Unrelated to the newsletter topics... last night's "What We Do In The Shadows" was insane, even by the standards of the show. Is there anything rejected in the writer's room because it feels as if they will do anything and everything and it always works.
Rewatched S1-2 of The O.C. a year or so ago. Still fun, but man did they burn through plotlines. Relationships come and go in 2-3 episodes, affairs appear out of thin air and somehow Julie Cooper wasn't in jail for multiple crimes.
The first season was crazy entertaining, but they pulled more will they/won't they stunts with Marissa and Ryan in that run than all of Ross and Rachel in 9 seasons.
Wait a second. Did they really pay Paul Calderon to come in and play the protagonist from the book who Raylan replaces for only a few seconds with no lines of dialogue? Or are we going to see Raymond Cruz again later?
Schwartz and Savage realized that the 20th anniversary was coming up, wanted to do a book, and asked me to, given that they remembered the silly first one.
I got caught in the disappearance of Minx from HBO. I forgot to watch the finale and when I saw that HBO had canceled it, they'd already deleted the whole show, couldn't watch the last ep. And I don't have STARZ.
I recommend watching the finale! The entire first season and was good, and I'm enjoying season 2 very early in it so far. As for STARZ, I don't have it either, but there's ways around watching it through STARZ itself.
Man, I really miss your weekly recaps of Justified! I just got through City Primeval over the holiday with my family and I think it's the first time I've ever disagreed with your review of the show. I love the original show and can't even recall how many times I've watched it. But I expected a different version of the show with City Primeval, and boy did we get that. And not in a good way.
I thought the first episode was fine but by the time we got into the middle half of the show, it struck me as a series of momentum missteps. Olyphant is predictably great and on paper, he's surrounded by such a talented supporting cast. But the series quickly changes to a Raylan-less story, or rather he's a supporting character in Carolyn's story. And this is where the problem begins. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is pretty great in everything and City Primeval is no exception but Carolyn is not nearly a compelling or interesting enough character to keep the audience engaged. We don't know enough about her, we don't care enough about her, and her subplots (dealing with her ex, dealing with Sweety, dealing with Raylan) just kill the mood. I saw in your review that you mentioned she is "arguably the best female foil Raylan’s ever had" which made me excited before I saw the series and now I'm left wondering, huh? It would have made sense if they had teamed up as eventual friends with some fun banter (kind of like Wendy Crowe/Raylan in Season 5). But the actors have comically no chemistry or sizzle. The series spends little to no time invested developing that fling, so it's up to the actors to telegraph some sort of connection. And there's nothing there. Boy was I glad when Winona (Natalie Zea) showed up at the end though. Even in that 2.5 minute scene, the scorching chemistry between actors was apparent. Plus, I always welcome more Winona!
I'd also add that the inclusion of Willa was very tough to get through. I have no issue with the character of Willa but the execution was borderline Michael-Rapaport-playing-a-Florida-Crowe terrible. Vivan Olyphant seems like a sweet girl but between the stilted acting and the baby voice mixed with mumbles, I'm not sure how any casting director thought she was a good choice. A huge miss!
Alan, I love your writing, but I have 0 interest in The O.C., I'm sorry. Never watched a second of it, and I don't really plan to ever. But I hope many other people buy the book! Justified: City Primeval is great so far, and I heartily welcome the return of Raylan Givens to television. I hope they can keep doing new stories, if they all want to, with Raylan and Elmore Leonard stories and just keep using the character, a la the Evil Dead franchise telling different horror stories that involve the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. So glad Minx is back! It's fun, light, and frothy in the best way, just like it was last season. Thank you to STARZ for picking up that one up and a big middle finger to Zaslav for ditching it after it was mostly filmed. What an absolute prick. Hope all is well with you and non-TV stuff and excited to read your next piece of writing.
When you say you really like everyone in Justified, I'm assuming you didn't add, "Except Vivian Olyphant, who both plays Raylan's daughter and, as you can tell by her last name, is Timothy Olyphant's real-life daughter." Cause ... man, she is very, very not good. I don't like crapping on kids and I'm sure she's trying but it's painful when she's onscreen, and sad that nepotism got her the role instead of an actually talented actor.
As my review says, I have mixed feelings on that performance. But she grew on me over the course of things, she has obvious family chemistry with her dad (which isn't always the case in these situations), and Raylan tends to be funnier when he's around her than when he's around a lot of the other new characters. Funny Raylan is always a good thing, in my book.
She also seems about 3-5 years too old to be Willa, assuming the fictional world of Justified ran from 2010-2015 just as the show did. In terms of the show's run she would have been born in 2013-14, making her 9 or 10 today, not the 15 or so she's in this.
This reminds me of the weird age continuity issues Better Call Saul had with Mike's granddaughter Kaylee, who was too old given what we learned of her in Breaking Bad.
Olyphant did an interview and said they went back and forth on the age and how much of the timeline they were going to fudge. They considered making the character younger but were attracted to the idea of making her a ticking clock since she's close to leaving home just as Raylan is due for mandatory retirement.
To clarify though, Justified did not actually cover 5 years. Graham Yost has said that the series covers about 2-2.5 years total. And by the end of the series, we get the additional 4 years added on to that, so Willa is about 4. She would definitely be younger on the show if they stuck to the actual math. But that didn't really bother me. What bothered me besides the fact that the actress was just not up for the task, she definitely did not look 14-15 at all. It's funny that this post includes The OC because her casting was giving me Ben Mckenzie playing a teenager vibes. It's not THAT bad but she definitely looked like an adult playing a teen.
I think the original show pretty much stated that the prime part of its' run took place over a few years (at most) and that the only part that was set in 2015 were the tag scenes at the end with Ava, Boyd and Winona with young Willa.
I have to heavily disagree, honestly. She plays the part of an annoyed-kid-who's-dragged-along-into-things-because-of-her-dad very well. I mean, I assume it's not a super difficult role for her to play, virtually every kid is forced to do stuff at some point or another because of their parents, but she plays pouty and annoyed at Raylan's bullshit very well, I feel like. We can have different opinions and that's totally cool, but I'm very curious what specifically you have an issue with? She feels very lived-in and naturalistic to me, personally, in the role.
Unrelated to the newsletter topics... last night's "What We Do In The Shadows" was insane, even by the standards of the show. Is there anything rejected in the writer's room because it feels as if they will do anything and everything and it always works.
Rewatched S1-2 of The O.C. a year or so ago. Still fun, but man did they burn through plotlines. Relationships come and go in 2-3 episodes, affairs appear out of thin air and somehow Julie Cooper wasn't in jail for multiple crimes.
Oh, we talk a LOT in the book about how rapidly they brought plotlines to a close, which had huge short-term benefits and even huger long-term costs.
The first season was crazy entertaining, but they pulled more will they/won't they stunts with Marissa and Ryan in that run than all of Ross and Rachel in 9 seasons.
Congratulations. I was hoping that your next book would be about Better Call Saul.
I'm auto-buying the Better Call Saul book when it comes out! Sorry Alan, never watched The O.C. and don't particularly care to, but perhaps one day.
Wait a second. Did they really pay Paul Calderon to come in and play the protagonist from the book who Raylan replaces for only a few seconds with no lines of dialogue? Or are we going to see Raymond Cruz again later?
Alan, what was your inspiration/motivation for revisiting the show in great detail?
Schwartz and Savage realized that the 20th anniversary was coming up, wanted to do a book, and asked me to, given that they remembered the silly first one.
I got caught in the disappearance of Minx from HBO. I forgot to watch the finale and when I saw that HBO had canceled it, they'd already deleted the whole show, couldn't watch the last ep. And I don't have STARZ.
Minx was a fun show that was perceived only for the dicks. I'm glad it's back (even though I will have to subscribe to STARZ for a while).
I recommend watching the finale! The entire first season and was good, and I'm enjoying season 2 very early in it so far. As for STARZ, I don't have it either, but there's ways around watching it through STARZ itself.
Can't wait for the book!
Man, I really miss your weekly recaps of Justified! I just got through City Primeval over the holiday with my family and I think it's the first time I've ever disagreed with your review of the show. I love the original show and can't even recall how many times I've watched it. But I expected a different version of the show with City Primeval, and boy did we get that. And not in a good way.
I thought the first episode was fine but by the time we got into the middle half of the show, it struck me as a series of momentum missteps. Olyphant is predictably great and on paper, he's surrounded by such a talented supporting cast. But the series quickly changes to a Raylan-less story, or rather he's a supporting character in Carolyn's story. And this is where the problem begins. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is pretty great in everything and City Primeval is no exception but Carolyn is not nearly a compelling or interesting enough character to keep the audience engaged. We don't know enough about her, we don't care enough about her, and her subplots (dealing with her ex, dealing with Sweety, dealing with Raylan) just kill the mood. I saw in your review that you mentioned she is "arguably the best female foil Raylan’s ever had" which made me excited before I saw the series and now I'm left wondering, huh? It would have made sense if they had teamed up as eventual friends with some fun banter (kind of like Wendy Crowe/Raylan in Season 5). But the actors have comically no chemistry or sizzle. The series spends little to no time invested developing that fling, so it's up to the actors to telegraph some sort of connection. And there's nothing there. Boy was I glad when Winona (Natalie Zea) showed up at the end though. Even in that 2.5 minute scene, the scorching chemistry between actors was apparent. Plus, I always welcome more Winona!
I'd also add that the inclusion of Willa was very tough to get through. I have no issue with the character of Willa but the execution was borderline Michael-Rapaport-playing-a-Florida-Crowe terrible. Vivan Olyphant seems like a sweet girl but between the stilted acting and the baby voice mixed with mumbles, I'm not sure how any casting director thought she was a good choice. A huge miss!
Alan, I love your writing, but I have 0 interest in The O.C., I'm sorry. Never watched a second of it, and I don't really plan to ever. But I hope many other people buy the book! Justified: City Primeval is great so far, and I heartily welcome the return of Raylan Givens to television. I hope they can keep doing new stories, if they all want to, with Raylan and Elmore Leonard stories and just keep using the character, a la the Evil Dead franchise telling different horror stories that involve the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. So glad Minx is back! It's fun, light, and frothy in the best way, just like it was last season. Thank you to STARZ for picking up that one up and a big middle finger to Zaslav for ditching it after it was mostly filmed. What an absolute prick. Hope all is well with you and non-TV stuff and excited to read your next piece of writing.
When you say you really like everyone in Justified, I'm assuming you didn't add, "Except Vivian Olyphant, who both plays Raylan's daughter and, as you can tell by her last name, is Timothy Olyphant's real-life daughter." Cause ... man, she is very, very not good. I don't like crapping on kids and I'm sure she's trying but it's painful when she's onscreen, and sad that nepotism got her the role instead of an actually talented actor.
As my review says, I have mixed feelings on that performance. But she grew on me over the course of things, she has obvious family chemistry with her dad (which isn't always the case in these situations), and Raylan tends to be funnier when he's around her than when he's around a lot of the other new characters. Funny Raylan is always a good thing, in my book.
She also seems about 3-5 years too old to be Willa, assuming the fictional world of Justified ran from 2010-2015 just as the show did. In terms of the show's run she would have been born in 2013-14, making her 9 or 10 today, not the 15 or so she's in this.
This reminds me of the weird age continuity issues Better Call Saul had with Mike's granddaughter Kaylee, who was too old given what we learned of her in Breaking Bad.
Olyphant did an interview and said they went back and forth on the age and how much of the timeline they were going to fudge. They considered making the character younger but were attracted to the idea of making her a ticking clock since she's close to leaving home just as Raylan is due for mandatory retirement.
To clarify though, Justified did not actually cover 5 years. Graham Yost has said that the series covers about 2-2.5 years total. And by the end of the series, we get the additional 4 years added on to that, so Willa is about 4. She would definitely be younger on the show if they stuck to the actual math. But that didn't really bother me. What bothered me besides the fact that the actress was just not up for the task, she definitely did not look 14-15 at all. It's funny that this post includes The OC because her casting was giving me Ben Mckenzie playing a teenager vibes. It's not THAT bad but she definitely looked like an adult playing a teen.
I think the original show pretty much stated that the prime part of its' run took place over a few years (at most) and that the only part that was set in 2015 were the tag scenes at the end with Ava, Boyd and Winona with young Willa.
I have to heavily disagree, honestly. She plays the part of an annoyed-kid-who's-dragged-along-into-things-because-of-her-dad very well. I mean, I assume it's not a super difficult role for her to play, virtually every kid is forced to do stuff at some point or another because of their parents, but she plays pouty and annoyed at Raylan's bullshit very well, I feel like. We can have different opinions and that's totally cool, but I'm very curious what specifically you have an issue with? She feels very lived-in and naturalistic to me, personally, in the role.
Season 1 of The OC was great stuff. But overall, Dawson’s Creek > The OC.