Thursday, December 9, 2010

Early December 2010 notes



-Should I try and go see You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger the new Woody Allen Rom-Com. Maybe it has or will get more distribution, but if not, it seems tomorrow is the last day to see it at Lagoon theater.

-I count 11 records I should revisit before finishing my 2010 Albums Index. Another 7 or 8 at least as a possibility. Compared to last year though, that's nothing. I probably had 30 or more, a number of which I never got around to listening to again. One of them, I have only heard 1 song on, and instead of buying it digitally, I purchased a used copy for $2 on Amazon and am having Rush-delivered. Hopefully it'll be in my mailbox no later than Monday or Tuesday of next week. Regardless of how good it is, my rant about the year in music that was 2010 still won't likely be affected.

-So the SyFy (Channel) twitter feed gave 5 questions to answer on Tuesday. I submitted one that went unanswered about when the Rhys Ifans Peter Pan special will air specifically. So then on Wednesday they opened it up again for questions and after thinking about it on Tuesday night, I wished I had asked what was in a way a rhetorical question about SyFy compared to the USA Network and SyFy canceling the one show I liked on their station in Caprica. They answered it with kind of predictable ratings, etc and praising the USA Network.

That's fine they did that, but they didn't address the point I was failing to make. A point I have made many times before. How is it, the USA Network keep coming up with good new shows that don't get canceled, and like NBC, SyFy barely comes up with any good shows, and in the exception of Caprica, they do have one, it doesn't end up lasting.

SyFy and USA Network are both owned by NBC. Thus, logically, you could and probably should have the same people working for both. But is that the case? I would question that.

However, I'll fully confess, my question discounted the fact SyFy does have another show I like in Warehouse 13 (who just aired on Tuesday, a good special X-Mas episode by the way). And possibly some of the upcoming shows they are supposedly planning to air in the James Marsters comedic/superhero show "3 Inches" along with the Bryan Fuller show "The Lotus Caves" and the Galactica spinoff "Blood and Chrome."

This new American-version of Being Human I'll probably check out, but bugs me for many reasons (another entry about this probably should happen involving Hollywood ripping-off everything from the British)

But, in thinking back, USA Network has not canceled a show I like (Monk wasn't really canceled, but it just retired) since The 4400. The Dead Zone I suppose might count as well, but I never fully got into that show.

Compared to SyFy who canceled The Dresden Files and Painkiller Jane a few years ago. The only show on that network in recent times, I liked, that wasn't canceled was, really, the one show that got critical acclaim in BSG.

And that is a bit of a change compared to 10 years ago with stuff like Farscape, First Wave and even Sliders.

Major TV Network shows get canceled all the time (something like 80% of new fall shows I guess), but on Cable you would think it would be different. I guess it is, although they must still rely on ratings to a point when Party Down and Rubicon don't get renewed. But USA Network somehow has figured it out the last 5 years. So that being the case, the people in charge there might have an idea how to help out the other struggling networks. In other words, had Caprica been promoted by the people who do promotion at the USA Network, it likely would have had a better chance of being renewed for a 2nd season.

But also in retrospect, a couple of alternative and more effective questions instead might have been

-What would have it took for Caprica to get renewed? or What could have been done differently to have Caprica renewed? (and insert The Dresden Files, Painkiller Jane among others into where Caprica is).
-Knowing how expensive Caprica was to produce, aren't the ratings demands a bit too high? In other words, isn't making a show like Caprica a bit low in the odds of success.
-How different will Blood and Chrome be in terms of cost to produce and marketing, than Caprica? Is the Battlestar Galactica name enough to allow it for a higher chance of success?
-Could have The Lost Room become a regular series/show?
-How does the SyFy version of Being Human differ from the BBC version?
-When are shows like "Three Inches" "The Lotus Caves" and Blood and Chrome looked to begin airing
-How hard is it for SyFy to pick up canceled network shows?
-If Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles did a special return movie, would SyFy pick it up?
-Why does SyFy air wrestling?

Blech, I wish I could just run Hollywood and every tv network. The Good Guys is gone, Fringe probably as well. I guess.

-I should try and write something about AMC's The Walking Dead soon, along with upcoming show The Killing perhaps. New shows on USA and the networks as well. Fairly Legal, Off the Map, Mad Love, Love Bites, Perfect Couples, and Mr.Sunshine. Along with the return of ABC's V.

Stuff like Doctor Who, Torchwood, Breaking Bad, True Blood, are Spring/Summer. The Rhys Ifans Peter Pan special as well.

-My return to KFAI radio I believe is in motion. My expectations are not huge, so I don't have much if anything to lose I guess. But I can say, if/when I were to get a weekly radio show there, I think my show may reflect a lot of what this blog is about. I.e. the show I'd like to do, would be largely about music and playing music still, however, a dedicated portion of it I think should include discussion or babbling about various media-related things. Concert calendar, concert reviews, music news (new album info, etc), album reviews, movie news, movie reviews, tv news and tv reviews. Even sports, books, restaurants and what not. The annual meeting is on Friday night. I probably will try and attend, if it's not a blizzard outside. (which wouldn't be unthinkable right now).

the 2011 album anticipation list continues to grow as bands like Karnivool, East of the Wall and the Diablo Swing Orchestra were added recently.

-the Michel Gondry/Seth Rogen "The Green Hornet" adaptation was pushed back until the 2nd week of January. I must admit, on paper, I really hope for big things from it. But the more I read about it, the more skeptical I am. And Gondry sadly, may be finding the shark-jumping area.

there's more stuff, notes, opinions that are share-able, but will have to be rain-checked for now.