Variety television columnist Brian Lowry recently wrote an excellent commentary about commercials cutting into story on network television that should not be missed. I agree with his point so strongly that it I previously made it #1 on my list of Top Ten Problems with Television. I believe Lowry is correct to highlight how the [...]
Geeks everywhere have been wondering whether Ronald D. Moore and company, now universally loved by critics for turning the 1970s sci-fi cheesefest Battlestar Galactica into a relevant and beautiful allegory for the 21st century, would be able to work their same magic on an even cheesier sci-fi show. So far, the answer seems to be [...]
In the late nineties, a trend began in which a movie coming into a theater faced the need to sell a whole lot of tickets in its very first weekend, or it would get pulled, and the next movie would come along to take a shot at a big opener. No time for the flick [...]
I’m not going to do much of a review here, because the real pilot to this show was the episode of Grey’s Anatomy that aired last May. And if you take your temperature as to how you currently feel about Grey’s, that’s about how you’re going to react to Private Practice. Can’t get enough of [...]
Just as Kevin Smith promised, he’s finally working on projects that aren’t rehashes of his mid-90s breakout work. But it’s safe to say that the man has a defined taste. Smith didn’t write the pilot for CW’s Reaper–it looks to have been created by a pair of Law and Order: SVU writers, of all things–but [...]
Start with a Stanford grad who majored in engineering yet doesn’t make a lot of money. So far, I can identify. Very, very well, in fact. Then make him romantically reclusive because he’s hung up on a girl named Jill, and give him finger injuries from excessive video gaming. Hey… This is getting creepy… Next, [...]
Earlier this week, I posted that Back to You has everything going for it. It stars sitcom veterans, was written by creators of past hits, and the pilot was directed by sitcom guru James Burrows. Still, somehow it comes across as little stale. The Big Bang Theory is likewise a powerhouse of talent. It also [...]
I tried writing a time travel movie once. It doesn’t work. If I could use a time machine to go back in time, I’d tell my younger self not to write a time travel movie. To successfully pull it off, one must make the rules of one’s fictional conceit and universe extremely clear to the [...]
In a way, I’m really rooting for this show to succeed. In a world where sitcoms have lost their footing, Back to You represents a network putting faith in a traditional, old school, three-camera, half-hour program. And while I have long since become more a fan of one-cameras that let me laugh when I want [...]
So my housemate says to me that she doesn’t want to know anything about any of the new fall TV shows. She already has enough shows to follow, she says, and would prefer not to add anymore timesuckage to her schedule. Pish tosh. If she cuts back on viewing hours, whom’m I gonna veg on [...]
Asked who I admire in the field of screenwriting, I suppose I’d give many of the standard answers. There’s a reason David Koepp makes the money he does. Charlie Kaufman is a mad genius. William Goldman has a career of mostly masterpieces, and Lawrence Kasdan‘s credits include some biggies. Then of course you’ve some of [...]
Maybe it’s not as cool as the Beowulf one I put up yesterday, but I’m no less excited by Iron Man. With a release date of next May, clearly this is Marvel’s attempt at filling the Spider-Man void (till the 2009 release of Spider-Man 4, according to IMDb, but it’s hard to say how official [...]
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