BlackGeekdom Science-Fiction from a Different Perspective

This fall there are five new shows that I am definitely interested in watching. I already feel like I have entirely too many TV shows on my viewing schedule this fall with the final season of Smallville, Supernatural, The Amazing Race, Hell’s Kitchen, Chuck, Human Target, House, Castle, Glee, Mentalist, and Fringe. Those are the shows that I can think of off the top of my head and I’m sure there are more. These five shows are definitely going to be squeezed into my viewing schedule one way or the other. My DVR will be working overtime. (Not to mention all the football I’m going to be watching Saturday and Sunday.)

Undercovers and Nikita

I put these two shows together because they are sort of in the same genre. Undercovers is about a married couple and former C.I.A. spys (Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who are pulled from their catering business back into the espionage trade. My interest in this movie doesn’t revolve around the fact that they are spies because I have had just about enough of spy shows, (Alias, Burn Notice, Rubicon, Covert Affairs). The fact that this is a prime time show on a major Network which has two people of color in the lead roles is the reason I am going to watch it. Hopefully, since this a J.J. Abrams production, the show will have good story lines. The only thing that worries me is that J.J. Abrams has said that he wanted to have fun energy and be a bit more comedic. I don’t know how a funny hour long spy show will play in primetime on NBC.

Nikita is sort of a follow-up to the French film Nikita and its remake Point of No Return (and the series La Femme Nikita). Nikita having now escaped the Division, the organization that turned her into a ruthless assassin, has come back to help others like her to also escape and to bring the Division down. The show stars Maggie Q (Mission Impossible III), Shane West (E.R., Echelon Conspiracy) and Xander Berkley (24: Day 2). Maggie Q looks good in this role and its great to see her finally get a chance to show off her talents that made her a star in Asia.  If the first episode is any indication, then the CW has a pretty good show to possibly pick up the slack when Smallville and Supernatural leave the airways.

The Event

The Event stars Blair Underwood (L.A. Law, Set It Off), Laura Innes (E.R., Deep Impact), and Jason Ritter (Joan of Arcadia).  There isn’t much to say about this show other than it stricks the same vein as Lost.  The mystery surrounding the show is going to make this show good.  I like the fact that Blair Underwood is playing President of the United States.  You can always count on him to give a good performance.

Hawaii Five-0

Hawaii Five-0 is a remake of the classic 60s/70s TV show of the same name that starred Jack Lord.  The remake stars Alex O’Loughlin (The Back Up Plan, Midnight), Scott Caan (Oceans 11-13), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) and Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica).  I wasn’t a hug fan of the original TV series but my father was.  Networks have done a great job of bringing back classic series and making them modern in recent years, so that’s reason enough to give this show a try.  It helps that it’s a pretty good looking cast, too.

No Ordinary Family

Superheroes in primetime and on network television.  I am so there.  Who cares if it looks like The Incredibles or the Fantastic Four.  The promos look like fun and the show looks hilarious.  Definitely a must see.

Posted under Articles, Reviews, Television

Here’s a promo for the final season of Smallville.  Hate to see the show leave the air, but I think its time.  I do believe there are 2 or 3 seasons that were entirely unnecessary, but we fans endured.  Season 9 was a stellar season and this promo promises that season 10 will be just as good.

Posted under Television, Trailers

Persons Unknown followed the story of seven people who were abducted and placed in a seemingly abandoned town in the middle of nowhere. They wake up in a hotel with no knowledge of how or why they are there. The hotel, the streets of the town, and the other buildings are all filled with cameras and microphones. During the first few weeks of their captivity, they are subjected to psychological and physical stresses (torture). They also try to escape several times without success since the town is surrounded by some sort of impassable microwave energy wall. Once, they actually make it through the wall only for all of them to pass out, possibly due to an implant, and awaken back in the town.

The secondary plot follows Mark Renbe, a journalist and the ex-husband of one of the abductees, Janet Cooper. Renbe is attempting to find Janet to not only investigate the unusual circumstances of her disappearance but to also reunite her with their daughter, Megan. Another subplot involves Joe Tucker who at first seems to be an abductee like the other six people but is later revealed to be an agent of “The Program,” those responsible for the abductions and what is going on in the town.

Now that I’ve explained the important plot details, let me explain why I think the show failed in the end. Initially, the show was advertised as a mini-series event and that “All will be answered” at the end of the summer. The only thing that the show didn’t do was to provide answers, or at least the answers for which I wanted answers. 1) How did they decide who to abduct? 2) What is the purpose of “The Program? It has to be more than just finding individuals who show great promise. 3) What is The Program? 4) What’s going to happen to Kate Damatto and Ambassador Fairchild? Those are just a few of the questions that I have. These questions wouldn’t be so bad if I knew that there was going to be another season.

I will commend the writers for creating a show with an original premise. The series finally was a well written episode, if they were setting up more seasons. Am I supposed to just assume that The Program continues on? Why not go out with a bang and have the characters that we (the audience) grew to care about escape and somehow expose The Program, or find a way back to their lives, or even make new lives, instead of being stuck in a loop. Usually, when a series or mini-series comes to an end, there is closure. Fans of this show, however few there may be, won’t have any closure. The conspiracy continues and the plight of our characters isn’t changed. It would be like Battlestar Galactica ending after Crossroads Part 2 with the revelation of who the hidden cylons are. Or it would be like Lost ending after the fifth season finale The Incident when Ben kills Jacob, Ilana opens the metal crate to reveal Locke’s body, and Juliet smashes the nuclear core and detonates the bomb. You can’t end a series that you know is coming to an end with a cliff hanger and not expect people to be a little perturbed.

Maybe it was a case of the writers not knowing how to end the show, but that’s ridiculous. You knew going in that it was going to end. There really isn’t any excuse. I might have been happy with just showing Joe and Mark in a new town starting the cycle over again, but you also show me our original abductees (minus Joe) in a hotel built into a ship out at sea in the middle of nowhere (incidentally the ship is named Almas Perdidias which translates into Lost Souls). They are then told “Welcome to Level 2,” by a now sinister looking Night Manager. What the hell is Level 2? Why didn’t they just scrap this group like the normally would do? If The Program is trying something new, what exactly are they trying? The writers seem to have no problem with raising even more questions.

Maybe I’m being too hard and literal. I actually did like the show, and if there were going to be more seasons, I would watch. But the ending bothered me. I dislike false closure on my TV shows. Maybe this’ll spawn comic books or webisodes, or even some decent fan fiction. One can only hope.

Posted under Articles, Fanboy Rants, Reviews, Television

Sherlock

Sherlock is a modern day version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.  The show is brilliant.  I love the production quality of the show.  So far, each of the first three episodes have been 90 minutes long and that’s great. There is more time to watch Sherlock work through a case and still have time to explain how he comes up with much of his conclusions.  I also love how they display the information that comes through on mobile phones like text messages, caller IDs and web searches on the television screen.

The great thing about this show is how Sherlock (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) is really a modern day version of the sleuth.  Of course he chronicles his exploits in a blog and possess an iPhone. from which he deftly sends text messages and does internet searches for information that isn’t readily available in that big brain of his.

To me, the true gem of the show is Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson.  Like many of the Dr. Watsons before him, he is a perfect complement to the self-described “high functioning sociopath”.  He’s a marksman and former soldier, and a medical doctor.  He’s proving himself to be down right dependable, a trait common in all versions of the character.  We also get to meet the devious and manipulative Moriarty.  I haven’t decided if I like this version of Moriarty.  He seems more like the Joker than the Kingpin, not that the Joker isn’t brilliant, but he is crazy.  However, I’m not entirely convinced that the man we saw as Moriarty might be him at all.  Sherlock might or might not be in your local listings, but you should watch it if you can.

UPDATE:  BBC announced that Sherlock would get a second season in the fall of 2011.  Man, that’s a long time to wait for a good show.

Haven

Haven is loosely based on Stephen King’s “The Colorado Kid”.  The first season is trucking right along on SyFy.  I can’t say that I am a fan of the show even though I’ve watched every episode.  The show is like Eureka with a supernatural twist.  Unfortunately, it’s not the only show that fits that description that started this summer (see The Gates).  I don’t think there is any chemistry between the 3 leads and that’s why the show isn’t pulling me in.  I keep watching each week thinking something is going to kick in but it hasn’t.  I can tell where the show is going, and the writers aren’t really giving me anything that would make me want to keep watching.  The long arc has something to do with the main character Audrey Parker trying to find out about a woman in an old newspaper article from Haven that looks just like her, who could be her mother.  However, we haven’t been given a whole lot to go on as far this storyline goes.  If you aren’t watching it you aren’t missing anything.  There are no main characters of color on this show.

Persons Unknown

I like this show.  If you haven’t been watching it don’t start now, you pretty much have to start from the beginning.  It’s much better than AMC’s remake of The Prisoner.  A group of people were kidnapped by a group known simply as The Organization, and dropped into a town that they cannot leave.  The actors in the cast are all believable and they all have good chemistry together.  There aren’t any big names in the cast, so that probably helps.  The secondary arc follows one of the persons uknown’s ex-husband journalist who’s trying to find her for the sake of their daughter.  The show is like a dark version of CBS’s Big Brother (a guilty pleasure of mine) which is probably why I like it.

The producers promise that all questions will be answered at the end of the series.  I like the idea of having a series with a definite ending.  I kinda felt that this is how Lost should have been (no nasty emails please).  It is apparent that this show couldn’t go longer than 13 episodes or even more than one season.  For some reason, this show makes me miss Defying Gravity.

Again, don’t watch Persons Unknown now if you haven’t been watching it all season.  NBC moved the show to Saturday night which means they have given up on it and are just trying to get rid of it, but to tell you the truth, how many episodes of Dateline NBC can one watch in a week?  Hulu and NBC have a few episodes, but not all of them.  I don’t understand why the network did that, but there are probably other ways to find all the episodes online. Chadwick Boseman (Lincoln Heights) and Kandyse McClure (BSG) both star as Persons Unknown.

Posted under Reviews, Television

The quality is okay, but it should be good enough for Smallville fans.

Posted under Comic Con, Television, Trailers

“The Event” is a new show coming to NBC this fall.  It’s being touted as a show with a Lost vibe.  It has an ensemble cast with multiple storylines centered around an “Event.”  The main plot appears to follow Sean Walker played by Jason Ritter who, while investigating the mysterious disappearance of his fiancée, ends up unraveling the biggest cover-up in U.S. history.

The show premieres September 20.  Check out the following interview with Blair Underwood who plays President Eli Martinez. (A black man as President brings back memories of President Palmer on 24).  Apparently, the crowd response to “The Event” at the San Diego Comic-Con was rousing.  Check out the entire panel for “The Event” below, courtesy NBC.

Posted under Comic Con, Conventions, Interview, Television

Souce: Blastr (formerly SciFi Wire)

Smallville fans always speculate on whether or not Tom Welling would ever don the most iconic costume in the comic book world.  This article over at Blastr has some interesting quotes from Smallville executive producers Kelly Souders and Brian Wayne Peterson.  I hope it’s true.  The show has teased fans with glimpses of the cape in several episodes over the years, but have never actually shown Welling in the costume.

Posted under Comics, Interview, Rumors, Television

The Jensen Project is the second movie from Walmart Family Moments. The movie centers around The Jensen Project which is basically an independent think tank of geniuses gathered on a compound researching and developing projects that can save the world.  The movie stars Kellie Martin (E.R., Life Goes On), Patricia Richardson (Malcolm in the Middle), and LeVar Burton (Roots, Star Trek: TNG).  It was also a backdoor pilot for a possible television series for NBC.  It aired this past Friday night.

Let me start by saying that the only way I knew anything about the movie was from LeVar Burton (@levarburton) on Twitter.  I don’t think NBC or Walmart promoted this movie.  I didn’t see any ads online, on NBC or in any magazine or newspaper.  Which is odd, because NBC is notorious for promoting their productions across all NBC/Universal media.  Apparently, NBC wasn’t going to give Walmart and P & G their money’s (or is it monies’) worth.  Mistake 1: Lack of promotion. 

Mistake #2 is dumping it on Friday night.  Friday night and Saturday night are for shows and original movies to go and die in peace, unless you are the SyFy network, which leads me to….

Mistake #3:  Scheduling it against  SyFy Friday.  I will go as far as to say that most of the people who would watch The Jensen Project are also Eureka fans and are probably going to watch Haven (Based on Stephen King’s The Colorado Kid). I will not assume that everyone has a DVR.

That being said, I think the movie was actually not bad.  It was the type of movie that a family could sit down together and enjoy, thus the whole “Walmart Family Moments” theme.  The writing could have been a little tighter and the characters could have been developed some more.  Personally, I would have introduced The Jensen Project first and began the movie with the dramatic departure of Dr. Edwin Jensen stealing all the projects from the compound, instead of a less significant scene that happens more than half-way into the movie.  I don’t like movies or T.V. shows that start out with a scene that is going to occur later and then jump back with a title card that says “5 Days Ago.”  It only ever works when there is some sort of twist involved, like a main character about to die, or a character doing something that is not in their nature.

The effects weren’t bad considering they probably didn’t have a whole lot of “resources” to produce top flight effects.  The product placement for Walmart’s Great Value brand was entertaining as well as the showcasing of Microsoft’s Kinect (the motion sensor add-on for the XBox 360) All the actors delivered and sold me on their roles despite having mediocre dialogue, but they did as good as you can do with bad writing.  I was completely sold on LeVar Burton as a former NSA operative and Kellie Martin as a genius mom who wasn’t sure of herself.

Should you see it?  If you like shows like Eureka, Chuck, Jake 2.0, and a movie like Spy Kids, you might enjoy this with your kids.  I’d give it 2 1/2 raised fists, but I don’t have any 1/2s, so I’ll give it 3.

Posted under Movies, Reviews, Television

This is a person who understands how we view things around here.

You can find more of Andre at blacknerdcomedy.com.  You can also find him on Twitter and Facebook.

Posted under Fanboy Rants, Television

Posted under Television