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shadowkat1. Television has finally decided to do my favorite romance/action trope:
The Spy Romance
YAY! It took them long enough. I've been more than patient. I'd actually finally given up, and voila, it appears. I think the Universe took pity on me after the last three years?
* General Hospital is doing it with Valentine Cassadine and Anna Devane.
* The Company You Keep - has a con man/his con family and a CIA agent and her political family.(ABC and Hulu)
* True Lies - husband and wife spies, based on the 1990s movie of the same name. (CBS and Paramount +)
* Ghosted - Chris Evans movie about a guy who falls in love with a CIA agent, and discovers it after she ghosts him - and he decides to surprise her in London as a romantic gesture. (Apple TV comedy action romance film)
* Citadel - Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra, Stanley Tucci, is about star crossed lovers who are spies. (Amazon Prime)
So far only seen the first three. The Company You Keep is the best of the three - although the Valentine/Anna pairing is my favorite - but GH is a soap, so problematic.
2. The Last of Us and alas, my not-so-favorite television trope, otherwise known as the nihilistic dystopia - or zombie trope.
After reading a recap of Episode 8 of The Last of Us posted on my correspondence list, I've decided to just quit while I'm ahead and not go past Episode 3. Episode 3 was a lovely place to stop. Everyone was happy. It was hopeful. And it didn't give me nightmares. It also kind of veered away from the Nihilistic Dystopia Trope.
I've already seen the Nihilistic Dystopian Zombie trope done with the Walking Dead, and various other dystopian series and films over the years. (This one at least explains the disease that caused it, they don't. But outside of that, they are pretty much the same.)
As cjlasky aptly put it in a response to a prior review on this topic - we've all seen it before, it's basically avoid the zombies, run smack into fascist realms, rinse and repeat. There's not a lot more that can said here, that hasn't been said numerous times, already.
Also, let's face it, there's far too many better television shows for me to watch instead. I still have to complete The Crown, Strange New Worlds, Mandalorian, Book of Bobba Fett, Rebels, Clone Wars, Bad Batch, The Witcher, Wolf Pack, Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Only Murders in the Building, Outlander, Teen Titans, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, and various others. I've a very long list. Plus rent Women Talking and watch the Oscar films on Hulu (they have the documentaries, shorts, etc.
And, I don't like the dystopian zombie genre all that much. I prefer the dystopian vampire genre, or dystopian witch genre (does that even exist?), to be honest. Zombies irritate me. (And I can say that with a great deal of certainty - since I've tried various versions of it. I think I've seen every type of Zombie film and television series done by now. CJLasky is right - there's very little else that you can say about it. It's been done to death.
If you want to a do a post-pandemic dystopian series - see Station Eleven, it does it differently. It's also on HBO. It's better written than Last of Us, and far more innovative. It also has an older guy and a young girl at the center of it - but unlike Last of Us, it provides us with closure on both arcs within the 10 episodes. It's a contained series, and it covers all its characters with a completeness that few series tend to achieve. It also does it without zombies. Humanity continues to be its own worst enemy but in Station Eleven, it's with the best of intentions, and a kind of chaotic egotism.
Let's see - innovative takes on the Zombie Dystopian Trope are:
* Warm Bodies starring Nicolas Hoult, it's basically a zombie romance.
* Anna and the Apocalypse - think Shaun of the Dead as a Christmas themed musical, except with a teenage female lead.
* Shaun of the Dead - basically a satire/parody of zombie movies starring Simon Pegg.
* In the Flesh (British series) - "A full-fledged zombie apocalypse has long since been prevented by armed resistance from the living, especially from armed local militias who patrolled their communities and actively hunted the re-animated. Meanwhile, a scientific solution for the zombie phenomenon has been found, with the development of a medication to restore consciousness to the undead, allowing them to remember their time alive and who they once were. The surviving undead, not killed by the militias, have been rounded up, forcibly medicated, and entered in a government rehabilitation programme in a plan to reintroduce them to society. They are provided with contact lenses and cosmetics, to help them conceal their deceased status, and maintenance injections of medication to keep them from relapsing into a dangerous or "rabid" state. They are officially referred to as sufferers of Partially Deceased Syndrome (PDS), though anti-zombie hardliners prefer the pejorative term "rotters". Many of the risen are haunted by memories of the atrocities they committed while rabid. In the village of Roarton, PDS sufferers face prejudice from the villagers upon their return. "
[Weirdly the British are better at zombie series than the US appears to be, or at least more innovative in their approach.]
*Dead Set is a British zombie horror miniseries written and created by Charlie Brooker and directed by Yann Demange. The show takes place primarily on the set of a fictional series of the real television show Big Brother.
* iZombie - It follows the adventures of a doctor-turned-zombie named Olivia "Liv" Moore (Rose McIver), a Seattle Police medical examiner who helps solve murders after eating the victims' brains and temporarily absorbing their memories and personalities.
So, like I said, it's kind of been done to death by now. You can't say anything new about the zombie trope. They've said it all already.
3. Jenny Ortega of Wednesday... Told Everyone She was Fixing Lines on the Fly in the Series
She got into trouble with all the professional television script writers over this - no surprise there.
That's apparently the origin of the tweet that Deknight wrote and I responded to - in my last post on Twitter. (Basically that actors on television shows don't have a say on the scripts (nor should they), and why.)
I understand where the television series writers are coming from. Actors aren't writers, they also don't see the big picture - they don't know where the story is going, or the vision in the writer and director's heads, or what the network, streaming service and studio agree to.
On stage you can do that, but no on screen. And even on stage - you should be careful - or you may find yourself fired or not hired in anything else.
And I watched Wednesday, her changes didn't necessarily improve the series. The whole point of Wednesday was the morbid one liners, and the flat expression. They weren't going for hyper-realism, they were going for satire. Also she's too young to realize this - but her statements may put off some writers and directors from hiring her. It's a highly competitive field, and she's lucky to have a great gig on a high profile series on a popular platform. Most actors don't get that - many would kill for it.
Soap actors have to put up with far worse writing.
Off to bed.
The Spy Romance
YAY! It took them long enough. I've been more than patient. I'd actually finally given up, and voila, it appears. I think the Universe took pity on me after the last three years?
* General Hospital is doing it with Valentine Cassadine and Anna Devane.
* The Company You Keep - has a con man/his con family and a CIA agent and her political family.(ABC and Hulu)
* True Lies - husband and wife spies, based on the 1990s movie of the same name. (CBS and Paramount +)
* Ghosted - Chris Evans movie about a guy who falls in love with a CIA agent, and discovers it after she ghosts him - and he decides to surprise her in London as a romantic gesture. (Apple TV comedy action romance film)
* Citadel - Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra, Stanley Tucci, is about star crossed lovers who are spies. (Amazon Prime)
So far only seen the first three. The Company You Keep is the best of the three - although the Valentine/Anna pairing is my favorite - but GH is a soap, so problematic.
2. The Last of Us and alas, my not-so-favorite television trope, otherwise known as the nihilistic dystopia - or zombie trope.
After reading a recap of Episode 8 of The Last of Us posted on my correspondence list, I've decided to just quit while I'm ahead and not go past Episode 3. Episode 3 was a lovely place to stop. Everyone was happy. It was hopeful. And it didn't give me nightmares. It also kind of veered away from the Nihilistic Dystopia Trope.
I've already seen the Nihilistic Dystopian Zombie trope done with the Walking Dead, and various other dystopian series and films over the years. (This one at least explains the disease that caused it, they don't. But outside of that, they are pretty much the same.)
As cjlasky aptly put it in a response to a prior review on this topic - we've all seen it before, it's basically avoid the zombies, run smack into fascist realms, rinse and repeat. There's not a lot more that can said here, that hasn't been said numerous times, already.
Also, let's face it, there's far too many better television shows for me to watch instead. I still have to complete The Crown, Strange New Worlds, Mandalorian, Book of Bobba Fett, Rebels, Clone Wars, Bad Batch, The Witcher, Wolf Pack, Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Only Murders in the Building, Outlander, Teen Titans, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, and various others. I've a very long list. Plus rent Women Talking and watch the Oscar films on Hulu (they have the documentaries, shorts, etc.
And, I don't like the dystopian zombie genre all that much. I prefer the dystopian vampire genre, or dystopian witch genre (does that even exist?), to be honest. Zombies irritate me. (And I can say that with a great deal of certainty - since I've tried various versions of it. I think I've seen every type of Zombie film and television series done by now. CJLasky is right - there's very little else that you can say about it. It's been done to death.
If you want to a do a post-pandemic dystopian series - see Station Eleven, it does it differently. It's also on HBO. It's better written than Last of Us, and far more innovative. It also has an older guy and a young girl at the center of it - but unlike Last of Us, it provides us with closure on both arcs within the 10 episodes. It's a contained series, and it covers all its characters with a completeness that few series tend to achieve. It also does it without zombies. Humanity continues to be its own worst enemy but in Station Eleven, it's with the best of intentions, and a kind of chaotic egotism.
Let's see - innovative takes on the Zombie Dystopian Trope are:
* Warm Bodies starring Nicolas Hoult, it's basically a zombie romance.
* Anna and the Apocalypse - think Shaun of the Dead as a Christmas themed musical, except with a teenage female lead.
* Shaun of the Dead - basically a satire/parody of zombie movies starring Simon Pegg.
* In the Flesh (British series) - "A full-fledged zombie apocalypse has long since been prevented by armed resistance from the living, especially from armed local militias who patrolled their communities and actively hunted the re-animated. Meanwhile, a scientific solution for the zombie phenomenon has been found, with the development of a medication to restore consciousness to the undead, allowing them to remember their time alive and who they once were. The surviving undead, not killed by the militias, have been rounded up, forcibly medicated, and entered in a government rehabilitation programme in a plan to reintroduce them to society. They are provided with contact lenses and cosmetics, to help them conceal their deceased status, and maintenance injections of medication to keep them from relapsing into a dangerous or "rabid" state. They are officially referred to as sufferers of Partially Deceased Syndrome (PDS), though anti-zombie hardliners prefer the pejorative term "rotters". Many of the risen are haunted by memories of the atrocities they committed while rabid. In the village of Roarton, PDS sufferers face prejudice from the villagers upon their return. "
[Weirdly the British are better at zombie series than the US appears to be, or at least more innovative in their approach.]
*Dead Set is a British zombie horror miniseries written and created by Charlie Brooker and directed by Yann Demange. The show takes place primarily on the set of a fictional series of the real television show Big Brother.
* iZombie - It follows the adventures of a doctor-turned-zombie named Olivia "Liv" Moore (Rose McIver), a Seattle Police medical examiner who helps solve murders after eating the victims' brains and temporarily absorbing their memories and personalities.
So, like I said, it's kind of been done to death by now. You can't say anything new about the zombie trope. They've said it all already.
3. Jenny Ortega of Wednesday... Told Everyone She was Fixing Lines on the Fly in the Series
She got into trouble with all the professional television script writers over this - no surprise there.
That's apparently the origin of the tweet that Deknight wrote and I responded to - in my last post on Twitter. (Basically that actors on television shows don't have a say on the scripts (nor should they), and why.)
I understand where the television series writers are coming from. Actors aren't writers, they also don't see the big picture - they don't know where the story is going, or the vision in the writer and director's heads, or what the network, streaming service and studio agree to.
On stage you can do that, but no on screen. And even on stage - you should be careful - or you may find yourself fired or not hired in anything else.
And I watched Wednesday, her changes didn't necessarily improve the series. The whole point of Wednesday was the morbid one liners, and the flat expression. They weren't going for hyper-realism, they were going for satire. Also she's too young to realize this - but her statements may put off some writers and directors from hiring her. It's a highly competitive field, and she's lucky to have a great gig on a high profile series on a popular platform. Most actors don't get that - many would kill for it.
Soap actors have to put up with far worse writing.
Off to bed.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-10 09:29 am (UTC)Dead Set was darkly funny, I enjoyed it, it's not amazing but reality television deserves the treatment. I definitely thought Shaun of the Dead a worthwhile approach but my eldest was young when we watched it and was rather more scared by it than I expected, oops! Anna and the Apocalpyse was fun - I don't think they quite hit the target but they came close and I laud the attempt, it was a great idea with some good casting. Basically, all those are things where I'm glad they gave the idea a go.
We're watching the Last of Us. I was relieved to see that a post-ep3-encounter did not go as I feared: it didn't follow the tired old Walking Dead thing where they end up for a while in the power of some other bunch of crazy mean people (I thought I knew exactly where that was going but was wrong). If they do make a habit of Walking-Dead-like plotting, I'm out, but I'll keep watching it at least while it's keeping me guessing. (But I've not seen as much as you've read ahead on.) It helps a little in being more realistic, e.g., after long enough idleness, it is not trivial to get a car running again.
One thing that annoyed me about the Walking Dead was the potential to do far more, that they seemed to ignore. I mean, in that world, the zombies are dumb and predictable, one could even go in the direction of managing zombie herds, for better or for worse. Perhaps they eventually did after I bailed, Alexandria was a refreshing change but mostly the show was just the same old situation with different faces and places. I'm just not that excited by how crazy or brutal the next gang leader is.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-10 03:42 pm (UTC)Walking Dead actually did go in the direction of managing zombie herds as weapons - that was in one of the later seasons. I wasn't watching it at that point, but I did read reviews or recaps of it - and yep it did that. What it didn't do is what the British Series "In the Flesh" did - which was actually more interesting. There's also "Girl with all the Gifts" which plays with some of the same ideas that "In the Flesh" plays around with. I didn't watch, read or really see either - just read about them.
Part of it is due to source material - you really are only as good as your source material. Walking Dead was adapted from a series of violent comics, Last of Us from a violent video game, and Station Eleven from a critically acclaimed literary science fiction novel. Guess which was the most innovative and interesting? Station Eleven.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-18 03:37 pm (UTC)The Girl With All the Gifts was great, I was happy with it as an adaptation of the book, they are both good. So, yeah, I think you're on to something there with your point about the source material. (Admittedly, the movie adaptation of Doom wasn't as bad as I expected. (-:)
no subject
Date: 2023-03-18 03:42 pm (UTC)There's death. There's bombs. But it's also...kind of light toned?
no subject
Date: 2023-03-18 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-03-10 10:32 pm (UTC)Hmm, yeah, there are certainly plenty of writers who aren't going to want that sort of actor. And TV is more of a writer's medium. She might do fine in films which often begin shooting without completed scripts.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-10 11:35 pm (UTC)Also, Stephen DeKnight (Buffy, Angel, Smallville, Spartacus, and Daredevil) makes the valid point that television scripts have to go through a lot of approvals before they make it into the actor's hands. The network, the studio, the director, the producers, the show-runner all have to sign off on it first. (That's actually why a lot of actors become executive producers of their series - so they can have a say in what is done. SMG for example? Didn't have a say on any of the series she was involved in as a teen, so now, when she's in a series - she gets a producing credit so she does have a say. She had to do far worse than Ortega and on far more toxic situations at an early age. As did Genie Francis.)
Ortega is coming across as a bit spoiled and entitled. It is going to bite her in the long run. That's a difficult business. Also she's on a show with Tim Burton as the creator/show-runner, and Burton is a bit of an auteur. He's a pest to work with. My brother knew the animators who worked on Nightmare Before Christmas with Burton.