Hellmouth Podcast

Archive for the ‘Television’ Category

For those of you who are not familiar with Nathan Fillion‘s new show Castle which airs on ABC. Castle is a criminal drama about a writer, Rick Castle, who teams up with a detective to get inspiration for his fictional crime novels while helping to solve crimes.

It is less scientific than Bones, nowhere near as serious as Law and Order, and is a fun and interesting show for fans of the criminal drama genre.

But that is not what this post is about…

Castle just got a little more interesting.

Since the show is about a novelist helping a detective solve crimes while garnering inspiration for his fictional works. Rick Castle will be publishing a real-live book which is to hit bookstores soon. Obviously, there is a ghost writer involved, but early indications are that the book will be a murder mystery written in the voice of Rick Castle.

As in the show, the elements of the novel will reveal quite a bit about the characters in the ABC show and will pay homage to past plotlines and give the reader an insight into the show not possible simply by watching.

The marketing strategy here is fantastic! I think this is a brilliant idea and look forward to seeing how this all plays out. This could quite possible bring an entire new audience to the show, the book-lovers.

Don’t buy this book anticipating a masterpiece, but it should be entertaining and a great add-on to the television series.

I have to admit that when this article came across my Google Alerts this morning, I clicked on it thinking to myself, “this will probably be some radical Christian group damning anyone to hell if they watch any of the current, popular shows revolving around vampirism.” — It wasn’t.

The article on the ChristianCentury.org website, written by Rodney Clapp has some interesting points to make. I found parts of the article interesting and other parts of the article somewhat reaching. I think that his point about Vampires and Werewolves being character types that many adolescent teens can relate to in that both groups are experiencing drastic changes to their bodies and personalities. He also makes an interesting point about the feelings of alienation felt by teens. That is pretty much where my agreement with his article ends. Rodney goes on to discuss how vampires and werewolves in popular culture are an analogy of American views of post 9/11 terrorism, etc. I personally feel that is a bit of a stretch.

There is a link to the article here, you decide.

Michelle Trachtenberg is making a little noise in internet news today. In a recent interview Trachtenberg was asked about whether or not she would sign on for a new Buffy movie. Trachtenberg said,”there was a Buffy movie, that’s what started it all. We had an amazing seven-year run, and at the end Buffy, the universe ended. There’s not really anywhere to go.”

While many fans are clamoring for some form of on-screen revival of the Buffy series and cast, there are a lot of obstacles and questions that would have to be answered before a project like that would have any viability.

Here are a few things to think about…

Would you want a Buffy movie if the TV cast was not involved?

Should the movie be a continuation of the series or independent?

Would you see a Buffy movie if Joss Whedon was not involved in the project?

Let me know what you think hellmouthpodcast@gmail.com

Neil Patrick Harris

For those of you who did not tune in to American Idol last night to watch Neil Patrick Harris in his guest judge roll, shame on you. Harris did a fantastic job guest hosting on the show and achieved what some would consider the impossible, stealing the show from Simon Cowell.

From the onset, Neil Patrick Harris was witty, honest (sometimes painfully so) and entertaining. Before the day was over, Harris was calling for votes and asking Simon what he thought of the Idol hope-fulls. He was a breath of fresh air for a series that in it’s 9th season can seem stagnant at times and with Cowell already stating that he will leave the show when his contract is up, Idol should be hoping and praying that How I Met Your Mother tanks and Harris becomes available to take Cowell’s spot.

Don’t panic people, the odds of How I Met Your Mother tanking are slim to none and I like most of you would prefer Harris spend his time in ventures outside of American Idol.

Bring on Glee!

Felicia Day

Felicia Day will be in a Vanity Fair article titled “America’s Tweethearts” discussing her and other prominent women with a substantial twitter following. I myself am a follower of Felicia and find her tweets-a-treat every day.

Charisma Carpenter

For those of you in the Dallas area, you will be happy to know that the beautiful Charisma Carpenter will be appearing at the Dallas Comic Con this year so get your tickets, your tents, and your digital cameras and go ahead and get in line outside the venue.

The news is all very preliminary, but John Landgraf, president of FX, has stated that he is set to be meeting over lunch with Joss Whedon in the upcoming weeks. Landgraf is a fan of Whedon’s work and while the purpose of the meeting has not been disclosed, on the heels of the Dollhouse project, it is certain that the discussion will center around what Joss is going to do next.

While Joss has primarily stuck with major networks for his project development, it could be that budget aside, the cable arena would be a better fit for Joss. With more control over content and philosophy behind his shows he may find that he could be good for cable and cable could be good for Joss.

We are a long ways away from finding out what Joss’ next project will be, and what home he will find next but meetings like this are a good sign. Rest assured that rumors will start flying about this meeting before the busboy has finished cleaning off the table.

For the rest of us, it is the painful waiting game to see what Joss will do next.

After the conclusion of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer series, there was talk that Joss Whedon and the BBC were working together to create a Ripper spin-off centered around the Buffy character Giles. Anthony Stewart Head was said to be set to reprise his role for the project in whatever form it took.

There seemed to be potential for a few different iterations of the Ripper project, either a TV mini-series, TV Movie or recurring episodic series.

When Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse project got the green-light the Ripper project lost steam and Anthony Stewart Head became involved in the BBC series Merlin which airs in the U.S. on NBC.

With the cancellation of Dollhouse, could it be possible that the Ripper project will garner some attention again? Buffy fans can only hope. A series based around Rupert Giles (Buffy’s Watcher) whose sordid past earned him the nickname Ripper would be a welcome fix for all the Buffy fans who are “jonesing” for a return to the TV format of some of our beloved characters.

While it may prove a possibility that Ripper will gain momentum, I think that we should all temper our excitement. Joss has said on numerous occasions that his projects are limited by time and not a lack of ideas. If his track record is any indication, whatever project Joss choses to work on next will both entertain and amaze all Whedon fans.

Dominic Knight discusses this issue more eloquently than I do. See here for his article regarding the Ripper series and its potential.

For those of you who have heard me mention on a couple of occasions that I am a big fan of the Whedon/Buffyverse, here is a great opportunity for you to jump on the bandwagon. Believe me this is one wagon that once you are on, there is no falling off.

HuluTV now has Angel season 1 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Seasons 1 and 2 available for your online viewing pleasure with limited commercial interruption. If you are curious about the worlds that Joss Whedon has created, then here is your opportunity to get introduced, free of charge and at your own convenience.

The picture Quality is very good and the site is very user friendly. I encourage you to check them out, go watch Buffy Season 1 Episode 1 and then come back here and read my Ep1 post Welcome to the Hellmouth and lets discuss, let me know what you thought…

If you don’t think you are up for an entire season of television and you are looking more for a quick sampling of his work the check out Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog you won’t be disappointed.

Geek Out

While working on my post for the Fall Season TV shows, I did some surface research on Dollhouse, the new Joss Whedon show airing on Fox beginning in January. I decided to do a little more research and see if I could come up with more info to give you a better picture of what this show will be about. What I found was even more exciting than I had anticipated. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the Buffyverse. I have decided to begin my review of one of my all-time favorite TV Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For a “plethora” of reasons, as we will discuss over the course of these posts; I think that BTVS is one of the sharpest, deepest, most entertaining television shows to come out of the 90s. Read the rest of this entry »

According to Wikipedia, “On May 13, 2008, CBS announced that Moonlight was officially canceled.” I watched each episode of the first season of Moonlight and had very mixed feelings about it. At the end of each episode of Moonlight I was always reminded of the movie The Princess Bride. Read the rest of this entry »