SNL Actors Who Make it Big (?)

O.K., some iterations of SNL characters who try to carry large-budget Hollywood films (e.g. 2010's MacGruber) are HORRIBLE. Some actors lack the gravitas to make it as movie stars. Will Forte, the actor behind MacGruber, the spoof of TV's classic fix-it-man MacGyver that was always funny on SNL, earned an Emmy nod this year playing Paul on 30 Rock. He just stank up the silverscreen in a movie that just couldn't carry its own weight. (Ironically, Kristin Wiig is in that flick. See below...)

Dana Carvey comes to mind as another sub-par movie actor, as does David Spade, who makes a better llama in The Emperor's New Groove than a version of his whiny, snarky self in any other role (Just Shoot Me on TV or Grown Ups 2 in theaters now).

Some former SNL actors have turned out to be brilliant on the larger screen. Take Dan Aykroyd (Driving Miss Daisy) or, of course, Bill Murray (Midnight Kingdom, Lost in Translation, etc.)

Say what you want about the anti-feminist, gross-out comedy Bridesmaids, but the Academy loved it. Kristin Wiig and her writing partner Annie Mumolo landed a screenplay nomination, deservedly so. ("It's happening! It's happening!"). Few comedies make it onto this list. Diablo Cody's Juno (2007) was one that nabbed the trophy.

What I think is interesting is how TV actors make it big in movies and then loop back to TV. Kristin Wiig's hosting of Saturday Night Live in 2012 earned her an Emmy nod. Her last episode on SNL as a regular was a tearjerker, yet she came back in less than a year and earned an Emmy nomination.

Melissa McCarthy (who will ALWAYS be Sookie from Gilmore Girls to me) earned an Oscar nomination for her quirky Bridesmaids role as well as an Emmy for her performance on Mike & Molly. She has marshaled her au currant status (forget The Heat, perhaps) to host SNL twice. This second host spot earned her an Emmy nod in the same category she shares with Wiig: Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, as her first gig hosting the show did in 2012.

Television... to movies... to television... When will the merry-go-round stop? Nevertheless, it's almost always a fun ride.

Warner Brothers to follow Man of Steel with Batman/Superman crossover

This announcement comes a little unexpected because I thought Warner Brothers would have gone the full Justice League route, but apparently this new film will only focus on Batman and Superman. I guess we'll have to wait a little longer before we see Aquaman on the big screen.

Full article can be read here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/breaking-warner-bros-will-follow-up-man-of-steel-with-a-superman-batman-team-up-film-20130720

A Little Comic-Con Happiness

Since we're doing TV vs. the movies, here's a couple of first looks given at Comic-Con that straddle that line.

Rob Thomas screened some behind the scenes footage and a trailer for the Veronica Mars movie (and in a nice nod to superfan Joss Whedon, it has a line about Neptune being on a hellmouth). 2014 needs to hurry up and get here, because I don't think I can wait. Watching a few scenes just made my impatience worse.

Veronica Mars Comic-Con 2013
Full Veronica Mars Panel

And speaking of Joss Whedon, he screened the ENTIRE first episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D because he's such a nice guy. People seemed to have behaved themselves (or they were scared of the agents in the audience), because I can't find any secret cell phone footage of the pilot. But I'll leave the panel link here if people want to listen to the few questions they got to answer.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Panel

I watch the Hallmark Channel strictly for Frasier reruns.  But this New York Times article (see below) caught my eye for this reason: "Viewers accustomed to the intricate, fast-paced, high-anxiety dramas that now dominate television will be jarred by the relative slowness and simplicity of "Cedar Cove," but the Hallmark Channel is built on the realization that not all viewers want their television time to be nonstop trauma and adrenaline."  While I find most programming on Hallmark Channel to be rather banal, it is obvious that their powers-that-be understand niche marketing, because clearly, the channel has proven to be quite successful.

Dialing Down the Adrenaline in a Town With a Laid-Back Judge

Traumas Are Muted in ‘Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove’

By NEIL GENZLINGER

Published: July 19, 2013

The fictional town of Cedar Cove seems like an anachronism, and so does “Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove,” the new Hallmark Channel series that is set there. But neither of those is a bad thing.

The show, which begins Saturday with a movie-length pilot before switching to hourlong episodes, is doing just what it sets out to do, and an able cast led by Andie MacDowell and Dylan Neal makes it stand out from the stream of interchangeable Hallmark movies that aim for the same tone and audience.

Viewers accustomed to the intricate, fast-paced, high-anxiety dramas that now dominate television will be jarred by the relative slowness and simplicity of “Cedar Cove,” but the Hallmark Channel is built on the realization that not all viewers want their television time to be nonstop trauma and adrenaline. The show is based on the books by Ms. Macomber, who has made best-seller lists by appealing to these same people.

Ms. MacDowell plays Olivia Lockhart, the municipal judge in Cedar Cove, a coastal community in Washington State so idyllic that you expect the darkest kinds of secrets to start emerging at any moment, since that’s what usually happens when a television town seems too good to be true. But “Cedar Cove” isn’t a Stephen King story or even “Murder, She Wrote,” the durable Angela Lansbury crime series set on the other coast.

There are traumas, but of a quieter variety. Jack (Mr. Neal), the newly arrived editor of the local newspaper, who quickly becomes Olivia’s love interest, is battling a personal demon. Olivia’s daughter, Justine (Sarah Smyth), is in a relationship with a man who is wrong for her, an aggressive developer named Warren (Brennan Elliott).

Just as important to defining the series is the pacing of those traumas. The show isn’t afraid to stick to one or two per episode, something that these days puts it in a class almost by itself. In the first hourlong episode, Warren’s coldhearted plan to tear down a beloved lighthouse is enough to occupy the time.

The two-hour pilot has a bit more in it, laying out various back stories. The main event, though, is that Olivia has a shot at the federal bench, a job that would take her out of Cedar Cove. Not much doubt about how that particular plot point will end up, since there wouldn’t be much of a series without her.

Ms. MacDowell isn’t very convincing when she has her judicial robes on because she doesn’t really radiate the fierceness and scariness that everyone keeps attributing to Olivia. But this judge actually spends very little time in the courtroom. Mostly she’s a smart, successful, somewhat wistful single woman about town, and for that, Ms. MacDowell is perfectly suited.

'Til Death Do Us Part

Ever since the tragic death of Glee star Corey Monteith last week to a heroin and alcohol overdose, I have been pondering a key difference between TV and the movies. When an actor dies during the filming of a movie, changes are made to the script to reflect this sad reality before it hits theaters. When (instead) that person passes away after the release of the picture, say in the case of Heath Ledger, that actor often moves into the realm of legend. (I do not mean to lessen the human tragedy involved in anyone's death--especially in the case of a senseless drug overdose.)

While it can sound calloused that fans/critics are pondering online how the next season of Glee will handle Finn's death, this need for resolution is indicative of the way viewers connect with a TV ensemble differently than with film characters. The level of connection seems more intimate and prolonged with the "people" who enter our homes weekly through our television sets than those we have encountered via the silver screen.

Where the serialization of characters often goes awry, however, is when we unknowingly equate the actor with the character s/he portrays. These words from NPR reporter Nathan Rott (by way of blogger Mark Memmot's "The Two-Way") sound initially crass, but he is onto something important:

The Cory Monteith that most Americans knew wasn't Cory Monteith at all. He was Finn Hudson, the high school football star turned Glee club member, whose singing talents were discovered in the shower during the musical comedy's pilot episode on Fox TV. ...
And that wasn't the reality. Monteith wasn't a high school football star. He was a high school dropout. ... Monteith got into drugs at age 13. He dropped out of school at 16 and found work as a Wal-Mart greeter and a taxi driver. At 19, he checked into rehab. ...
Earlier this year, he checked back into rehab.

I fear that more fans will weep more over the "death" of Finn Hudson than of the conflicted/addicted actor who brought him to life.

In a bizarre, life-imitates-art twist, Monteith was dating in real life Lea Michele, the actress who plays Rachel Berry on the show (his character's girlfriend). Unlike the Jacob story in Genesis 29, I hope it is Lea (not Rachel) with whom we sympathize. 

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/07/16/202748241/heroin-alcohol-killed-glee-star-monteith-coroner-says

Score One for Spielberg: T. Rex bit things that were alive!

Dino-fans rejoice! Scientists have found evidence that backs up Hollywood's depiction of T. Rex as an apex predator. Time to update your Jurassic Park disaster supplies kit.

http://www.npr.org/2013/07/16/202294091/om-nom-nom-t-rex-was-indeed-a-voracious-hunter

The jury's still out on E.T.

And the Emmy (Doesn't) Go to...

With the announcement of the 65th Primetime Emmy Award nominations this morning, the salivating crew on ABC's Good Morning America were more amped about who was NOT nominated (e.g. Steve Buscemi as actor and Boardwalk Empire as drama series) than even the impressive list of nominees themselves. Clearly the field of talent is stacked this year with shows like Breaking Bad (a fave for my wife and me, that we watched on Netflix) and the end of 30 Rock (all episodes on Netflix), yet no nod for the farewell of The Office (also on Netflix).

What I found remarkable (and the TV hosts noted as well) was the impact of Netflix on the Emmy selection process.  Some major points were racked up by:

• Kevin Spacey as Francis Underwood in House of Cards (a Netflix original)
• Elizabeth Ross as Robin in Top of the Lake, her second nomination of the year after being lauded as Peggy Olson in Mad Men. (And to think we knew her first as Zoey Bartlet on The West Wing, which I am currently watching on Netflix.)
• Jason Bateman in the fourth season of Arrested Development, a coup d'etat for Netflix, if you ask me. I have been DELIGHTED with this reboot.

I was (barely) running on the treadmill at the clubhouse at our apartment complex, which was loud and may, I admit, have affected my hearing. But I swear that the gushing host declared that this is a "magic time for television." I would agree, especially if Netflix is called TV simply because we watch it on our TV sets.

If the powers that be at broadcast networks do not recognize the influence of new streaming media (like Netflix and Hulu) that respond to the wishes of viewers more readily with original programming, the magic may be revealed as just their trying to pull a rabbit out of the same old top hat in a few short years.

Now, I am the first to admit that I cannot believe I am praising Netflix, since I had decried the appearance of "classic" (translated: lame) movies after some unwelcome changes came to the Netflix experience in the last couple of years. John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Internet Vlogbrothers entrepreneur, famously dogged the changes to Netflix on his web series "Crash Course World History." I laughed aloud and underscored this derision to the class for whom I was replaying the video. Now I have to admit I was wrong. Apparently the new David Copperfield at Netflix (i.e. Cindy Holland, VP of original content, named in March 2012 ) had a few tricks up her sleeve I didn't know about....

Bravo, Ted Sarandos, Netflix Chief Content Officer! Encore!

(Source: www.pmnewswire.com report from May 22, 2012)