Entries Tagged 'ABC' ↓

*Questions were selectively answered and cryptic in response, save for a few things.

In between Friday’s “Showrunners” Panel with the producers of Chuck, Pushing Daisies, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Saturday’s Lost Q&A, I’ve spent a bit of non-quality time with producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. Aside from being a couple of funny guys (Lindelof wore a “Trust Snape” T-shirt to Saturday’s event and cracked wise on several occasions), they certainly know their stuff. Some of what they answered was covered in Michael Stailey’s blog and Twitter entries from last week, but I’ll add onto some others after the jump:

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Or so we’re told by a Hans Van Eeghen via email.

Lost is the rare television show that keeps running even after the episodes dry up during the summer. Devoted fans got to participate in The Lost Experience, an intertextual cross marketing affair that involves easter egg hunts, viral marketing, obscure Web sites and fragments of clues dropped like breadcrumbs. It all amounts to very little in the way of understanding the show, but hey, it’s not like you had anything else to do this summer. Admit it.

Fans at last year’s Comic Con got an advanced taste of The Orchid orientation video, which as we all know, played heavily into the finale of Season Four. This year at Comic Con, a mysterious presence known as Octagon Global Recruiting were recruiting convention-goers to take a strange aptitude test. High scorers would presumably be invited to participate in a mysterious project that may or may not have the word Dharma in it.

Didn’t make it to California? Don’t fret. Starting today, www.dharmawantsyou.com will be hosting a series of tests for participants to judge their worthiness, and no doubt will unveil a host of interesting tidbits and secrets. The site is blank at the moment, but I’ll be checking it all day.

Yeah, so, I don’t have anything else to do this summer either. Wanna make something of it?

You want video? Oh, we got video. Two embedded videos after the jump.

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As is often the case with the behemoth known as Comic Con, things are constantly changing. As a result, I didn’t get to everything I had planned for the day. But, what I did cover was well worth the time investment.

Started the day by interviewing William Katt on the rebirth of the Greatest American Hero franchise, as unveiled at Thursday’s packed panel discussion with special guests Robert Culp and Connie Sellecca. With the blessing of series creator Stephen J. Cannell, Katt’s publishing company, Catastrophic Comics, will bring the series to comic book form by retelling the original pilot (with a few modern updates) and then proceed to fill in the gaps with many more tales of Ralph, Bill, Pam, and the suit. They’ll also be doing flash animation shorts, with Bob, Connie, and William voicing the characters. I’ll have the full interview for you shortly.

From there, it was over to the Marriott for a sit down with three of the original MST3K creators, Joel Hodgson, Jim Mallon, and Trace Beaulieu. Getting there early, I got to hang out while UGO did their on-camera interview, providing a little more insight into the show’s history. Then it was my turn for a less formal discussion, which ranged from the series origins to the nuts and bolts of what it took to create the show week in and week out. This was without a doubt the highlight of the day. At the moment, the interview is half transcribed, so with any luck I’ll have it for you before the end of Saturday.

Back to the convention center for Entertainment Weekly’s Showrunners panel, featuring producers Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies), Carlton Cuse (Lost), Damon Lindelof (Lost), Josh Schwartz (Chuck), and Josh Friedman (Sarah Connor Chronicles). As you might imagine, it ended up being very Lost-centric, but everyone seemed to find the humor in it, and we got some great insights into the other shows as well. The one Lost tidbit I wasn’t aware of is that the demise of Mr Eko was not according to plan. Apparently, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje came down with a severe case of island fever (the stir crazies) and wanted out of his contract, forcing Damon and Carlton to end Eko’s storyline long before they had originally planned. On the Sarah Connor front, Josh explained the casting of Brian Austin Green happened at the very last minute, less than a day before the character was schedule to shoot, and the entire staff thought Josh was insane for hiring him. Luckily for him, the move paid off in spades. And with regards to Pushing Daisies, the new season will pick up 10 months after we last saw our heroes, with all of them still desperately holding onto their respective secrets now tearing them apart. I’ll have the full report for you shortly. In the meantime, check out TV Verdict’s Twitter feed for live highlights of the discussion (typos included).

After taking a break from the festivities to work on transcribing, I sat in on the Robot Chicken panel and man are those guys nuts. Seth Green and Breckin Meyer have the greatest rapport of two friends I have ever seen, and the rest of this cast of characters are a comedy series unto themselves. Highlights from this discussion include teases for what to expect in Season Four — Tentacle porn; A war between the Smurfs and the Snorks; a second Star Wars special with Carrie Fisher; guest appearances by Joss Whedon and Ron Moore; and an unseen behind-the-scenes look at the making of Indiana Jones. You know, they’ve repeatedly asked Harrison Ford to appear on the show, but his agent (who has been repping him since the early ’70s) had no idea what the show was and was floored that there’s an entire network dedicated to cartoons. Again, head over to the Twitter feed for more highlights and stay tuned for a full report. Oh, and just remember, if anyone asks, Breckin wrote the Emperor Palpatine sketch.

Finally, we closed the day with the MST3K 20th Anniversary Celebration, featuring all 11 creative contributors to the series’ 11-year run. The well documented split between the gang still seems somewhat palpable, with Joel, Jim, and Trace seated to one side of the podium, while Mike, Kevin, Frank, Mary Jo, Josh, Bill, Brigid, and Paul were on the other. Not to make more out of this than there is, it’s just interesting to see the interactions between them all. Hosted by Patton Oswalt, the evening opened with a musical montage and clips, followed by a moderated discussion. No questions were taken from the audience though, which was a bit disappointing. Kevin and Frank ended up talking the most, with Mike and Josh saying the least. It may be strong of me to say the evening was a letdown, but given my talk with the guys earlier in the day, perhaps my expectations were too high. In any case, the 20th Anniversary DVD set will be released October 28 by Shout! Factory and include four never before released episodes — First Spaceship On Venus, Laserblast, Werewolf, and Future War — four lobby cards, a Crow figurine, and the bonus materials I mentioned earlier, much of which is being recorded this weekend. I’ll have a more robust summary for you, alongside the interview later this weekend.

Preview for Day Three:
* Jamie Bamber interview
* Interviews with cast and crew for DC’s next animated feature — Wonder Woman
* Lost, BSG, Pushing Daisies, and Fringe presentations (time and crowds permitting)
* TV Guide Fall preview

Caught some of ABC’s ballyhooed obstacle course game which, of course, is fashioned after
MXC, itself fashioned after the Japanese head-scratcher Takeshi’s Castle. Or maybe it skips the middle-man and apes Takeshi’s Castle. Whatever, it sucks either way.

The obstacles are not nearly as entertaining as the Japanese counterparts–the bouncy balls are a sad trade-off for the head-traumatizing awesomeness of the log roll. There’s still mud and water and contestants saying stupid things and announcers saying stupider things, but the dialog pales in comparison to the MXC voice-overs. Then again, you could get away with a lot more innuendo on Spike TV than you can on ABC prime time.

The lone highlight was that boxing glove obstacle and the inevitable crotch punches.

Yes, this is a cheap way to rub it in, so apologies Laker-Land, but NBA Commish David Stern must be a little happy after seeing the returns for the ballyhooed Finals match-up between Boston and L.A., which brought in a 10.7 share for the Celts’ dismantling of Kobe and company.

Granted, it doesn’t scorch the airwaves and the NBA has plenty on its plate with the ever-unfolding nightmare that is disgraced ref Tim Donaghy and allegations of game-fixing, but I’m sure most casual hoops fans–not to mention the ABC front office–were just a bit relieved to not see another Detroit/San Antonio ratings-assault.

Boston’s dramatic one-season turn-around and Finals victory is a great story, and as a New England resident it was hard not to bounce for joy when they secured Banner #17.

As a life-long Knicks fan, however, it served as a stark reminder that my squad of choice has as much chance of competing for an NBA title any time soon as my Goffstown Parks and Recreation team.

Join Judge Dave Johnson, Adam Arseneau, and Erich Asperschlager as they dissect, discuss, and debate the season finale and entire fourth season of Lost. How does one move an entire island? Is Claire really dead? Can Ben continue to stay one step ahead of Charles Widmore? What do the two remaining 16-episode seasons hold for our heroes and their nemeses? And can you truly wait until January for more episodes? Enquiring minds want to know!

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Warning: comments below may contain spoilers, so read at your own risk!

Attention Lost devotees! The Verdict crew will be assembling a special recap podcast on Thursday night immediately following the finale of Lost, which will surely involve a lot of confused stutters, swear words and frozen donkey wheels. Don’t miss it!

Look for it either late Thursday night or early Friday morning, depending on how many curse words we have to bleep out. That kind of post-production work takes time, after all.

Lost fans worldwide are twiddling their thumbs in anticipation of this Thursday night (9/8c), when the two-hour season finale airs and hopefully (for once) answers more questions than it presents. An unlikely proposition, considering producers have already hinted at the “big surprise” by ts internal production codename: Frozen Donkey Wheel.

Call me cynical, but it is shockingly unlikely anything involving a frozen donkey wheel will clarify any of my questions, at all.

What do you guys think? There are a lot of outstanding questions to be wrapped up. Will we get to see the Orchid station? Will we (finally) get to know who the heck was in the coffin back in the finale of Season Three? Will we get to see the events that lead up to the rescue of the Oceanic Six? So many questions… so little time.

Also, if you haven’t seen the Orchid Orientation video yet, do not pass GO or collect $200 until you have seen it. It is essential viewing going into the finale, and one of the rare occasions where content that exists outside the “official” canon of the episode content is vitally important.

We’ll be back Thursday to recap. Until then, patience.

ABC has also announced its prime-time schedule for the fall. Not much in the way of new content: Scrubs moves over from NBC for its final 18-episode season; Mike Judge gives us yet another dysfunctional animated comedy in The Goode Family; British scifi import Life on Mars will keep Lost’s schedule spot warm until January; and Ashton Kutcher cranks out two new reality series — one revolves around a beauty pageant competition, partnering with Tyra Banks, and the other is an in-your-face “Publishers Clearing House” vehicle in which a mobile production team drives to unsuspecting families’ homes to test their on-the-spot knowledge of each other for cash and prizes. Other than that, it’s pretty much business as usual. Casualties of last season include: Men in Trees, Miss Guided, October Road, Women’s Murder Club, Big Shots, Cavemen (did anyone ever watch that show?), and Cashmere Mafia.

For full details visit ( Variety )

Sure, the news hit two weeks ago, but I’ve never been the first one on my e-block to know anything: Lost fans can look forward to an extra hour of season finale this year! Instead of the 13 episodes of a strike-shortened fourth season, E! reports (and the most recent official audio podcast confirms) that we can look forward to a 14th hour, adding up to what will now be a three-hour finale beginning with part one on May 15 and finishing up on May 29 with parts two and three. Despite the two week gap (to make room for Grey’s Anatomy’s own two-hour finale), getting more Lost is a very good thing. And heck, it gives us obsessives a little more time to speculate about why this year’s jaw-dropping reveal is code-named “Frozen Donkey Wheel” (which, frankly, sounds delicious).