TV I Can't Wait to See: Fear the Walking Dead

Image from source, THR

Finally! Though still five or six weeks away, we know when Fear the Walking Dead, a companion series to the AMC mega-hit, will debut (August 23), how many episodes it will be (six, the first season), and we even have a full-length preview! Though I'm not bowled over by the title they chose, I love the premise. Most zombie stories start mid-apocalypse. Starting at the beginning will solve a lot of riddles that have either had to be ignored by fans, or fanwanked away (how did they over-run society, how did it get so bad so fast?). [Story continues below]



Of course, the chief problem inherent in the genre is, "how do you end the story?" And this is largely irrelevant in an ongoing series. So long as the parent series and/or its spinoffs remain popular, they don't have to devise a resolution. If this spinoff works (and if there are any others), I suppose they could end it with either having all of the remaining survivors setting up together on an island or something, or even having the zombie contagion simply dying out, leaving a handful of people to repopulate. Then we could have, After the Walking Dead!

[Excerpt]
 
Comic-Con: 'Fear the Walking Dead' Debuts Full Trailer, Sets Premiere Date

Following a string of cryptic teasers, AMC officially released the first trailer for Fear the Walking Dead on Friday at Comic-Con, where the cabler also revealed that the L.A.-set series would debut on Aug. 23 and lead directly into the season six premiere of the flagship series. There will be a special Talking Dead airing Oct. 4 after the season finale of Fear. . .

Read more at: The Hollywood Reporter

Blast from the Past: Mid-season Replacements!

We're finally at the time of year when the holidays have gone, and the networks are easing up on reruns, and actually giving us some new TV episodes. But rather than leave well enough alone, they're switching things up per usual. There are shows like American Idol that have traditionally started in January for the last several years.  There are shows like V, that the networks seem intent upon sabotaging by scheduling them in a weird way. And then there are the "mid-season replacements." These are the shows that they held in reserve, in case some of the fall shows get cancelled. Which always happens.

Often times, these shows seem sort of half-baked, other times they're maybe too quirky (like the late, lamented Better Off Ted). But there have been quite a few successes born out of the mid season. For example. . .





1. Laverne & Shirley - One of the most successful shows of this type was also a spinoff, and was the number one show on television for a couple of years.
2. The Simpsons - Even more successful than the previous entry, The Simpsons was also a spinoff (of The Tracey Ullman Show), and has been running since 1989. The clip above shows the current and the original opening.
3. Law & Order - Yep, this one too. And though it wasn't one, it inspired a string of spinoffs. The clip compiles the 20+ years of the franchise.
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Yep, Buffy too.
5. Cheers - This show debuted in mid-season, and barely made it to a second. But back then NBC was starved for hits and decided to nurture it. Good plan.
6. Night Court - Not quite as critically lauded, but as funny as the rest of the "Must See TV" lineup, Night Court started in mid-season with--except for Harry Anderson, John Larroquette and Richard Moll--an entirely different cast than it ended up with. Of course, part of that was due to the deaths of two prominent actresses, Selma Diamond and Florence Halop.

That's it for this week. I'm sure there are many, many more. But the YouTube search engine doesn't make it easy! Happy Monday!

Blast from the Past: Unsuccessful TV Spinoffs!

This week's Blast from the Past idea came from my time wasting activity today. Yesterday, I found the complete series Tabitha on DVD at Big Lots for $3. I grew up loving Bewitched, and watched the spin-off when it aired in 1977. I remember really wanting to like it, but that it was sort of marginal.  Even at eleven years old, the problems with the show stood out.

First, the show debuted only five years after Bewitched was cancelled, so Tabitha should've only been about 12. Her brother Adam would've been six or so. Instead, she was 20-something, and Adam somehow passed her in age. Also, only Tabitha had magic, with Adam filling sort of a Darrin role, tsk-tsking his sister's use of magic.  Complicating matters was "Aunt Minerva," a heretofore never known member of the family.

It wasn't all bad though. The star, Lisa Hartman, was outstanding, doing a fantastic Elizabeth Montgomery impression. She was beautiful and spunky. Robert Urich played her smarmy boss, and was at his peak of attractiveness.  The theme song was pretty great too, though it took until the third episode to debut. Oddly, the first two shows had the same opening sequence with a dreary instrumental tune. The difference is startling, and shows that maybe if the show had been given a little longer to catch on, it may have gelled into something better.

I have to think if they tried again, they might have better luck. Of course, most of the cast of the original Bewitched is dead, but after the bummer of a remake movie, a recast, re-thought out version of Tabitha might work. Maybe Lisa Hartman could play Samantha? We know she could do it. So, lets get on with it, shall we? Here are some openings from spinoff TV series, all short-lived.

1. Tabitha - Great theme song, sung by Lisa Hartman. I think this opening may be the reason I've always wanted a VW Super Beetle convertible.

2. AfterMASH - After stretching the Korean War out for eleven years, CBS still couldn't let M*A*S*H go. This sorry followup is probably the most disappointing spinoff ever attempted.

3. The Golden Palace - Okay, so maybe this one, the spinoff of The Golden Girls takes the cake for bad spinoffs.

4. The Lone Gunmen - This one should have worked. The quirky guys from The X-Files were one of my favorite things about the original series.


On a side note, I usually post eight clips in this feature. But today, I decided to use my Mac to do the post. For all the noise made about how intuitive Macs are, it fought me all the way on this one. When something as simple as copy and paste go haywire, it's enough to make a "PC" like me lose his marbles. And therefore, just four today. 


Have a great week, everybody!

Classic TV Themes: Spinoff Showcase

A break from politics, and snarky commentary is in order. And if you thought I'd scraped the bottom of the barrel for the "classic" 70s and 80s nuggets lodged in my brain, you'd be wrong.

The ultimate safe-bet/surefire-fail paradox in TV programming is the spinoff. Usually, they make a big splash, only to fade away (see #1, #3 and especially #2), but sometimes they outlive their parent, in both longevity and in popularity (#4).

#1 - Mork & Mindy - Spun off from Happy Days. This is the extended version of season two's opening (rarely seen on TV today). Season two just about killed the show, after a stellar first year. They changed time slots and most of the cast. Hey, good going.

#2 - Joanie Loves Chachi - Also spun off (and back onto) Happy Days. Very popular at first, then *poof!* I guess it was especially successful in some Latin-American countries Korea, where "Chachi" is reportedly slang for "penis." This particular video has some especially snarky exposition, alleging that the clip will induce suicide. So be careful!

#3 - Rhoda - Spun off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Very popular, until Rhoda got married, then sank in the ratings. And poor Valerie Harper--an underrated comic talent--never really got that next big break.

#4 - The Facts of Life - Spun off from the abysmal Diff'rent Strokes, this show may have been slightly vapid, but hey, it had George Clooney for a while! And that hobbit guy's brother!

Relive the magic. . .