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Regardless of all the shocked press stories about this year's Oscars, the producers of the show unequivocally supported Seth MacFarlane's performance. TVGuide reports Oscar producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan recently stated:
"We were really, really proud of Seth MacFarlane...He did the job at we wanted him to do. Seth is irreverent, he comments
on things that happen in our culture, and that's what he did and we
thought he did an extraordinary job."
I have to agree that this year's show was better than most, and the tongue-in-cheek "attack" on celebrities, as well as the supporting role played by William Shatner as a critical Captain Kirk, worked perfectly. Sadly, the media finds it more useful to pretend shock than enjoy the show for what it is - a partial roast of pretty people who take themselves far too seriously. While MacFarlane says he will not host again, I hope he reconsiders.
What would Alfred Hitchcock think of the return to television of his classic Psycho? His 1960 film caused quite a stir and it is somewhat surprising that a well worn tale could take on a new life on A&E's Bates Motel, but that is the plan starting tonight (March 18).
A&E wants to tell us the prequel to Pyscho so that we have a better understanding of what made Normal do the things he did:
"Bates Motel,” serves as a contemporary prequel to the
genre-defining film, “Psycho,” and promises to give viewers an intimate
portrayal of how Norman Bates’ psyche unravels through his teenage
years. Fans will have access to the dark, twisted backstory and learn first
hand just how deeply intricate his relationship with his mother, Norma,
truly is and how she helped forge the most famous serial killer of them
all.
Back in 1987, NBC tried a Psycho television pilot only to see it fail. And of course we have already had a Psycho II, III, and IV (the prequel), so this is not a new idea. So what can we expect? Alessandra Stanley in a tepid New York Times review noted:
On one level the series explores the twisted steps that led Norman to
his fate. The creators made “Bates Motel” less an exercise in “what if”
than an “if only” — keeping viewers wondering whether, with some
intervention or lucky break, the ultimate mama’s boy could come to a
different end. But the series has to keep the narrative going and needs
to add surprise turns that could affect Norman’s destiny...“Bates Motel” has a talented cast and a memorable back story that
guides, but doesn’t limit, the narrative, and at its best it’s
intriguing and enjoyably grim. But even more than Norman, the series
itself has a split personality, a Hitchcock classic grafted onto a much
more mundane brand of suspense.
What is even more interesting is that Hitchcock intended Pyscho to be a comedy, according to a recent story in England's The Telegraph. In 1964, Hitchcock stated:
"I
once made a movie, rather tongue-in-cheek, called 'Psycho'..."The content as such was, I felt, rather amusing and it was a big joke. I
was horrified to find that some people took it seriously."
So A&E has a lot of material to play with and now we have to see how it all comes together. With all the fluff vampires and werewolves running around, maybe the retelling of a classic tale will add some gravitas to the genre again. It's all up to Norman now.
If you were worried about Elisabeth Moss and her part as Peggy Olson on Mad Men since she left the firm, don't worry. She has shown up as detective Robin Griffin in New Zealand. And if you thought the people were interesting and odd in the 1950s, just wait until you meet these folks.
The new 7-part series Top of the Lake starts tomorrow (March 1th) on the Sundance channel. The show also stars Holly Hunter as a spiritual leader, Peter Mullan as the menacing father of a missing daughter, and David Wenhan as the more senior detective in the Queenstown Police Station.
From what I have read and taken away from the trailers, this is no longer the New Zealand of Lord of the Rings. In fact, I doubt the New Zealand tourist board is pushing this new show. Think of it as The Killing in another beautiful environment with less rain.
Here is the basic premise of the show:
12 years old and 5 months pregnant, Tui Mitcham walks into a freezing
lake ... then disappears. Detective Robin Griffin returns home to
investigate, but it's not a simple missing persons case. In this
breathtaking but remote mountain town, there are evil forces as powerful
as the land itself. And those who offer a glimpse of paradise also
provide a path to hell. Trapped where happiness and honest work are just
out of reach, Griffin must not only find the girl but also face her own
haunting past. With the men that she once left behind now standing in
her way, every step closer to solving the case unearths a dangerous
truth about herself.
Nancy DeWolf Smith in The Wall Street Journal noted the show's brutality in a recent review. pointing out:
...we soon learn that every character here is damaged in some way. Most
of the men are ignorant brutes who act like dogs that have been chained
in a yard all their lives. Most of the women are victims, addicted to
emotional or physical pain at the hands of men they recklessly pursue.
Among those trying to recover at the lake with GJ is a woman still in
shock after seeing her beloved chimpanzee kill one of her friends before
being killed himself. But wait, says one of the local louts, "Was the
chimp your boyfriend or a pet?"
Our Peggy is no longer in Manhattan.
Note: Interestingly enough, The Killing was filmed in Vancouver. According to The Seattle Times, the show's creator Veena Sud decided to use Seattle as the setting for a few reasons:
"The graphic beauty of Seattle was so compelling; it reminded me of
Copenhagen in the Danish series, incredibly brooding and tragic," said
Sud..."As I started to research more about Seattle, it became clear it's one
of the most liberal cities in America and one of the most literate ...
and yet it's also a city with a dark underbelly," she said. "It has a
huge runaway population that's very striking when you're a visitor to
the city and see so many of these lost kids."
Jerry Seinfeld has put together 10 interviews as part of his series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (go here for the promo and better digital output). I have enjoyed each one, but my favorites are Alec Baldwin in terms of pure fun and Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) for honesty. In the final episode with Michael Richards, Seinfeld brings up the incident from 7 years earlier where Richards fired racial remarks back at the audience, effectively ending his career. Richards discusses how the incident "broke him down" and he has not done any comedy since. He also thanks Seinfeld for sticking by his side during the turmoil that followed.
The good news is that Seinfeld has agreed to do a second season, this time with 24 interviews. I look forward to more fun and, at times, revealing discussions.
Note: It is hard to get the video to pull up on Crackle.com. Just go the main Crackle page, find the list of series videos below, and pull up the one you want to see.
I have always liked the way the CW's Supernatural cast and crew have a funny bone that does not take things too seriously. In this vein, Jensen Ackles leads Jared Padalecki and the rest of the team in the Harlem Shake. Check out the clip.
All one can say to its credit is that ABC's Zero Hour lasted one episode longer than NBC's Do No Harm, but that is not saying much when you are pulled after only three episodes. ABC cancelled Zero Hour not long after its premiere, which was reported to be the lowest-rated ABC premiere for a scripted show during the regular TV
season ever.
I had high hopes for Zero Hour after the first episode, but by the second episode I had already lost interest and decided a third episode was not worth my time. The story became too wacky with Edwards running around the globe followed by a multi-lingual FBI agent who never heard of the word sequestration. We have good people in government, but the bottomless budget supporting this over-talented agent was more incredible than the Catholic Church hiding a secret from the Nazis.
Would the show have worked as a two-hour television movie? Probably, but only because one would have felt invested (or too lazy) after an hour to change the channel. But 13 hours? In the end, I was not interested trying to follow the story of 12 clocks while pretending to care about the fate of Anthony Edwards' wife who we only saw for 5 minutes in the first episode. ABC asked us to invest too much time in a complex tale that started to go off the rails.
If you are still interested in the show, ABC will mostly likely show the remaining episodes over the summer. I think I will pass.
As I noted in an earlier entry, we will not see The Farm as a new series starring our friend Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) from The Office. Nonetheless, in The Office episode this Thursday at 9pm ET/8pm CT we can see the pilot and learn more about what could have been.
And if you are a Dwight fan, you have an opportunity to display it by wearing this "Schrute Farms Beets" shirt available at NBC. Dwight also has some final words on the Schrute family in this clip from NBC. Can you imagine 10 little Schrutes running around? It is too scary to imagine.
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