Just watched Heroes and never has there been a truer TV title card. Why. Won't. People. Stay. Dead!
Anyway Glark has put together a series of title cards that cut to the heart of what it going on shows like The Amazing Race, Lost, Battlestar Galactica and others.
• It's the future of personalized news, the Facebook News Network. It makes me laugh and sad at the same time. I'm such an addict...
• Ever wondered who all the people standing behind The Beatles on the cover of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band? The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has an interactive version of the famous album, with bio links to everyone pictured.
• Seems Heroes creator Tim Kring realizes that his once hot show is now ho-hum and he's promising to do something about it. A sampling:
"We took too long to get to the big-picture story." "In retrospect, I don't think romance is a natural fit for us." "The message is that we've heard the complaints — and we're doing something about it."
We've had Zeroes already and now Hewoes, a cartoon spoof of the season's best TV show from Parody Press Comics: When cheerleader Klair Bendit discovers her weird powers playing Twister and her dad's secret project involving strangers from around the world, the fun begins. Meet the enigmatic Pastrami brothers, Internet Weathergirl Sniki Sanders, constipated Japanese office worker Hewoe, and Mohinder Night Shalaman, who is trying to make sense of the whole thing while a berserk hairdresser named Styler is on the rampage! Thanks to Glitterati for the discovery.
Tonight marked the return of Heroes and it was well worth the wait. Superpower fights, a buildup towards the finale and screentime for almost all of the characters, including the wonderfully dry Malcolm McDowell as Linderman. The episode delved into a 9/11 conspiracy theory, suggesting that Linderman's plan to let New York be destroyed will help rally the world under a common cause and a common fear with Nathan Petrelli as the leader everyone turns to.
What does it all mean? Everyone believes what they are doing is right, including the characters identified as evil. Those that think they are doing right may just be part of a larger plan that they are unaware of. Is the message that motive doesn't matter, it is actions that count? I don't know the answer, but love any show that makes me ask those questions. For more on the episode, check out Nikki's always comprehensive posts.
So many lessons from my hours in front of the TV this evening:
The Winner The laugh track is still in use. The canned laughter on Rob Corddry’s new show about a 32-year-old virgin who lives with his parents was so overwhelming that it was almost hard to hear the sucking. Do directors believe that the sound of faux merriment will be so contagious that people will laugh along? Not if this show remains so painfully unfunny. Every joke fell flat, the premise was strained and the acting was stiff. I like Corddry’s work on The Daily Show, but this was just terrible. “There's no way I could live with myself if I missed that,” says a character at the end of the episode. Can’t say I agree. Watch it now if you so desire – it’s not long for primetime.
The Amazing Race Lying and cheating doesn’t always pay off. This comes as a complete surprise to me as it is usually a prerequisite for reality TV success. Tonight professional reality TV contestants Rob and Amber Mariano were eliminated despite doing every little thing they could to get ahead of Charla and Mirna, including stealing their cab. The scheming pair, who won the first three legs of the race, blew it all by misspelling Philippines. Easy come easy go, I suppose. Many Amazing Race fans considered them interlopers but I liked their there-to-win-not-to-make-friends style. I’d guess this will be the final chapter of their TV run, but you never can tell.
The Apprentice My PVR doesn’t’ like The Apprentice. For the past couple of weeks it has dropped Trump from my record schedule – perhaps I should take the hint. Actually I (no longer secretly) enjoy the bizknobs infomercial battle, though producer Mark Burnett has become too heavy handed in giving away the results with overly telegraphed music cues.
Zeroes Turns out the Heroes parody was created by NBC - it did seem too good for a fan video. It was funny, I don't see why they needed to hide the source.
What would you do with extraordinary powers? What if you had no powers at all? If you were just an ordinary person with a relatively pointless ability?
What would New Year’s be without me adding to the plethora of lists? So without further ado, here is my picks for the best in pop culture for 2006, in no particular order:
Heroes The most sci-fi show on network television since The X-Files is also the best show on TV this year, topping Prison Break and even Lost. Random people suddenly develop powers and must figure out how to handle and use them, for better or worse. It is the best comic-inspired work of fiction since Sin City, doling out plot developments at a furious pace.
Hiro Nakamura Super Hiro is the heart and soul of Heroes and the one character who wholeheartedly embraces his newfound powers and sets out to do good with them. Also, as a Star Trek quoting Japanese nerd, he provides the show with comic relief.
Truthiness Stephen Colbert was on a tear this year: he lambasted George Bush and the assembled media as a speaker at White House Correspondents' Association Dinner; he had his fans stuff the online ballot box to have a Hungarian bridge named after him; and the Merriam-Webster dictionary selected truthiness as its Word of the Year for 2006. The Colbert Report is spectacular satire.
OK Go I’d never heard of these guys until the day I got sent a link to a video for a catchy song – Here It Goes Again – and their treadmill-hoping, choreographic perfection. Then I watched it over and over and over again.
Royale With Cheese After the unceremonious dumping of Pierce Brosnan as the agent with the licence to kill and years of speculation on who would fill the tux, Daniel Craig emerged as the new, hard-edged 007, reinvigorating the venerable franchise without abandoning its past.
Parkour The most thrilling movie chase of the year had no gadgets and no cars, just two people making their way though a construction site at a death-defying, breakneck speed. The opening sequence of Casino Royale showed a terrorist using the technique, also known as free running, to escape the pursuing James Bond. Pure adrenaline.
Sloan After 15 years, the Canadian power pop quartet refuses to phone it in, releasing the 30-song Never Hear the End of It and heading back out on tour. Much goodness to be had.
Toronto During TIFF Visitors often complain that Torontonians are cold and aloof – and they aren’t wrong – but all of that changes during the Toronto Film Festival. Suddenly complete strangers are chatting with each other with ease while in lines and theatres. They compare notes, thoughts on films, celebs they’ve spotted and then as quickly as it began, it evaporates. I wish the city were like this year-round.
The Tick vs. Season One The big blue bug of justice finally comes to DVD after 12 years and multiple fan requests. A parody of superheroes, The Tick is as dim as he is strong – neigh well invincible – as he battles bizarre villains alongside an equally bizarre cast of characters, including American Maid, Die Fledermaus and the Civic-Minded Five. I’m so thrilled, all I can say is spooooon!
Shut Up and Sing I’m no Dixie Chicks fan, but the documentary on what the country stars went through after lead sing Natalie Maines said “Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas,” was a real eye-opener. Their statement is mild by today’s standards though it was almost a career killer a scant three years ago. I picked Fido as my top movie of the Toronto Film Festival, but months later, it’s the Chicks that I keep talking about.
S.O.A.P. Suds Despite massive amounts of internet hype, Snakes on a Plane is grounded. Turns out all the bloggers saying “wouldn’t it be cool if they did…” never had any intention of going to see it. Best web hoax of the year!
Video Mashups It was like the birth of a new art form as digital videos, YouTube and people with loads of free time collided to create some of the most hilarious web moments of the year, from Toy Story 2 recast in the Requiem for a Dream trailer to the Peanuts gang shakin’ like a Polaroid picture to Outkast’s Hey Ya. Absolute brilliance.
Britney Spears While there are many pretenders to her throne, Spears is in a class of her own when it comes to young celebrity train wrecks. From questionable parenting (now where did I put Sean Preston?) to finally dumping her parasite impregnator Kevin Federline, and then partying harder than Paris Hilton in a one-week period, she bows down to none. Keep trying Lindsay and Nicole.
Not Ready for Prime Time Players Saturday Night Live is hot this year, not so much the show, but the shows about the show. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip gives West Wing fans a taste of what they’re missing (even if it does take comedy writing far to seriously) and 30 Rock has all the laughs, especially with the sublime Alec Bladwin playing network blowhard Jack Donaghy. As for SNL itself, on the rare occasions it has a funny skit, I can watch it the next day on YouTube – see Lazy Sunday and Dick in a Box.
Yul & Ozzie The top two finalists in Survivor: Cook Islands actually deserved to be there: Yul for his masterful playing of the game and controlling other contestants without it ever being obvious and Ozzie for being one of the most natural physical players ever to compete. The reality show granddaddy proved it still has chops.
For more lists than you can possibly imagine, be sure to check out Fimoculous' stunning list of lists, including such gems as the Best Re-cut Movie Trailers, the Top 10 Retro Gadgets, the Top 10 Sex Toys, the Top 5 Most Pretentious Looks and more music and film Top 10s than you will ever be able to read.
I hadn’t had much chance to peruse the new TV season – I’d been caught up in the film festival (ya, poor me) and I’d not paid much attention to what was on the dial. Lucky for me, new season debuts are scattered all over this month, so I’ve been able to catch a few that may become must-sees.
I stumbled across the premiere of Heroes on Monday, a show that I knew next to nothing about. It follows a group of ordinary people who discover they have extraordinary abilities: they can fly, regenerate and teleport, with more characters and powers to come.
It felt very similar to Lost, in the sense that it was showing multiple characters and storylines that are clearly destined to intersect. It also had characters from India and Japan, which is part of a trend for U.S. shows acknowledging there is a world outside its borders. It has also been influenced by Unbreakable and the X-Men series and is soundly grounded in the comic book genre.
“Every ten year old wishes he had super powers, and I got them,” says Hiro, a Japanese worker from a non-descript cube farm, who has discovered he can manipulate the space-time continuem. He’s right, and not just about ten year olds. I’ve often thought teleportation would be a great power and so much better than flying – none of that tedious getting there business. I’ve also always wanted the ability to turn invisible, but I don’t care to examine the psychological reasons behind that.
Will it be a hit? I don’t know. I watched Invasion last year and watched it get unceremoniously cancelled, but I’m willing to see where this one is headed. You can keep up with Hiro’s blog and read a weekly graphic novel on the official site – more evidence that the web is becoming an interagal part of the television experience.
Just watched Heroes and never has there been a truer TV title card.
We've had Zeroes already and now Hewoes, a cartoon spoof of the season's best TV show from Parody Press Comics: When cheerleader Klair Bendit discovers her weird powers playing Twister and her dad's secret project involving strangers from around the world, the fun begins. Meet the enigmatic Pastrami brothers, Internet Weathergirl Sniki Sanders, constipated Japanese office worker Hewoe, and Mohinder Night Shalaman, who is trying to make sense of the whole thing while a berserk hairdresser named Styler is on the rampage!
Tonight marked the return of Heroes and it was well worth the wait. Superpower fights, a buildup towards the finale and screentime for almost all of the characters, including the wonderfully dry Malcolm McDowell as Linderman. The episode delved into a 9/11 conspiracy theory, suggesting that Linderman's plan to let New York be destroyed will help rally the world under a common cause and a common fear with Nathan Petrelli as the leader everyone turns to.
So many lessons from my hours in front of the TV this evening:
What would New Year’s be without me adding to the plethora of lists? So without further ado, here is my picks for the best in pop culture for 2006, in no particular order:
Royale With Cheese
The Tick vs. Season One
I hadn’t had much chance to peruse the new TV season – I’d been caught up in the film festival (ya, poor me) and I’d not paid much attention to what was on the dial. Lucky for me, new season debuts are scattered all over this month, so I’ve been able to catch a few that may become must-sees.
