Saturday, February 7, 2009

I'll take potpourri for $4,900, Alex

TV's top love triangles.

Time talks to Eliza Dushku about Dollhouse.

So does Suicide Girls.

LA Times chats with Elizabeth Fain and Sarah Craft about Dollhouse.

Talent AND tittays.

Ditto. Especially the latter. Wow.

Finally, good news about the economy.

Bill Paxton chats about Big Love, which is just en fuego this year.

Watching the Super Bowl, I was never sure that there were two feet down on the Santonio Holmes catch. But check out pics 10 and 12 here.

A podcast for my friend Meg.

That's one hot stripper.

Sayid, one man killing machine. But stand up comic? Er, not so much.

I haven't gone through the latest and greatest, but as of Thursday, some stuff that was in the "stimulus" bill. Yep, I feel great about it.

The second episode of Angel was intended to be a lot darker than it turned out. So was Kate.

A brilliant and thoughtful post from Roger Ebert
, ostensibly about The Reader (spoilers for that movie), but also touching on politics, religion and "creationism."

The Big O throws "us" another bone at the national prayer breakfast.

Long treatise on why conservatism is dead. And of course, it all depends on how you define "conservative."

Sci-fi and supernatural shows that were canceled too soon. No arguments here. (BTW, why don't "canceled" and "traveled" have two "l's?" Like "judgment" with no "e" after the "g," I always misspell those. But the former two aren't in the list of the Top 100 most frequently misspelled words).

I bet the lung capacity shown during his Olympic performance results in some extra tasty bong hits. Dude.

TV Week interviews Joss about Dollhouse. Interesting, in that they ask the "cable question." For the life of me, I've never understood why Joss returned to FOX and network TV after Firefly. Well, I understand in the sense that I know the story (Eliza had a deal with FOX, met with Joss to discuss her career, and *poof* here comes Dollhouse). But I don't understand, when a cable network (FX, AMC, TNT, Sci-Fi, Showtime, HBO) seems like such an OBVIOUS fit. Think about it: At its zenith, Buffy brought in 5.3 million viewers (S3). Angel brought in 4.8 (S1). Both of those shows were outside the Top 100 in the rankings, though at the very top for their tiny network (WB, at the time). Firefly was canceled on FOX for pulling in the same 5 million viewer range. So is there a cap to Whedon-viewing? If Dollhouse pulls in 5 - 6 million on a Friday night, will FOX let that go? For how long? On the other hand, Mad Men lives in the 1-2 million range on AMC. BSG does the same for Skiffy. Shows on FX are successful in the 3 - 5 million range. Shows on HBO or Showtime continue to thrive with 1 - 3 million on their first airing. USA and TNT would love to have something consistently perform in the 4 - 6 million range. And wouldn't they kill to have a loyal, fanatical fanbase that tunes in each week, buys the iTunes versions, buys the DVDs and lights up the message boards? And appreciates the network for supporting their show, rather than a love-hate relationship with the network that they feel is always on the verge of killing their show? Look, I want Dollhouse on FOX to succeed as much as the next fanboy, and I'm looking forward to a Friday night lineup of Sarah Connor and Dollhouse on FOX, followed by BSG on Skiffy. But realistically, I'm not holding my breath about the long term prospects. I just hope that Joss realizes his gift for creating and tell stories in a long-term format, and takes his next show where it belongs, and where it will be appreciated and nourished.

The "grindhouse" style trailers for Sarah Connor and Dollhouse.

LA Times talks with Eliza.

Joss talks with Wharton about monetizing internet content.

Another Dollhouse piece. And another. (Damn, is it next Friday yet?!!)

Tron and Depeche Mode. Two great tastes that taste great together.

An open letter to the new chair of the RNC. Damn straight.

The Watcher chats with the writer of last week's brilliant BSG, "The Oath."

A field guide to various fanboy groups.

Great interview with David Fincher.

Adam Baldwin chats with the AV Club.

The duck in the truck. Cute.

How to do comic book lettering and grammar.

2 comments:

  1. Holmes catch: I saw this on Big Lead as well. I think #12 is the most definitive look I've seen. He got both toes in.

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  2. These potpourri posts are awesome...guaranteed to take up several hours of my day..

    ReplyDelete