Schupp Company Blog

Wired MetaPuzzle

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

I stumbled upon this article a while back and though my patience to figure it out was short-lived, I think it’s one of the most interesting puzzles I’ve ever seen. Not only is the concept fascinating (who thinks of this stuff, much less, is able to solve it?!?), but it has ties to one of my favorite shows, Lost, as one of its creators, J.J. Abrams, was a guest editor for the May issue of Wired and contributed to this puzzle’s inception.

A hidden metapuzzle threads through the pages of this month’s issue of Wired magazine, which is built around the theme of magic and mystery…Below the surface of the May issue lurk 15 puzzles, all of which combine into a giant metapuzzle, created for Wired.

Tags: interactive, popular, science-fiction, Television
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“I Should Really Get TiVo: Part 1”

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

As you may or may not know, back in May we bore witness to the yearly ritual where the broadcast TV networks unveil the upcoming season’s primetime lineups and announce the new programs that will fill spots left vacant by the previous season’s “casualties.” Some vacancies are from successful shows that just finished their run, like ER, and others by shows that weren’t renewed because of declining audience numbers, like Life on Mars…which I am still somewhat irritated over. I liked the show; it had an interesting plot, a good soundtrack, and an enjoyable recurring theme where modern-day methods of police-work were contrasted with those of the early 1970’s. And, it featured Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) sporting the most impressive primetime TV mustache since Magnum P.I.

For my inaugural contribution to the world of blogging, I’d like to share a few thoughts on some of the new programs that have piqued my interest for one reason or another. I’m not a critic and I haven’t seen any of the pilots, so this is just my first impression of some shows that I find interesting enough to warrant a test drive this fall (or winter). There are quite a few of them, so I’ll have to tackle this in a couple of installments to keep everything manageable.
So, without further ado, here we go with ABC…

ABC seems to be taking a fairly aggressive approach to new programming this year. They plan to introduce eleven new programs throughout the 2009/2010 season (6 dramas/4 comedies/1 reality show); eight of these are featured on the fall schedule. In fact, five of the new fall shows have been slotted into the Wednesday lineup making it a night of 100% new programming. That being said, you’ll see a lot of familiar faces in the new ABC offerings (Patricia Heaton, Kelsey Grammer, Courtney Cox, and Ed O’Neill). Of all the new shows, there are three in particular that I am really looking forward to…a reincarnation of a classic miniseries, a serial drama with an interesting plot concept, and a detective show.

V

That’s correct, ABC has recreated the wildly popular 1980’s TV franchise (V, V: The Final Battle, and V: The Series) and will debut it sometime in early 2010. I am really excited about this one; I was a kid when the originals were airing (and re-airing) and I spent hours pretending to be Mike Donovan or Ham Tyler fighting off aliens and saving the planet. My childhood memories are causing a bias, but I consider this to be the crown-jewel of the new programs on the horizon.

Judging from the preview on ABC’s website (http://abc.go.com/fallpreview/index?pn=v) and some of the early reviews I’ve been able to dig up, it looks like the writers are trying to “freshen up” the story with themes that would resonate with present-day audiences while keeping the overall plot intact. In a nutshell, the series chronicles Earth’s first (and ultimately ill-fated) encounter with an alien species…The Visitors. The Visitors claim to come in peace, they seem nice…they need a portion of Earth’s water supply in order to survive, so in the spirit of universal partnership, the humans oblige. For their kindness, The Visitors offer to share their alien technology and advanced medical knowledge with the world to cure diseases and solve many of problems ailing human society. By doing so, the tables are turned and The Visitors begin to position themselves as the saviors and are quickly embraced by the majority of humanity. As the series progresses, it is learned that The Visitors are not our friends or saviors, but really an evil reptilian species bent on world domination. The series will ultimately follow our protagonists, an underground human resistance group, as they try to achieve their goal of uniting the human race against The Visitors and driving them away from Earth for good.
While I am skeptical that this version can live up to the originals (the bar is set pretty high), there’s a lot to look forward to here. As you can imagine, the special effects used in the originals are considered primitive by today’s standards. They were pretty good for a TV miniseries in the early-to-mid ‘80s, but the new version should benefit from a significant upgrade in this department. I am also pretty pleased with some of the cast choices in the new series. I’ll probably always be partial to Marc Singer (Beastmaster) and Michael Ironside (Top Gun); however, the creators have pulled together a pretty good ensemble for the new outing…Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), Alan Tudyk (Dodgeball), and Joel Gretsch (The 4400) among others. All of that said, I’ll admit that this remake has me scared for two reasons:

• The modernization of a TV show or movie is a bit of a hit-or-miss proposition with me…you can either get an Ocean’s Eleven (good) or you can get The Bad News Bears (bad, very bad).

• I’m afraid that I’ll immediately fall in love with the show, but I’ll be one of six people that feel the same way and I’ll be left steaming this time next year because it was cancelled due to its inability to sustain an audience (like Life on Mars).

Flash Forward

Next to V, the drama Flash Forward looks to have the highest potential for awesomeness. Here’s the description of the pilot from ABC’s website:

“A mysterious global event causes everyone to black out simultaneously for two minutes and seventeen seconds, and each person sees a glimpse of their lives six months from now. When they wake up, everyone is left wondering if what they saw will actually happen.”

That just “sounds” cool. Also, judging from the preview (http://abc.go.com/primetime/flashforward/index?pn=index), it looks like some crazy stuff happens during that two-plus minute blackout. The concept for the show is pretty interesting, but it has the potential to be a little on the complex side since it will tackle some pretty heavy stuff…like the idea of a “prescribed plan” vs. the ability to control one’s own destiny. It looks like ABC is trying to recreate the success that they had with Lost by creating another show that doesn’t neatly fit into one genre but offers viewers a little bit of everything…action, drama, mystery, science-fiction, etc.

The cast and crew assembled for the project is also quite good; somebody really swung for the fences during the development phase. The pilot was written by David Goyer (Batman Begins & The Dark Knight) and Brannon Braga (24) and was adapted from a novel by Robert Sawyer. It stars Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) as the FBI agent investigating the event and trying to find out whom or what is responsible. It also features John Cho (Star Trek), Courtney B. Vance (The Hunt for Red October), and Brian O’ Byrne (Showtime’s Brotherhood).

The Forgotten

I’ll admit it, this one may be a bit of a stretch for me, but I’m a sucker for police procedurals and crime dramas…NYPD Blue ruined me forever, so now I’ll commit an hour to any cop show that can hold my attention for that long. The Forgotten revolves around a group of “dedicated, amateur detectives” that try to solve John/Jane Doe cases when they are no longer actively worked by the police. It sort of sounds like some crazy hybrid between Cold Case and The Hardy Boys. It’s a bit of a twist, but the concept isn’t too ridiculous…no more ridiculous than an NYPD detective being hit by a car in 2008 and waking up as an NYPD detective in 1973, right? Jerry Bruckheimer is the executive producer so if the CSI franchise is any indication, you can assume that it will be pretty slick on the production side of things.

That’s it for this installment. I was originally going include a new Mark Burnett reality show called Shark Tank on my list, but I read the show’s description…totally not what I was hoping for.

I’ll tackle a couple of the other networks in a bit.
KDM

Tags: science-fiction, Television
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