My Blog

Let the Reimaginings Begin

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One of the exec producers of the reimagined BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is resurrecting another old series from the Universal vaults: THE BIONIC WOMAN, a spin-off from THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. Variety reports that David Eick has hired screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis to tackle his latest reimagining for NBC.

"It’s a complete reconceptualization of the title," Eick told Daily Variety. "We’re using the title as a starting point, and that’s all."

"It’s going to be a meaningful departure" from
the original, he said, using words such as "nanotechnology" to hint at
what’s in store.

Dr. Sloan is Back

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For many years, you could tune in to see Dr. Mark Sloan on DIAGNOSIS MURDER every Thursday night at 9 pm on CBS.  You can still tune in every Thursday night at nine to see Dr. Mark Sloan… only now you’ll find him on ABC, practicing medicine on GREY’S ANATOMY, and flauting his wonderous pecs:

"Grey’s Anatomy" certainly raised the steamy quotient again. Last week,
Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) walked out wearing only a towel and
displayed his chiseled body.

The characters may have the same name, but  I don’t think anybody is going to mistake Dick Van Dyke for Eric Dane.

Battlestar Galactica is Back…

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…and it may just be the best show on television. The two-hour season opener was stunning. I really admire showrunner Ron Moore for the risks he’s willing to take with his characters and his franchise… and his absolute willingness (more like his zeal) to ignore all of TV’s Star Trek-inspired, scifi conventions. It’s a creative high-wire act and to see him at work is almost as entertaining for me as the show itself.

UPDATE: I think my brother Tod nails it.

Let me just say this once and for all and then we can be done with
it until, yeah, I feel the need to announce it again: Battlestar
Galactica fucking rules. What’s better than:

1. Fat Apollo.

2. Starbuck killing that Cylon and then finishing her dinner…because he’s just coming back in an hour anyway.

Dumb You Tube Question

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How do you download clips from YouTube? I’m a moron and can’t seem to figure it out.  Please explain it to me in the comments. Thanks!

And thank you again, William Simon, for hooking me on the video crack. I can’t seem to get enough of all those main title sequences, which I often use as part of my course when I teach TV writing.

Showtime Series For Free

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In a bid to get more subscribers, Showtime is offering free episodes of DEXTER, L WORD, WEEDS,  BROTHERHOOD, and SLEEPER CELL on Yahoo to get you hooked. They are also aggressively courting bloggers like me to get the word out. Obviously, its worked, since here I am, talking about it.But this is not the first time Showtime has tried to reach bloggers and their readers.

Several weeks before DEXTER premiered, Showtime sent bloggers personal emails with links to the pilot in an effort to generate word-of-mouth for the show within the blogosphere. As far as I know, this is the first time a network has so actively attempted to court bloggers to hype their shows.  DEXTER scored well in its premiere…it will be interesting to know, if it’s even possible to determine, how much Showtime’s aggressive web push played in those numbers.

Fantastic!

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Many thanks to William Simon who sent me this link to Gene Barry singing the theme to BURKE’S LAW… accompanied by a slide show of scenes of Gene in action taken from his short-lived 70s show THE ADVENTURER. It’s wonderful. Here are some of my favorite lyrics:

"Hey lover, lets make the scene
I’ve got a crazy high-fi in my limousine"
Birds of a feather
should wing it together
If we are forsaking love
We’re breaking Burke’s Law…"