• Showtime's new drama has a killer hook.Genres: Serial killer, detective, drama, crime scenes
Logistics: Showtime, 9 p.m. (Central) Sundays
Cast: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Lauren Velez, Julie Benz, Erik King, David Zayaz, James Remar
Verdict: &&&&You can't beat the concept: Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter expert for the Miami Police Department, moonlights as a serial killer who slices and dices other killers — people who deserve to die. That's how his late father (James Remar), a good policeman himself, taught young Dexter to control his dark urges and channel them for good. Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under) brings just the right combination of handsome, smart politeness and ambiguity to the role, making Dexter something of a kindred spirit to that other great dignified villain, Hannibal Lecter. When Dexter's dark mind yields hunches about crime scenes, he feeds tips to his sister, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter of The Exorcism of Emily Rose), a green Miami cop who's anxious to blaze the trail in homicide. Through the first three episodes, it is apparent that the ice truck killer story arc, which comprises the main plot of the very good source material, Jeff Lindsey's novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter, will serve as the season's backdrop while various subplots (a cop killing, Dexter's feigned love life) provide padding. Dexter senses a connection with the ice truck killer and struggles to hide his playful interest from his sister and coworkers as it becomes clear that the killer is teasing him. That's on top of his daily struggle to mimic human emotions. Episode two meandered a bit with the cop killing and a double date with Dexter's sister, but episode three was the best yet as Dexter revisits his first father-approved kills, including an evil nurse, and tracks a potential new victim. Showtime has just given the nod to a second series of episodes, and it will be interesting to see if season two follows the arc of the second novel, Dearly Devoted Dexter. Either way, I can't wait to see who'll be next to get the knives and Saran Wrap treatment.// Related // Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsey
• Survey says: FOX jumps on the game show bandwagon.Genre: Game show
Logistics: FOX, 8 p.m. (Central) Wednesday
Host: Eamonn Holmes
Verdict: &&1/2The Rich List is one of several new games hitting the schedule in the next few months as the networks attempt to cash in on the current post-Deal or no Deal game show resurgence. Hosted by popular British TV host Eamonn Holmes, the game pits teams of two against each other in a contest of naming the most items from a list to earn stacks of cash. The lists aren't based on a survey, but the execution brings to mind Family Feud and the more obscure Hot Potato, as well as the infamous 21 — The Rich List has isolation pods to keep each team in the dark as the other bids the number of correct answers it can give. Lists in the premiere episode included topics like the top circulation daily newspapers, best picture Oscar winners, Tom Cruise movies and Stephen King novels and short stories (King fans likely noticed a near-error here: A contestant guessed Rose Red, which was a screenplay, and Holmes said, "Oh, you're close, but it's Rose Madder.") There's a decent play-along factor here and the "I can't believe they didn't get Cocktail" factor. It takes two list wins to achieve victory and a trip to the bonus round, which is a list played with a money tree (a device that is now officially overexposed) maxing out at $250,000. Kudos to FOX for employing returning champions, an unfortunate rarity in modern games, but the show is haunted by that Greed aura of jumping on a bandwagon. Still, for trivia and game show fans, there are worse ways to spend an hour. It's not like there's any danger of you switching over to NBC for the tears and tantrums weight scale drama of The Biggest Loser, is there?
// Update 11.02 // zap2it reports that The Rich List is off the schedule after poor ratings for the premiere. An episode of The O.C. (is that still on?) fills the Wednesday slot next week.
• The Bell Witch Project gets lost in the woods.Genre: Horror, period piece
DVD released: Oct. 24, 2006
Director: Courtney Solomon
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Sissy Spacek, James D'Arcy, Matthew Marsh
Verdict: &&1/2There's a decent horror movie lurking within The Bell Witch Project, a loosely fact-based tale that can't quite cast its spell. Trouble begins for the Bell family after patriarch John Bell (Donald Sutherland) is accused of usury and threatened by the victim, a woman commonly believed to be a witch in early 1800s Tennessee. Soon, a menacing wolf appears, the family hears noises, and daughter Betsy (Rachel Hurd-Wood) is tormented by an unseen entity who slaps her around and drags her up the stairs. As the disturbances escalate, John Bell becomes ill and tormented, and Betsy's schoolteacher takes a skeptical and slightly romantic interest in the happenings. Along the way are a number of clues to a dark family secret that is bubbling just beneath the surface and apparently instigating the horror. When it is revealed in a rather abrupt conclusion, it also turns out to be a fairly uninteresting and muddled (and historically inaccurate, some say) end to a movie that gets by surprisingly well in its first 90 percent on fairly standard horror conventions. // DVD notes // Puzzled by the ending? Four (!) alternate endings are equally muddled, but watching them helped me understand part of the ending that I didn't get on first viewing. The disc also includes deleted scenes, an interview with horror maven Spacek and a pretty good Dolby Digital EX soundtrack.
• Don't let them in your mouth!Genres: Horror, sci-fi, comedy
DVD released: Oct. 24, 2006
Director: James Gunn
Cast: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker, Gregg Henry, Tania Saulnier, Brenda James, Don Thompson
Verdict: &&&1/2
Slither is played more for laughs than frights from start to finish, and a new generation has likely found its Tremors. An alien falls to earth on a meteor, landing in a small backwater, and begins populating the planet with slithering, slug-like creatures that inhabit humans by entering the mouth. The entity begins its Earth takeover with regular guy Grant Grant (Michael Rooker), whose body changes and appetite for meat becomes overwhelming (he stockpiles fresh cuts from the grocer). Grant must evade the suspicions of his sweet wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks), and Sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion, bringing the same engaging wit and cockiness that served him well in Firefly and Serenity). The script borrows elements from movies such as Body Snatchers and any number from the tired zombie genre (Gunn scripted the respectable 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake) without ever feeling derivative, while also relentlessly delivering smart comic relief. Gregg Henry brings down the house as the foul-mouthed mayor, and one of the most hilarious bits involves a romantic scene and the Air Supply song, "Every Woman in the World." While never taking itself seriously, however, Slither actually uncurls a sci-fi horror plot more compelling than that of most of the straight-faced horror flicks of the last few years. // DVD notes // Slitherites are rewarded with a loaded DVD treatment including deleted and extended scenes, bloopers, making-of and effects featurettes, a feature on Fillion's character, a set tour with star Fillion, feature commentary with Gunn and Fillion, and a video diary by Tromeo & Juliet director Lloyd Kaufman.
• MTV brings sick and twisted to dating shows.Genres: Reality, dating
Logistics: MTV, 4:30 p.m. (Central) weekdays, with numerous repeats
Verdict: &&&Train-wreck television at its best, Parental Control is the first MTV series I have sought out on a regular basis since the soap Undressed and reality stalwart The Real World circa the New Orleans season. This shameless and vicious dating series features a cast of six in each guilty-pleasure episode: Two parents, their son or daughter, the son or daughter's boyfriend or girlfriend whom the parents loathe, and two dates hand picked by the parents to replace him/her (hence the title). Intercut with date footage are scenes of the current boyfriend or girlfriend sitting with the parents, watching each date unfold and trading barbs. Date activities are calculated to lead to shedding of clothes and, when possible, kissing, humping and other physical contact. Back with the parents, the current squeeze dishes an insulting running commentary while the parents dish it right back at him/her, and it's hilarious more often than not. But I hate this show for the way it reduces a current girlfriend to tears as she watches her beau kissing on some skank who wants to steal him away; for the way the show glorifies hotness as the ultimate attribute; for the way it causes adults to behave as immaturely as their libidinous offspring; and for the way it unceremoniously severs a relationship at the end of the show if one of the parents' dates has been chosen, as if it's no more than trash to be swept out the door. And yet, I cannot look away.
• It's a must-see for American Idol haters.Genres: Comedy, satire
DVD released: Oct. 17, 2006
Director: Paul Weitz
Cast: Hugh Grant, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Chris Klein, Sam Golzari, Seth Meyers, Willem Dafoe, Marcia Gay Harden
Verdict: &&&1/2
This black comedy from American Pie director Paul Weitz seems brutally dark until you consider that Chuck & Buck is also among his credits. The targets are worthy: Firstly, America's obsession with televised karaoke contests (American Idol) and, secondly, politicians of questionable repute. Hugh Grant is outstanding as Martin Tweed, host of "America's most popular show," American Dreamz. Tweed is a self-loathing jackass who's bored with the show and looking for some contestants to mix things up. He's drawn to Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore in Kelly Clarkson mode) because he sees she's as twisted as he is and likely has more desire to win than she has talent: Though she no longer loves him, she uses her boyfriend's (Chris Klein) sob injured-in-Iraq story to give her an edge on the competition. "Sometimes I look at you and I see my own reflection," Tweed tells her. "It's revolting. And attractive." Kendoo, who tells Tweed she's "not physically attracted to other people," dismisses Tweed as "no-talent" and "famous for being famous." Tweed's other find is Omer (Sam Golzari), an Arab terrorist who loves show tunes and has been sent to America to carry out an attack. Meanwhile, a Dubya-like president's V.P. arranges for the prez to be a guest judge on the American Dreamz finals. Surprisingly, the president (Dennis Quaid, nailing it perfectly) is portrayed as awakening to reality and a victim of his handlers, particularly the vice president. The threads intersect in rather surprising — and quite dark — fashion onstage during the final show of the season. There aren't a ton of laugh-out-loud moments in this movie, but it's a razor-sharp skewering of some of the more disappointing elements of our culture today. If this is in any measure atonement for American Pie, all is forgiven. // DVD notes // Deleted scenes include a number of cut performance sequences. "Center Stage: Sally Kendoo" plays like a behind-the-scenes look at American Dreamz as it might appear in a TV Guide Channel segment. "Dance Dreamz" describes the numerous inspirations for the dance steps (everything from Beyonce to Backstreet Boys), and the feature commentary includes Weitz and Golzari.
• About labels and blog search.Blogger launched one of its best Beta features yet this past week — a handy label (category) manager on the edit posts page. Using a drop-down menu of your labels and check boxes next to each post title, it's now simple to add and remove labels from posts. This is great, because the only way to add labels to older posts before was to bring up a post for editing, add the labels and save it again. I had done that to maybe 20 of my older posts, but I didn't like the way it was bringing them back to the top of my FeedBurner feed. The only quirk I noticed with the label manager is the "new label" feature doesn't work unless a post is selected. I've added the basic labels to all the blog's posts today, and the Jeblog's categories should be completely up to date by later today.
While my transition to Blogger Beta has been exciting, I've run into one significant problem: Google Blog Search seems to have lost my feed altogether. No posts since the switch have shown up there. That's a real bummer, because it's a major source of my traffic. I feel confident the problem isn't on my end, because posts are still popping up as normal at Technorati and in my FeedBurner feed. Blog Search support told me that, ultimately, nothing is guaranteed (gee, thanks). Anyone who can help me solve this one will earn my eternal gratitude and admiration.
// Update (11/15) // A few of the first Beta posts showed up in Google Blog Search, but no more have since then. Very strange. All other indexing is occuring as normal; I've been keeping a close eye on Technorati, Icerocket, Google and others, and pinging far more aggressively than I used to. For another take on Google Blog Search problems, see this post.
// Update (11/19) // It seems every time I post about this, something changes. Within the last few days, all the missing posts showed up in Google Blog Search, and the newest post was indexed within an hour. It may have been much sooner; I didn't look until about an hour later. So, it appears this problem may finally be resolved some six weeks after converting to Blogger Beta. Fingers crossed.
• Showtime's new drama has a killer hook.
