How the The Simpsons new Composers Took on Springfield
The Simpsons boasts not only the longest run of any scripted primetime series, along with catch-phrases and characters that have been part of popular culture for almost two generations, but theme music recognizable within its first few notes—on a short list with Star Trek, Hawaii Five-O, Batman, Sesame Street, and a handful of others.
And now that series has new composers. Oh, the theme music—with Bart skidding into his family’s living room as they gather to watch TV themselves—remains the same Danny Elfman composition the show has had since arriving in its own evening time slot after leaving its “experimental-animation-this-will-never-last-long” roots as an interstitial cartoon on the Tracey Ullman Show,...
Building Thousands of Years of History in Amazon’s Good Omens
“Corners are where everyone makes decisions. This is the point where you change directions.” And corners are usually located at crossroads, to boot, the very place—especially if you’re a Mississippi bluesman—where it’s said deals with the devil can be struck.
The corner in question, however, concerns an angel, and the London bookshop that he owns—part of Michael Ralph’s production design on the upcoming Amazon/BBC adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens. And the “deals,” in this case,...
Showrunner Lauren Morelli Spins New Tales of the City for Netflix
The interwoven stories of the residents of Barbary Lane are being told again. Introduced in author Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City 40 years ago, and then adapted for television several times since the 1990s, the beloved San Francisco-set saga is being revived by Netflix and starts streaming this June.
Like its predecessors, which were based on Maupin’s nine novels, the 2019 version focuses a lot on the LGBTQ community—but it does so with some new characters and a modern take...
Sir Patrick Stewart Returns in First Star Trek: Picard Trailer
The captain is back.
Sir Patrick Stewart returns to the role that made him famous (in America, at least)—CBS All Access has released the first trailer for their new Star Trek series, Star Trek: Picard. Stewart returns to the role of Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek‘s most cerebral captain, who logged stardates (and much more ) for seven seasons on Star Trek: The Next Generation and four movies—Star Trek: Generations,...
Martin Ruhe on Shooting George Clooney’s Catch-22 Adaptation
“Certain things I don’t think we’d be legally allowed to do now,” observes cinematographer Martin Ruhe, ASC, when reflecting on the prior attempt to bring Joseph Heller’s classic, absurdist, and decidedly non-chronological Catch-22 to the screen.
That would be the 1970 Mike Nichols film version, which was somewhat of a commercial and critical bust at the time but has since come to be regarded in more classic “70’s cinema” terms. But Ruhe was referring to things like how close live B-25 bombers were allowed to come to actors,...
Three new Black Mirror Trailers Tease Season 5
Black Mirror is back. Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones‘ techno fever dream of a series is returning with a truncated—but hotly anticipated—three-episode season. Three new trailers for each episode gives us a tiny bit more information, yet, we still really don’t know much about what these stories will fully explore. We just know they’ll likely make us feel paranoid and freaked out, which is precisely what we want from a fresh Black Mirror installment...
The Moment in Game of Thrones When Jaime Lannister Predicted his Fate
*This post reveals details from Game of Thrones’ finale and penultimate episode.
Now that Game of Thrones has come to an end (and broke some long-standing records along the way), interviews with reflective cast members are popping up left and right. One such interview was with Emilia Clarke, who spoke to both The New Yorker and Entertainment Weekly about Daenerys Targaryen’s long, difficult journey. Now Nikolaj Coster-Waldau talks with EW about Jaime Lannister’s arc,...
Stranger Things Season 3 Clip Takes you to the Pool
We’ve got a fresh Stranger Things season three clip, which reveals that terrifying monster from season 2—Billy Hargrove (Darce Montgomery). Last season’s ruthless bully is yet another Stranger Things character with a cool new summer job. While Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) is working at the mall, Billy’s doing the very Billy thing and spending his time at the local pool, nominally as a lifeguard (can you really imagine him saving anybody?).
The clip is—limited...
Emilia Clarke on Daenerys’ arc in Game of Thrones
*The following contains spoilers for Game of Thrones. If you’re not caught up all the way through the finale, read no more.*
Now that Game of Thrones has finally ended, there will be much rumination on what the show meant. To those of us (and we are legion, of course) who watched every episode and spent as much time, if not more, debating the series various merits, deficits, and many, many plot twists, it’s safe to say the arc of Daenerys Targaryen will rank as the most debated facet of all...
Westworld‘s Surprising Season 3 Trailer Hints at Totally Different Show
When we heard that Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul was joining Westworld for season three, we had no idea he would be doing so in a completely different looking show. if you were one of the millions of people hunkering down for Game of Thrones‘ series finale last night, you likely caught the trailer for Westworld season 3, without realizing it was a trailer for Westworld season 3 until the very end...
Put up Your Dukes for Black Mirror‘s Season 5 Trailer
One of the best shows on TV is back. Black Mirror has released the first trailer for season 5, and it’s as cryptic and unsettling as you’d expect. It’s not a stretch to say that Black Mirror has been one of the most consistently excellent, boundary-pushing series on television since it first aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom back in 2011. Since moving to its new home at Netflix, Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones have delivered ever more ambitious,...
Game of Thrones Finale Images Tease the Mad Queen
How do we know that HBO wants to keep whatever secrets are left in Game of Thrones as secret as possible? Usually, they release about a half dozen (or more) photos for the upcoming episode—for the finale, they’ve given us but two. The first and most potent is the featured image of Daenerys Targaryen looking down upon her victorious army and the smoldering ruins of King’s Landing. It’s safe to say that last Sunday’s episodes “The Bells”...
Game of Thrones “The Bells” Breaks Series Record for Viewership
Divisive, devastating, and now, historic. Game of Thrones’ penultimate episode “The Bells” broke the series record for viewership this past Sunday. The episode in which Daenerys Targaryen turned King’s Landing into a hellscape hauled in a record 18.4 million viewers across HBO’s platforms. This topped the previous record holder, “The Long Night,” which aired a mere two weeks ago. It’s not terribly surprising that the series’ two top performing episodes would be the final seasons’...
Here’s What Made Dany’s Assault on King’s Landing so Viscerally Terrifying
Director Miguel Sapochnik and cinematographer Fabian Wagner have worked together on four of Game of Thrones most ambitious episodes. The two teamed up for season 5’s skirmish with the Night King, “Hardhome,” season 6’s muddy epic “Battle of the Bastards,” this season’s Battle of Winterfell in “The Long Night,” and finally, last night’s shockingly horrific “The Bells.” While everyone had understandably assumed that the battle with the Night King would be the marquee war episode,...
Game of Thrones Finale Trailer Teases the Aftermath of Dany’s Decision
In Game of Thrones penultimate episode, “Two Bells,” Daenerys Targaryen reduced King’s Landing to smoking rubble. It was a decision that marked her arrival—or better yet, descent—as the Mad Queen. The long arc of her character from captive to savior had finally come to rest at despot. She didn’t have to torch King’s Landing and murder innocents. She won the Last War was. The Iron Throne was her. Yet she did it anyway, for reasons that remain unclear (no matter how much the show has hinted at this break,...
Game of Thrones Recap: “The Bells” is Shockingly Brutal
The threat that Game of Thrones‘ writers, specifically co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, had been hinting at all season was finally paid off. Daenerys Targaryen revealed that she is not fit to rule the Seven Kingdoms. (Or, to look at it another way, she proved she is absolutely fit to rule the Seven Kingdoms, as despotically and ruthlessly as so many previous inhabitants of that uncomfortable looking chair have.) Despite a character arc that has seen her go from slave to savior,...
Get to Know Game of Thrones Lethal Mercenary Harry Strickland
It would be funny—not ha ha funny, but bitterly funny—if it turned out the biggest threat to the seven kingdoms ends up being humans after all. For eight seasons Game of Thrones has been saying that all the palace intrigue and bloody chess playing for the Iron Throne was a joke compared to the existence of the Night King. This former man-turned-super weapon was the existential threat that made all that noxious human behavior look as petty and absurd as it really was...
New Game of Thrones Photos Tease Harry Strickland & the Golden Company
There are but two (two!) episodes of Game of Thrones remaining. The Great War has come and gone, and now only the Last War (unlikely) remains. Dany has but a single dragon left. Her relationship with Jon is frayed. Tyrion hasn’t made a good decision since spring (you know how long winters last in Westeros). The survivors of the war with the Night King are exhausted. Everything in the Seven Kingdoms is, as always,...
The First Teaser for HBO’s Watchmen is Extremely Satisfying
“We are no one. We are everyone. And we are invisible.”
So begins the absolutely ripping teaser for HBO’s upcoming Watchmen, created by The Leftovers‘ Damon Lindelof and based on one of the most iconic graphic novels of all time. Lovers of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ game-changing comic (of which I am one) might find themselves cautiously enthused about this project. When word spread that Lindelof wasn’t adapting the graphic novel per se,...
The Bespoke Technology That Made Netflix’s Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Possible
Sugar puffs or frosties? Yell at dad or pour tea all over a keyboard? By now, the audience choices and subsequent on-screen fallout possibilities in Netflix’s first interactive film for adults, Bandersnatch, have been well documented across the web. Home-made flow charts painstakingly illustrate the complexity of 19-year-old video game creator Stefan’s journey as he tries to develop an interactive computer game in 1984, navigating relationships with his irritating father, new boss, and brilliant but off-the-wall colleague,...
