If things had gone as originally planned, the Season 4 premiere of Community would be airing tonight on NBC. But last week, the network decided to hold off on bringing the series back, with its actual date as yet undetermined.
While Community fans wait to find out when we'll actually see the Greendale gang, the cast of Community have filmed this new video celebrating their premiere date on October 19th... That won't be on October 19th.
If things had gone as originally planned, the Season 4 premiere of Community would be airing tonight on NBC. But last week, the network decided to hold off on bringing the series back, with its actual date as yet undetermined.
While Community fans wait to find out when we'll actually see the Greendale gang, the cast of Community have filmed this new video celebrating their premiere date on October 19th... That won't be on October 19th.
The Season 3 premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead delivered the biggest ratings in the adult demo than any other entertainment series this fall (including all broadcast shows), earning its highest rating to date, more than 50% over last season's premiere.
Last night's third season premiere aired to the tune of 10.9 million viewers for its first telecast, with an adult 18-49 demo rating of 5.8. For reference, ABC's Modern Family -- which was previously the highest rated show this fall -- earned a 5.5 rating. Needless to say, for AMC -- a pay cable network -- 5.8 is pretty damn impressive.
Walking Dead Creator Discusses the Season 3 Premiere
Said AMC President Charlie Collier, "Thank you to the fans for making The Walking Dead such a tremendous success. We are honored and humbled that television's largest adult audience resides on AMC. So many people on both sides of the camera worked tirelessly on this project, and I thank and congratulate each of them for their amazing contribution."
The Season 3 premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead delivered the biggest ratings in the adult demo than any other entertainment series this fall (including all broadcast shows), earning its highest rating to date, more than 50% over last season's premiere.
Last night's third season premiere aired to the tune of 10.9 million viewers for its first telecast, with an adult 18-49 demo rating of 5.8. For reference, ABC's Modern Family -- which was previously the highest rated show this fall -- earned a 5.5 rating. Needless to say, for AMC -- a pay cable network -- 5.8 is pretty damn impressive.
IGN Speaks with comic series creator Robert Kirkman
Said AMC President Charlie Collier, "Thank you to the fans for making The Walking Dead such a tremendous success. We are honored and humbled that television's largest adult audience resides on AMC. So many people on both sides of the camera worked tirelessly on this project, and I thank and congratulate each of them for their amazing contribution."
Warning: Full spoilers follow for The Walking Dead Season 3 premiere episode, "Seed," and minor spoilers for Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead comic book series.
So how about that for a Walking Dead season premiere, huh? Pretty exciting and gruesome stuff. And, as tradition here at IGN, we got to talk to comic series creator and show EP/writer Robert Kirkman about what we just saw. Months have passed, Rick's fully in command, Carl's now clearing houses with the likes of Daryl and T-Dog, there's a walker-filled prison that needs cleansing, Lori's not giving Rick any disapproving looks or pushback and Andrea and Michonne are still off on their own. There's just so much happening.
The Walking Dead: Season 3 Premiere Review
IGN: Well, we're finally here. We're at the prison now. What's it like to finally be tackling a big set piece and storyline that the comic fans have been anticipating ever since the show started?
Robert Kirkman: My experience in having the Walking Dead comic turned into a TV show has been indescribable. It's not something that I've ever heard of anyone really experiencing. It really is quite bizarre. I've gone from seeing comic book characters that I've written for nearly a decade come to be represented by flesh and blood human beings who you can have conversations with. Which is really awkward. But now I'm actually seeing an entire world built up that I can walk around in. I can go into cells inside the prison. I can walk the prison yard. I can play basketball on the basketball court. I can go up into the guard tower. It's really strange to see it all come to life and I think AMC's done a really good job in working with very talented people who really dedicate themselves into making this show the best that it can be. I know a lot of time and effort went into making this prison and it looks absolutely remarkable on screen. In person though, it's overwhelming for me to be there.
IGN: A lot of things have changed within the group since the last time we saw them. Exactly how much time has passed?
Kirkman: Well, we don't really like to nail things down too tightly, but we were getting into winter pretty much by the end of Season 2. The leaves were starting to fall off and it was getting pretty cold and so we were definitely approaching winter when we last left off. Season 3 picks up now with the end of spring and the beginning of summer. So we skipped through a little bit of fall, winter and a little bit of spring.
IGN: What was behind the decision to have Rick be so fully in charge? I think the term that was coined was "Ricktatorship."
Kirkman: I think it was very important, after the last scene in Season 2, to show that Rick's decision to not take any advice from his people and to make it his way or the highway has really made it so that they've all survived the winter, despite not being able to find a solid place to live in for any real length of time. I think we really wanted to show that Rick is a capable leader and that he does know what he's doing. And I think the first two episodes of the season will show everyone that this is a different guy; much more harsh, much more deadly and way more serious. A hardened leader.
IGN: He really has no opposition, at this point, from anyone. And they're a head-strong group.
Kirkman: For better or for worse, Rick's word is law right now. And that's something that has kept them alive. But we'll see, as the season progresses, sometimes he makes mistakes and sometimes bad things happen. But for now, at least, Rick's in charge and we're seeing a very different person. This is a guy who was a small town cop who was just kind of feeling his way through this world. And to a certain extent, he was scared out of his mind. Over the course of the first two seasons, he's become this guy that we have now who is running head first into a prison yard and taking walkers out. And doing whatever he has to do to keep these people around him safe.
IGN: Another big change, and more evidence that Rick's word is law, is how much Carl has changed. Rick would have gotten an earful if he'd tried to have Carl shoot walkers last year.
Kirkman: Carl has really evolved into a child soldier over the course of the winter. He's now there in the mix with Rick and Daryl when they're cleaning out that house in the beginning. He knows how to clear a room now. He knows how to run through a house that could be infested with zombies. And, as you can see, this is something he's done before. This is Carl growing up. Having that time jump in between the seasons has really facilitated turning Carl into a different character. A much more capable character. Someone who doesn't have to hide in the house while all the cool stuff happens. He's out there shooting guns, taking out Walkers and being a little badass.
IGN: What can you tell us about Rick and Lori's relationship? It seems pretty cold at this point. He's providing for her, but little more.
Kirkman: It's definitely damaged. Despite all the other changes that happened over the winter that we didn't get to see, they really haven't reconciled. For the most part, they're not really speaking. Lori has done something that Rick hasn't forgiven her for yet. And Rick did something that Lori wasn't too happy about, as we saw at the end of the second season. So they're really distant and struggling through the fact that they have to live together. She is carrying a child. Could be his child, could be Shane's. Nobody really knows. It is definitely a big sense of source of tension within the group this year.
IGN: Now this is close to the time, in the comic series, that Michonne would become a part of the group, but you've chose not to do that here. She's off with Andrea, which is a pairing we never saw in the comics. What was behind that decision?
Kirkman: I think as the season progresses, and we see our entry point into Woodbury and meeting The Governor, it will become pretty clear this pairing was a really cool change that came with a lot of great story in it. That's really the key to making changes to the comic book. Asking ourselves "what does it add?" or "how could this enhance the story?" And I think this enhances the story in a big way. Having these two warrior women out on the road, surviving together, is kind of a cool thing. And we've seen that they've bonded quite a bit over the winter. One thing that I really like about this season is that if you notice and do the math about how long Rick and the group were with Andrea, she's been with Michonne longer than she was with the rest of the survivors. So their bond has grown very strong over time. If these groups were to meet, if Andrea and Michonne were to encounter Rick and the others, her new bond might add some conflict to the reunion. ...Were it to take place this season.
IGN: Keeping things with the comics here... poor Hershel. We saw his leg get hacked off, but in the comics it wasn't him. It was a different character.
Kirkman: It's a pivotal moment in the comic series, but it happens to Allen, a character that hasn't been introduced on the television show. So we decided to do it to Hershel. And having that moment that comic book fans remember adapted for the show -- in a cool way that calls back to the comic series and the stories that were told there, but also done in a way that comic fans can still be surprised when it happens -- really is the meat and potatoes of the show. I want the comic fans to still go "Oh my god!" That's the really cool stuff, when people don't know what to expect. Even though it's still familiar.
Spoilers for the Supernatural: Season 8 season premiere follow.
Supernatural returned last week, setting in place plenty of big new storylines for the show, as Sam and Dean were reunited after Dean’s year in purgatory. So what’s next for the Winchesters? Supernatural executive producers Robert Singer and Jeremy Carver discuss their plans for Season 8 – and beyond.
There will be frequent flashbacks filling in more of what happened in the past year for Sam and Dean. “Not every episode, but where appropriate,” explained Singer, adding it would inform where “The boys’ headspace is in a given episode.”
Singer noted the flashbacks" allowed us to tell slightly different kind of stories.” When it comes to Sam and his newly revealed love interest, Emilia, he remarked, “Supernatural hasn’t spent, I think, a lot of time on relationship stories. This is a really nice mechanism to do that without imposing that on the forward momentum of these other stories that we’re telling.”
Noted Carver, “One thing we like particular about the first 13 [episodes] is the way we’re playing with perception… What happens as these brothers start to discover more about what they’ve done in the past year – and might those tables turn in terms of who has to answer for what?”
“Sam is keeping thoughts of this woman and this relationship to himself. It greatly informs where he is now at the beginning of the season. It represents something to him. It represents, essentially, another way – another life,” said Carver.
Carver, who returned to Supernatural in Season 8 in his new role as showrunner, after a couple of years away from the series, remarked, “The jumping off point, certainly when I came back to the show, was laid out by Bob [Singer] and Sera [Gamble]. You are truly alone. What does that mean? What kind of impact does that have on somebody? How does that affect somebody after so many years?”
While comparisons are inevitable to how Dean had his own domestic life when Sam was in hell, the producers noted that the big difference was that Dean “Never felt comfortable” in that scenario and couldn’t put aside all of his Hunter past – still salting windows and such. But Sam, “found real solace and real comfort. The only thing that sort of got him back was yeah, they were responsible for Kevin. ‘If we can do the Kevin thing and get this done, I’m done.’”
As Carver put it, Sam’s experience gave him, “A taste of something he never had before, and it had a really profound effect on him.”
As Carver noted, Dean had “a bit of a surprising reaction” to Purgatory, which was brought up in the season premiere.
“The idea that it was ‘pure’ down there… I think one of the last things you’d expect going to a place that is so horrible - That someone might actually consider it a happy experience. You have to ask yourself, why do you think it’s happy? What is this thing inside himself that he connected to? This primal side? How will he deal with that topside?”
As for Dean’s new friend Benny and how they became so chummy, Carver said, “It’s something we’ll see in those flashbacks. Hopefully the intriguing question that the premiere asks is, you see this warmness, but when they meet you see this reserve and general distrust. How did they get from that to that embrace? That’s what the flashbacks are telling us.”
As mentioned above, a big new player introduced in the season premiere is Benny, and Carver noted that as the season continues, “We use Benny as that thing that is representative of Dean in purgatory.”
“I think you’ll see Benny playing a pretty important part both in his physical presence and his psychological presence. The idea of Benny is hanging over our brothers pretty heavily. He’s a guy who has a tremendous, tremendous bearing and he’s really working out wonderfully. He’s a really complex character and adds really interesting wrinkle to the brother’s relationship this year – how they deal with something like this.”
Season 7 hammered home the hardline stance Dean had with the supernatural – going so far as to kill Sam’s old friend, who he believed was inevitably a danger. So just what changed for Dean to make him let a dangerous creature like Benny go, and how might Sam react to discovering this? Said Carver, “I think that’s the question that comes front and center when you see Benny. That’s something that’s got to be confronted at some point and arcs out through the course of the season.”
The Season 8 premiere also brought back Kevin, introduced at the end of Season 7, in a big way. Noted Carver, “We’ll learn more about how he personally feels about being a prophet and being involved in this mission that the brothers are a part of – the personal cost it has for him. And to see how his willingness or desire to do the job, how that rubs off on the boys. They’re all playing off each other and inextricably linked here.”
We’re also about to meet Kevin’s mom and Carver explained, “Putting aside the question of trust for a second, you could say Ms. Tran does something sort of interesting and sort of fun and it gives the boys, in an odd way, a bit of a mother figure that they haven’t had I a long time. It’s a fun dynamic and it can be a rather moving dynamic at times, also. It also gives you a fourth wheel on the car that you have to deal with…”
When it came to recurring characters in Season 8, Carver and Singer were still tightlipped on what role Bobby might play, despite Jim Beaver being part of the Supernatural panel at San Diego Comic-Con this summer.
What could they say about who we’ll see this season? Said Carver, “We’ll be seeing a healthy dose of Kevin. Crowley is set up to be somewhat of the boy’s main agonist. There’s Benny, there’s Emilia. There are some new angels that we’re introducing. Amanda Tapping is playing a fairly mysterious angel named Naomi.”
As for the big, “What happened to Castiel?” question, “We’ll be telling that story pretty steadily through the first seven or eight episodes. By episodes seven, eight you’ll start to get a really good idea of what happened in Purgatory to Cas.”
The premiere set up a big new mission for Sam and Dean - to actually close the gates of hell, once and for all. But if they accomplished that, would that mean all their enemies would be vanquished? Clarified Carver, “There’s so many other monsters in this universe. In the Supernatural universe, you’re thinking ‘I’ve eliminated a big chunk’ – but certainly not all.
As for how big a story arc this is establishing, Singer noted, “Jeremy’s hell-bent on multiple seasons.” Carver said the actual quest to close the hellgate story was a season-long arc, but added, “The questions that come up in this quest and the series of reveals and the series of discoveries are meant to start giving us underpinnings for questions and secrets and things that will be explored in future seasons.”
As for whether closing the hellgate to demons coming in and out would also affect human souls, Carver revealed, “That’s something that will be clarified later on – or dealt with.”
Supernatural has a reputation for doing some rather unusual and noteworthy episodes. Looking ahead to some highlights this year, Carver said, “We’re doing one a little bit later that’s dealing with what happens when you find yourself living in a cartoon universe. That’s a lot of fun. It actually won’t be animated. It deals more with cartoon physics in the real world. We will be doing an episode that deals pretty heavily with the LARPing universe, different from the way we’ve dealt with in the past. Those are two really fun ones we have coming up.”
There is also a found footage episode, which Carver described as “pretty unlike any episode the show has ever done before. Said Singer, “You’re living in this found footage. The boys are bracketed on either side in the opening and at the very end, but for 95% you’re living in this found footage. [Sam and Dean] are in it, unknowingly. It’s crazy. It’s a really good episode. It’s very compelling and has some great guest stars.”
Carver said the setup was, “College kids dealing with a situation that goes pretty horribly awry” and that the episode was much more in line with “your Paranormal Activitys or your Blair Witch” than the Ghostfacers episodes. Added Signer, “Tonally, it’s a 180 degrees away from Ghostfacers.” As Carver noted this episode “ain’t for laughs.”
Carver also remarked, “I’m excited about episode five. We’re dealing with a good deal of flashbacks from Sam and from Dean. That’s a really meaty and emotional episode. It’s somewhat of a turning point for the boys, also.”
Supernatural airs Wednesdays at 9pm ET/PT on The CW.
If you've seen Matt Fowler's IGN review of the Dexter season premiere, you know he was quite happy with it, finding it a big return to form for the series - a sentiment shared by many of here at IGN, myself included. But if you haven't seen the episode yet, what are you waiting for? You can watch Dexter: "Are You...?", right here, right now!
How I Met Your Mother’s Season 8 premiere ended with a big moment for the series – Ted and the still-unidentified Mother seen at some point “a little ways down the road” waiting at the same train station, presumably about to meet.
If you’re worried they’ll be a swerve, and she’ll walk away before Ted talks to her or some such, don't fret. HIMYM creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays recently spoke to the press about Season 8, with Thomas firmly stating, regarding that train station, “That’s the moment we’re gonna meet the mother. We can honestly say that. That’s where it happens. We’re moments away.” Said Bays, “That moment is something we’ve been building to for a long time and we’ll see more of that moment as the series goes on.”
Bays noted that back in Season 6, Ted said, “When I met your mother, it was the day of a wedding,” and added, “We specifically at that time made it the day of a wedding, not at a wedding. I think a lot of people were a little misled by that, which I feel a little bit bad about. But it’s not actually at [Robin and Barney's] wedding, it’s at that train station.”
Said Thomas with a laugh, “We like jumping to endings and then not telling you the middle. It’s very sort of awkward storytelling when you think about it, but we enjoy it! We’re gonna fill in all of the blanks on that day for sure. That day is the biggest day in the history of the group, obviously, and that’s where the series is heading. We’re getting close now.”
Just how close is still being figured out, since it’s still not clear for sure whether Season 8 is the final one for How I Met Your Mother or if it will be renewed for Season 9. But as Carter and Bays explained, for now, they are moving forward as though this is the final year. [Click the link below for more on the unusual situation the show is in]
How I Met Your Mother Creators on the Potential for Season 9
Asked again about whether the show might bring in the mother before the very end and continue with her as a character, rather than introduce her at the very end, Thomas replied, “That’s one of the biggest questions of the series and people ask us all the time. I feel like I haven't come up with a good way to dodge it yet, so I’ll just say, 'I’m dodging that!' It’s certainly something we’ve talked about and considered. But I don’t wanna say whether we’ve committed to it. Wait and see.”
Bays and Thomas said that through the eight years of the show, their plan for how HIMYM would end hasn’t changed. Said Thomas, “It’s the same plan. It’s the same plan we’ve always had. So if you hate it when you see it, just know that we committed really early to it. We were 29!”
As for what else is to come before that ending arrives…
Right now, Ted has reunited with Victoria (Ashley Williams), Barney is engaged to Quinn (Becki Newton) and Robin has begun dating "Crush" (Michael Trucco) . But because of the way How I Met Your Mother works, we know all these relationships are doomed. Which is why the showrunners don’t mind spoiling that coming soon is what Bays joked is “the break up month!” for all those couples.
As Thomas noted, “We’ve shown you the end of all these relationships. We know that Ted doesn’t marry Victoria, we know that Barney doesn’t marry Quinn. So we’re showing you this sort of path of carnage of these relationships. I think ultimately the challenge was can all three of these breakups be completely different from each other? Can there be a funny one, can there be a dramatic one, can there be this? And I think we’ve done it. That’s the goal of breakup month – to show you three completely different disillusions of relationships. I think everyone, including the guest cast – like Michael Truco, Becki Newton – everybody got to be great in all of it. We’ve shot all of that now and we’re happy with it."
Meanwhile, “[November] sweeps will really heat up that progression of Barney and Robin getting back together and I think we’ve come up with a fun, weirdly appropriate way to reunite them in a whole new way that I hope that everyone will like. It’s a weird way to get them back together, but it’s really fun.”
Thomas Lennon popped up in the season premiere as Victoria’s fiancée, and Bays and Thomas revealed he’d be in at least one more episode. In addition, his fellow The State alum, Joe Lo Truglio will be introduced as the partner to Martin Short’s character, Garrison Cootes, at Marshall’s law firm.
As for "Crush", while he was briefly seen back in Season 6 and in the premiere, future episodes will establish that he’s what Thomas described as, “sort of a struggling, cable access chef. He’s really awful and searching for his perfect chef catchphrase.” Added Thomas, “We don’t want to give away too much away about the character, because we kind of have a little reveal about him. His relationship with Robin will delightfully implode during breakup month.”
How I Met Your Mother has had a ton of memorable guest characters over the years. So with the end in sight, might we see some more familiar faces again? Revealed Bays, “Yeah, we have a plan actually – and this might be a very expensive plan. We have a plan to bring back many, many people that we’ve had on the show. Not to completely steal their idea, but I enjoyed the Seinfeld finale, when you saw everyone that’s ever been on the show and we have a way to do that that sort of fits in with the universe of our show. So hopefully there will be a cavalcade of familiar faces going into the final episode.”
In the meantime, True Blood’s Joe Manganiello is confirmed to be returning this season as Brad, Marshall’s old friend. Said Thomas, “He went to law school with Marshall and he’ll come back as a lawyer and will feature into the trial [involving Marshall’s firm].”
Adding a baby to a long-running sitcom can be a tricky thing. So will that addition become central to Marshall and Lily’s storylines and How I Met Your Mother itself this season? Said Thomas, with a knowing laugh, “This is what I’d like to believe… We are tending to the fact that they have a baby more than some other shows have, I think, but I don’t feel like the baby takes over the show… It feels like they have a baby, but not like the show is all baby, all the time. That’s what we’re shooting for.”
Bays and Thomas noted that they were often using what Thomas described as a, “Really creepy, lifelike stunt baby. It’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever touched – and I’ve touched some creepy things! So a fun game this season is pick out the creepy, fake baby if you want to do that sort of as a drinking game at home.
As our time with Bays and Thomas was wrapping up. I had to ask the duo: If How I Met Your Mother is wrapping up soon, we have to see Robin Sparkles again, right?
Replied Bays, “That’s always hanging out there as a thing we want to go back to - I think one more time before we hang it up.”
Added Thomas, “We have an idea. The challenge is always to do it and have it be completely different than the others. I’d like to think that all three that we’ve done have been different and we have a way to do it that I think would be completely different from all the other three. So yeah, we want to do it before the series ends.”
How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays at 8pm on CBS.
How I Met Your Mother’s Season 8 premiere ended with a big moment for the series – Ted and the still-unidentified Mother seen at some point “a little ways down the road” waiting at the same train station, presumably about to meet.
If you’re worried they’ll be a swerve, and she’ll walk away before Ted talks to her or some such, don't fret. HIMYM creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays recently spoke to the press about Season 8, with Thomas firmly stating, regarding that train station, “That’s the moment we’re gonna meet the mother. We can honestly say that. That’s where it happens. We’re moments away.” Said Bays, “That moment is something we’ve been building to for a long time and we’ll see more of that moment as the series goes on.”
Bays noted that back in Season 6, Ted said, “When I met your mother, it was the day of a wedding,” and added, “We specifically at that time made it the day of a wedding, not at a wedding. I think a lot of people were a little misled by that, which I feel a little bit bad about. But it’s not actually at [Robin and Barney's] wedding, it’s at that train station.”
Said Thomas with a laugh, “We like jumping to endings and then not telling you the middle. It’s very sort of awkward storytelling when you think about it, but we enjoy it! We’re gonna fill in all of the blanks on that day for sure. That day is the biggest day in the history of the group, obviously, and that’s where the series is heading. We’re getting close now.”
Just how close is still being figured out, since it’s still not clear for sure whether Season 8 is the final one for How I Met Your Mother or if it will be renewed for Season 9. But as Carter and Bays explained, for now, they are moving forward as though this is the final year. [Click the link below for more on the unusual situation the show is in]
How I Met Your Mother Creators on the Potential for Season 9
Asked again about whether the show might bring in the mother before the very end and continue with her as a character, rather than introduce her at the very end, Thomas replied, “That’s one of the biggest questions of the series and people ask us all the time. I feel like I haven't come up with a good way to dodge it yet, so I’ll just say, 'I’m dodging that!' It’s certainly something we’ve talked about and considered. But I don’t wanna say whether we’ve committed to it. Wait and see.”
Bays and Thomas said that through the eight years of the show, their plan for how HIMYM would end hasn’t changed. Said Thomas, “It’s the same plan. It’s the same plan we’ve always had. So if you hate it when you see it, just know that we committed really early to it. We were 29!”
As for what else is to come before that ending arrives…
Right now, Ted has reunited with Victoria (Ashley Williams), Barney is engaged to Quinn (Becki Newton) and Robin has begun dating "Crush" (Michael Trucco) . But because of the way How I Met Your Mother works, we know all these relationships are doomed. Which is why the showrunners don’t mind spoiling that coming soon is what Bays joked is “the break up month!” for all those couples.
As Thomas noted, “We’ve shown you the end of all these relationships. We know that Ted doesn’t marry Victoria, we know that Barney doesn’t marry Quinn. So we’re showing you this sort of path of carnage of these relationships. I think ultimately the challenge was can all three of these breakups be completely different from each other? Can there be a funny one, can there be a dramatic one, can there be this? And I think we’ve done it. That’s the goal of breakup month – to show you three completely different disillusions of relationships. I think everyone, including the guest cast – like Michael Truco, Becki Newton – everybody got to be great in all of it. We’ve shot all of that now and we’re happy with it."
Meanwhile, “[November] sweeps will really heat up that progression of Barney and Robin getting back together and I think we’ve come up with a fun, weirdly appropriate way to reunite them in a whole new way that I hope that everyone will like. It’s a weird way to get them back together, but it’s really fun.”
Thomas Lennon popped up in the season premiere as Victoria’s fiancée, and Bays and Thomas revealed he’d be in at least one more episode. In addition, his fellow The State alum, Joe Lo Truglio will be introduced as the partner to Martin Short’s character, Garrison Cootes, at Marshall’s law firm.
As for "Crush", while he was briefly seen back in Season 6 and in the premiere, future episodes will establish that he’s what Thomas described as, “sort of a struggling, cable access chef. He’s really awful and searching for his perfect chef catchphrase.” Added Thomas, “We don’t want to give away too much away about the character, because we kind of have a little reveal about him. His relationship with Robin will delightfully implode during breakup month.”
How I Met Your Mother has had a ton of memorable guest characters over the years. So with the end in sight, might we see some more familiar faces again? Revealed Bays, “Yeah, we have a plan actually – and this might be a very expensive plan. We have a plan to bring back many, many people that we’ve had on the show. Not to completely steal their idea, but I enjoyed the Seinfeld finale, when you saw everyone that’s ever been on the show and we have a way to do that that sort of fits in with the universe of our show. So hopefully there will be a cavalcade of familiar faces going into the final episode.”
In the meantime, True Blood’s Joe Manganiello is confirmed to be returning this season as Brad, Marshall’s old friend. Said Thomas, “He went to law school with Marshall and he’ll come back as a lawyer and will feature into the trial [involving Marshall’s firm].”
Adding a baby to a long-running sitcom can be a tricky thing. So will that addition become central to Marshall and Lily’s storylines and How I Met Your Mother itself this season? Said Thomas, with a knowing laugh, “This is what I’d like to believe… We are tending to the fact that they have a baby more than some other shows have, I think, but I don’t feel like the baby takes over the show… It feels like they have a baby, but not like the show is all baby, all the time. That’s what we’re shooting for.”
Bays and Thomas noted that they were often using what Thomas described as a, “Really creepy, lifelike stunt baby. It’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever touched – and I’ve touched some creepy things! So a fun game this season is pick out the creepy, fake baby if you want to do that sort of as a drinking game at home.
As our time with Bays and Thomas was wrapping up. I had to ask the duo: If How I Met Your Mother is wrapping up soon, we have to see Robin Sparkles again, right?
Replied Bays, “That’s always hanging out there as a thing we want to go back to - I think one more time before we hang it up.”
Added Thomas, “We have an idea. The challenge is always to do it and have it be completely different than the others. I’d like to think that all three that we’ve done have been different and we have a way to do it that I think would be completely different from all the other three. So yeah, we want to do it before the series ends.”
How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays at 8pm on CBS.
We are right in the thick of the fall TV season debuts, with the premiere episodes coming at us day after day. For that reason, we're collecting all of our premiere reviews -- whether for new or returning series -- in one handy place. Check 'em out below, and bookmark this page, as more will be added in the days to come!
The Big Bang Theory: Season 6 Premiere Review
South Park: Midseason Premiere Review
Elementary: Series Premiere Review
Brickleberry: Series Premiere Review
How I Met Your Mother: Season 9 Premiere Review
The Neighbors: Series Premiere Review
Last Resort: Series Premiere Review
The Office: Season 9 Premiere Review
Parks and Recreation: Season 5 Premiere Review
Sons of Anarchy: Season 5 Premiere Review
Click Here for more Sons of Anarchy: Season 5 episode reviews!
Boardwalk Empire: Season 3 Premiere Review
Click Here for more Boardwalk Empire: Season 3 episode reviews!
Revolution: Series Premiere Review
Click Here for more Revolution episode reviews!
Doctor Who: Season 7 Premiere Review
Click Here for more Doctor Who: Season 7 episode reviews!
Guys with Kids: Series Premiere Review
The New Normal: Series Premiere Review
Ben and Kate: Series Premiere Review
The Mindy Project: Series Premiere Review
After its usual summer break, South Park is returning for the second half of Season 16 tonight - actually a couple of weeks earlier than usual.
The midseason premiere, "Sarcastaball," is a Randy-centric one, as Randy becomes concerned about safety during football games at South Park Elementary. while the new rules he brings to the game end up being adopted by the entire nation, one gifted student emerges as a star athlete in Sarcastaball.
South Park: "Sarcastaball" airs Wednesday, September 26th at 10pm on Comedy Central. Click on the image below for larger versions of images from the episode.
Note: Full spoilers for the Sons of Anarchy: Season 5 premiere follow.
Sons of Anarchy returned with its usual complex storylines and characters intact, introduced new twists and turns, and added intriguing new recurring cast members in Jimmy Smits (Dexter) and Harold Perrineau (Lost). As SAMRCO’s reigning President, Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) had to deal with threats on various fronts, from the business side of things to the personal. So, in other words, just a typical day for SAMCRO.
There was plenty of plot to go around between the deal with the cartel, Roosevelt still snooping around, the battle with the Niners, home invasions in Charming and the new danger from revenge-seeking Damon Pope. Add to that all the interpersonal drama after the fallout from the power shakeup in the last season, and you’ve got a packed episode that didn’t have any trouble filling up the extra time it had for the season premier. The confrontational scenes - Jax and Opie, Gemma and Tara, Roosevelt and Juice, to name a few - were given enough time to help us keep the various threads in mind, and none bogged down the episode's momentum.
After the events of last season, Clay (Ron Perlman) appeared to be a broken man, both physically and emotionally. But if you thought that losing his position of power would make Clay less dangerous, that was a mistake. Using a trick I wouldn’t have guessed Clay had in his arsenal, he played a version of the sympathy card. Feeding the club partial truths, he managed to spill enough facts to potentially be let off several hooks. That all of this happened under Jax’s disbelieving glare from the other side of the table made for a great scene. It will be interesting to see what happens next between these two perpetually sparring opponents.
Jax is not amused.
With an introductory scene that was memorable, to say the least, Smits joined the cast as Nero Padilla, who humorously described himself as a “companionator,” rather than the more mundane term of pimp. So far, Smits was a breath of fresh air, with his smooth talk and immediate affection for Gemma. And it was somewhat amusing that on this show the pimp character was the one portrayed as carefree and (comparatively) above-the-law.
Gemma’s state of mind was troubling, especially seeing the tough former queen of the club so confused about how she ended up at Nero’s. Gemma’s behavior was paralleled nicely with Tara’s situation. Tara may appear to be dealing with things, but the quick shot of her at the end of the episode contradicted that. Both Katey Sagal and Maggie Siff continued their excellent performances of two strong women navigating the tricky waters of SAMCRO, trying to control their situations the best they can, while things continued to unravel for both of them.
With a less flashy intro than Smits, Perrineau also made his first appearance count as Damon Pope, father of the girl Tig killed last season. Pope’s quietly powerful demeanor was convincingly menacing, even before he set in motion the object lesson for Jax and SAMCRO where the new head of the Niners was murdered in front of them. His ruthlessness combined with his desire to appear to be an upstanding member of the community was a bit reminiscent of Breaking Bad’s Gus Fring, one of the more frightening villains TV has given us recently. If there was any question that Pope is a force to be reckoned with this season, the horrific scene with Tig and his daughter should put that to rest.
With all the above in play this season, I almost laughed out loud at Tara’s exasperated, “Now what?” when the phone call came in that the police were looking to arrest Jax, Chibs and Tig. She should know by now that there is always going to be something going terribly wrong with this group of guys. If previous seasons are any indication, the mess SAMCRO is in so far is just the tip of the iceberg.
Well, it's here. The beast has arrived. With the premiere of the new season of Doctor Who last weekend, Fall TV is officially upon us - on the heels of shows like Grimm that went the extra step of debuting in August! So now it's time to get out a pad of paper, a sharpie, some duct tape, a protractor and some wood glue and map out your own person viewing/DVRing schedule. And we're here to help!
So please welcome back Dexter Morgan, Nucky Thompson, Carrie Matheson, Jax Teller, Olivia Dunham, John Reese, Amanda Clarke Emily Thorne, Jeff Winger, Leslie Knope, Liz Lemon, Sheldon Cooper, Barney Stinson, The Doctor, Schmidt, Cartman and, um, American Horror Story monster... guy. But if you know Fall TV, then you know that it's not just about the returning favorites. Oh no. There's an avalanche of new shows waiting to tumble down on top of your heads; like a nuclear sub drama from The Shield's Shawn Ryan, a post-global blackout adventure series from J.J. Abrams and Jon Favreau, and new NBC comedies from folks like Glee/American Horror Story's Ryan Murphy and Jimmy Fallon.
There will be plenty of familiar faces too. Friends' Matthew Perry returns to NBC with Go On, Lost's Terry O'Quinn is back on ABC with 666 Park Avenue and The Office's Mindy Kaling's got her own new show on FOX called The Mindy Project. A few long-running shows will also come to an end as The Office returns for its 9th (!!!) and final season, FOX's Fringe wraps up its run with 13 exciting, Observer-filled episodes and Liz and Jack say goodbye on 30 Rock's 13-episode farewell.
So here's your rundown. Spotlight shows first, in order of premiere date. Then a full list at the end, on the last page of the feature. There's a system.
Network: BBC America
Airs: Saturdays at 9pm
Premiere: 9/8/12
Going into Season 7, the big question is just how Amy Pond and Rory Williams will depart the series. The fall run of the show is a short one, with just five episodes (the rest of Season 7 will air next year), culminating in Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill leaving Doctor Who behind. But will they get a happy ending?
Fans are also extra curious about this year’s Christmas special, which was said to introduce the Doctor’s new companion, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. Of course this past weekend, the season premiere threw a curve ball at us in regards to that...
Airs: Sundays at Midnight
Premiere: 9/9/12
Season 6 of Robot Chicken kicks off with the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, with Seth Green as Batman, Robin and Aquaman, Neil Patrick Harris as Two-Face, Alfred Molina as Lex Luthor, Nathan Fillion as the Green Lantern, Megan Fox as Lois Lane, Breckin Meyer as Superman – in a parody of all things Justice League, Super Friends and more.
The remainder of Season 6 will feature a ton of ever-impressive guest voices, including Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Chalke, Kat Dennings, Sam Elliott, Ben Foster, Whoopi Goldberg, Lucas Grabeel, Megan Hilty, Gillian Jacobs, Robert Kirkman, Zachary Levi, J.B. Smoove, Liev Schreiber, Jon Stewart, Patrick Stewart, Stanly Tucci, Olivia Wilde, and Alex Winter.
Network: NBC
Airs: Tuesdays at 9pm
Premiere: 9/11/12
After airing a special preview of its pilot episode after their Olympics coverage a few weeks ago, NBC has high hopes for its new Matthew Perry comedy, Go On. Perry, after failing with ABC's Mr. Sunshine back in 2010, is back in semi-Chandler mode, playing a sportscaster who joins a support group to help him grieve for the recent death of his wife. Yes, the premise sounds a bit dark, but given that Perry's Ryan King finds himself surrounded by a multi-ethnic, multi-generational cast of kooky characters, it's clear that NBC's trying to pull from Community's Column A and create a show that has a chance of reaching a broader audience. Laura Benati, Julie White, Brett Gelman and John Cho also star.
Check out IGN's review of Go On's pilot episode here!
Network: NBC
Airs: Tuesdays at 9:30pm
Premiere: 9/11/12
From Ryan Murphy, creator of Glee and American Horror Story, and Ali Adler comes a new NBC comedy about a gay couple (Justin Bartha and Andrew Rannells) and the woman, Goldie (Georgia King), acting as the surrogate for their baby. Ellen Barkin is on hand to provide some Archie Bunker-inspired homophobia as Goldie's grandma while Real Housewives of Atlanta/Glee's NeNe Leaks provides enough sass to put grandma in her place. Murphy has found enormous success with risky, off-kilter TV, so will he reign supreme over the realm of half-hour comedies as well?
Check out IGN's review The New Normal's pilot episode here!
Network: FX
Airs: Tuesdays at 10pm
Premiere: 9/11/12
How will things go for Jax, now that he’s taken over as president of SAMCRO? We’re guessing it won't be smooth sailing…
Season 5 will bring two major new players in, including Harold Perrineau (Lost) as a new antagonist, Damon Pope, who's transitioned from being a drug kingpin to running a legitimate empire. Jimmy Smits also joins the cast, trading in his usual suit-wearing characters to play Latino gang leader Nero Padilla – someone described as becoming a “dangerous mentor” to Jax.
Network: FOX
Airs: Wednesdays at 8pm
Premiere: 9/12/12
Arriving with a ton of hype last year, Simon Cowell’s US version of his smash hit UK reality series did… fine, but notably wasn't nearly as big as American Idol. That being the case, the second season will see some major overhauls, with judges Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones all gone. The new judges are Demi Lovato and Britney Spears and yes, Lovato’s young age is a bit of an eyebrow raiser, given her role as a judge and mentor. But that’s overshadowed by the media attention bringing Spears onto the show is achieving. Given Spears’ own troubles through the years, many are curious to see just how she handles this role on The X Factor – but are they curious enough to give the show a ratings boost?
Network: NBC
Airs: Wednesdays at 8:30pm
Premiere: 9/12/12
The brain child baby of Late Night's Jimmy Fallon, Guys with Kids features Jesse Bradford (Swimfan), Anthony Anderson (Law & Order) and Zach Cregger (Whitest Kids U' Know) as dads. Wait! I mean dudes with infants. No, wait. Sorry, we'll get it right some day. But if you're a fan of guys being dumb with not only their kids, but their spouses as well, then saddle up, put some silly sunglasses on your toddler and act like an idiot in front of your hot wife who you probably don't deserve.
Network: FOX
Airs: Thursdays at 9pm
Premiere: 9/13/12
It’s always a struggle for a TV series that begins in a high school setting to then transition into something else when the characters graduate. Glee is going about this dilemma in an interesting (and risky) manner, having had some of the characters graduate last season – but not all. Storylines will now apparently take place in New York, where Rachel and Kurt live, but also back at McKinley, with the characters who have not graduated, plus some new students. And there’s also some of the other graduates to deal with as well, who are living in various cities. All of which certainly sounds... crowded.
J.J. Abrams' global blackout, NBC's Thursday night comedies and Nucky Thompson's prohibition-era Atlantic City on page 2...
The upcoming remake of Red Dawn will have its world premiere as the closing night film of this month's Fantastic Fest, which runs from September 20-27 in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.
Two of the movie's Wolverines -- Josh Peck and Adrianne Palicki -- will be in attendance at the Thursday, September 27 premiere. The movie's distributor, FilmDistrict, announced that a Korean-invasion-themed party will follow the premiere screening.
Fantastic Fest will also transform the Austin American Legion into a maximum-security prison for the ultimate Red Dawn after-party. As the studio press release puts it, "Prisoners will experience mandatory enjoyment from delousing stations as well as free prison tattoos and head-shaves. Executive chef John Bullington will be doling out wild-game bulgogi, kimchi and piping-hot shots of deer blood while the uniformed detainees enjoy the musical stylings of festival favorite Future Folk."
Advance Review: FOX's new single-camera comedy Ben and Kate doesn't officially premiere for another month, but since the pilot episode is currently available for viewing via Hulu (see below!), we're considering it fair game for review.
From creator Dana Fox (What Happens in Vegas) comes a sweet, but not too sweet, comedy about a pair of grown siblings who, long ago, formed a unique bond due to an unhappy home life while growing up. Kate (Dakota Johnson - daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) wound up getting pregnant at an early age and is now the sort of typical young, quirky "trying to make ends meet" TV mom that we've all come to expect. Unlucky in love, but lucky when it comes to the simple, genuine things in life. Like her extremely precocious five year-old daughter, Maddie. So far, so what, right? Kate's a somewhat typical klutzy, "rom-com" leading lady. But then comes Ben.
Ben, played by Academy Award-winning screenwriter (he co-wrote The Descendents with Community's Jim Rash) Nat Faxon, is Kate's older brother. And whereas Kate "grew up too fast," Ben "never grew up at all." He's a big, doofy man-child who's constantly making Kate's life more complicated with his crazy, random antics and, honestly, your enjoyment of Ben and Kate is primarily going to depend on whether or not you find Ben annoying or endearing. I happen to be fall into the latter category on this one, although I can totally see people not enjoying Ben's juvenile mania. I understand if he gets under your skin. In fact, I've seen this pilot twice now and I think about the Bill Murray movie "What About Bob?" each time I see it. Because, drawing from that film, you either love Bob or you totally empathize with Richard Dreyfuss.
So, much in the same way that FOX presented us with Zooey Deschanel's quirky Jess last year when New Girl premiered, Ben's naive dreamer qualities will either excite or irritate you. I think Faxon does a wonderful job of playing a lovable idiot and there were more than a few scenes here that I found pretty damn funny. In this first episode, Ben discovers that his ex, the love of his life, is getting married and decides to come up with a last ditch effort to win her back. Of course, none of this gels with Kate's plan to finally go out on a normal date with her boyfriend George and, possibly, have "the sex" for the first time since her daughter was born.
And while I brought up "What About Bob?" earlier, my thoughts also shift into darker territory when I'm reminded of Laura Linney's character from Love Actually. Remember her? The woman who had to be at the beck and call of her mentally ill brother and couldn't maintain a normal relationship because of it? I probably think of that because A) I just recently watched that movie again, and B) Kate's total acceptance/surrendering to the fact that the comically-obtuse Ben will always be a giant, dominating chunk of her life.
The spotlight might be on Faxon's Ben, but it's Johnson's Kate who does the heavy lifting. She's the other main reason why I feel this show works. If she were just the "straight man" put-upon sister, this would fall apart. These two have a goofy connection and by the end of the episode you feel as though they actually compliment one another. Ben, despite his life-disrupting ways, is protective of Kate a way that has no equal. Which comes in handy since Kate herself winds up in screwball situations of her own.
The rest of the players here - Lucy Punch's full-of-advice bimbo BJ, Echo Kellum's Kate-obsessed Tommy - are fine. Young Maddie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones), when not spouting wisdom beyond her years, makes a great, doe-eyed sounding board for Ben's lunacy. Again, depending on your personality there's a chance that Ben might frustrate you, but I think Ben and Kate is one of the most promising new comedies of the season.
The Ben and Kate pilot can be seen on Hulu. The series premieres on Tuesday, September 25th on FOX.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and IGN. WARNING: No Nudity!
For the past five days the BBC has released five mini-webisodes as a prelude to this Saturday's Doctor Who series 7 premiere The Asylum of the Daleks. Entitled Pond Life, the mini-series has offered a glimpse into what The Doctor and the Ponds have been up to since the end of series 6, as well as featuring cameos from some of Who's most iconic aliens.
If the final episode's cliffhanger is anything to go by, it looks like things haven't been going swimmingly for the married companions in the downtime.
You can watch all five episodes of Pond Life ahead of this Saturday's series premiere below.
Doctor Who The Asylum of the Daleks airs this Saturday on BBC One and BBC America.
Ahead of this Saturday's Series 7 premiere - Asylum of the Daleks - the BBC has unveiled five posters to commemorate the first five shows of the season. The episodes are due to air over the coming weeks before a slight break leading up to the Christmas special which will introduce the new companion played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.
The second half of the season will air in 2013, with eight more episodes already filmed to be shown during the show's 60th anniversary. Check out the posters for Asylum of the Daleks, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, A Town Called Mercy, The Power of Three and The Angels Take Manhattan below and click to enlarge.
Exterminate!
I ride a triceratops now. Triceratops are cool.
Sonic Screwdrivers At Dawn.
It's the magic number.
No peeking.
Roll on Saturday!
Star Wars: The Clone Wars had its Season 5 premiere tonight at Star Wars Celebration VI. And while I will be holding my full review of that premiere until it actually airs, I will say that it is a very cool, action-packed season opener, that continues that Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul & Savage Opress drama that was in play when Season 4 ended.
After the screening, there was a Q&A with The Clone Wars’ supervising director, Dave Filoni and the voice of Darth Maul, Sam Witwer. But Filoni also had another surprise in his pocket – as the Q&A ended, he revealed we would be seeing the brand new trailer for The Clone Wars: Season 5.
The trailer will be playing again tomorrow at the full Clone Wars panel at Star Wars Celebration (and likely will be online within the next few days), but I have to note a couple of highlights from it...
Namely, Darth Sidious fighting Darth Maul and Savage Opress! This was the part where the audience lost it. We’ve seen the holographic version of Sidious on The Clone Wars (and plenty more of his alter-ego, Palpatine), but in Season 5, it’s clear Sidious gets into the thick of it. Filoni had previously indicated the fact that they wouldn’t ignore how many Dark Side Force users/Sith are in play and how that violates the rule of two. And the trailer shows Sidious taking on both his former apprentice, Maul, and Maul’s brother, using two red lightsabers!
That footage definitely stole the show, but there was a lot of other cool moments as well, including Maul battling Death Watch leader Pre Vizsla and Maul also leading a group of Death Watch himself. There were moments indicating a big rift in Death Watch and the potential for all out war among the Mandalorians, as Vizsla talks about resorting them to the warriors they once were. The Death Watch vs. Death Watch aspect was previously hinted at in the below scene from Season 5, released at Comic-Con, which also shows Obi-Wan gets very mixed up in this scenario.
The end of the trailer also revealed both The Clone Wars premiere date and its new timeslot: Season 5 will premiere on September 29th, as the show moves from Friday nights to Saturday mornings at 9:30am.
Warner Bros. has closed their direct-to-video department, Warner Premiere. The DTV production house, launched in 2006, was responsible for titles like Free Willy: Escape from Pirate’s Cove, Spring Breakdown, Return to the House of Haunted Hill, Lost Boys: The Thirst (and Lost Boys: The Tribe), Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control and many others.
“Given the continuing decline in the direct-to-video film market and shifting business models in the production of digital series, the decision was made to close Warner Premiere,” the company said in a statement to TheWrap. “The division will continue and complete production on its remaining film and digital series project into the fall. In addition, the evaluation of potential digital content will be folded into Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, and Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video will continue to produce and release animated films, such as Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry and DC Universe.”
It's unclear if the final film project mentioned above was the recently announced sequel to A Christmas Story, arriving on home video in October. The studio will continue to focus their efforts on digital distribution and animated projects, like DC's upcoming release of The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1. The employees of Warner Premiere will be transferred to other departments.
Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
Last week's premiere restored order to the series after the chaotic events of last season's finale. We see more of the same trend here, as the show continues to gradually make the wrong things right; this time by bringing Jinks back to life. I'm happy to see Aaron Ashmore still has a job, but I'm hoping all this re-writing of history has some serious consequences that raise the stakes for the series.
This episode started off well. The team is in good spirits, except for Artie who seems to still carry stress/guilt/fear from all of last week's events. Pete's innocuous “turn back time” comment has an obviously jarring effect on Artie and precludes the reappearance of Brother Adrian, who of course doesn't know that he and Artie met in an alternate timeline. Brent Spiner gets a much better opportunity to explore the role and it's good to see him back on TV. On a separate note, here's a little bit of TV history trivia for you: Saul Rubinek (Artie) and Brent Spiner once worked very closely on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called “The Most Toys” (quite a good episode if you haven't seen it).
Anyways, back to the Warehouse. This episode takes a three-part format, with Pete and Myka investigating an odd case while Artie deals with Brother Adrian and Claudia is doing her best bad girl impression. If you didn't have a ton of reasons to love Allison Scagliotti before, well you should now.
The story really takes an odd turn when Kate Mulgrew once again shows up as regent Jane Lattimer to tell Claudia that it's okay for Claudia to bring Jinks back. It's a thrilling development, made even more surprising by the late revelation that the regents actually did not approve it and Jane was going rogue. We've got all sorts of morality issues here, but Artie's time turning is the biggest of them all. There's a nice bit of thematic storytelling as Artie tries to prevent Claudia from doing something similar (but different) to what he did. It's quite a moral quandary that will surely be part of the series going forward.
Once Claudia gets the questionable go-ahead to revive Jinksy, she and Jane bring Steve back in an emotional scene where Kate Mulgrew really shows she still has the acting chops. I've really enjoyed Mulgrew in this role, and it looks like her character is joining Artie and Claudia in moral limbo. For the most part our heroes have been able to resist the temptation of artifact power, but now things are changing fast.
I also liked the little characterization moments in the script. We learn that Myka has a fear of tentacles (maybe she had an unpleasant experience with some hentai anime). And I really enjoyed Artie's desperate attempts to figure out how to get around this “evil” without unfixing the warehouse's destruction. There's plenty to like here, but there are unfortunately a number of flaws too.
H.P. Lovecraft finally gets some love in Warehouse 13. This is a deserved acknowledgment which comic and horror geeks should surely enjoy, and it's a wonder that it took this long for this series to fit him into one of the stories. Unfortunately, this artifact hunt is one of the weakest the series has ever produced. The plot with the tentacled monsters just doesn't hit any highs, and it culminates in a final scene that his horribly cheesy, partially because our antagonist barely says anything, and when he does he's not particularly interesting. Then we have the extras at the gym, who are all horrendous actors. But to be fair, the whole concept of the scene leaves a lot to be desired. And the special effects – which were gradually getting better for this series – take a little step backwards here.
But if you take out the shaky Lovecraft plot, this is a good episode that sets up a lot of pieces for the developing story that is going to carry us through the season. Still, all these new developments have been at the expense of undoing all the shocking surprises of last season. Normally I wouldn't be a big fan of this approach because it keeps us from believing that any of the major events of the series will ever stick. But at the same time, I understand the producers don't want to take too many risks with a formula that's working. The showrunners have proven themselves capable caretakers of this series, so for now I'll be cautiously optimistic that this direction will pay off very soon.
