Archive for the ‘Television’ Category

Smallville Season Three (2003–2004)

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

Smallville season 3 posterThe producers of Smallville have claimed that season three was perhaps the darkest. After viewing all the episodes, I would have to agree. To some extent this season shifts the focus from Clark to Lex, where we watch him struggle with his own demons both internal (madness) and external (his father Lionel). While the relationship between Clark and his biological father Jor-El is inspired from Christian scripture, the relationship between Lex and his father, Lionel, resembles more of a Greek tragedy. Although the third season was ambitious in going a darker route, much of the success of the show was due to its light-hearted humor and over all good nature. (more…)

Heroes – Season One (2006-2007)

Saturday, May 26th, 2007

HeroesHeroes has been described as a good series for those who don’t usually like super-heroes. Well, that may be but I do like super heroes and I love Heroes too. I love nothing better than watching seemingly ordinary people discover that they possess special powers like being able to fly or read people’s minds. That’s why I loved the first half of Spiderman I, before he started fighting the Green Goblin and the special effects got out of hand. Heroes, feels like one big first half of Spiderman I :-)
(more…)

Smallville Season Two (2002–2003)

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007
smallville-season-2-poster.JPGCliffhanger endings can either make you more excited for the next installment or make you wish you not wasted eighteen hours of your life in front of the television. The cliffhanger ending of the first season had Clark leaving Chloe at the spring formal in order to save Lana from a deadly tornado. Thankfully, with the first episode, titled Vortex not only picks up where the previous season leaves off, but sets the second season of Smallville to a more dynamic direction. (more…)

Comments for Jane Espenson

Monday, April 23rd, 2007

Jane Espenson runs a terrific blog offering advice on writing TV spec scripts. If you’re at all interested in writing for television, it’s worth checking out.

Jane’s site has two quirky aspects. First off, she consistently notes what she ate for lunch. Second, she doesn’t offer any online mechanism for reader feedback. Not only are comments turned off, but she doesn’t even provide a contact email. Instead, she lists a post office mailbox. You’re supposed to write a letter the old-fashioned-way.

That’s her prerogative, certainly. But it makes it difficult to point out simple errors she might want to correct. For instance, this post from last week:

I’m sure there are many of these out there, but tonight I’m just presenting the first documented clamshell that has captured my attention. Remember these lines?

You smell like aftershave and taco meat. (Blades of Glory)
You smell like beef and cheese. (Elf)
You smell like sweet red plums and grilled cheese sandwiches. (The Wedding Planner)
You smell like old people and soap. (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)

That last one is from my script for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is the Gene Wilder version, and doesn’t feature that line.)

A simple mistake, easily corrected. But how am I to tell her? I suppose I’ll need to write her a letter, and find a stamp with which to mail it.

This got me thinking: Since she and I probably have a significant overlap of readership, why not provide a feedback mechanism for her? So here’s what I’m going to do.

Next Monday (April 30th, 2007), I’m going to print out this post and all attached comments and mail it to Jane. So if there’s anything you’d like to ask her, or a response to something she’s written, just leave it as a comment on this post.

Remember, these comments are for Jane’s blog, not mine.

Me? I’m having Quizno’s for lunch. A mesquite chicken sandwich, no bacon.