Television

The Rise of the Weird and Unexplained on TV

The second season of Syfy’s Haven will premiere in about two weeks. As I write, HBO’s True Blood has just started its fourth summer run, and the CW’s Supernatural
has been renewed for a seventh fall season. We are now so used to
having our share of genuine supernatural dramas that it might come as a
surprise to many that it wasn’t always the case. In fact, the weird and
unexplained — for a long time — wasn’t considered safe enough to be
given free rein in a TV series, and when it occasionally happened, the
resulting series rarely ran for more than a season.

ABC Fall Premiere Dates

ABC recently released their fall
premiere dates. Wednesday nights we will
see a bit of a shake up. Cougar Town
was pushed back to mid-season to make room for the new comedy,
Suburgatory. You will have to wait until after the New Year to see new shows: Apartment 23, Good Christian Belles,
and The River.

Falling Skies – Prisoner of War

“Prisoner of War” opens with a scene showing “harnessed” teenagers gathering metallic debris on a roof. We get a good look at their harnesses and at the Mechs and Skitters guards. For those like me who thought the series would be shy about showing Skitters up close and that often, this was a surprise. The opening scene, and in fact the whole episode, made a point of getting us to know the invaders and their technology a bit more, which worked in some cases but not in others. For one thing, showing Skitters in their daily alien activities can only make us spot inconsistencies. We cannot for example help wonder why these aliens who have studied us enough to design perfectly operational biped Mechs would go to the trouble of harnessing kids for what seems to be trivial chores. You would think Mechs could do that more effectively…

Charlie Sheen Dead!!! Sort of…

Following mountains of cocaine, 7 gram rocks and a horde of loose
women, Charlie Sheen had a little bit of a downward spiral in the last
year. It’s not news to anyone with ears anymore, but his antics off the
screen with his “goddesses” landed him out of a job on the CBS comedy
titan Two and a Half Men. After a couple of months of
speculation as to whether Sheen would return to the show or who might
replace him, Ashton Kutcher was announced as his successor. The only
question at that point was how exactly would Sheen suddenly be gone, and
where on Earth did Ashton Kutcher’s character come from?

True Blood – She’s Not There

If a show in recent history has found a stranger way to come back to our screens, I need to see it, because the return of True Blood made me feel like I was watching Lost all over again. Before getting into exactly what wrinkled my brain about the premiere of the fourth season of the show, it’s probably a good idea to recap last season’s events and how they lead up to what we got given last night. 

The third season as a whole introduced us to an awful lot of things in the world of True Blood, the most notable of those being the vampire hierarchy and the fact that Sookie is a faerie. The finale left us with a mass of information to take in, and several cliffhangers, again, notably: Sookie’s distain for the fact that Bill had been a servant of the vampire queen since his arrival in Bon Temps and that Sookie was headed off into faerie land with her faerie godmother. 

James Spader in Negotiation to Join The Office

Entertainment Weekly reports James Spader is in talks to join The Office as the CEO of Sabre. He will replace Jo Bennett, who was played by Kathy Bates. Bates is leaving her role as a guest star to focus on NBC’s second season of law-comedy, Harry’s Law. Spader’s role as Robert California in the seventh season finale was more significant than the other guest stars. Spader is one of the few actors who wasn’t attached to other projects.

Unlike Bates, who appeared in occasional guest spots, Spader’s role as CEO would be increased to weekly appearances. A source close to the show said they didn’t want to pass on the opportunity to recruit Spader after he was “so funny” in the finale. Sources also say, as CEO, California will have a strong impact on the Office employees, introducing them to his fondness for manipulation and a disturbing sexual vibe.

Showtime Finds Writer and Executive Producer for Adaption of 100 Bullets.

Showtime has signed David S. Goyer to both pen and produce a new show being adapted from the comic series 100 Bullets. Goyer’s writing credits include working with Christopher Nolan on his Batman films; including the the newest installment, The Dark Knight Rises, which will be released in 2012. He also wrote all three of the Blade films, so it’s safe to say the man is familiar with a comic adaption. His production credits on the small screen aren’t as glamorous. However, having created several shows that never made it out of their first year. Including Flashforward, on which he also served as a writer and co-creator.

The comic written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso ran from August of 1999 to April 2009. It garnered critical acclaim and several awards from both the Harvey and Eisner Awards. 100 Bullets is a story about a one man conspiracy to take out rich and influential families secretly controlling the world. It also poses a question of morality, as the main character -the mysterious Agent Graves- goes about his task by giving the victims of hardship the opportunity to take their revenge by murdering the people that wronged them.