US TV

Review: Medium 3.1

17 November 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Medium

In the US: NBC, 10/9c, Wednesdays

In the UK: Probably SciFi and maybe BBC1, since they’ve shown earlier seasons. No definite confirmation yet, though.

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 0

Major new characters: 0

Format change percentage: 5% (Allison’s haircut)

Number of dream sequences: I lost count. Sorry.

So Medium‘s back. I was looking forward to this, since when it’s good, it can be fun and well written. With the opening episode scripted by series creator Glen Gordon and Javier Grillo-Marxuach (ex-writer for both Lost and The Pretender), it should have been good. But I think they got carried away with the two minutes of animation…

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Glasgow’s first superhero comes to the Web

17 November 2006 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Fraser Coull of Silly Wee Films has asked me to mention his upcoming new TV series, Night is Day. Since he’s actually been nice enough to comment on this blog about the crapness of Torchwood, I’m happy to oblige. Says Fraser:

Okay, so “Night is Day” is an internet drama series about Glasgow’s first superhero, and the first 6 episodes (each lasting 10-15 minutes, except for episode 6 which will last 25 minutes), the first episode will be shown on Sky channel Propeller TV at somepoint in the near future. Episode 1 which is completely free to watch, will be made available online on the 25th of November, and each following episode will be released monthly for only £2 each.

Inspired by the likes of “Doctor Who”, “Spider-Man” and “Angel” and not at all like “Torchwood”, you can find out more at http://www.nightisday.moonfruit.com.

There’s a YouTube trailer for the series below and you can also read an interview with the Silly Wee Films people at Channel 4’s IdeasFactory.

Ronald D Moore to write new version of The Thing

17 November 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Battlestar Galactica exec producer Ronald D Moore is to write the script for a new version of The Thing, according to Variety (via SciFi Wire). The classic John Carpenter movie isn’t going to be remade: instead, the new film is to be a ‘companion piece’ to the original (itself a remake of 50s film, The Thing From Another World, which was based on a John W Campbell short story, Who Goes There?).

I have high hopes for it. If there’s one thing RDM has demonstrated in the last three years, it’s that he’s the king of remakes…

Fox – the network of variable taste

17 November 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Good old Fox. It commissions series that are evidently rubbish and keeps them going for years (cf Married with Children). It also commissions really good series that it cancels in mere minutes (cf John Doe, Firefly – I’m told). And sometimes it commissions pure rubbish that it cancels almost instantly (cf most of its output for the last 20 or so years). Which sides of Fox are we seeing in the latest news?

  • ‘Til Death and Standoff have been picked up for full seasons (more or less). Both are awful. Standoff cranked up an impressive four on the Carusometer while I turned off halfway through the last episode of ‘Til Death, which managed to achieve a five, a full Caruso on the Carusometer, it was that bad.
  • Vanished, previously off the air for a couple of weeks but scheduled to return in December, is now going to air only on the InterWeb and has officially been cancelled.