Category: TV Action (Page 57 of 145)

Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock

February 21, 2009 /

After last week’s jam-packed episode, the series downshifted a bit, delving into the minutiae (i.e. the food shortage) that played such a prominent role in the first two seasons. While Baltar and Paula were arguing about food, I was wondering if this was really how we were going to spend the last five episodes. This detail-oriented stuff was interesting when the show was finding its feet, but with all that has happened, it just feels trivial. The major plot points to come out of Baltar’s storyline is that Caprica Six is back in his head (yay!) and that he managed to convince Bill to give him a trunk load of guns to defend their food stock. (I’ll admit that it was funny to see how Baltar picked the prettiest mom to help, resulting in a major eye-roll from Paula. Some things never change.)

It was nice of Boomer to bring Ellen back to the fleet, but their arrival has all sorts of consequences. First and foremost, Ellen is still an annoying bitch. When she finds out that Tigh and Caprica Six are expecting, it throws her into a jealous rage and she tries to manipulate the situation to get back into Saul’s arms. The plan may have worked too, as it could have been the stress of Ellen’s return that sent Caprica’s pregnancy off the rails. Now that the baby is out of the picture, I’d expect Tigh and Ellen to pick up where they left off. (Baltar and Caprica Six may too, for that matter.)

Tory, Tyrol and some of the numbered Cylons suddenly want to leave the fleet, and given what Sam said before his surgery — “Don’t leave the fleet!” — Tigh is more than a little reluctant. Since Caprica lost the baby, the whole Cylons-can-procreate argument doesn’t really hold much water, so they may decide to stick around for a while. Bill’s worried about Galactica’s dependence on Cylon technology, but the lesson (probably) is that humans and Cylons need each other to survive.

Boomer’s return creates another issue — what does Bill do with her? She tried to assassinate him and then defected from the other 8’s to join Cavil in the Cylon civil war. As one of our readers suggested last week, she may have come back to rejoin Tyrol. He’s single and obviously still has feelings for her. This could drive a wedge between Bill and Tyrol, and that’s not good.

Finally, I have to mention a subtle yet hilarious exchange in Bill’s quarters when Baltar was pleading for help…

Bill: The two of you can listen to this.
Lee: Where are you going?
Bill: To the head, to do something constructive. A little project I’ve been working on.

The term “head” of course means the toilet, so Bill is saying that taking a dump is more constructive than listening to Baltar speak. That’s some dry humor there. Great stuff.

Battlestar Galactica, External Entertainment, External TV, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

Dragon Ball GT: Season Two

February 19, 2009 /

The second season of “Dragon Ball GT” is considerably better than the first set, but it still doesn’t come close to the success of the other two series. Picking up after Goku’s ascension to Super Saiyan 4, the season is split into three different arcs: the conclusion of Goku’s battle with Baby; the return of Android 17; and the introduction of the Shadow Dragons. Unfortunately, none of these stories feels like anything Toriyama himself would have created. The fight between Goku and Baby Oozaru is painfully dull, while Android 17’s reemergence reeks of a sudden desperation to bring back familiar characters. Opening the portal to Hell might have sounded like a cool way to feature all of Goku’s past enemies, however, but it doesn’t really make sense. Dr. Myuu and Dr. Gero claim that they’ve cloned Android 17, but how exactly did he get to Earth if he was created down in Hell?

The same goes for the Shadow Dragon arc, which pits Goku against seven different dragons that have been created from the negative energy contained within the Dragon Balls. Apparently, you’re not supposed to use the Dragon Balls every other month like the Z Fighters tend to do, but since no one mentioned it before, it seems like a pretty cheap way of continuing the series. As a whole, the episodes are still more enjoyable than Season One thanks to the fact that Goku spends a majority of the time as an adult, but the inclusion of the lone “DBGT” movie, “A Hero’s Legacy,” certainly doesn’t do the set any favors. I’m not sure if the creators were hoping it would lead to a new series, but if they did, they were seriously mistaken.

Click to buy “‘Dragon Ball GT: Season Two”

TV, TV Action, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs

Friday night — where good shows go to die

February 17, 2009 /

In theory, Fox had a solid idea. Pair Joss Whedon’s new hour-long drama, “Dollhouse,” with “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” to create a male-skewing sci-fi block on Friday night. They’ve had success on Friday’s in the past with sci-fi; “The X-Files” flourished there (or at least paid for itself) for several years. But The Live Feed reports that ratings for both shows were a disappointment.

The series premiere of Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” was seen by 4.7 million viewers Friday night and garnered a 2.0 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 6 share. It was beaten in the 9 p.m. hour by ABC’s “Supernanny” (6.1 million viewers, 2.2/7) and is the lowest-rated scripted series premiere on a major broadcast network this season aside from NBC’s now-defunct “Crusoe.”

“Dollhouse” was paired with the midseason return of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (3.7 million, 1.3/5), which was shifted from its previous Monday post. “Terminator” came in third place in the hour and hit a series low (by like 27%). “Terminator” beat NBC’s “Howie Do It” (3.9 million, 1.2/4), but not by much. Both “Ghost Whisperer” (10.3 million, 2.4/8) and “Wife Swap” (4.3 million, 1.5/5) did better.

I thought “Dollhouse” had a pretty solid premiere, but I was by no means blown away. The premise is interesting — that there’s a business that can reprogram “dolls” to become whatever its clients need. In the premiere, Echo (Eliza Dushku), started out as a party girl meant to entertain a rich playboy, but was reprogrammed to become an expert in kidnapping scenarios. Dushku looks great in a dress, but was a little stiff when she was trying to convince the father of a kidnapped girl that she was the right person for the job. I’m not sure that she’s the right one to carry the series, though future episodes will decide this. Stepping back a bit, I’m not sure how some viewers may react to seeing this pretty girl having her brain wiped at least once per episode. If the heroine doesn’t have some consistent character traits week-to-week, she may be tough to relate to.

I’ve liked “Terminator” all along, and I’m surprised that it is struggling in the ratings. I suppose this has to do with the collective attention span of fans of the movie series. Maybe stringing out a serialized plot over 20+ episodes is just too slow of a pace for those that fell in love with the action-packed “Terminator” films. This is a perfect example of a series that should have a 13-episode season, like many of the series on HBO, Showtime, FX and TNT. Shorter seasons means a compact season-long story arc and no filler, which is the main reason that a series loses viewership. When people get bored they naturally move on.

Another Friday show that is dying a slow death is “Friday Night Lights.” It consistently scored in the 4.0-5.0 range in its first season, and that fell to the 3.0-4.0 range in its second foray. Now, after premiering on DirecTV this fall, the show is garnering ratings in the 2.2-2.8 range as NBC runs the episodes for the non-DirecTV folks. Is this enough to keep this stellar show on the air for another season? Only the big-wigs at DirecTV and NBC know for sure, but given the state of the economy, it would be surprising if it were granted a fourth season.

Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Friday Night Lights, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

10 Minutes and 10 Questions with Christian Kane

February 17, 2009 /

Tonight brings the first of the two parts of the first-season finale of TNT’s “Leverage.” We’ve commented on the show in the past here on Premium Hollywood, but after a slight false start in the early days of the series, it’s become an enjoyable blend of action, drama, and comedy that allows the viewer to escape into a world where the little guy actually gets to win once in awhile. We had a chance to talk to Christian Kane, who plays the rough-and-tumble Eliot Spencer on the show, and quizzed him about how the show’s gone for him. (We also snuck in a quick “Angel” question and checked on the status of his music career, too.)

1. If you can approach “Leverage” as a viewer rather than a fan for a second, are you surprised that “Leverage” was able to find an audience? Because a lot of series are in, out, and done in just a couple of episodes, but you guys found an audience quickly.

Yeah, we did, man. Y’know, it’s always surprising to me what works and what doesn’t work. I mean, I can’t believe that some of the stuff that’s on right now is on, and I can’t believe that “Arrested Development” ever went off the air. (Laughs) But it wasn’t surprising to know the track record of the people behind it. I mean, it was Tim (Hutton)’s first series (since “Kidnapped”), and I felt comfortable with that, but also John Rogers is an unbelievable writer, and Dean Devlin has had unbelievable success in the entertainment world, so we came in with a couple of big guns pulled out, unlike maybe some of the other people. So I felt confident in that. And then I started watching, and I got more confident. But then I remembered that, with the economy the way it is and the way the entertainment business is going… (Laughs) …it got a little bit scary for awhile, y’know, because you start thinking of stuff. But then when I went back to the economy stuff, and I went, “Y’know what? In this day and age, when The Man is sticking it to everybody, I think people are really going to want to sit back on the couch and really be part of the team and watch some people go out and stick it back to The Man.”

2. The “Ocean’s Eleven” comparisons that were being thrown around in the beginning were obviously really, really apt. Do you think the series has found its own identity yet, or is it still finding it?

Continue reading »

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Interviews, Movies, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, Video

24 7.9: We’d call the FBI snitch a weasel, but weasels mate for life

February 16, 2009 /

There are times when I think that casting agents don’t realize how much they handicap their shows. We all knew Billy Walsh was dirty, if for no other reason than the fact that he was played by the guy that played Billy Walsh on “Entourage.” Using this logic, we can also safely conclude that Ethan Kanin is dirty because he’s played by the same actor that played Warden Norton in “The Shawshank Redemption.” He also played a baddie in “Demolition Man” and, perhaps most damning, was the boat captain in “Boat Trip.” Yikes. I bet he scrubs his hands for an hour each night before he goes to bed, murmuring, “So…dirty…can’t…get…clean…”

Janice’s method of blackmailing Billy was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe he actually gave in to it. If he’s willing to cheat on his wife, then he’s willing to lie to her, so why not turn the tables on Janice by ratting her out to Dudley Do-Right for blackmail and getting her fired? The worst Janice can do at that point is tell his wife about the affair, but he can always deny it and write her off as a sore, jealous lunatic. Seems like a foolproof plan from here. As it stands, he’s exposed as a potential candidate for the server breach, but Janice’s paranoia will serve as a good smoke screen while he continues issuing APBs for the arrests of Jack and Jackie. Remember that scene where Billy used someone else’s clearance to get his wife’s plane moved to the front of the queue? Our first clue.

Famous last words for any potential Federal witness: “We’ll be able to track you from up to a mile away.” If you hear those words, you can guarantee that your saviors will wind up more than a mile away. Col. Ike earned his Ike Turner nickname this week, showing his volatile nature the moment poor Tina resisted his brilliant plan to run away together. Then he won her over with the lamest trick in the Weasel Boyfriend playbook: “Do you love me?” Ladies, if your guy ever hits you with a sucker question like that in order to get his way, run. Whatever he’s planning is not in your best interests. And who would have thought that, as we were all debating why he would choose to start a relationship with a waitress in a diner while plotting a terrorist attack, it would be because he liked her? We all thought that there had to be a reason for it, and it turned out to be the simplest reason of all. I’m guessing Tina probably reminds him of some old flame in Sangala, whom he fed to crocodiles after she told him she was pregnant or something.

“I’m sorry Ms. Taylor, I can’t hear you over the roar of the crowd cheering my return.”

We had two great old-school “24” callbacks this week. The first is when Morris O’Brian, fresh off of his brief appearance in “Saw V,” dropped Chloe off at the FBI offices. We also got to see Morris and Chloe’s son Prescott. (Prescott? Really?) And while I love Morris, I was practically pumping my fists in the air the second I heard Old Yeller’s voice as he approached the First Daughter. Welcome back, Agent Pierce. I hope nobody shoots you this time around.

The whole end-justify-the-means aspect to Jack’s methods is clearly wearing on Jacqueline, who – gasp! – wept at the thought of what she did to Vossler’s wife and child once DDR laid some righteous guilt on her. What’s it gonna take to change DDR’s tune about Jack, especially after Chloe hilariously reminded him that he’d be wise to clean up his own backyard before pointing any fingers? You’d think the fact that Jack SAVED HER LIFE would be enough, but no, I guess Jack didn’t follow the proper channels. I can’t wait to see how the scene in next week’s episode plays out, where she’s slapping him over and over. “Can you feel that? How about that?” That scene has to end with him kissing her, right?

24, Actors, Actresses, TV, TV Action

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