Michael Stephenson's Blog, page 13
October 16, 2015
How Not To Defend A Sociopath #HowToGetAwayWithMurder #HTGAWM #ABC #TGIT
How Not To Defend A Sociopath #HowToGetAwayWithMurder #HTGAWM #ABC #TGIT
All pictures courtesy of ABC
Episode four of the second season of How To Get Away With Murder (#HTGAWM) aired last night and boy was it crazy as far as the client goes. With the season now well on its way, many of the shows both old and new are settling into what they will be and the tone they'll set for this season, and while some shows have changed their modus operandi (cough *Blacklist* cough; doesn't mean it's not good because it is still really good), others have stayed the course giving us the good twisty, drama we all want. How To Get Away With Murder fits squarely in the latter category.
Opening with the flashforward of Annalise's possible death after being shot or stabbed in the house of her rich clients, the kids sans-Asher as usual, hopped into the cop's car after he found them on the side of the road. This only after they fled the scene from the mansion where they left Mrs. Keating to die in a pool of her own blood. Who shot or stabbed her is still up for debate and will remain so for much of the season as did her husband's murderer last season. What they have given us as viewers is the fact that her cop ex-boyfriend who she tried framing for Sam's death is now on the kids' side. Not only does he help with their escape in the flashforward, but he also helps Wes find the dead girl that Bonnie killed on the first episode of this season/season finale of last season weeks prior to Annalise's life-threatening injury. Does he believe Annalise killed Rebecca? I'd actually say the jury's still out on that, but he does think something suspicious is going on.
Speaking of Nate, his dying-in-a-hospital wife gets the courage to call her husband's mistress and invite Annalise in for a bedside visit. Is this to yell at her and curse her out? No, actually she wants to ask the woman a very important question: will Annalise help her commit suicide. Just a few pills stolen by her guy Frank and she'd slip off into oblivion. As much as it looks like she considers it throughout the episode, even daring to zone out a few times and get sloppy on her current case, Annalise doesn't take the woman up on the offer. Too smart for that, she surely knows that not only would it be morally and ethically wrong but if she did get the pills, she would only be showing that both her and her main grease guy Frank are capable of heinous crimes such as murder. She even goes so far as to tell the cop about the proposal, not that they're on the best of terms.
Speaking of her current case, it was juicy. A teenage girl convicted of killing her best friend in a brutal stabbing attack, the girl poses the murder as something she was peer pressured into doing by two other popular girls. A classic case of in-crowd syndrome, the two girls grew up together and were like sisters until the dead one started being noticed by the "popular girls." A kind heart, she dragged her best friend along with her but didn't realize that her BFF would be so obsessed with trying to fit in with the cool crowd that she would become a life-model robot, bending to the will of her feminine overlords regardless of what they said. The group started to turn on the dead, kind girl and pressured her manipulated BFF into stabbing her over 50 times somewhere in the woods.
One of the few people not distracted and with good sense working the case, Laurel suspects the girl of lying. She confiscates her phone to reveal a few videos in which the girls bragged about killing the fourth girl, Annalise's client even going so far as to suggest their next victim, a teacher who gave her a C. Still loving their daughter, her parents order the recording buried by Annalise but only after Connor has already sent a copy of the recording to the prosecution. His conviction: he's tired of seeing murder treated as if it were normal. The recording coupled with the testimony of one of the girls makes the accused flip out and scream in the courtroom how both of the so-called popular girls were basic 'B's that weren't worth anything before she made them interesting. She was the mastermind behind the crime the entire time (did that just rhyme? Ooo, I think I'm still doing it. Aww, I lost it. Never mind).
No, we aren't sleeping together.
One of the few cases Keating actually loses, she gets good news on the other overarching case of the season with the adopted siblings suspected of offing their parents. In what is only legal incest (not the real thing. Damn that sounds creepy. Uck!), the two adopted siblings were accused of having an affair. Annalise sent Michaela to test the boy to see if he showed any interest in her, though only bisexual, gay and agenda-plying men have ever looked her way. The good news comes when the young woman admits she is a virgin which they then have proved by a doctor. But for every one good thing, Annalise has a bad thing follow. She sees Wes and the cop speaking in the parking lot. Wes thinks he found Rebecca's body in a cemetery where Frank's brother works as groundskeeper. Only the fourth episode of the season and there's been more scheming, plotting and backstabber-y than you could brandish a gun at.
What do you think? Have you been having a hard time keeping up with all the twists and back-biting? Are you a little ticked I didn't mention the thing with Asher? Do you think they'll find Rebecca's body? And who do you killed (no, not Annalise, though feel free to write your theories below) the prosecuting attorney with whom Asher is working? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “It's taken some work but I finally have 'em, the worst of the worst."
P.S. Yes, ladies and gentlemen and nerds everywhere, their are only five and a half months left before Batman V. Superman comes out which means we can officially start the countdown for Suicide Squad also. And although that's not a good sign-off for me every time, it reminded that Will Smith and Viola Davis are in that movie. Yeah!
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Twitter@filmbooksbball
All pictures courtesy of ABC Episode four of the second season of How To Get Away With Murder (#HTGAWM) aired last night and boy was it crazy as far as the client goes. With the season now well on its way, many of the shows both old and new are settling into what they will be and the tone they'll set for this season, and while some shows have changed their modus operandi (cough *Blacklist* cough; doesn't mean it's not good because it is still really good), others have stayed the course giving us the good twisty, drama we all want. How To Get Away With Murder fits squarely in the latter category.
Opening with the flashforward of Annalise's possible death after being shot or stabbed in the house of her rich clients, the kids sans-Asher as usual, hopped into the cop's car after he found them on the side of the road. This only after they fled the scene from the mansion where they left Mrs. Keating to die in a pool of her own blood. Who shot or stabbed her is still up for debate and will remain so for much of the season as did her husband's murderer last season. What they have given us as viewers is the fact that her cop ex-boyfriend who she tried framing for Sam's death is now on the kids' side. Not only does he help with their escape in the flashforward, but he also helps Wes find the dead girl that Bonnie killed on the first episode of this season/season finale of last season weeks prior to Annalise's life-threatening injury. Does he believe Annalise killed Rebecca? I'd actually say the jury's still out on that, but he does think something suspicious is going on. Speaking of Nate, his dying-in-a-hospital wife gets the courage to call her husband's mistress and invite Annalise in for a bedside visit. Is this to yell at her and curse her out? No, actually she wants to ask the woman a very important question: will Annalise help her commit suicide. Just a few pills stolen by her guy Frank and she'd slip off into oblivion. As much as it looks like she considers it throughout the episode, even daring to zone out a few times and get sloppy on her current case, Annalise doesn't take the woman up on the offer. Too smart for that, she surely knows that not only would it be morally and ethically wrong but if she did get the pills, she would only be showing that both her and her main grease guy Frank are capable of heinous crimes such as murder. She even goes so far as to tell the cop about the proposal, not that they're on the best of terms.
Speaking of her current case, it was juicy. A teenage girl convicted of killing her best friend in a brutal stabbing attack, the girl poses the murder as something she was peer pressured into doing by two other popular girls. A classic case of in-crowd syndrome, the two girls grew up together and were like sisters until the dead one started being noticed by the "popular girls." A kind heart, she dragged her best friend along with her but didn't realize that her BFF would be so obsessed with trying to fit in with the cool crowd that she would become a life-model robot, bending to the will of her feminine overlords regardless of what they said. The group started to turn on the dead, kind girl and pressured her manipulated BFF into stabbing her over 50 times somewhere in the woods.
One of the few people not distracted and with good sense working the case, Laurel suspects the girl of lying. She confiscates her phone to reveal a few videos in which the girls bragged about killing the fourth girl, Annalise's client even going so far as to suggest their next victim, a teacher who gave her a C. Still loving their daughter, her parents order the recording buried by Annalise but only after Connor has already sent a copy of the recording to the prosecution. His conviction: he's tired of seeing murder treated as if it were normal. The recording coupled with the testimony of one of the girls makes the accused flip out and scream in the courtroom how both of the so-called popular girls were basic 'B's that weren't worth anything before she made them interesting. She was the mastermind behind the crime the entire time (did that just rhyme? Ooo, I think I'm still doing it. Aww, I lost it. Never mind).
No, we aren't sleeping together. One of the few cases Keating actually loses, she gets good news on the other overarching case of the season with the adopted siblings suspected of offing their parents. In what is only legal incest (not the real thing. Damn that sounds creepy. Uck!), the two adopted siblings were accused of having an affair. Annalise sent Michaela to test the boy to see if he showed any interest in her, though only bisexual, gay and agenda-plying men have ever looked her way. The good news comes when the young woman admits she is a virgin which they then have proved by a doctor. But for every one good thing, Annalise has a bad thing follow. She sees Wes and the cop speaking in the parking lot. Wes thinks he found Rebecca's body in a cemetery where Frank's brother works as groundskeeper. Only the fourth episode of the season and there's been more scheming, plotting and backstabber-y than you could brandish a gun at.
What do you think? Have you been having a hard time keeping up with all the twists and back-biting? Are you a little ticked I didn't mention the thing with Asher? Do you think they'll find Rebecca's body? And who do you killed (no, not Annalise, though feel free to write your theories below) the prosecuting attorney with whom Asher is working? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments). Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “It's taken some work but I finally have 'em, the worst of the worst."
P.S. Yes, ladies and gentlemen and nerds everywhere, their are only five and a half months left before Batman V. Superman comes out which means we can officially start the countdown for Suicide Squad also. And although that's not a good sign-off for me every time, it reminded that Will Smith and Viola Davis are in that movie. Yeah!
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Twitter@filmbooksbball
October 15, 2015
The Grinder Is Kind Of Cheesy... But What If It Wasn't? #TheGrinder #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek
The Grinder Is Kind Of Cheesy... But What If It Wasn't? #TheGrinder#3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek
All pictures courtesy of FOX
Making Tuesdays their comedy night, FOX hits us with another comedy from two Hollywood old heads (not as in they are old but they've been around forever), The Grinder. Starring Rob Lowe and Fred Savage as brothers it is sure to be quite a ridiculous show with over-the-top cheesy goodness smothered all over it like a real Grinder. Mmm, sandwich!
Before we dive in, as always, I'd point you to the #Premiere Week button up top to get my initial thoughts on this series. Just scroll down to the FOX section (second section I believe) and look for the picture up top. Also, don't be shy in browsing through my previous posts as I cover dozens of shows including American Horror Story: Hotel, Nashville, Castle, Once Upon A Time, The Blacklist, Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, Limitless, Rosewood, Empire and the list goes on. And to give you a brief recap of what I did feel about this series just in case you don't click that premiere week button, I didn't think highly of it. As was expressed in an earlier post on Grandfathered, I didn't feel that FOX had much trust in either show as I didn't see as much advertising in them as other series. Usually that means the network is iffy on the product they've pushed into production.
So what is The Grinder about? Rob Lowe stars a famous TV actor who for the last near decade or so has played a lawyer on a highly successful and popular show entitled The Grinder. He was The Grinder, known for grinding out his cases and getting wins, and bringing justice. With the show finally ending, he looks to find his next path in life, what will he do, where will he go, who... will he ultimately be. Isn't that the question that (dramatic pause)... we all face? Coming back to the small town where he grew up and where the rest of his family still lives, he hides out there for a while to visit his family and figure out what he wants to do as those royalty checks will stream in for the rest of his life. While there, he comes into contact with his father, brother and his brother's family and there is where the tension starts.
His brother, played by Fred Savage is a real lawyer. Everyone in the family save for him is enthralled with his brother's talent, even watching re-runs of the show (sweet, sweet royalty checks) nearly every night with Rob Lowe providing behind-the-scenes commentary. As much as he loves his brother, Fred is a high-strung, worrywart who is also possibly the "biggest wuss in the history of TV" as he identifies highly with a character from his brother's show who always said just how wrong Grinder was for attempting something--"you're gonna get disbarred, Grinder. You can't do it! This case is un-winnable!" Seeing the show for the overwrought melodrama it is, Fred despises his brother for just about everything that Lowe stands for: bad acting, false lawyering, ridiculous plotting, TV star glamour, etc. And as much as he'd like for him to leave as quickly as possible, the rest of the family enjoy having him around for a while.
It isn't until Lowe stumbles into one of Savage's real cases does the show take off into its main thrust. The case: a wrongful eviction from clients that supposedly never paid their rent. They felt they had been discriminated against due to race. In just meeting the clients, word spread that The Grinder would be trying their case and Lowe not only didn't deny such claims but made declaration that he and his brother would indeed win the case and justice... would be brought to the wrongfully evicted couple, because justice... at least in America... is for all. Yes, if you haven't noticed by now, some of this review/recap syncs with the overly dramatic tone of the show. It is in that tone where the humor lies. Honestly, Rob Lowe really just plays every character (read: the same character) he's been playing for the last decade or so with longer dramatic pauses. Another silly comedy, the hilarity comes from the fact that he takes everything seriously even though the very premise of the show is ridiculous.
With word out that the grinder will be helping his brother try a case, their father steps in to solve the petty sibling squabble that Fred has brought up because of his brother's lack of skills and preparedness and generally anything having to do with actual lawyering. Having immersed himself in the grinder character, Lowe feels he doesn't need law school just to practice law, the show was its own school. He could take the bar exam in a few months and... pass. Being the levelheaded one, Fred says no to all of that and refuses his brother's help. It isn't until they actually show up at court and Lowe watches his inept brother deliver a mumbling speech from note cards about how wrong it is for his clients to have been discriminated against, does The Grinder step in and save the day. It is not that Fred is a bad lawyer, he just gets terrible stage fright.
Not legal in the slightest, he steps in during the next court appearance and, with cameras pointed at him, holds up an envelope with a supposed check from the tenants that had been thrown away by the landlord. Falling for the ruse, the landlord confesses that the check couldn't be in the envelope because he destroyed the check. What is in the envelope? One of the many sayings from the show: "the Grinder rests." A pratfall by Savage and hugs and kisses as The Grinder says goodbye even though he doesn't want to go, and Fred finally invites his older brother to stay around for a while longer. It could be fun.
And this is the show. Their second case, a wrongful termination lawsuit which shouldn't have even been a lawsuit, introduces the audience to a single female lawyer who starts as an opposing counsel and by the end of the show is hired by Savage to fill a roll on his staff. Of course the case is won when grinder and his brother come up with a stalling tactic that tests the patience of the busy employer. Not only does he hire the couple back but changes the no inter-office dating policy. The third episode deals more with personal stuff stemming from a broken window 20 years prior and admitting the truth when wrong. Still, in none of these episodes is the grinder a real lawyer, yet his brother's clients allow him to sit in on the case because he's the frickin' Grinder. Are you saying you wouldn't trust Meredith Grey/Ellen Pompeo to medically save your life if you were having a heart attack in a restaurant. Eleven seasons on a medical show, you would think she knows something about saving lives, right?
What's my grade on when a TV lawyer becomes a real life fake lawyer? I give it a B-. Listen, outside of the great and ridiculous music they play whenever Lowe is about to make some astonishing discovery or suggestion, this show is ridiculous. Though I laughed during it, I didn't get that chuckle until the last five minutes of the first episode, and while the second and third episodes were better, I'm not sure I'd tune in for a full season. Don't worry, I get the humor. It's just as silly as Grandfathered and satirizes the plethora of lawyer and crime shows out there. But I have to say that I was looking forward to how Savage and Lowe played off each other and while Lowe is good, I think Savage is actually bad in this role. He's playing the straight guy but there's something about him that annoys me more than makes me find him sensible. Maybe this just isn't the role I'd like to see him in.
Should you be watching? Eh! Though I gave it a B-, my first reaction is to say no. But comedy is subjective and different things work for different people. In a night that is completely over-the-top humor beginning with Grandfathered and ending with Scream Queens, The Grinder at 8:30 on Tuesdays on FOX fits perfectly with the rest of the shows. Though it's not the case for me, if you like one, you'll probably enjoy the others. If you're not doing anything or you already watch one of the other shows, then I say give this one or three episodes and see if it grabs you.
What do you think? Am I being too harsh on the show? Have you seen it? If so, what do you think about its humor? Do you think Lowe will ever actually take the bar? And what's the over/under for him hooking up with the lawyer woman? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “What would you do if I sang outta tune... I get by with a little help from my friends."
P.S. Oh, those wonderful Wonder Years. TV has changed quite a bit since then, especially the family sitcom. Honestly, I've found most family sitcoms not funny these days. So, when one does come along that's hilarious, I'll be sure to shout it from the rooftops. Until then, I'll keep thinking of a better sign-off.
Amazon
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Twitter@filmbooksbball
All pictures courtesy of FOX Making Tuesdays their comedy night, FOX hits us with another comedy from two Hollywood old heads (not as in they are old but they've been around forever), The Grinder. Starring Rob Lowe and Fred Savage as brothers it is sure to be quite a ridiculous show with over-the-top cheesy goodness smothered all over it like a real Grinder. Mmm, sandwich!
Before we dive in, as always, I'd point you to the #Premiere Week button up top to get my initial thoughts on this series. Just scroll down to the FOX section (second section I believe) and look for the picture up top. Also, don't be shy in browsing through my previous posts as I cover dozens of shows including American Horror Story: Hotel, Nashville, Castle, Once Upon A Time, The Blacklist, Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, Limitless, Rosewood, Empire and the list goes on. And to give you a brief recap of what I did feel about this series just in case you don't click that premiere week button, I didn't think highly of it. As was expressed in an earlier post on Grandfathered, I didn't feel that FOX had much trust in either show as I didn't see as much advertising in them as other series. Usually that means the network is iffy on the product they've pushed into production.
So what is The Grinder about? Rob Lowe stars a famous TV actor who for the last near decade or so has played a lawyer on a highly successful and popular show entitled The Grinder. He was The Grinder, known for grinding out his cases and getting wins, and bringing justice. With the show finally ending, he looks to find his next path in life, what will he do, where will he go, who... will he ultimately be. Isn't that the question that (dramatic pause)... we all face? Coming back to the small town where he grew up and where the rest of his family still lives, he hides out there for a while to visit his family and figure out what he wants to do as those royalty checks will stream in for the rest of his life. While there, he comes into contact with his father, brother and his brother's family and there is where the tension starts.
His brother, played by Fred Savage is a real lawyer. Everyone in the family save for him is enthralled with his brother's talent, even watching re-runs of the show (sweet, sweet royalty checks) nearly every night with Rob Lowe providing behind-the-scenes commentary. As much as he loves his brother, Fred is a high-strung, worrywart who is also possibly the "biggest wuss in the history of TV" as he identifies highly with a character from his brother's show who always said just how wrong Grinder was for attempting something--"you're gonna get disbarred, Grinder. You can't do it! This case is un-winnable!" Seeing the show for the overwrought melodrama it is, Fred despises his brother for just about everything that Lowe stands for: bad acting, false lawyering, ridiculous plotting, TV star glamour, etc. And as much as he'd like for him to leave as quickly as possible, the rest of the family enjoy having him around for a while.
It isn't until Lowe stumbles into one of Savage's real cases does the show take off into its main thrust. The case: a wrongful eviction from clients that supposedly never paid their rent. They felt they had been discriminated against due to race. In just meeting the clients, word spread that The Grinder would be trying their case and Lowe not only didn't deny such claims but made declaration that he and his brother would indeed win the case and justice... would be brought to the wrongfully evicted couple, because justice... at least in America... is for all. Yes, if you haven't noticed by now, some of this review/recap syncs with the overly dramatic tone of the show. It is in that tone where the humor lies. Honestly, Rob Lowe really just plays every character (read: the same character) he's been playing for the last decade or so with longer dramatic pauses. Another silly comedy, the hilarity comes from the fact that he takes everything seriously even though the very premise of the show is ridiculous.
With word out that the grinder will be helping his brother try a case, their father steps in to solve the petty sibling squabble that Fred has brought up because of his brother's lack of skills and preparedness and generally anything having to do with actual lawyering. Having immersed himself in the grinder character, Lowe feels he doesn't need law school just to practice law, the show was its own school. He could take the bar exam in a few months and... pass. Being the levelheaded one, Fred says no to all of that and refuses his brother's help. It isn't until they actually show up at court and Lowe watches his inept brother deliver a mumbling speech from note cards about how wrong it is for his clients to have been discriminated against, does The Grinder step in and save the day. It is not that Fred is a bad lawyer, he just gets terrible stage fright.
Not legal in the slightest, he steps in during the next court appearance and, with cameras pointed at him, holds up an envelope with a supposed check from the tenants that had been thrown away by the landlord. Falling for the ruse, the landlord confesses that the check couldn't be in the envelope because he destroyed the check. What is in the envelope? One of the many sayings from the show: "the Grinder rests." A pratfall by Savage and hugs and kisses as The Grinder says goodbye even though he doesn't want to go, and Fred finally invites his older brother to stay around for a while longer. It could be fun.
And this is the show. Their second case, a wrongful termination lawsuit which shouldn't have even been a lawsuit, introduces the audience to a single female lawyer who starts as an opposing counsel and by the end of the show is hired by Savage to fill a roll on his staff. Of course the case is won when grinder and his brother come up with a stalling tactic that tests the patience of the busy employer. Not only does he hire the couple back but changes the no inter-office dating policy. The third episode deals more with personal stuff stemming from a broken window 20 years prior and admitting the truth when wrong. Still, in none of these episodes is the grinder a real lawyer, yet his brother's clients allow him to sit in on the case because he's the frickin' Grinder. Are you saying you wouldn't trust Meredith Grey/Ellen Pompeo to medically save your life if you were having a heart attack in a restaurant. Eleven seasons on a medical show, you would think she knows something about saving lives, right?
What's my grade on when a TV lawyer becomes a real life fake lawyer? I give it a B-. Listen, outside of the great and ridiculous music they play whenever Lowe is about to make some astonishing discovery or suggestion, this show is ridiculous. Though I laughed during it, I didn't get that chuckle until the last five minutes of the first episode, and while the second and third episodes were better, I'm not sure I'd tune in for a full season. Don't worry, I get the humor. It's just as silly as Grandfathered and satirizes the plethora of lawyer and crime shows out there. But I have to say that I was looking forward to how Savage and Lowe played off each other and while Lowe is good, I think Savage is actually bad in this role. He's playing the straight guy but there's something about him that annoys me more than makes me find him sensible. Maybe this just isn't the role I'd like to see him in.
Should you be watching? Eh! Though I gave it a B-, my first reaction is to say no. But comedy is subjective and different things work for different people. In a night that is completely over-the-top humor beginning with Grandfathered and ending with Scream Queens, The Grinder at 8:30 on Tuesdays on FOX fits perfectly with the rest of the shows. Though it's not the case for me, if you like one, you'll probably enjoy the others. If you're not doing anything or you already watch one of the other shows, then I say give this one or three episodes and see if it grabs you.
What do you think? Am I being too harsh on the show? Have you seen it? If so, what do you think about its humor? Do you think Lowe will ever actually take the bar? And what's the over/under for him hooking up with the lawyer woman? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “What would you do if I sang outta tune... I get by with a little help from my friends."
P.S. Oh, those wonderful Wonder Years. TV has changed quite a bit since then, especially the family sitcom. Honestly, I've found most family sitcoms not funny these days. So, when one does come along that's hilarious, I'll be sure to shout it from the rooftops. Until then, I'll keep thinking of a better sign-off.
Amazon
Goodreads Author Page
Goodreads Books Similar to TV Shows
Twitter@filmbooksbball
Uncle Jesse Is Back And It's, Um, Well... #Grandfathered #PremiereWeek #3WeekRoundup
Uncle Jesse Is Back And It's, Um, Well... #Grandfathered #PremiereWeek#3WeekRoundup
All pictures courtesy of FOX
Note to the readers, sadly this is not a review of the revived TV/Netflix show Fuller House based off the lovely and star-making vehicle that was Full House from the 90s. And yes, while I know how duped you feel about me using Uncle Jesse to lure you in I will not apologize for it... sort of. OK, I am sorry for dangling that tasty bit of Grecian lure for you to bite into, but it had to been. Plus, the hype around the show Fuller House is one of the things that I'm sure helped John Stamos get his new role in Grandfathered (#Grandfathered) and remind people that he and his career weren't dead outside of his years spent posing as Bill Cosby of Jello to Oikos Greek yogurt. I'm sure he's choked enough of that down in the last decade or so to realize that hawking that product was not what he wanted to be doing for the rest of his life. That is not to say that Oikos isn't good, because if that's all he's been eating since his days of Full House 20 years ago, then I definitely need to be eating a lot more of that stuff myself.
Before I go farther into this review/recap of the first three episodes, I will point out that if you want my initial thoughts on this show click the #Premiere Week link up top and scroll down to the Fox section. For those not interested in doing that, I'll give a brief refresher and say that I wasn't all that thrilled about this or its brother show The Grinder with Rob Lowe (review of that coming later). Both seemed destined to lose and didn't seem to have the full support of FOX as far as advertising dollars went (I saw countless Scream Queens ads during the summer's Wayward Pines but almost nothing on these two shows). Hopes were not high.
In John Stamos' triumphant comedic return to TV--and no, Galavant does not count!--he plays a hot (as in popular) LA restaurateur (side note: I keep spelling that word wrong even though I know it doesn't have an 'n' in it). In his late 40s, early 50s he is having the bachelor time of his life, seeing grand successes at his restaurant, literally living the high life in what has got to be one of the only, what, six high-rises in the downtown LA landscape (come on, I lived in LA; it ain't New York or Chicago). Charming, charismatic and a ladies' man he has told not only the patrons of his establishment but himself and the occasional (read: plenteous) women he beds that all he really wants in life is family as it is the only thing left for him to achieve.
Ask and ye shall receive (dear God, I want two international bestselling books that will then propel my career to bigger, better things; yes, I'm a little vain), a much younger handsome guy played by Josh Peck--the fat kid from that Nickelodeon show Drake and Josh that magically grew muscles and got attractive--shows up and announces that he is Stamos' son. But even better, Peck has a daughter himself making Stamos a, wait for it... grandfather. I know, right? Now the whole title makes sense. Don't you hate it when creative types give titles to things that are so on-the-head that it makes you roll your eyes and say, "really? Gee, I wonder what this is gonna be about. Stupid!" As an aside, my new comedy novel "Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend" is out on Amazon Kindle now.
This is what happens in the opening minutes of the first episode. A half hour comedy at 8pm on FOX's Tuesday just before The Grinder, it actually doesn't have much huge competition outside of The second night of The Voice on NBC, The Muppets on ABC, The Flash on CW, and whatever CBS is putting out. In fact, nothing quickly comes to mind involving the cable channels of AMC, USA, HBO, and FX, meaning it has all the potential to do well. I say that because it does have its laugh-inducing moments.
After Peck tells Stamos of his daughter, which I believe is great casting as I can completely believe they are related, he explains who his mom was and, well, you know. How his mom and Stamos... got along back in the day. Naturally Stamos goes to the woman played by Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds, anyone?) and asks if it's true. Surprisingly not calling Maury, Bill Cunningham, Lauren Lake's Paternity Court or any other of the thousand shows that do DNA testing, he takes her word for it as they were in a relationship back in the day as young punks. Why didn't she tell him? Eh! Basic stuff: he was immature, he wasn't ready for such a big commitment, she thought it'd be easier for both of them, etc. Tight-knit, she and her son still share in movie nights under the blanket and know each other like the back of their hands as evidenced by the third episode's opening game night. But she isn't the only special woman in his life.
Peck also has his non-girlfriend oops-we-messed-up-that-one-time-and-had-sex-thusly-breaking-our-platonic-friendship-and-got-a-baby-out-of-it best friend played by Christina Milian. Are you all getting how every character on this show is played by a well-known enough actor that I don't even bother to remember their character's names? Yeah, if this show manages to survive and I keep watching it, I'll probably never use the character names. Anyway, in her first regular role on a scripted show from what I know, she is the hottie who has known Peck for quite a few years and a night of inhibitions loss led to their baby together which looks strangely completely white. I know about genetics and all of that stuff but it would seem like they could have gotten a darker baby but I digress. Anyway, as much as Peck wants her, they never actually dated and she still only sees him as a friend and her child's father, leaving him to long for her in semi-silence even though he tries to tell her multiple times including a fanciful and elaborate cartoon movie drone display on the side of a house. He's got no game and this is the second main thrust of the show.
Stamos being the ladies' man he is has to teach his dorky 25-year-old son not only how to be a real man as his mother babied and feminized him, but he must also teach him how to gain favor with his crush/child's mother before she commits herself to one of the many beefhead, chauvinistic losers she's used to dating. Stamos, similar to Will Smith in Hitch, must also learn the true meaning of family, love, and being a father/grandfather as this new experience turns his life around for the better. Where once he womanized without a care in the world, now he dares ask his possible conquest who her mother was and if he's slept with her as he could be his current potential sex partner's father. His urge to bed hop has also been dampened by the fact that Paget just happens to be the one that got away for him. He still loves her but his infantile maturity will not allow him to truly explore such deep emotions just yet. Like Amy Schumer in Trainwreck, he has to learn how to be a good person and actually care about something other than himself.
Sometimes the two thrusts of the show will conflict or interact as judged by the second episode when Stamos wishes to go to Diddy's West Coast White Party--the first since 2009. While going there and taking his son would expose Peck to a level of fun, sophistication and a playground of beautiful women he can ply and tweak his game on, it also means skipping a family beach day in which Paget and Christina will attend to watch the baby take her first swim in the ocean. Not only does he learn that family is filled with a ton of uncool duties and responsibilities but Paget learns a little about why her son loves Christina so much--she's a fiercely protective mother hen with a plan to become an internet sensation to make money, which is just... ridiculous, right? Anyway, as is custom with these shows, he always chooses the family and goes for the family day. Just like in the third episode when he realizes his lack of knowledge concerning his new son and volunteers for a guy's night. During the night he gets his son drunk, Peck makes a funny throwaway reference about being husky as an adolescent, and Stamos loses his drunken son, feeling the unwelcomed rush of a parent with a missing child for the first time in his life. Everything solves itself at the end of the half hour and life ticks on.
That lady is his restaurant manager and the head chef is in the back.
What's my grade? I give it a B+. You probably thought I'd rate it lower, didn't you? Surprisingly, it's highly enjoyable. It has a decent cast, Stamos is good in the role and Peck recalls his days on that Nickelodeon show. The lesbian restaurant manager plays well off Stamos and his head chef who I believe is Middle Eastern. The jokes are light and fluffy while not straying away from the topic of sex, but keeping it grounded in family sitcom territory. There is not only tons of name-dropping but a few good guest stars too (Lil Wayne took time from his busy schedule of trading exes with The Dream, and suing Birdman to appear on the first episode). And maybe its nostalgia or just plain fun, but it's funny to see Stamos dealing with babies again after having the Olsens playing one child on Full House.
Should you be watching? That depends highly on your humor as it is the most subjective part of entertainment. You might not even think I'm funny in a sarcastic hipster way. This isn't ground-breaking humor and shades on the goofier, sillier side of funny rather than the you have to think about it side. I'm a guy who still likes a laugh track (no, this show doesn't have one) and finds it strange when people are so against laugh tracks--up until 15 years ago, maybe sooner, every sitcom had a laugh track and it didn't diminish the quality of humor. If it did, people wouldn't still watch Seinfeld daily. I like goofy as much as I like intellectual. But I will say that if you aren't committed to watching anything on Tuesdays and you like a decent laugh every so often, at least check it out and give it an episode or two. You might like it, you might not.
What do you think? Are you happy to see that John Stamos is back on national TV? Have you seen the show? If so, do you think Stamos and Paget will rekindle their romance. Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “Have Mercy!"
P.S. Uncle Jesse. Man, why didn't Fuller House get picked up on ABC as a reunion miniseries. I really wanted to see that thing. Oh well. I'll keep thinking of a good sign-off.
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All pictures courtesy of FOX Note to the readers, sadly this is not a review of the revived TV/Netflix show Fuller House based off the lovely and star-making vehicle that was Full House from the 90s. And yes, while I know how duped you feel about me using Uncle Jesse to lure you in I will not apologize for it... sort of. OK, I am sorry for dangling that tasty bit of Grecian lure for you to bite into, but it had to been. Plus, the hype around the show Fuller House is one of the things that I'm sure helped John Stamos get his new role in Grandfathered (#Grandfathered) and remind people that he and his career weren't dead outside of his years spent posing as Bill Cosby of Jello to Oikos Greek yogurt. I'm sure he's choked enough of that down in the last decade or so to realize that hawking that product was not what he wanted to be doing for the rest of his life. That is not to say that Oikos isn't good, because if that's all he's been eating since his days of Full House 20 years ago, then I definitely need to be eating a lot more of that stuff myself.
Before I go farther into this review/recap of the first three episodes, I will point out that if you want my initial thoughts on this show click the #Premiere Week link up top and scroll down to the Fox section. For those not interested in doing that, I'll give a brief refresher and say that I wasn't all that thrilled about this or its brother show The Grinder with Rob Lowe (review of that coming later). Both seemed destined to lose and didn't seem to have the full support of FOX as far as advertising dollars went (I saw countless Scream Queens ads during the summer's Wayward Pines but almost nothing on these two shows). Hopes were not high.
In John Stamos' triumphant comedic return to TV--and no, Galavant does not count!--he plays a hot (as in popular) LA restaurateur (side note: I keep spelling that word wrong even though I know it doesn't have an 'n' in it). In his late 40s, early 50s he is having the bachelor time of his life, seeing grand successes at his restaurant, literally living the high life in what has got to be one of the only, what, six high-rises in the downtown LA landscape (come on, I lived in LA; it ain't New York or Chicago). Charming, charismatic and a ladies' man he has told not only the patrons of his establishment but himself and the occasional (read: plenteous) women he beds that all he really wants in life is family as it is the only thing left for him to achieve.
Ask and ye shall receive (dear God, I want two international bestselling books that will then propel my career to bigger, better things; yes, I'm a little vain), a much younger handsome guy played by Josh Peck--the fat kid from that Nickelodeon show Drake and Josh that magically grew muscles and got attractive--shows up and announces that he is Stamos' son. But even better, Peck has a daughter himself making Stamos a, wait for it... grandfather. I know, right? Now the whole title makes sense. Don't you hate it when creative types give titles to things that are so on-the-head that it makes you roll your eyes and say, "really? Gee, I wonder what this is gonna be about. Stupid!" As an aside, my new comedy novel "Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend" is out on Amazon Kindle now.
This is what happens in the opening minutes of the first episode. A half hour comedy at 8pm on FOX's Tuesday just before The Grinder, it actually doesn't have much huge competition outside of The second night of The Voice on NBC, The Muppets on ABC, The Flash on CW, and whatever CBS is putting out. In fact, nothing quickly comes to mind involving the cable channels of AMC, USA, HBO, and FX, meaning it has all the potential to do well. I say that because it does have its laugh-inducing moments.
After Peck tells Stamos of his daughter, which I believe is great casting as I can completely believe they are related, he explains who his mom was and, well, you know. How his mom and Stamos... got along back in the day. Naturally Stamos goes to the woman played by Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds, anyone?) and asks if it's true. Surprisingly not calling Maury, Bill Cunningham, Lauren Lake's Paternity Court or any other of the thousand shows that do DNA testing, he takes her word for it as they were in a relationship back in the day as young punks. Why didn't she tell him? Eh! Basic stuff: he was immature, he wasn't ready for such a big commitment, she thought it'd be easier for both of them, etc. Tight-knit, she and her son still share in movie nights under the blanket and know each other like the back of their hands as evidenced by the third episode's opening game night. But she isn't the only special woman in his life.
Peck also has his non-girlfriend oops-we-messed-up-that-one-time-and-had-sex-thusly-breaking-our-platonic-friendship-and-got-a-baby-out-of-it best friend played by Christina Milian. Are you all getting how every character on this show is played by a well-known enough actor that I don't even bother to remember their character's names? Yeah, if this show manages to survive and I keep watching it, I'll probably never use the character names. Anyway, in her first regular role on a scripted show from what I know, she is the hottie who has known Peck for quite a few years and a night of inhibitions loss led to their baby together which looks strangely completely white. I know about genetics and all of that stuff but it would seem like they could have gotten a darker baby but I digress. Anyway, as much as Peck wants her, they never actually dated and she still only sees him as a friend and her child's father, leaving him to long for her in semi-silence even though he tries to tell her multiple times including a fanciful and elaborate cartoon movie drone display on the side of a house. He's got no game and this is the second main thrust of the show. 
Stamos being the ladies' man he is has to teach his dorky 25-year-old son not only how to be a real man as his mother babied and feminized him, but he must also teach him how to gain favor with his crush/child's mother before she commits herself to one of the many beefhead, chauvinistic losers she's used to dating. Stamos, similar to Will Smith in Hitch, must also learn the true meaning of family, love, and being a father/grandfather as this new experience turns his life around for the better. Where once he womanized without a care in the world, now he dares ask his possible conquest who her mother was and if he's slept with her as he could be his current potential sex partner's father. His urge to bed hop has also been dampened by the fact that Paget just happens to be the one that got away for him. He still loves her but his infantile maturity will not allow him to truly explore such deep emotions just yet. Like Amy Schumer in Trainwreck, he has to learn how to be a good person and actually care about something other than himself. Sometimes the two thrusts of the show will conflict or interact as judged by the second episode when Stamos wishes to go to Diddy's West Coast White Party--the first since 2009. While going there and taking his son would expose Peck to a level of fun, sophistication and a playground of beautiful women he can ply and tweak his game on, it also means skipping a family beach day in which Paget and Christina will attend to watch the baby take her first swim in the ocean. Not only does he learn that family is filled with a ton of uncool duties and responsibilities but Paget learns a little about why her son loves Christina so much--she's a fiercely protective mother hen with a plan to become an internet sensation to make money, which is just... ridiculous, right? Anyway, as is custom with these shows, he always chooses the family and goes for the family day. Just like in the third episode when he realizes his lack of knowledge concerning his new son and volunteers for a guy's night. During the night he gets his son drunk, Peck makes a funny throwaway reference about being husky as an adolescent, and Stamos loses his drunken son, feeling the unwelcomed rush of a parent with a missing child for the first time in his life. Everything solves itself at the end of the half hour and life ticks on.
That lady is his restaurant manager and the head chef is in the back.What's my grade? I give it a B+. You probably thought I'd rate it lower, didn't you? Surprisingly, it's highly enjoyable. It has a decent cast, Stamos is good in the role and Peck recalls his days on that Nickelodeon show. The lesbian restaurant manager plays well off Stamos and his head chef who I believe is Middle Eastern. The jokes are light and fluffy while not straying away from the topic of sex, but keeping it grounded in family sitcom territory. There is not only tons of name-dropping but a few good guest stars too (Lil Wayne took time from his busy schedule of trading exes with The Dream, and suing Birdman to appear on the first episode). And maybe its nostalgia or just plain fun, but it's funny to see Stamos dealing with babies again after having the Olsens playing one child on Full House.
Should you be watching? That depends highly on your humor as it is the most subjective part of entertainment. You might not even think I'm funny in a sarcastic hipster way. This isn't ground-breaking humor and shades on the goofier, sillier side of funny rather than the you have to think about it side. I'm a guy who still likes a laugh track (no, this show doesn't have one) and finds it strange when people are so against laugh tracks--up until 15 years ago, maybe sooner, every sitcom had a laugh track and it didn't diminish the quality of humor. If it did, people wouldn't still watch Seinfeld daily. I like goofy as much as I like intellectual. But I will say that if you aren't committed to watching anything on Tuesdays and you like a decent laugh every so often, at least check it out and give it an episode or two. You might like it, you might not.
What do you think? Are you happy to see that John Stamos is back on national TV? Have you seen the show? If so, do you think Stamos and Paget will rekindle their romance. Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “Have Mercy!"
P.S. Uncle Jesse. Man, why didn't Fuller House get picked up on ABC as a reunion miniseries. I really wanted to see that thing. Oh well. I'll keep thinking of a good sign-off.
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October 14, 2015
When I Grow Up I Want To Be Morris Chestnut #Rosewood #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek #DVRRewind
When I Grow Up I Want To Be Morris Chestnut #Rosewood #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek #DVRRewind
All pictures courtesy of FOX unless otherwise noted
Earning the first entry into shows that have completely and pleasantly surprised me this year comes FOX's Rosewood (#Rosewood) starring Morris Chestnut and his beautiful manliness, and that's coming from another hetero man. I appreciate his handsomeness because it lets me know that I am not alone in this world as a devilishly handsome man. So few of us there are, but are plight, indeed, is real. We suffer in silence surrounded only by our own sex appeal and the innumerable amount of people who love us. Even worse, we have brains, and big ones that they want too. Quell your desires for me world! I can only handle so much.
As with all of these three week round up posts, I would kindly point you to the #Premiere Week link up top for you to find out what I thought about this show originally. Click it and scroll down to FOX which should be the second or third section in line. But I will also give you a quick refresh of my feelings here.
From start, I really didn't think much of this show. As many of you may have glimpsed in many of my other new show three week round up reviews, most of the new shows that have premiered so far have been buddy cop procedurals. Blindspot, Minority Report, Limitless all fall into this category while The Player also gives its own unique twist to the format. Knowing this going into the season, I wasn't too thrilled about watching yet another buddy cop show, especially with my pre-established haul of Sleepy Hollow, Castle, Mysteries of Laura and the occasional Law and Order: SVU episode. Therefore, with all of those shows pairing up a lady and a man to see if sparks or zany chemistry would fly, I took a look at Rosewood and decided it looked far too pedantic and ordinary for me to invest heaping amounts of time. I actually had struck it from my new season card, daring not to watch it at all even though I wanted to support Morris. But, due to both my mother and uncle recommending I take a look, I decided to binge watch the first three episodes all last night after reading through my partial outline of a new episodic novella series entitled Extraordinary. Boy was I surprised.
Morris Chestnut plays the titular character of Rosewood who is referred to predominantly by friends and colleagues as Rosie which I hate because every time I hear it, I think of Rose O'Donnell who I don't care for, but I digress. Rosewood is a private forensics pathologist who describes himself as "the Beethoven of Pathologists." Working with a small team of his sister and a woman who I think is his sister's girlfriend but I'm not sure, he runs the premier private pathology lab in Miami and, if you ask him, the entire United States. For those unfamiliar with a forensics pathology lab, it is that big lab that they have on CSI or most crime shows where they examine the body in a criminal investigation. There's all sorts of computers and fancy gadgets to take prints and just a ton of stuff that science geeks go crazy for.
To show his excellence in his field, he breaks down and solves a purported crime on the scene just after his morning run when he happens to jog into the police. A friendly but contentious relationship with the cops, he's worked with them many times on cases and often is brought in to consult on their more troubling crimes. After just five minutes spent at a crime scene, he determines that the man who supposedly was thrust from a hotel window to his death below by a high-end prostitute actually committed suicide after learning of his late stage pancreatic cancer. Yeah, he's genius like that.
Things get interesting when he meets the newest detective to the precinct Annalise. A transplant from New York, it is revealed that she actually came from Miami but had moved up north to be with her husband who has since died. She said the man did a run, got up for work one day after eating pizza the night before and collapsed from an embolism. One of their favorite things to do together was dance as evidenced by the second episode in which she right hooks a man in his jaw for trying to close up his club and stop the music. Rihanna warned club owners about this, she even begged for them to please don't stop the music. She knew, as did Gloria Estefan, that the rhythm is going to get you and when it does, whoa! It's not easily un-gotten and halted.
Here was where the show ticked me off a little because I didn't find this natural in any way except to play into the overused motif. For whatever reason, Annalise immediately doesn't like Rosewood and dismisses his theory on why a certain crime is actually a murder. Now, unlike in some of the other shows I've covered this past week and even in some of my older procedurals like Castle and Sleepy Hollow, the doubting party had a legitimate reason for doubting their future partner. Castle is just a crime writer who has no experience at solving real murders. Ichabod is supposedly some guy from two or three centuries ago suddenly thrust into modern times (aka wack-a-doodle). Limitless has a guy that has to take a pill to be smart, and is otherwise just a slacker loser. Even Minority Report has the strange guy that can supposedly see into the future, but Rosewood?
Rosewood has a pathologist who is at the top of his field and has consulted on countless Miami PD cases in the past and is famous and well-known enough to have billboards around the city advertising his services, yet... she won't even give him the time of day because she trusts her gut instincts and the amateurish report done by the actual ME? What? Did he come off as a little arrogant? Yes, but she matched and even surpassed his know-it-all-ness with her constant scowl and verging eye roll before even knowing the man. It almost felt racist or, even worse, like that pretty girl syndrome. What's that? It's when a girl (usually grown women don't do it but some have been known to) wouldn't even talk to a man because she "knows" she's so pretty that every man wants her. Lady, I was just trying to ask you where the nearest Burger King was so I could get that black-bunned Whopper that makes my poo turn green. Every man don't want you, honey. His expertise and excellence in his field so closely related to what she does gave no leeway into why she distrusted him so quickly. For that, I had to take off a point from the grade, or... whatever.
Ignoring that, she finally does admit that there is something to his theory and starts to investigate, giving the show a much more believable tension when she tries to keep him from following her around to question her suspects. Their bickering is cute but he manages to be right a lot. As a side note, this guy is precisely the reason I have my doubts about Limitless lasting. This guy is a veritable genius in his own right and he doesn't need to take a pill to become one. But back to the case, Rosewood discovers that the girl was murdered as she was part of a drug ring that imported black cocaine through international waters.
What started as a simple car crash into the water that Rosie's mother asked him to look at (she knew the girl as a near musical prodigy at the high school she's principal over) turned into a creative murder case where she was unconscious when she went into the water and a block of dry ice was placed over her foot to hold it upon the gas pedal. The ice melted in the water and the cops were none the wiser about the set-up. A man with an expansive network of connections throughout the city, Rosie knew not only where to find the marina where the killer docked his boat but knew of plenty sources he could nudge information from, some of which would appear in later episodes. The case climaxed with Annalise going undercover as just another party girl, getting onto the boat of the drug trafficker and finding the black coke molded into records to blend into the man's cover as a famous local DJ. When coast guard and police raid the boat all they'd find were hot women and records--party supplies for any man living la vida loca.
In a crazy chase across the dock, the man scooped up a young woman with one arm and continued to sprint with her. Like, seriously, when I saw it I halfway lost my everything. This wasn't a little girl and he didn't look like that big of a guy but he yanked her up with such ease you would have thought she weighed ten pounds. Rosewood came behind him and stuck him with a needle full of some drug he said would make his bones feel like sharp knives and the man gave up. Do they make a good team? Yes, according to Rosewood.
But wait, what's the catch of this show. Yes, there is a bit of a catch to it and it lies within Rosewood's character. See, he isn't just obsessed with death and good at his job because it's American to try to be very good at what you do, he is at the top of his field because of his own proximity to death. A premature birth, he spent 4 months in NICU trying to develop the things his body didn't during the six months he stayed in his mother's womb. He had his first stroke when he was 11, another when 21 I think and he has a terrible heart which has caused his doctors to project he'll be dead within the next decade--he's currently late 30s, early 40s. He's had to deal with a closeness to death all of his life which has given him a joyful, refreshing and unique outlook on life while managing to stay so close to death on a daily basis. And this is one of the big reasons I enjoy this show.
There's plenty of other stuff I could mention in this review/recap like the fact that he has a budding romance with Nicole Ari Parker who plays a therapist/psychiatrist with her fine self. Or that Annalise was ordered by her captain to attend therapy to get over the still fresh loss of her husband and that she ends up seeing who else but Nicole Ari Parker's character, though neither woman knows of the other's relationship with Rosie. I could also mention the other two cases--one involving the discovery of a severed leg and foot on the sandy beach that belonged to a matchmaker man who was killed by his wife and fiance when they not only discovered each other but found out he was cheating on and going to leave them both for the true love of his life, his female business partner in the matchmaking business. Or the case with the young fella accused of killing a rich man after sneaking into his house to live his life while the rich guy vacationed. As it turned out, he was poisoned with antifreeze by a fraudulent car dealer that sold knock-off luxury cars filled with cheap parts I could mention those but I won't. Instead, I'll jump to my grade.
My grade for this series so far? I give it a solid B (it would have been a B+ had it not been for the whole "I hate you for no reason" shtick). As much as things like CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds and etc. don't generally interest me (I never even got into Bones), something about this show drew me in and didn't let me go. In a refreshing (using that word again? Wow, my thesaurus has failed me today) turn for Morris Chestnut, he actually plays the funnier character rather than the straight man. He's on a charm offensive strong enough to rival that of Nathan Fillion's on Castle. And even though some of his lines are delivered in a rather disingenuous way, even then they draw you further into loving him. Chestnut looks like he's having the most fun I've ever seen him have in a role and that's even including The Best Man, The Brothers and Two Can Play That Game--I know some of you white people are looking at me like "what?" I ain't got time. Look that stuff up! Also, he and that Annalise woman have a real chemistry going that seems like old friends or siblings going at it. I'm sure they'll eventually go the same way as Bones and Castle and get together but for now, I like the "oil and water" dynamic.
Should you be watching? Yes. If you like crime dramas with a hint of humor in the vain of CSI: Miami or Castle or Scorpion or Limitless, not to mention an ethnically diverse show (this show has so many deep mahogany black people on it I'm surprised it hasn't been asked by the police to keep it moving for loitering on the airwaves for too long; have to balance out the cinnamon-y blacks of Empire I guess) with a Black man and Latina woman as the leads, then this is the show for you. Plus, the cases and how they solve them aren't bad either and do make you have to mentally engage more than Minority Report. You can skip episodes if you want or watch the whole season and it wouldn't matter either way as there is no threading mystery, but watching good guys bring bad guys to justice never gets old. Again, this is right up the alley for the CSI crowd.
What do you think? Have you seen this show? How do you think the relationship between Rosewood's girlfriend and Annalise will play out? Are you happy to see that Ricky didn't die in that alley in the hood and made it out of Compton and to Miami? Let me know in the comments below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “Riiicckky!"
P.S. Seems like Rosewood has a huge scar in his chest from where they shot him in the back in Boyz In The Hood. What? So I'm confusing you about the characters? Please. You know what I'm talking about. I'll keep thinking of a proper sign-off. Meanwhile, here's another picture of Morris Chestnut topless because I know it's what you ladies want. It cuts off just before the man nips. No man nips tonight.
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All pictures courtesy of FOX unless otherwise notedEarning the first entry into shows that have completely and pleasantly surprised me this year comes FOX's Rosewood (#Rosewood) starring Morris Chestnut and his beautiful manliness, and that's coming from another hetero man. I appreciate his handsomeness because it lets me know that I am not alone in this world as a devilishly handsome man. So few of us there are, but are plight, indeed, is real. We suffer in silence surrounded only by our own sex appeal and the innumerable amount of people who love us. Even worse, we have brains, and big ones that they want too. Quell your desires for me world! I can only handle so much.
As with all of these three week round up posts, I would kindly point you to the #Premiere Week link up top for you to find out what I thought about this show originally. Click it and scroll down to FOX which should be the second or third section in line. But I will also give you a quick refresh of my feelings here.
From start, I really didn't think much of this show. As many of you may have glimpsed in many of my other new show three week round up reviews, most of the new shows that have premiered so far have been buddy cop procedurals. Blindspot, Minority Report, Limitless all fall into this category while The Player also gives its own unique twist to the format. Knowing this going into the season, I wasn't too thrilled about watching yet another buddy cop show, especially with my pre-established haul of Sleepy Hollow, Castle, Mysteries of Laura and the occasional Law and Order: SVU episode. Therefore, with all of those shows pairing up a lady and a man to see if sparks or zany chemistry would fly, I took a look at Rosewood and decided it looked far too pedantic and ordinary for me to invest heaping amounts of time. I actually had struck it from my new season card, daring not to watch it at all even though I wanted to support Morris. But, due to both my mother and uncle recommending I take a look, I decided to binge watch the first three episodes all last night after reading through my partial outline of a new episodic novella series entitled Extraordinary. Boy was I surprised.
Morris Chestnut plays the titular character of Rosewood who is referred to predominantly by friends and colleagues as Rosie which I hate because every time I hear it, I think of Rose O'Donnell who I don't care for, but I digress. Rosewood is a private forensics pathologist who describes himself as "the Beethoven of Pathologists." Working with a small team of his sister and a woman who I think is his sister's girlfriend but I'm not sure, he runs the premier private pathology lab in Miami and, if you ask him, the entire United States. For those unfamiliar with a forensics pathology lab, it is that big lab that they have on CSI or most crime shows where they examine the body in a criminal investigation. There's all sorts of computers and fancy gadgets to take prints and just a ton of stuff that science geeks go crazy for.
To show his excellence in his field, he breaks down and solves a purported crime on the scene just after his morning run when he happens to jog into the police. A friendly but contentious relationship with the cops, he's worked with them many times on cases and often is brought in to consult on their more troubling crimes. After just five minutes spent at a crime scene, he determines that the man who supposedly was thrust from a hotel window to his death below by a high-end prostitute actually committed suicide after learning of his late stage pancreatic cancer. Yeah, he's genius like that.
Things get interesting when he meets the newest detective to the precinct Annalise. A transplant from New York, it is revealed that she actually came from Miami but had moved up north to be with her husband who has since died. She said the man did a run, got up for work one day after eating pizza the night before and collapsed from an embolism. One of their favorite things to do together was dance as evidenced by the second episode in which she right hooks a man in his jaw for trying to close up his club and stop the music. Rihanna warned club owners about this, she even begged for them to please don't stop the music. She knew, as did Gloria Estefan, that the rhythm is going to get you and when it does, whoa! It's not easily un-gotten and halted.
Here was where the show ticked me off a little because I didn't find this natural in any way except to play into the overused motif. For whatever reason, Annalise immediately doesn't like Rosewood and dismisses his theory on why a certain crime is actually a murder. Now, unlike in some of the other shows I've covered this past week and even in some of my older procedurals like Castle and Sleepy Hollow, the doubting party had a legitimate reason for doubting their future partner. Castle is just a crime writer who has no experience at solving real murders. Ichabod is supposedly some guy from two or three centuries ago suddenly thrust into modern times (aka wack-a-doodle). Limitless has a guy that has to take a pill to be smart, and is otherwise just a slacker loser. Even Minority Report has the strange guy that can supposedly see into the future, but Rosewood?
Rosewood has a pathologist who is at the top of his field and has consulted on countless Miami PD cases in the past and is famous and well-known enough to have billboards around the city advertising his services, yet... she won't even give him the time of day because she trusts her gut instincts and the amateurish report done by the actual ME? What? Did he come off as a little arrogant? Yes, but she matched and even surpassed his know-it-all-ness with her constant scowl and verging eye roll before even knowing the man. It almost felt racist or, even worse, like that pretty girl syndrome. What's that? It's when a girl (usually grown women don't do it but some have been known to) wouldn't even talk to a man because she "knows" she's so pretty that every man wants her. Lady, I was just trying to ask you where the nearest Burger King was so I could get that black-bunned Whopper that makes my poo turn green. Every man don't want you, honey. His expertise and excellence in his field so closely related to what she does gave no leeway into why she distrusted him so quickly. For that, I had to take off a point from the grade, or... whatever.
Ignoring that, she finally does admit that there is something to his theory and starts to investigate, giving the show a much more believable tension when she tries to keep him from following her around to question her suspects. Their bickering is cute but he manages to be right a lot. As a side note, this guy is precisely the reason I have my doubts about Limitless lasting. This guy is a veritable genius in his own right and he doesn't need to take a pill to become one. But back to the case, Rosewood discovers that the girl was murdered as she was part of a drug ring that imported black cocaine through international waters.
What started as a simple car crash into the water that Rosie's mother asked him to look at (she knew the girl as a near musical prodigy at the high school she's principal over) turned into a creative murder case where she was unconscious when she went into the water and a block of dry ice was placed over her foot to hold it upon the gas pedal. The ice melted in the water and the cops were none the wiser about the set-up. A man with an expansive network of connections throughout the city, Rosie knew not only where to find the marina where the killer docked his boat but knew of plenty sources he could nudge information from, some of which would appear in later episodes. The case climaxed with Annalise going undercover as just another party girl, getting onto the boat of the drug trafficker and finding the black coke molded into records to blend into the man's cover as a famous local DJ. When coast guard and police raid the boat all they'd find were hot women and records--party supplies for any man living la vida loca.
In a crazy chase across the dock, the man scooped up a young woman with one arm and continued to sprint with her. Like, seriously, when I saw it I halfway lost my everything. This wasn't a little girl and he didn't look like that big of a guy but he yanked her up with such ease you would have thought she weighed ten pounds. Rosewood came behind him and stuck him with a needle full of some drug he said would make his bones feel like sharp knives and the man gave up. Do they make a good team? Yes, according to Rosewood.
But wait, what's the catch of this show. Yes, there is a bit of a catch to it and it lies within Rosewood's character. See, he isn't just obsessed with death and good at his job because it's American to try to be very good at what you do, he is at the top of his field because of his own proximity to death. A premature birth, he spent 4 months in NICU trying to develop the things his body didn't during the six months he stayed in his mother's womb. He had his first stroke when he was 11, another when 21 I think and he has a terrible heart which has caused his doctors to project he'll be dead within the next decade--he's currently late 30s, early 40s. He's had to deal with a closeness to death all of his life which has given him a joyful, refreshing and unique outlook on life while managing to stay so close to death on a daily basis. And this is one of the big reasons I enjoy this show.
There's plenty of other stuff I could mention in this review/recap like the fact that he has a budding romance with Nicole Ari Parker who plays a therapist/psychiatrist with her fine self. Or that Annalise was ordered by her captain to attend therapy to get over the still fresh loss of her husband and that she ends up seeing who else but Nicole Ari Parker's character, though neither woman knows of the other's relationship with Rosie. I could also mention the other two cases--one involving the discovery of a severed leg and foot on the sandy beach that belonged to a matchmaker man who was killed by his wife and fiance when they not only discovered each other but found out he was cheating on and going to leave them both for the true love of his life, his female business partner in the matchmaking business. Or the case with the young fella accused of killing a rich man after sneaking into his house to live his life while the rich guy vacationed. As it turned out, he was poisoned with antifreeze by a fraudulent car dealer that sold knock-off luxury cars filled with cheap parts I could mention those but I won't. Instead, I'll jump to my grade.
My grade for this series so far? I give it a solid B (it would have been a B+ had it not been for the whole "I hate you for no reason" shtick). As much as things like CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds and etc. don't generally interest me (I never even got into Bones), something about this show drew me in and didn't let me go. In a refreshing (using that word again? Wow, my thesaurus has failed me today) turn for Morris Chestnut, he actually plays the funnier character rather than the straight man. He's on a charm offensive strong enough to rival that of Nathan Fillion's on Castle. And even though some of his lines are delivered in a rather disingenuous way, even then they draw you further into loving him. Chestnut looks like he's having the most fun I've ever seen him have in a role and that's even including The Best Man, The Brothers and Two Can Play That Game--I know some of you white people are looking at me like "what?" I ain't got time. Look that stuff up! Also, he and that Annalise woman have a real chemistry going that seems like old friends or siblings going at it. I'm sure they'll eventually go the same way as Bones and Castle and get together but for now, I like the "oil and water" dynamic.
Should you be watching? Yes. If you like crime dramas with a hint of humor in the vain of CSI: Miami or Castle or Scorpion or Limitless, not to mention an ethnically diverse show (this show has so many deep mahogany black people on it I'm surprised it hasn't been asked by the police to keep it moving for loitering on the airwaves for too long; have to balance out the cinnamon-y blacks of Empire I guess) with a Black man and Latina woman as the leads, then this is the show for you. Plus, the cases and how they solve them aren't bad either and do make you have to mentally engage more than Minority Report. You can skip episodes if you want or watch the whole season and it wouldn't matter either way as there is no threading mystery, but watching good guys bring bad guys to justice never gets old. Again, this is right up the alley for the CSI crowd.
What do you think? Have you seen this show? How do you think the relationship between Rosewood's girlfriend and Annalise will play out? Are you happy to see that Ricky didn't die in that alley in the hood and made it out of Compton and to Miami? Let me know in the comments below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “Riiicckky!"
P.S. Seems like Rosewood has a huge scar in his chest from where they shot him in the back in Boyz In The Hood. What? So I'm confusing you about the characters? Please. You know what I'm talking about. I'll keep thinking of a proper sign-off. Meanwhile, here's another picture of Morris Chestnut topless because I know it's what you ladies want. It cuts off just before the man nips. No man nips tonight.
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I Have A Secret And I Can't Keep It. I'm In Love With Quantico #Quantico #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek
I Have A Secret And I Can't Keep It. I'm In Love With Quantico #Quantico#3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek
All picutres courtesy of ABC
Quantico, Quantico, how much do I love thee. Let me count the ways. But before we do that and I give my grade and review/recap of the first three episodes of ABC's Quantico (#Quantico), let me do a little housekeeping and remind you that I have a new comedy out right now entitled Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend on Amazon Kindle. If you were one of the people that watched CW's Crazy Ex- Girlfriend last night, you might be interested in my book with a very similar subject.
Back to Quantico, and as a reminder for anyone who wanted to see my initial thoughts about this show I would point you to the #Premiere Week button up top in the title. Click it and scroll to the end where you can read a more in-depth summary of my first thoughts. However, to give a quick reminder of my feelings, this was one of my most anticipated shows of the fall. With it being so highly toted by ABC as their next potential hit and "Grey's Anatomy" but with FBI agents, I couldn't not have my interest a little piqued. And then they had Priyanka Chopra in the ads and oh boy! Oh boy! Gorgeous is too overused a word, but for the sake of saving my brain power for my novels, I'll settle by using it. I really couldn't wait to see this show. So, how did it fair?
That's Liam.
So far, so good. Priyanka Chopra heads an ensemble cast filled not only with other beautiful people, but gives us a great blend of diversity to end ABC's Sunday after the whiteness that is Blood And Oil. Priyanka plays agent-in-training Alex Parrish who, just like the other 30 or so recruits, has come to FBI's famed training ground of Quantico. If you've read just about any serial killer/FBI book in the last 30 years, you've heard the place mentioned. It's more famous than the actual headquarters of the bureau in D.C. (my mother had also been looking forward to this show for that very reason). As with most ensemble casts, our lead is joined by a bevy of other talented and potentially favorite characters/actors. Aunjanue Ellis plays the director in charge of training the recruits. Fans might recognize her from roles in Undercover Brother, The Help, Ray or NCIS: Los Angeles. She, along with Liam O'Connor (character name; he was also in Cougartown) who is the main course instructor, must narrow the field down to the people who can truly become agents.
Ryan Booth
The would-be agents are plenteous with few recognizable faces for the average viewer but a standout or two. You first have Ryan Booth who happens to sleep with Alex the morning she was to go to Quantico. A very small contingent of viewers may recognize him from the short-lived NBC show Believe about a year and a half back--it was a spring/summer show. He's supposed to be the overly physical butch one who appears as a semi-meat head amongst everyone else and that is taking into account the fact that they're all super smart. It is revealed at the end of the first episode that he's actually been an agent for quite some time and has been tasked by Liam to shadow Alex for reasons currently unknown. Did I forget to mention that everyone on this show has a secret? Yeah, hold on because if you haven't been watching this might get confusing, but it's pretty good TV.
Is Asher really gay? Next we have Simon Asher or just Asher. A supposed gay man, our introduction to him shows him engaging in fraud before stepping foot in Quantico. He pays a random gay man on the streets of New York to take a kissing photo with him which he later frames and tells everyone that it is a picture of him and his boyfriend. An amalgam of skinny, nerdy-persona lies, he also doesn't need to wear the fake glasses he proudly slogs around in. Stereotypically, he is not the most proficient in physical skills but is highly trained in technological pursuits. Of all the suspicious behavior on the campus both from teachers and students, he sticks out as the most suspicious which makes him an obvious red herring for the real culprit.
Mormon's on the right. Caleb plays witness to his murder. Then we have Caleb Haas. Also a not as physically gifted specimen like Booth, he shows little proficiency in anything . He has a brief encounter with another of the recruits in the first episode which ends tragically. One of the first tests was to choose a profile of a fellow recruit and figure out what wasn't in the profile that shaped their character. Matched with a Mormon recruit, Caleb prodded him to tell the truth and threatened to reveal a big dark secret about the religious boy that no one else knew. A bluff, as it turned out Mormon did have a dark secret involving his Mormon mission, a pregnant teen girl, an abortion that went horribly wrong and a death. How the FBI's initial background check missed such a huge red flag is beyond anyone, but it led to the boy shooting not only the lie detector test administrator but blowing his own brains out in front of Caleb. That experience, coupled with his lack of ability overall made him turn his sights to an analyst job where he'd safely sit behind a desk rather than be out in the field. And though I have my eye on him, he is not my prime suspect.
Shelby on the left, Nimah at center.
Then there is Nimah. A Muslim woman, she wears the traditional head garb and is never seen unclothed or scantily clothed by a man. This is initially why her fellow recruits believe she is given her own private room while everyone else has a roommate. However, it is revealed in episode two that her story is more complex than that as she is in cahoots with the director--that is, she and her twin sister are in cahoots. Conducting an experiment on her own, the director wants to see if any of the recruits or anyone else will identify Nimah as being two people rather than one. Like twins everywhere do at some point, they dress up as the other or as this possibly fictional "Nimah" character and go through the program hopefully never revealing their true identity, though one leaves in the third episode.
Picture couresty of ABC and spoilertv
Next is Natalie Vasquez. After the Mormon's suicide I guess the program had room for one more new recruit as Natalie didn't show up until the second episode. Already tight with Booth, she and Alex are pitted against each other as serious rivals both for being the top recruit and for Booth's heart. She is tough as nails (cliche) and fits in better with the guys than the girls (tomboy cliche). While her self-imposed competition with Alex is a neat side-story, I don't think she is ever meant to be a true suspect due to her late arrival.
And last but certainly not least, we have Shelby Wyatt. A small blonde from down south, she is not only Alex's roommate but has become her best friend outside of Booth. Supposedly, her parents died in the 9/11 attacks spurring her FBI career. She wants to stop any and all terrorist attacks from ever happening on US soil again, which is why she is prime suspect number one for me. Though she isn't shown to be top of the class in physicality or intellect (she's middling), she does have a high skill-level in weapons use as she was a rifle and pageant girl in her youth back before her parents pushed her into such things. She also comes from money. Her parents were extravagantly wealthy as evidenced by her palatial family estate down in Georgia. And though she has seemingly done nothing to make herself stand out as a suspect, I've had my eye on her from day one.
Suspect of what, you ask. Sorry, I didn't mention the big twist in this show. The show skips forward nine months from their first day to reveal that the biggest terrorist attack since 9/11 has just taken place in NYC and Alex Parrish just so happened to be there. Curiosities mount when she is not only found at the bomb site, but lying on top of the wreckage as if neatly placed there. And who is suspected to be the culprit? One of the very recruits she trained with at Quantico. It doesn't take long--half of the first episode--for fingers to start pointing at Alex as evidence starts to do the same. She discovers in the second and third episodes that not only has she been framed for the crime, but someone targeted her from the very first day. Booth was found shot and unconscious in Alex's apartment and she goes on the run to prove her innocence. All hell is breaking loose in the city as she tries to think of who she can turn to for help, and is remembering everything that happened while in the academy. All the sex, all the secrets, all the lies mix into frenzied, frothy goodness in this new multicultural whodunnit.
Why is my money and suspicion on the blonde girl? Because everything they've done so far has been to subvert the expected. I had mixed feelings about the Mormon guy killing himself (and on a Sunday night TV show no less) as I did come to know some Mormon missionaries who were very kind and only ever wanted a fair shot at being portrayed as decent people. However, I must commend the producers and writers for having the audacity to put a head-dress wearing Muslim woman on primetime TV. Making her the bad girl is too easy and could be construed as stereotyping and devilishly un-PC. While the teachers have their own agendas, I don't see either of them pulling this. The gay guy, who was revealed nine months later to now be working for a Tech start-up after being expelled from the program, only to be even later revealed as an FBI agent under deep cover and helping Alex in her escape and mystery-solving is also not a suspect because he comes off as too suspicious. Then you have Booth who is too distracted by the ladies though he could be a suspect. That leaves Caleb and Shelby. While my secondary theory involves them working a two-person job (they started off combative toward each other--the perfect cover), my gut feeling is that it is Shelby alone. I have many reasons, all of which I will not cover here but I will say that I wonder greatly about how she managed to procure a twisted metal piece of the plane on which her parents flew when they crashed into one of the twin towers. Also, I think the show has dropped subtle hints in costuming and other artistic choices that lead me to believe she is the villain, though she thinks she's doing something grand.
Study this picture.
So much happened in the first three episodes that I didn't even touch on in nearly as much depth as I wanted. Alex is so good at what she does that she breaks Booth down in five easy answers just after they have sex as virtual strangers off a plane. What's her big and complicated background? She grew up with an abusive father. One night her mother and father got into a physical altercation in which Alex shot and killed him. Only after did she discover he was a special agent with the FBI. She came to the FBI to find out if what she saw was true and discovered not only that it was true but that he and her teacher Liam knew each other and her father was a hero who had saved countless lives. Even more intriguing, after killing her father her mother took credit for the murder in self-defense and sent her away to India to live with some relatives for ten years. But as revealed in the third episode, her mother and relatives only knew where she was for nine of those years. Where did she go in that tenth year?
My grade? Isn't it obvious? I am giving this series a B+ to A-. Why not a solid A? Well, I rarely ever give out solid A's to new series as they have to produce throughout a full season for such a rating. A few years back millions of people went crazy for ABC's FlashForward which came from David Goyer who had just assisted in writing The Dark Knight and was seen as being able to do no wrong. Well, a few weeks in he left the show and the series floundered quickly after that. In fact, the show started so promising but got so bad so quickly that for a full year afterward some TV articles called it the new "jumping the shark" and insisted that shows not "pull a FlashForward." Seeing as how it is currently one of the highest rated new shows on ABC and that it has apparently earned a full season order, I can only hope that it produces this same level of quality TV soap that mixes elements of the old Grey's Anatomy with the first two seasons of Alias back when I never wanted that show to end.
Should you be watching? Yes! Yes! Yes, you should. It's good. Again, if you're a TV snob and you can only watch TV shows where there's lots of silence or it's based on a book or everyone has to be sad all the time, then don't watch it. This is not True Detective or Game of Thrones. And it does push you to engage and remember every detail on Sundays at 10pm on ABC when a lot of people want something simple to give their brain that last bit of relaxation before work on Monday (again, I thought this could be better as a Tuesday show which is where they showed repeats for two weeks and still got good numbers). If you're watching Walking Dead at that time, fine, but DVR this and give it a shot too.
What do you think? Do you like shows with an over-arching mystery but that isn't a procedural/cop show? Have you watched the show? If so, who is your prime suspect at the moment? Leave your theories and thoughts below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “don't blow... my cover. My cover. My cover. "
P.S. Their little theme song in the commercials is spot on. Oh, and for a hint of why I think it's Shelby, look at that picture with Priyanka Chopra running away in FBI garb, study it. Notice anything?
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P.P.S. During my search for pictures for this show, I ran across an EW article that mentioned how another ABC show Of Kings and Prophets was pulled from Sunday night to make way for Quantico which was originally set to air on, drumroll... Tuesdays. Didn't I say this felt like a Tuesday show? Don't get me wrong, I think it can definitely survive and thrive in that timeslot so long as it keeps this tone, but I wouldn't be surprised if it switched back to Tuesdays. I've always been told I should be a TV or film exec. Waiting for the chance.
All picutres courtesy of ABC Quantico, Quantico, how much do I love thee. Let me count the ways. But before we do that and I give my grade and review/recap of the first three episodes of ABC's Quantico (#Quantico), let me do a little housekeeping and remind you that I have a new comedy out right now entitled Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend on Amazon Kindle. If you were one of the people that watched CW's Crazy Ex- Girlfriend last night, you might be interested in my book with a very similar subject.
Back to Quantico, and as a reminder for anyone who wanted to see my initial thoughts about this show I would point you to the #Premiere Week button up top in the title. Click it and scroll to the end where you can read a more in-depth summary of my first thoughts. However, to give a quick reminder of my feelings, this was one of my most anticipated shows of the fall. With it being so highly toted by ABC as their next potential hit and "Grey's Anatomy" but with FBI agents, I couldn't not have my interest a little piqued. And then they had Priyanka Chopra in the ads and oh boy! Oh boy! Gorgeous is too overused a word, but for the sake of saving my brain power for my novels, I'll settle by using it. I really couldn't wait to see this show. So, how did it fair? 
That's Liam.So far, so good. Priyanka Chopra heads an ensemble cast filled not only with other beautiful people, but gives us a great blend of diversity to end ABC's Sunday after the whiteness that is Blood And Oil. Priyanka plays agent-in-training Alex Parrish who, just like the other 30 or so recruits, has come to FBI's famed training ground of Quantico. If you've read just about any serial killer/FBI book in the last 30 years, you've heard the place mentioned. It's more famous than the actual headquarters of the bureau in D.C. (my mother had also been looking forward to this show for that very reason). As with most ensemble casts, our lead is joined by a bevy of other talented and potentially favorite characters/actors. Aunjanue Ellis plays the director in charge of training the recruits. Fans might recognize her from roles in Undercover Brother, The Help, Ray or NCIS: Los Angeles. She, along with Liam O'Connor (character name; he was also in Cougartown) who is the main course instructor, must narrow the field down to the people who can truly become agents.
Ryan BoothThe would-be agents are plenteous with few recognizable faces for the average viewer but a standout or two. You first have Ryan Booth who happens to sleep with Alex the morning she was to go to Quantico. A very small contingent of viewers may recognize him from the short-lived NBC show Believe about a year and a half back--it was a spring/summer show. He's supposed to be the overly physical butch one who appears as a semi-meat head amongst everyone else and that is taking into account the fact that they're all super smart. It is revealed at the end of the first episode that he's actually been an agent for quite some time and has been tasked by Liam to shadow Alex for reasons currently unknown. Did I forget to mention that everyone on this show has a secret? Yeah, hold on because if you haven't been watching this might get confusing, but it's pretty good TV.
Is Asher really gay? Next we have Simon Asher or just Asher. A supposed gay man, our introduction to him shows him engaging in fraud before stepping foot in Quantico. He pays a random gay man on the streets of New York to take a kissing photo with him which he later frames and tells everyone that it is a picture of him and his boyfriend. An amalgam of skinny, nerdy-persona lies, he also doesn't need to wear the fake glasses he proudly slogs around in. Stereotypically, he is not the most proficient in physical skills but is highly trained in technological pursuits. Of all the suspicious behavior on the campus both from teachers and students, he sticks out as the most suspicious which makes him an obvious red herring for the real culprit.
Mormon's on the right. Caleb plays witness to his murder. Then we have Caleb Haas. Also a not as physically gifted specimen like Booth, he shows little proficiency in anything . He has a brief encounter with another of the recruits in the first episode which ends tragically. One of the first tests was to choose a profile of a fellow recruit and figure out what wasn't in the profile that shaped their character. Matched with a Mormon recruit, Caleb prodded him to tell the truth and threatened to reveal a big dark secret about the religious boy that no one else knew. A bluff, as it turned out Mormon did have a dark secret involving his Mormon mission, a pregnant teen girl, an abortion that went horribly wrong and a death. How the FBI's initial background check missed such a huge red flag is beyond anyone, but it led to the boy shooting not only the lie detector test administrator but blowing his own brains out in front of Caleb. That experience, coupled with his lack of ability overall made him turn his sights to an analyst job where he'd safely sit behind a desk rather than be out in the field. And though I have my eye on him, he is not my prime suspect. 
Shelby on the left, Nimah at center.Then there is Nimah. A Muslim woman, she wears the traditional head garb and is never seen unclothed or scantily clothed by a man. This is initially why her fellow recruits believe she is given her own private room while everyone else has a roommate. However, it is revealed in episode two that her story is more complex than that as she is in cahoots with the director--that is, she and her twin sister are in cahoots. Conducting an experiment on her own, the director wants to see if any of the recruits or anyone else will identify Nimah as being two people rather than one. Like twins everywhere do at some point, they dress up as the other or as this possibly fictional "Nimah" character and go through the program hopefully never revealing their true identity, though one leaves in the third episode.
Picture couresty of ABC and spoilertvNext is Natalie Vasquez. After the Mormon's suicide I guess the program had room for one more new recruit as Natalie didn't show up until the second episode. Already tight with Booth, she and Alex are pitted against each other as serious rivals both for being the top recruit and for Booth's heart. She is tough as nails (cliche) and fits in better with the guys than the girls (tomboy cliche). While her self-imposed competition with Alex is a neat side-story, I don't think she is ever meant to be a true suspect due to her late arrival.
And last but certainly not least, we have Shelby Wyatt. A small blonde from down south, she is not only Alex's roommate but has become her best friend outside of Booth. Supposedly, her parents died in the 9/11 attacks spurring her FBI career. She wants to stop any and all terrorist attacks from ever happening on US soil again, which is why she is prime suspect number one for me. Though she isn't shown to be top of the class in physicality or intellect (she's middling), she does have a high skill-level in weapons use as she was a rifle and pageant girl in her youth back before her parents pushed her into such things. She also comes from money. Her parents were extravagantly wealthy as evidenced by her palatial family estate down in Georgia. And though she has seemingly done nothing to make herself stand out as a suspect, I've had my eye on her from day one. Suspect of what, you ask. Sorry, I didn't mention the big twist in this show. The show skips forward nine months from their first day to reveal that the biggest terrorist attack since 9/11 has just taken place in NYC and Alex Parrish just so happened to be there. Curiosities mount when she is not only found at the bomb site, but lying on top of the wreckage as if neatly placed there. And who is suspected to be the culprit? One of the very recruits she trained with at Quantico. It doesn't take long--half of the first episode--for fingers to start pointing at Alex as evidence starts to do the same. She discovers in the second and third episodes that not only has she been framed for the crime, but someone targeted her from the very first day. Booth was found shot and unconscious in Alex's apartment and she goes on the run to prove her innocence. All hell is breaking loose in the city as she tries to think of who she can turn to for help, and is remembering everything that happened while in the academy. All the sex, all the secrets, all the lies mix into frenzied, frothy goodness in this new multicultural whodunnit.
Why is my money and suspicion on the blonde girl? Because everything they've done so far has been to subvert the expected. I had mixed feelings about the Mormon guy killing himself (and on a Sunday night TV show no less) as I did come to know some Mormon missionaries who were very kind and only ever wanted a fair shot at being portrayed as decent people. However, I must commend the producers and writers for having the audacity to put a head-dress wearing Muslim woman on primetime TV. Making her the bad girl is too easy and could be construed as stereotyping and devilishly un-PC. While the teachers have their own agendas, I don't see either of them pulling this. The gay guy, who was revealed nine months later to now be working for a Tech start-up after being expelled from the program, only to be even later revealed as an FBI agent under deep cover and helping Alex in her escape and mystery-solving is also not a suspect because he comes off as too suspicious. Then you have Booth who is too distracted by the ladies though he could be a suspect. That leaves Caleb and Shelby. While my secondary theory involves them working a two-person job (they started off combative toward each other--the perfect cover), my gut feeling is that it is Shelby alone. I have many reasons, all of which I will not cover here but I will say that I wonder greatly about how she managed to procure a twisted metal piece of the plane on which her parents flew when they crashed into one of the twin towers. Also, I think the show has dropped subtle hints in costuming and other artistic choices that lead me to believe she is the villain, though she thinks she's doing something grand.
Study this picture. So much happened in the first three episodes that I didn't even touch on in nearly as much depth as I wanted. Alex is so good at what she does that she breaks Booth down in five easy answers just after they have sex as virtual strangers off a plane. What's her big and complicated background? She grew up with an abusive father. One night her mother and father got into a physical altercation in which Alex shot and killed him. Only after did she discover he was a special agent with the FBI. She came to the FBI to find out if what she saw was true and discovered not only that it was true but that he and her teacher Liam knew each other and her father was a hero who had saved countless lives. Even more intriguing, after killing her father her mother took credit for the murder in self-defense and sent her away to India to live with some relatives for ten years. But as revealed in the third episode, her mother and relatives only knew where she was for nine of those years. Where did she go in that tenth year?
My grade? Isn't it obvious? I am giving this series a B+ to A-. Why not a solid A? Well, I rarely ever give out solid A's to new series as they have to produce throughout a full season for such a rating. A few years back millions of people went crazy for ABC's FlashForward which came from David Goyer who had just assisted in writing The Dark Knight and was seen as being able to do no wrong. Well, a few weeks in he left the show and the series floundered quickly after that. In fact, the show started so promising but got so bad so quickly that for a full year afterward some TV articles called it the new "jumping the shark" and insisted that shows not "pull a FlashForward." Seeing as how it is currently one of the highest rated new shows on ABC and that it has apparently earned a full season order, I can only hope that it produces this same level of quality TV soap that mixes elements of the old Grey's Anatomy with the first two seasons of Alias back when I never wanted that show to end.
Should you be watching? Yes! Yes! Yes, you should. It's good. Again, if you're a TV snob and you can only watch TV shows where there's lots of silence or it's based on a book or everyone has to be sad all the time, then don't watch it. This is not True Detective or Game of Thrones. And it does push you to engage and remember every detail on Sundays at 10pm on ABC when a lot of people want something simple to give their brain that last bit of relaxation before work on Monday (again, I thought this could be better as a Tuesday show which is where they showed repeats for two weeks and still got good numbers). If you're watching Walking Dead at that time, fine, but DVR this and give it a shot too.
What do you think? Do you like shows with an over-arching mystery but that isn't a procedural/cop show? Have you watched the show? If so, who is your prime suspect at the moment? Leave your theories and thoughts below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “don't blow... my cover. My cover. My cover. "
P.S. Their little theme song in the commercials is spot on. Oh, and for a hint of why I think it's Shelby, look at that picture with Priyanka Chopra running away in FBI garb, study it. Notice anything?
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P.P.S. During my search for pictures for this show, I ran across an EW article that mentioned how another ABC show Of Kings and Prophets was pulled from Sunday night to make way for Quantico which was originally set to air on, drumroll... Tuesdays. Didn't I say this felt like a Tuesday show? Don't get me wrong, I think it can definitely survive and thrive in that timeslot so long as it keeps this tone, but I wouldn't be surprised if it switched back to Tuesdays. I've always been told I should be a TV or film exec. Waiting for the chance.
October 13, 2015
The Flash Just Killed A Guy In Cold Glass And Harrison Wells Is Back #TheFlash #CW #Superheroes
The Flash Just Killed A Guy In Cold Glass And Harrison Wells Is Back #TheFlash #CW #Superheroes
All pictures courtesy of CW
Zooming back to our fiber optic airwaves is the Flash... last week. OK, it had it's season premiere last week but I didn't get to write about it because I was busy with all of the three week roundup posts on all the new shows (yes, Quantico, Grandfathered and The Grinder will all be done soon), but I found this week's episode far better than the premiere, which seems to be a trend this season. Ignoring the comment about the fiber optic airwaves because this isn't a science blog, let's just jump in shall we.
To remind everyone, last season's finale saw Barry Allen open up a singularity or what was essentially a black hole. Only now do we know to where that portal led. Surprise! It isn't to an icy planet where Matt Damon is waiting to kill Matthew McConaughey, nor is it to Atlantis, nor is it to Matt Damon growing food on the red planet. You don't get all of those references? I know one of them was to a TV show based on a movie starring James Spader but come on! They should be identifiable... I think. OK, sorry for pop culture-shaming you. That was mean. You don't have to get every reference. But still!
Where did the singularity lead? That is the subject of at least the first half of this season if not its entirety. It led to another universe, which means that there's a secondary earth, which means that the Barry Allen earth is actually part of a multiverse rather than a universe. Fans of the comics will know that this idea has been floating around for quite some time on both the pages of Marvel and DC Comics and has only ever seen any play on TV. With the Flash now exploring such territory, they can bring multiple Flashes on, even reaching back into the pantheon of other superheroes so long as they get the clearance. Hell, they can even bring Tom Wellington's Smallville Superman to our universe for a team-up with the Flash and Green Arrow. Don't bock at that idea, it's possible. And for those who nodded knowingly at that idea I have only to say, "right? Right?" Not wasting any time, the writers and producers started to do just that.
With last week's villain being a Flash ripoff of Batman's Bane and this week's villain Sand Demon (because Sandman was already taken) they have abandoned the threat of this earth's--for the sake of it, let's just call this Earth One--metahumans in favor of villains from another realm, and also yanked a hero from his place in the society he surely loved. Jay Garrick, a man out of time/space, arrived to StarLabs to warn Barry and his posse (yes, I'm bringing that word back. Get used to it) about a villain named Zoom who wants to kill him. Zoom happens to be from Jay Garrick's earth, which we'll just call Earth Two. Jay knows the guy is bad news because he just so happens to be Earth Two's Flash. Unfortunately on Earth One, he's lost his powers though he still retains the retro Amelia Earhart-esque suit. Scientists they are, Barry and the team ask him to prove it and put him through a series of test throughout the show to determine if he's telling the truth. After last year's debacle with Harrison Wells, Barry has played everything close to the chest, and doesn't want to dole out his trust to any old scientific genius that struts through the door. And with the appearance of a Calvin Klein model with a bulkier physique than our favorite Scarlet Speedster, boy, does he strut according to the eyes of Caitlin and Iris.
Meanwhile, as he sits in one of the containment cells in the basement, Sand Demon sets a fire forcing Barry to put it out, then kidnaps an overeager new patrol woman who wants nothing more than to join Joe's defunct metahuman task force because a baddie from last season killed her father in cold blood and then got superpowers.
Finally trusting Jay Garrick, and using Cisco's as yet undefined powers to see into the past in places where he himself had not been, Barry finds out where this Sand Demon is and uses Jay's plan to stop him. Jay's plan: to build enough speed to create and harness the electricity produced by such turbulence and blast it at the man, thusly turning the sand demon into glass. Not even trying to catch the man before he shattered upon the pavement, Jay and Barry both give each other a pat on the back from a job well done. And here I was left thinking about how clean cut DC superheroes like The Flash and Superman are, especially after the hole scuffle between Barry and Green Arrow last season about killing villains. But if Superman's snapping dude's necks, then let the body count commence!
Wrapping things up, Joe reopened his task force with the young woman who just had her life saved by a metahuman, Jay Garrick is going to be part of the team now, Victor Garber--the only half of Firestorm left--collapsed mid-sentence for reasons unknown and Joe's ex-wife and Iris' mother resurfaced in town for the first time ever on the show. While all of that was intriguing, the most "aw snap!" moment came from the revelation that Harrison Wells is not dead, not faking being in a wheelchair anymore and is apparently the head of StarLabs... on Earth Two. Is he Zoom? Is he that earth's Dr. Wells or Earth One's Dr. Wells? 2016 is supposed to be a huge year for comic book films and fans. I can barely contain myself from losing it on Gotham and The Flash alone. I'm too giddy. I need to calm down but I can't. Thank God it's #ChocolateWeek. Only chocolate can make sense of this world.
What do you think? Are you excited to see Jay Garrick get his powers back at some point? Do you think they'll mix the metahumans between both worlds? Will Barry travel to Earth Two? And is the other half of Firestorm still alive in Earth Two or another planet? Let me know in the comments below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “he was goin' fast!" "How fast?" "Like... really fast."
P.S. That's from a future movie that isn't even out yet. But it's gonna blow your mind and give you total deja vu when you hear some hillbilly uttering it in a film. Yeah! Think about that!
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All pictures courtesy of CWZooming back to our fiber optic airwaves is the Flash... last week. OK, it had it's season premiere last week but I didn't get to write about it because I was busy with all of the three week roundup posts on all the new shows (yes, Quantico, Grandfathered and The Grinder will all be done soon), but I found this week's episode far better than the premiere, which seems to be a trend this season. Ignoring the comment about the fiber optic airwaves because this isn't a science blog, let's just jump in shall we.
To remind everyone, last season's finale saw Barry Allen open up a singularity or what was essentially a black hole. Only now do we know to where that portal led. Surprise! It isn't to an icy planet where Matt Damon is waiting to kill Matthew McConaughey, nor is it to Atlantis, nor is it to Matt Damon growing food on the red planet. You don't get all of those references? I know one of them was to a TV show based on a movie starring James Spader but come on! They should be identifiable... I think. OK, sorry for pop culture-shaming you. That was mean. You don't have to get every reference. But still!
Where did the singularity lead? That is the subject of at least the first half of this season if not its entirety. It led to another universe, which means that there's a secondary earth, which means that the Barry Allen earth is actually part of a multiverse rather than a universe. Fans of the comics will know that this idea has been floating around for quite some time on both the pages of Marvel and DC Comics and has only ever seen any play on TV. With the Flash now exploring such territory, they can bring multiple Flashes on, even reaching back into the pantheon of other superheroes so long as they get the clearance. Hell, they can even bring Tom Wellington's Smallville Superman to our universe for a team-up with the Flash and Green Arrow. Don't bock at that idea, it's possible. And for those who nodded knowingly at that idea I have only to say, "right? Right?" Not wasting any time, the writers and producers started to do just that.
With last week's villain being a Flash ripoff of Batman's Bane and this week's villain Sand Demon (because Sandman was already taken) they have abandoned the threat of this earth's--for the sake of it, let's just call this Earth One--metahumans in favor of villains from another realm, and also yanked a hero from his place in the society he surely loved. Jay Garrick, a man out of time/space, arrived to StarLabs to warn Barry and his posse (yes, I'm bringing that word back. Get used to it) about a villain named Zoom who wants to kill him. Zoom happens to be from Jay Garrick's earth, which we'll just call Earth Two. Jay knows the guy is bad news because he just so happens to be Earth Two's Flash. Unfortunately on Earth One, he's lost his powers though he still retains the retro Amelia Earhart-esque suit. Scientists they are, Barry and the team ask him to prove it and put him through a series of test throughout the show to determine if he's telling the truth. After last year's debacle with Harrison Wells, Barry has played everything close to the chest, and doesn't want to dole out his trust to any old scientific genius that struts through the door. And with the appearance of a Calvin Klein model with a bulkier physique than our favorite Scarlet Speedster, boy, does he strut according to the eyes of Caitlin and Iris.
Meanwhile, as he sits in one of the containment cells in the basement, Sand Demon sets a fire forcing Barry to put it out, then kidnaps an overeager new patrol woman who wants nothing more than to join Joe's defunct metahuman task force because a baddie from last season killed her father in cold blood and then got superpowers.
Finally trusting Jay Garrick, and using Cisco's as yet undefined powers to see into the past in places where he himself had not been, Barry finds out where this Sand Demon is and uses Jay's plan to stop him. Jay's plan: to build enough speed to create and harness the electricity produced by such turbulence and blast it at the man, thusly turning the sand demon into glass. Not even trying to catch the man before he shattered upon the pavement, Jay and Barry both give each other a pat on the back from a job well done. And here I was left thinking about how clean cut DC superheroes like The Flash and Superman are, especially after the hole scuffle between Barry and Green Arrow last season about killing villains. But if Superman's snapping dude's necks, then let the body count commence!
Wrapping things up, Joe reopened his task force with the young woman who just had her life saved by a metahuman, Jay Garrick is going to be part of the team now, Victor Garber--the only half of Firestorm left--collapsed mid-sentence for reasons unknown and Joe's ex-wife and Iris' mother resurfaced in town for the first time ever on the show. While all of that was intriguing, the most "aw snap!" moment came from the revelation that Harrison Wells is not dead, not faking being in a wheelchair anymore and is apparently the head of StarLabs... on Earth Two. Is he Zoom? Is he that earth's Dr. Wells or Earth One's Dr. Wells? 2016 is supposed to be a huge year for comic book films and fans. I can barely contain myself from losing it on Gotham and The Flash alone. I'm too giddy. I need to calm down but I can't. Thank God it's #ChocolateWeek. Only chocolate can make sense of this world.
What do you think? Are you excited to see Jay Garrick get his powers back at some point? Do you think they'll mix the metahumans between both worlds? Will Barry travel to Earth Two? And is the other half of Firestorm still alive in Earth Two or another planet? Let me know in the comments below. Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “he was goin' fast!" "How fast?" "Like... really fast."
P.S. That's from a future movie that isn't even out yet. But it's gonna blow your mind and give you total deja vu when you hear some hillbilly uttering it in a film. Yeah! Think about that!
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Twitter@filmbooksbball
October 12, 2015
Law Enforcement Bromance and Strike Force Gets Bitten By The Penguin #Gotham #FOX
Law Enforcement Bromance and Strike Force Gets Bitten By The Penguin #Gotham #FOX
All pictures courtesy of FOX
After the crazy villain uprising and anarchy that was the arc of the first three episodes (especially last week's misguided murder of Jerome) this week Gotham restored a bit of calm to the show as they got back to the basics and began to unravel more of the newest bad guy's true plan. So, let's dig in shall we and pose a few theories on what will happen in the coming weeks.
As most viewers witnessed, Gotham started its season with a bang. You had an Arkham Asylum break by some new billionaire and we saw the triumphant return of Jerome. Though I didn't write about it last week because I was so busy with all of the posts about the new shows, I have to take time to finally mention it here. The fact that they teased Jerome as being the Joker last season was at first unfavorable to me. Outside of one or two instances the character had always remained a mystery. His background and how he got to become this malevolence was one of the best parts of the villain, hell, of the entire Batman mythos. Unlike every other comic book, novel, movie or TV show, his creators dared make him evil because that's what he was. No traumatic childhood, no mental frailty to make us pity him, not even the notion that he believed himself the hero in his own story. No, he was the villain who caused chaos because it was fun. The fact that most people believe that evil is generated from past trauma, yet The Joker had none to identify with is what made him so great. He did bad to see if he could do it.
When they introduced Jerome and said he was beaten and abused and all of that as a child, I cringed. Why explain the devil? Mad no sense. However, I came around to the idea only because I think the kid they got to play him was fantastic in the role. Like, seriously, this guy was darn good. Even though they gave him a background, he had an aura to him that suggested he would be crazy even raised in a loving home. He had both charm and a classic "something's snapped, Mary, and I don't know how to fix it" look about him that fit perfectly into the show. So, I accepted it. Then last week they killed him off which I thought was the worst idea they could
have ever pulled, even worse than giving him a background in the first place. Why? Because now whoever comes after him is a copy of him, a cheap knockoff who, no matter what he does, will always pale in comparison. This was seeing Anakin turn into Darth Vader again. The producers explained that no one comes from nothing and everything is created from a mythos or is just a copy of something before them which on its face is false. Not saying that there are still new ideas in the realm of entertainment because I don't believe there are at the moment, only unique combinations. But the way they set this up is that the real joker will be a carbon copy when he could easily have just been someone created from the madness of the city. He didn't need a rubric on how to walk, talk, laugh, etc. But they've made the decision and no use in dwelling on it.
Anyway, back to tonight's episode. After the shock of killing Jerome, the city returned to a little quiet. With the asylum break and the live TV Jerome fiasco on everyone's mind, Penguin set out to discover who was the puppeteer behind such feats. Luckily (or unluckily), the purple-suited man found him and proposed a business deal. He wanted Penguin to kill two mayoral candidates before he himself entered the adjunct race. Why does he want to be mayor? So he can build some massive skyscrapers on residential land. Huh? So, wait a minute, this guy released loons from prison and had them create chaos that would make him into a hero so he could become Gotham's next Donald Trump? Isn't being the mayor enough without the construction project? Dude, I don't know about your plan. Seems fishy.
In any case, Penguin wants no part of it until it's revealed the man has his flighty mother chained to a bed somewhere. Motivated, he dons his 1930s The Shadow costume and goes to kill one of the candidates himself. One of the witnesses talks even after he threatened them and Jim hops to it.
Speaking of Jim, he finds himself in a budding bromance when the precinct gets a new captain. In what was surely an erection-inducing speech about true justice, honor and bringing the bad guys down, Jim listens to his captain fire about ten cops and threaten to arrest any others doing illegal stuff on the side. I was quite surprised when they both didn't rip their clothes off and go after each other when Jim learned that his captain was also a former jarhead military dog like him. Just what he's been waiting for, a man unafraid of doing his job.
Together they build a team of fresh from the academy topnotch police officers too young to be jaded or corrupted. Named the GCPD Strike Force they answer only to Jim. A first clash comes with Penguin's bald hitman guy in the middle of trying to kill the second candidate. He gets one in the bulletproof vest before escaping but this just reminds Jim of how sticky a situation he's in as his previous deal with Penguin lingers over his head. Even worse, after their scuffle the new captain assigns the force their first official mission: bring down The Penguin. But how will Jim do that when old Cobblepot knows he killed a man as a favor to the crime boss? This is looking to boil over before Christmas break.
There was also a tertiary plot concerning Bruce forming the genesis of a love triangle with him, Selina and a new classmate named Silver. After Alfred punched the crap out of Selina, she got scared away from seeing her not-yet-official boo allowing Bruce to be captivated by the new girl who also happens to be the ward of the new big baddie. This won't end well and will most likely be one of those things that keeps Bruce's relationship with the Kitty contentious for years to come as young hearts may mend easily but don't soon forget. Oh, and E. Nigma finally went on an at-home date with that woman he works with and she actually likes him. He'll probably be cutting her up and stuffing her into a suitcase soon enough.
What do you think? Did you like the way this week's episode felt calmer considering the chaos of the last few weeks? How do you think Jim will handle his secret with Penguin? Who do you think will kill the new villain first: Cobblepot or Jim? Or are you going through Jerome withdraws like I am? Let me know in the comments below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “it ain't easy bein' cheesy! "
P.S. I was just eating some white cheddar Bag of Bones Cheetos and I just thought of that. Why do I find Chester Cheeto so cool? Is that weird? It's probably weird. I'll think of a better sign-off next time.
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All pictures courtesy of FOX
After the crazy villain uprising and anarchy that was the arc of the first three episodes (especially last week's misguided murder of Jerome) this week Gotham restored a bit of calm to the show as they got back to the basics and began to unravel more of the newest bad guy's true plan. So, let's dig in shall we and pose a few theories on what will happen in the coming weeks.
As most viewers witnessed, Gotham started its season with a bang. You had an Arkham Asylum break by some new billionaire and we saw the triumphant return of Jerome. Though I didn't write about it last week because I was so busy with all of the posts about the new shows, I have to take time to finally mention it here. The fact that they teased Jerome as being the Joker last season was at first unfavorable to me. Outside of one or two instances the character had always remained a mystery. His background and how he got to become this malevolence was one of the best parts of the villain, hell, of the entire Batman mythos. Unlike every other comic book, novel, movie or TV show, his creators dared make him evil because that's what he was. No traumatic childhood, no mental frailty to make us pity him, not even the notion that he believed himself the hero in his own story. No, he was the villain who caused chaos because it was fun. The fact that most people believe that evil is generated from past trauma, yet The Joker had none to identify with is what made him so great. He did bad to see if he could do it.
When they introduced Jerome and said he was beaten and abused and all of that as a child, I cringed. Why explain the devil? Mad no sense. However, I came around to the idea only because I think the kid they got to play him was fantastic in the role. Like, seriously, this guy was darn good. Even though they gave him a background, he had an aura to him that suggested he would be crazy even raised in a loving home. He had both charm and a classic "something's snapped, Mary, and I don't know how to fix it" look about him that fit perfectly into the show. So, I accepted it. Then last week they killed him off which I thought was the worst idea they could have ever pulled, even worse than giving him a background in the first place. Why? Because now whoever comes after him is a copy of him, a cheap knockoff who, no matter what he does, will always pale in comparison. This was seeing Anakin turn into Darth Vader again. The producers explained that no one comes from nothing and everything is created from a mythos or is just a copy of something before them which on its face is false. Not saying that there are still new ideas in the realm of entertainment because I don't believe there are at the moment, only unique combinations. But the way they set this up is that the real joker will be a carbon copy when he could easily have just been someone created from the madness of the city. He didn't need a rubric on how to walk, talk, laugh, etc. But they've made the decision and no use in dwelling on it.
Anyway, back to tonight's episode. After the shock of killing Jerome, the city returned to a little quiet. With the asylum break and the live TV Jerome fiasco on everyone's mind, Penguin set out to discover who was the puppeteer behind such feats. Luckily (or unluckily), the purple-suited man found him and proposed a business deal. He wanted Penguin to kill two mayoral candidates before he himself entered the adjunct race. Why does he want to be mayor? So he can build some massive skyscrapers on residential land. Huh? So, wait a minute, this guy released loons from prison and had them create chaos that would make him into a hero so he could become Gotham's next Donald Trump? Isn't being the mayor enough without the construction project? Dude, I don't know about your plan. Seems fishy.
In any case, Penguin wants no part of it until it's revealed the man has his flighty mother chained to a bed somewhere. Motivated, he dons his 1930s The Shadow costume and goes to kill one of the candidates himself. One of the witnesses talks even after he threatened them and Jim hops to it.
Speaking of Jim, he finds himself in a budding bromance when the precinct gets a new captain. In what was surely an erection-inducing speech about true justice, honor and bringing the bad guys down, Jim listens to his captain fire about ten cops and threaten to arrest any others doing illegal stuff on the side. I was quite surprised when they both didn't rip their clothes off and go after each other when Jim learned that his captain was also a former jarhead military dog like him. Just what he's been waiting for, a man unafraid of doing his job.
Together they build a team of fresh from the academy topnotch police officers too young to be jaded or corrupted. Named the GCPD Strike Force they answer only to Jim. A first clash comes with Penguin's bald hitman guy in the middle of trying to kill the second candidate. He gets one in the bulletproof vest before escaping but this just reminds Jim of how sticky a situation he's in as his previous deal with Penguin lingers over his head. Even worse, after their scuffle the new captain assigns the force their first official mission: bring down The Penguin. But how will Jim do that when old Cobblepot knows he killed a man as a favor to the crime boss? This is looking to boil over before Christmas break.
There was also a tertiary plot concerning Bruce forming the genesis of a love triangle with him, Selina and a new classmate named Silver. After Alfred punched the crap out of Selina, she got scared away from seeing her not-yet-official boo allowing Bruce to be captivated by the new girl who also happens to be the ward of the new big baddie. This won't end well and will most likely be one of those things that keeps Bruce's relationship with the Kitty contentious for years to come as young hearts may mend easily but don't soon forget. Oh, and E. Nigma finally went on an at-home date with that woman he works with and she actually likes him. He'll probably be cutting her up and stuffing her into a suitcase soon enough.
What do you think? Did you like the way this week's episode felt calmer considering the chaos of the last few weeks? How do you think Jim will handle his secret with Penguin? Who do you think will kill the new villain first: Cobblepot or Jim? Or are you going through Jerome withdraws like I am? Let me know in the comments below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “it ain't easy bein' cheesy! "
P.S. I was just eating some white cheddar Bag of Bones Cheetos and I just thought of that. Why do I find Chester Cheeto so cool? Is that weird? It's probably weird. I'll think of a better sign-off next time.
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Not Much Blood And Little Oil, This Show Ain't No Dynasty Or Dallas #BloodAndOil #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek
Not Much Blood And Little Oil, This Show Ain't No Dynasty Or Dallas #BloodAndOil #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek
All pictures courtesy of ABC
I knew the season had to deliver it at some point. Just as my earlier article about Rosewood gave an unexpected high of this early fall season, ABC's Blood And Oil (#BloodAndOil) has delivered the first big disappointment. Don't worry though, it still has some redeeming qualities to it.
As I say with all of these posts, click the #Premiere Week button up top and scroll down to ABC's section at the very bottom to read my initial anticipation for this show and see if I thought it'd be good or not. But for those who don't wish to do that, I'll give a quick recap of if I looked forward to this show. The answer to that question is yes, I highly looked forward to this show. In fact, it along with Quantico (review to follow soon) and Minority Report, was my most anticipated show of the season. I really, really wanted to see this show, and looked forward to the soap opera-esque drama of it all. I thought it might be another drama in the way of the two great 80s dramas Dynasty and Dallas. While I think it is a little more similar to Dallas than Dynasty, I would have preferred Dynasty. FOX's Empire is Dynasty. This? Well, this doesn't quite have the flamboyancy and character of a must-see, appointment viewing kind of show. Let's dive in shall we.
The show feeds off of two main plots each of which weave together almost from the start. With around a total of six big players, we start out following the story of a young up-and-coming couple with a familiar face. Chace Crawford plays the husband. He and his wife Cody decide to move from the Florida Panhandle up to North Dakota in order to take advantage of the state's recent oil boom. But they aren't going initially to be part of the oil business. No, they believe their fortune lies within the confines of a wash and dry business. With a truck filled with washers and dryers, they plan to open a laundromat. It's pretty genius when you think about it. A town full of roughnecks with the filthiest of clothes that would need constant washing. Can't fault them for that plan. It's a very good plan. Their stupidity kicks in when Chace decides to purchase three more washers to stuff into the back of their truck instead of buying insurance for the ones they already had. Within the opening minutes of the show, they get spooked by a big rig and fly off the road, totaling not only their pickup but the washers and dryers too--and that's before they even get to North Dakota. They were on the border, the border!
Out of money and low on luck, they hitch a ride to the town they were going to anyway and find that as most boom towns go, this one is filled with so many people that there's not a place for all of them to stay. Many stay out on the street in a tent camp on the edge of the center of town. Lo and Behold their exit from the bar where they learned this fact and their journey into tent city was what gave me my first surprise concerning this show. All of the advertisements showed only the main cast, even trimming it down to the oil baron, his wife, his son, and the young couple in many of the commercials. Hence, I thought the show would be lily white (check my thoughts back in premiere week post and you'll see I wrote those words exactly). Yet, here I find that not only is the sheriff black played by industry old head Delroy Lindo (the father in Romeo Must Die; that's all I can remember him from but he was definitely in other stuff). Then, they also meet a black couple in the tent camp they later help but I don't want to jump too far ahead.
Being Rich Makes Me Happy
Meanwhile, the oil baron played by another industry old head and the biggest draw to the show for me, Nash Bridges himself Don Johnson is looking to expand his ever-growing oil empire but has to deal with his petulant son Wick. Wick is a little all over the place character-wise. First he respects (not loves) his father and just wants a piece of what he believes is his rightful claim of the pie. He sticks out as a young punk who really doesn't give two shakes about the oil business but wants all that money that goes with it minus the work to get it. When his father punishes him for causing trouble with the local Native Americans after shooting a white spirit animal moose, he refuses to cooperate with his punishment of mud raking and gets fired by his father. The scoundrel he is, he concocts a plan to instead steal the oil from his father and sell it on his own with a buddy of his.
There's some business with his new mother-in-law, Don Johnson's current wife, thinking he's sneaky but so far they really haven't utilized her character as much as I would have liked or thought they would. Frankly, they should use her a lot because I think Amber Valletta (Transporter 2, Hitch, Dead Silence) is a pretty good actress who hasn't been given that one amazing role for her to do something with. Here, not only does she not play as big of a part as the commercial insinuated she would, she's nearly a shadow fading into the rustic-wealthy background of the North Dakota mansion where she and her husband reside. While I understand that it may be considered too weak of a character for modern TV, I would have liked--still would--if she played a role similar to Krystle on Dynasty. Krystle was light, fluffy, gentle, meek, and totally in love with her man. This woman not only seems completely opposite of that but doesn't exude the sinister power that should come from a person who supposedly only married this man as a "business merger." She's neither exceptionally cold and calculating nor working class princess-like. She's just... there, and only sometimes.
She had some tension with his daughter who is becoming a bigger character but who also has yet to make a real mark on the show as she just arrived back from California to potentially become part of the business. It has been implied that her mother was either a mistress that was also part of the help staff at some point (she looks like she may be Latina or Hispanic) that her father cast off (she said as much) or she came from a brief fling he had after a divorce or before a marriage. In any case, she doesn't speak often with her father as she hates how he treated her mother as a side project rather than a woman. Funny enough, the show kind of does the same thing to many of its female characters outside of Chace's wife.
And we're back to the young couple. After losing everything, both of them get to think about how they could get back on their feet. Scooping up gainful employment like it was nothing in an overcrowded town, Cody finds work at a drug store. There she overhears one of the oil men talking to his boss on the phone about some sure-thing piece of land with massive oil reserves underneath it. So long as they buy the land from the old man living in a shack at the center of it, they'll be rich by billions. She tells her husband and they strike a deal with the old man to purchase some of the land (enough for drilling) for a mere $100,000 and 25% stake in whatever deal they'll make going forward. They then flip the drilling rights for the next three years and sell those to Don Johnson's character for 1 million dollars (mentally insert Dr. Evil picture here). This only after taking a loan out from the barkeep who moonlights as a real estate agent, and wheeling and dealing their way to that measly 100,000.
Rich, they go out with the oil baron and his wife to see some of the oil drilling business. Nighttime, they run into the son and his accomplice stealing an oil tanker. Masked, the son gets into a fistfight with his dad during his escape but is thwarted by Chace. In one of the more unbelievable scenes, a spark ignites a huge oil slick in which the three men have rolled and are currently standing in. To my surprise, it didn't light them up like a 4th of July grill and serve them up Cajun crispy. I don't know what kind of oil it is that ignites slowly and doesn't feed the flame more than it can consume, but somehow all three men escape with few burns except to unseen places on their bodies.
The son escapes with the oil and sets up the sheriff to go on a hunt for the 18-wheeler which ends in the third episode as the accomplice gets caught. But this also leads to Chace carrying favor with Don because he saved his life. Knowing the boy is interested in making more money, he offers him another deal where he believes he can make ten times the amount of money if he flips it in a few years, but the buy-in is half a million dollars. Chace turns him down, opting instead to follow his newly pregnant wife's idea to purchase a house after less than a week of being in town. Don doesn't wait and flips the business a week later but only makes triple what he paid for it, leaving Chace to miss out on a million dollars profit. He definitely wants in on the next deal but doesn't have enough to buy in. He makes a deal to give over his percentage of that land he bought from the old man plus another 250,000 for the possible sure thing right now. The sure thing turns out to be a dud and he loses all of it. Shrewd and conniving, Johnson plays the deal superbly, ending up with everything he wanted in the first place.
Meanwhile, he lets his son back into his life after the little death scare but doesn't know it was him who gave him the death scare at the end of the barrel of a gun. What he also didn't know was that his son has taken to sleeping with the bar owner/real estate lady who is quite a good businesswoman herself. As it turns out, she might have picked up a few tricks from her old boyfriend who just so happens to be Don. His son doesn't know that he's living in a real-life rendition of the O'Jays classic "She Used To Be My Girl" but apparently she still loves her older beau and he's still down for a few rolls in the sheets as evidenced by the third episode.
There's another side story that has only now showed signs of developing with the black couple who want to open a restaurant but currently have a food truck with another chef from L.A. This other chef is a serious flirt and might try to start something with the wife but Cody has already warned him about such activity as she has invested in the business. There's also another tertiary plot with one of the men who works for Don having an affair with his daughter and doing some corporate spying maybe for blackmailing purposes but that hasn't given enough clues to tell where it's going. Other than that, the show is moving fairly quickly concerning its main plot but there just isn't that "umph!" I'd like to have.
What do I rate this show? I regrettably have to give it a C. Ever since the amazing Desperate Housewives went off the air and sucked Brothers and Sisters (a not as amazing show) along with it, ABC has had trouble filling the 9pm Sunday time slot. Last year's Resurrection had showed promise but petered out quickly, losing viewers' interest before Thanksgiving hit and that was in its sophomore season. Unfortunately, this might do the same. If this show is to survive, I think they need to liven up the drama amongst the women as on Empire--again, they have Dynasty as a great example--and maybe bring one of Don's ex-wives on the show as she was mentioned in passing to be working in the oil industry down in Texas. Maybe that is the plan or maybe they are trying to see what they have first, but I think this show could use some new blood to make things bubble and catch fire a lot quicker. The characters all seem muted on the backdrop and that even goes for Miami Vice Don who I think could make a really great JR or Blake Carrington if given the proper juiciness in a role. For now, they ring hollow and, unlike the quiet but tension-filled characters that populate AMC and other cable TV shows, every second of quiet from the characters is felt in an uncomfortable way. Just think of how improperly and clumsily worded that last sentence is and that is the way the characters come off to me.
Also, I know that this show has had behind-the-scenes problems to which I would offer up a suggestion of getting the season one Revenge showrunner to helm things and change the tone of the show. Every barb, slight, undercutting and etc. needs to be felt more and made weightier. Some characters are there but aren't used enough and it feels almost like they wanted only to tell one story but someone told them they had to have side stories so they tried shoving them in without giving proper care to develop them. Honestly, after the third episode, I have no idea where this show is going. Of course Chace is going to try to get his money back but... is that it? Hmph!
Should you be watching? Isn't that clear already? Look, I'd actually like to see this show survive because I enjoy the cast for some reason and really think they have the potential for something good or even great, but I also understand that people are busy and don't have time for something that feels like it lacks vision. Blood and Oil are two very thick liquids. I hope the producers and writers can stop trying to look through them and see them for what they have the potential to be.
What do you think? Am I being too much of a roughneck on the show and this is one of your favorite Sunday night shows? Have you seen the show? If so, how do you think Cody and her husband are going to fair in North Dakota? Let me know in the comments below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-boyfriend. #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “there's oil in dem dere hills!"
P.S. I used to watch a show entitled Black Gold. A reality show, it taught me just how serious roughnecking was. Take your job seriously people because when you don't it can lead to accidents or worse, poor quality work. I'll think of a better sign-off for next time, I'm sure.
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All pictures courtesy of ABC I knew the season had to deliver it at some point. Just as my earlier article about Rosewood gave an unexpected high of this early fall season, ABC's Blood And Oil (#BloodAndOil) has delivered the first big disappointment. Don't worry though, it still has some redeeming qualities to it.
As I say with all of these posts, click the #Premiere Week button up top and scroll down to ABC's section at the very bottom to read my initial anticipation for this show and see if I thought it'd be good or not. But for those who don't wish to do that, I'll give a quick recap of if I looked forward to this show. The answer to that question is yes, I highly looked forward to this show. In fact, it along with Quantico (review to follow soon) and Minority Report, was my most anticipated show of the season. I really, really wanted to see this show, and looked forward to the soap opera-esque drama of it all. I thought it might be another drama in the way of the two great 80s dramas Dynasty and Dallas. While I think it is a little more similar to Dallas than Dynasty, I would have preferred Dynasty. FOX's Empire is Dynasty. This? Well, this doesn't quite have the flamboyancy and character of a must-see, appointment viewing kind of show. Let's dive in shall we.
The show feeds off of two main plots each of which weave together almost from the start. With around a total of six big players, we start out following the story of a young up-and-coming couple with a familiar face. Chace Crawford plays the husband. He and his wife Cody decide to move from the Florida Panhandle up to North Dakota in order to take advantage of the state's recent oil boom. But they aren't going initially to be part of the oil business. No, they believe their fortune lies within the confines of a wash and dry business. With a truck filled with washers and dryers, they plan to open a laundromat. It's pretty genius when you think about it. A town full of roughnecks with the filthiest of clothes that would need constant washing. Can't fault them for that plan. It's a very good plan. Their stupidity kicks in when Chace decides to purchase three more washers to stuff into the back of their truck instead of buying insurance for the ones they already had. Within the opening minutes of the show, they get spooked by a big rig and fly off the road, totaling not only their pickup but the washers and dryers too--and that's before they even get to North Dakota. They were on the border, the border!
Out of money and low on luck, they hitch a ride to the town they were going to anyway and find that as most boom towns go, this one is filled with so many people that there's not a place for all of them to stay. Many stay out on the street in a tent camp on the edge of the center of town. Lo and Behold their exit from the bar where they learned this fact and their journey into tent city was what gave me my first surprise concerning this show. All of the advertisements showed only the main cast, even trimming it down to the oil baron, his wife, his son, and the young couple in many of the commercials. Hence, I thought the show would be lily white (check my thoughts back in premiere week post and you'll see I wrote those words exactly). Yet, here I find that not only is the sheriff black played by industry old head Delroy Lindo (the father in Romeo Must Die; that's all I can remember him from but he was definitely in other stuff). Then, they also meet a black couple in the tent camp they later help but I don't want to jump too far ahead.
Being Rich Makes Me HappyMeanwhile, the oil baron played by another industry old head and the biggest draw to the show for me, Nash Bridges himself Don Johnson is looking to expand his ever-growing oil empire but has to deal with his petulant son Wick. Wick is a little all over the place character-wise. First he respects (not loves) his father and just wants a piece of what he believes is his rightful claim of the pie. He sticks out as a young punk who really doesn't give two shakes about the oil business but wants all that money that goes with it minus the work to get it. When his father punishes him for causing trouble with the local Native Americans after shooting a white spirit animal moose, he refuses to cooperate with his punishment of mud raking and gets fired by his father. The scoundrel he is, he concocts a plan to instead steal the oil from his father and sell it on his own with a buddy of his.
There's some business with his new mother-in-law, Don Johnson's current wife, thinking he's sneaky but so far they really haven't utilized her character as much as I would have liked or thought they would. Frankly, they should use her a lot because I think Amber Valletta (Transporter 2, Hitch, Dead Silence) is a pretty good actress who hasn't been given that one amazing role for her to do something with. Here, not only does she not play as big of a part as the commercial insinuated she would, she's nearly a shadow fading into the rustic-wealthy background of the North Dakota mansion where she and her husband reside. While I understand that it may be considered too weak of a character for modern TV, I would have liked--still would--if she played a role similar to Krystle on Dynasty. Krystle was light, fluffy, gentle, meek, and totally in love with her man. This woman not only seems completely opposite of that but doesn't exude the sinister power that should come from a person who supposedly only married this man as a "business merger." She's neither exceptionally cold and calculating nor working class princess-like. She's just... there, and only sometimes.
She had some tension with his daughter who is becoming a bigger character but who also has yet to make a real mark on the show as she just arrived back from California to potentially become part of the business. It has been implied that her mother was either a mistress that was also part of the help staff at some point (she looks like she may be Latina or Hispanic) that her father cast off (she said as much) or she came from a brief fling he had after a divorce or before a marriage. In any case, she doesn't speak often with her father as she hates how he treated her mother as a side project rather than a woman. Funny enough, the show kind of does the same thing to many of its female characters outside of Chace's wife.
And we're back to the young couple. After losing everything, both of them get to think about how they could get back on their feet. Scooping up gainful employment like it was nothing in an overcrowded town, Cody finds work at a drug store. There she overhears one of the oil men talking to his boss on the phone about some sure-thing piece of land with massive oil reserves underneath it. So long as they buy the land from the old man living in a shack at the center of it, they'll be rich by billions. She tells her husband and they strike a deal with the old man to purchase some of the land (enough for drilling) for a mere $100,000 and 25% stake in whatever deal they'll make going forward. They then flip the drilling rights for the next three years and sell those to Don Johnson's character for 1 million dollars (mentally insert Dr. Evil picture here). This only after taking a loan out from the barkeep who moonlights as a real estate agent, and wheeling and dealing their way to that measly 100,000.
Rich, they go out with the oil baron and his wife to see some of the oil drilling business. Nighttime, they run into the son and his accomplice stealing an oil tanker. Masked, the son gets into a fistfight with his dad during his escape but is thwarted by Chace. In one of the more unbelievable scenes, a spark ignites a huge oil slick in which the three men have rolled and are currently standing in. To my surprise, it didn't light them up like a 4th of July grill and serve them up Cajun crispy. I don't know what kind of oil it is that ignites slowly and doesn't feed the flame more than it can consume, but somehow all three men escape with few burns except to unseen places on their bodies. 
The son escapes with the oil and sets up the sheriff to go on a hunt for the 18-wheeler which ends in the third episode as the accomplice gets caught. But this also leads to Chace carrying favor with Don because he saved his life. Knowing the boy is interested in making more money, he offers him another deal where he believes he can make ten times the amount of money if he flips it in a few years, but the buy-in is half a million dollars. Chace turns him down, opting instead to follow his newly pregnant wife's idea to purchase a house after less than a week of being in town. Don doesn't wait and flips the business a week later but only makes triple what he paid for it, leaving Chace to miss out on a million dollars profit. He definitely wants in on the next deal but doesn't have enough to buy in. He makes a deal to give over his percentage of that land he bought from the old man plus another 250,000 for the possible sure thing right now. The sure thing turns out to be a dud and he loses all of it. Shrewd and conniving, Johnson plays the deal superbly, ending up with everything he wanted in the first place.
Meanwhile, he lets his son back into his life after the little death scare but doesn't know it was him who gave him the death scare at the end of the barrel of a gun. What he also didn't know was that his son has taken to sleeping with the bar owner/real estate lady who is quite a good businesswoman herself. As it turns out, she might have picked up a few tricks from her old boyfriend who just so happens to be Don. His son doesn't know that he's living in a real-life rendition of the O'Jays classic "She Used To Be My Girl" but apparently she still loves her older beau and he's still down for a few rolls in the sheets as evidenced by the third episode.
There's another side story that has only now showed signs of developing with the black couple who want to open a restaurant but currently have a food truck with another chef from L.A. This other chef is a serious flirt and might try to start something with the wife but Cody has already warned him about such activity as she has invested in the business. There's also another tertiary plot with one of the men who works for Don having an affair with his daughter and doing some corporate spying maybe for blackmailing purposes but that hasn't given enough clues to tell where it's going. Other than that, the show is moving fairly quickly concerning its main plot but there just isn't that "umph!" I'd like to have.
What do I rate this show? I regrettably have to give it a C. Ever since the amazing Desperate Housewives went off the air and sucked Brothers and Sisters (a not as amazing show) along with it, ABC has had trouble filling the 9pm Sunday time slot. Last year's Resurrection had showed promise but petered out quickly, losing viewers' interest before Thanksgiving hit and that was in its sophomore season. Unfortunately, this might do the same. If this show is to survive, I think they need to liven up the drama amongst the women as on Empire--again, they have Dynasty as a great example--and maybe bring one of Don's ex-wives on the show as she was mentioned in passing to be working in the oil industry down in Texas. Maybe that is the plan or maybe they are trying to see what they have first, but I think this show could use some new blood to make things bubble and catch fire a lot quicker. The characters all seem muted on the backdrop and that even goes for Miami Vice Don who I think could make a really great JR or Blake Carrington if given the proper juiciness in a role. For now, they ring hollow and, unlike the quiet but tension-filled characters that populate AMC and other cable TV shows, every second of quiet from the characters is felt in an uncomfortable way. Just think of how improperly and clumsily worded that last sentence is and that is the way the characters come off to me.
Also, I know that this show has had behind-the-scenes problems to which I would offer up a suggestion of getting the season one Revenge showrunner to helm things and change the tone of the show. Every barb, slight, undercutting and etc. needs to be felt more and made weightier. Some characters are there but aren't used enough and it feels almost like they wanted only to tell one story but someone told them they had to have side stories so they tried shoving them in without giving proper care to develop them. Honestly, after the third episode, I have no idea where this show is going. Of course Chace is going to try to get his money back but... is that it? Hmph!
Should you be watching? Isn't that clear already? Look, I'd actually like to see this show survive because I enjoy the cast for some reason and really think they have the potential for something good or even great, but I also understand that people are busy and don't have time for something that feels like it lacks vision. Blood and Oil are two very thick liquids. I hope the producers and writers can stop trying to look through them and see them for what they have the potential to be.
What do you think? Am I being too much of a roughneck on the show and this is one of your favorite Sunday night shows? Have you seen the show? If so, how do you think Cody and her husband are going to fair in North Dakota? Let me know in the comments below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-boyfriend. #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “there's oil in dem dere hills!"
P.S. I used to watch a show entitled Black Gold. A reality show, it taught me just how serious roughnecking was. Take your job seriously people because when you don't it can lead to accidents or worse, poor quality work. I'll think of a better sign-off for next time, I'm sure.
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Twitter@filmbooksbball
October 11, 2015
OT (other topics): Gender Bender? Gimme A Break! #Twilight #BooksAndStuff
OT (other topics): Gender Bender? Gimme A Break! #Twilight #BooksAndStuff
All images related to Twilight series of novels and films created by Stephanie Meyer. All rights reserved for their respective owners.
If you're one of those few people in the world that actually do live under rocks or deep in the woods in little Middle-Earth hovels then you probably haven't heard the life-altering, earth-shattering news that Stephanie Meyer hit us with earlier this week (last week if you're really going to be technical about this). What news? She was releasing a new Twilight novel. Yay! Yes, that is a genuine "yay!" and not an ironic one and actually would have made an indelible print in the awesome-sphere that is cool stuff (you don't know what I'm talking about or think that last sentence is confusing? I ain't got time. Look it up!). Sadly, she wasn't releasing a brand new book in the twilight series. What does that mean?
These were my thoughts exactly until she whipped out the most ridiculous and money-grabby excuse of a book I've ever seen in my life (maybe outside of Grey, an erotic novel told from Christian Grey's viewpoint). She and her publisher decided to do a gender bender with the original twilight book making Bella into Beau and Edward into Edythe. While I like the name Beau I despise the hipster spelling of Edith and don't particularly care for the name but that's just my preference. The names, however, are not where I have my gripe. No, my disappointment in this lazy turn-for-profit is twofold.
The first problem I have is the reasoning behind switching the genders in the first place. Listen, a romance is a romance. There's tons of cheesiness in every romance whether it is good and life-changing or run-of-the-mill kissy-face stuff. It is one of the few genres in the world of which everyone seems to become jaded before the age of ten. The cute and popular guy who smiles at the dark and brooding girl; the two socially awkward teens who manage to discover themselves and each other; the domineering man with a soft side and weakness for the one woman who reminds him that he's human and imperfect and it's OK--all of these tropes, cliches, archetypes, etc. are overplayed and have been done to death so often both in fiction and real life that when someone gets hold of something that really enlivens them to believe in the magic of love, they generally obsess over it. This is what happened with Twilight. And you know what, great! It was fantastic that Meyer and her books had a huge fanbase but she shouldn't have forgotten just that: she had a huge fanbase!
Listen, was I a huge fan of the Twilight books? Not nearly as much as the movies (yes, I'm a guy and I liked the movies. Does that amuse you in some way? Do you think that's funny? Funny how?), but I could respect the fact that people liked and read the books. Most of the fans were female, many of them teenage girls though plenty were grown women (I'm lookin' at you E.L. James) with fantasies of their own. But that is one of the best parts of being an author. She had a fanbase large enough to get her books turned into movies, large enough for those movies to spawn a five-ilogy (I can't know every word for everything) and spawn the careers of a few future stars, large enough to spawn the biggest online fan fiction community probably ever and that is taking into account Harry Potter (Star Wars is a different animal entirely). She had fans. Fans that actually still wanted more ten years after the release of the first book. So, why then did she release a new book that isn't a sequel but rather a reboot (yeah, she rebooted her own novel. Like, I thought only movies could do that? When is that Stephen King It novel reboot coming) of the original? Optics.
In her interviews with... sources--it's late and I'm pretty lazy right now as I'm on a three day break between book projects. I don't wanna look it up--she implies that she felt hurt by the feminist criticism of the original books that said she made Bella into a weeping teen girl who could easily be controlled by Edward because of her obsession. "She makes women look weak!" apparently. Sigh. So, in order to give the story a more feminist twist, she puts the power into Edythe's hands and makes her the aggressor. Sigh. This way we're supposed to know and understand that love and obsession can be damning, and effect anyone in adverse ways regardless of sex (as if we didn't already know that; refer back to my jaded comment a few paragraphs up). Big sigh.
Look, I don't know how many seemingly anti-feminist posts I'm gonna have on my blog after the whole Grey's Anatomy/Ellen Pompeo thing, but I will say that again, I am not trying to be anti-feminist here. Rather, I am trying to stick up for an author who was either tired of doing it herself or just really wanted the money it could generate from catering to a certain clientele. My problem that I have with this is that this is not really in service to the fans--you know, the main and really only people you should be in service to. The majority of the criticism came from/comes from (present tense? Past tense? Uh, I'm not sure now) people who didn't particularly care for the book in the first place, many of which went along with the bandwagon because it was the in thing to do. Others who brought this up generally had a laundry list of gripes of which this was just one of the filthy things they wished they could wash from their memory. As an aside, who the hell makes a list for their laundry? Shouldn't you just clean it if it's dirty? Where the hell did that saying come from? Hmm, I don't know.
I'm running long so I'll cut through the BS here. Just because some people said that Bella was a weak character does not mean that you as an author should go back and change her. I get so tired of everyone wanting the same kind of character in a book, then hating the book for it. Guess what? Everyone in life is not some strong, heroic but flawed person. Some people really don't have redeeming qualities for a very long time. Some people do bad because that's what they want to do. Some people are boring. Some people need others more than we want them to. And some people don't consider every flaw they have a flaw. Characters should be the same. Authors should be able to stand by a character the way they wrote that character. God, for all the creative writing classes we have in high schools and colleges across the country, do we have to also have a creative reading class in order to teach people that not every novel needs to conform to your political standards and views and that not every character needs to be likable, sympathetic or strong. Didn't people used to read and tell stories to experience a life of someone else that they knew they'd probably never lead? Or even to learn about the differences in people? Since when did the anthem become: "I want to read a book with characters exactly like me or someone in my subset of friends and family or else it's just gonna piss me off!" No wonder the world is the way it is right now, because apparently we're even pushing diversity out of our literature (as in any readable content. Don't give me that face).
Growing up and still to this day I knew plenty of girls who were shy, who were strong and domineering, who were meek and gentle, who were intimidated by men and who intimidated men. Every one loved differently, not to say that they love me or that I was a lady's man... but I am implying that I may have carried favor with the ladies. Was that an eye roll? Hoo! I can feel your eyes rolling through the internet. Fine, it's not true, but it's my blog and I should be allowed to say what I want, how I want to say it. A-ha! Sneaky writing, right? Yeah, circled back around. And you thought it was just another parenthetical tangent minus the parentheses.
Some of you are mentioning right now or a few paragraphs ago that young girls were taking this romance as an example of how love works and that's bad. Listen, I got news for you just in case you've grown that out of touch with adolescence. Girls and boys not only get it wrong all the time when it comes to teen loves, they draw comparisons and standards for their own hearts from everything, chief among those things being their parents. Love during that time has always been difficult and confusing and teens drew from wherever they could before finally coming up with something of their own. The trick was to get them to that stage where they could be mentally ready for romance. And while Bella may have appeared obsessed and controlled by Edward, guess what? It's human. It happens. "But it shouldn't happen to children." Unfortunately, it does. It did before the book and will long after Twilight stops being popular. Plus, I don't remember an uproar about Katniss in Hunger Games pimping her heart out for the masses. Even though I love that book, she was basically Kim Kardashian with a bow and arrow. "Oh, but it was life and death and she had to do it." Right, because a fourteen-year-old girl who reads that and then grows up and ends up homeless and penniless is not going to remember how Katniss dressed up nice, painted her face, paraded in front of a crowd of gawkers just to put some food on her table (yes, homelessness is actually becoming a much bigger problem than we'd all care to talk about right now). If we're breaking it down, Twilight is to "weak women" what Hunger Games is to "gold diggers."
I'll try to make my second gripe quicker. The second big reason I didn't like this really stems from the struggle of self-publishing and being an author in general. Stephanie Meyer has a name, has a brand, has market recognition. As such, she can use those things to leverage more of her own works, more of her writings. This is why I don't like to write about writing on my blog because this next thing might hurt some would-be authors, but I have to say it. If you as an author are not thinking and developing new ideas and new projects at least every year, then this might not be a career for you. It can be a fad, something you do once and get out of your system, but plenty of authors have so many ideas wrestling around in their heads that they can't get them out fast enough. And no, that does not mean just with the same characters and amassing a stock pile of watery sequels. As I look on her website and wiki page, I count a total of three other works not related to Twilight. Where's the beef?
See, as a self-pub author I struggle to get people to read my stuff because they don't want to buy it or they don't know the name or they think it's crap (just being honest. Still, I just hurt myself a little) or a thousand other reasons. But for authors who have a cache of followers and people who want to read their books, I don't understand why they dwell only on what they've already written so much. I understand contracts and launching new properties is hard, but someone has to do it. Novels, just like TV is now, should be a place of crazy invention and vibrant imagination. This is from where new stuff should emanate. Don't get me wrong, I understand the allure of a series, but in-between a series, use your name to start another series or put out a stand alone book, capitalize on your success because there are so many others out there that would step into your shoes and knock it out of the park. I am one of the few people that enjoyed both book and film of The Host. There are two frontiers which still beg for exploration: space and the human mind. Even with all the mind's creativity seemingly plundered, there's still more. Give us more, because that is what the fans really want.
Sorry I went long, but I felt it had to be said. What do you all think? Am I blowing this out of the water and being ridiculous? I know it's a money grab and I'm definitely not against that but I was thinking that she should instead do an extended edition of each book or the final book or that short story she did on Bree, making the environment even more rich for the side characters, as I have made plans to do on some of my own books. Are you going to buy Life after Death or are you done with the series? And what do you like from your favorite author: new ideas or the same thing over and over and over and over again? Let me know in the comments below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “I know what you are.” "Say it... out loud." "A vampire." "Are you afraid, Bella--or, Beau. I'm sorry am I Edward or Edythe right now? Either way I still wanna eat you and suck your blood, I mean... fall in love with you. Yeah, that's what I meant."
P.S. OK, so when are we going to get the fan fiction where Bella and Edward meet Beau and Edythe and they all realize just how awkward they are? Anyone?
P. P. S. I've learned that even Stephanie Meyer has said that this is not technically a real book. Glad somebody said.
Amazon
Goodreads Author Page
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Twitter@filmbooksbball
All images related to Twilight series of novels and films created by Stephanie Meyer. All rights reserved for their respective owners.
If you're one of those few people in the world that actually do live under rocks or deep in the woods in little Middle-Earth hovels then you probably haven't heard the life-altering, earth-shattering news that Stephanie Meyer hit us with earlier this week (last week if you're really going to be technical about this). What news? She was releasing a new Twilight novel. Yay! Yes, that is a genuine "yay!" and not an ironic one and actually would have made an indelible print in the awesome-sphere that is cool stuff (you don't know what I'm talking about or think that last sentence is confusing? I ain't got time. Look it up!). Sadly, she wasn't releasing a brand new book in the twilight series. What does that mean?
These were my thoughts exactly until she whipped out the most ridiculous and money-grabby excuse of a book I've ever seen in my life (maybe outside of Grey, an erotic novel told from Christian Grey's viewpoint). She and her publisher decided to do a gender bender with the original twilight book making Bella into Beau and Edward into Edythe. While I like the name Beau I despise the hipster spelling of Edith and don't particularly care for the name but that's just my preference. The names, however, are not where I have my gripe. No, my disappointment in this lazy turn-for-profit is twofold.
The first problem I have is the reasoning behind switching the genders in the first place. Listen, a romance is a romance. There's tons of cheesiness in every romance whether it is good and life-changing or run-of-the-mill kissy-face stuff. It is one of the few genres in the world of which everyone seems to become jaded before the age of ten. The cute and popular guy who smiles at the dark and brooding girl; the two socially awkward teens who manage to discover themselves and each other; the domineering man with a soft side and weakness for the one woman who reminds him that he's human and imperfect and it's OK--all of these tropes, cliches, archetypes, etc. are overplayed and have been done to death so often both in fiction and real life that when someone gets hold of something that really enlivens them to believe in the magic of love, they generally obsess over it. This is what happened with Twilight. And you know what, great! It was fantastic that Meyer and her books had a huge fanbase but she shouldn't have forgotten just that: she had a huge fanbase!
Listen, was I a huge fan of the Twilight books? Not nearly as much as the movies (yes, I'm a guy and I liked the movies. Does that amuse you in some way? Do you think that's funny? Funny how?), but I could respect the fact that people liked and read the books. Most of the fans were female, many of them teenage girls though plenty were grown women (I'm lookin' at you E.L. James) with fantasies of their own. But that is one of the best parts of being an author. She had a fanbase large enough to get her books turned into movies, large enough for those movies to spawn a five-ilogy (I can't know every word for everything) and spawn the careers of a few future stars, large enough to spawn the biggest online fan fiction community probably ever and that is taking into account Harry Potter (Star Wars is a different animal entirely). She had fans. Fans that actually still wanted more ten years after the release of the first book. So, why then did she release a new book that isn't a sequel but rather a reboot (yeah, she rebooted her own novel. Like, I thought only movies could do that? When is that Stephen King It novel reboot coming) of the original? Optics.
In her interviews with... sources--it's late and I'm pretty lazy right now as I'm on a three day break between book projects. I don't wanna look it up--she implies that she felt hurt by the feminist criticism of the original books that said she made Bella into a weeping teen girl who could easily be controlled by Edward because of her obsession. "She makes women look weak!" apparently. Sigh. So, in order to give the story a more feminist twist, she puts the power into Edythe's hands and makes her the aggressor. Sigh. This way we're supposed to know and understand that love and obsession can be damning, and effect anyone in adverse ways regardless of sex (as if we didn't already know that; refer back to my jaded comment a few paragraphs up). Big sigh.
Look, I don't know how many seemingly anti-feminist posts I'm gonna have on my blog after the whole Grey's Anatomy/Ellen Pompeo thing, but I will say that again, I am not trying to be anti-feminist here. Rather, I am trying to stick up for an author who was either tired of doing it herself or just really wanted the money it could generate from catering to a certain clientele. My problem that I have with this is that this is not really in service to the fans--you know, the main and really only people you should be in service to. The majority of the criticism came from/comes from (present tense? Past tense? Uh, I'm not sure now) people who didn't particularly care for the book in the first place, many of which went along with the bandwagon because it was the in thing to do. Others who brought this up generally had a laundry list of gripes of which this was just one of the filthy things they wished they could wash from their memory. As an aside, who the hell makes a list for their laundry? Shouldn't you just clean it if it's dirty? Where the hell did that saying come from? Hmm, I don't know.
I'm running long so I'll cut through the BS here. Just because some people said that Bella was a weak character does not mean that you as an author should go back and change her. I get so tired of everyone wanting the same kind of character in a book, then hating the book for it. Guess what? Everyone in life is not some strong, heroic but flawed person. Some people really don't have redeeming qualities for a very long time. Some people do bad because that's what they want to do. Some people are boring. Some people need others more than we want them to. And some people don't consider every flaw they have a flaw. Characters should be the same. Authors should be able to stand by a character the way they wrote that character. God, for all the creative writing classes we have in high schools and colleges across the country, do we have to also have a creative reading class in order to teach people that not every novel needs to conform to your political standards and views and that not every character needs to be likable, sympathetic or strong. Didn't people used to read and tell stories to experience a life of someone else that they knew they'd probably never lead? Or even to learn about the differences in people? Since when did the anthem become: "I want to read a book with characters exactly like me or someone in my subset of friends and family or else it's just gonna piss me off!" No wonder the world is the way it is right now, because apparently we're even pushing diversity out of our literature (as in any readable content. Don't give me that face).
Growing up and still to this day I knew plenty of girls who were shy, who were strong and domineering, who were meek and gentle, who were intimidated by men and who intimidated men. Every one loved differently, not to say that they love me or that I was a lady's man... but I am implying that I may have carried favor with the ladies. Was that an eye roll? Hoo! I can feel your eyes rolling through the internet. Fine, it's not true, but it's my blog and I should be allowed to say what I want, how I want to say it. A-ha! Sneaky writing, right? Yeah, circled back around. And you thought it was just another parenthetical tangent minus the parentheses.
Some of you are mentioning right now or a few paragraphs ago that young girls were taking this romance as an example of how love works and that's bad. Listen, I got news for you just in case you've grown that out of touch with adolescence. Girls and boys not only get it wrong all the time when it comes to teen loves, they draw comparisons and standards for their own hearts from everything, chief among those things being their parents. Love during that time has always been difficult and confusing and teens drew from wherever they could before finally coming up with something of their own. The trick was to get them to that stage where they could be mentally ready for romance. And while Bella may have appeared obsessed and controlled by Edward, guess what? It's human. It happens. "But it shouldn't happen to children." Unfortunately, it does. It did before the book and will long after Twilight stops being popular. Plus, I don't remember an uproar about Katniss in Hunger Games pimping her heart out for the masses. Even though I love that book, she was basically Kim Kardashian with a bow and arrow. "Oh, but it was life and death and she had to do it." Right, because a fourteen-year-old girl who reads that and then grows up and ends up homeless and penniless is not going to remember how Katniss dressed up nice, painted her face, paraded in front of a crowd of gawkers just to put some food on her table (yes, homelessness is actually becoming a much bigger problem than we'd all care to talk about right now). If we're breaking it down, Twilight is to "weak women" what Hunger Games is to "gold diggers."
I'll try to make my second gripe quicker. The second big reason I didn't like this really stems from the struggle of self-publishing and being an author in general. Stephanie Meyer has a name, has a brand, has market recognition. As such, she can use those things to leverage more of her own works, more of her writings. This is why I don't like to write about writing on my blog because this next thing might hurt some would-be authors, but I have to say it. If you as an author are not thinking and developing new ideas and new projects at least every year, then this might not be a career for you. It can be a fad, something you do once and get out of your system, but plenty of authors have so many ideas wrestling around in their heads that they can't get them out fast enough. And no, that does not mean just with the same characters and amassing a stock pile of watery sequels. As I look on her website and wiki page, I count a total of three other works not related to Twilight. Where's the beef?
See, as a self-pub author I struggle to get people to read my stuff because they don't want to buy it or they don't know the name or they think it's crap (just being honest. Still, I just hurt myself a little) or a thousand other reasons. But for authors who have a cache of followers and people who want to read their books, I don't understand why they dwell only on what they've already written so much. I understand contracts and launching new properties is hard, but someone has to do it. Novels, just like TV is now, should be a place of crazy invention and vibrant imagination. This is from where new stuff should emanate. Don't get me wrong, I understand the allure of a series, but in-between a series, use your name to start another series or put out a stand alone book, capitalize on your success because there are so many others out there that would step into your shoes and knock it out of the park. I am one of the few people that enjoyed both book and film of The Host. There are two frontiers which still beg for exploration: space and the human mind. Even with all the mind's creativity seemingly plundered, there's still more. Give us more, because that is what the fans really want.
Sorry I went long, but I felt it had to be said. What do you all think? Am I blowing this out of the water and being ridiculous? I know it's a money grab and I'm definitely not against that but I was thinking that she should instead do an extended edition of each book or the final book or that short story she did on Bree, making the environment even more rich for the side characters, as I have made plans to do on some of my own books. Are you going to buy Life after Death or are you done with the series? And what do you like from your favorite author: new ideas or the same thing over and over and over and over again? Let me know in the comments below.
Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “I know what you are.” "Say it... out loud." "A vampire." "Are you afraid, Bella--or, Beau. I'm sorry am I Edward or Edythe right now? Either way I still wanna eat you and suck your blood, I mean... fall in love with you. Yeah, that's what I meant."
P.S. OK, so when are we going to get the fan fiction where Bella and Edward meet Beau and Edythe and they all realize just how awkward they are? Anyone?
P. P. S. I've learned that even Stephanie Meyer has said that this is not technically a real book. Glad somebody said.
Amazon
Goodreads Author Page
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Twitter@filmbooksbball
NEW NOVEL: Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend goes against CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Wait, is this a competition?
NEW NOVEL: Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend goes against CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Wait, is this a competition? #AhStalking #CrazyExGirlfriend
So many wonderful and heart-wrenching things to say, I don't know where to start. OK, so I have a new book out now, like, now! Like, really, at this very moment at this very second as it is in heaven NOW! And yes, it is my first full-on comedy though I like to think that all of my books have some comedic elements, some darker than others. But now, just as it is coming out, I am torn. Torn! I'm torn about even having released it. Why? Because of the dreaded copycat syndrome. First, let me break it down for you like Special K, Ozone and Turbo in the 80s movie Breakin' (you don't know that reference? I ain't got time. Look it up!).
I'll explain my book first since it is my blog and it just came out, beating Crazy Ex-Girlfriend literally by a few days time. That's the cover you're seeing up top. What's it about? The title is pretty self-explanatory, but I'll give you a little more.
Cass Clinton is a 32-year-old ad agency worker living in Chicago who just broke up with her super amazing, totally Ken doll-ish boyfriend Kyle in order to push forward in her career. But less than a year later when things start to fall into place for her on the work front, she realizes just how lonely she is when not crowded around her goofy and immature group of best friends. An adolescent at heart and in action herself, she sets out on a short-lived adventure to find herself a new man. But after disastrous nights into the new dating field, she realizes that she wants her boyfriend of five years (six unofficially) back. Now, in order to get him back and steal him away from his current girlfriend--that blonde yogi bimbo--she must resort to listening to that little devil-voice every person develops when they think they're madly in love. Now, she must stalk him and get him back at any cost.
A story of friendship, love and realizing what you really want, Yep takes the reader on a comedic journey through the horror that one faces when realizing that they've possibly made the biggest love mistake of their lives, and what they'll do to fix it.
Is it rom-com? Eh! I can't say it's got a lot of romance but it does try to make you laugh while dealing with a subject that is not only not PC but can make anyone squirm just to think about it. Stalking? Really? Did I have to go with that title? Yes. Don't judge the book before you've read it.
Pictures courtesy of the CW
But wait, what about Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? In my earlier #PremiereWeek post, I said that I would cover if I had any excitement about seeing this show. Seeing as how it is the only new show on the schedule for this first round of October premieres for the CW, I have mixed feelings about it. In Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rachel Bloom (total YouTube star) plays a young businesswoman (lawyer, I think) who isn't satisfied with her life. Weirdly, like everyone else in this world, she wants to be happy. Well, whether through chance or karma or her own disturbed imaginings, she runs into an old love of hers Josh Chan. Technically, he was only her boyfriend for a summer at camp near ten years ago but as Asian guys tend to do, he clearly rocked her frickin' world (that's why Asian guys always get the girl in the movies). But oh no! Josh is moving from NYC to West Covina, California (hey, I actually lived there for, like, a month). Naturally, Rachel's character quits her dream job, hops a plane and moves--not just visits or vacations, because visits and vacations are for quitters... so, is spitting so I hear--across country to get back with him.
Dreamy Josh Chan
And thus a crazymadly in love crazy ex-girlfriend is born. The audience is supposed to root for her to become something way better than what she is and realize the folly of her behavior while falling in TV bestie love with her wacky neighbor, and wanna-be boyfriend, all while singing along--did I mention it's a musical. Dang it! All those years of singing and writing songs that I did throughout high school and college and only now do I realize I should have written more comedic musical novels. Yes, it's possible... I think.
I'm not going to compare because I don't like doing that, but I will contrast my book with the show. For one, though both are geared toward the same audience, my book's protagonist is a few years older, not that it makes a real difference in how she acts. They're both brunettes, but I have a much younger best friend in my book. Also, due to Showtime dropping the original series, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend will now be censored in its language and over-the-top-ness, while my book has cursing and one or two NSFOLPR (not safe for out loud public reading) passages. The biggest difference is that they are a TV show that has to produce funny weekly while my book is just a one-shot. Read it in a few days and be done (thank goodness I didn't make this into an episodic novella series; #TheWriter).
In the end, while we both cover a very similar topic, how we each approach the mental state of our heroine will be what I think sets us apart and gets more viewers to the show or readers to the book. There's been some talk that some people are already boycotting the show because it asks viewers to laugh at mental illness or to get a chuckle from a very serious issue of stalking. And while that may be true, the fact remains that the show has yet to premiere so we don't know how it portrays the main character and handles such nuance.
Why this post mentioning both? Again, most authors or writers and creative types in general hate being accused of copycatting something, especially if something becomes hugely popular, then your thing comes out right after it. A little history behind this book, I once fell in love with a friend who didn't love me back. Heartbroken, I decided to try channeling this pain into the written word (it was either that or go off to war and I have flat feet and don't breathe well in arid places). From this pain, I produced three works. One is Unrequited which I plan to release as a serial novel across most of next year as it is pretty long. The second is this book Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. Before you start thinking that, this was the book to help me NOT DO THAT THING! By writing about stalking, I could see just how damaging it could become and didn't do it.
However, as with about half of my works, I shelved it for a long time, not even bothering to edit it until now. Why now? I'm telling the truth here, I had always planned to release Unrequited either this year or next year but I wanted to have this book out first as an amuse bouche to the craziness that occurs in Unrequited (oh, it is some crazy stuff goin' on in that book). So when I started writing The Writer back in spring, I knew I'd need something far lighter than the dark and exploratory nature of that work which took a lot of time dwelling in the sickness of man. My plan was to always end a season of The Writer in September and follow it up with the editing and release of a comedy in October. This won't always be the case as next year I have another horror book I'm planning but I'd like to stick to this plan.
So, this whole post is just to say that, no, I did not copy Rachel Bloom's idea. I wrote most of the book well over a year ago. Will I shamelessly use any possible success of the show to promote my own book? Probably, yeah. But hey, I'll technically still be promoting the show that way also. Plus, who knows, maybe we'll both find success and we'll feed off of each others successfulness. Hey, it could happen. Don't try to crush my dreams, OK? With that said, I will give Crazy Ex-Girlfriend the old 3 week try and see how they tackle the subject. Meanwhile, if you tune in for the show, I hope that you won't be shy and also buy my book on sale now for just $3.09 on Amazon Kindle store. You'll want to get it now as it could go up for the holidays. That's only the cost of another big bag of fun size candy for Halloween. And do those fat little diabetics running around your neighborhood need four tiny packages of Twix instead of two? I think not. Now, I've offended diabetics and people who love kids. My mom's a diabetic. Oh well, guess I'm going to hell for that comment.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to this new show on the CW? Were you a fan of Rachel Bloom before she got the show (ha! Ray Bradbury. Classic humor around a literary figure)? Are you interested in my book? Well don't be shy, let me know in the comments below (boom! I totally just nailed that rhyme. You could say it was almost... musical. Ha! Oh, now I feel bad because that was lame. I'm sure Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's music will be much better). Crazy Ex-Girlfriend starring Rachel Bloom airs Mondays at 8/7c on the CW.
Check out my book Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking.
If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “I do things like a G. Because guess what I am? A G.”
P.S. Cass Clinton once again I'm gonna have to shake my head at your attempt at sounding cool. You're so 90s it hurts. I'll keep thinking of a better sign-off.
Amazon
Goodreads Author Page
Goodreads Books Similar to TV Shows
Twitter@filmbooksbball
So many wonderful and heart-wrenching things to say, I don't know where to start. OK, so I have a new book out now, like, now! Like, really, at this very moment at this very second as it is in heaven NOW! And yes, it is my first full-on comedy though I like to think that all of my books have some comedic elements, some darker than others. But now, just as it is coming out, I am torn. Torn! I'm torn about even having released it. Why? Because of the dreaded copycat syndrome. First, let me break it down for you like Special K, Ozone and Turbo in the 80s movie Breakin' (you don't know that reference? I ain't got time. Look it up!).
I'll explain my book first since it is my blog and it just came out, beating Crazy Ex-Girlfriend literally by a few days time. That's the cover you're seeing up top. What's it about? The title is pretty self-explanatory, but I'll give you a little more.
Cass Clinton is a 32-year-old ad agency worker living in Chicago who just broke up with her super amazing, totally Ken doll-ish boyfriend Kyle in order to push forward in her career. But less than a year later when things start to fall into place for her on the work front, she realizes just how lonely she is when not crowded around her goofy and immature group of best friends. An adolescent at heart and in action herself, she sets out on a short-lived adventure to find herself a new man. But after disastrous nights into the new dating field, she realizes that she wants her boyfriend of five years (six unofficially) back. Now, in order to get him back and steal him away from his current girlfriend--that blonde yogi bimbo--she must resort to listening to that little devil-voice every person develops when they think they're madly in love. Now, she must stalk him and get him back at any cost.
A story of friendship, love and realizing what you really want, Yep takes the reader on a comedic journey through the horror that one faces when realizing that they've possibly made the biggest love mistake of their lives, and what they'll do to fix it.
Is it rom-com? Eh! I can't say it's got a lot of romance but it does try to make you laugh while dealing with a subject that is not only not PC but can make anyone squirm just to think about it. Stalking? Really? Did I have to go with that title? Yes. Don't judge the book before you've read it.
Pictures courtesy of the CWBut wait, what about Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? In my earlier #PremiereWeek post, I said that I would cover if I had any excitement about seeing this show. Seeing as how it is the only new show on the schedule for this first round of October premieres for the CW, I have mixed feelings about it. In Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rachel Bloom (total YouTube star) plays a young businesswoman (lawyer, I think) who isn't satisfied with her life. Weirdly, like everyone else in this world, she wants to be happy. Well, whether through chance or karma or her own disturbed imaginings, she runs into an old love of hers Josh Chan. Technically, he was only her boyfriend for a summer at camp near ten years ago but as Asian guys tend to do, he clearly rocked her frickin' world (that's why Asian guys always get the girl in the movies). But oh no! Josh is moving from NYC to West Covina, California (hey, I actually lived there for, like, a month). Naturally, Rachel's character quits her dream job, hops a plane and moves--not just visits or vacations, because visits and vacations are for quitters... so, is spitting so I hear--across country to get back with him.
Dreamy Josh ChanAnd thus a crazymadly in love crazy ex-girlfriend is born. The audience is supposed to root for her to become something way better than what she is and realize the folly of her behavior while falling in TV bestie love with her wacky neighbor, and wanna-be boyfriend, all while singing along--did I mention it's a musical. Dang it! All those years of singing and writing songs that I did throughout high school and college and only now do I realize I should have written more comedic musical novels. Yes, it's possible... I think.
I'm not going to compare because I don't like doing that, but I will contrast my book with the show. For one, though both are geared toward the same audience, my book's protagonist is a few years older, not that it makes a real difference in how she acts. They're both brunettes, but I have a much younger best friend in my book. Also, due to Showtime dropping the original series, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend will now be censored in its language and over-the-top-ness, while my book has cursing and one or two NSFOLPR (not safe for out loud public reading) passages. The biggest difference is that they are a TV show that has to produce funny weekly while my book is just a one-shot. Read it in a few days and be done (thank goodness I didn't make this into an episodic novella series; #TheWriter).
In the end, while we both cover a very similar topic, how we each approach the mental state of our heroine will be what I think sets us apart and gets more viewers to the show or readers to the book. There's been some talk that some people are already boycotting the show because it asks viewers to laugh at mental illness or to get a chuckle from a very serious issue of stalking. And while that may be true, the fact remains that the show has yet to premiere so we don't know how it portrays the main character and handles such nuance.
Why this post mentioning both? Again, most authors or writers and creative types in general hate being accused of copycatting something, especially if something becomes hugely popular, then your thing comes out right after it. A little history behind this book, I once fell in love with a friend who didn't love me back. Heartbroken, I decided to try channeling this pain into the written word (it was either that or go off to war and I have flat feet and don't breathe well in arid places). From this pain, I produced three works. One is Unrequited which I plan to release as a serial novel across most of next year as it is pretty long. The second is this book Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. Before you start thinking that, this was the book to help me NOT DO THAT THING! By writing about stalking, I could see just how damaging it could become and didn't do it.
However, as with about half of my works, I shelved it for a long time, not even bothering to edit it until now. Why now? I'm telling the truth here, I had always planned to release Unrequited either this year or next year but I wanted to have this book out first as an amuse bouche to the craziness that occurs in Unrequited (oh, it is some crazy stuff goin' on in that book). So when I started writing The Writer back in spring, I knew I'd need something far lighter than the dark and exploratory nature of that work which took a lot of time dwelling in the sickness of man. My plan was to always end a season of The Writer in September and follow it up with the editing and release of a comedy in October. This won't always be the case as next year I have another horror book I'm planning but I'd like to stick to this plan.
So, this whole post is just to say that, no, I did not copy Rachel Bloom's idea. I wrote most of the book well over a year ago. Will I shamelessly use any possible success of the show to promote my own book? Probably, yeah. But hey, I'll technically still be promoting the show that way also. Plus, who knows, maybe we'll both find success and we'll feed off of each others successfulness. Hey, it could happen. Don't try to crush my dreams, OK? With that said, I will give Crazy Ex-Girlfriend the old 3 week try and see how they tackle the subject. Meanwhile, if you tune in for the show, I hope that you won't be shy and also buy my book on sale now for just $3.09 on Amazon Kindle store. You'll want to get it now as it could go up for the holidays. That's only the cost of another big bag of fun size candy for Halloween. And do those fat little diabetics running around your neighborhood need four tiny packages of Twix instead of two? I think not. Now, I've offended diabetics and people who love kids. My mom's a diabetic. Oh well, guess I'm going to hell for that comment.What do you think? Are you looking forward to this new show on the CW? Were you a fan of Rachel Bloom before she got the show (ha! Ray Bradbury. Classic humor around a literary figure)? Are you interested in my book? Well don't be shy, let me know in the comments below (boom! I totally just nailed that rhyme. You could say it was almost... musical. Ha! Oh, now I feel bad because that was lame. I'm sure Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's music will be much better). Crazy Ex-Girlfriend starring Rachel Bloom airs Mondays at 8/7c on the CW.
Check out my book Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalking.
If you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “I do things like a G. Because guess what I am? A G.”
P.S. Cass Clinton once again I'm gonna have to shake my head at your attempt at sounding cool. You're so 90s it hurts. I'll keep thinking of a better sign-off.
Amazon
Goodreads Author Page
Goodreads Books Similar to TV Shows
Twitter@filmbooksbball
