God Bless The USA Network

And for good measure a group of really really good looking people

Last week USA premiered its newest original show Common Law, featuring two detectives so dysfunctional they have to be put in couples’ counseling so that they can learn to work together.  The pilot was very enjoyable and a great addition to the network that proclaims “Characters Welcome.”  It also got me thinking about this supposedly second tier cable network and how apart they are set from every other channel on television.

Screenfix: Assemble!

. . . And there came a movie, a movie unlike any other, a movie that was so over hyped that no single reviewer could critique it alone.  After four years, in the waiting The Avengers (aka Avengers Assemble internationally) has hit theaters to critical praise and record setting financial success.  Of course the ScreenFix crew was there opening weekend to see the film and give our impressions.  ScreenFix Assemble!

The Summer Movie Season Is Upon Us

Well, we have officially sprung forward and as the days get longer and warmer, we here at ScreenFix are turning our attention to what really is important this time of year – the summer movie season.  Without further preamble, here are the films I am most looking forward to this summer.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Group Review

If you deserve your nerd card, or have been awake at all for the past few months, you’ve probably heard of the latest cooperation between RPG giant Bioware and the Star Wars license holder, LucasArts. Star Wars: The Old Republic is far from the first Star Wars game, and isn’t the first (or even the second) Star Wars massively-multiplayer game, but it does break new ground as the first MMO title to divorce itself from the lore of the films, set firmly in the “Old Republic” era of Star Wars history (home of the Knights of the Old Republic games). Players choose to side either with the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire, roughly (though not neatly) analogous to the Rebellion and Empire from the films, and then select one of four classes. In theory, adventure ensues.

A Review in Two: Awake

Awake is a new midseason offering from NBC that tells the story of Detective Michael Britten, a man who, after a terrible accident, finds himself drifting back and forth between two different realities.  In one world, a car crash has killed his wife and in another the same crash kills his son.  In both worlds, he loses a loved one and in both he must try to help a loved one to grieve.  The change between realities occurs when he tries to go to sleep so Michael dons a green bracelet to let him know he is in one world and a red for the other.  I thought the pilot showed a lot of promise, but in the interest of fair journalism I decided to correspond with a version of myself from another reality that did not like the show.  He will take on the moniker of Red Ryan and I will go by Green Ryan.

ScreenFix Review: The Grey

Let me start off by saying that I am not a fan of the winter formula that has started off by taking Liam Neeson and putting him in a movie (Taken, Unknown) in which he plays a stoic badass.  It’s not that Liam Neeson doesn’t play tough guy well- he totally does- it’s just that I feel like he is such a powerful actor that his talents could be better put to work in more dynamic roles.  That said, I loved “The Grey.”  The plot could not be simpler.   Neeson plays Ottway, the man tasked with protecting the workers at an Alaskan drilling station.  On his trip home, the plane crashes in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and Neeson must lead his fellow survivors to safety.  This film actually fits into a genre that I haven’t seen done well in a while; namely the monster movies from the 90s.  In these movies the characters are slowly picked off one by one until the dramatic conclusion when the last one or two characters figure out the necessary information to defeat whatever is killing them.

The big difference in this movie is that rather then some shadow in the forests hunting our survivors, we have a pack of poorly CGI-ed wolves (one of my few complaints).  Luckily Neeson’s Ottway is very familiar with the wolves of the area and serves as a pocket encyclopedia to the rest of the survivors, telling them what the wolves are doing and thinking.  This comes off as less “I know wolves” and a lot more “wolf-whisperer,” but it doesn’t detract from the story much and it allows many parallels to be drawn between the pack of wolves hunting the survivors and the survivors themselves.  The wolves are obviously stronger, faster, and better suited for the terrain then seven regular Joes, but the wolves only ever seem to attack the group when they are doing something wrong, such as fighting amongst themselves or letting one of their own fall behind the group.  It’s almost as if the wolves are trying to teach them a lesson about teamwork.

Ryan’s Favorite List from 2011

I was going to sit down and make a “best of” list for the year, but it struck me as so cliché that I couldn’t go through with it. However, being the sentimental type, I wanted to at least write something about what pop culture has brought me this year. What I decided on was to create a list of the best things I have experienced this year, not necessarily what was released this year. This is not THE year in review; it is MY year in review.

A Very ScreenFix Christmas

It’s that time of year again folks, the magical day that children spend all year waiting for: the day the winter Doctor Who special airs. To celebrate, each member of our writing staff is contributing their favorite movie featuring the other important event of Doctor Who Day- a minor holiday called Christmas. Enjoy.

A Muppet Christmas Carol (Ryan)
What happens when you mix the beloved Dickens classic about the true meaning of Christmas with a bunch of singing felt puppets? It may sound like your 11th grade English Teacher’s “progressive teaching style,” but it is in fact one of, if not the, best Muppet movie of the 90’s. The 90’s were a magical time when the Muppets started redoing classic pieces of literature with their own Muppet-y twist, starting with A Christmas Carol. There are so many reasons to love this movie. Gonzo as Charles Dickens, the omniscient story-teller, Kermit as Bob Crachet, and of course Michael Caine playing the original Scrooge. The movie is filled to bursting with memorable songs, hilarious jokes, and a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Dickens’s most well known work. With the Muppets well on their way back to the top, why not grab the entire family and force them to sit down and watch the Muppets for the second holiday in a row. Trust me, they’ll thank you when it’s over.


How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Brian)
When you want wisdom dispensed with equal parts zany premise, made-up words, and sometimes-strained end-rhyme, there is no better source than the esteemed Dr. Seuss. To champion the cause of environmental conservation, you have the Lorax (he speaks for the trees). For graduation gifts, a copy of “Oh the Places You’ll Go” is expected, generally with a three-copy minimum. And at Christmas time, you complain about the interruption of regular television, and find yourself watching the animated classic from the 60s, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, sometimes in various states of inebriation. Seuss manages to convey the meaning of Christmas without any specific religious message or inherent Santa Claus mythology, and we somehow get a happy ending out of lies, thievery, cruelty, bitterness, and jealousy. Maybe the reason I enjoy How the Grinch Stole Christmas so much is that the Grinch actually spends the vast majority of the feature ruining Christmas, delighting my inner-Scrooge. Roast beast is, after all, a feast I can’t stand in the least, either. And let’s not forget my favorite Christmas carol, “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” which is also excellent for teaching simile and metaphor, and also does nicely for particularly unpleasant breakups. With several airings on most major networks and a few cable channels, such as ABC Family, during the holiday season, it’s not hard to find and definitely worth catching to assuage your Christmas stress.


Home Alone (Amanda)
What says Christmas more than the story of a busy family forgetting to pack their 8 year old son for the holiday vacation in France? Thus begins the story of Home Alone. Macaulay Culkin stars as Kevin, who thinks being forgotten is the perfect Christmas gift. Shortly after the beginning of his personal party, he discovers that his “empty” home has become the target for two of the most inept thieves ever seen who call themselves the “Wet Bandits.” Unfortunately for the thieves, Kevin is, perhaps, the most industrious and creative child ever left alone to defend his home. What isn’t to love about the series of tricks and traps Kevin plots for the unsuspecting criminals? (except for the mess he left for his parents to clean up but it serves them right for forgetting him.) Home Alone is packed with comedy the whole family can enjoy and for other children of the 90’s it’s a trip down memory lane!

And if you enjoyed the first one, try the second movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. This time, Kevin’s family forgets him at Christmas for a second year, except this time he’s on his own in New York City.


Elf (Zoe)
I will probably watch this one at least three more times before Sunday while I consolidate and wrap my presents. It just puts a smile on my face every time I watch it; hell, I’m smiling right now just thinking about it. Elf is about Buddy, a baby human who stows away in Santa’s toy bag and ends up back at the North Pole. Raised by elves, he grows up to be Will Ferrell and the single most cheerful person I have ever seen on my TV. After discovering that he was adopted, Buddy goes on a quest to find his biological father in New York City, who happens to be on the naughty list. It sounds really silly when you type it out like that. However, the plot really isn’t the important part here. The reason this movie works is almost exclusively Will Ferrell. It’s as if he took that feeling you got when you were a kid setting out the milk and cookies for Santa (and carrots for the Reindeer of course) on Christmas Eve with the lights dimmed and the tree glowing softly, when everything is just about family and the Christmas spirit, not all the stuff you’re going to get when you wake up in five hours, and made a character out of that.

Relentlessly optimistic, excited and faithful in his own way, Buddy is pure Christmas spirit with none of the cynicism about Christmas that we gather as we age. Elf is hilarious to boot, with a terrific score and featuring a blond Zooey Deschanel (whose last name I spelled correctly on the first try, hoo-rah). Honorable mention- Hogfather (It’s on Netflix, look it up).


A Charlie Brown Christmas Special (Scotty)
There comes a time in one’s life where Christmas isn’t the same. The things that used to excite you as a child now seem dull. The presents, the decorations, and the pageantry all seem vapid and material. And it sucks big time.

Charlie Brown is going through this midlife crisis while still in primary school. All the aspects of Christmas from which his friends seem to be deriving joy don’t really interest him anymore. His attempt to recapture the wonder of Christmas fails miserably. Plus, there was almost a case of tree homicide. Chuck almost gives up on Christmas entirely until Linus schools him and pretty much everyone in earshot.

This is why A Charlie Brown Christmas Special is so great. It shows that the way to get over the adult melancholy of Christmas is not to revert to a childlike state where commercialism still amuses you, but to look beyond the superficial and find the deeper spiritual meaning behind the holiday. Christmas is not about Santa, elves, gifts or having a pretty Christmas tree. It’s about something small and almost insignificant having the promise of bringing great joy.

That and the soundtrack is awesome.

(Cue Linus and Lucy)


Die Hard (James)
‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Nakatomi skyscraper
Not a creature was stirring, except the guard with his newspaper.
John McClane stalked terrorists in air-ducts with care
In hopes to save his wife with her huge 80’s hair.

The children were home, all snuggled in bed
With an illegal immigrant watching over their heads.
Without any socks or even a shoe
And no outside help, what will McClane do?

When down on the plaza there arose such a clatter,
Al sprang from his post to see what was the matter.
A body from a window falls down on his car
He wondered where all of the other police are.


“Come Karl, and Tony, and Fritz, and Theo!
And you Uli and Heinrich, and Kristoff, and Franco!
To the top of the roof, I’ll fight you all!”
And defeated every one in a mighty brawl.


Down to the garage goes the evil man
Hanz thinks he’s finished his dastardly plan
When from out of the night comes Argyle quickly
and rams the terrorist with his limo.


Up sprang McClane, with a plan for attack
He pulled out a gun from the tape on his back
And I heard him exclaim as he shot down poor Hanz,
“Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker!”


What do you think? Did we miss your favorite Christmas film? Let us know what you think in the comments, and from everyone here at ScreenFix, have a Merry Christmas!

Top 5 New Shows This Fall

This fall has not been kind to premiers, with The Playboy Club and Charlie’s Angels cancelled before they got even halfway through their seasons.   Few new shows have really stood out, but that does not mean there are no new offerings that deserve your attention.  Here are my picks for the top five you should be watching this fall.

Land of the Lost . . . and Jurassic Park . . . and a little bit of Avatar thrown in

Fox has pretty much been keeping their primetime schedule afloat with reality programming. and I have always had a dubious relationship with them ever since they cancelled Firefly. Fox has put out some great shows, but they are very quick to drop the axe on shows that are not performing in the ratings game. Specifically I have not felt that Fox has done a good job putting out genre shows. and I felt that the short-lived Terminator and Dollhouse both could have been handled better. However, they seem to be trying to fix that with Terra Nova, the new sci-fi show with Spielberg’s name attached. The show has been referred to as a mix of Lost, Jurassic Park, and Avatar and I feel that this is an accurate albeit overblown description.

In the not too distant future, the earth is plagued with environmental devastation and overpopulation. The inconvenient truth is that the planet we know and love is beyond saving and even stopgaps such as gas masks for outdoor use and population limits (a family is four) are just delaying the inevitable. Just when all hope is lost, scientists discover a portal to a long-forgotten past. The government immediately begins to send people through the portal to establish a new colony in the past where mankind can get a second chance: Terra Nova.

The exact rules behind this sci-fi phenomenon are handled beautifully. The rules are covered in a just a couple of lines of dialogue and left largely unexplained. The writers clearly understand that the exact workings of the time travel are not the focus of the show. The portal opens one way regularly and intermittently; communication with the past is still possible; and when people came into the past they altered the time stream creating a new universe (Back to the Future style). That’s it. That is all that is necessary because the point of the show is not getting to Terra Nova, it’s living in Terra Nova.

My major complaint about the show is the characters. We follow a family made up of stereotypes and easily forgettable characters. We have cop father, doctor mother, rebellious eldest son, super smart middle daughter, and toddler youngest daughter. The only important factor about the youngest daughter is simply her existence.

The week to week troubles have come from three different sources:

The first are the various dinosaurs native to this new time/place. The camp has great fortifications and everyone inside the settlement is safe, but when situations bring the characters out of the safety of camp, dinosaurs are a constant danger. My favorite part about these dinosaurs is that the writers have opted not to use the popular dinosaurs that everyone knows and loves. There are no stegosaurs, triceratops, or even T-rexes. Of the two different species that have we have seen a lot of one is some version of a pterodactyl that is the size of a bat, which may or may not be real, and a weird twist on a velociraptor, that the internet has assured me could not exist.

The second threat comes from a group of other humans referred to as the Sixers, named because most of them came in on the sixth pilgrimage (For an unstated reason the portal does not work constantly and so people must come in groups referred to as pilgrimages). The Sixers decided they wanted to break away from Terra Nova and form their own colony and are more then a little hostile towards the citizens of Terra Nova. The Sixers are what makes me compare the show to Lost. The Sixers feel like the early “others” back when the passengers of flight 815 knew there were other people on the island, but had no idea who they were or what they wanted, which is to say back when the show was fun. The writers have kept the Sixers shrouded in mystery and for now I like it that way. The show is not bogging itself down with mythology yet, but they are putting out some interesting teasers and questions that will keep fans coming back.

The last source of conflict is by far my favorite. I assumed that when our family traveled back to the past that they would have to leave all the comforts of technology behind for some stupid but logical reason. However, the writers chose to make Terra Nova a sci-fi haven with computers and all the advanced technology the future had to offer. The writers have also taken a note from the Eureka playbook and have shown that this future technology and past environment don’t always coexist nicely. In one of the early episodes a genetically modified virus gets free and infects several characters causing them to slowly lose their memories. The cop father must find a way to reverse the problem while also dodging the slashers trying to turn him into lunch so that he can get his wife (and the other characters, but mostly just the wife) back to where she remembers who he is. It’s a plotline that I am pretty certain is literally taken from Eureka, but it works and I like the fact that elements of the future are all their new land of the lost home.

Overall Terra Nova suffers from two-dimensional characters that have not yet developed very far, but there is substantial room for growth. The children still blame dad for getting put in jail and leaving them. Rebellious son has a girlfriend he left and desperately wants to get brought to Terra Nova. You’ll notice I don’t use any of the family members names. That’s because I don’t know them and while I could look them up I think it serves to show my point that at this time the characters have yet to leave the realm of stereotypes. The other facets of the show are great. The writing is fairly solid and the conflicts have been intriguing and kept me coming back for more. The special effects have been very impressive for a TV show, especially the dinosaurs. It is clear that Fox is putting a good deal of capital into making this show a success. If they use the rest of the season to really make me care about the characters and do not overuse the mysteries like Lost did then I think that Terra Nova could be a hit and bring Fox back into the fight for scripted drama supremacy.

Summer Movie Preview: JUNE

Thank you for tuning back in for the second part of our summer movie preview. The summer so far as seen big hits where we expected them, with Thor and Pirates, and a few unexpected hits with Fast Five and The Hangover II. We’ll be coming at you today with movies from June. Unfortunately we’ve decided treat the second half of the summer movie preview like The Hobbit film and split it up a little.


Ryan: June kicks off with X-Men: First Class a prequel showing the origin of Professor X and Magneto. For some reason I am just not psyched about this movie the way I should be. Maybe it’s how horrible the third X-men movie was or maybe I am just not interested in seeing the two old dudes of the X-Men world as young men. However, it is the only noteworthy release for this weekend so I’ll probably be standing in line.

James: I’ll admit that I too am a little scared about this next X-Men movie. The character I never liked in the previous films was always Wolverine and so the fact that this movie leaves him out for the most part seems like a good sign. I’ll blatantly use this space to remind everyone that they should follow up on X-Men Origins: Deadpool and make sure that actually happens.

Zoe: I am trying so hard to not get excited for this movie because the last two X-Men movies sucked and the last movie I was really excited for was Sucker Punch. But OMGBEAST!

Ryan: June 10th offers two movies, Super 8 and Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer and that is the last I will talk about Judy Moody. Super 8 on the other hand looks great and I am really excited to see if the Spielburg aesthetic continues throughout the movie and if that stops being cool after the first 10 minutes. I suspect it will not. This weekend is an easy pick, Super 8 all the way.

James: I’m going to say that even if it is not the highest grossing movie this summer, Super 8 will probably be the most remembered movie of this summer. From what I’ve seen of the trailers I have high hopes for it to be another Close Encounters or E.T. I’ve been betrayed by Steven Spielberg’s more recent movies but I can see signs that this movie will be his return to greatness.

Zoe: I have no overwhelming desire to see either of these movies but that’s more because I don’t respond well to giant mystery trailers. Scotty really wants to see this though, so I’ll get dragged.

Ryan: June continues and brings us The Green Lantern and Mr. Popper’s Penguins. I am very hopeful for The Green Lantern and am a big fan of Ryan Reynolds, but the first trailers did not look fantastic. However, subsequent trailers have looked much better and I am hoping that we see a good Green Lantern movie. Never really read Mr. Popper’s Penguins and I seem to think Jim Carrey stopped being funny a decade ago. James what are your thoughts on these films?

James: I loved Mr. Popper’s Penguins as a child, but don’t expect more than the standard fare from Jim Carrey these days. Which isn’t to say it’ll be bad. As for The Green Lantern I have two concerns. The first is that the story of the Green Lantern is a little harder to swallow for the average movie goer. It tends to be a little more steeped in comic book lore than something like Superman, which could be boiled down to “really strong super guy.” My second concern is that the movie relies quite strongly on CGI. Never during the course of the filming of the movie did Ryan Reynolds ever actually put on a costume outside of a motion capture suit.

Ryan: I kind of agree with you but I think it’s the “intergalactic cop portion” more so then the “can create anything he imagines” part of the story that is going to be the hard sell.

Zoe: I have never read Mr. Popper’s Penguins and I was apparently also the only person not impressed by the Green Lantern trailer but Ryan Reynolds is pretty

James: But he did divorce Scar Jo. I’ll never forgive him.

Ryan: The weekend of June 24th brings us Bad Teacher and Cars 2. I am hoping that Cars 2 is going to be Pixar going back to fix a less then perfect movie and not a desperate cash grab, but only slightly hopeful. Bad Teacher on the other hand has me furious almost to the point of boycotting. I know that it is comedy, but I do not think any movie should be made that tries to imply that teacher’s have an easy job or don’t work hard. The myth is persistent enough without Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake to help prop it up.

James: I think in a choice between Cameron Diaz’s next flop and Fast and Furious For Kids I’ll be staying home this weekend. Why out of all their series Pixar decided to bring back their lowest grossing movie of all time has always confused me. Yes it produced a lot of toy cars, but does Pixar really need to make the extra money? I expect a little more integrity from Pixar. I’ve also never really been able to believe Justin Timberlake as an actor so.... Although I guess I have to support any movie about teachers that does use the “Hard working teacher who believes in their job trying to teach idiot city kids how to learn” plot line.

Zoe: You know that feeling when you’re pretty sure that you’re making the wrong decision but you do it anyway? My movie sense is telling me that Bad Teacher will be bad and Cars 2 will be Pixar good but I’ve never seen Cars and Bad Teacher kind of looks funny. I can’t defend it.


Well that was June and all of its movie glory. It is both a month of highs and a month of lows. There will be good time and there will be bad times. I think we can all expect at least a couple good movies but it is an important month as it marks a middle point of both the summer and the better of the summer movies. Catch us next time for the conclusion of

Summer Movie Previews
Same ScreenFix time, Same ScreenFix channel

First thoughts on ABC’s Fall Line-Up

ABC’s line-up for the fall has been released and has left me feeling a little less excited than I was following NBC’s announcement. The full listing can be found at comingsoon.net and includes the return of fan favorites such as Grey’s Anatomy, Castle, Modern Family, and Body of Proof, among others. My initial reaction was of stunning indifference; few of the new shows leapt off the page. However, if you look at ABC’s best shows, none of them have a great premise. Castle and Body of Proof sound like cheesy riffs on the familiar police procedural and the rest of the ABC current line-up is variations on sit-coms and workplace dramas. ABC has always led the way with solid writing and acting talent. So without further speculation, here are my top picks among the new ABC drama.

• Charlie’s Angels: If you are unfamiliar with the concept behind Charlie’s Angels you may need to retake History of Television 101. This reboot of the 70’s classic will follow three sexy female detectives as they solve crimes and fight bad guys. There is also a strong possibility that at some point one or more of the main characters will appear in a bikini, but that’s just my speculation. Creators have promised that this reboot will be more serious and less campy then the 2000 movie. The reboot of Hawaii Five-0, has done well and I think Angels could be a fun ride so long as the writers find a way to keep the simple premise interesting from week to week.

• Once Upon A Time: It seems like this year every network is taking a chance on one weird fantasy genre show in an attempt to find the next Lost, and Once Upon A Time is ABC’s. Once Upon A Time follows Emma Swan, as she is reunited with the young son she gave up. Things take a turn for the strange when Emma’s son insists that she is the daughter of Snow White and must travel to the town of Storybrooke, home of the most famous characters of fairy tale lore, who have now been transformed into humans and forgotten their mythical origins by means of The Evil Queen’s curse. The show sounds a little strange on paper, but this mix of fairy tale stories with the “real world” could lead to some interesting story-telling. Emma Swan is played by Jennifer Morrison, well known from House, and I think is a good choice. She has proven her acting chops with supporting roles and should be ready to carry a show as a lead.

• Pan Am: Just as every network is trying to find the next Lost; it seems every network is also trying to create their own version of Mad Men. Pan Am, set in the 60’s, follows the men and women of Pan Am, the largest name in air travel. During this zany time period, pilots are kings, stewardesses are queens and the sky’s the limit. At this point you can see where this is going, and I see little reason to get excited for another period show. Perhaps Pan Am will bring something new to the table that Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, or NBC’s new The Playboy Club do not, but I rather doubt it. If you really like the period show concept, this might be for you, but I’m putting this one down in the “wait and see” category.

• The River: The River follows the family of Emmet Cole, a TV personality and host of a Survivorman style nature show. However, when Emmet goes missing in the middle of the Amazon, his wife and son must team up with a production company willing to fund the rescue attempt in exchange for the right to film the entire thing. One aspect that might make this show interesting is the fact that the main characters have a camera crew following them around. If this is done in the style of the office it will be irrelevant, but actually showing the crew and the challenge of shooting in the rain forest might be interesting.

ABC has several new comedies premiering in the fall but two stuck out and they both ask the question of what it means to be a man and father.

• Last Man Standing: Tim Allen returns to television as Max Baxter, marketing director for a sporting goods store and ultimate manly man. However, when Max’s wife returns to work he is forced to take a more active role in the lives of the couple’s three daughters. It’s hard to tell a good comedy from the elevator pitch but I think the combination of Tim Allen in this odd man out set-up could lead to some good moments of comedy.

• Suburgatory: Aside from the horrible title, this show sounds pretty interesting; following a single father that moves himself and his teenage daughter out of their New York apartment after finding condoms on her nightstand. Hoping to protect her from the evils of the big city, the two relocate to the suburbs which, as everyone in the real world knows, is just like it is on Desperate Housewives. This show has one thing really going for it and that is the single parent thing. A large number of recent dramas have gotten mileage showing the special connection that is shared between a daughter and single dad and if they take a few notes from shows like Castle and Californication, ABC could have a hit on their hands. Also, Alan Tudyk is slotted for a supporting role, and that can’t hurt.

Well those are my picks for most interesting looking new ABC shows, but that is far from the complete list. Make sure to follow the link to comingsoon.net and check out the full listing of new shows and tell us in the comments which you want to see. Also follow the link here to take a look at our coverage of NBC’s fall line-up

NBC Fall Line-Up

NBC released its fall schedule on Sunday, finally letting us know which of our favorite shows will be returning and what new freshmen shows we have to look forward to. You can check out the full list here and see exactly what NBC has planned come September, but before you do I will take you through the highlights and give you my speculation on what new shows look worth your time and which will be 13 episode flops.

The returning line-up offers little surprise as Parenthood, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Harry's Law, Chuck, Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock are all set to return. The one bit of news here involves cult favorite Chuck, which against all odds has survived cancellation yet again. NBC has stated that this will be the show’s fifth and final season and that they will be moving Chuck from its regular Monday time slot to the Friday death slot. I think the show has had a great run and since the writers know this will be the last year going in, I think we can expect a great final season. As for the move to Fridays, I don’t think this will have much effect on the show that has shown just how loyal its fans can be. After fans flocked to out to buy Subway sandwiches to show support for the show, I think making the move to Friday nights will not be a problem.

NBC has six new dramas airing for the fall season and while I encourage you to follow the above link and read more about all of them I am going to single out three that have me particularly excited.

· Grimm takes the classic “what if all story-book monsters were real?” motif that has been the basis for both Supernatural and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. A homicide detective discovers he is one of the last remaining Grimms, people with the ability to see and fight the monsters that plague humanity. If you are a fan of either Buffy or Supernatural, I do not think that this show will be anything new. However, the show has David Greenwalt listed as a creator/executive producer and Greenwalt helped Joss Whedon create both Buffy and Angel and if he brings us more of the same, I for one will be happy.

· The Playboy Club is a new drama that seems to be following in the footsteps of Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire. Set in the 60s, this drama will center around the infamous club located in the heart of organized crime, Chicago. Brian Grazer is set to executive produce; his resume includes 24, American Gangster and Apollo 13. I have not followed either Mad Men or Boardwalk Empire, but with the successes of these other period shows I think this could do rather well. Plus, it never hurts to throw a buzzword like “Playboy” in your title.

· This brings us to Awake, a drama following Detective Michael Brittan in the aftermath of a terrible car crash. Following the accident, Brittan finds himself drifting back and forth between two parallel realities. In one, his wife dies in the accident, but their young son survives. In the other, the wife lives but the couple loses their son. Brittan is left jumping between the two worlds and living through two different tragedies simultaneously. I am very excited for this show and I think if it’s good, Awake could become something akin to what Lost was in its early days. This show has the possibility to be a great genre show while still appealing to a much wider audience. If this show doesn’t get gunned down in its first season I think NBC might have a winner.

I skipped over the nine new comedy pilots that NBC has picked up because none of them really appealed to me and I have never been impressed with the comedies on NBC (with Community the exception that proves the rule). However, I encourage you to check them out by following the link above because with nine different offerings there seems like there is something in there for everyone.

What do you think of NBC’s fall schedule? Which shows are you excited for and which ones do you think will be duds? Let us know which shows you are looking forward to in the comments and we will let you know what we think when these new offerings hit in the fall.

Do You Like Scary Movies?

I have never been a fan of horror movies as a genre. I spent most of my life telling people that horror movies were cheap and lacked substance, most of them just serving as an excuse to gross people out with excessive amounts of gore and to this day I still maintain that that is mostly true. However, the main reason I don’t like horror movies is that they are scary and frankly I don’t like to be scared. This changed last week when the cover of Entertainment Weekly featured a story on Scream 4 and after reading their article I decided to go back and give the original Scream a try. I did this mostly because I realized after reading the article that the Scream movies were not just horror films, but were also murder mysteries, a genre that I love. I was pleasantly surprised when after completing the first Scream movie I immediately barreled through the entire trilogy in two days. I felt that these movies spoke to the film fan in me and featured a cast of characters that were savvy to pop culture, they acted the way I would if caught in a scary movie situation . . . albeit with a little less crying in the fetal position. After having my scary movie marathon, I realized a couple of things:

The first is that the murder mystery genre is sadly lacking in both movies and television. I love a good mystery, the act of following the plot and trying to figure out whodunit before the dramatic reveal is something I find very rewarding both when I figure it out and when I am completely surprised. Now I know what you are going to say, “But Ryan crime procedurals are the single largest grouping of shows currently airing and aren’t they basically just mysteries?” Well my answer to this is yes and no. Yes, the slew of crime dramas on TV are basically hour long mysteries and that is just the flaw. One hour is not enough time to build all the components of a good mystery. Sometimes TV pulls this one off, but most of the time there is not suspense and development to lure the audience down the twists and red herrings to make the reveal at the end truly dramatic. That is something that can only be accomplished with the long form of a feature film or a series. The last good murder mystery that I saw prior to Scream was a one season show called Harper’s Island. The premise of the show was very slasher-film like in that every episode at least one character would be killed by the murderer until the final episode when the big reveal occurred. This was an amazing series that allowed the necessary time to invest in the characters and explore those characters enough that everyone became a suspect and the ending was a truly epic reveal. This was how I felt about Scream as well. I thought the film did a great job making every character that we met seem like they could be the murderer, even if just for a second. In novels and plays, mysteries make up one of the largest share of all genres, but in TV and movies mysteries seem to be downplayed and I cannot even tell you the last major blockbuster that was billed as a “mystery” film as opposed to a horror or thriller. So get in the game Hollywood and bring mysteries back as a genre. I know it might actually require some good writing for a change but seriously it’s about time that came back too.

The second thing that came out of my foray into the Scream trilogy was some contemplation on horror as a genre. I understand that many people enjoy being scared and even if I do not count myself among them I can appreciate the fact that many people pay to experience haunted houses at amusement parks and to see scary movies. I have never really liked to be scared and anytime I watch a horror movie I view the fear as a cost of doing business. I really liked the murder mystery aspect and feeling the sinking feeling in my stomach when Ghostface pops out from a closet was just a way to keep the tension up and prevent things from getting boring as I tried to figure out who was the killer behind the mask. However, a couple of days later I was still on edge from watching the movie. Every time my house would creak or my dog would open the door to my room I would have a little moment of surprise before I realized that it was a normal occurrence that would not have caused me to even react the previous week. I get the same way when I play FPS games for too long and feel the need to react quickly to things that occur in my peripheral vision. So in the days after my horror movie marathon when I was still very jumpy I began to realize just how cool a situation that it was. How many times does a movie have an effect on you after you leave the theatre? I think most movies are like water in a pool, when you are in the pool and actively experiencing it you are aware of it, but the moment you step out all the water runs off you and very little about a film tends to stick for long. A comedy might make you laugh and a heartfelt movie might even move you tears while you are watching it, but for the most part as soon as you leave the theatre the movies ability to effect you vanishes, except in the case of horror movies. Even a mediocre horror film will leave you with a pit in your stomach and your nerves on edge for some time after the film is over. I believe the job of a good film is to create a reaction in its audience. This could be to cause the audience to think, to laugh, or cry, or even scream and even though I may not like horror movies as a whole I cannot deny that they create a powerful reaction within their audience.

I am looking forward to the latest installment in the Scream franchise and hope that it will bring back what I loved about the original film and that this in turn might lead to a better class of scary movie and chase away the torture porn that made me turn away from horror as a genre during my formative film watching years.

I want to hear what you think so hit me up in the comments. What do you think, is horror a genre worth having or just a quick way for studios to make a buck? What do you think of Scream 4 and of course what’s your favorite scary movie?

A First Look at Camelot

For those of you that don’t know me, I spent some time moonlighting as a high school English teacher. So when I heard that Starz was doing a new series about the King Arthur legend, I was rather excited. However, when you are covering a story that has been told so many times, you have to do something new with it to set it apart. I started to think about all the ways I would set a new King Arthur show apart. You could change the time period or setting, tell a more realistic/historically accurate version of the tale, or edit a part of the story to see how the whole would be changed. The new Starz series does none of these things.

Camelot is an almost textbook retelling of the King Arthur legend right from the first episode. After the murder of King Uther Pendragon, his evil witch daughter, Morgan, believes that she will rule England. However, the mysterious Merlin goes in search of Arthur, the secret heir to Uther’s throne. Merlin this time around is played by Joseph Fiennes (FlashForward) and is a carbon copy of any stereotypical wizard you may be familiar with pre-Harry Potter. Although Fiennes’ Merlin doesn’t bring anything new to the table, he is definitely the best in a sea of mediocre actors. Arthur is played by Jamie Campbell Bower, who, interestingly enough, has a small role in the final Harry Potter movie as the wizard Grindalwald. This and a role in Tim Burton’s version of Sweeny Todd are his only acting credits but in the pilot he seems to do a decent job portraying the boy who just had the weight of the world dropped onto his shoulders. The pilot spends most of its time setting up the story, which is unsurprising because even though it’s a well-known story, there is a large cast of characters. Merlin tells Arthur of his birthright and takes him to a ruined city known as Camelot which Merlin hopes to transform into the seat of Arthur’s power. Merlin also reveals that not only is Arthur the son of the king, but his very birth was all a plot orchestrated by Merlin to create a good king. Merlin used magic to allow Arthur’s father to rape the wife of a rival lord, which as strange as it may sound is actually Arthurian canon. Merlin demands the child that was the product of the rape as payment and whisks him away to be raised by good common-folk so he can learn humility and kindness. This entire back story comes off as rather tedious, and unless these past events become more important to the plot I question how necessary all the exposition was. However, the die-hard Arthur fan-boys will be happy to note that the circumstances of Arthur’s birth are textbook, literally from the old French and English stories.

As a pilot, the episode did a good job of setting up the beginning of the story and introducing us to the cast of characters; note that I said introducing and not developing. If Camelot hopes to succeed it has to do more to develop the rest of the characters because at the end of the pilot they still all seem very flat. This is to be expected though with the large amount of plot that had to be set up in the series and I almost admire how they were able to condense the first act of the Arthur story into a single episode. I had high hopes for the rest of the series and was going to readily suggest it until I got to the last couple minutes of the episode. Not to spoil anything, but Starz seems to be taking a note from HBO’s series True Blood. Anyone familiar with True Blood knows that no episode of the show can just end; it needs to have a twist or a death that sets up the next episode. The writers of the show probably call it a cliffhanger ending. I however call it a poor excuse for writing. An episode of television should be self contained and have a beginning, middle, and end. The writers of Camelot, in the pilot at least feel that their first episode was not good enough to keep people coming back so they took the first couple minutes of the second episode, and tacked it onto the first in an effort to keep people coming back next week to see the resolution. As much as I do not like this style of ending, the rest of the forty some odd minutes of the show were good and I will be giving it a tentative spot on my DVR for the first season.


Update:
You should never judge a series by its pilot, which is funny because the point of the pilot is to give the viewer an idea of what the series will be like. As I stated above, the pilot for Camelot was not bad but it certainly was nothing that had me excited. My two biggest complaints were the ending and that nothing had been done to alter or deviate from the classic King Arthur myth. I wanted to see the show put its own touch on the story. It is a good thing I did not post this until the second episode aired because the second episode was amazing and did the job the pilot should have done by getting me really excited for the show. This episode focused mainly on the “sword in the stone” part of the Arthur myth. If you stop a random person on the street and ask them why Arthur was the king of Britain . . . well they will probably just look at you funny because public education does not stress European myths nearly as much as it should in the curriculum. However, if you stop a random person on the street and they happen to be a student of comparative English literature they will tell you that Arthur is king because he pulled the sword from the stone, a legendary feat that could only be done by the rightful king of England. In Camelot’s second episode, Merlin tells Arthur that to win over the people and gain enough support to stand as king he must do something legendary, such as removing the sword of the gods from a stone. Legend says that the sword was placed there by the god Mars and no one has ever been able to remove it. So far, sounds word for word like every other Arthur story, but this time around the stone with a sword in it is not placed in a nice peaceful field where just anyone can tug at it. The sword of Mars is placed in the middle of a river at the peak of a waterfall. This means that just getting to the sword to try to pull it out means climbing up a freaking waterfall. This is what I wanted when I first heard about the series. The classic tale of King Arthur with a twist and if the rest of the series follows then I will happily tune in.

What do you think of the newest take on King Arthur so far? What other shows are you most enjoying? Leave a comment and let us know what you want to hear more about.

Screenfix Summer Movie Preview: Part 1

The summer movie season is upon us and it is important to budget your time and money so that you can get the most out of your summer movie experience. Screenfix is here to give our advice on what movies are going to be worth the grossly inflated ticket price and which you should avoid. We aregoing to take this one week at a time so you can decide which new release to see each weekend.


Starting with April 8th we have Your Highness, Arthur, and Hanna

Ryan: I think for our first week I am most looking forward to Your Highness, the stoner fantasy comedy featuring James Franco and Natalie Portman. I am almost willing to pay the ticket price based solely on those two actors.

Zoe: And Natalie Portman shows her ass. So, yay.....Something about this movie makes me want to see it but since I can’t actually articulate what that thing is, I’m just going to wait for DVD because I’m poor and Scotty’s making me see Arthur.

Ryan: Apparently I need to watch this trailer again. I think this movie has the chance to appeal to the stoner-fantasy nerd crowd, although I am not sure whether it will be mainstream enough to apply to either the non-stoners or non-nerds. This is one of those movies that I did not feel the trailer gave me a good sense of the film so I am going to tentatively give this one a “see in theaters”, but it might turn out to be terrible.

James: Your Highness, in my opinion, looks like it will be everything that the short lived television show Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire could have been (and wished that it was) but unfortunately was not. It looks like a light hearted take on the classic hero’s tale. Also it stars James Franco, whom although I can’t remember seeing him in any movie, I have the opinion that he is a good actor.

Ryan: Arthur on the other hand looks terrible. Though I have not seen Russel Brand in many movies since Forgetting Sarah Marshall, even in that great film I did not think he was very good. I do not really enjoy his rock star brand of humour and this movie is clearly just a vehicle for him to act like a strange man-child. I am going to give this film a thumbs down and will be ignoring it in favor of movies with more explosions and decent acting.

James: Arthur, I assume, is a live action movie about a British anthropomorphic aardvark. Based off of the PBS cartoon. I could be wrong. Although I hope not.

Zoe: They have Arthur on Netflix, I discovered this recently.

Ryan: Moving on . . . to Hanna. I think this has the potential to be an original story. The trailer has not given away much about the plot but it seems to be in the Kick-Ass vein of thought of letting a young girl brutally kill a lot of bad guys.

James: The thing I have to say about Hanna is that I wish that trailer gave more of an indication of what it was actually about. We’re out of teaser trailer time and into the time period where I’m trying to make a decision about going to see it. I think it looks good, but I just have no idea of what it’ll be about.

Zoe: I want to see Hanna but mostly for the same reasons that I don’t want to see Your Highness. So, I apparently am drawn more to murderous little girls than stoners.

Ryan: So on April 8th, what movie are you standing in line for . . .

James: Hanna.

Zoe: Hanna


Ryan: On April 15th, we have Scream 4, Rio, and The Conspirator.

James: Here is my problem with Scream 4. My first reaction when I saw the Scream 4 trailer was that I assumed it was the trailer for the next Scary Movie. It just looked a little too silly for a serious horror film.

Ryan: I think I am going to have to pass on both Scream 4 and the angry birds movie.

Zoe: I think the fact that I walked into Jane Eyre while the trailer for The Conspirator was playing and gasped audibly says it all.


Ryan: April 22nd we have Water for Elephants and Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family. That basically makes this catch up week. I have no desire to see Robert Pattinson’s latest attempt to act nor will I pay to see a Tyler Perry movie.

James: The answer to the question “What will I be seeing this week” is Rio.


Ryan: Which moves us to April 29th bringing us Fast Five and Prom.

James: I have never seen any of the Fast and Furious movies series. The most interaction that I’ve had with the series was when ads for “Tokyo Drift” were placed into Planet Side, an MMO that I was playing my senior year of high school. Although it does star Vin Diesel, who is hands down the best bald action star ever. Suck it Bruce Willis.

Ryan: I have also not seen any of the Furious movies but I think if you have liked any of them it will be more of the same and the trailer does look really good. Likewise, Prom looks like it will be great for the kids otherwise it might require great amounts of medication to get through.

Zoe: I believe this is the week I will be going to see Arthur.


Ryan: May 6th brings us Thor the first of Marvels summer offerings. I have high hopes for this movie. I think Marvel has invested a great deal into its movie franchises leading up to Avengers. Also, it has Natalie Portman again which basically makes it a must see.

Zoe: Our second Natalie Portman movie of the summer. Honestly, Thor could dance around in a tutu and still be better than the random chick flick being released May 6. And Anthony Hopkins is Odin which is casting gold personified.

James: I’ll disagree and say that I don’t think that the Thor movie looks very good. The trailer made it look kind of cheesy and I’m not really sure how much space the plot has to go with a character who is little more than a god with a big hammer. I’m going to guess that this will end up just being Punisher with a bigger budget.


Ryan: May 13th has Bridesmades and Priest opening. I basically see Bridesmades being The Hangover with chicks. I think girls are going to be turned off by the crude humor and guys won’t like that it because it seems like a chick flick from the title. I would not bank on this movie doing well.

Zoe: Because you all are sexist pigs.

Ryan: James what are your thoughts on Priest?

James: Priest, to me, looks like one of those movies that cannot possibly be as good as the plot sounds. The best example of this that I can give was Matrix-killer Equilibrium. It sounded like a great mix between Fahrenheit 451 and the Matrix. But practically it just can’t work. A futuristic society of religious priests that fight vampires sounds awesome, but in a movie that isn’t an anime, comes off as silly.

Ryan: I am expecting this film to be some crazy cool fights scenes wrapped in a horrible story with terrible acting. If the fight scenes are good enough this could become another Wanted and I won’t care, but most likely I am going to leave the theater disappointed. However, if I can find $9.50 in my couch cushions I’ll probably go see this opening night.

Zoe: I forgot Priest existed until I saw the trailer in front of Sucker Punch, so I will probably be checking this out on DVD unless it totally sucks.


Ryan: May 20th finally brings us the 4th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series: the search for more mascara.

James: This will be the best Pirates movie since the original. Basically the concept seemed to be take out all of the bad actors and leave only the good ones. Hopefully Writing will follow in the Casting Department’s footsteps. I’ll see it.

Zoe: There is no way that I’m not going to see this movie. Never mind the fact that it’s the only movie coming out this weekend so I basically have no choice but I really just want to find out what happened to Jack the monkey.

Ryan: Between the 3-D and the Pirates brand name this movie is going to make major bank. I also agree with James that this will see the series stripped down to its roots where watching a drunken pirate prance on screen was still hilarious. I am curious as to whether Penelope Cruz will be helpful or harmful to this movie. I have trouble seeing Jack with a serious love interest, but I am intrigued and will gladly fork over the price of admission.


Ryan: May 27th offers the first real conundrum of the summer movie season as we have The Hangover: Part 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2.

James: I don’t know about you, but I have no conundrum here at all. I’m going to see Kung Fu Panda. I can’t get enough racist asian-animal stereotypes.

Ryan: I did see Hangover and didn’t think it was bad, but I definitely did not like it as much as most people so I am going to be seeing Jack Black’s latest meal ticket with James.

Zoe: I saw Kung Fu Panda and thought it said all it needed to and I didn’t see the Hangover so I will either be forking over the money to see Dreamworks’ latest eyebrow raising adventure or watch a netflix movie on my couch.


That’s our preview for the first half of the summer movie season. We will have our second half up featuring the rest of the films premiering this summer shortly. What films are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments.

There’s no wrong way . . . to watch TV

We here at Screenfix watch a lot of TV. I mean a lot. I mean like watching a season of 24 in a single day lot. It used to be there was really only one way to watch your favorite show. You had to tune in at the correct time and sit in front of your television to watch along with the rest of the world. Then came the DVR, and there was much rejoicing as TV fans could record and watch at leisure. Around the same time it became common for many shows to be released as whole seasons on DVD and eventually those DVDs came to be streamed on Netflix and other on demand sources. This created a new wave of viewing as people not only could watch when they wanted, but did not have to wait a week in between episodes as binge viewing rose. We are now seeing a new wave of viewing emerge that I call social viewing. Facebook has identified a desire in entertainment fans to watch something with their friends. To meet this need, they have begun using the Facebook platform to begin renting films for streaming. People often see watching entertainment as a social activity (I think this is insane, but I recognize I am the minority in this situation) and Facebook, Twitter, and other social online services seek to connect people as they watch the same entertainment. In a similar vein, Howard Stern made minor Twitter history when he found that his film Private Parts was being shown on cable and did a live tweeting session along with the film. Many followers tuned in to get a form of live commentary via Twitter. This social viewing has breathed life back into the old model of watching something at a time set by an external force rather than at one’s leisure.

So we have three forms of viewing when it comes to TV: Watching live TV, watching DVR’d programming, and binging on multiple episodes in one sitting. I think everyone in reality watches in some combination of these three, but as I was binging on Bones I realized I became very excited for the third season to unfold because of a season long plot. I felt that if I was watching it week to week there would have been too much time from the beginning to the end of the season for me to stay so invested, but with the power of Netflix I watched through the whole season in just about two days all because I wanted to get from the beginning of the story set up in the first episode to the end that was not resolved until the finale. This got me thinking about the pros and cons of the different ways of watching TV.

Live TV, in my mind, was a horrible thing that deserved to die and I can remember being in my young teens and thinking how dumb it was that I had to sit down at a certain time just to watch the show I wanted to watch. I couldn’t see why shows could not be released on the day they would air and we could watch when we wanted. Essentially, I wanted the internet to bring me my content back when the internet was too young to do so. With that being said, for a long time after the internet could bring me my shows, I never looked back. However, with the rise of the social sphere of the internet watching live TV now puts you in the middle of an audience. Watch Twitter or Facebook during an episode of a popular show like Glee or American Idol and you can find millions of people talking about the show as it is happening. This can be powerful and interesting and very very annoying at times. However, one cannot argue that the only way to benefit from this global conversation is to tune in live. People that need to DVR shows and watch later live in fear of spoilers in their Facebook feeds. In conclusion, I feel that live television is making a comeback and as people develop new ways to connect with one another online, we are going to see more and more people tuning in at primetime to watch with the rest of the world. More importantly these people are going to help the cable industries keep alive the primetime model that has been hurting more and more in the last few years.

The DVR may be the most important invention since the cotton gin. Okay I’m kidding . . . no one cares about the cotton gin. Being able to watch a show when you have free time is great and allows people who are not bound to the slavery of a nine to five work schedule to enjoy primetime programming. Although it lacks the social elements of watching TV live, it still allows a person to tune in week to week and be a part of the global conversation about their favorite show. I like watching a show on a weekly schedule. I feel like most shows are meant to be watched like this and there are several shows that I enjoy, but only in a one episode a week frequency. Specifically procedurals work well in the once a week format. I enjoy a Law & Order: SVU marathon as much as anyone, but sometimes watching a show that follows such a rigid formula can get boring when you watch it back to back and realize the episodes were so similar you can’t tell them apart. Disappointing shows like The Cape were made better by the fact that every week I tuned in hoping that it would be better than last week and if I had just watched the first season straight through I probably would have quit three episodes in. Likewise really great shows make you excited to come back every week and some great tension can be built wondering what is going to happen this week. When the entire season is sitting in front of you it is hard to build the same kind of tension.

However, binging through shows several episodes at a time, after the season has aired can have its own benefits. Once again you are on your schedule and can use the couple days you have the flu or that three day weekend to catch up on the TV you were too busy for during your normal day to day routine. Certain shows that tell a long story can seem a lot tighter and better polished when watched back to back. Lost is a great example of this because every episode sought to be a chapter in a larger story. When a season has a clear beginning, middle, and end it can be helpful, when watching the end, to have the beginning fresh from yesterday as opposed to garbled from six months ago. The famous “last time on . . .” beginning has helped with this slightly but still there are times when watching a whole season as if it was a really long movie can enhance the story. However, because shows are generally made to be watched on a week by week basis more often than not binging does not enhance the show and merely makes for a fun afternoon of catching up. The real advantage of binging comes in one of two situations: The first is when you find out about a show late and want to catch up so you grab the previous season and prep for the next season’s premiere. The second is if you are one of those mythical people with those things referred to as “jobs” or “lives” that do not involve watching several hours of television a day. In the case of these supernatural creatures using holidays and vacations to catch up on old seasons may be the only way they are in a position to speak with people like us.

These are just a few of my opinions and musing on the different ways I think about watching TV. What do you think? Are my three types accurate? Which method do you favor and why? I would love to continue this dialogue because the way we consume our entertainment is something that is very interesting and important to me. So let me know what you think in the comments and as always if you would like to become involved with Screenfix send an email to info.screenfix@gmail.com.

Saying Goodbye to The Cape: Musings on Genre Shows

Even before the final episode of NBC’s The Cape was pushed to being internet-exclusive, it was clear that the show was done for. This was not terribly surprising seeing as the show suffered from mediocre writing, flat acting, and a premise somewhat flawed and filled with holes. This was disappointing, considering what The Cape could have been. The Cape had the right setup to make for a great superhero TV show. Because The Cape featured a powerless, Batman-like hero, it did not have to worry about a big budget for flashy special effects. The show also featured geek goddess Summer Glau on the cast, which gave the show a built-in audience right from the get-go. Once again, a great idea for a show was not given enough time find its feet, but seeing that the show had some flaws, I was okay with it getting the axe in favor of something better, at least until I heard that another superhero show was also getting the axe. I am talking about No Ordinary Family and unlike The Cape, No Ordinary Family had great acting and writing that resulted in compelling stories from week to week.

With all of this occurring I have to ask the big question: Are genre shows doomed from the start? It seems like the big networks are sending the message over and over again that the only shows they welcome are those that appeal to a large audience and if you can’t make your sci-fi/fantasy show appeal to the wider demographic, don’t even bother. In the last five years, a large amount of good genre shows have been canceled prematurely before they could build the sort of momentum needed to reach a larger audience. Normally I would be okay with this. The big networks are used to garnering the large American Idol-like audiences and the more niche genre shows can always find a home on the smaller networks. Recently smaller networks like Syfy have been trying to appeal to larger audiences, bringing such fine programs to their network as Friday Night Smackdown. Now I love overly-buff men fighting as much as the next guy but wrestling does not strike me as the right fit for a network that was created to build its programming around science fiction.

I think this is why I am so excited for the wave of new media that the internet has brought. I recently found a web series called GOLD that tells the story of a group of professional tabletop role players. This is not a show that easily extends beyond the geek crowd, and most of its jokesonly really make sense to those with D&D experience. However, Goldtheseries.com is entirely supported through fan donations and creates a great product that many people enjoy. The show could never be considered for a primetime slot on CBS, but the internet allows it to flourish. The point I think I am trying to get around to is that I fear the days of genre shows being on actual cable is nearing a close. If we, the fans, do not do something to keep these genres alive then we are going to be stuck with program listings made entirely of procedurals, sitcoms, and reality shows. Moving to the internet seems like the obvious choice and has worked for several series, such as The Guild and Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, but that being said internet programming is still very much in its infancy and problems with funding and distribution still are waiting to be sorted out. In the meantime, the fans of genre programming need to support what we love, which luckily is not something we generally have a problem with. It still remains to be seen how the geeks and nerds of the world are going to get their sci-fi/fantasy fix, but just because the big networks try to tell us that kind of programming has no place on their stations does not mean genre shows will disappear anytime soon.


Thoughts? Ideas? Opinions? Let us know what you think in the comments. We may even respond.

Netflix: The Next Content Creation Giant

If you are like me, then you can’t imagine how you lived life before Netflix. Netflix has become one of the largest content delivery systems in existence and Sandvine, a network company, released a study that claimed that 20% of internet bandwidth is taken up by people using Netflix during primetime hours.

Gizmodo recently broke a story stating that Netflix has sunk $100 million into a new series titled House of Cards. It will star Kevin Spacey and be directed by David Fincher, the same guy that brought us Fight Club and The Social Network. This story, if it is true, marks the first time that Netflix has taken a role as not just a deliverer of content but as a creator of content. The biggest obstacle to the growth of Netflix has always been getting the content companies on board with allowing use of their content. The library available for streaming is a tiny fraction of what is available as mail order dvds. If House of Cards ends up being successful and Netflix becomes a major content producer, the giant TV networks could have even more to fear from Netflix. I personally am very excited to see Netflix’s library expand. However, if the model for content changes, and we see Netflix both creating content and delivering it, Netflix will have a major strangle hold on the entertainment business and even a possible monopoly. Either way this is a big move for Netflix and I will be adding House of Cards to my instant queue as soon as possible.

What do you think about Netflix joining the content creation game? Does this mean more good content available for streaming or does it mark the beginning of the Netflix’s monopoly over everything we watch? Make sure to let us know in the comments.

Review: Battle Los Angeles

I was happily surprised when I went to see this film. Ever since I saw the first trailer, I was expecting some horrible Independence Day knock-off, but this film was a much better time than I had anticipated for a March premier.

The premise is rather simple; we follow a bunch of marines as they try to get themselves and a group of civilians out of LA in the middle of a global alien invasion. This is where the movie really gets it right though, because it is about the marines and not the aliens. We learn very little about the aliens and their plans, just enough to move the plot along. The aliens are not the stars of this movie and I think that is what separates this from other alien invasion movies. The plot could have gone almost exactly the same had the invaders been from some foreign country. The idea of aliens with weird space age weaponry instills an extra sense of danger, but this film does not feel like it was directed at hardcore sci-fi fans it is a war movie first and a sci-fi movie second.

This film also has something that I had almost forgotten you could do in action movies. It has developed characters. One of the marines is getting married prior to the invasion and another is in the marines to become a doctor. The protagonist is an old marine with a dark past that was just one day from retirement (I know how it sounds, but it actually works). Each of the marines is more than just a soldier and the movie actually takes the time to make us care enough about them that when one dies it means something. This is the story of the marines, not the invasion of earth. We do not see anything that happens outside of LA and at the end of the film, though the marines score a small victory for the human race, the invaders are not defeated and in fact, it still looks like the human race is kind of screwed. This movie was not perfect, but it was a great deviation from what I have come to expect with Hollywood action films. 3.5/5

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