Category: Television

Latest on the Writer’s Strike

Statement of WGA and AMPTP

LOS ANGELES — The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have issued the following statement today:
On Wednesday, January 23, the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) represent writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable, and new media industries in both entertainment and news. For more information about the Writers Guild of America, West, please visit www.wga.org. For more information about the Writers Guild of America, East, please visit: www.wgaeast.org.

Blu-ray players not future compatible?

Oh great. Just when it looked like the format wars have come to an end….

Turns out that Blu-ray players might not be “future compatible”. What does that mean? Well, in October of this year, a “new” profile of player will be available, and disc players in that support the Profile 1.0, won’t be able to take advantage of the Profile 2.0 features.

From Consumerist:

So here’s how it’s going to work: current players are Profile 1.0, and can play future hi-def discs but no bonus stuff. Profile 1.1 dics will include additional bonus material that won’t play on 1.0 players—these discs will have a “Bonus View” sticker. Come October, Profile 2 capability will come to the market, which includes Internet activity, but only on Profile 2.0 players—these discs will have a “BD Live” sticker.

Great, huh? Geesh.

Via Consumerist.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles – Premiere

Cameron

Possible spoilers ahead

“The Sarah Connor Chronicles” premiered on FOX tonight. I’m not going to go into what happened in detail, but I’ll tell you what I thought of it.

I liked the fact that the “good” Terminator was that young girl, Cameron. (Even if it was obvious from the way she was introduced at school… Even John pointed that out during the show… nice touch, that). The “bad” terminator carrying the gun in his leg was a bit over the top. He could have just as easily just hidden the gun in his belt. I thought it was pretty funny that the quick scan of the SWAT team outside the bank registered as no threat. Tearing up the vault was good too.

The show was entertaining, but it’s kind of hard to tell how they’re going to make this a show last long term. The objectives of the characters on the show are: 1) Keep John Conner alive, 2) Try and destroy Skynet. The problem is, if John dies, the show’s over, and if they destroy Skynet, the show’s over.

And if I hear “The most anticipated show of the year” one more time… Come on! It’s the year’s two weeks old!

There are a lot of ways this show could go wrong: bad Terminator of the week; the FBI agent that, despite all evidence otherwise, STILL doesn’t believe the robots are real; the moment when Cameron goes from a “good terminator” to a “bad terminator” – and then back again; a trip to the future when terminators are everywhere to get something that they can use in the past… Well, you get the idea. If we see anything like that, the show’s doomed.

I’ll keep watching, at least for a while, but I hope it’ll get more interesting – otherwise it’s Hasta La Vista (sorry, couldn’t help myself).

What did you think? Does the show have a chance?

Alton Brown on Food Network for Three More Years

Alton Brown
Alton Brown, host of “Good Eats” and “Iron Chef America”, has signed on to Food Network for three more years. He’ll be hosting more episodes of both shows.

I’m glad that’s happening. He’s one of the man reasons I’m cooking a lot more than I used to.

I met Alton at a book signing a couple of years ago, and he couldn’t have been nicer. When we were standing in line waiting for our books to be signed, the wife of one of the guys in front of us asked, “Are you engineers?” We told her we all were engineers. She asked, “What is it about Alton Brown and engineers? All these guys are engineers, and they love Alton!”

Probably just in the way he explains stuff, and keeps it all fun.

(Via Slashfood).