netflix

TV is the Anti-Hero

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“Let’s see what’s on Netflix” is a phrase becoming all the more common. It seems to be said more often that the traditional phrase “Let’s go to the movies.” More people than ever seem to be turning on the remote (or computer mouse) instead of going out to the movie theater. While the film industry has had several disappointments, TV seems to be thriving more than ever.

TV is becoming everyone's BFF
TV is becoming everyone’s BFF

In 2013 Netflix released a slew of original programming including the political drama House of Cards, the Arrested Development comeback and the much-beloved women’s prison drama Orange is the New Black. Two of Netflix’s shows received Primetime Emmy Award nominations, a first for web syndicated television content.

With big-budget flicks disappointing and movie making becoming more riskier, TV seems to be a safe haven that many are flocking to.

Anna Faris: Launched to the spotlight after starring in the horror parody film Scary Movie, Faris had a good amount of films under her belt. In 2013 she shifted gears and accepted her first full-time television gig, playing a single mother with her recovering alcoholic mother in the CBS series Mom. 

Kevin Bacon: No need to watch Footloose again, Kevin Bacon leads Fox’s thriller drama series The Following. 

Kerri Washington: Known for her wide array of film credits, in 2012 Washington became the first African-American actress to lead a prime-time network series in 40 years. Scandal airs on Thursdays on ABC.

See more film stars who switched over to TV here.

Summer TV Shows to Watch

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Olivia Pope finished her clean-up duties during the April 17th season finale of Scandal. Mindy Lahiri and Danny Castellano got together in The Mindy Project season finale. Jake Peralta went undercover at the end of Brooklyn-Nine-Nine’s season one. Everything is all wrapped up for network shows. Quality TV, however, doesn’t stop in May. A batch of new and returning shows are looking to capture TV fanatics.

Memorial Day weekend has happened and the summer TV season has *unofficially* started.

Under the Dome (CBS: June 30)

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The show is based on Stephen King’s bestselling book of the same name. It centers on a mysterious clear dome that encases a small town. Trapped under the dome, the corruption and dirty secrets of the town start to come to light. The show has been criticized a bit for its sometimes overacting and writing. Nevertheless, with new and expanding storylines and a host of well-developed characters, it’s worthwhile to watch.

24: Live Another Day (FOX: Mondays 9/8c)

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Okay so this show has already started, but it’s worthwhile to catch up on (via Hulu) and start watching new episodes. The limited 12 episode event is based on the popular TV show. The special limited event series can be enjoyed even without ever having watched 24.

The 12 episodes center on Jack Bauer, still a federal fugitive, is recruited by the CIA to assist in the investigation of a presidential assassination. He is promised amnesty in return for his cooperation. He’s Jack Bauer so he can pretty much do anything. One of the prominent badass heroes of television. He was popular…before TV even became super popular (if you get what I’m saying…). Anyways, digging deep into the investigation, Jack soon realizes that more is at stake than just a presidential assassination. The world…could be on the brink of war. No biggie, right? Jack’s up for the job.

If your dissatisfied with action movie selection this year/summer, Jack Bauer will surely pull you into the action TV landscape. As they say…Jack is back!

Orange is the New Black (Netflix: June 6th)

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Everyone surely knows all about Orange is the New Black, right? The suprise hit series no one saw coming? A quick synopsis of this show doesn’t even do it justice. It’s one of those shows you just have to watch to see if its good…and it is. The dramedy prison set series centers on Piper Chapman, a woman who is given 15 months in prison for a drug money smuggling deal. Orange is the New Black is one of those shows that is very character driven (it centers on a different character every episode). It shows each of their motivations, desires, goals, and emotions. The gritty nature of prison drama is shown (albeit a little watered down). It’s one of those shows that really makes you think and feel for each of the characters. June 6th can’t come soon enough.

Burning Love

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This isn’t a new show. It’s been off for a year now but continues to provide laughs. The show has three seasons: first season on Hulu Plus. Clips of the second and third seasons can be seen on Yahoo Screen. The show is a parody on reality shows like The Bachelor and Bachelorette. It takes the dumb nature of the two reality competition shows and pokes fun at them. A string of familiar faces including Kristen Bell, Jennifer Aniston, Adam Scott, and more pop up. The show really makes you see just how dumb reality shows can be all while providing great laughs.

 

 

 

SXSW: Day 4 Recap

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(Day 4: Monday March 10,2014): The day consisted of a panel on psychology and technology in mobile applications, The Golden Age of Drama on TV panel and a taco party hosted by a Texas State mass communication professor.

Nicolas Cage was at SXSW Interactive for day four for a conversation moderated by David Gordon Green. I decided to skip it for something more educational (Yes I know it’s Nicolas Cage, but I wanted to learn stuff at SXSW). The panels I chose involved what I wanted to know more about.

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The first panel, Can You Feel Me Now?, discussing the convergence of psychology and technology in mobile applications was a bit of a bust. The speakers included Cameron Clayton, president of Digital Vision; Gary Klassen, principal architect at Blackberry; Giorgos Zacharia, chief scientist at Kayak. The panel didn’t really discuss much about the psychological techniques used in created better mobile apps. The main thing repeated throughout the panel was how more people are becoming digital natives and wanting something that is easy to use. It turned out to be an okay panel.

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The Golden Age of Drama on TV was a panel on the increased quality of drama TV. Drama series have started to produce quality material that is comparable to theatrical films. Budgets for drama TV has increased, script quality has increased and character development has become way more in depth.

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Alex Cary, executive producer of TNT’s Legends; Hank Steinberg, executive producer of TNT’s The Last Ship; Rob Moynihan, LA correspondent of TV Guide Magazine; and Stephen Kane, executive producer at Turner Broadcasting were speakers for the panel on The Golden Age of Drama on TV.

The new nature of character development and scripts was talked about.

“There used to be a lot of resistance to character development of TV characters” Steinberg said, “with DVR, serialized shows like Lost started to get popular”

Steinberg mentioned that studios have for the most part abandoned mid-level movies. They have opted to focus on shorter, smaller movies and $200 million dollar high packed movies. He said people and studio executives have been looking to TV in the past few years to fill the empty mid-level movie void absent from film.

Steinberg said shooting 10 or 12 episodes of TV provides great efficiency and opportunity for character development. He said it is more optimal to do rather than doing 22 episodes a season without all the scripts ready.

“I’ve never had this before where we have all the scripts ready before shooting. It was great efficiency” Steinberg said.

The last event of the day was a taco party hosted by Cindy Royal, a Texas State mass comm professor who is currently a Knight Fellow at Stanford University. The event was great. I got to talk with a lot of graduates from the graduate program at Texas State. One of them works at NPR now and recently did a panel at SXSW. Another one works at a food bank in Austin. Also there were free tacos and chips at the party so that made it all the more awesome.

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The greatest thing of the day was getting to meet Burt Herman, co-founder of the social media storytelling service Storify. He was pretty awesome and even asked for my website URL.

Feeling accomplished. Day four was a success. Whenever a day includes free tacos (or any food for that matter) you know it’s going to be great.

 

Note Crunch

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Well this series has gotten a part II so I feel a bit accomplished. I created this series to refer to some interesting articles and news from the week. This week has been filled with a lot. The thing on most people’s minds was probably the grateful comeback of Netflix’s House of Cards. All the lonely hearts can happily spend today (Valentine’s Day) binge-watching on all the 13 episodes of season two with no  regrets (“no ragrets” if you’ve seen 2013’s We’re the Millers).

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House of Cards: Season two streaming (Netflix)

Binge-watchers, couch potatoes and TV fanatics can rejoice! The online-only political drama series released season two for streaming in the wee hours of February 14th (Valentine’s Day). A new batch of political secrets, arguments and suspense awaits. With all 13 episodes of season two streaming, everyone is sure to have something to snuggle up to for V-day.

Related: Is House of Cards TV? (The Atlantic)

Comcast-Time Warner Deal

It was announced earlier this week that Comcast, the nation’s No.1 cable provider, is going to buy Time Warner Cable, the nation’s No.2 cable provider. The agreement happened for a reported $45 billion. With a huge backlash voiced on Twitter, many are worried the deal will create a weak future for filmmakers, content creators and consumers. Many wondered the same question: Will the merger create a too powerful company that will dominate the film and media industry? Read about it here.

Behind the Scenes of Oscar-Nominated film American Hustle

“American Hustle: The Art and Soul of Survival” is a 30-minute special that goes into the making of the David O. Russell directed film, actor performances and more. Note: It’s okay to freak out in excitement.

Creating Meaningful Content for a Blog

FastCompany is great site for smart working tips (among other tech/media news). The article covers ways to create good content that isn’t just in similar patterns that other related blogs have. It details ways to make content pop and keep visitors coming back for more. Click here to read.