Like vampires, zombies have hit the big time.
Programs like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries have shown how popular blood-suckers can be. But what about their undead buddies, the zombies?
Turns out they are getting their shot at stardom as well. Just look at The Walking Dead, a comic being turned into a television program on AMC.
I am very fortunate in that I was able to access all three episodes of the British program Sherlock, an updated version of Sherlock Holmes created by Steven Moffat (of Doctor Who fame) and Mark Gatiss. It’s well done and very gripping drama and mystery, always keeping the viewer on the edge of his or her seat.
Over on SciFiPulse.Net, site head honcho Ian M. Cullen recently posted the following story about the show:
>>Monsters And Critics has just released its top picks of some of the drama that will be coming up in the new 2010/11 television season.
Yesterday, I posted here on this blog my first column for the great website MonstersAndCritics.com. Not long after that one ran, my second column, about television in general, appeared on the site at this link. If you just want to sit back and read it here, venture forward!
>>The mercurial nature of television, treasure what you love while it’s here
Everything on television is a fad. Every show or family of shows comes, runs its course, then goes away … eventually.
Just what is a “fad?” The dictionary defines it as “a temporary fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc., esp. one followed enthusiastically by a group.”
I’ve mentioned previously that I recently started writing for a great website called MonstersAndCritics.com. I thought this weekend, I would share a couple of my first articles that appeared there. Here’s my first one, found at this link:
>>’Unnatural History’ Adds ‘Life’ To The Cartoon Network
For a while, the Cartoon Network has been trying to add live-action programs to their line-up.
While the early experiments didn’t fare very well, the unscripted shows Destroy Build Destroy and Dude, What Would Happen? have become solid hits for the channel.
As someone who works for a newspaper, I can easily say that “change” is something that the media is facing on an almost daily basis.
However, I wasn’t aware that such major upheaval was in the offing!
Here’s an article about a revolutionary idea one local television station has in mind, from The Daily News:
>>Word that a Houston station is considering anchorless news has folks wondering whether this is the next wave of TV news or just a stunt to draw attention by a station with low ratings.
It takes a while to sort out what happens each year at the San Diego Comic-Con. This year is no exception. At SciFiPulse.Net, Ian and I are still sifting through news items and videos from the big event.
Here’s how one reporter, rudie from anyclip.com, looked back at his con experience:
>>It’s Tuesday, I just got back from San Diego and Comic-Con. This was my first trip to Comic-Con and moreover, my first trip to San Diego. What a wonderful city! This city is the perfect mix of surf and pop culture. Everything in the downtown area is dedicated to Comic-Con and it’s fans. From the 70 degree weather to the smell of sea water, to the beautiful people of southern California to, of course, the beach; my experience in San Diego for Comic Con was magical, exciting and, by far, one of the nerdiest things I have ever done in my life.
For fans of comics and genre-related television and films, this weekend is literally Christmas in July. Now, I’ve never been to the San Diego Comic-Con, but I hope to get there next year, if I’m at all lucky. I do understand it takes over a huge portion of the city, and trying to drive is a big mistake … better to use the local cabs and buses.
I do have a friend who has gone to Comic-Con several times, and he enjoys himself. He remembers when Comic-Con only dealt with … comics. Now it is a huge media event, with trailers and promos for upcoming film and television programs turning into big business. A good example of this was the first Iron Man film, which got a huge boost from word-of-mouth publicity, and that’s largely credited for making it a franchise for Marvel. Of course, others took notice of that, so there will be trailers and preview footage for Green Lantern from DC and Tron: Legacy from Disney as well as the upcoming Thor film for Marvel.
It’s hard to believe, but people in the United States may actually be turning off their televisions in favor of other forms of entertainment.
Yes, you read that right. The nightly ritual of plunking down in front of the “idiot box” may be coming to an end. Some things have led up to this, including the writers’ strike (when people learned they could live without their favorite programs) and the growing number of alternative things to do, like find out what is happening on the Internet or using their DVD players.
I think this is a good thing, and that’s coming from a long-time TV viewer. When we choose to watch the “boob tube” only when there is something worth watching, that’s serious progress, I think.
When I was looking through videos for yesterday’s entry, I came across one that really surprised me. As you can probably tell from my discussions, I enjoy the Muppets a lot. They tend to look at things through a pretty innocent pair of spectacles, and I find that refreshing, especially these days.
The video I came across is below, Robin singing “Halfway Down The Stairs:”
After eight seasons, the phenomenon that was 24 has concluded. This program demanded that we pay attention to what was happening on the screen, and that was something new and special compared to “background” television programs that you didn’t have to watch carefully.
Here’s one review, from Mary McNamara at the Los Angeles Times:
>>In the end, it all came down to Jack and Chloe, surely one of television’s most complicated, and unconsummated, romances. Yes, Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) is married and Jack ( Kiefer Sutherland) has had his string of disastrous love affairs, but it was Chloe who saved him from all his enemies, including, in the second-to-the-last hour of the series, himself. And it was Chloe to whom Jack directed his final farewell via drone satellite. “When you first came to CTU,” he said, bloodied but unbowed as ever. “I never thought it was going to be you that was going to cover my back all those years…. Thank you.”
