TV/Movies Megathread

[Drakken]

Is it me, or Army Wives is a little unrealistic, as in not enough wives cheating on their husbands while they are deployed?

I know it's US Army-approved, but come on.

[Sophie Scholl]

Currently working my way through the Sharpe films.  First two aren't exactly "great" movies, but they're entertaining enough to keep my watching.  Fortunately, they do seem to be getting better as I go. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fy3tSim3to

Overall, the Sharpe films are great, if you can get over the restaging-Waterloo-with-ten-guys thing.  But there are some real stinkers in there, particularly where they departed radically from the books.

The two worst are Sharpe's Gold, which is a real "WTF?" episode - Spanish guerillas are Aztecs? - and I think it was Sharp's Sword, which has, for reasons best known to the writers, Sharpe tempted by a mute girl named "lass"; fortunately, he turns her down, but still, WTF?

I did however like the episode set in England, near the end of the series.

Sharpe's Gold was almost all crap with the Aztecs.  Sharpe's Sword was actually pretty good I thought, despite the mute former nun.  The Harper and Irish Priest parts make up for the silliness of the mute girl in my opinion.  My pops and I are watching them together via Netflix.  We just finished Sharpe's Sword actually.  In regards to the first two compared to the non- Masterpiece Theater ones, I have to say the thing I miss most is Brian Cox.  His character was rather amusing and had some of the best lines.

[Josquius]

Well, the V season (series?) finale got interesting last night.  Hope it comes back for at least one more season.

Yeah, I can't help but think though that it was a 'oh shit, looks like we're going to be cancelled, quick, throw out all the cool stuff we planned for in the future!' episode...hope now.

[Tonitrus]

The suckage continues...."Red Dawn" remake will digitally swap Chinese occupation into North Korean....

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/03/17/hollywood-bows-pending-chinese-box-office/

[Darth Wagtaros]

Well fuck that.  North Koreans invade the US?  Right.


I watched Red, which was good.

Then I watched The Wraith, which was good.

[jimmy olsen]

The suckage continues...."Red Dawn" remake will digitally swap Chinese occupation into North Korean....

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/03/17/hollywood-bows-pending-chinese-box-office/

WTF? That makes no sense.

[Darth Wagtaros]

That is why I so rarely go to the movies these days. Not only are they expensive, but mostly trainwrecks to boot.

[Ed Anger]

Well, the V season (series?) finale got interesting last night.  Hope it comes back for at least one more season.

Yeah, I can't help but think though that it was a 'oh shit, looks like we're going to be cancelled, quick, throw out all the cool stuff we planned for in the future!' episode...hope now.

Hope is futile. ABC is going to ditch that turd.

[Tonitrus]

The suckage continues...."Red Dawn" remake will digitally swap Chinese occupation into North Korean....

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/03/17/hollywood-bows-pending-chinese-box-office/

WTF? That makes no sense.

From what I've seen in other sources, it will basically make the North Koreans like the Cubans were in the original(kinda like, the Chinese run the overall show, but the NK's control the "sector" that the movie is set in)...except far more in the role of the "bad guys" (whereas, of course, in the original, the main Cuban character was more sympathetic).

[MadImmortalMan]

Well, the V season (series?) finale got interesting last night.  Hope it comes back for at least one more season.

Yeah, I can't help but think though that it was a 'oh shit, looks like we're going to be cancelled, quick, throw out all the cool stuff we planned for in the future!' episode...hope now.

Hope is futile. ABC is going to ditch that turd.

It'll give Morena time to regrow her hair before Castle finally gets canceled, freeing up everyone to go make more Firefly seasons.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I like Castle. Its stupid but it kills 45 minutes.

[Ed Anger]

NBC renewed Community. Which will give me another year of Pierce Hawthorne references.

[Ed Anger]

And to kick more sand into V fan's faces:

If 'V' Is Cancelled, Might Another Network Pick It Up?

Highly unlikely. It is very rare for a network to pick up a low rated show cancelled by another network.

What about Medium? NBC cancelled it, and CBS picked it up.

CBS produced Medium, and already had a syndication deal with Lifetime for the show. Therefore CBS's risk to assume production and air it for another season was greatly reduced. Another example is ABC picking up Scrubs (which it produced).

Almost all other instances of a show moving from one network to another include a similar dynamic where the producing studio's corporate sibling network picked up the show to extend its life for syndication purposes.

What about the CW? Warner Brothers produces V and owns half of the CW.

V doesn't fit with the CW's publicly expressed target demo (women 18-34). Even if you think that might change with the departure of CW chief Dawn Ostroff, V is certainly significantly more expensive than anything being aired on the CW today, and it's unlikely they're going to decide to ramp up their production budget (they abandoned Sunday several years ago for that reason).

What about one of Time Warner's cable networks? They're corporate siblings with Warner Brothers too.

Unlikely that V gets the SouthLAnd treatment. Since NBC had already paid for a number of shows in what was to be SouthLAnd's second season, TNT likely caught a nice financial deal allowing them to air those episodes at a relatively low cost. Then the show had to have its budget substantially reduced for its next season.

What about Syfy?

Syfy has publicly stated they are no longer in the business of picking up the failed shows from other networks.

What about DirecTV? They saved Friday Night Lights and Damages.

DirecTV has publicly stated that after the Damages save, they are now out of the show saving business.

That's not going to stop me, I'm heading over to SaveV.com right now!

Everybody needs a hobby.

Update: This isn't about another networks, but it's come up in the comments below:

What about ABC making V a summer series? Like Rookie Blue.

The scripted Canadian imports like Rookie Blue that ABC will sprinkle into its summer schedule reportedly cost a tiny fraction ($350k/episode) what the typical license fee for a broadcast scripted "in season" drama costs ($3 million/episode). No chance that even a retooled V could compete with that pricing.

[Caliga]

Syfy

[Ed Anger]

Syfy

Every now and then, I'll watch some of those movies they make. Porn has better production values and better acting.