Tuesday, November 03, 2009

What's Up?

Hey all,
Sorry for being MIA lately. What's new? Anyone see the premiere of V tonight? Thoughts?

I had a dream the other night that I was flipping channels and "happened" upon a made-for-TV Alias movie. In the dream I was like "oh, when was this made?" In real life of course I'd be excited and disgusted at the same time (made-for-TV...really??)

Anywho, hope y'all are doing well and had a good Halloween. :)

114 comments:

Page48 said...

SRG, I watched "V" at 8:00 and I'm gonna check it out again at 11:00. I find it hard to catch every detail the first time around, since I'm always scouring the internet on my laptop at the same time as I'm supposed to be watching the show.

One thing I couldn't help but notice was Anna's interview with "Party of Five" dude, when she started a sentence with 'truth be told'. That phrase gets my attention for some reason.

I liked the "V" pilot much more than ABC's other big deal, "Flash Forward", which I've basically already dropped from my playlist.

"V" rolled out a couple of decent WTF moments, and in a season which has so far offered zilch in the way of new hopefuls, I'll be following this show until I have a reason not to.

I like the comfy feeling of having so many familiar faces, not the least of which is Juliette from "Lost" and the two "Firefly" veterans, who unfortunately, don't share any screen time in the pilot.

On another subject altogether, I couldn't help but notice that the last episode of "Dollhouse" was easily best of series, so far, and came just in time for (yawn) a 5 or 6 week hiatus. Could Joss Whedon actually turn this one around or will he just run out of time?

uncle111 said...

Just signing up.

I forgot V was on. I'll have to catch it online.

ILA4E said...

Just watched the V premiere, and I enjoyed it enough. Definitely agree that I'll continue to stay tuned until the show convinces me otherwise.

Anytime I hear the phrase "Truth Be Told" my attention is grabbed. Always gives me a sense of (sad) nostalgia...

So, Page, would you recommend giving Dollhouse another go? I think I stopped around the episode seven mark of S1.

(Thinking about giving Fringe another go-around, too).

You know, SRG, I would even forgive an ALIAS telemovie -- at least that's something...

Page48 said...

ILA4E, I still wouldn't get too excited about DH's prospects. It's not back on the air until December now and probably just airing out the remaining 8 or 9 episodes after that. It's ratings are non-existant.

"Fringe" is still a chronic underachiever, but you can't tell that to a "Fringe" zealot. I've tried many times on fringebloggers.com and pissed a few of the true believers off. Of course, there's plenty of entertainment value in that. It's like teasing a Chihuahua, it never gets old.

uncle111 said...

I would love an Alias mini-series! Say, 3 2hour episodes in 3 days.

SRM said...

I forgot V was premiering too, saw something about it on Twitter and was like "oh yeah..." If I have some free time this week I'll see about catching it online since I didn't record it (yes, record, I still have an old school VCR). :)

I didn't realize Dollhouse was back on until I saw someone comment on an earlier post about it. Since it premiered in Jan. I just assumed it would be back in Jan. I haven't made one attempt to catch up, guess it really didn't get to me much... takes a lot these days to get me to tune into something every week. Until Lost comes back the only things I make a point of watching are How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory (yeah, got hooked via my bf).

Page48 said...

I pulled this off of IMDB tonight for some comic relief:

Sidney Bristow is a college student who has an unusual job – she is a spy working for the CIA under secret conditions where not even her friends knows what she does. When her boyfriend proposes Sydney tells him what she does for a living and her employers kill him in line with procedures. Deciding to leave the agency before they kill her too Sydney discovers that she has actually been working for SD6, an agency that is actually a shadowy criminal organisation world-wide. Sydney joins the CIA and works as a double agent to help CIA Agent Vaughn to bring down SD6. She finds that her father is the other double agent within SD6 and the pair work together. While following her missions to uncover the work of the prophetic Rambaldi she must feed information back to the CIA without blowing her cover.

When this series started on TV last year there was a lot of hype about it being the teenage 24 and other such things. When I saw the pilot I wasn't overly taken as it had too many `music video' moments and the action seemed forced. However I stuck with it and, once I got into the way it all works then it became actually quite enjoyable if not exactly gripping. The plot is pretty stretched – never more so when a run of 15 or so episodes are based around getting the work of a prophet who may have designed the ultimate weapon etc. However it is still quite fun to watch and moves along with a certain amount of energy and pace. The cliff hangers are often a little forced and didn't keep me waiting for the next show. In fact most of the `cliff hangers' are sorted out in the first few moments of the next episode.

The overall theme of Sydney versus SD6 is one that runs consistently well even where the week to week plots may be weak. The action of the weekly missions is OK and I was glad to see that the series did not go the way of just putting Garner into different skimpy clothes each week as a way of getting an audience (although she does do that quite a lot!). Sydney's friends are also given reasonable side plots rather than just filling out the cast. The journalist is the best subplot although it isn't consistent and runs out of steam, while Francie's romances don't quite fit the rest of the action they do make an occasional change of pace.

Garner is very sexy and can also act very well and is a good lead. She deservedly has had good film roles out of it. Vartan is very good as Vaughn and has a good chemistry with Garner without going overboard on the `will they won't they' thing. The support cast is full of famous faces who do sterling work – most noticeably Garber and Rifkin. Also the guest stars who come and go for a few episodes here and there are quite good with even Quentin Tarantino giving a good performance. It's not all perfect but the cast do good work generally.

The series may not be well enough written and the thrills are mainly manufactured and temporary, although the running plot is enough to keep tension and excitement running through the show. Overall this series is polished and slick and is well serviced with a good cast and a reasonably good plot. Series one has been good if not great and I can see what series 2 will be dealing with. However I hope that they stop after 2 (or 3 at a push) series rather than taking it too far and outstaying it's welcome.

Series one has been enjoyable if not perfect and I will be looking forward to series two, I hope it can keep up the energy, polish and enjoyment of the first series and maybe even improve on it's weaknesses.

Was the above comment useful to you?
Page 48: Yeah it was useful, I laughed till I bloody cried.

uncle111 said...

Page,
I don't know what to say to that...person. Where did you find that?

Page48 said...

Uncle, it comes straight from the"Alias" IMDB page. Just one of 199 comments (so far), many of which are equally ridiculous and derogatory.

Takes a lot of time to read through the comments, but very interesting to see how deeply clueless many viewers can be.

Another of my favourites goes like this:

Holy crap, this is the worst piece of s*** i've seen in a long time.

The network just finished season 2 of 24 and then started sending Alias. Oh boy does it suck compared to 24, and Days of our lives and Jenny Jones doesn't look too shabby if you compare it to Alias.

What really annoys me is that she goes to do her thing unarmed. Who the hell goes on a covert mission knowing that all the people are there to kill you and you don't even have a frigging slingshot!?! The fights are just stupid, if you're in a life-or-death-fight, you don't open yourself up to getting tumbled to the ground, shot or stabbed, you try to kill the other one as fast as possible. It's even more unrealistic than A-Team ffs!!

But what REALLY takes the cake, is the constant popular music being thrown in your face. Whatever chance there ever were of anyone trying to tell a story or convey an emotion gets completely hammered by all that stupid-ass music. Someone should tell them that a bit of silence could help build S U S P E N S E !!!!! For crying out load, playing Sinead O'Connors no mans woman after she blew something up is just pathetic.

It's not a tv-show about an agent, it's a music video. And frankly, MTV does it better.


I'm assuming these are real people spouting such stupidity. Maybe employees of ABC??

uncle111 said...

Is there any place online that I can catch the first V before Next Tuesday?

Page48 said...

Do I know where you can stream "V"? Nope.

Do I know where you can download it with bittorrent? Yup.

SKlaft said...

I caught the V premier, and I liked it. I suffer from a good memory, though. I also watched the original mini-series a ages ago. They do seem to be keeping well within the original plot so far, but then again, I was only a child when I watched the first one, and my memory of the precise details is a little hazy.

Overall, I intended to watch it, if not because it was (and is) a great idea for a show, then also for the familiar faces of Lost and Firefly. It looks like Alan Tudyke's time was not as short lived as it appeared during the first episode. The graphics are amazing for a made-for-TV show, and it looks like they are taking it seriously. At the bottom line: I'm in.

RE: the critical review of ALIAS that page posted - We read the criticisms, thinking "How could this be what a thoughtful person with an appreciation for artful TV saw?" The difficulty is in the premise that the writer was a thoughtful person with an appreciation for artful TV.

Seriously, are we supposed to give much credibility to someone who doesn't know the difference in TV broadcasting between a series and a season?

RE: the unlikely possibility of a made for TV movie of ALIAS - To be honest, I'd rather they leave it alone unless they intend nothing less than a 7-part mini-series, where they could actually do the story justice. I'm not sure JG would or could do it again, so they would need to advance the story of Izabel a few years, which is actually a good idea, except you loose so much of the rest of the supporting cast that made the show great.

They could do it, but they would have to take it as seriously as they are the V remake; without which, I would be glad for them not to soil the memory.

That's just my point of view today. If they announced an ALIAS project tomorrow, my hope would be as soaring as all of yours would be.

-R.

Page48 said...

Apparently JJ's new spy show has a name.

uncle111 said...

Page,
M/M Smith meets BI sounds good to me.

Also, Can you give me instuctions for how to use the link for viewing V online?

Page48 said...

Uncle, to download the episode, you need a bittorrent program, I use utorrent, which is a very small piece of software.

To play the small (350Mb version), Windows Media Player will do the trick, as well as any number of other players.

To play the large (1.09Mb version), which is 720p, you will need VLC Player (about 17Mb).

I don't know of any source for streaming "V" at this point in time.

uncle111 said...

I caught V on ABC online. Good episode. I saw the V FBI infiltrator coming from the first time we saw him. I noticed myself becoming increasingly tense and uncomfortable as the episode progressed. I don't think I can ever get an MRI because I don't think I can stay still in a confined space for more than a few seconds. In the same way, and maybe for the same reason, I would not be able to remain passive in the face of tyranny. Hence, seeing the V's making their move made me uncomfortable.

This is going to have a little bit of Jericho in it.

SKlaft said...

From the J.J. blurb to which Page48 linked:
-------
ABC's two-part "Lost" opening often is considered one of the best-directed pilots of all time and helped launch Abrams' career into helming such theatrical films as "Mission: Impossible 3" and "Star Trek."
--------

ALIAS must be the Rodney Dangerfield of JJ's repertoire. No respect.
Makes me want to spit.

SRM said...

ugh, seriously, I love Lost but honestly thought it was a bit boring in the beginning and only stuck w/ it past the first few episodes because it was JJ...

SRM said...

ooo, Salt looks like it could be a cool spy movie...

Page48 said...

SRG, I'll be watching "Salt" for sure. Looks like Mrs. Smith goes it alone. I notice it also stars the assassin from "Serenity".

I thought "The International" was a decent spy flick as well.

I really hope JJ doesn't get all stupid with his spy show. I keep reading cross btw. Bourne and Smiths, but I've also read comments about it being a comedy. "Chuck" has the spy comedy market cornered and it's having a tough time getting a long term commitment, so I don't think more spy-com is necessary at all.

Page48 said...

Oh, and one more thought re: "Salt". Is there some freaking reason that Jen can't get in line for this type of movie??? I mean, really.

Page48 said...

Today "Dollhouse", tomorrow "Fringe"?

SRM said...

I honestly think one of the big mistakes made w/ Dollhouse was bringing it back in the fall rather than in Jan. DH wasn't even on my radar when the fall season started up because it first premiered in Jan., so that's when I expected it to return. I can't remember if the same was true for Fringe, but I thought I remembered it too starting in the winter...

Page48 said...

SRG, "Fringe" kicked off in September, 2008, and (sadly) marked the end of Girlscout's participation in LTA.

"Fringe", IMO is absolutely plagued by stand-alone, freak-of-the-week episodes. I found Mulder and Scully much more enjoyable doing pretty much the same thing.

uncle111 said...

Hey everyone! Will wants to do an Alias TV movie!!

Anonymous said...

I misread it. BC said movie based on Alias, not TV movie.

uncle111

Page48 said...

Well, unfortunately BC HAS worked with JG again on her latest rom-com nonsense.

I think actors quickly learn that empty platitudes such as "I'd love to work with *** again" and "I'd jump at the chance to do a **** movie", are the easiest way to extricate themselves from an annoying entertainment reporter scrum. I don't think comments like those carry a lot of weight when it comes to actually getting things done in Hollyweird. Still, it's better than saying "I'm just so glad that I've put Will Tippin behind me once and for all".

I'm just guessing, but I suspect he doesn't mind doing 2 movies in a row with Jessica Biel either.

ILA4E said...

Speaking of Valentine's Day, looking on the imdb.com page, I saw that BC's character is called "Holden Bristow" -- heh.

Page48 said...

"Holden Bristow" (something I wish I was doing...Syd, of course, not Jack)

That movie (which I vow never to see) also re-unites Jen with her "The Kingdom" co-star Jamie Foxx and her "Dude, Where's my Car?" co-star, Ashton Kutcher. It also re-unites Jamie Foxx with his "Stealth" co-star, Jessica Biel.

Small world, ain't it? Was Jason Bateman soooooo busy that he couldn't join JG for this one?

I find BC's "transition" to action movies (if we can call 1 movie a transition) to be encouraging to some degree. Maybe some of that enthusiasm will rub off on JG and cause her to follow his lead (insert hoping, wishing, praying here) before she turns into Dame Edna or worse.

SRM said...

Ok whoever the person is who keeps posting about downloading Alias episodes, STOP. Once was fine but you've posted many times and I consider this spam, I will have you blocked.

Page48 said...

Victor Garber as Klingon.

Page48 said...

Comingsoon.net offers this teency newsbyte on "Undercovers":

Q: What are you able to say about the new series on NBC, "Undercovers"?

Abrams: We're just casting now. It's a more wish-fulfilling show. That's not to say it's fantasy or anything, but it's got an energy that I think feels like something I would want to watch, but that doesn't guarantee that anyone else will. For me, it feels fun. Look at the spy genre I've worked in before. While familiar in some ways, it feels very, very different.

uncle111 said...

Page-
VG was Jack Bristow in a mask! Amazing. Great clip.

JJ just said...ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about "Undercovers."

SKlaft said...

I don't know if any of you have followed it this year, but Heroes has been especially good, in my estimation.
"Samuel" brings a whole new and interesting element to the theme.

I dropped off from watching V. Not sure why. I think I missed an episode, and I was never compelled to try to find it.

I've not watched anything very new. I'm looking forward to the 2nd half Burn Notice's season coming soon. I'll always try to catch House MD, or I will record it. I've been alone on here as a Smallville fan for 9 years, but I still enjoy it. Every once in a while I'll watch "Lie To Me," and while it is hardly the action-packed thrill ride of Alias, it does have good pacing and interesting stories.

There isn't much on these days unless you like dancing competitions.Anyone else watching anything new?

-R.

Page48 said...

I haven't seen anything new worth watching this season other than "V", which is now gone until March or thereabouts.

"Burn Notice" returns January 21, and is (thankfully) renewed for a 4th season (or what passes for a season on cable). It's not often that networks make intelligent decisions, so this one should be celebrated.

I watched the 1984 movie "Places in the Heart" the other night (that's the movie that won Sally Field the Oscar which prompted her to realize that "you like me, right now you like me").

Aside from being a nice, inspirational flick, it also sports a couple of "Alias" faces: Terry O'Quinn and Lindsay Crouse (from the Roger Moore episode), who I just finished watching as the evil Prof. Maggie Walsh in Season 4 of Buffy.

I watched "Smallville" last night, as luck would have it. I wrote off the CW shows (BTVS, "Angel", "Smallville) back in the day when I probably should have given them all a chance at the time. Nine seasons is a lot of catching up to do, but with nothing new worth watching anymore, I may have to set aside the time.

uncle111 said...

I've been so busy getting ready for the Christmas buying season that I haven't even checked here to see if anything is new in what seems like a month.

I bailed on Heroes a couple of seasons ago. The only thing I watch while waiting for the return of Burn is Monk and V online. My 60 hour work weeks have turned into 70 hour weeks (year round) trying to compete with our sinking economy.

Page48 said...

"Dollhouse" rolled out 2 excellent hours last night (oh, sure now that it's canceled). Pity the first season was all about ho-of-the-week. DH is well beyond that now, so hopefully it will have a strong finish.

Tonight, it's Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig in "The Invasion" (the latest version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". I've seen it before, but hopefully I've forgotten enough that it will work for me a second time.

Also caught part of "The Incredibles" tonight. TI is one of my favourite animated flicks.

It is one brutal season for TV viewers so far, but "24", BN, and "Lost" are coming to the rescue in the new year.

uncle111 said...

Also love TI.

That DH hasn't hit their site yet.

I noticed last night that someone from a US city named Jericho visited mu Man From U.N.C.L.E. site yesterday...Hmmmm

Page48 said...

Lena Olin gets a chance to waste her time and get paid for it.

Hey, we're in a recession, work is work, even if it's BORING.

Page48 said...

Somebody has some casting ideas for ABC's recently rumoured reboot of "Charlie's Angels".

Scroll down to the bottom entry.

uncle111 said...

Page,
That came up somewhere else 2 or 3 weeks ago. Obviously an Alias fan.

SRM said...

ooo Jen and Merrin kicking ass together, that would be fun :)

SKlaft said...

I don't know who the others are, but Kristen Bell brings interest to anything. Her latest work since Veronica have not been her marque performances, but she has the acting chops to...

hey!

Here's an idea. Alias continues with Kristen Bell playing the role of the Daughter of Bristow/ Vaughn.

mmmm... sounds like a perfect role for her.

Just a thought.

-R

Page48 said...

More "Undercovers" poop.

This could go either way, but it's leaning towards lame. "Hart to Hart" should NOT come to mind when discussing a 2010 spy show, especially when one's spy legacy currently rests with "Alias" and MI3. Add to that the networks' current hatred for serial TV, and we're right back to the early 80's formula of 'wrap it up in an hour and we'll see ya back here next week'.

Page48 said...

Lengthy mult-part interview with Abrams and the Bad Robot crew, touching on all of their shows, including "Alias".

Gerald McRaney (most recently of "Jericho") to play the spy boss of Samantha and Steven Bloom in "Undercovers".

uncle111 said...

I hope everyone here had a very Merry Christmas.

Page48 said...

Not only had a Merry Christmas, but still have next week off. How Merry can it get?

Looks like 1014 people were remembering Sydney Bristow this Christmas.

Page48 said...

These "Alias"-themed photoshops were done years ago, but I don't recall ever seeing them before.

I love 'em.

Page48 said...

Looks like "Undercovers" has the early makings of a website.

They've also cast the husband portion of the husband/wife spy team. I just got done watching him in "Surrogates", the latest Bruce Willis flick.

Page48 said...

Some respect paid to "Alias" and its legacy as a trailblazer.

Scroll down to #10 if you're in a hurry.

Page48 said...

We have a winner.

SKlaft said...

Woo hoo! for #1

Hey... re: the TV list, has anyone watched The Wire or The Shield? I have been tempted to start The Shield because I like Chicklis as an actor, but Glenn Close scared me away from it.

I never saw most of the shows she listed in there. Could we be missing out, sticking with free TV networks?

Maybe we should have a group-watch experiment for some highly touted shows none of us have seen. What do you think?

-R.

Page48 said...

I love Google Street View.

Check out this Street View of the ABC Building featured in the final night of "Alias" (Sydney in Sydney).

Now, compare it with this screen cap.

In Street View, it looks like just another building, but in the screen cap, it's absolutely transformed. It's the difference between Clark Kent and Superman.

Page48 said...

Robetron, I was a little (okay, a lot) dismayed that, although Syd was voted #1 in her category, "Alias" didn't register in the top 20 scripted shows of the decade.

As far as "The Wire" or "The Shield" or "Oz" or any of those cable crime shows, they're just not my cuppa, I'm afraid. I'm not much of a fan of pure drama shows, especially crime drama. In fact, the more 'gritty' and 'edgy' a drama is, the less likely I am to be interested. I much prefer some sci-fi and/or action in my TV and movie entertainment.

BTW, nice to see Fiona from "Burn Notice" on that badass ladies list as well.

One more Street View I couldn't resist. Syd's home sweet home.

Page48 said...

First, it was Bradley Cooper rumoured to be starring in the upcoming "Green Lantern" movie, but that just didn't work out.

Now, it's Jen being rumoured to star as the love interest of the character that would have been played by BC, had he won the role.

Since GL isn't likely a full-on rom-com, I'm predicting Jen does not get the part.

uncle111 said...

"As far as "The Wire" or "The Shield" or "Oz" or any of those cable crime shows, they're just not my cuppa, I'm afraid. I'm not much of a fan of pure drama shows, especially crime drama. In fact, the more 'gritty' and 'edgy' a drama is, the less likely I am to be interested. I much prefer some sci-fi and/or action in my TV and movie entertainment."

Ditto, assuming we're talking about and contemporary setting. BSG had the sci-fi element that made the edgy grittiness good.

uncle111 said...

No way would Keri Russell be better than JG in GL!

Page48 said...

Uncle, I don't even know if Keri Russell works any more (her 15 minutes in MI3 aside). I never see her in anything. Either way, Jen gets my vote.

When I speak about "Edgy" and "Gritty", I'm just referring to words that movie and TV critics often use to describe shows that I would be more inclined to describe as vulgar, crude, brutal or equal parts thereof.

IMO, BSG, while deliciously moody and somber and often quite bleak, never fell into the previous category and was infinitely more interesting than a gritty, edgy, cable TV police drama like this could ever hope to be.

And just a rant about cable shows and movies bending over backwards to pander to the demands of the gritty, edgy crowd, I don't know ANYONE in real life who uses the word 'motherf****r', and yet, in that 5 minute clip of "The Wire", dude uses it twice. I watch a show because I want to be dazzled and impressed by creative writing, great special effects, the triumph of good over evil, etc.... I don't watch a show so that I can enjoy the kind of dialogue that I haven't heard since I last found myself in a public school washroom. For me, the idea of entertainment is to escape the mundane, not to drown myself in it.

I just noticed that JJ's latest spychick (Samantha Bloom), shares initials with his previous spychick (Sydney Bristow). They could share monogrammed hankies.

uncle111 said...

So what happened to the Blu-ray edition of 1st season that was supposed to be out in Dec.?

uncle111 said...

I don't have my links formula here so I have to post the URL. You will like this article on TV spy shows. Speaks very highly of Alias and it has a lot of YouTube links to clips from a number of spy shows.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/tv-spies-secret-agents,25062/

Page48 said...

Oh wow, I can't remember the last time I thought of "The Scarecrow and Mrs. King".

I like the favourable treatment given "Alias" and "Burn Notice". Speaking of the latter, BN returns later this month, Jan. 21 to be precise.

Also, "24" returns January 17th. According to IMDB, Starbuck is on board for all 24 hours, while Julian Sark gets a mere 5 hours.

uncle111 said...

Page,

Will certainly be tuned in to Burn.
I've only seen a little of first season 24 and didn't care for it as it seemed like nothing but a frantic JB yelling. I will tune in for Starbuck and Sark, though.

uncle111 said...

I'm going to cry here a little. November and December are really tough months for me. Too intense at my business, still looking for the illusive wonder of the Christmases of my childhood, siblings coming to town for too brief a stay, and when my short vacation is over more of the 60 hour a week grind in a bad economy lies ahead. And the knowing there is one less Christmas to look forward to when I didn't get enough of the one now gone.

I know I will get over it, but in the meantime I will miss the lights, the anticipation, the food, the fellowship. I am reminded of just how lonely things can seem when things, and people leave.

At least I have a chili cheesburger and more Christmas movies to take the edge off.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

Page48 said...

Uncle, it's the Christmas version of postpartum depression. I find that there's nothing quite so effective in bringing me in for a hard landing than the dreaded post-visit crash.

Love the visit, hate the crash.

uncle111 said...

Page,

An accurate observation and well stated. I think I'm beginning to come out of it, but still a little ways to go.

Page48 said...

Young CIA trainee, Annie Walker,is thrust into the inner sanctum of the agency when she is unexpectedly promoted to field operative.

Page48 said...

Will Tippin bringing his "A" game.

uncle111 said...

Page,
The new spy show sounds like it could be good. I will be tuned in online.

I'm ready for "The A Team." It will be interesting to see it updated. The original series had an episode in which the two stars of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. appeared as spies from opposing organizations. It would be funny if they got Greg or Kevin from Alias to be one of the bad guys.

uncle111 said...

It's not Alias, but it's fun. I shot a short video one night at the store when I first test fired this full auto blank gun. I just finished editing it.

Page48 said...

Shame on you, JJ.

Page48 said...

JJ's new spychick.

SRM said...

English beauty indeed, wonder if she can kick arse...

p.s. Hi all and happy new year!

Page48 said...

Uncle, you're bound to win a Golden Globe for that flick. Was that Evil Francie you were gunning for? Reminds me of the Season 2 finale duel. If you wake up in a foreign country, remember to check into the nearest safe house. Vaughn will come and get you.

Happy New Year, SRG. LTA crosses the decade threshold. Too bad "Alias" didn't cross it with us.

uncle111 said...

SRG- Happy New Year!

Page- I had a good laugh over that. I'm working on another that should be very cool. I'll post it here when it's done. Probably a couple of weeks.

Page48 said...

Uncle, just re-reading your comment re: "24". I didn't start watching "24" until the 4th season, when the Big Bad was Habib Marwan (aka Arnold Vosloo). Vosloo was a Covenant thug for one episode in S3 of "Alias", and is familiar to fans of "The Mummy" movies, not to mention "Blood Diamond" with Leo DiCaprio.

Oddly enough, I have never seen Season 3 of "24", which features Gina Torres in 7 episodes (one more than her 6 "Alias" appearances). Can you believe Anna Espinosa was only in 6 eppies?

I quite enjoy "24". Bad guys lose hard, which never gets old. I do find it difficult to deal with the frequency of cast regulars getting killed off, though. I've always maintained that, if and when they kill off Chloe O'Brien, that's when they lose me.

In the "there's no justice" category, I cannot freaking believe that "Scrubs" is in its 9th Season. How (and why) is that possible when our poor "Alias" couldn't get past 4.77?

Something else that's hard to fathom is that, after 12 more episodes, Greg Grunberg will have a longer stint as Matt Parkman of "Heroes" than he did as Agent Weiss on "Alias". That is SO very wrong. Meanwhile, Jen has not had a TV acting gig in almost 4 years. The world is upside down.

Anonymous said...

I will not acquiesce in on it. I think polite post. Especially the appellation attracted me to be familiar with the unscathed story.

Page48 said...

Anon, that's exactly what I was thinking.

uncle111 said...

LOL!!!!

Page48 said...

Oh well, back to the rom-coms for Jen.

Bradley Cooper and Jen both struck out on this one.

uncle111 said...

Page,

Obviously they are aiming at the teen audience. But then, most of them do now, don't they?

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SRM said...

Ooh la la, our girl's still got it.

Page48 said...

SRG, the 'word' on the internet is that Jen's been whipping her butt into shape in hopes of landing the "Green Lantern" gig. Sadly, that didn't work out.

I didn't see the GG's, except for a bit of Ricky G.'s opening schtick. I was catching up with Jack Bauer. Julian Sark himself made his "24" debut last night, albeit a brief one and sans foreign accent, even though he was playing the son of an immoral Russian arms dealer.

I watched "2012" the other night, and I couldn't wait for it to end. It had some great special effects, but was so unconvincing and way over the top. I'm hoping for a better experience with "Avatar", although who knows when I'll see it.

Gotta check out "Book of Eli" eventually, as well. I'm pretty much an 'anything with Denzel' guy.

uncle111 said...

I don't know if anyone has commented on the new series "Human Target." I just watched the first episode on Hulu (Fox's site is just too irritating to use). I will tune in again. There were 2 BSG regulars in the episode. The story, action and dialoge were good. And there was what has to be the best one on one fight scene in TV history.

If you haven't seen it look it up. It's off to a good start.

Page48 said...

Uncle, I don't think there are any shows left for Tricia Helfer to appear in since BSG. She's made the rounds.

I saw part of HT 1.2, but only the last 15 minutes. I gather HT is a comic book adaptation. I'll have to pay closer attention.

"Caprica" made it's debut this week. Having seen the pilot a few months back, I didn't watch it the 2nd time.

Also, "Burn Notice" is back. I'm hoping to get reacquainted with the BN gang tonight. It's been quite a while.

uncle111 said...

Page,

HT pilot is worth catching. It's on Hulu. I haven't seen 1.2 yet, but will.

Burn was it's usual good self.

Haven't seen Caprica yet. Should I?

I got part way through 24 on Fox's site and gave up. I had to reload the page at every break and then it got to where I could go to the next segment. I'll try Hulu for that too. I'm wanting to see Starbuck, and also see if my impression of 24 has changed.

I'm working on a new Man From U.N.C.L.E. video for YouTube. It will only be about 2 minutes long, but will have alot more in it production wise than my other videos. The MFU series episodes were always titled The (fill in the blank) Affair. I'm calling this "The Alias Affair." I'll post a link here when it's ready. Probably another couple of weeks.

Page48 said...

I wouldn't look to "Caprica" for my BSG fix, but I thought the pilot was decent. It wasn't so good for the Cigarette Smoking Man, but still, I'll check back for more next week.

I like this Jane Espenson chick. She's often aligned with Joss Whedon (Buffy, "Angel", "Dollouse", "Firefly"), but she's also involved with "Warehouse 13", which I quite like, as well as "Caprica" and BSG. When I see her name attached to a project, I tend to sit up and take notice.

uncle111 said...

Today I watched the latest episodes of Chuck and Human Target. I will be watching both of these shows from now on.

I guess that means they are destined to be cancelled soon.

Page48 said...

"Chuck" was on the bubble after Season 2, but saved by the "Subway Campaign". Mind you, it's only been renewed for 13 episodes, 5 of which have already aired.

Dixon and Marshall have guested on "Chuck" and last week, Chuck's bro-in-law was kidnapped by a baddie spy named Sydney.

And, of course, it co-stars Adam Baldwin of "Firefly" fame, not to mention "X-Files" fame and "Independence Day" fame, etc...

uncle111 said...

Page,

Besides the long haired Sydney, there was a character named Julius (almost Julian), and there was one more Alias tie-in, which I can't remember right now.

Page48 said...

A face familiar to "Firefly" fans on "Human Target" tonight.

SKlaft said...

I'm really liking 'Human Target.'

I was a huge fan of Boston Legal, so I've had trouble not seeing the lead character as "Brad," the ex-Marine, patriotic semi-conservative who was often the butt of liberal stereotypical jokes. He does a good job with this new role, though.

Burn Notice wisely hasn't tried to change a formula that works, even if the story arc seems a little cloudy. The show is like an old friend that comes to visit once a week.

I'm not thrilled with the recycled story lines of 24. It's nice to see Kara Thrace in a role a bit more feminine, but her plot twist has been done once or twice before.

Say whatever happened to V? Did they finish it?

-R.

Page48 said...

"V" won't be back until after the Olympics. Four episodes in the fall and then a 4 month break. I'm sure that makes perfect sense to somebody, just not to me.

"Human Target" seems to be on every night. I don't know how long I can stick with anything that wants to be strictly a case of the week procedural.

I didn't watch "Boston Legal" so I only know Mark Valley as Agent Dunham's dead boyfriend from "Fringe" (and hubby in real life).

"Dollhouse" finale pushed off till Friday, pre-empted by last week's Haiti telethon. Pity DH didn't start to get it on until after the cancellation was announced.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that "Alias" will return in some form down the road. We've already had "Knight Rider", "Bionic Woman", "Battlestar Gallactica", and now we can brace ourselves for "The Rockford Files" and "Hawaii Five-O". I feel like I'm 16 again.

Page48 said...

Oops, I got my list of remakes out too soon.

News now of the possible return of "Nikita".

Technically, though, I gather this would be a sequel rather than a remake.

uncle111 said...

I just watched E3 of Human Target. The final scene had me in stitches.

uncle111 said...

Looks like another good reason to be watching Human Target.

SRM said...

Kevin!!! I was just wondering what happened to him the other day...

Page48 said...

I just finished watching Kevin Weisman's 3 episode run on Buffy. I recognized the jaw right away, even with all the heavy makeup. Didn't sound like Marshall, though.

I see he was also in Christian Slater's new show, "The Forgotten", about a month ago. I don't watch the show, so I didn't see KW. He's also slated to appear in CBS's "Miami Medical", premiering on April 2nd. Don't think I'll be watching that one, either. Sorry Kev!

Page48 said...

I'd quit my job tomorrow if I could do this.

I'm not wearing that outfit, though (red isn't my colour).

Page48 said...

Bethany longs for "Alias" to live on in comics.

Dream on, Bethany.

SKlaft said...

Ya know, オテモヤン, I sometimes feel that way too.

But I always try to convince myself that there are honest people in the world who want to do the right thing, despite what our society "feels" about it.

I can't help thinking that really well-made television shows depicting heroic, albeit fictional, people overcoming the odds, and by sheer force of will, bringing truth and justice in some smaller or larger part to the world can influence and inspire people in the real world to be less self-serving and more noble in their more mundane lives.

Perhaps there is hope yet for humanity.

-R.

SKlaft said...

<---thinks the regulars at this blog site will "get" the humor of the previous post

uncle111 said...

+++++++++,

I see that an insightful and even poetic grasp of intellectual intercourse transcends the vast divide between our cultures.

Robetron, your reply to +++++++'s unbriefed assertions was indeed salient and to the point. See what you miss when you hang elsewhere?

Oh, my!

SRM said...

LOL I was going to delete that spam comment, but I think I'll leave it now. :-P

Page48 said...

I was checking out the website for Angelina's "Salt", which SRG alerted us to some time ago, and which is due out in July. This may be as close to Sydney Bristow as we ever see again. In fact, in the latter half of the trailer, after she loses the Dolly Parton hair, Angelina actually takes on a Season 4 Syd look. Also stars the "Serenity" assassin with the funky name.

Jen, meanwhile, is in need of an intervention as she careens from one disaster, "Valentine's Day", to another, a rumoured role in "Laverne and Shirley" with the hotness known as Jessica Biel. I couldn't tolerate "Laverne and Shirley" back in the day, why would I want to see a big screen remake?

Ya know, when I gaze at that JB photo, I think maybe she should be doing spy chick movies and leave the drivel to Jen.

uncle111 said...

Page,

The imagery sparks too many memories of Alias and SB for me to not think they were thinking of that when they put this together. I'm looking forward to this.


SRG- I think it would be ok to delete that post.

uncle111 said...

Back to Salt's similarity to SB. Her look. A Russian walk-in that turns Salt's world upside down. Even one of the stunts in the trailer has a SB flavor- when she jumps up, pushes off the wall and pushes herself down onto someone she punches.

I can't wait.

Page48 said...

I took note of that step off the wall move, too. I think Syd would have done 2 steps straight up the wall and then a back flip, but who's counting?

Trailers can be deceiving, but this is in "must see" territory for me. With agent-on-the-run qualities similar to Bourne and obvious Sydney similarities, hopefully 2 things will happen: 1) it will be excellent and 2) it will be at least a trilogy.

Caught KW on "Human Target" last night. Essentially, Marshall Flinkman rides again.

Page48 said...

CW has cast the new "La Femme Nikita".

Maggie Q. has appeared in MI3 and "Live Free and Die Hard".

Anonymous said...

I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing

SRM said...

Wow, someone has a thing for Rachel.

uncle111 said...

As the title says, "What's Up?" I haven't heard anything from anyone in a while. I know Page was probably preoccupied with Canada barely beating the US at Olympic hockey, but what has everyone else been doing?

Besides work I've been watching old Outer Limits episodes on Hulu while I wait for them to post the latest episode of Human Target. I really like that show. I'm also trying to get season 3 DVDs of The Unit from the library so I can get more caught up with that. Another great series.

Page48 said...

Uncle, you wouldn't be talking about this, would you?

I gotta be honest with you, I lost my passion for hockey (of the NHL variety) years ago and rarely watch it anymore, but international hockey at the professional level is the best the game has to offer so I was glued to the set to watch the Canada/US gold medal game and greatly relieved that it went in our favour.

I always enjoy the Olympics, especially the winter games. It's the only two weeks in a four year period where things like long and short track speed skating matter to anyone other than friends and family of the athletes.

And, of course, having someone like Clara Hughes (the only person in history to win multiple medals in summer and winter games) to skate her final race in front of a screaming hometown crowd and walk away with a medal is the kind of thing that makes the Olympics such a great event for us couch potatoes to sit back and watch. It's a time to forget about financial crises and political scandal and celebrate achievement, even if it's not our own.

uncle111 said...

Page,

I'm not a sports follower, but I do enjoy the Olympics. I didn't see any of it this year, though. I just could not remember that it was on and I didn't have time to catch much TV.

I can imagine the hockey final was very exciting for you. Congrats!