Thursday, November 20, 2014

Sticking to the Script

By serving you up this slop:

"Hollywood rewrites the script for TV series" by Matthew Gilbert | Globe Staff   November 13, 2014

This time, the highly paid copycats of Hollywood have landed on a good one. There’s a sudden rush to develop new television series based on dated theatrical movies.

If you already saw the movie.... maybe this kind of thing worked back in the day, but....

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“It is not the case that there are audiences out there clamoring for more of these particular movies,” said Jason Mittell, professor of American Studies at Middlebury College and author of “Television and American Culture.” “There’s no unmet desire. It’s that with an old property, we already have a foundation to build on. We know the basic premise, we even have a few recognizable character names.”

Then why waste time and money?

The television powers love projects with built-in market recognition — projects that are considered “pre-sold.” It’s easier to sell a television reboot of Tom Hanks’s “Big” — both to network honchos and to audiences – than it is to sell an unproven story about some boy who finds himself in an adult body.

What if you are not interested in either?

That’s why Fox is currently developing “Big,” instead of an untried title such as “Man-Child,” or “Big Little Boy,” or “Little Big Boy.”

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That’s part of the reason there are so many comic book adaptations in prime time right now.

And the proliferation at movie theaters with repetitive versions with different variations, which is why I don't frequent much anymore. The big screen is nice, but when all you are seeing is crap on it who wants to pay whatever outrageous sum it is to sit in a darkened room?

I mean, when I was growing up and in elementary school comic books were considered low-brow stupid. I suppose the proliferation of them in ma$$ media corresponds with the complete dumbing down of the culture. It's all connected, with the institutions involved all predicated on subtle mind manipulation and acclimated control. It reinforces so many stereotypes, good guys-bad guys being the at the top of the mind-molding list. 

In reality, the good guys are the bad guys, they are both sides, it's all a $elf-$erving fraud being perpetrated on the population. 

Oh, sorry to talk over the show.

It also explains the profusion of franchise shows, and in-the-works reboots of television classics such as “Bewitched” and “The Odd Couple” (which itself was based on a movie). There have been movie adaptations on television for a long time, too — think of “Alice” and “M*A*S*H.” But still, the number of movies in the television development pipeline is at an all-time high.

“M*A*S*H” is so far removed from the Amerikan consciousness, and we shall not see the likes of an antiwar comedy again (nor will we see All in the Family's or Barney Millers, provocative shows that at least made you think about serious issues amidst the laughs. The last real show to tackle those was probably Roseanne, and we saw how she was slapped down by the moguls of Hollywood. Of course, that also explains the disgusting, double entendre, shallow, superficial, and sickening slop that is shoveled at us now).

Nellie Andreeva, the television editor at Deadline.com, said the mining of old movies is also related to the shortage of experienced Hollywood showrunners, those powerful writer-producers who manage the ongoing operations and creative flow of a series. Since there are more series in production than ever, to fill the many new cable and streaming outlets, most recognized showrunners are busy.

“So the networks are placing their trust in the titles,” she said. “A family comedy could go a thousand different ways, if you don’t have a showrunner with a known track record. But when you say ‘Uncle Buck,’ at least they know what it is, where it will go, and who the characters are.” 

Or the propagandists of ma$$ media and culture-forming scum from Hollywood are simply out of ideas. Time to rerun the old garbage that no one liked then. Got the money and it keeps people busy.

Mittell points to “Parenthood” on NBC, based on a 1989 movie, as another example of how familiarity with a film can boost a television series’ chances. “No one was saying, ‘We want a remake of that Steve Martin vehicle.’ And the actual show itself bears little relationship to the movie. It’s a multigenerational family dramedy,” he said. “But they had a property that lays out characters and situations, one that conveys legitimacy and provides a roadmap that they can use to move forward.” The show, currently in its sixth and final season, was preceded by a short-lived series in 1990.

I'm sorry, readers, but I'm lost in a vast wasteland when it comes to televi$ion.

It’s twisted, in a way, to see television, which is now having a moment of prestige as the premier storytelling medium of our time, turning to movies for source material. But perhaps television’s creators are asserting a kind of superiority over movies by raiding the coffers.

Well, there is a certain chosen supremacism with the ma$$ media and Hollywood, but.... don't let that influence or destroy your view of all the cultural and historical myths they have relentlessly pounded into your heads.

Once upon a time, a television adaptation of a movie was automatically considered a weaker version.

Now we are on to bedtime stories -- as the propaganda pre$$ is on its deathbed as a believable institution. The money will always pour in to keep them afloat because they are the mouthpiece of the 1%.

But these days, the television adaptation could conceivably be as good or better than the film.

You won't be finding out here because I view it all as crap.

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Mittell says he thinks the NBC drama “Hannibal” is the best example of a series improving on a movie.

They somehow "improved" on that sick cannibal?

Among the other films heading to television are two high-end projects, Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of his “Minority Report” on Fox, and Martin Scorsese’s version of his “Shutter Island” for HBO, with Dennis Lehane, author of the novel on which it is based, doing the writing. It’s not impossible to imagine both of those projects expanding into realms quite distinct from their movie versions....

As if I cared or will be watching.

“But in the long run, there are many of these that will never be made,” meaning they are nothing more than an avenue for the 1% to pour wealth and keep people busy with distractions.

--more--"

There's another one.