Category Archives: TV

About those ‘Starving Artists’

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So when I’m sick I watch more TV than I normally do, and since I’ve been watching a couple of nostalgia TV channels recently added to our cable lineup, I’ve seen some cheap commercials, including ones for those house slippers you heat in your microwave.

(Slippers in the microwave? The hell?)

Anyway, the last couple of days, every commercial break has been broken up by ads for the latest “Starving Artists” sale.

I remember commercials for these sales when I was a kid. Inevitably, the sales were held over a weekend at a fairgrounds or motel and featured the work of “professional artists” but were selling for as low as a few dollars.

Most memorably, the sales offered “sofa-sized” paintings. A few years ago they were less, of course, but now these behemoths of art are going for $49.99.

I’ve never been to one of these sales. I don’t have a lot of art on my walls, but what is there is something meaningful to me. Hand-me-down favorites from relatives, or pictures or prints bought at a significant time. Couple of movie things too.

So I didn’t feel the need to go snap up some landscapes that looked, frankly, as if they were painted by unprofessional artists. Or maybe the artists are professionals but are so weakened by hunger that their technique is impaired.

But being the curious sort, I decided to look on the Internets for info about the sales.

I didn’t find much. A couple of sites featured columns that theorized the paintings are mass produced in China. Some say they’re done on an assembly line in sweatshop-style conditions, with artists standing for 14 hours at a time, painting the same tree and then passing the painting along to the next artist, who paints a hillside or ocean.

Perhaps entirely appropriately, the online pieces about the starving artists sales appear to crib from each other.

It’s not surprising that online “writers” steal from each other and post verbatim or nearly word-for-word versions of the same story.

But it’s pretty comical when you’re reading stories about mass-produced art and most of them end with:

“Now that you know the inside scoop on the starving artists sales, don’t you think that your $50 would be better spent on a good pencil sketch by a student artist at your local college or university? I certainly do.”

It’s good to know that the starving artists have comrades online.

Can’t wait: Upcoming TV shows to watch for

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Back in the day, TV networks threw all their season premieres into the same week in September. It made for a fun issue of TV Guide but was fairly suicidal. Even though there were only three or four networks back then, it was impossible to check everything out.

With the splintered and factionalized TV picture that came with the explosion of cable, TV series premiere virtually throughout the calendar year. Shows take mid-season breaks, stay off the air for months and years (I’m looking at you, “Mad Men”) and pop up whenever.

There’s something to look forward to in the coming weeks, however: The return of several new favorite dramas.

First up is one of my favorite shows, FX’s “Justified.” Based on characters created by crime novel legend Elmore Leonard, the show features Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, back in his home state of Kentucky and, with cool Stetson and even cooler demeanor, running roughshod over lowlifes and bad guys.

“Justified” returns at 10 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17 on FX.

Not long after comes Feb. 12 and the premiere of the second half of season two of “The Walking Dead” on AMC.

The survivors of the zombie apocalypse, traumatized by the loss of young Sophie, forge ahead with their efforts to find their way through the wilds of Georgia and the end of the world.

I’m hoping — really, really hoping — that Rick, Lori, Daryl Dixon and the rest get off the farm where they’ve been all season so far, and get out of there quickly once the second half of the season begins.

How many years has it been since we last saw Don Draper and the rest of the cast of AMC’s “Mad Men?” Two? Three? Less than that? Really?

Well, the deliberately-paced 1960s character drama will finally return on March 25, if you can believe star Jon Hamm’s recent announcement.

Speaking of great characters: One of my favorite episodic dramas of the past couple of years is “Sherlock,” the modern-day retelling of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes tales. Benedict Cumberbatch returns as the brilliant detective and Martin Freeman makes for one of the most satisfyingly irritable John Watsons ever.

Just three episodes aired on PBS’s “Masterpiece Mystery” last year and three more are coming in May. Best news: Three more episodes are now in the works.

I wish I could tell you with some certainty when A&E’s “Longmire” series will premiere, but I haven’t seen a date other than “sometime in 2012.”

I also wish I could tell you that the series is faithful to Craig Johnson’s wonderful mystery series about Walt Longmire, an old-fashioned modern-day Wyoming sheriff dealing with an odd assortment of characters and crimes. I wish I could say that it is — and it very well might be — but the casting is a little young and a little off.

The best bit of casting? Katee Sackhoff of “Battlestar Galactica” as Longmire’s funny, profane deputy, Victoria. The actress is perfect for the part.

Of course, there are other shows to look forward to. But that’s a pretty good start to any year.

 

Counting the days to ‘Justified’

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Jan. 17 can’t come quickly enough.

I’m not wishing for the depths of winter. (In fact I’m a little SAD about it.)

But since Jan. 17 brings the third season of “Justified,” I’ll put up with the wintertime blahs.

If you haven’t watched the first couple of seasons of FX’s “Justified,” you should. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Back? Okay.

The series, about a tough U.S. marshal who gets disciplined for killing a bad guy in Miami by being sent back to his home territory of Kentucky, is typical in many ways of the more adult cable TV series airing on FX and AMC like “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” “Sons of Anarchy” and “The Walking Dead.” “Justified” has “grown up” language and violence, but like those other shows, the draw is the characters and plots.

Based on stories by crime writer Elmore Leonard, “Justified” centers on Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), the cop who is less than thrilled to be back in Kentucky. And who can blame him? Givens is back in the mix with his father, an aging crook, his ex-wife, the hapless but hot Winona (Natalie Zea) and, best of all, longtime friend and antagonist Boyd Crowder (the excellent Walton Goggins, from “The Shield”).

Raylan and Boyd have a long history. They grew up together and worked in the coal mines together but parted ways after that. By the time of the first episode, when the quietly disgruntled Raylan comes back to the town of Harlan, Boyd is the head of a white supremacist group and fond of blowing stuff up: Churches, cars, banks, you know.

But the relationship between Raylan and Boyd — the best thing about the show — is complicated. The two have a real bond that Raylan can’t ignore even as he works to link Boyd to crimes plaguing Harlan.

As the series has progressed, Raylan found Boyd at his side more often than he found him in his face. The characters are great antagonists but as complex as real-life friends would be.

The show has a real feel for danger and violence. Not just from the meth-heads and petty criminals that populate the backwoods but from Raylan and Boyd. Raylan is wry and smooth but there’s a reason Winona describes him in the first episode as the angriest man she ever met.

The first season revolved around the cat-and-mouse relationship between Raylan and Boyd, while season two introduced a great character, Mags Bennet, a small-town Ma Barker with a brood of scary sons.

I don’t know what to expect when the new season begins. Promotional clips have shown Raylan and Boyd working together and at each other’s throats. With this duo — one of the best on TV — I wouldn’t have it any other way.

‘Walking Dead’ mid-season finale ends with a bang

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There’s been a lot of second-guessing of the second season of “The Walking Dead,” and I understand most of it.

The first season of the AMC series about the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse was straightforward “I Am Legend” stuff, survival and regrouping in the early days and weeks of the end of the world.

But by the second season — although still only weeks since the end of the world in the show’s chronology — had to do something different. And there was also the matter of budget cuts and turmoil behind the scenes, including the departure of writer/producer Frank Darabont.

So much of the second season has been set at a farm, where kindly farmer/veterinarian Hershel first provided assistance to the group of refugees then posed several problems for them. Would the members of the group succumb to the dangers of false hope, as Hershel has? Would they be allowed to stay in this comparatively idyllic spot even if they wanted to? And what about the missing girl and, oh yeah, the walkers that Hershel keeps penned up in his barn?

The first half of the season, which ended tonight with new episodes set to begin in February, prompted a lot of restlessness among both the human refugees and the audience. When would they find Sophia, the missing girl? When would Rick and Shane clash over Lori? When would the show get. on. with. it?

I’ve enjoyed the show and enjoyed tonight’s episode, “Pretty Much Dead Already,” even the soap-opera dynamics of love triangles and threatened betrayal. I like the characters and feel for their predicament.

No spoilers if you haven’t seen it, but tonight’s episode feels like a resolution, like a turning point. The ending was heartbreaking if not entirely unexpected.

But the glimpses of the farm in previews for next February’s episodes left me more than a little frustrated. I expected tonight’s episode to get them off the farm, back on the road and out of this storyline. Instead the preview seems to indicate more rural dithering is ahead of us.

I’ve enjoyed “The Walking Dead” so far and I’m looking forward to February, although not as much as I expected to.

But I’m really hoping that the show doesn’t continue to spin its wheels. The survivors need to move on to the next storyline and they need to do it soon.

 

‘The Walking Dead” reveals ‘Secrets’

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AMC’s post-zombie-apocalypse series “The Walking Dead” moved into full-on soap opera mode tonight, and that was fine by me.

As a matter of fact, except for a couple of zombie scenes, you could almost mistake tonight’s installment for an episode of “Knot’s Landing.” There was even a suburban cul de sac.

But seriously, folks: As we’ve noted already this second season, the drama in this show revolves around the people. What happens when Daryl’s brother Merle returns and finds out his little brother has become a good guy? What happens when Rick finds out Lori was shacked up with Shane in the first days of the zombie apocalypse? What happens when Shane pops his cork and starts killing people?

We found out the answer to one of those questions tonight and maybe it wasn’t surprising. If you’re struggling to deal with the continued existence of you and your ragtag band of survivors, you probably learn to shrug, move on and worry about a lot of small stuff later.

Not that there wasn’t plenty of personal drama going on. With a title like “Secrets,” you can bet that a few were spilled.

My favorite character, once again, was Glen, who continues not only to be a capable guy when you’re dealing with the walking dead but also a go-to comic character. As a young guy entrusted with too many secrets, Glen started burbling: Walkers in the barn. Lori’s pregnant. I’m making it with the farmer’s daughter.

The secret of the walkers in the barn was as poignant as it was wrong-headed. Made me want to slap everybody concerned. And yet, at the same time, I understood.

With all the character drama, maybe it didn’t seem like there was time for zombies. But there were a couple of good walker moments. The makers of the series know how to make our skin crawl with a well-timed zombie attack.

Next week’s episode is the “mid-season finale,” AMC says, which means that we won’t see new episodes until February. I’m hoping it’s going to be a doozie.

‘The Walking Dead’ flashes back

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I don’t think any episode of AMC’s post-zombie-apocalypse series “The Walking Dead” has reminded me of Stephen King’s classic “The Stand” quite as much as tonight’s installment, “Chupacabra.”

Sure, it’s impossible for any end-of-the-world-and-after story to do anything but remind us of King’s epic. But tonight’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic book series had a couple of moments that evoked King’s masterpiece.

Spoilers ahead.

The episodes opens with a flashback to the early days of the zombie apocalypse as Shane, Lori and other survivors are stuck on the highway, watching in horror as the military drops napalm on a city — Atlanta, I’m guessing — to knock down an infestation of “walkers,” the show’s term for reanimated dead. The moment reminded me not only of “The Stand” but also “World War Z” and “The Strain,” two modern classics of the apocalypse.

But the moments most reminiscent of “The Stand” came when Daryl, the show’s new unlikely hero, is scouring the woods for a missing girl. He takes a tumble, ends up injured and gets a hallucinatory pep talk from an unlikely source: His brother Merle (Michael Rooker), the murderous racist from the show’s first season.

As Merle — whose return was teased in previews for this episode — taunts and insults Daryl into getting up and out of his predicament, a couple of echoes of “The Stand” came to mind: Nick Andros appearing to simple-minded Tom, telling him how to save injured Stu Redman, and also the internal battle going on inside Harold Lauder. In “The Stand,” Harold could turn bad or good and he struggles with his soul and his conscience before making a fateful and explosive decision. We haven’t yet seen what Daryl decides.

The episode also showcased the growing tension between Rick and Shane — who don’t yet know that Lori is pregnant and one of them is the father — and a freaky finale in which Glenn discovers the secret behind the peaceful farm in which they’ve taken shelter.

There are a lot of complaints online about the pace of “The Walking Dead,” but I’m enjoying it. Moments like those tonight, with Rick and Shane recalling their high school years and then debating the finer points of every-man-for-himself, and Merle’s brief appearance, are keeping me happy.

New ‘Green Lantern’ has a lot to live up to

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For Cartoon Network, Warner Bros and animation producer Bruce Timm, launching a new “Green Lantern” animated series must feel like a tricky thing.

When the computer-animated series went into production, Warner Bros. had a big-screen “Green Lantern” coming, its first attempt to turn WB’s DC Comics stalwart into a big-screen tentpole starring Ryan Reynolds.

The movie probably seemed like a sure thing, another step in establishing a DC franchise in movie theaters much like rival comics publisher Marvel was doing with “Iron Man” and, concurrent to the “Green Lantern” movie, “Thor” and “Captain America.”

But the “Green Lantern” movie, released this summer, was pretty lackluster, while “Thor” and “Captain America” were hits that only built anticipation for next summer’s Marvel team-up movie, “The Avengers.”

All of a sudden, “Green Lantern” — and the Cartoon Network animated series — must have felt a little daunting.

The new show not only had to live down the live-action movie but also live up to “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited,” the Bruce Timm-produced animated series that stand as the pinnacles of comic book animated series.

Yes, I know that Timm and Paul Dini’s “Batman: The Animated Series” is widely regarded as the best animated comic book show. But for me, “Justice League” and especially “Justice League Unlimited” are tops. Really, where else could you get the best — hands down — outside-the-comic-pages adaptation of Superman, Batman and other marquee heroes as well as obscure favorites like Dr. Fate, Black Canary and Bwana Beast, for goodness’ sake?

Cartoon Network previewed the opening episode of “Green Lantern” tonight — the series begins airing regularly next year as part of a DC block — and I have to say that while the show has potential it carries with it more liabilities.

Its computer-animated presentation is workmanlike at best. While a few scenes had some of the visual appeal of “The Incredibles,” for example, more often the show looked like unfinished footage included as a DVD extra. Piggy-looking Green Lantern Kilowog looked plastic. The look of the show needs drastic improvement.

And I’m not sold on the premise of the show either. Remember “Star Trek: Voyager,” the series that pushed a Federation starship to the edge of the galaxy and left it stranded there while the ship and its crew struggled to make their way home?

This is like “Green Lantern: Voyager,” with Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and Kilowog stranded millions of miles away from home, facing the Red Lanterns, a cranky group of outlaw ring-wielders.

Maybe it’s an effort to ensure the show and its characters stand on their own, but I’m not digging the idea of a show that will never allow Green Lantern to bump into Superman or Batman. Not to mention the absence of my favorite Green Lantern of all time, John Stewart, the African-American hero who — for all of us who loved “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited” — simply is Green Lantern.

When “Green Lantern” comes back next year, I’ll definitely give it a shot. I hope the show has as much imagination as the premise of its title character. It will have to go a long way — and come back from a great distance — to equal previous treatment of the character, however.

 

 

‘The Walking Dead’ turns up the drama

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Tonight’s episode of “The Walking Dead” had it all. Illicit sex. The results of illicit sex. Family conflicts. Conversations on how to rebuild society after the end of the world.

And, oh yeah: A zombie.

(And some spoilery stuff, so beware.)

Now a few episodes into its second season, the AMC drama continues to give us some of the scariest, queasiest moments on TV. Tonight the “yuck” moment was an unfortunate attempt to get a zombie out of a well on the remote farm where the survivors of the zombie apocalypse have gathered.

That moment followed the scary bit, as the band of survivors lowers Glenn (Steven Yeun) on a rope down into the well as bait for the zombie.

Why? Well, apparently to avoid contaminating the well with zombie innards. But it doesn’t work out.

Glenn has the best scenes in the episode, acting as zombie bait, reacting to the idea of riding a horse and getting propositioned by the farmer’s daughter during a drug store scavenging trip that reminded me more than a little of “The Stand.”

As last week’s episode demonstrated, the interactions between the humans and humans are always more interesting than those between the humans and zombies. Deputy Shane’s shocking, last-minute act from the previous episode was back-burnered tonight. But I think we can feel a Shane explosion coming, can’t we?

Maybe that explosion will come courtesy of Lori, the wife of hero Rick and former paramour of Shane. Tonight Lori found out she was pregnant. Is Rick or Shane the father? And who can picture reed-thin Sarah Wayne Callies with a belly?

The preview for next week’s installment was nearly as good as tonight’s episode, as it showed us a glimpse of Michael Rooker, back as Merle, the violent racist the group encountered in the first season. When Merle comes back, what happens to his brother, Daryl, who has become a tender-hearted, crossbow-wielding cornerstone of the group?

We’ll know next week.

Halloween horror: ‘Walking Dead’ rocks, ‘Simpsons’ sucks

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Here we are, on the eve of Halloween, and various movie channels are having marathons, ranging from the classics on TCM to later, lesser “Halloween” movies on AMC.

Into the mix comes the latest episode of “The Walking Dead” on AMC and the latest installment of “Treehouse of Horror” on “The Simpsons” on Fox.

First, let’s make short work of “The Simpsons.”

After being a zealous fan of the show for its first 10 seasons or so — we just re-watched “Mr. Plow” on DVD the other week — I fell out of love with “The Simpsons.” A dozen years ago, the show seemed to lose most of its creative edge. Maybe you really can’t do 500 episodes of a TV series and expect it to continue to be good. Duh.

Tonight’s “Treehouse of Horror,” the show’s annual Halloween special, had a couple of funny moments but overall was pretty lame. Judging by tonight’s episode, the show has traded pointed, harsh humor and wonderful characters for cheap and crude laughs. When a joke revolves around the similarity of the words tentacles and testicles, you know the show is spinning its wheels.

On the other hand, “The Walking Dead” continues to feature some of the most gripping — as in gripping the arms of my chair — suspense on TV.

As the survivors of a zombie apocalypse take refuge on a remote farm, where their injured are treated by the kindly resident veterinarian, tensions external and internal build. Watching Shane, the conflicted deputy, make a stomach-rolling choice tonight made me wonder where the producers are going with the character.

The show is, of course, all about characters and choices. Tonight’s episode saw some discussion of a point that I’ve been expecting for a while now: What if your reaction to the end of the world was not to fight to survive, but to opt out?

If characters are considering putting themselves out of their misery on “The Walking Dead,” might it be too much to hope that Fox would consider euthanasia for “The Simpsons?”

Again, duh. After wrangling over salaries, the talented vocal actors on the show recently signed for two more seasons. There’s simply too much money to be made for Fox to consider leaving any on the table.

‘The Walking Dead’ rides a zombie wave

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The zombies are among us.

Actually, they are us.

Zombies — a mainstay of published fiction and movies, both gripping and cheesy, for decades — are pretty hot for a bunch of moldering, shambling flesh-eaters.

I talked to the owner of a local costume shop the other week who said that zombies appear to be the hottest Halloween costumes this year. (There’s that “they are us” thing.)

Max Brooks’ clever and gripping “World War Z” is being made into a film starring Brad Pitt, the latest in a long string of movies dating back to Bela Lugosi in “White Zombie.” One of my personal favorites, “The Serpent and the Rainbow,” gave a macabre “real life” feel to the walking dead.

Oh yeah, the walking dead. Or more precisely, “The Walking Dead.”

You may not be inclined to sit down and watch the AMC series version of Robert Kirkman’s comic book “The Walking Dead.” I wasn’t sure if the series, the first season of which debuted about a year ago, was going to work.

But it has. The second-season premiere last week drew more than 7 million viewers — a record for AMC, the channel that has given us “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.”

If all those viewers come back tonight, despite last week’s grisly and impromptu zombie autopsy and rumors of troubles among the behind-the-scenes writers and producers, it’s a testimony to our love of zombies.

Now “The Walking Dead” isn’t in the same league, for me at least, as the FX rural crime drama “Justified” or the aforementioned “Mad Men.” It’s no “Lost,” although we can all hope “The Walking Dead” avoids that show’s pitfalls.

But there’s something compelling about “The Walking Dead.”

Clear back to George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” and its great sequel, “Dawn of the Dead,” it was pretty obvious that the heart of any good zombie tale was the people — the living, breathing, non-shambling people — it focused on.

It’s easy to say that “The Walking Dead” is a metaphor for modern life, the same way “Dawn of the Dead” was a commentary on our culture and a chance to see some poor schmuck’s guts get torn out.

But it’s not just the commentary on friendship and family and the willingness to fight the futility of life that makes “The Walking Dead” worthwhile. The characters are compelling. You want them to live. You want them to escape with their limbs and minds intact.

Even as you wonder how they possibly can.

As I watched last week’s season opener, I wondered how the kid characters in the show could possibly avoid post traumatic stress disorder or any number of waking nightmares after what they’ve experienced at a very young age. How can any of the adults, for that matter?

So while followers of Kirkman’s comic books know there are a lot of miles and a lot of twisted and twisty plot developments to come, most of us can just enjoy the show’s unfolding story.

One moldering, shambling moment at a time.