Category: TV Review

Cara Winter on Why DOCTOR WHO is Awesome

DrWho1

 The Anglo Files 14
by Cara Winter

As a writer, I am always fascinated by how and why certain stories ‘catch on’.  Why do some films or TV shows crash-and-burn, while others capture the imagination of legions, scoring passionate, die-hard fans?

If the world-wide reaction to the new STAR WARS trailer has taught us anything, it’s that die-hard fans are often life-long fans, as well.   But, why?  What are the components, what is the magic recipe, for creating a tale that inspires such rabid fandom?  And what’s inside the head of a super-fan; and why do they get so attached?

My current working theory is that the younger a person is when they are introduced to a great story (or, one might say, indoctrinated), the more that story sticks with them as they grow older.  The UK television hit DOCTOR WHO has rabid, die-hard super fans (called Whovians), similar to STAR WARS and STAR TREK fans.  So I thought it might be interesting to interview a young Whovian, a super-fan in the making, and pick his brain about why he loves DOCTOR WHO. read article

Herbie J Pilato Muses on MURDER, SHE WROTE

by Herbie J Pilato

murder_she_wrote_-_nvy_mens_3_3You never really want Jessica B. Fletcher to pay you a visit because, well, your life just might be in danger.

At least your fictional life…if you were a fictional character, as is Jessica, who was portrayed by Angela Lansbury, the ever-grand dame of the performance world, for 12 seasons on the classic television mystery series, Murder, She Wrote (CBS, 1984-1996).

As a professional mystery-novel writer and a (not really) amateur sleuth based in the fictional Cabot Cove, Maine, Jessica journeys the world conducting research or seminars, making personal appearances, attending conferences, hosting book signings, or just visiting colleagues, friends and relatives on the apparently very successful salary she earns as a writer (go, J.B.!). read article

SHIELD’S AGENTS OF ANGST

MARVEL’S AGENTS OF SHIELD from the perspective of a TV fan as opposed to, say, a comic book fan. Which makes this article doubly fascinating – wethinks – cuz it’s written by a comic book pro:

agents-of-shieldby Marc Alan Fishman

With the ending of the limited run on Agent Carter, we’ve returned to the inhumanly angsty agents under Phil Coulson. And it didn’t take long into their mighty return for me to wind up longing for Manhattan in 1946 again. Funnier still to me is the fact that when Peggy was to replace Phil on the squawk box, I lamented even programming the DVR. SHIELD boasted new technology, a major Hydra conspiracy, ties to the modern day Marvel Movieverse™, and plenty of butt-kickery to enjoy. Peggy and pals could only promise pugilists and palookas, gender inequality, and light British tomfoolery. Oh how wrong I was!

What Agents of SHIELD brought back to the forefront when it returned to air, was the considerable yoke of backstory weighing heavily around its neck. And while serial dramas bank on intricate relationships, lofty past adventures, and plenty of narrative short hands, after the breath of fresh air Agent Carter offered up, it became plainly obvious how some of those crutches are useless to stand on with fresh legs ready to run again. read article

TV Review: The Daredevil is in the Details

Daredevil-Netflix-Details

by Robin Reed

In Marvel Studios/Disney’s ongoing efforts to take over the media universe, they have now reached Netflix, where the original series Daredevil recently debuted. Thirteen episodes fell all at once into our binge-watching lives, and I have taken in six of them in the last three days.

I am a long-time Marvel comics reader, though I faded away from constant comics consumption in the late eighties when I realized that the characters would never really change, that by the nature of the industry they couldn’t change. I craved endings, and superheroes never end as long as their books, movies and TV shows sell. Even death isn’t the end, they come back whenever there is another chance to profit from them. Sometimes they snap back to their beginnings and devoted readers such as myself are left with years of stories in our heads that have been rendered nonexistent.

Daredevil was created when someone at Marvel said, “How about a blind superhero?” How this was possible was explained half by the old saw that blind people compensate with sharper hearing, smell, and touch; and half by a mysterious chemical that spilled over young Matt Murdock in an accident. At least it wasn’t radiation, the other favored bit of handwavium in the Marvel universe. read article

Herbie J Pilato Sees NASHVILLE & SWITCHED AT BIRTH

Late to the Party: What Makes “Nashville” and “Switched at Birth” Great Television
by Herbie J Pilato

ABC-Nashville-PosterKudos to ABC and ABC Family for doing TV right!

From the fall of 1989 to the spring of 1993, ABC aired the TV show titled, LIFE GOES ON, about a family who just so happened to have a son with Down syndrome (played by the amazing Chris Burke) became the first series, family-geared or otherwise, to feature a weekly character with a disability. Chad Lowe later joined the series in his Emmy-winning role as Jesse McKenna (who was diagnosed with HIV-virus, which developed into full-blown AIDS), and the already-ground-breaking series made further historic strides.

Further back in 1975, Robert Altman directed the Oscar-winning (for Best Song) critically-acclaimed feature film, NASHVILLE, which interlocked the country and gospel musical lives of those living in the Tennessee country musical capitol. read article