Wednesday, January 16, 2008

It's Good! It's Really Good!


Ok Fanboys and Fangirls, there's a new reason to watch TV on Monday night.


I watched the pilot Sunday night and loved it. We had a basketball game Monday, so we DVR'd episode one, . We watched it last night. Excellent once again. I can see at least three or four long term story arcs already setting up. While a pilot and one episode don't a series make, I am very excited about the potential of this series.

If you want to catch up with what has happened so far, you can watch complete episode's here.

Anyone else out there see it?

Anyone?

Bueller?

11 comments:

Robin said...

I saw it! I admit I only saw one of the movies, but my husband can fill in whatever gaps I don't already know of the mythos.

I admit my original attraction was Summer Glau, as I am a big Firefly/Serenity fan. I wanted to see what she could do. I am impressed with her versatility in this show, but I'm also getting sucked into the story.

I suspect I'll be renting the movies soon to see the show in context, but the pilot has provided enough information about the entire story that I don't really need to. I think it will be a successful story with no information outside the show itself.

Oh, and with all the special effects, I more than once referred to it as a movie. It really is like a small screen film.

Brave Sir Robin said...

Summer Glau is reason enough to watch it.

I don't know how the writers strike will effect it.

Anyone?

Batocchio said...

I always thought it was funny that in Firefly, a young woman named "Summer" was playing someone named "River." And she and Christina Ricci should play sisters in something.

The show so far is better than I expected. I'm still not enthused about the general trend of trying to mine a franchise to death. But it wasn't bad. It deserves a chance.

On the strike and all – the pilot for the show cost a whopping 4 million, mainly due to visual FX. That's far above average. Currently, nine episodes have been shot. All those will air, barring really crappy ratings, but I doubt that. After that, nothing until the strike is settled. As it is, the studios have an irrational punitive attitude toward the writers and want to break them. They've currently written off this season. If the strike lasts 'til May, or further into the summer, the next season will be in question as well.

Brave Sir Robin said...

9 episodes?

A long break in production could kill a new show like this.

Anonymous said...

yes it could...

i haven't seen it yet, but want to b/c of summer...huge joss fan here...and i haven't seen her do anything since the 4400, and that is only one story arc...she is good...

i will have to catch up on it soon! hope it does better than "drive" w/ nathan fillion did, as i haven't heard anything from that show...

Robin said...

Drive was unfortunately cancelled after two episodes. I'm not sure what ratings were, but I wanted to see a bit more to see where it would go before making up my mind. Fillion was good in the movie Waitress though--a very different role for him. I haven't checked recently to see if he has new projects on the horizon.

Batocchio said...

9 episodes?

A long break in production could kill a new show like this.


It could, but I'm not worried about this one. I'm more concerned about shows like Scrubs that were about to end, and some of the other news shows, Big Bang Theory, Pushing Daisies, etc. Fox was boasting 34 million viewers for their Terminator spin-off. They'll keep it alive.

Regarding 9 shows, keep in mind that a typical season in the U.S. is 22 episodes for sitcoms and dramas. For new shows, the studios typically do a half-season order first to see how it goes, then they order more if the season goes well, and possibly "pick it up" for the next season. It's a lot of anxiety for the folks on the shows. I know a guy out here who's been on a couple shows that have been cancelled. One was a big hit, too, but then they kept changing the creative team, they stopped showing it for a month, fans couldn't figure out what night and time it was showing when it came out, and then it died. That sucked.

Batocchio said...

Forgive me for potential heresy, although if memory serves, it's not the first time for me at this site!

I sorta liked Firefly. Some episodes were good, at least two really frustrated me — a lot of missed potential. I liked Serenity, didn't love it, but absolutely loved some parts of it. I'd like to see Whedon keep going on doing something, because regardless of any quibbles I might have, he delivers off-beat, good stuff, and if all of it doesn't work, hey, that's a more than fair tradeoff for some originality.

Fillion is by all accounts a nice guy, and he's a decent actor. He doesn't completely work for me as the Firefly captain, though. The "I reckon"s and all that sounded really artificial to me, although that's not just him. And his badass moment on the planet in Serenity, it's my way or I leave ya here to die, really struck me as unconvincing. Maybe I need to see it again. (Different reactions?) I do think Fillion is fantastic at the screwball comedy elements, though, and that's nothing at all to sneeze at. So it may be more a tone-of-the-world-and-the-script thing. Still, the best part of Serenity for my money is Chiwetel Ejiofor, who's always good, but is just riveting there. (And if you haven't seen Dirty Pretty Things yet, check it out.)

Brave Sir Robin said...

(And if you haven't seen Dirty Pretty Things yet, check it out.)

I will!

Glenna said...

My husband and I really liked it too and we figured it would suck, quite frankly. But it's very true to the feel of the movies, we think.

Anonymous said...

i couldn't disagree more about firefly/serenity or fillion in general...but i get a bit obsessive...i can agree to disagree...i love all things graced by joss...i am digressing...

i am enjoying his arc on desperate housewives, love or hate the show, he is good...

didn't see waitress or dirty pretty things...