(no subject)

[shadowkat]

1. Hmm...in August 2022, The Buffy Reboot was officially put on Pause or Cancelled

Most likely because of Whedon. Honestly? I don't think they should reboot it. Shows that should not be rebooted - Buffy, Angel, Vampire Diaries, Star Trek, Star Wars (movies), Hill Street Blues, Seinfield, Friends, West Wing, MASH - do not reboot the classics folks, it's stupid. Particularly shows with huge fandoms associated with them. I'm not sure they could reboot Firefly...

2. Tim Burton's NETFLIX series "Wednesday"

"I've always despised the phrase 'write what you know' - its an excuse for the imagination impaired." - Wednesday. (I love that quote).

It has the best one-liners. And the actress playing Wednesday is amazing.
Also we have Gwen Christie as headmaster. (Game of Thrones really changed that actress's life, didn't it?)

Anyhow, the plot is not great. They fall into a lot of cliches, and the mystery right now is fairly predictable. Also we have the whole evil witch trail setup that has been done to death, along with the evil Pilgrims.

And, there's a scene between Morticia and the Mayor, where she states : "men like you have no idea what it is like not to believed..." which would have worked better if the Mayor wasn't a Black man, and Morticia wasn't Catherine Zeta-Jones.

However, the kids are great. And so is the production, and the one liners.

3. James Marsters is adorable in Comic Con Q&A videos. The man loves She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel, doesn't understand why Buffy would fall for him or Spike, and is nerdy. Every once and a while I find myself sucked into watching his Q&A comic con videos on youtube. He genuinely adores his fans, adores conventions, and adores the things his fans are into. Also he's very giving to the people he shares the stage with. I don't know what he's like outside of that - but he is adorable at those conventions, and comes across as honest and genuine and self-effacing. He definitely knows how to work a room.

I was thinking about this today...and of the television shows and media I've been obsessed with - which is wide ranging, and the fandoms I've flirted with, Buffy is still my favorite fandom. I don't really know why - I think because it was so broad and diversified?

ETA: Per one of these Panel Q&A - Apparently in Angel - during the filming of Lullaby, when they were filming in an alleyway - the tenants in the buildings above them got annoyed and tossed buckets of urine on them. So Julie Benze was lying in urine while pretending to give birth?

4. Finished watching all of Monarch - it's sad, but the Country Music Drama NASHVILLE was much better written and plotted. Monarch doesn't quite work - the plotting is off. It's just not built well. There's a lot of things that happen in the last two episodes that fall flat. I don't care about the characters that much, and I'm not that invested. They didn't build the situations in a way that I would be. And certain items seemed to come out of the blue. Also, the writers, unlike with Nashville, didn't do a good job of threading in the music and building the drama from the music. It felt too much like a poorly plotted and somewhat contrived family melodrama with music as the backdrop, not the driving force behind it. Nashville had music driving the plot more.

At any rate, I'll be surprised if it gets a second season. It kind of fell flat. Shame it had some talent behind it.

5. Shows in the Queue:

* White Lotus (rec'd by brother and Wales) - HBO Max
* English (rec'd by brother and mother) Amazon
* Strange New Worlds (Paramount) - rec'd by folks online
* Our Flag Means Death - HBO Max (folks online)
* It's a Sin - HBO Max (folks online)
* Midnight Club (Netflix)
* Severance (finish it - Apple TV)
* Barry (HBO Max - saw everything but this season)
* Picard (finish - Paramount)
* Interview with the Vampire (finish - AMC DVR)
* 1889 (I think Netflix?)

There are too many television shows. I'm losing track of them. And the critical lists confuse me. I've entered a world in which we actually have too much creative content. And I wonder sometimes why I feel driven to create more (in the novel variety).

Comments

[iddewes]

I agree with you about reboots and I am not keen on the current fad for films being remade as series.

[shadowkat]

Neither am I. Or vice verse - television series rebooted as dumb nostalgic film parodies (see 21 Jump Street, Brady Bunch, Starsky & Hutch...). Or even worse - films rebooted as Broadway musicals (Mean Girls, Footloose, Addams Family, BeetleJuice, Sunset Boulevard, Legally Blond, Heathers). They seldom work.

Buffy was the exception for film to television series - but mainly because the film version was so awful, it demanded a reboot.

BSG is among the few television series that worked as a reboot, but again mainly because the original version wasn't all that memorable.

You can only do it if the original version had potential that had never been achieved, or was miscast, or poorly written - and if you just tweaked it a bit - it would be great. (See Battle Star Galatica). Or you are doing a series adaptation off of a novel or comic series that is widely popular and almost in the public domain - such as say Pride & Prejudice, Dune or Superman or Batman or Wonderwoman etc. But even then - if there's an excellent version out there - it's very hard to reboot. (For example - I don't think it's a good idea to redo Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings.)

It really depends on the source material and if it lends itself to an adaptation or reboot. Some just don't. If there's more story there that hasn't been fully examined. If the original version wasn't excellent and well received. And why you are doing it.

[iddewes]

I’d actually completely forgotten that Buffy was originally a movie! I don’t think I ever saw the movie.

[trepkos]

I think I can say that there is only one member of the Buffy cast whom I found disappointing when I met them, and that was the woman who played Jenny Calendar. She prefers doing adverts to drama! Very shallow. James is always great. One time, he'd hurt his back, and had to sign autographs lying on his stomach. I was sad for him that his marriage broke up. The last time we met, he said it had been 15 years, and that it was getting better and better ... That was just pre-covid.

[shadowkat]

He was only married 10 years. But had known her longer. He posted a cameo..on FB - James Marsters talks about his divorce in a public way.

Keep in mind he married her when he was 50 and she was about 25 ( he met her when she was 16). That's a huge age difference. There's about twenty years between them. As one gets older - interests and habits change. Plus he was traveling constantly during most of their relationship - the pandemic hit, he wasn't traveling that much any longer - and they were confined together in the house. And he played video games constantly or did Zoom chats. She is not a vidder, and he is.

In his cameo - he states that he's fine, not distraught, that the breakup was amicable, and they are still friends. Not to feel sorry for him or to worry. They've just chosen to take different paths. I don't think they have anything in common any longer, and she's now a life-coach/therapist.

The one's who weren't on for very long (or say just a guest role) - aren't as interesting to me. They don't have much to say.

[trepkos]

Oh - thanks for the link - I had missed that. The age difference does make it harder, for sure.

[shadowkat]

It's less a problem when she's in her mid-20s and he's in his late 40s/early 50s. But 30s and 60s is problematic to say the least. She's going to want kids, and to do stuff, and he's really not going to want any of that - been there done that. Plus the technology gap and culture gap is brutal right now. Also according to Twitter, Jasmin has become non-binary and goes by they and theirs now?

[iddewes]

I got a Cameo from James for my friend when they were going into hospital, and I was really impressed- he did it within a few hours, and it was really nice. And he didn’t charge nearly as much as a lot of TV actors.

[trepkos]

How long do you get with these cameos, and how much does it cost? Are they pretty strict about the time limit?

[iddewes]

I got a message from him, not a call or chat (I don’t know for sure if he does those, not everyone does the same things). They didn’t specify how long the message would be. It wasn’t terribly long, but it was really nice and personalised for my friend from the information I had provided. I think he charged about $50, that’s cheap compared to a lot of them.

[trepkos]

Cheaper than going to a con, that's for sure!

[shadowkat]

Particularly, if you aren't a con person - and I'm not. The mere idea of going to a con gives me the heebie jeebies. I like listening to them or watching them on youtube. No one can see me. LOL!

[shadowkat]

He's genuinely good at his interactions with the fandom, possibly because he was a nerdy fanboy who went to conventions. So he gets it?

[iddewes]

He actually did the cameo in character as Spike as well. I’m always a bit surprised when I hear him with his actual American accent so I didn’t even notice at first!

[shadowkat]

Right now, he's doing lectures on Shakespearean plays via Cameo that are posted on Youtube. I'm impressed. These actors are kind of innovative with the technology.

[makamu]

I agree about the reboots list in general - the only way I'd consider a reboot of The West Wing is if they "rebooted" it the way they rebooted CSI and Criminal Minds. A genuine continuation, rather than redoing the canon.

[shadowkat]

Agreed. With few exceptions, it works better as a continuation.

[makamu]

Agreed. With few exceptions, it works better as a continuation.

Though I think with The West Wing you might still run into problems, due to the radical way the tone of political culture in the show diverges from RL now (and I personally don't want a darker, "more realistic" tone for the show.)

[shadowkat]

It also kind of ran its course? Sorkin left long before it ended (which wasn't necessarily a bad thing).

[makamu]

It also kind of ran its course?

True, I cannot really think of an area of US government the original show didn't cover, so the best the new show could do would be a rehash, and that's a sub-optimal starting point.

Sorkin left long before it ended (which wasn't necessarily a bad thing).

While I agree that season 5 took a while to find its feet, it gave us The Supremes , one of my personal favourites, so I think the show was good even after Sorkin left.

[shadowkat]

I think it can be argued that the show was possibly better in some respects after Sorkin left. (Sorkin left because he was addicted to cocaine, apparently, and it was causing issues.) Also, it got a little less preachy after he left - Sorkin likes to get up on a soap box and is kind of dictatorial in his approach.

[makamu]

I think it can be argued that the show was possibly better in some respects after Sorkin left.

Oh, I agree! Much as I like the man's writing, I don't have a hard time believing he can be quite dictatorial and hard to work with. I firmly believe that we would not have got such an even electoral race with Sorkin at the helm (or so many Republicans who were respected adversaries to our protagonists, rather than shallow dupes in it for the power).

And I think I'd actually miss the likes of Arnold Vinnick.

[yourlibrarian]

Yeah, I rather agree about not rebooting. Many of these shows can simply have continuations or spinoffs. (Some like MASH actually did, and they generally didn't do well). Buffy in particular makes it fairly easy to just do new shows about different slayers. I'd love a historical one.

[shadowkat]

Or series focusing on supporting players. They could have done one just on the Fanged Four, or on Nikki Woods, or on Giles. Not now on Giles or Fanged Four though.

There was more in that franchise.

But it's unlikely to happen any time soon - the industry isn't willing to teach Whedon with a ten-foot pole at the moment. (He committed career suicide with that New York Magazine article. He'd been better off just keeping a low profile for a couple of years.)

[tellshannon815]

A few of those are on my list as well, and I would definitely recommend It's A Sin (the leading actor is quite often in my local news because he went to college in my home town).

[shadowkat]

I'm curious about it - and have been flirting with it. But haven't gotten around to it yet.

[avrelia]

REbooting Buffy I didn't believe would work well. Even with another Slayer, even as a continuation. I mean, I do occasionally thing about what Buffy doing in her forties, but I feel she earned the right not to suffer on tv screens.

I am still planning to watch Wednesday. And when one thinks of it - both movies' plots are their worst part, they work best as a series of jokes and episodes. So maybe it is a feature not a bug?