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ConStar Clicks

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The 2015-16 TV season is fast approaching, and with that comes endless articles on various trends and the state of television today. This week’s ConStar Clicks features a few of those articles and a couple of older ones. Click away!

Over on NPR: Television 2015: Five Shows They Will Never Stop Making including: The Adventures Of Mr. Superabilities And Detective Ladyskeptic and Healing Dr. Chilly. 
Another NPR piece: Television 2015: Are We Done Hating Television? which discusses how movie stars are moving to TV, which used to be a shocking thing, as TV was what movie stars did when they couldn’t get movie roles. Now things are different.

Disdain for television is so old and so powerful that HBO used to try to repurpose it into something useful, like fuel made from old French-fry grease. That’s what “It’s not TV. It’s HBO.” was.

Another great line:

Disdain for television is so old and so powerful that HBO used to try to repurpose it into something useful, like fuel made from old French-fry grease. That’s what “It’s not TV. It’s HBO.” was.


TV NOW: Are You Cheating On Your TV Shows? [Seat 42F] considers the sheer amount of television that is on the air today and the way social media and other factors force us to choose which shows to watch live and which to save for that DVR/Netflix binge

Total scripted television shows rose from 340 shows in 2013 to 371 shows in 2014 and now there will be over 400 shows at the end of 2015 — that is an increase of over 60 additional television shows in the past 2 years.

Also:

It became essential to triage which TV shows had to be watched immediately or LIVE or suffer the repercussions.

An important question is asked: Is TV Writing the Best Job Ever? [Huffington Post]
(and answered by TV writer Jane Espenson, who’s worked for some of the best SFF shows on TV, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Once Upon a Time, and Battlestar Galactica.)
This piece on the BBC America Anglophenia blog wonderfully explores how Tatiana Maslany perfects the various accents and dialects she performs so flawlessly on Orphan Black:

In playing these diverse characters, the Canadian-born actress has the Herculean task of defining each individual through speech and behavior without tripping over into Saturday Night Live-level caricature. And that’s not even accounting for the performances in which a clone pretends to be another clone. Nuances are layered on nuances.

If you’ve ever watched Orphan Black, you know those nuances are serious! Also why hasn’t Tatiana hosted SNL yet?!

Blog Rebrand!

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Hey you, fellow TV junkie!

Now that the Fall 2014 TV season is approaching, I’m looking to do more with my blog and my tv writing career in general. I decided one way to foster that was to change the domain name here, so Constarstudiestv.wordpress.com is now ConStarWrites.TV!

Same banner, new words.
Same banner, new words.

I’m excited for the domain change because it describes both aspects of what I want this blog–and my life–to be: writing for and writing about television. I hope to continue to post links to articles and write episode reviews and discuss issues of diversity both in front of and behind the camera–and who knows what else! I’m keeping my mind open for ways to expand my online writing presence.
So enjoy the quicker URL and come chat with me about TV. Either leave a comment here, or say hi over on Twitter.

ConStar's Pilot Watch: Jane the Virgin

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My favorite pilot for this season is Jane the Virgin. I love that it’s about a Latino family, I love that the grandmother only speaks Spanish (a reality they’re allowing to shine on TV), I love the characters and their relationships and where they’re taking their secrets, I love how funny it is, and how ridiculous it is at times, but also how real and loving. Most of all, I love the tellanovella narration.

I can’t stress enough how much I loved the narration. I think it’s so fresh and original. It reminds me of Jim Dale doing the Pushing Daisies narration. It fits tonally, adds humor, and gets exposition out in an innovative way. I’ve definitely never heard a tellanovella voice over before. It’s clearly inspired by the idea of tellanovellas and their ridiculousness (possibly inspired by an actual tellanovella?), but still doesn’t feel like too much a soap opera, even with soap opera plots (and camera work at times).

I already wanted to see it, but now I am really interested. It was definitely my favorite new pilot (since I’d already seen the Flash and knew the character). I really want this show to succeed and I really think that it will.

Verdict: It’s now definitely on my fall calendar, but when I’ll have time on Monday nights? I don’t know!

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ConStar's Pilot Watch: The Flash

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I’d watched The Flash already (shhh), but I enjoyed it again the second time, which is a great omen. Obviously, I’ve been ranting and praising Arrow for the last two months and I really enjoyed Grant Gustin as Barry on that show, so I was pleased that the pilot held up to that portrait of him (even if they did fudge the order of events from the way they happened on Arrow). I think the characters are in solid places and it’s not too much a replica of its sister show. It’s whimsical and light and fast and fun and I really enjoy that.

I love its diversity: the Wests are black and Cisco is Hispanic and there were some other background characters of color that made me feel like I was more in the real world than most other tv shows. I love that Jesse L. Martin gets to be a cop again, but with fantastical story lines. He’s such a NY good cop icon, especially in TV land, so it really helps sell Central City as this Metropolis type place, compared to Arrow’s dark Gotham like elements.

In fact, the two shows play light and dark the same way Superman and Batman do, which I think will help make them awesome sister-shows. The way that people love Batman and Superman to interact and reference each other. If anything, if Batman is always in our mental periphery when watching Arrow, I think that Superman could be when watching Flash. Barry is clearly more readily willing to be a hero, a lighter beacon than the Arrow, so it’ll be fun to see what his hero’s journey is. I think Oliver knows how to save people, but doesn’t know how to be a hero, a symbol, just yet; while Barry knows how to be a hero, but doesn’t quite know how to save people yet. He’s got powers, but is still learning how to use them. Something deep and analytical like that. Either way, rewatching this pilot only made me more excited for it to premiere.

Verdict: Yes, yes, yes!

ConStar's Pilot Watch: Gracepoint

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I watched the Broadchurch pilot once, then never made it back for the rest of the series. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, but maybe at the time it was a bit heavy for what I wanted to watch? I have But from what I remember of it, this show is a scene by scene American recreation of most of that pilot. And of course the star is the same–with his American accent. Wasn’t sure David Tennant’s accent was working for me, but it seemed to ease itself into naturality (a word I’m making up, yes) by halfway through the episode.

I really liked that the dad of the dead boy was Hispanic and I think his performance surprised and pleased me most of all. (Oh and that the daughter’s boyfriend was black—can’t remember if that was the case on Broadchurch.) There was something about the dad, especially in the scene in the morgue, that I loved. He portrayed what it might look like for a father to lose his son really well. In fact, the silence that reigned in the theater I watched this in when Tennant and Gunn (I’m bad at character names upon a first viewing, apparently) inform the family was a true testament to the great job the actors and the director did of pulling the viewers in to such a horrifyingly sad and intimate moment in this family’s life. Anna Gunn was great and I think a perfect fit for this role.

I would like to know what happens, but I’m not sure my patience will hold up, I apparently didn’t have it for BC. I like mysteries though and this certainly reminds me of some random mystery novels I read as a kid—small beach town, murder, where everyone is a suspect. I meant to binge Broadchurch when it was done airing in the US on TV, but I never did. Maybe I’ll make the effort here. (Then watch the original, because it’s bound to be better.)

Verdict: In truth, I might DVR the show then never watch it, like I did with Broadchurch and that’s nothing against the show, that’s all me. But it’s not something I wouldn’t watch, I just might not watch it. Make sense? If not, ask me about it and convince me to watch it.

Constar's Pilot Watch: Gotham

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I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one–it’s got so many big shoes to fill, but I enjoyed it.

Maybe it was a bit overly heavy-handed with introducing each of the villainous players, but it was nice to guess at them, right before a punny name drop, confirming who you think it is. I thought Ben MacKenzie was a nice Gordon–trying to do the right thing, but being tossed into this seedy world surrounded by awful people. His smarmy partner–played by Donal Logue who I know from the sitcom Grounded for Life (don’t ask, there was a ABC Family phase and that was in syndication) —was a great foil for MacKenzie. I think he plays his character perfectly, we’ll love to hate him.

I really like how much time Jada Pinkett-Smith gets, especially considering she’s a show original character? The fact that she’s such a boss and is helping these villains get their origins is cool. Helps that’s she’s feisty and powerful and has sexy/powerful outfits. Little Bruce Wayne was adorable and sad and I wonder where they’ll take his character, considering it’s such a long ways off from becoming anything even close to Batman. He’ll probably not appear too often, I don’t imagine they want to overload us with the one thing we can’t have from this show.

I liked the tone and the look of the show–seedy and dark and kinda greenish-gray, very 20s grimy New York, with some Art Deco feel to it too. Fish Mooney’s place was very French brothel or something. The art direction is really great; they’ve really filled it with film noir tones which kind of help with a timelessness of it. (Though, I noticed that Gordon has a flip phone—so cellphones exist, but not current ones? I think this show will probably be a bit of an anachronism stew… but that’s alright with me as long as it’s consistent.)

Verdict: Yup, I’m watching it. I got a better feel for this than I did from the Agents of SHIELD pilot, so that’s a good sign for this superhero show.

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ConStar's Pilot Watch: Red Band Society

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Red Band Society was not on my list of shows to watch. I just didn’t have too much interest in it and I don’t often purposefully watch things that might be sad.  I’m not one to watch something that I know will be sad going in. I’m an action, fantasy, magical plot kind of girl; if it happens to be sad, I’ll deal and be sad too, but then it’s back to fun and magic and superpowers. And I definitely expected this to be sad–sick kids in a children’s hospital? Obviously very Fault in Our Stars. While The New Yorker TV Critic Emily Nussbaum proclaims the two aren’t the same at all—she also make a good point, the show is tailor-made for fans of that book. Emily’s opinion is that Fault is better—richer, deeper characters—but I’m giving RBS the benefit of a pilot. The Fault in Our Stars has book level character depth—given over the course of a hundreds of pages. RBS must delve out its development slower and across more characters. What might seem like “caricature” in a pilot might evolve to greater depth as we get to spend time with each character (which goes back to my giving Mulaney a second-episode chance). All this to say, I wasn’t expecting to want to watch more of this show, but I do.

I don’t have too much more to say other than I really liked the character dynamics between the kids. I loved that the black kid (I can’t remember his name right now) was SUCH a New York black kid. I love that he talks like people I’ve met, kids I’ve met. He felt real in his actions, so I hope he gets more character development along the way. Octavia Spencer was wonderful, both scary and sweet, clearly good at her job and also caring about her knucklehead patients. There’s little groundwork for arcs for all the characters, just the cheerleader and the new kid dealing with the treatment of their new diseases, but I’m excited to see where they’ll take all of this.

It was lovely and fun and teenage, presenting the same tropes as a high school sitcom in a new way, while also being a little fantastical and light-hearted as well. I’m hoping that with it’s diverse audience, that the characters of color get equal screen time, but also that maybe some actors with real life disabilities get to appear on the show. I can’t help but think of RJ Mitte, who has cerebal palsy and was awesome on Breaking Bad. And I believe there is a show on ABC Family that features a hearing-impaired character played by an actual hearing-impaired actress. I would love for this show to allow actors with disabilities to shine, especially since this is a show intended to be watched by young people and it would really allow them to see themselves in society and allow others to see them as people rather than just see them by their disability. This show could be a beacon for representation across cultures and capabilities.

Verdict: Adding to my fall schedule. I really, really enjoyed this one.

ConStar's Pilot Watch: Mulaney

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So I know this show was slated for last season’s pilot season, so maybe that contributed to how I felt about it, but I was SO disappointed. Mulaney’s acting was a bit stilted (explained, I guess, as a character trait?), Nasim Pedrad’s character was funny but unfortunately terribly written and one dimensional in the way she was obsessed with her ex-boyfriend, and the black sidekick literally couldn’t get a joke out. His character couldn’t find a punchline. It was too on the nose for how the show seems to make a splash but goes nowhere. The Seinfeldy stand up bits were okay, but not seamlessly tied in OR completely removed the way Seinfeld’s were. They felt a bit abrupt.
The characterization was so lacking. Neither of the sidekick characters had anything other than that episode’s schtick; no real jobs (the black sidekick is also a comedian) or goals or backstory. Only Mulaney’s character, in his job working for Martin Short (who didn’t really grab my attention), had any kind of arc given to him. Nasim worked really hard with what she got, I enjoyed her performance, though not the ridiculous caricature of a character.
Also, there’s a random Ice-T voice over at the beginning explaining “This is filmed in front of a live studio audience.” Very 90s, which might’ve been the point, but also feels different than any other modern comedy on TV and not in a good way.
I’m hoping that because this show is two years old, it means that Mulaney and the writers were able to tweak the things that aren’t working in the pilot. Maybe it will still have the 90s multi-cam feel to it, but perhaps it will be smarter and have better characterization. Maybe Mulaney will be more relaxed as an actor. It’d be nice to see this do well, if just for the fact that it was stuck in development for so long, but I’m not sure on this one.

Verdict: I might watch episode two to see if the writing has changed, but I’m not sure this is gonna remain in my line up. Here’s hoping episode 2 is two years improved.

ConStar's Pilot Watch: Forever

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Just look at that ridiculous pun.

I almost don’t want to talk about this show. I wasn’t interested in it to begin with (it was the show of all of the presented pilots at PaleyFest Previews that I wanted to watch the least) and it didn’t surprise me or engage me at all. In fact, I stepped out halfway through to get a snack and didn’t miss much.

We’ve done the “immortal white guy knows more than everyone around him” trope so many times and there was nothing new to his immortality–unless you count that fact that he’s NOT a vampire. And I’d had a feeling we’d seen this show before and after the panel I was reminded there was a show called New Amsterdam a few years ago that was this very same trope—he was a detective instead of an ME. I hadn’t wanted to watch that show either. And it got cancelled pretty quickly. His resurrection power seems ridiculous and half unexplained–and not in the mysterious wait until later in the season way. Things were left unexplained (like why he DISAPPEARS from his spot of death and resurrects in water; also: what happens to his clothes? What if someone sees his body disappear?), which distracted me from the story rather than pulling me in. These are things that could have been explain immediately.

It’s the Mentalist (no, not fun Psych, but the Mentalist) meets… a vampire detective show. Maybe a bit of Castle (partners from different fields solving crimes) and Quincy, ME (he’s an ME), but without any of the fun of any of those shows. He didn’t even really present a compelling backstory and his partner’s backstory was mediocre as well. Nothing all that interesting.

The best thing was the ending with a reveal as to how he knew a certain character. That warmed the hearts of several audience members, and it was a nice bit of character interaction, though still no real development on behalf of the main character. And the mystery introduced–someone knows his secret–wasn’t interesting at all. Just a series of phone calls, you don’t even see the face of the main antagonist. I didn’t care.

Why can’t we have an immortal protagonist who is black? Or Latino or Asian? Those stories would be so much more interesting and rich! A black immortal who escaped slavery or at least survived until emancipation, then through Jim Crow and all that which followed? A Latina (yes, why not female) who has travelled through South and Central America for centuries before landing in New York. Characters of other races would add much more flavor to these immortal stories, the things they’ve lived through, that people of color have gone through through the years tells much more harrowing tales. An immortal Japanese man who survived living in America through internment camps or perhaps, even managed to fight in WWII. There are so many stories out there that are the same ones we’re being presented, but add a person of color and it adds so much more to the narrative.

Can’t say I was disappointed in Forever, just that it met my very low expectations.

Verdict: The puns were too heavy handed, the plot wasn’t interesting, and it started off with an unnecessary bang. I’m not watching Forever.

ConStar's Pilot Watch: Cristela

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I was wonderfully surprised by Cristela. It started off rough and I felt like my low expectations were being met during the first 20 seconds: Cristela walks in the room, her mother says something that’s not funny and the laugh track kicks in. It was a bad omen. I groaned aloud. I face palmed. But once it moved past forcing the first laugh, it legitimately made me crack up.

The character dynamics are on point; Cristela lives with her sister and brother-in-law, mother, and her niece (was there a nephew as well? I can’t remember). The mother was grumpy and old country, the brother-in-law hates Cristela, the sister is sexy and loves her family (clearly since she lets both her mother and her sister live in her house). Simple character traits that will define their relationships with each other and provide nice plotting.

Cristela, herself, is ambitious, but not easily so–it’s taken her six years so far to get through law school–but she’s in there and she’s not giving up. She likes sports (go Cowboys), makes friends with the adorable, inept Jewish fellow intern, and both stands up to but makes an effort to learn from her new (racist) boss. Which I hope they deal with a little better than they have so far, but they can’t squeeze everything into the pilot and most times in the world, you have to suck up people’s racism until you have the power to put them in their place–which she definitely doesn’t have yet.

The show is funny, so hopefully they don’t rely too much on forced laugh track gags like the very first one, and I think it has heart. Obviously it’s comparable to the George Lopez show, which I can’t remember well enough to really say if that’s going to help it or hinder it. The weakest part of the show was Gabriel Iglesias’ character—who seemed forced in because he’s a famous Latino comedian and who didn’t add anything to the show but weird sexual advances towards an uninterested Cristela. Hopefully they realize they don’t need his famous face.

Verdict: I was pleasantly surprised; I’m keeping it on my fall calendar.

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