Two good scenes...

...from very different shows.

In The Fades, two best friends combat ghost zombie apocalyptic warriors.  No, not all at once, in succession-it makes sense on TV planet.  In any case, there's a great scene that I'm not sure came from the writers, the directors, or the actors.  Two best friends are sitting on a bench eating ice cream, delivering some fairly mundane exposition.  However, what makes the scene cool is that they eat a bite, trade ice cream, and then eat a bite. Then they trade again.  It's a wonderful character moment to show that these guys have been friends since they were probably about two years old.  It's also a good  Pope-in-the-pool moment from "Save the Cat." Pope-in-the-pool means that if you have to deliver exposition, there better be something fascinating like the Pope swimming in a backyard pool to hold the viewers' interest.  These guys trading ice cream sure did the trick.

Another one is more of a line reading.  In Empire, Terrence Howard as Lucius Lyon is the patriarch of a family of three sons and a hip-hop impresario.  When one of his sons begins to date one of the hot young artists, Lucius says to his girlfriend/Girl Friday "Let's keep them together." It's a tossed off line, but the result is chilling because it shows not only the extent of his power but how far he's willing to meddle in the lives of those he's purported to love.  Terrence Howard gives it no weight at all in his delivery, which is what makes it land so hard.

Lazy, lazy, lazy

The cold open for The Walking Dead's "18 Miles Out" was a lazy writer's trick.  By flash forwarding to some zombie lumbering goodness, the writers tease the action so that they could fall back on the talky talky again.  It was a promise to have some good stuff later on.  Again, I ask thee, why not just have it all be good stuff?  The flash forward technique worked better in the Shane and the Haircut episode because it was demonstrating his journey--here he is at point C, and he got there through points A and B.  But in "18," I can't see any other purpose than to grab attention.  Lazy.  After the cold open, we get Rick and Shane talking it out. As much as I love Jon Berenthal's sullen 14 year old act when Shane's getting talked at, that scene felt looong.

Like Christmas!

So I  basically got everything I asked for in my last blog post about The Walking Dead.  I didn't ask for more zombies, but got them too.  Essentially I asked for more tension within scenes, and the latest episode, "Triggerfinger," had that in spades. *Spoilers from here* Glen, Rick and Herschel being pinned down in the bar even had shades of the highway scene I referenced.  If I didn't know more about TV production I'd think someone out there was listening.

So Close and Yet So Far

The Walking Dead has been a disappointment.  Not in ratings-it's drawing tons of viewers.  However, the water cooler discussion after each episode, or at least the virtual one I follow on Twitter and the like, is about continual disappointment.  There seems to be an unfulfilled promise that is nagging at the amorphous crowd that is "the viewership."  Some complain it's the farm that stagnating the story, others complain about characters like Lori who don't demonstrate much agency, one camp is firmly in the "more zombies" category, and yet others are just mad that Frank Darabont is no longer part of the project.  If it were just a rotten show, people would quit watching it, and there wouldn't be so much sturm und drang about it.  But The Walking Dead has such a great concept, right-on production values, and moments of brilliance (hiding under the vehicles on the highway as the herd shuffles by, anyone?) that when the story drags, its a--well, drag.  You're rooting for it.  You want it to live up to the hype.  So when it doesn't, the let down has more impact.

I Was Going to Write This...

...complete with my own examples, but The Atlantic beat me to it. 
5 Ways to Fix "The Walking Dead"

Happy MeDay

Today is my birthday, and I took the day off work. Here's a rundown of what I've been up to, what I've seen recently, and what's coming next.
1) Monday Meetings. We're getting good feedback on our sketches and are working on a 1/2 hour pilot. If you haven't seen them, take a look and please please forward the link to those who may be interested in teh funny.

2) WatchingTreme.  The season is over, and S3 goes up next Spring, but I still have some link roundups to catch up on, as well as some new content.  Slowly but surely...

3) Something's Afoot at Taproot Theatre.  This was extended through August.  Got a ticket from one of the performers, and laughed the whole way through.  The tone was just right-just serious enough, just meta-aware enough, and just goofy enough.  The cast is incredible.  Seattlites should make the effort to catch this one, IMHO.

4) Speaking of theater, I was asked to take part in a staged reading of The Normal Heart in November.  I read the script and was blown away.  It's a work about the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s in NYC, and it grabs you by the gut as well as the heart.  One scene, I just don't know how I'm going to be able to listen to over and over again in rehearsal.  Proceeds will go to the Lifelong AIDS Alliance.  Watch this space for more details as the time gets closer.

5) Luther. This had blipped across my radar and because I really liked Wallander and Sherlock I thought I'd give it a try.  Idris Elba of "The Wire" fame is a frazzled, intuitive homicide detective.  It's reminiscent of Sherlock in the deductions he makes, and reminiscent of Wallander in that he's barely functional.  Written by Neil Cross, it has the pedigree to be outstanding.  However, as entertaining as it is, I find the directing to be too on-the-nose.  After a tragedy, Luther stumbles down several flights of stairs.  Okay, Orpheus, I get it.  After a certain happy ending, he and a friend get ice cream.  In London.  In winter.  I could see their breath, and they're eating ice cream.  It's symbolic of a return to innocence with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.  Maybe I'm being unfair-maybe you do go get ice cream in London in winter-people sit outside on patios in Seattle in the rain to drink beer.  Although it seems more likely that they were going to cram in that metaphor no matter what.  I do like the series, though, so maybe I'll write more later about what they get right.

6) Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. A documentary about an Aussie man's 60 day juice fast and road trip around America.  Interesting stuff, well backed up by nutritional science.  I think my sister put it best though when she posted on Facebook, "I like what he's selling, I just don't like that he's selling it." Because of course now he's got books, and plans, and all the rest. On the other hand, I'm eating way more fruits and veggies now because of watching it.

7) Big Sam's Funky Nation. Incredible concert.  Just incredible. Highly recommended wherever you are, whenever they're touring.  New Orleans based, and they do the old school really well, but they also adapt other styles to their own brand of nuclear funk rock.  Lady Gaga?  Cee-Lo?  Yeah, they got that.  Crazy.

8) Crocheting.  I'm thinking I may get some things ready and reopen Two Sisters Crochet for the gifting season.

Like I don't have enough to do.

New Old Project

What I'm about to describe is about 9 months in the making.  (No, not THAT.)  I started writing with a comedy group way back months ago, and after many changes, iterations, and false starts, we're finally starting to gain some steam.  After posting several sketches on YouTube, a subsidiary channel of Q13, JoeTV, has given us space on their web site. (YAY!!!!) We're also working on a bigger concept that will be revealed later if it gains traction.
So enjoy our latest sketch, Sleepwalker, on Joe's Wall
and like us on Facebook.

Game of Criticism

I'm looking forward to "Game of Thrones" on HBO.  I'm actually behind the game; I hadn't even heard of the books until the news about HBO's production, but it seems to be my "teacup."  I love political intrigue (see "Shogun") unusual use of language (see "Justified," "Deadwood," "Brick"), and swords and shields (see "Spartacus" Or don't-many find it overblown and gory).
So it's interesting to me to see that according to the NYT reviewer, as a Vaginal-American, I'm not supposed to like it.  I guess some bedhopping was thrown in there because I'm not supposed to like any of the things listed above.

In addition, there was a truly bizarro review at Slate (in which I'm disappointed-I usually love Troy Patterson's writing) that I'm not sure I even really understood.  It was more of an exercise in writing on a meta level about how fantasy is perceived, or something.  I think I can see what he was aiming for, but missed.  Actually, that's a bit strong, I can't know what he was aiming for.  But neither can he, the reviewer who admits he doesn't watch/enjoy fantasy, claim to know what the production was aiming for, either.  There's a way to critique outside of your comfort zone by identifying those elements that are off-putting.  (I find the violence disturbing, the language opaque, the huge cast of characters confusing, whatever it is.) But Patterson keeps going back to an adolescent motif, perhaps his code word for fanboy.  Full of sex and violence, but not for grownups?  Again, I'm confused.

So critics, by all means, give me reasons why I might like a production or not, but do not tell me I won't like it because I'm developmentally delayed or a woman. (Or both.)  That angers me.

And Matt Zoller Seitz, evidently.

Discovery: Sherlock

Okay, so this is not so much a discovery as something that has taken a bit of the internet by storm.  Sherlock is a 3 part TV series that aired on the BBC in July and August of 2010, then was picked up by PBS's Masterpiece this fall.  It's currently streaming on the PBS site until December, and the DVDs are already for sale.

This iteration of the legend takes the eponymous character and places him firmly into our own time.  The creators, Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss, wanted to forget about all the mythology about Mr. Holmes, especially the ideas that the collective memory holds from other film versions, and pull out the realities from the source material.  For example, Holmes has always been ahead of the curve in terms of technology.  Therefore, this Holmes, as played by Benedict Cumberbatch, has his own web site, sends text messages and checks tide schedules by internet search.  He also befriends, of course, Dr. Watson, (Martin Freeman) who has just returned from deployment in Afghanistan.  No stodgy old harrumphers in their fifties here.  Watson chronicles Holmes' exploits on a blog, which to this blogger, is a hoot.