KING VS. QUEEN: "Pilot" Page 38

Thing about screenwriter sites is that they never show what they screenwrite. Until now. While throwing a whole script up for anyone to see presents a variety of problems, I don't think one page is gonna hurt.

Yeah, I changed the page. Paul Guyot says Battlestar Galactica's not a good spec. I listen to his wisdom. It goes on the backburner and becomes more of an exercise script. In the meantime, I'll tweak the House some more and consider booting my Rescue Me script for a new one.

SEASON PREMIERES (parte the seconde)

THRESHOLD: "Trees Made of Glass" parts one and two
Written by Bragi Schut/Brannon Braga & David Goyer

Of the three rather similar new sci-fi series, this is the good one. Nicely drawn characters, an excellent cast and an attention to detail. Much potential for mad ideas here. There's some stuff that could be done with Dinklage's and Spiner's characters, but I don't know if CBS will let 'em go there. I dig Goyer's past works, so that's got me on board for now. Keep watching and see where it goes. Besides, Gugino's hot. Wouldn't it be weird if she got together with Dinklage's mildly depraved character? If they formed some sort of bond during this crisis?

HEX: "Season Two Episode One"
Written By Lucy Watkins

I never got around to watching the first season of Hex. it's been called things like the British Buffy. Apparently by people who didn't much care for Buffy, but I can see where it comes from... I didn't get into it very much, but it seems ripe for an Americanization by The WB (very soapy for having so few eps) which I will, also, not likely get into very much. And no, I don't think my failure to be engaged has anything to do with not watching the four episodes of the first season. I figured out what was going on just fine and simply didn't care much. Thelma the Lesbian Ghost was the only interesting character. The lead character, Cassie, didn't feel very well defined.

E-RING: "Snatch & Grab"
Written By Ken Robinson & David McKenna

The pilot feels a little rough and some of the characters seem to be falling back on stereotypes, but I'm thinking that this can shake out and the series can find its footing in short order. It feels like a military version of The Agency starting out. This one was a nice little done-in-one with lots of stuff that can be carried forward. While this one went all good for the heroes, I hope that this series doesn't just go all rah-rah. I like it when things go south badly, as I thought they might do when the two "tangos" showed up on the screen. I admit, I'm predisposed to like this sort of thing, so...yeah, I'll be watching this one. If it picks up, I wouldn't mind spec'ing it.

Not a big sitcom fan, but I like Arrested Devlopment and the new episode is as good as the rest. If you enjoy Arrested Development, then you've got no damn business changing the channel and not watching Kitchen Confidential. Also, I hit My Name Is Earl, 'cuz I like Jason Lee, and I was not disappointed. If people would actually watch this stuff (and it sounds like Earl had good numbers) that maybe the sitcom market could get out of its craptacular rut.

SEASON PREMIERES (parte the first)...AND SOME OTHER STUFF

LOST: "Man of Science, Man of Faith"
Written by Damon Lindelof

I was very satisfied with the contents of the hatch. I also believed that, to a certain degree, it didn't matter what's in the hatch. Eventually there would be something in there and it would factor into the overall mystery of the island, however there's 14+ characters on this show and they are all interesting (past and present). As long as that hatch drives them, I don't care what's in it. Now, it's been blown open and descended into...and while it raises many more questions (and it damn well better) it seems to set a tone for the next phase of this series. I look forward to the weirdness within. Hatch-smatch, we're into the second season and there are questions from the first episode that still haven't been answered. Fine with me. They'll be gotten to eventually...and I have faith that it will be good.

NIP/TUCK: "Momma Boone"
Written by Ryan Murphy

Predictable teaser. Good everything else. I like Rhona Mitra, so good addition there. A damn well-written melodrama. Hard thing to do, that. Always skirting the edge. Not of falling into farce, quite the opposite...of becoming dead serious. You can always count on this show to be a perverse fun.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: "Flight of the Phoenix"
Written by Weddle & Thompson

Some have said the the show seems to be hitting a mid-season lull or something. They're wrong. It's breathing room. It's taking some time to tell some of the smaller stories that can get buried under big even arcs like the recent coup/martial law thing that dominated the first seven episodes of the season. I welcome it before things get big again, like with the Pegasus showing up.

PRISON BREAK: "English, Fitz or Percy"
Written by Zack Estrin

There's nothing wrong with being plot-driven as opposed to character driven and it doesn't have to mean formula. Prison Break succeeds because it has clearly defined characters that make it fun to watch as these people have all manner of obstacle thrown at them. I also like the little fake-outs thown at us. They're not plot twists, but they kind of feel like them. Truly an engaging show.

HOUSE: "Autopsy"
Written by Lawrence Kaplow

Nothing special (not to say bad, because it wasn't). If anything, heavy on the pathos. I note this one because I liked the ending montage, both for the motorcycles and because after last week's "Hallelujah" thing, they came back with a home run. They went out and got Elvis Costello to do a cover of Christina Aguleira's "Beautiful." I want it.

GILMORE GIRLS: "Fight Face"
Written by Daniel Palladino

"I'm on the high ground, so I win the argument."

NOTHING GETS REWOUND ANYMORE

I recently watched the DVD of the aborted second season of Tru Calling. While I wasn't terribly impressed by the first year, there were some good episodes (and a lot of Eliza Dushku) so I finished it out with the final six episodes (only five of which got burned off by Fox late last spring).

The thing that I really dug about this series, that didn't develop until it was really too late, was the unusual relationship between the hero (Tru) and the villain (Jack, as portrayed by Jason Priestly). While Tru had virtually no respect for Jack, Jack did have it for Tru. He just thought she was wrong was all. He was the perfect villain in that he felt that he was the hero. He felt that he was a good guy with a crap job and genuinely tried to be friendly toward Tru from time to time. This relationship, and an arc featuring Jack and his allies, began devloping in the second season and was cut off (prematurely) in a Christmas episode (the final episode) in which Jack and Tru actualy work together on a "case" and she even suspends her hostility enough to have Jack over for a Christmas Eve party (not being aware that two of his allies are also in the party).

The show had snagged some good writers for the second year including Jane Espenson and Richard Hatem. One of those writers was Doris Egan, who on her website, had briefly outlined where the year was to go. It sounded interesting when I first read it, but didn't think much more about it. After watching that final episode, I find myself wanting more.

Never gonna happen.

Some shows just take too long to find their footing.



The relationship between the hero and villain/antagonist and protagonist has always fascinated me. From Holmes/Moriarty to Mulder and Scully/Cigarette Smoking Man it's always been especially interesting when they acknowledge that there are tied together, that there is a relationship at work however...wrong it may be. One of my favorite Buffy/Spike moments came not from their bizarre sexual/romantic relationship but from the end of the second season, when Buffy and Spike found themselves uneasy allies against Drusilla and Angel and she brought him to her house and he met her mom. Right and wrong can be a blurry thing sometimes. There's even something to the relationship between Colonels Hogan and Klink.

I haven't had much opportunity to play with this dynamic. It needs to establish the opposing forces thing before it can work, but ultimately King Vs. Queen is built on this idea. Someday, I'll get the opportunity to use it.

TUESDAY NIGHT

It's official. A new cliche has entered into television. It took a little while, but as far as I'm concerned...it has arrived. Music Supervisors take heed. No longer shall the Jeff Buckley version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" be permitted to accompany a poigniant scene.

The first occurence, to my memory, was in the West Wing episode "Posse Comitatus" after Simon Donovan was killed. Sorkin actually wrote that one in himself. Later, it was in "The Model Home," a first season episode of The O.C. It has since appeared in Joan of Arcadia, LAX and The L Word. Last night, it appeared in the excellent season premiere of House.

Hey, I get why it's used. It works beautifully, but really, time to retire this one.




Now, that first episode of Bones was pretty good. I'm not the biggest procedural fan in the world, but I'm turning around on them after having watched the CSIs on and off. I now watch House regularly and I think I'll be adding Bones to the line-up.

Boreanaz acquits himself nicely. He's not miles away from Angel, but he's different enough that I immediately bought him as a gruff FBI guy who doesn't brood excessively. Emily Deschanel is engaging and the chemistry between the two is natural enough that when it was forced, it seemed unecessary and irritating in a whole different way than when two characters are just shoved together. The sets were astounding and the tech was ridiculously advanced, but I just don't care. It makes for good TV. Pretty lights.

Hart Hanson was doing a thing with the dialogue, specifically the frequent use of the phrase "I don't even know what that means." I hope it continues after this episode as a bit of a running gag. A game to see how it can be used from episode to episode. It also breeds a unique familiarity between the viewer and the characters. I'm watching the numbers on this one. I'm already thinking of spec plots on this one. I'll pencil it in.

Gilmore Girls was good...as usual. Supernatural looks like ghostie-of-the-week, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Rescue Me was, by far, the stand-out of the night. The season finale takes a jagged brick to your face, makes you look at the mangled bloody mess you've become until you start laughing at yourself, then bricks you again. There better be some top to bottom Emmy love on this one. Writing, direcion, acting.

IF HE HAD COME A TERM EARLIER OR A TERM LATER, THERE WOULD HAVE A MUCH BETTER TITLE

The House spec rewrite is done. It was done in fits and starts, but I think it was worth the effort. I'll likely keep tweaking repeatedly for a while, but for intents and purposes, it is finished.

Next up, the Battlestar Galactica spec, which is tenatively titled "This Way" and focuses on Baltar and Dualla (though separately). I'll be working with the themes of faith and proof.

This last episode, "Final Cut," (by Mark Verheiden, most recently of Smallville) was one of the best episodes yet. A more candid look into many of the characters and one of the most stand-alone episodes of the series. The ending could be seen a light-year away, but when the series fosters a certain level of paranoia, you start expecting some things. It didn't detract from the episode though...seemed more in service to the ongoing arcs.

In the meantime, I've been working out an idea for either a graphic novel or a screenplay. "Secret President" will be a sci-fi/historical/comedy playing off the legend that David Rice Atchison was POTUS for a day.

I kinda see Christopher Walken in the role.



Ant #2 comes out on the 14th. Features a guest shot by Savage Dragon.

THERE...ARE...FOUR...LIGHTS!

I love immersive, viral marketing. Joss Whedon and Universal are releasing these little bits of River Tam's interviews/interrogations/breaking by the Alliance into the wild and they are great fun and lead into the feature film Serenity. Click the pic for a central clearinghouse of found clips.



Serenity, for those just not paying attention, is a sequel to the best written sci-fi show in the last ten years, Firefly (squeaking in ahead of Battlestar Galactica).

And after all the obvious reasons to be...displeased about Firefly's abrupt cancellation, there was that I never got to spec it.

Also notable, to me at least, was that one of the show's staff writers (Cheryl Cain) was a fellow Carl Sautter winner.

And as far interrogational fun, try this little-seen Alan Rickman film, ClosetLand. Bloody fantastic until the last ten minutes, but worth the effort.

FIRST THING'S FIRST (NOT NECESSARILY IN THAT ORDER)

Red Right Hand has won the TV drama category of the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards.

Lilo & Stitch 2 premiere coverage is up and can be found here. Click on the video.

Lost DVD Release Party video coverage is up. Click the pic.



Scrye #88 is out. This month, a look at the madness that results from the CCG tournament circuit.

And to contribute to the victims of Gulf War III, go here. Keep in mind, it is much more expensive and a strategic hassle to get donated goods into NOLA. Just give cash. Besides, I'll wager there's somebody within 20 miles of wherever you live who has need of those canned goods and old clothes...know what I mean?