Fall TV Preview

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We’re on the verge of the Fall 2009 premieres, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on upcoming shows (Sadly, wordpress seems to have eaten all the videos I embedded to go along with the commentary):

Glee (FOX, premieres 9/2)– I’ve already written about Glee here, but let this serve as a reminder, since the re-air of the Pilot is tonight.  One of FOX’s most-pushed new shows, Glee follows the losers and outcasts of an Ohio Glee club, re-started by former Glee star-turned Spanish teacher.  It’s a musical comedy, but rather than breaking from reality for the musical numbers, they’re all diegetic, songs done by the Glee members or a cappella loops for sound effects/background music.  In the pilot alone, they do “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat,” “Rehab,” “On My Own,” and “Don’t Stop Belevin.'”  The show has a great quirky sensibility, and is playing the ‘outcasts band together to become more than they would have been alone’ vibe.  It’s got an infectious joy to it, and is definitely one to check out.

Flash Forward (ABC, premieres 9/24) — Adapted from a Robert J. Sawyer SF novel, this is being positioned as the long-awaited companion show to their ongoing hit, LOST.  In Flash Forward, everyone in the world collapses for 2 minutes and 17 seconds.  During that time, they see their own lives, 6 months in the future.  The action of the show will then follow the main characters working to ensure that the events in their flash forwards come to pass (or that they don’t).  The large ensemble cast includes Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Dominic Monaghan, Christine Woods and more.  ABC has been pushing the show, and it’s drawn a good bit of attention already, given the cast and the concept.  In the viewing world following shows like LOST, Heroes, and more, there seems to be more room for mystery-based SF shows, especially ones such as Flash Forward or LOST that have contemporary settings, focusing more on the familiarity than estrangement (to go back to Darko Suvin’s definition of SF).  Whereas the novel version by Sawyer flashed forward 21 years, the short-term flash-forward allow for each season to run the span of a flash-forward each season, then do another incident for each following season (which has been advertised as the plan for the TV show).  This approach should make for more contained story arcs, and hopefully, the ability for each season to stand on its own merits rather than serving as a lead-in for a subsequent season, as any longer serial narrative has a tendency to do.  I’m going to follow this one for probably at least a few episodes, unless it just crashes and burns.

Eastwick (ABC, premieres 9/23):
Seemingly positioned as a sequel to John Updike’s 1984 novel The Witches of Eastwick, this updates the story for a post-Desperate Housewives world.  Three women make a wish at a well at the same time, and have their wishes come true — which in true Monkey’s Paw fashion, proves to be more than any of them bargained for.  Featuring Rebecca Romajn, Lindsay Price, and Jaime Ray Newman, with Paul Gross as the wish-giving devil.  There have been a number of shows that have come along trying to be the next Sex and the City or the next Desperate Housewives, and this show has the honor of being the third TV remake/adaptation of the novel.  I’m not excited about it myself, since I’m not the target audience, but I may watch an episode or two just to see how it does.

The Prisoner (AMC, premieres Nov): A remake of the influential British miniseries, AMC is trying to increase its original programming props by going for a remake/sequel of a show that for many, stands the test of time without needing an update.  They do have the fortune of slick cinematography, strong set/costume design, and Ian McKellan in the role of #2, with Jim Caviezel as the protagonist, #6.  I admit I haven’t seen the original version, but I’m hoping to watch it from AMC (as they’re streaming the original series online for free) before watching this version.

Bored to Death (HBO, Premieres 9/20):  With Jason Schwatzman in the leading role, there’s instantly a certain expectation for the show.  Add the show’s logline of “A Noir-otic comedy,” and you’ve already got a decent sense of what you’ll be getting into.  Schwartzman plays Jonathan Ames, Writer by day, unlicensed Private Detective by night.  Ted Danson plays his boss, and the entire thing has indie screwball written all over it.  Given that it’s HBO, it automatically gets a certain amount of faith based on the network’s credibility, but I remain skeptical — more because of my own aesthetic leanings than any possible faults of the show.

Bored to Death

Midseason Shows

V: (ABC) — Another classic SF remake, this has a group of aliens arriving on Earth, promising technological bounties in all areas in exchange for access to water and another ‘common resource.’  Saying much more would verge into spoilers, but I’ll note that it will feature Firefly alums Alan Tudyk and Morena Bacarin as well as LOST star Elizabeth Mitchell.

Day one:(NBC) — This is an apocalyptic show that follows the residents in an apartment complex brought together to be in a position to do…something after a worldwide event/attack/something that Destroys Civilization As We Know It.  The recent trailers/previews seem to indicate an alien-type event, and a Mysterious Benefactor who chosen the main cast to lead the resistance against the aliens or whatever the source of the apocalypse ends up being.  It’s notable in that the level of effects used are reminiscent of films like The Day After Tomorrow or Independence Day, far beyond the scope of what is normal/expected for TV.  This of course means that if its budget is that high, it’ll need to perform amazingly well to earn its keep, a problem that shows like Dollhouse, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Battlestar Galactica have had to face.  None of the cast members stand out as of yet, and I have the feeling that Jason Alexander, the show-runner, is going for a Heroes/LOST-style ensemble where people’s backstories emerge in play to provide additional fuel as B-plots behind/beside the A-plot of the apocalypse and the recovery/survival aspects. We’re likely to see even more of this before it airs in 2010.


Review: Defying Gravity (Pilot through H2IK)

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The 2009 series Defying Gravity is notable for several reasons, first among these being the fact that it is a multinational production, a collaboration between BBC, Fox Television Studios, SPACE, and others.

It’s also being simultaneously broadcast in first-run in Canada, the UK, Germany and Canada. In the US, it’s being broadcast by ABC, and is available on Hulu.com

The show is centered on a 6-year space exploration mission on board the Antares. The eight-person crew includes 4 men and 4 women. The primary POV character is Maddux Donner (Ron Livingston), who appears to be the primary POV character. Donner, along with antagonistic Mike Goss (Andrew Airlie) and Ted Shaw (Malik Yoba) were part of a Mars mission which lost two members.

Defying Gravity was originally pitched as “Grey’s Anatomy in space,” given a relationship-focus to ground (heh) the space exploration elements. In the first four episodes aired thusfar, the space plots tend to combine/resonate with the interpersonal stories, adding to each. The show also includes several elements reminiscent of LOST, with flashbacks to the crew throughout their training process and also to the Mars mission with Donner, Goss and Shaw, as well as a mystery that shows that the Antares mission may be more than originally advertised. It’s also easily compared to the backdoor pilot-turned-tv-movie Virtuality — though unlike Virtuality, by skipping the virtual reality element, I think Defying Gravity manages to not be conceptually over-stuffed. It’s showing a balance between ‘OMG something on the ship is broken!,’ ‘This person won’t sleep with me!’ and ‘What’s in pod 4?’ — There is a reality TV element to the show, as the crew is completely monitored, with the pilot also serving as the TV show producer/host, but that element has not been foregrounded as much in the first episodes.

So far, the show is not phenomenal, but it is promising, with indications of interpersonal plots unfolding over several years worth of stories. I’m excited to see more, though so far, its US ratings haven’t been terribly impressive. ABC may drop the series if the numbers don’t go up, but I can’t say if that would mean the show was entirely doomed, given its multi-national status.

Defying Gravity airs Sunday nights on ABC (with episodes appearing on Hulu.com the morning following).

Review: District 9

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District 9 was advertised widely on SF sites such as i09.com. I’ve been excited about this film since the first previews, promising an apartheid metaphor SF film with a distinct setting. Good sociological SF is hard to find, and to be commended when it shows up.

I expected a Sociological SF film in a fictional documentary style and got something else.

There will be spoilers needed to actually talk about the meaty bits of this movie.

The film I was expecting to see lasted about 20 minutes into the actual film, and then it turned into something else. Those 20 minutes, it was a fictional documentary about the history of the aliens’ arrival and the current forced relocation to the concentration camp/refugee camp far from Johannesburg. This first 20-ish minute film was a slow burn, captivating and disgusting, showing prejudice and exploitation.

The film takes a turn that to me was unexpected, with Wikus Van De Merwe infected by the black liquid and beginning to transform into one of the aliens. The second 20 minutes, I was expecting a contagion/virus storyline, with the aliens creating a bio-weapon to strike at humanity.

But District 9 was not that movie, either. It became an action-ish film with Wikus fighting his way out and into MNU, learning to empathize with the aliens after having been casually and cruelly bigoted. It turned out to be a redemption story with tons of exploding people rather than a subtle sociological study of bigotry and xenophobia, with a constant apartheid metaphor. The apartheid metaphor in District 9 was really just centered on that first 20 minutes, and once the infection/transformation got going, the metaphor went away.

The film left a lot of questions unanswered. These are things that you could interpolate or extrapolate on, and I will do so below.

Things like — why did Christopher Johnson (the lead alien) only have one helper/ally within the alien population? Are all the other aliens too addicted to cat food? They show the rampant addiction, akin to depictions of “Firewater” for American Indians, where the aliens trade priceless military technology for 100 cans of cat food after asking for 10,000. The documentary has Wikus (I believe) talking about the aliens being members of the worker caste, lacking independence, but that’s just a human perspective.

Christopher said it took 20 years go gather enough liquid/fuel to power the command ship — did he only have a handful of helpers the whole time? Did the rest of his cell get evicted without incident/off-screen? If Christopher was a member of a leader/overcaste, why didn’t he have more followers/subordinates? We see precious little interaction between Christopher and any other aliens save his son (and his green helper who is killed), which makes these questions impossible to answer in-narrative.

Why did the aliens get stuck here in the first place? The command module fell out shortly after arrival, but if it’s what was buried and what Christopher and son used at the end, where are the rest of the command staff/caste? The aliens were depicted as almost completely without agency barring our protagonist aliens, save for the ‘feral pack’ attack at the end and the aliens’ various desperate grabs for cat food.

It was hard to like Wikus during the film. I was able to empathize, but Wikus was too unlikable in the beginning, too callous and bigoted. Yes, he was just a person with a loving wife and dedication to his job, but still. I think it was the gleeful description of the popping of the alien eggs, the ordering of a flamethrower to incinerate an entire hatchery that did it for me. After that, I could root for him, but really only in context of helping the aliens. The ending with Alien!Wikus making the metal flower was touching, however. And they’re clearly set up to do a District 10 film, with Christopher’s return, the healing of Wikus, etc.

Let’s talk for a moment about the action and effects. The alien mecha was super-cool looking, and I think this film wins for most humans exploded on screen during 2009. We’re supposed to accept that Wikus’s modified DNA allows him to intuitively control the mecha, which allows the cool action sequence.

My main beef with the film comes down to this: Tor editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden says that in a story, you get one ‘Gimmie,’ one thing where you can say ‘In this setting, Something Works Differently’. If you tell your story well, and parcel new information out properly, you can earn the audience’s trust and get more ‘gimmie’s.

I think that for me, District 9 asked for more gimmies than it earned. It left far more things unsaid and unexplained that I would have liked, and not even in a way that is okay to leave unsaid (like Cloverfield‘s lingering questions about the monster).

I’m very glad to have seen the film, I enjoyed it once I got on board with the story it was actually trying to tell, but I think it may have missed the chance to be a better film when it turned into an action film. This may also come from the same impulse that will have me write my Anthropologists! In! Space! novel.

Final verdict — go see it, but know that it’s a SF action film with a slow burn start and a strong sociological undercurrent. It’s more akin to Children of Men than I had originally imagined. Hopefully, if you go into the film armed with a firmer sense of what to expect, or with no expectations whatsoever, you can enjoy it for its merits.

Review: Up

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Pixar Studios may in fact be the gold standard in animated films.

It comes as no surprise that Up was chosen to open the Cannes film festival. It transcends the baggage associated with animated works and presents a compelling film delightful for children, heartbreaking and uplifting for adults. It achieves an astonishing amount of pathos, starting with a strong and moving opening sequence, genuinely emoting animals, surreal landscapes and an uplifting, tightly-plotted overall work.

Carl is a strong quiet (except when yelling at people because of being a grief-stricken crochety bastard) lead who shows a wide variety of emotion — through Carl, the film explores death and grief and nostalgia with subtle touches as well as huge metonyms (the whole house as Carl’s touchstone for Ellie, in addition to the smaller ones like the bird for the mantle and the portrait).

Russell is cute as a truck full of kittens, and Dug the dog is Pure Dog-ness incarnate and given a voice.

The 3D may not have added as much to Up as to other films, but I feel like it worked with the what was going on. I imagine we’ll be seeing more 3D-enabled work from Pixar in the future.

Two thumbs and four paws up.

(P)review: Nurse Jackie

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This summer, Showtime is bringing a new dark comedy to the game in the form of Nurse Jackie.

Edie Falco (aka Carmela Soprano) plays Nurse Jackie Peyton, who invites comparison to Hugh Laurie’s Dr. Gregory House. But instead of being a mystery show, Nurse Jackie is a black comedy/slice-of-life story.

And of course, instead of following the rockstar lifestyle of doctors ala ER, House, Grey’s Anatomy, etc, this show obviously focuses on nurses. Jackie is given a neophyte nurse “Zoey” to train, swaps stories with her fellow nurse “Mo Mo.” Between this and the deathy-serious setting (an inner-city NYC hospital, and a trauma-ward focus at that).

Jackie is compassionate and abrasive, troubled and dedicated woman who is as much a bundle of indiscretions as any HBO lead or Oscar-movie star. By the end of the first half-hour episode, we’ve seen a full (extra-long) day in Jackie’s life and all the troubles and triumphs that come along with it.

The series promises to be compelling through alternating between uplifting and disturbing, with a visceral sense of reality and lack of Medical Drama glamour. It’s not for the squemish, however, given the amount to which they strive for verisimilitude in the visuals.

(P)review: Glee

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I’ve maintained for a few years now that the world needs more high-profile musicals. It’s certainly due to my own bias, but every so often, a show/film/whatever that reminds me why I love the genre.

I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes about creating art, from Etienne Decroux, known for his Corporeal Mime style:

One must have something to say. Art is first of all a complaint. One who is happy with things as they are has no business being on the stage. — Etienne Decroux

In addition to its own argument, any musical can be seen as an argument that we need more music and wonder in our lives — by positing a universe where people are able to delve into emotion and express it through song and dance.

Glee achieves this effect not by the unrealistic approach of expecting everyday people to burst into song in unison and perfectly execute choreagraphy that didn’t exist five seconds before, however. It contextualizes the musical theatre genre within actual musical theatre — in this case a High School Glee club in the fictional McKinley High School of Lima, OH.

The members of the Glee club are outcasts and outsiders who don’t fit in anywhere, as well as the odd-man-out for the outsiders — Finn Hudson (Cory Montieth) the quarterback of football squad, who has cultivated a love of music from an early age.

The show is quirky, cute, fun and inspirational, with compelling oddball characters well cast and well-performed. Especially outstanding are Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester, the coach of the socially dominant “Cheerios” cheerleading squad, Lea Michele as Rachel Berry, self-styled ingenue, and Jayma Mays as Emma Pillsbury, the cute OCD school counselor with feelings for the Spanish-teacher director of the glee club.

In what I can only hope will be a tradition for the show, two pieces from the Pilot are available as iTunes downloads — a rival glee club’s rendition of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” and the McKinley glee club’s version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”, well-chosen for its ability to be a theme not just for the pilot, but the whole show.

Glee is a quirky, oddball show full of underdogs. Initial response to the show is very positive, and there is a lot to be positive about. I encourage readers to look for the pilot episode on Fox.com and Hulu, then watch the show as it continues this fall.

enre

Dollhouse Renewed: Fox Spared Whedonites’ Wrath

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Variety.com and i09.com are reporting that FOX has renewed Whedon’s Dollhouse for a second season (information points at another 13-episode season order, and staying on the Friday timeslot).

This means that Whedon’s declaration about swearing off television in exchange for doing internet-based work will probably wait for a little while longer, though Joss has been known to have more than a few projects at any one time.

Execs apparently enjoyed the last couple of episodes (as I did), and were convinced by strong DVR/TiVo numbers and the unaired “Epitaph One” as proof that the show could run on a smaller budget.

No word on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, its Friday night mate. While Dollhouse can run on a smaller budget, Terminator requires CGI/elaborate makeup cyborgs, and may not fare as well, despite/because of its willingness to break format/formula and experiment with structure.

Review: Star Trek

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After a long hiatus, the Star Trek franchise returns with the J.J. Abrams-directed re-launch film, written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

Following a Ultimates-kind of model (Marvel’s re-imagining re-launch of classic Marvel properties such as Spider-Man, The Avengers, The X-Men), the new film takes the chance to re-introduce the classic characters of the original series in a way that allows for new growth and storytelling less bound by decades of continuity.

Star Trek is commonly known for its sociological SF slant, but this film is a pure character study. We follow James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) through their pre-histories and their paths through youth into adulthood and the foundation of their friendship. Pine succeeds in capturing the swagger and cunning of Kirk without hamming it up too much, and Quinto’s Spock excels at displaying the conflict between his Vulcan and Human sides. Each member of the cast had the chance to shine in their area, but were also depicted as vulnerable and imperfect.

The design aesthetic for the new Star Trek is the love child of Apple and the new Battlestar Galactica. It’s shiny on top and gritty on the bottom, combining the dirty functionality with the pristine shine. The future is not white-washed or sterile, but it does have the shine of optimism. The graphics were breathtaking, re-capturing the ‘Sense of Wonder’ mode of SF visuals which has been so central to the genre’s cultural impact.

Eric Bana’s Nero is a singularly driven villain who, along with Spock, ties together the plot twists that give us the new continuity. Nero may not go down as one of the franchise’s best villains, but he was compelling in his own right.

The pacing was tight, with slow moments spaced out here and there to give moments for character notes, but the majority of the film was an unrelenting roller coaster ride.

Star Trek is an exciting, accessible, fast-paced character-heavy film that requires no substantial knowledge of the franchise to enjoy, but is clearly a part and doing homage to the long-established Star Trek universe. Critical acclaim and likely box-office success mean that a sequel following the same continuity is very likely, and may also provide support for a new Star Trek television series. Heroes producer and Pushing Daisies creator Brian Fuller has already expressed strong interest in helming such a property, and with the ending of Battlestar Galactica, the role of ‘Best SF show on TV’ is open for competition once more.

Final verdict: Go see it. See it if you’re a Trekker, a casual fan, a SF aficionado, or if you just want a fun two hour ride of a film.

Tid-Bits From Not-To-Be-Aired Dollhouse ep.

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Dollverse has some stills from “Epitaph One,” the 13th episode of Dollhouse that was filmed on spec and FOX has chosen not to air, as it was not part of their season order.  With the series’ fate in question, even more in question is this episode, which guest-stars Felicia Day and looks all post-apocalypty.

Dolls look great in Mad Max gear