Category: Opinion

Dennis O’Neil on Alternate Earths

One of the top writer-editors in comics gives us some sound writing advice. And by us we mean that this is valid for TV writers working on just about every science fiction series on our tubes cuz sometimes it seems like none of them can wait to go parallel universing around and mess with viewers’ minds:

Supermanby Dennis O’Neil

Good news! The angel Fettucini has just delivered a Message From On High: from this moment on, all politicians must be free of greed and egotism and be motivated solely by the desire for good governance and love of heir fellow man.

The, uh, bad news is that the above is true only on Earth 4072, which, of course, exists only in an alternate universe. These things are relative. To the inhabitants of Earth 4072, the news is not bad. read article

JOHN OSTRANDER: TV WEEK GEEK

Constantine-TV-showby John Ostrander

Once upon a time, when I was a boy, TV consisted of the three networks, one independent channel, and before long, one “education” channel. (“They actually had TV when you were a boy, Uncle John?” Yes. Quiet, you.) Every fall, each of the networks took a week to trot out their new and returning shows and they each took turns. And, if memory serves, that pretty much was it for the season.

If you were into superhero comics (and I was despite my mother), there were damn slim pickings. There was The Adventures of Superman, of course, and that was played pretty straight albeit it was considered a children’s show. Later on, there was the Batman series that was fun and interesting to me at start but got old real fast. Something along the superhero lines was Zorro. I loved that show. Guy Williams was my Zorro. Dressed all in black, masked, fighting injustice – yeah, I’d group him in with the superheroes.

But that was essentially it. read article

Herbie J Pilato: Happy Silver Anniversary to Samantha and Darrin

EDITOR’S NOTE: Today is the 50th anniversary of BEWITCHED’s debut on our screens. What better way to celebrate it than to turn this space over to the World’s Foremost Authority on this show, Contributing Editor Herbie J Pilato, author of 3 definitive books on the subject –  The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery, Twitch Upon A Star, and Bewitched Forever? Take it away Herbie J:

bewitched-hp

by Herbie J Pilato

So, what makes Bewitched great – and why are we still talking about it fifty years after its original lengthy hit run on ABC (from September 17, 1964 to July 2, 1972)? read article

Sitcoms are Hard

Ken Levine strikes again – and brilliantly so:

Miranda
The daring duo in TVWriter™’s current favorite TV sitcom, MIRANDA, on BBC

by Ken Levine

There seems to be a new trend in sitcoms – the knockoff Romy & Michele’s. Two single ditzy twentysomethings who sort of blunder through life. The difference is that the characters of Romy & Michele were carefully developed, well crafted, and there was a definite story.

BROAD CITY on Comedy Central, GARFUNKEL & OATS on IFC, and PLAYING HOUSE on USA are all very similar. Two comediennes who have worked together either as an act or a musical comedy team write and perform their own sitcoms. They’re all single-camera with a very loose format. Most of the dialogue sounds improvised, and occasionally they say some very funny things. But for the most part it’s just vamping. You’re listening to two people grope around in search of something genuinely funny. read article

How Our Obsession With Closure Is Ruining Television

Do we really have to wrap up every series that gets cancelled? Why can’t the characters we love just go on and on in our minds, doing the things we loved watching them do? Or to put it another way: What viewer of MAGNUM P.I. would have wanted to know that Tom Selleck’s future had him solving crimes in the Old Folks Home while waiting for somebody to tell him his name?

Or to put it another way:

whattheby Nathan Reese

Earlier this week, The Sopranos was back in the headlines when showrunner David Chasekinda, sorta revealed Tony’s fate in the final episode. “David Chase finally answers the question he wants fans to stop asking,” claimed the Vox.com article. Now we could finally have closure! Or could we? read article