Category: Opinion

Diana Vaccarelli Sees OUTLANDER

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OUTLANDER Returns with a Smash
by Diana Vaccarelli

At the end of last season, this excellent show left viewers with a cliffhanger that made us want more, more more. Because there would be no more, at least for awhile, I decided I had to pick up the first book in the series because I was dying to know what happens. I finished just in time for this season’s premier episode.

OUTLANDER takes a dark turn as our heroine Claire Fraser is held captive by the sadistic Black Jack Randall. To our relief Claire is saved by her husband Jamie. YAY! Just love when things end happy.  Well you’re wrong things take even a more dramatic turn. In a controversial scene when Jamie beats Claire with a belt to her bum for disobeying him.  Afterwards their marriage isn’t in a very good place. Throughout, Jamie makes it up to Claire and they reunite in what I have to say is the hottest scene ever.

I have been in love with this show from the beginning, and it still doesn’t disappoint.  From the costumes, locations, writing, cinematography, directing, and the acting. Everything just flows into place from Diana Gabaldon’s novels. It comes vividly to life. Kudos to Executive Producer Ronald Moore who said from the beginning it’s Diana’s world (wink at the same name) “and we’re just bringing it to life.” read article

Herbie J Pilato: DARK SHADOWS’ Original Incarnation is Originality in Action

the real barnabasPart 1
by Herbie J Pilato

Live performances.  Rehashed ideas.  Retold stories.  Dead-on scripts.

Turn of the Screw.  Picture of Dorian Gray.  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  Dracula.  Frankenstein.  The Wolfman.  Even HP Lovecraft’s The Cthulhu Mythos.

Actors play a piece from each, working, temporarily, steadily.  Stereotyped, indefinitely.  Fallen movie stars, resurrected for the small screen. TV superstars yet to be born.  Future TV angels, present spectres. read article

IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A PLANE, IT’S A GIRL!

The SUPERGIRL trailer from CBS has gotten mixed reviews. Some viewers love it. Others think it’s an abomination. This particular TVWriter™ leans mostly toward agreeing with what ComicMix writer Martha Thomases has had to say:

 Supergirl-Super-Horseby Martha Thomases

My editor suggested, if I was having trouble coming up with ideas about what to write, that I note that the new CBS prime-time show,Supergirl, will air at eight o’clock Eastern time on Mondays when it starts this fall… up against Gotham on Fox.

The assumption, when he mentioned this to me last week, was thatSupergirl would have trouble against the adventures of Bruce Wayne as a boy, since the Batman character has a known success across several media for more than fifty years. Kara Zor-El, on the other hand, starred in one lousy movie and guested on a season ofSmallville. read article

DENNIS O’NEIL: COP SHOWS, REALITY BLOWS

Bonesby Dennis O’Neil

I call them “cop shows” or, if I’m feeling a bit cutesy, “badge operas.” A screenwriting acquaintance says they’re “procedurals.” But never mind the label: by whatever name, they’re what constitutes most of the bread-and-butter television programming and you probably don’t have to go further than your nearest remote to find one.

There will be a pseudo family of protagonists – police, doctors, lawyers, feds, the occasional fire fighter or paramedic – and these people will be presented with a problem, usually one that involves injury done to an innocent party, and, using their skills and wit and such facilities as are provided to them, they will solve the problem. Usually, but not always, there is a happy ending appended to the story and once in a very great while, things end badly.

But don’t hold your breath waiting for that episode. Usually, by the rolling of the end credits, righteousness and harmony have been restored, justice has been done. The message, which we get over and over and over and over again, is that the system works to assure that the good guys win. Those good guys may have their quirks and eccentricities, but they’ve got each others’ backs and they will get the job done! read article

When is the Right Time to Pull the Plug on a Long-Running Show?

In the real world, the answer to this question is, “As long as the show’s pulling a big enough audience to make money, it stays.” But in a more perfect world the scenario might play out another way:

tv-network-scheduling-sweepsby Elizabeth Wagmeister

With the broadcast upfronts around the corner, the major networks are tasked with making crucial decisions regarding the fate of series new and old for the 2015-16 season.

SEE MORE: From the April 28, 2015 issue of Variety read article