Category Archives: Television

204 Rosewood Lane, Cedar Cove

Tonight another episode of Cedar Cove airs, and it feels like great timing for me since I just finished reading 204 Rosewood Lane.  This book centered on the story of Grace (Teryl Rothery) and Dan (Roark Critchlow) and their plot line was in many ways different from what the show has chosen to do.

It made for a fascinating read.  The show has captured all of the characters so well, that it is easy to hear the actors voices in your head as you read scenes with Olivia (Andie MacDowell) and Jack (Dylan Neal), for instance, who appear throughout the book, and have extensive story lines of their own.

Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove novel’s may feature one set of characters with a predominant story that will have a complete arc in the book, but her entire town appears with interesting plots of their own to flesh out the experiences, fill the pages, and draw you in.  Like any real place you might visit, you don’t simply get to know the two people you sit down to talk to, but you get snippets from the waitress, the Bed and Breakfast keepers, and so on.

Maryellen (Elyse Levesque) and John Bowman’s (Charlie Carrick) relationship, which I have particularly enjoyed watching evolve on the tv show, was in this novel as well.  Given Maryellen is Grace’s daughter, that came as no surprise, but the fact that Olivia’s mother Charlotte (Paula Shaw) had quite a story line of her own showed me that in every book I can hope to see all of the characters in town treated with an even hand.

I look forward to tuning in tonight for the episode Point of No Return.  Eric and Shelley and their pregnancy was in 204 Rosewood Lane as well, though again the details, and aspects of how the relationship evolved were different, leaving me to wonder how the show will proceed with Eric.

I’m finding in many cases I’m equally happy with what the books and the tv show have done with this characters.  It intrigues me that the personalities have been maintained between the two, that the charm of the people, and their town has been kept in tact, and the details of profession and drama have been changed.  As I said in my previous article, it almost feels as if the tv show explores what might have happened to these characters if they had made a different decision here or there.

Whether you read the book first, or watch the tv show first, the other becomes a “or maybe, when two roads diverged, had they chosen to take the path less traveled…” and I just keep watching/reading, exploring and getting caught up in the possibilities because the characters are both enchanting and complete.

If you have not already seen it, Debbie Macomber has on her website a map of Cedar Cove.  I had no doubts after reading 16 Lighthouse Road, and 204 Rosewood Lane that she had one in mind, but seeing one on her website is great fun.

Orphan Black Podcast

Orphan Black [39:27m]:  Download

John Mayo, (of ComicBookPage.com), Kay Kellam (of PopArtsPlace.com), Linda Chan and Erica Chan (of MikeTheFanBoy.com) talk about the first two seasons of Orphan Black. The entire discussion contains spoilers for the first season and much of the second season.

Time Codes:
00:00 Intro
00:36 Spoiler filled discussion
38:57 Wrap up
39:27 End of episode.

Links:
Orphan Black @ IMDB.com: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234222/
Orphan Black @ BBC America: http://www.bbcamerica.com/orphan-black/
Discount Comic Book Service: http://www.DCBService.com
Comics Podcast Network: http://www.comicspodcast.com
League of Comic Book Podcasts: http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league/

Email us at TheGuys@ComicBookPage.com

Join the discussion on our forum at: http://forum.comicbookpage.com

This podcast episode originated on the Comic Book Page feed and website: http://www.ComicBookPage.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Z Nation – Premiering Sept 12 on SyFy and Space

Z Nation - on SyFy and Space

Z Nation – on SyFy and Space

In Z Nation, three years have passed since the zombie virus has gutted the country, and a team of everyday heroes must transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood. Although the antibodies he carries are the world’s last, best hope for a vaccine, he hides a dark secret that threatens them all. With humankind’s survival at stake, the ragtag band embarks on a journey of survival across three thousand miles of rusted-out post-apocalyptic America. Z Nation stars Harold Perrineau (“Oz,” “Lost”) Tom Everett Scott (“Southland,” “Beauty and the Beast”), DJ Qualls (“Supernatural” “Memphis Beat”, “Perception”), Michael Welch (“Twilight” trilogy), Kellita Smith (“The Bernie Mac Show”) Anastasia Baranova (“The Darkness II”), Russell Hodgkinson (“Big Fish”) and Keith Allan (“Rise of the Zombies”).

One of the Space panels I enjoyed greatly at Fan Expo Canada in Toronto was the Z Nation panel with actor Tom Everett Scott and writer/producer Craig Engler.

The panel included a brief trailer for the show, which was more graphic than most shows I tune into.  As tempted as I have been to try watching the Walking Dead, for instance, zombies and gore are not in my wheelhouse, but listening to them talk about the show, I found myself wanting to tune in, even if I do spend portions of the episodes covering my eyes.

This is planned to be a show about travelling across the country, and by the sounds of it, they will not have a slow plodding journey.  They described a plot intensive show, with well thought out details for the Zombies, the virus that creates the Zombies, how the Zombies exist, and how those who are not Zombies are surviving in this new world.  In short, by the end of the panel someone who does not normally watch this genre of show but had come out of curiosity was ready to tune in.

As an added bit of fun, one of the characters, Citizen Z, has a twitter account up and running, and among other things he is giving advice (and taking advice) for surviving the Zombie Apocalypse.  You can tweet with @CitizenZNation.  Citizen Z is alone, in the arctic, with enough food to feed a hundred people for a year, and plenty of power, and access to satellites, giving him a global perspective on the Apocalypse… but who does he have to talk to??

A&E Cancelled Longmire – Tis Sad But True

longmireJust two days after we posted a review of the first Longmire novel (The Cold Dish) by Craig Johnson word came that A&E, the network broadcasting Longmire, had chosen not to renew the show, despite the fact it was the cable networks highest rated scripted show.  Like a shot heard round the world, the announcement went out under the headline “Breaking News” from many who cover the entertainment industry, like the Hollywood Reporter, who came close to that level of emphasis, making it the lead story in their e-mail bulletin that day.

Basic Longmire_Why such surprise?  Such emphasis?  Admittedly the season three finale averaged an audience of 3.7 million, and many viewers had not found the show.  Yet, the flip side of that coin is the fact local movie theaters had commercials for Longmire airing before major summer tent pole / blockbuster movies.  That meant the network was promoting and supporting the show, right?

The sad reality is the audience numbers had slipped since Season 2, when in my humble opinion the show had a more interesting through-season arc.  One of the greatest strengths of Longmire is the friendship between Henry Standing Bear and Walt Longmire, and during Season 3 they were forced to be apart for several episodes with rare contact.  While that allowed for some interesting revelations, and some character development, it meant that a lot of the fun and sparkle that audiences looked forward to seeing on the screen each week was missing.

Perhaps even more important that a slight slip in the ratings however, is that the younger audience, the ever-talked about 18-49 demographic that advertisers are so convinced spend more money, dropped off by 45% during Season 3.

Longmire-TV-2012-Season-1I can not help but wonder if the folks at FX who put Justified on the air have watched Longmire… this is their chance, with one more season of Justified coming to audiences in the not too distant future, what a double feature of entertainment that would be!  An hour of Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) style justice as he goes after Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) down in Kentucky, followed by an hour of Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) and Henry Standing Bear (Lou Diamond Phillips) doing what they do best in Absaroka County, Wyoming!

After one of those movie theater promotions I mentioned aired while I was at Guardians of the Galaxy with John Mayo of ComicBookPage he asked me after the movie, “anything like Justified?” and we had a good talk about the two shows, and just how much they had in common, and how different they are – the two would compliment one another nicely for an hour of Justice served up with a little old-fashioned attitude and style.

And for those who were paying attention to how Season 3 of Longmire ended, we were pretty well guaranteed to get some more guest appearances from Gerald McRaney who was knocking our socks off as Barlow Connally, father of Deputy Branch Connally (Bailey Chase).

All of the articles I have seen confirm what I first heard, the folks making Longmire are shopping it around, with hopes a fourth season will indeed be made and air, so maybe my dream of some fantastic justice nights on FX is not as crazy as you think.

A few links that might be of interest: