#so like a miniseries mockumentary
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when i was on livejournal i used to review, like, everything i watched or read (bc i did not have a job). i kind of miss that so here are some notes about some of the things i read/watched in january!
the hour (s1 - rewatch): i feel like unless you were In It you can't understand the hold the hour had over us when it was airing. whishaw! romola! dominic west as a rake who wants to Learn! the looks! the fonts! jamie parker and anna chancellor and andrew scott and joshua mcguire!! the mechanics of how we bear witness!!!! nobody not even the rain has such small hands!!!! jesus christ. anyway here's 1k of space stuff from yuletide 2012
justified (s1&2 - rewatch): inspired by @love-leah's vital boyd/raylan fanfictions honestly, this whole show should be about boyd/raylan. i remember first time around i was very into the tim stuff because we were living that hbo war miniseries life and honestly the episode where he has to babysit raylan is still very good.
eyes wide shut: for some reason i watched this like new year's morning?? anyway i had fun with that one nicole kidman monologue and the like gaping chasm of blank panic under tom cruise's good guy mask. if you have seen barry lyndon should i watch barry lyndon?
mr malcolm's list: zawe ashton forever obviously!! very sweet for oliver jackson-cohen to be allowed to be funny for once, sope disiru can do literally anything. i rented this on amazon and i wish i had just bought it lol
white noise: obviously the supermarket dance sequence is the best part. idk i feel weird about don delillo ever since i had to read out a fisting scene from cosmopolis as a 17 year old virgin in english extension class 🙃
evil under the sun: my first ustinov poirot, worth the price of admission for the incredible diana rigg and maggie smith bitchfight energy (including an amazingly agressive performance of you're the top). i would like to go to an island please
emma (2020) (rewatch): i love it So much!! everything i said in this deranged letterboxd review still stands!!
aftersun: mescal and corio both wonderful, i can't get over calum's despair developing like a polaroid
the sting: good old-fashioned homoerotic fun etc. paul newman's eyes are So blue
best in show: i watched the christopher guest mockumentary trilogy thing with my sister and this was our favourite. the dogs!!! also there's a thing catherine o'hara does with her knee that killed me
babylon: i loved the parts that were about making films and didn't care for most of the rest of it! could really have done with less of a lecture about why cinema is important
the fabelmans: by contrast i loved the stuff here about why this one specific person is drawn to make films! paul dano has my heart forever and michelle williams' performance did not really work for me whoops
kate beaton, ducks: two years in the oil sands: hark a vagrant was such a touchstone for me, i read this all in one sitting and immediately wanted to give it to three of my friends - her anger is so palpable
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I've seen Seasons 1-5 of SCTV (Shame it's so hard to find the original 45 Minute Season 6 episodes), and I think I know what they should probably do (or what I would do) if they did a reunion special: I'd want to do a Mockumentary film or miniseries. A where are they now type thing. Since I think I've heard the show ended with SCTV going off the air because they didn't have enough money, I think it'd make sense to do a fake documentary covering what happened to all their many stars. I could still see a comedic tribute to John Candy and his characters being written in, because I could see Johnny LaRue dying in some embarrassing way (like David Carradine). My dad said he thought it'd be cool to see one of his kids play Johnny LaRue's child or something (idk if they'd want to do that, but it's an interesting idea).
I really think I'm onto something here. At the very least, it seems like a fun idea. Who wouldn't want to see where SCTV's many personalities ended up?
Since I'm still largely stumped on what could happen in this mockumentary, I'll ask you (maybe we can get some sort of idea discussion going). Where do you see the characters from SCTV today? Where do you see Bobby Bittman? Guy Caballero? Lola Heatherton? Etc.
#Suggestions would be appreciated#If you have any ideas#sctv#john candy#joe flaherty#eugene levy#andrea martin#catherine o'hara#harold ramis#martin short#rick moranis#dave thomas#ideas#story ideas#canada#canadian comedy#canadian tv
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This is not talked about enough
What is this?
Well, it's a poster featuring Gosalyn and Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck.
It's a poster of Darkwing Duck... presumably a promotional poster.
Now, like me, you may be wondering "Where did you find this?" And I'd answer with "Well, I found it on Twitter". Then you'd ask again "Where did OP find it?" And I'd answer with "Hm... I don't know"
I don't know. I don't know OP found it. I don't even know if it's real.
It could just be really well made fanart. But why would OP make fanart copying the DT17 style, have it printed out, pin it on their wall, and then post it to the internet all just to be bait? That sounds like... so much work for something that was barely talked about.
Oh yeah, I've also seen not that many people talk about online as well. Did it fail? Did it work and I just can't find any post talking about it? What is it?
Speaking of "not talking about it", let's say it is a promo poster. Where are articles discussing this? The Ducktales fan news sites would've eaten this up, where are their articles? Oh right, can't really find that either. The information regarding this poster is so scarce as well as coverage on it based on what I've seen.
I asked a cartoon server I'm in about the poster and one of the members said they heard it was featured in a video with Darkwing Ducks DT17 voice actor, Chris Diamantopoulos. Which, if that's true, I can't find the video either.
Now don't get me wrong, Frank Angones hase dropped a few winks when asked about the spin off, so that could be true who knows. Then there's also this from Gosalyn modern voice actress Stephanie Beatriz regarding the spin off.
So, was it real? Was there genuinely going to be a spin off taking place post Ducktales 2017? Was that a leaked poster revealing the truth? Again, who knows.
Now as you see in my previous paragraph, I used was, as is past tenses. Why does that matter? Well because it was apparently cancelled??
What?? So much for that I guess??
If you don't know who this person is, they're basically the person that "kickstarted" the whole leaked poster reveal in October 2021. They then tweeted yesterday that it's from a cancelled spin off miniseries. But, I don't believe them cause I don't even believe it's real. I'm not certain it's real cause of how not talked about it was.
I look at this whole thing and think of the SpongeBob mockumentary, Sponge out of Water, where it wasn't even real to begin with.
So is it real? Is it just bait? What is this and why has no one talked about it?
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more posters i designed for my oc feat. a miniseries and two movies
#orig post#how do art and poetry#oc tag#oc: la#not happy w the tawdry poster but ive redesigned it 8million times#the conceit is a short run series about a leftist just getting the shit kicked out of them trying to push a#dem whitehouse slightly left#in the style of a tell all novel/docuseries#so like a miniseries mockumentary#tyc is the beginnings of a political rev in the us from the perspective of someone wildly disengaged/checked out#due to like#the crushed soul of capitalism#passively observing whats going on#and billion is a pastiche of 2010s wealth as a surrealist horror film
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here are some shows i’ve enjoyed on hbo max in case you’re tempted to get it for ~*~our flag means death~*~ and want to know what else there is to watch! there’s obviously a billion other things beyond this, but hey, here’s a starting point! if you want me to ramble more about any of ‘em, just let me know!
half hour shows:
ghosts
wellington paranormal
miracle workers
starstruck
flight of the conchords (!!!)
wellington paranormal
minx
the nanny
avenue 5
hung
veep
run
the comeback (this is like the first comedy to use mockumentary format that i know of; it is excruciating -- idk how much most people would enjoy it but i have a high tolerance for second-hand embarrassment -- but so genius and i'm still upset it isn’t more widely known. if you’re a lisa kudrow fan you gotta watch this. she is astoundingly good. it also got a second season like a decade after the first and it’s GREAT!)
i just noticed i listed wellington paranormal twice. count this as the third time.
hour shows:
peacemaker
succession
gentleman jack
lovecraft country
the nevers
sharp objects
the white lotus
doctor who
jane eyre (2006 miniseries)
emma (2009 miniseries)
also @queenofattolia would like you to watch los espookys, which is on my to-do list! am also planning to check out the sex lives of college girls at some point because as mindy kaling goes so goes my nation.
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Press/Gallery: How Elizabeth Olsen Brought Marvel From Mainstream to Prestige
“The thing I love about being an actor is to fully work with someone and try so hard to be at every level with them, chasing whatever it is you need or want from them.”
GALLERY LINKS
Studio Photoshoots > 2021 > Session 008
Magazine Scans > 2021 > Backstage (August 19)
Backstage: Elizabeth Olsen grins widely over video chat when recalling many such moments on set with her co-stars. Yet, she can’t bring herself to divorce such a lofty vision of film acting from the technical multitasking it requires. The camera sees all.
“But then you move your hair, and you’re in your brain, like: OK, remember that! Because I don’t want to edit myself out of a shot. I know some actors are like, ‘Continuity, shmontinuity!’ But the good thing about continuity is, if you remember it, you’re actually providing yourself with more options for the edit.”
That need to balance being both inside the scene and outside of it, fully living it and yet constantly visualizing it on a screen, feels particularly apt in light of Olsen’s most recent project, “WandaVision.”
The mysteries at the heart of the show grow with every episode, each fast-forwarding to a different decade: Could this 1950s, black-and-white, “filmed in front of a studio audience” newlyweds bit be a grief-stricken dream? Might this ’70s spoof be a powerful spell gone awry? Could this meta take on mockumentary comedies be proof that the multiverse is finally coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
The series’ structure, which branches out to include government agents intent on finding out why Westview has seemingly disappeared, calls for the entire cast to play with a mix of genres, balancing a shape-shifting tone that culminates in an epic, MCU-style conclusion. What’s key—and why the show struck a chord with audiences during its nine-episode run—is the miniseries’ commitment to grounding its initial kooky setups and its later special effects-driven spectacle in heartbreaking emotional truths. It’s no small feat, though it’s one that can often be taken for granted.
“I was thinking how hard it would have been to have shot the first ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ” Olsen muses. “Like, you’re putting all these actors [into the frame] later and at all these different levels. All the eyelines are completely unnatural. And yet the performances are fantastic! And technically, they are so hard. People forget sometimes that these things are really technically hard to shoot. And if you are moved by their performance, that took a lot of multitasking.”
As someone who has learned plenty about harnesses, wirework, fight choreography, and green screens (she’s starred in four Marvel movies, including the box office megahit “Avengers: Endgame,” after all), Olsen knows how hard it can be to wrap one’s brain around the work needed to pull off those big, splashy scenes.
“If you think about it, it’s, like, the biggest stakes in the entire world—every time. And that feels silly to act over and over again, especially when people are in silly costumes and the love of your life is purple and sparkly, and every time you kiss them, you have to worry about getting it on your hands. Those things are ridiculous. You feel ridiculous. So there is a part of your brain that has to shovel that away and just look into someone’s eyeballs—and sometimes, they don’t even have eyeballs!”
The ability to spend so much time with Wanda, albeit in the guise of sitcom parodies, was a welcome opportunity for Olsen. Not only did it allow the actor to really wrestle with the traumatic backstory that has long defined the character in the MCU, but having the chance to calibrate a performance that functions on so many different levels was a thrilling challenge.
“It was such an amazing work experience,” she says. “Kathryn [Hahn] uses the word ‘profound’—which is so sweet, because it is Marvel, and people, you know, don’t think of those experiences as profound when they watch them. But it really was such a special crew that [director] Matt Shakman and [creator] Jac Schaeffer created. It was a really healthy working environment.”
Related‘WandaVision’ Star Kathryn Hahn’s Secret to Building a Scene-Stealing Performance
‘WandaVision’ Star Kathryn Hahn’s Secret to Building a Scene-Stealing Performance
Considering that the miniseries spans several sitcom iterations, various layers of televisual reality, and a number of character reveals that needed to feel truthful and impactful in equal measure, Shakman’s decision to work closely with his actors ahead of shooting was key.
“We truly had a gorgeous amount of time together before we started filming,” Olsen remembers. “Our goal was—which is controversial in TV land—that if you wanted to change [anything], like dialogue in a scene, you had to give those notes a week before we even got there. Because sometimes you get to set, and someone had a brilliant idea while they were sleeping, and you’re like, ‘We don’t have an hour to talk about this. We have seven pages to shoot.’ And so, we were all on the same page with one another, knowing what we were shooting ahead of time.
“Matt just treated us like a troupe of actors who were about to do some regional theater shit,” she adds with a smile.
That spirit of camaraderie was, not coincidentally, at the heart of Olsen’s breakout project, Sean Durkin’s 2011 indie sensation “Martha Marcy May Marlene.” As an introduction to the process of filmmaking to a young stage-trained actor, Durkin’s quietly devastating drama was a dream—and an invaluable learning opportunity.
“It was truly just a bunch of people who loved the script, who just were doing the work. I didn’t understand lenses, so I just did the same thing all the time. I never knew if the camera would be on me or not. There was just so much purity in that experience, and you only have that once.”
The film announced Olsen as a talent to watch: a keen-eyed performer capable of deploying a stilted physicality and clipped delivery, which she used to conjure up a wounded girl learning how to shake off her time spent in a cult in upstate New York. But Olsen admits that it took her a while to figure out how to navigate her career choices afterward. In the years following “Martha,” she felt compelled to try on everything: a horror flick here, a high-profile remake there, a period piece here, an action movie there. It wasn’t until she starred in neo-Western thriller “Wind River” (alongside fellow Marvel regular Jeremy Renner) and the dark comedy “Ingrid Goes West” (opposite a deliciously deranged Aubrey Plaza) that Olsen found her groove.
“It was at that point, when I was five years into working, where I was like, Ah, I know how I want it. I know what I need from these people—from who’s involved, from producers, from directors, from the character, from the script—in order to trust that it’s going to be a fruitful experience.”
As Olsen looks back on her first decade as a working actor, she points out how far removed she is from that young girl who broke out in “Martha Marcy May Marlene.”
“I feel like a totally different person. I don’t know if everyone who’s in their early 30s feels like their early 20s self is a totally different human. But when I think about that version of myself, it feels like a long time ago; there’s a lot learned in a decade.”
Those early years were marked by a self-effacing humility that often led Olsen to defer to others when it came to key decisions about the characters she was playing. But she now feels emboldened to not only stand up for herself and her choices but for others on her sets as well.
“[Facebook Watch series] ‘Sorry for Your Loss’ I got to produce, and I really found my voice in a collaborative leadership way. And with ‘WandaVision,’ Paul [Bettany] and I really took on that feeling, as well—especially since we were introducing new characters to Marvel and wanted [those actors] to feel protected and helped,” she says. “They could ask questions and make sure they felt like they had all the things they needed because sometimes you don’t even know what you need to ask.”
It’s a lesson she learned working with filmmaker Marc Abraham on the Hank Williams biopic “I Saw the Light,” and she’s carried it with her ever since. “I really want it to feel like we’re all in this together, as a team,” Olsen says. “That was part of ‘Sorry for Your Loss’ and it was part of ‘WandaVision,’ and I hope to continue that kind of energy because those have been some of the healthiest work experiences I’ve had.”
If Olsen sounds particularly zealous about the importance of a comfortable, working set, it is because she’s well aware that therein lies an integral part of the work and the process. As an actor, she wants to feel protected and nurtured by those around her, whether she’s reacting to a telling, quiet line of dialogue about grief or donning her iconic Scarlet Witch outfit during a magic-filled mid-air action sequence.
“Sometimes you’re going to be foolish, you know? And [you need to] feel brave to be foolish. Sometimes people feel embarrassed on set and snap. But if you’re in a place where people feel like they’re allowed to be an idiot,” she says, “you’re going to feel better about being an idiot.”
This story originally appeared in the Aug. 19 issue of Backstage Magazine. Subscribe here.
Press/Gallery: How Elizabeth Olsen Brought Marvel From Mainstream to Prestige was originally published on Elizabeth Olsen Source • Your source for everything Elizabeth Olsen
#Elizabeth Olsen#WandaVision#Avengers#Scarlet Witch#Wanda Maximoff#Sorry For Your Loss#Avengers Infinity War#Avengers Age of Ultron#Captain America Civil War#Ingrid Goes West#Godzilla#Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness#Marvel#MCU#Candy Montgomery#Love and Death#Avengers Endgame
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From Start to Finish: Television Reviews – Battlestar Galactica
Executive Producer: Ronald D. Moore and David Eick
Starring: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackoff, Jamie Bamber, Tricia Helfer, Michael Hogan, Aaron Douglas
Number of Episodes: 76
Years: 2003-2009
Country: United States
“It’s not enough to survive, one has to be worthy of survival.” – Commander William Adama
Where does one start a review of a show as messy and sprawling as this one? The original Battlestar Galactica was a cash grab meant to ride the wave of sci-fi mania after the success of Star Wars in the late 1970s. Lasting only a season, the cheesiness of that show hid a very dark idea – after a nuclear holocaust, there are only 50,000 humans left and they are being pursued by a race a killer robots (called Cylons) bent on their extinction. Fast forward twenty-five years, veteran sci-fi show runner Ronald D. Moore was intrigued by similar ideas: what if, instead of weekly episodes not linked to each other so they could be run in syndication, there was a show where things that broke or were depleted in the previous episode didn’t get fixed?
Starting out as a miniseries that became a backdoor pilot, the reimagined Battlestar Galactica released in 2003 was dark and gritty, filmed in a mockumentary style aboard a ship one could confuse with a submarine or aircraft carrier. The ship had obvious limitations and people who took those limitations seriously. It understood that few of the people, outside of the commander and his second command, had ever been in actual combat before. The characters were fully realized and fully human, prone both resiliency and rash emotion. It understood people told lies to protect themselves from internal and external forces. It knew that mistakes would be made and did not shy from showing us the consequences of the characters’ actions.
And what characters. Although the cast would expand and change over the course of the show’s four official seasons, the core would remain. At the center of the show is Commander William Adama and President of the Colonies, Laura Roslin. Adama (via a towering performance by Edward James Olmos) is flexible, a bluffer, practical, sentimental, and unusually humanitarian for a career military man. His calm demeanor hides explosive rage and as more is asked of him he has to dig deeper to find the will and cleverness to survive. By the end of the series, these asks break him and he begins to come apart. The same goes for Roslin, portrayed with commanding warmth and steeliness by Mary McDonnell. The secretary of education before the holocaust, she grows into her role as president. By the second and third seasons, she’s been tempered by the fires she’s had to put out and the decisions she’s been forced to make. But, like Adama, it comes at a cost that begins to accumulate beyond what she can tolerate.
The show was at its best when it focused on the basics of what it would take to make the fleet survive. The first season featured episodes focused on finding water, finding fuel, and trying to figure out where to go (they settle on a mythical plant, Earth). The second season featured the discovery of another battlestar and how things could’ve gone differently – and very wrong. The third season began with the occupation of their new home by those same Cylons and featured humans using suicide bombers against their occupiers. The fourth season showed all the accumulated battle damage finally taking its toll on the ship to the point of no return. These were real problems that forced characters to react and stretch beyond their comfort zones. For some characters, these storylines cost them everything (I am forever haunted by Michael Hogan’s performance as Saul Tigh in season three). For others, it stripped them of the lies they’d lived by for years. It left them bare, raw, exposed to grief that grips the soul.
This brings us to the controversial series finale, which is tellingly titled “Daybreak”. The series could’ve ended at the fourth season midway point (titled “Revelations”), a brutal, cold, and cruel episode that would’ve cemented the series theme of grim grief. But that’s not how grief works. Eventually it recedes and, one day at a time, day does eventually break the horizon. A lot of what happens in the series finale ties to the sloppy mythology that Moore and his team of writers made up as they went along. While this mythology did provide the show with some of its greatest emotional highs and its best mysteries, it’s not the show’s center. To the end, the show focused on the characters and the series finale nails the correct tone. Grief ends. Dawn does return.
Along with Lost, Battlestar Galactica was a pioneer in showing that serialized storytelling could work on television. As such, the show runners made pioneer’s mistakes. Moore famously admitted they made up the story as they went along, which left them scrambling to wrap up loose ends in the second half the final season (not always successfully). Still, the show is important because it did not flinch from the reality of a such a bleak story. It did not flinch from being cruel to its characters at times or from giving them moments of heartbreaking grace. Edward James Olmos, from the very start of the series, recognized the show’s strength and power and frequently told his fellow castmates that this would be the best job they would ever have. It’s hard to disagree.
#television review#battlestar galactica#bsg#ronald d. moore#edward james olmos#mary mcdonnell#william adama#laura roslin#from start to finish
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alright bestie pls share more thoughts you have about a p&p miniseries/remake
Oh boy oh boy ok
Its filmed mockumentary style. Handheld shots and camera side eyes and all of that. I havent sold myself on confessionals yet t but im 90% there. This is the biggest and hopefully only anachronism in the show
its still regency. So costumes are historically accurate. The stylistic choice is that they are very Extreme in their own right (think emma). Its camp
Like lady cathrine debourgh is all lavish frills and bells and whistles, so much so you can barely figure out where She ends and her clothing starts. Mrs. bennet is similar but since she’s poor she does it to a lesser extent and with cheaper looking fabric. You get it
Mr collins is always inexplicably greasy. Maybe he grows subtly moreso during the corse of the series.
Speaking of collins: He is never in a shot purposely. The shots are framed around everyone and anyone else, and if he has some reason to be in the scene, he will make his way in there. This is because the cameraman is actively trying to cut him out of the shots.
This idea stemmed from me thinking how funny it would be if every time he interrupted a conversation with something about his sponsor, he’d pop his greasy head in the frame completely unannounced, saying “now this reminds me of the honorable lady catherine—“
Similarly, the framing of shots with darcy are like, hes always there. Lurking. And he is visibly uncomfortable. You get the sense he’s trying to hide from the camera, but it KEEPS finding him and he hates it.
Lizzie side eyes that camera SOOOOOO much. She is constantly doing it.
OH MAYBE THE CAMERA IS REPRESENTING HER VIEW OF PEOPLE. LIKE WE’RE IN HER MIND SHES BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL FOR US. oh thats splendid. Yes. Like fleabag
Bingley and Jane are sweet perfect angels. I have changed nothing about their characters from the book. Both of their actors play this extremely straight like its a plain romance and not a farce
of course, as mentioned before, Bingley gets to punch darcy after finding out darcy hid jane from him, then with that all out of his system he immediately asks for darcy’s blessing. This is because darcy deserves it and Bingley deserves to do it <3
At wickham and lydia’s wedding, wickham has a busted lip or broken nose or something. Darcy has busted knuckles. No one mentions this. This is also because wickham deserves it.
Lizzie gets to say “but she’s a CHILD” at least once after hearing rhe news of lydia, because holy shit why doesnt this worry more people she’s literally a child.
This:
Lizzie, on the grounds of pemberly, warily: and you’re sure the family is away?
Housekeeper: yes, for another week.
*smashcut to darcy just swimming around in pemberly’s fucking lake.*
(We here at raccooninthedaytime.tumblr.com do not think that this entire scene got the attention it deserves because it is hands down the funniest scene in p&p and will be a whole episode in itself.)
Lizzie talking to charlotte lucas immediately after collins’ proposal, smashcut to charlotte walking out of there with him on her arm.
Every interaction between darcy and lizzie pre-pemberly episode is the most excruciatingly awkward conversation. Lizzie is trying so hard to make it bearable and darcy.exe has stopped working
There’s probably more to come but these are my initial thoughts i just think it would be fun
#pride and prejudice gets too much credit as a slay romance and not enough credit as fucking dumpster fire farce that makes me ROLL#also we will be using jane austen’s dialogue if i can help it. she was a funny bitch ill tell ya#now all i need is a cast and a camera and a costume designer and a bunch of old ass houses and a horse or so#pride and prejudice#thoughts from the dumpster
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THE AARONS 2020 - Best TV Show
It was prime time for TV in 2020, with many more free hours to fill. I managed to get through a lot of my backlog in fact, finally getting around to watching shows like The Strain. It’s a show about a deadly disease that tears society apart because a lot of arrogant people think they are exempt from quarantining. The disease turns people into vampires, so it’s technically escapism. Here are the Aarons for Best TV Show:
#10. The Plot Against America (Miniseries) - HBO
It’s not TV, it’s not HBO, it’s real life. The Wire-creator David Simon’s penchant for illustrating the human fallout of institutional failures made him a perfect collaborator for HBO’s Plot Against America, an adaptation of Phillip Roth’s alternate-history novel. Following a Jewish family in New Jersey navigating the increasingly-fascist America of a hypothetical Charles Lindbergh administration, the show is a terrifying warning of what happens when hatred and conspiracy theories are allowed to accumulate political force. Notably, while the book ends with history back on the right track, the closing moments here are left ambiguous. The show was a limited series, but in many ways, The Plot Against America is ongoing.
#9. Mrs. America (Miniseries) - FX
Its interests are married to The Plot Against America, but Mrs. America traces the country’s rising extremism from a more historically accurate perspective. The miniseries centers on political activists in the 1970s on opposing sides of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, but its dialogue isn’t a strict dichotomy. The episodic format is expertly utilized to build out intersectional ideas from the likes of Rose Byrne’s Gloria Steinem, Uzo Aduba’s Shirley Crisholm, and Margo Martindale’s Bella Abzug, detailing the difficulties in building a diverse coalition, and the dangers of a single-minded one. Drawing parallels to current debates, its compelling centerpiece is how conservative Phylis Shafley (Cate Blanchett) successfully defeats the Amendment; voting against your own self-interests, Mrs. America says, is as American as apple pie.
#8. The Outsider (Miniseries) - HBO
Societal collapse comes from within in the two shows mentioned above, but the threat in HBO’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 2018 novel is decidedly an “other.” King clearly had his mind on modern manipulations of truth when crafting the ingenious premise: a man is arrested for the murder of two young boys due to irrefutable DNA evidence, only to provide an air-tight alibi for the crime. To match King’s procedural prose, HBO brought on The Night Of’s David Price, who layers the original work with meticulous mysteries. The Outsider has all the pulpy jolts expected of the author, but the show’s true horror lies in its overbearing grief, best brought to life by Ben Mendelsohn’s Detective Anderson. To say more would be to spoil its secrets; you’ll want to be on the inside.
#7. Perry Mason (Season 1) - HBO
Just like the famous fictional attorney, HBO can’t seem to lose, with Perry Mason marking its third entry on this list. The reimagining of the long running court drama actually takes place before the character’s illustrious law career; here he’s a down-on-his-luck private eye caught up in a scandalous child kidnapping case. The result’s a gangbusters production of old-fashioned moody noir: political corruption, femme fatales, and a more morally-complicated Mason, as played by The Americans’ Matthew Rhys. The lavish period details and character-actor cast, including Shea Whigham, John Lithgow, and Tatiana Maslany, will help draw viewers in, but, I’ll confess, I was already hooked by the season’s chilling opening moments.
#6. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (Season 1) - NBC
Dour seasons have dominated this list thus far, but Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist sings a different tune. It’s a lovably oddball premise: an accident during an MRI causes a young woman, played by Jane Levy, to hear other people’s thoughts in the form of popular music. It’s all karaoke, but, emphasized by the presence of Skylar Astin, a worthy inheritor to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s musical-comedy crown. The tracklist, workplace antics, and love-triangle drama all exist in a comfortingly familiar network TV realm, but the show takes additional steps for inclusion with stories highlighting Zoey’s genderfluid neighbor (Alex Newell) and an American Sign Language performance of Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song.” During a year in need of shuffling off stress, there was no better time to queue up Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.
#5. What We Do in The Shadows (Season 2) - FX
FX’s expansion of the mockumentary feature film of the same name lit up some of the darker corners of its universe in the show’s second season, transforming mundane-seeming material into something completely, uniquely batty. Each creature of Shadows took their turn in the spotlight this season, from a middle-management promotion gifting energy-vampire Colin Robinson unlimited supernatural power, to undead Nadja befriending a doll possessed by her own ghost, to Matt Berry’s Lazlo forging a small-town persona as a bartender/volleyball coach to escape a vengeful Mark Hamill. As always, it was the sympathetic Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), a Van Helsing descendent desperate to become a vampire, who gave the show its emotional stakes, and the vampires within a different kind altogether.
#4. Stargirl (Season 1) - DC Universe
Shadows was lit, but few things burned brighter this year than Stargirl (perhaps too brightly for the flamed-out DC Universe). The superhero drama is one of several that will outlive its original streaming service - fitting, given its obsession with legacy. Based on a character created by DC Comics stalwart Geoff Johns after the tragic loss of his sister, the show finds a young girl taking on the mantle of a fallen hero after moving to a town run in secret by supervillains. With sprightly fight choreography and an unabashed embrace of its comic book lore, Stargirl outshines the overabundance of small-screen superheroes out there. Its highlight is the bright performance of lead Brec Bassinger; put simply, she’s a star, girl.
#3. BoJack Horseman (Season 6b) - Netflix
Throughout its run, BoJack Horseman garnered acclaim for routinely delivering unexpected pathos, and the final season kept it on that track until the end. ...Get it, because horses run on tracks? The unexpected porter of television’s legacy of antiheroes ended in much the same vein as its sister shows - with consequences finally catching up with its protagonist. No amount of fanciful animal puns could soften that painful catharsis, as the show finally trampled its tricky web of abuse through bittersweet means. The series closed out with an especially thoughtful scene, the kind viewers who looked past the wonky pilot years ago were regularly blessed with; to the very end, BoJack, you were a gift, horse.
#2. Better Call Saul (Season 5) - AMC
As good as Bad ever was and better than ever before, the fifth season of AMC’s spin-off completely upended the world of its eponymous lawyer while bringing Vince Gilligan’s universe one step away from full-circle. Saul Goodman found himself in way over his head, and viewers found themselves way on the edge of their seats, as his first foray into “criminal” lawyering swiftly dovetailed with an escalating drug war. Despite the emotional distress of watching fan-favorite character Kim Wexler placed in perilous situations, there are no objections to be had with the drama’s continued masterful storytelling. Ramping up the slow-burn storytelling, season five saw Kim and Saul’s relationship develop in rich and unexpected ways, while still keeping their final fates unresolved. Fans are thus waiting with bated breath for the show’s final call next year.
#1. The Great (Season 1) - Hulu
Who could be the best but The Great? There was a minor television controversy this year over Netflix marketing The Crown as a historical drama despite its fictional interpretation of events; The Great has no such pretentions. An asterix adorns every title card of the show, letting viewers know that its take on Catherine the Great’s coup against Emperor Peter III of Russia is only “an occasionally true story.” The show indeed is not great for education, but it’s the most entertaining television of the year, locking stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult in a battle of wits and a fight for the country’s soul under the watch of The Favourite co-writer Tony McNamara. The uproarious comedy slyly collates leadership based in cruelty with leadership based in goodwill in the background of its quite bawdy escapades, a subtle bit of relevant political maneuvering that lets it successfully claim the crown this year.
NEXT UP: THE 2020 AARONS FOR BEST TV EPISODE!
#tv#TheAarons#TheAarons2020#TheAaronsTV#best of 2020#the plot against america#mrs america#the outsider#perry mason#zoey's extraordinary playlist#what we do in the shadows#stargirl#bojack horseman#better call saul#the great
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Do you have any podcast recs that are super easy for those of us with audio processing problems? For me specifically that means one voice (or maybe two if they’re very distinct) and minimal complexity in the soundscaping, though if you have recs that don’t fit those that you think might apply to other people w/ different audio processing issues you can talk about those too! :)
I can certainly try! I feel as though I should put it out there that I often have a difficult time gauging where a podcast sits re: audio processing/HOH listeners; the literal entirety of my day job is being good at telling what people are saying in audio, and my own audio processing problems mostly just result in my near-inability to keep up with actual plays, so if any of these are misjudgements on those terms I apologize in advance.
* means that I know there are also transcripts available for the podcast in question!
SAYER: scifi dark comedy/horror. In a morally questionable tech corporation’s moonbase facilities, advanced artificial intelligence SAYER directs employees about their daily routines; this then turns over time into possibly the best story about AI I’ve ever heard. Especially in the first three seasons, virtually all speaking is done by one voice. (Caveat that a few other characters come in later, and they’re actually all voiced by one guy with different filters, but the filters are pretty distinct and characters tend to identify themselves by default at the beginning of every conversation.)
*The Cryptonaturalist: comforting supernatural folksiness. The titular expert on all things strange and wonderful reads poetry, admires nature, and talks about wonderful creatures like foxes that live within library shelves, stick insects that camouflage themselves as whole trees, salamanders that swim in parking lot asphalt, and Owls.
*The Hidden Almanac: comforting supernatural weirdness. Hagiographer, avid gardener, and Mysterious Dude In Plague Doctor Getup known as Reverend Mord gives tidbits of the history of his strange and fantastical world, along with gardening advice. Sometimes his tequila-swigging accidental necromancer best friend coworker Pastor Drom shows up. Written by fantasy author Ursula Vernon and mostly voiced by her husband Kevin. Extremely relaxing to listen to; the show ended last year but they put out five-minute episodes three times a week for eight years so there’s plenty of it. The first year or so actually doesn’t appear on most podcatchers so maybe check out the website.
Everything Is Alive: poignant, heartfelt interviews with inanimate objects. While there’s a different object featured each episode, it’s mostly just them and the interviewer, plus occasional phone calls with an expert on some subject brought up during the interview. Hits so much harder than you could possibly imagine given the summary. You WILL be upset about a can of off-brand cola.
*Quid Pro Euro: bizarre comedy mockumentary. A satire of the European Union in the style of a set of instructional tapes for EU employees made in the ‘90s, predicting what the EU would look like in the 21st century. Their predictions are somewhat off. Only one voice and delightfully it is Felix Trench. I don’t know anything about the EU but I still think it’s hilarious.
*Glasgow Ghost Stories: spooky supernatural. A resident of Glasgow is unexpectedly able to see the many ghosts that reside in the city -- but the ghosts have started to notice her too, and not all of them are friendly. A beautiful and atmospheric single-voice show; plus the feed also contains the very good miniseries Tracks.
*Palimpsest: poetic and haunting. An anthology series about young women experiencing supernatural happenings, each 10-episode season tells a different story in monologue (I think there are literally two episodes with other voices in them). Poignant, gorgeous, and sometimes heartbreakingly sad in the best way. In season one Anneliese wonders about the strange neighbors at her new apartment. In season two, Ellen takes a new job as companion to a supposed fairy princess imprisoned in a strange showroom in turn of the century America. In season three, former codebreaker Josie begins to see the spirits of the dead on the streets of London during the Blitz.
*Within the Wires: alternate history scifi found footage. From a world where a calamitous global war resulted in the installation of a new Society where nations and family ties are banned, an anthology of voices telling their stories. Each season is a single voice. Season one, a set of relaxation tapes deliver unexpected instructions to a government prisoner in a strange medical facility. In sSeason two, a series of museum exhibit guides spin out the mystery of two artists and their work. In season three, a government employee dictates notes to his secretary and begins to suspect a plot. In season four, the traveling leader of a secretive cultlike commune leaves sermons for her followers, and instructions for her daughter.
*Alice Isn’t Dead: lesbian americana roadtrip weird horror. Keisha’s wife Alice was missing, presumed dead. Now Keisha is a trucker, traveling the vast American emptiness to seek her out; but she’s about to become embroiled in the same vast secret war that may have drawn away her wife, and she’s not alone on the roads. Starts with one voice, adds a new one each season for a total of three. Also is finished.
*Station Blue: psychological horror. Matthew takes a job as the lone caretaker of an Antarctic research station for several months. This goes about as well as you’d predict. Very much a slow burn, strange, brooding horror of isolation. Heavy themes of mental illness based on the creator’s experiences of bipolar disorder.
*Mabel: dark, poetic faerietale horror. Live-in caretaker Anna attempts to contact the absent granddaughter of her elderly employer, the lone resident of a strange and ancient house in Ireland. A love story, a haunted house story, a fairy tale with teeth. This one might be hit or miss; it sometimes tends to the abstract a bit, and there’s more soundscaping and some other occasional voices besides the main two protagonists. Definitely worth trying out, though, this is absolutely an underappreciated gem.
*Janus Descending: tragic scifi horror. Two researchers, Peter and Chell, travel alone to a distant planet to survey the ruins of its extinct civilization. Unfortunately, they discover exactly how that civilization died out. Excellent if you like movies like Alien, and also being extremely sad. Only two voices. Really unique story structure: it’s told via the two protagonists’ logs of the events, but you hear Chell’s logs in order, and Peter’s logs in reverse, with their perspectives alternating. The result is a tragedy where technically you know the ending from the start, but it’s told so cleverly that just what happened and how remains a tantalizing, tense, heartbreaking mystery right until the end.
*I Am In Eskew: poetic, surreal horror. Only two voices and few sound effects. David is a man trapped in the twisting, malevolent city of Eskew, where the rain always falls, streets seem to lead the same way twice, and nothing can be trusted. Riyo is an investigator, making her way through rumors and questions in search of a man long missing and a place that seems not to exist. Maybe my favorite horror media ever? Deeply disturbing and yet even the most awful things are somehow beautiful. Like if Lynch, Escher and Mieville had a terrible, wonderful baby.
*Tides: contemplative hard scifi. When biologist Dr. Eurus is wrecked alone on a distant alien world shaped by deadly tidal forces, her struggle to survive also becomes a meditative exploration of the ecosystem around her, and a recognition that here, she is the alien. Mostly it’s Dr. Eurus; sometimes you hear from her coworkers. It’s got Julia Schifini, what’s not to love?
*Midnight Radio: ghost story/romance. A 1950s radio host who broadcasts a late-night show to her small hometown begins to receive letters from a listener and respond to them on air. I wrote this! It has a total of three voice actors and virtually no soundscaping. I promise it’s good.
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6, 15, 16 and 24❤️❤️
Thank you for asking!!
6. which shows do you think are underrated and need more love?
I’m sure there’s a lot but the first one that springs to mind is Timeless
15. do you feel like there are any overrated TV show formats?
Franchises like marvel
16. do you feel like there are any underrated TV show formats?
Honestly I think miniseries are underrated. We’ve gotten so used to shows that run for years and often short series are overlooked. Also mockumentaries because they’re comedy gold
24. how do you feel about bottle episodes?
Depends completely on the context, sometimes they’re bloody boring and sometimes they’re genius
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The Friends Cast’s Best Post-Friends Roles
https://ift.tt/3vr0Vgh
Early on in HBO Max’s long-awaited Friends reunion special “The One Where They Get Back Together,” series co-creator David Crane reveals the producing team’s initial vision for the show.
“We were really intrigued with the idea of doing a true ensemble. It’s not like there’s a lead and they have friends. No, it’s just about the friends. We’re following all of their stories equally.”
Friends would never have worked if Crane, Marta Kauffman, and Kevin Bright hadn’t gone six for six in the casting of the titular friends. One or two solid choices wouldn’t do it. Neither would four or five. It had to be all six.
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Friends: 25 Best Episodes
By Louisa Mellor
As evidenced by the fact that there’s now a reunion special more than 15 years after the show has gone off the air (and one that each member of the cast was reportedly paid a staggering $2 million to attend), Friends found the right six actors for the job. David Schwimmer (Ross Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), and Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing) all shared an impeccable chemistry. Not only that, but each was able to carry moments of the show when needed.
As former Friends guest star and interviewee in the special Reese Witherspoon notes: “Friends has this magic because each character is so distinct that they could hold a television show by themselves.”
Of course, nothing lasts forever – not even one of the most successful sitcoms of all time. Though Friends continues to find new fans via streaming, the show concluded for good in 2004 and its central sextet’s careers carried on. Since “The One Where They All Get Back Together” got everyone in the proper mood for reminiscing, let’s reminisce about the best role for each of the cast once their iconic run on Friends concluded.
The only rule for eligibility here is that the actor’s role has to have come after Friends wrapped entirely. This disqualifies otherwise stellar work like Schwimmer in 2001’s Band of Brothers and Aniston in 1999’s The Iron Giant. The role in question also has to have been in a movie or TV series, which hurts Perry a bit as he’s had some good jobs in theater and videogames.
Fittingly enough, however, each of the Friends’ actors best post-Friends role happened to come on a television show.
Matthew Perry – The Odd Couple
Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is absolutely Perry’s most prominent role after Friends. In fact, it might be among the most prominent roles that any Friends castmember has had since the show signed off. Unfortunately, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ended up being a bit of a cringe fest.
Perry has a promising role as a conservative talk show host coming up in Adam McKay’s next film. For now, his best post-Friends role is likely one of his two recent network sitcom attempts: sports talk radio host Ryan King in NBC’s Go On or Oscar Madison in CBS’s The Odd Couple. Let’s go with the latter because he had good chemistry with co-star Thomas Lennon (who turned up in the Friends reunion special as well).
Matt LeBlanc – Episodes
LeBlanc has not been quite as prolific as his Friends peers since the show concluded. After his character’s spinoff Joey failed at NBC, LeBlanc took a bit of a break from the TV world. When he returned though he did so with unquestionably his best post-Joey role.
In Showtime’s Episodes, LeBlanc plays a fictionalized version of himself cast in a role that doesn’t suit him. The show’s British creators are attempting to update their concept for an American audience and have been saddled with the former Friends star by a studio that really doesn’t get their whole deal. LeBlanc won a Golden Globe for this role and was nominated for four Emmy awards.
Jennifer Aniston – The Morning Show
Aside from some guest appearances on TV here and there, Aniston threw herself into the film world after Friends wrapped up with roles in projects like The Switch, Horrible Bosses, We’re the Millers, and more. It wasn’t until she returned to television in 2019, however, that she found her best post-Rachel Green acting opportunity.
Alongside her Friends sister Reese Witherspoon, Aniston is the star of Apple TV+’s drama The Morning Show, playing morning show host Alex Levy. When her cohost is fired amid a sexual harassment scandal, Alex works to secure her role as the top news anchor while dealing with Witherspoon’s ascendant reporter Bradley Jackson. Aniston was nominated for an Emmy and won the Screen Actors Guild award for the role.
Courteney Cox – Cougar Town
Cougar Town may be saddled with one of the silliest names in all the TV canon, but it’s really a lovely sitcom – maybe the best traditional sitcom a Friends actor has been involved with after Friends, in fact. As created and run by Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Ted Lasso), Cougar Town started as a one-note concept that found Cox’s character freshly divorced and prepared to date younger men (you know, like a mountain lion).
The show quickly changed gears, however, and became a charming hangout comedy that highlighted the chemistry and strengths of its cast. At the center of it all was Cox’s pitch perfect depiction of Jules Cobb: an optimistic woman who loves her friends and giant goblets of wine. Cox is also set to reprise one of her major characters from the Friends era when Gale Weathers returns in 2022’s Scream.
David Schwimmer – The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
At first glance, it’s a bit strange that David Schwimmer was part of FX’s The People O.J. Simpson. It’s even stranger that the character he was chosen to play was the Juice’s friend and lawyer Robert Kardashian, white streak in his hair and all. All the memery and mockery at Ross Geller’s presence as the Kardashian paterfamilias in the first American Crime Story is understandable but it belies what is a pretty great performance!
Who knows if Schwimmer’s Bob Kardashian bears any resemblance to the real version. But as a character, he’s a crucial, consistent presence in the miniseries’ 10 episodes as a man who just wants to see the best in his friend for as long as he logically can. Since Friends, Schwimmer has also lent his voice to the Madagascar film series, and co-starred in Sky One comedy Intelligence.
Lisa Kudrow – The Comeback
Lisa Kudrow has kept busy in the 15+ years since Phoebe Buffay rode off into the sunset with Paul Rudd. The actress has been a mainstay in television and film, but it’s the former medium where she made her biggest post-Friends mark. Kudrow co-created 2004 HBO mockumentary The Comeback and stars as the lead Valerie Cherish. The Comeback was an insider comedy about the entertainment industry before that became a trendy topic on television throughout the mid aughts. It’s also one of the best mockumentaries ever.
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Valerie Cherish is a B-list sitcom actress trying to recapture her fleeting fame. To that end, she gets a bit role as “Aunt Sassy” on a sitcom called “Room and Bored” and agrees to have her acting comeback documented in a reality series called “The Comeback.” The Comeback is an incisive satire of the entertainment industry that reaches Office levels of cringe-comedy. Through it all, Kudrow is perfect as the aging actress who is equal parts patient at all the indignities thrown her way and difficult when she wants to be. The show had a well-received second season in 2014.
The post The Friends Cast’s Best Post-Friends Roles appeared first on Den of Geek.
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WAS ANYONE GOING TO TELL ME THEY’RE DOING A HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY TV SERIES ON HULU THAT WAS ANNOUNCED IN 2019 OR WAS I SUPPOSED TO FIND THAT OUT WHILE MAKING A HITCHHIKERS GUIDE PHONE SCREEN MYSELF
It’s literally my favorite book series of all time they HAD BETTER do it right or at least better than the 2005 movie cause that kinda sucked though I did like the casting of Ford as a person of color
Frankly as far as screen adaptations go I much prefer the tv miniseries because it is delightfully cheesy and doesn’t take itself too seriously, and sticks well to the original audio dramas
However. If they don’t cast Trillian as a woman of color I will be mad because in the book she is described as a woman of color and she has NEVER been represented as one onscreen to the point where even Wikipedia acknowledges that she has never been represented onscreen as she is described in the novel and frankly that is just whitewashing. Science fiction always needs more women of color.
Also I really really hope they get my boy Zaphod right I LOVE that absolute mad lad with two heads. I despised how his two head thing was portrayed in the film, and it’s part of why I like the tv miniseries more. Even though the effects are about as good as when my friend made his Halloween costume a second head by using a styrofoam head with a wig, at least it’s how they described it in the damn book.
Now I mean I use the book as the sort of rock for the canon even though the radio series came first, but since the book expands on a lot of the subjects in the radio series and fleshes out the characters more I do tend to prefer using the book as my basis for the canon. Ik the whole thing with it is that really, there’s not one canon and you can do whatever you damn well please with it (which is why the movie is the way it is) so like, I’m allowed to have that opinion.
Really if they just did a film version of the original radio drama or if they did like, a combination of all of the previous adaptations I would be happy. What I’d really like is an in-depth adaptation of the entire novel series from start to finish, but I think that would take way more money than companies would be willing to pay and honestly... I don’t want it to be taken too seriously. The thing with the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is that it’s very self-aware. This is comedy science fiction. You can’t make a version of it that’s too serious, or else you’ll lose the charm that made the series a delight in the first place. That’s where the movie has flaws, in that it takes it self just a little too seriously.
If they did a mockumentary style show following Arthur Dent through the events of the series I would grind that shit up and snort it like cocaine holy shit do you know how much fun that would be? Arthur in his pajamas staring into the camera as Ford tries to explain space shit? Arthur looking into the camera when Marvin starts ranting about how much he hates his life? The camera cutting to Arthur when the ship is about to get hit with missiles near Magrathea and Arthur saying to the audience “yeah, we’re all gonna die?” I would eat that shit up.
Anyway rant over I just REALLY LIKE the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
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GRAVEYARD SHIFT - episode 1 of the Salem Mockumentary Hell™
Here’s something interesting I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I’ve always wanted to animate kind of a voice acted mockumentary series with my OCs, but that’s way ahead of the skill level I’m at atm, so I decided to just make mini comics for fun. I was inspired by staying up to ungodly hours reading the Instagram comic “Cyclopedia Exotica” by aminder_d.
Graveyard Shift is a miniseries based on a Medium interviewing the various kinds of people who linger around graveyards. It’s kind of like a segment within a series-- it’s an occuring part of the overarching Salem Mockumentary.
I’m not sure if this’ll be a serious series but I do have more stewing in my brain! :-) For now, enjoy a special interview with the Ozzie boy himself.
(Oh yeah! Just to make it a bit more fun and interactive, if you have any questions you’d like to see the Disembodied Medium Interviewer ask around to Salem residents, or a specific person you’d like to see appear, (no matter how minor their character is, can even live outside of Salem like in Danvers or something) feel free to drop it in my inbox!)
#sorry if this seems rambly! i based it off of improv in character brainstorming i did to a series of questions. only the first question is#said out loud; since a lot of interviewy documentaries dont really feature the question itself unless it Needs to preface it#i was also very inspired by creature comforts haha. i really love that show (?)#digital#best#oz#ocs#graveyard shift#mockumentary#blood tw#ask to tag#also feel free to leave suggestions or feedback! im not sure if the 'subtitles' look okay so if they need fixing in the future to be more#legible let me know!#i tried interviewing a character that i don't go into their head a lot#its a mystery in there
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stuff to watch/listen to/do at halloween !!
movies:
- jennifer’s body is comedic horror with megan fox and amanda seyfriend in which megan fox gets possessed and starts eating boys
- zombieland is also comedic horror. it’s gorier than the stuff i’m used to but funny in a kinda trashy way
- creature from the black lagoon is one of the earlier full length horror movies and it’s mostly funny now, but it holds up in a way
- what we do in the shadows is a taika waititi vampire mockumentary that is SO sweet
- if you can get your hands on zombi child or the vast of night pleaseeeee let me know, zombi child is a horror movie half about school girls and half about a slave in the early 1800s who dies and gets turned into a zombie slave. the vast of night is a beautifully shot sci-fi movie set in the 50s in southern america about the young man who runs the local radio station and a 16 year old girl who works at the call center and the ending BLEW my mind i literally lost it. it’s so good
- dead poets society is tragicccc but such a good autumn movie. it’s also a gay classic so like.. watch it
- movies i’ve heard are good but haven’t seen because i’m scared of them: hereditary, it & it 2, get out, us, rosemary’s baby, the exorcist, blair witch project, suspiria, the witch
tv:
- over the garden wall is a cartoon miniseries about a 15~ year old boy and his little brother who get thrown into some kind of alternate reality. it’s really cute and cozy, and has a beautifully bittersweet ending
- the buffy the vampire slayer halloween episodes are all really good, my favourite is s4e4, fear itself
- the brooklyn 99 halloween episodes are also really cute
- buzzfeed unsolved episodes are always rly good, my favourite is either the goatman one or vulture mine
- some murdoch mysteries episodes are really good, i think they have up to season 7 ish on netflix
podcasts & music:
- lore is about myths/stories/creepy true historical tales. my favourite episode is ep 47, it made my jaw DROP at the ending
- welcome to night vale is a surreal fiction podcast in the style of a radio show, you probably know it. it’s equal parts funny and eerie
- i haven’t listened to it makes a sound but i want to and it seems eerie !
- the over the garden wall soundtrack is so lovely and charming to listen to
- in the aeroplane over the sea by neutral milk hotel provides good autumn music for colder days
- i’m wide awake it’s morning by bright eyes is good for a slower chiller time
- both hozier albums are really sweet with some good chill songs and some more upbeat ones
- a lot of alt-j music is good for fall
more stuff:
- peach crisp recipe
- pumpkin pie recipe
- gluten free pumpkin bread
- spicy ginger cookies
- apple cheddar turkey burgers
- apple pie
- pattern for a hooded cape
- basic embroidery stitches
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WHERE CONSPIRACY THEORIES COME FROM
A little over a decade back now, author David Ritchie wrote a sadly unpublished book in which he attempted to trace the origins of several popular technology-based conspiracy theories—among them the Philadelphia Experiment, the Montauk Children, and the underground lizard people . Much to his surprise, Ritchie was eventually able to track the beginnings of most of these conspiracies to science fiction films and television shows from the ’50s and ’60s (quite a few of them seemed to originate with Star Trek). Whether the people who began spreading old Star Trek storylines as contemporary conspiracies as some kind of prank or simply because they’re susceptible and had forgotten they’d seen Captain Kirk fighting that Lizard Man is unclear. Check out for instance what happens end when the BBC mockumentary Alternative Three was aired several days after its originally-planned April 1st, 1977 broadcast. It was an enlightening book, and one that’s come to mind a few times in recent days, and the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to wonder if perhaps there’s not still another twist or two that might be added to his conclusions.
A couple years ago a new theory was forwarded regarding the Roswell incident and Area 51. Instead of a spaceship or weather balloon, a respectable journalist argued in a new book, the thing that crashed in Roswell in 1947 was actually an advanced Soviet aircraft, designed by escaped Nazi engineers and manned by deformed dwarves. Stalin’s idea was to trigger a nationwide panic by making Americans believe we were being invaded by Martians. There was apparently convincing documentation to support this. I found it a charming, delightful, and strangely plausible theory, and so of course immediately began spreading it around.
Then last week I was watching an old BBC miniseries I hadn’t seen in a couple years.
Back in 1958, British screenwriter Nigel Neale wrote the third of his “Quatermass” series, Quatermass and the Pit (it would be remade about a decade later and released to American theaters as Five Million Years to Earth). Without going into all the details, the story involves what appears to be an alien spacecraft (complete with occupants) uncovered at a construction site in central London. While rocket scientist Prof. Quatermass is convinced the saucer is authentically extraterrestrial in origin, military and police officials insist it was merely a hoax launched by the Nazis near the end of the war in hopes of, yes, triggering a panic across England.
After seeing that again and thinking back to that new Roswell theory, I couldn’t help but believe it was another example to support Ritchie’s claim. This respected journalist had seen either the miniseries or the film at some point, and morphed it into her Roswell idea (neglecting the fact that in the film it really does turn out to be a flying saucer).
A few days after watching the film, I found myself watching the pilot episode of The Lone Gunmen—an X-Files spinoff concerning three crusading investigative journalists and techno-geeks out to expose corporate and government graft, corruption, and evil-doing.
Well, in the show’s pilot they uncover a government plot to slam an airliner into the World Trade Center and blame a Middle Eastern terrorist group, thus triggering a war in order to increase military funding.
Now, no big deal, right? Two-thirds of the world believes 9/11 was an inside job. The only tricky thing here is that this particular show aired six months before the attacks. There’s a little thing to make a man say “hmmm...”
But again after seeing that I thought back to Ritchie’s book. The conspiracy nuts who kicked into high gear within hours after the towers came down would have been The Lone Gunmen’s core audience—and having just seen the show a few months earlier of course it would come back to mind immediately. It didn’t take much work—it was a pre-packaged conspiracy theory all ready to post. (Unless of course someone in the Bush administration saw that episode too and got ideas.)
So at this point everything fit. Whether they were disseminated by wild-eyed conspiracy nuts or grabbed by sinister intelligence officials who decided to make them a reality, conspiracies surrounding actual events were still originating in pop cultural sources. But that WTC episode still nagged at me a bit. There were other things going on in the show, but as far as the plot itself was concerned, it was just too spot-on. It was a little unnerving. Maybe there was another layer to Ritchie’s thesis that needed to be considered. Maybe it wasn’t just a matter of some geeks seeing an episode of Star Trek and running with it, or of this journalist seeing a Quatermass movie and consciously or unconsciously deciding to move it from London to New Mexico.
What if the screenwriters knew something? What if Nigel Neale had some shadowy insider connections and really did know what happened at Roswell a decade earlier? He couldn’t come right out and say it—that would be crazy, and in 1958 it might well have gotten him killed. So what does he do? He disguises it as an entertaining science fiction program, inserting the true story as a red herring.
And what if these journalists and conspiracists who come along later aren’t merely cribbing the plots from old TV shows, but uncovering the same facts the screenwriters knew all those years before them, when the screenwriters opted to turn them into entertainment instead of boring investigative pieces? Screenwriting pays better than journalism after all, and maybe they were hoping someone would read between the lines.
My problem with conspiracy theories has always been the human factor. People are dumb, and people are blabbermouths. Someone’s going to talk, unless they’re publicly discredited, locked away, or eliminated first. Maybe highly fictionalized screenplays are a way to get things off your conscience without getting yourself killed for it.
If that’s the case, then of course we need to ask what the screenwriters of The Lone Gunmen knew, and how. (If of course they’re still alive).
This is when things only begin to get tricky. If my guess here is correct, then we need to go back to every fictional conspiracy film ever made, no matter how insane or ridiculous, and ask what buried truths about actual historic events the screenwriters (with their dark and arcane knowledge) were trying to reveal to us in some lightly camouflaged fashion? What about all those episodes of Kolchak, or The Prisoner, and what about the other Quatermass shows and movies? Ian Fleming had the background and the access—so are there really James Bonds out there saving us all at the last minute from assorted criminal masterminds and mad scientists armed with death rays and the like? And my god, what about Get Smart?
But to stop there would be making it too easy on ourselves. There are another ten layers or more to go, as history is a constantly shifting conglomeration of the things we call truths and realities and the stories we tell about them, and the lies we tell to hide those stories, and the stories we tell to hide the lies we used to hide the original stories, which no one remembers anyway. The little shards we get handed every once in awhile, these little bits of truth about the world ar merely playthings, used to keep us giggling and preoccupied while still more levels of subterfuge are built on top of all those other lies and stories, which we’ll never penetrate anyway. But they’re still fun to think about while we’re playing with those little toys.
by Jim Knipfel
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