Below is the long-awaited podcast where John Barnett and I discuss all things LOST, specifically the season five finale, “The Incident.” We also hand out some awards for season five as a whole, talk Emmy nominations and look ahead to the sixth and final season. This one clock in at a nice and breezy 1 hour, 51 minutes — so if you listen to the whole thing, you’re a champion! Enjoy!
As I touched on yesterday my post on the season four preview, HEROES is really just a trainwreck that some of us cannot stop watching.
The Comic-Con panel for the NBC show, which was the panel to attend for a couple years, barely made a blip on the radar this past weekend — and that’s because the show sucks. But even before the Con began, the cast and crew of the show weren’t going to attend. Then they were, but only with a small panel. And in the end, most of the cast and showrunner Tim Kring showed up. Even the planning for a publicity event is a mess with this show.
Anyway, even though not many people care about the show anymore and the panel fell through the cracks while television journalists were covering the likes of LOST, TRUE BLOOD and even newbies like V or HUMAN TARGET, this is what we learned about season four (and volume five) or HEROES: Read the rest of this entry »
FRINGE was a show that started slow and ended on a bang, becoming one of my favorite programs out there by the end of its first season. So I had high hopes for its Comic-Con panel and hoped to get a load of nuggets about the second season, the alternate universe with the standing World Trade Center and all that — but we didn’t get much.
There was no footage shown, and the tidbits given out by the cast and crew were less than revealing. I guess that’s how it goes with shows like this, but I expected a little more. The most FRINGE news we’ve gotten around Con time is the S2 poster, released today (courtesy of SCIFIWIRE.com). I think for a show that still gets some flack for being protected by FOX behind their two massive hit shows – AMERICAN IDOL and HOUSE – critics want to know if FRINGE can actually stand on its own this year on Thursday nights. Now, the Comic-Con panel is not a sign of things to come or anything, but I would have thought the producers would have wanted to build up a lot of buzz for the show since it had such a solid final run of episodes AND it has the new timeslot. Sometimes Hollywood confuses me. Some of the info we did get, post-jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Above is the first look at the fourth season, fifth volume of HEROES. If you cannot tell, I am less than excited. Though I was more enthusiastic about volume four, particualarly the beginning of it, HEROES still sucks overall. And the big plan for this volume is…to introduce a traveling carnival?
WHAT. THE. HELL.
I’m not even sure what to say to that. I never watched CARNIVALE on HBO, and I’m sure it was awesome, but in general, traveling carnivals (with super-powered people or without them) aren’t the best way to attract viewers. It better news, we’ll see everyone try to “get back to normal,” which is what they tried at the beginning of volume four before blowing everything up again in less than episode. We get it, Peter just wants to help people, Claire just wants to go to school and HRG just wants to keep the Company alive in some form. And, at this point I have no idea what they’re doing with Hiro, and it doesn’t matter anyway because it’s guaranteed to suck.
Has any other show fallen so hard so fast? I hate you, Tim Kring.
In terms of one-shot single announcements, SUPERNATURAL might have delivered the biggest — the much-talked about five-year run could be extended.
With Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelecki contracted for six years and the ratings actually improving, showrunner Eric Kripke is willing to go more a little longer. Although, don’t expect the whole “Lucifer Rising” plot to be drawn out to cover more ground. That means the climax of the story that has been built for four years will commence, and then something could come after that. Read the rest of this entry »
Though always a less-than-stellar performer, SMALLVILLE has attracted a substantial audience at Comic-Con each year. In fact, the trailers from 2007 and 2008 were awesomely edited together, enough so that I thought the season’s would actually be good. Sadly, I was totally wrong in one case and partially wrong in another.
The advertising campaign for season three of MAD MEN (debuting August 16!) is ramping up (above is also the season three poster, released a few weeks back), and the centerpiece is…a create your own avatar scheme?
Well, yes. Though it’s sort of funny to see the ad campaign behind a show sort of about advertising be a little tepid, this “MAD MEN yourself” avatar creation thing is pretty cool. Create a 60s, advertising-executive version of yourself or one that simply relaxes on Sundays. Either way, it’s a way to blow 30 minutes right?
Ed note: This will most likely run in the 07/29 print edition of WEEKEND, but it’d be even older news by then, so here you go.
As the most dark, dense and dizzying film of 2009, “Watchmen” failed to catch on with audiences like the graphic novel it was based on did. But the overwhelming love for the novel pushed director Zack Snyder into a difficult position: he could adapt it religiously, panel-for-panel, or take some liberties. In the end, Snyder did more of the former than the latter, but the film adaptation drew mixed reviews at best. Read the rest of this entry »
I hope you all kept up with the events unfolding at Comic-Con this past weekend — it was surely awesome.
And even though I couldn’t be there to give you direct updates and thousands of sites will provide you with video interviews and cool stories with one Google search, I figured there was a way to me to give my two cents on the event, and luckily I’ve found it.
Thus, all this week, I’ll provide links to videos, transcripts, interviews, etc. from all the major television panels from Comic-Con. Then I’ll analyze them for you and talk about what shows are coming out of Comic-Con with a lot of buzz (TRUE BLOOD, SMALLVILLE) or a whole lot of nothin’ (HEROES). So look for that throughout the week!
Ben Silverman, a target for harsh criticism from any follower of the television industry with a brain since he took over major control at NBC Universal in 2007, is officially stepping down from that post. Silverman will go on to create a new production company (he broke into mainstream with his production company Reveille and its work on THE OFFICE, UGLY BETTY and others).
Since I have focused on blogging/opinion writing/journalistic skills on television, Silverman has been a target of mine [we have a category dedicated just to his sucking here], and many others who write about the industry much better than I do.
His decision making while in control of NBCU studios was rough at best, with numerous projects he touted failing miserably: BIONIC WOMAN, KNIGHT RIDER, AMERICAN GLADIATORS, MY DAD IS BETTER THAN YOUR DAD are just a few. Most of the time, he was seemingly more focused on product placement, brand integration and other ways a fledging NBC could make more money. Silverman was also involved in bringing Jay Leno to the 10 pm timeslot in a way to cut costs and lure in weary advertisers.
Silverman’s exit at NBC won’t be really felt by audiences until spring 2010 at best, but probably not even until the fall season in 2010. Here’s hoping NBC (the network with largest amount of Emmy nominations) can get things in line and find a few successful shows. And if you’re looking for more on the Silverman situation, headover to the famous Nikki Finke’s ridiculous amount of coverage she gave the event today.
July 31st, 2009 by 
Cory Barker
