FRINGE: It’s time to say goodbye

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I’ve been dreading this moment but it’s time to face the music. The 18th of January marked the final Fringe Friday. Over the course of the past five years we laughed, we cried, and we believed in Olivia Dunham, Peter and Walter Bishop, Astrid Farnsworth, Phillip Broyles, Nina Sharp, September the Observer, and everybody else who came and went on this epic, far-out journey about what it means to be human. As expected the bald-headed baddies were destroyed (well, erased from time if you want to be precise) and our Fringe family went on to live their lives in peace. Even Walter who was forced to sacrifice himself and live in a distant future apart from his son and granddaughter–lord knows he’s having all kinds of fun with the scientists in Oslo, Norway talking them into accepting the “anomaly” Observer as an appropriate form of human evolution. What is humanity without the power of emotion beating inside it?

I’ll be short and sweet, just like the final season of the show. My thoughts on the series finale: It was all I hoped it would be. Intrinsically beautiful, exciting, emotional, poignant, satisfying. The series in general? One of a kind.

Over the years I shared my passion for Fringe in exactly 53 posts total including this one. From the intense teaser trailers to the unforgettable Comic Con panels to the nail-biting season renewals, Fringe has been an exhilarating roller coaster from shaky start to fantastic finish. From a mysterious plane crash to a portal aimed at the future, from The Pattern to The Plan, Fringe rose above its cult status and shined like a glimmer of hope.

After the break you can watch one last video featuring the main cast discussing the ramifications of the final episode. It’s time to say goodbye. Like family these characters will always remain in my heart. Continue reading FRINGE: It’s time to say goodbye →

FOX orders futuristic drama from J.H. Wyman & J.J. Abrams [Update: Another Abrams pilot a-go at NBC]

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With Fringe in his rearview mirror, showrunner and sometimes writer and director J.H. Wyman has a new drama at FOX to work on. Today FOX ordered to pilot an hourlong drama from Wyman and J.J. Abrams, the same auspices that brought us Walter Bishop and the rest of the Fringe family. The untitled project is being produced by Abrams’ production company Bad Robot in collaboration with Warner Bros. TV. It’s being described as “an action-packed buddy cop show set in a near future when all LAPD officers are partnered with highly evolved humanlike androids.” Yeah, count me in. Wyman is writing the script and serving as executive producer, a title he shares with Abrams, Bryan Burk, and Kathy Lingg. After the script is locked in and casting choices are made, the pilot will be made and if all goes well we’ll have another Abrams/Wyman futuristic drama on the air in the fall.

Update: Mere moments after wrapping this post news broke that another pilot headlined by J.J. Abrams was ordered by NBC. (After landing the Star Wars directing gig and two pilots at two of the major broadcast networks, somebody is having the best week ever.) This project also falls under the Bad Robot/Warner Bros. TV banners and Abrams is working closely with Alfonso Cuarón (director of Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban). It’s working title is Believe and the script is currently being penned by Cuarón and Mark Friedman (Home of the Brave, The Forgotten). Believe is about “the unlikely relationship between a young girl in possession of a great gift/powers — which will come into their own in seven years — and a man sprung from prison who has been tasked with protecting her from the evil elements that hunt her power.” Abrams, Cuarón, Friedman, and Bryan Burk are executive producing. Cuarón is on tap to direct.

HBO renews ‘Girls’ for a third season

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High off its recent Golden Globe wins for Best Comedy and Best Actress (Lena Dunham), HBO’s Girls has been renewed for a third season. The premium cable network ordered 12 episodes for the next season–that’s an additional two half-hours more than the first two seasons received. Star/creator/executive producer/director/writer Lena Dunham let the news out early on Thursday when she told Alec Baldwin on his podcast that “We’re starting season three at the end of March. I’m so excited.”

Girls airs Sunday nights at 9PM on HBO.

J.J. Abrams will direct ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’

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The Force is strong with this one. Today news spread like wildfire that J.J. Abrams–the same man who resurrected Star Trek for the big screen–will do the same for the other massively popular set-in-space franchise Star Wars. The Wrap broke it first.

This fall George Lucas sold his Lucasfilms to Disney for $4 billion and his partner Kathleen Kennedy signed on to ensure the making of a new Star Wars movie. Shortly thereafter Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) agreed to pen the script and now the immense project has a star director in Abrams. Star Wars: Episode VII aims for a 2015 release.

Neither Abrams nor Disney has commented on the story yet. What’s interesting, however, is that just a couple months ago Abrams told Entertainment Weekly that he wasn’t interested in taking on Lucas’ lucrative franchise. He admitted that he had “original stuff” he was hoping to do next. He went on to say how much Star Wars influenced him at a young age and that it ignited his passion for visually epic storytelling. “As a kid I was always a fan of special effects,” he said. “Watching movies I was constantly trying to figure out how they did it, whatever the effect was. Star Wars was the first movie that blew my mind in that way; it didn’t matter how they did any of it because it was all so overwhelmingly and entirely great. It was funny and romantic and scary and compelling and the visual effects just served the characters and story. It galvanized for me; not for what was exciting about how movies were made, but rather for what movies were capable of.”

In a two–part interview with Hero Complex conducted in 2009, Abrams talked about the challenge of reimagining Star Trek in a post-George Lucas Star Wars world. “I’m just a fan of Star Wars,” he said. “As a kid, Star Wars was much more my thing than Star Trek was. If you look at the last three Star Wars films and what technology allowed them to do, they covered so much terrain in terms of design, locations, characters, aliens, ships — so much of the spectacle has been done and it seems like every aspect has been covered, whether it’s geography or design of culture or weather system or character or ship type. Everything has been tapped in those movies. The challenge of doing Star Trek — despite the fact that it existed before Star Wars — is that we are clearly in the shadow of what George Lucas has done.”

It is definitely going to be interesting to see exactly how J.J. Abrams plans to bring Star Wars back into the fold compared to the way he did it with Star Trek. He’s a powerful player in the sci-fi arena, and personally I have no doubt he’ll get it right. What say you?

Update (1/25): Disney has made the news official in a press release. Check out some choice quotes from Kathleen Kennedy, George Lucas, and J.J. Abrams after the break. Continue reading J.J. Abrams will direct ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ →

TV teasers: ‘The Walking Dead’ season 3.5

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The second half of The Walking Dead season 3 is set to debut February 10 and AMC is building up to that day with a couple new teasers that feature new, exciting material. In the 30-second spot above, Rick and The (one-eyed) Governor anticipate war. After the break, a slightly longer clip reveals (don’t call him) Phillip’s plan to release Andrea back into Rick’s camp at the prison. After watching, you’re gonna wish it was Feb. 10 tomorrow. Continue reading TV teasers: ‘The Walking Dead’ season 3.5 →

‘Mad Men’ receives a return date

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Mad Men returns Sunday, April 7. There it is. The sixth season premiere is two hours in length, written by series creator Matthew Weiner and directed by executive producer Scott Hornbacher. The two-hour “movie” airs at 9PM on AMC. Also made public is that the second episode, which will air in Mad Men‘s regular 10PM slot, is written by Weiner and Matthew Igla and directed by star John Hamm. This marks Hamm’s second time helming an episode; he previously served double-duty on season five’s “Tea Leaves.”

In an interview with EW, Weiner briefly spoke about the highly anticipated premiere: “If you like the show, there’s a good chance you’ll like the premiere…It is different than last year’s in a sense that it was my idea and I was just trying to give bang for a buck to an audience that I didn’t want to lose because we’d been away for so long. This year it’s really constructed like a film. It is its own story and hopefully it foreshadows the rest of the season.”

When asked when exactly the new season will pick up following Don’s apparent flirtation with deviating outside his marriage, Weiner was typically coy with the NYT: “It will advance in time, as it does. I can’t say how much or how little. We’re coming off a period in Don’s life where he’s trying to normalize, and trying to have this relationship – a real relationship with this woman that he fell in love with. She expressed her desires, and that was a surprise for him. On this show, it’s a very rich, full orchestra, and we like to follow what is the next stage in these people’s lives.”

Check out new season 6 cast photos provided by AMC in the gallery below.

Ryan Murphy teases ‘American Horror Story’ season 3

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Ryan Murphy is still being tight-lipped about the clues he dropped in the final few episodes of American Horror Story: Asylum that shed light on what’s to come in season 3 of the anthology horror series. But at a recent screening of the Asylum finale, he did open up to reporters about who’s signed on to come back and he gave a very big picture preview of the upcoming season.

When FX renewed AHS for a third season in November, it was revealed that Jessica Lange (Constance then Jude) would return for the third time in a row to star. Since then, Murphy has let slip that Sarah Paulson (Billy Dean then Lana) and Evan Peters (Tate then Kit) are also coming back as newly fleshed out characters for the new season. Also on tap to return is season 1 star Taissa Farmiga; she played Ben and Vivian Harmon’s daughter Violet. Murphy told EW: “I missed her this season. There wasn’t really a role for her. I feel very protective of her and I didn’t want her to go back into the loony bin—it was too dark. So I thought well ‘I want Taissa to be one of the leads next year.’ I called her up and pitched her the character for the season and she loved it and she said, ‘Yes let’s do it.’ So we’re in negotiations for her to headline season 3.” Rejoining the gang behind-the-scenes is director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon who helped some of the best episodes this season including “I Am Anne Frank (Part 2),” “Spilt Milk,” and the finale “Madness Ends.” Murphy said he’s signed on to direct every third episode next season and that he will have a creative hand in every episode produced.

As far as plot details go, Murphy isn’t diving in just yet but here’s what we’ve got so far. The third season will be “more historical in nature” and take place in modern day across three different cities (on location), though time will jump into the past as it did in season one. The show will continue to harp on our horrors but overall the new season will be lighter in tone than Asylum; it will feature more comedic elements and a romance story. The major arc will revolve around Lange’s character who Murphy hypes to be a “glamour cat leading lady” who will be privy to “hair and makeup and the best designer gowns ever.” Next year’s major monster following season 1’s Rubber Man and season 2’s Bloody Face will be “a great icon–and it’s a woman,” Murphy teases. In fact he says that a big theme in season 3 is going to be “female power.”

And here’s good news for fans of the series. Murphy sees it going for years and years. “I hope this show goes for 10 years because I have so many different kinds of horror that I would like to write about,” he says. “But, I love that you can jump periods and you can play with different actors.  I know the actors love playing different characters. So, it’s something that we’ll always stay with.”

American Horror Story reboots next fall.

[Via THR; TVLine; Collider]

HBO expresses interest in ‘Bored to Death’ movie, series creator Jonathan Ames on board

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Bored to Death is making a comeback. The critically acclaimed entertaining neo-noir series from Jonathan Ames has a development deal at HBO Films that could result in a feature-length TV-movie airing on the premium cable channel. Ever since its cancellation in December 2011, a Bored to Death revival-as-a-movie has been rumored and now the project is swimming much closer to reality.

The logline goes like this: “Jonathan, Ray, and George reunite to fight crime, commit crime, lose their minds and fail at love in a Bored to Death feature-length slapstick adventure.”

Ames will pen the script and serve as executive producer along with Sarah Condon and Stephanie Davis. Stars Jason Schwartzman, who played a fantastical version of real-life Jonathan Ames as a novelist and private eye, Zach Galifianakis, who played Jonathan’s best friend Ray, and Ted Danson, who played Jonathan’s pot-smoking boss George are not officially signed on for the project yet, but all three have expressed interest to team up again and bring these characters back to life.

More as this exciting, slightly unexpected story develops.

[Via THR]

FOX pulls ‘Ben And Kate’ and ABC yanks ‘Apt. 23’ from their schedules, effectively canceling them

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Breathe, breathe. It’s tough news, I know. This week FOX and ABC pulled low-rated comedies Ben And Kate and Don’t Trust the B—- In Apartment 23 from their respective schedules. Ben And Kate, a freshman single-cam sitcom, managed to find its comedic groove early on but it never gained a foothold in the ratings. A dynamic cast led by the-one-and-only Nat Faxon delivered an absurd mixture of funny and heart week in and week out. In fact, FOX championed its creativity in October when the network expanded its original 13 episode order to 19. “Ben And Kate [has] everything we want to stand for in comedy: smart writing, hugely appealing casts and comedy that feels contemporary and real–which is why we’re confident [it] will continue to build on what is already an appointment comedy night for young, influential audiences on Tuesdays,” said FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly. Though its numbers hovered in poor territory, FOX gave it time to find an audience and unfortunately it never quite found one broad enough to stay on the air. B&K averaged a 1.5 rating in the all-important 18-49 adult demographic, and that’s with 7-day DVR playback included; in so many words, not good enough. In a statement FOX says they plan to air the remaining six episodes at some point in the future. [Update: FOX has stopped production on the show so only 15 episodes will be produced meaning there are 2 unaired episodes that may or may not screen in the future.] And even though the net isn’t confirming cancellation, a sudden yank from the sked like this pretty much seals the deal.

The same goes for ABC’s wild comedy Apt. 23. But in this case you could really see the axe coming. Though the show certainly managed to grow creatively from its shortened first season, the viewers at large didn’t seem to notice and didn’t latch on. The way in which ABC aired the show was an ominous sign for fans. Many episodes that were originally produced for season one bled into season 2 and made storylines jump all around the place; this would introduce confusion for newcomers. After ABC pulled 666 Park Avenue from its Sunday lineup, the net decided to run Apt. 23 and Happy Endings twice a week, in the Sunday 10PM hour and on their regular Tuesday night. This experiment only lasted so long; Apt. 23 has been abandoned (its most recent ep drew a low 1.1 demo rating) and (thankfully) Happy Endings will continue its run on Tuesdays. No word on whether or not the remaining eight unaired episodes of Apt. 23 will see the light of day. For now, it’s goodbye peachy June, goodbye creepy Eli, goodbye obsessive Robin, goodbye hopeless Mark, goodbye infectious Luther, goodbye James Van Der Beek, and so long Chole. We’ll miss your bitchy ways.

‘Revolution’ expands into webisodes in six-part animated series

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While Revolution is on its long hiatus until March, here’s something to bide the time. NBC is releasing six webisodes that take place in the world where power is everything imagined by creator Eric Kripke and executive producer J.J. Abrams. The animated installments star Sgt. Joseph Wheatly, the Militia Corporal from the show played by Reed Diamond who turned on our rebel group and shot and nearly killed Charlie Matheson in the underground tunnels leading out of the subway in Philly. The first webisode titled “Wheatley’s Letters: May 7th” is embedded above. A new one will release every Monday through February 18; you can find them at the show’s official YouTube channel. Also available for viewing today is the pilot featuring commentary by Kripke and director John Favreau; watch it here.

Revolution returns March 25 on NBC.

Behind the scenes: ‘Game of Thrones’ season 3 [Update: cast photos]

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As we sprint toward spring the next season of Game of Thrones looms on the horizon. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at season 3 with commentary by the cast and the producers. “This is the rise and fall season because there are so many characters who come into the season with power of some kind who lose everything, and other characters who enter with almost nothing and achieve great power,” says executive producer David Benioff. “It’s still very much about power and very much about family,” adds Benioff partner D.B. Weiss. “I also think that this is a season of tremendous reversals of fortune. I think you will be pleasantly surprised and horrified in equal measure.” Star Peter Dinklage says, “The show keeps expanding and breathing more deeply.”

Game of Thrones returns March 31 at 10PM on HBO.

Update (1/25): HBO has released a slew of cast photos from the upcoming season. See new faces and old in the gallery below.

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‘Fringe’ fans: You can own September’s Notebook, out this March

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Fringe is but a memory today as its spectacular series finale aired last Friday. The show and its unforgettable characters will always live on in our hearts and reruns…and in September’s Notebook. From publisher Insight Editions and authors Tara Bennett and Paul Terry (the duo that penned the Lost Encyclopedia) comes an official TV tie-in book that’s filled with all kinds of Fringe lore. The 192-page hardback notebook briefly showed up on screen in episode 510 “The Boy Must Live” and it can be yours to keep come March.

Fringe: September’s Notebook — The Bishop Paradox charts all five seasons of the show and is described as “an essential, and fully sanctioned, part of Fringe‘s mythology.” Words are disseminated from the perspective of our favorite Observer known as September and then Donald and the book includes “lush in-world storytelling and thousands of never-before-seen images that provide new insight into the series.” In other words, this is a true must-have for fans of the series because it actually expands on what we’ve seen happen over the course of the show. If you still have lingering questions after watching the finale, perhaps this book will shed light on your ongoing theories.

Moreover, the book is “overflowing with September’s handwritten observations, covert photographs, personal sketches and musings, as well as extensive FBI case files and hyper-detailed Massive Dynamic intel. Fans will even be able to interact with September’s movable notes, salvaged elements, and highly classified tangible elements.”

September’s Notebook, which also includes a forward by Fringe showrunners J.H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner, is up for preorder today and goes on sale in March for $50 at Insight Editions. Explore pages from the book at that link, too. Also, the book’s official site features some really great Fringe wallpapers for desktops and smartphones. [Update: Amazon‘s got it for $31.50.]

The perfect gift for the cult Fringe fan.