TV Antics

Ok first let me say for the record I do not watch much television. Occasionally I can be seen sitting in front of the “tube” to watch something on the History Channel and or SciFi…oh wait, I mean SyFy such as Battlestar Galactica which by the way is over.

Recently I started watching a program called Defying Gravity which I think is a well made program. This show has promise even though it is starting off a little slow, I kind of like it.  After watching the first two episodes I decided to give TV another shot and in this pre-season lull.  I wanted to check out what was available these days on TV by using the HULU site.  I looked for an hour or so and subscribed to three shows that I thought would be decent bets.  I decided to watch all the back episodes of the shows I was interested in so I could catch up on the series before the season started.  The shows that caught my interest were Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Dresden Files, and New Amsterdam. Yeah I am sure you know where I am going with this but just hold on a minute.

Terminator TSCC was my least favorite of the three but still it was quality made and hey, it had Shirley Manson the Scottish singer for Garbage. She did a great job of playing a terminator with a mysterious agenda. You weren’t quite sure if she is friend or foe. In any case the story lines were pretty good and there was some action and character development as they switched from present to future. Of course there was occasional terminator violence which is always nice to see.  Cancelled

The Dresden Files is another show I watched the full first season to get caught up for the anticipated new shows. This show I liked a little bit better than the Terminator. The stories did involve some pretty outlandish stuff like magic and sourcery, but if you totally believed the characters it was quite nice to watch and the acting was top notch.  Basically it was a Chicago based wizard who carried a charged up hockey stick who worked closely with the police to solve weird murders.  People would come to Harry Dresden with stuff they couldn’t come to the cops with.  Cancelled

Finally and best of these shows was New Amsterdam.  Now I really enjoyed this show which was basically about this dude who was a Dutch soldier who settling New Amsterdam (present day Manhattan) in 1642 when he was killed by a collegue with a sword as he was protecting a Native American woman.  Well she returned the favor and brought him back to life with the caveat that he couldn’t die until he found his soul mate. So now flash to present day and he is a cop in NYC. Yes he has been living in his home town ever since his demise and rise.  He has seen it all and watched the city evolve from its basic beginnings to present day. The individual shows have interesting plots with plenty of flash backs to different periods in his life where life lessons were learned. This show rocked because of its obvious attempt to tie in History and it was rich for TV.  Ok, now you can see it coming… About half way through of “catching up” on New Amsterdam before what I think will be a new season I start to read about these three new shows instead of just watching them on HULU. Come to find out, all three have been cancelled!!  Cancelled – Did I mention that I was not a TV hound? Had I been on top of the TV scene I would have learned months ago that these shows would not be returning to TV.

WTF people, the Terminator has run a couple of seasons but the other two only ran one before they were shit canned.  I am not really sure why these shows were cancelled except that I am sure they got a poor turnout or some critic thought they sucked. Maybe they were cancelled because producers do not have the patience to let things work any longer. I would be all ears if someone had some insight as to why the networks seem to cancel quality programming while they keep “reality shows” which I loathe.  I did find a lot of references of fan hate on the internet on all three shows. Fans speaking of their disdain to whomever would listen, raging against the sky to no apparent avail.

Presently I am now back to square one. I am once again “not” excited about TV – (thanks for the kill joy network producers).  Now I will just settle back in to where I was. I will continue to watch the History Channel of course. Who can get enough of characters like Hitler, Stalin and Cleopatra as the drama and exploits of their lives unfold before you? That is better than any reality TV show I have seen.  I will go back to watching some potential good shows like Fringe and Defying Gravity.  I will not get too attached to these shows in the future. I won’t watch them religiously, and I will not invest in them. Ultimately I know the same fate awaits them as the others. The impatient eager to please investor types Network producers will ultimately kill these series as well. The story will be untold and we will never know how it is supposed to end. You don’t believe me? Just go ask the cast and crew of other promising shows like “The Unusuals” or “Life on Mars“. – both cancelled.

Look I am no aficionado of television and I do not know how the industry decides what will live and what will die. Maybe I am in the extreme minority and 95% of people would say the aforementioned shows sucked.  I just know what I like and what I do not like. It seems like maybe I am not televisions primary target audience. All I want is quality shows with a good plot and good acting. I never was able to jump on board the reality tv wagon.  I do not find it entertaining even though this genre seems quite popular and is all the rage in print these days.  I should just stick to the movies I guess, but then again that is even starting to get depressing.  What is next, “Survivor 300 at the box office now…” – sigh – any thoughts appreciated.

The Plan – Sneak Peak

“The Plan” coming this Fall to SciFi gives the point of view from the “other side” and by other side I mean the cylon perspective. How frakin awesome is that! 

The Plan

Up and Running

Hello everyone – My new website is up and running. You can go to it HERE. I will no longer be posting on this site. In the next few days I will be taking my pictures down to save on bandwidth. I added all my peeps to my blogroll and I hope to see my regular visitors and anyone new who happens by…
Thanks for being patient. It took me longer than I anticipated as it was a little bit of a learning curve setting up and hosting my own site. But I am slowly getting the hang of it. Thank you – John