Tuning in to SciFi TV #25

Watercooler:
Quick Reviews: Primeval (4/4), Chuck (4/6), Heroes (4/6), Medium (4/6), Saving Grace (4/6), Reaper (4/7), Fringe (4/7), Lost (4/8), Krog Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire (4/9), Terminator:Sarah Connor Chronicles (4/10), Ghost Whisperer (4/10), Dollhouse (4/10).
ABC slates Pushing Daisies’ final episodes, Sanctuary begins season two production, The Guild (season 1 & 2) up for pre-order, Fringe beams up Spock, Fringe’s code is cracked, Red Dwarf new series premieres in the UK, Dollhouse Season 1 DVDs will be released July 28, The so-called Dollhouse episode 13, Maureen Ryan suggests Where should Whedon go for his next gig, Joss Whedon receives a humanitarian award from Harvard.

Tuner Minute – Don’t I Know You? Want to share your thoughts on this topic or read what other people think? Join in the forum discussion here.

Back Porch:
0:29:22 – First Impressions of Krog Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire 4/9 (episodes 1.01 “Wench Trouble”, 1.02 “Golden Powers”)
0:34:10 – Chuck 4/6 (episode 2.19 “Chuck Versus vs. The Dream Job”)
0:38:33 – Heroes 4/6 (episode 3.22 “Turn and Face the Strange”)
0:42:24 – Fringe 4/7 (episode 1.16 “Inner Child”)
0:47:05 – Lost 4/8 (episode 5.12 “Dead is Dead”)
0:52:39 – Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles 4/10 (episode 2.22 “Born to Run”)
1:02 01 – Dollhouse 4/10 (episode 1.09 “Spy in the House of Love”)

Hosted by Kevin Bachelder, Wendy Hembrock, and Brent Barrett. Recorded on 4/11/09.

Edited by Brent Barrett.

Theme song graciously provided by Beatnik Turtle.

Promo for Adventures in SciFi Publishing.

Click here to download the episode.

You can listen to the episode now by using the ‘Play’ button below.

Wendy

2 thoughts on “Tuning in to SciFi TV #25”

Bill says:

April 16, 2009 at 9:39 am

I have a favor to ask, and that is to not allow Brent to continue to review shows he doesn’t like. I have no problem with dissenting opinions, but eventually you reach a point where you ask the question, why are you even watching? It’s a disservice to your show to have someone reviewing a show week after week that he hates. That would be like me reviewing True Blood week after week, it wouldn’t serve any purpose for someone like me who would only bash the show incessantly to review it. Metered criticism is the way to go, honest, but neither gushing or bashing.

On that front, I have to disagree about Dollhouse. The spy angle didn’t work and like usual Joss continues to try and moralize with this show and fail miserably. The final scenes with Reed didn’t work at all. His character was all over the place to try and serve some moral function, and his characters purpose never made a lick of sense. Neither do his actions against Echo or the Dollhouse in general. But, the worst was when it comes fight time and to make sure the audience knows who to root for Reed has to turn into an uber villain. Also, the inclusion of more humor isn’t welcome. I was liking the fact that Joss was trying to go somewhere else. I loved Buffy, Angel and Firefly, but he needs to break away and do something different or he’s essentially a one trick pony incapable of any originality outside of the specific style he knows. The show is still good, and I was loving the last episode until the twist and the badly handled moralizing, but unlike say Sarah Connor Chronicles, it’s not a show that makes me want to tune back in week after week. Still, as I said, I do enjoy the show, it’s just whereas something like Life On Mars was an A, Terminator a B+ and True blood an F, Dollhouse is more around the C+ range.

Lastly, you might want to check into the ratings before easily dismissing Sarah Connor and moving Dollhouse on to a second season. Outside of its debut Sarah Connor has been beating Dollhouse in the ratings as well as in DVR viewership every week. Out of the two Sarah Connor is the more likely to come back, and if there is a cancellation it is more than likely both will be canceled. I wish both would come back, if I had to choose I would rather have Sarah Connor, but if both are gone it’s not going to be a big deal or anything.

Sorry if this sounded very harsh, but the “people reviewing stuff they hate and doing nothing but ragging on it” bit does get to me, and Brent reviewing Terminator has made your show almost impossible to get through at times. I can’t listen to Skynext because it’s nothing but them gushing over the show and ignoring its flaws, but in Brent’s case its exactly the opposite and just as much of a reason to not listen to your show as well.

Cheers,
Bill

Reply
admin says:

April 17, 2009 at 12:42 pm

Thanks for your feedback, Bill. But, short answer: Not gonna happen. I’ll continue to review and discuss anything that inspires passion in me (in the positive or negative direction). What you get with me is honest opinion. I don’t try to candy coat my views for others to digest. And I don’t want to.

As to your views of renewal chances of T:SCC and Dollhouse… I suggest you just wait and see. T:SCC sets have been struck and the actors are on to other things, so the odds of renewal are… well, slim at best. Dollhouse has been getting positive remarks from studio and network representatives, which likely indicates that the network is going to give it a shot at another season even if, as you point out, the ratings aren’t amazing.

Thanks for listening and commenting. Love to hear from fellow genre TV fans. 🙂

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