20th
July
2007
Ponderings For 2007-07-20
- So, the 2007 Emmy Nominations are out. Unlike the last half dozen years, I’m not completely outraged at the nominations list. I have my problems with some of the entries, and more notably with some of the omissions (come on, this was the LAST chance to get either Kristen Bell or Lauren Graham a nomination for their perfect performances). However, Battlestar got 4 nominations including one in the writing category (Ron Moore’s two part season 3 opener). The other 3 nominations were for the synapse frying Exodus Part 2. I’ll say this right here and now, and MEAN it - if Battlestar’s nomination for Exodus Part 2 in the visual effects category doesn’t win, I will NEVER, *EVER* watch an Emmy’s broadcast again. I kid them not. The other ones in the category aren’t even a whole integer of a percent as worthy. Battlestar can mop the floor with every other program on their air in the visual effects category. Nothing comes close - yet they continually lose in the category. Exodus Part 2 was just a staggering visual effects production - the most ambitious of the series. It would make any feature film jealous. If vfx supervisor Gary Hutzel and his team of vfx artists at Zoic and the likes are robbed of this Emmy win, the Academy no longer deserves any official standing anymore, and has no validity for any such judgments ever again. It would be the biggest robbery in the history of the award. Have I made my opinion plain enough? Still sad to see the show not pick up any series or acting nominations, but us Sci-Fi fans are used to it. And thank the heavens, this’ll be the last Emmy list with The Sopranos on it. Can’t tell ya how relieved I’ll be to finally see nominations lists that aren’t littered with The Sopranos, a show I hate (that is, if Battlestar doesn’t lose in the vfx category and I boycott the awards forever). Still, 3 of the 5 writing nominations? Did I mention I hate the show? At least it didn’t dominate the list quite as severely as previous years. Still, 15 nominations? Ridiculous. Great to see 30 Rock get a bunch, though. Nice to see Studio 60 get a fair amount, too (all for the pilot, I think). Plus, funny to see that Drive qualified in the mini-series category. How embarrassing is that, Fox? It didn’t even live long enough to officially count as a series. You suck, Fox. Also nice to see some underdogs pick up a nomination here and there, like the overlooked Standoff getting a deserved main title design nomination. And, of course, great to see Tony Shalhoub get another nomination for Monk.
- So, the producers of Jericho are playing things out under the assumption that they’ll only get the 7 ordered episodes? I supposed that’s a good thing, in case they get yanked again. Still, sounds like they are setting up more of the same. BTW, CBS is actually admitting fault in the failure of Jericho? Since when does a network admit fault for ANYTHING. CBS, you guys have just bought yourself a big chunk of good will from me for a while for making that statement. Seriously. If more networks would be even remotely this honest, I wouldn’t have such contempt for their obvious mistakes. Overall, CBS has been pretty nice about things since the cancellation of Jericho. Better than I think I’ve ever seen a network respond. This puts them as the best major network in my book right now. Nobody’s worse than Fox, of course. They’d have to spend years & YEARS of making every mistake they could to even consider themselves worthy of some day being worse than Fox.
- So, Google Earth has picked up a few nifty new layers, thanks to the NASA folks.
- So David Greenwalt is trying to convince us that Moonlight isn’t like Angel. Well, we’ll see. I’ll be giving the show a chance. Here’s hoping…
- Seth Rogen to write and star in The Green Hornet movie? Really? The dude’s funny and all, but I just cannot visualize him in the role (or writing it, for that matter).
- So, they’re retooling Ali Larter’s Heroes character as more of a Nikita type role? Fine by me. I’ve still gotta watch the last handful of episodes from the first season, but her character was probably the worst written role on the show, in my opinion. Well, the ones directly involved with her, too. In a perfect world, husband and son would be completely written out of the series. I don’t think the two were portrayed by particularly bad actors, but they are horribly written roles. Suck all the quality right out of Larter’s already problematic role. Her character’s story is easily the weakest part of the show, through no fault of Larter. If they can finally nail her role, I might start to enjoy the series more. Perhaps if I finish the first season, I may consider it to be one of the better shows of the year, but the first 2/3 of it I saw weren’t. Maybe 8th or 9th favorite of the new shows of the 06-07 season.
- I got my 2 new Varese Sarabande CD Club CD’s in the mail today: The Burbs’ Deluxe Edition and F/X Deluxe Edition. La La Land Records also released a new limited edition CD that went a little more unnoticed, but I’m really enjoying at the moment. It arrived today as well, and I’ve got it playing right now. It’s their nice, new 2CD release of David Arnold’s vastly under appreciated score to the 1998 Roland Emmerich film Godzilla. There had previously been a pretty good quality bootleg, but this new and official release of it is fantastic. Chock full of material, with perfect quality. A great release, La La Land. If you enjoyed Arnold’s work on Stargate or Independence Day, this release is a must have. A great action score performed a rich, large orchestra, by a talented composer. Forget whatever you might think of the movie (I don’t hate it as much as most people, but it is flawed) - the score is excellent.
- And hey, Mark A. Sheppard has joined Bionic Woman as a regular. Excellent. For those unfamiliar, he’s been a featured guest star on the likes of Firefly & Battlestar Galactica, and is an excellent actor.
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