The Upfronts have begun! *phew* Finally some new stuff to talk about. First on the block is Sci Fi Channel. The following comes from Cynthia’s Cynopsis, with my comments in italics. I’m just looking at the scripted series (cuz y’all know how I feel about Reality Shows — and I lean the same way regarding mini-series, too, fyi).

UPFRONT 2006: SCI FI CHANNEL

The scripted series currently in development include:

* Caprica – set 50 years before the events in Battlestar Galactica, the people of this society are dealing with a technology breakthrough that marries artificial intelligence with a mechanical body to create the first living robot, a Cylon. [I’m totally into this one already. The more BSG the better, IMHO.]

* Snap – a one-hour thriller about a Federal agent who uncovers a deep, growing conspiracy about the internet infiltrating every aspect of our lives manipulating humans toward some large unknown agenda. [Interesting concept. Whether or not I watch will depend on the casting and who the show runners are.]

* Persons Unknown – several strangers find themselves in a deserted town with no recollection on how they arrived there with no escape.[This sounds kind of meh to me.]

* The Bishop – a young slacker leading a charmed life discovers he has a supernatural power rooted in his lineage and his unknown father. [I need more info on this one. Could be cool, could be lame.]

* Blink – A group of Afterlife investigators try to help those about to make a terrible choice before their destiny is sealed forever. [ I need more info before I give this one a go.]

I should be giving a nice, long, in-depth review of the return of Alias, but I have been SO astounded by the awesomeness of its return, that I am just not capable of spewing forth anything more than fangirlish *squees* — which are just not professional
If you have EVER been a fan of Alias, even if you haven’t watched it in 3 years — you should be watching the end of it.

There is not another show like it on TV, and I’m not sure there ever will be again.

From today’s edition of Cynthia’s Cynopsis:

Fox and Toyota will team up to produce Prison Break: Proof of Innocence, seen exclusive on mobile phones. The series is a spinoff Fox’s Prison Break. Each mobisode will be just two minutes long, and each will begin with a 10-second spot from Toyota. According to the Wall Street Journal, News Corp. and Toyota are expected to make the announcement today. The deal also calls for Toyota ads to appear exclusively in several episodes next month as the show nears its finale on May 15. The mobisodes feature different actors and writers than the TV version and will introduce new characters. It will first be available this week to Sprint customers who have signed up for the Sprint video package. After two weeks, the mobisodes will also be available at Toyota.com.

I know that Lost was the first to put together exclusive “mobisodes” for background characters on the show, but I haven’t really heard any buzz on how that is going. I don’t have Verizon, so I have not been privvy. It’ll be interesting to see what angle the will use for PB.

I found out about the departure of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino a few days ago while IMing with a friend. We waxed poetic on what this would mean for Gilmore Girls, etc., etc. I have to say, this season has been the most uneven, most annoying and least watched by me than any of the other seasons…put together. In fact, I’ve probably only seen about half of the episodes so far, and there have been a few episodes that I have STOPPED watching before it got halfway through. That is something I have never done while watching GG before, and it has been very disheartening.

So my friend and I were discussing the hope that the show will be much more fresh and “likeable” next year with the absence of the Palladinos. I have felt that this Season 6 of GG has been much like Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, aka The Year That the Writers Hated Buffy. There were some spectacular episodes in S6 of BtVS, but the season as a whole is tough for me to watch because it was like they were taking a BIG STICK and beating the pulp out of Buffy throughout most of the season. That is what has been happening to Lorelai this season on GG, and like I said, it’s just difficult to watch. Besides the complete OOC of Luke the second half of the season…but I digress
These were my thoughts…and then I read this interview with the Palladinos from Entertainment Weekly. Dude, they got the shaft. I have enormous respect for their talent and their writing is STELLAR. With such an amazing source of talent, it is sad that The WB (and now The CW — or whatever) refused to give them one modicum of support, to where they would feel like for ONE season, they could breathe.

I’ve heard rumors about the end of this season, and they have not made me very happy. I will tell you this, WHO they decide to hand the reins of GG over to will be VERY influential in my decision whether or not to watch the show next season. I still have a crazyobsessed love with the show, and I feel it has the most UNDERappreciated cast in all of TV land, but I can’t take another year of Beat Up Lorelai and Robot!Luke. I just can’t do it. The Palladinos are leaving BIG BIG shoes to fill. I may even resort to reading spoilers just to determine whether S7 is going to be worth my time.

From today’s Cynthia’s Cynopsis:

Executive Producer and Showrunner on FX’s The Shield, and noted director Scott Brazil died on Monday at the age of 50 of Lou Gehrig’s disease combined with Lyme disease. Despite his illness, Brazil was at work as recently as last Thursday. Brazil’s credits include CSI: Miami, Nip/Tuck, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Hill Street Blues - the last of which he was awarded twice for an Emmy. Brazil has also been with The Shield for all five seasons, and directed 11 episodes. A memorial service is scheduled for Friday in Los Angeles.

When I read this, I recognized Brazil’s name immediately. He directed the “Angel” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was not aware that he was so involved with The Shield, but that is one helluva show and one of the few shows that my husband will pay any mind to. In fact, it is the ONLY show that he has ever called me from work and asked me to tape for him “just in case” he gets home late.

A great talent has been lost.

Those who know me from “other” parts of the world wide web may consider me to be a little too biased to be reviewing a show that is made by Bad Robot Productions, and which has JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk and Thom Sherman on its list of EPs. But believe it or not, I AM capable of constructive criticism. No, really!

Sooooo, what about Brian? I like Barry Watson and I like his character…for the most part. I’ve watched the “Pilot” episode and last night’s “Two in Twenty-four” episode, and he doesn’t knock my socks off, but he is a likable guy and I am interested in his “story.” Of course, this kind of show isn’t my usual cup of tea. I like The Unit, Alias, Lost, Prison Break, Battlestar Galactica…you seeing a pattern here? Those are the kinds of shows that I get “addicted” to. That I absolutely CANNOT miss, that make me cry when the VCR doesn’t tape right, that I go online to talk about.

WAB does not need to be that kind of show, because not everyone in the audience is like me. And actually, I do like the show, and I will continue to watch it, because I did enjoy it. But I probably won’t become obsessed with it. One gripe I do have (and I felt this way in both episodes that I have watched) is that there are too many “support” characters for Brian. I like the two young couples and I am happy with the performances of all of the actors portraying those parts. But I feel that including Brian’s sister (played by Rosanna Arquette) and her young hot Italian husband (played by Raoul Bova) is unnecessary. I have yet to see the purpose of that couple in this ensemble. The parts with Nic and Angelo (the character names of Rosanna and Raoul, respectively) in the show, especially last night’s episode, were the parts that lagged for me. I don’t need guns or science fiction or spy games or unbelievable story twists in every show I watch, but I do need characters to make sense. One scene in particular, when they were having the party for Brian (can’t remember which episode), I was watching the scene with Nic in the kitchen with Marjorie and Deena — they were all hugging on each other and talking about the whole fertility thing like THEY were that close with each other. Considering how much older the Nic character is, how would she have spent enough time with her brother’s friends to be THAT close to them? It was just weird and my brain went on that tangent, taking me completely out of the scene.

I will say that I liked the scene between Brian and Nic at her office. I think Barry and Rosanna work well off each other and I can feel a sibling vibe. But the additional couple just seems like too many people to be dealing with and I have yet to reconcile their purpose in my head.

All-in-all, with the above exceptions notwithstanding, I enjoyed it and I would like to continue watching it. But I fear that all of the schedule juggling by ABC, including the repeated delays on having it premiere, may have made it too much “effort” for any potentially interested viewers to deal with. I guess last night’s numbers should reflect whether or not I’m right.

Still playing catch up on my in box. Came across this in the March 23rd edition of Cynthia’s Cynopsis:

According to a survey released yesterday by the Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research, national advertisers don’t think the 30-second TV commercial is all it used to be. 70% of the 133 advertisers surveyed believe the biggest attributing factor is the Digital Video Recorder, enabling viewers to speed past commercials, and video-on-demand. That feeling is strong enough that 60% of those surveyed said they plan to reduce their spending on 30-second spots once the DVR penetration reaches 30 million homes. Currently, DVRs are in 10 million homes and the projection is they will reach 30 million in the next three years. Advertisers are looking at their options - online, product placement and program sponsorships among others.

Suddenly that movie The Truman Show (1998) doesn’t seem so funny, eh?

Heh, not reallly, but I couldn’t do it. I got about 20 minutes into the second half of The Ten Commandments, then had to flip around to find something on that wasn’t going to make me hurl. Caught a glimpse of my new showlove, The Unit, which I had totally forgotten was on, and had to ditch the mini.

So sorry ABC (not really). So sorry Naveen (actually, that one is sincere). It was too painful to watch.

You know what was even worse than the writing and (most of) the acting? The CGI. Dude, my 9-year-old could draw a better “parting of the Red Sea” than their graphics peeps did. Hopefully, ABC will learn a lesson from this, because I have seen quite a few scathing reviews — and not just in the blogging world.

As for The Unit — I missed the beginning (obviously), but was still fully satisfied at the end. I like when they are all sneaky, and we get led to believe that they fud up, when in actuality, they kicked major ass. Good to see Colm, in anything, but even more so when he is getting served.

My love continues to runneth over.

Disney/ABC announced yesterday that they were going to make FREE live streaming videos available for some of their shows via their website for the months of May and June. The shows WILL have embedded commercials that you can’t skip through, but you will be able to jump from chapter to chapter (like DVDs). Shows that will be available include Lost, Desperate Housewives, Alias, and Commander in Chief (why hasn’t that show DIED yet?).

Anyway, I am intrigued by this. It has been very successful with live sporting events, like The Masters and the NCAA basketball tourney, as well as the global “Live 8″ concert. Will this “free” version affect the ratings for these shows? Will they impact the amount of iTunes downloads for these shows? Or will there be no impact at all?

I know that I have been VERY neglectful lately, and I apologize profusely. That pesky Real Life got in the way of my blogging time, but hopefully things are back to normal now.

Was watching ABC’s stab at telling the story of Moses and The Ten Commandments, the first part of which aired tonight. I have to say — I’m not that impressed. There have been a few moments that have held my interest, usually due to the performance of an actor or an actress, but as a whole the show is very uneven.

The early scenes with Dougray Scott were good and maybe even compelling. I’m a big fan of his from the movie “Ever After” — but by the end of the part that aired tonight, I was pretty much rooting for the Egyptians. Suddenly, he was devoid of all emotion and I can’t understand that acting choice AT ALL.

Anyway, I will probably watch tomorrow night, just to let y’all know whether or not the sucking got louder or if it somehow redeems itself. At this point, it’s going to take a miracle