Category Archives: TV

Even more ‘SHIELD’ trailer!

Leave a reply

coulson-lives

First we had a six-second Vine trailer for ABC’s “Agents of SHIELD.” Then we had a 30-second trailer. Now we have a full two and half minutes of promo for the series – or at least the pilot, directed by “Avengers” director and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon.

And there’s so much fun stuff in it.

Observations:

The trailer addresses, head-on, the idea that Agent Phil Coulson (series start Clark Gregg) was supposed to have been killed in “The Avengers.” It’ll be interesting to see how that story plays out. Will they tease us with what happened? Or very quickly attribute it to a Nick Fury scheme to motivate Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Thor Odinson?

That’s definitely the voice of Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill from “The Avengers”) in the trailer, asking the young agent what SHIELD means to him. Interesting to see if Smulders will play a recurring role in the show.

SHIELD j august richards

I’m so hoping that J. August Richards is playing Luke Cage. Richards is more wiry and wry than Cage, but I really want to see this charismatic actor bring that classic character to life. And what do you want to bet Whedon will have him exclaim “Sweet Christmas,” Cage’s trademark exclamation?

SHIELD trailer van scene

There’s plenty of Joss Whedon-type humor here. Whedon was a master of playing against expectations and we see that here, especially the scene where (at least initially) anti-SHIELD investigator/hacker Skye (Chloe Bennett) is boasting that her message can’t be stopped … until Coulson and company roll open the door of her van. There’s another when Skye is being interrogated and is told it can go two ways. “Is one the easy way?” “No,” she is told. “Oh.”

We get some glimpses of the heroes of “The Avengers,” but the trailer really emphasizes the normal-ness of most of its main characters, noting, “Not all heroes … are super.”

SHIELD_Ming Na Wen

That being said, Whedon likes tough chicks. Here we see Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May kicking butt, just like Buffy or the Black Widow.

We see not only Richards’ character in the trailer but indications that SHIELD is keeping track of a burgeoning superhero population around the world. That makes sense considering that the post-credits scene of 2008’s “Iron Man” – the scene that started this all – indicated that Nick Fury showed up when Tony Stark went public.

In a way, the street-level, non-superhero perspective reminds me of “Marvels,” the classic 1994 Marvel comic series that redrew the landmark events of Marvel in the 1960s from the eye of the common man.

For a weekly series, that’s a smart move. Viewers will like knowing there’s a perspective similar to their own, boggling over the Marvels that are popping up around the globe.

 

‘Agents of SHIELD’ trailer released

Leave a reply

coulson SHIELD teaser

It’s Mother’s Day, but darned if it doesn’t look like the day has turned into “Agents of SHIELD” Day.

Today ABC and Marvel released not only a six-second preview of Joss Whedon’s new fall “SHIELD” series but also a 30-second version that not only gives us glimpses of the Hulk, Captain America and Thor but also some narration from SHIELD agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) that explains the set-up.

“We work the cases that SHIELD hasn’t classified,” Coulson notes as the trailer opens. “The strange, the unknown. It’s not just spy versus spy anymore. The whole world’s in on the action.”

j august richards SHIELD trailer

And it gives us our first look at “Angel” alum J. August Richards in a role that a lot of us are hoping is Luke Cage.

I’m also curious about the nature of the fiery figure (vision? explosion?) that Coulson calmly walks toward at one point. We can  be sure it’s not the Human Torch, right?

luke cage in SHIELD teaser

We’ll know more soon, we hope.

 

‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is on for TV and here’s a peek

Leave a reply

agents of SHIELD cast

We knew this was going to happen – “Avengers” director Joss Whedon is overseeing the series and directed the pilot episode, for pete’s sake – but ABC on Friday announced that it had picked up the “SHIELD” series.

So we got a couple of cool things on Friday, coolest of which is the cast photo above, with SHIELD agents flanking Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg).

There was also a “leak” of a few seconds of footage labeled “Hulk Fire.” It looks like footage from “The Incredible Hulk” to me, a few seconds of the Abomination tearing up Harlem before the Hulk shows up. But maybe I’m wrong.

SHIELD leaked image

Here’s a screen cap.

The show – which will exist in the Marvel movie universe – has the potential to be cool, Whedon-y fun like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and “Firefly.”

SHIELD-agent-coulson

It’ll be interesting to see how the series explains some things – the presence of Coulson, who was ostensibly killed in “The Avengers” – and how it gives us some superhero action without busting its budget.

j august richards

Not to mention the possibility of cameos, and the mystery of who “Angel” alum J. August Richards is playing. Is he Luke Cage? And how many other Marvel characters will be introduced in the series?

Here’s ABC’s description of the series:

“Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series.  “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television.”

‘The Americans’ a great take on the Cold War

Leave a reply

the americans season finale

“The Americans” wrapped up its first season on FX this week and I’m happy to say the early promise of the series was carried through to this year’s finale.

If you didn’t check out the show – and you really should find it online or on demand in order to be ready for the second season – you missed one of the most offbeat combinations of recent years: A Cold War espionage thriller crossed with a domestic drama about a spectacularly strained marriage.

Kerri Russell and Matthew Rhys play Elizabeth and Phillip, a married couple and parents of two kids in the greater Washington DC area in 1981.

Unknown to their own children, their friends and their new neighbor, an FBI agent played by Noah Emmerich, Elizabeth and Phillip are actually Russian spies. They operate out of a travel agency (how’s that for a moment in time?) and carry out missions like bugging Casper Weinberger’s study.

The stakes are high for these spies and their handler, the ruthless Claudia, played by “Justified’s” Margo Martindale, even though we know it wasn’t long before the Soviet Union as a threat to the United States was no longer a realistic one.

So as Elizabeth and Phillip and the feds – including a hardass Richard Thomas of “The Waltons” as the FBI boss – maneuver and kidnap and assassinate their way through what seems like ancient history, the series not only examines the relationship between the hard-edged Russell and the soft-hearted but steely Rhys and Emmerich, sympathetic as the fed carrying on a relationship with a Russian woman (the adorable Annet Mahendru as Nina) even while his marriage falls apart.

The first season ended with a gripping episode in which the cat-and-mouse game threatened to expose the spies to their FBI agent pal and cost them their lives. It left me wanting more, like any good TV series.

The surprise here is Russell, so far removed from her “Felicity” days. In “The Americans” she’s whipcord thin and looks like she’s made of coiled steel. Elizabeth is hard – justifiably so, based on her harrowing background – and dangerous. I can’t wait to see what she does next season.

 

Allan Arbus RIP

Leave a reply

allan arbus

Paging Dr. Sidney Freedman. We need one last consultation.

Sad news today: Allan Arbus, longtime character actor best known for a recurring role as Sidney, the wry psychiatrist on “M.A.S.H.” has passed away.

Arbus, who starred in cult classics like “Greaser’s Palace,” was 95. That 1972 film was directed by Robert Downey Sr. The elder Downey also directed him in “Putney Swope.”

I remember Arbus best from “The Electric Horseman,” the Robert Redford film, besides his 12 episodes of “M.A.S.H.”

I didn’t know until I read his obit that Arbus was married, from 1941 to 1969, to photographer Diane Arbus.

Rest in peace, Mr. Arbus.

 

Classic TV: ‘Electra Woman and Dyna Girl’

Leave a reply

electra woman and dyna girl point

Airing in 1976 on the Saturday morning “Krofft Supershow,” “Electra Woman and Dyna Girl” was, frankly, a little after my time. I was a high-schooler by that point and not watching a lot of Saturday morning cartoons or live-action shows like this one.

But there must be a reason why there’s an “Electra Woman and Dyna Girl” magnet on my refrigerator.

electra-woman-and-dyna-girl

Well, two reasons: Stars Deidre Hall and Judy Strangis.

The show – just 16 episodes of about 15 minutes each – was a campy and dreadfully cheap female knock-off of the 1960s “Batman” series. Hall – later to win fame in “Days of Our Lives” – and Strangis – who had starred in the school sitcom “Room 222” – played the title roles as do-gooders who, with help from colorful spandex costumes, their inventive assistant Frank (Norman Alden) and oodles of spirit, fought dire super villains like Ali Baba (Malachi Throne, with a henchman played by the wonderful Sid Haig) and Glitter Rock.

The shows were cheaply made – shot on video, with shoestring special effects – and filled with exclamations like “Electra wow!” from Dyna Girl.

Yet Hall and Strangis made an indelible impression on kids, especially boys, and teens (ahem) who saw the show. There’s a reason clips fill You Tube to overflowing and website after website is devoted to the duo.

judy strangis dyna girl

Hall, with an amazing pile of blonde hair, was gorgeous. But Strangis, fresh-faced and pigtail-wearing, was a girl that all of us could fall in love with.

The ‘Star Trek’ / ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ connection

4 Replies

brock peters star trek

I’m not sure when I first noticed that some of the cast of that classic 1962 drama “To Kill a Mockingbird” had later turned up in “Star Trek” TV episodes and movies, but I was watching the Gregory Peck film – an adaptation by Horton Foote of Harper Lee’s novel of tolerance – recently and was struck when I realized that not one, not two, but three members of its cast had memorable roles in “Star Trek” within a few years.

brock peters to kill a mockinbird

It’s likely the easiest-to-spot connection is actor Brock Peters, who played criminal defendant Tom Robinson in the movie.

Peters is memorable for two “Star Trek” roles. He played Joseph Sisko, father of Avery Brooks’ Benjamin Sisko, in the 1990s series “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” And he played Starfleet Admiral Cartwright in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,” two of the best in that series. (How can you tell? They’re both even-numbered “Trek” movies.)

william windom to kill mockinbird

Also easy to spot is William Windom as the prosecutor, Gilmer, in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

william windom star trek doomsday machine

Windom had one of the showiest guest-starring roles in all of the original “Star Trek” series, as Commodore Decker, the doomed starship commander who squares off against “The Doomsday Machine” in the memorable 1967 “Star Trek” of the same name.

paul fix judge to kill mockingbird

The hardest-to-spot actor who crossed over from the movie to the “Trek” universe might be Paul Fix, who played Judge Taylor in the movie.

paul fix star trek mark piper

If things had gone differently, Fix might be as familiar a Hollywood figure as any of the “Star Trek” regulars. Fix was cast as Mark Piper, the ship’s surgeon of the Enterprise, in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the second pilot for “Star Trek.” Yes, Piper was the early version of Leonard “Bones” McCoy, The ship’s doctor was McCoy by the time the series began airing, but Fix is there throughout “Where No Man Has Gone Before” as Kirk’s doctor and confidant.

While the series was still trying to find a spot on NBC’s schedule, the network rejected Gene Roddenberry’s original pilot, which featured Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was the second pilot, and made several alterations to the make-up of the crew, including the addition of William Shatner as Kirk.

Although Fix – who died in 1983 – was a solid character actor, the mix of great writing and DeForrest Kelley’s portrayal of Bones McCoy made that character a classic. It’s impossible to imagine Mark Piper saying, “He’s dead, Jim!” with as much feeling as Kelley.

 

Classic TV: ‘The Edge of Night’

Leave a reply

the_edge_of_night title card

I loved sitting in on my mom’s soap operas when I was a kid. I would catch glimpses of “Another World” or “Days of Our Lives” when I was home sick. And of course “Dark Shadows” was must viewing after school.

But there was one daytime drama that that thriller-loving kids like me didn’t have to feel silly about watching.

“The Edge of Night” ran on daytime TV from 1956 to 1984 and, for much of its run, focused on the crime-busting cops and attorneys of the Midwestern city of Monticello. Most memorable to me were characters like Mike Carr and Adam Drake, who appeared about as often as any characters during the show’s 7,420 episodes. Most of the episodes appeared on CBS with a few last few years’ worth airing on ABC.

Monticello must have been the most crime-ridden city ever. Murders, assaults, arsons and robberies seemed to happen with such frequency I can only imagine the Greater Monticello Chamber of Commerce had its hands full.

Monticello was modeled after Cincinnati, hometown of sponsor Procter and Gamble. That city’s skyline was glimpsed in the show for many years.

But as in most soaps, the settings were highly fictionalized, sometimes to the point of amusement. For example: The state capital was Capital City, not unlike in “The Simpsons” many years later.

edge-of-night_jail cell

Carr (played by three different actors) and Drake, played by Donald May from 1967 to 1977, were the most fascinating characters for me. The credits ended “And Donald May as Adam Drake,” which tipped me off that this character was cool and important. And I had a crush on beautiful Maeve McGuire, who played his wife, Nicole Drake.

The show featured a number of actors on their way up, from Larry Hagman to Frank Gorshin to Dixie Carter.

“The Edge of Night” had a regular audience of nine million viewers, many of them men because of the emphasis on murder and mayhem and because of the 4:30 p.m. timeslot, which allowed blue-collar workers and students like me to get home in time to watch.

The show’s scripts were generally recognized as best when Henry Slesar was head writer. And the ominous tones of announcer Hal Simms, who said, “The Edge … of Night” with just the right dramatic pause, added to the mood.

 

Classic TV: ‘Duel’

Leave a reply

duel

Four years before Steven Spielberg became one of the few Hollywood directors to be a household name – thanks to “Jaws” in 1975 – he made one of the most-watched TV movies of all time. It even won a Golden Globe.

“Duel” featured Dennis Weaver – TV’s “McCloud” – as a salesman traveling the backroads of Southern California, pressured to make it to an appointment on time, when he runs afoul of the driver of a tanker truck. The two take turns passing each other on a winding two-lane road and it quickly becomes obvious that the trucker has more than just an attitude. Weaver comes to believe that the man intends to kill him.

When Spielberg made “Jaws” just a few years later, a lot of people drew comparisons to “Duel.” Both do feature a large unstoppable force finally brought down by a lone man. Spielberg has said the movies share the theme of “leviathans targeting an everyman.”

The movie was written by Richard Matheson, one of the great fantasy writers of all time. Matheson’s stories have been adapted into movies ranging from “The Incredible Shrinking Man” to “I Am Legend.”

There’s not a lot of character development – heck, there’s not a lot of characters – in “Duel.” I guess we’re supposed to think that Weaver starts off kind of wimpy – he doesn’t say anything when a neighbor makes advances on his wife – and ends up saving his own life and taking a menace off the road.

Watching this movie again recently made me think it played like a prequel to Pixar’s “Cars.” And not just because the truck in question looks like rusty, lovable ol’ Mater on steroids. The story plays out on a dusty two-lane western road that seems like the one that leads to and from Radiator Springs. No wonder people quit going to that town: the charming little road was filled with psychotic truckers!

“Duel” was Spielberg’s second TV movie, after an episode of “The Name of the Game.” Although it lags in spots – Weaver’s sojourn in a cafe seems to go on forever – it’s tense and gritty when Weaver is on the road, being pushed and bullied by the trucker.

It’s an interesting choice by Spielberg to keep the trucker anonymous. Other than a pair of boots and an arm, we never see him, even at the end.

“Duel” was released in theaters, particularly overseas, and its short running time required that some scenes be added. Weaver’s call home to his wife was one of those, as was a scene with the truck driver idling ominously while Weaver tries to help a stranded school bus. Also added was a great railroad crossing scene.

“Duel” was the state of the art for TV movies more than 40 years ago and is still quite suspenseful and effective.

TV crush: Jessica Walter

Leave a reply

jessica walter amy prentiss

Looking back at the women who made TV viewing a very special thing for me as a young man has reinforced to me just how old we’re all getting.

Example: Jessica Walter, the focus of this installment of TV Crush, is best known in recent years for her role as the matriarch of the Bluth family on the beloved sitcom “Arrested Development.” But in looking Walter up online, I’m startled to see that she’s 71 years young.

When Walter was considerably younger – and so was I – she was one of the actresses I loved seeing on TV. She had the cool beauty and grace of an Audrey Hepburn and a steely demeanor like few other actresses of the time.

Walter first came on my radar in the title role of “Amy Prentiss,” a short-lived 1974 spin-off of the NBC hit “Ironside.” Prentiss was the first female chief of police for San Francisco and as such battled preconceived ideas about a woman on the police force – not to mention in charge of it.

jessica walter clint eastwood play misty for me

By that time, Walter was known for her edgy roles. In the 1971 Clint Eastwood classic “Play Misty for Me,” she had played a young woman who called Eastwood’s disc jockey character with the title request. In this early take on obsessive fans and doomed affairs, Eastwood gets more than he bargained for when he dallies with Walter.

It’s fun to see Walter enjoying the kind of popular career revitalization all too many actresses don’t get. But to me, she’ll always be tough cop Amy Prentiss.