Monthly Archives: October 2014

Forever – Growing an Audience

ABC's Forever, poster from the ABC.com Site

ABC’s Forever, poster from the ABC.com Site

Forever has been growing an audience for the past two weeks, and rightfully so. (5.6 million audience members last week, up to 6 million this week.) With consistent quality scripts, inviting characters, wonderful interplay between  Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic Four) as Dr. Henry Morgan and Judd Hirsch (Taxi, Damages, Maron. Numb3rs) as Abe the show has heart and charm while solving crimes in New York City.

Thus far the episodes have been mostly episodic, for audience members who have not been tuning in each week it is fair to say you could tune in next week and not feel crippled because you are a first time viewer — that said, take the time to go back and view the four episodes that have aired so far.

Each has added depth to the characters, layers to the world they inhabit, and built the relationships between them.  The show is entirely watchable without these things, but you will not regret taking a chance on Forever.

Forever airs TUESDAYS @ 10|9c on ABC

Forever @ ABC – http://abc.go.com/shows/forever
A
BC @ IMDB

#WWAustinCC – Christopher Judge

Christopher Judge, Teal'C of Stargate SG-1

Christopher Judge, Teal’c of Stargate SG-1

For many fans Christopher Judge will always be the stoic Teal’c of SG-1, the lead team of the Stargate franchise.

Over the weekend at the Wizard World Comic Con in Austin, Texas, Christopher Judge’s sense of humor shined through as he shared with fans stories from the filming of the Stargate movies The Ark of Truth and Continuum as well as The Dark Knight Rises in which he performed alongside Christian Bale and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

After 45 minutes of laughing and fielding questions from the audience Christopher Judge leaned over to tell the moderator he had a little something he wanted to end the panel with… a few seconds later Christopher Judge was explaining he had brought with him a script from an episode of Stargate that he would like to auction off to the fans in the room.  It was an unexpected turn of events. He gave a quick explanation that his kids are in school in California, where funds for the arts programs are being cut, that he wanted to do an auction where all of the money would go to the arts program at his kids school, and he was quick to say that he did not know if Texas was a state that had made a similar decision, but this was something he could do to help a school that he knew was suffering as a result of that decision, and he hoped everyone was doing what they could for the schools in their community.

It was particularly nice to see an actor using a keepsake from his work as an artist to raise money for kids and art programs in the schools, and it was a reminder that this was an issue that at one time was a hot button being talked about every time I turned around, and now I hear very little about it.  Admittedly I have no children in school, and the issue does not relate to me personally, but Christopher Judge reminded me this is something I care about, and want to know about.

After the auction Christopher Judge came down from the stage, gave the winner a big hug and thank you and signed the script to him.  It was, without a doubt, one of the most upbeat and positive endings to a panel I have ever seen at a convention.

Christopher Judge @ Twitter.com – https://twitter.com/iamchrisjudge

A Very Super(Hero) Year on Television

Gotham - Another Great Imagine (C) CW, this one found on Facebook

Gotham – Another Great Image (c) CW, this one found on Facebook

There are a LOT of potentially great shows coming out on television this season.  Part of me wants to write about each and every one of them, and in time I hope to.  Another part of me is trying to figure out the how and when to cover each.  Tonight another episode of Gotham will air, tomorrow the Flash will zip onto the air with it’s first solo episode (if you missed Barry Allen’s many appearances on Arrow last season I do not anticipate you will feel you missed anything, that being said, I do recommend them as the show did more than merely give the Flash a backdoor pilot, but rather took the time to give a sense of the man and his personality so he would be a familiar persona when his own series hit the air) and Wednesday Arrow will launch it’s third season on the CW.

One of the truly great things about Arrow, is not just that the show sparkles on the screen, with the hero taking down those who have “failed” his city, but the lead actor Stephen Amell has a passionate and good heart, and is helping his fans find a way to fight for what they believe in — helping people with Cancer and Cancer research currently being the primary beneficiary of all that good intent.

Stephen Amell wearing Represent shirt raising money for Cancer Charity.

Stephen Amell wearing Represent shirt raising money for Cancer Charity.

Many actors talk a good game, and put on a good face — but Stephen Amell, during the month leading up to the Season 3 return of Arrow, raised, with the help of his fans, roughly one quarter of a million dollars (yes, as in $250,000) for a Cancer charity by selling shirts, hoodies and other items featuring a design Amell had challenged his fans to design and vote on.    According to the site 21354 items were sold, with 100% of the funds raised going to the charity.

At Fan Expo in Toronto when talking about a Raffle Stephen Amell had run to raise money for a family whose young daughter is battling cancer, Amell was very clear about the fact it is his fans raising the money, his fans doing this good deed, his fans who deserve the thanks, and that he feels very fortunate to be a part of all this good work — but he is aware that without the fans none of this would be possible.

Amell’s mother went through Breast Cancer, I believe while the actor has been on Arrow, and after her experience this is clearly a very personal cause to him, but he also has a very clear understanding that people dealing with Cancer want to take back some power in their life, want to embrace their victories, and he is rapidly becoming a fierce champion and Hero to those with Cancer in their lives, or those of their loved ones.

Superheros have long been near and dear to the hearts of those who needed a champion, someone to help them fight the battles that seemed impossible, or more than they could handle alone.  With these raffles, and the Represent.com campaign Stephen Amell has embraced some of the best qualities of his hero character and brought them out into the real world.

For two seasons we have watched Amell play a publicly irresponsible playboy who was privately fighting for what was right, and along the way learning a great many lessons about what it means to be a hero, and in the process he was as an individual coming out of a dark place.

The Flash is a show that, from the beginning, looks like it will be following an idealistic man who believes in doing the right thing, in wanting to be more than he is and using it for good, which as a show may serve as a counterpoint to Gotham which seems to feature a great many villains and what, based on the behinds-the-scenes and first look materials released before the show, appears to be an almost Al Capone-ish era of Gotham City.

Don’t mistake me, I believe Gotham and The Flash will be equally entertaining shows, but with vastly different color pallets and feels to them, showing different periods and aspects of life DC Universe, and the three shows combined may well remind audiences that while Marvel is currently dominating on the big screen, the DC Characters have more to them than many recall when put on the spot and first asked to talk about them.

Gotham airs Mondays, 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT on Fox
The Flash airs Tuesdays 8:00-9:00 pm ET/PT on The CW
Arrow airs Wednesdays 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW

Flash CW sml

The Flash features: Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash, Candice Patton as Iris West, Rick Cosnett as Eddie Thawne, Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow, Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon, with Tom Cavanagh as Dr. Harrison Wells, and Jesse L. Martin as Detective Joe West.

ArrowS03

Arrow features: Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Arrow, Katie Cassidy as Dinah “Laurel” Lance, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Colton Haynes as Roy Harper, John Barrowman as Malcom Merlyn, and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Lance.

chronicle_gotham_carousel-carousel-1400x386Gotham features: Ben McKenzie as Detective James Gordon, Donal Logue as Detective Harvey Bullock, Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish Mooney, Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth, Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman, Zabryna Guevara as Captain Sarah Essen, Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma/the future Riddler, Victoria Cartagena as Renee Montoya, Andrew Stewart Jones as Crispus Allen, and John Doman as Carmine Falcone.

Check out the facebook page for the Cancer Charity Stephen Amell and his fans raised so much money and awareness for:

Stephen Amell raised funds, and awareness, for a Cancer Charity throughout September of 2014

Stephen Amell raised funds, and awareness, for a Cancer Charity throughout September of 2014

Make sure to give a listen to the joint PopArtsPlace.com and ComicBookPage.com podcasts for Season 1 and Season 2 of Arrow, and let us know what you think, and if you are interested in podcasts about Gotham, The Flash, or any other shows or movies.

#WWAustinCC – Katie Cassidy

Katie Cassidy ArrowThere were a LOT of wonderful panels Oct 2- 4 at the Austin Wizard World Comic Con at the Austin Convention Center.

A joint podcast with John Mayo, of ComicBookPage, will be going up soon with a two hour discussion of the countless wonderful moments.  During those two hours we discussed the Katie Cassidy panel, in which Katie not only showed off her biceps, but mentioned that as a former gymnast… well… I’ll let her tell you herself:


Arrow fans, can you picture it? Laurel on the Salmon Ladder? Yes, Season 3 could have a very different arc for Laurel Lance than we saw in Season 2, which ended with her “getting the jacket” as was joked during the panel on Saturday.

Katie Cassidy ArrowTake a moment to watch the video — then share it with your fellow Arrow fans!  Who knows, if the show will bring back the line “You Failed This City!” because it resonated with the fans, maybe we can encourage them to get Katie up on that Salmon Ladder and showing the world that Ollie isn’t the only one in Starling City who fights crime and does whatever it takes to fight for what is right.

Season 3 of Arrow Premieres on the CW October 8 at 8 PM / 7 PM Central.

If you have not already had a chance, check out the joint podcasts with John Mayo, of ComicBookPage, about Season 1 of Arrow, and Season 2 of Arrow.  (Our Season 2 podcast included a discussion about Laurel’s story arc with substance abuse and whether or not that was something that had been seen for her character in the comics, as well as whether or not that was a story arc we had seen coming for her character in particular.)

Links:

Arrow @ CWTV
Arrow on Facebook
Arrow on Twitter
Katie Cassidy on Twitter

(Entry edited to add links to podcasts about Season 1 and Season 2 of Arrow)