Category Archives: TV

‘Three Ghosts’ elevates ‘Arrow’ even more

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arrow three ghosts mask

Just a few days ago, I was arguing here that “Arrow,” the current CW show about the early days of the DC Comics hero Green Arrow, might be the best superhero TV show of all time.

Last night’s “mid-season finale” episode of “Arrow” really backed up my argument.

(A word about mid-season finales or winter finales or whatever the networks are calling them: Shows like “Mad Men” and “The Walking Dead” take very deliberate breaks in the middle of their 14 or 16-episode seasons – mostly to avoid periods when networks think no one is watching, like the holidays, even though they’re wrong – and build to a strong climax for the final episode before that break. Although it would sound a little overblown on a sitcom, for example, mid-season finale seems appropriate for hour-long serialized shows that have built to a dramatic temporary stopping point. Like “Arrow.”)

“Three Ghosts,” last night’s “Arrow,” has as many dramatic elements as some season finales. And if you missed the significance of the title, it’s a reference to Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” During the course of the episode, Oliver is haunted by three figures from his past. Thankfully, the Dickensian undertones were decidedly undertones.

Arrow_Three_Ghosts three

“Three Ghosts” had a lot on its plate:

Although the flashbacks to five years earlier on the island aren’t likely to be done, last night’s episode went a long way toward tying those events into the Arrow’s present-day Starling City action.

We learned the fate of a couple of characters. Maybe.

We saw the origins, I’m thinking, of at least two more. Cyrus Gold, one of Brother Blood’s “super soldiers,” might have bigger (and deader) things ahead for him. As the poem that Diggle discovered goes, “Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday …”

The Scientist

Although it was a surprise, we saw the origin of the Flash, the DC hero who’s getting his own CW series (most likely) next fall. Grant Gustin has been guest-starring the past couple of episodes as Barry Allen, a CSI from Central City. The network had said Allen would appear in only these two episodes before moving on to his own series pilot. I didn’t expect to see the accident – true to the comics – that turns Allen into the Scarlet Speedster at the end of this episode, but I was glad they did it.

I guess you could argue that we saw the origin of Green Arrow, too, since Allen’s parting gift to Oliver Queen was a green mask that he could wear in place of camo makeup. As the episode closed, Ollie donned the mask. Is he still Arrow? Or is he Green Arrow? He’s sure not “the Hood” or “the Vigilante” anymore.

The episode had something for every cast member to do and emphasized, with one exception, what a strong ensemble this show is built around.

By the end of the episode, the series has set up a much more compelling “Big Bad” than Brother Blood. I won’t spoil it here if you haven’t watched it yet, but it’s not surprising to anyone with some comics history under their utility belt.

Here’s looking forward to the back half of the season.

 

‘Arrow’ – Best superhero TV of all time?

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Three GhostsHow can you – well, I, really – proclaim anything the best of its kind of all time when it’s still relatively new and hasn’t withstood the test of time?

Beats the heck out of me. But I’m inclined to call “Arrow” the best live-action superhero series of all time. And yes, we’re not quite half-way through the CW network show’s second season.

But the gritty and stylish Greg Berlanti-developed series, featuring Stephen Arnell as millionaire crimefighter and adventurer Oliver Queen, who uses gimmicky arrows and amazing trick shots to fight crime, is tops.

Believe me, I didn’t expect to go into this fall season liking “Arrow,” the DC Comics-based show about a Batman-style vigilante in its second season, better than “Agents of SHIELD,” the TV beachhead for the Marvel movie universe.

And yet …

Crowning “Arrow” might sound like heresy for people who loved the simple pleasures of the 1950s “Adventures of Superman” series or the camp 1960s classic “Batman” or even more recent ventures like “Lois and Clark” or “The Flash” or “Birds of Prey,” all of which have their strong points.

But no, “Arrow” is better than all of them, a truly satisfying experience for comic book fans.

I was a little worried about “Arrow” when it was announced by the CW a couple of years ago. The Green Arrow character had been a nice addition to the network’s “Smallville,” the 10-season show about the growing years of Superman and, for me, marked when the series finally got interesting. The Clark and Lex theme of the show was always good but the writers were just too coy for too long. And I have to say I was kind of ticked off when they never actually showed Clark in the suit, even in the final episode. It all reeked of superhero shame.

But despite some coyness of its own – “Arrow” instead of “Green Arrow” as a title – “Arrow” has the courage of its convictions. The series put millionaire Oliver Queen into a green hood right from the word go and put him on the path to avenging criminal activity. He’s surrounded by an engaging supporting cast.

barry allen on arrow

And the series has aggressively set about building its own universe, adding characters like Black Canary, Slade Wilson, Huntress and, this week, Barry Allen, a young police scientist who’s not yet the Flash. The character, as played by Grant Gustin, is apparently destined for his own CW show. If it’s handled like “Arrow,” we’ll have another classic on our screens.

“Arrow” has some problems, certainly. But it feels like they recognized most of them early.

Chief among them is Katie Cassidy, cast as Oliver’s ex-girlfriend Dinah Laurel Lance, who comic fans know is destined to become Black Canary, a tough-as-nails hero and companion to Green Arrow.

But it’s almost as if the producers decided early on that the character and actress combination was just too … I don’t know, awkward? Cassidy seems like she would never for a moment be believable as a street-fighting gal. The show has introduced a new Black Canary, Dinah’s sister, played by Caity Lotz, and she’s more believable.

The cast is pretty uniformly good, from thinking man’s hunk Arnell to David Ramsey as Dig, Oliver’s cohort, to Emily Bett Richards as Felicity, Oliver’s Gal Friday and tech guru who deserves all the online worship she gets.

The show flips back and forth from Arrow’s exploits fighting crime in present-day Starling City (an inexplicable change from Star City in the comics) to five years earlier, when Oliver was shipwrecked on a not-even-remotely-deserted island and learned his survival skills.

The first season gave us an Oliver on a mission to clean up his city and willing to casually kill bad guys. The second season has Oliver pursuing a less murderous campaign. Heck, he’s apparently even about to start wearing the mask seen in the photo at top here.

All the while, “Arrow” is adding characters and mythology and feeling stronger and stronger.

‘Agents of SHIELD’ – Five ways to save it

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agents of shield cast

Remember way  back in September, when Marvel’s first modern-era TV production, “Agents of SHIELD,” seemed so exciting?

Sure we were all worried about how Marvel and show creator Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “The Avengers”) would be able to translate the excitement of the big-screen world onto ABC’s small screen. That ABC was showing it at 8 p.m. Tuesdays was also a concern. Nobody expected tough-and-gritty stories and atmosphere anyway, although we might see that with “Daredevil” and the other shows Marvel is doing for Netflix. An 8 p.m. timeslot all but guaranteed a fairly family-friendly aura.

But we were genuinely excited at the thought of everything that might happen. “SHIELD” would be a weekly dose of the greater Marvel  universe, filled with characters we love, characters that have never been portrayed in live action before. Luke Cage! Moon Knight!

At first, “Agents of SHIELD” seemed like a sure-fire hit. The pilot got very good ratings.

But as the first nine episodes continued to air, audience numbers dropped – and so did our expectations of and faith in the show.

Too many episodes, although they seem “thisclose” to really taking off, somehow fail to. The core team of SHIELD operatives isn’t that interesting. Too much time has been spent teasing the audience about what happened to Phil Coulson after Loki “killed” him. And the roster of comic book characters that have been allowed to make an appearance is lackluster. Graviton? Really?

So here’s what the producers of “Agents of SHIELD” need to do before it’s too late. If it isn’t already too late.

nick fury agents of shield

Give us some well-known characters. When Whedon said a while back that “Agents of SHIELD” gave him a few dozen opportunities to make “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” a little less special when it came out in 2015, he wasn’t joking. Obviously nobody at Marvel or Disney or ABC wants to sate the audience’s interest in Marvel heroes before the movie comes out. And obviously Marvel wants to save some characters for big-screen movies, which is why you won’t see Dr. Strange, I’m guessing. But stop with the one-and-done, wannabes and third-raters. There ware many, many Marvel characters the show could introduce.

Retool the cast. Each of the supporting characters is fine, really, but they’re the type of characters that Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson was in the Marvel movies. In other words, just that: Supporting. I loved episodes of “Buffy” that revolved around that show’s “supporting” cast. Remember “The Zeppo” and Xander as below-the-radar hero? “Agents of SHIELD” hasn’t, so far, been able to do that kind of thing with Fitz or Simmons or May or Skye.

Resolve Phil Coulson’s status now. Or at least take it to the next level. Remember in the final season of “Buffy” when Buffy would make a different version of the “this is gonna be a tough battle” speech what seemed like every week? Jeez, that got old. It seemed like the series was treading water. “SHIELD” seems to have fallen into the same trap with its near-weekly reminder that something is different with Agent Coulson. A while back I suggested they needed to let Coulson – who is blocked from viewing his own medical records – find out he’s a clone or Life Model Decoy or whatever, break ranks with SHIELD and go at least a little rogue. “The good guys versus SHIELD” angle appears to be at least part of the plot of next April’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” so it wouldn’t be totally out of character for the Marvel universe.

aim

Bring on the bad guys. SHIELD’s adversaries in the show so far have been weak to only mildly intriguing. I’m not sure I care a whit about Centipede unless it morphs into HYDRA. How about AIM? Advanced Idea Mechanics was referenced in “Iron Man 3.” In the comics, they were guys in crazy yellow hazmat/beekkeeper outfits. I’m sure the show could come up with an updated uniform.

iron-man-3-after-credits-scene

Give us some star power. Samuel L. Jackson’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in an early episode was fine. But we want more meat. Remember Mark Ruffalo’s appearance at the end of “Iron Man 3?” We want that in “SHIELD,” magnified.

Maybe “Agents of SHIELD” will resolve its problems quickly and, by February, be the kick-ass Marvel TV experience we all want. A couple of upcoming episodes hold promise.

But if not, it’s hard to imagine many of us sticking around.

‘The Avenger’ is coming – the one you haven’t heard of

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the avenger 1 justice inc

When the adventures of the 1930s pulp magazine hero The Avenger were reprinted in paperback in the early 1970s, they were right up my alley. I had already become a fan of the Doc Savage paperback reprints and the Avenger books were labeled as being by Kenneth Robeson, creator of Doc Savage.

I later found out that the stories – which originally appeared in Street and Smith pulp magazines from 1939 to 1942 – had actually been written, all those decades earlier, by Paul Ernst. Robeson was a Street and Smith “house name” that several action hero writers used. The Doc Savage books had been written by Lester Dent, to a great extent.

But the stories of The Avenger were so cool and so dire that it didn’t matter.

Like Doc Savage, the Avenger – originally a normal guy (if you call a wealthy world-traveler and adventurer normal) named Richard Henry Benson – fought crime with the help of a band of comrades and a healthy bank account.

But Benson/The Avenger drew his crime-fighting inspiration from the same dark well as Batman. Benson’s wife and daughter were brutally killed by gangsters.

Benson didn’t just take up the mantle of crimefighter. The shock of his family’s slaying was literally a shock to Benson’s system. His hair turned white. His eyes – somehow – turned pale. And Benson’s face froze. No longer could he voluntarily change his expression. His bleached face was described as like something out of a graveyard.

But Benson could suddenly mold his face, moving his jaw and nose and cheekbones and brow to resemble other people. With the help of makeup, colored contact lenses and wigs, Benson could now go undercover, infiltrating crime rings and mobs.

the avenger 2 the yellow hoard

Armed with his ghoulish visage and high-tech weapons – including a streamlined gun and knife set he called “Mike and Ike” – Benson brought criminals to justice.

I was fascinated by all this. By the time i was reading the Avenger stories in the early 70s I was familiar with Batman’s tragic backstory, of course. Richard Henry Benson’s was perhaps even stranger and more tragic in that it also left him disfigured … but he turned the handicap into a crimefighting tool.

justice inc comic

The Avenger had a couple of changes at revival after the paperback stories were published. DC Comics – which in the early 1970s had revived another great pulp hero, The Shadow – published an Avenger comic book in 1975. No doubt because DC competitor Marvel had been publishing “The Avengers” for more than a decade, DC called its Avenger book “Justice Inc. featuring The Avenger.”

justice inc kirby cover

Jack Kirby even did some work on the comic.

Besides the nostalgia factor, I’m noting all this now because of the recent news that producers are developing, for The CW network, a new TV series version of The Avenger, with several changes, of course. Instead of Richard Henry Benson, the heroine is Alice Benson. The new Avenger has the same malleable features and the same undercover missions as she investigates the deaths of her parents (rather than spouse and child).

I’m guessing in light of Marvel’s big-screen “The Avengers” movie, the TV series will be called something else.

It’ll be interesting to see if the new series can capture the same feeling of an adventurer – an avenger – with nothing left to lose in a hell-bent pursuit of evildoers.

‘Doctor Who: The Five(ish) Doctors’

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three doctors

This weekend was a celebration of all things Doctor Who for the 50th anniversary of the venerable British sci-fi series.

I really enjoyed “Day of the Doctor,” yesterday’s anniversary episode.

But if you haven’t seen it, I’ll urge you to watch “The Five(ish) Doctors,” a 30-minute film by Peter Davison, who played the fifth doctor.

In the clever and cameo-filled movie, Davison is joined by two other Doctor actors, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, who scheme and plot to get into the anniversary episode.

These three actors display enormous good humor as they plot and bicker and connive to get into the historic episode.

It’s a funny Who-centric short film that’s also a great commentary on show biz.

Here’s the film.

‘The Well’ takes ‘SHIELD’ to ‘Thor’ territory

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CLARK GREGG, CHLOE BENNET, MING-NA WEN

Tonight’s “The Well,” the eighth episode of “Agents of SHIELD,” tried and mostly accomplished its latest delicate task: Tying into the big-screen Marvel universe.

“The Well” was billed as a follow-up to “Thor: The Dark World,” but really the plot that drove the episode wasn’t so much a continuation of the current “Thor” sequel but a variation on the idea of humans coming into contact with Asgardian (alien) technology we’ve seen before.

That’s not to say “The Well” wasn’t entertaining – most episodes of the series are; they’re just … underwhelming – but its most interesting element was a little more exploration of the show’s least appealing character, the gruff and ultra-competent Agent Grant Ward.

In the episode, the team is in England, picking up the pieces (literally) left over from Thor’s battle in the current movie. Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) consults with a Norse legends expert in Spain (played by Peter MacNicol) and unwittingly sets off a chase to recover portions of an Asgardian staff.

The staff – the weapon of an Asgardian berserker that’s been on Earth for centuries; so the Thor aftermath stuff is really only a way to get the expert involved – has been broken into three pieces. Each piece has the power to tap into the rage of the person holding it, increasing their strength.

A group of Nordic hate mongers (just go with it) gets first one, then two pieces and the race is on to stop them from getting the third and completing the berserker staff.

In the process, Ward (Brett Dalton) gets “infected” by touching the staff. Normally a slightly edgy, even standoffish guy, touching the piece of staff lets Ward’s rage turn him into a hostile bully. One important point, though: Ward recognizes the change and offers to bench himself. And Coulson – much like he’s given hacker Skye more than a few chances – keeps Ward in play.

The episode ends with a surprising encounter between Ward and Agent May (Ming Na Wen) and a Tahiti flashback for Coulson.

A couple of thoughts:

The show still isn’t as engaging as “Sleepy Hollow” or “The Blacklist,” but I’m enjoying it a bit more each week.

I’m ready for some real developments with Coulson’s resurrection.

I’m wondering how SHIELD itself will be portrayed by the end of this first season. By the time “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” comes out next spring, I’m wondering if SHIELD won’t be the bad guy in the whole Marvel universe picture and the agents we’ve (hopefully by then) come to care about will be like the “Angel” gang in Joss Whedon’s series of the same name, who were working for good in the evil law firm Wolfram and Hart.

Whatever happened to Claire Forlani?

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claire forlani scotch whisky ad

A while back I wondered this aloud, if you can do such a thing on a Twitter account:

  1. Why wasn’t Claire Forlani a bigger deal?

claire forlani meet joe black

I thought the British actress was beautiful in “Meet Joe Black” and several other films and wondered what happened to her, besides marrying almost-Wolverine Dougray Scott.

Now I know. Forlani is the striking woman with the impenetrable Scottish accent in the Dewar’s Scotch whisky commercials.

And she apparently still corners the world’s market on cheekbones.

 

TV catch-up: ‘Sleepy Hollow,’ ‘The Walking Dead,’ ‘SHIELD’ and more

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sleepy hollow headless horseman

The highlights of my TV viewing year are the limited runs of “Mad Men” on AMC, “Justified” on FX and “The Walking Dead” on AMC. That’s not to say there aren’t other shows that I’m hooked on.

But they always take a backseat to those three.

This fall, there’s a surprisingly high number of shows that have rapidly become must-see (to coin a phrase) viewing. This doesn’t count “Parks and Recreation,” for example, a charmingly daft sitcom that just keeps chugging along.

Here’s a roundup of what I’m digging right now:

“Sleepy Hollow” – This fantasy adventure series, which has become something of a hit, is one of the greatest pleasures on TV right now. If you haven’t watched the first half of this 13-episode season, go catch up, online or on demand, right now. I’ll wait.

Okay, back? The story of the return of Revolutionary War soldier and spy Ichabod Crane, reborn in modern times more than 200 years after he and the (now) Headless Horseman fought it out on a New York battlefield, is terrific fun. Crane is teamed with a young female cop as they investigate the rebirth of the Horseman, who turns out to be one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelations. 

The show has something for everyone: Fish out of water comedy and commentary, monster of the week, creepy thrills, fun special effects and great chemistry among the cast members.

Tonight’s episode found the 21st century characters explaining to Crane the secret relationship between Thomas Jefferson – one of his contemporaries and heroes – and Sally Hemmings, all the while preparing a snare to trap the Headless Horseman with ultraviolet light. You don’t have to ask. Just go with it.

“The Walking Dead” – I was relieved to see the Governor show up at the end of last night’s episode. I was feeling a little claustrophobic with the flu storyline that’s dominated this season so far. I do love the beefed up roles for many in the cast, including Carol. Was anyone else as surprised as I was about Carol’s exile?

“Agents of SHIELD” – I was looking forward to this Marvel spin-off more than any other series this fall, and I’m not alone in my disappointment at the resulting show. Each episode is an improvement on the last, for the most part, but I can’t be the only one that’s impatient with the character development and over-arching plot. I’m still watching, however.

“The Blacklist” – God help me, but I’m enjoying this series more than “SHIELD.” “The Blacklist,” about a mysterious criminal (James Spader) who comes in from the cold to help the FBI catch other criminals, isn’t quite as looney as “Sleepy Hollow,” but almost. Spader is the main reason to watch as he gives a master class in unsettling but entertaining villainy.  I can’t wait to see him as the bad guy in “The Avengers: The Age of Ultron.”

“The Mindy Project” – As fun and kooky as “Parks and Recreation” is, there’s not a more clever sitcom on TV right now than “The Mindy Project,” with Mindy Kaling as a neurotic doc surrounded by neurotic docs in NYC. The second season of the show is even better than the first.

Good time to be a fan

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luca parmitano long shot

Those of us who grew up in the 1960s have to be forgiven for occasionally wandering through the world of 2013 and wondering if we’re dreaming.

In the 1960s, comic books and science fiction and horror movies were an almost underground part of the culture, barely more tolerated by adults than eating paste or girlie magazines.

Now, science fiction and fantasy rule TV, from “The Walking Dead” to “Game of Thrones.” Books with sf and fantasy themes like the “Hunger Games” trilogy and the “Harry Potter” books top the best-seller lists.

And at the movies … Marvel’s merry marching movie machine rolls on. The sequel – sequel! – to “Thor” comes out tomorrow. It’s already playing in some theaters. And it’s the latest in a years-long chain of interconnected movies exploring the Marvel universe.

And today Marvel and Netflix announce original series like “Daredevil” and “Luke Cage” are coming, with a “Defenders” team-up series to follow.

If, before “Iron Man” debuted in 2008, anyone thought “The Avengers” was below-the-radar fun only enjoyed by geeks, you can only imagine what a head-snapping development a “Defenders” series would be.

DC is still plugging along with big-screen Batman and Superman movies, but doing impressive work on TV with “Arrow” and other series like “The Flash” still coming.

I sat down and watched an episode of “Arrow” tonight with Green Arrow and Black Canary, for pete’s sake. Tell me who thought that would have been possible a few decades ago.

And the picture above.

On Halloween, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, aboard the International Space Station, dressed up like Superman and took advantage of the lack of gravity to fly around.

I don’t care that he looks more like Lex Luthor. He’s flying like Superman!

It’s a good time to be a fan.

Classic TV movie: ‘The Norliss Tapes’

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norliss tapes title card

“The Norliss Tapes” is one of those TV movies best remembered for its freaky, scary moments.

It seems it scared the hell out of a lot of kids back in the day. I know it made an impression on me.

The movie, which aired in 1973, was pretty clearly inspired by the success of “The Night Stalker” a year earlier. The two movies shared a premise – a writer investigating the undead – and Dan Curtis, the producer of “The Night Stalker,” produced and directed here.

“The Norliss Tapes” is no “Night Stalker,” however. But it’s a pretty good scare-fest.

The story begins with David Norliss, a writer with a contract to write a book exposing phony psychic phenomena, talking to his publisher and sounding bleak. Norliss (played by David Thinnes of “The Invaders” fame) recounts – via audio cassettes – how he found it easy to debunk mystics and psychics … but then he got caught up in the story of Ellen Cort (Angie Dickinson). Cort tells Norliss that she’s been attacked by – and she subsequently shot – a particularly strange intruder in her home: Her late husband Jim.

the norliss tapes creature

The storyline plays out not unlike “The Night Stalker,” with seemingly random murders by a supernatural being running counterpoint to the mystery of the apparently resurrected Jim Cort. The plots tie together, of course. As a matter of fact, there’s not a lot of mystery or subtlety, as Cort – freaky eyes and blue skin prominently displayed – is clearly the attacker.

Norliss begins investigating the possibility that Cort – whose body rests peacefully in his family crypt – is getting up and attacking people in the dead of night. And what about that mysterious Egyptian ring Cort was wearing?

dan curtis

Director Curtis was the man behind groundbreaking supernatural TV shows like “Dark Shadows” and “The Night Stalker,” and “The Norliss Tapes” shows that. The movie has a style and a music soundtrack familiar to fans of those shows. Robert Cobert, a Dan Curtis regular creative partner, was the composer of the score here.

Some cast members of “The Night Stalker” even recur here, including Stanley Adams as a witness and Claude Akins as a gruff sheriff who’s only too happy to keep a lid on spooky happenings.

Michelle Carey, a gorgeous 1960s and 1970s actress with a breathy, throaty voice, plays Ellen Cort’s sister and a friend of Norliss.

Keep watching through the end credits: There’s a recapping series of  scare scenes, ala “The Night Stalker,” among the credits.