Television

Starz Greenlights “Noir” Adapation

Looking to cash in once again on a series overflowing with sex and violence, Starz has picked up a live-action adaption of the anime series Noir. After working on the project since last fall, Starz finally decided to give it a kick-start with an adaption penned by Steven Lightfoot, who will also be one of the executive producers on the series. Noir will join the two new Starz series; Boss, starring Kelsey Grammer, and the ’60s period piece set in Miami, Magic City.

The anime follows the story of two female assassins who team up on a journey to uncover mysteries from their past, while having to deal with soldiers from a secret organization sent to kill them. If the plot remains at all true to the “girls with guns” theme of the original, than Noir is sure to draw in a similar audience as Starz first hit series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

Parks and Recreation-Inspired Book to Be Released

To follow up Parks and Recreation‘s
brilliant third season, NBC Universal and Hyperion Books are teaming
up to publish a book about the strangest little city in the world.
Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America
will be a 240 page comedy book that is scheduled for release on
October 4^th. Though
the deputy director of Pawnee’s Parks Department will take credit on
the cover, the series’ writing staff will be the actual authors.
Taking a deeper look at the bizarre and fictional Indiana town in
which the series is set will be a treat for fans of the series. Mike
Schur, series co-creator, has assured that it will also be accessible
to those not familiar with the show.

Game of Thrones – Fire and Blood

I think the season finale of Game of Thrones illustrated some of the
differences between it and the books well. It was a good episode, and a
lot of important stuff definitely happened, but it also felt a bit light
after the huge events of the last couple weeks. There was a whole lot
of reaction to Ned’s death, and in general it felt like things were just
decompressing a bit. In the book, Ned is killed with a lot more than
10% of the story left to go, and he felt less like the main character
because he was only one of several to get his own viewpoint chapters. So
while it was able to continue on at full speed after his head and body
parted ways, the show definitely seemed to position him more as the
central figure, and his absence could be felt just a bit. There’s
obviously plenty to entice viewers with next year, but with there only
being one episode after his execution to wrap things up, there wasn’t a
real opportunity to actually show new things happening, and so instead
there was just a bunch of pieces moving into place for new threads later
on. Only Daenerys’ story seemed to have major events going on, even if
elsewhere there was plenty happening.

The Killing – Orpheus Descending

Many words spring to mind when thinking
about the season finale of The Killing;
few of them are positive. “Frustrating” would likely be at the
forefront, with “completely ridiculous” not far behind. There
were actually a couple of brilliant scenes and performances,
but unfortunately they were overshadowed by a ludicrous twist ending and
an anticlimactic finale. It might have been wrong to expect much
from this episode, even given how much of an improvement the last few
episodes were on the series, but “Orpheus Descending” was far and
away the worst episode of an already tragically misguided season.

The Killing Renewed

The Killing has been renewed for a second season. News of the renewal of the show – based on the Danish show Forbrydelsen (literally translated as “The Crime”) –
comes just one week shy of its season finale on AMC. Whilst the viewing
figures for the murder mystery have averaged only around a third of the
titanous zombie-apocalypse thriller The Walking Dead – which premiered last year on the network – they, along with widespread critical acclaim, are evidently more than enough to see a second year for the show.

Game of Thrones – Baelor

The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones’ first season didn’t have a
lot of Eddard Stark in it, besides the opening and closing scenes,
which did a great job of reminding the audience of who this man is one
last time before his unexpected and pitiable death. I was quite
surprised by this event when reading the book, and I imagine most people
who were new to the story were as well when they saw those last couple
minutes. It just seems like an obvious move to banish Ned to the Wall
with his son and set up some story threads that way, and it does make
sense for Cersei to keep him alive for political reasons, and you just
forget that Joffrey is actually the king at this point, doesn’t really
understand what he’s doing, and would love to see a couple heads roll in
his honor. It’s a gut punch to have a major character put aside his
honor and duty to protect his family and then lose everything anyway,
and establishes once and for all that this isn’t your standard fantasy
plot, and if there are any safe characters, it’s hard to tell who they
are.

The Killing – Beau Soleil

A dozen
days in and with only one left to go, this episode saw things moving
quickly while still allowing time for side plots and backstory.
“Beau Soleil” may not have been as good as the two previous
episodes – “Missing” especially – but it was still at a higher
level than the majority of the series. While it was enjoyable as an
individual episode, as a part of the whole, it served to point out
many of the faults that lie within the series.

The
strained bonds keeping the Larsens together came closer than ever to
snapping in this episode. As Stan sits in jail, Mitch showcases the
only other emotion we’ve seen from her besides grief: anger. Furious
at Stan for emptying their account and then more so when she hears a
message left from Stan’s old mob boss, Janek, she fires Belko when she
feels he’s not being honest with her. Though Forbes has proven she
is a gifted actress, the writing hasn’t lived up to her talent, never
coming up with more for her to do other than weep, and now apparently
sobbingly yell at people. While she did have two good scenes in this
episode, they were more notable for the actors she shared them with.
Mitch’s confrontation with Stan at the prison was one of the better
moments, but that might just be because it felt so good to see Stan
lay out to Mitch how much she is to blame for their current
predicament. Another highpoint also came from Stan when he tells
the psychiatrist about his dream of another man sitting at the head
of his table. Sexton, while not brilliant, has been very consistent
in his role and he has lately delivered a convincing portrayal of
Stan’s struggle to accept what he’s done. Mitch was again put in her
place when Terry questioned her about Stan’s bail. Terry telling
Mitch she didn’t even know her daughter was the kind of thing that
would normally make you hate someone, but Terry was completely
justified in it. Not only for everything she’s been doing for the
family, but because she’s absolutely right, though Mitch is hardly
the only mother to be disconnected from her teenage daughter. Still,
seeing her knocked down a peg was gratifying, which speaks to the
writers’ talent, or lack thereof, given their inability to make even
a grieving mother sympathetic. Not that after this episode Terry is
going to be seen in a much more favorable light either.