Saturday, December 13, 2008

TV & Film Talk

I'm not going to blog about The Mayor of Castro Street tonight. I was supposed to have the day off today, but things didn't quite work out that way. Hopefully I'll have time at some point over the next few days to write about it.

Just a few quick things tonight. First, fans of Pushing Daisies have started a campaign to save the show by getting it moved to another network. These fan campaigns are not always successful, of course, but sometimes they do work.

Take, for instance, the Kiss Campaign and accompanying media blitz enacted by Nuke fans that lead to the end of the months long dry spell between kisses for Luke & Noah on As the World Turns.

Shows moving between networks isn't unheard of, either. It has happened in both daytime and primetime, most memorably in recent times when Buffy The Vampire Slayer jumped from The WB after five seasons to run for two more years on UPN. For the most current example, there is the sitcom Scrubs which will be moving to ABC this January after seven seasons on NBC.

Moves like this are the exception, of course, not the rule. Still, we can always hope some other network will take a risk on the show and fans showing their support certainly helps.

Of course, Bryan Fuller has already returned to Heroes, starting with this season's 19th episode, so saving Daisies might not even be an option, at least not with him involved, unless he could do double duty on both shows.

I do have to say that I'm looking forward to his return on Heroes, especially after I checked out his exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly. I think he's just what the show needs.

Second, I wanted to confess that I watched a really cheesy movie last night about an artist that I don't even like. Why did I sit through an hour and forty five minutes of saccharine Hallmark Channel-esque nonsense? Two words: Jared. Padalecki.

I'm talking, of course, about Christmas Cottage, the film 'inspired by' the life of artist Thomas Kinkade. As an artist, Kinkade reminds me of our Christian Fiction section at work. The same ladies I see browsing there for books that present a safe, idealized version of the world (usually without any troublesome minorities of any kind, let alone of the LGBT sort, around to muddy the waters) probably love his paintings.

Okay, to be fair, my own Grandmother, who is an open minded, intelligent woman, names him as her favorite artist. So, I know I really shouldn't make sweeping generalizations about fans of his work. It's just not my cup of tea.

At any rate, if you'd told me a couple of years ago that I'd see a movie about Kinkade, that in fact I'd move it to the top of Netflix queue and wait impatiently for its arrival, I would have had one response: which hottie is starring in it?

Jared Padalecki has to be one of the hottest guys alive. My God that man is beautiful! Plus, he looked really adorable in his little scarf and hat combo:


I already knew, from Supernatural, that he knocks any emotional scene out of the park, but this mediocre movie definitely gave him a chance to shine in that regard. There are a couple of scenes where Jared gets a chance either to cry or to be on the verge of tears, and he totally blew me away. I just wanted to grab him and hug him.

Jared really rose above a script that should have been filmed for a cable channel at best (as it was, it was released directly to DVD). Peter O'Toole hammed it up in his part as a dying artist trying to paint one last picture, while Marcia Gay Harden had one decent scene opposite her character's ex husband (Desperate Housewives' Richard Burgi) but was otherwise bland as Kinkade's mother. Aaron Ashmore was cute as the younger brother, but had absolutely nothing to do, and the cast was otherwise filled out by familiar faces from old TV shows. So, if you're anxious to see Bull from Night Court, Mrs. Garrett from The Facts of Life and Lou Grant from The Mary Tyler Moore Show get a chance to do their thing, it may be worth checking out.

As for me, Jared made it worthwhile, but I really do hope he can pick a better film next time. I mean, after the remake of Friday the 13th, which he's also the lead in. Yet another movie I'll have to see that I otherwise wouldn't have! Thanks a lot, Padalecki! Maybe you'll at least show some skin in that one?

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