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1. During this grating American Presidential Election - make FactChecker.ORG your friend. It's the only reputable and neutral site that I've found on the political election. Used it a lot during the 2008 election.
2. Finished watching the opening two-parter of the third season of The 100, which is, in my opinion, the best science fiction serial on television at the moment. The first two episodes blew me away -- they up their game each season. It's a post-apocalyptic series loosely based on a bunch of young adult novels (I read some reviews and synopsis of the novels...and they get bogged down in teen angst and grating teen romantic love triangles, which the television series skirts clear of -- pretty much from the start. So loosely based is an understatement.) The premise is that after a nuclear blast, various groups of humanity have managed to survive. There's the astronauts who were on various space stations, these were the scientists, who were living and working in space at the time. To their knowledge no one had survived on the planet's surface which was rendered unhabitable by the nuclear blast. There's the grounders - or civilians who managed to find shelter and survived, over time adapting to the radiation, much as the astronauts adapted in space. There's the governors and politicians and military, ie. the rich, who managed to get inside a protected city deep underground that was nuclear resistant. And finally the tech nerds who set the whole thing in motion by creating an advanced and somewhat nutty Artificial Intelligence called Rebecca. Each season the writers expand on the characters, world-building, mythology, and themes. It's heavy anti-war and anti-tribal, emphasizing how humanity's tendency to promote their tribe over others leads to massive destruction.
But the strength of the series is in the character development and their relationships. Also like Buffy, BSG, Supernatural, and Lost -- it uses music well. A lot of tv shows really don't. Music is important I think.
This two-parter utilized the song Add it Up by the Violent Femmes. Its used twice - first, Jasper, who is traumatized by the horrific death of his girlfriend and her people in the previous season, blasts the song as the group goes on a routine hunt for a beaker signal. The second time is when a struggling Raven, whose prosthetic leg is giving her issues, requests that a guy trying to steal one of their supplies, pay them back with a song or trade the supply for a song. The supply in question came from the same facility where Jasper's girlfriend died, so Jasper goes bonkers while the kid is playing the song and attacks him.
The series stars Paige Turko, Henry Ian Cusick, Isiah Washington and various others - and is notable for its diversity in casting and strong female roles, and flipping of gender roles. Also the lead character, Clark, is blatantly bi-sexual - possibly amongst the first I've seen in a sci-fi series. She has sex with men and women in the series.
3. Apparently this is the final season of The Good Wife. They announced it during the Superbowl according to my mother -- who told me about it. I don't watch the Superbowl, so didn't know about it.
Personally, I think Season 5 should have been the final season, although I did like aspects of S6 and this season has been rather good actually, in some respects far better than the previous season.
At any rate can't say I'm surprised that it's ending. The story is that Julianne Margolies who plays Alicia Florick and the writers (the King's) both informed the network that they were tired and done after this season. Now the network could have continued the show of course, it's done that before - but it is admittedly hard to continue a tv show without the lead - or in this case the title character. Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran into the same dilemma - the lead wanted out, as did the head-writer. Losing both was more than the show could handle so it ended. They flirted with spin-off ideas, but the ratings didn't support it.
I think this will most likely be the case with the Good Wife, whose ratings have been dwindling for a while now.
I'm glad this is it's final season and the writers were given the opportunity to end it their way, without handing the reigns over to someone else. They thanked CBS and were relieved. So despite what the article says, it's not so much canceled as "ending" per the creators and producers dictate.
Lost was similar, as was BSG, the writers requested it end - and the network agreed.
2. Finished watching the opening two-parter of the third season of The 100, which is, in my opinion, the best science fiction serial on television at the moment. The first two episodes blew me away -- they up their game each season. It's a post-apocalyptic series loosely based on a bunch of young adult novels (I read some reviews and synopsis of the novels...and they get bogged down in teen angst and grating teen romantic love triangles, which the television series skirts clear of -- pretty much from the start. So loosely based is an understatement.) The premise is that after a nuclear blast, various groups of humanity have managed to survive. There's the astronauts who were on various space stations, these were the scientists, who were living and working in space at the time. To their knowledge no one had survived on the planet's surface which was rendered unhabitable by the nuclear blast. There's the grounders - or civilians who managed to find shelter and survived, over time adapting to the radiation, much as the astronauts adapted in space. There's the governors and politicians and military, ie. the rich, who managed to get inside a protected city deep underground that was nuclear resistant. And finally the tech nerds who set the whole thing in motion by creating an advanced and somewhat nutty Artificial Intelligence called Rebecca. Each season the writers expand on the characters, world-building, mythology, and themes. It's heavy anti-war and anti-tribal, emphasizing how humanity's tendency to promote their tribe over others leads to massive destruction.
But the strength of the series is in the character development and their relationships. Also like Buffy, BSG, Supernatural, and Lost -- it uses music well. A lot of tv shows really don't. Music is important I think.
This two-parter utilized the song Add it Up by the Violent Femmes. Its used twice - first, Jasper, who is traumatized by the horrific death of his girlfriend and her people in the previous season, blasts the song as the group goes on a routine hunt for a beaker signal. The second time is when a struggling Raven, whose prosthetic leg is giving her issues, requests that a guy trying to steal one of their supplies, pay them back with a song or trade the supply for a song. The supply in question came from the same facility where Jasper's girlfriend died, so Jasper goes bonkers while the kid is playing the song and attacks him.
The series stars Paige Turko, Henry Ian Cusick, Isiah Washington and various others - and is notable for its diversity in casting and strong female roles, and flipping of gender roles. Also the lead character, Clark, is blatantly bi-sexual - possibly amongst the first I've seen in a sci-fi series. She has sex with men and women in the series.
3. Apparently this is the final season of The Good Wife. They announced it during the Superbowl according to my mother -- who told me about it. I don't watch the Superbowl, so didn't know about it.
Personally, I think Season 5 should have been the final season, although I did like aspects of S6 and this season has been rather good actually, in some respects far better than the previous season.
At any rate can't say I'm surprised that it's ending. The story is that Julianne Margolies who plays Alicia Florick and the writers (the King's) both informed the network that they were tired and done after this season. Now the network could have continued the show of course, it's done that before - but it is admittedly hard to continue a tv show without the lead - or in this case the title character. Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran into the same dilemma - the lead wanted out, as did the head-writer. Losing both was more than the show could handle so it ended. They flirted with spin-off ideas, but the ratings didn't support it.
I think this will most likely be the case with the Good Wife, whose ratings have been dwindling for a while now.
I'm glad this is it's final season and the writers were given the opportunity to end it their way, without handing the reigns over to someone else. They thanked CBS and were relieved. So despite what the article says, it's not so much canceled as "ending" per the creators and producers dictate.
Lost was similar, as was BSG, the writers requested it end - and the network agreed.