Saturday, March 1, 2014

The Annual Dalliance With Clairvoyance

We are fast approaching that night were much of the continent forms strong opinions about art they haven’t the-oscarsactually seen, but Jane down at the office told them was good – the Oscars! As such, it’s time, once again, for me to take a stab at predicting the future, adding my own voice to the din of online prognosticators. In recent years I have had decidedly mixed success in this endeavour, and that is unlikely to change this year. I always make an effort to see as many of the nominated films as possible, to decrease the amount of blind guessing required, and this year have managed to see all but five. While it is doubtful that will increase my accuracy, at least you know there’s an actual opinion behind these predictions, rather than merely an amalgam of hearsay.

As per usual, I will highlight my predicted winners in each category in red, as well as highlighting which nominee I think deserves to win in blue for those categories where the two are not the same. Let’s begin.

Best Picture

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Best Animated Feature

Best Cinematography

Best Costume Design

Best Directing

Best Documentary Feature

Best Documentary Short

Best Film Editing

Best Foreign Language Film

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Best Original Score

Best Original Song

Best Production Design

Best Animated Short Film

Best Live Action Short Film

Best Sound Editing

Best Sound Mixing

Best Visual Effects

Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Original Screenplay

And that wraps up another year. As with last year, there are a significant number of close categories.We’ll just have to wait for the awards to see just how well (or how awful) I did.

The Oscars air on March 2 on ABC beginning at 4:00 PM, PST.

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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Upfronts 2013: The CW

The final network to present, as usual, is the netlet The CW. This small network has traditionally targeted an almost exclusively female audience between 18-35, and the five new shows this season seem to follow suit. My commentary on these will be brief, since none of them seem worth elaborating on. They are all a variation of schlocky teen soap, and it’s doubtful any will be worth watching.

The 100

This series follows hot young juvenile delinquents who try to re-inhabit Earth after it has been destroyed by a nuclear war.

The Tomorrow People

This is the all teen version of Heroes, with kids around the world discovering they have superpowers and using them to fight the bad guys. It’s a remake of the British show of the same name.

Reign

This is about as close to a departure for the CW as we get, as this is a period piece about attractive people (as opposed to fantasy, contemporary, or sci-fi). It will attempt to tell the story of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Star-Crossed

After aliens come to earth and try to integrate into our society, a high school girl falls in love with the new alien boy in her class. Why an alien society with the technology to travel across star systems would enroll their offspring in a school taught by a people who have yet to venture outside their planet’s orbit is beyond me.

The Originals

A spinoff from The Vampire Diaries, it’s backdoor pilot already aired this season, so if you’re at all in the target audience, you should pretty much know what to expect already.

And that’s it for the 2013 Upfronts! I can’t say that this looks like it’s going to be a particularly good year, but hopefully things will start to look a little rosier as we get closer to premiere week, additional episodes start filming, and the showrunners have a chance to tweak and improve their offering. I’ll definitely cover the premieres in the fall, and in the meantime, you have almost four months to catch up on all the great series you haven’t had time to watch yet. There might be an idea for a future post in there somewhere…

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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Upfronts 2013: CBS

As the number one network yet again, CBS is the last of the big four to present. As a result of it’s domination, it also has the fewest new shows and appears to be taking the least chances.

We Are Men

This comedy features a group of four losers living in a short term apartment complex. It looks like it will focus on them trying to figure out their love lives, so look for plenty of lowbrow humour and jokes which you have heard plenty of times before, both of which seem to be a staple of a CBS sitcom.

Mom

This new series from Chuck Lorre looks like it might eschew the usual male centric perspective of the rest of his series. Centering around a recovering alcoholic single mom in Napa Valley, this looks like a typical enough Lorre comedy that it should get the viewers, but even if it brings a female perspective, expect it to tell all the same jokes his other shows do.

The Millers

Similar to Fox’s Dads, this comedy is about a grown brother and sister whose parents decide to divorce and move in with them. The “twist” comes in that the mom moves in with her son, and the dad moves in with the daughter. This is a vehicle for Will Arnet, but I doubt he’ll be enough to make it into a show worth watching.

The Crazy Ones

The primary draw for this comedy set in the world of advertising is the return of Robin Williams to TV as the series lead. The pitch itself, a crazy owner of the ad agency and his meticulous daughter struggle to work together, doesn’t sound like much, but Williams’ presence and propensity for ad libbing mean that this might end up being worthwhile.

Hostages

I have no idea how they plan to stretch this one out into a full series, as the pitch sounds more like the plot for a two hour movie. A surgeon’s family is held hostage and to get them back she is told she must kill the president when she operates on him. It seems like that premise will be used up in the first couple episodes and then the series will be forced to contrive new reasons for her family to remain hostage and new tasks for her to complete to free them. That doesn’t exactly sound like a recipe for long term success.

Intelligence

This thriller is about a special agent with a microchip implant that allows him to access all electronics. How interesting is ends up being will likely depend on how closely to the CBS procedural mold it sticks. The fact that it is produced by ABC yet didn’t end up on that network is slightly troubling, but not damning. Hopefully it can break from the mold and will turn out to be an enjoyable, though likely light, thriller.

Reckless

Somewhat resembling ABC’s Betrayal, this law soap is set in the south. It features the hot female city lawyer who has to fight a case against the hot male country lawyer. Since this is CBS, which mandates that all attractive characters must sleep with each other, the two start a steamy romance. I can’t see this one lasting very long.

Friends with Better Lives

Sounding remarkably similar to What About Brian? from a few years ago, Friends With Better Lives follows a group of six friends all in different stages of their lives, each of whom secretly wish they were in the others’ situation. Nothing much stands out about this one, but if it’s well written, it could make it.

And that’s it for CBS. Not a lot of new shows this season, and nothing that really stands out, but that’s the luxury of being number one. Only one day of the 2013 Upfronts left, so check back tomorrow for a look at the CW’s upcoming season.

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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Upfronts 2013: ABC

The third presenter at this year’s Upfronts was ABC. Their slate of new shows, evenly distributed between comedy and drama, doesn’t look to take too many risks, but it does have a few interesting bright spots.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.

Joss Whedon is executive producer, with Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancheroen as show runners, of this series about the daily lives of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, tying directly into the Marvel films. Any new show from Joss is always a must watch, and combining that with the Marvel universe makes this easily my most anticipated new show this season.

Betrayal

A woman has an affair with a lawyer, who then has to battle a court case against her lawyer husband. Not only does this sound like a painfully soapy take on the courtroom procedural, it also seems like a terribly short sighted premise.

Killer Women

Even though I generally like Tricia Helfer, there is nothing here that makes me think I’d want to watch this series. Walker, Texas Ranger with a female lead, then have that lead have an affair with the DEA agent, since that seems to be ABC’s M.O. this year – all female leads must have affairs. Maybe they think that’s what women empowerment is all about? They repeated that phrase multiple times during today’s presentation, even going so far as to dub Thursdays as “Women Empowerment Thursdays.” They’d better some up with a different definition, because so far the results are decidedly unappealing.

Lucky 7

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This is a drama about a group of gas station employees that win the lottery. There are some notable names behind the scenes, so this one could be worth checking out, but ABC’s press release didn’t give any indication of what to expect from a typical episode, so it’s hard to judge at this point.

Mind Games

ABC is going out of its way to emphasize that the psychological manipulation used in this series is real science, but how much truth there is to that will have to wait until the pilot premieres. The show follows a pair of brothers who use this manipulation to fix their clients problems. Depending on how it is handled, this one could actually be a fun and varied series, or it could crash and burn hard.

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland

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This spinoff of Once Upon A Time was originally supposed to be a miniseries slotted in-between the fall and winter halves of the original series, but ABC decided to turn it into a full blown series of its own. The original show can be wildly uneven, but this one is being run by Jane Espensen, who I will always tune in for.

Resurrection

Dead residents of a small Missouri town begin returning to life and appearing around the world, decades after their supposed death. There is enough intrigue here to make me want to check it out, but it’s been a while since a broadcast network has been able to create a quality sci-fi show with an ongoing mystery, so keep your expectations at a reasonable level.

Back In The Game

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This sounds like the baseball version of The Mighty Ducks, with a divorced mom in the place of Emilio Estevez. It’s early timeslot seems to indicate it’s targeted at a similar audience. If it’s well written and the kids aren’t too grating, it could be fun, but those are both big ifs.

The Goldbergs

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I’m a bit of a sucker for anything set in the ‘80s, so this comedy immediately captured my attention. The description for this show reads like the sitcom version of the last big show set in the ‘80s, Freaks and Geeks. That speaks well to the potential quality of the show, but also poorly for it’s longevity prospects, as that show was cancelled after only 13 episodes.

Mixology

The year’s second attempt to recreate Friends, this show centers around a group of friends trying to the recently dumped Tom back into the dating world at a high-end bar. This one could face problems with the likeability of its characters, as they come off in the press release as privileged and spoiled.

Super Fun Night

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Written and executive produced by Rebel Wilson, this show follows a group of friends who have always tried to make Friday night the best night ever, while staying home. Now that they’ve grown up, they are forced to actually go out on Fridays, but still attempt to carry on their tradition. Clearly aiming for a New Girl-esque quirkiness, this just doesn’t seem to have much of a draw, from the terrible title to the bland concept. Strong writing could save this one from a quality perspective, but given the clips choosen for the trailer, that doesn't seem likely and I think it will be hard pressed to find viewers.

Trophy Wife

The story of a young woman who becomes her new husband’s third wife and has to deal with his two exes and three children. This one is in the running alongside Ironside as being the first casualty of the season.

That wraps is up for ABC. Come back tomorrow for the last of the major networks, CBS.

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Monday, May 13, 2013

Upfronts 2013: Fox

Having slipped to third place overall this year, Fox is the second of the four major networks to present at this year’s Upfronts. Overall, there schedule looks more interesting than NBC, and they are definitely taking some risks, both with the type of show they are programming, but also with the timing of the premieres. It’s worth noting that since Fox only programs 2 hours per night, as compared to the other network’s 3, they have fewer shows hitting the air and can therefore be a little pickier about what they show, not that that has always translated to better television, but it’s a nice thought.

Almost Human

J.J. Abrams and J.H. Wyman, the team behind Fringe, team again on a series about humans and androids working together as cops in the future. That’s really all you need to know to want to check it out. At that very least, it should be an interesting failure, and at best, it could be another high quality, thought provoking series from the duo.

Sleepy Hollow

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci’s work has been decidedly hit and miss. The premise for Sleepy Hollow sounds so far fetched it’s had to imagine it being anything other and a miss, but I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. It follows Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman, both from the classic story, who have been resurrected 250 years after their deaths. Ichabod will have to work to solve a mystery dating back to his original time period.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

This new cop comedy looks to be Fox’s most promising in the genre. The talent behind the scenes is impressive enough to warrant giving it a chance.

Dads

This looks to be typical Seth McFarlane fare, but this time in live action. It follows two men whose dads are forced to move in with them. Expect plenty of sophomoric humour.

Enlisted

Three brothers all in the army, and all on the same base in Florida. They’re not good enough to be deployed, but not bad enough to be kicked out, so they are forever stuck on the base. If there’s really nothing more to it than that, don’t expect this to last long.

Gang Related

A former gang member who is now somehow working for the LAPD in the gang unit has his allegiance to both sides tested on a weekly basis. A terribly bland looking procedural with a cast of second string action movie actors and written by the writer of Fast Five, this one may generate enough interest to stick around, but the chances of it being a good series are slim.

Rake

This is House with lawyers instead of doctors. Doesn’t seem to have much of a catch beyond the idea of a damaged but brilliant lawyer.

Murder Police

Another cop comedy, but this one is animated. Though the title is likely intentionally terrible, it doesn’t bode well for the series itself.

Surviving Jack

When his wife goes back to work, Jack is forced to be a full time dad to his teenage son. This likelihood of this single camera comedy being good will depend a lot on the tone the show chooses to take.

Us & Them

This year’s attempt at recreating Friends, this romantic comedy follows two people falling in love while surrounded by zany friends. None of the previous two dozen attempts to recapture the ratings powerhouse were successful, and there’s nothing apparent here to suggest this one has finally cracked the formula.

Wayward Pines

Though the press release name checks Twin Peaks, this series sounds more Stepford Wives than Lynch. Produced by M. Night Shyamalan and running as a miniseries, the promise of a set ending may be enough to make this one worth watching, without the fear of it spinning out of control in an effort to stretch out over multiple seasons.

24: Live Another Day

Because it is apparently what we all really needed, 24 is being resurrected as a 12 episode miniseries (so maybe it should be called 12?) You already know exactly what to expect here. Given the mess that the original run of the series turned into, there’s not much reason to check this out. One can only hope this crashes and burns and finally puts the rumours of a 24 movie (called 2, perhaps?) to rest.

That wraps up Fox. Check back tomorrow for a look at what ABC will be giving us this year.

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Upfronts 2013: NBC

As the last place network again this year, NBC has the dubious honour of making it’s Upfront presentation first. Unfortunately for the Peacock, there still doesn’t look to be much worth watching on the new schedule.

Blacklist

This looks to be a fairly standard procedural about a mobster working with the FBI. The trailer doesn’t look promising, and there’s nothing in the description or creative talent to make it stand out.

Sean Saves the World

A star vehicle for Will & Grace’s Sean Hayes, this seems to follow in the gay-dad-sitcom trend we saw from last year. Unfortunately, none of those show fared particularly well last year, and there’s nothing on display here to make me believe this one will fare any better.

The Michael J. Fox Show

Loosely based on Michael J. Fox’s life, this could be one of the few bright spots on NBC’s schedule. Though there’s nothing particularly unique about the premise, Fox is a great actor, and the creative team combination of Fox, Sam Laybourne (Cougar Town), and Will Gluck (Easy A) mean that this could develop into a very good show.

Ironside

Even NBC’s official description for this show is groan worthy. Ironside is a “tough, sexy and acerbic” wheelchair bound NYPD officer who “will do whatever it takes to solve New York’s most difficult and notorious crimes – even if it means breaking the rules.” I’d be surprised is this makes it to episode 4.

Welcome to the Family

Trying to borrow from Modern Family’s success, Welcome to the Family is the story of a white and a Latino family forced to deal with each other after their teenage children get pregnant and marry. Wacky hijinks and horrible stereotypes are sure to ensue. An example of the “hilarious” culture clash the show will portray, the press release includes the line “OMG/Dios Mio!”

Dracula

This “limited” series from one of the producers of Downton Abby has potential. It’s airing on Fridays, paired with Grimm, so hopefully it’ll target more of the genre audience and not worry about dumbing itself down for mass appeal. It could wind up being great, or it could be terrible, so this is one that we’ll have to wait and check out in the fall.

Crossbones

The series is set to tell the tale of the famous pirate Blackbeard, but since production on the pilot isn’t even scheduled to start until the fall, it’s far too early to pass judgment on it, though it may be difficult to pull off a convincing nautical tale on a broadcast TV budget.

Crisis

This is essentially Liam Neeson’s Taken: The Series. Once again, it looks very formulaic, without anything to really draw in an audience.

The Family Guide

The story of a quirky family’s divorce, which somehow “brings them all closer together.” It’s not on the schedule yet, and sounds like something NBC will quickly burn off at the end of the season.

Believe

The other promising show on NBC’s schedule, this one follows a young girl with superpowers and her guardian, an escaped death row inmate. It’s coming from J.J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron, so it will definitely be worth checking out, at the very least.

Two shows were conspicuously absent from the lineup. Community, which was given a surprising fifth season renewal, will likely be slotted in as a replacement when the other new comedies inevitably fail. Hannibal, on the other hand, didn’t even receive a mention. It’s still in the middle of its first season, and the ratings haven’t been great. It is, however, easily the best new drama to come out of the broadcast networks this year and deserves a chance to build an audience, so hopefully it will be given a renewal and show up midseason next year.

Check back later today, when I’ll have the rundown on Fox’s new schedule.

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Upfronts: 2013 Edition

It’s that time of year again, when all of the television networks trot out their scheduling plans for the upcoming season before advertisers in the hopes of securing big contracts for ad buys. For those of us not employed by a media company, the week’s primary draw is the chance to get our first look at what’s been cancelled, where our favorite shows are moving, and what new shows will be hitting the airwaves (or, more correctly, coax lines, since all radio frequency broadcasts are now a thing of the past) in the fall.

As has become the norm, I’ll be providing my thoughts on the new shows presented by each network that I think are worth checking out. The presentation schedule is as follows:

NBC: Monday, May 13
Fox: Monday, May 13
ABC: Tuesday, May 14
CBS: Wednesday, May 15
CW: Thursday, May 16

Keep checking back over the coming days as we discover what we’ll be watching, or avoiding, in the coming months.

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