Watching KVille

Through some glitch in the system, I am technically no longer the writer or this blog. Let me explain…I can write for this blog, but as I no longer get paid for it, it seems rather besides the point to write for a blog about a cancelled show anyway. Soooo…I still write for 451 Press, and you can visit me at About Portland, OR; Daily Science Dose and Urban Ecoist.

Here’s one last shout-out to all that K-Ville wasn’t…namely, a long-running series on a real network.

A toast…to K-Ville.

k-ville, kville, daily science dose, urban ecoist, portland, oregon

Hmm, there really isn’t much out there that is exciting me in any way, or making me want to watch anything other than the final half of the final season for BSG (or it is over?). Maybe FOX’s Fringe…

It’s looking a little X-Files to me, and that could be a good thing. My secret is that I have yet to watch Lost. I know, I know, it’s great and I will love it. I even own the first two or three seasons and I have yet to watch them. Why? I don’t know. It’s like after going through my addiction to The 4400 and then reeling from it when it started sucking, rebounded right into Battlestar Galactica. I just don’t want to get hooked on another multi-season-and-still-going hour long scifi drama. I just can’t. I will someday, but not today. Maybe this winter.

Anyway, Fringe is what I am writing about today. I am not sure if Fringe will be a “K-Ville.” Does it capitalize on a tragedy? If you count something like the lack of X-Files a tragedy, then yes, but I don’t think that counts. So will it only last one season or less? Who’s to say. FOX is notorious at canceling shows that perhaps just needed a second season to find their legs and audience, but JJ Abrams is behind this one, so it must be good, right? This is the guy behind Alias (never watched it, never wanted to) and Lost (already discussed above), so you know, he’s awesome or something.

Wait. What else does the image say? “From the writers of Transformers…” That movie was terrible, I mean really, really terrible. Maybe I am not as excited as I thought I was.

We shall see. FOX is fickle. Firefly came from Joss Whedon and that did nothing to keep it on the air. I am trying to think of another example, and can only think of something like Cop Rock. Can anyone please think of anything else?

FOX, fall tv, Fringe, X-Files, Lost, Alias, BSG, Battlestar Galactica, The 4400, Firefly, Cop Rock, JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon, Transformers

So, there I was, sitting back and watching television, and a trailer came on for the new Sam Jackson movie, Lakeview Terrace. I thought I saw Cole Hauser in the film as the white neighbor that gets to put up with Jackson’s scary/obnoxious cop character in the film. I was really convinced that it was Hauser, so I checked out a Sam Jackson website. The film wasn’t listed, as the website seemed about nine months behind the times in Mr. Jackson’s filmography and general news.

Interestingly enough, Tyler Perry’s The Family that Preys was featured on the Samuel L. Jackson site. Ok, I thought, those two are in two new films together. Cool. But when I try to find out what character Jackson is in The Family that Preys, he is not listed as a member of the cast. Hmm.

And then I checked out the cast for Lakeview Terrace, and it is not Cole Hauser in the thriller. Instead it is an actor named Patrick Wilson. I have not heard of him, despite his rather solid indie film and theatre resume. All I can say is that in the trailer’s brief seconds of his face, he can look a lot like Hauser.

Hauser

Wilson

It seems that Jackson has no real connection to the Tyler Perry film, or at least, I cannot find one. Maybe his website, Samuelljackson.com, simply gives shout-outs to his friends, or maybe it is tied to some marketing group that plugs any film with a black actor in it. Who knows, but I do know that Samuel L. Jackson is not in a new film with Cole Hauser. That is too bad, as I think those two may play pretty well off of each other. Another project perhaps.

But, hey, Hauser’s new film is coming out September 12.

Lakeview Terrace, Sam Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, Cole Hauser, Tyler Perry, The Family that Preys, Patrick Wilson

Ok, so it’s not that I don’t want to write, it is that I have very little to write about when it comes to Watching K-Ville. The show is dead, Anthony Anderson and Cole Hauser have moved on to new projects, and writing about crime in New Orleans is, well, depressing. So I have been ruminating on how can I continue with Watching K-Ville, I mean, even the name is a lie.

Then it came to me. There is always an opportunity to watch a “K-Ville.” You know, one of those really crappy shows that is nothing more than a collection of television cliches, but with an added bonus of a fairly recent, true-life event/issue/condition tied into the show in order to add social relevance to the series. There are also the K-Villes out there that don’t last even a full season.

A great example of a one-season wonder...

So then it is not about Watching K-Ville, it is about watching all the K-Villes. Luckily for me, and possibly for you, I just love bad television, and I love criticizing it even more. I mean, I did go to school for it. I have a college degree in this crap, believe it or not.

And I am so glad that I had this epiphany before the new fall season (perhaps the best time of the year!!!) However, I have a penchant for watching old tv, too, so I will probably add some “pre-K-Villes” from time to time.

Now, what I am waiting for…finding a new “K-Ville” with any K-Ville cast member. That is going to happen. I guarantee it.

K-Ville, bad television, Anthony Anderson, Cole Hauser, New Orleans

Even though Law & Order is not a nominee, the cast is in Europe for the 48th Annual Monte Carlo Television Festival. L&O’s exec producer and the father of the “duh-dun” scene change, Dick Wolf, is being recognized for his continued contribution to formulaic television crime dramas. I don’t know if that is indeed what the exact wording of the official award which is called the Golden Nymph. Those Monacoans sure know how to name pointless and self-agrandizing awards, huh? Or is it the Monaconese? Anyone?

Here is Anthony (with the most fake smile I have seen in a while — maybe because it looks like they just barely arrived at whatever hotel this picture was taken at (hi, let them get inside)) with co-stars Alana de la Garza and Linus Roache as well as Mr. Wolf. He’s the oldest one in shades because that flash on the camera is just so bright.

TV Week had this little blurb to say…

The Monte Carlo Television Festival will present its Honorary Gold Nymph Award to “Law & Order” creator and executive producer Dick Wolf for his work and leadership in the television industry.

Running June 8-12, the festival, in its 48th year, will feature appearances by some of the most recognized faces from the last year of U.S. TV, including Dana Delany (“Desperate Housewives”), Mark Harmon (“NCIS”) and Chad Michael Murray (“One Tree Hill”). Other shows scheduled to be represented by some of their stars include “Lost,” “Bones,” “Ugly Betty,” “Damages,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Numb3rs” and both Las Vegas and Miami editions of “CSI.”

By the way, has anyone been tuning in for Law and Order since Anthony has joined the cast? I cannot watch L&O ever since I took a tv writing class with a former L&O writer. One, the teacher drove me crazy, and two, she definitely let us in on how formulaic the show really is, as if I never figured that one out. No, seriously, it is a good, consistent product, and I support the L&O dynasty. I just choose not to watch it.

Law & Order, L&O, Anthony Anderson, Dick Wolf, Alana de la Garza, Linus Roache, Monte Carlo Television Festival, Golden Nymph, TV Week