We’re less than three weeks away from the start of Season Four of Game of Thrones. I think it’s time that we get properly excited for GoT over here on The Lowdown Blog. So today, we have HBO’s 15-minute preview video of the upcoming season that features cast interviews and clips from upcoming episodes. This video got me more excited for this season than any of the trailers did.
By the way, there are spoilers in this video. You probably guessed that, though.
Since we’re only six weeks away from the season premiere of Game of Thrones, I think that now is the time for the return of regular Game of Thrones posts in a series that I’ve come to dub Fridays of Ice and Fire.
For the return of Game of Thrones posts, I found this mashup of Disney princesses with characters from Game of Thrones in the gallery of DjeDjehuti. So what would Disney characters look like if they were in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros?
Canadian media theorist and philosopher Marshall McLuhan famously coined the phrase “the medium is the message.” The premise of the phrase is that medium influences the message of a piece of media.
Sometimes, this influence works to enhance the message. Just look at video games like Spec Ops: The Line and Hotline Miami that break the fourth wall to make you question violence of video games.
However, the medium and the traditional expectations of the medium can have the opposite effect and hold back what can be a great message. If there’s a key reason why The Newsroom is hated and hate watched by so many, it’s because of the requirements of the medium of dramatic TV.
When you talk about great modern TV series, the conversation will always include a mention of Aaron Sorkin. The man was the driving force behind not one but two modern classics, Sports Night and The West Wing.
However, Sorkin’s current series, The Newsroom, isn’t considered a classic by most TV critics. It’s not because it’s a bad show. Anyone that has watched network TV over the last few years will know that most series on TV now are pretty poor. Critics don’t like The Newsroom because it doesn’t live up to Sports Night and The West Wing.
That’s the problem when you set the standard too high.
Whenever I see a blogger or TV critic wax poetic about an older network comedy, they often bring up episodes that touched on more serious topics. These episodes that touched on controversial or social issues were called “After School Specials” after the ABC TV movie series of the same name.
After school specials (or “very special episodes” as they were occasionally called in network TV) have essentially disappeared from the network TV landscape. Sure, kids shows will touch on an important topic every now and then but when was the last time you saw something you would call an After School Special. One of the few shows on TV that does touch on important social issues is The Newsroom. Continue reading
I’ve never really understood why folks were so high on Entourage and Emmanuelle Chriqui. Then I saw this photo shoot that HBO did with her to promote the show’s seventh season. Now, I’m not one to promote a television show but I’m more than willing to lend a hand to promote a fellow Canadian. And after seeing this shoot, I can understand how she was named AskMen’s Most Desirable Woman of 2010. So after the jump, we have the photo gallery and a video. Continue reading
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