Final (?) TV premiere round-up
Sep. 29th, 2010 10:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
next_to_normalFirst, a couple links:
An interesting write-up on The Social Network - It's no secret that I am anti-Facebook, so I certainly don't have a problem with a movie that portrays Mark Zuckerberg or the creation of Facebook in a negative way, lol. But mostly I am interested because it's an Aaron Sorkin script - and in particular, it sounds like a modern-day version of his play The Farnsworth Invention (which chronicles a similar conflict over credit for a mass media invention), which I saw and enjoyed a while back. This article makes it sound like it's very much an "unreliable narrator" type of story, where the movie presents contradictory versions and doesn't identify any one as "the truth," which is probably the best way to go about recent, controversial real-life events, and that's a storytelling style I quite enjoy, so I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Also, another casting announcement, this one for The Office: Jack Coleman, who played one of the few characters on Heroes for whom I did not wish a horrifyingly painful death!
And now, my thoughts on the final two fall TV premieres (at least until Caprica, which I may or may not care about), both of which, oddly, starred Julie Benz!
I had entertained the idea of waiting for Dexter to come out on DVD, as I did with the first four seasons. I don't have Showtime, and although my opinion of downloading is somewhat flexible (I have few qualms about a show like Being Erica, where I couldn't watch it in a timely manner even if I was willing to pay for it), I do kinda feel like a jerk when it's just that I'm too cheap to pay for premium cable. BUT curiosity won out, so a jerk I will be. :) Anyway, I really like the set-up for this season, with Rita's death putting the focus back on Dexter (as it was in season 2) rather than a Big Bad. I also LOVE the irony that of all the people Dexter's killed, it's RITA - whom he didn't kill, and in fact loved - whose death now gets the police suspicious. And by "police" I mean Quinn, lol, because everyone else is still too loyal and shocked to even consider Dexter being involved. And while it makes Quinn seem like a dick, I'm actually grateful that he's there, because otherwise it would seem ridiculous and hugely irresponsible that no one else was thinking along those lines. He's no Doakes, though, so we'll have to see if his poking around accomplishes anything. (I am not at all happy about Deb having sex with him, btw, but it does exponentially increase the chances that Quinn will end up dead or maimed by the end of the season, and I'm kind of okay with that.)
It's going to be very interesting watching Dexter try to get out of this, since anything close to the truth is going to lead to his relationship with Trinity. And of course, he can't explain to anyone else why he feels guilty about Rita's murder, other than feeling, as Astor said, that he should've been there to protect her. I did like LaGuerta's horrified realization that Dexter might have been witnessing their marriage while his wife was getting killed, and I am wondering whether that might ultimately end up being Dexter's alibi. I'd have to go back and watch the finale again to see if the timeline matches up. Presumably they'd be able to determine approximate time of death and realize it was hours before Dexter came home, but he can't account for his whereabouts during those hours, so a legitimate alibi for the time of the murder would be a big help.
I also loved the way they portrayed the balance between the Dexter who feels real emotions and the Dexter who fakes it. As I mentioned in last season's review, I've never believed that he was the emotionless shell he claims to be. And it's clear here that while he has no idea how normal people cope with death - I particularly loved/cringed at the scene when he had to tell Astor and Cody their mother was dead - he also obviously feels Rita's loss very deeply, to the point that he could lose it so thoroughly as to beat an innocent man to death. I wonder if this incident will be explored any more deeply than the other instances when Dexter's gone outside the Code. Overall, I am definitely excited for the new season, and as much as I will miss Julie Benz, I think they are making the most out of her death, rather than just using it for shock value in the season finale.
And now I can watch Julie in her new show, No Ordinary Family, which premiered last night. I thought it was pretty good - I like her and Michael Chiklis as a couple, although the kids could definitely use more fleshing out, and I enjoyed each of them discovering their new powers. The faux-documentary style seemed rather unnecessary, but I'm hoping that since it was revealed at the end that they were talking to a therapist, the rest of the season will abandon that format and the therapy scenes will be integrated into the rest of the show. I will definitely give this one a shot, at least for a few weeks, since it seems to have some good potential (I am a big fan of The Incredibles) and I do quite like Julie.
An interesting write-up on The Social Network - It's no secret that I am anti-Facebook, so I certainly don't have a problem with a movie that portrays Mark Zuckerberg or the creation of Facebook in a negative way, lol. But mostly I am interested because it's an Aaron Sorkin script - and in particular, it sounds like a modern-day version of his play The Farnsworth Invention (which chronicles a similar conflict over credit for a mass media invention), which I saw and enjoyed a while back. This article makes it sound like it's very much an "unreliable narrator" type of story, where the movie presents contradictory versions and doesn't identify any one as "the truth," which is probably the best way to go about recent, controversial real-life events, and that's a storytelling style I quite enjoy, so I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Also, another casting announcement, this one for The Office: Jack Coleman, who played one of the few characters on Heroes for whom I did not wish a horrifyingly painful death!
And now, my thoughts on the final two fall TV premieres (at least until Caprica, which I may or may not care about), both of which, oddly, starred Julie Benz!
I had entertained the idea of waiting for Dexter to come out on DVD, as I did with the first four seasons. I don't have Showtime, and although my opinion of downloading is somewhat flexible (I have few qualms about a show like Being Erica, where I couldn't watch it in a timely manner even if I was willing to pay for it), I do kinda feel like a jerk when it's just that I'm too cheap to pay for premium cable. BUT curiosity won out, so a jerk I will be. :) Anyway, I really like the set-up for this season, with Rita's death putting the focus back on Dexter (as it was in season 2) rather than a Big Bad. I also LOVE the irony that of all the people Dexter's killed, it's RITA - whom he didn't kill, and in fact loved - whose death now gets the police suspicious. And by "police" I mean Quinn, lol, because everyone else is still too loyal and shocked to even consider Dexter being involved. And while it makes Quinn seem like a dick, I'm actually grateful that he's there, because otherwise it would seem ridiculous and hugely irresponsible that no one else was thinking along those lines. He's no Doakes, though, so we'll have to see if his poking around accomplishes anything. (I am not at all happy about Deb having sex with him, btw, but it does exponentially increase the chances that Quinn will end up dead or maimed by the end of the season, and I'm kind of okay with that.)
It's going to be very interesting watching Dexter try to get out of this, since anything close to the truth is going to lead to his relationship with Trinity. And of course, he can't explain to anyone else why he feels guilty about Rita's murder, other than feeling, as Astor said, that he should've been there to protect her. I did like LaGuerta's horrified realization that Dexter might have been witnessing their marriage while his wife was getting killed, and I am wondering whether that might ultimately end up being Dexter's alibi. I'd have to go back and watch the finale again to see if the timeline matches up. Presumably they'd be able to determine approximate time of death and realize it was hours before Dexter came home, but he can't account for his whereabouts during those hours, so a legitimate alibi for the time of the murder would be a big help.
I also loved the way they portrayed the balance between the Dexter who feels real emotions and the Dexter who fakes it. As I mentioned in last season's review, I've never believed that he was the emotionless shell he claims to be. And it's clear here that while he has no idea how normal people cope with death - I particularly loved/cringed at the scene when he had to tell Astor and Cody their mother was dead - he also obviously feels Rita's loss very deeply, to the point that he could lose it so thoroughly as to beat an innocent man to death. I wonder if this incident will be explored any more deeply than the other instances when Dexter's gone outside the Code. Overall, I am definitely excited for the new season, and as much as I will miss Julie Benz, I think they are making the most out of her death, rather than just using it for shock value in the season finale.
And now I can watch Julie in her new show, No Ordinary Family, which premiered last night. I thought it was pretty good - I like her and Michael Chiklis as a couple, although the kids could definitely use more fleshing out, and I enjoyed each of them discovering their new powers. The faux-documentary style seemed rather unnecessary, but I'm hoping that since it was revealed at the end that they were talking to a therapist, the rest of the season will abandon that format and the therapy scenes will be integrated into the rest of the show. I will definitely give this one a shot, at least for a few weeks, since it seems to have some good potential (I am a big fan of The Incredibles) and I do quite like Julie.
no subject
Date: Sep. 29th, 2010 09:07 pm (UTC)(I am not at all happy about Deb having sex with him, btw, but it does exponentially increase the chances that Quinn will end up dead or maimed by the end of the season, and I'm kind of okay with that.)
Yeah. As much as I don't care about the romantic liasons of the show, I really don't like this one. I just don't like Quinn, I guess. Hey, let's make a bet. Do you think Quinn will be killed by Dexter at the end of the season, or by some fortuituous happenstance? I'm betting on happenstance.
no subject
Date: Sep. 29th, 2010 09:19 pm (UTC)Heh, I'd go with happenstance, too. I don't think he'd do something bad enough to earn a visit to Dexter's saran-wrapped table. I guess it depends how far off the Code Dexter goes, if he'd kill Quinn just to avoid getting caught.
no subject
Date: Sep. 29th, 2010 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 29th, 2010 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 30th, 2010 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 30th, 2010 01:14 am (UTC)