Tag Archives: CCI

Gotham – Cast on the Zipline

It is hard to believe San Diego’s Comic-Con International was a month ago!  This coming weekend DragonCon will be taking place in Atlanta Georgia and FanExpo Canada will draw a crowd in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  The three conventions have a lot in common, but for many San Diego’s Comic-Con International is still seen as kicking off the summer convention season, and it becomes understandable when you consider the displays and demonstrations that take place each year.

One such example was the cast of FOX’s Gotham taking their turns on the zipline in front of the Gotham City Skyline, and the Gotham City Police cars that were roaming around the gaslamp area offering rides to convention goers.

That’s what happened last month, here’s looking forward to my first trip to Fan Expo Canada, and hoping to hear from friends about DragonCon which I have not made it to in far too long.

On Monday, Sept. 22, origin story GOTHAM (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) kicks off.  The series follows one cop, destined for greatness, as he navigates a dangerously corrupt city teetering between good and evil, and chronicles the rise of the great DC Comics Super-Villains and vigilantes. The entirely new, untold chapter comes from executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (“The Mentalist,” “Rome”) and stars Ben McKenzie (“Southland,” “The O.C.”), Donal Logue (“Vikings,” “Sons of Anarchy”) and Jada Pinkett Smith (“Hawthorne,” “Collateral”). 

ABC’s Forever

ABC's Forever, poster from the ABC.com Site

ABC’s Forever, poster from the ABC.com Site

One of the great joys of San Diego’s Comic Con International is discovering new television shows, new books, new… things you simply did not know were out there, or were coming out, but catch your eye, spark your imagination, and capture some part of your mind and make you wonder just what the creative forces behind it have in store for you.

While I waited for my turn to get an autograph from the cast of Resurrection I saw a trailer for the show Forever and I had one of those moments.  The discovery of a show I knew nothing about, and yet suddenly I was curious.  In thirty seconds, perhaps 60, they told me just enough to want to know more, to want to tune in for an hour and find out just who are these characters and what kind of trouble are they going to get into — and back out of!

Beautiful Bastard

Beautiful Bastard is not a book I ran out and bought… rather I was wandering the hall at San Diego’s Comic-Con International and someone asked if I’d like to get a free autographed book.

I devour books.  I love discovering authors I’ve never read before.  There are so many out there, so many I know I should have already read, according to my friends who also devour books, that I just love setting aside a night or two — a portion of my weekend, and getting lost in the pages of a book.

I honestly did not know what to expect from this novel.  The genre is listed as erotic romance, and I quickly figured out why.  That aspect alone is never enough to keep me reading for countless hours, to keep me from setting the book aside and returning to my own life after a few chapters.  There needs to be more content, more story, and something interesting going on.

What I found interesting in this book was two main characters who worked together as a productive team in the workplace, and yet pushed one another’s ‘I Hate You’ buttons constantly.  There was an antagonism between the characters that appeared to have been there from the moment they met, and set off a chain reaction of encounters that left them unable to say a civil word to one another.

Had they not been so good at their jobs their workplace relationship would also have been a disaster.

The character who gave the book it’s title, Bennett Ryan, is great looking, the kind of guy who fuels the dreams of the girls in the proverbial secretarial pool, and yet he can be so demanding, a perfectionist with a temper, that no one understands how Chloe Mills puts up with him.  It helps she demands just as much of herself.

From the outside looking in they seem like two people who ought to be able to respect one another, and find a way to get along — and yet he particularly is always antagonizing her and purposely trying to force her, emotionally, ten feet away, as if he is afraid she will burn him if she gets too close.  And that was where my interest came from.

I had worked with people that for the life of me I could never understand why they were always bickering.  Why they were always picking fights with one another.  They had no relationship beyond what we could see, and it was as if they were purposely trying to guarantee the other person would never get close enough to truly see and know them.

Hidden beneath the snipping and anger, are fears and complexities of emotion.  In a book that is a fast enjoyable read, two characters explore what it is to risk their heart, after avoiding it in every way imaginable, and a few most consider unimaginable.

This may not be the great American novel, but it is several good hours of light entertainment.  Two million people read it BEFORE it went into print for a reason… because there have been times when we have seen irrational behavior among perfectly rational adults and had no idea what was going on under the surface, and behind the scenes.   This novel offers one possibility.

No, I regret nothing 
Neither the good I have done, nor the bad 

The Last Ship — John Pyper-Ferguson is Tex

John Pyper-FergusonFans of John Pyper-Ferguson know him as an actor with a list of credits a mile long.  Those who can not instantly call his name to mind may take a look at his 140+ acting credits on his IMDB page and suddenly realize they are in fact familiar with his work — so why didn’t his name pop on a light bulb?  He has a knack for slipping into a character in the tradition of the proverbial character actor.

During a brief conversation today Pyper-Ferguson discussed his current television character, Tex, on TNT’s The Last Ship,  confirming what fans and regular viewers of the show already know.  Simply put, we do not yet know a lot about Tex’s past.  Time and again the word Mercenary was used to describe his character who is not a member of the United States Navy like the majority of the characters seen week in, week out, on this summer drama.  He is not a civillian scientist either.  Rather he was a guard at gitmo.  A contractor who is now something else altogether.  The writers have referred to him in a behind the scenes special as a character that represents Freedom and has a “good spirit”.

The first pages with Tex in them that Pyper-Ferguson saw, the scenes with which he read and auditioned, held the flavor of the character and after his first reading “I got it” Pyper-Ferguson said, “I understood he’s a guy who tries to lighten things up when they are dark.”  He said his initial reaction to reading the part was, “this role is mine” and anyone who has seen the show will whole-heartedly agree.

Tex is more than a light-hearted, laid back guy.  He is confident with a gun, trained to have your back and you want him there when the chips are down because you know he will defend it — but that does not quite describe the character either, in part because while we believe this man is on our side and adimires Chandler, as Pyper-Ferguson was quick to point out, “he is a lone wolf,” and as he had said earlier, “we just do not know much about his background.”  When asked right out about Tex’s loyalties, Pyper-Ferguson remarked “he’s a mercenary, he’s a survivalist, this might be the kind of world where he might potentially excel in, and the previous world with a lot more rules and regulations was a place that held him back from his own nature.”  And perhaps, that last bit is part of the charm of Tex, the fact that we are seeing a character come into his own, and rise up in a positive way, because he is using his skills to help the good guys, and in a good way.

At San Diego’s Comic-Con International Rhona Mitra remarked that “everyone needs a champion,” in reference to Eric Dane’s Captain Chandler.  Tex may not be Dr. Scott’s stand out in front of the entire ship of Navy personnel champion, but he serves an equally important and vital role in the character Dr. Scott’s life.  Pyper-Ferguson joked Tex is “hot for teacher” and the show gets a lot of mileage out of that light hearted approach between the two characters, but more than that, the lone wolf is aware of all she is doing ‘for the pack’ and is helping to keep her spirits up, to ecourage her — to brighten her dark moments, and urge her forward when she is at risk of faltering.

A good show has unique characters that serve different and necessary roles.  Characters who each have different responses to a situation, and different perspectives on problems.  Those are among the reasons I come back to The Last Ship week after week… TNT is providing good entertainment, exciting action, and a good show, with characters I look forward to seeing in a second season — even bearing in mind Pyper-Ferguson’s warning “all the characters get in a lot of jeopardy, and there are cassualties of war, and there has to be in a show like this.”

The official description of The Last Ship is:

TNT’s action-packed drama The Last Ship, stars Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy) and is executive-produced by blockbuster filmmaker Michael Bay (Transformers). The Last Ship opens with a global catastrophe that nearly decimates the world’s population. Because of its positioning, the Navy destroyer U.S.S. Nathan James avoids falling victim to the devastating tragedy. But now, Captain Tom Chandler (Dane) and his crew must confront the reality of their new existence in a world where they may be among the few remaining survivors. Rhona Mitra (Strike Back) plays Rachel Scott, a strong-willed, intelligent and fearless paleomicrobiologist assigned to the ship. Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Chuck) is XO Mike Slattery, a former homicide detective and Chandler’s second-in-command. Also starring in The Last Ship are Travis Van Winkle (Heart of Dixie), Charles Parnell (Pariah), Christina Elmore (Fruitvale Station), Sam Spruell (Snow White and The Huntsman) and Marissa Neitling (Leverage). Based on William Brinkley’s popular novel, The Last Ship comes to TNT from Bay’s Platinum Dunes and its partners, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, whose credits include the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Bay, Fuller and Form have served as executive producers, along with series co-creators Hank Steinberg (Without a Trace, The Nine) and Steven Kane (The Closer), and director Jack Bender (Lost).

Watch episodes on The TNT Website to catch up, and tune in Sunday’s at 9 PM ET/PT for new episodes on TNT.

Go Navy - circa 1970s

Go Navy – circa 1970s