The 411 TV News Wrap 08.21.07
Posted by Ben Piper on 08.21.2007
Heroes manages a real casting coup. HBO finds itself really busy with regards to current and future projects. Plus, a return of the variety show format?!
Hello everyone. Once again, it is Tuesday, which makes this the 411 TV News Wrap and I your humble temporary host thereof, Ben Piper. We've got a lot of ground to cover, but before we get cracking on that…
I usually don't include reader emails in my columns, since I prefer to personally respond to them individually. But chalk this one up as a public service announcement that was sent in to me by someone who was responding to a news item in last week's column…
Where do I begin? How about admitting I have already seen Highlander: The Source, since an early edit was released in Russia (in English) on DVD earlier this year. Torrents are a wonderful thing, when you are a fan who has been waiting seven years. However, I STRONGLY advise any and all Highlander fans to stay well clear of this drivel.
I would rather see "Surf Nazis Must Die" again, or gods forbid, "Lonestar," which was so bad I couldn't even get past the opening credits. That was painful, staring at dirt, cacti, and more dirt, listening to some incredibly puke-tastic country & western song.
It is a shame really, since the basic premise of Highlander 5 could have been alright; that said, the new immortals were largely miscast, the worst offender was the surf-punk Catholic priest. Even Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod looked like he knows what a piece of crap he is in. Jim Byrnes and Peter Winfield as Joe and Methos, respectively, do their best with what they have, which sadly isn't much, regardless of how big their roles were.
I won't spoil the details in case you like punishment and want to see the train wreck for yourself, but just. Don't. Do. It.
If you must, waste the couple of hours on downloading it for free from a torrent site, but please, for the love of all that is good and holy, don't spend money on this! (Man, I'm telling someone to illegally download, how bad is that?)
This movie is so bad, so awful, you can't even laugh at it, which should alarm Will Helm with his "Misunderstood Masterpieces," so if you would be so kind, please advise Mr Helm not to go through with watching this, just so he can spare both his brain and ours? Please and thank you.
Paul in Canada (where it is legal to download - for now)
Wow Paul, don't hold back with your feelings or anything. Just kidding. So there you have it from someone who's seen it, the new Highlander flick licks balls. Be advised of that if you were in fact wanting to tune in to the Sci-Fi Channel when it airs. Thanks again to Paul for writing in.
And just so I can state for the record before the feds start investigating me for something that someone else wrote, Illegal downloads of copyrighted material=BAD.
Heroes rings a Bell
You may remember last week when I reported that Veronica Mars' star Kristen Bell turned down a high profile recurring role on my favorite show Lost because she didn't wish to relocate to Hawaii where the show films. Well, as it turns out, Lost's loss is Heroes gain as NBC was able to beat out other networks and movie studios in gaining her star power for their sophomore hit show. She has been hired to take part in a key multi-episode arc during the second season. She will play Elle, a sexy and mysterious young lady that has ties to the alleged death of Peter Petrelli, H.R.G's past as well as Claire's future. Her first appearance on the show will take place in October.
And there was much rejoicing in geekdom everywhere. I thought Heroes had a fine if uneven first season but it genuinely had me hooked by the end of its initial run. The casting of Bell, even if it's just for a handful of episodes, is a positive sign that the show's producers are looking to go bigger and better. With Bell they have got some added star power, let's all just hope that they have more spectacular stuff with regards to fight sequences and what have you because that finale?! Disappointing to say the least.
Gandolfini sticks with HBO
Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Sopranos star James Gandolfini is continuing to work for HBO despite the fact that his Emmy winning series faded to black earlier this year. First up is a documentary for the pay channel called Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq. Gandolfini is executive producing the film as well as narrating. In it, he interviews several Iraq war vets about their experiences in wartime, and the adjustments that they had to make once they returned to the states. The doc is scheduled to debut September 9th. After that he will star in the HBO films produced ABCD Camp, in which he'll play the real life corporate sports scout Sonny Vaccaro whom starts a youth Basketball camp for underprivileged children. There is no word on when the Made for TV movie would air.
Gandolfini is a superb actor so anything that he's in I'm willing to check out. Given the fact that he and HBO have had such great previous success together it's kind of a no-brainer that the creative relationship that has been forged would continue. While the documentary has a heavy subject I think that while it may be difficult to watch, as an American I feel kind of obligated to do so. Not to sound all preachy, but young men and women are losing their lives in Iraq every day, and those who are lucky to stay alive will have to deal with the physical and mental scars they received over there for the rest of their lives. Taking two hours out of mine to see some of the hardships and to hear some of those stories? Doesn't seem like too much to ask.
And now with regards to the TV movie. I don't know anything about the real life story or the guy Mr. Gandolfini will be portraying, (he has some close association with Michael Jordan apparently) but it does sound like a world removed from Tony Soprano. I'm looking forward to it personally, in that it gives James another starring vehicle in which he can show his chops without having to take the pat, typecast kind of fare he is generally offered in mainstream movies lately.
Dear GOD, what a sh***y idea…
I apologize for the bluntness of the headline, for I usually save my own personal thoughts and comments for after the news bite. But his is just a plain bad idea. Noted metrosexual and all around no-talent Ryan Seacrest has been tapped by FOX to host next year's Super Bowl pre-game and halftime show.
Have I already mentioned that I think that this is a stupendously bad idea? Okay, well since I've gotten the point across, let me now count the ways. FOX made this move in an effort to lure in more non-football fans for the yearly big event. Hello? Greedy much? IT'S THE FREAKIN' SUPER BOWL! It is the annual marquee sporting event in America and the annual year end ratings champ with regards to single broadcasts, pretty much without question! How is Ryan freakin' Seacrest going to lure more non-football fans in anyways, care to explain that? Is it going to be an endless American Idol shill? Wow, even worse idea, please quickly forget that I said that, lest it becomes true…
The Super Bowl is a TV ratings JUGGERNAUT. It does not need Ryan Seacrest's involvement at all! If anything, it could very well possibly alienate hardcore NFL fans with the fact that this guy who if famous for doing nothing of true significance and could potentially have no football smarts whatsoever is being thrust front and center rather than, oh, I don't know. The Game? The players? The coaches? The fans? As far as I'm concerned the only pre-game and halftime hosts I need are Terry, Jimmy, Howie, and whomever the hell that new token black guy is. Putting Ryan Seacrest and Super Bowl together in the same sentence is like trying to get Aerosmith to team up for one time only with Britney Spears & N'Sync. Oh yeah, we all remember how craptastic that particular halftime show was! I'm no fan of Prince, but his halftime show last year rocked! How would Ryan Seacrest introducing him improved the performance or somehow made it better? Oh yes. That's right, it wouldn't have. Except the only difference is that instead of being duly impressed with Prince and his halftime show, I would have tuned out the second the spikey haired talking head from the brain-dead freakin' reality show I loathe the WORST showed up on my TV for no good goddamned reason at all. Even if all I had to sit through was him saying "Ladies and gentlemen, Prince."
So there. I've been sitting on that all week. Cathartic to get it out.
And speaking of Ms. Spears…
Aw, not again?!?
The troubled and tabloid ridden former bubblegum pop princess Ms. Brit is rumored to launch her "long-awaited" comeback to prominence by appearing and performing at the annual MTV Video Music Awards ceremony on Sept. 9th. Magician Chris Angel is reportedly working with her on her performance.
Hey everybody! Let's all sit down and watch the trainwreck of a once highly successful career as she fails to pawn off lip-synching as "talent" one last time! Look on in horror as she can't even do that right, let alone successfully match up with her background dancers movements. Feel her shame as her custody rights and self- denial goes down in flames! It's going to be an even bigger blow-up than the Hindenburg!!!
Wow. Is it just me, or am I being overly snarky and mean-spirited this week? I ask because those are the same two characteristics that make me want to punch David Spade in the face pretty much every time I see him. Well, that and he bags a lot of hot babes. Lucky bastard.
Anyways, back to Spears. Look, I haven't watched the VMA's in years, and I'm not going to change my ways now. And even if I were to, it would only be done out of morbid curiosity for all the reasons that I described above. Personally, if anything, I think the girl could use a PR "win" in her favor after all of the negative stuff that has been flooding out of the woodwork as of late, so in that regards, I'm actually rooting for her. But I'm not holding my breath, just like I'm not doing so with hopes that everytime I turn on my TV or fire up the net there's not going to be something there about her. The tabloid media loves to build up their starlets, and there's nothing that they love more than building them up, than taking aim.
A Noteworthy Mini-Series Sequel
I'm not sure whether or not this was previously covered here at 411, so I'll treat it as new news even if it's old. (If that makes any sense, I'm sorry, it's late) Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, whom famously teamed up on the big screen and the TV screen numerous times previous, are at it again. This time, they are working on bringing a companion piece follow up to their critically acclaimed HBO WWII mini-series Band Of Brothers for HBO. This time around it's The Pacific which follows the true stories of three marines as they fight in the Pacific theater of WWII. James Badge Dale, Joe Mazzello & Jon Seda have been cast as the three principles. On board to direct episodes are Timothy Van Patton (The Sopranos), Carl Franklin (The Riches, Rome), Graham Yost (From the Earth to the Moon), Tony To (BOB), & Jeremy Podeswa (Six Feet Under).
When I went to see Saving Private Ryan in the theaters when it first came out, I went into it feeling like I was about to get a history lesson, about a subject that I felt I needed to know more about. And while it did give a realistic depiction of battle conditions, it was in essence a fictitious work of art. The history lesson I was truly hoping for I didn't get until I was able to catch Band of Brothers uncensored on the History Channel. It was the true story of real life American soldiers who fought in the war in Europe and were amongst the first to discover the ramifications of the Holocaust. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's an outstanding piece of work, from any aspect that you could conceive. It was told realistically and genuinely, it was informative, it was emotional, and it had a real impact upon me as a viewer. To know that Hanks and Spielberg are at it again, bringing another real story to TV life while working with a lot of the same people that made Brothers so memorable? Oh, yeah. It's stuff like this that makes it no wonder why HBO has a tendency to gain the most Emmy noms in any given year.
Ellen's Variety Show
TV talk show favorite Ellen Degeneres will be hosting a variety special to be taped at the upcoming Comedy Festival in Las Vegas. (What? Don't look at me, I wasn't the one that named the event so generically) The show will be two hours long and will air on TBS November 18th. At the time of this writing there has been no other announcements regarding who would appear, other than the Daytime Emmy-winning hostess.
Variety shows were a staple of TV programming since the medium was invented, but died out in the late seventies for whatever reason. Doing a one off special such as this is a smart move in my opinion, as it will gauge the modern audience's reception to the concept of "here's a segment of comedy, here's a segment of tap dancing, here's a segment of singing". That's what variety programming is. Seeing as we've got Dancing With The Stars, (Whose teaser commercials would be one of my TV annoyances of the week if I had enough time to write about it, which I don't) America's Got Talent, and so on and so forth, it isn't a real stretch of the imagination to conceive the variety show concept making a comeback in this ADD riddled timeframe in which we live. Would I watch it if it were to make a comeback? Nah, probably not. Would I like it if it were to make a comeback? Well, I'd dislike it a whole hell of a lot less than the glut of reality shows we're currently dealing with. I mean, we'd actually see talented professional entertainers whom normally might not be given a TV spotlight get the chance to peddle their wares. Wouldn't you rather watch that than some no-talent hack embarrass his or herself attempting to audition for American Idol?
Phht. Nevermind. I already know that answer, and I find it extremely disappointing.
News and Notes
Oscar winner Angelica Huston will be joining Medium for a six episode arc this fall… Likewise for Buffy's James Marsters who will have a recurring role on Without a Trace. Sources state that it could eventually lead to his becoming a regular cast member. Good for both him and the show! Did I ever mention that I went to high school with him? No? Probably because I don't remember him whatsoever… The Sci-Fi Channel has cancelled Painkiller Jane… Colm Meaney (Star Trek: TSG & DS9) has been added to the cast of the upcoming ABC fall series Life On Mars… LL Cool J will have a CBS mid-season replacement series about an L.A. street cop, entitled The Man. Yes, when I think acting quality, I think LL Cool J. That's sarcasm. Also, does anyone else think the idea of naming the show the same as a comedy bomb starring Sam Jackson and Eugene Levy is a smart idea?… HBO has lowered the axe on its head-scratching series John From Cincinnati. And when I say head-scratching, I don't mean it in a good way, so it's probably best that it rides the waves into the sunset… Primetime news shows attack! ABC's 20/20 plans to take NBC's Dateline to task for it's "To Catch a Predator" series this fall. On one hand, it's a good thing that pedophiles are taken off of the streets and placed in jail where they can no longer do any harm. But on the other hand, is that really journalism or sensationalism?!?… HBO has greenlighted additional seasons of both Entourage and Flight Of The Conchords… And lastly, Ken Leung joins the recurring cast of Lost as a brilliant mathematician who has great insights and a tremendous knowledge across several scientific fields. No doubt he'll be a part of the "rescue party". You may remember him as the younger protégé of Uncle Junior in the looney bin on The Sopranos this past year, or as the spiney faced dude from X3…
Sorry that there is no real TV Annoyance of the week. I made mention of one earlier (and yes, I have others) but I've run out of time and I really need to get this thing posted. I'm thinking that we could make this portion of the column interactive! So if you've got something lingering on your mind with regards to TV that annoys you, feel free to email me with your thoughts and explanations thereof. The best of the bunch that I receive will be featured in next week's column.
