Heroes Season Two Preview

Heroes was easily my favorite new show from last season, and burrowed its way deep into my cold, dark, heart, right alongside Lost, 24, and Prison Break as pure TV gold…Gold Jerry, GOLD! (Sorry I’ve been watching Seinfeld repeats all weekend)

Although the finale of Season 1 of Heroes did leave quite the bitter, unsatisfied taste in my mouth, I’m expecting big things this time around. I do have some concerns about the tightness of the story, with so many added characters, and the semi-cop out of jumping three months ahead, but I have faith in Tim Kring to pull it all together, even if he did fail spectacularly at doing so with the end of the first year. (The bitterness will fade ppl, just give it time).

There is set to be some big changes. A new, scarier Sylar-type character, a quick death, a resurrection, and some Petrelli amnesia tossed into the mix, all in the first ep… not to mention our Japanese friend that has tumbled backwards in time to feudal Japan…going to be a quite the ride…

But, lets go back to something I touched on above, the slew of newer characters. Heroes last year already had a large cast, and we found ourselves going large blocks of eps without seeing some people (Isaac Mendez and Matt Parkman come to mind) and I just don’t want to see that kind of thing happen even more this year.

I was never a big Veronica Mars fan, but I know Kristen Bell and her snappy, witty talents will be well-appreciated here (Still wish she had gone to Lost though…)

Anyways, onto my other main concern, the jump-ahead gimmick.

This is basically just something that buys time, as you have to go through and piece things together from the point of the jump to where you’re at now, then go forward from there, prolonging the main story. As an author I’ll admit freely I’ve done this, because it can be beneficial to if a story has stalled, it lets you refresh everything and tweak people a bit. You have sort of a blank slate instead of one coherent, expanding story.

I only complain about this technique because I have come to believe it is nothing more than what I referred to it as above, a cop out, and I have actually stopped using it, because of that very problem. A good story should unfold in one long strand, getting more complex and layered as it goes, and I’m fearing with Heroes, it might not be as deep as I first thought, as I know Tim Kring talked about renewing the show in this sort of way every year. Just shows that the Heroes story isn’t as tight as it should be, or I guess, as much as I wish it would be.

All in all, I know Heroes is going to be good this year, spectacular even, and I know it will draw me in like it did before, because Tim Kring is a good storyteller, but the real question I’ll be looking to answer this year will be if Heroes is going to become something deeper, something fantastically unique, something to pore over, study and somewhat obsess about (Lost, you guessed it ) or is it going to be just brain candy like everything else…?

The Fall Season

Ahhh, a new Fall TV season beckons…time to shutter the windows and jettison the humans, because its time for some good action/drama/comedy/dramedy…whatever your flavour.

In light of this great time of year, I’ll be going over a few shows I’m looking forward to that are coming back in the near future. (I’ll keep Lost out of it for now, as it still is months away, and if I think about the length of time too much, I may just cry...)

I won’t be able to do any reviews the first few weeks due to a craptacular work schedule that is going to force me to miss the premiere’s of Heroes, Prison Break and Survivor: China, but I’ll do what I can to at least post some thoughts on those fine programs.

For now, the Red Star Review slips into Preview mode...enjoy...

Last Comic Standing - Final 3

I've only been able to catch bits and pieces of this season, which has been so radically different from all the last, although this show does seem to morph a bit in some way every year. With the new format, we at home get more of a say, instead of watching comics try to knock each other out every week Survivor-style…

And every time I have tuned in or been able to catch it, one comic always seems to stand head and shoulders above the rest, and that is, of course, Gerry Dee. Now this could be due to a few things that have little to do with comedy itself, the fact that Gerry is a Canadian (I always support my countrymen, consciously or subconsciously), and also that this is his 3^rd or 4^th try through the LCS warpath, and his success, or lack of it, on this show, will determine his future in comedy…But that all being said, Mr. Dee is one funny guy.

Maybe its just his style, or the reasons I mentioned above, but it seemed like this guy was going to cruise to the end of this competition, grasp that cheesy LCS trophy and ride off to a ‘comedy club near you’. But…that just didn’t happen. Gerry was booted last night, in favor of a clichéd redneck and a clichéd, joke stealing black guy…and I’ll tell ya, I almost cried…well, not really, but it sure did suck.

Every season, it seems like the person that should win almost never does…and in the past, we could have blamed it on the Survivor format, but not this year, when we had full voting powers pretty much from the get-go…and we still get someone in the end that wasn’t the best or funniest from the competition.

John Reep, funny guy, really funny, but it all seemed like it was the same sorta thing, all about Hhhhhickorrrry, and Lavell is all about being black, or being fat, something that has worked for comedians, either fat, or black, or both, for a loooooooong time.

Gerry just seemed to bring something more, something quirkier, but maybe his brand of comedy wasn’t for everyone, I don’t know…but it damn sure worked for me…and Gerry, if you ever do visit a local comedy club near me, I’ll be there…

In terms of John Reep or Lavell Crawford, I think Lavell will win, but I think John has the funnier stuff…I guess we’ll have to wait with bated breath…or y’know, just regular waiting, with regular breath...either way...

The Red Star has returned...

Hello to anyone out in the interweb actually reading my little blog, because by all accounts, I appear to be back and raring to go on a new season of TV, a summer of TV and movies, and plenty more.

I've been away for a few months as some of our favorites went dark for the summer, and kept myself extremely busy, but did manage to watch Big Brother and Last Comic Standing, two of my only favs in the reality show gauntlet I wrote about before going on hiatus...

Just wanted to post a quick hello to anyone or everyone , and just throw it out there that the Red Star Review is alive and kickin' again...hope you enjoy...

Apologies

Sorry for not posting, for anyone that actually looks at this site, I don't think its even a soul, but if there is someone, somewhere, reading my little blog, than I'm sorry .

I've gotten a new job, which isn't going to leave me alot, if any, time to post new lil bits on here, I'll do my best to get a few books and movies out there, but the prospects aren't looking great...

Again, probably no one readin this, lol, but hey, a guy can dream...

Studio 60: Burning it Off

Oh Studio 60, such promise...

Loved this show, loved it when it came out, loved it when it got crammed in a crappy timeslot and I still loved it when it got put on a mega-hiatus.

Then the rumors started to fly that the show was done, canceled, that Matt Albie and Danny Tripp were not long for this world.

When the axe finally came down, I was disappointed, mostly because I felt this show had so much promise, even if it took itself waaaaay too seriously. Every week we were faced with these moral dilemmas that somehow dovetailed into comedy sketches. The heavy worked on West Wing, because what those characters were doing was actually important, running the free world and all. But on Studio 60, it just felt very contrived.

Last year, around this time, we all learned that there were going to be two behind-the-scenes comedy sketch shows. One run by Aaron Sorkin, Emmy winning writer and producer, the other by Tina Fey (who I love btw) who used fart and poop jokes on a regular basis for the last few years on SNL.

Seemed pretty clear cut that Tina was going to get her fifteen minutes in the primetime sun and be back to writing romantic comedies for the teenage set by now, but somehow, that didn't quite happen.

And it was because 30 Rock didn't take itself so seriously, it jabbed at everything in the right way, and Tina (God love her) made herself the butt the majority of the jokes, humanizing her even more than she already was.

So here we are, a year later, Tina's show has been picked up for a second season, and the sets of Studio 60 are sitting out back in the dumpster, the remaining episodes being burned off at a time when everyone is completely TV'd out.

A sad ending to a show that I still like, and a show I really wished they had tried to shift around the schedule and find a good place for. Monday at 10 clearly wasn't a good fit, but nothing else was tried. Kind of like Andy Barker, almost felt like they gave up on it before it even got started.

With the star power they had, the names behind the camera, and putting pen to paper, it could have been so much more. But maybe that was the whole problem, the money it took to make this show didn't pay off with ratings or ad buys...and that's what it really comes down to.

And I don't want to get into this too much, at the risk of offending people, but I honestly think on top of the money, the star power, the expectations it fell short of...Studio 60 was just too damn smart for popular consumption...

Aaron Sorkin will be back, somewhere, sometime, so will Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, so will most of the rest, but for Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan and the gang over at 30 Rock, this was kind of their only shot, and they nailed it.

I'll enjoy watching you burn off Studio 60...hopefully something like you comes along again, but the next time, I hope people are ready...

After the Seasons are through...

Well all the major finales have come and gone, some were absolutely stellar (Lost, The Simpsons 400th episode special) and some were not so stellar (Heroes, Grey's Anatomy).

Either way, the schedule is clear until at least September, and for Lost (sob), February. We are about to be run through the gamut of reality television for the next few months, with the only really appetizing shows being, in my opinion at least, Last Comic Standing and Big Brother. I will most likely be reviewing both, but I did try to make a pledge not to watch BB this year, as it generally ends up completely overtaking my life in the summertime, but we'll see how that goes.

What this really means though is that I'll be diversifying things a bit here, adding more book and movie reviews, as well as any crazy ramblings fir for public consumption.

To anyone that has been to this page (all one of you lol), hopefully you like the changes and are still interested by what I have to say.