Cinerant

Best PSA Ever?

posted by cinegod @ 3:16 PM 2 comments

WAHOO!

Congratulations to Friday Night Lights for its five Television Critics Association nominations it received this week. It was nominated for:
--Outstanding Program of the Year
--Outstanding Drama
--Outstanding New Program
--Oustanding Individual Achievement in Drama (Connie Britton)
--Outstanding Individual Achievement in Drama (Kyle Chandler)

The five nominations the show received were the most nominations of any program this year. So, congrats to everybody there.

Can't wait for season 2!

posted by cinegod @ 11:46 PM 1 comments

Next New Show

The next new show for the fall that I'm eager to see is New Amsterdam. This show on FOX is about a homicide detective who is 400 years old because he was given long lasting life when he saved an Indian princess. When he meets his soul mate, then he will be returned to mortal and live like a regular person. The character is just absolutely fascinating. It's really exciting and while the show does on the surface look like a procedural (he is a cop, natch), the pilot reads like it will be something much more interesting. I have some friends who have talked to the Executive Producer about this and it sounds just absolutely exciting. This trailer isn't the reason I'm excited, but it's still something...

posted by cinegod @ 10:50 PM 1 comments

Pushing Brilliance

So, it's been a while, but I'm finally back blogging. I think it was that I finally saw something that made me want to share.

If Friday Night Lights was the new show to watch this year, Pushing Daisies is going to be the new show to watch starting this fall. I've read the pilot and it's brilliant. I can't wait to see it--especially after seeing this promo.

Clearly, this is going to be a challenge to a lot of people because it's so stylized, but it just seems like it should be great! Let's hope it will be.

posted by cinegod @ 11:26 PM 4 comments

Wheelchair Night

Last night must have been the night when all the network execs on television thought they'd put people in wheelchairs.

And you know what? It was great?

Ok, it really wasn't putting everybody in wheelchairs. In fact, "Friday Night Lights" and "Lost" have had characters in chairs almost since their respective beginnings. But for some reason, both characters--Locke and Street--found new purpose in their lives, and both instances had as much to do with being in a wheelchair as not.

First, on Friday Night Lights, Jason Street got cut from the national quad rugby team. As Herc, his wheelchair bound, rabble rousing friend explained, "You're still not comfortable in the chair." It didn't matter that Street was the best athlete there. He still wants to feel sorry for himself and out of place because of his injury. He sees what he has to offer as second rate. He tells Herc that he needed the chance to to move forward. Of course, what the characters think they need on this show and what they actually need are usually two entirely different things. After the frighteningly delicate tattoo chick puts the moves on him--despite the chair--he realizes that the chair doesn't define him. He's Jason Street. Not some guy in a wheelchair. So he gets into a classic moment pity party with Smash, Saracen, and Tim on the fifty yard line of the football field. They get drunk and Jason finds his purpose--to be a quarterback coach. Those who can't do--teach. While I hate that dismissive mantra, in this case, it's obvious. And it should've been all season, but none of my friends who watch the show had even suggested that as an option. Maybe that just means more of you need to be watching it.

Yet, over on Lost, John Locke refused to accept his destiny, because he still felt defined by the wheelchair. In fact, he was so opposed to the idea of being in a wheelchair that he wanted to destroy any way of ever getting off the island. He knows that the moment he leaves the island, he's forced to resume his inferior, mortal, wheelchair-bound coil. And moreover, at the end of the episode, we discover that it was Locke's father (or pretend daddy--I'm still not clear which it is) that put Locke in the wheelchair. And guses who's conveniently tied up in Ben's basement?

I didn't think that this was as riveting as the Juliet episode this season (partially because I thought it was just such a fascinating backstory she has), but it's still really good and I'm very excited to see where next week goes!

posted by cinegod @ 11:10 AM 2 comments

It's Wednesday--and you know what that means

It's time for a Friday Night Lights plug!

Here's a phenomenal series of interviews, along with a primary article from today's Chicago Tribune about Friday Night Lights. It almost makes me want to blow off seeing Greg Laswell in concert tonight and run straight home and watch the show instead of watching it after the concert. I won't, but boy am I tempted.

Tonight starts the final four episodes of the series. Don't wait till later to start watching it. This is the most intimate drama to come on television since Once & Again. Don't miss it.

posted by cinegod @ 2:27 PM 1 comments

Signatures

I'm sitting here trying to sign 150 letters. (Can I get carpal tunnels syndrome from this?)

I'd ask if this is what my life has come to, but clearly it has and I don't even know what that means. I am officially declaring my quarter-life crisis over. I'm now moving into an existential funk.

What's the difference? Semantics.

What does that mean? It means if/when I ever go into therapy there's just more for me to discuss.

Does anybody read this thing anymore? Probably not. I don't and I write it.

posted by cinegod @ 12:43 PM 3 comments