TV Show Cancelation Excuse Bingo

LOL.

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In light of the recent cancelations of both Caprica and today AMC's Rubicon this was worth a laugh or two.


Star Trek TOS - William Shatner SNL - Get A Life - MyVideo

Rubicon: New AMC Conspiracy TV Show

Okay, well here's my thoughts about the Season Finale of this show tonight, that I just posted on mp.com

good finale! Although it sort of donned on me towards the end, and in most of Spangler's scenes. He's engineering these events for some larger purpose, like historical. Almost in a Butterfly Effect sort of way. The deaths are necessary evils for the greater good of the future of mankind. Or maybe it has some religious motivation? Spangler muslim?


But some great moments in the finale. What exactly was Andy's agenda? Why did she run off after seeing Katherine Rhumor collapse? or for that matter, why did she just allow her to stand there in the middle of the park, not doing anything to protect her from the incident that killed her? How exactly did she die? Did that guy have a needle with some kind of toxin in it? It was so subtle, it was almost impossible to even guess.


What is Kale Ingram's agenda? Why didn't Will contact Ed? Why did Maggie say he could trust him? And what was in David's message on the DVD? Where did the DVD end up? I might guess at the police station or something.


Also the scene where Grant has to tell Will that he was promoted, was rather funny in a way. It almost reminded me of some of the scenes in Office Space with Ron Livingston hearing things about his job and not having any regard for it.


Obviously a lot of things they can explore next season. It just sucks we have to wait until next Summer to find out answers to a lot of these questions.


Maybe The Walking Dead will tide us for over until whatever other new show AMC brings on, because between Breaking Bad and this show, I am totally hooked.

But there's more to add about this in general. Originally, the pilot episode aired following the Season 3 finale of Breaking Bad back in June. And while I didn't hate what I saw that evening, it was only mildly intriguing. It almost had a dry, slow, non-energetic feel to it. The characters and even cast just weren't all that engaging really. The premise sounded possibly good. But the truth was, it was kind of an afterthought. So much so, I had no idea when it was going to be airing again. Maybe it was a special film or mini-series or something. I forget.

So, come August, I noticed some discussion about it and I decided to record it on my dvr. I missed at 1east 1 episode, but they re-aired it which I recorded along with every episode for over a month. So, then about a month ago I was needing to clear out some DVR space as I often do, and decided to try and give this show a shot. My memory of the pilot wasn't even perfect, and certainly things about the pilot episode that didn't grab me too much still were present in the following episodes.

But then after a couple of episodes, I just got sucked in to where the story was going.

This show is about conspiracies and an intelligence agency aimed at trying to stop World disasters from happening. The main character, Will Travers heads up a team or Think Tank of sorts, that works for this group called "API" (American Policy Institute) whose job is to try and determine who, what and why terrorists attacks occur and how to prevent them in the future. But of course there is a lot more to what goes on. Will's mentor David Hadas is killed in the pilot in a train accident, and there's too many fishy details about the accident.

So, the show has been largely about Will's research and investigation into how David's death and other circumstances seem to be connected. At 1 point his apartment is bugged and there is someone who tries to murder him.

I guess for me, what has sucked me in to this show is all the uncertainties about each character's ultimate agenda. Who can Will trust? Kale Ingram, his boss in effect, seems to be one whose at least opposing the group Truxton Spangler is involved with, but he's clever enough to not get exposed. He ends up helping Will and some others in the process, but for some reason I just think he has multiple reasons for acting as he has.

I really like some of the support characters like Ed Bancroft and Hal. Both seem to be helpful to Will, and the scenes they have been in have often been rather significant in the story.

I wonder if more about Atlas McDowell will come out next season. Maybe some of the characters are actually still working there, but undercover at API?

For now, this show stands as my favorite new show of the year/season (with Fox's The Good Guys being a close 2nd, although that show may not be on too much longer unfortunately). I wonder if it'll end up receiving any Golden Globe or SAG recognition in a few months. And Emmy's, of course they love Breaking Bad and Mad Men from AMC, and given BB won't be eligible next year, maybe Rubicon will find it's way on to the awards? (or maybe it won't be eligible as well, since technically it could have for this 1st season).

Short Notes

Again with time crunches. As I've posted on twitter,

James LaBrie and his band are coming to Station 4 in St.Paul on Wednesday December 8th. I should go, but to say I'm all that thrilled to hear his recent music live would probably be false. I dug the 1st Mullmuzzler album. Why? I can't be certain, but it was prog metal, but it was from a period which I was into that stuff. His last record Elements of Persuasion I really didn't find all that great. It more or less sounded like b-sides from Dream Theater's Train of Thought.

But his new record, I have seen many good comments about it, even from people who aren't all that big of fans of recent DT. The truth is, I haven't listened to it yet. I should, especially now since they are coming here. Hopefully a good percent of the Dream Theater fans in town will show up at it. He did a show back in 2005 to support his last record, in NYC, and like 50 people showed up. Although I seem to recall Ozzfest or something else was playing the very same evening. But Dream Theater and his name have become a fair amount bigger in the last 5 years. What gets me though is he comes here, yet Porcupine Tree still does not.

- I saw Local Natives again last Friday in front of 500 people at 1st Ave. "Sun Hands" still totally kills live. They also did the complete Gorilla Manor including "Sticky Thread." More on that show and I mean to once I remember and discipline myself, to work on my idea for a remix. There's like 30 or more remixes on their official site labeled "Stems."

- I attended Minnesota Renaissance Festival on Sunday again, even in a truncated 3-7:30pm stint. Better than nothing, and Karma was with me and my friend for at least 1 point. I ran into 3 highways with construction, so finding a free ticket at the door seemed to help compensate for the lengthly commute.

- I also have been getting into MyTalk 107..namely the "Colleen and the Boys" from 10-1pm weekdays. I even had the pleasure to meet Colleen and 1 of her co-workers at the station named Mike last week at Kozlak's out in Shoreview. Free ribs+veggies+bratwurst as well. Colleen is a sweetheart and does not have a face for radio ;). Their show reminds me of the Psychic Crapfest podcast I do in some ways, or even a bit like the show My Boys. If it were possible timing-wise, I'd go for getting involved with their station. Do radio again. Even just as a sub/fill-in kind of deal. My friend has an idea for a show called "It's a Guy Thing." 2 male hosts give, well, male perspectives on pop-culture, dating, etc.

I still wish they or another station had a live music-discussion talk show. Maybe some day (the show on the weekend doesn't seem to be that).

-Plentyoffish.com and the pofusers forum..to put it kindly, have been a bit of a headache for me of late. I've written about them via my okc journal. I may elaborate more at some point on here, I'm not sure.

-Warpaint and Pure Reason Revolution are the daily leaks to hunt for, and so far no dice. Hopefully they'll come sooner than later. But the 2010 season and Album Index is shaping up more and more. Sufjan Stevens however has made his presence felt of late. The Age of Adz shall have something more detailed in here soon if all goes well. Also I'd be skeptical still, but Water & Bodies may be finished and sending out their new album to those who pledged on kickstarter like myself, before the end of the year. We'll see. It's good news no matter, as they raised the money and the words written on some of the boards about this new album, many of the old Kaddisfly fans may be surprised about what kind of album this debut lp will be of theirs.

-Kiss Kiss are on hiatus unfortunately. But they have some other projects happening as well as an intended reunion eventually, I'd imaging in 2011.

-As Tall As Lions are breaking up. I knew about it, but something soon should be in here writing a bit more about them.

-The Receiving End of Sirens have a new song along with a re-release (remastering?) of their debut record "Between the Heart and the Synapse" on vinyl and with new artwork. I did order it. I pray to god they fixed the tambourine-toned clipping (4C).

-Movies I look to see: The Social Network, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Catfish, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Due Date

-I enjoyed the Ken Burns extended portion of Baseball "The 10th Inning" last week. Although nothing about the Twins among other noteworthy events in Baseball the last 20 years.

so..more to come, but that's all the time I have right now...sleep, tv, web shit and the like have of course contributed to the lack of content in here still. But I do sense a big spurt of blogging coming soon enough. The shit just needs to get together well enough.

DVR Clearing: for one..Rubicon last week/end and The Gates this week/end..and The Twins playoff run, or lack-their-of has prioritized my time more so.