The Idiot Box: TV Season 2009/2010

[Mister Andersen]

Yeah, I've seen it described as a poor quality british rip off of Buffy down to the mentor character being named Rupert nd holding his advising sessions in a large book-filled room...

[Mister Andersen]

A bunch of information about AMC's upcoming remake of The Prisoner.

"It would have been a little parochial" to make a 21st-century version of the show so Brit-centric, director Nick Hurran says. McKellen adds that the more worldly vibe was part of what attracted to him, and that "to have an American at the center of it seems appropriate in a way that it wouldn't have been for the original."

Because a Brit bad guy and a Yank hero isn't parochial at all.

My guy feeling is definitely steering towards the clusterfuck that was the American interpretation of Avengers, Red Dwarf and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, amongst too many others.

[ThunderMonkey]

To give you guys a heads up...

Jonathan Frakes is directing the Feb. 10 episode of "Leverage" (The Juror No. 6 Job) and it will also guest star Brent Spiner and Armin Shimmerman.

I wonder if they'll drop any "Star Trek" references.

[Desertpuma]

I'm positive they will. This will be an excellent episode since Spiner is really a chameleon and Shimerman can always play a good shyster.

[Crafty_Pat]

I've been loving the hell out of Leverage. Great chemistry between the leads and enough plausible wacky in the weekly plots to keep me wanting more. It's one of those shows that stealthed its way into my psyche. I wasn't any more excited about it before the premiere than I was about anything else with a decent concept and one or two folks I like in the cast. Ten minutes of the pilot though and I was hooked for good.

[Krensky]

One of the things I realy like about Leverage is that (and it's been mentioned before) it feels like a game. The banter, the characters, and how in places you can almost see the die rolls. A lot of times this detracts from the whole, but sometime it really works and can make something rise above itself (see the Mummy trilogy).

Even my mother (who, suprisingly enough considering this is a woman who's owned an Atari 800, a NES, and is getting a Wii, who had me take her to see Iron Man, Hellboy II, The Incredible Hulk, Mummy III, and The Forbidden Kingdom, is not a gamer) commented on this.

[ThunderMonkey]

Don't forget "Burn Notice" starts up again next week.

[Desertpuma]

Leverage is like M:I the TV show minus the gadget of the week and the recording dissolving. Add in the banter and it is definitely a gamer's show.

Can't wait for the return of Burn Notice and BSG (this Friday). Based the latest preview of BSg I saw, it makes me wonder if Laura Roslin is a Cylon. Another thing, I heard but did not see was someone saying: "Go back where you came from!"

[Wolverine]

Leverage is definatly my Burn Notice for this season. Great cast, great episodes, the occasional actor I know, and it doesn't take itself too seriously, either.

As an added bonus, I see that Gina is actually a Kiwi (though she left the country before TV really kicked off here).

Oh, and a big shout out to Anna Paquin for winning a Golden Globe

[Aldus Vertten]

John Scalzi will be Creative consultant int Stargate Universe...whatever that means...

[Wolverine]

The official site for The Beast has been launched. Looks pretty good, despite Patrick's failing health.

[Desertpuma]

BSG Spoilers:

(click to show/hide)

Dualla kills herself for no known reason, presumably because she can't bear their fate. ... Earth was the destination of the 13th tribe who were all biological Cylons. Ellen Tigh is the 5th Cylon which blows every Vegas pool. Starbuck did actually die when found Earth but was somehow reborn.

[ThunderMonkey]

BSG Spoilers:

(click to show/hide)

Dualla kills herself for no known reason, presumably because she can't bear their fate. ... Earth was the destination of the 13th tribe who were all biological Cylons. Ellen Tigh is the 5th Cylon which blows every Vegas pool. Starbuck did actually die when found Earth but was somehow reborn.

Normally with a good show (if you're lucky) you get one perhaps two WTF for the season. They gave us those three.

(click to show/hide)

This blows the origins of the Cylons out of the water. Were they created as per the humans thought... or is the 13th Colony something different... Holy crap, Ronald Moore sure knows how to put a story together.

[Desertpuma]

Well ...

(click to show/hide)

It makes you wonder when they arrived on Earth. ... Is the idea that everyone on Earth was a Cylon? ... Was there a preemptive strike against those who were believed to be Cylons on select cities? ... Were there entire cities composed of nothing but Cylons? ... Did some people leave Earth prior to the "nuclear war"? ... How did those Final Five get resurrected? Yet still have the memories of the past? ... How much technology and knowledge was lost when the 12 Colonies left Kobol? ... Anyone notice how the pictures of Earth in Pythia's text resembled Atlantis? ... The revelation of Ellen blew my Gaeta is the Cylon philosophy out of the water.

So say we all...

[Crafty_Pat]

BSG Spoilers:

(click to show/hide)

Dualla kills herself for no known reason, presumably because she can't bear their fate.

(click to show/hide)

No known reason? She just lost the only thing left worth living for - finding a new life on Earth. She's had nothing but loss and heartbreak in the fleet. I think her reaction was about the most human of anyone. One last night of gladness and then BAM! Out on her own terms. I applaud the writers for such a bold, if shocking, move.