SciFi Weekend: Mr. Robot Season Finale; Doctor Who; The Orville; Star Trek Discovery; Outlander Finale; Apple and Disney Moving Into Streaming; The Punisher Renewed; The IT Crowd

Mr. Robot completed its third season and has officially been renewed for a fourth. While I don’t think the third season was able to be as good as the spectacular first season, I did feel that it was something of a comeback after the less successful second. The finale seemed to go full circle with the hack, had revelations for both Elliot and Angela, and put Dom in a new dilemma. Following are excerpts from four interviews with Sam Esmail about the season finale, including the impact of Donald Trump’s election on the show.

Entertainment Weekly:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The season ends with the suggestion that the hack will be undone. Was this the plan from the outset?
SAM ESMAIL: If I’m going to conjure up my original feature plan, this was always part of it. The plan was that basically toward the end of act two, he would reverse what he did, but still kind of be in a position of now pivoting and targeting the real top one percent that orchestrated the 5/9 hack behind his back. That was always a plot point, but as you can see, that kind of gets unwieldy because your main character’s goal is essential reversed as you go through the second act of the story.

Yeah, it’s basically Mad Max: Fury Road, turning back around and going back to where they came from.
Exactly. It’s literally turning the main motivation and main dramatic drive upside down. It’s kind of an Odyssey structure. With Elliot, because the journey is really internal and really about his emotional growth, having the plotline be circular like that lent to that more internal exploration…

I didn’t see the Angela-Price twist coming. What’s exciting for you about that dynamic going forward?
I’ve read this somewhere — though I wasn’t conscious of it when creating the show — that people consider this a family drama. In a weird way, I see the underpinnings of that. Obviously you have Elliot, Darlene, and Mr. Robot being this weird dysfunctional family. But then you throw in Angela, who, because she’s such a close friend, she is sort of part of that family unit that Elliot created growing up. One of the things that I think drives a lot of our characters are those family ties and the history of their families. In fact, that’s how they even know each other — because of Elliot’s father and Angela’s mother going through the same trauma. What I always felt was interesting was to reveal that this whole thing was actually kicked off by another family connection that we had no idea about: Price being the estranged father of Angela. If you peel back the onion and think about it. That caused this chain reaction. It’s because of Price’s connection to Angela that he hired this company that had no business being a cybersecurity company for a major conglomerate, and it’s because Angela worked at Allsafe that Elliot was offered a job there and had the idea to initiate the 5/9 hack. I thought it was interesting that, when you boil this massive global tragedy down, it was really these family connections that motivated and kicked off this whole event. That was always there from the get-go. In fact, that was the one reveal I thought people would most likely guess by the end of the first season, given how close we played Price and Angela together…

Do you intend for White Rose to remain a target for Elliot?
Yeah, I believe that the thing about the show is that we set up Tyrell as the main villain, when in fact, it’s White Rose, and that’s something that comes out this season. The ultimate target is White Rose and the Dark Army. Moving forward, that’s the pivot we’re trying to make. Elliot is going to go after them.

I have time for only one question, so I’m going to make it count. Does the pee tape exist in the world of Mr. Robot?
I think far worse than the pee tape exists in the world of Mr. Robot and our real world.

The Hollywood Reporter:

In the past, you have talked about envisioning Mr. Robot as a five-season arc. Exiting season three and heading into season four, does that plan remain intact?

Honestly, I’ve always said it’s four or five seasons, and I’ve said that because I think it’s somewhere in between. Whether that means the next two seasons are two short seasons, or it could technically still be two full ten-episode seasons, we’re still kind of figuring that out. It’s something the writers’ room and I take very seriously. We never want to feel like we’re treading water. Hopefully it fits into two more seasons, but we’re trying to figure out that number…

Season three ends with Elliot reversing the Five/Nine Hack, or at least beginning that process. How will that change the show moving forward, tonally?

It brings the show back to its initial promise of Elliot wanting to take down the guys behind the scenes who are manipulating society. The journey between seasons one to three has been about discovering who the real culprits are. The hack was merely a distraction that was coopted by these people, and it’s finally been revealed and exposed to Elliot. In a weird way, the next season will return back to that initial premise of the show and have Elliot be motivated by that, with this new clarity.

In a second story at The Hollywood Reporter:

Elliot and Mr. Robot finally return to each other’s lives, at one of their earliest meeting spots. Can you talk through the different ideas that were in place for how to get these characters back together on the same page after so much time apart, and to have that meeting of the minds at Coney Island, where it all started — at least as far as the show’s depiction of events, that is?

This is funny because so many of our pitches for this moment made their way into the episode in one way or another. When we started to brainstorm ideas for this reunion, we naturally were drawn to those Mr. Robot/Elliot milestones from the pilot and season one. Sam loved the idea of them speaking to each other on the Wonder Wheel again. I was pushing for a callback to that symmetrical shot of them sitting on opposite sides of a subway train. Someone else pitched the subway platform from the pilot. We ended up seeing all of that in this finale. The Wonder Wheel ended up being the initial reunion because of how uniquely tied to Mr. Robot it was. We’ve seen Elliot in all of these other locations already (the arcade, the subway, his apartment). It made sense that Elliot would allow himself to feel safe enough to talk to Mr. Robot on the Wonder Wheel.

It’s a very emotional moment, realizing that as much as Elliot has shades of Mr. Robot, the Mr. Robot side of his personality has his own shades of Elliot. Has that always been a tenant in writing the character, that Christian Slater’s side of Elliot has more in common with Rami Malek’s depiction than he or we realized? Is it something that was discovered in the writing of the character? And how critical is that reveal, moving forward?

The plan was always to evolve the relationship between Elliot and Mr. Robot. We’ve already been through so much manipulation, betrayal, and battling with them. To me, this is finally a beautiful moment of sincerity and honesty. It’s also cool because you, as Elliot’s friend, are able to witness how Mr. Robot is helpful in certain situations and how Elliot really needs him at times. It’s definitely a crucial reveal, as it’s that first step in the healing process — the path toward integration. By the end of this episode, in one of many callbacks to our pilot, we have a heartfelt exchange between Mr. Robot and Elliot. In a way, we’re healing Elliot and resetting him back to his old self. He still wants to take down the men who play god without permission, but he has a clearer view on who those people are now…

Elsewhere in the episode, we have Phillip Price’s Darth Vader moment, revealing himself as Angela’s biological father. Two-fold: was this always part of the character’s design, and do you think this news refocuses Angela? By the end of the finale, it’s hard to tell if she’s fully recovered from the Whiterose experience… do you think it’s fair to say she at least realizes she was being used, even if she still believes in Whiterose’s agenda to some degree?

This wasn’t always part of the character’s design. I think we decided on this about halfway through season two. Initially, we were working toward some kind of twisted, sexual infatuation that Price had with Angela. There actually was a pitch on the table in season two for Angela and Price to sleep with each other, but we ended up changing that to her going for an older dude at the bar. (Maybe she’s just into old dudes?) That sexual infatuation idea still works as a misdirect until the moment of the reveal. Of course, we dropped hints throughout this season that I know you picked up on (the anonymous benefactor, Price’s reaction when Whiterose confronted him about Angela, etc). I think it’s meant to be ambiguous at the end of that scene, but I definitely agree that she realizes she was being used by Whiterose, regardless of how much she still might believe in “the cause.”

Deadline Hollywood:

Let’s talk about what we saw tonight. Elliot is still bent on taking down the 1% of the world, but his dilemma is that he’s now in the pocket of WhiteRose.
The way we are ending the third season is that we’re coming back to the original promise: Elliot’s mission to take down secret organizations who are controlling things behind the scenes. It’s the first time that Elliot has exposed them and seen their true identity in that they’re being led by White Rose and the Dark Army. It’s an interesting predicament: He has leverage of them, but they have leverage over him as well. It’s an interesting Mexican standoff.

Elliot’s decision to reverse the 5/9 hack: Is this just a means to ease his own guilt after blowing up all those E-corp buildings?
Yeah, I think that with the journey of Elliot, we started the series with this guy in an immense amount of pain. Instead of facing that, he blamed it on society and externalized to the world around him what needed to be fixed, when in fact, he was avoiding facing the problem within. That’s what this moment in this season was about: His realization that what he wanted was not co-opted by the very people he was trying to take down; that it was wrong.  There are a few internal struggles he also faces in regards to his relationship with Mr. Robot and its evolution.

Angela learning that she was Phillip Price’s daughter. Why was this important to establish and was this something you knew going into the season? 

The thing about that revelation is that what I always thought was interesting in regards to the entire chain reaction of things that led to the 5/9 hack and the global catastrophe is that it all started with broken family ties. And really the chain reaction of Price who is estranged from his daughter her whole life, and reaching out in the distance, by hiring this (small) cybersecurity company which has no business representing E-Corp; then because of that, Elliot joins the company to avenge his father’s death — that strategy to attack E-Corp, that spiraling out of control, is in essence about broken family ties. Now (Price and Angela) are trying to heal that tragedy and trauma that comes out of it. We planned this very early on; at the end of the first season Price takes Angela in…

Dom and Darlene, where does this leave them now?
Dom is at a crossroads. She’s the most noble character to her cause in the entire series. She’s now in with the Dark Army in this brutal way and we’re going to see the aftereffects of that. In terms of Darlene, she’s going to have to live and process a lot of guilt of what she’s put Dom through. There’s a genuine relationship there: They did care for one another. It’s going to be interesting though because they’re on opposite sides. We’re going to explore that relationship and whether they survive through that.

The Brave Traveler at the end of tonight’s show, that’s the drug kingpin Fernando Vera who double-crossed Elliot in season one and took girlfriend Shayla’s life. What now?
Well, he’s a crazy person, an egomaniac and hopefully very entertaining to watch. I’ll leave that as my answer. There’s a personal connection here with Elliot and out of all the global chaos that he’s been experiencing on the show, this one narrows the field a bit on a personal level. Shayla was the only true connection Elliot made when we began the series. We’ll definitely explore the blowback from all of that with her murder and how Elliot assisted in breaking Vera out of prison.

Variety:

While Esmail said the current political climate doesn’t influence the plot itself, he noticed it affects the energy writers bring into the room. Esmail called the election “catastrophic not just for the country, but for the world.” Still, he says he is open-minded about politics.

“I never try and tune anything out. I think that’s a mistake,” he says. “You want to bring all the honest stuff that’s going on inside you into your work. Otherwise you’re keeping a lot of authenticity out.”

Following President Donald Trump’s election, Esmail said the writers felt the same apprehension that many others experienced.

“When you’re talking about a man that’s incoherent and inarticulate and unintelligent, egomaniacal, it’s a dangerous thing for the world,” Esmail said of Trump getting elected. “We also felt a little responsibility to it. That we underestimated him, that we underestimated that this can possibly happen,” he explains.

That sense of accountability then loosely paralleled Elliot’s journey this season, he said.

“That indirect responsibility led to a lot of Elliot’s feeling at the beginning of the season of his responsibility in the 9/5 hack, which was a lot more direct, but that energy that we were all feeling and sensing in the room,” Esmail says. “This dread that we have committed this crime by not doing something enough definitely fueled a lot of Elliot’s motivations.”

Mozilla upset some users when they inserted a browser extension which promoted Mr. Robot into their Firefox browser, leading users to think their computer was hacked. There is a similar virtual reality game available on Amazon’s Alexa products, but they handled it in a safer manner. Ads during the show show people asking Alexa for the Daily Five/Nine. For this to work, it is necessary for users to specifically enable the Daily Five/Nine skill. Generally I find it to be a negative for Alexa that some information is not obtainable unless the user knows which skill to activate, but in this case it is for the better that users only receive paranoid news from the Mr. Robot universe if they activate it.

Steven Moffat originally did not plan to have Bill Potts in the Christmas episode of Doctor Who and explained why he changed his mind:

“I was 20 pages in to the script, and I thought, ‘I need Bill here. There isn’t a witness for this. The Captain [played by Mark Gatiss] isn’t quite right as the witness. I want to hear what Bill would say.’ I needed that voice back in the show. I just did.

I missed her terribly. I missed the way Bill reacted to things. Also, if the Twelfth Doctor’s got someone as forthright and irreverent as Bill, you really want the First Doctor to meet her! [Laughs]”

Following a screening of Twice About A Time, Steven Moffat argued that Doctor Who is the greatest show ever made:

“It’s worth saying, because I don’t think it’s ever said enough… the reason Doctor Who is as successful – I mean humanly successful – for so long in such an enduring way – and I’m just gonna say it because I don’t ever say it, but now I’m leaving I’ll say it – it is actually the greatest television show ever made.

“I’m gonna prove it to you. There are probably press here who are ‘No, it’s The Wire’. It’s not The Wire. It’s not I Claudius. It’s not The Office. It’s not even Blue Planet. It’s Doctor Who and I’m gonna prove to whoever is doubting me the hardest that they’re wrong to doubt me.

“How do you measure greatness? Do you measure it by ratings? Do you measure it by reviews? Christ no, of course you don’t.

“Do you measure it by perfection? Is Doctor Who perfect every week? No, it’s not. It really isn’t. It can’t be. Because every episode of Doctor Who is an experiment, and if you experiment every single week, sometimes you get a faceful of soot and you’re blinking the smoke away and you look a bit ridiculous. That happens. Perfection is the refinement of boredom, it’s doing the same thing all the time perfectly. Doctor Who, by always being different, can never be perfect.

“But yes, how do we measure its greatness?

“There are people who became writers because of Doctor Who. Loads of them.

“There are people who became artists because of Doctor Who.

“There are people who became actors because of Doctor Who. Two of them have played the Doctor.

“There are people, believe it or not, who become scientists because of Doctor Who. That seems improbable given we said the moon was an egg, you’d think they’d have a problem with it.

“But people become scientists, people change their view of the world and what they’re capable of, because of a silly show about a man who travels around in time and space in a police box.

“So, never mind the reviews. Never mind anything. Never mind the ratings. Never mind any of that.

“Count the scientists, the musicians, the scholars, the writers, the directors, the actors, who became what they are because of this show.

“Count, as you might say, the hearts that beat a little faster because of Doctor Who.

 “I do not even know what is in second place, but without doubt, and by that most important measure, Doctor Who is the greatest television show ever made.”
Peter Capaldi also had this to say:

“I’d like to thank all my friends on Doctor Who for sharing their good humour, talent and life with me over the last four years. And particularly, Steven Moffat, who has brought so much to Doctor Who, even more than might be realised today, but will be seen clearly in the future.

“I’d like to thank everyone who loves the show for sharing it with me, and sharing the boundless generosity of spirit that it embodies. I wish Jodie and the new TARDIS team all the best for the future, and the past, and everything inbetween, and look forward to watching them journey to new and wonderful places.

“For me, it’s been an amazing trip. I went to the end of time, I met fantastical creatures… and I blew them up. But now it’s over. Time I was off.”

Last week’s post included additional Doctor Who news including information on a special about the Peter Capaldi era which will air after the Christmas episode, a trailer for the episode, a link to an interview with Steven Moffat, and an article on David Bradley.

For the benefit of those who did not see it because of more problems with Facebook, last week I had a review of  Mad Idolatry, the first season finale of The Orville. Until links from Facebook groups to the post were shut down by Facebook, the link to this video of  Sports Illustrated model Kyra Santoro as the scantily-clad Ensign Turco had a quite a few hits. Hopefully this remains up this week–there is little consistency to Facebook’s censorship.

In an interview with Digital Spy, Seth MacFarlane argued that The Orville filled a void left behind by the classic Star Trek:

Speaking to Digital Spy, the creator and star of The Orville said that he was heavily inspired by the themes and direction of classic Star Trek – aspects which he feels haven’t been replicated much since then.

“I kind of miss the forward-thinking, aspirational, optimistic place in science fiction that Star Trek used to occupy,” he said.

“I think they’ve chosen to go in a different direction which has worked very well for them in recent years, but what has happened is that it’s left open a space that has been relatively unoccupied for a while in the genre.

“In the same way that when James Bond kind of moved into a different area than classic James Bond, Iron Man came along and sort of filled that void.

“So for me, it’s a space that’s kind of waiting to be filled in this day and age when we’re getting a lot of dystopian science fiction, a lot of which is great and very entertaining, but it can’t all be The Hunger Games.”

MacFarlane added: “It can’t all be the nightmare scenario.

While MacFarlane has used a lot of humor in the series, the show did turn out to be more like Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation as opposed to being a parody as many pre-season articles incorrectly described the series. MacFarlane also corrected this misconception in another interview with Digital Spy, saying that The Orville was not influenced by Galaxy Quest.

The titles for the chapter 2 episodes of Star Trek: Discovery have been revealed:

Episode 10:  “Despite Yourself” (January 7)

Episode 11: “The Wolf Inside” (January 14)

Episode 12:  “Vaulting Ambition” (January 21)

Episode 13: “What’s Past Is Prologue” (January 28)

Episode 14: “The War Without, The War Within” (February 4)

Episode 15: “Will You Take My Hand?” (February 11)

Four new character posters, including the one above, have also been released. The full set can be seen here.

Last week I linked to a couple of articles on the fall portion of the season of Star Trek: Discovery. Bleeding Cool also weighs in, arguing that Star Trek: Discovery Absolutely Earns Its Place in the Star Trek Continuity. My review of the fall finale was posted here, and I looked at other aspects of the show, including continuity, here. I will resume weekly reviews of the episodes after Discovery returns.

Wil Wheaton tweeted about wearing his Star Trek uniform to the opening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. While I didn’t go until last night, for the record, as I don’t have a Star Trek uniform and it was too cold for either of my Star Trek t-shirts, I wore a Gallifrey swhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/eatshirt and, again as it was cold out, my Tom Baker Doctor Who scarf.

Outlander also had a season finale last week. Deadline talked to Ron Moore about the episode and future plans. Apple has also ordered a science fiction show from Ron Moore, who also was behind the revival of Battlestar Galactica. Deadline reports:

Created and written by Moore, along with Fargo co-executive producers Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, the untitled series  explores what would have happened if the global space race had never ended. Tall Ship Prods.’ Moore and Maril Davis executive produce with Wolpert and Nedivi.

This is is the third original scripted series ordered by Apple via its recently formed worldwide video programming division headed by former Sony TV presidents Jamie Erlicht & Zack Van Amburg, joining a morning show drama series project, executive produced by and starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, which has a two-season pickup, and Amazing Stories, a reimagining of the classic anthology from Steven Spielberg and Bryan Fuller.

It looks like Apple is working hard to make a credible entry into original programming with such orders. Of course they will have very tough competition from not only the established sources, but from Disney when they launch their planned streaming service.  Assuming the deal goes through, their acquisition of much of Fox will give them an incredible library, including many major genre franchises, along with a controlling stake in both Netflix and Hulu.

Netflix has renewed The Punisher for a second season. Last week’s post included the trailer for season two of Jessica Jones, which will be released March 8.

HBO has renewed Larry David’s show Curb Your Enthusiasm for a tenth season.

NBC is trying yet again to have a US version of The IT Crowd. Maybe they will have better luck this time as Graham Linehan, who created the original, is going to be the writer and executive producer. Besides being an excellent comedy, the show teaches the most important lesson you will ever need to fix computer problems (as explained in the video above).

Bernie Sanders Has A Drink With Hillary Clinton on SNL

Larry David once again did his impression of Bernie Sanders on the opening of Saturday Night Live on Saturday. He shared a drink with Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon). Video above.

Daily Show & Saturday Night Live Mock Clinton, Trump, Carson, and Sanders

Trevor Noah mocked Hillary Clinton for three of her recent gaffes last night, including her bizarre view of history at Nancy Reagan’s funeral:

Clinton’s revisionist assertion — made at Nancy Reagan’s funeral last week — that the Reagans started a national dialogue about AIDS earned her zero points. Instead, Noah said, “The correct answer was any other combination of words.”

“There are so many nice things she could have said about Nancy Reagan, but for some reason she brought up the worst thing,” he continued. “Hillary, you need the LGBT community. They’re the people who started the discussion on AIDS. And because they’re active Democratic voters, they should be your natural ally.”

He also mocked Clinton for denying Bernie Sanders’ role in supporting health care reform in the 1990’s with a picture of Sanders literally standing right behind her, and for telling coal miners she would be putting them out of work, as opposed to saying they would be getting better jobs in renewable energy.

Saturday Night Live showed how Clinton panders to voters by pretending to be a progressive, often copying ideas from Bernie Sanders. She transformed into Sanders during the course of the mock commercial. It ends with, “I’m whoever you want me to be, and I approve this message.”

The cold open on Saturday Night Live began with a mock news report on Ben Carson’s endorsement of Donald Trump, but also included reaction from Larry David as Bernie Sanders. The skit mocked both Sanders and his supporters:

“I want to thank everyone who voted for me, and apologize to everyone else for making your Facebook feed so, so annoying,” Sanders says after CNN’s Jake Tapper (played by Beck Bennett) congratulates him.

“I mean, I love my supporters, but they’re too much, right?” he continues. “I’m great, but I’m not ‘five posts a day’ great. With all due respect to my supporters: Get a life.”

Tapper points out that, Facebook enthusiasm aside, Sanders is still trailing his rival Hillary Clinton, who’s got the advantage in both delegates and “mediocre” superdelegates.

“I have the voters,” Sanders assures Tapper in the clip. “My message is resonating with a very diverse group of white people. And I’ve got supporters of all ages — 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds… eh, that’s it.”

Previous visits by Larry David impersonating Bernie Sanders can be seen herehere and here.

An expanded version has been cross-posted at The Moderate Voice which includes several jokes from late night comics on the candidates, which have also been previously posted here.

SciFi Weekend: The Flash To Meet Supergirl After Visit To Earth-2; Captain America: Civil War; Doctor Who; Manhattan; Gilmore Girls Casting; Bernie Sanders & Larry David on SNL; Gloria Steinem Insults Women Supporting Sanders On Bill Maher

The-Flash-Earth-2-Joe-Barry-and-Iris

Barry travels to Earth-2 on next week’s episode of The Flash and, from the pictures released, some things are quite different over there.

After many stories going both ways, it now looks official that he will also visit Supergirl.  With the manner in which The Flash deals with alternative universes, this is leading to a lot of speculation on line that Supergirl (and therefore her cousin Superman) are from a different universe from Arrow and The Flash. If so, being able to travel between universes might provide a way for the DC television universe to continue to tell stories which are unrelated to each other, but still have an occasional cross over episode. The same idea could extend to the movie DC universe, and could even be used to encompass the various versions of Superman and Batman seen on television and in the movies.

The Captain America: Civil War promo to be shown during the Super Bowl has been released prior to the game

Steven Moffat has confirmed that series ten of Doctor Who will have fourteen episodes. Presumably this means that there will be the 2016 Christmas episode, thirteen episodes in the spring of 2017, and Moffat’s final episode will be the 2017 Christmas episode. That might also be a regeneration episode if Peter Capaldi leaves with Moffat.

Manhattan has been canceled by WGN after its second season. It is a shame as it was one of the best shows on television. For those who have not seen it (which is most people) it remains well worth watching the first two seasons, even if the show was canceled. It is about the Manhattan Project. We don’t need another season to see how it ends, although I would like to see what happens to the fictitious characters on the show.

Colony has been renewed for a second season. Orange Is The New Black has been renewed by Netflix for three seasons.

I haven’t seen it yet, but the Deadpool movie is getting excellent reviews.

Liza Weil and Matt Czuchry have both signed on to be in the Gilmore Girls revival. (That’s Paris and Logan). Melissa McCarthy so far hasn’t been cast in revival based upon limited availability, but Amy Sherman-Palladino does say she will write her into a scene if she makes it to the set.

Bernie Sanders appeared on Saturday Night Live last night, with guest host Larry David. The show opened by mocking Ted Cruz. Then Larry David had one of the best opening segments on the show in recent memory, not needing the other cast members to get him through it, as many guest hosts to. He was later in an excellent per-filmed skit entitled  Bern Your Enthusiasm which had the feeling of an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm with typical Larry David-type predicaments, except it dealt with Bernie Sanders and the Iowa primary. This included Bernie not wanting to shake a woman’s had after she had first coughed into it, two-percent milk.

Another skit dealt with a Titanic-like situation, in which Larry David played a rich man demanding that he get one of the seats in a life boat. Then Bernie Sanders appeared with a version of his stump speech:

Sanders: Hold on! Hold on! Wait a second! I am so sick of the one percent getting this preferential treatment! Enough is enough! We all need to unite if we’re going to get through this!

David: Sounds like socialism to me.

Sanders: Democratic socialism.

David: What’s the difference.

Sanders: Huge difference.

Previous impersonations of Bernie Sanders by Larry David can be seen here and here.

Also on light night television, Gloria Steinem received a lot of criticism for suggesting on Bill Maher that young women are supporting Sanders because that’s where the boys are, as if they can’t think for themselves. Steinem later apologized for her comments on Facebook.

SciFi Weekend: Doctor Who; New Star Trek Series; Supergirl; Jessica Jones; Donald Trump & Larry David (as Bernie Sanders) on Saturday Night Live

Doctor Who Zygon Inversion Clara

The Zygon Inversion had a different feel from last week’s episode of Doctor Who, The Zygon Invasion. Both are anti-war stories, but the first built up what appeared to be grave danger for the Doctor and the earth on a worldwide scale. The conclusion was a far more personal story, and eliminated the threats from the previous week rather easily.

The Doctor used the Osgood Box as a means to get both sides to talk, and ultimately think about what they were doing. War was simplified to pushing one of two buttons: “This is a scale model of war. Every war ever fought, right there in front of you.” It was ultimately a trick, with the boxes being empty, but they served their purpose. Apparently this was quite necessary as this was the fifteenth time the Doctor had to use this argument to keep the Zygon peace treaty intact, even if the other occurrences were off screen.

The episode had other moments. The Doctor provided a different answer as to what TARDIS stands for: Totally And Radically Driving In Space. Another top line was “I’m over 2,000 years old. I’m old enough to be your messiah!”

The show also foreshadowed the plans for Jenna Coleman to leave the series. The Doctor refered to the time spent thinking that Clara was dead as the “longest month of my life.”  When Clara contradicted him, saying it was only five minutes, the Doctor responded by saying,“I’ll be the judge of time.”

In recent interviews Steven Moffat said “Clara is gone and will never return,” and “I can only say that what will happen will shock, surprise and terrify. Strictly in that order.” We already saw that when Amy Pond left, Moffat left matters so that she also could not return. I wonder if the manner in which Clara leaves will account for her origin. Clara was splintered in time and looked after each regeneration of the Doctor, and presumably should also be present, even if unseen, in each future Doctor.

River Song is reportedly returning for the Christmas episode this year. I wonder if that is to fill a gap with Clara already gone.

From various interviews and articles posted recently, it also appears that Doctor Who is coming back next year at least for twelve plus the Christmas episode, with Moffat hoping to increase this back to thirteen full episodes. There are also no current plans to skip a year or split the season as some reports have stated.

Star Trek TOS

The big news of the past week has been that CBS is planning on another Star Trek television series to start in January 2017. The catch is that the plans are to show the first episode on CBS and then have the remaining episodes on CBS All Access, a streaming service from CBS which currently costs $5.99 a month. Currently I have the highest cable tier (which obviously includes CBS along with all the premium channels and their streaming services) and have subscribed to Netflix and Amazon Prime for a while. I have added the commercial free version of Hulu, which contains shows from most of the networks. While not very expensive, with the cost not really being an issue, I cannot help but questioning  paying for a streaming service from CBS alone.

CBS is obviously counting on the large number of Star Trek fans to pay for the service. My bet is that most Star Trek fans are tech savvy enough to download the show without paying and will balk at a streaming service which is limited to a single network, which has its other shows available on cable. Realistically I could easily stop my subscriptions to all the premium cable channels I subscribe to, along with the streaming services, and easily download everything I watch. I pay for multiple sources because I believe it is the right thing to do, and sometimes it is even more convenient. While I may or may not subscribe to CBS All Access, my bet is that most people will see this as a rip-off, questioning why CBS doesn’t just use Hulu more like the other networks, and just download the show.

There are many other questions which have not yet been answered. Will the show take place in the Roddenberry universe or the J.J. Abrams universe? When will it take place? We saw that a prequel did not work very well with Enterprise, although it finally figured out how to handle Star Trek in its final season when it was too late. My suggestion would be 20-50 years after Star Trek: The Next Generation. Then, taking into consideration a longer lifespan if necessary, there could be cameos from the old cast.

I also wonder if they will release an entire season at once Netflix style, or have this be a weekly show. A weekly release could result in much more on-line buzz as it is possible to discuss each episode every week. It is harder with a show in which an entire season is released at once as viewers are at all different point. How many episodes will there be a season? The longer seasons of past episodes allowed for a closer look at even the minor characters, along with discussion of ideas, which made the television series much better than the movies.

Supergirl Episode 2

The second episode of Supergirl seemed almost like a new television event considering how long the pilot has been available on line. Overall it was a good episode (one of only three new network shows I’m still watching), but the story was weakened by having to go through the almost obligatory stories of the superhero learning how to use his/her powers. I’m hoping for stronger individual stories when they are not burdened by such matters. Watching this with Arrow and Flash back on also highlights the degree to which they are using a similar format for all three. All have the hero/heroine who is backed up by a team, with various degrees in which the team coordinates or attempts to control their activities. So far Supergirl faces the most severe issue of attempted control from others. Personally I find the government agency the weakest part of the series so far, and would prefer to see Supergirl standing on her own, with her coworkers (along with boss played by Calista Flockhart) being the major part of the story beyond Supergirl.

Meanwhile, on the other DC shows, we are gradually seeing the team being set up for Legends of Tomorrow with evidence that Ray Palmer is still alive and the resurrection of Sara Lance, with the help of Constantine. Arrow has also done an excellent job with the new big-bad, as has The Flash with Earth 2 and the threat from Z00m. The Marvel-based show is also off to a good start this season with Agents of SHIELD having a few interesting subplots started for the season, including the revelation of Lash’s identity. It looks like the rescue of Will from the alien planet might be stretched out for a while longer.

In case anyone is interested, the other two networks shows I’m watching this season are Blindspot and Limitless. Plus there are several shows which have either started or are coming up on streaming video which I plan to watch. I have only caught the first episode of Aziz Ansari’s new show on Netflix, Master of None, and plan to continue. I have heard that the second episode is even better, and that the show continues to improve.

Jessica Jones3

Netflix has released several pictures from Jessica Jones, including the one above. Originally the show was to be called AKA Jessica Jones, and the have kept the AKA in the episode titles. Following is a listing with brief synopsis of the episodes, which might give a better idea of what the series is about.

AKA Ladies Night: Jessica Jones is hired to find a pretty NYU student who’s vanished, but it turns out to be more than a simple missing persons case.

AKA Crush Syndrome: Jessica vows to prove Hope’s innocence, even though it means tracking down a terrifying figure from her own past.

AKA It’s Called Whiskey: It won’t be easy to acquire or deploy. but Jessica thinks she’s found a weapon to use against Kilgrave. Luke and Jessica bond over their similarities.

AKA: 99 Friends: A new case demands attention as Jessica tries to find out who’s spying on her for Kilgrave. Trish’s radio show yields unexpected consequences.

AKA The Sandwich Saved Me: Despite Jessica’s objections, Trish’s new friend Simpson gets involved in the hunt for Kilgrave. Jessica recalls a pivotal moment in her life.

AKA You’re a Winner: Luke hires Jessica to help him find someone who may have skipped town, but she fears he’ll learn too much about her history in the process.

AKA Top Shelf Perverts: Malcom, Simpson and Trish go rogue to prevent Jessica from carrying out an extreme plan to outwit Kilgrave.

AKA WWJD: Jessica experiences a strange homecoming courtesy of Kilgrave. Hograth’s conflict with her estranged wife reaches a tipping point.

AKA Sin Bin: Just when Jessica has Kilgrave right where she want’s him. Hogarth’s involvement complicates the situation. Details of Kilgrave’s past emerge.

AKA 1,000 Cuts: A discovery has the potential to change the entire game — if Jessica can refuse Kilgrave’s offer.

AKA I’ve Got The Blues: Jessica searches morgues for clues. Trish goes all out to keep Simpson from getting in Jessica’s way. Malcom has an epiphany.

AKA Take a Bloody Number: The hunt for Kilgrave reunites Jessica with Luke. Trish receives some unexpected information about Simpson and Jessica.

AKA Smile: Jessica and Luke get help from someone else in the neighborhood. Kilgrave gears up for a major test of powers against Jessica.

I was rather disappointed by Donald Trump’s appearance as guest host on Saturday Night Live, despite the high ratings which Trump brought in, and the reviewers have agreed. I think that the problem is that Donald Trump is already such an absurd a character that it is difficult to make a parody which is any more amusing.

The best exchange with Trump took place with Larry David, based upon the offer from Deport Racism:

You’re a racist!” he yelled, interrupting Trump.

“Who the hell is – oh, I knew this was going to happen,” Trump responded. “Who is that?”

“Trump’s a racist!” David responded.

“I heard if I did that, they’d give me $5,000,” he added.

“As a businessman, I can fully respect that,” Trump said.

Larry David also had the funniest overall moments of the episode, reprising his impersonation of Bernie Sanders at Friday’s Democratic Forum in the cold open–video above. Variety summarized a couple of portions, but watch the full video.

On raising taxes: “We need to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure. It’s crumbling. That’s why I no longer drive on bridges or through tunnels. It’s too risky. Instead, I keep a kayak strapped to the top of my car.”

On campaign finance: “The other candidates, they’re taking millions of dollars from the Koch brothers and Exxon Mobil. But not me. I only accept coins. And not fancy coins. I only just want nickels and pennies, the coins of the middle class. So America, if you believe in Bernie, I need you to go home, open your vacuum, turn it upside down, and send me all the pennies that fall out of it. I’m Bernie Sanders, and I want your vacuum pennies.”

Larry David’s previous impersonation of Bernie Sanders, along with other humorous clips related to Bernie, can be seen here.

Bernie Sanders Has Excellent Night At Democratic Forum While Hillary Clinton Dodges Questions On Her Record

MSNBC Democratic Forum

We might  have had a full debate rather than a series of interviews at Democratic Forum hosted by Rachel Maddow if not for the limitations on debates imposed by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but Friday did have a series of good interviews with the Democratic candidates.  Martin O’Malley was interviewed first and overall did well, including taking jabs at both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Still he felt like the warm up act before the main show, with his campaign remaining in serious trouble.

Salon is calling Bernie Sanders’ interview his best moment in weeks,  and he  also received excellent reviews at Slate. This included Sanders getting  the opportunity to explain his strong civil rights record as seen in this video:

And the event included this opportunity for Sanders to be charming and funny:

Plus Sanders  criticized Hillary Clinton on issues including the Keystone Pipeline, campaign finance reform, and deploying troops to Syria:

“Now to me, as opposed to maybe some other unnamed candidates, the issue of Keystone was kind of a no-brainer,” Sanders said, pointing to President Obama’s decision earlier that day to block the TransCanadian oil pipeline. “So I said no to the Keystone on day one.”

Though Sanders complained that it was largely the media trying to play up animosity between the two, “begging me to beat up on Hillary Clinton,” Sanders did take the bait in a way he hasn’t in the past.

“Now, I have many disagreements with Hillary Clinton. And one of them is that I don’t think it’s good enough just to talk the talk on campaign finance reform. You’ve got to walk the walk,” he said.

Sanders also said he was opposed to President Obama’s recent decision to deploy special operation forces to Syria to help battle ISIS. Pointing out he had opposed the Iraq war from the beginning, unlike Clinton, the Vermont senator said he did “not want to see us get in — sucked into a quagmire of which there may be no end.”

Sanders also criticized Republicans for being cowards in trying to suppress the vote, and criticized campaign coverage by corporate media.

Hillary Clinton did have to dodge a bunch of questions. This included her relationship with Wall Street and her opposition to ending capital punishment:

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton says the Wall Street bankers who gave her millions of dollars don’t have any influence over her policy positions.

Asked whether she is too close to Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street special interests to “reel them in,” Clinton replied that “anybody who thinks that they can influence what I can do doesn’t know me very well.”

“They can actually look and see what I have said and done throughout my career,” Clinton told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow at the First in the South Presidential Candidates Forum at Rock Hill, S.C. on Friday.

“I went to Wall Street. I went to the NASDAQ in December 2007 and basically said, ‘You guys have got to stop it. What you are doing is not only a disaster for home owners because of the mortgage foreclosures … but it’s going to have dire consequences for our country.’ ”

Clinton answered most questions confidently, but seemed to get tripped up when Maddow asked about her support for the death penalty – a position opposed by many on the left, including Democratic primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Clinton’s answer — crammed with qualifiers — suggested an extreme ambivalence in her position.

Saying they have to stop it is no more convincing than when she said she told Wall Street to cut it out in the first debate.

Maddow also challenged Clinton on her recent fallacious comments on DOMA. She listed areas where Clinton wanted to go use military force contrary to others in the Obama administration, questioning if the election of Hillary Clinton would be more likely to get us into a war. Clinton ignored the examples cited by Maddow, and her long hawkish history, claiming she preferred diplomacy, despite her record, including Libya, Syria, and Iraq. Both Sanders and O’Malley have recently disagreed with Clinton on deploying troops to  Syria.

Clinton also dodged answering questions as to whether she was an introvert or extrovert, and one question which she cannot be blamed for not being able to answer. Maddow asked which of the Republican candidates she would chose as her running mate if they were her only choices, and who could blame Clinton for rejecting them all?

Update: Saturday Night Live’s take on the Democratic Forum can be seen here. Larry David was again fantastic with his impersonation of Bernie Sanders.

Stephen Colbert, Larry David, and Bill Maher On Bernie Sanders & The Democratic Race

Larry David Bernie Sanders

With all the tedium of the Benghazi hearings, we can use something more amusing. Here is how a few comedians have recently covered the race, including the first Democratic debate.

Here is Stephen Colbert on the debate, mocking his use of statistics by showing how Bernie Sander would split a check at dinner. Colbert realized that due to Facebook sponsoring the debate, the backdrop will filled with “F CNN.” Noting Sanders’ comments on Hillary Clinton’s email during the debate, Colbert joked, “You know the debate was really uneventful when the banner headline the next day is ‘Elderly Man Not Interested In Email.'”

Here is Saturday Night Live’s take on the Democratic Debate. Larry David received most of the coverage for his amazing impersonation of Bernie Sanders. Alec Baldwin also had a great impersonation of Jim Webb, using his actual positions and showing why it was inevitable that he would drop out of the race. He passed on answering these questions:

“Okay, senator. Sure. You’re the only person here with an A rating from the NRA. Want to tell us why?” His  next question was, “You once said that affirmative action is racist against whites. Explain?”

Bill Maher did a segment showing how the Republicans like Donald Trump hear something totally different when Sanders said something. Watch the video for the full list, with some examples below:

Sanders said, “I supported President Clinton’s effort to deal with ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.”

Republicans  heard, “I will refocus our military on gardening and interpretive dance. We must aspire to the fighting style of the Iraqi Army: tear off your uniforms and run.”

Sanders said:“When I was a young man, I strongly opposed the war in Vietnam.”

Republicans heard, “I would have loved to fight in Vietnam, but for the other side. Not only do I hate our troops, but sometimes I lock John McCain in his office, do a Vietnamese accent and laugh.”

Sanders said that he“has a D-minus voting rating from the NRA.”

Republicans heard, “Rifles are for men with small penises. Every single gun in this country should be confiscated and melted down to make Tony Awards.”

Bill Maher also interviewed Sanders at the start of the show. Video above.

SciFi Weekend: Cancelled and Returning Shows; Seinfeld Reunion; Paparazzi and Emma Watson

It is that time of year when we start receiving news on which shows will or will not be returning. It is now official that Life on Mars has been canceled and production will stop after the seventeenth episode, leaving four left. As I didn’t expect the show to return in light of its poor ratings I actually saw the early announcement as good news. Knowing that the show will not be renewed allows them to properly wrap up the series.

The American version Life on Mars will actually run one more episode than the British version. A show of this nature actually works better as a limited run series with a definite beginning and end. Such series are rare on American television, probably guaranteeing failure for this show. If the show had continued for five years it would have either dealt with general police shows or the hints about the time travel aspect would have become increasingly contradictory and incomprehensible, reminiscent of the latter mythology episodes of The X-Files. Hopefully they can now write an ending which does justice to this idea.

Heroes will return for another season but will be reduced to eighteen to twenty episodes. They are also considering a definite end date and conclusion for the series like Lost and Battlestar Galactica.  Upcoming episodes will include Angela Petrelli’s  back story.

terminatortscc_glau

It is questionable if Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will return. The season finale was written to answer a number of questions and serve as a series  finale if it isn’t renewed. This week’s episode returned to the main characters along with wrapping up the Riley stories after recent episodes  seemed to be drifting. It also looks like they are returning to the storyline from the beginning of the series in which Cameron might be damaged. Summer Glau discussed the upcoming episodes:

For her part, Summer Glau, who plays the cyborg Cameron, added that the show will provide some kind of closure for her character as well.

“At the beginning of the second season the thing in Cameron’s life was that she was damaged,” Glau said, referring to the chip in Cameron’s head. “She had been damaged, and then that threw her off her game. And I think if my character was experiencing anything, it might have been insecurity about whether or not she was capable of doing her best at protecting John [Thomas Dekker] anymore. And I think she was really struggling with the insecurity of having a new girl in John’s life, Riley [Leven Rambin]. … And I think that that’s all going to come to a head toward the end of the back nine [episodes], and then in the finale something, there’s just a huge, huge change/resolution/change.”

Summer Glau will also be appearing as herself on Big Bang Theory tomorrow.

matt-smith-dr-who

We already knew that Doctor Who is returning next year with a new show runner and a new Doctor played by Matt Smith. The Tardis is also to be redesigned when Stephen Moffat takes over the show. This will allow Moffat to establish his view of Doctor Who. Reportedly the design will be more high tech and desgned to look better in high defnition.

Lost moved in a new direction yet again with last week’s episode. Sawyer has become head of security for Dharma after the time jumping left him in the past, and he is living with Juliet. The episode ends with the return of Kate and others to the island, which is bound to create new complications.  Now that the story has moved back to Dharma we will learn more about Ben’s early days on a four episode arc involving young Ben.

seinfeld_tv_show

Curb Your Enthusiasm will be returning to HBO and will include a multi-episode arc with the cast of Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards, playing themselves.  The show stars Larry David, creator of Seinfeld, who plays himself, with frequent references to his past work on Seinfeld.

emma-watson-2

Yesterday I noted the remarkable amount of interest on line in nude pictures of Emma Watson (Hermione Granger). The Week reports that interest in salacious pictures has become a serious problem for Watson since turning eighteen:

Emma Watson sometimes wishes she were still 17, says Louise Gannon in the London Daily Mail. The British actress has been playing Hermione in the wildly successful Harry Potter films since the age of 9. Despite all the fame and riches, she managed to stay grounded, studying hard and keeping her private life private. But when she turned 18 last April, the paparazzi in Britain were legally allowed to photograph her at will, and they pounced. “It was pretty tough turning 18,” she said. “I realized that overnight I’d become fair game.” Suddenly her every move was being chronicled by
photographers hoping to catch her in a compromising position. “I had a party in town and the pavements were just knee-deep with photographers trying to get a picture of me looking drunk, which wasn’t going to happen. I don’t actually like being drunk, particularly in public.” She has been taken aback by the level of intrusion, starting the very day she came of age. “The sickest part was when one photographer lay down on the floor to get a shot up my skirt. I woke up the next day and felt completely violated by it all. That’s not something I want in my life. I just kept thinking that if it had happened a day earlier, people would have sued their asses off.”

I don’t know what the law is in the U.K. but I would think there should be some limitations on a photographer’s ability to lie on the ground to invade her privacy in that manner.  Why bother with going to all that effort to harass Emma Watson? There are other young actresses like Lindsay Lohan who are willing to show off everything. (And yes, I’m aware that there are up-skirt pictures of Emma Watson available on line but I purposely excluded them in choosing the picture for this post. It is one thing to post pictures of people like Lohan who are seeking such publicity, but a different matter to post such pictures of others.)