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Archive for the 'television' Category

Published by GeekBoy on 10 Jul 2008

Burn Notice is BACK!

What do MacGyver, The A-Team, The Evil Dead, and Battlestar Galactica all have in common? Burn Notice, that’s what! It’s back for a second summer season, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. This funny, clever, and engaging action show on the USA Network was an unexpected favorite of mine last year, for a variety of reasons, which I will list for you here …

1) Bruce Campbell - To be honest, this was the only reason I originally watched the pilot episode. Because dude … it’s Bruce Effing Campbell. I’m one of the only people I know who used to watch both The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and Jack of All Trades back in the day, solely because I think this guy is one of the funniest, campiest guys out there. And as Sam Axe, an ex-Navy Seal, he holds up well in this series. Continue Reading »

television

Published by GeekBoy on 09 Jul 2008

Weren’t You on Star Trek? - Don S. Davis Edition

For this week’s W.Y.O.S.T. subject, the answer is actually no — Don S. Davis was never on one of the Star Trek shows. But he has been a regular on various sci-fi projects for over twenty years, including the other “Star” show, and odds are, you’ve seen him in something. Sadly, he passed away on June 29th, and for this reason, I thought it was only right to bump him to the top of the profile list.

Previously both a soldier and a theater professor, Davis was already 40 years old by the time he arrived on the television and movie scene. His first acting job was a one-shot on Joanie Loves Chachi in 1982, which he followed up over the next decade with a variety other small roles in shows like MacGyver, Wiseguy, L.A. Law, and 21 Jump Street, as well as the movies The Journey of Natty Gann, Stakeout, Watchers, Beyond the Stars, Look Who’s Talking, and Look Who’s Talking Too. But where I first became aware of him was in 1991, when he played the stoic Major Garland Briggs in 16 episodes of David Lynch’s creepy entree into television, Twin Peaks.

Weren't You on Star Trek?, movies, television

Published by GeekBoy on 01 Jul 2008

Battlestar Galactica Movies I’d Like to See

Okay, so according to the L.A. Times and some other sources, the Sci Fi Network is close to signing on for as many three Battlestar Galactica TV movies, which would presumably be in the same vein as last November’s Razor movie. So basically, we’re talking self-contained two-hour episodes, to be shot while much of the cast and crew are (more or less) all still in the same place. Some or all of these movies would air before the show comes back from mid-final-season hiatus, in a shameless attempt to keep the buzz alive for as long as possible before we get to see those final episodes. And who are we kidding — BSG addict that I am, I’ll watch them all … probably more than once.

What I’d like to do is make some guesses about the subject matter for these movies. As we all know, Razor dealt with the back story of the Battlestar Pegasus, the misunderstood Admiral Cain, and the previously unseen Kendra Shaw. So following that formula, here are my predictions … Continue Reading »

Battlestar Galactica

Published by GeekBoy on 25 Jun 2008

Weren’t You on Star Trek? - Patricia Tallman Edition

This week’s W.Y.O.S.T. subject is Patricia Tallman. She popped into my head last week, because she was the co-lead alongside Tony Todd in George Romero’s 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead, in which she played a considerably updated version of the Barbara character. No longer meek and vulnerable and seemingly catatonic, Tallman’s zombie-killing version of Barbara was an appealing change of pace — a tough 90s echo of Ripley from Aliens and a pre-cursor to Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But it wasn’t until I did an IMDB search that I realized I knew this redheaded actress from some other projects as well.

Patricia Tallman started her acting career on the stage, and didn’t arrive on the Hollywood scene until she landed a role in George Romero’s 1981 movie Knightriders (don’t worry, I’d never heard of it either). The film didn’t do well either critically or at the box office, but it kicked off an ongoing working relationship with Romero and with makeup legend Tom Savini. Over the next decade, she’d work with one or both of the two in various movies and TV shows, including Tales from the Darkside, Creepshow 2, Monkey Shines, and of course, Night of the Living Dead — sometimes as an actress, and sometimes as a stunt woman.

Star Trek, Weren't You on Star Trek?, movies, television

Published by GeekBoy on 23 Jun 2008