Television

[Sean L.]

Absolutely, Kathy; I thought the old guy was one of the coolest characters they've had of the fellowship candidates, though I do like the extremely attractive Thirteen. With such an unlucky number and interesting backstory...who knows.

But I also agree with the reason he had to go; which makes me very sad. Do you know anything else the old guy's been in? I would imdb it but I'm curious if you know him off the top of your head; if not, I'll imdb away :P

[Kathy Li]

Nah, I have no idea. This is why I entered data into the IMDb--so I wouldn't have to remember it.

BTW, the Writer's Strike is on (sigh). Which means we'll probably be running out of new episodes by December. Here's the WGA ad to urge everyone not to cross the picket line. It's signed by all the showrunners who intend to participate in the strike. You will probably want to take note of which of your shows may be affected.

[Birdhead]

Old guy is Carmen Argenziano, who was great as Sam's dad in Stargate: SG-1 - he was in a couple episodes a season for the first eight seasons, IIRC. (Or... maybe he didn't show up til the second season). Anyway, yeah, I was thrilled to see him show up on House! I'll miss him too.

*sigh* Of course I want writers to be paid properly and I support the strike. But I really, really hope the networks cave soon, because I don't think I can take more reality TV. Time to start watching some Kiwi shows, I think. Apparently work on Heroes: Origins has already been halted-!

Anyone know if the strike affects writers outside the US? And isn't DD a member of the WGA? (Will this affect work on SYWTBAW?) Google is totally unhelpful. (I wanna know if Supernatural, say, is going to be affected! Which a bit of googling tells me: probably. Sigh. But good, because you know, I love the show, I want the writers to be paid.)

[Kathy Li]

I doubt it will affect writers outside of the US, unless they're working on a US production that contractually comes under the WGA. And yeah, I'd guess that this would affect DD writing the SYWTBAW screenplay.

But yeah, the tv/movie writers deserve a piece of the DVD/download pie, because without the writers, there is no show.

The biggest problem, however, is going to be the collateral damage. The wardrobe mistresses and teleprompter guys and boom mike operators that, through no choice of their own, are gonna be out of work. The writers at least have something to gain by the strike and are voluntarily participating.

[Birdhead]

unless they're working on a US production that contractually comes under the WGA.

Well, yeah - obviously true Canadian/Australian/UK/etc programming won't be affected, I was mostly thinking of stuff like SPN, SGA (except not SGA, because they're done with the production of the current season) Smallville, and so on, because mostly press has been talking about Hollywood. However, yeah, it does look like said shows will be affected.

Yeah, this is basically gonna suck for the technical people. :-/ OTOH I think everyone is aware of that (and, for most shows, at least there is a buffer of a month at least (soaps) or longer (dramas.)) Hopefully the issues will be resolved before backed-up scripts run out.

[Rhi]

Uh oh. Heroes is on the list! I may never know if they kill Sylar! (Sylarmustdiesylarmustdiesylarmustdie...) Well, I guess that the writers deserve their pay, but this strike is going to affect a LOT of people...uh oh.

[Kathy Li]

Tui, didn't know if you'd seen it, but Joss Whedon blogged on Whedonesque about the WGA strike. Thought you might wish to have the link if you hadn't already seen it. Also, very cute pics of him, Marti Noxon, and Drew Goddard on the picket line are up on Flickr.

I'm so loving the fact that the Whedonesque fans got organized and sent food to the picket line.

Rhi--according to the Futon Critic, Heroes has shot at least 11 of its 24 episodes for the season. Pushing Daisies. So, four more to go on those shows. Tui, sorry, but Bionic Woman only has eight in the can, so only two more for you.

[Birdhead]

Joss with one of the Whedonesque posters! That's adorable. Yeah, I have been following the Whedonesque stuff (including Joss) over the last week or so, along with Jane Espenson and a few others (most of whom I read regularly anyway.) I particularly loved that there were fans on Whedonesque who knew to send Jane pizza with anchovies! Adorable.

I'm being resolute about missing episodes: It's in a good cause. I keep seeing people moaning about how selfish the writers are being which has gotten me so horrified that I'm now prepared to miss episodes for the rest of the season, if that's how long it takes. *nervous*

For those of you who are interested in Stargate, according to Gateworld it's not too affected because (even though it's MGM) most of the writers are in Canadian unions, which aren't striking. This doesn't apply to a bunch of other shows filming in Canada, though. (Why is it, anyway, that all the SF&F shows are filmed in Vancouver? Very peculiar.)

[Kathy Li]

Actually, some of the Canadian writers, if they live and work in LA have to get a special letter of dispensation from the WGA to work on Canadian shows. Forgot where I read it, though.

And yeah, I know what you mean about selfish fans. That's why I so love seeing how the Whedonesque guys work.

As for the filming-in-Vancouver thing, it has to do with a combination of factors. It's a border town so it's close to the US; it's West Coast, so it's closer to LA; and there are local tax/business laws that make it cheaper to set up shop and shoot in Vancouver (I'm guessing San Francisco just set up a similar deal, given the number of shows that have SF location shoots this season); and given that SF/F shows have been shooting there for a few decades, now, all the production facilities and talent they need exist closeby.

Vancouver is a terrific double for Seattle, but somewhat less effective as a double for New York--for that, they tend to go to Toronto.

[A Traveller with Magic]

Kathy: House is fun, but I miss the Old Guy. I wish they'd kept him.

Oh yes. That was incredibly fun, even before I pinned down why he looked so familiar. I thought he was a good balance against House, while allowing for that split of power with the others (if that makes sense).

Tui: Why is it, anyway, that all the SF&F shows are filmed in Vancouver? Very peculiar.

Ha xD I've noticed that, too. I wonder if that's going to change, now that the Canadian dollar's on par with the American.

Edit:

Kathy: ...and there are local tax/business laws that make it cheaper to set up shop and shoot in Vancouver...

Huh, I didn't know that. So no?

As for the WGA strike, I support it in principle but at the risk of sounding hypocritical I'm holding back on judging and firmly taking a side- there's a lot I'm not thinking about right now, to avoid being overwhelmed. I shouldn't even be here, or keeping loose tabs on television >.> Tuesday's the big crunch day despite a long weekend, for me.

[Dragon Writer]

I can't believe...hold on! *Switches to full form and then color* <span class="ev_code_WHITE">how could house fire the spy girl? she left the CIA for him, for goodness sakes! of course, i haven't actually seen the whole episode yet,so maybe she messed up...but still, she left the CIA so that she could get fire dand aksed on a date...</span>

Heroes rules! Does this mean that clair will never age though? and peter? are they just going gtto go on living till the end of the univderse? amnd even then, in the next universe, and the next fter tht, and the next after....Boy, could that get tiresome. I suppose they could always take a trip and explore space without a spaceship, if they get bored though...it should take a few billion lifetimes of entertainment, and then once the universe restarts they can do it all again!

[Kathy Li]

May I just say that last week's opening of The Sarah Jane Adventures (where Maria is trying to convince her dad that even though it's dangerous to fight alien monsters with Sarah Jane, it's saving the world) reminded me hugely of the scene where Nita has to tell her folks about Wizardry?

And how much fun was the Doctor Who Children in Need bit? I wonder if DD was laughing harder than I was...

[meteorite]

Of all the TV shows currently out, I like Chuck best. Of course, it might be because my DH is in the computer geekery business, fixing software and hardware, so we see almost all of the BuyMore antics daily. Our "Morgan", however, left to go work at a local airline (not to be confused with Sandpiper Air, and a stale donut to anyone who can identify the TV show that came from!), "Anna" drops in to visit from OfficeMax, and the remaining employees actually are pretty competent and dedicated.

We are presently TiVoing (is that a verb?) Heroes because we are coming up on a season ender, and hate multiple cliffhangers. We'll watch it once we have the last 3 episodes in the can.

Bionic Woman better get out of the angst and woe business soon and start kicking bad guy butt, or I'm relegating it to the dustbin with Battlestar Galactica. I'm tired of shows that originally were about the science and adventure, and have dwindled into whining about interpersonal relationships. The relationships can add spice, but it's not a soap opera, people!

[Kathy Li]

Originally posted by meteorite:
... Our "Morgan", however, left to go work at a local airline (not to be confused with Sandpiper Air, and a stale donut to anyone who can identify the TV show that came from!),

Wings. But I don't want a stale donut, thanks. I like Chuck, but for me, Reaper edges it out, somehow.

We are presently TiVoing (is that a verb?) Heroes because we are coming up on a season ender, and hate multiple cliffhangers. We'll watch it once we have the last 3 episodes in the can.

Might be a while. I think we're heading into holiday repeat season, and more stalling for the writers' strike. But yes, I'm very sad. I think this is the last week a long long long while that I'll get new episodes of all the shows I'm watching. Bionic Woman will be out of new eps after this week.

Bionic Woman better get out of the angst and woe business soon and start kicking bad guy butt, or I'm relegating it to the dustbin with Battlestar Galactica.

I thought it did that with the second episode, but given its BG roots, I don't think it'll ever stop resembling it. Razor was ok, but I kept thinking, "Are we learning anything about anybody that we couldn't already figure out on our own from the extant episodes?"

... The relationships can add spice, but it's not a soap opera, people!

I blame online television messageboards. Too many 'ship discussions and obsession with shippiness. It's what they think we want.

Sigh. It's gonna be a bumpy winter. Sadly, the only two shows I'm gonna be able to rely on are gonna be The Amazing Race 12 and Project: Runway. Thank god for Tim Gunn. I may even be glad of Torchwood's second season when it arrives in January on BBC America.

[Emi]

Hey did anyone watch the miniseries, Tin Man, on the SciFi channel? It was like based on The Wizard of Oz it has like the "characters". One with no brain so to speak, another with a lack of heart, and one without courage. The main character, DG, is the great granddaughter of Dorothy. Weird but I thought it was cool.