Great Futurama Article on Wired

After [Futurama] got a green light, Cohen assembled the geekiest writing staff television had ever seen: one MA in math, one MA in computer science, one MA in philosophy, one PhD in chemistry, one PhD in applied math, and some normals to balance things out. “I went from Home Improvement, where people earnestly pitched jokes about farting and table saws, to a place where there were discussions about nanophysics and string theory and quantum mechanics,” writer Eric Horsted says. “I could only follow the conversation for a few minutes before my brain would start sweating and I’d have to reach for a copy of People.” #

Forgot just how much I love Futurama. So happy it’s back.

Heroes Comeback

Wow, so I watched episode 8 of Heroes, despite having been almost ready to give up on the whole series after what has been a terrible season. Not that I thought the first season could match Lost, but at least it was entertaining enough to keep me coming back.

Episode 8 however is everything the rest of the season hasn’t been. Well written, tight, interesting and most importantly, back on track. I don’t know if they found some wunder-director or what, but whatever they did it works. Well done! It’s the first time I haven’t wanted to strangle the majority of the characters.

Writers on Strike

The writers came out of that meeting like Rocky Balboa — eating lightning and crapping thunder. After weeks of speculation and rhetoric, this was it. Writers formed their legions, shields covering them from shoulder to ankle, imagining the producers as Persia’s most elite warriors doomed to build a corpse wall outside Thermopylae. #

You go girl! Oh, and some insight on behalf of Lost:

From all appearances, Lost may have the best advantage of all series, given that it has been stockpiling new scripts since June and not a single episode has yet aired. At this point, 14 of 16 episodes have been written. And if the strike does last long enough to really affect other series, Lost could very well be the only quality scripted dramas on television in February (along with perhaps 24, though it’s far more behind in its scripts due to a major overhaul of location and storyline). #

And finally a word from John August:

I’m contracted on two scripts right now, but they’ll be sitting unopened in their folders until the strike is resolved. I have a deal to write a spec for Fox, but that will also have to wait. Pencils down means pencils down. I’m not writing any features or television until there’s a contract. #

Nostalgia is Creative Death

Tom DeSanto, the producer of Transformers, X-Men and X2 (paradoxically) says:

“The studios are so dependent on pre-existing brands, they’re not allowing anything new into the pipeline,” he said. “They want to know what was the video game or what was the comic book. It’s shortsighted. But what’s being missed is the next generation of new stuff. Because nostalgia is creative death.” #

The success of the mediocrity-fest that is Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0 only strengthens this strategy with the studios.