TV: November 2005 Archives

Whatever your fetish may be, HBO's Rome probably featured it during the first season. There was incest (between Octavia and Octavian), lesbianism (Servilla and Octavia), S&M sex (Servilla gets a bound slave with a huge cock), adultery (Niobe having a kid with her brother in law), etc. I can't directly recall homosexuality, but it is pretty funny when Octavian's mother proudly thinks he might be having an affair with Caesar. There was no shortage of violence in episode 11, which featured lots of limbs getting hacked off in an arena.

Pushing all of this smut to the side, ROME was one of the finest series I've ever seen on television-the best since Band of Brothers. Every penny of that $100 million ended up on the screen. And it wasn't just a glorified history lesson. The writers deftly wove a story out of fictional characters involved in the lives of Caesar and Mark Antony. The actors chosen to play the Romans were all from Great Britain. Thirty years ago there must have been a casting rule mandating that all Romans and Nazis must be played by actors from the British Isles. In this case, the casting was dead-on perfect, especially Kevin McKidd as Lucius Vorenus, Ray Stevenson as Titus Pollo, and Ciarán Hinds as Julius Caesar.

As the series progressed, I wondered how far in time it would proceed. I was hoping we'd see a year or two of Caesar's early rule. But when Caesar traveled to Egypt and spent a year there, fathering a son with Cleopatra-I knew the series was progressing fast. The last episode presented Caesar's downfall in the Roman senate. They pulled no punches, showing the first wound coming from a knife that Caesar attempted to grab. Brutus delivered the final stab, an especially horrible blow, as Brutus might have been Caesar's illegitimate son. The staging of this scene was incredibly realistic and well done.

Women were not ignored in this series. I loved the ongoing conflict between Servilla of the Junii and Atia of the Julii. Servilla had an affair with Caesar which Atia ruined. Servilla responded by seducing her daughter Octavia. Atia retaliated by hiring hoodlums to attack Servilla's carriage and strip her naked. Servilla then decides to take out Caesar through her son, Brutus. The way that Servilla chose to distract Lucius Verenus from Caesar's side was incredibly evil. It had terrible consequences for his wife (Indira Varma). What a lovely actress! I will miss her in ROME's second season. Another season for this series would seem like a natural, after the high ratings and critical acclaim. AICN and the New York Times report that HBO's head honcho is having qualms about the high production costs. I hope it does get made. I want to see Mark Antony's efforts to retain power, and Octavian's rise to Emperor. And a Servilla-Atia catfight, round two! Nuff said.

Technorati : HBO, Rome
Ice Rocket : HBO, Rome

My favorite TV show at the moment is LOST. By the time every episode is done, I wish I could instantly see the next one. In a way, I think the people who can wait for the DVD compiliations are lucky. The last few episodes have concentrated on the survivors of the tail section of the plane, who crashed on the eastern side of the island. Their leader emerged almost immediately: Ana Lucia, played by Michelle Rodriguez. There's something I've always liked about Rodriquez from her film work: Girlfight, The Fast and the Furious, and Blue Crush. She doesn't have a look that can be stereotyped--she's not cute, not pretty, but she's extremely fit and attractive in an undefinable way. The LOST writers have taken advantage of Rodriguez' film roles to make Ana Lucia a tough-as-nails, take-no-shit leader. In the episode titled "The Other 48 Days" we learn how the Others attacked the tail survivors and Ana Lucia's efforts to defend them. With the support of Mr. Eko (who seems to Locke's counterpart to this group) the tail survivors roam through the jungle hoping to elude the Others. Just like the west coast group, they have an Other "spy". At first, Ana Lucia thinks it is a fellow called Nathan (remember Ethan from the first season) but this a red herring. The real spy turns out to be a fellow called Goodwin who Ana Lucia busts in a pretty cool interrogation scene while eating some fruit. It's the first indication we get to Ana Lucia's past: she must have been a cop. A trigger happy cop, because she accidentally kills Shannon in the jungle.

In "Collision", we see Ana Lucia going berserk, pointing her gun at everybody to contain Sayid, who naturally wants revenge. This episode had to be one of the finest hours of network TV that I have ever seen. Rodriguez performance is worthy of an Emmy award. We see layers of repressed emotions on her face as we learn about her life as a cop back in Los Angeles. The scene where Ana Lucia pumps a creep full of bullets almost seems lifted out of an Ellroy novel. I also liked seeing Total Recall babe Rachel Ticotin as Ana Lucia's mother. If you still have this episode on your TIVO or VCR, you can download the writers commentary on the LOST podcast site. I played it and watched the episode a second time and marvelled at how fast we can now get this immediate behind the scenes info! The writers are funny, talking about fanfic (Sawyer and Jack in the shower scene), Evangeline Lilly learning Golf, and calling the Dharma bunker a "bachelor pad". If you're a LOST addict, you have to download the MP3 file.

The 11/30/05 episode focuses on Kate's past and her love triangle with Jack and Sawyer. One thing that bothers me is that the Others subplot is taking so long to develop. In the season finale to year 1, we had the impression that the Others were coming to invade the survivors campsite. Now that they have Walt, this threat seems to have subsided. (What's up with Walt appearing before Sayid and Shannon in the jungle? Is he real or is he a ghost?) From Goodwin and Ethan, we know that the Others are intelligent and they have a plan. I would think for Michael, his number one priority is organizing a band of people to search for Walt as soon as possible.

After listening to the LOST podcasts, one thing is for certain: LOST writers are making this up as they go along. They may know certain things in advance, like the tail section plot and Michelle Rodriguez joining before season one ended. But much of the story is growing organically. So far, I think they've made the right choices, let's hope it continues this way. Nuff said.

See also: ABC's Official LOST podcast

Technorati : Lost, Michelle Rodriguez
Ice Rocket : Lost, Michelle Rodriguez

Tonight's the last time ABC will broadcast the new Night Stalker series. I'm not surprised it's being cancelled. First of all, it's a show that involves monsters and creepy crawlies, but it never shows them. The producer, Frank Spotnitz, used to work on X-Files. Many of the plots seem like leftover ideas from X-Files non-mythology episodes. Except the best X-Files horror plots did show creepy things, like the guy who could contort his body and climb through sewer pipes. The first two Night Stalker movies (with Darrin McGavin in the 70s) were successful, because they built a level of suspense that climaxed in the revelation of the vampire or werewolf. I think this version of Night Stalker should have started off with a vampire and reinvented it for the modern era. A masterful vampire to replace the Cigarette Smoking Man, that would have been good. The other problem was Stewart Townsend as Carl Kolchak. He read his lines so woodenly that I think they should have taken away his medications, or perhaps given him a few Red Bulls to amp his energy.

The plots on Night Stalker just plodded along so slowly that I used the quick skip button on ReplayTV, advancing to the parts where Gabrielle Union was in a scene. This chick is just so darn sexy and cute. I love her lips when she pouts or gets in an argument. I've watched many so-so films just to see her: Deliver Us From Eva and Two Can Play That Game (which has a nice little imaginary catfight with Vivica Fox). Her recent Maxim spread was pretty fantastic. The gossip about her personal life is pretty good, too. On a recent Conan appearance, Gabrielle told him that she is taking stripper classes. She and her girlfriend posse go out to bars and play a game to see who can get the most free drinks by dancing seductively. Conan asked Gabrielle if her husband (NFL star Chris Howard) was OK with all this; she said he's fine. A week later I read that she is divorcing her husband. Anyone know the bars that Gabrille usually visits?

Goodbye, Gabrielle, I'll miss you on Thursday nights, but I am sure we will see you again soon. Try to wear as few clothes as possible. As for you, Stewart, I am sure you have Charlize Theron to comfort your loss. Nuff said.

See also: Night Stalker Bites Dust.

Technorati : Gabrielle Union, Night Stalker
Ice Rocket : Gabrielle Union, Night Stalker