Author Archives: Clark Goble
The Other Shows: Death Watch Edition
So the latest ratings are out and…well TV isn’t doing well at all. I think most of us had a feeling that things were in trouble. There really weren’t a lot of shows people got excited about. But when you look at the ratings it really is bad.
If you like Once Upon a Time feel good because that shows almost certainly safe. Grimm. Well things look Grimm. The best it has to offer is that nearly all of NBC’s shows look bad except for The Voice.
Since most of the stuff on TV I can’t stand I’ll just focus on the shows I do like (or once liked).
The Other Shows: Valentines Edition
I’m well into my television network free existence. (And not missing it at all – although Netflix selection quality has definitely gone downhill for streaming the last six months) So if I miss a few please chime in. I’ve really narrowed my television viewing a lot.
First up Fringe. I know it’s expected to be canceled but man this has been a great season. It’s really coming together right now with the return of a dead character from season 1. I have to admit I’ll miss this one. I think they made it just a tad too complex and impossible for newcomers to follow. My suspicion is that a show like Lost just can’t be done again and Fringe is showing that.
On the other hand Alcatraz appears to be a hit and seems like it contradicts that claim. It’s an other J. J. Abrams show like Fringe and I have to admit I love it. They’ve wisely made it so there is basically an independent quasi-normal police procedural each week with then the underlying plot thrown in. Burn Notice did that you might recall (although I’ve given up on Burn Notice – it just went downhill too much). I think that Fringe managed much more one off episodes the first season but with the dual universe there was just too much going on for that to work. We’ll see how well Alcatraz manages with that balance.
The Shows: Early January Edition
So I’m probably not the best for this column anymore since I got rid of my Dish. Which means I know only watch shows that I bit torrent or else show up on Netflix years later. Still there is a bit of news. Feel free to chime in yourself.
First up if you haven’t been watching the BBC’s Sherlock shame on you. For those of you who didn’t watch it last year this is the famous detective living in contemporary London. The season this year (also short) is even better than last year. They’ve been updating some of Doyle’s most famous stories in very creative ways. Sunday had the Hounds of the Baskerville (still available for play at BBC). Before that we had a very interesting take on Irene Adler. This Sunday we have a take on the story where Doyle actually killed Holmes (only to be forced to bring him back). It’s his confrontation with Moriarty: The Reichenbach Fall. Seriously you need to watch these. Great acting. Very creative direction. They are far better than the recent films (although I liked those too)
Looking Forward to 2012: Movie Edition
I unfortunately was so ridiculously busy this year that I didn’t see that many movies, listen to that much music or do much at all except work. However in the spirit of new beginnings I’m hoping this year will be quite different. In that spirit I’m going to list my top anticipated films of the new year.
Feel free to call me an idiot for my picks. Or just add in your own.
Best Christmas Traditions
It’s less than a week until Christmas. Mere days. Yet we’ve not had a single Christmas discussion. In past years we’ve discussed the best Christmas animation, best Christmas presents, Christmas albums, horrible Christmas songs, Christmas movies, and a lot more. There’s almost nothing left to talk about. So what’s left? How about…
BEST CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS
Quantum Revisited
As you all know the new Bond film, Skyfall, is in production at the moment. I loved the first Craig film – a reasonably faithful adaptation of Casino Royal. It had several of my favorite action set pieces in a Bond film. It took a franchise that had become stale decades earlier and made it compelling. Many compared it to the Bourne films which clearly were an influence. However what made Royal so great was what it did differently from Bourne. It was more a revisioning of the classic aspects of Connery’s Bond from the 60′s as well as many aspects of Ian Flemming’s own life and failings as a spy during and immediately after WWII.
The sequel was a grave disappointment to many people, myself included. I must confess that I liked it far better upon a second viewing in my home theatre system. (See the Kulturblog discussion here) The action was aping Bourne far more than before but was so frenetic that one couldn’t follow what was going on. The witty dialog of Royal was gone. There were many scenes which were best described as “cockamamie” — perhaps better suited for Roger Moore than Craig. (For example the overly flammable hotel in the desert)
I was worried that the franchise would experience a rapid fall off from a good start. Much as what happened with Peirce Brosnan’s Bond. Ironically also given a great start by the same director: Martin Campbell. A director who seems able to only do his best work with Bond as Green Lantern and most of his other films attest. (Although I have to confess I did like the first Zoro as a guilty pleasure)
An interview with Craig linked to on Twitter and a few other places has made me rethink Quantum of Solace though.
How Far Can You Suspend Disbelief
Over the weekend I was reading John Scalzi’s blog. (He wrote Old Man’s War among many other excellent books) Scalzi is largely responding to that Wired article last week about how movies get falling into lava all wrong. (They always make the viscosity the same as water whereas lava is viscous enough that you wouldn’t sink in) One of the examples used was Gollum from the end of Lord of the Rings. Scalzi thinks this is silly, saying:
In a film with spiders of physically impossible size, talking trees, ugly warriors birthed out of mud and a disembodied malevolence causing a ring to corrupt the mind of anyone who wears it (and also turn them invisible), we’re going to complain that the lava is not viscous enough?
Now I know a lot of people are in Scalzi’s camp on this. I disagree though.
The Christmas Movies
Well we are now in Christmas movie season. No I don’t mean those horrible cheap “feel good” seasonal movies all over Lifetime, ABC Family or the like that hearken back to the golden days of the 70′s. Rather I mean the big blockbusters targeting everyone. We’re already well into the season with the latest Twilight film being #1 for something like three weeks running. There’s Muppet fever and even Martin Scorsese is in the act.
What have you seen? What did you hate? What are you most looking forward to? After a fairly disappointing summer will the winter films do better?
Turning off the Dish/Cable
So we are going to turn off our Dish account. Right now we have two receivers. One an HD receiver and one a SD receiver hooked up to an old TV. But especially during tight times at Christmas it was hard to justify the cost. Plus while the kids watch TV I find myself watching less and less of it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I’ll stop watching TV. But I suspect it will instead be more carefully picked DVDs, stuff downloaded, and stuff watched streaming. I have an Apple TV (1st gen) so I can watch nearly everything on my TV.
Best Thanksgiving Shows
A day late but this came to me as people were passing Thanksgiving shows around Twitter. By far the most tweeted thing I saw yesterday was links to the classic WKRP in Cincinnati thanksgiving show. I watched that with my wife yesterday and it was as hilarious today as it was when I saw it as a kid. ”As God is my witness I thought turkeys could fly.”
What other great thanksgiving episodes have their been? Admittedly Thanksgiving doesn’t get the love that Christmas, Halloween and Valentine’s Day get. But it is a great day.
Here’s my list:
Steve Evans
RJH
Scott B.
John C.
Susan M
Aaron Brown
ninemoons
arandomjohn
kulturblogadmin
Kyle M
Brad
KulturBlogGuest
MCQ
Wm
Rebecca
Ivan
Geoff J
btdgreg
Clark Goble
Aaron R.
Tim J
Ben
