May 29th, 2007 by screenwriterguy
 I’m not fond of some of the labels and diagnoses that psychologists use with children, but it’s fair to say that one of the students I tutor has a… disorder, which causes him to have a… deficit… of… attention. There, I think that was subtle enough. Anyway, I find that a large part of my job involves repeating, “Do your math!” while he looks for any and every reason to do anything and everything else.
One of his favorite techniques is to ask me questions, hoping that it will cause a distracting, non-mathematical side conversation. I try to be stern, but there’s a part of me inside that sometimes really enjoys the things he comes up with. There were a couple of beauties today:
“How do cannibals eat people? I mean, do they, like, start with the arms, then the legs…?” and“How long do you think you have to study to be, like, a really, like, MASTER ninja?”
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Posted in General Musings | No Comments »
May 27th, 2007 by screenwriterguy
 Summer is upon us. It’s Memorial Day weekend, and another sweeps month has come and gone. A few cable shows remain, but most of the good stuff on TV has ended it’s season or series. (Bye-bye Veronica. I sure would have liked to watch you take down the elite white-man secret society, as we were last week promised–and denied.)So, what do we do, faced with a few months of fending for ourselves, without the magic box lulling us nightly with its stories? Personally, along with plenty of slow dinners sipping margaritas on patios, I like to use summer downtime to catch up on those TV shows that I should have been watching all along, but somehow never did. Naturally, there are movies to be seen, but there’s something really involving and satisfying about watching a series from beginning to end, no commercials, no breaks, no reruns.
Last year The West Wing and Deadwood were my projects. This year I guess I’ll start in on 24 and The Sopranos? I saw the pilots of those and wasn’t excited. Curb Your Enthusiasm and Sex and the City are also shows I’ve seen almost none of. What’s worth my time? I very much welcome your suggestions.
Meanwhile, in return let me offer a dozen or so little gems a lot of people missed, which are all worthy of moving up your Netflix queue: |
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Posted in Top 10 Lists, TV Shows | 10 Comments »
May 25th, 2007 by screenwriterguy
 The last thing the world needs more of is written evidence that I am a geeky nerdy loser geek.
Still, I couldn’t help being annoyed when I read this article in yesterday’s Variety about a new He-man movie coming out. Sure, some of my annoyance stems from the fact that yet another fond memory of my youth is about to be dug up and shat upon by Hollywood, all in the hopes that name recognition equals tent pole.
What really bugged me though was the article describing He-man’s home world of Eternia as “Middle Earth-like.”
OK, let’s get something straight, Michael Fleming of Variety magazine. Prince Adam lived on another planet, in a futuristic kingdom where magic and technology coexist. Frodo lived in a sylvan land of enchantment from time immemorial. He-Man is science fiction. The Hobbit is fantasy. Lumping them together is dismissive of an entire genre. Pretty much the only thing they have in common is main characters with special swords. Also, Samwise and Cringer were lame sidekicks.
No, I don’t have a girlfriend. Shut up. |
Posted in Industry News | 5 Comments »
May 20th, 2007 by screenwriterguy
OK, before I step too far into the land of sacrilege, let me begin with the caveat that I love Jane Espenson. Not only does she maintain one of the most useful blogs a writer could hope to find, adding a genuinely useful tidbit with alarming frequency, but the woman wrote some of my favorite episodes of my favorite show. If you have the tiniest interest in writing for television, her blog is required reading.
That said, I must now officially disagree with one of her recommendations. Yesterday’s journey to the WGA “Breaking into the Box” all-day workshop convinced me.
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Posted in On Writing | No Comments »
May 19th, 2007 by screenwriterguy
After a week of all the big announcements from television networks about next fall’s TV schedule, I thought it might be nice to consolidate all of the schedules, grid-style. Those of us planning our next TV spec script can use this to help figure out which show would be a good choice. (A tip from
soyouwanna.com suggests picking a show that’s been on from 3-5 years, so I’ve included years on air below.)
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comedy
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drama
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game show
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soap
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animation
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“reality”
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new programming
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(##) number of upcoming season
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link to preview
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8:00
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Dancing with the Stars
(cycle 5)
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How I Met Your Mother (3)
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Everybody Hates Chris (3)
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Prison Break (3)
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Deal or No Deal (3)
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8:30
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The Big Bang Theory
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Aliens in America
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9:00
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Two and a Half Men (5)
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Girlfriends (8)
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K-Ville
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Heroes (2)
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9:30
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Sam I Am
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Rules of Engagement (2)
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The Game (2)
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10:00
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The Bachelor
(cycle 11)
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CSI: Miami (6)
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Journeyman
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10:30
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Posted in TV Shows, Industry News | 2 Comments »
May 16th, 2007 by screenwriterguy
 I shan’t dwell on all of this week’s fall TV schedule announcements. (That’s right. Shan’t.) There are bloggers and sites much more useful than mine for gathering that information. However, I’ve conjectured over the last weeks, both to friends and on this blog, and I thought I should hit the highlights. ***Some items contain minor spoilers.*** |
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Posted in TV Shows, Industry News | No Comments »
