When It Rains...

I'm not entirely sure where to begin. Just last week, I was kvetching about a lack of material on which to comment. Now there suddenly seems to be a great deal going on.

Let's start off with Christina Applegate who recently underwent a pre-emptive double mastectomy in her battle against breast cancer. I've always been a fan of Ms. Applegate. She's an incredible actress, and she just seems like a swell lady. I wish her nothing but the best.

Then, there's been some talk about a possible Veronica Mars movie. I huffed awhile back regarding chatter about a Friends film and I blasted the idea of a Sex and the City sequel. Honestly, I'm sort of on the fence about a VM movie. I loved the show, but I have reservations, natch.

First, I'm not sure its cult hit, sassy charm would translate to the big screen. The series relied on a season-long mystery, as well as the smaller mysteries-of-the-week. A movie of 90+ minutes would have to deviate from that formula and could just flounder. Secondly, the series ended rather shoddily, and I think it might be best to just leave it be.

On the other hand, there had been talk about a leaping forward several years in the future for a VM spin-off, but the pilot landed with a thud. Perhaps, it could be parlayed into a VM franchise. From what I've read, the project is in production. Honestly, though, the fans I've been in touch with are rather miffed with Rob Thomas, so I'm not sure the film would be received as warmly as he might think.

And, finally, ABC's foreign formats memo. I haven't seen much written about this outside of the blog to which I've linked. Seems pretty straight-forward and not terribly incendiary to me. Mind you, I'm not an attorney, but I've acquired a bit of knowledge from the ones for whom I work. My understanding is that there's nothing illegal about what the studio lays out here. An idea is not protectable; only the fruits of that idea (characters, storylines, locations, etc.) are. So the practice is borderline at worst. Should the memo have been leaked? Probably not. It makes ABC Studios look shady to a layperson. But it's nothing to cause a furor about. Again: Not a lawyer here.

That all came to my attention a couple of days ago. Perhaps the summer wasn't a total bust, after all. Or, even better, this all foreshadows an exciting fall to come!

Brain Hiatus

Y'know, I started this blog because 99% of the time I have something smart alecky and/or insightful to say about what happens on television. Admittedly, that percentage dips to, let's say, 80% of the time when you expand to the entertainment industry in general, but still. But here's the thing: This summer has been supremely boring.

I came in to this thing assuming I'd be posting everyday. But it seems as though Hollywood has taken a summer vacation away from crazy. (Yeah, yeah. I know Shia LaBeouf's dangling his toes in the deep end, but I really couldn't care less about him.) And summer television's been boring.

So You Think You Can Dance? Not as good as last season, in my opinion. Project Runway? The contestants are too aware of being on-camera at all times and have, therefore, spent these first three episodes mugging and tossing out what they think are witticisms like breadcrumbs to lure that pigeon of screen time. Swingtown? Good, but not long for this world. And Mad Men? Too good to be snarked on. Besides, it just started. Even my beloved Kathy Griffin seems to have lost her luster.

Yes, the summer hasn't been particularly noteworthy. But I am very much looking forward to the coming fall season. Some pilots have been "leaked" to the internets, and I can resist their siren call for only so long. And now the teasers and print ads for returning shows have appeared, ramping up my excitement. I unabashedly squealed -- on the train! -- when I saw a print ad for Heroes and sniffled a little when I realized that Pushing Daisies returns in October, not September.

I've never been a boy of summer, anyway. So I'm just biding my time till the new season begins.