Daily Archives: January 30, 2012

‘Alcatraz’ developing key mythology?

True fans don’t have to be reminded, unfortunately, of TV series that loaded up on their own mythology only to disappoint fans before the end.

How bizarre was it that “The X-Files” — once one of my favorites shows — spent several seasons establishing that FBI agent Mulder’s sister had been taken by aliens … only to throw all that out the window with a late-in-the-series revelation that Samantha Mulder was kidnapped by a plain old human killer?

How inexplicable was it that “Lost” — once one of my favorite shows — spent several seasons laying out what seemed to be an intricate backstory for the island and its occupants … only to ignore most of it, explain the rest away and, most mind-bogglingly of all, prove its early Internet critics right by declaring in the final episode that the characters we had grown to love had been hanging out in limbo after all.

So upon watching “Alcatraz” tonight, I found myself hoping that the series’ makers really do have the key to the mystery they’re developing.

If you haven’t watched this show, which aired its fourth installment in three weeks tonight, the basic plot is that more than 300 prisoners and guards disappeared from the island prison of Alcatraz in 1963. They’re reappearing in modern-day San Francisco, they haven’t aged a day and most seem to be on some kind of quest. Not to mention that they’ve returned to their old habits of bank robbery, kidnapping and murder.

Tonight’s episode, “Cal Sweeney,” introduced a bank robber whose objective seems to be an old-fashioned key. It’s the second of these keys that have shown up. Now they’re in the hands of federal investigator Hauser (Sam Neill) running the inmate recovery project.

I’m really hoping there’s some meaning to the keys, just like I’m hoping there’s some meaning to investigator Rebecca Madsen’s (Sarah Jones) discovery that her grandfather was a convict and is now roaming the present.

As for researcher Diego Soto (played by lovable “Lost” grad Jorge Garcia)? I’m just enjoying his amiable presence.

The show is teasing us with several little mysteries, including characters who seem to be represented in both time periods.

But if those keys mean something now … they damn well better mean something later.

Or Samantha Mulder’s ghost just might step out of that flying saucer and open up a can of suspension of disbelief.

‘I Want My MTV’ book a fun look behind-the-scenes

Most of us remember what we were doing on or shortly after Aug. 1, 1981.

We were watching MTV, of course.

The channel’s first decade — when music videos, many of them awful, ruled the airwaves and VJs like J.J. Jackson and (sigh) Martha Quinn were our best friends — is chronicled in “I Want My MTV,” the recent book by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum.

The two have compiled the definitive oral history of the channel, which was one of the biggest gambles in TV history. Who could have imagined, more than 30 years ago, that teens and young adults would watch a channel devoted to music videos 24 hours a day?

Not to mention that a lot of the videos sucked.

The book is stuffed with interviews about the early days of the channel, when only a handful of videos were available; the complaints that helped get more videos from black artists on the air; the advent of Michael Jackson on MTV; and the behind-the-scenes of the channel’s daily struggles. To say that the channel’s executives, staff, artists and video crews were drug-fueled is an understatement. Maybe one of the greatest of all time.

A couple of anecdotes were especially amusing.

Many of the videos now considered classics were very off-the-cuff. The director of the memorable ZZ Top videos like “Sharp Dressed Man” and “She’s Got Legs” just happened to have the inspired idea of putting the Texas blues band in the background in favor of Playboy models.

And the video for Bill Squier’s “Rock Me Tonight” gets special treatment in a chapter about how bad it was and how it pretty much destroyed the rocker’s career.

If you don’t remember the video — and I wish I could embed it here (I’m looking at you, WordPress) — it featured Squier prancing around a loft apartment and tearing his shirt off.

The book carries the MTV story into the early 90s, when the channel began airing the first “Real World” season and began shifting its focus from music videos to reality and lifestyle programming.

Theres a lot to get through here, and the authors probably include a few too many anecdotes about channel executives snorting cocaine and too few anecdotes about the on-air personalities and musicians. But if you were a fan of MTV in its heyday, the book’s worth a look.

Spider-Man in ‘The Avengers’ — part two

You know, at this point I’m choosing to believe Spider-Man is going to join up with — even fleetingly — his Marvel comics counterparts in this May’s “Avengers” movie.

That doesn’t mean it will happen. But wouldn’t it be fun if it did?

A while back in this space, I noted reports on the Interwebs that Spider-Man — the movie incarnation of which is owned by Sony — might appear in “The Avengers,” which is being made by Marvel’s studio arm and released by Disney.

Many folks with a lot more insight than me maintain that Sony is rebooting “Spider-Man” this summer only to keep their hands on the rights to the character.

And they note how hard it is, some apparent recent legal accord notwithstanding, for studios to play nicely together.

In the wake of the first round of pooh-poohing of the Spider-Man rumor, come stories today — in bestmoviesever.com and repeated on Comicbookresources.com — that Spidey really, truly is going to appear in the movie, even if it’s a glorified cameo like Wolverine’s appearance in last summer’s “X-Men: First Class.”

The above websites have all the speculation if you care to check it out.

Anyway, we all know that Marvel is building an intricate movie universe and that Sony wouldn’t mind some publicity for their “Spider-Man” reboot, which follows “The Avengers” into theaters by several weeks.

So will it happen?

We’ll find out.