This article was originally published on my Jacksonville TV Examiner page on July 17, 2010:

When possible, a lot of television stars like to work in movie projects for more money, something to do during the time away from shooting their series, to keep themselves in front of the public who may not watch their series, or just for fun. Late last August production began on The Town, and currently employed TV stars Jon Hamm and Blake Lively booked roles in the film directed by Ben Affleck.

From the official synopsis – “Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is an unrepentant criminal, the de facto leader of a group of ruthless bank robbers who pride themselves in stealing what they want and getting out clean. With no real attachments, Doug never has to fear losing anyone close to him. But that all changed on the gang’s latest job, when they briefly took a hostage–bank manager, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall). Though they let her go unharmed, Claire is nervously aware that the robbers know her name… and where she lives. But she lets her guard down when she meets an unassuming and rather charming man named Doug….not realizing that he is the same man who only days earlier had terrorized her. The instant attraction between them gradually turns into a passionate romance that threatens to take them both down a dangerous, and potentially deadly, path.”

Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm plays Special Agent Adam Frawley, an FBI agent pursuing the team of criminals. Gossip Girl‘s Blake Lively plays Krista Coughlin, the sister of Doug’s associate Jem (Jeremy Renner); and Doug’s ex-girlfriend who has a 19-month old daughter, Shyne. Jeremy Renner was a regular on ABC’s short-lived The Unusuals in 2009, but shot to bigger fame as the lead in the Academy Award winning, Best Picture film The Hurt Locker. Renner is attached to 2012′s The Avengers movie directed by TV demigod Joss Whedon. Neat bit of trivia – Affleck himself co-starred in the even shorter-lived 1993 series Against the Grain with Blake’s half-sister Robyn Lively.

The Town opens in theaters September 17th

Mad Men returns July 25th to AMC

Gossip Girl returns September 13th to The CW (WCWJ-17 in Jacksonville)

This article was originally published on my Jacksonville TV Examiner page on July 8, 2010:

The 62nd Primetime Emmy® Nominations ceremony (watch it on my prior post here) revealed the contenders vying to win at the 2010 live ceremony to be hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC (WTLV 12 in Jacksonville)  on Sunday, August 29 at 8PM Eastern.

Here are the series, acting, directing and writing awards with some of my first thoughts.

For full list see Emmys.TV.

Drama

Lost (ABC)

Breaking Bad (AMC)

Dexter (Showtime)

Mad Men (AMC)

True Blood (HBO)

The Good Wife (CBS)

While True Blood is wildly popular as a summer scripted show, it likely bumped out FX series like Justified and Sons Of Anarchy. I blame part of this on FX not re-running their series and leaving them OnDemand long enough. All the other shows on this list gave you plenty of non-DVD purchase ways to catch up and to create buzz that might reach Emmy voters ears or Twitter account.

Comedy

Glee (FOX)

Modern Family (ABC)

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

30 Rock (NBC)

The Office (NBC)

I was happy to see Nurse Jackie here, but I liked season two of United States of Tara just a little better (also from Showtime). I didn’t see enough Community once it hit its stride in its freshman year to say it should have been here. Parks and Recreation greatly improved from its first season, but not enough for me to say it was robbed. The Office didn’t have a great year and is the weakest of who got it. The big news is of course, Glee and Modern Family getting freshman nods.

Reality Competition Program

The Amazing Race (CBS)

American Idol (FOX)

Dancing with the Stars (ABC)

Project Runway (Lifetime)

Top Chef (Bravo)

Other than getting sucked into American Idol this year (never again),  I didn’t watch a lot of reality competition shows – they are my least favorite of reality shows. However, I would say the improved cult hit Rupaul’s Drag Race should have been in over the much maligned transititon to Lifetime season of Project Runway.

Nonfiction Series

American Experience (PBS)

Deadliest Catch (Discovery Channel)

Life (Discovery Channel)

Monty Python: Almost The Truth (IFC)

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (PBS)

These are you documentary type shows. How cool is it see Monty Python nominated after all these years for something.  National Parks was another home run for Ken Burns, but Life had Oprah narrating.

Reality Program

Antiques Roadshow (PBS)

Dirty Jobs (Discovery Channel)

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (ABC)

Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List (Bravo)

Myth Busters (Discovery Channel)

Undercover Boss (CBS)

Kathy Griffin of course gets my love, but I would have liked to see at least one of these reality shows I do watch here – Kitchen Nightmares (Fox), Mary Queen of Shops (BBC America import) or Tabitha’s Salon Makeover – they are all what I call the “Make Better” genre. All three improve businesses and in this economy people need all the tips they can get. Perhaps a new category of reality shows is needed (I can’t believe I said that) and you can throw in one of the house or people makeover shows.

Variety Program

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)

The Daily Show (Comedy Central)

Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (NBC)

Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Conan’s time during the eligibility period is here and not Jay Leno’s. That seems to be a story, but it really isn’t as Emmy voters have always loved Conan.

Mini-series

The Pacific (HBO)

Return To Cranford (PBS)

Looks like I’ll be tracking down this Cranford project. I saw a few hours of The Pacific. Last year I hadn’t seen any of the noms for the dying format of the mini-series.

Made For Television Movie

Endgame (PBS)

Georgia O’Keeffe (Lifetime)

Moonshot (History)

The Special Relationship (HBO)

Temple Grandin (HBO)

You Don’t Know Jack (HBO)

Last year I had only seen two of the noms, this year I’ve seen all three of the HBO ones. It is likely save to say one will win, but I’ll still try to watch the other three before I do my picks, but I am really happy with The Special Relationship‘s inclusion.

Actress in a Drama

Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)

Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)

Glenn Close (Damages)

Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)

January Jones (Mad Men)

Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights)

I will go into this in great detail in a later article, but Katey Sagal from Sons of Anarchy was robbed. January Jones shouldn’t have been submitted by AMC. She really stank up Saturday Night Live one week and that is like if you wear a work uniform into a competing company or out in public and cause a drunken scene. There should be consequences to that, no matter how your normal job duties are performed. While I love The Good Wife, Julianna’s acting is not the reason. She cracked a new facial expression late in the run instead of the usual one, so maybe next year. Good to see the first of two Friday Night Light additions finally.

Actor in a Drama

Jon Hamm (Mad Men)

Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights)

Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)

Hugh Laurie (House)

Michael C. Hall (Dexter)

Matthew Fox (Lost)

Kyle Chandler getting a nom finally. Matthew Fox showing up for the final season of Lost. Of course, I have to grumble about Hugh Laurie being here again, but I know how WILDLY popular House is with my friends and family.

Actress in a Comedy

Lea Michele (Glee)

Tina Fey (30 Rock)

Toni Collette (The United States of Tara)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine)

Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)

Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)

While it is great to see Lea here, is it really her comedic timing that should get nominated? She sings really well, but there isn’t a scripted musical category so Glee and its cast gets shoe-horned into comedy. Toni won here last year, but this year the role(s) was deepened dramatically – but again – right actress wrong category.

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy

Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)

Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)

Matthew Morrison (Glee)

Steve Carell (The Office)

Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)

Tony Shalhoub (Monk)

Yes Monk aired in the eligibility period, so this should be the Monk/Shalhoub last year. I bet he comes back for TV movies just to mess with Monk haters like me. Morrison on Glee was great in dramatic scenes on Glee when he mentored the kids, but did’t really shine with comedy.
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Rose Byrne (Damages)

Archie Punjabi (The Good Wife)

Christine Brans (The Good Wife)

Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)

Christina Hendricks (Mad Men)

Sharon Glass (Burn Notice)

OUCH! A double battle of Kalinda Vs. Diane on The Good Wife (and both more deserving of acting norms than the lead Margulies) and Joan Vs. Peggy on Mad Men. Sharon Glass is here for sentimental reasons lets face it, and FAX did manage to get Damages noticed for Rose Byrne.

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Chris Colver (Glee)

Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother)

Ty Burr ell (Modern Family)

Eric Stone street (Modern Family)

Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)

Jon Grayer (Two and a Half Men)

Now Chris is getting us closer for being able to do what he’s actually nominate for but the field is very full of Modern Family cast members who all submitted as supporting over leads. N.P.H. is the man and the less said about Two and a Half Men the better.

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Julie Bowen (Modern Family)

Jane Lynch (Glee)

Kristen Wig (Saturday Night Live)

Holland Taylor (Two and a Half Men)

Jane Krakow ski (30 Rock)

Sofia Viagra (Modern Family)

Of all the Glee acting norms, this one matches the closest. Jane Lynch does bring the funny and likely has the better odds over cast members Lea, Chris, and Matthew.

Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Dylan Baker (The Good Wife)

Alan Gumming (The Good Wife)

John Lithgow (Dexter)

Gregory Adzing (24)

Robert Morse (Mad Men)

Beau Bridges (The Closer)

Amazing list, but I’m surprised Morse and Lithgow are considered guest actors.

Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost)

Lily Tomlin (Damages)

Mary Kay Place (Big Love)

Sissy Space (Big Love)

Shirley Jones (The Cleaner)

Ann Margret, as Rita Willis (Law and Order: SUV)

Another amazing list. Love seeing Mitchell here for her brief appearances in final season of Lost.

Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Neil Patrick Harris (Glee)

Fred Willard (Modern Family)

Mike O’Marley (Glee)

Eli Wallach (Nurse Jackie)

Jon Hamm (30 Rock)

Will Arnett (30 Rock)

Wow. This will be tough to make a pick later. Mike O’Malley brought the drama to Glee as much I loved that role, it is the wrong category.

Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Christine Baranski (The Big Bang Theory)

Kristin Chenoweth (Glee)

Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives)

Betty White (SNL)

Tina Fey (SNL)

Elaine Stritch (30 Rock)

Betty White continues her best year of the decade so far with an Emmy® nomination! 

Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Jeff Bridges (A Dog Year) (HBO)

Ian McKellen (The Prisoner) (AMC)

Michael Sheen (The Special Relationship) (HBO)

Dennis Quaid  (The Special Relationship) (HBO)

Al Pacino (You Don’t Know Jack) (HBO)

I am very partial to Michael Sheen playing Tony Blair again for this HBO movie, but I haven’t seen the Jeff Bridges picture yet. Ironic as I was one of few people in my circle that saw him in Crazy Heart that got him a Oscar®.

Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Maggie Smith (Capturing Mary) (HBO)

Joan Allen (Georgia O’Keeffe) (Lifetime)

Dame Judi Dench (Return To Cranford) (PBS)

Hope Davis (The Special Relationship) (HBO)

Claire Danes (Temple Grandin) (HBO)

Hope Davis did have a couple of great scenes playing Hillary Clinton, but Claire got to play the disability and be in ugly make-up which always helps actresses win.

Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Michael Gambon (Emma) (PBS)

Patrick Stewart (Hamlet) (PBS)

Jonathan Pryce (Return To Cranford) (PBS)

David Strathairn (Temple Grandin) (HBO)

John Goodman (You Don’t Know Jack) (HBO)

David Strathairn will always be the creepy dad from Delores Claiborne to me, it was uncomfortable watching him in this movie.

Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

Kathy Bates (Alice) (SYFY)

Julia Ormond (Temple Grandin) (HBO)

Catherine O’Hara (Temple Grandin) (HBO)

Brenda Vaccaro (You Don’t Know Jack) (HBO)

Susan Sarandon (You Don’t Know Jack) (HBO)

Poor Catherine O’Hara, I had just watched the mockumentary about fake Oscar® buzz For Your Consideration right before this movie. I couldn’t stop laughing, although she did wonderfully in her role. Brenda and Susan are going to be the top two contenders here.

Reality Host

Phil Keoghan (The Amazing Race)

Ryan Seacrest (American Idol)

Tom Bergeron (Dancing with the Stars)

Heidi Klum (Project Runway)

Jeff Probst (Survivor)

No Rupaul? Betch please.

Writing for a Drama Series

Lost – “The End”

Mad Men – “Shut the Door. Have a Seat.”

The Good Wife – “Pilot”

Friday Night Lights – “The Son”

Mad Men – “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency”

Wow. I knew this would happen, my two favorite episodes of Mad Men’s third season up against each other.

Writing for a Comedy Series

Glee – “Pilot”

Modern Family – “Pilot”

The Office – “Niagara”

30 Rock – “Lee Marvis vs. Derek Jeter”

30 Rock – “Anna Howard Shaw Day”

I’m not sure I would nominated the wedding episode of The Office over the birthing one. Otherwise, I need more time to process.

Directing for a Drama Series

Lost – “The End” (Jack Bender)

Treme – “Do You Know What it Means” (Agnieszka Holland)

Dexter – “The Getaway” (Steve Shill)

Breaking Bad – “One Minute” (Michelle MacLaren)

Mad Men – “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency” (Lesli Linka Glatter)

On a technical level, I can see why this episode of Mad Men is nominated over the other one it is up against for writing – and might help sway “Guy Walks Into …” for writing, but I’m still unsure here. There was a lot going on in the finale of Lost and Bender got Evangeline Lily’s best performance as Kate from the entire run.

Directing for a Comedy Series

Glee – “Pilot” (Ryan Murphy)

Glee – “Wheels” (Paris Barclay)

Modern Family – “Pilot” (Jason Winer)

Nurse Jackie – “Pilot” (Allen Coulter)

30 Rock – “I Do Do” (Don Scardino)

This will be Glee Vs. Modern Family as the top two. I will need to watch them both back to back to make my final pick.

Hot in Cleveland is TV Land’s first venture into scripted comedy. It will air Wednesday nights at 10PM, yet judging by the pilot, could just as easily be safe as an 8PM show. HiC is written by Emmy Award winner Suzanne Martin (Frasier, Ellen) and is produced by Emmy Award winner, Sean Hayes (Will & Grace), along with Todd Milliner of Hazy Mills Productions. The series is a perfect fit for TV Land giving its viewers 10 new episodes of a traditional situation comedy with stars they love.

The pitch is that Hot in Cleveland revolves around three Los Angeles women of a certain age who are best friends. Their lives are changed forever when their plane – headed for Paris – unexpectedly lands in Cleveland, Ohio, and they soon rediscover themselves in a new “promised land.” Loving their new home, the women find themselves living under one roof and dealing with the sassy caretaker of the property they have rented.

Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick are in roles not that different from when we last saw them. Leeves keeps her accent and her character works for people in the public spotlight, much like her Daphne from Frasier. Malick’s Victoria is as much the well dressed woman craving the spotlight as her Nina Van Horn from Just Shoot Me! – so much so, this series could have just as easily been a spin-off.  Perhaps Nina and Daphne are in some sort of TV Land Character Relocation Program and all will be revealed in the final episode. Switching the two actresses could have helped a bit, as Nina Van Horn would never had been an eyebrow shaper to the stars like Leeve’s character Joy.

Jane and Wendie have been in sitcoms that ended this decade, so as far as professionalism they are very apt. They can deliver the lines with the correct timing and facial expressions that will get the laugh but as of yet their characters have no soul. While both are extremely watchable making due with thin characters, they need more distinct character traits written for them – not just a bio they relay from the script.  Some lines could be given to either character with a rewrite. The lines, themselves, are pretty funny as is the sight of Leeves licking her arms.

Valerie Bertinelli seems to have the more defined and down to earth character in the pilot as Melanie. She’s a mom (of grown up children I assumed) and about to be divorced author.  The set-up, the inciting incident and the resolution to stay in Cleveland all arise from her character’s decisions. Valerie was on later seasons of Touched By Angel, and we watched her grow up on One Day at a Time so we want to sympathize and see her as the heart of the show. This is not a stretch role for her, and maybe a switch with either Jane or Wendie would have been added a “wow” factor of playing against type for two actresses. Valerie seems to be a split second step behind Jane and Wendie most of the time, but I attribute it to her not working in modern sitcoms.

Betty White as Elka is in two scenes and her introduction scene isn’t expanded that much more than what we’ve seen in every preview of the series. The second is the final scene and hints she could be a bigger part of the action and not just the character that drops in to give the other three a hard time. Elka is so far a bit of a mystery, other than being a widow. Her exit from the first scene suggests Elka is going to be the catalyst of wacky situations or could just stay enigmatic. Betty White is a pro here, and manages to make Elka different than other sharp-tongued old-lady roles she’s had in recent years.

John Schneider guests as a potential love interest for the Melanie character, but I was a bit put-off. I am hoping that Hot In Cleveland doesn’t become the Love Boat of sitcoms, a place where actors of other popular bygone series end up guesting every week. While the series is multi-camera with a laugh track, I was impressed with multiple set usage that suggested a show with a bigger budget than the cheap writing of the tired retread B-plot with Schneider.  However, trying to cram both the origin and a first story in the show’s home environment into a pilot is the Achilles’s heel of many a sitcom’s first episode.

Despite the initial flaws of the pilot, there are a lot of potential storylines here for the cast to play in. I can see Malick’s character getting involved in local theater perhaps? An eyebrow business in Cleveland would be a novelty that gives Jane Leeves the opportunity to do slapstick. Valerie’s character wrote a book on 200 things to do before you die, so they have the rest of those to play out. Plus there is that mysterious Elka to learn more about and I’ll gladly watch Betty White make that happen.

Rating: “B” leaving room for improvement and more integrated Betty White. It is a keeper.

The following article was originally published on June 9, 2010 on my Jacksonville TV Examiner page:

In the past I got too far behind on Friday Night Lights, The Shield, The Wire, and Deadwood -that by the time I realized they were not going away and were critic and award voter darlings – I never tried to catch up. After getting in on the second season of Sons of Anarchy, and having loved Damages, I decided to trust FX despite my initial reservations about this being a modern western – a genre I’m not fond of. However, I have like some prior Elmore Leonard adaptations like Out of Sight (also made into the brilliant but canceled early Karen Sisco series), Jackie Brown, and Get Shorty. Other than The Riches, FX has allowed its shows to tell their stories and have planned endings like Nip/Tuck and the upcoming final 2 seasons of Rescue Me. So I decided to get in on this from the first episode.

It has taken a lot of roles to sell me on Timothy Olyphant but his Raylan has done it. Raylan is a role that Arkansas born Billy Bob Thornton could have played with ease 15 years ago, being able to get the accent and laid-back Kentucky ways very easily. Olyphant was born in Hawaii and raised in California so he’s really acting here. He also can express a lot of emotion with just the way he squints, furrows his brow, or gives a dead serious stare when pointing a gun at his character’s father.

The other standout has been Walter Goggins as Boyd Crowder. He had a great arc to work with and his take on the character kept us guessing whether his motives were pure, and when we were allowed to see that they were, the rug was pulled out from under Boyd with his men being strung up. Walter expressed the pain and confusion perfectly.

Graham Yost developed the series from Elmore Leonard’s short story “Fire In the Hole” which took the character out of Miami from two prior books and sent him to Kentucky. He then wrote two episodes and was the showrunner and executive producer. So his guidance of the season arc deserves major kudos to the success of the series. We got a few semi-standalone episodes that were fun in their own right, but this season long arc of two fathers and two sons and the sins of both has been breath-takingly well built.

Rating: A

Season Finale Recap

The season finale “Bulletville” opens with Boyd Crowder apologizing to Ava for his rude behavior over the years and for his brother’s treatment of her. She says she just wants him to leave and never see her again, and Boyd says he will oblige.

Bo’s men begin to look for the delayed shipment of ephedrine, but Johnny meets with his cousin Boyd secretly to find out what happened. Johnny says Boyd is on his own now. We also learn later, that Bo knows Johnny tipped Boyd off that the truck was coming. The drivers are found and Bo figures out Boyd blew up the $2 million shipment.

Art and Raylan begin to realize that Boyd has gone vigilante and consider letting Boyd do their work for them. Arlo is brought up to Lexington and told he will now be a C.I. for the FBI and DEA as well but Arlo is just interested in how much it pays. Raylan takes his dad to the motel room he (calls home) to lay low.

Team Bo go to Boyd’s camp and makes Johnny give Boyd a severe beating. Bo doesn’t want Boyd killed, but he wants the gun stash of the camp and Boyd to leave. One of Boyd’s followers give up the guns and Boyd leaves so none of his followers will be shot. After Boyd is away in the woods for a short time, he hears gunshots back at the camp. He returns and his horrified to find at least half a dozen or more of his men dead, strung up in trees. Boyd buries the bodies later that night and questions God who doesn’t offer any sign of what to do.

Bo tells the drivers that he will get Gio’s money back as well as something extra to save his skin – Raylan. Bo goes to see Arlo at Raylan’s room and he isn’t convinced Arlo is useful to him, but Arlo says he’s more scared of Bo than the Feds. Bo puts it on Arlo to turn over his own son and gives him a gun. Raylan and Winona run into each other at the courthouse and each want to talk but Art needs Raylan on the elevator up to see Vasquez. Winona says her husband moved out.

Back at the room, Raylan and Arlo have a stilted and awkward conversation about Raylan’s future and how Arlo thinks he should get married again. Arlo goes for his gun but when he turns around Raylan is ready for him. Raylan shoots his father in the shoulder as two of Bo’s men are expecting to hear Raylan get shot in the leg. They go in and Raylan shoots them both with kill-shots. He calls for an ambulance and a coroner.

Johnny goes to Ava’s house and gets her to come out. Two of Bo’s men nap Ava, Bo takes Ava’s shotgun and shoots Johnny in the gut. Bo’s plan is to make it look like Ava shot another Crowder and ran. Bo uses Ava as bait to get Raylan on the road to Bulletville. Boyd shows up and tells Raylan Bo has a cabin in Brogie Hollar and Boyd knows his way around the area. Raylan is now more convinced of Boyd’s conversion, but Boyd is wavering in his faith. Boyd thinks he started this mess, but Raylan says his shooting Tommy Bucks in the first episode was the more likely reason. Raylan gives Boyd a gun, a sign that he hopes the conversion sticks.

Once at the cabin, things go bad very quickly. Boyd goes in the back of the cabin and shoots the guy watching Ava, Raylan uses the diversion to take out the man with Bo. Boyd comes out with a gun on his dad. Bo asks “Are you going to kill me or talk me to death?” before taken out by an unseen shooter. It is the drivers and two more men in the trees.

Inside the cabin Raylan says Ava has a penchant for getting abducted and chastises her for not leaving town. Ava shoots out the window to attract the attention of one of the shooters and Raylan takes him out. The second one tries to come into a window and Raylan is ready under the window sill. He splatters the guy’s brains on the window glass in the most graphic shot of the episode. Boyd takes Ava out through to the woods and Raylan gets the male driver leaving the female one who is Goo’s niece. She takes off in an SUV. Boyd comes back and points a gun at Raylan saying the girl is his to get not Raylan’s. Despite being easily able to stop him, Raylan respects Boyd’s wish. In the final shot, a close-up, Raylan aims, but only half-heartedly imitates a gunshot noise.

This article was originally published on June 9th, 2010 on my Jacksonville TV Examiner page:

The Glee season one finale entitled “Journey” was an emotional roller-coaster ride. We got the Bring It On and Rocky ending – our protagonists didn’t win the fight, but the journey was worth it. The episode had Regionals over with by the half-way mark, Quinn’s baby adopted by Shelby, and Glee Club saved for another year.  Vocal Adrenaline won Regionals this year but are weakened for next. Read my first single episode full recap/review attempt below, a little long – but as a big fan myself, I found it hard to edit myself down.

So what did you think? Let me know in the comments section below. Meanwhile I found some instant reactions on Twitter from some local fans.

10 Local “Gleeks” (Aka Glee fans) react on Twitter:

(Clicking on the name will take you to their Twittter page.  Clicking on the “#”, or hashtags, performs a search for that topic)

pianoartist101 – “Probably the best #glee episode ever!! Love my #newdirections”

Gleek334 – “I was so scared! I thought glee was going to end! Whew! That was close! See? Sue has a little bit of a heart!”

JaxJulie – “Love love LOVE LOVE #GLEE!!!!”

meganole25 – “That episode of #Glee was amazing. Running off to iTunes to download the songs now.”

andrewsfsd – “omg Mr Schu finishes with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” *squeal!!* #glee“

btollin111- “OMFG BEST SEASON FINALE EVER GLEE!!! :)”

alexnicole87 – “Congrats Glee season finale… You have succeeded in making me cry! Gah. :’(“

cassiline – “OMG “To Sir with Love” One of my all time favorite songs. #Glee you kill me”

DevoALMIGHTY – “Glee is melting my face off. I admit it damn it.”

TVKel “Mercedes to Mr. Schu – “You are #Glee club.” <most misty eyed moment for me>” – Oh wait, that’s me!

Twitter resource used: Chirpcity

My Recap of the Glee episode “Journey”

Rating: B+

The 1st season finale opens with Mr. William Schuester finding out that Sue is going to be a judge of Regionals on all celeb judging panel. Will protests to Figgins to no avail. After the title card, a flashback of Quinn and Puck moments before conceiving the baby she’s been carrying around all season. Cut to Mr. Schue’s house where he’s gathered the team for a pizza party he calls the “First Annual New Directions Regionals Set List Nomination Party” but the team is depressed about Sue crushing their dreams.

Will goes to Emma for guidance. She reminds him about his reason for not quitting teaching in the first episode – it was about doing what he loved. She also says she seeing her dentist, and despite his asking an inappropriate question about her sex live, she volunteers that she and the dentist have remained chaste. After hearing Journey singing “Don’t Stop Believing” (the song that the Glee club gelled with in the first episode) on the radio, he convinces the Glee club to make their shot count at Regionals with a Journey medley.

The judges at Regionals with Sue are Josh Grobin and Olivia Newton-John (as themselves again after both appearing during the season) and the returning character, local news anchor Rod Remington. The first group that goes on is Aural Intensity from Indiana. Backstage, New Directions again feel down because Aural did a medley of Grobin and Newton-John songs but Mr. Schue pumps them up again. He says they have secret weapon – Finn’s dancing, which Finn isn’t sure to take a joke or not. Finn and Rachel then go up the aisles singing “Faithfully” and meet on stage, the curtain goes up and the rest of the team is revealed. The team launches into rest of the Journey medley. There isn’t any new choreography and other than Puck and Mercedes getting small moments, it is mainly Rachel and Finn leading. A strong finish but personally I think they did better at Sectionals. The last song of the medley is “Don’t Stop Believing” and we have come full circle. For some reason despite the earlier discussion of a set-list, and also Sectionals have more than one song – it seems one song is all any team sings.

Backstage Quinn’s mom compliments her, says she has left Quinn’s dad who was having an affair, and wants Quinn to come home where a nursery will be set up. Quinn’s water breaks before she can react to her mom’s offer. In a nice touch, she wants Mercedes with her at the delivery as Mercedes had been supportive in the last episode and gotten her family to open up their home to her. The whole team except Rachel goes to the hospital. Back at Regionals, Vocal Adrenaline led by Jesse (even on piano at one point) break out into a very highly choreographed version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” watched by Rachel. The Queen performance is inter-cut with Quinn delivering the baby – when the song goes “No, no, no, no, no” so does Quinn during delivery, when Jesse comes out of a circle of dancers, we get the idea that the baby is born.

Rachel goes to talk to Shelby and says New Directions won because Jesse doesn’t have much heart (a dig at him for breaking her own heart). Rachel asks Shelby to come teach at McKinley, both for the team but also for her (as her mother – although she doesn’t come out and say it). Shelby says he’s going retire from leading Vocal Adrenaline and try to start a new family, thus blowing Rachel off again despite going through the trouble of letting her know she was her mom in the first place. This is one of my main problems with this plotline, we had the great emotional setup with “I Dreamed a Dream” only to have Jesse break Rachel’s heart out of the blue and Shelby freak out and pull away. A shame that they are not going to explore something that happens to people in real life- getting to know a biological parent you didn’t grow up with.

During the judging the other judges gang up on Sue saying she’s not a real celeb. Olivia and Sue are now enemies apparently despite the “Bad Reputation” episode’s events. Sue is told she’s not a real celeb and that she and the kids are not getting out of Ohio. Sue goes out and announces the winners are Vocal Adrenaline and Aural as the runner-up. Back at the hospital, Puck asks Quinn if she wants to keep the baby, she says no. She asks if he does and he doesn’t answer. He does say he loved her and loves her even more now. Shelby shows up at the hospital to see the baby with them. It becomes clear we are about to get the ending of Juno and later at the end of episode, Shelby adopts and names the baby, Beth like Puck wanted.

At McKinley High, Emma is yelling at Higgins. Mr. Schue asks her why and she says it is because Higgins is going through with the deal to shut down Glee Club since they didn’t place -she says the kids are worth fighting for even though he’s given up. He kisses her, leaving her to contemplate their relationship until next season. The club all tell Mr. Schue they appreciated him (even Mike and Matt get a line!) and he cries while Sue watches in the back of the room and gets misty herself as the kids sing “To Sir, With Love.” Sue and Will have more verbal sparring where we see in a quick flashback that she voted for New Directions to be in first place. She says she can’t live in a world where she can’t make fun of Will’s hair and that she convinced (blackmailed) Higgins to give the Glee club one more year. She admits he’s a good teacher and Will says he appreciates what she’s done for the kids.

Will, with Puck on backup, sings a Jack Johnson-esque uptempo acoustic version of “Over the Rainbow” to the kids. So the first season ends with the school year, and since none of the kids are seniors apparently, they will all be back next year. With Jesse being a senior this year and Shelby retiring, Vocal Adrenaline is set up to be easier to beat next season.

This article was originally published on May 27th, 2010

Rating: A-

The Vampire Diaries is a supernatural drama produced by Kevin Williamson based on a book series of the same name (see widget below to order from Amazon). The first season will rerun on CW (Jacksonville’s WCWJ 9), Thursdays at 8PM. The following quick review is low on spoilers for those that haven’t checked out the series yet.

I was at first skeptical. I stopped watching after the first episode and wrote it off as yet another piece of fluffy teen drama trying to cash in on the current vampire craze and completely unworthy of being on a network (The CW) that rose from the dead of the two networks that aired Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WB and UPN). What turned me off right away was that the setup has been done many times before – the modern day female love interest looks like the dead (or undead) love of a vampire, and in this case it was also two competing brothers setting up an instant love triangle from episode one. Here’s the thing, I should have have LOVED this from the get-go. Heavily and semi-serialized shows are my favorites (24, Damages, The Good Wife, Justified) and those with science fiction elements have been my favorite shows ever – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, and Lost to name a few.

It took persistent word-of-mouth (including by your Jacksonville Movie Examanier – Marcus Eger) and very smart  marathon where CW aired the first 10 episodes as their only programming for two weeks during a non-sweeps period to get me hooked. In fact, the marathon was instrumental to help me catch onto the dense mythology and multitude of characters, which I finally grasped by the season finale. As the series is hard to air any episodes out of order, the series had to take several breaks but that marathon helped hold me over even if I was asking myself “Who is Vicki again?” a couple of times up until the end. Despite having both a witch and (possible) werewolf additions like Twilight, Buffy, True Blood and Dark Shadows (the granddaddy supernatural saga) before it -Vampire Diaries has managed to carve out serviceable takes on the common memes.

The “diaries” referred to in the title are those kept by Elana Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), the descendant to both a  founding family of Mystic Falls, VA and of Katherine (loved by the vampire Salvatore brothers) for which she is a doppelgänger. Katherine was one of the most vicious and active vampire settlers that competed with the living for control of the town in 1864. As the first season progressed, Elena’s connection to Katherine was thankfully incorporated into the larger season thrust of the sins (in vampire’s eyes) of  the founding families  – putting Elena in the middle of not only a love triangle, but also fighting the past and present history of the town and her ancestors. As an actress Nina Dobrev is from from the Jennifer Love-Hewitt in Ghost Whisperer or Alysa Milano in Charmed school of acting – using  her beautifully kept hair and few facial expressions to get through a scene, but she’s less grating than those two at this point for me.

Of the two brothers, it is definitely clear that Paul Wesley as Stefan has the harder line to walk of being the good brother and keeping enough edge to still be a dreaded creature of the night – thankfully the writers gave him the material this season to help pull it off. However, Ian Somerhalder as Damon has the more fun to watch role as the bad boy, and you can tell he enjoys playing the role with glee. The writers packed a bunch of backstory and storyline progression into the first season to flesh out a more rounded and complicated character in Damon; yet he kept his trademark barbs, devilish grins and that thing he does with his eyes (as Elana remarks at one point) through to the season finale.

–>

The rest of the very big cast took most of the season to establish much of a presence due to little screen time but by the season finale you either cared for or rooted for the demise of just exactly who the writers intended. At first one dimensional, it turned out they could step up once presented with stronger storylines and dialog. Steven R. McQueen as Elana’s brother Jeremy grew his hair out and bulked up before the second half of the season. This transformation not only helped win more fans but luckily coincided with his ability to step up to a more aware and emotionally turmoiled performance needed to pull off his character arc. Katerina Graham as Bonnie and Sara Canning as Jeremy and Elana’s aunt both got stunted character developments as more of the founding families characters got screen time. Matt Davis as history teacher Alderic, stood out as one of the most vital new additions right away though. Once the rest of the townsfolk’s place in the grand scheme got established, Katerina got to shine in the series finale, gaining confidence both as a character and actor from Bonnie’s tragedies and betrayals.

The entire season leads up to the Founder’s Day celebration in Mystic Falls pitting vampires and founding families against each other in a stealthy civil war with lots of cliffhangers. Surprising twists and clues to next season’s storylines are seeded to cap off an exceptionally plotted first season. In addition to rerunning on CW this summer, you can watch selected episodes online at CW.com, and purchase the DVD/Blu Ray set at Amazon (see link below). Now is the time to get hooked on a worthy addition to serialized genre television.

]]> http://sonicfilmbox.com/2010/08/26/founding-season-of-the-vampire-diaries-sucked-me-in-summer-reruns-chance-to-jump-on/feed/ 0 http://sonicfilmbox.com/2010/08/26/in-the-end-i-saw-blue-fairy-and-a-khan-homage-what-did-you-see-in-the-lost-finale/ http://sonicfilmbox.com/2010/08/26/in-the-end-i-saw-blue-fairy-and-a-khan-homage-what-did-you-see-in-the-lost-finale/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:17:51 +0000 Kel Kendrick http://sonicfilmbox.com/?p=5631 [...]]]>

This article was originally published on May 24, 2010 on my Jacksonville TV Examiner page:

Was an intentional Wrath of Khan reference in the Lost finale?

There will be 100s, if not 1000s of articles and recaps you can find online today and beyond written about the Lost finale that aired last night. Hopefully, even more Jacksonville Examiners will share their experience.*  I haven’t written full recap articles in the past, and I won’t now. Instead I’ll go out on a couple of tangents to make an article that will hopefully be a bit different than others you will read today. As the finale showed us, it can take many different people to help us finally move on. Spoilers abound if you haven’t yet seen the finale.

The quickest way I can sum up my opinion of the plot for the aptly titled “The End” is this: We the audience entered and ended the Lost journey with Jack, so we only learned the answers that he learned. The “sideways timeline” was a pleasant purgatory existence, the island adventures did happen, and we are meant to not mourn the dead – but celebrate their lives. The ending was full of lots of emotional cues, action beats, happy endings, and a payoff to those who have faith. Non-believers are left to ask all the unanswered mythology questions and scoff at the plot holes big enough to fly planes through. Argue among yourselves, but I’m going to “move on” because I enjoyed the journey. Kudos to the cast and crew.

So now that the obligatory “what did you think it meant?” part is over, I’ll mention two quirky rabbit holes I decided to go down and research. These were either intended or unintended homages the producers put in that I picked up on – one was the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio and Spock’s cause of (temporary) death in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was the other.

During the “cork” in the island’s core scenes that both Desmond and Jack had, I felt like I’d seen something like it before.  I was reminded of Spock’s death in Khan. Spock goes “hands on” with the warp engine of the Enterprise to get the ship out of danger. When Kirk realizes that Spock is missing from the bridge he rushes down to the engine room in time to find Spock dying of radiation. Spock tells him “I have been and always shall be your friend” before passing away. Spock’s coffin (a converted torpedo)  is sent out to space and lands on the Genesis planet where he is reborn in Star Trek III.   Check out this fan adapted video from YouTube of Spock’s death scene and tell me you don’t see a similarity to Desmond and Jack’s encounter with the “cork” in the island.

If you watch J.J. Abram’s recent Star Trek film, it dovetails nicely into Khan much more than the original Star Trek: The Motion Picture and of course J.J. wrote and directed the Lost pilot so I think it might have been intentional on the part of writer/producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. This video is the director of Khan, Nicholas Myer, explaining being the puppeteer of that scene and understanding the death of beloved characters.

Speaking of puppets, the other rabbit hole I went down ending up forking. During the final sequence in the church, I thought I saw The Blue Fairy, who was the Disney version (which owns ABC by the way) of The Fairy with Turquoise Hair from the original The Adventures of Pinocchio book. “Blue Fairy” was also referenced in the film AI where the robot boy waited in vain for at the bottom of a frozen body of water for hundreds of years to be turned into real boy. In the Disney version she is dressed in blue with blue wings and has blond hair as pictured here:

Walt Disney’s Blue Fairy. Photo found at disney.wikia.com.

When I saw something similar in the church when Christian opens the door to the light, I was sure it was her. In the book, when Pinocchio first meets the fairy and seeks sanctuary, she tells him everyone in her house (including herself) are dead, and that she is waiting for her coffin to arrive. What? Is Christian meant to be Jack’s Blue Fairy? Earlier in the episode Kate talks about the church being where Jack wanted to have his father’s services – kind of like when the Blue Fairy commends Pinocchio on taking care of his ailing father and finally makes him a real boy.

It turned out what I actually saw was a holy water font dressed as an angel – but she was also decked in blue with blue wings. There was a pink one on the other side of the door.

Now what would be interesting is if the font was intentionally dressed to look like Blue Fairy giving it an even greater meaning. As we saw, the church was full of imagery from many faiths but the holy water motif carried over from the water that Jack had Hurley drink. Jack essentially blessed the water with the island mysticism so that Hurley could be the new protector of the island. I searched for Pinocchio references on Lostpedia and could only find that in “Tricia Tanaka is Dead” (which is an awesome Hurley-centric episode), Sawyer called Charlie “Jiminy Cricket.” However, the Man in Black claimed that Jacob had been pulling the strings on the castaways like puppets instead of allowing the free will in “The Substitute.” So this was likely an unintentional Easter egg, but maybe in the “ether” of the story creation.

In the comments section below, tell me what you saw. What final feelings and theories did you have? Are you ready to move on now from Lost?

*Jacksonville Examiners discussing Lost:

“Lost: A sign of the times” by Jacksonville Evangelical Examiner – Ray Dymun

“Review: The Lost series finale” by fellow Jacksonville TV Examiner – Samantha Holloway

“Five better endings to Lost’s series finale” – by fellow Jacksonville TV Examiner – Samantha Holloway

This article was originally published on my Jacksonville TV Examiner page on July 23, 2010

Mad Men‘s 4th season kicks off on Sunday, July 25, 2010 and the theme music is the inaugural “TV Theme Song of the Moment.”
Did you know that the non-instrumental version of the Mad Men theme has lyrics? RJD2 (born Ramble John “RJ” Krohn on May 27, 1976) is an American music producer, singer and musician. He has released largely instrumental hip hop albums and produced tracks for many rappers, including Aceyalone. Their 2006 collaborative CD Magnificent City produced the track “A Beautiful Mine” (click to listen). The instrumental version was edited into the shorter Mad Men opening theme music. However, the track has a deep 60′s connection as it samples “Autumn Leaves” a track from Enoch Lights’ 1960 album Percussion and Brass. You can hear the original below. A single length remix of the Mad Men theme is available from Amazon.com – Mad Men Theme Song – “A Beautiful Mine”.

Series creator/executive producer Matthew Weiner explains how the opening credit sequence was conceived.

Here is the full 5 and half minute instrumental track from RJD2.

Here is the original track that RJD2 sampled, “Autumn Leaves” by Enoch Light, a classical violinist, bandleader, and recording engineer.

A Funny Simpsons parody of the Mad Men opening credits sequence can be found here.

In Jacksonville, Mad Men airs on AMC. AMC can be found on DirecTV Channel 255, Dish Network Channel 130, and Jacksonville Comcast 45.  Jacksonville AT&T’s U-Verse customers, don’t fear -a deal to keep AMC was recently signed. Also check your OnDemand, NetFlix and Blockbuster accounts for available episodes. DVD sets are for sale below.

Find more Mad Men products at Amazon.com.

This was originally published on my Jacksonville TV Examiner page on July 19, 2010

Welcome to Drag U Orientation : 10 Things You Need to Know

1) The Official Page on LogoTV.com

2) The Twitter page is @RuPaulsDragU.  Follow it because each week they’ll be giving away a RuPaul’s Drag U party pack.

3) Upload your image into the Dragulator and then upload them to the Facebook page to get comments and a grade from your favorite stars from Season 1 & Season 2 of Drag Race. Can you get an A?

4) Full episodes will be available on Tuesday at LogoTV.com if you don’t have Logo in your (locally -Jacksonville Comcast, DirecTV, or ATT UVerse) TV package.

5) Logo says – “RuPaul and your favorite queens are back! The Dean of Drag has finally opened her “school for girls!” at RuPaul’s Drag U, where biological women (the kind who don’t have to tuck) undergo extreme transformations…drag queen style. Our pupils are frumpy, shy and anything but self-confident; but with the insight and instruction of beloved Drag Race alums, our once demure dames unleash their inner Divas and perform a musical number in front of a live audience that includes their loved ones. Only one woman can be valedictorian of her class, but all drag-uate with sass, self-respect, and the sense that anything is possible. Watch your favorite queens bring fabulousness to the ladies in this hysterical spin-off from RuPaul’s Drag Race creators World of Wonder. ”

6) I said in my TV Picks for Jacksonville TV viewers on Monday, July 19th- “You take the more popular contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race (in other words, the ones that DIDN’T win like my fave Pandora Boxx) and you put them in a makeover competition show as professors unleashing the inner diva out of everyday women. These professors will be sassier than any of the ladies on Real Housewives or The Hills. In that way, it is the perfect reality show – it has [extreme dress-up] fashion, over the top female characters (the guys in their drag personas), a makeover [/ make better element], a competition element, guest judges and a big dose of something you don’t see everyday. It looks like Logo didn’t give it much of a budget, but these “queens” are making it work in a limited run of 8 episodes.”

7) Each Monday there are live chats on http://www.LogoTV.com starting at 8:30pm EST for the show.  The first week’s guests include Mystique Madison Summers and John & Jon from Drag Ya Later!

8) Extra Credit – Go get interviews with the professors on the Drag U news page.

9) Campus Tour – Professors Shannel, Pandora Boxx and Morgan McMichaels give an exclusive tour of the Drag U campus.

10) Here are the first 10 minutes of the first episode as your orientation concludes.

Don’t flunk it up!

This article originally appeared on my Jacksonville TV Examiner page on July 24, 2010:

This is the first in a series of occasional articles called “Jacksonville in the time of Mad Men” that highlights historical events of our city that coincide with the 1960s timeline of Mad Men.   In today’s post, the history behind one of Jacksonville’s renovated urban living spaces includes a historic fire that claimed 22 lives. Spoilers up to the 3rd season finale of Mad Men are below if you are not caught up.

The third season of Mad Men opened in late March 1963. Don and Sal journeyed to Baltimore where their individual intimate time with strangers was interrupted when the fire alarm goes off at the Belvedere Hotel.  When we left the world of Mad Men at the end of the 3rd season, it was December 16, 1963; Sal had been fired several episodes prior and Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce was formed to start a new chapter in the lives of the characters of Mad Men. A couple weeks later in Jacksonville, Florida on December 29, 1963, a real fire broke out at a luxury hotel and was one of the city’s most tragic days ever.

On Saturday, December 28, 1963 North Carolina played Air Force (besting them 35 -0) in the 19th Gator Bowl at Jacksonville’s Gator Bowl Stadium. The Hotel Roosevelt was one of only two luxury hotels in the downtown area. The out-of-towners and locals celebrated well into the night and it was rumored a guest’s cigarette left smoldering on a 2nd story ballroom floor had caused the fire (it wasn’t keep reading). Around 7:30 AM on Sunday, December 29, 1963 guests started complaining about smoke and by 7:45 calls starting coming into the Jacksonville Fire Department. They responded with three fire engines, two ladder trucks, a Fire Chief and two assistant Chiefs. Mayor W. Haydon Burns also called for assistance from the U.S. Navy, and eight helicopters were flown to downtown from Mayport, Cecil Field and NAS Jacksonville. Guests were lifted from outstretched ladders on the roof to a nearby city parking lot to waiting ambulances.

Upon arriving on the scene firefighters found smoke traveling through all 13 floors and hotel visitors were helping each other climb out the windows on bedsheets tied together. The fire was extinguished by 9:30 AM, and it was estimated that nearly 475 people were saved from the burning hotel. After a full day or searching the firefighters found 21 guests had died in their beds from smoke inhalation. Jacksonville Fire Department had also lost one of their own, assistant chief J.R. Romedy who had collapsed of a heart attack during the initial rescue efforts, and died at the scene. The fire caused the worst single day death toll in the city’s history and the costliest fire since the Great Fire of 1901, where fewer people perished but the entire downtown area burned and had be rebuilt.

When the building open in 1926, it was known as the Carling Hotel. Newspaper stories at the time described the hotel as having “300 rooms with bath, running ice water, fans and the latest equipment in the rooms.” “The three lower stories are faced with Indiana limestone above which is a shaft of red brick. The upper stories are trimmed with terra-cotta, and surmounted by a balustrade with limestone coping. The building is of completely fire proof construction.” At that time, most tall buildings were built on corners, but the Carling was built in the middle of the block. This resulted in an expansive facade.  In 1936 the hotel’s name was changed to the Roosevelt.

Renovations were completed prior to the 1963 fire that were an attempt to get the building more up to fire code but the problem was just covered over.  Drop ceilings were installed over old original ceilings which were deemed a fire hazard due to the finish and that provided kindling for the fire. The fire started in the ballroom’s ceiling due to faulty wiring. The smoke was able move through old air ducts. The tragedy  is now taught as a lesson in due diligence to fire inspectors. The hotel closed a year later.

After nearly 20 years the building reopened as Jacksonville Regency House, a retirement community apartment building but closed again in 1989. On February 28, 1991, the site was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, but the building remained shuttered for almost 14 years. In  recent years it has been converted to luxury apartments – now incorporating the original name, The Carling. According to the rental company website - “The Carling has been restored to its original opulence. Delicate care was taken during its renovation to ensure preservation of key historic features while adapting the building for contemporary residential living. Original details such as the original windows, trim, baseboards and the re-creation of the original coffered ceiling recapture the building’s past splendor.” I couldn’t find a mention of the building’s tragic past on that website, TheCarling.com, The Carling’s Myspace page or its abandoned Twitter account.  I did request to be a Facebook friend just prior to publishing.

In Jacksonville, Mad Men airs Sunday nights on AMC at 10 PM. AMC can be found on DirecTV Channel 255, Dish Network Channel 130, and Jacksonville Comcast 45.  Also check your OnDemand, NetFlix and Blockbuster accounts for available episodes.

Additional Sources: Jaxhistory.com, CollegeFootballPoll.com, NewspaperARCHIVE.com, JacksonvilleFireMuseum.com, Waymarking.com, FirefightersEnemy.com, FireNuggets.com