Television

Could Jon Bernthal Be Leaving The Walking Dead?

The internet is abuzz with reports that actor Jon Bernthal is in the early phase of talks to join Frank Darabont’s new TNT pilot, L.A. Noir. According to Variety, Bernthal, who plays Shane Walsh on the hit AMCseries The Walking Dead is still in the discussion stage of talks to play Joe Teague, an LAPD cop who plays a key role in the ongoing war between the LAPD and the Los Angeles underworld in the 1940s and 50s.

L.A. Noir is Frank Darabont’s newest venture, after his departure from The Walking Dead as showrunner and executive producer for the show. The pilot for L.A. Noir was greenlit by TNT earlier this month, although the network declined to comment whether the talks were indeed happening. The project is a period drama based on John Buntin’s book, L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City, which depicts the power struggle between the LA Police Chief William Parker and gangster Mickey Cohen. 

Fringe – Enemy of My Enemy

Almost everything Fringe did wrong in the previous episode, “Back to Where You’ve Never Been,” was corrected in “Enemy of My Enemy.” The second half of what was obviously designed as a two-part story within a larger storyline was an episode that showcased every single quality that has made Fringe the best sci-fi series on TV today.

“Enemy of My Enemy” built on what was clumsily introduced in the previous episode, telling the story of the encounter of Fringe Division with David Robert Jones (on both sides) and its fallout. The episode also touched on the theme of forgiveness from an angle that was not only surprising but was also so compelling in its execution that Walter had no choice but to comply, and the audience no other choice than to quietly admire the writers’ skills.

Spartacus: Vengeance – Fugitivus

The STARZ Network has a unique list of shows to its credit. With Kelsey Grammer winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series (Drama) for his role on Boss, the network has established itself to be a reliable source of awesome television, except for the occasional hit-and-miss (*cough* Camelot). But the show that really put the network on the map and made it a noticeable force to be reckoned with has to be everyone’s favorite blood-and-gore fest, the Spartacus series. The newest installment of the series, Spartacus: Vengeance officially returned this week, and it placed the viewers smack dab in the middle of the action, so much so that you can almost taste the blood as it sprayed across the television screen!

With the fall of House Batiatus, Spartacus and his band of gladiators have been on the rampage, attacking unsuspecting bands of Roman soldiers and pilfering food & supplies from wherever they can. The slave rebellion is starting to gain momentum, and Gaius Claudius Glaber, now a Praetor, as well as Spartacus’ original nemesis, is dispatched to Capua to resolve the situation. The rebels have taken shelter underground and have divided themselves into two factions, one under Spartacus and the other under Crixus, who leads his own band of Gauls. While Spartacus is still focused on keeping the rebellion alive and bringing down the Roman empire, Crixus continued his desperate search for Naevia after she was whisked away and sold to an unknown buyer before the massacre at House Batiatus. With this background in mind, this episode gave us a comfortable opportunity to judge Liam McIntyre as Spartacus. Make no mistake, Andy Whitfield was absolutely perfect in his role as the legendary gladiator. But if the show was to go on, the producers needed an extraordinarily broad set of shoulders to take over the reins from him. I thought McIntyre was fairly impressive as Spartacus, although he does lack the charisma and depth that Whitfield brought to the role. Fans of the show will need time to get used to a new Spartacus, and it’s up to him to make the role his own. But nowhere during the 55 minutes of the episode did I feel disappointed by his performance.

Justified – The Gunfighter

Grab a can of Kentucky fried whoopass, gents. Justified is back! After the mind numbingly awesome season last year, Justified made its much awaited return to FX last night. And “The Gunfighter” didn’t waste any time in getting down to business. For those of you with a fuzzy memory, season 2 left us with Raylan Givens (apparently unable to sweet talk his way out of a bullet) being shot after a dramatic confrontation with the Bennetts. To keep things short, Mags Bennett is dead and so is Doyle. As for Dickie, he’s cooling off his heels in prison, but we’ll get to him later. Is everybody up to speed? Perfect. Now onto the good stuff!

It’s been three weeks since Raylan’s shooting and our hero is still in the process of getting his bearings back. But Harlan County and its neighbors are a restless bunch, and Raylan has an uncanny knack of being in the thick of things. The death of Mags Bennett was the final step in the downfall of the Bennett clan, and while most of her assets have been seized by the authorities, a sizable chunk is still missing along with an even more sizable amount of marijuana. One guess as to who might have taken it. It was probably Raylan’s first order of business to bring Boyd in for questioning. Justified is known for its crisp and witty dialogue, and any conversation between Raylan and Boyd is bound to be a mouth watering scene. The fact that the two ended up beating the crap out of each other was an added bonus!

Fringe – Back to Where You’ve Never Been

Fringe returned from its two-month hiatus with an episode that did a lot of things right, but unfortunately not for everyone. From the very beginning of this fourth season, the minds behind the show have done everything in their power — and have largely succeeded — in designing storylines friendly to newcomers to the series while keeping longtime viewers interested. Like every episode set on The Other Side, “Back to Where You’ve Never Been” was captivating, but it was also an episode more likely to dazzle a newcomer than a series seasoned viewer, which is a pity because at this point in the season, the show needs to keep all its audience.

Supernatural – Time After Time After Time

After its thoroughly underwhelming return to our screens last week, Supernatural had a fair bit of work to do with “Time After Time After Time,” perhaps even more so than usual with the long-awaited return of its time-slot competitor Fringe. I usually spend the first paragraph of the things that I write trying to lightly unsheathe the machete I’m about to put into the stomach of whatever given show it is I’m talking about if it’s had a bad week, but this episode doesn’t even deserve it. Before I go any further, I’ll clarify that “Time After Time After Time” was actually a very small improvement over last week’s outing (if you ignore everything about it), but as the standalone spectacle it was trying to be, it failed almost uniformly. 

The premise was fairly simple, the brothers catch wind of a hunt as is par for the course – this particular case being thrown to them by Sheriff Mills in a nice use of a semi-recurring character – and in the process Dean gets transported to 1944 whilst trying to save what appeared to be an employment and housing challenged gentleman from death. Having not known what it was that they were hunting at the time, both Sam and Dean – now in separate eras – continue the hunt, with the aim of bringing Dean back and also killing what it is they’re after. Believe it or not, despite what you’d imagine would be the semi-serious nature of the plot, the episode played itself largely as a comedy; its first major downfall. 

Paul Rudd Joins Parks and Recreation

Paul Rudd has joined the cast of Parks and Recreation. It was officially announced yesterday that the actor – best known for his roles in hit feature comedies Role Models and I Love You, Man amongst others – would be joining the cast as Leslie Knope’s (Amy Poehler) opponent in the race for city council. 

Rudd is not the first big name to appear on the show in recent times however, back at the beginning of the current season of Parks, Oscar nominated actress Patricia Clarkson appeared. It is as-of-yet unknown how many episodes that Rudd will appear in, but many guest stars in the show’s past have had multi-episode arcs, lending credence to the notion that it may be more than just a one episode stint.