So Joss Whedon has finally come out of a long hiatus and brought us a new show called Dollhouse. Interestingly enough, it involves a beautiful female protagonist, Echo, who copes with personal issues while beating up bad guys. She’s supported by a team who are part of an organization that is not supposed to exist. Does this sound familiar to anyone? While I’m not discounting the show just yet, let’s see if Whedon can deliver. The interplay between the fiercely independent (often brooding) main character and their team of sidekicks is what made me love Joss Whedon in the first place. I’m wondering if we truly do have a new Buffy or Angel on our hands, or if the network has had so much influence in the show, that they’ve already condemned it to failure. Or maybe we have a new type of animal with Dollhouse. Maybe Whedon has evolved his skills after all this time into something bigger and better…
tv dollhouse, joss whedon
fringe
So when I heard that J.J. Abrams was coming out with a new show that was supposed to be like the X-Files, I of course was thrilled and couldn’t wait. I am in the habit of obsessing over the shows that I like and have often “inhaled” whole series extremely fast (eg. all 7 seasons of Buffy in about 2 months).
I was first introduced to J.J. Abrams’ work with the show Alias. I was an avid fan until I felt that the Season 3 finale completely destroyed everything the show had built up and trivialized months of my life. I subsequently stopped watching the show. After Alias was LOST. I decided to give Abrams a second chance to redeem himself and he managed to get back in my good graces with a show that developed a complex web of relationships among its cast members along with an incredibly detailed universe that managed to feed its ever growing fan base.
And now comes Fringe, a show that is like X-Files mixed with Alias. The show centers around 3 main characters. Anna Torv plays Olivia Dunham, an agent of the DHS who is assigned to investigate cases that exhibit extraordinary conditions similar to “x-files”. John Noble plays Dr. Walter Bishop, an eccentric scientist who specialized in “fringe” science before being locked up in a mental institution for decades. Joshua Jackson plays Peter Bishop, Walter’s estranged son who is called upon to be his father’s guardian while Walter helps the DHS. I feel like the best interactions in the show are between the father and son Bishops. They have a certain on-screen synergy which complements each other perfectly. Sometimes the dialogue can be a little weak, but honestly if you want dialogue go watch a Joss Whedon show. The role of Olivia Dunham seems weakly thought out at best. I think they need to re-examine her role in the show and decide who the real focus of the show is.
Fringe does have a main story arc currently (in Season 1) which has captured my interest thus far. While it may not be as epic as the X-Files main story arc, maybe this one will actually have some answers for us. I think the secret behind the X-Files cult popularity was more than just the paranormal activity that the writers used to drive the plot. It was the dynamic between Mulder and Scully. They had an onscreen chemistry whose ebb and tide you could feel throughout the episodes through the television (or computer screen in my case). Until Fringe can bring Agent Dunham’s character into a more cohesive role in the show, I think it’s pretty much doomed to low ratings and a “fringe” audience comprised of people like me who are just cult fans of sci-fi shows. Give it a shot though and let me know what you think.
tv fringe, tv
Since one of my current animes, D. Gray-man, has ended its season, I’ve been looking for something to fill the void and came across True Blood, a new show about vampires. The premise is interesting: Vampires have “come out of the closet” and revealed themselves to humanity in our modern day world which leads to some interesting changes in society. They have their own TV channel called VTV. Having sex with a vampire, also known as “fang banging”, is quickly becoming the new risque thing to do. Vampire blood, known on the street simply as “V” is better than crack, heroin, and coke combined. And of course, with anything new coming into society, there is always a sense of xenophobia against the newly socialized vampires.
The show touches upon a multitude of topics, but the main ones tend to be prejudice (human vs vampire, white vs black, rich vs poor, etc) and sex. The only real disappointment (but it’s a big one) is the quality of acting by the main character, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin aka. Rogue from the X-Men movies). Not to sound trite, but she couldn’t act her way out of a wet paper bag. The story is enough to bring me back week after week though, so we’ll see how it turns out by the end of the season. If you’re bored and looking to get into a new show that’s a bit edgy, I say check this one out.
tv true blood, tv, vampires
