In the end, while individual plot points, objects, and places are important for fans to recognize, the most successful approach seems to come about when the writer extrapolates the character’s underlying identity, exploring those aspects that remain the same in the new setting, and how they will manifest.
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Tags: Alternative Universe, fan fiction, fanfic, Sherlock, Steven Moffat
Posted in Current Events, TV | Comments Off on Transformation, Adaptation, Derivation? Moffat’s Sherlock and the Art of AUs
Maybe it was time to leave the safe haven of sci-fi niche nerdom and dip my toe into a mass program. BBT had just won a People’s Choice award. Could all the people be wrong all the time?
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Tags: Big Bang Theory, fanboy, gender politics, Klingon Boggle, Leonard Nimoy, nerd, science fiction, sitcom, Summer Glau, Will Wheaton
Posted in Perspectives, TV | 20 Comments »
As much as it desperately needs a bigger venue, it might also be time to come up with a new name. Comic-Con does not accurately capture the range and diversity of events on offer.
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Tags: Comic-Con, Roger Corman, Salt, The Cape, Zachary Quinto
Posted in Columns, Report From... | 2 Comments »
Mad Men gears up for its fourth season with a big public relations push. What makes the show so special and can it continue to live up to its buzz?
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Tags: Drama, Mad Men, marketing strategies
Posted in Columns, Mad Men, Perspectives, TV | 1 Comment »
The fifth season of Doctor Who saw the introduction of a new showrunner. In this post, Matt Hills considers his impact on series.
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Tags: "The Big Bang", Doctor Who, Narrative Complexity, Steven Moffat, television
Posted in Columns, Doctor Who & Authorship, Perspectives, TV | 7 Comments »
The music industry may be on hard times, but music festivals are booming. What gives?
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Tags: Indie Music, Live Music, Music Festivals, Recording Industry
Posted in Perspectives | 1 Comment »
The Real World: Back to New Orleans, like Treme, brings to life how "authentic" New Orleans has taken on new and often multiple meanings for tourists, volunteers, and television watchers
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Tags: David Simon, Jonathan Murray, Kermit Ruffins, Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans, Real World: Back to New Orleans, The Real World, Treme, verisimilitude
Posted in Current Events, Perspectives, TV | 7 Comments »
As everyone else was drooling over the final episodes of LOST, I fully admit that I was focusing on my weekly fix of Lifetime’s Army Wives. Despite its lack of cultural cachet, to me the show continues to illustrate an interesting tension between niche marketing, media convergence, and politically charged topicality.
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Tags: Army Wives, class, Country Music, cross-promotion, Lifetime, Media Convergence, military drama, series promotion, War
Posted in Industry, Internet, Perspectives, TV | 1 Comment »
Evan Davis reports from New York City on recent developments in French Cinema.
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Tags: film, French Cinema, Nouvelle Vague, Summer Media
Posted in Perspectives, Summer Media | 3 Comments »
What is more remarkable than the accuracy of the predictions made by Paul the Octopus was the absence of compelling onfield stories and game play that allowed for Paul to become the major story of the World Cup.
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Tags: FIFA, hyperreal, Jean Baudrillard, Paul the octopus, soccer, sports coverage, World Cup
Posted in Perspectives | 3 Comments »
True Blood begins its third season on HBO this summer, but perhaps more fun than catching up on the show's previous seasons is reading the series of novels and short stories on which the show is based.
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Tags: adaptation, Charlaine Harris, franchise, HBO, narrative, Narrative Complexity, seriality, Sookie Stackhouse, Southern Vampire Mysteries, television, True Blood
Posted in Perspectives, Summer Media | 9 Comments »
The Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research hosted a major conference this past week that featured a symposium on broadcasting in the 1930s, several thought-provoking keynote addresses, and presentations on all manner of issues pertaining to archives and the historical past.
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Tags: archives, film, radio, reality television
Posted in Film, Perspectives, Radio, TV | 2 Comments »
At the TWiT Cottage and around the web, a new kind of network television is taking hold.
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Tags: CNET, network television, simulcasting, TechCrunch, TWiT
Posted in Industry, Internet, Perspectives, Radio, Technology, TV | 1 Comment »
Robert Pattinson, like Brando and Dean before him, doesn't play by the star promotion rules and yet is a heartthrob because he appeals to heartthrob-hungry girls in unexpected ways.
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Tags: Classic Hollywood, Eclipse, Edward Pattinson, fandom, heartthrob, Hedda Hopper, James Dean, Kristen Stewart, Louella Parsons, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Photoplay, star promotion, Taylor Lautner, Twilight
Posted in Celebrity/Stardom, Current Events, Film | 2 Comments »
Ten (or more) media industry stories you might have missed recently.
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Tags: 3D, advertising, blogs, box office, broadband, DVD, Facebook, file sharing, Google, Hollywood, independent film, iPad, magazines, movies, music, newspapers, Pixar, porn, television, Twitter, video games, YouTube
Posted in Columns, What Are You Missing? | Comments Off on What Are You Missing? June 20-July 3