Emphasis on “brief.” While I was interested in last night’s awards, I was busy flipping back and forth between the Emmys and AMC’s Rubicon (check it out if you haven’t already). On top of that, I’m just now returning from my pop culture exile that began during my second year of graduate school and lingered into the opening stages of my job search.
Because I simply haven’t been keeping up with television as well as I usually do, I really can’t write about the Emmys in detail. However, I managed to catch enough of the important stuff to be able to write on a few of the high points. Here’s four quick takes on why I enjoyed what little I saw of the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards:
1. JANE LYNCH IS EXTREMELY TALENTED…
…and she absolutely deserved the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. For those who haven’t experienced the phenomenon that is Fox’s Glee yet (I’m assuming there’s only about two of you), you owe it to yourselves to check out Lynch’s turn as the menacing dictator of William McKinley High School’s cheerleading squad.
Lynch’s performance is undeniably hilarious, and although she isn’t involved in any of the show’s musical numbers, she is arguably the most indispensable member of its cast. Of course, we already know who the most indispensable actor in all of television is (I’m lookin’ at you, Hugh Laurie).
2. BRYAN CRANSTON (3RD STRAIGHT?! NICE.) AND AARON PAUL ARE BADASS…
…and it was fantastic to see them both take home the gold for their respective portrayals of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman on AMC’s Breaking Bad. The two have established themselves as actors who can alternate between diabolically maniacal and tragically vulnerable throughout the course of an episode, and they’re the central reason why Breaking Bad is (IMHO) simply the best show on television.
While my nerdy side was pulling for LOST’s Matthew Fox to win Best Actor in a Drama, my heart tells me that the Academy was spot-on with this choice. Cranston just exudes talent.
3. BETTY WHITE IS HILLARIOUS…
…and jokes about her still being a fox will never get old. However, the Conan / Leno / NBC fiasco has lost its zing. Fallon’s writers made sure that they gave that dead horse a slap last night. Too bad it’s already been pulverized, thrown in a wood chipper, and bombed by B-17’s.
4. FALLON’S OPENING NUMBER WAS AWESOME…
…’nuf said.
CAN I HAZ BRAINZ?! NOM NOM NOM…
The trailer for AMC’s new television series The Walking Dead recently premiered on IGN, and I, for one, am pretty excited. Based on the video, it looks as though this will be an intense, unforgiving horror series that will have a strong emphasis on character development and flesh-eating. Plus, as you can see from the trailer, the writer / director has a pretty strong resume. I do, however, have some reservations.
For starters, how the heck do you extend what looks like the basic plot for a two-hour zombie movie over several television seasons? I know it’s early, but the trailer seems a little too straightforward. Man wakes up in hospital. Man runs into supporting character who fills him in on recent zombie apocalypse. Man misses family. Man goes on zombie-killing spree while searching for wife and kid. Furthermore, doesn’t the whole hospital aspect remind a lot of people of a certain story line that involved a Rage virus and Cillian Murphy?
To be fair, I have no idea if the graphic novels that inspired The Walking Dead came out before said story line, so it’s very likely that the source material for AMC’s latest venture inspired that (awesome) film and not the other way around. That, and the fact that I’m still surprised at how America loves the undead, shows how little I know about this sub-genre. While the tendon-munchers are still playing second-fiddle to the bloodsuckers in pop culture, they have certainly shuffled and crawled their way into our lives.
Even now, I know you’re an inch away from searching the “Thriller” video.
My (somewhat) recent forays into the land of the undead include the remake of Dawn of the Dead and Stephen King’s Cell. While I enjoyed both, I still feel all kinds of guilty for the fact that I haven’t watched any of the original George Romero films, and Cell, while good, is not one of my favorite King novels. Nonetheless, I’m going to be brushing up on the literature and film of the living-impaired in preparation for the Halloween premier of The Walking Dead.
Say it with me now everyone…”BRAAAAAAIIIINNNSS….”
SCI-FI VILLAIN OF THE WEEK: SOVEREIGN
BADASS SCI-FI QUOTE: “Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over.”
Hearing Sovereign’s cold, emotionless monotone just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Watching this clip brings back memories of just how much fun my first play-through of Mass Effect was. At the time, the game was arguably the most ambitious project ever released for the Xbox 360.
It had everything: fantastic third-person shooter gameplay, cool dialogue trees, and an intricate science fiction story line about a monstrous race of machines that are hellbent on the destruction of all life in the galaxy.
The reveal that Sovereign, who was previously thought to be a lifeless spaceship, is in fact a sentient herald for the evil Reapers caught me totally off-guard. Then, my Xbox broke. :(
Peter Jessop’s voice work seems to draw a bit from Darth Vader and Star Trek’s Borg race. Awe sum.
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