Random TV Stuff - 6/15/13

HBO's GAME OF THRONES - I watched Season 3 all within a week and a half. Love that series. Love its faithfulness to the books, and yet it has its own surprises.  Really liked the chemistry between Jon Snow and Ygritte, between Jaime and Brienne, between Margery and Joffrey, between Tyrion and Sansa, between Arya and the Hound, between Dany and her dragons. Obviously it's not all romantic chemistry, but the actors and characters are well-matched.

Season 1 was Book 1, Season 2 was Book 2, and Season 3 has been about the first 60% of Book 3.  Now as to the next few seasons, I think they're going to take the events of the rest of Book 3, and then Books 4 & 5, and tell the events chronologically.  I think we'll see elements from Books 3, 4 and 5 all in Season 4, just due to the nature of the way they were written.  It also means that some seasons are going to see shorter shrift from certain characters.  For instance, I don't know what the producers think they're going to do with Theon, but after watching him get tortured for all of Season 3, I don't want a whole other season or two of it, and based on future events I'm aware of, it's a while before his situation improves. (In the books, I don't think he's even in Books 3 or 4).

Now I feel like I want to reread them.

AMC's THE KILLING - I'm really enjoying the setup this season.  It's already better than the first two seasons.  Linden (Mireille Enos) and Holder (Joel Kinnaman) are back on a case tracking a serial killer exhibiting an M.O. of a killer (Peter Sarsgaard) already on death row.  It still has that patented moroseness, but this time they've promised the case will be solved this season, and so far so good.

NBC's THE GOODWIN GAMES - Wealthy patriarch (Beau Bridges) dies and leaves a series of challenges to his three adult children in order to determine who gets his inheritance.  The three of them aren't really mean or self-absorbed, but since this has already been cancelled, no need to see just what hoops they have to jump through.

NBC's SAVE ME - Anne Heche stars in this comedy about a woman who has a near-death experience and decides to change her ways, but she also has episodes where she can read others' thoughts.  It was hammy and I couldn't make it through a full episode.

FOX's DOES SOMEONE NEED TO GO? - One of those sadistic reality shows where employees at a company are asked to vote on who they think should get fired.  It's worse than the "emperor hanging out with the peasants" aspect of Undercover Boss.  It's amazing to see all these companies where they're all Americans, in the same building, working side-by-side. (I'm used to my co-workers being all over the world.)

Random Movie News - 7/27/12

- Ralph Macchio has joined the cast of Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins as the famous director. The film centers around the difficulty Hitchcock had in getting Psycho made.  It co-stars Helen Mirren, Toni Collette, Danny Huston, Michael Stuhlbarg, James D'Arcy (Anthony Perkins), Jessica Biel (Vera Miles) and Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh.

- Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet, Thor) will direct the next Jack Ryan movie.  Based on the character created by Tom Clancy, Ryan will be played by Chris Pine (Star Trek).  Previously Ryan has been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck.  Branagh will also play the villain.

- Jackie Earle Haley (Dark Shadows, Watchmen) has joined the cast of RoboCop, and Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder) is also in talks to join.  It stars Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Hugh Laurie, Abbie Cornish and Samuel L. Jackson.

- Warner Bros has moved Gangster Squad from September 7 to January 11. It'll give them a chance to do reshoots. The movie, and trailer for it, contains a scene where gunmen shoot up a movie theater.  That scene will be removed, and the shootout staged in a different location.  It stars Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Emma Stone and Nick Nolte.

- Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) is adapting Jack Finney's 1970 illustrated novel Time & Again, about a man who enlists in a secret government experiment and time-travels to 1882.  Once there, he falls in love and is torn whether to stay in the past or return to the present.


- Brandon Sanderson has sold the movie rights for his upcoming novel Steelheart, in a near future where a handful of people develop super powers.  One of them, Steelheart, seizes control of a city and kills the father of a boy who grows up to join a rebellion against the super-villains.  Sanderson's best known for his Mistborn trilogy, and for helping complete the Wheel of Time series for Robert Jordan.


- Lady Gaga is the latest to join the cast of Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills, starring Danny Trejo, Mel Gibson, Zoe Saldana, Sofia Vergara, Michelle Rodriguez, Demian Bichir, Amber Heard and Charlie Sheen.

- AMC has cancelled The Killing after two season. The producers said they will try to find the show a home on another channel.  Although it had strong ratings in its first season, the cliffhanger finale upset viewers, and there was a steep decline in ratings for season 2.  The two stars meanwhile have attached themselves to high-profile films.  Mirielle Enos will appear opposite Brad Pitt in the zombie apocalypse action-comedy World War Z, and Joel Kinnaman will play the lead in RoboCop.

AMC TV Shows

THE KILLING starts up again next week. Wasn't the season finale just six months ago? Regardless, I'm glad it's back soon enough. My wife watched season 1 with me but she decided she has no interest in season 2. I'll watch season 2, but I really hope it's not as morose as season 1. One can only take watching grieving parents for so long.

Still haven't watched the season finale of THE WALKING DEAD. I just hope the writers get a hold of themselves in season 3. Season 2 was full of bad dialogue and confusing character motivations. Still love the show; I just hope since we're getting the Governor in season 3 that it picks up. Was sad to see Dale go, but I liked how they had Shane exit. It had to be him or Rick.  I know they leave the farm and I assume a couple more characters get killed, but it'll be good for them to be on the road again.

I loved the season opener of MAD MEN. So nice to see Don Draper and company back. Now we're in 1966, and times are a-changing even as the characters wish they weren't. I liked the power struggle of SCDP, where Pete's exploring his powers as junior partner. He can pull in the unglamorous work, and now Roger Sterling finds himself trying to hide his uselessness. I like how Pete's a petty jerk except when he's around his wife. She brings out the best in him.

The underlying theme of Mad Men continues to be people looking for what they want, and when they get it, they're still not happy.  Don impulsively proposed to Megan at the end of last season.  Now they're a few months into their marriage and they already have cracks showing.  Roger and Lane are clearly unfulfilled in their marriages as well.

By the way, I tried about half an episode of COMIC BOOK MEN, the new reality show from Kevin Smith. I lasted about half an episode. Picture all the friends you had in college. Now picture the four geekiest who never grew up. Now picture them with their own show. What you are now picturing is more engaging than the reality of the actual show.

[Update: I watched the finale of The Walking Dead tonight.  I like how the group's on the run now.  I would have guessed that Patricia and Jimmy would have become zombie-food; they were the least developed characters on the show.  The show is at its best in action-mode.  When it got into dialogue, it entered shaky ground, and some actors are better at making it work than others.  I also like that Andrea is separated from the group, and now we have this cool hooded sword-lady with armless walkers as pets.]