The Plague Comes to America

What do you get when you have a small town, an age-specific plague, and six episodes?  You get something similar to Netflix's new series Between that will premiere tonight (here is a trailer). 

In this six part drama from Canada, everyone over the age of 21 is likely to die, leaving the kids to fend for themselves (no more living with dad and mom for another 10 years).  As with The 100 and other such shows, we get to see what the kids learned from their parents, if anything. And other recent series, such as The Last Ship and The Strain, already use plagues as the chosen method for telling a story about our society. 

So why not throw together kids and disease to see what we can get?  That is at least the idea.  Does it work?  You be the judge.

Of course, others already have an opinion, such as this statement from The Guardian:

While the premise of the show is fairly interesting, in this YA context it just seems contrived. It’s not so much a mystery as a situation we’ve accepted as fact, so we don’t care about finding a solution. All the characters seem immune, so why should we be invested in a disease that can’t kill them?

The Departures Continue: David Letterman

So this is the final week of David Letterman and The Late Show as we know it.  I have been watching some of the final shows and I can see why Letterman wanted to avoid them: they come across more as a funeral than a celebration of a long and fruitful career.  

Josh Eells in Rolling Stone magazine had a good article on Mr. Letterman titled "David Letterman:  Happy at Last."  In describing the end of an era, the author stated: 

At the same time, he must look around at the celebrity Pictionary and the twerking pranks and figure maybe it's not worth it. He's like the last T. Rex after the asteroid hit, watching a bunch of chipper mammals scurry around the plains he used to roam.

As the longest running late night talk show host in television history, Letterman has plenty to be proud about. And Stephen Colbert has huge shoes to fill. 

And at the age of 68, you just hope Letterman can enjoy his retirement at his Montana ranch with his young family and ignore late night TV. It's not what it used to be with all the current fawning over celebrities. Like the evening news, it plays to the lowest common denominator rather than shedding some light of an entertainment industry that sometimes needs a good scolding. 

The Seths and Jimmy/James are lightweights, like USAToday compared to the New York Times -  we may like the colorful graphs, but you need some depth once in awhile too.  Dave, we will miss you.

Should We Go to Wayward Pines?

Tomorrow night (May 14th) on Fox you can see M. Night Shyamalan's Wayward Pines.  Okay, it is not really his story and it is not clear if he directs more than the pilot episode, but his name is attached to the show, be it a good or bad thing given his past performance. And in a time of TV pilots popping up like dandelions on an ignored lawn, you need a hook. Mr. Shyamalan is that if nothing else.

Fox has put together this summary of the shows:

Imagine the perfect American town, beautiful homes, manicured lawns, children playing safely in the streets...Now imagine never being able to leave. You have no communication with the outside world. You think you’re going insane. You must be in Wayward Pines.

Based on Blake Crouch's international bestselling series of books and brought to life by suspenseful storyteller M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense,” “Signs”), WAYWARD PINES is the 10-episode, intense psychological thriller evocative of the classic hit “Twin Peaks.”

Secret Service Agent ETHAN BURKE (Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon, “Crash,” “City of Ghosts”) drives to the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, searching for two missing federal agents. One of the best Secret Service agents in the Seattle office, he’s the man who knew missing agent KATE HEWSON (Carla Gugino, “Watchmen,” “Entourage”) better than anyone. They were more than partners; their relationship nearly destroyed Ethan’s marriage.

Everything changes when a truck slams into his car…and he wakes up in the Wayward Pines Hospital, with the intense and unpredictable NURSE PAM (Academy Award and Emmy Award winner Melissa Leo, “The Fighter,” “Treme”) at his bedside. It soon appears that Pam is more interested in harming than healing. She and Ethan grow into deadly rivals, and her role in the town proves much deeper than anyone realizes.

Among the other residents Ethan meets are the mysterious DR. JENKINS (Emmy Award nominee Toby Jones, “The Girl,” the “Harry Potter” franchise), the psychiatrist who treats him at Wayward Pines Hospital;  toymaker HAROLD BALLINGER (Reed Diamond, “24,” “Much Ado About Nothing”); BEVERLY (Academy Award and Emmy Award nominee Juliette Lewis, “Hysterical Blindness,” “Cape Fear”), a bartender who is as wary of Wayward Pines as he is; and SHERIFF ARNOLD POPE (Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard, “Crash,” “Hustle & Flow”), who takes offense at a Secret Service agent showing up on his turf.

Meanwhile, Ethan’s boss, ADAM HASSLER (Tim Griffin, “Prime Suspect”), attempts to update Ethan’s wife, THERESA BURKE (Shannyn Sossamon, “40 Days and 40 Nights,” “How to Make It in America”) with the latest news. After arriving in Wayward Pines, Theresa and Ethan enroll their teenage son, BEN (Charlie Tahan, “Charlie St. Cloud”), in the town’s only school, where his teacher, MEGAN FISHER (guest star Hope Davis “Allegiance,” “In Treatment”), provides key information about the town’s origins. But Ethan’s continuing investigation only turns up more and more questions, and each one leads him to the most important question of all: What’s wrong with Wayward Pines?

I guess my question is: What's unique about Wayward Pines?  Can't leave town? I saw that recently in Under the Dome and Once Upon a Time.  A Federal agent seems to be caught in a weird town? I saw that in Haven? And that is just the top of the list. The only thing I haven't seen is Matt Dillon in a TV series, and the pull of Matt may counteract the push of Mr. Shyamalan. I will give it a try, yet I have a feeling the Dillon dude is selling déjà vu.

Memories of Mad Men at the Museum

With only a few episodes left of AMC's Mad Men, you may be looking for another way to remember the period covered in the series.  Well, you are in luck because New York's Museum of the Moving Image has a special exhibit through June 14th called Matthew Weiner's Mad Men.  Here is more from the museum on this exhibit:

This new major exhibition explores the creative process behind Mad Men, one of the most acclaimed television series of all time, now launching its final seven episodes on AMC. Featuring large-scale sets including Don Draper’s office and the kitchen from the Draper’s Ossining home, more than 25 iconic costumes, props, video clips, advertising art, and personal notes and research material from series creator Matthew Weiner, the exhibition offers unique insight into the series’ origins, and how its exceptional storytelling and remarkable attention to period detail resulted in a vivid portrait of an era and the characters who lived through it. The Museum’s exhibition marks the first time objects relating to the production of Mad Men will be shown in public on this scale. 

You can also about some of the films that inspired Mr. Weiner, including North by Nortwest, Vertigo, Blue Velvet, and The Bachelor Party.  For instance, the last film is about how the

"swinging bachelor” was a trope of fiction at this time, but this film poetically undoes the clichés of male camaraderie and presents both the issues of fidelity and loneliness with an unflinching eye.

Fidelity and loneliness?  I think Mr. Weiner covers both very well in his series.
 
Image Credit:  ABC News.  The photo highlights the set for Don Draper's office, featured in seasons four to six of Mad Men.

Grace and Frankie on Netflix

Tomorrow night (May 8) on Netflix you can start to watch (or binge) the new series Grace and Frankie featuring a terrific cast and unique late-in-life story line.  Here are the basics from Netlix:

Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin co-star as two women forced to reinvent their lives in this funny, honest new Netflix Original series. Elegant, proper Grace and freewheeling, eccentric Frankie aren't friends, even though their husbands Robert and Sol (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) have been law partners for decades. But when Robert and Sol announce that they're leaving their wives for each other, the two women start to bond in ways they never expected.

This is supposed to be a comedy with plenty of tears. With a cast like this, it should be a fun romp. I am surprised Netflix could get all this talent in one room. Is a second season even possible? I'm not worried since we have 13 episodes to enjoy before that becomes an issue.

Update: Netflix has renewed Grace and Frankie for a second season.  I'm glad since I enjoy watching these actors together, though the first few episodes seem to be somewhat dated in their approach to gay relationships. And the children are not as interesting as the brood in Transparent. Maybe it will even out over time.

Tonight on NOVA: Nazis and America

We have moved away way past Downton Abbey on PBS and now find the NOVA program tackling World War II and Nazi harassment of US shipping lines.  Tonight's program, Nazi Attack onAmerica, discusses the role of the German U-boat off America's shore.  Here is a quick blurb on the show from PBS:

Long before 9/11, a far deadlier, little-known attack from the ocean depths struck our shores, lasting three-and-a-half years and claiming 5,000 lives. Now, famed undersea explorer Bob Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic, investigates the wreck of one of the attack craft, a German submarine that lies at the bottom of the gulf just a few miles off New Orleans. U-166 was part of Operation Drumbeat, a highly successful U-boat operation that caught East Coast cities and shipping almost completely unprepared. With state-of-the-art survey gear Ballard probes the wreck and explores a dramatic mystery in the official story of the sub’s sinking.

You can see a clip here.   Given all the attention about battles "over there," it is good to remember that some of the battles were once over here on the Atlantic coast in addition to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Take Time for Werewolves, Vampires, and Frankenstein

Showtime's Penny Dreadful returns this weekend (May 3rd), and it continues to dig into the traditional monster tales, from vampires to werewolves, while also mining deeper into well known characters, from Dr. Frankenstein to Dorian Grey.  And unlike Twilight and other newer versions with likeable and sexy monsters, these creatures here remain rough and true to form.  These are beasts for adults.  And let's not forget the witches, which this clip will illustrate.  

In an interview, show creator John Logan stated,

This season, we embrace witchcraft...The character Evelyn Poole (a.k.a. Madame Kali, the spiritualist introduced at the séance in Season 1) becomes the antagonist for not only Vanessa but all the characters...Sir Malcolm is drawn into a relationship with Evelyn Poole that alienates him, romantically, personally, and supernaturally, from the rest of the people in the series. 

Plenty of demons for all here.  And take a look at this more general trailer for the show to come.