Getting caught lying is an experience I dread – forehead sweating, tongue stumbling, eyes darting every which way searching for some sort of reprieve. Even with the proliferating success of recent television programs acclimating audiences to the association between cringe-worthy situations and comedy, I still find it difficult to see anyone under that unique pressure. Same Difference revels in this, so you can imagine how hard it was for me to read, doing all I could to avert my eyes knowing the story wouldn’t progress unless I did look.
Same Difference is almost entirely about character development, so it’s difficult to discuss the story without spoiling anything. Generally, life, love, and teenage idiocy are touched upon, with perhaps the most powerful themes being reflection and regret.
Right at the outset, you’re thrust into the amiable characters’ lives, joining them for an everyday meal. The plentiful pop-culture-based dialogues set the timeframe for the story. (Tellingly, not one reference was lost on me.) Similar to meeting someone new in real life, a great way to comfortably get to know someone is through conversational middle ground, and these skillfully used references serve to easily bridge that gap between the reader and the characters. The repartee is clever and the knack for which they glean some wisdom from the random discussions never feels unnatural. Rather, that they can quickly weave through bouts of hilarity and seriousness without batting an eye establishes how good of friends these main characters are.
With the imminent return of The Incredible Hulk to television (currently being developed for ABC and spinning out of the Avengers movie next summer) it’s illuminating to go back and take a look at how the original TV series was made. Allan Cole (perhaps better known as the co-author of the [[[Sten]]]novels) was a writer for the series, and he’s been reminiscing…
To understand The Incredible Hulk you have to first know that everybody on the show was nuts. Some were nice nuts. A few, not so nice. And others bounced back and forth like green balls of silly putty with no notice whatsoever.
It also helps to understand that the very premise of the show was schizoid, with this wimpy little doctor-type guy (played by Bill Bixby) transforming into a big green monster (played by Lou Ferrigno) when somebody kicks sand in his face and pisses him off.
Put another way, scripting for the Incredible Hulk was like writing for Kabuki theater. As Chris said, “one frigging thing out of place and everybody and everything goes apeshit.”
The writing experience could be frustrating, agonizing and drive you just plain bonkers. On the other hand, of the hundred and fifty odd shows Chris and I worked on, it was one of the most fun and satisfying. Once you got the formula down pat, you could write just about anything you wanted. More importantly, what you wrote went on the screen, so you didn’t hesitate to open up and address broader themes than one might expect in a show about a comic book character.
A television series reaches middle age around its fifth or sixth season and it rests on the shoulders of the production team whether or not to get rejuvenated or quietly enter the complacency of old age, leading to a far swifter demise. Thankfully, Hart Hanson and the crew of Bones used last season as a chance to shake up the status quo in numerous ways resulting in a reset of sorts when the seventh season begins November 3. Meantime, [[[Bones: The Complete Sixth Season]]] was recently released by 20th Century Home Entertainment and is once more a handsome package.
The show is far more character-driven than its competitor procedurals on the other networks, so we’ve come to know and love not only the staff at the Jeffersonian and FBI agent Sealy Booth, but the interns and extended family that are part of their world. The series does not shy away from dealing with the consequences of their cases and as one menace is finally dealt with, another arrives to keep things interesting. The Gravedigger, Heather Taffet (Deirdre Lovejoy), had her creepy storyline brought to a satisfying conclusion but as one door closed, another opened and in walked Jacob Broadsky (Arnold Vosloo), an ex-Army sniper who has a history with Booth.
This show has always had an appealing cast, with terrific chemistry among the regulars and the producers make certain we see them at work and at play, mixing and matching the characters to see what happens. David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel anchor the show and their “will they or won’t they” relationship kept things going for the previous five seasons. Still, to everyone but one another, it was clear they belonged together, and it finally was addressed in the waning season five episodes. As season six opened, Booth had been in the Middle East for months and returned a changed man, accompanied by Hannah Burley (Katheryn Winnick). Having Booth seemingly happy in love was just the spark Deschanel’s Temperance Brennan needed to get back in touch with her emotional heart. Their arc was a very strong one, a spine for the season that ended with them finally making love, resulting in a pregnancy that will charge the new season. (more…)
For those who think the comics/Hollywood connection is played out, it seems there’s still life in something that’s dead.
Season two of “[[[The Walking Dead]]]” opened to an eye-popping 7.3 million viewers on Sunday, and it broke cable ratings records in the key demographic categories of adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.
The preem averaged 4.8 million adults 18-49 and 4.2 million in the 25-54 demo — a new record for a basic cable drama series. It also easily ranked as primetime’s No. 1 entertaiment series for the night, according to Nielsen, topping the 18-49 delivery of Fox’s special “The X Factor” (4.2 million adults 18-49), ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” (3.4 million) and CBS’ “CSI: Miami” (3 million). AMC
AMC prexy Charlie Collier called the numbers “staggering, just like our zombies.”
Oh, alas. Rest your sorrowing gaze on the gap, the fracture, the breach, the crack, the cavity, hole, crevice – might it even be a lacuna? – and join my lament.
And what, exactly, is that lament? And the gap/fracture/breach and the rest…what are we referring to here?
Well, in case it’s not obvious by now…we’re complaining about the absence of superheroes in the television season that’s a’borning. Not that such an absence is exactly novel. Since Superman made his video debut in 1952 – the Man of Steel was TV’s first costumed superguy – there have been more years without broadcast superheroes than years with them. But they have been sprinkled throughout the schedules in an odd, here-and-there fashion.
Some of them may have been among your favorites. Remember Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific? The Hulk? Electra Woman and Dyna Girl? Shazam? Isis? The Flash? The Greatest American Hero? How about Sesame Street’s Super Grover? If you can tolerate your superheroes minus costumes, the list can be expanded: The Six Million Dollar Man and his female counterpart, The Bionic Woman; The Dark Angel, which introduced many of us dirty old men to Jessica Alba – and yes, we are grateful; Buffy the Vampire Slayer (more gratitude from the DOM squad); the SyFy channel’s Alphas…
I’m not going to insult you by mentioning Batman, but do you recall the show that was apparently meant to capitalize on Batman’s popularity, The Green Hornet?
This list is, I’m sure, incomplete, but you get the idea. Superheroics have been almost television staples for a long time – not as constant as cop action or goofy folks doing goofy things in the sitcom universe, but pretty familiar.
Not currently, though. We thought we’d have an adaptation of one of the classic comics characters to amuse us in prime time and I, for one, eagerly anticipated the new Wonder Woman, as presented by David E. Kelley. Mr. Kelley – he deserves the honorific – is, arguably television’s best scripter, especially now that Aaron Sorkin’s gone elsewhere. I’ve been aware of him ever since Picket Fences in the 90’s and I think Boston Legal was a small weekly miracle. (His current show, Harry’s Law, is pretty damn good, too.) One can’t help wondering: what would Kelley, whose previous work never got near fantasy-melodrama in any form, have done in such unfamiliar territory? I can’t say that we’ll never know because, these days…DVD? Limited cable exposure? YouTube? But we don’t know now. (Or do we? Do you have information that I lack?)
Life is tough.
Know what would be swell? To see Wonder Woman as I first saw Superman 1952. Not knowing that some of the scenes depicting the destruction of Krypton were borrowed from theatrical movies, or noticing that the special effects were less than awe-inspiring – did they even qualify as special effects? No, just looking and accepting whatever was there, without judgment, being amused or bored as the occasion demanded.
But I’ve seen and read and written so much much much…and hell. I’ve even been an editor. I don’t have the capacity to look with an innocent mind at superheroes, or anything else, and that’s the real fracture in my life.
The story goes that in Stamford CT, so many people walked out of Tree of Life and demanded their money back that the management had to post a sign explaining the movie was not your traditional story and that no more refunds would be issued. On the one hand, it says people pick movies indiscriminately and it also says without being prepared, more thoughtful works can be poorly received.
Director Terrence Malick is an artist with film, turning the moving picture into portraiture. Since his first film, Badlands, the cinematography alone is a reason to seek out his films. There’s usually a long wait between his movies because he takes his time conceiving, making and editing each one, building up anticipation from his fans and the actors who love to work with him. Few get to do it twice although the current movie does feature Sean Penn for a second effort. Recently, though, he has bad mouthed the film, wondering what he was doing in it and yes, Tree of Life can be a real headscratching experience.
But, Malick gets credit for tackling the big issues of life, the universe, and everything. He focuses on a single nuclear family, seemingly set in the 1950s, but all the themes are large ones. So large, in fact, that when there’s a fissure, everything cracks apart. And when that occurs, Malick takes us back to the beginning, and I mean the beginning. We’re talking the Big Bang, a cooling planet and the beginning of life. The lush origins of our world through the early days of the dinosaur is a wonder to watch and it transfers brilliantly to the home screen in the Blu-ray edition coming this Tuesday from 20th Century Home Entertainment.
Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain are a happily married couple, raising three boys in an idyllic American suburb. Most of the film follows their development through those pivotal childhood years and like a work of literature, says more through what is not spoken than is conveyed in dialogue.By setting this in the past, it automatically evokes a sense of longing in the audience. Curiously, this is a past without much in the way of technology: no radio or television, just a phonograph. (more…)
Once upon a time I edited a magazine called Comics Scene and early on, I had the opportunity to be in Ireland where I was invited to visit animator Don Bluth and his operation. At the time, he had left Disney and was busily working on The Secret of NIMH but also interactive animated arcade games. In 1983, he was poised to unleash Dragon’s Lair. After explaining the premise, Bluth let me play the latter for a while.
Boy was it fun.
While it and the subsequent Space Ace made a splash, they didn’t ignite a new generation of gaming, largely I suspect because these were expensive to create and manufacture and were limited by the technology of the day. Still, Dragon’s Lair proved popular enough for it to be licensed for Saturday morning television. Rather than use Bluth’s studio, the weekly work was turned over to Ruby-Spears. They produced thirteen half-hour episodes and as we approached each commercial break, a choice had to be made, emulating the arcade version. After the break, we saw what would happen with either choice and then the adventure would continue. Nice idea, even if it wound up flawed, and the show endured for one season on ABC during the 1984-1985 season.
Warner Archive has just released the complete series as a two disc set so those who recall the game and show fondly, can relive the adventures of Dirk the Daring (Bob Sarlatte). Despite being somewhat goofy, he was the best knight in King Ethelred’s (Fred Travalena) kingdom. Such feats earned him the love of Princess Daphne (Ellen Gerstell), who of course needed rescuing from the likes of the Lizard King, the Phantom Knight, the Giddy Goons, and the Mudmen with regularity.
The big news in pop culture this week is not comics (although I’m excited about seeing Cliff Chiang’s Wonder Woman), but on television. Specifically, today is the last episode of the long-running soap opera, All My Children.
How long-running is it? The show started in January of 1970. Since then, it’s run for an hour a day, five days a week, except for holidays. Soap operas don’t do re-runs in the summer. They need new stories and they need them now.
I had always sneered at soaps before I watched AMC. I’d tried to watch General Hospital when Elizabeth Taylor was on, just to see what all the fuss was about, and I couldn’t get into it. A friend of mine got a few days’ work on AMC, though, and out of loyalty, I tuned in.
It was hilarious. My friend, a fashion model in real life, was cast as a nemesis of Erica Kane, a fictional fashion model. My friend was six feet tall. Lucci might be more than five, but that’s in heels. They had their skirmishes on staircases so Lucci could look her in the eye.
Still, the absurdities didn’t prevent me from developing an attachment to the characters. I liked Tad the Cad and his lovely sister, Jenny. Their mom, Opal, was a hoot. It didn’t bother me when characters would marry the same person two or three times. Even with a 15-year gap, I could still catch up with the show when I started to watch it again in the late 1990s.
Soap operas are a form of mass-market entertainment aimed primarily at women. They get their name because, traditionally, they’re packed with ads for soap – laundry soap, dishwater detergent, shampoo and bath products. To attract this audience, they tell women-centric stories, where love and family are fought for, and there are very few fist-fights, on staircases or otherwise. On soap operas, before they have sex, men light dozens of candles and scatter rose petals on the bubble bath they just drew.
Soaps started to lose their audience when middle-class American women entered the workforce in large numbers. Today, the networks can’t justify the expense to cater hire large casts for scripted dramas that run in the daytime.
However, while soaps lost audiences in the afternoons, they gained influence on prime-time television. Not just shows like Dynasty and Dallas, but most dramas have developed the kind of intricate, long-form serial stories you find on soaps. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Homicide: Life on the Street and Mad Men are just a few critically acclaimed and award-winning shows that show their foamy influence.
What does this have to do with comics? Mainstream comics also show soap influence. When I started to read comics, every issue was self-contained, and most stories were about the fights and the powers. Now the characters have more developed emotional lives, and readers are as caught up with the personalities as they are with determining who would win in a fight.
The audience for pamphlet comics is shrinking more quickly than the audience for daytime soaps, and it was never as large to begin with. At the same time, comics’ influence is everywhere. Not only are comics optioned for the movies and television, but the kind of story-telling techniques developed for comics has been as influential to the current generation of filmmakers as the French New Wave was to my generation.
So maybe there aren’t that many people who want to go to a direct market store, but there are a lot of people who might want to read graphic stories. The growth in bookstore sales of graphic novels proves this, and we’ll see if digital delivery grows the audience as much as we’d hope.
When DC was preparing to launch the line of science fiction comics that eventually became Helix, I remember having a conversation with editor Stuart Moore. It seemed to me that he had an interesting line that would appeal to fans of the genre, but I wasn’t sure how they would find the books if they didn’t already go to comic book stores. There were critics who might consider reviewing the Moorcock series, but they’d want to see the entire storyline. Why can’t we publish graphic novels first? I wondered.
The answer, unfortunately, was a combination of inertia (this is the way we’ve always done it) and a market model that wasn’t about to change for the chance of success with a few titles. The only hit to survive the line was Transmetropolitan, and I’m willing to bet it has sold more copies in collected form than it did as a monthly title.
It’s been bittersweet watching the last few episodes of AMC. The writers are taking ridiculous chances (returning characters from the dead) and giving most of the long-running characters some happiness. I felt the same kind of affectionate sadness at the last month of the DCU titles. Maybe it was sentimental, but I liked it when Bruce Wayne got a note from his long-dead father (then alive in an alternate universe), in which Thomas told his son how proud he was of him.
That was the kind of thing that could happen in the Valley.
Dominoed Daredoll Martha Thomases will have to find something else to watch as her treat for getting work done.
PRIME SUSPECT was one of the most revered BBC series of all time. Now NBC is bringing a new version to their fall season with Maria Bello in the lead role. We talk to her about the good and bad things in taking the part, and what is the deal with that hat?? And a BEETLEJUICE sequel? Yep!
Mike Meyer, 48, of Granite City, has been on Social Security for a mental disability since age 23. To supplement that, he has worked part time at a McDonald’s in Collinsville since 1996. He lives alone in a humble, two-bedroom home with his dogs: Krypto and Dyno. Just about every room is a shrine to his hero.
It’s Meyer’s starry-eyed worship of Superman, protector of the world as it should be, that makes the theft from his home two weeks ago seem particularly cruel.
Meyer was tricked out of about 1,800 of his favorite Superman comic books, some dating to the 1950s. He also lost many of his favorite collector’s items: lunch boxes, an old-time radio, a Monopoly game and television set — all Superman-themed. The loot is worth about $4,000 to $5,000 in total, according to a friend who also collects.
The back bedroom of Meyer’s house used to have nearly 100 Superman figurines tacked to the walls. Now, those walls are bare.
Also stolen was Meyer’s Captain Action Superman figurine with costume, a sore point for Meyer because it reminded him of one he had as a child.
