What is a Bad Season?

Something that sometimes tends to happen with TV shows, especially when they are new, and a bit of a gamble, is that they hit what is called a Sophomore Slump. This is just a fun way of saying that their first season is great and has so much potential to turn into a viable and long lasting show, however when they head into their second season, they lose their fire.

We all know shows like this. The one that probably comes to everyone's mind is True Detective

We were all amazed and super amped when the first season came out. I mean come on, Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey! Who wouldn't be sold on the stellar cast alone? The first season was a pure masterpiece. But then like so many before it, the show took a serious turn for the worse in second season, and it hit a serious sophomore slump.

Anyway, and much more to the point, there was a show that came out of the gates sprinting, and it even aired mid season, and still was one of the best new show on TV. It's just a little show called Empire, maybe some of you have heard it. 

So this show ended it's first season with a bang, literally. Everyone was just waiting to see what happens next with the notorious Lyon family. A few websites that I frequent were concerned for the sophomore season of Empire and if it would fall down the same hill that so many promising shows had done before it. However when the new season aired in late September of this year, this was not the case. Empire has been consistently in the top 10 shows, rating wise, on zap2it.com's weekly ratings list for all things TV. Here is it's ranking on the week of its season 2 premiere 

So far, there has been not even of a whisper for a sophomore slump from Empire. Each week the show has churned out consistently top 10 ratings and top notch content. I for one cannot wait to see what the future of Empire holds

Minority Report

I thought I would take a break from films and try watching a new TV series. Sunday night I began watching FOX new show "Minority Report" starring Megan Good. Initially I mistaken the show for the 2002 film "Minority Report" starring Tom Cruise, the films storyline handles themes of guilt, freewill, and advancements in technology; overall the film was visually appealing and intriguing to the audience.

"Minority Report" the show is almost exactly the same as the film with the themes of guilt, and technology but lacks some of the surprising elements the film had. I wondered if the show could have been created purposely to reenact the film?

Anyhow, the show opens ten years after canceling of the PreCrime Division; a group of individuals specifically created to see crime before it happened. Lara Vega (Megan Good) is a cop that meets a man named Dash (played by Stark Sands) who is connected to the old program. Dash has the ability to see glimpses of a crime before it occurs and sketch it out, but without his other companions he cannot solve the crimes. The pilot was very action filled and extremely fast paced, I quickly lost my interest once I couldn't understand the characters actions. I also noticed that because the show was so fast pasted, the characters lacked development. I have a five episode rule, so far I'm three episodes and my verdict is that it's just another cop show.

The Fox News Deck

The Screentastic Mr. Fox

Shepard Smith of Fox News toured the fancy, new Fox News Deck. At first glance, I was waiting for someone to say, "Beam me up, Scotty!" But when you look further, there are some cool aspects and some ridiculous ones.

It is useful that at any time, they can put any of those screens on the air. They've changed the way they gather the news, by using new tools and software to quickly bring news stories to the public. It seems like a smart choice to try and fuse social media with television news, and we will see if it works. The hope is to connect with the social media world and gain the generations of viewers who use smartphones.

This all being said, I still think the whole room is ridiculous. The size of the monitors and computer screens is unnecessary. As Jon Stewart says on The Daily Show when he makes fun of this, "Our televisions are the same size because we still have the same TVs we had last week." I also enjoy when he says, "Hey Fox, I think you're fixing the non-broken part." So maybe they should be working on "fair and balanced" reporting instead of being "trained on this new software" for two weeks. Also, the way Shepard Smith reports this new, amazing room is a little insensitive. When he points out a picture of an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian woman, he says, "This happens to be a picture of a Palestinian woman having a beef with an Israeli soldier." Hmm... maybe not quite the right thing to say in that moment, Shep?

Watch the video of Jon Stewart tearing it apart:

So You Think You Can Dance Huh?

One of the summer's hottest competition shows has one more episode left for until the season finale. This Tuesday they will be crowning America's favorite male dancer and female dancer. This show showcases the dancer's raw talent and their ability to win over America's votes. Before they can make it to the top 20 where they compete for America's votes they have auditions. Very similar to shows like American Idol they travel across the country auditioning dancers who poses the strength and talent to win the competition. There's a panel of expert judges who are there to critique the dancers and pick the top 20. If you have wowed the judges in auditions then you go straight on to vegas week. If you have failed to do so you either go straight home or have a chance to redeem yourself in choreography. Vegas week is the most stressful and dangerous week and shows what dancers are really cut out for the competition. As a dancer you must learn choreography for hip-hop, jazz, ballroom, and contemporary, as well as compete is a solo round, group number round, and explain why you deserve to be on the show.
This show celebrates dance and helps dancers and choreographers grow on the show. Many contestants    that make it to the top 20 have successfully grown their careers and have become greater dancers themselves. It's a true inspiration and every week I adore the creativity and beauty that comes from the performances. It's not just the choreographers and the dancers that make this show incredible its's the Emmy nominated and winning lighting team and videographers. They make the viewers experience at home real and they add to the performance. This show is easily a favorite and it opened my eyes to a new world of dance and gave me a greater appreciation for this art.

Ithaca Casting: A Social Networking Site for Casting

While majors in the Park School are notorious for the minimal amount of gen-ed's they require, we Television/Radio majors need to take a business class in order to graduate. Having forgot this and scrambling to find a half-way decent course to take last minute this semester, I picked up "Intro to Business." For the final, we are required to get into groups and come up with a business proposal. For my project, we decided to create a proposal for an Ithaca-based casting social network site. I figured this might be of interest to this audience and would welcome any idea for improvement.

One of the biggest issues we as student filmmakers face is finding and organizing actors. I know on my own productions, actors have created huge problems in the time management and scheduling of projects. While holding individual auditions, trying to steal the illusive casting DVDs that keep changing hands, and begging friends to make time in their own schedules to act in our films have worked out in the past, I have always felt there should be a more reliable and structured way of getting decent actors to commit to film projects. And I am sure I am not alone in this feeling.

Ithaca Casting (a tentative name) would be an Ithaca-based social networking site, created to connect local filmmakers with local actors. Both student and local filmmakers can create project pages where they can describe their needs and schedules. Actors can create profiles where they can upload their reels, describe their experience, and include their availability. Actors will also be able to post audition tapes and comments on filmmakers' project pages. Think of Ithaca Casting as the beautiful love child of Craigslist, LinkedIn, and Kickstarter.

There are a few big projects that have used similar approaches to find talent. The Queen Extravaganza is looking for talented musicians to perform with the surviving members of the band for the celebration of Queen's 40th anniversary. Interested performers can post auditions tapes to their website to win a chance to perform in the show. Fox's Glee is using a similar format to find new talent for their show as well.

While my project is proposing that members pay a monthly or annual fee to be able to access the website, it's still up for debate. Are there any other elements you would like to see in such a site? Any other features you would think that would make the casting experience a little friendlier?

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An interesting article on this sort of idea: Social Media is Changing TV Casting - thedefectorsblog.com