In episode 1 of "Constellation", Jo uses her iPad (of course, because on Apple TV+ Android products do not exist) and we see that she has the Apple TV+ app. Does that mean that she can watch the show she is on?
You're spot on in your criticism of the Pizzolatto seasons of TD, but you missed one relevant flaw: the treatment of women in those seasons suggests some retrograde sexism at best, outright misogyny at worst. Given his comments on the new woman-run/centered season, you gotta call him out on his sexist BS.
On the question of remaking something that failed, I think Asimov's I Robot is crying out for a proper TV series after the poor movie version / will smith vehicle. Could be an anthology with all the various I Robot short stories or a grander narrative with Susan Calvin in the centre but that builds around ethical implications of AI etc.
It’s time to revisit the worlds of Sid and Marty Krofft. H.R. Puffenstuff and Witchy Poo going at it in GoT mode. Sigmund and the Sea monsters but as a Stephen King horror piece. A gritty reboot of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl that fully deals with the minefield of a gay May December relationship between working vigilantes.
Reading some of the cryptic descriptions of Constellation, it almost sounds to me like the NBC show Awake. Jason Isaacs played a detective who after a car crash was living in two realities, one where his wife died and his son survived the crash, and one where his wife survived but son died. Too bad it sounds like the show fizzles out after its initial premise.
It's not a "this should have been good" show so much as one that too few watched and even fewer remember, but I would love to see someone tackle a NOWHERE MAN remake. Then again, if Paramount would just see fit to put the original on its streamer, maybe we could just watch that.
I was hoping you'd comment on Mischa's remarks and provide some context as I honestly wasn't sure how much credence to give them. I appreciate your insights, as always.
Also, it takes a lot of humility to acknowledge potential shortcomings in your work and an unturned stone. Kudos
I remember being so excited about the movie Tomorrowland. Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof, secret societies in Disney Parks--how could it miss? But it ended up being a collection of lots of cool ideas in search of a coherent plot. I think there's a great movie in there somewhere.
Does anyone remember that super weird fawning profile written about Pizzolatto before S2? I wanna say it was for Vanity Fair or something but it’s got a real “Me and my leather jacket are so dark and mysterious” vibe
I’m fairly certain he thinks he’s David Duchovney from Californication.
I’m someone who enjoys season 1. All of it. I don’t get the people who complain about the whole “it wasn’t supernatural” thing. Season 2 was hilarious for how over the top it was(that shootout! What was that?). I haven’t even seen season 3. Season 4 was the worst TD I’ve seen. It was contrived & lacked the atmosphere and sense of dread haunting every frame.
The problem with the shows is this. S1 was great because of Rust & Marty. And the atmosphere. Those two characters are unbeatable so any other show feels lesser.
As for Avatar. Why bother? Live action will never ever be able to come close to the greatness of that show. It just costs too much money to do it the right way. The only anime to live action adaptation I’ve seen come close to the look and feel of the original is Speed Racer. That’s how you do it. Forget about physics and grounded reality. Just go for it. Avatar is not Game of Thrones. But the biggest problem is the main character. Aang. Unless they found a real diamond in the rough no kid actor is going to be able to do that character justice. Unless they go back in time to get Jonathan Ke Quan as Short Round to play Aang. Now that kid had the perfect energy for Aang.
Something else that bothers me with shows like Avatar or Wheel of Times & many others. None of the worlds feel lived in. Actors wear too much make up, with perfect bleached white teeth, perfect hair, impeccable costumes. No. No. No. characters in a TV show shouldn’t look like a cosplayer! That’s what I see when I look at Aang and Katara. Cosplayers. Dear costume designers: Dirty it up! Look at the Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Why do you buy into those worlds? The costumes don’t look brand new! They look dirty and lived in. The characters habe dirt and grime on them after long travels. It’s just a minor but important detail many shows get wrong.
True Detective:S4 found interesting ways to narratively and thematically tie itself to S1 and riff on some minor elements from that season, but it didn't go very far with any of it and ultimately acts as an homage more than anything else. Sunday night I referred to it as a sort of stand-alone sequel that doesn't require any knowledge of S1 to work on its own, yet having that knowledge makes all the Easter eggs and thematic allusions fun to discover and appreciate.
Pizzolatto can be unhappy that they alluded to S1 but the way he's chosen to react is crass, unprofessional, and demeaning to the folks behind S4. He certainly isn't helping himself by rekindling the critiques made of his work in the past.
He's still getting an EP credit on the new season, so he got paid for it even if he wasn't a part of the process. It all stinks of a guy who is angry the world at large moved on from him after the disastrous failure of True Detective:S2.
I think Dark Tower is one of the top choices for someone to take a chance again to make it a good adaptation, likely on the small screen. It had the opposite problem of Constellation - stuffing too much in a short amount of time.
I saw the Night Country finale as it aired but even though I’d voiced my support for going the day-after chat route I haven’t been able to comment until now for life reasons. Sigh.
While I definitely enjoyed it overall and very thankfully have no issues with how the potential supernatural aspects were handled, I kinda rolled my eyes when *that* line from S1 was uttered and I found the reveal of how the men ended up out on the ice right on the edge of being a perfect answer that satisfyingly called back to the first episode and being a massive infodump out of left field; even now it has a weird sort of superposition in my head.
I did read through the chat and have to say that I’m less in favor of that avenue now because I’d forgotten that chats are presented with a far more frustrating interface than regular posts like this, at least for those of us accessing Substack via the website. Or maybe it’s just me.
I really appreciate your perspective on True Detective. I missed the chat somehow, but I loved this season and was staring to feel like the black sheep amongst friends. I think it may have to do with the fact that I am more spiritual than many of them…
This was a great reminder that I have your OC book still in my stack to read. Excited.
In episode 1 of "Constellation", Jo uses her iPad (of course, because on Apple TV+ Android products do not exist) and we see that she has the Apple TV+ app. Does that mean that she can watch the show she is on?
You're spot on in your criticism of the Pizzolatto seasons of TD, but you missed one relevant flaw: the treatment of women in those seasons suggests some retrograde sexism at best, outright misogyny at worst. Given his comments on the new woman-run/centered season, you gotta call him out on his sexist BS.
On the question of remaking something that failed, I think Asimov's I Robot is crying out for a proper TV series after the poor movie version / will smith vehicle. Could be an anthology with all the various I Robot short stories or a grander narrative with Susan Calvin in the centre but that builds around ethical implications of AI etc.
It’s time to revisit the worlds of Sid and Marty Krofft. H.R. Puffenstuff and Witchy Poo going at it in GoT mode. Sigmund and the Sea monsters but as a Stephen King horror piece. A gritty reboot of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl that fully deals with the minefield of a gay May December relationship between working vigilantes.
Reading some of the cryptic descriptions of Constellation, it almost sounds to me like the NBC show Awake. Jason Isaacs played a detective who after a car crash was living in two realities, one where his wife died and his son survived the crash, and one where his wife survived but son died. Too bad it sounds like the show fizzles out after its initial premise.
It's not a "this should have been good" show so much as one that too few watched and even fewer remember, but I would love to see someone tackle a NOWHERE MAN remake. Then again, if Paramount would just see fit to put the original on its streamer, maybe we could just watch that.
The Bionic Woman. And for god's sake, let a woman run it.
I was hoping you'd comment on Mischa's remarks and provide some context as I honestly wasn't sure how much credence to give them. I appreciate your insights, as always.
Also, it takes a lot of humility to acknowledge potential shortcomings in your work and an unturned stone. Kudos
I’m thrilled that Issa Lopez is doing another season! And has an overall deal.
I remember being so excited about the movie Tomorrowland. Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof, secret societies in Disney Parks--how could it miss? But it ended up being a collection of lots of cool ideas in search of a coherent plot. I think there's a great movie in there somewhere.
I feel like John Carter could have been much better than it was, and is a franchise in wait of a better adaptation.
Does anyone remember that super weird fawning profile written about Pizzolatto before S2? I wanna say it was for Vanity Fair or something but it’s got a real “Me and my leather jacket are so dark and mysterious” vibe
I’m fairly certain he thinks he’s David Duchovney from Californication.
I’m someone who enjoys season 1. All of it. I don’t get the people who complain about the whole “it wasn’t supernatural” thing. Season 2 was hilarious for how over the top it was(that shootout! What was that?). I haven’t even seen season 3. Season 4 was the worst TD I’ve seen. It was contrived & lacked the atmosphere and sense of dread haunting every frame.
The problem with the shows is this. S1 was great because of Rust & Marty. And the atmosphere. Those two characters are unbeatable so any other show feels lesser.
As for Avatar. Why bother? Live action will never ever be able to come close to the greatness of that show. It just costs too much money to do it the right way. The only anime to live action adaptation I’ve seen come close to the look and feel of the original is Speed Racer. That’s how you do it. Forget about physics and grounded reality. Just go for it. Avatar is not Game of Thrones. But the biggest problem is the main character. Aang. Unless they found a real diamond in the rough no kid actor is going to be able to do that character justice. Unless they go back in time to get Jonathan Ke Quan as Short Round to play Aang. Now that kid had the perfect energy for Aang.
Something else that bothers me with shows like Avatar or Wheel of Times & many others. None of the worlds feel lived in. Actors wear too much make up, with perfect bleached white teeth, perfect hair, impeccable costumes. No. No. No. characters in a TV show shouldn’t look like a cosplayer! That’s what I see when I look at Aang and Katara. Cosplayers. Dear costume designers: Dirty it up! Look at the Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Why do you buy into those worlds? The costumes don’t look brand new! They look dirty and lived in. The characters habe dirt and grime on them after long travels. It’s just a minor but important detail many shows get wrong.
True Detective:S4 found interesting ways to narratively and thematically tie itself to S1 and riff on some minor elements from that season, but it didn't go very far with any of it and ultimately acts as an homage more than anything else. Sunday night I referred to it as a sort of stand-alone sequel that doesn't require any knowledge of S1 to work on its own, yet having that knowledge makes all the Easter eggs and thematic allusions fun to discover and appreciate.
Pizzolatto can be unhappy that they alluded to S1 but the way he's chosen to react is crass, unprofessional, and demeaning to the folks behind S4. He certainly isn't helping himself by rekindling the critiques made of his work in the past.
He's still getting an EP credit on the new season, so he got paid for it even if he wasn't a part of the process. It all stinks of a guy who is angry the world at large moved on from him after the disastrous failure of True Detective:S2.
I think Dark Tower is one of the top choices for someone to take a chance again to make it a good adaptation, likely on the small screen. It had the opposite problem of Constellation - stuffing too much in a short amount of time.
I saw the Night Country finale as it aired but even though I’d voiced my support for going the day-after chat route I haven’t been able to comment until now for life reasons. Sigh.
While I definitely enjoyed it overall and very thankfully have no issues with how the potential supernatural aspects were handled, I kinda rolled my eyes when *that* line from S1 was uttered and I found the reveal of how the men ended up out on the ice right on the edge of being a perfect answer that satisfyingly called back to the first episode and being a massive infodump out of left field; even now it has a weird sort of superposition in my head.
I did read through the chat and have to say that I’m less in favor of that avenue now because I’d forgotten that chats are presented with a far more frustrating interface than regular posts like this, at least for those of us accessing Substack via the website. Or maybe it’s just me.
I really appreciate your perspective on True Detective. I missed the chat somehow, but I loved this season and was staring to feel like the black sheep amongst friends. I think it may have to do with the fact that I am more spiritual than many of them…
This was a great reminder that I have your OC book still in my stack to read. Excited.