More Lost fan creativity

So the Lost creative fan train continues, this time one viewer is creating a movie like poster for every episode of the six season run, so far there is one for the first four seasons.Each poster shows an important moment and quote from the episode. This extensive challenge by gideonslife can be seen at Flickr and should be checked out not just for the size of this project but for the brilliance of the collection, I have attempted to pick out my favourites (which was hard and I'm not sure if I've done the pictures justice), one from each of the four seasons that has been covered so far:


Season 1: White Rabbit

Season 2: Abandoned

Season 3: Par Avion

Season 4: The Shape of Things to Come

I'm looking forward to what is in store for the posters for seasons 5 and 6 and in a Lostless week I have really enjoyed looking through these posters.

I know there was the Lost art project that occurred before season 6 begun but it would be really great if there was a way to preserve and present all the work that fans are making to celebrate this final season of Lost. As this blog can testify there is a lot of cool stuff that is being done regarding Lost and I appreciate that the internet already can distribute these images to many and to preserve them, it would be super though if they could become something tangible that could be held.

I am a sucker for this, I would rather buy a CD or a DVD than download it, or buy a magazine than read the articles online, or buy a book than have a Kindle, am I the only one, or are there others that would like to see a Lost fan art book/collection happen?    

True Blood promo poster 6 and season 3 cast photo

Promo poster number 6 was released exclusively to AOL Television, they speculate that more shapeshifters could be introduced in season 3:

And here is the full cast photo that HBO released this week:

With just over a month to go until the third season HBO have really stepped up the promotion for this season with this poster campaign. The first minisode is now also available online with everyones favourite Fangtastia residents Eric and Pam.

Fringe: Brown Betty Promo 2

This second promo looks awesome, really looking forward to this:

Chuck vs the Honeymooners

Chuck returned last night with a strong episode that should go some way as to reassure people that your 'will they/won't they' couple can hook up and for it to lead to a stronger show. Yes we are only an episode in to this pairing so I might be jumping the gun a little but it felt so natural to have Chuck and Sarah as a real couple rather than the cover story couple that we have seen on and off for the past three seasons that it seems that it will only reinforce the show and not hinder the story.

From the opening scene (which featured a great song choice of 'Holiday' by Vampire Weekend) I had a smile plastered over my face, and as noted in other reviews of this episode it was so nice for it to be generally angst free and to see Sarah happy for once. The downer from this episode coming from a drunk Ellie, who downed may shots during the acoustic Jeffster rendition of 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' who was disappointed that her brother wasn't there to say goodbye, or rather disappointed that she thought she was leaving him alone. It was great to see Jeffster do something a bit more low key and the turtlenecks were a great wardrobe choice.

Another development that occurred in the previous episode was Morgan being officially integrated in to Team Bartowski and this led to some particularly funny exchanges between him and Casey, an unlikely partnership that I think will prove to be a chaotic success in the remaining episodes of this season. The call back to when Chuck and Casey were tied to a chair and Casey used Chuck as the weapon was a great touch with Morgan now in the place of Chuck. The fight sequences on a whole were ambitious, particularly the handcuffed Sarah and Chuck moments which worked very well, showing more scope for his intersect kung-fu and the fact there are still things that he won't do, in this case hitting a woman (Oh Canada).

Also what's in a name? Charles Charles, brilliant.

Other great musical moments came courtesy of the Polyphonic Spree 'Light and Day' and Chuck's choice for what was to be Sarah's favourite song; Nina Simone with 'Feeling Good'. This was a surprise choice, I figured that they would go with something more recent but I like that he goes for a classic. Once again the song choices in this show have been brilliant, incorporating new and old, which is why I would love for a soundtrack to be released by Chop Shop Records for this show.

Next weeks episode 'Chuck vs the Role Models' also looks like another doozy, enjoy the promo:

True Blood promo poster 5

Continuing the 12 part poster promotion for season 3 of True Blood is this Bill Compton centric affair in the style of missing kids on milk cartons with a bloody twist:

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Fringe- Brown Betty Preview

Since Fringe has returned from the mid season break it really has gone from strength to strength and found a way to blend the monster of the week episodes with the over arching mythology of the series as a whole. This was an issue at the start of this second season but those issues have been ironed out and now the show is producing some of the finest episodes on TV at the moment. 

Last weeks episode featured the moment that we have all been waiting for since the end of season one; Peter finding out that he is not from this universe. This is the moment that the series has been building to for the whole of this season and produced some of the best work that this show has offered yet, performances of heartbreak coming from both Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Walter (John Noble). This coming so soon after Peter calls Walter Dad for the first time in years showed how far they had come since the pilot and therefore how much was going to be lost when Peter figured out why Walter has been more of an emotional mess of late.

It is unclear from the promo for this next episode 'Brown Betty' how much this will be a diversion from the path the show has been taking for these past few episodes or if this is just the way Walter is trying to deal with Peter disappearing. What we do know is that this episode in part is a musical one, taking part in Fox Music Week and that the style of it evokes film noir. I am definitely intrigued and looking forward to this episode of Fringe and here is the promo to wet your appetite as well:

  

All new Chuck tonight

The break is over and Chuck is back tonight with the first of a six episode run, there is still no word on whether the show will get a fourth season, but I will keep my fingers crossed, watch the episode and hope that many more out there will do the same. This is the first episode with Chuck and Sarah as a real couple, a development that is definitely a welcome one and one that won't be in a similar vein as the much touted 'Moonlighting curse'. From what I can see in the promos and from what we have seen in the show that has got us to this point the chemistry between these two characters is fantastic and should not suffer from this relationship status change. Chuck fan and TV critic Alan Sepinwall has long championed these two as a couple and over in his column he details why this is indeed a good thing. 

Here is also a bonus sneak peek from next weeks 'Chuck vs the Role Models' that isn't really spoilery but just a great example of why certain other developments involving Morgan this season opens up all kinds of possibilities:

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report: Indecision 2012

More good TV news today, both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have been renewed until the end of 2012 (and through to 2013 for The Daily Show). This is a big deal for fans of both shows at it means that they will be covering the 2012 election and the Indecision years have been particularly strong for both shows and for both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and do see a rise in ratings. It has been referred to as being like an 'Olympic year' for these shows when the election is on and so it makes sense to lock them in now. Also a factor that may or may not have effected this is that Conan O'Brien will be direct competition when his show launches on the TBS network in November. Hopefully this will lead to some more on screen rivalry last witnessed during the writers strike (this is a behind the scenes video of the fight, some pretty funny stuff):

TV news round up: Friday Night Lights edition

-Kyle Chandler (Coach Taylor, Friday Night Lights) has been made a "very lucrative offer" to star in the Steven Spielberg/ Peter Chernin produced TV pilot 'Terra Nova' for Fox. The show revolves around a family who travels back in time to the prehistoric dinosaur era, this sounds like it could be like the Flintstones but with Spielberg and Chandler on board I think this could be a new favourite of mine. Jurassic Park was such a big movie for me when I was a kid that the dinosaur factor instantly makes me interested. [Ausiello]
-More Friday Night Lights goodies; Scott Porter (Jason Street) has been confirmed as a returning character for season 5 in the seventh episode. Now lets hope that other ex Dillon residents that feature on executive producer Jason Katims' wish list; Gauis Charles (Smash), Zach Gilford (Saracen), Jesse Plemons (Landry), Taylor Kitsch (Riggins), Adrianne Palicki (Tyra) make an appearance as well. Friday Night Lights has balanced the burden of the short life of a high school show well, with characters leaving at the appropriate time but then also making appearances down the line. This factor is another reason why the show works so well and why it is a shame that it is not watched by more people. [Ausiello]
-Speaking of Friday Night Lights it's set to air the fourth season on NBC on May 7th, spread the word, even if you have seen it already watch it again, this trailer gave me major goose bumps:

Christina Hendricks: A woman that is loved

The latest issue of Esquire to hit news stands in the US features Mad Men star Christina Hendricks who has been voted by the readers of Esquire as the 'Best Looking Woman in America' receiving 30% of the vote out of the 10,000 women surveyed. Coming  in second and third were actress Megan Fox and model Adrianna Lima. 

This seems like a no brainer to me, my boyfriend has a huge crush on her (curves plus red hair equals a big win for him) as do all the guys who I know that watch Mad Men, even I have a crush on her. It also shows that you really don't have to be a stick for guys to like you and that the comments that were made about her at the Golden Globes were as stupid as they seemed then. 

I'm really looking forward to the new season of Mad Men and where they will be taking Joan's character next season considering how things were left in the superb finale, to tide you over until then check out this brilliant scene between Joan and Don from season 3 episode 6 'Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency':

More from Esquire here

Mad Men set for 6 seasons

Some brief Mad Men news this week with an announcement that seemed a little out of the blue; Matt Weiner stated at this weeks National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Vegas that his hit series had reached the half way mark and that he only intends it to last three more seasons. This makes a lot of sense regarding the type of series that Mad Men is and I would find it hard to see the series enter in to the seventies when one of the concerns of this show revolves around the many changes that occurred in the sixties. It is always better for a show to run its natural course rather than to keep churning out stories that are of a sub par level and I think by revealing an ideal amount of seasons that is the desired amount allows for more creative excellence that we have come to expect from this series.

Update: AMC sent out an email which is trying to play down this announcement stating:

"No one wants to see Don Draper wearing a leisure suit. We trust Matthew's vision and that he knows where to take the show. But with that said, M*A*S*H figured how to stretch the Korean War for more than a decade, so stay tuned!"

In other Mad Men news shooting has begun on the fourth season, and paparazzi pictures show John Hamm on set, looking dapper again in his Don Draper attire (along with John Slattery):

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Photo Source

Fourth True Blood poster

This time it is a Sam themed poster and continues the awesome quality of this promotional campaign:

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Twitter and the impact on TV

I have been on Twitter for under a year now, getting to it a bit late after I stubbornly thought it was a giant waste of my time. It took me a while to warm to it, at first deciding that I was not going to bother posting but would instead just follow a handful of people, this has since led to tweeting over 400 times and now following over 200 people, not what I intended but I am glad that I have embraced this social network site.
The majority of people that I follow (that I don't actually know) seem to be people in the TV and film industry including actors, writers, critics, reporters and show runners so wherever a big TV news story occurs I get a feed full of comments on this one topic, for example yesterday the big topic that Conan was going to be on cable rather than network TV featured heavily on my feed for a few hours. This factor and an article in Variety about TV show runners becoming Hollywood stars in their own right has led me to explore the notion that Twitter has enhanced the relationship between the fans and those involved in their favourite TV shows which can have both positive and negative results.
First up the negative; a comment about an episode that has just aired in the US may spoil it for a fan in another country, or for simply some one who has yet to catch up with their DVR. This happened today on my feed; Mary Lynn Rajskub who plays Chloe on 24 retweeted another comment that mentioned a major characters death in the most recent episode. This has annoyed some who live in countries where it hasn't aired prompting Rajskub to ask "I guess I have to be careful commenting on others tweets that could be spoilers... Or is it fair game tue am". I am of the opinion that if you don't want to be spoiled then avoid such places as Twitter until you have seen the episode in question as once it has aired then it is fair game to be spoken about the next day. I will say that with last seasons Dexter finale I was glad that regarding the shocking ending that most people just wrote that it was a shock, and not what the actual shock was, but I normally take my own advice and stay clear of Twitter until I am caught up on shows that can be spoiled such as Lost.
There are many positive attributes that have come from Twitter in regards to the relationships between the fans and those involved with these shows and even with the people who write about these shows. A connection that previously was not this instant now exists (this too can be bad I imagine, as it now means that a fan can vent with a lot more ease at these people as well, requiring a thick skin to handle potential abuse). This can mean that satisfaction (and the ugly side which is dissatisfaction) can be shared immediately when an episode airs. It can also mean that sneak peaks can be given, whether it is a song shared by Josh Schwartz that will feature in a new episode of Chuck or whether it is a behind the scenes picture from shows like The Vampire Diaries (look to actor Ernesto Riley who plays Alaric) or Bones (creator Hart Hanson and executive produce Stephen Nathan are regular posters).
The promotional impact of Twitter for TV shows means that the ones that might be struggling with the ratings such as Chuck can have a further voice to show that there are many that do watch and will talk about these shows, thus endorsing them on another platform. As Julie Plec executive producer on Vampire Diaries stated in the article for Variety "In my opinion, watching a Twitter feed during an episode of our show is a built-in focus group. They react to everything -- and it's fascinating because (over time) you get to witness your fan community as it builds and grows." This community consists of both regular TV watchers and those reporters and critics that get paid to write about these shows, in the Twitter world each now has a voice when it comes to opinions on these shows that can now be seen as more than just a figure for Nielsen ratings. Though the Nielsen ratings are still important in keeping shows on the air, the phrase 'Hack Nielsen' entered the Chuck fan community vocabulary a few weeks back and was seen on Twitter a lot before the last episode aired.
The impact of Twitter on TV as a whole is hard to see at this point but it must be said that for something that I thought would be inconsequential a year ago is something I now use daily. It is also something that I might have written about in my academic career as when I wrote my Masters dissertation on authorship in TV and whether it is possible in this post network era Twitter had not really exploded at this point. If it was where it is now I wonder if some of my conclusions would have been different as Twitter really has further given an identity to some of those people who are behind the shows that are big on TV now and the factor of fandom was one that was important in the construction of ideas of authorship. I look forward to seeing where this is all going and whether I will be able to get another study out regarding the state of authorship in TV in a few years time when the impact of social networking sites such as Twitter becomes more obvious.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

I'm a few days late with seeing these videos but thought they were just to brilliant not to share. Recently Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has had some brilliant moments including Brian Williams slow jamming the news,  however last weeks second episode of the Glee parody 6-bee was particularly inspired and featured the Park and Recreations cast and house band The Roots:

This was followed by a reunion of the SNL Weekend Update cast (Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Seth Myers and Jimmy himself) playing a rather funny game of charades:

Bones 100th

Spoilers ahead for the 100th episode of Bones:

Happy 100th episode to Bones, and what an episode it was that showed the first time Brennan and Booth worked together and finally had the idea of them as a couple really being addressed by these two characters rather than everyone else around them. Bones (the show) in the past has irked some viewers (myself included) in some of these big moment episodes, such as Zack being Gormogon's assistant and last seasons coma finale. However I think that this episode hit all the right notes and even with some retcon action, the story worked with how we met these characters in the pilot, as two people who had obviously had some conflict in the past and with Brennan really not wanting to work with Booth again. 

The case was even similar in some aspects as the one in the pilot, a young woman is murdered, most likely by some one who is high up in the system and there is little evidence to support this on the surface which is why the team at the Jeffersonian has to be bought in. The fact that it was Cam that suggested Brennan to Booth seems a little tenuous but she did work in the New York coroners office making it possible and it was nice to see a bit of character interaction between her and Booth when they have said before that they have known each other for years. 

All the squints were there and seeing Zack having a full blown awkward exchange with Booth and his conflict with Hodgins was superb and made me miss him all over again (on a side note are they ever going to resolve the fact that Zack didn't actually kill anyone and that Sweets is the only one that knows this?). Hodgins was experiencing his anger problems that we have seen before where he has had to employ the elastic band on the wrist method.  It was good to see the origin of the experiments and that Zack as ever played the role of the murder victim. Showing how Brennan and Angela became friends was also a nice touch, due to her art showing an impressive command of underlying structure and that the reason she took the job was to save money to move to Paris. The Angelator 1.0 as a flip picture book was also brilliant especially when Federal Prosecutor Caroline (another favourite) suggested that a big fancy computer would be needed to sell the re-enactment to a jury.  

Now to Booth and Brennan, she liked it when he called her Bones at first and there was major flirtation which ended in a tequila induced kiss, that is all nothing more, a moment missed. This moment missed that turned in to the bickering that we have known since the show started. This bickering turned in to much more in this case with Brennan slapping Booth hard across the face when he had escorted her out of his office forcibly by the arm. This defensive streak we saw in Brennan earlier in the episode when she struck the suspect in the nose twice and was something that was employed early in the series, that when Brennan felt threatened we saw that she was more than capable of defending herself. It is at this point that she says that she hates Booth and wants him to stop calling her Bones, a trend she continues at the start of season 1 (not the hate so much but the nickname Bones). Despite this horrible end to the first case she has definitely had a huge impact on him, he stops gambling, he starts wearing items of clothes that set him apart from his rigorous uniform which has continued till the present day.

Now to the present day, Sweets realises that most of the conclusions he draws in his book are right for the wrong reasons, that they are in love but one of them has to admit first, the stalemate has to be broken and because Booth is the gambler it has to be him. The pair leave a frustrated Sweets with a book in ruins and no conclusion but of course the episode doesn't end there. 

It continues out side in front of a sign that must be a nod to last seasons finale that says:

"Nothing happens unless first a dream" - Carl Sandburg

It is here that Booth, the gambler does make the first move breaking the stalemate and confessing what the audience and most of the supporting characters have known for a long time that he is in love with her:
"When you talk to older couples who, you know, have been in love for 30 or 40 or 50 years, alright, it's always the guy who says, 'I knew.' I knew. Right from the beginning... I'm that guy. Bones, I'm that guy. I know.
Unfortunately for Booth and the screaming audience at home Brennan responds not with happiness but with this:
"I am not a gambler. I am a scientist. I can't change. I don't know how... I don't know how."
Not the ending that that was hoped for but this statement allows them to move on, and I think in this moving on Brennan will realise that she can change and gamble and that for the show this is a good direction as it allows for more stories and more conflict. The fact that after all this they can still walk away together arm in arm shows that they can still work together and that there is definitely more to come where these two are involved.
A job very well done from the Bones team and a special mention should go to David Boreanez who was not only fantastic in this episode but also did a fantastic job directing it.
The promo for next weeks episode reveals a creepy special guest star and another episode that looks to be promising, enjoy:

Photos courtesy of Fox 

     

Random Mad Men cast and crew video

The cast and crew of Mad Men performing Bye Bye Birdie, some in costume, some in the nude, some in character, some possibly inebriated:

Lost: Happily Ever After

Warning spoilers for Lost 6.11 Happily Ever After:

"This doesn't matter. None of this matters. All that matters is that we felt it."

Desmond episodes are usually a special affair (Live Together, Die Alone, Flashes Before Your Eyes, The Constant) and this one certainly followed this pattern. It was 42 minutes of an exceptionally good Lost where partial explanations were given for what the sideways is (an effect of the nuke being detonated) and yet I am still confused as to what the hell is going on, which at this point I still like this brain seeping feeling that this show generates. I have no idea what Desmond's plan is after seeing this other time line and as to why he went  with Sayid so calmly after seeing him break that guys neck like a twig escapes me but I am excited for the path that this show is going on and I am glad that Desmond is once again the key to the whole time line drama as he was always the character that seemed the exception to the rule. 

The idea that it is love that is driving some of these characters could come across as trite but when you have characters such as Penny and Desmond the effect is the opposite and if these two can make it through the series I will be a very happy viewer. When Penny first appeared in the season 2 finale I was automatically hooked on these two being the one relationship that mattered in this show, forget the love triangle (or quadrangle as it became) it is these two that really matter and so to see them again in the sideways time line meeting for the first time was superb. The facilitators of this meeting being Charlie Pace and Daniel Faraday (or Widmore in the sideways) made it all the better, both of these character experiencing an intense feeling of love, with the island world bleeding in to the sideways world in some way. It made complete sense for it to be these two characters who influenced Desmond's sideways world considering how intrinsically they were linked on the island. Both Charlie and Daniel are favourites of mine and seeing the names Dominic Monaghan and Jeffery Davies in the opening titles ensured that this would be an excellent episode for me, for some reason I can't help but look at the names at the bottom of the screen which often ruins any kind of surprise but is something that I have no will power with.

I especially liked the call back to not Penny's boat and with the music used in this underwater scene incorporating the Michael Giacchino 'Looking Glass Half Full' track from when we first saw this message gave me goosebumps:

As a whole I really did think that this was a fantastic episode and I am so glad to see the return of Desmond and to see that he is as vital as I was hoping he was. Now for why he needs the passenger manifest in the sideways world, does he need to convince those on it that they need to get on a plane? For this I have no real clue but I am really looking forward to what is to come, and with next weeks episode being called 'Everybody Loves Hugo' (a call back to the season 2 'Everybody Hates Hugo') I'm guessing it will be a Hurley episode

and hopefully we will get some more answers as to what the purpose of the sideways world is in regards to the island time line as I believe that Hurley like Desmond is important to the island and what will go down when the war comes to the island. 

What we learned from this episode really is that even if you have anything, without love it is all kind of pointless (as Emily Nussbaum from New York Magazine pointed out Desmond's sideways story is much like George Clooney's in Up in the Air with added electromagnetism). Now that he has found Penny in both time lines what is the sacrifice that Widmore said that he was going to have to make, losing her in one time line or both? Or something completely different? What ever it is I'm sure it will involve stopping  Smokey from leaving the island and ensuring that every character is where they are suppose to be, but which time line is this? Hopefully all this and more will be addressed in the last six episodes. One final thing, Eloise was clearly aware that there is another time line and she doesn't want Desmond messing with anything but is Widmore aware of the other time line in the sideways world as he seems aware in the island time? How much of a mastermind are these two characters behind all of what we have seen? 

Now my brain hurts and I haven't even been placed in the 'microwave of mayhem'.  

    

Third True Blood Promo Poster

More from the True Blood promo department for season 3:

Photo courtesy of HBO

Chuck has made the final five

Head over to the Watch With Kristin page over at E!online to vote for Chuck (or one of the other top 5) in the annual Save One Show Poll. The other four shows contending are:

-Better Off Ted

-Life Unexpected

-Parenthood

-One Tree Hill

You can also vote for a wild card entry via Twitter and the details are on the page. The winner will be announced on April 12th so get voting again. Chuck and Sarah managed to win the best couple award over on Watch With Kristin, so lets hope the fans of Chuck will notch up another win.

Chuck vs The Other Guy: Season 3 finale version 1

Spoilers ahead for any one who hasn't seen episode 13 and gone on a whiskey induced Guitar Hero session:

Originally NBC ordered 13 episodes for Chuck season 3 and this is the thirteenth in the run which is why it acts as a kind of finale as the bonus six episodes that were ordered happened after the series had been written and planned out. This first version of the finale was widely touted as the best of the season after an early screening of it at this weekends WonderCon. I was a little worried that it had maybe been bigged up a bit too much, that was until I saw it and found out why everyone was making such grand statements, it really was a truly great episode.

Written by Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak this episode combined all the elements that make this show a unique entity on TV at the moment; romance, action and comedy. Not all these elements have been used in each outing this season with some episodes opting for a darker tone, but where there were the more serious moments the comedy was never far behind. The problem of Agent Shaw (Brandon Routh) was solved, with a few more twists than I expected, I was definitely thrown by his double turn, even though I suspected him as a Ring operative when he first appeared in the show I was pretty much convinced at this point that he wasn't. I appreciated the fact that it was kung fu movie expert Morgan (Josh Gomez) who 'made' him showing that he does have some special skills to help Operation Bartowski. Now that Morgan is an official part of this team there is definitely potential for many a funny stories and the chemistry between him and Casey (Adam Baldwin) is particularly delectable. As well as his exchanges with General Beckmen where he is confused as to how he should address her calling her 'Sir' and saying 'Aye aye Captain', both which are very wrong titles for her. 

The 'will they won't they' story this season between Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) has come to it's natural end point, especially considering what occurred in the last two episodes of season 2 and there is only a certain amount of obstacles that you can put in the way of these two before the audience cries 'mutiny' (which semi occurred after Chuck vs The Mask this season). So when Chuck finally asks Sarah in his post whiskey/ice cream binge whether she loves him, when she said yes I let out a big cheer. A final obstacle of Sarah being in danger of being killed by Shaw and the ring operatives led to some strong scenes where Chuck finally takes the life of someone (Shaw in this case) to save the woman that he loves and thankfully the consequences don't have Sarah turning on Chuck but instead embracing him, making this Chuck fan very happy. 

The show is going to be on a short hiatus for three weeks and lets hope that when it does return there will be some good news regarding it's renewal. These next six episodes look like they will be a lot of fun with some familiar faces returning, here is a promo to keep you entertained and I'm going to cancel the tank that I just ordered: