February 17th, 2010 Jeff
As I was watching yet another uninformative episode of LOST, I began to think how much this show mirrored real life. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that LOST was really just a metaphor for office life. Take the LOST story and put it in an office setting and see what you get.
A young man loses his job for some reason. At this point it’s not really important, but past is prologue and it will eventually be woven into our story. He leaves his job (Australia) in search for a new job that will offer him a new beginning. (LAX) Along the way however, the economy crashes into the shitter (Oceanic Flight 815) and he ends up at a company that was never on his career road map. (The Island)
This company has some seriously odd shit going on. There are other business unit managers there (survivors of Oceanic 815) who seem to have a mix-bag of history and personal problems. Ultimately most of the management team is trying to get out of the company, but some have reasons for wanting to stay.
There’s the slightly retarded manager of PR, who in any other company would be considered incapable of performing most of the tasks required of him. But because of the “uniqueness” of this company he manages to look like a super star. He knows there’s something about the company that gives him a stronger sense of purpose that he wouldn’t have in the real world. He tries his best to show everyone the light. (Locke)
Then there’s the manager of sales. He’s a mysterious fellow that tries to keep to himself. He’s sort of a lone wolf and looks at the rest of the management team simply as tools to get what he needs done. What the rest of the management team doesn’t know, is that half of his resume is bullshit. Not only is his MBA from a mail order facility in Tuskegee Ohio, but most of his work history references were calls to his high school football teammates. This guy is a bucket of lies and daddy issues. (Sawyer)
The cute little number who manages the call center is another shifty one you have to keep your eyes out for. She bats her eyelashes and makes you think that you can save her from herself. Underneath her cute exterior and her bright smile is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. She’s constantly on edge and sometimes her behavior seems completely erratic. She’s stuck at the company because she’s got 2 felonies that she didn’t disclose on her application. Thankfully the company doesn’t do background checks. Her next company might not be so accommodating. She’s better off here. (Kate)
No team is successful without a leader. As the group begins to gel a leader is selected. The Operations Manager (Jack) assumes the unwanted role. Despite his own ambitions, he knows that the team working together is far better than if the team works alone. As our new hire learns about the dynamics of his teammates he quickly realizes that getting out of the company is a long term goal. The short term goal is generating revenue to keep the company functioning long enough to make the great escape. (a.k.a Surviving on the island) The management team and their subordinates (those other 32 people on the island that tend to change season to season) begin to work together to keep the company solvent. But as they begin to explore their options on what the company has to offer, they run into one of the most dreaded and feared things anyone has ever seen. Office politics. (The smoke monster)
Nobody knows the source of office politics or who controls it. It comes and goes at will, sometimes laying waste to projects or even careers. Whenever the management team sees it showing its ugly head, panic ensues. Everyone runs for cover and if someone falls and is claimed by office politics, it’s generally accepted that there was nothing you could do to save them without throwing away your own career.
As the team tries to find a source for the politics, they stumble upon an unusual group. A group of men and women who seem to have been at the company long before they arrived and knows quite a bit about its inner workings. They’re even aware of the “Office Politics”. This group is referred to as “Information Technology” or “IT”. (The Others)
IT is a strange group. They have a single leader that interacts with the management team. He refers to himself as the “Business Liaison”. (Benjamin Linus) The business liaison treats the management team as if they’re children, fearing that too much information might make their heads explode. Instead he talks to them in cryptic phrases and sentences, giving them just enough information to trust him, but not enough to truly make any type of informed decision. He thrives on having more information than the people he interacts with, pushing them to an end goal that only he can see. While IT says it’s on the side of the business (the survivors), often times their actions seem self-serving and not in the best interest of the management team.
The arrival of the business liaison complicates things for the management team. Now someone else is stepping up to lead them. While some are happy to let the Operations Manager continue to lead, others are pissed off because he fucked up that TPS Report project and Bill from accounting ended up getting fired because of it. (See Jack’s long list of leadership failures) Internal bickering ensues amongst the management team. Some managers decide to rely heavily on the business liaison for guidance, while others continue to follow the Operations Manager. The split causes conflict amongst people who were friends, but have now been driven apart by their decisions. While they’re friendly when they run into each other in the cafeteria (the Jungle), they still return to their respective camps.
The internal structure of IT is complex.There are many parts to the organization that the management team has seen passing references to. Database support (The Swan), Web Support (The Looking Glass) and Change Management (The Hydra) just to name a few. The business liaison knows a lot about the groups, but will only answer your specific questions about them in vague, ass-hat type responses. Obviously your look of confusion is the only way this guy can sustain an erection. Instead of pressing on and grossing yourself out, you let it slide.
In Part 2 we’ll discuss how people manage to leave the company but then feel compelled to return. We’ll also dive into how the Business Liaison is really just a puppet for the CIO. (Jacob)
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January 19th, 2010 Jeff
The Internet is always finding a cause to latch on to. A wrong to right and that justice be served. But sometimes the Internet gets behind a cause that makes it sound like an echo chamber of collective cry babies. I’ve watched as the masses have flocked to the defense of Conan O’Brien. They’ve fought with their tweets and Facebook groups to show the big bad NBC just how they felt about it. But if we’re so supportive of Conan, why aren’t we watching his show?
NBC is a business. It’s not about tryouts and it’s not about “a fair shake” as shitty as that sounds. It’s about the bottom line, the almighty dollar. So why are we surprised by this? Any Joss Whedon fan knows that the vocal minority aren’t enough to make up for the fact that America isn’t watching. This same vocal minority is typically adverse to advertising too, so keeping the status quo is even less palpable to TV stations.
The common argument is that the outcries are coming from people who don’t watch Late Night in general, not specifically because of Conan. That’s a great point, in fact I’m in that same camp. (Which is why the decision won’t effect me) But there are plenty of people who do watch late night and according to the ratings, those people have stopped watching since Conan has taken over. I’m not a causation expert by any means, but I know that studio executives are looking at this as a cause/effect scenario. Their thinking is to put things back the way they were and see if they can at least reclaim their lost viewers. Isn’t this the basis of a free market? The market will react based on the interests of the individual?
If all the people that are up in arms about the cancellation are upset, they should watch Conan’s show. I’m not condoning what NBC has done. It’s the sign of a level of unprofessionalism that has probably existed long before the Internet was capable of dissemnating information in the blink of an eye. Conan has handled the situation admirably in But it’s part of the business and has been for awhile. I love that we have this medium to discuss our concern or our objections about things, but the real motivator is action that results in money. For consumer products, we vote with our dollar. For television we vote with our remotes.
If Twitter were around in 1994, I wonder if the Internet would have came to the aid of Toni Kukoc or Pete Meyers. After only 1 year of action they were benched because a guy named Michael Jordan decided to come out of retirement.
P.S. I understand that our rating system is flawed and not everyone who watches will have a Nielson Ratings box. We do need to improve our system for what it’s worth. The biggest thing is to make sure you accept a box when asked if you care what’s on TV. I know a few people who have refused them due to privacy or other concerns. It’s basically giving you the right to vote on what sucks on TV.
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October 1st, 2009 Jeff
The news is starting to come out again about Comcast looking to purchase a stake in NBC Universal. Historically cable providers have really been nothing more than a dumb pipe to your house. But with Comcast’s previous attempt at a hostile takeover of Disney and now their bid for NBC Universal, the Internet should be very worried.
If we look at a future where Comcast owns not only Content, but also the pipe into your house, we are looking at a world that just seems extremely counterproductive to the future that many Internet lovers have envisioned. Comcast is a company that has a keen interest in preventing users from viewing content on the Internet. Think about what a world where Hulu type services are rampant and what that means for Comcast.
- Reduced revenue from fewer cable subscribers
- Increased costs due to higher bandwidth demands
- Pay-per-view purchases drop
- A loss in up-sell products (Other than bandwidth)
- Long term growth plan looks very murky
But if you’re in a world where Comcast owns content, they can shape the way you access that content. Do you think it’s in their best business interest to keep sites like Hulu filled with their content? Maybe in an altruistic, future shaping way, but not in the harsh world of reality.
I firmly believe that Comcast will be out to squash Internet TV or at the very least heavily control it’s access. I could see them providing a streaming service for their cable subscribers. What might happen to iTunes? Would Comcast pull content off of the iTunes store in favor of their own on demand service?
The current deal is only rumored to be for about a 20% stake but that will be the start. A 20% stake doesn’t buy Comcast much in the way of true content ownership, but if they could finagle a controlling stake in the company, then things begin to look a little better for them; and a whole lot worse for us.
Keep an eye out on this one Internet.
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April 27th, 2009 sharif
I loved the re imagined Battlestar Galactica series and almost cried when the Last Frakkin’ Episode aired March 20th. I was in recovery from surgery but the following day, I watched my DVRed episode with red eyes and a heavy heart. And luckily, Caprica has come to fill that void in my TV show repertoire albeit almost a year sooner than the premiere of the series. FRAK! But is it large enough to fill the cracks BSG left behind.
Yes and No. Why the bipartisan answer? Because it is different yet alike, black yet white. At first glance, you’re waiting for the Cylons, the heavy artillery, the Space: Above and Beyond-inspired shots of ships with that little zoom added for dramatic effect but you won’t be seeing that anytime soon. This is a sci-fi show heavy on the family dynamic like a hyper-serious Jetsons without Rosie or the flying ships. But do expect lots and lots of tech-heaviness such as pieces of durable paper capable of sending emails or hologlasses that can transport you into an online underground that’s a mash-up of Zion, Club Hel, The Limelight, and Dante’s Inferno all in the virtual space of an opera house (hmmmm, methinks I am beginning to see the symbolism behind the Opera House so prominent throughout the BSG reboot). And that’s not the end of it.
Enter Zoe Greystone, daughter of brilliant computer genius Daniel Greystone (hmmm, Daniel?). She has created an avatar of herself that is an almost perfect copy of Zoe. The only problem is she exists only in the virtual world unlike Zoe who can travel between the two with the ease of a Neo. Zoe has bigger plans under the guise of the One True God (hmmmm) but there lies, as usual, other motives desired by others unknown to Zoe. And this is just in the first 15 minutes.
Without spoiling it for those who haven’t had the chance to purchase the DVD of the pilot, this prequel series is a worthwhile addition to your library. The feel and look of this pilot are a compliment to BSG’s bleak, dark outlook for humanity amongst the war between man and machine. This isn’t standard fare with regards to sci-fi territory as the focus again is on the relationships between the Adamas and the Greystones (an interesting juxtaposition of morals, ethics, and desire) as well as within each clan. This is a refreshing series pilot and if this is any indication, Caprica may surpass it’s predecessor in more ways than One.
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April 1st, 2009 Jeff
For those of us who are still using DirecTV, you can now rejoice. A DirecTV application to record your shows via your DVR has finally arrived. The application is called (aptly) DirecTV and sports a very straightforward interface.
You can find television shows via search by channel or by date and time. The nice thing is that in the Settings panel you can set it to only display channels that you subscribe to. (Very helpful) The interface feels like a solid iPhone app, which based on my previous experience with DirecTV is more of a credit to the Apple SDK than to the DirecTV developers.
Once you find a show, you can set it to record the episode or record the entire series. You can also select which DVR should record it (if you own multiple), give the recording a priority of “Record if Possible” or “Definitely Record”. This works in tandem with the Prioritizer feature in the DVR, which helps dictate what shows get recorded in the event of a recording conflict. You can also set the “Keep Until” option to “Disk is Full” or “I Delete It”.
Will you handle all your recordings with this application? My guess is you probably not, but if you’re on the go and forgot about that episode of Grey’s Anatomy than you’ll be happy that you have it.
The application is free and works over EDGE/3G and Wifi. The application was fairly snappy for me on EDGE as well, so even though I don’t own a 3G phone I’m sure the performance will be solid.
Screenshots
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March 1st, 2009 Jeff
Michael Emerson is by far one of the strongest actors on television today. His role as the character Benjamin Linus on LOST evokes a range of emotions from different viewers. Imagine my surprise when I looked at his IMDB credits and saw nothing listed after LOST. Why is it that someone isn’t banging his door down to play the next great villain in a film? Well if I had my way, I’d cast him in a role I think he was made for. The role of Edward Nygma, a.k.a The Riddler.
The Riddler is of course one of Batman’s A-list villains from the comic books. Previously the role was made disgustingly laughable by Jim Carrey in 1995′s Batman Forever. The role was a joke (by no fault of Carrey’s) and in my opinion didn’t give Nygma the chance he deserved. But in the hands of talented writers such as Nolan and Goyer the possibilities are endless.
The Riddler’s persona is governed by his modus operandi as a criminal. His world, his life and his very existence is rife with riddles and puzzles of the mind. Everything is a series of complex layers, which ultimately become more interesting than the actual answer itself. But the key to making The Riddler appealing to a modern, and more sophisticated audience, is to make his riddles more than just “Black, white and read all over”. The riddles will need to make social commentary. They will need to force us to look at the grotesque violence that he will undoubtedly instigate, as an extreme response to a problem with which there is no viable (and digestible) solution. Can we wipe out poverty by simply killing all of the poor people? That’s a simple example but gives you the idea for the type of audacious stunts I would expect to see come out of The Riddler while at the same time posing it to us as a game in which the answer seems complex, until you actually arrive at it.
My case for Emerson as Nygma is a simple one. Watch any episode of LOST that involves Benjamin Linus and see how Emerson handles “stringing us along” as we vie for the answers to the series. We know that Ben’s mind is a trove of information. Instead of unleashing it all on us, he allows it to drip out in small bits. Like a leaky faucet, the truth forms in a bead, perched on the lips. Linus is quick to envelop the truth with a perspective peppered with deceit and half-truths. He delivers this new product with a candor that demands you treat his new revelations as gospel. The fabrication is carefully weighted with an ounce of truth so that when it falls into our pool of known information, it causes ripples in our perceived reality. You never know if Ben’s guidance is bringing your view into sharper focus or if it further muddies your alleged awareness of truth.
Emerson’s work is the blueprint for the type of evil and conniving characters that intrigue and pull at the emotions of viewers. In some episodes, you’re surprised to find yourself rooting for him, hoping that everything has been a big misunderstanding. When the essence of his self-service reveals itself to you, the disappointment you feel manifests like a lump in your stomach, real, and perfectly tangible. It takes more than great writing to evoke a response as strong as Linus does. It takes a talented actor.
These are the qualities that I hope can be elicited from Emerson in the role of The Riddler. Now I guess I should say that I have no news if Emerson has actually been cast, but it would be an excellent choice both for him and for the franchise. I can continue to dream!
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February 19th, 2009 Jeff
After months of speculation, script rewrites, and anticipation of just how FOX executives would screw the pooch, Dollhouse has finally arrived. Having become a more recent convert to Joss Whedon, I wasn’t 100% blinded by fan loyalty. I knew that Joss would deliver a compelling story, draped in one liners. But his casting choice is what made me just a tad bit worried. As always I’ll preface this with a statement. Eliza Dushku is a talented actress and was fantastic in her role in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. However Eliza reminds me a lot of Michelle Rodriguez, who is very convincing in a role meant for her, but otherwise leaves you wanting. In Dollhouse this feeling is exacerbated by the show’s premise.
The Dollhouse is an organization that wipes people of their personalities and imprints them with new, specially crafted personalities to fit a particular mission or objective. In the pilot we see Dushku play the role of badass party girl, a role she is very comfortable in, and that of a hostage negotiator. Many of you are probably chuckling under your breath at the thought of Dushku as a hostage negotiator, but she was much better than I would have imagined. Despite this apparent cosmic aberration, I wouldn’t count on it being a regular event.
The premise of the show centers around versatility. The character Echo will embody close to thirty personalities a season. That’s thirty different characters she’s going to need to play. I’ve only seen Dushku play one kind of character, two if we decide to throw in the hostage negotiator. Does she have that range? Is she capable of being a different character each episode? I know that she’s struggling to sell me on the Echo personality, which is essentially someone devoid of personality. This is the part where all the Knights of Eliza rise to her defense claiming that it’s supposed to be devoid of emotion because the character doesn’t have any. I call bullshit. I spent seven years watching a television show with an android who was emotionally absent, yet the performance and the character itself was still enticing. (Of course I speak of Data from Star Trek) A lack of emotion isn’t a justification for a bland performance.
Jennifer Gardner is a perfect example as to the type of actress you need. Gardner was in a similar situation in the show Alias and pulled it off beautifully. In all fairness, Whedon’s style of dialogue is more “campish” than that of the Alias writers, but again this is no excuse. You know the type of show your going to write and you have to cast accordingly. If Dushku doesn’t work out, I wouldn’t call it a failing on her part but on the part of Whedon.
The show itself has a lot of potential. I’m not quite ready to give up on Dushku just yet, but this role will test her range as an actress. I’m not sure if she actually has any or if she’s just another hot girl that can throw punches and not look retarded doing it. Either way I’m sure viewers have a lot more patience than FOX executives do, and their the only ones that truly matter.
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November 30th, 2008 Jeff
I love the television show LOST. In fact it’s one of a few shows that I refuse to watch on DVR. I need to be on my couch taking in that great mind job the day, date and time it comes out. But I have to admit that my patience with the show is starting to wear just a *little* bit thin.
I’ve got the same problem that most people have with LOST. Where are we going? Which questions will be answered and which ones will fall victim to the “we didn’t know where the fuck we were going then” phase of writing. The show has challenged us as viewers in ways that were new to the TV genre. Through the series we’ve watched as the object of our inquiries has been switched around through clever writing techniques. Remember when we had that mechanical sounding thing in the jungle that was going around sniffing out people and eating them or whatever? Then suddenly we’re shown it’s a black cloud of smoke and told that it’s a “defense mechanism for the island”. Some producer must have thought “Good enough, lets move on”.
Move on to what though? Let’s move on to creating more questions! Like the entire hatch story line. We got enough answers about the hatch but those answers are superficial and lead into more questions. And for me these answers would feel great if the new round of questions didn’t make the previous discoveries feel insignificant. Even when the answer is delivered it’s not in cliff hanger fashion. It’s not at a point in the show where you feel “this is BIG”. It’s part of Ben’s dialogue or some passing conversation and we move on. So you feel like you’re actually being instructed by the writer that “this has no purpose”. (I admit that sometimes this is not the case, but you’d be suprised how often it is) Every answer they give us can usually be revealed as a clever smoke screen by asking “Why” or “From What”.
“We need to MOVE the island”. “Why?” “To protect it.” “From what?” “From people who want to destroy it.” “Why?” “I can’t tell you anymore than that, trust me.” As much as I love the Ben character too he should have been killed 30 times over. How many times can you tell real people to “trust” you and then fuck them over in the way Ben does?
No doubt I’ll be waiting for the season premiere but I better start getting some SIGNIFICANT answers real soon. The longer they delay, the bigger the payoff a viewer is going to expect. If they string me along like this and then tell me it’s a dream or some bullshit like that, someone will have to go. That’s the only way to handle it.
Good luck JJ. I hope all your other projects don’t spoil this one. Don’t let me down like you did with Alias.
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October 29th, 2008 Jeff
I already know what you’re thinking so get it out of your head right now. We’re not talking about old funk-a-dunk 60′s camp Batman here. We’re not talking about the cheese covered sauce of Smallville. I’m talking about a realistic take on the Batman franchise. The characters in the “Batverse” are so precious, so full of potential and richness. Let me layout my plan for the TV series, starting with the main character. None other than Gotham City herself.
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August 4th, 2008 Jeff
October will be the 1 year anniversary of the Hulu.com private beta launch. While the launch has had some success from the stand point of viewers, I’m not sure what the financial results of the site are like. I do know that despite promises, I’m still really missing NBC shows on iTunes. As part of my no cable experiment I’ve become even more closely acquainted with Hulu.com and some of it’s features.
My biggest problem, not just with Hulu, is the order in which shows are digitized. While it’s nice for nostalgia to be able to go back and watch 50 episodes of Adam-12, the reality is that most people who remember watching the show are now 50 years old. (Adam-12 came out in 1968. Assuming the viewer was 10) Most studies have shown that the younger generation are the largest group taking advantage of Internet streaming content. They’re also the group that’s more prone to NOT watch network television. (See MarketingCharts.com for some stats) That being said wouldn’t it make more sense to get more recent shows up and streaming?
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