New Years Resolutions

Tradition has it that you make resolutions at the beginning of each new year, marking goals for yourself and attempting to achieve them the best that you can. Since TV is such an important part of life for us here at NiceGirlsTV, it only makes sense to have resolutions that relate to our viewing options. But my column today is going to be more about recommendations to our readers about TV resolutions that you should consider making. Move slightly beyond your “norm” and watch something different. Get an insight into a different genre than is customary for you. Watch a program or movie that a friend or family member- or even a NiceGirl – has suggested you watch that you just haven’t gotten around to watching yet. C’mon, the new year is almost here and why not live a little (wink).

With this thought in mind, the following list will show just a few recommendations that I would like to see our readers (and even your family and friends) watch over the course of the new year; especially those who have never considered watching any of them before. If you’re like me, and you’ve already seen the following shows and/or movies, then you’re ahead of the game; and if not, take a chance at something new or different. You just might be pleasantly surprised by how much fun you have watching them:

1. Firefly (the series) and Serenity (the movie) – This Joss Whedon-created series that lasted only one season on FOX is touted as one of his best creations and has legends of fans all over the world. Set in a tumultuous future where the everyday man was pitted against the Alliance, that world’s central federal government, was heavily influenced by a Western motif and infused with sci-fi tech. Despite the failure of the series at the hands of the network brass, audiences all over the world embraced the show, making it one of the most in-demand DVD sets upon its release. That demand helped Whedon and Universal Pictures to produce the theatrical release Serenity, bringing the original cast to the big screen, advancing the story beyond what was able to be depicted on TV.

2. Battlestar Galactica – The reimagined series based on the classic, albeit cheesy, 1970’s series created quite an uproar among diehard fans of the original when it was announced to be in production. But soon, it won over a multitude of fans the world over and became a revered series that was gripping, hard-hitting and gritty. The series wasn’t just about Cylons versus human beings; it was about adversity against any foe, surviving at all costs and became a series that delved into multi-levels of character development not just the world of science fiction. In fact, the series won a Peabody Award in 2005 for excellence in television. This series is best watched in its proper order: first, the mini-series that started it all in 2003, then the series that aired in the US from 2005 to 2009 interspersed with the 2007 movie Razor and ending with the 2009/2010 movie The Plan.

3. Everwood – This wonderful family drama that aired for four years on the (then) WB network chronicled the lives of the Browns and the Abbotts, seemingly polar opposite families brought together by their patriarchal doctors’ rivalry. The Browns were a well-to-do Manhattan family, who moved to small town Everwood, Colorado, after the death of mother Julia (Brenda Strong, Desperate Housewives), where Dr. Andrew Brown (Treat Williams) opened a new and free clinic directly across the street from long-time town doctor Harold Abbott (Tom Amandes, Eli Stone); thus beginning the rivalry and the slowly joining of the two families by way of Ephram Brown (Gregory Smith) and Amy Abbott (Emily VanCamp, Brothers & Sisters).

4. Pushing Daisies – The colorful world of Couer d’Couer and the Pie Hole came to live in this visually stunning series that lasted merely two seasons on ABC. The series was about Ned (Lee Pace), an unassuming pie maker who had a special talent: with one touch he could bring any person or thing back to live after death, but with the second touch they were permanently dead. He used his gift on his childhood love, Charlotte “Chuck” Charles (Anna Friel), and with the help of his reluctant friend and private detective, Emerson Cod (Chi McBride); they worked to solve bizarre deaths and murders. Each episode was a masterpiece in color; almost like a storybook come to life; and the characters depicted in each episodes were uniquely different and quirky.

I could keep going with recommendations of other personal favorites in both television and movies; but the list would be never-ending. But, the above are a good start and hopefully they will capture your heart, make you think and/or simply entertain you. Have fun!

So Many Activities, So Little Time (and Money)

My weekly blogs for the last couple of weeks have been about the events, activities or movies I have attended or seen over those weeks; and this week’s blog isn’t much different. Living in Los Angeles affords the residents many special opportunities to participate in a wide variety of events like conventions, free movie screenings and Paley Center panels (just to name a few) as long as you are aware of the many events that take place in this huge metropolis, that is.

Fortunately, since moving here from the East Coast over 9 years ago, I’ve learned about many of the television related events that are held throughout the city of Los Angeles (and elsewhere) and have been even more fortunate to meet so many wonderfully diverse and fun people along the way.

Thanks to the short-lived CBS series Moonlight, which debuted on the network back in September of 2007, I meet a multitude of terrific ladies all of whom fell in love with the show much like I did. Despite the demise of the show, the Moonlight fans from the Los Angeles area – or to be more specific – those fans who live in Southern California – have remained friends and we continue to hold get togethers nearly every month.

One such get together was this past weekend, as a number of us attended the Paley Center for Media’s “Vampire Weekend,” which featured free screenings of past Paley events such as the True Blood Paley Fest event and the Moonlight Panel. Since all of us attending Saturday’s screenings were in attendance at the Paley’s salute to the show back in April of 2008 – and because of the headiness of the night – we wanted to relive all the wonderful moments and see the panel with fresh eyes.

It was interesting, to say the least, to see the playback of that night, but also a bit disappointing since the playback wasn’t quite as good as we had hoped; not because the panel was bad or anything like that; but more so because the quality of the recording wasn’t as good as it could have been. Regardless of the quality, it was a fun outing for all of us and it was nice to relive the night and remember what could have been.

Next up on the calendar of activities is the Third Annual Firefly/Serenity Convention, run by Creation Entertainment, that will be held this coming weekend (November 21 and 22) at the Marriott Hotel near the Los Angeles Airport.

The special guest stars for this weekend include the following:

Nathan Fillion – now the star of the ABC series Castle
Morena Baccarin – now the star of the ABC series V
Adam Baldwin – now the star of the NBC series Chuck
Alan Tudyk – a guest star in the ABC series V
Mark Sheppard – versatile actor who has appeared on Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse, Warehouse 13, Bionic Woman, Burn Notice and much more
Yan and Rafael Feldman – who appeared in the Serenity movie as twins Mingo and Fanty

This will be another fun activity for my friends, including some from the Southern California Moonlight fans (otherwise known as the SoCal Freshies) to get together and have fun; and see these great stars in action. You can rest assured that Nathan and Alan will be at their funniest over the weekend, Morena will look amazingly beautiful, Yan and Rafael will regale us with stories from the set of Serenity and Adam will be at his dead-pan finest.

If you live in the area or will be visiting sunny California that weekend; and most important of all, if you are a Browncoat or a fan of any of these fine actors, try to hit up the LAX Marriott Hotel and join in the fun. You can learn more about the Third Annual Firefly/Serenity Convention at the following website: http://creationent.com/cal/serenity.htm.

Oh, and by the way, you can get your picture taken with any of these actors or get their autograph (as long as you don’t mind spending a little bit of green in order to get them). After all the holidays aren’t that far off and what fan wouldn’t love to have an autographed photo of these great folks.

I hope to see some of you there. You’ll know me by the screams of delight in the dealer room as I fawn over pictures of Moonlight, Legend of the Seeker, Chuck, Pushing Daisies and many, many more… What can I say; I’m a sucker for 8 x 10 photographs and am an avid collector of postcards and buttons. Now if I could just work that into my budget somehow….off to do some math to make it all work…

So many activities, so little time (or rather money)…

Having a Blast; NiceGirls Style

This past week I had the chance to attend two unique and fun events very much in line with the ‘celebration’ of Halloween. On Wednesday, I attended the Paley Center for Media’s look Inside the Writers’ Room of the fan favorite HBO series True Blood. You can see my full write-up on the panel itself at both True-Blood.net and SciFiTVZone.com sometime this week.

As a regular viewer of the show – and I have to preface this with the fact that I’m not a fan of the show (per se) even though it is a cult favorite and a good guilty pleasure series – it was interesting to learn the inner workings of the talented writers on this series.

The audience was appreciative of Executive Producer Alan Ball and his staffs’ work and the careful details they provided for Season 3. While they were rather elusive on specifics, it was fascinating to learn their process and get a behind-the-scenes look at how True Blood is put together.

On Friday night, I attended the Second Annual Halloween Charity Screening of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog as well as the screening of the entire second season of the internet series The Guild, starring Felicia Day which was coordinated by the folks behind Whedonopolis.

Felicia Day made a special appearance at the event and while we all would have loved for Nathan Fillion or Joss Whedon to have been in attendance, it was nice to know they are hard at work on their respective shows, Castle and Dollhouse.

Much like my write-up for the True Blood event, you can read my full article about the charity screenings via SciFiTVZone.com, also, sometime this week.

Next week I will be going to another event at the Paley Center for Media: this time a retrospective on the WB hit series Dawson’s Creek with expected appearances by James Van Der Beek, Meredith Monroe, Busy Phillips as well as Creator/Executive Producer Kevin Williamson.

Next Saturday I was supposed to attend an in-store appearance at Barnes & Noble by the cast of the new FOX musicomedy Glee. But, I recently learned wristbands were to be given out at 9 AM this morning; and given the fact that my friends and I (who were going to make the Glee appearance a group event) all have to go to our day jobs, so the Glee event won’t happen after all: much to our chagrin and disappointment.

Lastly, a few weeks from now Creation Entertainment will be holding their annual Firefly and Serenity convention, featuring guest appearances by Nathan Fillion, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, Mark Sheppard and Yan and Rafael Feldman. This event is always fun and entertaining; and I’m sure this year will be no different.

Such is the life of a NiceGirl in California and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Why Isn’t Dollhouse A Bigger Hit?

Fox decided to pull Dollhouse from the schedule during November sweeps, choosing to air reruns of House in that timeslot instead. What does Fox see as a result? A 62% increase in ratings. With a rerun. (The rerun also trumped ratings for new episodes of Brothers and ‘Til Death, but I don’t watch them so I don’t really care.)

I really like Dollhouse and think this season has been promising so far with some excellent guest casting and intriguing stories. The timeslot is a problem for me, but I DVR it and watch it over the weekend along with my other Friday night shows like Psych and Ugly Betty. Fox seems to be one of the few networks who thinks DVRing is a good thing, and I’m not a Nielsen family, so I don’t feel guilty about it. I’ve had the opportunity to sit in on conference calls with Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku, saw them and other show folks at Comic Con, and they all seem like nice people with loads of talent. So what’s the deal? Why isn’t the show a bigger hit? I don’t have the answers, but I have some possibilities.

1. The Fox/Whedon Combo: are fans of Firefly scared to trust Fox with Joss Whedon’s new creation? Fox gave Dollhouse a second season in a move that even surprised Whedon considering season 1’s low ratings. With a vote of confidence like that, shouldn’t Whedon’s fans be willing to have faith in Fox?

2. Darker Content: Dollhouse is arguably Whedon’s darkest series yet, although every series he’s created is rooted in a disturbing foundation (vampires and demons abound, The Man wants to experiment on anyone with special aiblities, aliens want to wear your skin, etc.). Dollhouse does have the least amount of humor, however. Do we need that levity to make the show accessible?

3. The Fan Campaign: months before Dollhouse premiered on Fox, a fan campaign to save the show sprouted up online. It was an innovative idea, attempting to rally the fans before the show was actually in danger, but did it have the reverse affect? If the idea is already planted that the show is in danger, will potential viewers simply decide not to waste their time and opt not to tune in at all?

What do you think? Is it the network? The content? The fans? What gives?

Captain Tightpants Rides Again!

We’d heard the rumors, we set our DVRs in anticipation, and we were rewarded: in the opening sequence of last night’s Halloween-themed episode of Castle, Nathan Fillion’s Richard Castle broke out his “space cowboy” costume (aka Firefly’s Captain Malcolm Reynolds) and had some fun. Until his daughter brought him back to earth in a way only teenagers can.

Watch the entire episode on Hulu and watch for the Buffy reference.

Guest Stars Galore on Dollhouse (SPOILERS!)

As Dollhouse continues production on its unexpected second season, the list of guest stars is getting us pretty excited. So far FOX has announced that Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica, Horatio Hornblower), Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Firefly), Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica), Keith Carradine (Dexter) and Alexis Denisof (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) have signed on for various roles. Here’s what we know about them so far:

• Jamie Bamber appears in the season premiere as Echo’s new husband (presumably he has hired Echo to pose as his wife).
• Summer Glau begins her guest spot in the fifth episode of the season, scheduled to air in October. Set for at least 2 episodes, Glau plays Bennett, aDollhouse employee who shares a past with Echo.
• Alexis Denisof a U.S. senator leading a witch hunt to track down the Dollhouse. Which means we’ll see him in a suit. I approve!
• Michael Hogan comes to the Dollhouse hoping to stop a psychotic family member’s killing spree, which we hope means Sierra gets to kick some butt again.
• Keith Carradine is a nemesis of Adelle DeWitt’s and comes to stir up some trouble. Because Adelle doesn’t have enough of that laying around.

Also returning with multi-episode arcs for season two are Amy Acker as Whiskey/Dr. Saunders and Miracle Laurie as November/Madeline. Dollhouse returns Friday, September 25 at 9/8c on FOX.

Dollhouse at Comic Con

Warning: Spoilers ahead for “Epitaph One”!

Joss Whedon, as Adam Baldwin put it on Saturday, is “a Comic Con god.” I don’t think that’s an understatement given the reaction to Dollhouse’s thirteenth episode, “Epitaph One”, and the way everyone reacted to the forty-five minutes that followed the episode. Without a moderator, the panel took the form of questions from the large crowd in Ballroom 20.

At the start a fan yelled, “Can we get answers?” before Whedon gave a cryptic reply about not really wanting to answer that one. The first official question asked if either Victor or Whiskey/Dr. Saunders would ever be “fixed” from their less than perfect states. Whedon confirmed that it will happen at some point, and added that he’d like to hire the questioner to the writing staff.

Next Whedon joked “I met him” when someone asked why he cast Alan Tudyk as Alpha, before giving a longer answer about Tudyk’s  Shakespearean readings that cemented the role.

Another fan asked what Whedon was reading, and he replied back with “Julie and Julia”, before going into a Julia Child impression.

Dushku was asked which character she liked playing the most, and she responded with a few of the characters from various points in the season.

Still inspired by his past cast members, Felicia Day’s appearance in “Epitaph One” came from a suggestion of Sarah Fain, one of the Dollhouse writers/producers. Whedon went on to say that Alexis Denisof will appear in an episode this season, and “if the stars align, a little Glau.”

A male fan asked Dushku what sort of person she might have been if she weren’t an actor, but Whedon beat her to the punch by responding with “ a missionary”, cueing much fan applause.

Following that a fan complained about how Whedon has a tendency to kill off her favorite characters. Whedon wanted to know who her favorite Dollhouse character was, but she declined to comment for fear of losing him/her. He finally answered that he either didn’t like people, or that he kills characters because of the story (or, in some cases, as the contract allows).

Issues of ethical treatment of the dolls will be addressed, at some point. Since the dolls, as property of each house, and can die, the issue of what happens to that original personality is germane. Whedon revealed that Inara, in Firefly, was in fact dying, but that wasn’t why she had the syringe.

Whedon cautioned that the future as seen in “Epitaph One” is not necessarily what we will see happen on the show. The memories from those imprints might not be true, but the future from that episode will inform the show. On a related note, the three remaining characters at the end of “Epitaph One” will be in the premiere this season.

When one fan asked about the planet names in an episode of Firefly had any reference to The Tempest, Whedon called himself “the laziest man alive” in part because he also created an Illyria.

Whedon confirmed that there will be a Dr. Horrible sequel at some point, though no date was given.  Dushku then segued nicely into Dichen Lachman and Fran Kranz coming up on stage for the remainder of the panel.

Whedon’s writing process was hard to capture from his quote, but he did mention a large board with broad comments about each character – such as “is whipped”, “is a doll”, etc. -  as well as little heads of each character for the dart board.

The context has been lost on my audio recording, but there was a very fun jab at Heroes for the feudal Japan storyline from Book Two. That received a good laugh from the audience. [Melissa's note: I believe the quote was, "I think that as long as we don’t send anyone to Feudal Japan, we’re pretty much okay.”]

The next question went to a little girl who asked “Echo” if she was going to be in season two of Dollhouse after talking about a movie Eliza is planning to shoot. Joss quipped with a “talkie” joke, after Dushku explained that the movie will not conflict with shooting Dollhouse.

Towards the end a question was asked about the similarities between the Reavers and the controlled zombies from “Epitaph One” before talking about other similarities between some aspects of Serenity and Dollhouse. Later, the final question asked about the theme of big corporations and their intents. Whedon came back with a long answer about the way in which these companies manage to get everyone to want what we might not need.

Shiny!

Early this year, one of my friends told me I needed to watch Firefly, Joss Whedon’s short-lived space cowboy odyssey. After many a delay, I sat down the other week to watch the series before attending a charity screening of Serenity, the movie after the series ended.

Like many of the shows I watch on DVD, I do so fairly quickly (call it a drawback to not working during the summer, or an advantage.) This time, I went in knowing a few things (mostly from one of my friends who spoiled a moment in Serenity, which I was happy to know about before I watched.) It didn’t deter watching the show–mostly because I knew there was an ending, no matter how quickly put together.

However, what I noticed more (like I do in just about every show) is the number of guest stars. But, I also paid close attention to the complicated world that was created. It took so much for me to reconcile the depressed conditions on most of those planets with the fact that space travel is possible.

One of the better moments while watching the movie came before the aforementioned spoiler happened (yes, I will be good and not give it away, but) when my friends were starting to get nervous and teary eyed while I sat in blissful ignorance. We all talked about it after, with me watching the scene without question, whereas my friends wanted to look away and not watch.

When the show aired, I’m certain I wouldn’t have watched (oh, the main reason being a lack of a TV in my early college years), but given what I’ve been watched since, the show has a new place in my heart.

So, long live Captain Tightpants, and guns are shiny!

Nice Boy of the Week: Alan Tudyk

After last week’s Dollhouse season finale, you may wonder why we would choose Alan Tudyk as our Nice Boy this week. Well, he didn’t always play a psycho killer with multi-personalities. Firefly and Serenity fans know him as “Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburne”. He was a Nice Boy! He was the voice of “Sonny” in I, Robot, another Nice, er, Robot Boy. How about “Wat Falhurst” from A Knight’s Tale? All Nice Boys, making him well qualified for the position here at NiceGirlsTV.com.

Alan Tudyk was born in El Paso, Texas and grew up in Plano, where he attended Plano Sr. High. In 1990, he went on to study drama at Lon Morris Jr. College. While there he was awarded the Academic Excellence Award for Drama. He was also named “Most Likely to Succeed” and “Sophomore Beau.” During this time Alan was an active member of the Delta Psi Omega fraternity.

After leaving LMJC, Alan went on to study at the prestigious Julliard conservatory, but left in 1996 before earning a degree.

After a number of smaller stage productions, and a small role in the movie Patch Adams, Alan landed his first Broadway role in 1999 with Epic Proportions. He quickly became a sought-after comedic actor, with roles in such films as 28 Days and A Knight’s Tale.

In 2002, Alan got the role of Wash, the wise-cracking pilot of Serenity on the short-lived series Firefly. Though the series lasted only eleven episodes, this may be Alan’s most well-known and loved role. No other networks would buy the failed series, but Universal Pictures began courting creator Joss Whedon to produce a big screen version of the series.

While awaiting the final news of Firefly’s fate, Alan played the beloved “Steve the Pirate” in the movie Dodgeball and the voice of the robot “Sonny” in I, Robot.

In 2005 Alan finally reprised the role of Wash in Serenity, the feature film version of the series Firefly. The same year he went back to Broadway from June to November, taking over the role of Lancelot for Hank Azaria in the successful musical Spamalot.

More recently, Alan was heard to be attached to the remake of the sci-fi series, V, still in production.

Whedon’verse Alum Take Over TV

It’s no secret that Joss Whedon is a hero here at Nice Girls HQ. As if pimping Dollhouse for months prior to its debut wasn’t enough of a clue, we have a (possibly annoying) habit of gleeing over various Whedon alumni whenever we encounter them on the airwaves or in real life (see: Comic Con). So you’ll understand that I really have no choice but to dedicate this week’s column to all of the Whedon alumni who are currently working on pilots or actually have TV shows on the air at this very moment.

Currently on TV

Eliza Dushku
Formerly: Faith, Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel
Now: Echo, Dollhouse
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 3

Amy Acker
Fomerly: Fred, Angel
Now: Dr. Claire Saunders, Dollhouse
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 2

Summer Glau
Formerly: Prima Ballerina, Angel; River Tam, Firefly/Serenity
Now: Cameron/Allison, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 2/3*

Nathan Fillion
Fomerly: Caleb, Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Captain Malcom Reynolds, Firefly/Serenity; Captain Hammer, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog
Now: Rick Castle, Castle
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 3/4*

Adam Baldwin
Fomerly: Jayne Cobb, Firefly/Serenity
Now: Major John Casey, Chuck
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 1/2*

Alyson Hannigan
Fomerly: Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Now: Lily, How I Met Your Mother
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 1

David Boreanaz
Fomerly: Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
Now: Seeley Booth, Bones
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 2

Michelle Trachtenburg
Fomerly: Dawn, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Now: Georgina, Gossip Girl
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 1

Felicia Day
Fomerly: Vi, Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Penny, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog
Now: Codex, The Guild
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 2

Mark Sheppard
Fomerly: Badger, Firefly
Now: Tanaka, Dollhouse; Jim Sterling, Leverage; Romo Lampkin, Battlestar Galactica
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 2

Neil Patrick Harris
Fomerly: Dr. Horrible, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog
Now: Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 1

Coming Soon to TV

Anthony Stewart Head
Fomerly: Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Now: Uther Pendragon, Merlin (coming to NBC this summer)
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 1

Sean Maher
Fomerly: Simon Tam, Firefly/Serenity
Now: Drop Dead Diva (coming to Lifetime this summer)
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 1/2*

Sarah Michelle Gellar
Fomerly: Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Now: The Wonderful Maladys (pilot for HBO)
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 1

Morena Baccarin
Fomerly: Inara, Firefly/Serenity
Now: Anna, V (pilot for ABC)
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 1/2*

Alan Tudyk
Fomerly: Wash, Firefly/Serenity
Now: Drew, Untitled David Kohan/Max Mutchinick Project (pilot for ABC)
Number of Whedon Projects to Date: 1-3**

Did I miss anyone? Do you have scoop on a Whedon alum who may be returning to our TV screens soon? Leave a comment below and let me know!

*Technically, Firefly and Serenity are two different projects. However, the movie is obviously a continuation from the series, so it’s up to you to decide how to number them.

**SPOILER WARNING: Alan Tudyk may be in another Whedon project, but that is currently unconfirmed. Sort of. It’s complicated.