Busy For Fun Blogs: April 2010

AS SEEN ON TV NEWS: "CAMELOT" CASTING

The History Channel has announced the major cast members for its controversial mini-series on the Kennedy family:

John F. Kennedy - Greg Kinnear

Jacqueline Kennedy - Katie Holmes

Bobby Kennedy - Barry Pepper

Joseph Kennedy, Sr. - Tom Wilkinson

The mini-series is being drubbed because it's being produced by Joel Surnow, the ultra-conservative creator of '24'. However, Stephen Kronish, who claims to be a Democratic liberal, is writing the script.

We'll see what we shall view.....

BCnU!

HUNTIN' PECK

This is one of those posts I call my "days off stories", because it takes so long to work it all out....

'Fringe' has really been delivering the goods this season and a recent episode - "White Tulip" - was a fascinating look at time travel; made even better with the guest performance by Peter Weller as Alistair Peck, an astrophysicist specializing in bio-temporal travel. Basically, he was a home-grown quantum leaper.

But as good as the episode was, there was still a problem with its use of time travel.

Here's what happened: back in 2009, Peck's fiancee died in a horrible car accident. And since then Professor Peck worked on realizing his time travel theories so that he could go back to the accident. (We were led to believe that he wanted to change history by saving her life.) But every time he tried, Peck could only go back to a moment on board a "Mass Transit" train. (Not sure on the actual name of the train system, but I think it was a commuter service like a lower level Amtrak, more like NJ Transit.)

This ended up killing everybody in that train car - his "quantum leap" needed to drain all of the energy in the immediate area upon Peck's arrival and that included the bio-electrical energy in human bodies. With an assist by Walter Bishop, Peck was finally able to get back to before the accident - in time to join his fiancee in the car before the crash and so he died with her.

But here's the thing - what happened to the Alistair Peck of 2009?

On that date, at the time of the crash, Peck was standing in a field looking at a hot-air balloon. He chose to go back to that field so that the energy drain would only kill the surrounding vegetation - the grass and the trees. (No idea where the guy was who was supposed to be tending that hot-air balloon.)

But if he was already there, he would have been killed as well. And that would have negated his whole future, which would have rewritten history or created a parallel timeline. By rights, Peck should have faded from existence as soon as he reached the past if this happened.

Now, let's suppose the 2009 Peck didn't reach that field before the 2010 Peck arrived from the future. He was a genius so it wouldn't be long before he realized that he'd have to change his identity while he continued his research. But the plan of action would alter history as well since he no longer would be following his original timeline. In the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Idiot's Lantern", the Doctor and Rose Tyler were enjoying the neighborhood block party celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation on June 2, 1953 at the end of their current adventure....

Out on the street, 50's music is playing, people are out on the street dancing and talking. Trestle tables line the centre of the road covered in pastries, cakes, drinks, etc. The Doctor and Rose walk down the street.

ROSE

We could go down the mall, join in with the crowd.

THE DOCTOR

Nah, that's just pomp and circumstance.

This is history right here.

ROSE

The domestic approach.

THE DOCTOR

Exactly.

[courtesy of the Doctor Who (2005+) Transcripts site]

History isn't just the big events; it's the result of the small interactions we have with other ordinary people. Change just one of those encounters, and history could be affected. It brings to mind that classic example of Chaos Theory - kill a butterfly in the primordial past and you could alter the future timeline.

So if 2009 Peck had to abandon his previous life, that means he could no longer have any interaction with the people he should have met in his previously played-out future - family members, business associates, friends, neighbors, grocery clerks, his doctor and dentist, etc. And those lost encounters would remove the ripple effects which could have led to other "historical" events. Small they may have been, but ultimately they could have led to something of greater impact.

We could use such an alteration to the timeline to splain away any discrepancy in a TV show episode that took place between May 18, 2009, and whenever "White Tulip" took place. (That's a project I have not yet looked into. I was hoping it could be used to wipe out the appearances of Governor Shalvoy from 'Law & Order', but Tom Everett Scott began playing that role in 2008.)

So if you think of anything that causes a discrepancy in a TV show after May 19, 2009 (in the Toobworld timeline), let me know. Maybe we can bring that show back into the fold using this rewrite of history.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BUSTER KEATON

BUSTER KEATON

AS SEEN IN:
"Lucy"

AS PLAYED BY:
Ian Mune

You can read about Lucille Ball's association with the legendary silent film star here.

And here's a picture of the real life Buster Keaton with Lucille Ball.....

BCnU!

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: May 2010 (Book Of Eli, BSG The Plan, Daybreakers, Ninja Assassin, The Prisoner, Sherlock Holmes, True Blood S2, Up In The Air, Where The Wild Things Are, and more...)

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

3 MAY

Caligula [D] [B]
Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds [D]
Samantha Who: Season 1 [D]
Taking Woodstock [B]
The Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day [D]
The Prisoner (2009) [D] [B]

10 MAY

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan [D] [B]
It's Complicated [D] [B]
Nowhere Boy [D] [B]
Paul Blart: Mall Cop [B]
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 Box-set [D] [B]
Where The Wild Things Are [D] [B]

17 MAY

Atonement [B]
Minority Report [B]
Ninja Assassin [D] [B]
Pride & Prejudice [B]
Sherlock Holmes [D] [B]
The Road [D] [B]
True Blood: Season 2 [D] [B]
True Blood: Season 1 & 2 [D] [B]

24 MAY

44 Inch Chest [D] [B]
Did You Hear About The Morgans? [D] [B]
Facejacker: Series 1 [D]
Fonejacker Series 1 & 2/Facejacker Box-set [D]
Precious [D] [B]
St. Trinian's 2: The Legend Of Fritton's Gold [D] [B]
Up In The Air [D] [B]

31 MAY

Armored [D] [B]
Daybreakers [D] [B]
The Book Of Eli [D] [B]

OWTV launches w/ Battlestar Galactica Blu-ray comp!

Following on from today's exciting news that I'll be splitting my time between blogging at DMD and writing for OWF, the new section I'm in charge of has just launched. You may be interested in reading my introduction, as it outlines my intentions for the Obsessed With TV column -- plus, there's a terrific competition to win the complete series of Battlestar Galactica on Blu-ray, by way of celebration! That's gotta be worth 5-minutes of your time, right?

TELE-GENETICS: DUNPHY DADS

I think Fred Willard's appearance as Frank Dunphy on this past week's episode of 'Modern Family' has to be the top contender for Best Tele-Genetics in the 2010 Toobits Awards!

Frank Dunphy Phil & Claire Dunphy

Just sayin', is all......

BCnU!

Prepare to get Obsessed With TV

It's finally time to let you know the Top Secret News I've been sat on for the past 6 weeks...

To cut to the chase: I've accepted a position with Obsessed With Film (OWF) as their "TV Editor", a new role created as part of their site's evolution. The team there want to expand and build a larger and broader audience, by improving their site and spreading their wings to encompass other forms of entertainment beyond movies. If you visit OWF now, you can see the new-look site in its "Beta Testing" phase.

What does this mean for Dan's Media Digest (DMD)? Well, a few changes -- but nothing radical. I've been in two-minds about joining OWF since I was asked, because it's taken me 4-years to turn DMD into what you see here today. It's a one-man operation that's grown and developed in tandem with myself as a writer/blogger, and I'm proud of what's been achieved from such humble beginnings. I was therefore very nervous about dividing my time with another site, fearing that DMD will be left to dwindle and die. But the arrangement with OWF will enable me to run both sites in tandem (with some help at OWF and no strict "contractual" burdens), so you shouldn't really notice too much of a change here. Well, that's my plan!

But there will be alterations, and the two biggest things that spring to mind are:

The majority of TV news will be reported at OWF, as priority.
OWF will get exclusive reviews of TV premieres, finales and the occasional "important episode" (specials, mid-season finales, etc), all written by me.

I'll link to any OWF-exclusive reviews from DMD, don't worry, so my writing will only be one click away. I guess this is all similar to how my column at Newslite.tv used to work, just on a bigger scale.

Although some reviews are going to be creamed off to OWF, I'll obviously continue to review the vast majority of TV episodes here at DMD as usual. This blog is still my online "home", so to speak, and I have no intention of giving that up. An Englishman's blog is his castle, isn't that what they say? My film news/reviews also won't be affected and likewise anything of a more personalized nature (polls, competitions, quizzes, lists, talking points, trailer reviews, etc.)

So why am I doing this? Well, it's a combination of things:

I feel like a fresh challenge after four years of blogging, to take my writing to new eyes.
There are perks to joining OWF, such as easier access to screeners/box-sets and opportunities to interview industry folk perhaps. In some ways, I can relax and get on with writing without having to chase PR people and get bogged down with e-mail correspondence.

I hope everyone reading will bookmark my new section at OWF (known as "OWTV"), because the site's existing readership probably won't be aware of me or DMD, particularly as OWF has been film-centric up until now. For that reason, it would be great to see familiar names from here turning up and leaving a comment or two (or three?), just to help build a sense of community. Hopefully you'll like OWTV enough to make it a regular stopping point, too.

Oh, and if anybody wants to help spread the word about the new-look OWF (however you can), I'm sure they'd be very grateful for any shout-outs on blogs, sites and podcasts. Finally, if you have any questions or thoughts on all this, I'd be glad to hear them in the comments below. The OWTV column will officially launch either today or tomorrow with a big Battlestar Galactica competition and review of ABC's Happy Town.

Site: http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/owfilm

THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY: PINKY AND DAISY

In order to pay tribute to Dorothy Provine, who passed away this week at the age of 73 (according to the IMDb; I've seen her age listed as 75 as well.), I went to the Paley Center for Media today and watched two episodes of 'The Roaring 20's'. (I would have watched the only other one that they had in the library, but it was on tape and not digital; I would have had to access that from a different terminal.) There were no episodes from her other TV show, 'The Alaskans', which I would have liked to see, nor anything from her guest work on such shows as 'Hawaiian Eye' and '77 Sunset Strip'. (In two episodes separated by several years - "Downbeat" and "Upbeat" - Miss Provine's character of Nora Shirley participated in a crossover between '77 Sunset Strip' and 'Bourbon Street Beat'.)

Dorothy Provine played Delaware "Pinky" Pinkham on 'The Roaring 20's', a flapper entertainer at the Charleston Club in Manhattan, but who also performed in burlesque houses like B.F. Keith's Palace. And it was during her rendtion of "Ain't We Got Fun?", dressed like a hobo, that I had an idea for a "Theory of Relateeveety".

Prohibition ran from 1920 to 1933, but since the show is called 'The Roaring 20's', we'll limit the range of the series to the decade from 1920 to 1930. Allowing that Prohibition was underway for about a year (Everybody seems to have become comfortable with the situation), I'm thinking that Pinky was the same age as Miss Provine when she filmed the series. So Pinky Pinkham was 23 in 1921, and that means she was born in 1898.

It'll be my contention that when she was 15 or 16 years old and before she was professionally known as "Pinky", Delaware Pinkham had a child out of wedlock and either gave it up for adoption, or gave it to a family member to raise.

A child that young having a child of her own is not unheard of. (Consider Nancy from the 'Doctor Who' episodes "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances".) By the age of 15, Pinky could have already embraced the easy morals that would come to be associated with the following decade.

Whether Pinky had any relationship with the child once she gave it up is as unknown as the actual truth to this theory. But either way, the child - a daughter who was given the name of Daisy and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, - grew up to have the same natural talent as her birth mother. (And we got to meet her in the TV series 'Dead Like Me'.)

In her adopted family (or in her foster family if she was raised by a family member), there was another girl whom Daisy considered to be her own sister. (They may have been half-sisters.) During the course of the series, it was suggested that Daisy's sister had been killed by an abusive husband/boyfriend/lover.

Whether she was adopted by a family named "Adair", or it was a stage name she took upon starting her own career, Daisy Adair headed west when she came of age to seek out a career in the movie business.

Sadly, Daisy's life was short-lived. She died at the age of 25, a year after Prohibition ended. (The cause of death was asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation; she would tell people she died giving head to Clark Gable during the making of "Gone With The Wind".) After death, she became a reaper, collecting the souls of those who were about to die violently. Well into the Aughts of this millennium Daisy Adair was still reaping souls.

It is unknown if she ever learned the truth of her birth and that her mother was the entertainer known as Pinky Pinkham.

As always, this is all pure conjecture.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ZDENEK MLYNAR

I think this may be the most obscure entry in the "As Seen On TV" gallery this year....

ZDENEK MLYNAR

AS SEEN IN:
"Invasion"

AS PLAYED BY:
Paul Chapman

From Wikipedia:
Zdenek Mlynár (Müller) (22 June 1930, Vysoké Mýto – 15 April 1997, Vienna) was a Czech intellectual who went against the grain during a critical time in the development of Eastern European political history. Mlynár wrote the noteworthy political manifesto “Towards a Democratic Political Organization of Society” which was released on May 5, 1968, at the height of the Prague Spring. He also wrote, while in exile in Vienna, an autobiographical account of the Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact invasion that put an end to it in August, 1968. It was published in an English translation called "Nightfrost in Prague: The End of Humane Socialism".

BCnU!

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES 6.13 – "How About A Friendly Shrink?"

WRITER: Jason Ganzel
DIRECTOR: Lonny Price
GUEST STARS: Vince Cefula, Jane Leeves, John Rubinstein, Mackenzie Smith, Richard Gilliland, Wendy Benson-Landes, Patricia Bethune, Aedin Mincks & Candance Brown II

[SPOILERS] For the most part, things seem to have settled down again in Fairview after the tragic, large-scale plane crash in "Boom Crunch". As this week's episode title alludes, we are back to observing collisions of a more private nature: relationship drama, petty squabbles, childish backbiting and mind games all feature in lashes. Not that I'm complaining, however, as "How About a Friendly Shrink?" still packed an explosive punch, fizzing with a quirky energy unique to Wisteria Lane's extrovert residents.

It was good to see fringe characters Bob Hunter (Tuc Watkins) and Lee McDermott (Kevin Rahm) get some more substantial screen time, as they are always good for a bitchy snipe and some colourfully witty banter -- even if it occasionally verges on the stereotypical -- and it is always a shame when they are pushed to the background or reduced to a line an episode. It is at a dinner party with the Scavo's that the gay partners disclose that they are in couple's therapy, with over-emotional Lee keeping a feelings journal which he works through at each session.

Following the loss of one of their unborn twins, Tom Scavo (Doug Savant) is instantly keen on working through his rough patch with Lynette (Felicity Huffman) in the same way, but his reticent wife is having none of it -- until she discovers he has been visiting therapist Dr. Graham (Jane Leeves) on his own and keeping a feelings journal. It was obvious that a nose around Dr. Graham's office would result in Lynette being won over, but I was surprised that the usually volatile housewife was so tolerable of her husband seeing a therapist in the first place. It was, however, amusing to see fellow Brit Jane Leeves hand out the counselling for once -- Frasier's Daphne has followed in her employer's footsteps, huh?

Juanita Solis (Madison De La Garza) has started at her new school -- coincidentally the same school Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) teaches at, and her son, MJ (Mason Vale Cotton), attends. It is smiles all round until it emerges that Juanita and MJ are in different animal groups for maths; their designation based on their ability. So, what are better: leopards or giraffes? Let the battle of the competitive parent's commence! It was fun to see Gaby and Susan squabble over such a inconsequential subject, and become the petulant kids they don't want their children to be – including a role-reversing visit to the principal's office -- but isn't it stretched credibility somewhat that even the teachers at the school are kept in the dark about pupil abilities?

Somebody still plagued by the life-changing injuries he picked up in the plane crash is the now wheelchair-bound Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan), who continues his fiendish manipulation of repenting wife Bree's (Marcia Cross) good intentions. He is still hurt by her affair with the now deceased Karl -- at one point he shockingly brandishes her a "whore" -- and thus blames Bree for his disabled state. I am not entirely convinced Bree wheeling Orson outside, covering him in washing up liquid and hosing the shower-resistant man on the front lawn was quite the most subtle or sympathetic action to take, but as I said last week, his snide and treacherous nature do make him a hard character to empathize with, even at his lowest ebb. I cannot see how their marriage can survive this, but Bree is one stubborn housewife...

Taking time out from worrying about being on the run and avoiding a life in prison (as you do), Angie Bolen (Drea De Matteo) is not happy with son Danny's (Beau Mirchoff) new girlfriend Ana Solis (Maiara Walsh). Determined to split the odd couple up, she tries to speak with the frank and opinionated Ana, who is resolute in standing by her sensitive man. I am glad Ana is getting more screen time of late, however I am not convinced the writers know which direction to take her character. Is she meant to be a typically rebellious, blunt and defiant teen, or a loyal, lonely girl with a kind heart? She currently seems to be displaying both facets, leading to a somewhat incongruent character. Will she end up hurting Danny?

Considering her suicidal breakdown just weeks ago, Katherine Mayfair (Dana Delaney) has made a remarkably speedy turn around in the mental hospital. She is clearly still fazed by it all -- no doubt due to the powerful medication she is on – but she has confessed her imagined romance with former love Mike Delfino (James Denton) to physiatrist Dr. Avedon (Richard Gilliland). As the camera panned around a subdued Katherine recounting her mistakes on the couch, I was fully expecting her delusion of Mike to be revealed sitting next to her, but kudos to the writer for not playing this predictably kooky card. Clearly Katherine is beyond that now, though hardly relishing a return to Wisteria Lane.

Karen McCluskey (Kathryn Joosten) played the familiar role of friend to the friendless by making regular visits to the hospital, keen to show a stubborn Katherine that she is missed. It was a conventional and over-sentimental conclusion, but I will fully admit to being touched when the housewives -- including rival Susan -- rallied around their despairing friend ready to forgive and forget, full of smiles, hugs and gossip. Bless.

28 APRIL 2010: CHANNEL 4/HD, 9PM

BBC3 want to take your Pulse

I'm excited about BBC3's drama pilot season (starting this June), mainly because the last one gave us the excellent Being Human. The medical-horror Pulse is one of its three pilots (the others being dramas Dappers and Stanley Park), so I'm going to predict it gets picked up for a full series because it's more marketable. Being Human has done very well for the channel, drawing audiences that wouldn't otherwise tune in, so I think it's safe to assume they want Pulse to run when Being Human's off-air and inherit the same audience.

Pulse comes from the mind of comic-book writer Paul Cornell, who also wrote popular episodes of Doctor Who ("Father's Day", "Human Nature"/"The Family Of Blood"), and concerns a teaching hospital called St. Timothy's that appears to be a front for bizarre experiments. Trainee doctor Hannah Carter (Claire Foy) returns to the hospital to resume her course, following the death of her mother, and begins to glimpse the true nature of St. Timothy's, particularly when she notices her ex-boyfriend and surgeon Nick (Stephen Campbell Moore) acting very strangely...

Anyway, Pulse will be one to look out for this summer, I feel.

V, 1.9 - "Heretic's Fork"

WRITERS: Angela Russo Otstot & John Wirth
DIRECTOR: Frederick E.O Toye
GUEST CAST: Lexa Doig, Mark Hildreth & Charles Mesure

[SPOILERS] Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) is asked "name one thing [the V's] have done that's bad?" twice in this episode, and fails to give any response. I still don't see why she can't tell her own son Tyler (Logan Huffman) about what the V's are up to, and I certainly have no idea idea why she couldn't tell a V sympathizer that they're blackmailing humans to do their dirty work, sending drone-bots to kill rebels, or injecting people with a drug that enables them to be tracked. In fact, there are still plenty of core problems with V's premise, and to keep a show like this going the writers have to keep finding ways for the rebellion to act like idiots. They should skin the corpse of a V and broadcast the tape, to at least make it known the V's are lying about their very appearance, right?

"Heretic's Fork" was a mild improvement over recent episodes just because there was a stronger pace, a surprisingly realistic response from Valerie (Lourdes Benedicto) after being told her boyfriend's a V (she doesn't trust him and ditches him), and more clarity with Chad's (Scott Wolf) allegiance. It seems the boyish reporter senses the V's are keeping secrets and have ulterior motives for everything they're doing to "help" the world, but -- perhaps because he has no family to protect -- he's happy to be complicit with their masterplan. This episode even ends with Chad setting a trap for Father Jack (Joel Gretsch), by going to him looking for help finding the Fifth Column, while actually intending to pass on whatever information he gathers to Anna herself.

The thrust of the story involved trying to exctract information from the human sniper they caught last week, who it turns out only agreed to kill Fifth Columnists out of gratitude for the fact the V's cured his daughter's paralysis. I actually like the idea of the V's securing the loyaly of humans in this way, as there's a thorn morality behind it. Ryan (Morris Chestnut) also helped Valerie dampen the R6 tracker fluid she was injected with at the V clinic, so she can no longer be traced by the V's (why not do the same for Father Jack, huh?), and I liked the idea that Anna wants to destroy Valerie's alien-human hybrid because its existence will encourage the Fifth Column to breed a generation of hybrids to fight against her. If she's so worried about that happening, I assume she knows a hybrid child will grow rapidly and reach adulthood within weeks of its birth?

As another nod to The Sarah Connor Chronicles (a show V tends to resemble in many ways, perhaps because a few T:tSCC writers are on staff) Anna also sent a "Soldier" to kill the pregnant Valerie. This felt like a good idea when it was first mentioned, as one thing V lacks is a sense that the aliens are something to fear physically, but the resulting Terminator-esque warrior was very uninspired. He was little more than an average guy in black combats with lizard-y eyelids, "super vision" that looks like he's staring through a goldfish bowl, a kind of visual sonar, and the ability to shrug off getting an axe swung into his chest. All very clichéd and boring.

Finally, Tyler was accepted to join the V's contentious "Live Aboard" program, but Lisa (Laura Vandervoort) suggests he refuse to accept the offer after hearing how much Erica doesn't want him to go. Lisa tells her mother Anna that she altered their plans because she needs Erica's firm support before proceeding, but it was all likely another sign Lisa's becoming more receptive to human emotions and is having second thoughts about her mission.

Overall, I like how the V's are securing loyalty by curing people's sicknesses (Chad's successful brain surgery seems to have persuaded him to side with the V's, the assassin only killed "terrorists" because the V's gave his daughter her mobility back), and the situation with the hybrid baby gives the show a readymade arc to follow -- as I'm sure the finale will involve Valerie giving birth to her baby. The rest was standard mission-of-the-week fare of middling quality, but there was enough progression to keep me watching. I'm just frustrated that every character beyond Anna and Ryan are so dull, and it's becoming increasingly apparent that V's premise means nothing about it can surprise the audience. Aliens have arrived to take over the world through kindness that will turn to malevolence once they're ingrained in society and have mankind dependent on their technologies, all while a feeble rebellion kicks at the giant's shins. Is that something that has longevity in this day and age?

Asides

Did you know that actor Joel Gretsch is married to Melanie Shatner, making him the son-in-law of William Shatner, aka Captain Kirk?
Ever notice that the V mothership's corridors are shaped like vaginas?

27 APRIL 2010: ABC, 10/9c

THE HAT SQUAD: DOROTHY PROVINE

Actress Dorothy Provine has passed away in Washington State. She was 75 and had been in hospice care for emphysema.

For Toobworld, her biggest contribution to the Tele-Folks Directory was Pinky Pinkham, a flapper entertainer in the crime drama 'The Roaring '20s'.

But even though it was from another fictional universe, that of the "Cineverse", this Caretaker of Toobworld will always remember her as Emmaline Marcus-Finch in "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". Emmaline never wanted to join in on that search for the "Big W", but she was pulled along unwillingly by her older husband, her battle-axe of a mother, and her thick-headed brother. And yet she was the first one to discover the secret of the "Big W".....

As Emmaline, Dorothy Provine was one of my early crushes......

Good night, and may God bless.

BCnU.....

OPEN MIC KNIGHT*

A bit of "serendipiteevee", that fortunate chance to hit a channel at just the right moment......

British Prime Minister made the mistake of talking about a woman he met during his election campaign walk Wednesday through Rochdale... while his lapel mic was still in operation:

While wrapping up the story about the open mic gaffe, Kyra Phillips of CNN then threw it over to Tony Harris who was taking over the anchor chair for the next hour. And Tony's response was something along the lines of "You gotta watch out for those open mics, isn't that right, Kyra?"

He was referring to this incident from about five years ago....

BCnU!

*I don't care if he's not knighted. I'm not going to sacrifice a good pun!

AS SEEN ON TV: BRET MICHAELS

BRET MICHAELS

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Jason Sudeikis

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Doctors plan further testing to help pinpoint the source of the brain hemorrhage that is keeping Bret Michaels in intensive care, according to a post Monday on the rocker's website.

A report from doctors is expected this week. The website doesn't say where Michaels, 47, is hospitalized.

"Please remember Bret is, and always has been, a fighter and survivor and is under the best medical care possible," the post added.

His New York-based publicist, Joann Mignano, on Friday confirmed a report on People magazine's website that said the former Poison frontman was rushed to intensive care late Thursday after a severe headache. Doctors discovered bleeding at the base of his brain stem, the report said.

Michaels is a contestant on Donald Trump's competitive reality show, "The Celebrity Apprentice." He has served as one of the season's most outspoken celebrities and has so far avoided being fired in the boardroom.

At the end of Sunday's episode, an announcer acknowledged his condition and said everyone at NBC "wishes Bret Michaels a speedy recovery."

BCnU.....

Morgan and Steinmetz salute BacktoFrankBlack

BacktoFrankBlack will be having a slightly sleepy period over the next two weeks as I'm moving house which will make my internet use sporadic at best (through Troy has some updates planned in that interim period, don't but before I depart for hopefully more improving pastures, we thought you'd like to see this!

These pictures were sent by Glen Morgan, showing himself and Selfosophist Mr Smooth, Richard Steinmetz both wearing BacktoFrankBlack T-Shirts, skilfully designed by our very own little wonder artist, Barry Renshaw.

Want a T-Shirt? Of course you do! Click the link at the side of the page marked T-Shirts and follow the yellow brick road!

FRINGE 2.19 - "The Man From The Other Side"

WRITERS: Josh Singer & Ethan Gross
DIRECTOR: Jeffrey Hunt
GUEST CAST: Peter Bryant, Morris Chapdelaine, Katie Findlay, Shawn Macdonald, Ryan Mcdonald, James Pizzinato, Sebastian Roché & James Tsai

[SPOILERS] Maybe it's because the writers know their show's been renewed for another season and can think long-term again, or the simple fact we've entered a "sweeps" period in the US, but Fringe has really started to deliver the goods since it came back from hiatus. There's been some proper development of Walter's (John Noble) back-story and progression of the series' mytharc, which has all resulted in some excellent recent episodes, of which "The Man From The Other Side" was no exception...

Those biomechanical shape-shifters from the parallel universe are back, with two appearing inside an abandoned warehouse, looking like amorphous pink blobs from an Aphex Twin music video. Two of the monstrous humanoids quickly attack and imprint on a young couple who made the common genre mistake of parking their car in the creepiest part of town to canoodle, but the third 'shifter doesn't survive the inter-dimensional trip and is left behind. This allowed Walt to analyze the embryonic body, later managing to revive it using electrical charges and a dead corpse for it to use as a template, in some of the series' best sequences of pure pulp horror I've seen in awhile. The show is always at its best when it's pushing into David Cronenberg territory.

The overall storyline of "The Man From The Other Side" was actually very formulaic in some respects, as it amounted to another of those episodes where genius scientists race around the city doing cryptic things (stealing identities, installing equipment), which Fringe Division has to first make sense of before inevitably stopping whatever's been planning. We've seen it done a number of times on the show already, but it's fortunately still a trick that hasn't run out of juice just yet. Here, the two surviving 'shifters immediately made contact with their already resident comrade Thomas Jerome Newton (Sebastian Roché), who has a plan to bring something into "our" reality by planting "harmonic rods" at three points across town, set to trigger at a calculated time when the two universes are temporarily in sync with each other.

Away from the sci-fi, the relationship with Walter and Peter (Joshua Jackson) was also explored quite nicely, with Walt planning to tell his son he was stolen from "the other side", unaware his recent behaviour has convinced Peter that he's planning to explain that his wife Elizabeth actually committed suicide – a fact Peter's already long been aware of. What made things particularly difficult for Walt was noticing how much closer he's growing to his son, who even calls him "dad" for the first time in years, all while knowing he risks destroying the bridges they've made in their relationship by telling him the truth.

Speaking of bridges, the climactic moments were particularly good fun, with Thomas Jerome Newton targeting Charles Bridge as the gateway for a mysterious character known as "The Secretary" to crossover from the alternate-Earth -- while Walt, Peter and Olivia (Anna Torv) tried to disrupt the process using an opposing sound-wave created by a computerized pneumatic hammer. They failed, resulting in Peter being hospitalized for a few days for his actions trying to prevent the Secretary's ingress, during which time he an epiphany that because he survived the dimensional disruption at close proximity, this means he was immune and thus from the other side himself. It was certainly a surprise to see Peter confront Walt with his suspicion from his bedside, breaking his father's heart as he asked him to leave the room, before later checking himself out of hospital and disappearing.

Overall, there was a lot going on here to keep fans of Fringe's mytharc happy, despite the plot's similarities to a few storylines we've seen before, but the show's too fun when delving into its core mysteries to complain about too heavily. I'm just very grateful the show has started tackling its more interesting themes so regularly, and now appears to be pushing forward with a few new ideas. I'd be very surprised if the mysterious Secretary, who was taken to a secret base after traversing dimensions to recover, isn't "Walternate"; so the prospect of two Walters fighting over Peter around the time of the finale should be particularly entertaining. Would you choose the biological father you've never known, or a dimensional copy who was responsible for saving your life but stole you from your true family?

Asides

These shape-shifters aren't very clever, are they. If they'd simple dispose of the bodies of the people they kill to copy, Fringe Division would never be alerted to their presence. At least incinerate any of your compatriots that don't make it through alive!
Before it died, the half-formed shape-shifter urged Walt to "find Daniel Verona", so it'll be interesting to see who that person is and why he's so important. I assume his fellow 'shifters are aware of Daniel Verona, too.
I can’t help comparing the shape-shifters to the T-1000 from Terminator 2. That was clearly an inspiration. They even arrive in our reality as blobs that bleed mercury.

22 APRIL 2010: FOX, 9/8c

CHUCK 3.14 - "Chuck Versus The Honeymooners"

WRITERS: Rafe Judkins & Lauren LeFranc (story by Allison Adler)
DIRECTOR: Robert Duncan McNeill
GUEST CAST: Bonita Friedericy, Carlos Lacamara, Lela Loren, Ron Provencal, Chino Binamo & Nico Cortez

[SPOILERS] After a short break, Chuck returns for its addendum season (six extra episodes that NBC ordered when the show returned to strong ratings), and given the big changes in "... The Other Guy" I'm sure every fan's desperate to see if the show hasn't ironically lost its mojo now Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) are an item. And to cut a long story: no, that hasn't happened. In fact, "Chuck Versus The Honeymooners" provides plenty of evidence that uniting its leads will actually take the show to new heights...

Following the unofficial "finale", Chuck and Sarah have gone AWOL from the CIA and are currently enjoying a romantic journey on a luxury train travelling though France, rarely venturing out of their carriage (or more accurately their bed.) Their relationship couldn't be better and both are making plans to leave the spy game behind forever, but naturally that proves harder than it sounds. Trouble brews when they independently notice they're sharing a train with Spanish spies, and comically both try to investigate the situation behind the other's back. Sarah sneaks off to snoop around a neighbouring carriage, forced to pretend she's a half-drunken Southern gal when she's caught, and Chuck likewise has a nose around the same carriage and is forced to escape through the window and onto the roof.

Back at Burbank, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and Devon (Ryan McPartlin) were about to leave for their Doctors Without Borders program to Africa, and both were desperate to hear word from Chuck so he could attend their leaving party. And they weren't the only ones anxious to locate Chuck, as General Beckman (Bonita Friedericy) came to the realization that both her agents have gone AWOL and orders Casey (Adam Baldwin) to bring them back home, with help from Morgan (Joshua Gomez) because he understands Chuck's thought processes better than anyone.

Second of Strahotness: Oh my!

"... The Honeymooners" was a strong and spritely episode for the series to return with, most notable because it was a relief to see the new Chuck/Sarah dynamic works brilliantly. Despite fears that will-they/won't-they TV romances rarely work when the lovebirds finally get it together, I'm already certain this was a wise move. Both Levi and Strahovski are just a lot more engaging when they're having clear fun together, and while their character's relationship may lack a frisson of tension now they can just jump into bed together whenever they please, that's a welcome change of pace and a welcome development. Plus, as I've said many times, particularly this season, it's been almost criminal that the writers kept finding ways to make Sarah look solemn and uneasy throughout nearly every episode. Strahovski lights up the screen when she smiles, and I almost had to adjust the contrast on my TV with this episode.

It also gave us a flavour of what I'd hoped the show would be with Chuck and Sarah as a couple; something more fun and romantic, with both coming to realize they can't simply turn their backs on who they are. Sarah's a natural born spy, Chuck's ambition is to be a spook, so why can't they have their cake and eat it? A relationship is no barrier to a productive working life, is it. Considering the fact nobody had a problem with Sarah and Shaw dating earlier this year, it didn't really make sense that Chuck and Sarah were so unsure about going public with their relationship and carrying on as usual, but I can let it slide. This episode was too much fun to nitpick, with Chuck and Sarah deciding to deal with the Spanish agents themselves as "one last mission", only to later realize that the entire situation has been misunderstood because they're ill-informed, just as Casey and Morgan became embroiled in events.

Overall, "... The Honeymooners" left a strong impression of what the tone and style of these final six episodes will be like. Essentially, it's The Mr & Mrs Smith-style action show I was predicting Chuck could become and avoid losing its raison d'etre just because the guy got the gal. I also loved how Morgan has already started proving himself valuable as an asset (using his geeky knowledge of Italy to punch holes in an enemy agent's story), and the symbolism of Chuck and Sarah making a ferociously good duo when literally connected by handcuffs wasn't lost on me.

Asides

The return of Jeffster! at Ellie and Devon's leaving party was unusual, in that their choice of song was more subdued ("I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane") and it was clear that Lester (Vic Sahay) wasn't too bad of a singer. Like the Chuck/Sarah coupling, was that a sign of maturity creeping in, or will they be back to frat boy antics next week? Stupid question, I know.
Y'know, I wish Ellie and Devon would go already. No offence, both characters served a purpose once upon a time, but they've become dead weight. Chuck doesn't really need sisterly support and Morgan makes a better confidant than Devon.
General Beckman voices a whole fan community's thoughts on Chuck and Sarah revealing their love for each other: "... off the record, it's about damn time."
Will Chuck be back for season 4? There are promising signs, despite the fact the back-half of this season has slipped in the ratings. NBC like the show, they love the support it gets online, Subway are behind it, it's cheaper to make than it once was, they have a lot of hours to fill next year, etc. I predict it'll be back.

26 APRIL 2010: NBC, 8/7c

HENRY XII: SOME TIDDLEYWINKS & A BIT O' WISH-CRAFT

Another curio from the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Beast Below"......

Before revealing herself to be the Queen on board the Spaceship UK, "Liz 10" told the Doctor how she knew about him from his involvement with past members of her family:

"The Doctor: Old drinking buddy of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz Two… Vicky was a bit on the fence with you, wasn’t she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day! And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy!"

We've seen his involvement with Queen Victoria and he mentioned how he married Queen Elizabeth the First to Sigma Ood. As for Queen Elizabeth the Second, it's an easy assumption since she seemed familiar with him when he saved Buckingham Palace from the crash of the starship Titanic.

But like Elizabeth the Tenth, Henry the Twelfth is from sometime in the future of Toobworld. I'm hoping that we'll see his story told someday on the show.

However, it could be that Liz 10 was referring to somebody from her family's past....

From Wikipedia:
Henry the Lion (German: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180.

He was one of the most powerful German princes of his time, until the rival Hohenstaufen dynasty succeeded in isolating him and eventually deprived him of his duchies of Bavaria and Saxony during the reign of his cousin Frederick I and of Frederick's son and successor Henry VI.

At the height of his reign, Henry ruled over a vast territory stretching from the coast of the North and Baltic Seas to the Alps, and from Westphalia to Pomerania.

In 1168 Henry married Matilda (1156 -1189), the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and sister of Richard Lionheart.

He was exiled from Germany in 1182 for three years, stayed with his father-in-law, Henry II of England, in Normandy before being allowed back into Germany in 1185. He was exiled again in 1188. His wife Matilda died in 1189.

So Henry the XII referred to by Liz 10 might not have been a British monarch at all, but instead a German prince who was an in-law.....

Personally I'm still hoping it's somebody from the future. And as a bit o' Wish-Craft, I'd even sacrifice one of my suggestions for casting a future Doctor to play the role: James Buckley, better known to you Wankers as Jay from 'The Inbetweeners'.

I think it would be perfect - Buckley and Matt Smith are close in age, with Buckley only four years younger. I could see him being one of those "boy-kings", reckless and immature, and out for a good time, with the Doctor tagging along at some point to keep him out of trouble. And it could take place in one of those near-futures, maybe from around the era of 'Star Trek', so that they'd still be on Earth but everything would feel... well, futuristic.

Or here's another casting suggestion: Bradley James. Same arguments in his defense as those raised for James Buckley, with the added benefit that it might suggest a genetic link all the way back to King Arthur of the 'Camelot legends (as seen in 'Merlin'). Toobworld Central has already decreed that 'Merlin' takes place in an alternate TV dimension, but there's nothing that says Arthur Pendragon of the main Toobworld didn't look like that as a young man.....

That would be my hope anyway.....

BCnU!

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