Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars ~ I need to preface this review with the fact that I have never seen an episode of "Veronica Mars," never ever. And yes, as a regular listener to the Better in the Dark podcast, I know I should be ashamed of myself. I am a fan of Kristen Bell however, just from "House of Lies," not "Veronica Mars." I know, it's a whole different girl, but there you go.

Does one need to watch the TV series to understand the movie? It doesn't appear so. The opening voiceover and montage kinda seems to cover it in a streamlined fashion. We know what we need to know, and that it all happened some time ago, far away. This is a new start. The titular character played by Bell was a teenage detective, and now years later she wants to be a lawyer. The catch up is pretty simple.

There is much here about Veronica going back to her past. There is the appearance of baggage without the weight. It's not as seamless as say Serenity to "Firefly," but you feel it. On the eve of her high school reunion, her ex-boyfriend has been accused of murder, so of course she has to help out. You can feel that you're being informed of whatever-happened-to for the first twenty minutes or so, but not to the point of slowing the story down.

From there it becomes a pretty standard very small screen but extended TV mystery episode, entertaining and engaging, but making me happy I waited for cable. I liked it, but the one thing that didn't work for me was why Veronica would help the ex-boyfriend. We're told he has a lot of drama but he seems extraordinarily boring to this TV show virgin. I just didn't buy it.

I enjoyed it though, enough to put "Veronica Mars" on my Netflix queue. Maybe it'll be better when I get all the references. Worth seeing.

On… Biff Bam Pop!

Each week, one of Biff Bam Pop’s illustrious writers will delve into one of their favorite things. Perhaps it’s a movie or album they’ve carried with them for years. Maybe it’s something new that moved them and they think might move you too. Each week, a new subject, a new voice writing on… something they love.

The above is the official introduction, and the premise, of our newest column at Biff Bam Pop! called On.... Each week we spotlight one of our writers, and a subject they love, and let them go to town with it. The schedule so far has been:

Andy Burns On... Jodorowsky's Dune

Leiki Veskimets On... The Fight Club DVD Commentary

Glenn Walker On… Firefly

Amanda Blue On... The Crow

JP Fallavollita On... Star Blazers

Robin Renee On… Gary Wilson's You Think You Really Know Me

Jim Knipp On... Rankin Bass

Loretta Sisco On... My Bloody Valentine

And this Friday, Marie Gilbert will be writing On... Alien, so be sure to check it out.

Don't forget our other columns - Blue on Black by Amanda Blue every Saturday afternoon, The Wednesday Run by JP Fallavollita every Wednesday morning, The Ten Percent by K. Dale Koontz and Ensley F. Guffey every other week, our weekly TV reviews, and our Box Office Predictions every Friday and Sunday, all at Biff Bam Pop!.

And don't forget to 'Like' the Facebook page, and Follow the Twitter!

Who Remembers Barney Miller?

Regular readers here know I have a fairly serious insomnia problem. When I can't sleep, I frequently turn to my iPhone and the wonderful Netflix and HBO Go apps there. Recently both apps were giving me problems, so I clicked on Crackle, another app, but one I didn't use all that often. There I came upon "Barney Miller."

Now there was a name from the past. "Barney Miller" was one of my favorite sitcoms from the 1970s, and also a fave of my father and brother's. I watched it too for most of its run, except for the season and a half that NBC ran "James at 15" opposite it, but that's a whole other discussion. "Barney Miller" is a gem rarely syndicated these days, and I really don't know why, because it holds up well, not the least bit dated, and I laughed almost at once when I started watching.

The show began life as the pilot "The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller" in 1974. Only Hal Linden in the title role and Abe Vigoda as Fish were present in this test show, and as much action happened in Barney's house as in the 12th Precinct. When the series, shortened to "Barney Miller," finally appeared in January of '75, it had been slightly retooled. Barney's wife was still a part of several early episodes, and was featured in the opening credits for the first two seasons, but little else. The show had found its rhythm in its ensemble cast and single set.

Set in New York City's mythical 12th Precinct, Barney captained over an ethnically mixed crew of detectives. Every episode was merely a day at work as a myriad of odd victims, witnesses, and suspects (who, along with the detectives, were played by among the best character actors working at the time) paraded through the set, along with the worries and quirks of the detectives, and usually one or two subplots working through each episode.

Regulars on the show included Ron Glass as detective and writer Harris, who the young folks probably know better as Shepherd Book of "Firefly" and Dr. Streiten on "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." The kind hearted but naive Wojo was played by Max Gail, comedian Steve Landesberg was the cool intellectual Dietrich, and Gregory Sierra played Chano the first two seasons. There was also the brown nosing Levitt played by Ron Carey, and James Gregory (from the Matt Helm films) who played Inspector Luger. Jack Soo was Nick Yemana but passed away during the fifth season. Even Linda Lavin of "Alice" fame did a brief turn as Wentworth. Along with Barney, and Fish, who was spun off into his own series, these were the officers of the 12th.

"Barney Miller" was a rare bird in the sitcom world. While still being funny, it was also intelligent and sophisticated, and socially conscious as well. You laughed, but it also made you think without preaching at you - a skill that TV lost some time in the 1980s when it just seemed easier to beat viewers over the head with a point.

Even after all these years, there are episodes that stand out for me. I remember two with the man who thought he was a werewolf. There was also the story involving the gay police officer. I also remember the special fourth wall breaking tribute episode to Jack Soo. Mostly I remember when Barney confronted Harris about his writing, a scene that hit me at my core. Harris was obsessed with pushing his book, "Blood on the Badge," and his assertion that he was a writer first and a cop second. Barney asked him, "What have you written lately?" bringing home the point that a writer writes. It's a mantra that powers me to this day.

And I remember the final episode. This was a time when these things didn't happen that often. After the finale of "The Mary Tyler Moore" but before the end of "M*A*S*H," this one was bittersweet and memorable. Budget cuts were closing the 12th Precinct. As Barney turned out the lights for the last time he remembered each of the detectives under his command. Nice, and classy.

Besides 'airing' on Crackle, "Barney Miller" is also available in a DVD boxed set of the complete series, which also includes the first season of the "Fish" spin-off starring Abe Vigoda. Great television, well worth seeing again, or for the first time.

The Initiation of Sarah 2006

The Initiation of Sarah ~ The original came at the tail end of the great ABC telemovies of the 1970s. In it, Kay Lenz, who I always mixed up with Susan Dey, plays the Carrie part in this Carrie rip-off. Morgan Fairchild is chief tormentor and Shelley Winters the witchy housemother mentor. There were a few of these Carrie wannabes in the 1970s, The Spell with Susan Meyers from "James at 15" was another, that aped the mousy scapegoat girl, who also happens to have telekinetic powers, flipping out in her tormentors. Sarah took place at a college sorority as opposed to high school.

The 2006 version is a re-imagining of the 1978 movie of the week done for, believe it or not, the ABC Family Channel. Well, at least they're keeping it in the 'family.' Yeah, I know, sorry. Here, Morgan Fairchild returns as the snooty mom of two girls about to enter college, and join her old exclusive sorority. Lindsay, played by a post-"Firefly" Summer Glau and mousey cutter Sarah played by Mika Boorem of Blue Crush, are, as one would expect, polar opposites.

It is essentially the same story, with a decidedly non-fun Jennifer Tilly in the Shelley Winters role, but it has become unnecessarily complicated, almost as if someone was watching nothing but "Buffy" and old soap operas for a couple weeks straight. The warring sororities are the guardians of good and evil, people pretend to be other people to sleep with them, and it gets worse from there.

I wanted to like this one, I really did. It could have been the good old campy fun the original was but just took itself too seriously, and too much ABC Family as well, adding a crapload of teenage melodrama to the mix. Avoid and look for the original.

Arrow: Burned

"Arrow" is back after several weeks of holiday hiatus and we find that Oliver has given up his double identity since his defeat at the hands of the Dark Archer, as played by John Barrowman, six weeks prior. Well, perhaps not given up, but his confidence has certainly been affected as has his performance. Oliver has put his stepfather's kidnapping ahead of acting out as Arrow. In other words, he's making excuses. We do get a good dose of Stephen Amell's bare chest in the opening sequence to make up for it however.

Island flashbacks return as well. More whiny poor list coward Oliver, more Yao Fei, more Deathstroke, and as usual some answers and more questions. Show of hands here, who'd like to see a whole episode on island? I would. Nothing could be wrong with more Deathstroke.

Meanwhile, in the case of the week, Laurel's best friend and co-worker Jo believes her firefighter brother was murdered by an arsonist, so she calls The Hood for help.

Our villain this week is the Firefly. In the comics the Firefly, alias Garfield Lynns, is a high tech Batman villain who dates back to the 1950s. Here he's a low tech realistic arsonist with a firefighter outfit, a tattoo, and a kerosene squirt gun. Kinda takes all the fun out of it, especially when you have guys like Deathstroke around in costume. And sadly, this version visually is more Two-Face than Firefly.

Starling City must be some sort of inside joke for the producers. In this episode there was no recognizable part of the Philly skyline used in the night time shots. Are they using different city skylines for day and night?

For the comics fans we got a nice shout out to Stagg Chemical. For the uninitiated, Simon Stagg was the billionaire arch-nemesis of Metamorpho, who could transform his body into any element or chemical substance.

The end was a bit disappointing however. After an entire episode of Oliver doubting himself, feeling sorry for himself, basically being a whiney little b- well, you get the picture. When the time comes to be the hero, fight the bad guy, he does nothing. Firefly takes himself out. Pointless.

Revolution

I recently had the chance to view the pilot episode of "Revolution" via OnDemand. Apparently it's also on Hulu and NBC.com, so I have to wonder if anyone will watch this when it airs Monday night. After the last few television projects from J.J. Abrams, I was prepared to be unimpressed, but I gotta say, I might give this a shot. It actually seems like it might be fun, conditionally, that is.

The concept of "Revolution" is a world where all the power has gone off. Logic dictates some sort of electromagnetic pulse possibly, but who knows really what it could be in a J.J. Abrams show? Didn't he make up that island you could drive on "Lost"? So the power goes off, and our story begins fifteen years later. America has devolved into small villages of folks living off the land and warring militia states. Still, nobody has gotten the power back on, or even had the know-how to build a simple generator. Did no one pay attention in high school science class?

Logic aside, it does have its moments that set it slightly above other scifi fare currently on TV. I like our reluctant hero Miles, played by Billy Burke, who is like a mild-mannered badass with a sword. I also like our middle management villain Neville, played by Giancarlo Esposito, Fring from "Breaking Bad." He plays the baddie with the same quiet deadly charisma of The Operative in Serenity.

"Revolution," created by Abrams, and with this pilot episode directed by Jon Favreau, also depends a lot on its potential genre nerd cred. One of the best moments in the pilot is when Charlie, played by Tracy Spiridakos, and someone who has lived most of her life without power, reveals her secret stash - in an Empire Strikes Back lunchbox, and we hear a few notes of John Williams movie score. Moments like that elevate this show, and make me want to keep watching.

The only thing that would keep me from watching, and it's the condition I spoke up at the beginning of this review, is that plot device that the show revolves around. What caused the black out? If that will be the carrot on a stick, that keeps viewers watching, yet never gets revealed, I think I'm out. I don't want another "Lost," and I certainly don't want another "Flash Forward" or "Journeyman" where we never find out what happened.

Now watch the following preview at your own risk. It's one of those that pretty much tells you everything that happens in the pilot, right in the preview. Stupid television executives…

Head Case

My buddy Q turned me on to this original comedy series from Starz that I have recently caught up with via NetFlix DVD. I really enjoyed it, I just wish that the DVD had been clearer about what order to watch the episodes in. What is featured on the second disc as "bonus shorts" is actually the first season, and what is called the "first season" on the first disc is really the second season. Major suckage ensued after watching it out of order, sort of like watching "Firefly" for the first time after having seen Serenity.

In "Head Case," Alexandra Wentworth from "In Living Color" plays a therapist to the stars whose unorthodox methods bring the funny. The pseudo-documentary style of the series vanishes after a while and it becomes a real sitcom. It’s a treat to see Steve Landesberg of "Barney Miller" fame on TV again and Michelle Arthur steals the show as the receptionist Lola.

Be warned however, don’t watch on an empty stomach, as Fatburger plays a big role in the series. You’ll be craving fast food sooner than later. Recommended.

Dr. Horrible on DVD

Now finally on DVD, you can watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog anytime on your TV. For those of you living under a rock for the last year or so, Dr. Horrible is quite possibly the best entertainment to come out in and around 2008. While not exactly a movie or a TV show, it’s a new form of entertainment that is - up until the DVD release – was dependent on the internet.

Available in iTunes, this metahuman drama/musical/online vlog tells the tale of Billy aka Dr. Horrible, a wannabe mad scientist/super-villain out to join the Evil League of Evil, and get the attention of Penny, a girl at the Laundromat he crushing badly on.

Former Dougie Howser and current star of "How I Met Your Mother," Neil Patrick Harris brilliantly fills the title role, with Felicia Day as Penny, and Nathan Fillion of "Firefly" as Horrible’s arch-nemesis superhero Captain Hammer. Speaking of "Firefly," the whole shebang is the brainchild of Joss Whedon. If you liked his work with that short-lived series or his "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," you’ll love this. I think this is the best thing Whedon has ever done, and that’s saying a lot.

See it here, with, as they say, ‘limited commercial interruption.’ See it, buy the DVD, live the blog – you’ll love it.