TV

Logies 2014 – My picks

Another year, another Logies award night. Filled with far to many musical acts, and international guest who have no clue whats going on, being it the 56th annual night, it looks like they will be with us for a long time more. Here I look at seven of the most popular categories, and determine who I think should win, and who will most likely win, seeing that the Logies are a popularity contest based on the opinion of TV Weeks readers.

MOST POPULAR LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
Should Win: The Project – Slammed by critics at first, and thought of by viewers as a show that would be off the air within weeks, The Project has become the little show that did over the past six years, and has often gotten minimal recognition for it. While it has seen a major change over the past five months, the show is still one of Network Ten’s best performers.

Will Win: Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year Asia – The lovable radio duo have a massive twitter following, who will be the kind of people to vote for the awards. While The Voice took home this award last year, I can’t see this one slipping away from the boys.

MOST POPULAR NEW TALENT
Should Win: Caren Pistorius – Her inclusion to the cast of Offspring, currently one of Australia’s better drama, was a welcome addition. Also is nominated for her work on Redfern Now and Paper Giants: Magazine Wars, so for someone seen as a new talent, she has had a very busy year.

Will Win: Johnny Ruffo – The former reality tv star turned “actor” is part of Home & Away, full of tween/teen viewers, and is also a young male, this category was made for people like him.

MOST POPULAR DRAMA
Should Win: Offspring – While it has been nominated in this category for the past three years, it has failed each time to win, being beaten by Packed to the Rafters and House Husband. The cast of Asher Keddie, Kat Stewart, Eddie Perfect, Matthew Le Nevez, and Lachy Hulme are able to create a kind of show that has both warmth and humor, and keeps the audience coming back for more every year.

Will Win: Offspring – See above

MOST POPULAR PRESENTER
Should Win: Carrie Bickmore – Appears of television every week of the year, while is also the mother to a seven year old. She really is the most deserving winner of a award for presenting, out of the five nominees.

Will Win: Carrie Bickmore – Will be very disappointed if someone like Scott Cam or Hamish/Andy end up winning this.

MOST POPULAR ACTOR
Should Win: Matthew Le Nevez – Part of Offspring’s fantastic ensemble cast, and was Nina’s boyfriend for the past three seasons, in the relationship that really drove the show. Not to mention the impact of his death last year.

Will Win: Steve Peacock – Took out this award last year, beating out many other deserving actors. Don’t see what would change voters minds over the past year.

MOST POPULAR ACTRESS
Should Win: Asher Keddie – Very talent actress, who won last year (and also won in 2011 & 2012). I would not be able to name another Australian actress that could pull of the character that is Nina Proudman, like she can.

Will Win: Asher Keddie – See Above

GOLD LOGIE – MOST POPULAR PERSONALITY ON AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION
Should Win: Carrie Bickmore – When I look at what this award is really about, the most popular personality, I really think Carrie is the standout of the bunch, not to take anything away from the work the others have done in the past year. While many would argue that we shouldn’t be giving out our highest award, to a news reader, I disagree. Carrie is with us, every night of the week, every week of the year. Many others in her position, would of gone about her job, and accomplished it to the standard required. But Carrie has something about her. Her personality, and her openness with not only the joys she has had in life, but the heartbreaks as well, has created a strong bond with viewers. While many made jokes about the amount of times she has gotten emotional or cried on camera, I think this shows she isn’t a robot while presenting the days news.

Will Win: Either Carrie Bickmore or Asher Keddie, and would be very happy with either.

For the times (late night television) they are a-changin’

Recently I have slowly been plowing through Bill Carter’s The War For Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy, getting an in depth and well crafted look into the 2010 Tonight Show host and time slot conflict. The events presented by Carter are fresh to me, as when I was younger names like Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, and Chelsea Handler were not apart of my, now pop culture invested, life, while the two heavy weights of late night, David Letterman and Jay Leno, were known to me, but on a very small scale. It is now less than a week after Letterman’s announcement of retirement, I fear that Carter may be getting ready to pen a follow up to War For Late Night that could be billed as the third in his Late Show trilogy (Carter first documented the 1992 Tonight Show host conflict between Letterman and Leno in The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, & the Network Battle for the Night published in 1994). The 11.30 P.M game is in for a big shake up, and not everyone will come out of it being a winner.

In regard to Dave’s announcement, praise from other public figures such as, Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Ellen DeGenerres, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, and even the President Barack Obama, was shown through their Twitter accounts, but instead of offering the same praise and recognition, most of the entertainment reporters and sites were focusing on who should be his replacement. This is full while knowing that Letterman will be with us on the air for at least another solid year. The Los Angeles Times couldn’t resist the headline, ‘With David Letterman retiring, all eyes on CBS’ next move”. Shouldn’t all eyes be Dave, and his fantastic contribution he has made to television. I guess it must be human nature to speculate about such things, but I was surprised at how many reporters were busy making their own shortlist’s for replacements, all featuring Stephen Colbert and Handler in top contention, while little were looking at Letterman’s achievements. Many need to take a second to note that David Letterman has been on the our television screens, whether it be at NCB or CBS, since 1982. While Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night, and now Tonight Show, flourishes on using Twitter and Youtube to its advantage, those were non existent for Letterman, and others in the field, in the eighties, nineties, and early two thousands. To date he has filmed over 6,000 episodes of The Late Show with David Letterman, and by the time he finishes up, he will have spent more years on the air than the king of late night television, Johnny Carson.

The thing that bugs me most about the lists of replacements is that, even though it is unlikely he will get the job, Craig Ferguson, host of The Late Late Show which follows Letterman on CBS, is not at the top of them (Jesse David Fox and Josef Adalian from Vulture.com has been the only site I’ve seen to list him a top of a candidates list). When your long standing sports coach steps down, do you first interview the assistant, or to you scout out other talents? You first interview the assistant. Look maybe Ferguson doesn’t even want the earlier time slot with more pressure to perform (am I kidding myself, anybody his Ferguson’s position would want that slot), and maybe CBS will have no choice but to go with someone else due to Ferguson’s style, in the same way that Conan O’Brien didn’t work out on NBC’s Tonight Show, as he keep his same style from Late Night, while the NBC executive expected him to continue on with Leno’s ways keeping a broad audience. If Ferguson does in fact get over looked for the gig, which could cause some brand damage to the station, he will be getting a nice pay check for it. His previously inked deals with CBS include a “Prince of Wales” clause meaning Ferguson has the right slide into Letterman’s seat. We all know that if CBS really doesn’t want him to take on that role, a payout, reported between $8 to $12 million, will take place, and most likely Ferguson would walk, leaving not one, but two, shows for CBS to find a host for.

Others featured on the list of potentials are Colbert, who’s contract runs through 2014. Handler made an unexpected announcement that she would leave E! and her show Chelsea Lately once her contract expires at the same time of Colbert, making her available for the Late Show gig. Many believed that maybe a deal had already been struck, as it couldn’t be a coincidence that both announce major news like that within days of each other. Bravo’s Andy Cohen, and O’Brien, who has been at TBS since he walked from the Tonight Show are up for contract renewals in 2015. Even Jimmy Kimmel’s name has been thrown into the mix, as his contract is also up for renewal in 2015. Some have even dared to suggest Letterman’s long time rival, Leno would even be considered. I think Jimmy Fallon’s joke during his “Top Ten reasons David Letterman is retiring”, put it best, by saying “Jay Leno needs a partner for next season’s Amazing Race”. The joke was funny, but it really is true that Leno needs to move away from television, just as Letterman is. Actor’s and actress’ like Jerry Seinfeld, Tina Fey, Neil Patrick Harris, Louis C.K., Chris Rock, and Ellen DeGeneres (who you would think is comfortable in day-time television) have all been considered by reporters. It’s known that CBS are looking to find a replacement sooner rather than latter, which is the right way to do things, so Letterman can enjoy his final year without the focus being on his successor.

When looking at my own views originally I would of given Ferguson the job straight away, and if CBS wants to go with honor and integrity they will most likely go with him, but if they are playing to win, not playing to be nice, then they will most likely go with someone else. While Colbert may be the most critically acclaimed, winning over the critics may not be whats needed to win over The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. CBS needs to attract the young audience. My suggestion would be to bring in Handler (who is already known to be a free agent on the move), who would bring in a heap of female viewers, or Neil Patrick Harris (it is unknown if he would even be interested in such a gig, but being such a popular entertainer, and familiar with young faces after finishing up nine years on How I Met Your Mother, he would be just what CBS are looking for). Handler would really create a point of difference between the three commercial networks. From 2010 onwards we have had Leno, Letterman, and Kimmel. This year we have the two Jimmy’s, and David. All three slot filled by straight white middle aged men. I’m not saying diversity should be added just for the sake of it. I believe in employing the right person for the job regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation, but it would help to add someone different into mix. The only thing with Chelsea is that she has worked for a long time to create her own brand and style at E!, and if CBS are expecting her to change things, it won’t work out. That’s why Patrick Harris could be a better fit.

Of course at the moment only one shows host needs to be found, but if Ferguson does indeed walk from the show, he has nearly worked on for close to a decade, due to not being chosen for Letterman’s job, then two positions will need to be filled. Maybe room for both of my picks? Who ever is chosen looks to become part of the next stage in late night on television. In the past viewers just had one: Carson. Now they have many. With so many chess pieces to pick from, I’m sure a few of them will be sitting in different positions by August 2015.

What to do with a problem like Network Ten?

It’s unfortunate that Network Ten has now become a bit of a joke, after many years of not only coming behind Seven and Nine, but also falling behind the non-commercial ABC. I don’t know how they got to this point, but nothing is working for them. Year after year, they announce a fresh new line up in November, all ready for the new year, only to have thrown in the towel by Easter, which is seen as the closing point on the first quarter of the year. Thinking about it now, Network Ten are similar to the Melbourne F.C, in the way all hope is lost by round five.

More times than not, Channel Ten put out some quality programs. Emphases on the some. What it comes down to is a damaged brand. When people started thinking of Ten, they see them as the kind of people that are putting out The Shire, Being Lara Bingle, I Will Survive, Everybody Dance Now and the deadfall revival of Young Talent Time. We could switch, the nation’s most watched show, My Kitchen Rules over to Ten and it would do poorly there, because at the moment nobody is wanting anything to do with Ten. What I suggest is a full on face lift. Ten need to bring in the bulldozers in and completely start again. Looking at the ratings from the past four days, there is no other way to get out of the hole they have dug.

Starting with Sunday, where Ten had one of their worst days on record with its primary share of 6.2%, but with a bleak line up, what did they expect. Even Eyewitness News is their saving grace, but that couldn’t pull any higher than 500,000, which even for Ten’s standards is very bad. Taking on reality heavyweights (MRK and The Block) was Kung Fu Panda 2, as in recent weeks a movie has replaced the struggling SYTYCD. But this new move didn’t work out, as the kids flick faired even worse that SYTYCD. Elementary also failed but it had little chance when its competitors were Fat Tony & Co and Downton Abbey. Have You Being Paying Attention was a low point for the nights line up with the shows numbers coming in under 200,000. How that show is still on the air confuses me greatly.

The next night didn’t go any better with The Bold and the Beautiful doing better than Aussie drama Secrets and Lies. And even Vikings on SBS was close to beating Ten in a prime time slot. Tuesday and Wednesday was the same. With The Project, Eyewitness News, and Puberty Blues showing the only glimmer of hope.

The Biggest Loser has had its day, and if anyone down at Network Ten has a brain, it will never be seen again. I fear Masterchef will see the same fate as its network reality counterpart in the national ratings. Shows like The Good Wife, Bondi Vet, and NCIS have little appeal to the masses. I know it’s no good for me to say clear out basically their entire programing schedule with nothing to replace it, but they really do need to start afresh.

I’m still LOST

Last week Lost showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof came together for a panel discussion with former cast members, to celebrate the ten years that have passed since the show debuted, at PaleyFest. Stars Josh Holloway, Ian Somerhalder, and Jorge Garcia shared stories from the set, as Cuse and Lindelof once again shot down the idea that the characters were dead the whole time. Other items discussed were how the original Pilot would of worked, how little each cast member knew about there own episode (Yunjin Kim, who played Sun Kwon, knew only that her character could understand English while shooting the first episode), and the Nikki and Paulo situation. Cuse then said something, which I completely agreed with.

“Lost was a show about people on an island in the middle of nowhere, but metaphorically they were lost in their lives [and in need of] purpose and redemption,” Cuse said to a packed Dolby Theater in Hollywood. This is something I realised long before the series final, titled “The End”, was shown on television sets all around the world. The flashbacks, which could sometimes take up to one third of an episode, weren’t there for no reason at all.

The series final, which was watched by 13.5 million households, left viewers with many questions regarding the events they had witnessed during the groups stay on the island. One in particular that was brought up was who was shooting at Sawyer and Juliet’s group while they were on a canoe out at seas, during the period of time when they were suffering another island time shift. The events occur in the season five episode “The Little Prince”. Lindelof reveals, that a scene was written for the finale season, which would of explained it, but thought it would be much cooler to keep it to himself. “We wrote that scene, and it was going to air in the final season, and it definitely answered who was on the outrigger. But all the writers … thought it would be much cooler not to answer. … The scene exists on paper. Years from now, for some excellent charity, we’ll probably auction it off.” Okay, I’m all for donating to charity, but can this auction be now so I can find this out. If it was important enough for someone to be shooting at Sawyer during the time shift, then it’s important enough to tell us why it was happening.

Cuse thinks answering every single mystery would be “didatic and boring”, but I beg to differ. As I said I understand the meaning of the show, but they also added a Sci-Fi element to the show to hook viewers in. If you’re going to grab our attention for six years, please explain what was happening. The first season averaged 18.4 million viewers, all hooked into what the monster was, and what was the purpose of the hatch, and how Locke could suddenly walk. Before the panel, Exodus (Part 1) was aired, which (along which the second part) I would class as, not only one of the best episodes of the show, but one of the best hours of television that I have witnessed. At the end of the second part,
M. C. Gainey as Tom, then credited as “Other”, delivers the chilling line, “We’re gonna have to take the boy”. Walt is snatched from his father’s arms, and the raft Walt, Michael, Sawyer, and Jin were traveling no his blown up. Twenty two days later in island time, Walt and Michael are reunited, and in exchange for Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley, they leave the island together. But it was never fully explain why the Others wanted Walt. I know they will most likely never answer every little question that each individual fan has, but I’m dying to know this one.

Where is The Walking Dead heading?

Two weeks away from this seasons finale “A”, there is still a lot that can happen to our struggling group of zombie apocalypse survivors. The block of back eight episodes have been interesting, in the fact that the writers, really took a chance and kept everyone separated for more than one episode. What I’ve liked even more, is the leap of faith the writers took in hope that the fans would be okay with many of these episodes featuring only one story, for the entire forty-two minutes. The mid season premier, “After”, showed both Rick and Carl, and Michonne, struggling after the events in “Too Far Gone”, but by the end of the episode, Michonne had found the Grimes, and two plots collided into one. The following week during “Inmates”, we discovered where the rest of the survivors were at and followed four different plots; Glenn and Tara (soon joined by Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita), Tyreese and Carol, Beth and Daryl, and Maggie, Sasha and Bob. While the episode offered an update on everyone, it was all too much to be crammed into one week. So in the weeks after we have been treated to “Still”, and “The Grove”.

“Still” followed Beth and Daryl. Not only was it an extraordinary venture to show only two characters for the week, but it was the first time the show had had an episode with no one featured in the comic books. It showed that Scott Gimple, The Walking Dead’s third show runner, was true to his word when he wanted to take some things directly out of the comic, but also keep fans of both the comic and the television show on their toe’s. This followed “After”, which took what happened with Carl and Rick straight out of the book.

Now this weeks episode went along a little differently. “The Grove” saw the deaths of Mika, due to Lizzie’s mental instability, and Lizzie, who is killed by Carol, as she was a risk to others safety. The Walking Dead once again went to a dark place, and it was exciting. This story was also taken from the book, but involved Carl and two other young boys. So in a way they remixed a plot into a different time of the storyline.

Even though these episodes that follow less characters have added a heap of character development, it has been hard to not see Rick for three episodes straight. All this leaves me wondering where the end of the season will lead season five onto. I can only assume everyone will be back together by the season finale, but where are they heading. Will we see more of the men with Daryl, and are they The Hunters? Is the terminus a false hope for the group, or is it the Alexandra Safe Zone from the comics? The name of the last episode makes me think this, seeing as it is titled “A”, but I thought the show would of spent a longer time on the road, before settling down at a new safe place. And how will the group’s dynamics change with the additions of people like Abraham and Tara, who was part of the assault on the prison? With only two episodes left, I’m hoping some of these questions will be answered.

It’s been a long nine years for Ted Mosby & Co.

With How I Met Your Mother wrapping up for good in three weeks, now is the time to start getting emotional and begin to say goodbye to Ted’s gang. It’s been a long journey, sometime to long, but after nine years Ted Mosby is about to meet the one! It’s crazy thinking when the show started way back in 2005, I was ten years old sitting on the couch watching what at first I thought was a pretty strange show, with about a million flashbacks within a flashback and a crazy cast (Seriously, these people made the characters in FRIENDS look normal). I’m nineteen now, sitting on the couch and writing about it. You could say I’ve been as productive as Ted has been in the last nine years.

Over the course of the final season, I’ve been re-watching the first 184 episodes, instead of actually watching the final season itself (I have seen the first few of the final season, but seeing as it takes place over one weekend, I made the decision to binge watch slightly before the finale, on the 31st of March). On my long rewatch, I noticed there was no episode that stood out of the all time best of the best episode for the show. There are a lot that I consider important to Ted’s journey, and many that were laugh out loud worthy, while having nothing to do with Ted finding his future wife, but off the top of my head I couldn’t decide. So I have decided to get the job down and discuss my top thirty HIMYM episodes breaking things down by season.

A post on HIMYM Season 1 will be up tomorrow.

Game of Thrones: Where does the series go from here?

It’s sad that it will come to this, but with George R.R. Martin’s slow writing pace, HBO’s Game of Thrones will most likely over take the book series! The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the long running series A Song of Ice and Fire, is predicted to be in the book stores in 2015, with book seven to be seen who knows when. Even Martin has agreed that this is a problem, saying that “it’s alarming”.

Since the second season, they have started moving plot points either forward or backwards. Take for example Jamie Lannister’s plot from A Storm of Swords being moved into the second season, or Bran’s plot from the latter part of A Clash of Kings, being pushed to season three. So the show has never planned on every season to equal one book. But things are soon going to get complicated soon. With co-creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, announcing this week that they see the show finishing after season seven or eight, the show has a whole lot of content to fit into forty more hours of footage.

It’s good new for us that Benioff and Weiss have been thinking ahead and took a trip down to Santa Fe to map out the end of the series. “Last year we went out to Santa Fe for a week to sit down with him [Martin] and just talk through where things are going, because we don’t know if we are going to catch up and where exactly that would be,” said Benioff. “If you know the ending, then you can lay the groundwork for it. And so we want to know how everything ends. We want to be able to set things up. So we just sat down with him and literally went through every character.”

So it looks as though Benioff and Weiss have their work cut out for them, but as they guys at have been at the helm of the popular fantasy drama for three years, I think the show, and in a way, the whole franchise, are safe in their hands.

Outwit, Outplay, Outlast: My obsession with Survivor (Part ll)

On the arrival of the twenty-eight season of reality tv juggernaut Survivor, I’ve decided to look back on my relationship with a show I love dearly. The show became a cultural and critical success in the summer of 2000 and was originally seen as a fad. Fourteen years latter, Survivor is still going strong, and takes viewers to incredible locations like The Amazon, Guatemala, Vanuatu, China, Palau, Kenya, Samoa, and Australian.

Today on the eve of the premiere of Survivors 28th season, I will continue my look back on the show by listing my favourite contestant, season, tribe.

Contestant -> Parvati Shallow – Cook Islands, Micronesia, Heroes Vs Villains.
While she was seen as just a flirt in her first season, Parvati took a second chance and ran with in it Micronesia. Wile the odds were against her in the Cooks’, she made sure she had strong alliances with the right people, and this time knew when to cut them off. Her return to the game for a third time saw her as a early threat, but she managed to adopt the the conditions and made it to the final three, and was crowned runner up. Many note that she was more deserving than Sandra, who won Heroes Vs Villains. As one of few who is able to recognise how important having a strong social game is, and also being able to compete well in challenges, along with creating one of the strongest alliances of all time, she is easily one of the best players the game has seen.

Other choices were: Rob Mariano (Marquesas, All Stars, Heroes Vs Villains, Redemption Island), Vecpeia Towery (Marquesas), Richard Hatch (Borneo, All Stars), and Rob Cesternino (The Amazon, All Stars).

Season -> The Amazon
This season has so many reasons for being my pick. We had the first battle of the sexes, which went perfectly, giving the game so many cross tribe alliances, after the tribe swift. We also had one of the most memorable moment, that had nothing to do with the game. Heidi and Jenna taking their clothes of in a challenge for peanut butter. A lot of people look highly upon tis season for its unpredictability thanks to Rob C, but really the characters make this season. I don’t think anyone could of predicted that Butch, Rob, Matt and Jenna would end up being the final four, and I would of be fine with any of them winning the whole thing. And top of that, we have one of the most under rated castaways of all time in Deena Bennett. She was just as smart as Rob, until she started talking to the wrong people.

Other choices were: China, Pearl Islands, Palau, and Micronesia

Tribe -> Casaya (Panama)
Never has there been a tribe as dysfunctional, while still being successful, as Casaya. Featuring some legends of the game in the likes of Aras Baskauskas, Cirie Fields, and Shane Powers, the tribe managed to eliminate the completion, until they had to turn on themselves. The result was chaos.

Other choices were Fei Long (China), Mogo Mogo (All Stars), and Tandang (Philippines)

Don’t forget to check out my Survivor: Cagayan recaps at popwrapped.com and look out for my retrospective recaps of the first season of Survivor on this blog.

Outwit, Outplay, Outlast: My obsession with Survivor

On the arrival of the twenty-eight season of reality tv juggernaut Survivor, I’ve decided to look back on my relationship with a show I love dearly. The show became a cultural and critical success in the summer of 2000 and was originally seen as a fad. Fourteen years latter, Survivor is still going strong, and takes viewers to incredible locations like The Amazon, Guatemala, Vanuatu, China, Palau, Kenya, Samoa, and Australian.

 

I remember watching Survivor as a child. A memory of seeing Colby Donaldson and Jerri Manthey in the “Australian Outback” late at night (which was really more like prime time, but it felt like sure felt late at night for a seven year old me back in 2001) has always stayed with me years later. Moving forward to 2003 and I have memories of bad ass Sandra Diaz Twine running her mouth into overdrive telling everyone who’s boss, and a crazy ‘pirate’ , Rupert Boneham, stealing the Morgan tribes shoes. Rupert must have been the ratings help needed at Channel Nine, as the much hated All Stars season was moved back into a decent prime time. I enjoyed the season, but maybe it was because at ten years old, I was there for the characters rather than the non existent strategy. Despite the lack of major strategy from 14 people in Panama for those 39 days, I still enjoy the season to this day. At my young age I loved seeing familiar faces such as Richard Hatch and “Big Tom”, and enjoyed meeting new ones like “Boston Rob” and Shii Ann Hung. The finale and Rob’s Proposal was the most talked about topic at school the next morning. Everyone had watched the show the night before. At the time I wished Rob had taken just one extra vote to become the sole survivor on that last night in Panama. Not to take away from Amber Brkich’s win, it was well deserved as I the last person standing is always deserving in one way or another, but I was a big fan of the “Rob-father” back in the day. Now days I can see how Amber played just as good of a game. 

 

Survivor continued on and the game evolved. My memories post All-Stars include the awesome final four vertical maze challenge in Vanuatu, fan favourite and back-to-back player Stephanie LaGrossa and the Aras/Terry rivalry. Once the show had reached its 15th season, some poeple felt it was on its last legs. The past two seasons were poorly received by fans and cause controversy in the media. But the show hit a mini resurgence around the same time I got back into the show, with the 2007 season putting castaways into the jungles of China. Next I was able to see Micronesia before the how was moved to a digital channel for Gabon. Thanks to the infamous Russell Hantz, the show returned to a place where I was able to watch Samoa, and since then I obsession has continued and grown stronger. 

 

This year I will be recapping Survivor: Cagayan over on popwrapped.com. But I will be doing a look back at the show on this blog. Over this year I will post recaps of old Survivor episodes starting with their first season Survivor: Borneo, and in the lead up to this season I will be making posts on my favourite contestant, season, tribe, alliance, and to fit in with the up-and-coming seasons theme, I will look at previous contestants to find the best brain, beauty and brawn. 

 Survivor: Cagayan airs 8 p.m. Feb, 28 on CBS

 My Survivor: Cagayan recaps can be seen at popwrapped.com/?s=survivor

 

The Walking Dead, Season 4: Looking back and ahead

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Okay, I’ve got something to confess. It wasn’t until recently that I sat down to watch the fourth season (well what has aired so far) of The Walking Dead. I know, I know, I’m a terrible person. From last March I waited for months to see what would become of The Governor, after he slaughtered his own armed forces and drove off with his two henchmen. I did have a valid excuse for not watching the show week-to-week at first, as my end of year exams were happening at the same time, as when the show returned for its fourth season, once again bringing a new show runner. But why has it taken me till the month of January, a full month after the latest episode had aired, to watch a show, which I consider one of my all time favourite. It’s that darn prison! When I found out the the first episode back, titled “30 Days Without An Accident”, would be set three to four months after the Governor last left, and Rick’s group of zombie killing survivors were still at the prison, I didn’t know if the show was heading in the right direction. 

 

Nevertheless I moved forward, to examine what change Scott M. Gimple, the previously mentioned new show runner, had brought to the show. My verdict is a lot and a little both at the same time. Going into the season I felt comfortable with Gimple taking the lead. This is the guy that wrote the critically acclaimed mid season finale of the second season, “Pretty Much Dead Already”, which saved the season, up until that point, from being a total mess. It was also promised going into the season that the zombies would pose as more of a threat, unlike season three, where everyone was walking between Woodbury and the Prison, surrounded by zombies like it was no problem at all.

 

What was meant by zombies being a new threat, was the virus that went around the prison, not the deadly bites one could receive. This was the major plot during the season, but due to the return of the Governor, we only saw its development for the first five episodes, and at times it felt extremely crammed. Although I liked the extended flashback for the Governor during episode six, it took away from the story we had been following for the last five hours, and then to do another whole episode on Phillip/Blake/Governor/or what ever the hell we are going to call him, took a massive chance on what viewers want to see. This season we were promised more character development, and I have a feeling this will be delivered in the back eight, but in the first half of season four, there wasn’t much of it. The character that saw the biggest arc and development, Carol, was exiled in at the end of the fourth episode, “Indifference”, and hasn’t been seen since. She went from a weak woman, who was beat by her husband and didn’t have the courage to do anything of it, do a lady who will do whatever it took for her to survive, admitting that she had become strong. We also saw minor development from Rick and Michonne, and a glimpse into Bob’s alcoholic back story, but with five episodes focusing on the prison (two were spent with Phillip, while the season finale was action packed) there wasn’t much breathing space. I became to appraise Hershel, a lot more this season, and of course the moment I begin to like a character, their head will, quite literally in this situation, be chopped off. But I understand why it had to happen. On The Walking Dead, deaths shouldn’t happen for shock value in the face of viewers, but to further the plot, and this is exactly why Hershel, and his old pony tail, had to go. Hershel, after the death of Dale in season two’s penultimate episode, became the moral compass for the group, and with the group being on the road in season four part two, which is hard enough in itself, will be even worse without Hershel guiding the way. 

 

 The major part of why I loved the mid-season finale, was not due to the incredible amounts of action and violence (although the fist fight between Rick and the Governor was pretty awesome), nor the audience finally seeing the end to Governor, or the fact that they left the prison. It was due to the fact they left the prison, with nowhere to go. The group has faced this before, having to flee the farm, but they had the prison gates waiting for them. This time everyone is on the road, in small groups made up of people that aren’t always seen together. Rick managed to get out alive with the help of Carl, although both were mentally and physically broken after the war and seeing the baby crib without Judith. By the end of this season, I think, Carl, out of all the characters still alive, will have seen the most development. He went from a young child in seasons one and two, then became a child solider, after being responsible for Dale’s death, only for Rick to stop his exposure with guns before he became “too far gone”. Now in the back eight we are told he is in for another major change. Michael Ausiello, founder and editor in chief of TV Line, revealed last month that the mid season premier is Carl’s coming-of-age episode, and that after we will never think of Chandler Riggs “as just a good kid actor – his work here is exceptional”. Daryl ran off with Beth (side note: has Gimple been reading fan fiction?). This pairing excites me. The scene they shared at the start of this season, after Beth’s boyfriend had just died, was incredibly well acted. Regarding the pairing, Norman Reedus teased readers of Entertainment Weekly, saying “Well, you definitely saw them leave the prison together. Whether they stay together is yet to be seen”. Tyreese left with the child warriors.  The introduction of Lizzie and Mika was nice, and maybe in this next block of episodes we can gather more information of who was dropping rats on the prison fences. Tyreese on the other hand, I don’t care as much for. As someone who is half way through Volume three of the comics, Tyreese is one of my favourite characters. But on the show, something isn’t the same, maybe it’s due to there been limited screen time for his character. Glenn and Maggie got separated, leaving Glenn on the bus with people who we don’t see or care about, while Maggie is with Bob and Sasha. 

 

The back eight episodes excite me. We already know of the introduction of comic characters Sgt. Abraham Ford, Dr. Eugene Porter, and Rosita Espinosa. The first hour back, titled “After”, is most likely to focus of just Rick and Carl, and Michonne, while the episode after, titled “Inmates”, might see where the rest of the gang is at. So many questions are left to be answered. Like where Carol been and when will see catch up with her prison pals (my bet is on her running into Tyreese)? Which major character from the comic books will be dying, as previously revealed? And will we ever see Morgan again? Another point of interest is which way the show will follow from the comic books. Maybe The Hunters will pop up, but how long will they wait to arrive at the Alexandria Safe-Zone? The season final, titled “A”, is said to be a very ambitious and leads well in season five. So many questions to be answered. It looks to be an exciting end to a strange (structurally) first half. I look forward to see what Scott Gimple has in store, cause looking back on TWD’s production history, he won’t have much more time to show what else he has. 

 

The Walking Dead returns Sunday, Febuary 9th at 9 p.m. ET on AMC