(no subject)

hi hi hi so I went to Berkeley to meet up with claennis. Happened to be one of the worst BART days ever- along with the slowdowns from the Hayward fire, the 100 degree (F) heat was messing with all the tracks too. I did manage to get some exam study done on the train. And I got to Berkeley, eventually. We hung out at Gelateria Naia and talked the whole time. My dear Yuko needs to learn how to scoop ice cream/gelato quicky with the mouth. Prevents melty spillage.

So we talked and Yuko inverted words and it was funny and oh I forgot to tell you that Ioan Gruffudd is just Welsh for "John Griffth." And I managed to weird out even the crazy claennis with my random tangents and feeble attempts at explaining stuff. REALLY I SAW YOUR EYES YOU WERE LIKE WHAT IS THIS GIRL ON?

So we went home on BART, and we were so lucky to get a seat on an earlier station, because by 19th Street Oakland standing room was packed, and there were a ton of people still trying to get in. Yuko was lucky enough to get out at Fruitvale, because after that was a bunch of transfer business messier than West Ham's acquisition of Tevez and Mascherano. It was still hot, still crowded, and I picked an earlier transfer point to avoid the even larger crowds at Bay Fair. But it turned out the train marked Fremont was a Bay Fair train instead, so I had to get another train and then move towards the middle (seriously, people, there's more room here, stop crowding at the exits!). Oh, and around Hayward everyone was looking at the plumes of black smoke coming from some fire in the distance. It's that time of year, folks.

So now I'm watching the house while my brother's math group does their project here and my parents are out getting food and stuff. I did some studying while snacking on tortilla chips and finishing the carton of lemonade. I enjoy drinking out of cartons. ;)

repeat repeat it again

if any of you are in the Berkeley vicinity...



I'm in the Farmers' Market group.

but we're so happy

First,

Happy Birthday, pablo___!


Have a superfantastic day, Lease.

Now, more upfront stuff.

More on ABC and CW, via yahtzee63:
ABC has a wide array of pilots being considered for midseason, including eight comedies and nine dramas: "Bad Mother's Handbook," "Five Year Plan," "Never Better," "Roman's Empire," "This Might Hurt," "Fourplay" (previously "Untitled Kohan/Mutchnick Project"), "Single With Parents" (previously "My Brother's Hot (And Other Dilemmas)" and "In the Motherhood" on the comedy front and "Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas," "Castle," "Cupid," "Finnegan," "Good Behavior," "Prince of Motor City," "Untitled David Hemingson Project," "The Unusuals" and "Section 8" on the drama side.

The only ones of these I know anything about are:
"Cupid," aka the possibly brilliant, possibly ghastly redo of Rob Thomas' unfairly canceled 90's show about a man who might be the Roman god Cupid exiled to earth or may just be a crazy man trying to be a matchmaker. I loved the original but am not convinced they can catch that lightning in the bottle again; and "Prince of Motor City," which is sort of like "Cane" was this year, but in Detroit, with cars instead of sugar.

I heard horrible things about "In the Motherhood." "The Unusuals" sounds potentially interesting. And I remember "Cupid!" I was too young to really understand everything, but I remember it!

( full premise of the new 90210. Really, read the whole thing. )

And now, for CBS.
Story on 2008-2009 season

The shows:
Eleventh Hour - Drama - Premiering: Fall 2008
Premise: Accompanied by his beautiful blonde bodyguard, a government science advisor travels the country investigating abuses of science and crimes of a scientific nature. The project is based on a British miniseries.
First Impressions: There's the "Dark Knight" teaser with the tagline "Why so serious?" which may apply to "Eleventh Hour" as well. The pilot appears to have taken its cloned babies plotline directly from the British original and director Danny Cannon has given the show his trademark stylized look. Rufus Sewell looks to be a capable and compelling lead, but why did the clips screened for advertisers feature Marc Blucas -- presumably in what is just a one-off guest appearance -- far more than Marley Shelton, the show's second lead? Even if the clips weren't instantly outstanding, this is a slam-dunk in the post-"CSI" slot.
Stars: Rufus Sewell ("Dark City"), Marley Shelton ("Sin City")
Rufus Sewell has a dramatic face. But hee the description "beautiful blonde bodyguard." Unless she's like Mercy from the Superman comics/animated series. Then that would be fantastic.

The Ex List - Comedic Drama - Premiering: Fall 2008
Premise: Successful thirtysomething business owner Bella has everything she could possibly want. Except for a man. When a psychic tells her she's already dated her future husband, Bella has to go through her past romantic history to find the perfect man who got away. The catch? If she doesn't find the guy in the next year, she'll die alone. The series is based on an Israeli format.
First Impressions: Elizabeth Reaser looks fantastic. And there should be plenty of female appeal for audiences coming out of "Ghost Whisperer." But what would possibly make any man watch this latest incarnation in the "Beautiful, successful woman who just isn't complete without a phallus in her life" genre? The best part of the clips were Eric Balfour, playing a hilarious caricature-of-type as a dickweed boyfriend from the main character's past. If he returns, perhaps we'll watch again.
Stars: Elizabeth Reaser ("Grey's Anatomy"), Rachel Boston ("American Dreams"), Adam Rothenberg ("Mad Money"), Alex Breckenridge ("Dirt"), Amir Talai ("Campus Ladies")
Chick-flick version of "New Amsterdam." Though without the cool immortality and crime-solving aspect (why do they always give the more interesting things to the guys?). Except it's based on another show. But still.

The Mentalist - Drama -Premiering: Fall 2008
Premise: Patrick Jane, a detective and independent consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation, used to pretend to be a psychic medium, but now he just uses his powers of observation to solve crimes, as his unorthodox methods and questionable past occasional rub the other members of his unit the wrong way.
First Impressions: For college students, I'd like to propose a great drinking game to start when "The Mentalist" premieres this fall: Whenever Simon Baker's character -- a former fraudulent psychic turned ultra-observant crimefighter -- spots a clue and they cut to a tight close-up of Baker squinting his eyes, take a shot. You'll be drunk by Act II. That being said, Baker has good eyes and he looks like a charismatic lead. He's surrounded by a good enough cast that viewers may soon get over the impression that "The Mentalist" is suspiciously like a certain USA show only with fewer laughs. The pilot looks to be loaded with recognizable guest stars.
Stars: Simon Baker ("The Guardian"), Robin Tunney ("Prison Break"), Owain Yeoman ("The Nine"), Tim Chang ("Rambo") and Amanda Righetti ("The O.C.")
Dude, my mom likes Simon Baker. Hey, he's cool.
And I liked Owain Yeoman as the nicer bank-robbing brother on "The Nine."

Project Gary - Comedy - Premiering: Fall 2008
Premise: Divorced after 15 years of marriage, Gary has to move on with his life with his gorgeous new girlfriend, while also staying close to his two kids, his ex-wife and her new boyfriend.
First Impressions: From Jay Mohr to Paula Marshall to Larry Miller, "Project Gary" is full of people who have been known to be funny. And even Jaime King was a hoot on "Kitchen Confidential," but this multi-camera laffer feels awfully sitcom-y and familiar. After having to play restrained for a season on "Ghost Whisperer," Mohr looks like he's having funny yelling and hamming it up.
Stars: Jay Mohr ("Ghost Whisperer"), Paula Marshall ("Out of Practice"), Jamie King ("Kitchen Confidential"), Laura Marano ("Back to You"), Ryan Malgarini ("How to Eat Fried Worms")
Ah, sitcom premises.

Worst Week - Comedy -Premiering: Fall 2008
Premise: Magazine editor Sam has a great job and a beautiful fiance, but whenever he gets around her conservative parents, disasters tend to follow.
First Impressions: What will the viewer threshold be for watching a nice guy humiliated on a week-to-week basis? The clips we saw seemed to feature a whole season's worth of scatological, sexual and slapstick embarrassments, which will all be packed into a 22-minute pilot somehow. And some of them were funny. As fans of "The Winner" and "Kitchen Confidential" know, Erinn Hayes has a rare combination of sex-appeal and anything-goes humor, while nobody does a disapproving slow-burn like Kurtwood Smith. There's no doubt that star Kyle Bornheimer has everyman appeal, but... and let's not make this seem too harsh... will viewers be distracted by his slightly crossed eyes?
Stars: Kyle Bornheimer ("Jericho"), Erinn Hayes ("The Winner"), Kurtwood Smith ("That '70s Show"), Nancy Lenehan ("My Name Is Earl")
Just go curse yourselves with that title, fools.

Harper's Island - Horror Drama - Premiering: Midseason
Premise: A group of family and friends head to a secluded island off the coast of Seattle for a destination wedding. In addition to being picturesque and romantic, the island is also infamous as the site of a homicidal maniac's killing rampage seven years earlier. When people start turning up dead, that becomes a major concern.
First Impressions: It's "My Big Fat White Horror-Wedding," or "Reunion" meets "Big Day" meets "Friday the 13th." "Harper's Island" looks like the sort of knock-off slasher film that usually gets released in January and makes a lot of money without being screened for critics. But those sagas of cute, thin white folks getting butchered only need to last 90 minutes, while this show will somehow have to sustain 13 episodes.
Stars: Elaine Cassidy ("Felicia's Journey"), Ryan Merriman ("Final Destination 3), others TBA
If done very, very carefully, could have been awesome. But CBS doesn't do high-concept well. Even its supernatural shows are procedurals.
Check out the video clip.
Production looks very cheap, and dialogue too bland for fun. Most of the actors look bland as well, 'cept for one guy who looks a bit like Cillian Murphy. But that was just for one shot.

TWOP snarksters can be hit-or-miss, but the one who is covering upfronts is pretty good, capturing the insane atmosphere of the event while commenting on the shows too. Well, besides the haterade on Craig Ferguson. Maybe it was an off day for the Scotsman, though.
The CBS upfront
ABC
The CW

Oh, and I came up with some ideas for shows.
One is inspired by all the rich and pretty people shows presented by the CW yesterday. It's titled "Opportunity Valley." Basically a mix of all the different upper-middle class to upper class high school environments in Silicon Valley. I'll expand on it if anyone asks. But the pilot starts with a double suicide. At least, the guy goes through with it. The girl doesn't. Cut to title.
Second one I'm bringing up because "Harper's Island" above reminded me of it. I want to make an American miniseries of "Battle Royale." The Japanese novel that was made into the controversial movie. I will keep the characters Japanese. I've made extensive notes on how to translate the novel into 6 episodes. This is something I've been stewing on for a while.

okay, sleepy time now.