Turn: Parting Shots

Turn ends its first season on both a whimper and an unexpected bang. With an episode (perhaps unfairly) titled The Battle of Setauket and directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall), my expectations going in were high that the series would deliver more on the warfare front. Certainly, the scene was set for a major skirmish as Captain Simcoe seemed to be ever teetering on the brink of sanity and Tallmadge and the Continental Army were poised to make a full-scale assault to rescue family members destined for certain death.

But this was not that kind of episode as Turn in not that kind of show.

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Nickelodeon’s “Hey Dude” Reunites 25 Year Later at ATX

Austin, Texas may be known as a live music capital of the United States, but from June 5 to June 8, it was the TV capital. The ATX Festival highlighted current series television (“Justified,” “Orange is the New Black”), upcoming ones (TNT’s “Legends”), and even the recently canceled (RIP Fox’s “Enlisted”). But in its third “season” of the festival, ATX did something pretty monumental: It reunited the cast of Nickelodeon’s “Hey Dude.”

For those not familiar, “Hey Dude” was the second live-action scripted series on Nickelodeon (the first being “Out of Control” with Dave Coulier) that followed a group of teenagers working at the Bar None Ranch in Tucson, Arizona, over the course of one very long summer (five seasons’ worth of episodes). Airing from 1989 to 1991, this reunion marked the 25th anniversary of the series.

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You Must Make A Friend of Horror:  Hannibal Emmy FYC

[Ed: Sadly, there’s no new Hannibal on tonight, but Guest Writer Kevin Klawitter (@KevinKlawitter) offers up his best Emmy case for the show.]

In completing its second season, Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal  enraged some, enraptured others, and continued to push the boundaries of network television, not just in terms of graphic violence, but also in visual style and creative storytelling.  Seeing the cat-and-mouse (or cat-and-cat, as Fuller puts it) chase between Hugh Dancy’s Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen’s Hannibal Lecter unfold was entertaining and frightening, as you never really knew who was in charge.  Was Will seducing Lecter into a false sense of security so he could be arrested, or was Lecter seducing Will into becoming a new member of his circle of killers?  Perhaps a bit of both?

Unfortunately, one of the best shows on TV has many obstacles in its way if it wants to be a strong contender for the Emmys:  the anti-network bias, of course, the genre bias, and the comparatively low ratings all work against it.  But if Emmy voters were to actually sit down and watch it, I can’t see how they wouldn’t become as caught up in the horror as the legions of Fannibals who already prowl the internet.

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“Crazy Eyes” is looking at YOU, Emmy

Uzo Aduba who plays Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Netflix’s acclaimed series Orange is the New Black has a piece in the current Hollywood Reporter reminding Emmy of its dismal track record when it comes to diversity of its awards.

“‘The last series with a non-white cast to win the comedy Emmy was The Cosby Show in 1985. The last woman of color to take the comedy actress prize was Isabel Sanford (The Jeffersons) in 1981.”

It’s not a rant or a scold so much as a helpful reminder that television is slowly but surely diversifying and it’s time for Emmy to keep up.

Speaking of her own show, Aduba says:

“Working on our show often feels like that moment when Dorothy’s house lands in Oz, she opens the door and suddenly a mix of colors floods the screen. She didn’t realize what she’d been missing.”

Check it out.

Meanwhile, Season 2 of Orange is the New Black lands in its entirety on Netflix on June 6.

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Penny Dreadful: Theater of Wonders

This week’s chapter of serial thriller Penny Dreadful, Demimonde, offers two divergent paths in its storytelling: the clichéd masked as art and the art masked as entertainment.

The more clichéd sequences tend to revolve around the increasingly tiresome character of Dorian Grey (Reeve Carney). Shirtless and sporting leather pants, he is first seen here in an orgy straight from Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut – the “demimonde” of the episode’s title. The camera swirls through the scene from a God-like perspective with operatic music swelling on the soundtrack. Bodies writhing in passion litter his grand salon while he passively watches, observing them with the same ennui he gives the dozens of paintings hanging on his wall.

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Turn: Ye Cannot Handle Yon Truth!

This week’s episode of Turn started with one of the most gravely miscalculated scenes I’ve seen on a major network series in a long, long time. We begin, innocently enough, with Abe Woodhull leaving behind yellow flowers for Anna Strong to follow into a dimly lit basement. Almost immediately, he attacks her, and they passionately make love in the lantern light.

Sounds great, right? Wrong.

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Critics’ Choice: Go Your Own Way

You can applaud the Broadcast Television Journalists Association for one thing: they aren’t afraid to try new things. Unlike their Oscar-obsessed brothers (the Broadcast Film Critics Association who nearly perfectly predicted the Oscars earlier this winter), they aren’t obsessed with completely matching the Emmy Awards. Of course, comparing the Oscar season to the Emmy season is akin to comparing oranges to Cadillacs.

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Critics’ Choice Television Nominations: 5 each for Fargo, Big Bang, Good Wife, Masters of Sex, Normal Heart

The Broadcast Television Journalists Association announced the nominees this morning for their 4th annual Critics’ Choice Television Awards. The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Fargo (FX), The Good Wife (CBS), Masters of Sex (Showtime) and The Normal Heart (HBO) lead all other nominees with five nominations each.

It’s fantastic that Masters of Sex got a little love after not registering with the TCA’s yesterday. I’d be a lot more pissed off about the knee jerk nominations for The Big Bang Theory if they hadn’t also nominated the hilarious Broad City (Comedy Central). Again though, Girls could only manage a Best Guest Performer nod. Did everyone else just see an entirely different season of Girls this year than I did?

Additional love for The Americans (Matthew Rhys of course, but also right on for Keri Russell) and Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black (yes, those are the two drums I’m going to be beating this season. Get used to it).

Also, once again, Mad Men gets kicked to the curb.

Anyway, check out all the nominees after the jump. The awards themselves will be broadcast live (on the East Coast) 6/19 on The CW at 8 pm.

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Penny Dreadful: Origin of the Species

Penny Dreadful’s third chapter, Resurrection, unexpectedly deals in origin stories, a unique turn for the third episode of an 8-episode limited series. Spending half its running time in flashbacks, this outing, while not the best to date by far, still has a few gems to offer.

We begin with a gruesomely beautiful sequence illustrating young Victor Frankenstein’s first encounters with death. Wandering through a pastoral field of buttercups, Victor stumbles upon the maggot-infested corpse of his beloved dog. The sudden juxtaposition between the beautiful and the gory is a trick the show uses frequently, repeating it minutes later in a conversation between Victor and his mother. Intending to comfort him in a time of need, Mother Frankenstein inadvertently vomits blood all over him, dying in the next scene. That death sets the forward momentum for the Victor Frankenstein myth, bringing us forward to the moment where Frankenstein’s first creation rips his second creation in half in a fit of rage and jealousy.

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Television Critics Association Awards Nominations: True Detective nabs 4

The Television Critics Association announced their awards nominations earlier today. Thrilled to see 4 nominations for True Detective, but it’s regrettable (yet not too surprising) that Woody Harrelson is not among them. Also glad to see last year’s Individual Achievement winner Tatiana Maslany being recognized once again for her wonderful work in Orphan Black and another nomination for Matthew Rhys of The Americans as well. In those two cases at least, the TCAs are way out front of the stodgy Emmy awards

Veep and Louie are terrific choices, but no Girls and do we really still need to be giving The Big Bang Theory awards? A nod for Mads Mikkelsen’s work in Hannibal would also have been nice, but I’m not sure who I’d have thrown out of the Individual Achievement in Drama category. Zero love for Mad Men which is disappointing considering it just turned in a top shelf half-season. Check out all the nominees after the jump

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