Jim (Con't): Why just us? The edition's running late and we figured we wouldn't put everyone through a roundtable. This is an entertainment roundtable and we're dealing with your issues and questions you raised in e-mails. First up, Paul's a reader who came on board with "TV: Exploding a stereotype," Ava and C.I.'s piece about Happy Endings. And his question is why won't Ava and C.I. review cable and why don't we cover movies? Last one first and I'll toss to Jess.
Jess: I'm a new father, so is Jim. Ava and Dona are new mothers. Ty works in the film industry. Add that together and it's not like in our spare moments we're desperate to rush off to the movies and we also don't necessarily care for tween-films. I mean most of the crap just isn't worth watching. Ty?
Ty: We're all out of college but we started this as college students and in a bad economy and at a time when the Water Cooler Set covered nothing but cable. You live in the dorms, you have cable. You get your own place, you may not. And so we pretty much made a decision that we'd follow videos and we'd follow basic TV. Ava?
Ava: C.I. and I do cover cable. That's because streaming online wasn't a big thing when we started and now it is. So if, for example, your cable show streams on Hulu or you can stream it on TV Land, we'll cover it. This week we're covering Dallas which airs on TNT and we're explaining where you can stream an episode each week if you don't subscribe to cable or satellite.
Jim: Bill e-mails that he still enjoys "TV: How a dud became watchable" and thinks Ava and C.I. are right that Roger is funniest when dressed like a woman; however, he feels that you let creator and voice actor Seth MacFarlane off for his "ripping off shows and movies like when they ripped off Flightplan."
C.I.: Okay, He's referring to "Home Adrone," that episode of American Dad. Seth didn't write the episode, I don't know why you'd blame him.
Jim: That's it? Okay, let me read from Wikipedia on Flightplan, the Jodie Foster film.
Flightplan is a 2005 thriller film directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Erika Christensen, Kate Beahan, Greta Scacchi, and Sean Bean. The movie was loosely based on the 1938 mystery film The Lady Vanishes. It was released in North America on September 23, 2005.
[. . .]
Peter A. Dowling had the idea for the film in 1999 on a phone conversation with a friend. His original pitch for producer Brian Glazer involved a man who worked on airport security doing a business trip from the United States to Hong Kong, and during the flight his son went missing. Years later Billy Ray took over the script, taking out the terrorists from the story and putting more emphasis on the protagonist, who became a female as Glazer thought it would be a good role for Jodie Foster. The story then focused on the main character regaining her psyche, and added the post-September 11 attacks tension and paranoia. There was also an attempt to hide the identity of the villain by showcasing the different characters on the plane. Both Dowling and Ray were allowed to visit the insides of an Boeing 747 on the Los Angeles International Airport to develop the limited space on which the story takes place.[1]
C.I.: They honestly wrote that crap at Crapapedia?
Jim: C.I. didn't want to do a roundtable and said she might not talk. I know she hates Wikipedia.
C.I.: I do. And I hate it for reasons like that. A bunch of uninformed assholes writing lies. Flightplan should be ripped off, it is a rip-off already. And not of Hitchock's The Lady Vanishes. Flightplan, as anyone who knows film noir, rips off Dangerous Crossing starring Jeanne Craine. In Flightplan, Jodie's trapped on a plane and no one believes her that she brought her daughter on board. She's being set up as a fall guy. And a flight attendent's involved in making her look crazy while a man she trusts is also out to get her -- the air marshall. In Dangerous Crossing, Jeanne Craine is trapped on a ship and no one believes her that she came on board with her husband. She demands -- like Jodie does -- that the ship be searched. Again, you've got a woman who works for the ship and a man Jeanne mistakenly trusts who are conspiring against her. As with Jodie, they want to confine Jeanne. As they believe Jodie made up her child, they think Jeanne made up her husband. They learn from someone that Jodie's daughter died. They learn from somebody that Jeanne never was married. They never know a damn thing at Crapapedia. Flightplan is an uncredited remake of Dangerous Crossing.
Ty: And I'd agree with that. Hitchock's film, you're talking about a woman who's saying, "What happened to that nice older woman I just met?" And everyone's, "There was no older woman." Dangerous Crossing is, "Where's my husband!" met by, "You came on board alone." Flightplan is "Where's my child!" met by, "You came on board alone." In the latter two there is a personal connection and the women are told they're crazy. In Hitchcock, if the woman's wrong, she may have been drunk or dreaming. There's no effort to restrain the woman. Whereas Jodie and Jeanne are seen as a danger to themselves and others. And Jeanne Crain and Jodie Foster both will look around the ship and the plane to try to find their loved one.
Jim: There were two Revenge roundtables here, "Revenge: A discussion" and "Revenge thoughts in the lead up to the finale," and Lori wonders why we don't do more roundtables based on one show and Parker wonders why there hasn't been a roundtable regarding the way Revenge ended?
Dona: I'll grab the last one. Ty and I did those roundtables with Rebecca and Ann. Rebecca on both, Ann on the second one. And our feeling, the four of us, was that we'd rather talk the way it ended, as a roundtable, the morning that it's supposed to air the first episode of season two -- remember, it's moving to Sundays -- to kick off the new season. So we're saving that for then. We had the roundtable because of Ava and C.I.'s "TV: Why Revenge resonates" -- which was the second time they'd praised the show. We were in the middle of a writing edition and nothing was working out. We were on a break and Ty and I were talking and I mentioned something about the show, something that happened on it -- because Ty and I are huge fans of it. And Ty then mentioned that there was a huge response to Ava and C.I.'s piece on Revenge. So I said, "Let's do a roundtable on the show with Rebecca." Rebecca blogs about each episode at her site so of course we'd include her. As for other shows?
Jess: I guess you'd have to figure out which shows. We've done roundtables on individual TV shows before. I'm not a big fan of TV but I would be up for a roundtable on Dallas. I was watching it with Ava and C.I. as they were going through the discs they'd been sent and, honestly, I'm going to be watching Wednesday night when the new episode airs.
Jim: I haven't seen it. Ava and C.I. do love the show, I've read their review. What do you like about it, Jess?
Jess: It's just fresh. It works. It hooks you in. I didn't watch the original, I've heard of it, but I can watch this show and follow what's going on and enjoy the twists. It's a good show.
Jim: So we'll start watching together and we'll do a Dallas roundtable right before the season finale, okay?
Jess: Sounds great.
Jim: So Parker, you not only got your answer, you also got a promise for another TV show roundtable. Ty?
Ty: Kelly wishes we'd do more on food and writes that she loves the TESR Test Kitchen pieces, but wishes we did things like recipes.
Dona: We won't. Trina already does that at her site and does it wonderfully. We will continue to do the TESR Test Kitchen pieces -- and we have one this week -- but that's about it food wise. Unless we do a food roundtable. Which I would be up for.
Jim: Lewis wondered if Ava and C.I. feel pressure each week with TV and wanted to know if they could talk about the process they go through.
Ava: I'll grab the process and leave the pressure to C.I. Our process is that we're on the road nearly every week of the year. The good there is that we can often bring in programs we'd miss otherwise. Like radio or TV that might be more regional. We take discs and scripts with us and sometimes, it's Friday, we're at Trina's -- which is where we end the week before flying home -- and a friend's sent stuff on their show to Trina's so it's waiting for us. We'll watch stuff on the plane ride home. We're forever reading scripts. We probably spend three or so days during the week talking to friends at the network, with a show, with an agency, about the program or programs we're thinking of writing about. Saturday, we do more phone interviews. Then we write the pieces. It is a lot of work. We hate the work involved. Pressure?
C.I.: Let me do the positive first. Ava and I thought we were going to have to deal with an idiot this week. And we weren't looking forward to writing. Then everyone woman we know -- and about half the men -- seemed to be lusting after Josh Henderson and telling us about Dallas, which we did have discs of and scripts for but weren't in any rush. So Friday we watched the first episodes and this was great because we so rarely get this, a show that you want to write about because it's good TV. Dallas is a treat to watch. And when that happens, the pressure's not on and it's just fun. But there are weeks when we just want to scream. There are weeks that -- I'll just leave it with there are weeks.
Jim: And "there are weeks" also describes the full editions and our attitudes towards them. Sometimes it's wonderful, sometimes it's a nightmare. And on that joyous note, we'll wind down. This is a rush transcript.