A Lost Thursday Tidbit

•May 8, 2008 • No Comments

So, I’m researching some stuff for the dissertation and I roll across a letter Aldous Huxley wrote his son in 1959 while he’s writing Island. Those of you who have been paying attention know that Huxley’s Island was one of the many literary works alluded to by the show. In this particular case, the second season finale ended on “Pala Ferry,” an allusion to the utopian island of Huxley’s novel.

Before I dive into the interesting contents of this letter, check out how Lost obliquely mirrors the plot of Huxley’s novel: In short, Will Farnaby, a journalist, arrives on the isolated island of Pala as the agent (under cover as a shipwrecked sailor) of Joe Alehyde. Alehyde, a magnate and one of several parties greedy for Pala’s natural resources threatens the utopia that has developed on Pala.

If the mysterious struggle between Ben (and the others) and Widmore jumps to mind, you can’t be blamed.

Here’s the excerpt from Huxley’s letter:

I am working away on my Utopian novel [Island], wrestling with the problem of getting an enormous amount of diversified material into the book without becoming merely expository or didactic. It may be that the job is one which cannot be accomplished with complete success. In point of fact, it hasn’t been accomplished in the past. For most Utopian books have been exceedingly didactic and expository. I am trying to lighten up the exposition by putting it into dialogue form, which I make as lively as possible. But meanwhile I am always haunted by the feeling that, if only I had enough talent, I could somehow poetize and dramatize all the intellectual material and create a work which would be simultaneously funny, tragic, lyrical and profound.

So Huxley writes this letter in which he complains to his son that he’s not writing the novel as well as he’d like to. The problem, says Huxley, is that the utopian novel, of which Island is definitely one, is necessarily didactic and expository. In other words, if utopian novels are concerned with articulating the perfect society, you have to, at some point, articulate what is perfect (didactic) and illustrate how the society fits the definition (expository).

But what really strikes me about this letter is Huxley’s coming to terms with his own limitations as a writer. And while he wasn’t able to reach a place where he was able to create a work of literature that could accomplish all of these goals, perhaps in his attempt to articulate what it SHOULD be, he laid the groundwork for the attempts of later artists.

It’s hard for me to read his last line without thinking that it succinctly describes Lost’s accomplishment. It is concerned with the same questions as Huxley’s novel (and utopian literature as a whole, for that matter) and it does so with the artistry that Huxley found just out of his reach. Lost, unlike many television shows is enjoyable AND important, entertaining AND meaningful. In these ways, “simultaneously funny, tragic, lyrical and profound,” Lost, you could argue, completes the errand on which Huxley set out some fifty years earlier.

Chevron: We’re not destroying the planet…really.

•April 22, 2008 • 1 Comment

So, it’s Earth Day. I’ve never really been sure how to celebrate it because I’m not really sure what it is (uhm, are we going to appreciate the Earth today only?). This year, though, I thought I’d observe the day by talking about a commercial that has been bugging me.

Now, what you should notice about this commercial first and foremost is that it makes no sense when we pay attention to what it’s actually saying. Grammatically, it’s not possible to “drill respectfully.” It’s your classic dangling modifier.And here, honestly, it’s hard to shake the mental image of oil company workers standing at attention while working a rig. Instead, it’s a good example of how people hide behind words that sound good but say nothing. George Orwell wrote about this in Politics and the English Language(an idea he incorporated as “Newspeak” in his great novel, 1984).

The slightly disturbing and definitely hilarious aspect of this commercial is the pun on “Human Energy” which inevitably comes to mind. Essentially, saying that the next step in global energy…is…people!

I’m not sure if they’re advocating a mouse wheel/treadmill generator approach or a Matrix-style harvesting mechanism but I think this commercial obliquely suggests that, in the future, oil companies are planning to enslave the human race.

But besides that Soylent Green moment. There is a much more subtle manipulation occurring in these commercials that exists purely on the aesthetic level.

If you take a look at each of the commercials in the series you’ll notice a trend towards large scale images of the planet, humanity, cities, oceans, etc. The effect of all of these images is that they constitute a sublime aesthetic, that is, a sense in which human beings are dwarfed and awed by the overwhelming power and scale of nature. And that seems strange for a oil company to do until we realize that the effect of organizing the commercials around these images is to perpetuate one of the frequent criticisms of global warming (and one of the most ignorant) that, essentially, the Earth is too big and complex for our mere human machinations to damage it.

This is why we never really get images on the everyday, human level. Instead, we see image of deserts, oceans, shots from space, etc. They simply don’t want you thinking that anything you do can affect the planet. In other words, it says, “this is bigger than you…so why try?” Meanwhile, thoughtful piano music plays in the background to lull us all asleep.

Sweet dreams. Happy Earth Day.

Battlestar Returns: A Look Back at the Year Since.

•April 4, 2008 • No Comments Last supper Battlestar? Moore and co: Good with subtlety.

When Battlestar Galactica returns to the airwaves tonight it will have been a little over one year since the last new episode aired (March 25, 2007). It’s likely unprecedented for an uncancelled show to have such a long hiatus. Back when the third season concluded, I wrote that we’d all be different people when it returned.

So we are. And yet, as we prepare for the start of Battlestar’s final season, I thought it might be fun to explore what’s changed since Battlestar was last a part of our lives. In order to do that, though, we have to go back, way back, to early 2007.

Back when we were all out getting sub-prime mortgages after months of prodding by the wise, old Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Back before the U.S. troop surge turned Iraq into a veritable Eden of peace and compromise.

Back when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had just completed only their tenth democratic primary. (Seriously, it feels like these two have been going at it forever.)

Yes, a lot has happened in that year. We’ve seen the hip/cool/edgy reimagining of the Bionic Woman turn into the pretentious/predictable Bionic Woman and, finally, into the cancelled Bionic Woman.

Now, with a new season knocking on the door, I’m sure there are plenty of questions that viewers are dying to have answered. It’s unfortunate, though, that I can’t remember what any of them were.

So, here are a few thoughts, questions, and predictions for this new season.

-Adama and co will find Earth but it will be populated by apes, thus launching Ronald D. Moore’s next reimagined series.

- Midway through the season CBS will attempt to cancel the show. When someone informs them that BSG isn’t airing on their network they’ll respond that they’ve just gotten so used to canceling shows that people like. In their despair they decide to schedule Big Brother for the next 5 seasons.

-No. of thinly veiled Barack Obama references? No less than three (you know, in the spirit of all the messianic rhetoric that seems to emanate from his campaign and its periphery).

Anyway, I’m glad it’s back. Happy watching.

CBS Execs Finally Pull Trigger on Jericho

•March 22, 2008 • No Comments Jericho’s View from the CBS Scheduling Office

It’s “goodnight sweetheart” for our boys over at Jericho. According to Syfy Portal, CBS finally pulled the plug.

We all saw this coming and those that didn’t are delusional. No broadcast network could continue to support a show that was garnering so little in terms of ratings/market share. Regardless of whatever reason may be responsible for those ratings.

I agree with Syfy Portal that CBS does deserve credit for responding to the “Nuts!” campaign and bringing the show back for a season (although a truncated one).

I will always maintain, however, that the timeslot killed this show but CBS, for whatever reason, has decided that Big Brother is very important to their network (no matter that no one is watching it).

There are some rumors that the show may appear on another network. Honestly, this show probably makes more sense on a SciFi network or USA (maybe after episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger!).

Be sure to tune into this week’s episode on Tuesday. It’s the finale…for now. slot machines cheapest health insurance

You Agree. CBS is Killing Jericho.

•February 22, 2008 • 5 Comments

According to our blog stats, yesterday’s post “Enough Already. Blame Jericho’s Failure on CBS” got your attention. I’ve been reading your comments and, it seems that, for the most part, you agree that Jericho’s failure is more attributable to a poor time-slot, following a failing show, and near non-existent marketing. This as opposed to blaming the writers or the viewers (as in the ones that got the show back on the air).

Yesterday, in the course of going about the things that I get paid to do (ie. not this), I thought of Jericho’s situation in slightly a different way that really clarifies the insanity at CBS.

As some of you have seen, it looks like Jericho is going to be cancelled at the end of the season. No surprise there. Folks associated with CBS apparently say, though, (because this article is all rumor, mind you) that there’s still a chance that the show won’t be cancelled if the fans “come back.”

Someone’s drinking the kool-aid if they think that, because the problem is precisely not a problem of fans “coming back.” The fans are already there, roughly 5 million of them. The problem is that CBS has failed to attract new viewers.

So, here’s the idea that brought it in to focus for me. In order for this show to be saved, we know that they need more than the 7 million or so that watched the premiere (because folks told us that 7million was mediocre, remember?). So, let’s arbitrarily set a number, say 9 million viewers, that would get CBS’s attention enough to give the show another chance at a third season.

This means that CBS would expect approximately 3-4 million additional viewers to tune in to Jericho at 10pm EST than tuned in for Big Brother, their primetime lead-in show, in the previous hour. On a Tuesday night.

I’m sorry, that’s just crazy.

Enough Already. Blame Jericho’s Failure on CBS.

•February 21, 2008 • 15 Comments
It’s week two of Jericho’s return. The latest episode, “Condor,” explores the evils of the new Wyoming government, now called the “Allied States of America,” in more detail. Again viewers were treated to the questionable priorities of the new government who, in a diabolical move that will surely rock this fragile nation to the core, published and distributed revised school history textbooks, A New America, featuring chapter titles such as:
1. How Weak Policies Led to the Demise of the United States
2. The Lack of Action Against the Soviet Union
3. Nixon: Misunderstood Champion of Democracy?
4. Civil Rights: We Gave it a Shot, Right?

Okay, so I made up two of those. But which two…

I’m just saying that maybe, in the radiation-filled wasteland/aftermath of a terrorist attack that destroys some 26 cities, writing a new textbook wouldn’t have been my top priority. Treating people for radiation poisoning so their skin won’t peel off like a fruit roll-up? That’s more like it.

Unfortunately, this surprisingly compelling episode garnered only a 3.9 rating/7 share in Neilsen’s Fast National ratings (essentially an exercise in statistical sampling by pulling numbers from the top markets, including both live viewing and same-day DVR playback). It comes out to around 5.9 million viewers.

For those of you who typically don’t deal with such things, this is how bad it was:
1. Jericho finished last in its time slot.
2. Meaning that it finished BEHIND reruns of Boston Legal and Law & Order: SVU.

Of course, to fall behind an episode of Law & Order isn’t that surprising considering that each episode is exactly like each other. A point that the boys over at Robot Chicken make clear in their chicken-themed send-up.

That being said it’s pretty damned bad.

What’s telling, though, is how bad CBS is getting clobbered in the previous time slot.

Big Brother 34: “The Struggle for Relevancy” took a drubbing (5.4 million viewers) at the hands of Fox’s American Idol (15.7/25…about 29 million viewers).

I know what you’re thinking: “5.4 million people watch CBS? I had no idea there were that many senior citizens in the US.”

I know what you’re thinking. “Who knew Big Brother was still a show?”

Sometimes people get really hung up on tv ratings. I’m not one of those people. But I think that, here, they tell an interesting story about what’s happening to Jericho on Tuesday night.

1. Jericho isn’t getting any help from their primetime lead-in. They might as well air a good lecture on landscape architecture (which, to tell the truth, sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than Big Brother).

2. Last week’s ratings mean that a sizeable portion of viewers sought out Jericho. They turned to CBS after watching Idol (or some other program) or flat-out turned on their tvs to see this show. Think about that for a second. This show comes on at 10pm. When a hell of a lot of people go to bed. The network’s audience actually GREW after the primetime slot.

Simply put, Jericho’s woes aren’t the result of any of the things that normally doom tv shows (poor writing, a shitty concept, etc) nor are they the result of some betrayal at the hands of the devoted viewers who, last season, notoriously petitioned the network to bring the show back.

Nope, pin the responsibility for Jericho’s failure on CBS’s boneheaded scheduling and marketing. Putting this show right after a show that’s been dead for 5 years was a brilliant move if you’re trying to open up some space for yet another CSI. Otherwise, it’s a drain.

Secondly, where’s the marketing for this show? I caught half a bumper during Sunday’s golf tournament. GOLF. You know, that thing that plays on tv when gramps takes his afternoon nap.


Golf, when Ambien isn’t enough...

Look, I’m as thankful as anyone that CBS gave this show another chance. But what I don’t get is why they’re only giving it half of one.

If last season’s “Save Jericho” campaign taught them anything it was that this show has an audience, a damned vocal and clever one at that. Connecting to that audience is CBS’s job. In other words, each Tuesday night all of those hardcore Jericho fans are tuning in (to the tune of about 5 million). CBS needs to grow that audience. Too bad they’re not doing it.

Jericho Redivivus!

•February 13, 2008 • 2 Comments

Skeet Ulrich and company returned last night in CBS’s premiere of the second season of “Jericho.” Like many who spend too much time on these internets (which, as the venerable Sen. Ted Stevens reminds us, are a series of tubes) I was a big fan of the show’s first season and was glad to hear that it was brought back from the dead.


Skeet Ulrich. Who wouldn’t want this guy in charge of a small Kansan town?

Let us, though, be honest with ourselves for a moment. “Jericho” is not a great show. It never would’ve been ascribed to that giant bin titled “brilliant but canceled.” It is, though, a very good show and, in a television season decimated by the strike, I am thrilled to see “Jericho” back on the air. To tell the truth, “Jericho” may be better than I give it credit for since it’s the general dowdiness of CBS shows, shows that look like they’ve been designed with your grandparents in mind, with which I take issue. Example? Take “The Unit,” a show about soldiers in the American special forces. It’s written by David Mamet and produced by Shawn Ryan (the creator of FX’s bit of the ole ultraviolence, “The Shield”) for God’s sake and it still looks like something that could’ve been adapted from Reader’s Digest.

Short Recap:
“Reconstruction” begins by quickly resolving the war between Jericho and Newbern (you know, the town with the nearby Costco). The Army, alerted to Jericho by the machinations of Hawkins in the last episode, arrives and restores order. Jericho fans will be amazed at how much was covered in this episode. I was so used to the show’s writers being mysterious in that first season that I found even the opening recap to be incredibly revealing (did we previously know exactly how many cities had been bombed?).

So, Skeet and co are ready to avenge themselves and Gerald McRaney (Johnston Green) on New Bern. The new army commander Col. Hoffman (Esai Morales) is having none of it, though, and he quickly restores the town’s energy, food and, apparently, television. Meanwhile, Hawkins meets up with another agent and they plan to expose the new government, based in Wyoming, for its role in the domestic nuclear attacks.

There isn’t much of a need to recap much more of it than that, since most of you saw the pirated episodes that made it across the net weeks ago.

So then, how about some quick-hit episode commentary as it jumps into my mind?

-So, they barely have law and order…the army just stopped Jericho and Newbern from fighting a war and they already have a new flag? Uhm, does FEMA have an emergency contingency for creating a new American flag in event of a national disaster? Is that really a priority? Here’s how my list of priorities would go:

1. Defend the nation.
2. Secure the nation.
3. Re-establish law and order
4. Reconstruct cities.
5. Tend to sick and dying.
….
….
….
545. Consider a new flag design more representative of nation’s wretched state.


-Morales looks to be a significant addition to the cast. He seems firm, principled, and also compassionate (which, I bet, they’re going to use to align him with the residents of Jericho when the Wyoming govt is exposed).

-Notably absent were: Gail Green (Pamela Reed), Bonnie Richmond (Shoshannah Stearn), Skylar Stevens (Candace Bailey), and Dale Turner (Erik Knudsen). There was some talk about Pamela Reed not having a contract…because of her age…when the show was un-canceled. At the very least, it’s interesting to see how the writers write around not having these familiar characters from season 1.

Finally, though, I found myself really looking forward to this episode, unlike pretty much the rest of television this year (with Lost being the notable exception), and I think this was a worthy effort. With other episodes like this, there’s a good chance it will only be 5 or 6 weeks until Jericho is canceled in favor of CSI: Dothan, Ala.

Because, seriously, it’s CBS and you know it’s coming.

Sneak Peak: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

•December 14, 2007 • No Comments


Good Television? TERMINATED!

There are some shows that, just by watching the 2 min trailer, you know…you just know that (1) they would only air on Fox, and (2) it will be cancelled before March.

But late 2007/ early 2008 is a strange time for television. The writer’s strike seems to be going on longer than television viewers expected, and since the major networks aren’t bold/crazy/stupid/spiteful enough yet to show only hastily constructed reality shows, other shows, perhaps originally thought too risky/stupid/boring are getting their shot.

Case in point: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. A television series based on the Terminator films.

I hate, and I mean hate, this idea for a couple of reasons.

1. This series establishes, once and for all, that John Connor, despite being the last savior of the human race and protector of blah ba blah…is the ultimate momma’s boy.

One of the (few) reasons that the Terminator 3 wasn’t a total trainwreck was that they moved past Linda Hamilton, past Sarah Connor, and let John FINALLY tell his own story. The story more or less worked because we finally got to see a glimpse of John’s progression to this leader that he is eventually to become.

Bringing the series back to Sarah Connor makes the emphasis all Freudian and weird. This guy seriously can’t get from out under momma. It’s just creepy.

2. Summer Glau, of Firefly fame, is in this series as John Connor’s love interest. I know everyone wants to cry about what an amazing series Firefly supposedly was…and then pat themselves on the back for being so smart, but Summer Glau was a major part of what was wrong with that show. Her performances were just strange.

She strikes me as that really artsy chick you knew in high school that, while attractive, was way, way too into the latest drama class production of Midsummer Night’s Dream. And drew unicorns on her notebooks, natch.

3. It looks to be ANOTHER series about sci-fi girl power. I’m not really sure how we got to this point, but it looks like television screenwriters are equating a renegotiation of gender roles with bone-crushing round-house kicks to the face. This one only ups the ante. Not only is Sarah Connor the gun wielding badass we remember from the films, but Summer Glau’s character is…wait for it…a good/ reprogramed terminator sent back from the future to protect John. You knew she had to be, right? She just can’t be the normal love interest.

There it is. I’ve thrown down the gauntlet. I defy Summer Glau to be convincing in a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. Bet she can’t do it without having to be a karate expert/secret agent/ weird conglomeration of mysticism and martial arts ala the Fifth Element.

Seriously, tell me this girl didn’t have a unicorn trapper keeper and wear strange colored scarfs year round that she made herself.

4. It’s on Fox, how good could it be? The Terminator movies were some of the most expensive ever made. It’s frightening to think how awful this will look on a television show’s, a FOX television show’s budget.

The early verdict? Wouldn’t be surprised if this one gets terminated before it airs. God, let’s hope so.

More Info: LINK

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Tags: Summer Glau, Terminator

Explanation for LSU in BCS title game? Zombies.

•December 3, 2007 • No Comments

For some reason, I get the sense that this particular zombie drives a tricked-out Honda Civic with a muffler/exhaust mod and neon underbody lights.

Despite being a huge college football fan (and sports fan in general), I never write about sports here. There are plenty of blogs out there that do that and do it extremely well But this week’s amazing, nearly apocalyptic finish to the college football regular season got me thinking that maybe the topic isn’t so irrelevant to the blog.

How can LSU, a team that lost twice to teams who finished out of the top 25, who lost both times it was ranked no.1 during the regular season, who lost just last week(!), how can that team now find itself in the national title game, as it does, against Ohio State University?

The answer? They’re zombies.

That’s right. You can blather on and on about their strength of schedule or the fact that their only two losses came in triple OT, but the only explanation that makes any sense is that the Tigers are driven by an insatiable lust for brains…and the national title.

The Kentucky game, early as it was in the season, was like lobbing off an arm or leg. Sure the zombie walks in circles, menacing circles perhaps. But if movies have taught us anything, it’s that, given time, you’ll eventually find em crawling back up the stairs…or into the No. 1 ranking.

Finally, we all thought the Razorbacks, Boss Hawg (Houston Nutt), and Darren McFadden had delivered the dolorous stroke. McFadden was, we were told, humanity advanced. Like a bad horror flick, it was only a shot to the chest. Standing over the carcass (assumed dead), the male lead starts comforting the Jamie Lee Curtis character.

“Yeah, baby, it’s all over now. We can go on with our lives.”

Then BAM! Jacob Hester’s running down the field for 10+ yards.


Jacob Hester, no. 18, senior running back.

How many times have we seen it? And it still happens. So, what do you do if you’re Ohio State? Take a cue from some of the landmarks of the genre (Any of Romero’s Dead movies, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead): destroy the brain.

Finding it? Good luck.

Is Miles hiding a zombie master-brain under that cap? You be the judge.

SF Roundup: Fall Primetime

•September 25, 2007 • No Comments

The fall television season has returned with some new (and some not-so-new) tasty SF offerings. Here’s how they rate.


Quantum Leap, Part 2.

Journeyman’s pilot episode is middling enjoyable as long as you’re comfortable with the fact that it’s really Quantum Leap without Al.


“This shirt is so fresh!”

The episode cashes in on the assumption that time travel is awesome when we can go back to the 80s and make fun of the clothes we wore and the music we listened to. At one point, you almost expect to see someone listening to Flock of Seagulls, driving a De Lorean…all whilst avoiding the Noid.


Yes, stainless steel and sports car, together at last!

It turns out new-Sam (I’m sorry but I’m just too lazy to look up the character’s real name) lost a fiancee to a plane crash some 8 years before. Although he’s married and has a son, we’re led to believe that new-Sam hasn’t moved on. Mix in a vaguely referenced history of gambling and philandering, and we’ve got a significantly less likeable Sam.

Eventually it’s suggested that the old flame, played by an actress named…I swear to God…Moon Bloodgood, may not have died in that plane crash. Instead, it appears she may be another leaper…putting right what once went wrong.


Moon aka Livia.

In all fairness, the last quarter of the episode does improve significantly, primarily because the show stops trying to wow you with its time traveling (which is actually quite boring), and gets back to the relationship between Dan (ok, I looked it up) and his wife (who, it turns out, had been his brother’s girlfriend before Livia’s/Moon’s death by planecrash), Katie. Time traveling is tough on a marriage, it seems, and Katie’s tired of playing 2nd fiddle to a dead girl (and to tell the truth, Gretchen Egolf (Katie) is more attractive than Moonbeam in a girl-next-door/a girl-you’re-more-likely-to-marry kind of way).


Gretchen Egolf aka Katie

Verdict? Ziggy says there’s a 32.5 percent chance this one gets any better than this.
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Heroes (Season 2)

This episode was about what we’ve come to expect from the show.
1. There’s still too much going on in every episode.
2. There’s still that annoying voice-over that explains everything to you like your superpower is extreme stupidity.
3. A new season, a new Nissan to sell. It’s so obvious. What did we do to deserve this disrespect Nissan? Try harder.
4. Overall, pretty predictable dialogue and the plot still rambles along quasi-coherently. But hey, they’re all a bunch of beautiful, multicultural people. I’m starting to think that’s the only reason to watch.

Flash

I know this isn’t a new show. And I know that I got the new Ming all wrong in the post below. But does anyone really care? This show is so dead. If you’re still watching it, shame on you. It’s a shame, too, because with some decent writing, it could have been pretty good.

Tomorrow: Bionic Woman!

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