RIP TV shows, woopsies, openings and other linksages
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Several things worth checking out this morning... (And leaving out the Quentin Tarantino interview in which he talks about how great The Passion of the Mel is.)
The NYTimes has an interesting interview with Tim Minear, former exec producer of Firefly, Wonderfalls and Angel.
NUSSBAUM Why is it so hard to keep anything original on network television?
MINEAR I wish I were sage enough to answer. I don't want to be one of those "hour" guys who is all bitter about reality TV. It's as viable as any other genre — when it's great, it's great. However! Reality does a certain thing. It burns quickly, brightly, and then it burns out. You can't repeat them.
NUSSBAUM They're so cheap to make; it's not a gamble, even if it flops.
MINEAR The slot machine of television. Keep feeding in the quarters, and eventually you'll hit the jackpot. But if a network like Fox can't nurture and properly launch a scripted hour — it's becoming the network that develops interesting programming, then drops it. The network where I don't want to watch what's cool, because my heart will be broken.
And the good news, a DVD of all 13 Wonderfalls episodes will probably be forthcoming:
MINEAR I was more angry about "Firefly." In this case, I came in to help these two guys, I wrote a lot of the material, and I'm just too tired to be mad. It's hard to be mad when they pay you this much money. And I don't want to whine. But after they scheduled it on Friday nights, I was like: "Friday nights! That's where we're promoting our 13-episode DVD."
NUSSBAUM You prepped deliberately for a DVD?
MINEAR I did. You always work with the notion that you're trying to get picked up — but I had very little faith in the network, so I looked at it as a complete 13. I wasn't just going episode to episode.
Fox, do you hear this? Do you understand? You are evil.
Owls have displaced squirrels and you can watch them on this webcam. (Via McKitterick.)
Jenn Reese is considering the beginnings of books she likes. The Garcia Marquez one in particular is one I've seen used an example of a perfect opening because it not only hooks the reader but manages to foreshadow the scope and thematic underpinnings of the entire book. A tall order for an opening, indeed. Good beginnings come from good endings -- I've heard that said many times.
O Elfalan, the minx, cracks me up with this anecdote:
Since I've been insensitive to everyone else today, I'll tell you a stupid story about something that happened to me over the weekend. I was driving through the park, flirting with this sexy (and oddly familiar) man. We were both smiling and making eyes. I drove around the loop for a second glance. He nodded hello, and I smiled back. A flicker of recognition, and we both froze.
My father's youngest brother. I had been flirting with my uncle. Again.
It's the again that makes it.
(Wow, I didn't realize I was going linkapacrazy today, but I guess I am.)
Richard sums up the NC Lit Fest.
The WaPo takes a break from Woodward Fest 04 to profile the divine throat of musician Greg Brown.
Note to High Times magazine: People who don't smoke pot are not going to read your magazine. (Nor are sensible people who do.)
Ted Conover gives a nice review in the NYT to Edward Conlon's buzzy cop memoir BLUE BLOOD. (Which also got a huge feature in this week's EW.)
The NYTimes also has a piece on the ever-inaccurate portrayal of amnesia in the movies. (Can't we just let this one go?)
NYTimes Tour de France coverage kicks off with a profile on how Lance is changing some things in preparation this year.
And weirdo Olivia Judson who wrote that Dr. Tatiana's sex guide thing gets all conflagrated up about Mars, in a way that reads more like bad science fiction than science. Don't bring the Martian germs here, they'll grow into giant horse-shaped sponges if they get wet and kill us all, galloping over the globe with their mighty hooves!
worm: "Fist City," Loretta Lynn
thingy/s to check out: THE VINTAGE BOOK OF AMNESIA, ed. Jonathan Lethem (full of great stories, this)
namecheck: Alan "Such a More Prompt Editor Than We Are" DeNiro
The NYTimes has an interesting interview with Tim Minear, former exec producer of Firefly, Wonderfalls and Angel.
NUSSBAUM Why is it so hard to keep anything original on network television?
MINEAR I wish I were sage enough to answer. I don't want to be one of those "hour" guys who is all bitter about reality TV. It's as viable as any other genre — when it's great, it's great. However! Reality does a certain thing. It burns quickly, brightly, and then it burns out. You can't repeat them.
NUSSBAUM They're so cheap to make; it's not a gamble, even if it flops.
MINEAR The slot machine of television. Keep feeding in the quarters, and eventually you'll hit the jackpot. But if a network like Fox can't nurture and properly launch a scripted hour — it's becoming the network that develops interesting programming, then drops it. The network where I don't want to watch what's cool, because my heart will be broken.
And the good news, a DVD of all 13 Wonderfalls episodes will probably be forthcoming:
MINEAR I was more angry about "Firefly." In this case, I came in to help these two guys, I wrote a lot of the material, and I'm just too tired to be mad. It's hard to be mad when they pay you this much money. And I don't want to whine. But after they scheduled it on Friday nights, I was like: "Friday nights! That's where we're promoting our 13-episode DVD."
NUSSBAUM You prepped deliberately for a DVD?
MINEAR I did. You always work with the notion that you're trying to get picked up — but I had very little faith in the network, so I looked at it as a complete 13. I wasn't just going episode to episode.
Fox, do you hear this? Do you understand? You are evil.
Owls have displaced squirrels and you can watch them on this webcam. (Via McKitterick.)
Jenn Reese is considering the beginnings of books she likes. The Garcia Marquez one in particular is one I've seen used an example of a perfect opening because it not only hooks the reader but manages to foreshadow the scope and thematic underpinnings of the entire book. A tall order for an opening, indeed. Good beginnings come from good endings -- I've heard that said many times.
O Elfalan, the minx, cracks me up with this anecdote:
Since I've been insensitive to everyone else today, I'll tell you a stupid story about something that happened to me over the weekend. I was driving through the park, flirting with this sexy (and oddly familiar) man. We were both smiling and making eyes. I drove around the loop for a second glance. He nodded hello, and I smiled back. A flicker of recognition, and we both froze.
My father's youngest brother. I had been flirting with my uncle. Again.
It's the again that makes it.
(Wow, I didn't realize I was going linkapacrazy today, but I guess I am.)
Richard sums up the NC Lit Fest.
The WaPo takes a break from Woodward Fest 04 to profile the divine throat of musician Greg Brown.
Note to High Times magazine: People who don't smoke pot are not going to read your magazine. (Nor are sensible people who do.)
Ted Conover gives a nice review in the NYT to Edward Conlon's buzzy cop memoir BLUE BLOOD. (Which also got a huge feature in this week's EW.)
The NYTimes also has a piece on the ever-inaccurate portrayal of amnesia in the movies. (Can't we just let this one go?)
NYTimes Tour de France coverage kicks off with a profile on how Lance is changing some things in preparation this year.
And weirdo Olivia Judson who wrote that Dr. Tatiana's sex guide thing gets all conflagrated up about Mars, in a way that reads more like bad science fiction than science. Don't bring the Martian germs here, they'll grow into giant horse-shaped sponges if they get wet and kill us all, galloping over the globe with their mighty hooves!
worm: "Fist City," Loretta Lynn
thingy/s to check out: THE VINTAGE BOOK OF AMNESIA, ed. Jonathan Lethem (full of great stories, this)
namecheck: Alan "Such a More Prompt Editor Than We Are" DeNiro
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