Posts Tagged ‘television’

What’s the name of that song? I have no idea either. But man, Sesame Street in the 1970s felt REAL. I don’t know how else to put it. You watch children’s shows today, including Sesame, and they just feel so … sanitized, so dumbed-down. Does Oscar even still live in a trash can anymore, or was it deemed to be too representative of a homeless derelict so they moved him to a condo or something? I’m not sure. But I wouldn’t be surprised.

There’s something about the 1970s that makes me insanely nostalgic. When I pop in Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On or Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions (both on cassette, naturally), it instantly takes me back to a decade for which I was only alive four years but feel as though it’s … home. I don’t know how to explain it. I guess the early 1980s in Philadelphia weren’t much different than the decade previous, and I do retain a fondness for my extremely early years growing up there, but there’s something about the whole urban soul vibe that seems to call out to me.

Also: Northern Calloway rocked some badass sideburns back in the day.

(Clip via Mark Evanier)

What’s the name of that song? I have no idea either. But man, Sesame Street in the 1970s felt REAL. I don’t know how else to put it. You watch children’s shows today, including Sesame, and they just feel so … sanitized, so dumbed-down. Does Oscar even still live in a trash can anymore, or was it deemed to be too representative of a homeless derelict so they moved him to a condo or something? I’m not sure. But I wouldn’t be surprised.

There’s something about the 1970s that makes me insanely nostalgic. When I pop in Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On or Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions (both on cassette, naturally), it instantly takes me back to a decade for which I was only alive four years but feel as though it’s … home. I don’t know how to explain it. I guess the early 1980s in Philadelphia weren’t much different than the decade previous, and I do retain a fondness for my extremely early years growing up there, but there’s something about the whole urban soul vibe that seems to call out to me.

Also: Northern Calloway rocked some badass sideburns back in the day.

(Clip via Mark Evanier)

It’s not exactly an Emmy, Pulitzer or Eisner, but as someone not used to winning anything, I figured I had to share this with you fine people: Yesterday, The Write Blog announced the winners of the Write On! Online/Write Environment Query Contest. And who won first place in the Teleplay category?

Me, bitches.

Will it get that pitch anywhere? Who knows. Part of taking first place is having the query read by David Boxerbaum, a senior literary agent at APA talent agency. So, maybe. Or not. If nothing else, it got that TV series pitch out of the growing pit known as my Google Docs account and in front of someone‘s eyes.

In the meantime, I’m on deadline for two stories at two different publications, trying to get caught up with The Utopian before San Diego Comic-Con sneaks up on me (in two weeks!), working with my band to find a producer with whom to record and closing on a house. Oh, and apparently, failing to get paid by What’s On magazine.

Speaking of Comic-Con, if you’re going to be there, I have semi-complete details on how to hook up with me there posted over at the Pop! Goes the Icon website.

Getting your week kicked off with a little bit of harsh (but funny) reality courtesy of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show (via Mark Evanier):

I’ll have an awesome, senses-shattering post about stuff that doesn’t matter later.

Getting your week kicked off with a little bit of harsh (but funny) reality courtesy of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show (via Mark Evanier):

I’ll have an awesome, senses-shattering post about stuff that doesn’t matter later.

Guys, ease up! He doesn't even have any powers now!

NBC’s Heroes has come back strong from its season break with a new volume, “Fugitives,” and it seems to have shaken off a bunch of its discombobulated storylines with overcrowded characters, leaving viewers with something much more streamlined: New York Senator Nathan Petrelli is rounding up all powered people as a campaign to keep America “safe” for normal people, and the central “heroes,” on the run, have teamed up to oppose his efforts.

While the plot is basically a convolution of several X-Men comic book storylines (including “Days of Future Past,” in which mutants are rounded up into internment camps), it works pretty well. Gone (for the most part) are the wildly varying character personae, the confusing continuity and the unclear objectives of each sub-plot.

Whereas Season Two was … nearly unwatchable, the first volume of Season Three, “Villains,” was entertaining but draining. I look at “Villains” as nothing more than a set-up for “Fugitives” — a way to clean the slate and reboot the show. And now I find myself not just tolerating Heroes with hope for something better, but thoroughly enjoying every twist and turn and dangling on every cliffhanger ending.

To Tim Kring and his writers: Stay the course. You have a good thing going here, and might even see a return to those vaunted Season One numbers (or as close to in this attention-scattered age) if good word spreads around.

Guys, ease up! He doesn't even have any powers now!

NBC’s Heroes has come back strong from its season break with a new volume, “Fugitives,” and it seems to have shaken off a bunch of its discombobulated storylines with overcrowded characters, leaving viewers with something much more streamlined: New York Senator Nathan Petrelli is rounding up all powered people as a campaign to keep America “safe” for normal people, and the central “heroes,” on the run, have teamed up to oppose his efforts.

While the plot is basically a convolution of several X-Men comic book storylines (including “Days of Future Past,” in which mutants are rounded up into internment camps), it works pretty well. Gone (for the most part) are the wildly varying character personae, the confusing continuity and the unclear objectives of each sub-plot.

Whereas Season Two was … nearly unwatchable, the first volume of Season Three, “Villains,” was entertaining but draining. I look at “Villains” as nothing more than a set-up for “Fugitives” — a way to clean the slate and reboot the show. And now I find myself not just tolerating Heroes with hope for something better, but thoroughly enjoying every twist and turn and dangling on every cliffhanger ending.

To Tim Kring and his writers: Stay the course. You have a good thing going here, and might even see a return to those vaunted Season One numbers (or as close to in this attention-scattered age) if good word spreads around.