Construed

Ah, January brings some sweet comforts…

With all 3 shows beginning new seasons(CSI = 13th Jan, NCIS = 9th Jan & ER = 8th Jan – remember I’m a UK resident) this early in the year, I feel a little spoilt by TV-land. Each show looks to have a few special milestones – it will be the last season(15th) for ER, CSI will see some significant changes to the cast.

NCIS, on the other hand, began as light-hearted viewing but has oddly griped me over time – here on terrestrial UK TV we are waiting for season 5 to begin. I’ll be interested in seeing how this & season 6 develop, I also gather there will be some noticeable changes to cast in these seasons but the show still retains the humour of the previous seasons & doesn’t try to shift gears.

I will look to cover these shows in more depth here on Construed during their runs, I hope I can keep up better than I did when the first part of season 3 of Heroes ran late last year!

What TV shows are you looking forward to watching this year?

DM∞

I have 8 episodes of the 3rd season of Heroes recorded on my PVR, unwatched & it has felt like I was beginning to lose my affection for the show as a whole. Thankfully JoBildo’s recent post that, sums up his thoughts on season 3 – now that it has hit mid-season, has gone someway to relight my attention back onto the season.

It’s also good news that a Bryan Fuller has returned to Heroes, this time as a consultant, looks to already to have paid dividends to the ailing shows patchwork of story-lines, by adding some definition & vision:

AUSIELLO: Where did Heroes go wrong, in your opinion?

BRYAN FULLER: It became too dense and fell into certain sci-fi trappings. For instance, in the “Villains” arc, when you talk about formulas and catalysts, it takes the face off the drama. And I think the goal for everybody is to put a face back on the drama. You have to save something with a face; otherwise you don’t understand what you’re caring about. I thought the “Villains” arc started out very interestingly, and then became sort of muddy and dense and I couldn’t get my hooks into the characters to understand their motivations. I also started to feel confused about what people’s abilities were. One of the great things about the first season is that the metaphor for their abilities was very clear. Those metaphors seem to have gotten complicated in the past two seasons. I share that concern with everybody on the writing staff. It’s not like I’m coming in and saying, “This is what you need to do to fix it!” Everybody knows what needs to be fixed and everybody is sort of rowing in that direction. [EW.com]

I have some real catching up to do but maybe this isn’t such a bad thing & it could be that these type of TV shows(see Lost) suit this type of viewing habit better?

DM∞

*Sylar’s Dad to be..?!

The next CSI season(due to be aired early 2009 in the UK) may divide the die-hard fans of the flagship of the crime scene franchise – if you don’t want to spoil the major plot device I’m referring to, then don’t click the following link!*

For me, I just hope it’s the kick-start that is need to produce a better collection of storylines for season 9 – the last season lost its way until the final few episodes.

DM∞

* I advise you not to read any comments that may possibly follow.

I have just caught the second trailer released for the upcomming Star Trek movie that is due in 2009 & I have to admit that this could be the best vision of the franchise since Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan(1982).

OK, so I’m basing this on a trailer but there seems to be a return of the gritty underscoring space theme that made the 2nd movie such a hit with the fans. The new movie also looks to tell an old story that has never made it to the silver screen before – the back story of the Enterprise crew & how the story escalates into space.

Leonard Nimoy reprises his role as the old Spock in the new Star Trek movie, who travels from the future to help the Enterprise crew, with Heroes Zachary Quinto portraying Spock as new cadet but there is no reprise for William Shatner – even though some quarters suggested an approach was made by the producers. Shatner responded to these suggestions by releasing this rather lighthearted video statement:

Star Trek is due to be released on the 8th May 2009 in North America & the UK.

DM∞

With a sprawling cast, Heroes has many story lines to feed — and not enough time to nourish all of them.

‘Heroes’: Five Ways to Fix a Series In Crisis @ EW.com

As echoed in my recent coverage of Heroes, EW.com has a 7 page & 5 point plan that will fix the show. After watching episode 3 of season 3, I become Death, I still have hope that the show develops a better way to convey the multiple story-lines & multiple characters.

DM∞