…stop letting TV steal your thunder!
by J.A. Hamilton
When I was in High School, I often wondered what would happen once Hollywood ran out of ideas. And about ten years ago it started to happen. Back in 98 Hollywood began taking a closer look at comic books and despite Joel Schumacher’s anal violation of the BATMAN franchise, they rolled the dice with BLADE. With BLADE’s success came another venue to pump for mad sums of cash. In the meantime, a tremor of discontent was thundering through the acting community and another ball started to roll. In 2001 Kiefer Sutherland launched a gritty little masterpiece called 24, and with this show’s stellar success (at a time when TV’s popularity was at an all time low) came a the dawn a new day: The rebirth of Televison. And what a difference ten years can make.
If you’d told me then that ten years later TV would be booming and movies would be all but in the toilet, I’d have not only laughed at you, but probably slapped you in the face for spewing blasphemy. But here we are, some ten years later, and that’s ALMOST the case. Shows like 24, CSI, LOST, PRISON BREAK, SUPERNATURAL, HEROES, SMALLVILLE, DEXTER, ENTOURAGE and even TRUE BLOOD have amassed a very strong fan base that continues to grow, making TV all the rage. Hollywood has limped on, sucking the life out of comic book genre, scoring big laughs with Judd Apatow, converting countless novels and even managed to make a decent run of the video game turned movie franchise RESIDENT EVIL. But if this summer has told me anything, it’s that sequels and comic book flicks won’t appease crowds forever.
What makes matters worse for Hollywood is that while they’re scrambling to remake, reboot, re-imagine, rehash and reload every movie to ever turn a profit or attract an audience (be it old OR new), TV just finished up one of its best seasons ever. An increasing number of actors and producers are turning to TV as well, it was subtle at first, but now you rarely see shows without at least one. This season’s LIE TO ME (for example), featuring Tim Roth was fantastic and got picked up for a second season, as did the kick ass Joshua Jackson led FRINGE. And what’s Hollywood got on the horizon? They’re remaking THE KARATE KID, CLIFFHANGER, ROBOCOP and THE CROW, squeezing out dozens more sequels and moving on to comic book characters that most people haven’t even heard of like THE GREEN LANTERN.
Sure we have our IRON MAN 2, the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET reboot and the last two HARRY POTTER flicks, but these ALL fit the demographic in question. TV, on the other hand, is sporting stuff like THE PRISONER, starring Ian Mckellan and Jim Caviezel (which admittedly is a TV series remake but still looks cool). SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND will be another guilty pleasure, especially if you liked GLADIATOR. HBO’s HUNG features one of my favorite underrated actors, Thomas “The Wang” Jane, and it seems to be doing well. And speaking of HBO, they’ve also wrangled up Sean Bean to lead George R. R. Martin’s fantasy epic A GAME OF THRONES which promises to be THE next big fantasy hit. And these are but SOME of the aces up TV’s sleeve.
I never thought I’d say this but I’m more excited about Fall’s TV lineup than I am about what’s on the way to theaters. Sunday’s my favorite night with TRUE BLOOD and ENTOURAGE’s new seasons (which are both excellent). Now I’ll admit that TV will always have one up on movies due to an entire season’s worth of building it’s plots and intrigue, but that doesn’t give Hollywood the right to just drum forward on autopilot. I enjoyed most of this summer’s film lineup, but it was the underdogs like MOON, THE HANGOVER and DISTRICT 9 that really stood out in my eyes. The reality here is that Hollywood is gut shot and dying a slow, agonizing death and WE the viewers are the ones suffering for it. And yes, the good flicks are still making big bucks in theaters…for now, but Hollywood really needs to shape up because with each passing day more fans, actors and producers are defecting to TV. And honestly, I can’t say I blame them.