During the Season Four finale of "The Walking Dead", AMC premiered a teaser trailer to its new series, "Halt and Catch Fire"
The trailer is short, but leaves me wanting more. But I guess we'll have to wait till June 1st, when the show premieres on AMC.
WALKING DEAD SPOILERS!!!
returns with its 13-episode second season this fall and AMC has given an early peak.
Hi there. I’m JB Love and this is my first review for POP CULTURE BEAST. So its going to be a little awkward. If things go according to precedent, I’m probably going to talk about myself too much, spill a condiment on my shirt, and, when I try to kiss you on the cheek before its over, I may accidentally nose-poke you in the ear hole.
Consider that fair warning, Sexy.
Last night I was lucky enough to attend the LA Premiere of THE WALKING DEAD pilot. Now, before I get to my review, it seems necessary to take a moment to describe the event itself. This way, once you understand how Gonzo-weird things got, you can feel free to toss aside my opinions as delusions brought on by surreality.
First off, I wasn’t on the list. I’d entered a contest at AMC.com only to discover my name was on neither of the lists the officious and overstressed young lady at the check-in table possessed. Luckily, she took my word for it, and me and my guest were wrist-banded and shuffled off to a loose line of fellow nerds, hipsters, and other...um...sub-VIPs. Then, after a tense half hour or so of wondering if we were really getting in or we’d just been moved to the line for AMC.com-contest-winner-impersonators, we were finally ushered to another line. Happily, this was in the thick of the VIP area, so we were able to play Spot-The-Celebrity while we continued to wait.
(Sidebar: David Zayas, who plays ‘Lt. Batista’ on Showtime’s DEXTER, is awesome. Just sayin’.)
The waiting, which took what seemed like at least an hour, was luckily made tolerable by our unique pre-show attendants, Zombies. Yes, a group of lucky actors had been transformed with professional-level gore makeup into shambling, bedraggled, less-than-morning-fresh corpses. They shuffled up and down the line, mimicking in that dazed, zombie/junkie way the actions of the ‘living’ around them -- and occasionally sneaking up on an unsuspecting victim and hissing loudly in their ear. (This happened most often to attractive women. Definitely LA zombies.)
Finally, the last of the VIPs arrived, the Zombies were herded away, and we entered the theater. Unfortunately, my Guest and I were not given adjacent seat assignments, but a very nice guy switched with us so were were able to sit together. As we started to sit down, I looked around me and realized that there had been no separation of the VIPs from the rest of us. There was Carlton Cuse, the co-creator of LOST, a few rows back. And Norman Reedus, who will be joining the TWD cast later this season. And a few other faces I recognized but couldn’t name. Lots of nice suits and professionally aligned postures. We sat down. Right next to SNL’s Cheri Oteri. She smiled. I checked my pulse and ate some popcorn.
Momentarily, the show started, and, with some effort, I extricated my brain from the fog of this very particular brand of LA Surreality and focused. I was going to write a review of this thing. I needed to turn on my critic’s eye. I sat my complimentary popcorn on the floor and settled in.
Then I knocked over my popcorn.
Mild Spoilers Ahead! Click the Rawr for the full review!
The Walking Dead is adapted from Robert Kirkman's comics series of the same name.
This is a dream come true for zombiephiles because no matter how good a zombie movie is, there is never an ending and the viewer is always left wanting more. With this series the audience will only have to wait a week till its next zombie fix. Even after the series ends, the fans of the show will be able to pick up the story (If they so please) with the comics series (and it goes on a for a long time).
Click the Rawr for a list of Season and Series premiere dates for the upcoming fall season. Get ready to set your DVRs!
Tuesday, September 8
8 pm 90210 (The CW)
9 pm Melrose Place (NEW! The CW)
10 pm Sons of Anarchy (FX)
Wednesday, September 9
8 pm America's Next Top Model (The CW)
8 pm So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)
9 pm Glee (Fox)
Thursday, September 10
8 pm The Vampire Diaries (NEW! The CW)
9 pm Supernatural (The CW)
Monday, September 14
8 pm One Tree Hill (The CW)
9 pm Gossip Girl (The CW)
10 pm The Jay Leno Show (NEW! NBC)
Wednesday, September 16
9 pm The Beautiful Life (NEW! The CW)
(FOX) 8 PM - “Glee”
Thursday, September 17
8 pm Bones(FOX)
8 pm Survivor: Samoa (CBS)
8 pm Saturday Night Live Weekend Update (NBC)
8:30 pm Parks and Recreation (NBC)
9 pm The Office (NBC)
9 pm Fringe (FOX)
9:30 pm Community (NEW! NBC)
10 pm It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)
Friday, September 18
(FOX) 8 PM - “Brothers”
(FOX) 8:30 PM - “Til Death”
(FOX) 9 PM - “Dollhouse”
Monday, September 21
8 pm House (FOX)
8 pm How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
8 pm Dancing With The Stars (ABC)
8 pm Heroes (NBC)
8:30 pm Accidentally on Purpose (NEW! CBS)
9 pm Two And A Half Men (CBS)
9:30 pm The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
10 pm Castle (ABC)
10 pm CSI: Miami (CBS)
Tuesday, September 22
8 pm NCIS (CBS)
9 pm NCIS: Los Angeles (NEW! CBS)
10 pm The Forgotten (NEW! ABC)
10 pm The Good Wife (NEW! CBS)
Wednesday, September 23
8 pm The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
8 pm Mercy (NEW! NBC)
8:30 pm Gary Unmarried (CBS)
9 pm Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
9 pm Modern Family (NEW! ABC)
9 pm Criminal Minds (CBS)
9:30 pm Cougar Town (NEW! ABC)
10 pm CSI: New York (CBS)
10 pm Eastwick (NEW! ABC)
Thursday, September 24
(ABC) 7 PM - “Flash Forward”
(ABC) 8 PM – “Grey’s Anatomy”
(CBS) 8 PM – “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”
(CBS) 9 PM – “The Mentalist”
Friday, September 25
8 pm FlashForward (NEW! ABC)
9 pm Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
9 pm CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
9 pm Dollhouse (FOX)
10 pm The Mentalist (CBS)
Sunday, September 27
7 pm Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)
8 pm The Simpsons (FOX)
8 pm Amazing Race (CBS)
8:30 pm The Cleveland Show (NEW! FOX)
9 pm Family Guy (FOX)
9:30 pm American Dad (FOX)
9 pm Desperate Housewives (ABC)
9 pm Dexter (Showtime)
10 pm Cold Case (CBS)
10 pm Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
10 pm Californication (Showtime)
Monday, September 28
9 pm Lie to Me (FOX)
9 pm Trauma (NEW! NBC)
Tuesday, September 29
8 pm Hell's Kitchen (Fox)
8 pm Shark Tank (NEW! ABC)
9 pm So You Think You Can Dance (Time Period Premiere)
9 pm Dancing With The Stars (ABC)
Wednesday, September 30
8 pm Hank (NEW! ABC)
8:30 pm The Middle (NEW! ABC)
Thursday, October 1
10 pm Private Practice (ABC)
Friday, October 2
8:30 pm 'Til Death (FOX)
9 pm Stargate Universe (SyFy)
Sunday, October 4
9 pm Three Rivers (NEW! CBS)
Thursday, October 8
(NBC) 7 P.M. - "Community"
Friday, October 9
8 pm Ugly Betty (ABC)
Thursday, October 15
9:30 pm 30 Rock (NBC)
Friday, October 23
10 pm White Collar (NEW! USA)
Tuesday, November 3
8 pm V (NEW! ABC)
Early 2010
(ABC) "LOST"
(FOX) "24" (Sunday, January 17 @ 9 PM)
Happy Fall!
Dark Horizons is reporting that one of the greatest comic books in decades is in development as a TV Series for AMC. That's not all. It seems that none other than Frank Darabont has finalized the development deal that would have him writing and directing the show.
The Walking Dead is a brilliant comic from Robert Kirkman about a group of people surviving in a world infested with zombies who discover that the zombies may not be nearly as dangerous as the other survivors.
I cannot even express how excited I am for this. AMC has shown itself to be a premiere network for great Television like Mad Men and Breaking Bad.
It might be a hard show to produce for basic cable, but if anyone can do it, it's AMC.
Have a peak at the upcoming third season of one of television's most brilliant dramas, Mad Men.
Mad Men is the AMC original series about a group of people working in an ad agency in 1960 Manhattan. It is nearly universally acclaimed and has just been nominated for 16 Emmys.
Is it as good as people say? Absolutely. It's one of the smartest and most intriguing dramas on television today.
From the pilot to the final episode, Mad Men delivers in every way possible. It's funny, dramatic, heartbreaking, and even a bit suspenseful at times. The best part of Mad Men is that the characters are in the forefront of the story. It's not about situations featuring characters. It's about characters involved in situations and that is the key to the success of the show. The characters drive the show. They are flawed, they are a bit self centered and of course chauvinistic, at least the men. That's the way it was in the sixties. Men were in charge. Women stood behind them.
That's just one of the layers of the show. The interactions between husbands and wives, between friends, between forbidden lovers.
The show is brilliantly written and directed. Each episode is perfection and if possible made even better by the amazing cast.
The men: John Hamm, Vincent Kartheiser, Bryan Batt, Michael Gladis, Aaron Staton, John Slattery, and Robert Morse. Each and every one of them are perfectly casted and deliver top notch performances with every episode.
John Hamm has already won a Golden Globe for his performance as Don Draper. He will probably win an Emmy as well. I'd like to draw attention to John Slattery, however. He is probably my favorite character. He is absolutely perfect as the man in charge, Roger Sterling. Smarmy, charming, and funny. I certainly hope he wins the Emmy he deserves this year.
What about the ladies? The three main gals of Mad Men are Elizabeth Moss, January Jones, and Christina Hendricks. Beauties all three of them and equally as good as their male counterparts. Unfortunately, they were overlooked for the Emmys. A travesty for sure.
Mad Men is a can't miss show. It's beautifully plotted and acted. Perfectly written and directed. It's a show that is certainly deserving of the accolades it has received so far. I will recommend it up and down the street. I'd pass out DVD sets if I had them.
The new season starts on July 27. Just under a week from now. You'd better get watching. Season One is available on DVD now.
