I have been more than vocal over my displeasure the animated direction Marvel has taken recently. This was mainly due to the less than stellar first season of the Ultimate Spider-Man and the cancellation of two of the best animated series from Marvel in years. Whenwe first spoke about the trailer for Avengers Assemble, I was left feeling unimpressed and a little bitter.
But I am a passionate fan of comics and cartoons, and especially cartoons about comics, so I tuned in to the hour long premiere of Avengers Assemble despite my misgivings. As the series starts the Avengers are disbanded, and the Red Skull and MODOK are up to no good. The team is forced to reform under the leadership of Iron Man after Captain America falls to the Skull, and we are introduced to the new team of heroes.
So Game of Thrones is in the last few episodes of its season, Veep is plugging along (if you aren’t watching Veep then you are missing out), and True Blood is about to start up soon which means it’s time to talk about The Newsroom and of course, my favorite, Boardwalk Empire!
First up, The Newsroom. After a first season that seem to have moments of brilliance coupled with typical Sorkinisms that maybe are starting to get old, The Newsroom is gearing up for their sophomore season and one has to believe that they are looking to iron out some of the kinks. Perhaps Aaron Sorkin will listen to the cacophony of women clamoring to be portrayed on-screen as more than petty gossip mongers with nice legs who don’t know how to work fancy phone email machines. Or perhaps not. Maybe Will McAvoy will pull his head out of his ass and stop being a complete well, ass, to everyone around him outside of those few moments where he freaks out that everyone thinks he’s an ass so he acts like a normal human being. I get that it’s part of his character but after a while, it just got old. Don’t get me wrong, I actually am a big fan of this show, would be okay with changes in this new season.
Speaking of new season…
That teaser is just beautiful. So simple – I mean it’s just lights turning on for pete’s sake – but I really enjoyed it. There was for the briefest of moments a “behind the scenes tease” which was even better but it has since been made private for reasons unknown.
Enough of this Newsroom talk though because every day that passes means we are one day closer to season four of Boardwalk Empire!!!! Gyp is no longer and things are dicey up in New York between Rothstein and Lucky so who might step in the spotlight this season? Apparently Jeffrey Wright is up to the task signing on as Dr. Valentin Narcisse, “a ‘Doctor of Divinity’ and philanthropist who controls Harlem”.
Not only Wright but blink and you would have missed him, Ron Livingston is joining the cast. Word is he’s going to have some type of relationship with Gillian so in other words, don’t get too attached because he’s going to die.
I have a feeling you won’t be smiling for long Ron.
That’s all I’ve got for now. As the summer goes on I’m sure there will be plenty more Boardwalk Empire news but for now we just have to sit back and wonder “what will Margaret do this year?”
It is the moment we have been waiting on for several years. Arrested Developement is back and the Bluth family has returned to make us cringe, laugh, and question the television executives that canceled the series back in the day. Obviously things are a bit different now and we have a lot to catch up on. Luckily, Netflix partnered up with Mitch Hurwitz, the creator, to release 15 episodes all at once at 12pm Pacific Standard Time on May 26th, 2013. It’s a bold move as the episodes for the most part concentrate on a specific timeline and looks at the different perspectives of the Bluth family so really, it’s one mega episode. The question is, does it work? Yes and no. Regardless, let the great experiment begin!
I’ve mentioned it before, (here in the S.H.I.E.L.D. trailer write-up) but I love when shows embrace social media, especially when they come up with a clever hashtag with which to brand themselves. There are few better than the HBO vampire show, True Blood, with their #WaitingSucks campaign. In addition to having something that is easy for people to spread around twitter, they put out YouTube videos as well.
Is anyone out there worried that the Walking Dead will end anytime soon? Well forget all of that because much like the Robert Kirkman comic series the show is based on, don’t expect to see the series going anywhere anytime soon. Especially since Breaking Bad will be ending with this next season. Most importantly this is according to a very reliable source, namely the CEO of AMC Josh Sapan. Check out the quote below from him via Superhero Hype:d
“We hope that zombies live forever and we’ve just begun to find out what the post-apocalyptic world is like,” said AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan (via The Hollywood Reporter), “so that we’ll be sitting here at the Barclays conference in 2022 discussing the fact that Walking Dead is not over.”
Honestly, like the comic book this show could go on forever. The comic book has very few characters left from the start of the series but keeps on introducing new and compelling characters and situations. The show has killed off almost as many characters so far as the comic, yet has remained fresh without following the comics page for page. At first I was Walking Dead purist, getting angered whenever a character was missing or a new one appeared that wasn’t in the comics. The first season followed the comic pretty well, but after a writer shake-up it’s pretty much had its own momentum. I then started to ask myself –“Why do I need it to be the same?”
I’ve finally come to grips that the show can be good on its own merit without having to mirror Kirkman’s comic world and it’s done just that by creating a rabid fan base of viewers who just can’t get enough of the show. It’s spawned its own fan favorite characters (Daryl) and made comic fan favorites (Andrea) effectively fan hated.
So don’t worry fans, if you keep on watching, AMC will keep on making them because let’s face it: All of the characters are expendable save for Rick Grimes, but even in the comics that may one day not be true anymore. You can get your next dose of the dead this October with 16 all new episodes.
There was definitely some vocal outcry after Marvel cancelled a couple of it’s best animated series to date in order to bring the series under the Disney banner. These cancelled series, The Spectacular Spider-Man and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, each lasted two seasons before getting the axe, and their absence is still felt in the cartoon world. While DisneyXD wasted no time in releasing the Spidey replacement, Ultimate Spider-Man, it was lacking any real heart and was clearly aimed at a younger audience. It’s currently in its second season, with no real improvement.
Grizzly Bomb 