Category: Opinion

JOHN OSTRANDER: TV MIDTERM REPORT CARD

Blacklist

by John Ostrander

Well, we’re now in the Christmas doldrums for TV. The regular series are on hiatus until January or later. A couple of columns ago I discussed which shows I was anticipating or not (So How Was It For You?) and this seems a good time to revisit them and give my evaluations.

Warning: there may be spoilers sprinkled here and there. You have been warned.

The Flash – my favorite in this group. Grant Gustin is doing good work as Barry Allen/The Flash and the supporting cast is good. The writing is also first rate and they keep adding little nods to DC continuity that pleases the Old Fan in me. read article

JOHN OSTRANDER: CASTING ABOUT

by John Ostrander

Amanda-WallerThis week the Internet was all a-twitter with news that the movie version of Suicide Squad, the series that I created in 1987, had been mostly cast. (You can read about it here.) The film is scheduled to debut in August 2016 and will be the first Warner Bros. DC film after theSuperman v. Batman: Dawn of Justice flick that shows up earlier that year.

As with any comic book movie, there has been substantial debate over the casting, largely focusing on Will Smith as Deadshot, the inclusion of the Joker at all (whether played by Jared Leto or not) and the possibility of Oprah Winfrey playing Amanda Waller. Heck, my fellow columnists Mike Gold and Marc Alan Fishman have already chimed in. I held forth in an interview on what I thought of the casting and why. I’m going to hold forth a little here as well. I need to get a column in and it would seem strange if everyone else here was talking about the movie and the casting and I didn’t.

Let me say upfront: I haven’t seen the script and I haven’t been consulted. Nor do I expect to be. I have no track record in Hollywood and Warner Bros. is putting a lot of money into this. A lot of money. The salaries alone will be substantial. It’s not a time to be using an amateur and that’s what I am as far as movies are concerned. The film’s writer and director will have their own take on the characters and they maybe, probably will be, different from mine. read article

Troy DeVolld: Coming Attractions: Live vs Live-to-Tape

reality troy logo

by Troy DeVolld

You’ve heard me say that no reality show airs in real time the way something falls through a lens, but live shows… live shows are a whole different ball of wax.  DANCING WITH THE STARS, save for its produced packages, is as live as they come.  Ditto most live reality competition shows, like our competitor, THE VOICE and shows like AMERICAN IDOL and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.

Reunion specials are usually done live-to-tape, which means they’ll shoot for several hours and then whittle it down in post. read article

How Network TV Can Pull Out of Its Great Sitcom Recession

…Or, you know, not:

by Joseph Adalian

tragedy-maskNovember was another bad month in what’s been a pretty awful couple of years for the once-mighty network sitcom. NBC, which dominated the TV business for nearly two decades based on the strength of its comedy bench, announced it was ceding custody of an already-filmed Ellie Kemper half-hour from producer Tina Fey and selling the project to Netflix. The decision had nothing to do with the show’s quality — Netflix liked it so much, it has already ordered a second season— but instead was a depressing admission by the Peacock that it felt there was virtually no chance it could make the show a success given the network’s lack of even a single sitcom hit. This week’s announcement that NBC would also burn through the final season of the Amy Poehler–led Parks and Recreation in under two months added an exclamation point to the declaration of surrender: Rather than use the swan song of its longest-running and most critically admired half-hour to launch a successor sitcom, the network (probably correctly) decided it would be better off giving Parks a semi-dignified send-off and quickly moving on.

A similar come-to-Jesus moment was likely behind CBS’s unexpectedly early cancellation of the Will Arnett–Margo Martindale sitcom The Millers, just weeks into its sophomore season. The same network that had always managed to make America fall in like with middle-of-the-road sitcoms such as Rules of Engagement, Still Standing, and Mike and Molly seemed to be conceding even it no longer had the power to force us to sit still for whatever mediocrity it slotted behind a monster hit (in this case, The Big Bang Theory). By themselves, the NBC and CBS decisions didn’t dramatically alter the small-screen landscape. Taken together, they’re symptoms of something far more depressing: Network TV is suffering through a Great Sitcom Recession, and there aren’t many signs of recovery on the horizon. read article

Diana Vaccarelli Sees GONE GIRL

Gone-Girl-Ben-Affleck-Rosamund-Pikeby Diana Vaccarelli

Looks like I should start reading more books, as the film industry is making more and more films based on literature, contemporary and old. GONE GIRL, written by Gillian Flynn, is one of those films.

Like the book (or so every single bit of publicity about this project has told me), the film follows a man named Nick Dunne after the disappearance of his wife and shows us the media circus that develops once he is a suspect. Ben Affleck tackles the role of the charming husband with something to hide. As a fan of Affleck’s writing and directing but not so much his acting, I’m surprised to say that this role suited him perfectly. He portrays Nick with charisma and an interesting, edgy attitude that I didn’t expect.

Rosamund Pike takes on the difficult role of Amy Dunne, Nick’s rich wife. The part has many layers that Pike peels back and exposes with perfection. She definitely proves herself not only as a star but as Oscar-winning material. read article