Last night was what Carl Binder referred to as “the perfect storm of television”. On tap: The Office, My Name Is Earl, 30 Rock, Survivor, Grey’s Anatomy, AND American Idol.
The best line of the night came on My Name is Earl. Beau Bridges, as Earl’s father, gifts his son with his grandfather’s baby rattle – giving it a shake and informing him “Those are Indian teeth.”
The best moment of the night came in The Office. A confused little kid wakes up in the dead of night, glances across the room and finds Dwight Schrute sitting a rocking chair, watching him sleep: “You’re awake. Finally.”
The best sequence of the night was 30 Rock‘s nod to The Bodyguard. Tracy Jordan is swept off his feet and whisked off to safety by two beefy behemoths as Whitney Houston sings I Will Always Love You.
The best awkward moment of the night came during Survivor. As the two tribes face off in a contest that requires them to negotiate a slippery track, perennial loser Sylvia attempts to slide across the slick expanse on her belly – only to travel a few feet before stopping cold. As her opponent charges ahead, she attempts a futile breast stroke across the greasy surface and then, realizing she isn’t moving, grins foolishly at camera. Needless to say, the rest of her tribe wasted no time in sending her packing.
Also, while watching t.v. last night, I couldn’t help but note that many of the most talented actors on my favorite shows are all too often overlooked when it comes to award shows and media coverage. For example:
Grey’s Anatomy
Who gets the press: Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl.
Who should get more press: Chandra Wilson for her performance as the most believable character on television – Dr. Miranda Bailey.
The Office
Who gets the press: Steve Carell.
Who should get more press: Rainn Wilson as the unique and infinitely annoying Dwight Schrute.
My Name is Earl
Who gets the press: Jason Lee.
Who should get more press: Jaime Pressly. Holy Smokes, does she kick as Earl’s white trash ex-wife Joy.
Friday Night Lights
Who gets the press: No one.
Who should get the press: Kyle Chandler for his subtle but striking turn as Panther head coach Taylor.
House
Who gets the press: Hugh Laurie.
Who should get more press: Hugh Laurie.
Boston Legal
Who gets the press: James Spader and William Shatner – unarguably well-deserved.
Who should get more press: Even though he’s not a series a regular, Christian Clemenson’s turn as Jerry “Hands” Espenson is nothing short of brilliant.
Finally, I would be remiss if I failed to mention this season’s first America Votes installment of Idol. Thankfully, I didn’t watch it live so I was able to fast-forward through most of the show only to be ultimately disappointed by the manner in which Seacrest booted the losing contestants. Where was the cruel aloofness of season‘s past? The callous toying of emotions? I much preferred last season’s misdirect tactics wherein he would blindsind contestants along the lines of “Now before we find out the results of tonight‘s vote, I want to ask…Karen, I understand you’re performing tonight for your sick grandfather and I was just wondering – KARENIT’SYOU!YOU’REGOINGHOMETONIGHT! HOWDOYOUFEEL?!HOWDOYOUFEEL?! NOW SING US OUT!”
Today was wall-to-wall meetings as we prepped the opening two-parter Adrift and Lifeline. Happily, halfway through the props meeting a package arrived. It was compliments of Stargate fan Carolina and it included: duck confit, foie gras, lavender honey, almond paste cookies, dark chocolate rochers, mixed chocolate bars, and dark chocolate thins. Thanks to Carolina but I must stress that you didn‘t have to do that. Still, it was much appreciated – and enjoyed (director Martin Wood particularly enjoyed the dark chocolate thins – he’s a chocolate man). Incidentally, Carl Binder has informed me that he intends to start a blog which will focus on his great love of precious metals. Again, thanks, Carolina.
Oh, thanks to all the fans over at Gateworld who have taken the time to create threads in my honor. Special mention should be made of poster minigeek who’s thread “Fan opinion has ZERO impact on storytelling, Mallozzi says” is interesting if not misleading given that I never said these words attributed to me. In the spirit of fairplay, I have started an alternate blog titled “I eat small puppies, minigeek says” which can be found here: http://ieatsmallpuppiesminigeeksays.wordpress.com/
Thanks to everyone who has written in and I’ve reached the point where I’m receiving more questions than I can keep up with. I’ll try my best to get around to as many as I can. David F. from my old Cinar days, I received your comment. Send me another with your email and I’ll intercept it before it reaches the public page. Now, let’s field a few questions –
Jessica writes: “You might want to ask David Hewlett about the boos he got when he mentioned that Amanda was going to be in 14 episodes at a recent con in the UK. That’s right. People booed.”
Answer: Well, David Hewlett may have been surprised when a certain group of fans booed an actress for doing nothing more than accepting a job to help support her family, but me – not so much. What can I say? Congratulations to all those who embarrassed themselves and the performers who made the long trek to spend time with you all. Classy.
Jessica also writes: “Where is the logic in getting rid of two Atlantis fan favourites and risking losing their fans, just in the hope of getting a few people from SG1 to watch.”
Answer: Allow me to clear up a assumption on your part, specifically the fait accompli belief that any creative decision made with regard to Weir was a result of Carter joining the show. In fact, the opposite is true. After a decision was made with regard to Weir, we entertained a number of possibilities – three in particular come to mind. In the end, we decided on Carter because – a) it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while, and b) her strengths and backgrounds make her well-suited to the Atlantis environment. Holding the Samantha Carter responsible for any upcoming changes would be akin to holding the Cameron Mitchell character responsible for O’Neill’s departure or blaming the General Landry character for Hammond’s exit.
Pattirose4: “What if anything can the fans do let TPTB know that we would like a bloopers included on a season set?”
Answer: Nothing more. You told me and I had a conversation with Ivon Bartok (our Special Features Producer) regarding this very topic. I can only speak for Atlantis and, if everyone signs off, we may see bloopers in a future DVD release.
Jenny Robin writes: “I spoke with 2 people today who have read Dan Simmons’ ‘Terror’. They both said is was ‘really spooky’ and ‘great’, which, while being very general statements are still thumbs-up in nature. Have you had a chance to read it yet?”
Answer: I brought the huge hardcover tome home after showing it off to Martin Wood (who is a big Dan Simmons fan as well). I just finished Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow and will start The Terror tonight.
Jenny Robin also writes: “If your writing staff were to challenge each other to a series of arm wrestling matches, who would emerge victorious?”
Answer: Hmmmm. Tough call. I’d probably give it to Paul because of his competitive spirit and the spirit in his eyes. Also, he’s probably the strongest.
Anonymous #1 writes: “I wish there is an episode with nobody but McKay. McKay going offworld by himself, he’d fly a jumper too.”
Answer: How about instead of heading off-world, he’s coming back from the mainland and his jumper crashes into the ocean and we get to spend the entire episode with him alone, trapped underwater, while Atlantis scrambles to locate him before it‘s too late? We can call it…McKay’s Underwater Advenure.
Lynn writes: “Can a person hope you might stop in at the Gateworld party on Thursday night, I would love to meet you. In case you don’t remember me, I used to send e-mails your way critiquing the weekly episode and you replied on occasion, which was always fun.”
Answer: I hope to attend but have been reminded that the party takes place on the weekend of my wedding anniversary – which may mean I’ll be running late. If you used to send emails, why did you stop?
Peter writes: “Will the midway station be featured in Season 4? Also, will Caldwell be returning? And while I’m at it, a lot of fans point to the fact that the cast was fairly, uh, “stagnant” during the first 5 years of SG1, and that this was one of the reasons why the show went on for so long. Do you believe this to be true?”
Answer: The midway station will be featured in season 4. Hopefully, we will see Caldwell. And while the fans may point to the first five years as proof that a “stagnant” cast was the reason for the show’s success, I’d point to the next five years in which the show was “less stagnant” and proved even more successful.
Anonymous #2 writes: “…the fact that Amanda’s in the opening credits with 14 episodes while you still can’t come up with a number for Torri basically confirms it.”
Answer: Actually, all it confirms is that we don’t have a set number of episodes to confirm. Basically, it’s a lose-lose proposition for me. If I specify a set number of episodes or reveal my intention to bring a certain character back and, for whatever reason, plans fall through, I’m on the receiving end of brainless comments like –
Prion, February 23, 2007: “I’ve seen Mallozzi make plenty of ‘promises’ to fans that just don’t pan out for one reason or another.”
On the other hand, if I hedge my bets with a more hopeful response along the lines of “It’s possible” and “Maybe”, or try to stay mum on unaired episodes, this will result in equally brainless comments like –
Prion, February 22, 2007: “I read the chicago tribune article and he was asked about season 3, definitely, and avoided answering specific questions. his blog is amusing, but not very informative.”
Anonymous #3 writes: “How’s does being a Canadian affect the show?”
Answer: It doesn’t. Canadians are not all that different from citizens of the U.S.A.
Prior_of_the-Ori writes: “There was that mention of a ‘new race’ in Atlantis, anything else you can say about them or is it a ‘wait and see’ type thing? And is there any mythology (Egyptian, Norse etc) that you wish to explore on the show? Oh and of all the ‘bad guys’ (Adria, Kolya, ‘Steve’, ‘Micheal’, Anubis, Apophis) which one did you like the most?”
Answer: Can’t reveal much about the new race at this point. I don’t know if we’ll have the opportunity to explore Earth mythologies on Atlantis. And as for my favorite villain – Baal naturally.
Suekay writes: “What’s your favourite new show this year, and can you tell us anything about Sanctuary?”
Answer: The only new show I’m still watching is Friday Night Lights. As for Sanctuary – I believe it was a hit single for The Cult many years back. But I could be wrong.
UNSRM writes: “1. Do you wish that the proposed rebranding of SG1 went ahead after season 8? Do you think it would have made a difference to the life of series? 2. Can you tell us of any deleted scenes or bits from the script that didn’t make it into your best SG1 ep (and best SG1 ep period) Window of Opportunity?”
Answer: 1. It’s hard to say. Considering SG-1 was still doing a very respectable 1.7 average despite a slow start to season 10, it’s hard to guess whether another spin-off would have proved as equally popular. 2. There were no deleted scenes from WoW. In fact, we were short and ended up adding scenes.
Vaberella writes: “Are we going to see a mix up in the team, like Lorne/Teyla/Zelenka or Lorne/Ronon/McKay on off world missions?”
Answer: No plans to do anything like this as of yet.
Vaberella also writes: “Is there a possibility of seeing Ronon use his “specialist” skills?”
Answer: We’ll see a glimpse of his specialist skills in an episode called Reunion.
Karen writes: “Since you are such a foodie, have you seen either season of ‘Top Chef’ on Bravo? I’m thinking you might make an interesting guest judge on the next season.”
Answer: Haven’t seen it but could you put in a good word for me?
UberAmandaFan writes: “SciFi won’t start SGA up until FALL??? […] Do you know why they’re doing this?”
Answer: I believe it has something to do with the network’s decision to give their fans year-round original programming.
ChaosIsBeauty: “What authors/screenwriters, past or modern, do you feel have had the greatest influence on you personally and as a writer?”
Answer: Probably my biggest influence was Syd Field who’s simple, straightforward book on screenwriting gave me all the advice I needed to get started.
Skully writes: “Can a buy you dinner sometime on one of my passes through Vancouver?”
Answer: Sure. Just post a comment with your email. It will appear in my inbox before I okay it for posting. I’ll just take down your email and delete the comment so that you don’t end up fielding dinner requests from hungry Stargate fans.
Blaine Nielsen writes: “I know that your really not involved in the movies that are coming out, but you said that you have read the script/story for them. What does the lengh look like? Is it going to be like a 2 parter episode or something like Avalon and Origin? And second I was watching Threads the other day. […] When Jacob Carter is about to die and Jack and Sam are talking about her father. Sam says something like she thought she lost her father 4 years ago. But wasn’t Jacob Carter blended in season 2 (almost six years earlier). Was this a goof or is time different between seasons?”
Answer: Hey, Blaine, thanks for the kind words. Regarding the script for The Ark of Truth – it won’t be a two-parter but will be twice as long as a regular episode. As for the Threads question. You’ll have to ask Rob but it looks like an oversight.
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