Category: Opinion

Now That The New X-FILES Is Over…

Let’s talk about what effect the series really has had. Or, better still, let’s see what, John Kenneth Muir, one of the web’s most knowledgeable and entertaining TV critics has to say:

The X-Files: “My Struggle” (January 24, 2016)
by John Kenneth Muir

xfileslogoAfter far too long an absence from television, Chris Carter’s The X-Files (1993-2002) returned to television on Monday night with an episode titled, cannily, “My Struggle.”

That title — not coincidentally, I presume — is also the translated-to-English title of Adolf Hitler’s 1925 literary autobiography, Mein Kampf. read article

John Ostrander’s Grab Bag

by John Ostrander

Dark-Disciple

Random thoughts and vague notions.

New Girl On The Block. Samantha Bee has launched her new weekly news round-up show, Full Frontal. Two episodes have aired so far and, IMO, both were killer. I always loved Samantha Bee on The Daily Show – she was a great combination of fearless and shameless, and she carries that over to her new show. The writing is sharp and the delivery dead on. I loved the segment she did last week on the so-called constitutional crisis arising from the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and how it really isn’t a crisis; it’s the Republican leadership in the Senate refusing to do their job.Check it out.  read article

John Ostrander’s Guide To Writing Secrets

by John Ostrander

SecretOnce again I’m a JohnnyO-come-lately to a pop culture phenomenon. I don’t know why I avoided watching Downton Abbeyon PBS outside of general cussedness. I get like that. Even something I think I might enjoy I’ll not watch or read because everyone else is doing it. Perverse.

Mary decided she wanted to watch the show so we bought the disc of the first season just to “sample” it. Well, that done it. We’ve gotten all the others and sort of binge watched right through the current and final season. Yes, we’re now ahead of friends and relatives who have been fans of the series right along, but don’t worry. I’m not actually going to reveal the upcoming plot twists and turns.

Rather, I want to consider the use of secrets in the series. We all have secrets at varying levels – things we don’t share. If true with us, so it should be with our characters. read article

‘The Following’ Season 4 was Cancelled by Fox Because the TV Series Became a Victim of Lazy Writing!

When in doubt, blame the writer.

Even though in TV, not one word, one idea, one storyline or arc, ever makes it to the screen without being approved (and many times demanded) by a menagerie of executives.

Read it and weep, future scapegoats: read article

Why We Write TV

TV writers – and TVWriter™ – do a lot of complaining about various, um, “difficulties” that go with the gig. But sometimes things go right in unexpected ways. For example:

Actor Jim Belushi arrives at the premiere of Lionsgate's 'The Hunger Games' at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on March 12, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. AFP PHOTO/JOE KLAMAR (Photo credit should read JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)
OMG! Jim Belushi looks just like Steven Seagall…except Jim’s actually a good guy. Who’d ‘a thought?

Unsolicited Flashbacks
by Earl Pomerantz

On the rarest of occasions, something happens in my life that reminds me that I actually once did something.

When it happens two days in a row, I feel the impulse to write about it. read article