New Star Trek!

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I grew up with Star Trek and am an avid fan. (I did write a post once detailing the interfaces in the Star Trek universe.) So I am excited by the news that a new Star Trek television show will be produced.

I guess I really shouldn't call it a TV show, though. The first episode will air on CBS and the rest of the series will air on a CBS on demand digital channel. If the show is good, I'd happily pay $6/month for access to the service. And if it's not good... well... I'd rather not think of that.*

Five Thirty Eight has an interesting take, too, on why this needs to be successful for Star Trek to continue to be relevant.

I can't wait to find out more.

* I did watch more than one episode of Enterprise, so I think it's a safe assumption that — good or bad — I'm going to be watching.

Summer Binge Watch 2015: The Flash

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Every summer, my wife and I go to Netflix and select a TV show to binge watch. Between kiddo bedtimes and a 5:00 a.m. alarm, we don't watch all that much (non Disney Channel) TV during the school year. 

The last couple summers have seen us tackle the first season of Once Upon a Time, the first season of Arrow and a couple of seasons of classic Gilmore Girls.

This year, we're going to watch The Flash. No Netflix needed this time... We've actually recorded the entire first season on our DVR because I had intended to watch it this year. Several of my friends really like it. So even though I am much more of a Marvel fan than a DC fan, I'm going to give it a shot. So far, two episodes in and I'm intrigued.

Things I loved about the Agents of SHIELD finale

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A couple of very cool things I loved about Tuesday's Agents of SHIELD season finale. 

  • Mack's mom watches Fox News.
  • The thorn protects the rose... or the daisy.  
  • You want to talk about this... now.
  • Oh yeah. Skye was a hacker.
  • Mack's choice of weapon.
  • Science, beeeatch.
  • Ward's still a very bad man.
  • Melinda May is pretty clever.  
  • Another Marvel Star Wars homage.
  • Fish oil.
  • Stupid alien technology.

Looking forward to Season 3... I just hope Simmons fate at the end of the episode isn't like Fred/Illyria on Angel. I don't know if I can handle that kind of heartbreak. 

Spoilers: Agents of SHIELD 'Afterlife'

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What an awesome Agents of SHIELD episode this week. "Afterlife" was perhaps their best episode, yet. It's been a while since I've been that surprised by an hour of television. Spoilers below. And lots of exclamation points! I was particularly delighted by:

  • Coulson and Hunter! Bad options! Awesome. 
  • Shield Team Battlestar!
  • Skye's Dad! Skye's MOM! Reassembled. What! Didn't see that coming. 
  • Reinforcements! Deathlok! Love the return of Agent Peterson. 
  • Loaded gun!
  • Our bad option: Grant Ward!
  • The return of FitzSimmons! And the sandwich. 

I'm too often spoiled by episode descriptions and Twitter, but I've been busy and not paying attention. So I went into the episode spoiler-free and I seriously enjoyed the episode more than usual.  

 

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

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I had one of those geek out moments with a client this week. I mentioned that I typically drink a cup of Earl Grey tea each morning. To which he responded: "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot." After we stopped laughing, we had to explain Captain Picard's obsession with Earl Grey tea to some confused coworkers.

Afterwards, I had to come to the realization that a TV show that aired in 1987 effects my behavior today.

I was in middle school when the fictional Star Trek captain first ordered his beverage of choice from the replicator. At the time, we had hot tea in the house, but it was Mint or Lemon-flavored. I mostly would drink it when I was sick. But there was no Earl Grey that I remember.

Star Trek: The Next Generation ran for a long time and still runs in syndication today. I'm not sure when I started to drink Earl Grey, but it was sometime during or just after college. I'm sure I decided to buy some tea and when faced with too many options, I simply went with the option I "knew."

It makes me wonder just how many other choices I've made are directly or indirectly traced back to television and media. I know I have a slight Nike bias because I grew up in Chicago during the Michael Jordan years. But other than Earl Grey and an affinity for Nike, I can't think of any other long lasting influence that a show or movie has made on me. I'm sure there are many more but I can't piece them together right now.

That said, I really like my Earl Grey tea. And I'll happily have a cup every morning. But I'll probably never think of it the same way again.

Farewell to the Warehouse

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So while Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gets ready for a second season, one of my other favorite shows just aired its season finale. Warehouse 13 wrapped the 5th season and it's been a great ride. (If you've never seen Warehouse 13, check it out on Netflix. The premise is basic... remember the warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones... Pretty much that, but funnier.)

It got me thinking about the changing nature of television. How many times have shows I like been cancelled with no wrap up? Cliffhanger with no resolution? More times than I care to admit.

Syfy green lighted a final season for WH13, but it was only 6 episodes. The whole point was to allow the producers to tie up the loose ends and leave the fans satisfied. They did the same thing with Eureka, giving them a two hour movie to wrap up the plot points. And with Stargate, they made two movies. We should applaud Syfy for getting that right. I wish more networks would grant a long running show an additional wrap up episode or "season."

The other thing that stood out to me was the varying number of episodes per season. The first season had 12 episodes, the second and third had 13 each and the fourth season had 20. And of course the final season had 6. Traditionally, a full season order for a show is 21 shows.

But that is changing, and I kind of like it. Give the writers and producers enough episodes to put together a compelling plot arc. Wrap it up in those episodes. If it finds and audience, renew it for a another season. Maybe it's 21 episodes. Or maybe less. And commit to running that. Give the creators a chance to build something great. After the run is over, make extra money on Netflix and DVD sales.

A lot of shows have started that way. Buffy was a mid-season replacement with a 13 episode first season. The Battlestar Galactica reboot started with a mini series and then had seasons of varying length after that.

With the pressure for shows to perform immediately and networks pulling the plug on shows quickly, maybe having shorter initial seasons will help these programs gain their footing and leave fans satisfied that they've seen an entire story arc.

S.H.I.E.L.D. sets up Season Two

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The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. finale aired last night and I'm glad I stuck with the show after a slow start. TV executives are so quick to pull the plug on shows today. S.H.I.E.L.D. had a better chance than most shows because the ABC/Disney/Marvel conglomerate has a vested interest in its success. The show is well positioned going forward. Hopefully, it can build a solid audience through the next season.

Spoilers ahead. You've been warned.

A couple of thoughts on the show:

Ward. I was worried they would try to redeem Ward. He's done so many evil things, it wouldn't feel right to have him see the error of his ways and die trying to save a member of the team. Nope. Ward is just plain evil. End of story. And he's in prison so we'll see him again, I'm sure.

Fitzsimmons. Heart wrenching. 

The dialogue. Some really great Whedonesque lines. My favorite was Fury's line at the end... Something like: "I count the number of people I trust on one hand, and I'm not afraid to cut off fingers." Also "You were never on top." But too many solid lines to list here.

Gruesome. I actually cringed when Garrett pulled the general's rib out of his body and stabbed him with it. And the nail gun to Ward's foot. Ouch.

Nick Fury. Seemed out of place somehow. Maybe it was the sunglasses. Nick Fury without an eye patch just isn't Nick Fury to me.

The fake out. What was up with that ending? Where Garrett climbs into the chair, gets rebuilt, starts to "monologue," and then gets disintegrated by Coulson. It was funny. And unexpected. But really odd.

Director Coulson. So Coulson is going to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D.? Should make for a nice second season. Two advantages. Anyone that knows S.H.I.E.L.D. was destroyed in The Winter Soldier will be able to pick up the show without necessarily having to see season 1. And the Agent Carter series that will be launching next season will be about building S.H.I.E.L.D. after World War II. So the shows will have parallel themes. Might make for some interesting connections.

The new ensemble. Looks like the team going into next season will be Coulson, May, Skye, Simmons and Triplett. We'll see what happens with Fitz or if they add any additional team members to the bus. They also have a secret base, a second plane and another Koenig.

Anyway, looking forward to season 2 and seeing how the show evolves.

Becoming a Cubs fan

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In the early 1980's, we lived in a slightly mountainous area of North Carolina. And our community had an early version of cable. The cable box on our TV has 13 push buttons, each representing a different channel.

Among those 13 channels were WOR (New York), TBS (Atlanta) and WGN (Chicago). In the early 80's, all three channels had contracts to carry baseball games. WOR had the Mets, TBS showed the Braves and WGN aired the Cubs games. This is pre-ESPN, so your other option was to catch a random Game of the Week broadcast on one of the networks.

I loved baseball. I'd come home from school and turn on the TV and try to find a baseball game. And more often than not, there would be a Cubs game on. Why? Because Wrigley Field didn't get lights until 1988. All home games were day games. The Braves and Mets played a bunch of night games so even though I saw some of their games, I didn't develop the same connection that I did with the Cubs.

(Geographically, it would have made sense for me to be a Braves fan. We weren't too far from Atlanta. But at the time, they were in the NL West division and played a bunch of night games on the West coast. So those games started after my bed time.)

I fell in love with Wrigley Field, Harry Carey, Ryne Sandberg and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh inning stretch. And then we moved to Chicago and my die-hard-Cubs-fan status was cemented. 

Wrigley Field turns 100 this week. And even though Harry Carey is no longer with us, Ryne Sandberg is the manager of the Phillies and Wrigley has lights, I still love my Cubbies.

The ambition of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

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Be forewarned. Minor spoilers ahead. Maybe. Not really. But just in case, you've been warned.

A lot of people have wondered about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Where was it going? Why was it boring? What was the deal with Skye? Where was the action? Where were the superheroes?

And many people I know gave up. Personally, I enjoyed the show. But there were moments where I, too, wondered about the direction.

Now that Captain America: The Winter Soldier is out and S.H.I.E.L.D. is decimated, you realize that the show is an extension of Marvel's attempt to build a cycle of storytelling throughout multiple properties.

Captain America, Iron Man and Thor set the table for The Avengers. And now Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will all lead to The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. What previously seemed like a random addition to ABC's Tuesday lineup is really part of the cycle that builds up to the next Avengers movie. 

This is an ambitious plan. And I imagine that it is a difficult one to execute. Imagine trying to coordinate plot points and character development across multiple films and TV shows with different directors and writers. No matter what you think of the show, you have to be in awe that they are attempting to expand the universe like this. I can't think of another company that has tried something this ambitious.

Marvel is planning on launching a series of Netflix limited run series. And there have been rumors of other TV shows, including one about super-spy-and-Captain-America-love-interest Peggy Carter. Anyone want to bet that these shows will be connected to the cycle in the same way that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is?

If you think about it, though, this structure is similar to how classic comic book story lines were built. Major story lines meandered through several different comic books. And those overarching stories often had major implications for all of the books in that universe.

Can't wait to see where S.H.I.E.L.D. heads, both as a fictional agency and as a television show.