All posts by Amanda Broyles

Amanda is amazing. Amanda is spectacular. Amanda is humble. Amanda is also a full time college student so take pity on her and don't complain when her TV reviews aren't up immediately following an episode.

The Bridge, FX’s New Drama, Premieres Tonight

FX has been a benchmark of great dramas in recent years (including the tragically canceled Lights Out and comedic drama Terriers) and tonight The Bridge hopes to join those ranks.

Starring Diane Kruger and Demian Bichir, The Bridge is a crime drama with the two leads as detectives in the US and Mexico respectively. Due to their geographic proximity and the clientele crossover, they end up working together quite often. Detective Sonya North (Kruger) works in El Paso and Marco Ruiz (Bichir) in Juarez. Between them? The bridge.

Before we knew much about the show’s plot or even it characters really, FX put out three promos that were frankly, just odd.

http://youtu.be/Jk8bCBB0ClM

No set dialogue, not sweeping shots of El Paso and Juarez, nothing of the actors… just three little vignettes. It worked. People talked about them. They questioned them. Wondered what on earth this show would be about. Likely, they’ll tune in this evening. Well done, FX.

Based on a Swedish show of the same name, the American version will hit on themes concerning dirty cops, Mexican/American relations, and sort of a shot from left field, Aspergers.

http://youtu.be/CwgzqKYueYQ

Despite the odd promos, early reviews of the series have been strong. Some even going so far as to say the best show of the summer. That’s a bold statement which gives you all the more reason to check it out when The Bridge airs tonight at 10 EST on FX.

http://youtu.be/c3J-CBK0K9M
http://youtu.be/dLPX9fugdXc
http://youtu.be/OcEn4z5k0Sc
http://youtu.be/IwfA03fNgRQ

The Bridge poster

Sad News: Donald Glover Returning For Only Part of Community’s Season Five

Sometimes even when everything goes right, it still turns out wrong. Even though we were cautiously excited over NBC’s decision to renew Community for a fifth season, and were downright elated about the return of Dan Harmon, it appears as if it won’t be the same. Donald Glover, one half of the amazing show Troy and Abed in the Morning, will only be appearing in five episodes in the upcoming fifth season.

He says it is so he can focus on his music career as Childish Gambrino, which I understand and respect, but would one more year really make or break his chance at hip-hop success?

Community Troy and Abed

It seems more so that Glover might have made plans as if Community‘a cancellation was a sure thing and now he’s just decided to go through with them. As a fan of the show, a show that relies so heavily on its ensemble nature, this is disheartening. What makes Community work is the relationships between each of these characters that should not have much in common yet they end up being a type of family.

Now another one of the family members is leaving (along with Chevy Chase) and it just doesn’t sit right. Hopefully the writers are in a place in their preparation of the season that they can make Troy’s absence and departure happen organically. Otherwise not even the return of Dan Harmon will likely save the show and it will be canceled for good come next May.

Such a shame, we were so close to #sixseasonsandamovie

Tom Weston-Jones on Season Two of ‘Copper’, Kevin Ryan, and Merkins

Season two of Copper is well underway on BBC America, and during a recent interview with Collider, Tom Weston-Jones talked about his character, Corky, and various aspects of this second season. As most interviews do, it had moments of really interesting info interspersed among the typical answers.

My favorite part was a question I really wanted answered and didn’t realize it until I’d seen it asked. It addresses how Tom Weston-Jones and Kevin Ryan dealt with being the best of friends one season to being bitter enemies in the next.

[box_light]tom-weston-jones-and-kevin-ryan-in-copperWhen you do an entire season with Corcoran and Francis (Kevin Ryan) being best friends, how weird is it to then shift that dynamic and really have them be enemies this season

Weston-Jones:  It’s been a nice transition.  I think the writers have done a fantastic job, and me and Kevin speak, at great lengths, about it.  It actually reminds me, very much so, of the relationship that Corcoran has with Ellen (Alex Paxton-Beesley).  There is always an elephant in the room, whenever they’re around each other.  It’s important to remember, when you’re playing sworn enemies, that you should never forget the best possible time you’ve had together because that’s something that will pain you.  That’s what we’ve always tried to remember.  It’s important to remember the fact that these people were incredibly close, and you should never really let go of that.  That’s where the turmoil comes from.  Francis has betrayed Corcoran, or it feels as though he’s done him wrong.  So, I always try to remind myself of the best possible times we could have had when we were friends, before all these things happen.  I think me and Kevin have navigated it pretty damn well.[/box_light]

How often do we see this in TV shows where a character is betrayed? You have to wonder how an actor can shifts gears like that believably since they weren’t themselves betrayed and they’ve spent x amount of time being friends with this other character. It was really interesting to get that view of that situation from the actor perspective.

The full interview is quite good so head on over to Collider to check it out. For now, let’s all laugh at another interview Tom Weston-Jones did, this time with Nerdist. While it’s from last year, it is still quite funny because let’s face it, merkins are funny.

Of course the title, ‘The Merkins of Copper‘ is made even more humorous when you know that BBC America often will do “The _____ of Copper” much like this “hats of Copper“.

We can’t really talk about Copper without a bit of Donal Logue so let’s fix that.

If you aren’t watching Copper, you need to remedy that. GB head honcho Brian says it is one of the top Sunday night shows, and we like to think he knows what he’s talking about.

You can catch Copper tonight on BBC America at 10 Eastern.

Arrow: Season 2 – Marc Guggenheim Talks Possible Villains

Executive producer Marc Guggenheim sat down with ComicBookResources to talk about Arrow season two. It’s a very interesting interview in terms of what they envision as the “trajectory” of Oliver, plus hints about who we might see from the DC universe in this upcoming season.

Continue reading Arrow: Season 2 – Marc Guggenheim Talks Possible Villains

NBC and Lion Forge Comics to Bring Classic Shows Back to Life

Be honest, you’ve always wanted to read a comic about Saved by the Bell. No? Well, you’re getting the chance to anyway. Teaming up with Lion Forge Comics, NBCUniversal is bringing back quite of a few of their fan favorites from yesteryear in comic book form.

Not only just Saved By the Bell though. Nope, you’ll soon be able to catch up on the hijinks of Kit, the talking car, in Knight Rider, and all our old friends in Airwolf, Punky Brewster, and Miami Vice. I for one can not wait to see Don Johnson’s comic book counterpart, complete with rolled up sleeves.

Lion Forge Comics
Oh yeah, this will do.

While I imagine these books will likely deal with the characters in the same time period as the original shows, I would love to see them do it as more of a “where are they now” kind of thing. Is Stringfellow Hawke back in his mountain cabin? Is he still playing his cello for all the forest wildlife? What about Zach and Kelly from Saved By The Bell? Did those two crazy kids ever make it work? Surely Zach has found him some middle management soul sucking desk job that forces him to spend countless hours a day wishing he was back in high school to relive his good ol’ days.

Instead it’ll probably just be stories from when the shows aired, which frankly isn’t nearly as entertaining a prospect as my idea.

Amazingly enough, they are actually putting people with actual comic experience on this project with people like Joelle Sellner (Teen Titans) and Jonathon London (Geekscape), Geoffrey Thorne, and David Gordon. Artists Jason Johnson, Carl Reed, and Lorenzo Lizana are also on board.

The people at Lions Forge will be at Comic-Con and participating in a panel on July 20th so hopefully we’ll get a look at these books sooner rather than later.

New ‘The Wolverine’ Featurette, ‘A Ronin Story’

We’ve seen trailers and posters for The Wolverine but now it’s time to get a better look at Hugh Jackman’s character in this newest film in the X-Men series. Released today was a new featurette titled ‘A Ronin Story’.

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

So Wolverine saves Yashida from the atomic bomb? Sounds good to me. However, doesn’t it look like Yashida is now in the hands of Abstergo Industries and their Animus from Assassin’s Creed?

A Ronin Story The Wolverine

Not only that but surely I’m not the only World of Warcraft player who saw Wolverine walking through the forest next to a bear and thought ‘if I slowly angle away, maybe I won’t pull aggro on that plague bear.” right?

A Ronin Story
Just slowly move away… maybe he didn’t see me.

The Wolverine opens on July 26th.