Gossip From Comic-Con

I'm not there, but the gossip is seeping in from Comic-Con, so I thought I'd make a quick report of salient points:

--Joss Whedon is officially directing The Avengers movie. He says this will delay or possibly exclude the possibility of a Dr. Horrible sequel.

--Some of my favorite actors, including Angelina Jolie and Tiny Fey, made appearances.

--J.J. Abrams said he was happy with The Lost ending. Something about his new spy series, The Undercovers (which looks mildly good. As good as Alias? One can hope.)

What else? If you've been, leave a comment and fill me in! What was the awesomest thing there?

New seasons, new shows?

So, faithful readers, any new girl-empowered sci-fi-type shows worth watching coming out? I haven't heard much buzz at all about any of the new shows, but figured it was worth asking...

I am looking forward to the return of Chuck even though I know their budgets have been cut and so we're probably going to suffer because of that - hopefully they didn't cut back on writer's salaries!

I was trying to think if I was really looking forward to any other shows returning. Maybe the flawed-but-fun Vampire Diaries and similarly, too-gory-for-me-but-fun True Blood? Lost?

Heroes, Lost...Andy Richter

So, Bryan Fuller is back at Heroes, and it shows. The newest episode, "Cold Snap," had his trademark whimsical visual details as well as above-average (at least for Heroes) dialogue. A terrific ending for a terrible character (Tracy, not Daphne.) Loved the bits with Angela!

Lost has gone downhill ever since Sawyer got together with Juliet. Blech and double-blech! And the show's depiction of Sayid was disappointing - I was really hoping they were moving him towards a redemptive end.

Andy Richter Controls the Universe is not, technically, a sci-fi show...but it does have technical writers! And likable managers of technical writers, much like me in a previous corporate career. At least I hope I was likable. And one of the guys who worked for me did look a lot like Andy Richter...
Anyway, it's out on DVD - do yourself a favor and buy it. No, they're not paying me to say this.

Dollhouse's "game-changing" episode was all right - but still left me feeling a little "meh." Plus, I could see all the "suprises" coming from a mile away. Notice though, I still haven't stopped watching...

Second Ep of Dollhouse Review

Joss Whedon's new show agains made me say Meh. This second episode - a re-hash of "The Most Dangerous Game" - with sex! - again made me feel too icky. And now I want to shower.

In other news, the likable show Chuck continues to suffer ratings problems. I'm agreeably interested in Lost once again. And I've fallen in love with the British-show-turned-American Life on Mars.

Would it kill the networks to have a likable, empowered woman on television again? Annie from Life on Mars is one of those, but she has so little screen time.

New Heroes, Chuck in 3D

So, what did you all think of the new episodes of Heroes and Chuck Monday night?

I think the reset on Heroes is pretty interesting (although I was disappointed that HRG was once again playing on team evil) and hope it continues in an interesting vein, albeit one completely stolen from the X-Men plotlines archive. It definitely looks like we're heading towards the alternate future that was first featured, where the Heroes are hunted criminals.

Chuck 3-D was too bad, since NBC didn't do enough to distribute the 3-D glasses, but a good-enough episode.

Along with Lost, I'm glad these shows are back. I've been down with a broken foot, and good television is very important for healing! In other good news, Reaper is coming back a little bit earlier, around the beginning of March!

I'm finally going to watch a little Battlestar Galactica on DVD, too, though I have flashbacks to the seventies version that I tried to avoid as a tiny tot...

Spin-off

Pre-Landslide Posting:
NBC has greenlighted a new spinoff of Heroes to take up the space that the new episode gap left us this year called Heroes: Origins which will be kind of standalone episodes about other Heroes not included in the show. Sounds cool to me!

PS Has anybody else been getting back into Lost? I swore I would stop watching that show, but I've watched pretty much every episode the last few weeks. Compulsive!