Tag Archive: television

Why did Boardwalk Empire lose me?

December 29, 2015 0 Comments

Boardwalk Empire. Oh man, everything about it was right up my alley. It was a well-polished period piece with smart writing, great actors, the involvement of Martin Scorsese, gangsters, and it was set here in my home state of New Jersey. Plus, I’ve said before that HBO does awesome television. So why the hell didn’t it click with me? And I mean, it TOTALLY didn’t click with me. I only made it halfway through the first season. Like anyone with as lick of sense, I loved the setting. Great production values, great cast, great premise, and the pilot episode was pure Scorsese, which is to say it was frickin’ AWESOME. Yet for some reason the series just failed to hold my attention. Can’t place my finger on why, either….
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Television

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Mad Men’s Queen Bee: Celebrating The Power of Joan

December 10, 2015 0 Comments

The following is an excerpt from Celebrating Mad Men, available in paperback and for Kindle. When Mad Men debuted in 2007, no one other than Jon Hamm got more press than Christina Hendricks, the buxom redhead who plays the always-in-control office manager Joan Holloway (later Joan Harris). It wasn’t just her good looks and voluptuous figure that drew attention (though neither hurt), it was the strength of her character. Her self-assurance and confidence gave viewers the sense that Joan was always in control. In an office full of women withering under the demands of their often lecherous bosses, Joan was a remarkable breath of fresh air, the very embodiment of an intelligent woman who had embraced the power of her own sexuality. Surprisingly, Hendricks, who…
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Television

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Why without George Romero, there is no The Walking Dead

December 7, 2015 4 Comments

The following is an excerpt from Dissecting The Walking Dead: Slicing Into The Guts of Television’s Hottest Show, available in paperback and for Kindle. Without George Romero, there is no The Walking Dead. His 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead, invented the modern zombie genre. Robert Kirkman himself has said on many occasions that his comic series and television show is essentially an extended take on Romero’s legendary film, borrowing all its core elements and reimagining them as an ongoing story rather than a single night of terror. In other words, if you want to understand where The Walking Dead comes from, you must understand Night of the Living Dead and the Romero mythos. As I examined in a previous post, Romero didn’t create the…
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Films, Geek Stuff, Television, Works by Eric

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Daryl Dixon and the Making of a Fan Favorite in #TheWalkingDead

December 4, 2015 0 Comments

The following is an excerpt from Dissecting The Walking Dead: Slicing Into The Guts of Television’s Hottest Show, available in paperback and for Kindle. Robert Kirkman insists no one is safe on The Walking Dead, but we know better than that. Rick Grimes isn’t going anywhere any time soon. It is, after all, Rick’s show. But there is a second exception to the unspoken “no one is safe” rule: Daryl Dixon. While it’s entirely possible the show’s writers can make this author look like an idiot before the ink on this book is even dry, it’s safe to say it’s a longshot. Daryl is such a fan favorite, a character who boasts fierce loyalty from his legion of fans, that the show runners surely must realize…
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Television

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Zombies, Mythology, and the Origins of the Zombie Genre

November 29, 2015 4 Comments

The following is an excerpt from Dissecting The Walking Dead: Slicing Into The Guts of Television’s Hottest Show, available in paperback and for Kindle. Shambling corpses with ragged clothing still clinging to their grey, rotting bodies. An unsteady, drunken walk. Long, pitiful moans and an aching hunger for human flesh. The image is by now so familiar even people with no interest in the genre know it inside and out. These are zombies. But zombies weren’t always depicted this way. Once upon a time, the zombie was something much different, a creature linked with black magic and Voodoo and having nothing to do with eating flesh. It seems as if they’ve been around forever, but our modern view of zombies is actually a relatively new creation. The first recorded use of the term “zombie”…
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Geek Stuff, Television

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