orleans, touring the French Quarter and the Garden District.
I don't care where you are politically; if you're honest with yourself, you must admit that what is happening right now should not be happening. And it's clear to me that with one party in charge of all branches of government, there's only one place to lay the blame. I find it hard to believe that this would be happening if New Orleans were, say, Kennebunkport, and the residents white and middle-class, instead of black and poor.
For several years now, I've been ashamed to be an American. My level of shame has just overflowed, like the levees of New Orleans.
I promise I won't post anything else that's political. Or I'll try. If there's a major earthquake here in California and the level of response is like the current one, I may go back on that promise.
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