Category Archives: Television
Booster Gold Might be Coming to TV!
DC superhero extraordinaire, Booster Gold, might just be getting his own TV show on the Syfy Network! At least according to The Hollywood Reporter, which I’m pretty sure is a credible news source. Much more credible than I am, at least. They actually pay their writers. Anyway, development is only at the stage where Syfy has ordered a pilot script. And we all know how well that worked out for the Wonder Woman TV show at NBC. I’ve yet to see that pilot, though I still really want to.
Still, legitimate superheroes getting to the pilot stage is good news as far as I’m concerned.
Booster is pretty thrilled too
According to the article, NBCUniversal, which I guess owns Syfy, ordered the one-hour pilot script from Greg Berlanti, of No Ordinary Family and Green Lantern, and Andrew Kreisberg, of Fringe. So…good? I don’t know, I’m not sure how all this TV business works. Again, the Wonder Woman pilot didn’t get picked up, so who’s to say this one will be any better?
I’m at least hopeful. I’ll try to follow any of the news that comes out about this pilot.
Booster Gold is a failed athlete and deadbeat from the 30th century who travels back in time because he thinks he can be a pretty cool guy in the 21st century. He brings a bunch of futuristic technology with him, which is so far advanced that it seems like super powers to the people of the past. But Booster Gold isn’t interested in saving the day, he wants fame and lucrative endorsement deals. So he becomes a superhero just for the glory.
Frankly, I think that’s a brilliant premise for a TV show superhero.
John Q. Public and the Suspension of Disbelief
Contrary to popular belief, people are not stupid. Or I should say, audiences are not stupid.
Though I lament the fact that shows like Jersey Shore and Dancing with the Stars are incredibly popular, and audiences can embrace The Voice or The X-Factor after a million seasons of American Idol, there will always be a place on television for scripted shows. Fiction-based dramas and comedies about created characters and their adventures will always be at the forefront of entertainment, and they will always be my favorite kind of show.
That being said, I sometimes find it difficult to get into a new show. So in an effort to broaden my viewing options, I sat down to watch the first three episodes of the new show Once Upon a Time on ABC.
Don't let their pleasant, perfectly posed appearances fool you - it's a bad show
I watched the first episode and half of the second episode before stopping. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. Once Upon a Time, at least as much as I saw, seems to lack all subtlety in its premise of Fairy Tale characters living in the present day. Its characters lack depth, its story is overly complicated and it takes incredible leaps in logic to fit those complications into place. But perhaps worst of all, Once Upon a Time violates storytelling rule No. 1 – Show, Don’t Tell.
That’s why audiences are not stupid. If writers and producers treat their stories with respect and skill, then the average audience will gladly suspend their disbelief for even the wildest of ideas.
They Are Going to Need to Find a 12th Doctor
In a recent interview with VH1, current Doctor Who star Matthew Smith declared that he was going to quit the show after the next season. That’s a shame. I’ve come to really enjoy Smith’s 11th Doctor quite a lot. He had some fantastic episodes in Season 6, rivaling some of the best of 10th Doctor David Tennant’s work. I know my own plucky female companion hasn’t been as won over with Smith as I have, but his ‘Colonel Runaway’ monologue is quite possibly my favorite scene in the entirety of Doctor Who.
Matthew Smith will be missed.
Here’s a quote from the interview video:
“I’ve got another year of Doctor Who, but then I’m certainly going to come and give it a shot, come and hang out in LA.”
Apparently Smith wants to try his hand at Hollywood. More power to him, I say. Tennant went on to play Barty Crouch Jr. in one of the Harry Potter movies, and he was pretty creepy and fantastic in the role. So who knows what Matt Smith can accomplish, even with his weird Frankenstein face.
And that come-hither bow tie
I kid. I kid cause I love.
For those not in the know, the character of The Doctor is an alien who can regenerate and heal whenever his body is mortally wounded. But the regeneration gives him a new body, a new face and some new personality quirks. He maintains all of his memories and his mind, just the outer shell changes. Very convenient for a show that’s been on the air for 50 years and has gone through nearly a dozen different actors in the role.
Matthew Smith played the 11th regeneration of the Doctor. So his successor will be the 12th. The next season, Season 7, will be aired in 2012/2013. That means the regeneration into the 12th Doctor in 2013 will coincide with the show’s 50th anniversary. Neat.
If only this existed...
Why Can Nobody Get the Punisher Right?
The big superhero TV news this past weekend was that FOX has ordered a pilot for The Punisher, the grim and gritty vigilante from Marvel Comics. Normally, that would be very cool news because I love comic books, I love the Punisher, and it would just be cool to have a Punisher TV show. But according to Deadline, and every other news source I read about this deal, the people making the show are GOING TO FUCK IT ALL UP!!
What the hell is so hard about making a live action Punisher!?
Three movies have failed at it. And now a TV show is going to fail too?
Here’s the description of the show according to Deadline:
The Punisher is described as an hour-long procedural with a Marvel signature and a new take on one of the comic book giant’s iconic characters, Frank Castle, a rising star detective with the New York Police Department who moonlights as the vigilante Punisher, seeking justice for those the system has failed.
Are you kidding me!?
A cop who works on the side as the Punisher? What complete and utter bullshit is that? That’s not the Punisher! That’s TV hero #29473 with the name ‘Punisher’ slapped onto it for merchandising or some such bullshit studio reason. It’s mind-numbing to me that somebody along the way decided to so greatly alter the character and yet still have the gall to call it The Punisher. There have been three distinct live action Punisher movies, none of which have been sequels of each other, and yet every single one gets the Punisher wrong in some way.
Nobody can apparently just tell a straight forward, unaltered live action story of the Punisher.
But why? What’s so difficult to make with the Punisher story? He’s got to be one of the easiest characters to create in live action because he doesn’t have any super powers or fancy costume. He’s just a guy with a skull on his shirt and some guns! Killing gangsters and criminals! It’s super easy!
This look, this is the look. What is so hard about this look?
Let me explain. The Punisher’s origin is very easy. He was a soldier in Vietnam (or it could easily be transferred to Iraq or Afghanistan) who learned combat and firearms training in the heat of battle. Upon his return stateside, Frank Castle tries to settle down with his wife and kids. But then one innocent day in the park, he and his family are caught in the crossfire from two rival gangs or mobsters. They have nothing to do with the criminals, they are just innocently caught in the crossfire.
With his family dead, Castle falls back on his military training to wage a one-man war on ALL crime. Yes, he gets revenge against those specific mobsters. But then he just keeps going after all other criminals. No one is safe.
So the basics: soldier, family innocently gunned down, Punisher goes after all criminals.
He’s not a rising star police detective who moonlights on the side as the Punisher. It defeats the very purpose of the Punisher. He’s a man obsessed or possessed or however you want to say it. The Punisher doesn’t do anything on the side. He is only the Punisher and he world has to deal with it. There have been decades of comic book stories written around this idea. Garth Ennis wrote a 10-volume comic book opus about Punisher which was very creative, very inventive and really got to the heart of the character – all while sticking to the actual character.
What about the movies?
The first one in 1989 starring Dolph Lundgren also had him as a cop, an ex-police officer who had become the Punisher. That movie also didn’t feature the skull emblem on the shirt for some reason.
The second one in 2004 starring Thomas Jane is the worst of them all. They get the name right, and the skull shirt, but everything else just gets thrown out the window. This time he’s an FBI Agent who gets caught in a sting operation gone bad. A mobster’s son gets killed, so as revenge, the mobster specifically targets Castle and Castle’s entire extended family. Not just his wife and two sons. Frank Castle’s family is the target of a specific hit. So when he becomes the Punisher afterwards, he specifically goes out for revenge against that one mobster (played by John Travolta). That’s not ‘punishment’, that’s revenge, just like a million other movie anti-heroes!
The third one in 2008 starring Ray Stevenson was a little bit better. They get the skull and they get the badassery. I don’t recall if they had the soldier origin or cop origin. But he’s the Punisher…then they go and muck it up by having the Punisher kill an undercover cop, filling him with guilt and remorse. Then the bad guys, Jigsaw and Loony Bin Jim, are ridiculous! They are comic relief pushed too far, taking a serious movie down with them. This film got close to the Punisher…then still found ways on the side to mess it up.
What is so hard about making a straight Punisher movie? Somebody tell me!
6 Stories That Made Me Cry Like a Little Baby
First of all, I’m a manly man. I don’t cry. Second of all, sometimes crying can’t be helped. I’m a sucker for a really good dramatic scene in a movie or TV show. And sometimes it’s from a book or something else I’ve read. My eyes get watery, there’s a lump in my throat and I’m just awash with emotion. Everybody knows the feeling. It’s fantastic. Writers and other creative sorts know what they’re doing, they know how to put together the right characters, play the absolute perfect music and bring down the house with pure emotion.
Here are 6 tearjerker moments for me. Warning though, there will be several spoilers for the TV shows Lost and Doctor Who, as well as some movies and comics. Anyway, let’s get to it.
Henchman-4-Hire 