Posts with tag j.j. abrams
Posted Oct 2nd 2008 11:29AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free, Fringe
You ever get excited about a new show, and you watch the first couple of episodes, and while you like the show it doesn't completely grab you, and you end up dropping it and watching something else? That's how I feel with
Fringe. It's a good show, but it's just not "must-see" for me, and I'd rather watch
The Mentalist over on CBS.
But that doesn't mean it's not popular. In fact, so far it's the #1 new show of the season (in the 18 to 49 demo that advertisers love, as we've pointed out here many times), and FOX is so happy that
they've given the J.J. Abrams sci-fi drama a full season.
The show is actually getting better ratings since the debut, which is something you don't often see. If there's one thing that the networks really love is seeing a show actually increase in viewers over the weeks, even if the first episode ratings didn't blow everyone away.
Posted Sep 2nd 2008 11:01AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, OpEd, Video, Early Looks, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Fringe
Wow, I really like this show! But darn, I'll have to wait to see what happens next, because
FOX only sent us the pilot episode. I hope the continuing episodes are just as good. I expect nothing less from writer/producer J.J. Abrams, who already has a slew of hits on
his IMDB page, including
Lost and
Alias (and I have high hopes for the upcoming
Star Trek feature film, which he's directing and producing). Also on board for
Fringe are the writers of
Transformers:
Alex Kurtzman and
Roberto Orci. Good combo there.
Let's see ... what can I tell you about
Fringe without giving away any spoilers? The first scene hooked me and wouldn't let go until ... well, it still hasn't let go, because I can't wait to see what happens next. The show is equal parts
Lost,
Heroes,
CSI, and
The X-Files, and the pilot episode covers a lot of ground in the set-up, but also ends with lots of questions.
Continue reading Fringe - an early look - VIDEO
Posted Jun 18th 2008 8:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Reality-Free
Leave it to J.J. Abrams to do some weird viral video promotion. According to Mahalo, if you perform a certain series of clicks on the Fox
Fringe website, it brings you to
this video of a twelve-fingered man -- six fingers on each hand.
The video is linked to a YouTube channel and website called PortalToIndia. You have to wonder if it's someone else's legitimate site or J.J. Abrams having fun with us.
Mahalo also gives a set of fast facts:
- Alleged creator: Stuart Sims
- To access: Hover mouse over image until it turns into a six-fingered hand, then click
- Namaste: Frequently heard phrase on Lost
- Has denied any connection to Fringe
- Site registry via Concentric's Private Domain Registration service
Abrams has done a similarly cryptic type of promotion for
Lost before the show ever aired. I wonder if the twelve-fingered man has any significance to the premise behind
Fringe? Perhaps one of the characters suffer from
polydactylism?
Finally, did the twelve-fingered man kill the father of
Inigo Montoya?
Continue reading Fox's Fringe links to 12-fingered man - VIDEO
Posted May 16th 2008 10:02AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, OpEd, Upfronts, Reality-Free
Writing this post had me pondering how I feel about commercials. In short, they really don't bother me.
Since I write about TV and movies, I have a work-related TV in my office, and I use those few minutes here and there to slam through some work or get caught up on whatever show I'm recapping. In fact, while watching commercial-free shows on
HBO and
Showtime, I actually miss those little interludes.
But, apparently, Fox hasn't been peering through my window, because at
their upfront presentation yesterday morning, they announced their "Remote-Free TV" idea. Two new dramas, J.J. Abrams'
Fringe and Joss Whedon's
Dollhouse,
will air with reduced network commercial breaks -- just five minutes per hour, or about half the usual.
Continue reading Fox trims commercials on Fringe and Dollhouse
Posted Feb 23rd 2008 4:39PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Celebrities
Don't you just love the web? News traveling so fast, ideas extrapolated and speculated upon based on the simplest of facts. That said, here's a sweet little tidbit that I found amusing. Tom Cruise was spotted on the Los Angeles set of the new
Star Trek feature film. He reportedly was visiting writer/director JJ Abrams. The two men, you'll recall, collaborated on
Mission Impossible 3.
This
exclusive, courtesy of JFXOnline, revealed that Tom stuck around the set for a couple of hours. Prior to this sighting, there had also been talk last fall that Abrams had wanted to enlist the superstar to make a brief cameo appearance in the revamped
Star Trek opus, telling the story of how creator Gene Roddenberry's original characters came to be. How Captain Kirk made it out of the Star Fleet Academy (in
The Wrath of Khan he said he cheated on his Kobyashi Maru simulation test), as well as the first time Kirk met the half-Vulcan, half-human Mr. Spock.
Continue reading Tom Cruise visits Trek set
Posted Feb 14th 2008 12:39PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd
It looks like
Star Trek fans are going to have to wait until May 2009 to see their franchise reboot. According to Variety,
Paramount Pictures has pushed back the release date because they feel it would make more money as a summer tentpole.
The reboot is being masterminded by J.J. Abrams, who is behind such television shows as
Alias and
Lost. It stars Chris Pine as Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Mr. Spock. Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role of Spock in the 1960's, will be returning as well in the movie as an older Spock.
Frankly, I think this is a bad idea. While the movie-going public increases during the summer,
Star Trek has the benefit of family appeal that would make it perfect as a Christmas Day release once the gifts are open and the family starts realizing that it can't stand each other.
Continue reading Star Trek movie pushed back to 2009
Posted Feb 9th 2008 3:36PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Grey's Anatomy, Celebrities, Casting
According to
Entertainment Weekly, Joshua Jackson, better known for his role as Pacey Witter in
Dawson's Creek, has just been cast as one of the leading men in J.J. Abrams' latest TV project,
Fringe. Fear not
Grey's Anatomy fans,
Fringe is shooting its 2-hour pilot this month (with a tiny budget of $10 million dollars), so it's likely that the actor will be able to free himself to shoot his guest stint on the ABC show when production resumes.
Around mid-November, it was revealed that the actor was set to guest star in a few episodes of
Grey's Anatomy as a potential love interest for Cristina. When news of the strike arrived, his stint was delayed. As of mid-January, insiders were reporting that Jackson was
still set to appear on the show. But now that he is officially attached to the new sci-fi mystery FOX series, I guess his storyline on
GA may be trashed or that they will recast the role if they can't make shooting schedules match.
Continue reading Pacey returns to TV in Abrams latest project
Posted Jul 27th 2007 3:39AM by Julia Ward
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Industry, Lost, Celebrities, Heroes, Casting
Alright, kids. The Paramount panel. This is what Comic-Con is all about - big, marketing juggernauts produced by massive corporations. I'm sure a handful of indie comic producers turn in their graves at the thought of what Comic-Con has become, but you can't deny that it's all about the passion. There's something beautiful and deeply sincere about true fans connecting with the creators of their obsessions. The love of good storytelling and making life more bearable through sharing in an aesthetic experience can't be besmirched by even the crassest of capitalist gestures, and there's free stuff. Nothing wrong with that.
The Paramount panel was loaded with tidbits - mostly for the film, not TV, buff. (You can check out TV Squad and Cinematical scribe Kevin Kelly's live blog from this afternoon's event
here.) However, some of our TV friends have made the jump to the big screen -
SNL's Andy Samberg,
Alias and
Lost creator J.J. Abrams and
Heroes' Zachary Quinto.
Continue reading Comic-Con: Paramount Pictures Panel Report
Posted Jul 27th 2007 2:29AM by Julia Ward
Filed under: Industry, Lost, Celebrities
Thursday's
Lost panel at Comic-Con had some of its thunder stolen by an
earlier announcement at the Television Critics Association press tour - Harold Perrineau would be rejoining the cast. Harold put in a surprise appearance at Thursday's panel, but knew about as much as those of us in the audience did as to why Michael would be returning and when. Co-executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse did reveal that Michael is back for good - not in a flashback, not as a "guest star." No word on "flash forwards" or whether or not Michael would be on the island or in some other locale, but it wouldn't be
Lost without its secrets.
Lindelof and Cuse were so reticent to let any real scoops out of the bag that each brought a bell on stage to hit if either started getting too generous with the spoilers. Unfortunately for us, they kept themselves in check. We learned some generic information, which I'll sum up after the jump to avoid offending the spoiler-sensitive amongst us.
Continue reading Comic-Con: Lost Panel Report
Posted Jul 27th 2007 1:45AM by Julia Ward
Filed under: Industry, Lost, Celebrities, Heroes
When it comes to television, Comic-Con is one enormous marketing machine for early adopting fanboys and girls. Each panel is constructed around dropping one or two spoilerific bon mots to the core fanbase so let's not waste any time and just cut to the chase. I'll follow-up with full panel reports, but in the meantime, here's the big news from Comic-Con this Thursday, July 26th.
(WARNING: Potential spoilers for all things pop culture and most things J.J. Abrams-related ahead.)Continue reading Comic-Con: Cheat Sheet (Thursday)
Posted May 24th 2007 5:23PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: OpEd, Lost
First off, spectacular season finale. It was exciting, dramatic, gave us answers (and even more questions) and was just beautifully done all around. Easily the best season-ender in the short history of Lost, and one of the best season finales of any series, ever. Every character had something to do (loved Hurley in the van and Locke throwing the knife into Naomi), the editing was phenomenal, the music was just really well done (the ominous drums, the sad music with Charlie dying, etc), and Matthew Fox deserves an Emmy for this episode alone.
Continue reading Why I'm a little worried about Lost next season
Posted Apr 18th 2007 9:01AM by Erin Martell
Filed under: Lost, Awards
Lost may have been shut out at this year's Golden Globe awards, but the drama has another shot at victory at this year's BAFTA's. The nominations for the British Academy Television Awards were recently announced, and Lost received its first nomination ever. The Academy created a new International category this year, recognizing non-British series from every genre.
Lost is going up against a set of three American shows. The other nominees are Entourage, House, and My Name is Earl. Strange company. Executive producers J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, and Jack Bender were named in the nominations earlier this week. The drama is also up for several Saturn awards; winners will be announced May 10.
The BAFTA winners will be announced in a ceremony in London on May 20.
Posted Apr 13th 2007 8:22AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Cancellations
Six Degrees returned (briefly) this spring to
unimpressive ratings, so ABC has yanked it off the scheduled and shut down production. The network will burn off the remaining five episodes on its website beginning Friday, April 27. It will release one episode each Friday for five weeks.
The show returned to Friday night airings, but nobody watched. I gave up on it after watching the pilot because-- as it turns out-- everything J.J. Abrams touches does not turn to gold.
Now, all we're waiting to hear about is
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It's only a matter of time.
Posted Apr 3rd 2007 2:41PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming
Remember all that stuff about Six Degrees coming back? Never mind! ABC has pulled the show yet again. The show returned recently on Friday nights (which was a big surprise in itself), but almost no one watched. The show got terrible ratings. The move takes effect immediately. Something tells me this isn't a good sign for a second season.
So we have The Black Donnellys being pulled in favor of a reality show (The Real Wedding Crashers), and you're probably wondering what will replace Six Degrees in the time slot? That's right, a reality show! But this one is even more hard to take: they're replacing it with reruns of Wife Swap. Gah!
In other shows-going-on-hiatus news, David E. Kelley's The Wedding Bells has stopped production, though the remaining episodes will probably air. But don't hold your breath for a renewal.
Posted Mar 21st 2007 5:48PM by Erin Martell
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost
If you love TV memorabilia and have thousands of dollars to spare, a piece of the Oceanic 815 plane from Lost could be yours. A website called Charityfolks.com is auctioning off a section of the plane to benefit Artists for a new South Africa, a nonprofit organization that focuses on AIDS and democracy issues in South Africa.
The plane section is autographed by the show's creators, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. Charity Folks is listing it as the first piece of the plane ever to be privately owned. If you are on a tight budget, this auction is not for you. As of 5pm ET, the current bid was $5,000; the next available bid was $5,500. My respect (and jealousy) goes out to the highest bidder, who will be helping a good cause and getting a unique Lost item in the bargain!
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