Firstlife: Not since Lost has a story simultaneously confused the hell out of me and completely blown me away (My thoughts on book #1 in the Everlife trilogy by Gena Showalter)

Before I get too far into talking about my thoughts on Firstlife, I definitely need to mention that as I was reading this book, I constantly found myself thinking about the book Divergent by Veronica Roth and comparing this book to Divergent. Maybe that might not seem fair of me to do that, but no matter how hard I tried to avoid comparing the two books, I just couldn’t seem to help it a lot of the time. If you’ve read my review for Divergent, then you know that I went into reading Divergent really looking forward to that book, but I was ultimately incredibly underwhelmed and disappointed by it. In my opinion, Firstlife is very similar to Divergent in some ways; however, Firstlife is a much better book in the grand scheme of things.

That being said, as much I was loved Firstlife, I’m not going to deny that this book really confused the hell out of me at times as I was reading it, which really made the story hard for me to follow at times. Honestly, my overall experience with reading this book reminded me a lot of how I’ve always thought that Lost was a really awesome show, while also being a really weird and confusing show to watch at times. Because Firstlife was a rather hard story to follow and keep all the details of the story straight in my mind as I was reading it at times, it’s definitely hard for me to describe the plot of the book for the purpose of this review. I’m going to do my best, though.

Firstlife is about a girl named Tenley “Ten” Lockwood who lives in a society where the life that people are living now is referred to as “Firstlife”, while the afterlife is referred to as the “Everlife”. People have to choose one of two realms that they can make a contract with to live in when they die. The two realms are Myriad, which basically values independence, happiness and indulgence, while Troika is more about structure, equality, freedom of choice, and standing up for what’s right. If you don’t pledge yourself to one of those two realms, that means you’re unsigned and you’ll go to the Realm of Many Ends when you die, which is basically the equivalent of hell. The two realms have been at war with each other for centuries, and they both view Ten as being special and what’s referred to as a Conduit, which means she has the ability to help either realm win the war.

Because Ten refuses to sign with either realm, her parents put her in an asylum where she has been for a little over a year at the start of the book in an attempt to make her sign with Myriad. Personally, Ten’s refusal to make a decision regarding what realm she wants to sign with and the fact that the possibility of Ten signing with Troika causes a lot of conflict between her and her parents is one of the ways this book reminded me a lot of Divergent. After all, in the society that Tris Pryor lives in, it’s viewed as a major betrayal if a person chooses to join a different faction, rather than remaining a part of the faction that they were raised in. Ten’s refusal to sign with Myriad leads her father to give the doctors at the asylum his consent for them to try and torture Ten into agreeing to sign with Myriad. The fact that her father told them to torture Ten into signing with Myriad definitely put him in the running to be featured in a blog post that I’m thinking about doing where I discuss and debate which fictional characters from books that I’ve read relatively recently have the worst parents.

Modern Family: Watch out, Claire! You’re just about one wrong move away from being featured on STFU, Parents (My thoughts on episode 5x17 “Other People’s Children”)

Whenever I look back on Modern Family’s fourth season, I can’t help but view it as being the show’s weakest season. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t completely hate season four. It’s just that while the first three seasons have numerous episodes that I feel like watching repeatedly, season four doesn’t have nearly as many episodes that I feel that way about. While I do think that season four is currently the weakest season of Modern Family, I’ll admit that I found that a fair amount of season four episodes had really grown on me when I watching the season again on DVD. Personally, I feel like season five has been a major improvement compared to season four. Much like the first three seasons, I’ve one again felt like watching a lot of the season five episodes that aired at this point repeatedly, and I feel fairly comfortable guessing that when season five has ended, this will be one of the episodes that I’ll feel like watching numerous times in the future.

I feel like this episode really demonstrates one of the things that I’ve always viewed as being one of the show’s greatest strengths, which would be the fact that the writers handle the ensemble nature of the show perfectly for the most part. It’s also my opinion that the cast of Modern Family is the perfect size. There’s enough characters that give the writers a lot of different combinations to work with when it comes to pairing characters up for storylines, but the cast doesn’t have so many series regulars that the actors/characters are constantly being neglected by the writers, which has always been my main complaint about Once Upon a Time. All of the storylines in this episode feature some really great combinations of characters, and all of the storylines were very funny and a lot of fun to watch.

One of the themes that was featured in several of the storylines was the fact that by the end of the episode it was made very clear that a lot of the characters were putting on some kind of act around other people in this episode. One of the storylines that revolved around that idea was the whole thing with Cameron, Mitchell, Alex and Manny all going to a local art gallery together to see a new art exhibit. Towards the beginning of the episode, Cameron revealed in a couch interview that since he doesn’t know all that much about art, he had some research on the artist whose work he believed was currently on display at the gallery. He did this so he could come across as knowing what he was talking about when they were all at the art gallery. Unfortunately for Cameron, the exhibit that he had done research on was only a temporary exhibit and was no longer on display, which prompted him to try his next idea for how to handle the situation: Touch a painting and get kicked out of the gallery.

Chicago Fire: Casts Michelle Forbes in Season 2-TVLine

According to TVLine's Vlada Gelman, Michelle Forbes has been cast in a recurring guest-star role for season 2 of Chicago Fire. Here's an excerpt from the original article, which gives some details on Forbes' role:

The Killing alumna has booked a recurring role on Season 2 of the NBC drama as a high-ranking consultant with the State Fire Marshal’s office, TVLine has learned.

The actress’ character, Gail McLeod, is in charge of monitoring budgets and performance at the city’s fire houses. That may spell trouble for the men and women at 51, which is definitely under her microscope.

Link to the full article:‘Chicago Fire’ Season 2 Cast — Michelle Forbes as Fire Marshal Consultant - TVLine



My thoughts: I've seen Michelle Forbes on a lot of TV shows over the years, namely Battlestar Galactica, Lost, True Blood and The Killing, and I personally think she's a very talented actress. I'm very confident that she'll do a great job on Chicago Fire. Chicago Fire ended up becoming one of my favorite new TV shows last year, so it's definitely great to finally get some news about what will be happening in season 2. If you aren't already watching Chicago Fire, I strongly recommend that you check the show out immediately.

Parenthood: Sonya Walger Cast as Love Interest for Joel in Season 5-TVLine

According to TVLine's Michael Ausiello, Sonya Walger has been cast in the recurring guest-star role of Meredith for Parenthood's fifth season. Here's an excerpt from the article, which gives some details on Walger:

Sources confirm to TVLine that Parenthood has tapped Sonya Walger to join the Season 5 cast in the recurring role of Meredith, a sexy, confident fireball of an architect who is working with Sam Jaeger’s Joel on a two-year project.

In the Sept. 26 premiere, Joel and Julia invite Mer over for dinner and she inadvertently makes Julia feel self-conscious about being a stay-at-home mom. Julia views her as a bit of a threat, even though she isn’t consciously trying to be.

Link to the full article:‘Parenthood’ Season 5: Sonya Walger Cast as Love Interest for Joel - TVLine



My thoughts: While I really liked Sonya Walger on Lost, I definitely liked her a lot more on Flash Forward, so I'm really excited to hear that she's going to be guest-starring on Parenthood next season. This whole storyline sounds like it could potentially be very interesting. That being said, I hope this storyline doesn't end with Joel and Julia getting divorced, because I really like them as a couple. However, I'm also in favor of any storyline for Julia and Joel that doesn't involve Sydney, because I've always felt like she was a major brat and I can't stand her 99% of the time. If the writers want to do storylines where Julia and Joel are dealing with their kids, I think they should do more storylines with Victor. I thought that the storylines that the writers did last season with Victor were much more interesting and often more touching on an emotional level than storylines with Sydney have ever been. That being said, I'm definitely looking forward to see Sonya Walger on Parenthood next season, and I can't wait to see how this storyline plays out.

Revolution: Not since Power Rangers has a TV show forced me to completely leave my brain at the door in order for me to be able to enjoy it (My thoughts on season one of Revolution) (Part 4 of 4)

(Part Four: Conclusion/Follow-up)

All things considered, Revolution is very flawed, but as I said earlier, I definitely saw potential for the show to be good when I watched the first episode, which is why I was willing to give it another chance and watched the second episode. While the episode “The Children’s Crusade” is ultimately the episode that won me over as a viewer and convinced me to start watching the show on a regular basis, I feel like the show slowly started to hit its stride starting with the episode “The Plague Dogs”, especially considering the way they handled Maggie’s death. The show definitely got a lot better throughout the course of the entire season though, especially in the second half of the season.

If there’s one episode that I think more highly of compared to the rest of the season, it’s definitely “The Children’s Crusade” since it’s the episode that got me hooked on the show in the first place. It did a really good job of explaining why Rachel and Ben chose to get involved with something that went on to have catastrophic consequences for the entire world. They did it because they believed it was the only way that they could ultimately save the life of their unborn child, Danny, who needed a special kind of medical treatment in order to live. I’m not a parent so I’ve never been in a situation like Rachel and Ben were in, but for some reason whenever I think about that aspect of the episode, I can’t help but think of Star Trek and Spock’s famous line in the movie The Wrath of Kahn: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

I don’t think Rachel and Ben should have necessarily let Danny die just to spare the rest of the world from being hurt by the turning off all the power, but the whole thing definitely sounds a little extreme to me just to save Danny’s life. It reminds me a lot of Once Upon a Time and how Regina/The Evil Queen cast a curse that sent everybody in the enchanted forest to a town in “our world” where time was frozen, they couldn’t leave Storybrooke or remember who they were all to get revenge on Snow White for telling her mother, Cora, about her plans to run off with the man she loved, prompting Cora to kill him. Not only did it seem beyond extreme to me, it was definitely a serious case of misplaced blame, but I digress.

If Rachel and Ben took some time to think about it and negotiate with the people who wanted their technology, I just think they might have been able to come to an agreement that was less extreme. I suppose the writers having their decision to get involved with those people be motivated by them viewing it as the only way to save the life of their unborn child is a much better motivation than perhaps having their motivation be driven solely by greed or money. Regardless of the fact that I think their actions were rather extreme, “The Children’s Crusade” is still a great episode that answered some of the audience’s questions, had a nice blend of drama and comedy and was simply an altogether awesome episode. While I hold the episode “The Children’s Crusade” in very high regard, which is part of why I’ve mentioned it so many times throughout this review, I also think very highly of the season finale (“The Dark Tower”).

Revolution: Not since Power Rangers has a TV show forced me to completely leave my brain at the door in order for me to be able to enjoy it (My thoughts on season one of Revolution) (Part 3 of 4)

  (Part Three)

For the third part of my review, I thought that I would spend some time talking about my speculations regarding season two of Revolution. First off, it’s going to be really interesting to see how NBC moving the show to seven o’clock on Wednesday nights will impact the ratings. Hopefully, the show will be able to avoid suffering the same fate that Smash did in its second season when it wasn’t airing after The Voice, especially since I like Revolution more than I ever liked Smash, but that’s not really saying much though. Personally, I’m not sure that The Voice was ever a very compatible lead-in for Revolution to begin with, so whatever help The Voice provided Revolution in the ratings department didn’t last very long, at least that’s my guess having followed the ratings throughout the season.

After all, The Voice is a singing competition, while Revolution is a science fiction show, so I don’t think that there’s much of a crossover between the audiences for the two shows. Sure, I like both The Voice and Revolution, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s also the case for the people who watch at least one of the two shows, and I think the fact that Revolution repeatedly lost about half, if not more of The Voice’s viewers in the ratings throughout the entire season proves that. If I had to guess what the NBC network executives’ logic was behind scheduling Revolution on Monday’s after The Voice, they were probably thinking that since they obviously had high hopes for Revolution they should give it the best lead in that they could offer one of their new shows, which is The Voice. They were also probably thinking that while Revolution and The Voice are obviously not the most compatible with each other in terms of the kind of audience that the two shows attract, The Voice is at the very least one of NBC’s highest rated shows. That’s just my theory regarding the decision to air Revolution on Monday nights after The Voice for its first season though.

Honestly, I feel like the ratings for Revolution looked a lot more stable by the end of the season compared to the ratings for Smash’s first season. The fact that Smash didn’t seem to hold onto very many of The Voice’s viewers is something that really surprised me, because I thought the two shows would share the same audience, at least to some extent. Season two is definitely going to be a big test for Revolution, in my opinion. First off, it’s going to have to prove that it’s strong and stable enough to stand on its own since it will be kicking off NBC’s Wednesday night lineup now and unlike the show’s first season, it won’t have The Voice to provide the show with at least somewhat of a cushion in the ratings.

On a more personal level, the writers of Revolution are going to have to prove to me that the show is capable of maintaining my interest for the duration of the series, or for at least the foreseeable future and not quickly once again lose me as a viewer like Fringe did once its second season started. Honestly, I’m fairly optimistic that they will be able to keep me interested and invested in the show considering the fact that they managed to capture my interest a lot sooner than Fringe did, and they’ve kept me interested in the show since the episode “The Children’s Crusade”. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, they still managed to keep me interested in the show after not being all that impressed with the first episode, but at least I saw that the show had potential to be good, unlike Fringe’s first episode, which didn’t really show much potential in my opinion.

As for my predictions regarding the show’s second season itself, I’m not entirely joking when I say this but there’s a big part of me that’s half expecting that the season two finale cliffhanger will be that Miles and Monroe are shown lying asleep in bed next each other, naked, leaving the viewers to spend the entire summer wondering if they slept with each other, especially considering the homoerotic subtext that a lot of their scenes together had throughout the season. Like I said earlier, I was very surprised that the producers not only revealed the cause of the blackout fairly early on in the series, the characters also turned the power back on in the first season as well. As I said earlier, I was really expecting the producers to stretch that out for several seasons.

I haven’t been able to find the interview, but I read a comment on the IMDB message board for Revolution from a poster who claimed that Eric Kripke apparently said at one point that the show isn’t supposed to primarily be about turning the power back on, but instead it’s supposed to be about the characters rebuilding the United States. If that’s indeed the case, I think that sounds like a very interesting direction to take the show in, so I kind of hope that’s where things are headed.

As for the reveal that the President of the United States has secretly been hiding in a U.S. Colony at Guantanamo Bay, I can’t wait to see what happens when he returns to what used to be the United States. It would be nice to see the writers address the whole issue about how he can still be considered the President when the Constitution is supposedly no longer valid and there’s a law about term limits, not to mention the fact that fifteen years have passed since the power was turned off. Who knows how far into his presidency he was when the power was turned off? I’m not holding my breath about whether or not they will answer those questions though. The writers do have a tendency to overlook details like that at times.

As much as I loved the reveal about the President, it kind of bugged me that they had the President talk, but they didn’t show his face. Since the producers did that, I’m guessing that they will just to expect viewers to simply ignore the fact that viewers will have already heard the President speak if they end up casting an actor whose voice sounds nothing like whoever it was that said the President’s lines in the season finale. From a practical standpoint, I’m guessing the producers did that so they can decide who they want to cast as the President later on. They’ll probably want to find an actor who’s at least somewhat of a big name actor to play the part. What I think would be interesting if the writers have the President become the main villain of the show in season two. Like I said earlier, the show definitely needs to have one clear cut central antagonist instead of flip-flopping back and forth between acting like Neville is the main villain of the show at times, and then act like Monroe is the central villain of the show the rest of the time.


Part 1 of 4:Revolution: (Part 1 of 4)
Part 2 of 4:Revolution: (Part 2 of 4)
Part 4 of 4:Revolution: (Part 4 of 4) 

Revolution: Not since Power Rangers has a TV show forced me to completely leave my brain at the door in order for me to be able to enjoy it (My thoughts on season one of Revolution) (Part 2 of 4)

(Part Two)

As I said in part one of my review, while I thought that the first episode of Revolution was rather average, I still managed to see enough potential for the show to be really good to make me want to watch the second episode, which was definitely a slight improvement upon the first episode, and I became gradually more and more satisfied with the show as the first season continue. I know the producers haven’t been making the show in order to please me as a viewer; after all I’m almost certain the producers are completely unaware of my existence. Although, whoever is in charge of maintaining the NBC’s official Twitter account for Revolution did tweet me on one occasion, thanking me for posting things related to the show on my blog, so perhaps they will end up coming across this review and reading it.

Anyway, I thought it was very smart of the writers to reveal Rachel’s fate by the end of the second episode, because wanting to know whether or not Rachel was still alive was one of the main reasons why I decided to watch the second episode even though I wasn’t blown away by the first episode. I don’t know the producers’ reasons for deciding to fire Andrea Roth and replace her with Elizabeth Mitchell, but I’m really glad that they did because I never really liked Andrea Roth on Rescue Me. Personally, I always thought that she was very annoying on that show whereas I’ve loved Elizabeth Mitchell in everything I’ve seen her in over the years. Elizabeth Mitchell is one of the main reasons why I decided to check out the show in the first place when it started, aside from the fact that the premise of the show sounded interesting to me.

Personally, I think revealing that Rachel was still alive and had been held prisoner pretty much all the years the writers skipped over in the second episode illustrates what I believe is one of the greatest strengths of the show. That strength would be that the writers answer questions and move storylines along at a nice pace for a serialized show instead of dragging things on forever like Lost often did, or like The Event, which was even more guilty of when it came to dragging things out too much. That was at least the case with Revolution’s first season, and I pray to God that the writers will continue to maintain that pace at which they reveal things throughout the rest of Revolution’s run, however long that may be, because it’s one of the few good things the show has been able to do at least a little bit better job of than Lost did throughout its run.

If the producers of Lost were working on this show, they would probably wait until at least season four to reveal the cause of the blackout and turn the power back on. Something tells me that they would also reveal the cause of the blackout as if it were merely some kind of afterthought with just a few quick bits of dialogue. After all, that’s essentially what they did when they finally revealed the significance of the numbers and their explanation for the numbers’ significance was ever dumber than the fact that it was power-inhibiting nanites that caused the blackout. I for one thought the writers’ of Lost were being extremely disrespectful towards the views when it came to explanation for the significance of the numbers and how they revealed that information. Revolution may have numerous flaws, but at least the producers seem to have more respect for the show’s viewers than I often felt Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had for Lost’s viewers. They definitely gave the reveal of what caused the blackout the time and attention that it deserved, which is something that I felt Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse often failed to do on Lost when it came revealing the many mysteries of the show.

When it comes the writers revealing what caused the power to be turned off, I was shocked that the writers not only did that in the show’s first season, they also turned the power back on. Maybe it’s because I was so used to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse taking several seasons or in some cases waiting until the sixth and final season of Lost to answer some of the show’s biggest mysteries, but when Revolution first started I was totally expecting them to wait several seasons to do that and perhaps even longer to actually turn the power back on. I’m really glad the producers of Revolution didn’t go that route, because as much as I love Lost, I always hated that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse constantly waited way too long to answer a lot of the show’s biggest questions. In some cases, the writers left several of the show’s biggest mysteries completely unanswered and unresolved when the show ended.

Revolution: Not since Power Rangers has a TV show forced me to completely leave my brain at the door in order for me to be able to enjoy it (My thoughts on season one of Revolution) (Part 1 of 4)

(Part One)

It had originally been my intention to write a review of the first ten episodes of Revolution while the show was on its midseason break, but after a series of delays and deciding to focus on blogging about other TV shows that I knew had potential to bring in a lot more traffic than I believed a review of Revolution would, I ultimately decided to wait until the season was over to write my review. I would like to preface this review by saying that I will be talking about other TV shows in this blog post. Some of the those shows will be Lost, Flash Forward, Fringe, Supernatural and as some of you may have guessed based on the headline for this review: Power Rangers. However, since I don’t know how familiar the people reading this review will be with those shows, I’ll try to not dwell on those shows too much. Although, in the case of Supernatural, I don’t have much commentary to offer on the show since I’ve only seen the first episode at the moment.

Due to the fact that I have so many issues with Revolution, I’m going to try and get the majority of my complaints with the show and its first season out of the way in part one of this review so I can hopefully end my review on a positive note and ideally avoid coming across as a total negative nelly by the end of this review. That being said, here are my thoughts on the first season of Revolution.

When it comes to Revolution’s first episode, my overall assessment of the series premiere was that it was rather average, and I constantly found myself thinking about things that I liked about the first episodes of Lost and Flash Forward, which ultimately led me to watch the first episodes of both shows in preparation for writing this review. Watching the first episode of Flash Forward again really made me wish that the writers for Revolution had taken page from the writers for Flash Forward’s book in terms of how they structured the first episode. Don’t get wrong, I don’t think they should have necessarily completely copied the structure of the episode, but I do think they could have learned a thing or two from Flash Forward’s first episode.

For those of you who’ve never seen the first episode of Flash Forward, the structure of the episode essentially went like this: The episode opened with them showing Mark Benford who was the primary protagonist of the show waking up after the blackout, he gets out of his police car where he surveys the damage in the area that was caused by everybody around him, along with the rest of the world blacking out for two minutes and seventeen seconds. They then showed the title card for Flash Forward, when the show returns from the commercial break they went back several hours before the blackout and briefly introduced most of the characters until they once again reach the point in the day when the worldwide blackout occurred, and then the characters each started to deal with the immediate aftermath of the blackout for the remainder of the episode and the episode ends with two characters discovering footage of an unknown person who was somehow still awake when everybody else on earth was unconscious during the blackout.

Once Upon a Time: Michael Raymond-James promoted to series regular status for season 3-TVLine

According to TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich, Michael Raymond-James has been made a series regular for season 3 of Once Upon a Time. Here's an excerpt from the article:

After making his Once debut as Emma’s ex/Henry’s father Neal Cassidy aka Baelfire in the Emma-centric episode “Tallahassee,” Raymond-James heavily recurred in the last string of Season 2 episodes, as Rumple discovered his son in New York City and circumstances then led them back to Storybrooke.

When last seen, Neal had been shot by Tamara, fallen through a portal and ultimately washed ashore in The Fairytale Land That Is, where he was tended to by Aurora, Mulan and Phillip.

Link to the full article:Once Upon a Time Season 3 Cast — Michael Raymond-James Made Series Regular - TVLine



My thoughts: I'll admit that I had a lot of concerns last season when they added several series regulars to the show, namely Emilie de Ravin and Colin O'Donoghue, because I felt like there were already quite a few cast members that were really being neglected by the producers and the writers in terms of how much screen time each cast member gets on the show. However, having Emilie de Ravin and Colin O'Donoghue join the cast as series regular didn't have nearly as negative of an impact on the show as I originally thought that it would. Honestly, I've come to really love the character Captain Hook, so I'm thrilled that Colin O'Donoghue is a series regular now. Plus, I've really enjoyed having Emilie de Ravin on the show on a more regular basis.

As for Michael Raymond-James, I've really come to like him as an actor and I love what the character Neal Cassidy/Baelfire adds to the show, especially when it comes to the relationship between Baelfire and Captain Hook. I'm not nearly as opposed to the producers adding new recurring characters to the show now compared to how opposed I was to them doing that before season two started. Although, I do think that the producers have a tendency to treat new recurring guest-stars/characters the same way a child often treats a new toy that they've just gotten. They seem to get really excited about having the actor/character on the show, so they feature them on the show as much as they possibly can until they introduce a new recurring guest-star/character, which often leads them to fixate on the new guest-star/character, while they end up neglecting the other characters on the show.

The fact that Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have repeatedly done this is the main ongoing complaint that I've had about Once Upon a Time. Being better about handling the ensemble nature of the show and distributing the actors' screen time in a fairly even manner is something that I think the writers really need to work on and watch out for as the series continues. It's just that considering the fact that they both used to write for Lost, I really expected them to be a lot better at writing for an ensemble TV show than they have been when it comes to the writing for Once Upon a Time. That being said, a long as they feature Michael Raymond-James in a reasonable capacity, I'm excited that he's going to be a series regular on the show next season.

Chicago Fire: Tania Raymonde to Play Nicole in the potential spin-off-TVLine

According to TVLine's Michael Ausiello, Tania Raymonde has been cast in the potential Chicago Fire spin-off. Here's an excerpt from the article, which gives some details on the spin-off:

The new characters — including Raymonde’s officer, Nicole — will be introduced in Chicago Fire‘s May 15 Season 1 finale, which will serve as a pilot of sorts for the potential new series.

Executive producer Dick Wolf, who’s had past successes with franchise extensions (Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent) for the Peacock Net, will reportedly helm the spinoff with Chicago Fire creators/executive producers Derek Haas and Michael Brandt and executive producer Matt Olmstead.

It remains unclear which, if any, Chicago Fire cast members might jump ship to the police-focused series.

Link to the full article:‘Chicago Fire’ Spin-Off Cast: Tania Raymonde to Play Nicole - TVLine



My thoughts: I have to say that I definitely have mixed feelings about this potential Chicago Fire spin-off. On the one hand, I think that Chicago Fire is a great show and I loved on Tania Raymonde on Lost, so I think this is great casting. On the other hand, I think that NBC might be jumping the gun with trying to turn Chicago Fire into a franchise when it hasn't been on the air for one full season. If they really want to do a Chicago Fire spin-off, I think they should have waited until at least the end of the show's second season to consider doing a spin-off, assuming the show gets renewed, and I think it will. Given the fact that I like this casting news, I'm definitely going to keep an open mind about this potential spin-off though.

Deception: NBC has come up with another copycat TV show, but it has potential (My thoughts on episode 1x01 “Pilot”)

Usually I only like to review shows that are currently on the air, but considering the fact I’m taking some time to reflect on the series as a whole before I post my review of the series finale of Gossip Girl and most of the shows that I typically like to comment on are currently on a break, I’ve decided to take the time to write a review for the pilot of Deception; that being said, here are my thoughts on the pilot.

The main thing that I found myself thinking about as I was watching the pilot was that the show is seriously lacking originality in a lot of ways, and I say this because I thought of at least four different shows that I’ve already seen before as I was watching the pilot. Those shows would be Revenge, Dirty Sexy Money, The Killing and Desperate Housewives. I know that some people might think that I’m being a bit random with some of the shows that I just listed, but those are simply several of the shows that the pilot of Deception reminded me of in some way. I’ll try to explain what elements of the pilot made me think of those shows as I discuss certain elements of the show in my review.

Let me go right ahead and say that while the pilot didn’t seem all that original to me, there were still enough things about it to make me want to continue watching Deception once it premieres on TV. The main thing that I like about Deception is that it features several actors that I’ve seen in other things and like, namely Victor Garber and Tate Donovan. The cast also consists of Wes Brown and Ella Rae Peck, both of whom I’m familiar with, but have mixed feelings about after watching the pilot. Wes Brown guest-starred in five episodes of 90210 at the beginning of its fifth and current season. I didn’t really like him on 90210, but that was pretty much because of the character he played, but Wes Brown and his character, Julian Bowers, ended up being one of my favorite things about the pilot, especially when it came to his scenes with Meagan Good, who plays the protagonist of the show, Joanna Locasto.

I’ve never seen Meagan Good in anything prior to this show, and I don’t remember hearing of her before either, but I really liked her in the pilot. In terms of her acting, she doesn’t come across as being on the same level of amazingness as Sally Field, but I still think she did a great job in the pilot, and I’m confidant she will continue to a great job on the show in the future. Here’s a brief side note: Sally Field is my favorite actress, and she has been my favorite actress ever since I saw her in the movie Mrs. Doubtfire when I was six years old. For those of you who might not already know, I’m currently twenty-five years old, but I digress.

Personally, I thought the pilot did a great job of setting up the characters and storylines. There are definitely several potentially interesting storylines based on what I saw. Although, the pilot definitely felt a little rushed in my opinion. Given the fact that this is only the first episode, I think I can forgive the writers for making the episode feel too rushed though. After all, a pilot of a TV show is supposed to do a lot of things. It’s supposed set up the storylines and the characters on the show, so networks can decide whether or not it has potential to be a good show and should be picked up to series. Not only does a pilot have to do that for the network, it basically has to do the same thing for the viewers at home too once it premieres on TV. That being said, I’m okay with TV shows being fast paced, because if they move too slow then the viewers can get bored and lose interest, causing them to stop watching. The writers really need to be careful about how fast the storylines move on Deception beyond this episode though, otherwise they could be completely out of ideas halfway through season two at the rate the story moved in the pilot, assuming that Deception does well enough in the ratings to be renewed for a second season.

The Mentalist: Lisbon related scoop and scoop on Henry Ian Cusick's role from TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich

Here's some scoop on The Mentalist from TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich's weekly column Matt's Inside Line for the week of 11/30/12.

The Mentalist | Dipping into the reader mailbag, Charlie asked for “something about Henry Ian Cusick’s character on The Mentalist. His first appearance was fantastic, and he has been so evil!” Not surprisingly, series boss Bruno Heller shares your enthusiasm for Lisbon’s own Red John. “It’s fun to take Lisbon down a path that Jane knows so well,” Heller shares with us. “She’s usually the voice of reason, keeping Jane in check when his Red John obsession goes too far, but in this case Lisbon is the one with the obsession. She feels responsible for the death of a woman that Volker killed and she’s determined to bring him down.” As for giving Cusick the choice role, Heller says the Lost alum has been “a revelation as Volker. He plays a titan of industry, a powerful figure who fancies himself untouchable due to his wealth and connections. Cusick has found a nice balance with the character, playing both the charm and the darkness underneath.”

Link to the full article:Once Upon a Time, SHIELD, Castle, NCIS Spoilers - TVLine

Lost‘s Mark Pellegrino Cast in an episode of Person of Interest-TVLine

According to TVLine's Michael Slezak, Mark Pellegrino will be guest-starring in an upcoming season 2 episode of Person of Interest. Here's an excerpt from the article, which gives some details on Pellegrino's role:

Mark Pellegrino, who played Lost‘s mysterious island-dweller Jacob opposite Michael Emerson’s Benjamin Linus, will appear as the edgy and charming head of a popular publishing empire on Emerson’s CBS procedural.

Person of Interest executive producer Jonathan Nolan announced Pellegrino’s casting during a panel session today at New York Comic Con.

Link to the full article:Lost‘s Mark Pellegrino Cast on Person of Interest - TVLine



My thoughts: I have to say that I'm really excited about this news. I loved Mark Pellegrino on Lost, and he was great in the episode of Grimm that he guest-starred in earlier this season, so I'm sure he'll do a great job on Person of Interest. Plus, I think it will be really cool to see Michael Emerson and Mark Pellegrino together again. I really regret not watching Person of Interest regularly until this summer, because it's a really great show. Originally, Michael Emerson was one of the main reasons why I decided to start watching the show, that and the premise of the show simply sounded very interesting to me. However, once I started watching the show I found myself liking Jim Caviezel and his character Reese even more than I like Emerson's role, Finch. Don't get me wrong, I do love Finch, but I simply found myself loving Reese a little bit more. If anyone who's reading this isn't already watching Person of Interest, I strongly recommend that they at least check the show out.

Person of Interest: This show is my new addiction

I'm currently in the process of watching season one of Person of Interest on DVD, and I have to say that I really wish that I had started watching the show on a regular basis a lot sooner than I did. It's an awesome show, and I’m completely addicted to watching it now. In the past I didn't watch a lot of crime solving TV shows, but it seems like more and more writers in Hollywood are coming up with ideas that offer a different and interesting twist in the genre, so I've found myself watching more and more crime solving shows in the last few years. My personal favorites are Lie to Me (May that show rest in peace), White Collar, Body of Proof, Grimm, Criminal Minds, and of course, Person of Interest.

Person of Interest is a show with a very interesting premise of using a machine to try and prevent and solve crimes. It has great writing with great characters and a great cast. As far as the cast is concerned, I originally wanted to watch the show primarily because Michael Emerson is one of the stars of the show, and I absolutely loved him on Lost. When it comes to Person of Interest, I love Michael Emerson and his character, Harold Finch, but I was very surprised when I found myself loving Jim Caviezel and his character John Reese even more. Jim brings a perfect combination of mystery, stoicism, and wit to the role. I also love how he can be a major bad ass at times, and I'm very intrigued by Reese relationship with his deceased lover, Jessica, which has been shown through flashbacks. I've only watched the first fifteen episodes of the first season, so it will be interesting to see if they have more flashbacks of Reese's relationship with Jessica in the remaining season one episodes that I haven’t watched yet.

When I first started watching Person of Interest, I looked up what else Jim Caviezel had been in, and I was shocked to discover that Jim was the actor who played Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. I've only seen that movie once, which was back in 2004 when it was playing in movie theaters and my parents took me with them to see it. Since that movie wasn't in English, I was under the impression that none of the actors who were in the movie were from the United State or spoke English. I honestly thought that I'd never see any of the actors who were in that movie in anything else after that, but clearly I was wrong. Jim Caviezel starring in Person of Interest as John Reese is definitely a major departure from him playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. That’s for sure; I for one thought that he did a great job in that movie though.

I'd be lying if I didn't say that a part of why I've come to like Person of Interest so much is because I've developed a major crush on Jim Caviezel. I know that's a really shallow and silly reason to like a TV show, but it's true. I think Jim is a very attractive man, but I digress.

Michael Emerson does a great job of playing Finch's reclusive nature and tendency to rebuff Reese's attempts to get to know him better, which adds a lot of intrigue and mystery to the character. Finch’s mysterious nature is definitely one of the best things about the character, if you ask me. Plus, Michael does a great job handling all of Finch's mannerisms and body movements that have largely been caused by mysterious injuries that Finch has suffered from for some unknown reasons in the past. One thing that I would love to see is for the writers explore in future episodes is the backstory behind what caused Finch’s injuries.

Finch and Reese's personalities compliment each other perfectly. Like I just mentioned, Finch is very mysterious and withholding, and he often rebuffs Reese's very simple attempts to get to know him better. In one episode, Finch was confused as to how Reese had figured out that he liked to drink tea, to which Reese responded by telling Finch to relax because it wasn’t like he had asked him what his favorite color was. That’s definitely one of my favorite Reese moments right now.

In another episode, Finch initially refused to tell Reese whether or not he frequently went to a particular diner that the two of them met at to discuss business, but at the end of the episode Finch recommended to Reese that he try something on the menu that he himself had ordered many times, indicating that he does go to that diner on a frequent basis. Plus, when the series started Finch had a "Don't call me, I'll contact you when I need your help.” attitude towards Reese, but Finch seems to have softened a little bit towards him since then when it comes to his withholding nature. Due to their complicated past, Finch and Reese are both rather serious men, but Reese does have a bit of witty side, and some people might even say that he has a playful side at times. This is especially the case when he's interacting with Detective Joss Carter, and it’s also a big part of why Reese is my favorite character on the show.

Detective Carter is also an interesting character, and the fact that she isn't aware of the existence of the machine adds an interesting element to the show. I have to say that I enjoy watching Detective Carter the most when she's interacting with Reese. The only thing that hasn't really done anything to contribute to my enjoyment of the show at this point in time is the character Detective Lionel Fusco. Sure, he's a corrupt cop who Reese has blackmailed into helping him, but the whole corrupt cop angle seems rather cliché to me for a TV show that’s otherwise very unique and original. For the most part, I feel like he's just "there". Perhaps my opinion of the character Detective Fusco would change if the writers did a little more with the character. For the time being I don’t hate Fusco, but I don’t love the character either.

The bottom line is that Person of Interest really is an extremely addictive TV show to watch that offers a rather fresh take on the crime solving TV genre. If you're not already watching it, then I strongly recommend that you check it out when season two starts this Thursday (9/27/12). Person of Interest is definitely a must watch TV show.

Scandal: Season 2 Casting Scoop

According to TVLine's Michael Ausiello, Steven Bailey who has been guest-starring on Grey's Anatomy as Joe the Bartender throughout the show's run will be guest-starring in season 2 of Scandal. No details on Bailey's role have been released at this point in time. Here's an excerpt from the article, which gives some additional casting news for season 2:



Elsewhere on the Scandal front, Broadway vet Norm Lewis (Porgy and Bess) is set to recur as an ex of Kerry Washington’s leading lady, Olivia Pope. Additionally, Patrick Fischler (Lost, Mad Men) will also appear in multiple episodes as a whistleblower who comes to Olivia for help. Scandal‘s second season gets underway on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 10/9c.



Link to the full article:Scandal Casts Patrick Fischler. Norm Lewis and Steven Bailey in Season 2 - TVLine







My thoughts: I think it's really cool that Steven Bailey is going to be guest-starring in season 2, but out of all this casting news for Scandal's second season the news that I'm most excited about is the fact that Patrick Fischler is going to be guest-starring in several episodes of Scandal next season. I've seen Patrick Fischler in a lot of things over the years, and I think he's an extremely talented actor. He was great on Lost and Mad Men, but I thought he was especially great in the episode of Grimm that he guest-starred in last season (Episode 1x04 "Lonelyhearts"). Patrick is a big part of why that's one of my favorite episodes from last season. I can't wait to see him on Scandal. I'm sure he'll do a great job.

New Girl: Casts Raymond Barry in a Season 2 Episode-TVLine

According to TVLine's Kimberly Roots, Raymond Barry will be guest-starring in a season 2 episode of New Girl as Older Nick, an old and very drunk man who hangs out at Nick's bar, claiming to be Nick from the future. Here's an excerpt from the article, which gives some more details on the episode that Barry will be guest-starring in.:



Nick (played by Jake Johnson) can’t possibly fall for the sot’s time-traveling claims, can he? Maybe it’ll make a difference when the older man – who bears a striking resemblance to the law-school dropout — knows everything that’s going to happen to him in the coming years. (And after Nick’s Season 1 finale freak-out about moving in with Caroline, just the latest event in his sad-sack love life, we’d bet you a beer that his version of events isn’t rosy.) Perhaps the strange encounter will be just the thing to get Nick moving in Jess’ direction…



Link to the full article:New Girl Casts Raymond Barry Season 2 - TVLine







My thoughts: I loved Raymond Barry on Lost and Justified, so I'm really excited to see him on New Girl. This whole storyline sounds extremely funny. If Nick's reaction to Older Nick is anything like the way he acted in episode 1x15 "Injured" when he thought that he might have cancer, I'm sure this episode will be beyond hilarious.

Once Upon a Time: Scoop on casting the role of Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk for season 2 from TVLine's Michael Ausiello

Here's some scoop on Once Upon a Time from this week's (Posted on 7/24/12) Ask Ausiello column.

Question: I just watched all six seasons of Lost, which led me to the first season of Once Upon a Time. Needless to say, I was thrilled when you reported that Jorge Garcia was wanted for a part. Any news on who he’ll be playing? — Rebecca
Ausiello: No clue, but I can tell you producers have officially put out a casting call for Jack (of Beanstalk fame), who hails from a land that’s even scarier than the 6 train during rush hour and is described as being wholly decent but very secretive, indefatigably disarming but emotionally broken. And on top of it all, he’s sexy as hell.



Link to the full article:Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Bones, Downton Abbey, Glee, Happy Endings, Parenthood and More! - TVLine

Person of Interest: Casts Former Lost star Ken Leung in Season 2-TVLine

According to TVLine's Michael Ausiello, Ken Leung will be guest-starring in the season 2 premiere of Person of Interest. Also, Margo Martindale will be guest-starring in a season 2 episode as well. Here's an excerpt from the article:



This marks the third project Emerson and Leung have worked on together. In addition to Lost, they both co-starred in the original Saw film.

Leung will appear in P.O.I.‘s opener on Sept. 27, while Martindale will make her entrance in Episode 2. Details on the duo’s characters were not made available.



Link to the full article:Person of Interest Casts Ken Leung -- Season 2 - TVLine







My thoughts: I personally loved Ken Leung on Lost, and I always enjoyed watching Michael Emerson and Ken Leung's scenes together, so I'm really excited to see Leung in the season 2 premiere of Person of Interest. However, when it comes to the news about Margo Martindale's guest appearance in the second episode of season 2, I couldn't be more upset about the fact that she's going to be on the show if I tried to be. I hated Margo Martindale on Justified, and I hated her in the episode of Suits that she guest-starred in several week's ago. I don't exactly what it is, but there's something about Margo Martindale that annoys the hell out of me whenever I see her on TV.

That being said, I think Person of Interest is a great show, and I'm so glad that it did well last season, and I hope that it continues to do well in its second. It definitely puts a very interesting twist on the crime solving TV show genre. Michael Emerson was initially what made me want to check Person of Interest out, because I loved him on Lost, but I actually ended up liking Jim Caviezel and his character, John Reese, the most.

Common Law: Scoop on episode 1x11 "Hot for Teacher" from TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich

Here's some scoop on Common Law from TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich's weekly column Matt's Inside Line for the week of 7/19/12.

Common Law | Speaking of pretty therapists, fans of this USA Network dramedy may be wondering: Will either Wes or Travis ever get thinking about “laying down on the couch,” so to speak, with Dr. Ryan—seeing as she is played by the gorg’ Sonya Walger? “We go there. We go there,” Michael Ealy assures me. “Absolutely. How can you not? She’s smart, she’s good-looking, she’s sexy … she’s got that [British] accent, which probably helped her get the part. She brought a certain authority to the role; she was a total contrast to us.” Viewers can watch the sparks fly between the shrink and [spoiler!] in the Aug. 3 episode, “Hot for Teacher.”



Link to the full article:Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, White Collar, Leverage Spoilers - TVLine

Gossip Girl: Casts Andrea Gabriel in Season 6-TVLine

According to TVLine's Megan Masters, Andrea Gabriel, who played Sayid's girlfriend/wife, Nadia, on Lost has been cast in a recurring guest-star role for the sixth and final season of Gossip Girl. Andrea Gabriel will be playing a businesswoman from Dubai.

The sixth and final season premiere airs on Monday, October 8th at 9/8c.



Link to the full article:Gossip Girl Casts Andrea Gabriel -- Season 6 - TVLine



My thoughts: I definitely have very mixed feelings about this casting news. On the one hand, I loved Andrea Gabriel on Lost, but on the other hand Andrea Gabriel will be playing a businesswoman on Gossip Girl, which leads me to believe that her character will be involved with Chuck Bass. I'm so sick of the writers for Gossip Girl making Chuck come across as a middle-age businessman. Watching Chuck work on countless business deals for Bass Industries annoys the hell out of me.