Tag: TV

‘The Sandman’ Creator Hints It Being No. 1 on Netflix “May Not Be Enough” for Season 2 Renewal

Netflix is the home of many franchises and there have been quite a few that went on for a surprising amount of time. It seemed as if the company was finally moving away from its two-season death streak but it seems that even getting. multiple seasons are quite the challenge now. Neil Gaiman, the mastermind behind The Sandman comic book series and its Netflix adaptation, has revealed that while the series is in the Top 10 list globally for a third week in a row, it “may not be enough” to secure a second season.

The reveal comes in a tweet by Gaiman when a fan asked for a potential second-season announcement. He also goes on to reveal that the show was quite expensive and that may be one of the reasons the viewership numbers need to continue to grow to truly get that boost for a renewal. We’ve recently seen it with a high-budget production that was Cowboy Bebop that even seemingly had its second season already planned out.

So, if there’s a show you’re excited about then make sure that you are watching it. Netflix has an issue with some stand-out projects potentially diluting their expectations for most projects to achieve. Squid Game managed to pull some massive viewership numbers worldwide but it also raises the expectations for others. Here’s hoping that they might see the potential of a growing viewership for future seasons instead of expecting a Squid Game every time.

Source: Variety

August 22, 2022
‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ From Page to Screen: Episode 1

Another Marvel Studios Disney+ series, another installment of From Page to Screen. Each week, we will compare Marvel comics’ elements to the live-action episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. You can check out previous From Page to Screen series for Hawkeye, Moon Knight, and Ms. Marvel. With the first episode of She-Hulk streaming, it is the perfect time to look at the character’s origin in comics and on screen.

In the comics, as laid out in Savage She-Hulk #1 (1980), Jennifer Walters was a prosecutor who also happened to be the cousin of Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk. Jen was an ambitious lawyer who took her job very seriously. One day, Bruce came to visit her and revealed to her that he was the Hulk, which at the time was more or less a secret to the public. At the time, Jen was eyeing bringing criminal charges against Nicholas Trask, a notorious crime boss. Trask’s goons followed Jen and Bruce as they were driving. When they got out of the vehicle, Trask shot and seriously wounded Jen. Bruce, deciding there was not enough time to get Jen to a hospital, gave her a transfusion of his own blood. The transfusion saved Jen’s life, but gamma radiation in Bruce’s blood caused her to transform into the She-Hulk.

Savage She-Hulk #1

Savage She-Hulk #1

Savage She-Hulk #1

Savage She-Hulk #1

How the Series Handled the Origin

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s first episode focused on Jen’s origin as She-Hulk. While the fundamentals of the character’s comics origin are still in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the live-action version of her origin is undoubtedly significantly different. Still, the basic concept of Jen becoming a Hulk because Bruce’s blood entered her veins made it into the series. Instead of a transfusion, however, their blood accidentally comes into contact after a car wreck. Jen, whose arm is leading from slicing it on some vehicle wreckage, pulls Bruce (who is also bleeding) from the car. Bruce warns her to stay away, but it is too late.

Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk Attorney at Law Episode 1

Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk Attorney at Law Episode 1

Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk Attorney at Law Episode 1

Another interesting component that is present in the comics and series is the car ride. It seems relatively insignificant to the greater story, but both involve tragedy after Bruce visits his cousin. How the car ride turns out, though, is obviously very different. In She-Hulk, Jen is still a prosecutor, but there is nothing about her targeting a crime boss. Instead of being shot, the car goes off a cliff to avoid a Sakaaran ship that blocks the road.

Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk Attorney at Law Episode 1

Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk Attorney at Law Episode 1

Considering She-Hulk is being introduced, essentially from scratch, in the MCU, it makes sense that her origin would be updated to reflect the established universe and also benefit the series. As a half-hour comedy, a more elaborate crime boss backstory could take up too much time if it isn’t particularly relevant. The accidental blood mix-up also streamlines Bruce’s role in Jen’s transition—he may have a lot less emotional investment or guilt surrounding the event if it didn’t involve an intentional choice by him.

We will keep analyzing how the comics are adapted in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law as the series continues. The first episode is now streaming on Disney+.

August 22, 2022
‘House of the Dragon’ – Best & Worst of ‘The Heirs of the Dragon’

Westeros is finally back on television, and there’s a whole lot to be excited about. HBO’s House of the Dragon, the first spin-off and prequel to the smash hit series Game of Thrones, premiered last night after much anticipation. The show had quite the legacy to live up to, and by all accounts, it checked off almost every box it needed to be considered a worthy successor. Coming on the heels of a controversial final season of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon found its rhythm early and picked up where the absolute peak of Thrones left off. However, despite a rather strong start, nothing can be truly perfect. In a new weekly article series, Murphy’s Multiverse will break down both the best and the worst each episode of Dragon has to offer.

The Best – Jousting & the Politics of the Throne

There was quite a bit of good in this wildly eventful pilot episode, aptly titled The Heirs of the Dragon. With King Viserys I Targaryen, played by Paddy Considine, and his family suffering from some hushed health issues, the topic of the next royal heir is more relevant than ever in King’s Landing. This leads to several heated moments between Viserys’ advisors because as in any good court drama, nobody seems to be able to agree on who should gain true political power. The scenes focused on this are perhaps the episode’s most exhilarating, bringing fans back to a time when double-crossing and backhanded planning were the franchise’s main focus.

Specifically, the tension between Matt Smith‘s Prince Daemon Targaryan – a nasty fellow – and Rhys Ifans‘ Ser Otto Hightower – a calculated King’s Hand – proves to be among the very best the premiere puts forward. The two high-ranking officials at first appear to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but small moments throughout the episode hint that they may be more alike than their demeanors suggest. The major difference between them is their execution. Where Daemon is outward with his intentions and desires, often far too aggressively, Otto hides behind a façade of respectability. Both seem to want more power, but where Daemon will say this to his brother’s face, Otto instead sends his daughter to woo a grief-stricken friend. It seems House of the Dragon is setting up an ongoing conflict between its own versions of Aiden Gillen’s Littlefinger and Iwan Rheon’s Ramsay Bolton, which should be enough to bring any viewer back from week to week.

What the Westeros franchise does best, however, is bring together multiple smaller conflicts onto one larger stage. In Heir of the Dragon, this occurs at a joust. The King happily announces to his subjects that the Queen is in labor, something the audience knows to be a dangerous scenario, and allows the festivities to commence. During the “celebration”, nearly every plotline collides, intensified by the tragedy the viewers know is about to play out in the background. Daemon causes a stir, Otto confronts his anxieties, the Princess Rhaenyra questions her future, and men are murdered violently. Everything anyone could want from the show, wrapped up nicely in a single elongated sequence.

The Worst – The Death of Queen Aemma & Alicent’s, *Ahem*, Awkward Situation

It’s odd to call these things the “worst” of the episode when they were both also referenced as part of the “best”, but maybe that just speaks to the complexity of storytelling. Ever since the pilot of Game of Thrones hit the small screen in 2010, uncomfortable situations have been a key part of the viewing experience. The writers and directors on the series would tend to use the raw emotion of disturbing visuals and implications to their advantage, using the planned reactions from audiences to prop up the severity of important moments, and it’s now apparent the creatives behind House of the Dragon will do the same. Either way, the death of Queen Aemma Arryn, portrayed by Sian Brooke, is hard to watch, especially when it’s so obviously unnecessary and unfruitful for the man who ordered it. Yes, the scene works exactly as planned by the writers, but it also felt partly gratuitous to show so many of the gory details.

In a similar vein, watching Otto Hightower “suggest” to his young daughter that she “comfort” the King in his time of need was – to be honest – not great. Again, this is something that comes with the territory of Westeros, and it effectively tells fans everything they need to know about both Otto and Alicent at this point in time, but that doesn’t make it entertaining to witness. Prior Thrones storylines give viewers a pretty good idea of where this is likely headed, and it probably won’t be the fan favorite subplot going forward. Although, who knows? Maybe this is just the beginning of a Sansa Stark-type turnaround in future seasons. Viewers will just have to keep watching to find out.

August 22, 2022
‘House of the Dragon’ Showrunners Explain Why They Chose to Adapt ‘Blood and Fire’ After ‘Game of Thrones’

While Game of Thrones may have gone out with a bit of a whimper, it doesn’t seem to have put a damper on fan expectations for the next show set in George R.R. Martin’s fictional Westeros. Season one of House of the Dragon is set to premiere on HBO Max and fans are hopeful that the GoT prequel series, which is adapted from Martin’s novel Fire & Blood which told the history of the House Targaryen. In an interview with Comic Book, showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik explained why they felt now was the right time to bring that story into live-action.

“The question that I’m left with at the end of Thrones, of the original season, when you start to look at, ‘What do I want to know more about?’ is I’m fascinated by the idea of like, ‘What are Dany’s origins?’ Like, ‘Where does you know, where do these people come from? Why are they so crazy?’ You know, ‘Where did they get that white hair from?’, Saponchik told Comic Book.

For Saponchik, that meant Fire & Blood, which details two opposing sides of what he calls “Targaryen exceptionalism”, provided the perfect answer to those questions.

I mean, those are, I think that this answers those questions and gives you a real sense of Targaryenism. We’ve got a thing in this show which we call Targaryen exceptionalism, which is an argument, a kind of a philosophical argument that often happens between Viserys and his brother, where one sees the future of Targaryens belongs to the dreamers, who are the people, the occasional characters, the occasional Targaryens who have prescient vision and see the future as they did see the end of Valyria. And then there’s the old school, Fire & Blood Targaryens like our character Daemon, who really think that everything should be conquered and conquest is everything.
Miguel Saponchik

To Condal, going from a world where Targaryens were a rarity to one where they ruled everything made for a more compelling story.

If you really think about it this is the most obvious successor show to pursue. “I mean, the minute George pitched it to me, a million years ago is, ‘Oh, this is the one that I want to do the most.’ It made the most sense because it’s, we didn’t get to know anything about the Targaryens in the original series, not really. I mean, we got to know Daenerys very well and Viserys a little bit, until he was melted. And so it’s fascinating to go from that world where there were no Targaryens and they were trying to reclaim the scraps of this empire to a time when, the height of their power and decadence and glory and see what it was actually like when they were in power with dragons.
Ryan Condal

As for the disappointing ending of Game of Thrones, much of which fans tie to Martin never completing his novels, Saponchik doesn’t believe that’s a concern for House of the Dragon. Not only are Saponchik and Condal dealing with a complete story, but they also have a definitive end point in mind. “We have a very, very precise idea of where we wanna go with it, but we can’t tell you.” As for whether there are more stories on either side of House of the Dragon, Saponchik calls upon another expansive mythology for comparison saying, “I think that the important thing is that this is a… Think of this as an Episode IV, the Star Wars Episode IV. So it’s kind of, we’re in the middle of a history that is rich and full of stories to tell and it’s a good place to start.”

For fans of Martin’s novels or those who fell in love with the World of a Song of Ice and Fire by watching Game of Thrones, this is a surprising comparison, to be sure, but a welcome one.

Source: Comic Book

August 21, 2022
‘Ally McBeal’ Sequel Series in Development

It looks like She-Hulk, Attorney at Law has revived a classic genre, as the legal dramedy Ally McBeal might be making its return after two decades. The five-season series will act as a follow-up and focus on a new lead, a young black woman who joins the law firm from the original series after law school. She’ll be the daughter of Ally McBeal. Calista Flockheart has been approached to potentially set to reprise her role.

Karin Gist of Mike fame is set to executive produce and write the series. It does seem like Flockhart’s potential return hinges on the script but there’s hope that the series will start moving forward. The original series was created by David E. Kelley and was an Emmy-winning series at the time. The creator has also seemingly given his blessing to the new project and stepped out to let a new generation handle it.

It seems that 20th TV has actively been looking into reviving the franchise for years, especially after Disney acquired the studio. ABC’s focus on female-driven character dramas made it the perfect home but nothing is definite in the streaming era. It’s ironically not the first revival of a series like this, as NBC’s Night Court did something similar.

The timing is also perfect as She-Hulk is currently using a lot of inspirations from that era of law dramedy to offer something with a heroic twist. It may also be a showcase that Disney was quite happy with the format and saw the potential in once again pushing this revival a bit stronger internally. We’ll see how it develops once more news arrives on the project.

Source: Deadline

August 19, 2022
‘Black Sails’ Actor Joins Netflix’s ‘One Piece’

It looks like many One Piece actors are slowly updating their CVs with the latest show. While any official announcements have been quite seldom, it does seem that the site Pursch Artistes has updated quite a few of its actors’ resumes. Just recently we found out that Warrior actor Grant Ross is tackling the role of Genzo and now another one can be added to the list.

As first shared by @OP_Netflix_Fan on Twitter, it seems that Tamer Burjaq has updated his CV confirming he’s working on the One Piece series. Not only that, but he also revealed that he’s taking on the role of Higuma. The actor has quite the resume which includes DREDD 3D, Dark Tower, Black Sails, Tomb Raider, and many more.

In the case of who exactly Higuma is, the character isn’t a major player in the One Piece story but definitely a memorable one. He’s technically the first villain that Luffy faces in his youth, as he’s a mountain bandit that ends up in a fight with Shanks. Of course, we don’t know if the live-action adaptation may make some tweaks or changes to the original introduction of the character, but with the confirmation of a young Luffy in the cast, we’ll very likely get the iconic Romance Dawn flashback.

There is some confusing information included, which is the fact that it hints that director Emma Sullivan is involved with the episode that includes the actor. At this point, it seems like they may have defaulted with the director, as it was hinted that she’s involved with two episodes. At this point, she’d be directing an Arlong Park episode, Baratie, and even Syrup Village. For now, we’ll have to see once more information finds its way online.

Source: Pursch Artistes

August 19, 2022
‘Shitt’s Creek’ Actor Joins ‘Sex Education’ Season 4

As the upcoming fourth season of Sex Education is seemingly losing a few veteran actors, it has seemingly added seven new faces to the dramedy. Among them is the big reveal that Shitt’s Creek‘s Dan Levy will have a role in the series. He’ll join Thaddea Graham, Marie Reuther, as well as newcomers Felix Mufti, Anthony Lexa, Imani Yahshua, and Alexandra James.

The Hollywood Reporter has also shared a first look that features the returning Asa Butterfield and Mimi Keene in the upcoming fourth season. there’s also an image of Dan Levy as well as Emma Mackey.

Four cast members have left the project, which includes Tanya Reynolds, Patricia Allison, Simone Ashley, and Rahkee Thakrar. The story will continue where the third season left the cast-off, as Moordale Secondary was closed. The following description was shared for the new season that hints at what exactly is happening in the fourth season.

Following the closure of Moordale Secondary, Otis and Eric now face a new frontier — their first day at Cavendish Sixth Form College. Otis is nervous about setting up his new clinic, while Eric is praying they won’t be losers again. But Cavendish is a culture shock for all the Moordale students — they thought they were progressive but this new college is another level. There’s daily yoga in the communal garden, a strong sustainability vibe and a group of kids who are popular for being … kind?! Viv is totally thrown by the college’s student-led, non-competitive approach, while Jackson is still struggling to get over Cal. Aimee tries something new by taking an Art A Level and Adam grapples with whether mainstream education is for him. Over in the U.S., Maeve is living her dream at prestigious Wallace University, being taught by cult author Thomas Molloy. Otis is pining after her, while adjusting to not being an only child at home, or the only therapist on campus.

Levy will take on the role of Thomas, a U.S. tutor at an Ivy League college. The roles for the rest of the new additions have not been shared yet.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

August 19, 2022
HBO Max Seemingly Removed 200+ ‘Sesame Street’ Episodes

At this point, it feels like any news or discovery surrounding HBO Max leads to some rather dark realization about what exactly is happening with Warner Bros. Discovery. There was a laundry list of shows that were pulled from the service, such as Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Infinity Train, and even Elmo’s Not-Too-Late Show. As it turns out, that wasn’t all that was removed.

As uncovered by Tough Pigs, it seems that around 200 Sesame Street episodes were quietly removed from the service. According to their research, it seems that 250 legacy episodes were removed from the streaming service. They share that 29 episodes from the first 38 seasons still remain on the service.

The service was the home of the largest amount of Sesame Street episodes. The whole point of streaming services was to offer an archived home for iconic franchises, TV Shows, and movies that people want to revisit. Sesame Street has quite the legacy and having access to the series is perfect for those seeking the nostalgia to share with their kids.

Warner Bros. Discovery is pulling a lot from HBO Max, which was revealed to save money on tax and residuals. They’ve outright taken shows down but removing the episode opens up even more questions on what exactly the point is. If they aren’t trying to keep these shows for a later release on the new combined streaming service. At this point, there’s a discussion

Source: Tough Pig

August 19, 2022
‘She-Hulk’ Head Writer on Jennifer Walters’ Future in the MCU

With the debut of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newest superhero has been introduced into the franchise. As the final Disney+ series of the MCU’s Phase 4, plenty of fans are curious where Jennifer Walters could be headed in Marvel Studios’ explosive Phases 5 and 6.

Recently, Mark Ruffalo, who plays Bruce Banner aka the Hulk, stated that “there’s not going to be another Avengers without [She-Hulk],” suggesting that the new hero will be a consistent presence in future films like Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. Now, She-Hulk head writer Jessica Gao has further emphasized the likelihood of Jen appearing in those two Avengers films. When asked on Deadline’s Hero Nation Podcast if She-Hulk would appear in Kang Dynasty or Secret Wars, Gao said:

I would be shocked if they didn’t start putting her in the movies, especially the group team-up movies.
Jessica Gao

Of course, even the series’ head writer’s comments are no guarantee of She-Hulk’s future in the MCU, as creators are notoriously kept in the dark about the future of their characters beyond the current project. Gao explained her approach to making one season of a show while knowing that the superhero may have a larger future down the road:

Coming from television, you can never guarantee that you’re going to get another season with a first season show. So it’s kind of been trained into my head that, on a first-season show, you really have to tell a complete story that you’d be satisfied with if this is only a one-and-done. Just because there’s never a guarantee, you just never know if you’re going to get another season, so you can’t really hold back and just leave things open-ended. You do have to tell some sort of satisfying arc in one season just in case, and then of course you leave the door open for possibilities for a second, third, and fourth season. So that was kind of my mental approach to it.
Jessica Gao

The first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now streaming on Disney+.

Source: Hero Nation Podcast

August 19, 2022
Head Writer Explains Why the Disney+ Series Changed ‘She-Hulk’s Origin

Marvel Studios’ latest series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, recently premiered to critical acclaim and positive reception from fans. The series explores Jennifer Walters, a lawyer who becomes a Hulk after being exposed to the gamma radiation-infected blood of her cousin, Bruce Banner. In She-Hulk, Jen ends up gaining her powers due to accidental blood contamination after she and bruce were in a car accident.

Those familiar to She-Hulk’s origin in comics noticed that this scene plays out differently in the source material. In Marvel comics, Jen’s life is put in serious jeopardy after members of a mob she was prosecuting attempt to murder her. In order to save her life, Bruce decides to give her an transfusion of his blood. After Bruce’s Hulk blood is in her system, Jen begins to transform into the She-Hulk.

In an interview with Gizmodo, the show’s head writer Jessica Gao commented on why the show settled on the car crash and a large mysterious spaceship as the catalyst for Jennifer’s origin instead of a mob hit:

Well, there are several factors. First, the head honchos at Marvel specifically didn’t want it to be the mob hit… it just didn’t feel like it fit with everything. But for me, having watched this Bruce Banner, this Hulk, through all the years and all the different MCU movies, it just felt like we saw him be really tortured by this. This was not a gift. He really saw it as a curse. It forced him to not have any relationships. He spent several years, like really, really tortured by it and not viewing it as a good thing. And it took him that long to get to a place where he can just accept it and learn to live with it. So to me, it didn’t make sense for that guy to then willingly give this curse to somebody that he cares about. His cousin, who he really loves. It just didn’t seem right and true to the character and it didn’t make sense to me. So I didn’t want to do that.
Jessica Gao

Omitting the backstory of a mob hit also allowed She-Hulk to essentially start from scratch and avoid unnecessary backstory. Removing the blood transfusion element also impacted Bruce’s character after Jen turns into a Hulk. Gao explains these practical reasons the origin was changed for the live-action series:

From a practical angle, we just needed to be able to start the origin story very quickly… I didn’t want to have to spend half an hour setting something up…If you do a mob hit, it’s like, ‘Well, then why? What happened?’ Let’s just get to the meat of everything. And also the nature of making it an accident takes a lot of the pressure off of the guilt that Bruce would feel having given this to Jennifer because, in the show, we really see how she struggles with it and how she also, like him, doesn’t really view it as a gift at first. So I think that would really change their dynamic if he was completely responsible and that he made the choice for her.

The first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is not streaming on Disney+.

Source: Gizmodo

August 19, 2022