Genre: Mother of all reality TV
Logistics: CBS, 7 p.m. CDT Thursday
Premiere episode verdict: &&&No offense to Mexico, but Guatemala strikes me as the first Survivor setting that truly sounds like a place you don't want to be stranded without real food or shelter for a month. I have a feeling the cramping, puking contestants heartily agreed during those first hot, squeamish days. It was curious, I thought, to drop the dramatic and elaborate arrival sequence in which we typically see over-eager contestants breezing in by boat, looking fit and healthy in a way we wouldn't see again until the reunion show, and even more curious to bring back two of last year's contestants as full participants this season. And the inclusion of a quasi-celebrity, former NFL quarterback Gary Hogeboom, is sure to create some sort of tropical storm, if not a hurricane, when the other castaways find him out. Survivor has remained a top 10 ratings staple while so many wannabes have come and gone, but this obsession with dramatic twists and tweaks in each new season evokes an air of jumping the shark. On the other hand, the contestants, on first impression, seem far more likable than the dips who have dragged down the last several seasons: There were no overbearing macho types or preening, condescending divas immediately exposed. That's a welcome step toward immunity for a show that needs to focus on the solid game that made it a success rather than gimmicks designed to delay getting voted off the air.
// Linkage //
CBS' Survivor 11 round-up
Genre: Soapy mystery
Logistics: FOX, 8 p.m. (Central) Thursday
Premiere episode verdict: &&This one already has the stench of death. I'm not talking about the funeral that opened the series or the gun glimpsed in the here's-what-happens-the-rest-
of-the-season promos. For one thing, it's scheduled against CSI, The Apprentice and Night Stalker. Then there's the problem that the premiere wasn't really all that, although the general premise is not a bad one: Take a half dozen young friends, have one of them croak, and make one of the buddies the traitor. Then, flash back 20 years to 1986 and move forward one year each episode, allegedly creating a captivating mystery, until the climax. (More stench of death here: What if the planets mysteriously align in such a way that this defies the odds to become a hit, and another season is needed? Anyone think of that?) There's supposed to be a mystery, and I know it'll take a few episodes to gel, but the premiere managed all the intrigue of an episode of Hee-Haw. With its abortion and privileged-rich-boy high school drama, it evoked an after-school special by way of The OC casting and direction. Burning questions: Will they continue to compensate for not looking like the '80s by cramming in songs by Simple Minds, Madonna and A-Ha every other scene? By the time the series gets around to revealing who was killed and how, will anyone care?
// Linkage //
Synopsis, cast info, photo
// Future blogfodder //Not since back in the '90s, when shows like Seinfeld, The X-Files and Star Trek: Voyager thrived, have I been this intrigued by the possibilities of a new TV season. The demise of those three shows, combined with increasing Internet time, nearly peeled me permanently away from primetime TV for a few years. This season, thanks to the success of Lost last year, creepiness and dark themes in general are hot, and reality gets a needed cool-down. I'm especially salivating over Night Stalker (ABC, premieres Sept. 29), a new version of the '70s series that Chris Carter often cites as the primary inspiration for The X-Files. Fortunately, one of The X-Files' great talents, Frank Spotnitz, is behind the wheel on this one. I also have high hopes for Invasion (ABC, Sept. 21) and the whodunit Reunion (Fox, Sept. 8). I'll also have a look at Supernatural (The WB, Sept. 13) if I can figure out where on the dial and when to watch a WB show. My nods for most likely to be forgotten by December go to Ghost Whisperer (CBS, Sept. 23) and Surface (NBC, Sept. 19).
The next book on deck is Ruth Rendell's Make Death Love Me (1979), followed by Bentley Little's The Ignored and Rednell's new release, 13 Steps Down (out Sept. 27). DVDs to be spun soon are The Ring Two (out now) and The Amityville Horror (Oct. 4). Games coming up include the classics compilations NAMCO Museum 50th Anniversary Collection (out now), Capcom Classics Collection (Sept. 27) and Taito Legends (Oct. 25).
Genre: Haunted house
Published: Feb. 18, 2003
By the same author: Bastion Falls, A Dry Spell
Verdict: &&&&From above, there's the thud of something falling over in the attic. Then, the sound of something being dragged across the floor. Everyone in Susie Moloney's The Dwelling hears this eventually, takes note of it and goes about his or her business. That's one thing I really like about this haunted house tale – the idea that people have the ability to ignore just about anything, no matter how horrible, in order to carry on with life. Even if Moloney's framing of the novel – three families move in and out while the life of realtor Glenn Darnley disintegrates in interludes between them – is an idea that has been done before (see Anne Rivers Siddons' brilliant The House Next Door), it serves her well. Her greatest strength is arguably characterization, and here she has a field day with a large cast of troubled souls: first, a young couple whose marriage is strained by ambition and intimacy issues; then, a recent divorcee and her awkward child, both struggling just to get through any given day; finally, a novelist with writer's block and a growing problem with alcohol; and the realtor, Glenn, whose husband died suddenly, leaving her to face a personal crisis alone. The haunting manifestations, such as the sound of the bathtub filling upstairs or faint music coming from the small room with the Murphy bed under the stairwell, mostly tend toward light chills, and that works just fine, even if it leaves this more a character study than a frightfest. Some have been critical of the two-page laundry list at the end explaining the source of the various manifestations, and I'll agree to that. The hints dropped along the way really are enough, and the list dulls the impact of a well-executed climax that happens just before. Nevertheless, Moloney is a talent who deserves a broader audience, and this Dwelling is a fine place to pay her a visit.
// Linkage //
Moloney's website
Genre: Paranoia thrillerDirector: Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs)Roots: Remake of a 1962 film adapted from a 1959 novelVerdict: &&&1/2Mind control, implants, conspiracy, paranoia, and Denzel Washington biting a chunk out of someone's back – it's a shame I didn't see this in the theater. I'll admit up front that I never saw the original, and I never got a real feel for what this movie was about before seeing it. As Bennett Marco, Washington is a Persian Gulf War veteran who has memories of a heroic act by another soldier in his unit, Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), who becomes a suprise candidate for vice president. Trouble is, the memories feel somehow wrong, as if, perhaps, he didn't really experience those things. The paranoia escalates as Marco finds a mysterious object underneath his skin and confronts Shaw about their shared memories. Already feeling empty as a pawn of his power-hungry, corrupt politician mother, portrayed by a scenery-devouring Meryl Streep, who maneuvered her reluctant son onto the ticket's number two spot, Shaw becomes mired in self-doubt as he mugs for the cameras and spouts rhetoric. Add to the mix a diabolical corporation aspiring to control the presidency, and you have the fixings for a frighteningly believable cautionary tale. Bonus points for the jolting human experimentation scenes and the dead-on skewering of today's empty-headed politics. // DVD Extras // Best are the extended interviews, one by Al Franken, of Streep as Congresswoman Eleanor Shaw.
Genre: Haunted house horror
Director: Iain Softley (K-PAX, The Wings of the Dove, Hackers) Verdict: &&1/2The Skeleton Key has much in common with horror movies of the last few years – mysterious noises in the attic, dark secrets from the past, a female protagonist (Caroline, played by Kate Hudson) and screenwriter Ehren Kruger (The Ring, The Ring Two, Scream 3). With so many horror remakes coming along of late, it's clear the genre is lacking original ideas. Although it's basically a haunted house tale, The Skeleton Key finds a compelling hook by setting the story in a spooky old New Orleans plantation mansion and channeling the local belief in hoodoo – healing, curses, spells and the like. Caroline takes up residence in the imposing old house with Violet Devereaux (Gena Rowlands) and her husband, Ben (John Hurt), who has suffered a stroke, leaving him paralyzed and mute. Caroline is told only that Ben had his stroke while in the attic, and, after hearing rattling noises, she's soon poking around up there. Caroline begins to believe Ben is trying to tell her something, and Hurt admirably does all he can to convey fright through silent straining. Caroline becomes determined to get Ben out of the house and becomes involved in something of a hoodoo chess match. The movie works best when tapping the fervent regional belief in hoodoo, its ties to the Old South and the idea that it works if you believe. That alone makes this movie worth at least a rental when the DVD arrives. But, despite an interesting twist at the end, the climactic scene lacks the nail-biting heft of what came before, leaving the movie's spell a few rabbit's feet short of big-screen magic.// Linkage //
Official movie site
•• Updated 4.16.06 ••
Genre: Melodic BritpopVerdict: &&&&This album is a real grower, with latter-half songs like "Sunshine" and "Untitled 1" emerging as favorites over time. The band's keen sense of melody is readily apparent, but there are many layers of songcraft in cuts like "Untitled 1" that burrow into your head only with repeated listenings. On the surface, comparisons can be drawn to Coldplay and even the Beatles, but the sound is wholly Keane's own. "Somewhere Only We Know" was the most heart-tugging ballad of 2005, and subsequent single "Everybody's Changing" is one of the more immediately hummable songs. Hopes and Fears is a soothing chill-out soundtrack for a lazy weekend, and, on second thought, I've just bumped it up to four medals.
// Linkage //
Band website
Genre: Mother of all reality TV
