Showing posts with label fx. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fx. Show all posts
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Why American Horror Story may lose big at the Emmy's
Despite American Horror Story’s 17 Emmy nominations, the critically-acclaimed FX show could go home empty handed this year for the stupidest of reasons: It’s a horror program.The hit show beat out Game of Thrones, earning the most Emmy nominations of any program this year and the same number of nods as last year’s American Horror Story: Murder House.
But let’s not forget what happened to AHS last year. Despite 17 Emmy nominations, the show went home with just a best hairstyling award and best supporting actress.
That amounts to little more than a pretty new mantle piece for Jessica Lange.
But why? It’s all about the genre, says Tom O’Neil of Goldderby.com.
“It’s cursed by being in the horror genre,” the Hollywood awards show handicapper said. “Emmy voters, like Oscar voters, are horrified of the horror genre and tend to stay away.”
Let’s forget for a moment that anyone who has seen even a single episode of American Horror Story understands that the horror elements only aesthetically couch what is otherwise a powerful human drama. Other big name shows have also been awkwardly shortchanged lately.
Despite being a critical and awards season darling throughout its run, AMC’s Mad Men walked away completely empty-handed last year despite 17 Emmy nominations.
Game of Thrones is cross-genre epic hit, but it’s only expected to sweep the tech categories.
Still, Thrones might inch forward this year against opponents like Downtown Abbey and Homeland.
“For a show with a largely international cast that is shot far outside the confines of the U.S. (Ireland, Iceland, Bulgaria etc.), it took a little time for the creative community to wrap its arms around the epic fantasy,” wrote Variety’s Justin Kroll.
“It can win,” added O’Neil.
But if you’re a fan of shows like American Horror Story, just try not to be too surprised if it walks away with little-to-nothing. Any number of under-rated shows (Sons of Anarchy, anyone?) get passed over by the Emmys every year, and the ones that make it lose to other shows which are admittedly great, but a little greedy.
Source
Thursday, March 28, 2013
FX to launch sister channel, FXX, in the fall
The News Corp.-owned cable network -- home to such critically acclaimed shows as "Justified" and "Sons of Anarchy" -- is launching a sister channel this fall, dubbed FXX.
To get the channel off to a strong start, FX will move its comedies "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "The League" to FXX, as well as its late-night show "Totally Biased With W. Kamu Bell," which will expand from a weekly to a nightly show.
FXX is scheduled to launch on Sept. 2. FX said it should be available in at least 70 million homes.
By moving two of its established comedies to the new channel, FX is betting that it will have some leverage in negotiations for carriage with cable and satellite distributors and attract attention from Madison Avenue.
FX was mum on how it will be able to launch in so many homes, but News Corp. executives have been telling pay-TV distributors that it is considering converting the Fox Soccer Channel into FXX.
Besides the FX shows that will relocate to FXX, there are plans for two other original comedies in the first year and a total of six for the second year. The channel will aim for adults 18-34. FX executives said it will not strictly be a comedy network.
“We are embarking on an incredibly ambitious ramp-up of program development and production required to sustain these networks," said FX President John Landgraf, who unveiled FXX to advertisers in New York City on Thursday morning.
No executive to oversee FXX was named. Besides Landgraf, the executives expected to play key roles in building FXX are executive vice presidents Nick Grad, Eric Schrier and Chuck Saftler.
FXX is the second major cable initiative News Corp. has announced in the last month. It also is launching a new sports network -- Fox Sports 1 -- in August.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
American Horror Story news (don't read if you don't want some spoilers)
If you guessed amusement park...you were way off.
But, if you guessed institution for the criminally insane...you were right on the money! Murphy confirmed the rumors that season two of AHS will be set in a mental hospital, and Jessica Lange is in charge! "[Season two] is set on the East Coast at an institution for the criminally insane that is run by Jessica," Murphy said. "It's a completely different world and has nothing to do with season one, there's not a mention of season one. The second season is set in a completely different time period."
When it was asked if Zachary Quinto, who will be Lange's nemesis, might be an inmate, Murphy smiled that knowing smile and simply replied: "Maybe." Quinto himself said he was "really looking forward" to playing a new role on the same show. "The notion of coming back and playing something totally different and in a totally different world with many of the same actors...it's probably one of the more exciting things that has come across my plate in recent years," he said.
The Voice star Adam Levine recently confirmed his role on the show, and Murphy revealed that the musician immediately jumped on board after hearing what was in store for his character. "He's a sexy guy, so he needs to play a sexy guy, but a guy that is different than who you think he would play," Murphy spilled. "I pitched him the part and he listened slack jawed and simply said, 'I'm in.' The second season is fun, sexy and baroque. It has a lot of meat to it. It's a really gritty part."
Other returning folks from AHS' first run include Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Lily Rabe. But they might not be the only ones! "The idea is to work with actors that you love and are excited by. The second season there will be other people up on this stage, who are not announced, who will also be in it but are playing the polar opposite of what they were in the first season in every way." Just so you know, other people up on stage with him were Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott, Denis O'Hare and Alexandra Breckenridge.
Other nuggets of info:
•Season two will be completely self-contained with no crossover from season one. Because the season one story was self-contained, with a beginning, middle and end, AHS will be submitted as a miniseries for the Emmys this year.
•There were six "Rubber Man" suits and Dylan McDermott insists Evan Peters kept one and wears it. He's kidding. We think. Also the much speculated-about photo of a heftier "Rubber Man" was a stunt double.
•Executive producer Brad Falchuk revealed the writers did consider going the route of a certain fan theory (popular in our office!), that Dylan's character Ben was Constance's long lost fourth child.
•Murphy confirmed that Glee's Finn, Rachel and Kurt are all moving to a haunted dorm at NYADA and that will be season two of AHS. Make. It. So.
•Fans who want to see Adam Levine supersexy and scantily clad will "be satisfied," teases Murphy, adding that the second season of AHS will be even more sexualized than season one. Levine will appear in "much more" than one episode, as one half of a duo called "the lovers."
Source
Friday, April 6, 2012
Adam Levine confirms role in "American Horror Story"
The Maroon 5 frontman and "The Voice" judge has confirmed the part to E! News. "It is the truth," Levine told Ryan Seacrest about the previously rumored role. "I mean, it's pretty much happening. I think it's happening. I don't know how much I can divulge, because [series co-creator] Ryan [Murphy] is very under wraps.
"It's going to be fun. And I told [Ryan] I really didn't know what I was doing, but he didn't seem to really care," Levine continued. "So I'm just going to go and try to [do] acting. I think I'm going to be kind of playing myself, so hopefully it will be easy."
Season two is set to premiere in October with returning season one favorites Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Lily Rabe. E! further reports that the new season might take place on the East Coast at a mental institution. Season one took place in Los Angeles with a troubled family moving into a new home, lovingly referred to as "Murder House" on the series because so many people were murdered in it.
About Murphy, Levine said, "He's really great. And I love the fact that he believes in me to throw me out there."
Given how often the guys appear shirtless on "American Horror Story" — and how famous Levine's abs are — fans should probably expect Murphy to make the most of that aspect of his persona. The identity of the other "Lover" is top secret for now.
Source
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Television networks rank their favorite seasons
Many websites are doing March Madness-style brackets to declare the Best Drama Series of All-Time or the Best Sitcom Episode Ever. We’re getting into the fun, too, BUT BIGGER. This is our power rankings of the greatest seasons from nine of our favorite networks. Here’s how we did it:
1) We looked at the schedule for every season for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX, and Comedy Central (sorry, WB/UPN/CW!), ranging from the 1950s to the present, and chose the best overall one for each. (For network channels, we did 2011-2012; for cable, just a single year, like 2011. That’s just how they work.) We put into account not only the fact that, for example, “Cheers” was on, but whether “Cheers” was any good in that particular season.
2) We then compared the best season of each network against the best seasons of the other eight networks, to decide if, say, Showtime’s best year is better than Fox’s best year. (HINT: it’s not.)
9. Showtime
Winner: 2006 (“Brotherhood,” “Dexter,” “Huff,” “The L Word,” “Weeds,” etc.)
Runner-Up: 2011 (“The Big C,” “The Borgias,” “Californication,” “Dexter,” “Episodes,” “Homeland,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” “Shameless,” “United States of Tara,” Weeds,” etc.)
Showtime finally premiered its first HBO-level series last year in “Homeland,” and though I could be persuaded to declare 2011 the winner, based simply on the merits of that one show, I can’t forget season six of “Dexter” and season seven of “Weeds” and season one of “Episodes.” (Seasons one and four of “Shameless” and “Californication,” those were OK.) Instead, the honor goes to 2006, when Showtime’s slate included the Ice Truck Killer year of “Dexter,” season two of “Weeds” (MILFweed), and the underappreciated freshman season of “Brotherhood,” as well as “The L Word” and “Huff” (I guess).
8. ABC
Winner: 1977-1978 (“Barney Miller,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Happy Days,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “Starsky & Hutch,” “Taxi,” “What’s Happening,” etc.)
Runner-Up: 1990-1991 (“Roseanne,” “Twin Peaks,” “The Wonder Years,” etc.)
ABC has never really had an identity, or at least an all-together positive one. NBC was the blockbuster network of the 1990s which now has a number of low rated, critically beloved series; Fox was built on “The Simpsons” and the crassness that followed; and CBS revolutionized the sitcom multiple times, with “I Love Lucy” and “All In the Family” and others. As for ABC, um, it aired “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” which effectively started the reality show craze that continues today. FU*K THAT. Ditto many of its older hits, like “Welcome Back, Kotter” and “The Brady Bunch,” that are still spoken of today only due to misguided nostalgia. Also: “Cop Rock.” So you have to look deep within the network’s best season, 1977-1978, past “Apple Pie,” to see its best series, like “Barney Miller,” “Laverne & Shirley,” and, most importantly, “Taxi,” a remarkably well written ensemble sitcom. Or just choose 1990 because it had both “Twin Peaks” and “The Wonder Years,” and those shows own.
7. Comedy Central
Winner: 2004 (“Chappelle’s Show,” “Comedy Central Presents,” “Crank Yankers,” “The Daily Show,” “Drawn Together,” “Reno 911!” “South Park,” etc.)
Runner-Up: 2011 (“The Colbert Report,” “Comedy Central Presents,” “Comedy Central Roast,” “The Daily Show,” “Futurama,” “Jon Benjamin Has a Van,” “South Park,” “Ugly Americans,” “Workaholics,” etc.)
People still talk glowingly about “The Daily Show” in 2004 – rightfully so. It was the second time Jon Stewart & Co. aired under the “Indecision” banner, after the 2000 election selection, but it was the first time the show was a cultural force. It suddenly didn’t seem peculiar for TV viewers to get their news from a so-called “comedy show.” And if comedy fans weren’t discussing Stewart (and correspondents Samantha Bee, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and Ed Helms) it’s likely they were quoting season two of “Chappelle’s Show” (featuring Negrodamus and Rick James) or season eight of “South Park,” which included such instant classics as “The Passion of the Jew,” "AWESOM-O,” and “Woodland Critter Christmas.”
6. Fox
Winner: 2003-2004 (“24,” “Arrested Development,” “The Bernie Mac Show,” “King of the Hill,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” “The O.C.,” “The Simpsons,” “Tru Calling,” “That ‘70s Show,” and “Wonderfalls”)
Runner-Up: 1994-1995 (“Beverly Hills 90210,” “The Critic,” “Married...with Children,” "Melrose Place," “The Simpsons,” “The X-Files,” etc.)
It’s tempting to choose 1994-1995, which was when my favorite "Simpsons" season ran (six), but the rest of Fox's schedule had “The X-Files”...and not much else. (“The Critic” was stronger on ABC, and “Beverly Hills” and “Married...with Children” are more guilty pleasures than anything.) Temptation aside, 2003-2004 is the winner, mostly due to “The Simpsons” and “Arrested Development,” but also because season one of both “The O.C.” and “Wonderfalls” are great, and the schedule also had a still-exciting “24” and “King of the Hill.”
5. NBC
Winner: 2006-2007 (“30 Rock,” “ER,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Heroes,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “My Name is Earl,” The Office,” “Scrubs,” “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” etc.)
Runner-Up: 1991-1992 (“Cheers,” “The Cosby Show,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “L.A. Law,” “Night Court,” “Seinfeld,” etc.)
I came into this entry expecting to crown 1991-1992 the winner, because it was a good cross-section of NBC’s best from the 1980s (“Cosby Show,” “Cheers”) with their upcoming greatness from the 1990s (“Seinfeld”). But by seasons 8 and 10, “Cosby” and “Cheers” weren’t as sharp anymore, “Seinfeld” was just starting to find its footing, and the rest of NBC’s schedule wasn’t very good. So that’s I’m picking 2006-2007 (but just barely). It has both quality and quantity, including the first seasons of “Heroes,” “Friday Night Lights,” and “Studio 60," as well as comedy classics, like “30 Rock,” “The Office,” and “Scrubs.”
Though 1999-2000, with “Freaks and Geeks,” “Friends,” and “The West Wing,” is mighty good, too...
4. FX
Winner: 2011 (“American Horror Story,” “Archer,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Justified,” “The League,” “Louie,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “Wilfred,” etc.)
Runner-Up: 2010 (Most of that, plus “Terriers”)
What separates FX’s 2010 from FX’s 2011? The former had “Terriers,” the latter had “Wilfred” and “American Horror Story.” The canceled-far-too-soon “Terriers” is superior to both of those shows, so why is 2011 the winner and 2010 the runner-up? Because last year was when “Archer,” “Louie,” and “Justified” all transformed from very good shows to GREAT ones. “Louie” had an incredibly strong freshman year, but none of those episodes were nearly as impressive as “Oh Louie/Tickets” or “Duckling” – the same goes for the differences between season one of both “Archer” and “Justified” to the brilliance of episodes like “Stage Two” and “Brother’s Keeper,” both series’ highpoints, in season two. Sorry “Terriers” fans, but you’re probably used to disappointment, right?
3. AMC
Winner: 2010 (“Breaking Bad,” “Mad Men,” “Rubicon,” and “The Walking Dead”)
Runner-Up: 2011 (“Breaking Bad,” “Hell on Wheels,” “The Killing,” and “The Walking Dead”)
This wasn’t a tough choice. Both years have “The Walking Dead,” a solid B, B- series, but only one has “Mad Men” AND “Breaking Bad,” two of the greatest dramas ever. Plus, “Rubicon,” though it had many, overly complicated faults, was better than the shockingly boring “Hell on Wheels” and the dreary tease that is “The Killing.” (Pre-“Mad Men” AMC was LOLtastic – anyone have fond memories of “The Lot”? Or any memories?)
2. CBS
Winner: 1976-1977 (“All in the Family,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “The Carol Burnett Show,” “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons,” “Kojak,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “M*A*S*H,” “Maude,” “Phyllis,” “Rhoda,” etc.)
Runner-Up: 1955-1956 (“Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Honeymooners,” “I Love, Lucy,” etc.)
It’s kind of sad, actually. CBS, now the home of bland comedies and unimaginative procedurals, was the ideal network for, well, decades. In the 1950s, it had “I Love Lucy” and “The Honeymooners.” In the 1960s, “The Twilight Zone” and “The Prisoner.” In the 1970s, “All in the Family”, ”Maude," ”WKRP in Cincinnati," "The Carol Burnett Show," "Rhoda," "The Bob Newhart Show," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show”...the list goes on and on. These were high-rated shows that changed TV as we know it, tackling topics that had never been discussed during primetime before, and I singled out the 1976-1977 season because it includes “Chuckles Bites the Dust,” one of the funniest episodes ever, from “Mary Tyler Moore.” Imagine that: hit shows worth watching. On CBS!
1. HBO
Winner: 2004 (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Da Ali G Show,” “Deadwood,” “Six Feet Under,” “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” etc.)
Runner-Up: Didn’t want to choose another “Sopranos” or ”Wire” year, so…either 1998 (“From the Earth to the Moon,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” “Oz,” “Sex and the City,” etc.) or 2011 (“Boardwalk Empire,” “Bored to Death,” “Curb,” “Enlightened,” “Game of Thrones,” “Treme,” “True Blood,” etc.)
Source
1) We looked at the schedule for every season for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX, and Comedy Central (sorry, WB/UPN/CW!), ranging from the 1950s to the present, and chose the best overall one for each. (For network channels, we did 2011-2012; for cable, just a single year, like 2011. That’s just how they work.) We put into account not only the fact that, for example, “Cheers” was on, but whether “Cheers” was any good in that particular season.
2) We then compared the best season of each network against the best seasons of the other eight networks, to decide if, say, Showtime’s best year is better than Fox’s best year. (HINT: it’s not.)
9. Showtime
Runner-Up: 2011 (“The Big C,” “The Borgias,” “Californication,” “Dexter,” “Episodes,” “Homeland,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” “Shameless,” “United States of Tara,” Weeds,” etc.)
Showtime finally premiered its first HBO-level series last year in “Homeland,” and though I could be persuaded to declare 2011 the winner, based simply on the merits of that one show, I can’t forget season six of “Dexter” and season seven of “Weeds” and season one of “Episodes.” (Seasons one and four of “Shameless” and “Californication,” those were OK.) Instead, the honor goes to 2006, when Showtime’s slate included the Ice Truck Killer year of “Dexter,” season two of “Weeds” (MILFweed), and the underappreciated freshman season of “Brotherhood,” as well as “The L Word” and “Huff” (I guess).
8. ABC
Runner-Up: 1990-1991 (“Roseanne,” “Twin Peaks,” “The Wonder Years,” etc.)
ABC has never really had an identity, or at least an all-together positive one. NBC was the blockbuster network of the 1990s which now has a number of low rated, critically beloved series; Fox was built on “The Simpsons” and the crassness that followed; and CBS revolutionized the sitcom multiple times, with “I Love Lucy” and “All In the Family” and others. As for ABC, um, it aired “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” which effectively started the reality show craze that continues today. FU*K THAT. Ditto many of its older hits, like “Welcome Back, Kotter” and “The Brady Bunch,” that are still spoken of today only due to misguided nostalgia. Also: “Cop Rock.” So you have to look deep within the network’s best season, 1977-1978, past “Apple Pie,” to see its best series, like “Barney Miller,” “Laverne & Shirley,” and, most importantly, “Taxi,” a remarkably well written ensemble sitcom. Or just choose 1990 because it had both “Twin Peaks” and “The Wonder Years,” and those shows own.
7. Comedy Central
Runner-Up: 2011 (“The Colbert Report,” “Comedy Central Presents,” “Comedy Central Roast,” “The Daily Show,” “Futurama,” “Jon Benjamin Has a Van,” “South Park,” “Ugly Americans,” “Workaholics,” etc.)
People still talk glowingly about “The Daily Show” in 2004 – rightfully so. It was the second time Jon Stewart & Co. aired under the “Indecision” banner, after the 2000 election selection, but it was the first time the show was a cultural force. It suddenly didn’t seem peculiar for TV viewers to get their news from a so-called “comedy show.” And if comedy fans weren’t discussing Stewart (and correspondents Samantha Bee, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and Ed Helms) it’s likely they were quoting season two of “Chappelle’s Show” (featuring Negrodamus and Rick James) or season eight of “South Park,” which included such instant classics as “The Passion of the Jew,” "AWESOM-O,” and “Woodland Critter Christmas.”
6. Fox
Runner-Up: 1994-1995 (“Beverly Hills 90210,” “The Critic,” “Married...with Children,” "Melrose Place," “The Simpsons,” “The X-Files,” etc.)
It’s tempting to choose 1994-1995, which was when my favorite "Simpsons" season ran (six), but the rest of Fox's schedule had “The X-Files”...and not much else. (“The Critic” was stronger on ABC, and “Beverly Hills” and “Married...with Children” are more guilty pleasures than anything.) Temptation aside, 2003-2004 is the winner, mostly due to “The Simpsons” and “Arrested Development,” but also because season one of both “The O.C.” and “Wonderfalls” are great, and the schedule also had a still-exciting “24” and “King of the Hill.”
5. NBC
Runner-Up: 1991-1992 (“Cheers,” “The Cosby Show,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “L.A. Law,” “Night Court,” “Seinfeld,” etc.)
I came into this entry expecting to crown 1991-1992 the winner, because it was a good cross-section of NBC’s best from the 1980s (“Cosby Show,” “Cheers”) with their upcoming greatness from the 1990s (“Seinfeld”). But by seasons 8 and 10, “Cosby” and “Cheers” weren’t as sharp anymore, “Seinfeld” was just starting to find its footing, and the rest of NBC’s schedule wasn’t very good. So that’s I’m picking 2006-2007 (but just barely). It has both quality and quantity, including the first seasons of “Heroes,” “Friday Night Lights,” and “Studio 60," as well as comedy classics, like “30 Rock,” “The Office,” and “Scrubs.”
Though 1999-2000, with “Freaks and Geeks,” “Friends,” and “The West Wing,” is mighty good, too...
4. FX
Runner-Up: 2010 (Most of that, plus “Terriers”)
What separates FX’s 2010 from FX’s 2011? The former had “Terriers,” the latter had “Wilfred” and “American Horror Story.” The canceled-far-too-soon “Terriers” is superior to both of those shows, so why is 2011 the winner and 2010 the runner-up? Because last year was when “Archer,” “Louie,” and “Justified” all transformed from very good shows to GREAT ones. “Louie” had an incredibly strong freshman year, but none of those episodes were nearly as impressive as “Oh Louie/Tickets” or “Duckling” – the same goes for the differences between season one of both “Archer” and “Justified” to the brilliance of episodes like “Stage Two” and “Brother’s Keeper,” both series’ highpoints, in season two. Sorry “Terriers” fans, but you’re probably used to disappointment, right?
3. AMC
Runner-Up: 2011 (“Breaking Bad,” “Hell on Wheels,” “The Killing,” and “The Walking Dead”)
This wasn’t a tough choice. Both years have “The Walking Dead,” a solid B, B- series, but only one has “Mad Men” AND “Breaking Bad,” two of the greatest dramas ever. Plus, “Rubicon,” though it had many, overly complicated faults, was better than the shockingly boring “Hell on Wheels” and the dreary tease that is “The Killing.” (Pre-“Mad Men” AMC was LOLtastic – anyone have fond memories of “The Lot”? Or any memories?)
2. CBS
Runner-Up: 1955-1956 (“Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Honeymooners,” “I Love, Lucy,” etc.)
It’s kind of sad, actually. CBS, now the home of bland comedies and unimaginative procedurals, was the ideal network for, well, decades. In the 1950s, it had “I Love Lucy” and “The Honeymooners.” In the 1960s, “The Twilight Zone” and “The Prisoner.” In the 1970s, “All in the Family”, ”Maude," ”WKRP in Cincinnati," "The Carol Burnett Show," "Rhoda," "The Bob Newhart Show," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show”...the list goes on and on. These were high-rated shows that changed TV as we know it, tackling topics that had never been discussed during primetime before, and I singled out the 1976-1977 season because it includes “Chuckles Bites the Dust,” one of the funniest episodes ever, from “Mary Tyler Moore.” Imagine that: hit shows worth watching. On CBS!
1. HBO
Runner-Up: Didn’t want to choose another “Sopranos” or ”Wire” year, so…either 1998 (“From the Earth to the Moon,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” “Oz,” “Sex and the City,” etc.) or 2011 (“Boardwalk Empire,” “Bored to Death,” “Curb,” “Enlightened,” “Game of Thrones,” “Treme,” “True Blood,” etc.)
Source
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Best characters on television right now
Now that nearly all the new shows of the fall TV season have premiered (Once Upon a Time and Grimm both unmagically limped onto the scene last week), let's take a look at who we like the best right now. Television is largely about telling the same story over and over again. The one thing that can save the medium is a great character: part actor's performance and part writer's creation. Stumbling onto a great character is like discovering a particuarly pretty pebble on a rocky beach. From listless New Yorkers to men with half a face, these are our favorite TV characters right now.
The Wounded Soul: Richard Harrow on Boardwalk Empire
While Harrow (fitting name!) first appeared on HBO's oftentimes deceptively shallow crime series as merely an oddity -- half of his face was blown off in the Great War, so he wears a creepy painted half-mask -- he has become, thanks to a few generously written scenes and to Jack Huston's lovely, quiet performance, a more fully realized and sympathetic character this year. The grimly efficient expert marksman has gone from creepily tragic righthand man for a young upstart gangster in the Atlantic City bootlegging scene to something a bit deeper -- he serves as both a reminder of the visceral horror of the 1910s and as a chillingly saturnine omen of all the bad that's still to come. So, of course, nobody on Boardwalk Empire wants to look at him. Better for them to just enjoy the rah-rah roaring '20s in peace. But we here in the future can't look away.
The Villainess: Constance, American Horror Story
Sure FX's new horror series is oftentimes a jangly, garbled mess, but boy oh boy is Jessica Lange's Contance -- the next door neighbor from hell (perhaps quite literally) who torments, with a malevolently chipper smile, the fractured family inhabiting the show's house of horrors -- a whole lotta fun. We're not sure if the scenery is lined with chocolate or what, but Lange sure does seem to enjoy chewing on it. But it's not just Lange's fin-de-Dunaway performance that makes Constance so compelling -- it's that she's really the only character who seems fully instep with the show's lugubrious rhythms. Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton's characters are intentionally drawn as the plain ol' regular folks confronted by crazy psychosexual phantasmagoria, of course, but they could at least be a little outsized in order to better fit in with the show's kitchen sink aesthetic. Basically, they're no fun! Constance, though, with her Ipecac cupcake baking and daughter tormenting ("Go to your closet!"), both lives up to and raises American Horror Story's grand, often laughably over-the-top stakes. It seems as though Ryan Murphy and Co. created one great camp-fabulous character and then built a whole series to showcase her. To that end, the show would be nothing without her.
The Slickster With a Heart of Gold: Eli Gold, The Good Wife
Long one of the secretly best actors of his generation, Alan Cumming finally gets the kind of big, smart, meaty role he deserves. First introduced during the first season of CBS' stylish legal drama as a snappily amoral campaign manager, as Eli has moved into the law firm populated by Julianna Margulies et al. to act as an elite damage control consultant, he has evolved into a far knottier and more morally complex character. Sometimes he is still charmingly conniving and ruthless, but we've also seen him be earnestly passionate about a cause or, on Sunday night for example, reduced to a brokenhearted divorced guy. The Good Wife is often hailed as network TV's most intelligent drama because its writers are able to create full-bodied, wholly compelling characters like Eli. Never does he wander into the ho-hum realm of obvious character sketch; he constantly reveals new and surprising, yet still wisely subtle, facets, ones that Cumming and the writers show off with aplomb. Now writers, an assignment: Give him a real, serious love interest and see how weird things get.
The True Heroes: The zombies, The Walking Dead
Think about all the exciting, interesting scenes on The Walking Dead, AMC's plague of the undead thriller series. Are the zombies in those scenes? Most likely yes. And the duller scenes? No zombies, right? Right. The zombies are really the ones we care about on this show -- their story is the most compelling (what happened to them? What willhappen to them?), their motivations are clear and well-stated, and they enliven (endeaden?) the show every time they're on screen. The zombies are why we watch! Do we root for them? No, not usually. But are we alone in kinda sorta starting to wish these shambling ghouls would just go ahead and eat up the weeping, moralizing mortal folks at the center of this increasingly listless show? Give the best characters their beloved brains, please.
The Real Girl: Rachel Chapman, How to Make It in America
OK, yes this HBO trifle is mostly just an East CoastEntourage, the kind of we-own-this-town boys fantasy that has no room for women characters unless they're disrobing while saying cool, sexy things. But somehow one real, fleshed-out female character has sneaked past the man censors on HTMIIA, and thus we have Rachel, a young woman navigating various aspects of the Manhattan media scene who is a bit lost and unsure of herself yet also still coolly savvy and humbly competent. Though she once functioned primarily as the love interest for the show's male lead, the writers have done well this season in turning Rachel into her own, believable human being -- she's the kind of young woman you may know these days if you live in any major city full of strivers and dreamers. Sure she's portrayed by the gorgeous and willowy Lake Bell, so she is certainly still eye candy, but Bell is also such an assured, naturalistic actress that she manages to fill even Rachel's smallest scenes with a gently whirring pathos and intellect. We know that using that kind of language about a show like this seems silly, but compared to, say, the manic froofing of Zooey Deschanel's character on New Girl, a desexualized childwoman fit for any indie boy's curio collection, Rachel is that rarest of TV creations: A character you might actually know, andlike, out here in the real world.
The Comedy All-Star: Frank Reynolds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Bouncing back to form after last year's lackluster season, FX's gutter-garbage band of Philly friends are in top form in this year's crop of episodes. And none more so than Danny DeVito's near-feral father figure Frank. Between the wild thicket of flyaway black hair, the bought-at-a-Walgreens glasses, and DeVito's naturally strange and delightful physicality, the mere sight of Frank is funnier than all the past and future episodes of Whitney combined. Frank's doomed romance with a hooker was a highlight of this season, as was simply watching him interact with the group while they played a bizarre and menacing board game on last week's episode. Frank might not get the attention that Charlie Day's addled manchild Charlie does, but he's so consistently weird and filthy and lovably unconcerned about the polite trappings of society that he deserves singling out.
The Loose Cannon: Carrie Mathison, Homeland
Everyone thought that Cassandra was crazy, though of course they were wrong. She wasn't a raving lunatic, but a true foreteller of doom. The interesting thing that Showtime's paranoid spy drama Homeland has done with its own fortune telling young woman, CIA analyst Carrie, is that she may actually be crazy for real. Carrie, who is trying to reveal what she suspects is the secret terrorist sleeper agent status of a returning American war hero, lamely tries to seduce her boss when things don't go her away, she doesn't eat, she stays up til all hours staring wild-eyed at surveillance footage, and, oh yes, she pops anti-psychotics like Altoids. That Carrie, played with vibrating smarts and anxiety by Claire Danes, may be both right and crazy is one of the show's fun and clever conundrums. (That "fun" and "clever" are being used to describe a Showtime show is a small revolution in its own right.) We both root for Carrie's assuredness and are turned off by her brash, erratic, and occasionally reckless behavior. She's actually sorta what you'd imagine a real CIA analyst to be like in these shadowy times, when it's difficult to tell whether we're tilting at giants or windmills -- she's a paranoid, but still smart, mess. Wracked with 9/11-related guilt enough to make her a bit too close to the case, but possessed of enough intelligence and authority to make us believe her, Carrie is "the thinking person's" Jack Bauer.
The Tragic Heroine: Kim Richards, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Let's try for the time being to forget about the fact that Kim, former child star and current brain-fried Bravo reality TV Housewife, is a real person. That's too depressing. As a TV character, though, Kim's arc these past two seasons has been a fascinating depiction of mental catastrophe. Oscillating unpredictably between (alleged) mysterious substance-fueled cuckoo-birdiness and sober self-help platitudes, Kim -- in her interactions with the other Housewives (especially her constantly undermining, Little Miss Perfect sister Kyle, who is also on the show), with her children, with the maid -- is just so darn deliciously bleak and tragic. She's a modern day Mary Tyrone, wandering around Beverly Hills with a camera crew chasing after her. Again, if we dwell too long, or at all, on the fact that Kim is a real-life lady with real-life problems it all becomes too sad to enjoy, but for those 42 or so minutes every week we can turn off our moral sensors and just enjoy this gravelly voiced generator of grand human drama.
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While Harrow (fitting name!) first appeared on HBO's oftentimes deceptively shallow crime series as merely an oddity -- half of his face was blown off in the Great War, so he wears a creepy painted half-mask -- he has become, thanks to a few generously written scenes and to Jack Huston's lovely, quiet performance, a more fully realized and sympathetic character this year. The grimly efficient expert marksman has gone from creepily tragic righthand man for a young upstart gangster in the Atlantic City bootlegging scene to something a bit deeper -- he serves as both a reminder of the visceral horror of the 1910s and as a chillingly saturnine omen of all the bad that's still to come. So, of course, nobody on Boardwalk Empire wants to look at him. Better for them to just enjoy the rah-rah roaring '20s in peace. But we here in the future can't look away.
Sure FX's new horror series is oftentimes a jangly, garbled mess, but boy oh boy is Jessica Lange's Contance -- the next door neighbor from hell (perhaps quite literally) who torments, with a malevolently chipper smile, the fractured family inhabiting the show's house of horrors -- a whole lotta fun. We're not sure if the scenery is lined with chocolate or what, but Lange sure does seem to enjoy chewing on it. But it's not just Lange's fin-de-Dunaway performance that makes Constance so compelling -- it's that she's really the only character who seems fully instep with the show's lugubrious rhythms. Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton's characters are intentionally drawn as the plain ol' regular folks confronted by crazy psychosexual phantasmagoria, of course, but they could at least be a little outsized in order to better fit in with the show's kitchen sink aesthetic. Basically, they're no fun! Constance, though, with her Ipecac cupcake baking and daughter tormenting ("Go to your closet!"), both lives up to and raises American Horror Story's grand, often laughably over-the-top stakes. It seems as though Ryan Murphy and Co. created one great camp-fabulous character and then built a whole series to showcase her. To that end, the show would be nothing without her.
Long one of the secretly best actors of his generation, Alan Cumming finally gets the kind of big, smart, meaty role he deserves. First introduced during the first season of CBS' stylish legal drama as a snappily amoral campaign manager, as Eli has moved into the law firm populated by Julianna Margulies et al. to act as an elite damage control consultant, he has evolved into a far knottier and more morally complex character. Sometimes he is still charmingly conniving and ruthless, but we've also seen him be earnestly passionate about a cause or, on Sunday night for example, reduced to a brokenhearted divorced guy. The Good Wife is often hailed as network TV's most intelligent drama because its writers are able to create full-bodied, wholly compelling characters like Eli. Never does he wander into the ho-hum realm of obvious character sketch; he constantly reveals new and surprising, yet still wisely subtle, facets, ones that Cumming and the writers show off with aplomb. Now writers, an assignment: Give him a real, serious love interest and see how weird things get.
Think about all the exciting, interesting scenes on The Walking Dead, AMC's plague of the undead thriller series. Are the zombies in those scenes? Most likely yes. And the duller scenes? No zombies, right? Right. The zombies are really the ones we care about on this show -- their story is the most compelling (what happened to them? What willhappen to them?), their motivations are clear and well-stated, and they enliven (endeaden?) the show every time they're on screen. The zombies are why we watch! Do we root for them? No, not usually. But are we alone in kinda sorta starting to wish these shambling ghouls would just go ahead and eat up the weeping, moralizing mortal folks at the center of this increasingly listless show? Give the best characters their beloved brains, please.
OK, yes this HBO trifle is mostly just an East CoastEntourage, the kind of we-own-this-town boys fantasy that has no room for women characters unless they're disrobing while saying cool, sexy things. But somehow one real, fleshed-out female character has sneaked past the man censors on HTMIIA, and thus we have Rachel, a young woman navigating various aspects of the Manhattan media scene who is a bit lost and unsure of herself yet also still coolly savvy and humbly competent. Though she once functioned primarily as the love interest for the show's male lead, the writers have done well this season in turning Rachel into her own, believable human being -- she's the kind of young woman you may know these days if you live in any major city full of strivers and dreamers. Sure she's portrayed by the gorgeous and willowy Lake Bell, so she is certainly still eye candy, but Bell is also such an assured, naturalistic actress that she manages to fill even Rachel's smallest scenes with a gently whirring pathos and intellect. We know that using that kind of language about a show like this seems silly, but compared to, say, the manic froofing of Zooey Deschanel's character on New Girl, a desexualized childwoman fit for any indie boy's curio collection, Rachel is that rarest of TV creations: A character you might actually know, andlike, out here in the real world.
Bouncing back to form after last year's lackluster season, FX's gutter-garbage band of Philly friends are in top form in this year's crop of episodes. And none more so than Danny DeVito's near-feral father figure Frank. Between the wild thicket of flyaway black hair, the bought-at-a-Walgreens glasses, and DeVito's naturally strange and delightful physicality, the mere sight of Frank is funnier than all the past and future episodes of Whitney combined. Frank's doomed romance with a hooker was a highlight of this season, as was simply watching him interact with the group while they played a bizarre and menacing board game on last week's episode. Frank might not get the attention that Charlie Day's addled manchild Charlie does, but he's so consistently weird and filthy and lovably unconcerned about the polite trappings of society that he deserves singling out.
Everyone thought that Cassandra was crazy, though of course they were wrong. She wasn't a raving lunatic, but a true foreteller of doom. The interesting thing that Showtime's paranoid spy drama Homeland has done with its own fortune telling young woman, CIA analyst Carrie, is that she may actually be crazy for real. Carrie, who is trying to reveal what she suspects is the secret terrorist sleeper agent status of a returning American war hero, lamely tries to seduce her boss when things don't go her away, she doesn't eat, she stays up til all hours staring wild-eyed at surveillance footage, and, oh yes, she pops anti-psychotics like Altoids. That Carrie, played with vibrating smarts and anxiety by Claire Danes, may be both right and crazy is one of the show's fun and clever conundrums. (That "fun" and "clever" are being used to describe a Showtime show is a small revolution in its own right.) We both root for Carrie's assuredness and are turned off by her brash, erratic, and occasionally reckless behavior. She's actually sorta what you'd imagine a real CIA analyst to be like in these shadowy times, when it's difficult to tell whether we're tilting at giants or windmills -- she's a paranoid, but still smart, mess. Wracked with 9/11-related guilt enough to make her a bit too close to the case, but possessed of enough intelligence and authority to make us believe her, Carrie is "the thinking person's" Jack Bauer.
Let's try for the time being to forget about the fact that Kim, former child star and current brain-fried Bravo reality TV Housewife, is a real person. That's too depressing. As a TV character, though, Kim's arc these past two seasons has been a fascinating depiction of mental catastrophe. Oscillating unpredictably between (alleged) mysterious substance-fueled cuckoo-birdiness and sober self-help platitudes, Kim -- in her interactions with the other Housewives (especially her constantly undermining, Little Miss Perfect sister Kyle, who is also on the show), with her children, with the maid -- is just so darn deliciously bleak and tragic. She's a modern day Mary Tyrone, wandering around Beverly Hills with a camera crew chasing after her. Again, if we dwell too long, or at all, on the fact that Kim is a real-life lady with real-life problems it all becomes too sad to enjoy, but for those 42 or so minutes every week we can turn off our moral sensors and just enjoy this gravelly voiced generator of grand human drama.
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Saturday, November 5, 2011
Preview of this week's "American Horror Story" and a bonus interview with creator Ryan Murphy (spoilers included)
Tonight was the wrap-up to American Horror Story’s two-part Halloween installment, and viewers learned more about the dark past of Tate (Evan Peters). It appears that the school shooting fantasies plaguing Tate were not a dream but a reality, and his victims came calling for a little payback (or at least recognition of the heinous thing he had done). Plus, Constance (Jessica Lange) admitted to Violet that Tate was one of her children! EW talked to co-creator Ryan Murphy about tonight’s episode, and what’s in store for next week’s hour, titled “Piggy Piggy.” I’m scared already.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
American Horror Story renewed for season 2 and some spoilers behind the cut
 |
| Credit: FX |
The cabler announced on Monday that it has renewed the freshman thriller for a 13-episode second season.
“It’s one thing to have the ambition and guts to reinvent a genre in a way that makes it captivatingly fresh for a broad audience — it’s something else entirely to have the craft to back that ambition up,” said FX prez John Landgraf in a statement. “Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have hit the trifecta with Nip/Tuck, Glee and now American Horror Story, which will be scaring FX’s viewers to death for many years to come.”
AHS has enjoyed steady audience growth through its first four episodes among its target audience of adults 18-49. According to FX (which is marathoning the first four episodes tonight beginning at 10/9c), the show is “tracking to become the highest-rated first season of any series ever on FX, certain to surpass Murphy’s award-winning hit drama Nip/Tuck in Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34.”
Unlike Nip/Tuck, it’s unclear what Horror Story‘s second season will look like. It was initially reported that each season would feature a new family moving into the show’s haunted mansion, but producers claim no decision has been made. Just last week, stars Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton pleaded ignorance when asked if they’d be back for more.
“It’s open-ended – we’re not quite sure about the next episode never mind next year,” McDermott hedged. “We’re just sort of like flying by the seat of our pants.” Britton even suggests, “I don’t know that Brad and Ryan know, which I think is really fun.”
Thursday, October 6, 2011
FX Premiere of "American Horror Story"
I may be in the minority (although it seems like reviews have been favorable thusfar), but I did enjoy "American Horror Story" that premiered on FX last night. Although it's another Wednesday night show to add to my expanding schedule, the show left me eager for the next episode. And despite the weird, sometimes cheesy scenes, I found myself unable to stop watching. Maybe that is what Glee co-creators, Ryan Murphy and Brad Fulchuk, wanted us to while watching their pilot. I definitely could see themes in the show similar to other famous thrillers like "The Shining" (The father is starting to go crazy inside the house) and "Rosemary's Baby" (Is Vivien pregnant with a demon baby?). There were cliffhangers ("Don't make me kill you again.") on top of cliffhangers and I hope that that Murphy and Fulchuk can keep up the hype that the first episode gave. It's still too soon to tell if it's "good" but I'll definitely be watching the second episode.
What are your thoughts? Did you watch the premiere? Will you keep watching?
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
FX premieres
Yesterday FX had two great premieres to kick off the fall television season: "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "Archer." I was excited for both shows to premiere and their first episodes did not disappoint.
I don't think I've caught on to the appeal of "Fat Mac" yet but I will give the show a chance to win me over with this change. I thought it was kind of weird that they just introduced this new Mac character with no subplot to back it up. I did think the scene with the doctor and pronouncing diabetes as "die-uh-bet-is" was pretty funny though.
Overall, a pretty solid episode and a great way to start the new season.
The premiere starts where the finale ended with Archer missing for three months after the death of his Russian fiancee. Mallory Archer hires a man hunter to track down her son and bring him home.
I wouldn't say this was a strong episode in itself but I did enjoy the dialogue ("Be careful of Hitler, I heard he's a bad egg!") and I think it will lead into funnier parts two and three as Archer becomes the pirate king.
Also, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the voice of guest star, David Cross. I just finished watching Arrested Development and I was happy to hear what I pictured as Tobias in cartoon-form.
Unfortunately we'll have to wait till 2012 until the actual third season begins. But that means you have plenty of time to catch up on this amazing show, right?
What are your thoughts on the two premieres? Did you enjoy them? What were your favorite parts?
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: Frank's Pretty Woman
The Paddy's Pub gang is back and I don't mean just that the show is back on the air; the gang is back to their old despicable, scheming ways that I enjoyed so much in the first few seasons of the show. Let's just be frank: season six was the poorest season of them all. Sure, the finale when Dee gives birth was pretty funny, but overall the show was lacking the hilarity as you saw from yesterday's list of funniest scenes. |
| Roxy the prostitute - favorite character of the premiere. Credit: FX |
Frank and Charlie's scenes were probably my favorite. The whole boiled denim, cowboy millionaire throwing up blood had me cracking up like the first time I saw "The Nightman Cometh." And Charlie's exclamation, "I think I have been poisoned by my constituents!" goes on the list of his best quotes. Surprisingly, Sweet Dee's scenes were hilarious as well, especially when she's shopping with Frank's prostitute, Roxy: "this is a classy establishment for classy people." I wish they didn't kill her off at the end because I think Roxy could have been a great character, up there with Artemis. I found myself laughing more at her lines than than I did during the scenes with Mac and Dennis.
I don't think I've caught on to the appeal of "Fat Mac" yet but I will give the show a chance to win me over with this change. I thought it was kind of weird that they just introduced this new Mac character with no subplot to back it up. I did think the scene with the doctor and pronouncing diabetes as "die-uh-bet-is" was pretty funny though.
Overall, a pretty solid episode and a great way to start the new season.
Archer: Heart of Archness: Part I
If you haven't been watching "Archer" then get on Netflix immediately and catch up! It's seriously one of my favorite television shows on right now and it never fails to make me laugh. I love every character on the show and their dialogue is hilariously inappropriate. This three-part episode gives audiences an "Archer" fix before the full season begins. |
| Archer's new look at the beginning of the premiere. Credit: FX |
I wouldn't say this was a strong episode in itself but I did enjoy the dialogue ("Be careful of Hitler, I heard he's a bad egg!") and I think it will lead into funnier parts two and three as Archer becomes the pirate king.
Also, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the voice of guest star, David Cross. I just finished watching Arrested Development and I was happy to hear what I pictured as Tobias in cartoon-form.
Unfortunately we'll have to wait till 2012 until the actual third season begins. But that means you have plenty of time to catch up on this amazing show, right?
What are your thoughts on the two premieres? Did you enjoy them? What were your favorite parts?
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