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Tag: television
#205; round 2 – when I rule TV
Here I go again, ignoring my fiction-in-process for shiny new characters to damage from scratch (there’s something incredible about taking a brand new character and breaking it down into what you need it to be, but I’m not going to worry about the implications of my enjoyment of that). I will also absolutely give more prompts, if you want! I have two more of these in the works from college roommate Rosaline (Ally McBeal meets X-Men!) and Cloverdew (Sherlock Holmes meets Dexter!).
Confession: I have not seen all of BSG, but I started watching it after working on this and I was like “aw, damn, I feel a little bit bad for putting Grace Park in all these situations after BSG.” But she is the only Jules in my mind, so I stuck with her. Any similarities are totally unintentional!
1. Comment to this post with “I surrender!”. I’ll assign you a TV show idea.
2. Create a cast of characters: include the actors who’d play them.
3. Add in actor photos, character bios, & show synopsis.
Title: Details
Prompt: Genetic engineering is possible. Because of it, by your genes, everything is predetermined for you. Who you’ll marry, how you’ll die, what you’ll do, everything. However, (there’s GOT to be a however!) our heroes are fighting to control their destiny. How are they doing it? Is your life really a matter of your genes? What happens when you rebel?
Type: Action/drama – 13 episode seasons – 1 hr each.
Setting: Future – Everywhere
Opening Credits Song: Muse “Uprising”
Closing Credits Song: Muse “Feeling Good”
Tagline: The devil’s in the details.
Opening Art Credit:damien6160 @ deviantart
Musical Score By: Matthew Bellamy
Synopsis: The center of the financial and political world has moved from NYC to Washington DC & the Eastern coast of Virginia, home to the largest military complex in the history of the US. It is here, in sleepy Hampton Roads, that Kaylyn Adams does her terrible work — well, to the normal, establishment citizens of the world it isn’t terrible at all, it’s freeing and personalized — it’s Detailing, their way of life. To the rebels of the East Coast and beyond, it’s imprisonment, and Julie and her family will do anything to stay out of the President’s agenda for perfection in humanity.
Detailing is as engrained in everyday life as breathing, eating, and fighting. It is the practice of pre-natal genetic engineering that determines all Fate – your companions, your job, your family role, your spouse. Homosexuality, dissent, and religion are strictly outlawed. When President Columnar came to power from the disbanded US Senate in 2082, the public rejoiced in a leader who was strong enough to continue the program that had been running their lives since 2021, when the first Detailed child was born. Columnar certainly did what the public felt was necessary, creating bands of roving Bounty Hunters to end the small resistance once and for all.
In the War, NYC has been left in ruins, Miami stands as little more than a burnt out plain on the ocean, and Boston has been deserted thanks to the cold winters. The population of Detailed citizens have settled on the West Coast and throughout the Midwest, essentially abandoning the East Coast to the work of the military. As the rebels search for any place to call home, the Bounty Hunters close in…
#203; the thinking gal’s Gossip Girl
After my recent discovery of the charming acting persona that is Penn Badgely (thanks to a surprise viewing of Easy A), I went looking for more of his work and found a show called The Bedford Diaries. It is awesome. I found all 8 episodes (I truly cannot believe they canceled it!) and I love just about everything about it – every storyline, the quotes, the premise, every character (even the ‘adults’). But I got thinking, it’s essentially the thinking gal’s Gossip Girl, right? The difference being: these are adults dealing with adult issues (family, pregnancy, addiction, suicide, education, socio-economic disparity) in ways that are far more realistic than the teenagers of GG. And so, in true OCD and tv-fandom fashion, I did a character comparison. The two shows match up nearly perfectly, with the exception being that Bedford Diaries doesn’t have a Serena-like character. Which makes a lot of sense to me – if BD is the intellectual version of GG, then there isn’t much place for a Serena, because she hasn’t had much in the way of thinking storylines. Am I wrong? Thoughts? Either way, my reasoning behind the matches and thoughts on each charcter/relationship to follow.
#199; when I rule TV
I have been so utterly in love with this meme for the last week or so, having been given this assignment of sorts from a fellow blogger. After finishing this one, I was given three more prompts, which are in the works. It’s quite the long/photo-heavy post compared to my normal work, so bear with me! In other news, I’m so dearly in love with this story-building-format that I’m considering using it this year to plot out my NaNo novel. Thoughts? Suggestions? Fellow Nanowrimo obsessives out there?
I’ll admit, I didn’t stick as closely to the prompt as I would have liked. No matter how I tried to make it funny and sweet (the word “zany” even came to mind!) — this crazy drama kept coming out. Race relations and poverty and murder and betrayal… Eventually, I went with it despite the prompt. Also, feel free to take part and I’ll leave prompts here as well!
The Rules:
1. Comment to this post with “I surrender!” and I’ll assign you the basis of some TV show idea. (post-apocalyptic scifi-fi drama, fantasy, noir gumshoe pulp, criminal procedure…IN SPACE, historical drama WITH WEREWOLVES, etc.).
2. Create a cast of characters, including the actors who’d play them.
3. Add in any actor photos, character bios, and show synopsis that you want.
4. Post.
Title: Crossed Stars
Prompt: “The totally true and sweet adventures of a girl and her pet werewolf.”
Type: Fantasy-drama in 1hr 22-episode seasons; some shots are done documentary style.
Setting: Present day Boston
Opening Credits Song: Augustana’s “Stars & Boulevards”
Closing Credits Song: My Chemical Romance’s “Sing”
Tagline: “I like the stars; it’s the illusion of permanence. I can pretend that things last; that lives last longer than moments.” Said in the commercials by various characters (quote by Neil Gaiman)
Synopsis: Allyson’s lived a hard life – absentee (at best) mother, no father, a fuck-up of a lovable older brother. She’s always been the adult, and if it weren’t for her music and her loyal and wonderful boyfriend, she’d probably have succumbed to the neighborhood long before now. Now, though, things are different. Her mother and her brother are dead. Even music doesn’t ring true anymore. So she packs her bags, she gives Santy back his high school ring, and finds a house in Boston filled with insane artists, east coast snobs, and a landlord who just happens to be a werewolf. And just happens to fall in love with her. And just happens to tell her his truth.
Suddenly, Allyson is needing to balance the lives of the supernatural, the dead, the mortal, and the newborn while also keeping herself afloat and trying to make it big in a small business. Luckily, with lifelong allies and brand new family at her side, she’ll be able to find her voice and make anything possible.
#186; Battle of the cartoon dads
In a truly quick hit (because it’s still Monday morning) I wanted to point out something that’s been gnawing at me lately. I’m a big fan – honestly, most people in their mid t0 late twenties seem to be – of Family Guy, The Simpsons, South Park, American Dad… The dysfunctional family cartoons that we ‘grew up’ on through high school, college, and our post-college shared-housing days. I’m too young to truly appreciate Beavis & Butthead, and I was never allowed to watch Ren & Stimpy, so the genius of Seth Green and Patrick Stewart, Matt Stone and Trey Parker have always been where it’s at for me.
But I’ve noticed something. The main (possibly only?) difference between Matt Greoning’s original family of animated debauchery – The Simpsons – and Seth MacFarlane’s reigning dictator of cartoon comedy – Family Guy – is that Homer Jay Simpson tends to want to try, or so it seems, to be a good father. He doesn’t always know how – the daily strangling of his eldest, Bart, being a great example of his efforts gone awry – but he does care for the kids’ well-being, their misadventures, their feelings. Peter Griffin on the other hand? Shoots/drowns/poisons/sells his eldest, Meg, on a regular basis, if that’s any indication as to how little effort he makes with the family.
Then again, maybe I should be starting Monday morning by asking how the hell these shows ended up being the standard to which we hold comedy in my generation. But that’s just too much thought before my fourth cup of coffee of the week. So, below, discuss your favorite TV dads!
#183; Taste of the Week Nº7 – Eva Green
In honor of the new Starz show, Camelot, which looks steamy and yummy and angsty in all the right ways, this week’s Taste! is Miss Steamy-Angst-Yummy herself, French actress Eva Green. I don’t know a soul alive who, once introduced to her in Casino Royale, wasn’t fully in love (all right, at least fully in lust).
According to Wikipedia, Green plays Morgan, “the beautiful and ruthlessly ambitious daughter of King Uther based on Morgan le Fay. She wishes to claim her right to her father’s throne, but she does not count on Merlin’s plans or the existence of Arthur, her newly revealed half-brother. In her pursuit of power, Morgan gives herself over to dark forces that allow her to threaten the court of Camelot from within.”
From all I’ve heard, Green plays the part passionately, with a sort of aggressive pre-cursor to Feminism fueling her strife and ambition. I’m sold. Can’t wait to check it out (not to mention the rest of the very tasty cast!).
Summer is the time for new TV, tasty bits of possible future TV (remember when they ran the first few episodes of Pretty Little Liars as a “summer” show and it turned into a big hit for ABC Family?), so tell me – what are you looking forward to? Do you have any favorite silver screen stars headed to television? Let’s give ourselves a hump-day break and gab about the tube!
