Supernatural
WB Tuesdays, 9/8c

Premiere Date: September 13, 2005

Supernatural knows how to get to the point – seeing a woman scale the ceiling and burst into a demonic flame within the first few minutes of the pilot hits just the right note. This single event also rumbles the very core of the show, which the series then moves twenty years into the future as the basis for its continuing story, and that note is sustained quite nicely, for the most part, through the remainder of the pilot episode.

Supernatural succeeds with a relatively simple premise: Mom dies at hands of the supernatural, family hunts the supernatural to solve the mystery of, and eventually avenge, her death. Boys are on opposite roads of life, come together because they share a common bond (Dad), and their polarized personalities lead to conflict (and a few laughs). “Hunter” premise sets up monster-of-the-week approach, all strung together by a thin, but admittedly curious, recurring plot line. It’s what Hollywood calls, “high concept.”

The children, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester are now young adults but are living separate lives. Sam is taking his college studies seriously, and seems to have settled down with his girlfriend. Dean, however, still is reckless, unfocused, and clings onto his father’s pursuit of the demonic force that stole away his mother. The father has gone missing during his latest hunt, and the boys go on a weekend search-and-rescue mission to bring him home.

How Supernatural pulls this off is mostly due to its visual appeal. Executive produced by McG, written by Boogeyman scribe Eric Kripke, and brought together by WB alumni David Nutter, “high concept” is married with “high production” to give this show a “high gloss”. How much of McG’s involvement is not known, but his trademark of “borrowing” from his many influences is evident. The show basically rolls like a mix tape of horror movies – every quality movie scare and spooky set piece is brought together and intertwined with the escapades of Sam and Dean with vibrant energy.

The main problem with the story is that it hits all the right scares, then brings it home with some lame adolescent comment mostly from the annoying and smart-aleck Dean. As a matter of fact, the only thing really standing in the way of this series working is Dean’s character. Frankly, he’s unlikable and annoying, always wearing a face that would better belong standing in the corner. At the complete opposite, Sam is the voice of reason, the one with his head on straight. The one who looks toward the future. It only makes sense for the audience to gravitate toward Sam, and that makes Dean inconsequential. Not a good thing when half of your lead characters can be so easily disliked. This leads to another problem – there is not a quality adult lead character among the cast. The father is MIA throughout the pilot, and although the potential is there for him to join the cast as a regular at some point in the series’ future, the show could very well use a chaperone, so to speak.

Of course, these problems are things which can be corrected through character development as the series progresses. Supernatural is the darling of the WB’s fall lineup, benefiting from a huge publicity campaign. Although its timeslot is crowded, it will no doubt attract a respectable audience in its target market, and retain that audience week-to-week with its many popcorn scares. This is good news for the future of the show, as it would most likely be afforded the time it needs to mature.

After the cancellation of Buffy and Angel, the short-lived Roswell, and the failed Birds of Prey, the WB may have the perfect companion hit to Smallville.

Invasion
ABC Wednesdays, 10/9c

Premiere Date: September 21, 2005

Invasion has the hype machine of a hit. It borrows the ensemble cast formula that made Lost so successful and intriguing, it is among the new trend of supernatural television shows, and it benefits by following it on the Wednesday lineup. It is also produced by Shawn Cassidy Productions, which also gave us the clever American Gothic (along with Executive Producer Sam Raimi, before he hit mainstream success and popularity), as well as CBS’ Cold Case.

With a relatively light time slot, this should be a no-brainer hit, right? Insert ingredients, mix well, and bake. Unfortunately, Invasion isn’t the sort of loaf you’d expect to be edible.

As a matter of fact, flush this loaf right down the toilet.

So let’s get to the facts. The ensemble cast is comprised of relatively unknown actors from failed television shows of the recent past. Among the B- and C- list tube talents is the lone recognizable actor, journeyman character actor William Fichtner. He plays Tom Underlay, a Florida sheriff who doesn’t seem quite right, and plays it as expected. Which is part of the problem – this guy plays a snake in every role he’s had. So when you first see him, you think, “oh, that guy. I bet he can’t be trusted.” And sure enough, he can’t.

So the story goes, during a hurricane (and I can’t believe ABC is going to be able to premiere this show right in the middle of storm season, especially with what has just happened), some alien lights are stirred up, take down a plane, and are sighted by the young daughter of park ranger Russell Varon (Eddie Cibrian), another of the show’s rotating lead characters. And there’s this whole story about how the girl, who wonders off looking for a cat in the middle of the hurricane, is from divorced parents, and her teenaged brother who seems grown-up well beyond his years blames his mother for the split. And it looks like Ranger Russell doesn’t waste any time, because he’s remarried to hottie-on-the-spot tv reporter Larkin Groves (Lisa Sheridan) with whom he has another baby on the way. Oh, and did I mention the kid’s real mother is dating Sheriff Underlay? There’s a story behind all this that is only set up with the pilot episode, but you probably don’t care to find out.

There’s a brief bit of promise when Groves’ live-in conspiracy-theorist brother investigates the little girl’s story and pulls something out of the marsh, and the sequence where he examines the “body” looks like it was directly inspired by Wilford Brimley’s steaming autopsy of the thing found in the Swede’s (no, Norwegian’s) camp in John Carpenter’s classic, The Thing. But at the end of the episode, you can’t help but think that the premise is just a V redux with a splash of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Unfortunately, V was only cool twenty years ago, and paying homage to Body Snatchers with a Young and the Restless subplot like this is just insulting.

The episode ends with a cliffhanger as an obvious attempt to rope in its audience, but the only things sticking to this are the flies it attracts. Make Invasion one to avoid this fall.

Night Stalker
ABC Thursdays, 9/8c

Premiere Date: September 29, 2005

All hail the return of Carl Kolchak. In case you are unfamiliar with the name, let me help. He was the lead character in the 1970s TV series Night Stalker, which focused on a reporter investigating the supernatural. More importantly, the character and the series was the inspiration for the modern-day supernatural television show. Chris Carter has said the show has been a major inspiration for the X-Files. Carter went on to create Millennium, a show that was years ahead of its time and has found an extended audience thanks to strong DVD sales. In today’s CSI-dominated television landscape, Millennium would probably do quite well with viewers while still carving out (no pun intended) that niche viewer base with its tales of the occult and supernatural.

So it’s refreshing that over six years later, a television show has emerged to capture Millennium’s dreadful eloquence and suspense, yet ironic that the show is a recreation of the very same show that originally inspired Chris Carter. That show is, of course, Night Stalker.

ABC has infused Night Stalker with some legitimate star power, as Kolchak is played this time around by Stuart Townsend, unfortunately best known as Charlize Theron’s beau. But he’s also played Lestat in 2002′s Queen of the Damned, playing second fiddle to a posthumous Aaliyah. He was Dorian Gray in the box office bust The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And he was famously, initially, mistakenly, and unfortunately cast as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, only to be released after four days of shooting. He’s been able to show a venomous and evil side in his roles, but this time he’s on the other side of the fence as a solemn and calculated investigator who must live with the death of his wife and the accusations of those around him. His main purpose in life is to now find out who, or what, is the real killer of his wife, and with each fact he uncovers he delves deeper into the unknown. Gabrielle Union plays Perri Reed, a competing reporter who brings the more reasonable and factual counterpoint to Kolchak’s beliefs and unorthodox methods.

The pilot episode centers around a series of vicious murders and the pursuit of the “thing” responsible. There isn’t much in the way of grandiose supernatural special effects and imagery (although look for the digital cameo of the original Carl Kolchak, Darren McGavin), but it does successfully create the sense of loneliness of the main character in a couple of ways. Literally, as Kolchak works into the night hours while the rest of the city is entranced in sleep; but also figuratively as his investigations into the supernatural and the knowledge he uncovers further alienates him from the rest of the world. It’s a somber backdrop to be sure – most of the pilot takes place in the dead of night or under overcast skies, and the music is strikingly understated – but this sense of dread doesn’t overpower, it merely adds to the overall atmosphere and suspense.

Millennium fans should feel right at home with Night Stalker, as Kolchak mimics Frank Black’s melancholy and weathered demeanor, and his actions remind me of Frank’s late night research, sitting in his basement surrounded by gruesome photographs of death, dismemberment and disembowelment. Night Stalker is inherently more slick due to its shift from gloomy Seattle to the wonder of L.A., but the mystery and creepiness remain, and the effective use of location take it out of the city lights when necessary.

The interaction between the two leads works in the pilot episode, much in the same way as Mulder and Scully, and obviously it sets the stage for the two characters to change throughout the course of the season. And it’s so important that the characters are likeable in such a somber backdrop, as it gives the viewer an anchor of humanity, something that most other supernatural television shows lack (and ultimately fail because of this).

During the end montage, a series of flash cut murders and crimes are shown bordering the inhumane and explainable, with Kolchak’s narration clinging to hope while accepting the reality his life has become. It’s a fittingly creepy end to the pilot but an effective beginning to what should be one of the best new series of the fall.

Please Note: Night Stalker is facing some stiff competition this fall (CSI – CBS; The Apprentice – NBC; Reunion – FOX; Everwood – WB). ABC has enough confidence in the series to put it front and center on the most high-profile television night of the week, but looking at the other shows in its timeslot, it seemingly already has one foot in the grave (no pun intended). For everyone who loves shows like this, let’s start a grassroots campaign to a) actually watch the show; and b) to support it when ABC tries to pull it from the lineup. Maybe a change in timeslot would be good.

A story on Gamespot about Madden 06 stated “this year’s edition of the gridiron game is proving to be the most successful in the franchise’s sixteen years” with a first week sales tally at 1.7 million copies.

Todd Sitrin, EA’s vice president of marketing, wasn’t bashful about doing a little celebratory dancing in the end zone. “Every year we launch our product, and the types of sales numbers [Madden NFL 06 has achieved] is an indication of the level of consumer demand and the great positive reaction to this year’s game.”

But I’d like to put the spin into perspective. In it’s first week last year, Madden 2005 sold nearly 1.35 million copies. This year’s numbers are indeed an improvement at about 400,000 additional copies.

However, the exclusivity agreement with the NFL makes Madden the only player this season. In comparison, last year’s NFL 2K5 sold over 790,000 in it’s first week of release. That makes the total user base of last year’s main football titles at over 2,140,000 copies.

That’s a reduction of over 440,000 in the total number of virtual gridiron warriors this year. In percentage terms, a reduction of over 20% for the total user base for football titles. And that doesn’t take into consideration the nubmer of GameDay or Blitz titles sold.

It’s assumed that EA wouldn’t capture 100% of the competitors’ audience. However, it’s surprising so many gamers opted out of this season altogether. So much for a “dynasty”…

Owners of Sony’s PSP handheld wonder have been clamoring for software throughout the summer doldrums. And that has been largely warranted, with less than a few new releases since E3 (MVP Baseball, Midnight Club, and Coded Arms are the only notables). For a system that was so hyped, and showed so much potential, even the upcoming lineup of titles shown at E3 was a little underwhelming.

And Nintendo, which lost a little steam when the PSP hype machine had its way with the DS, is now looking like a champ. To borrow a page from Sony, Nintendo is smartly releasing quirky Japanese titles for the DS and creating a catalog of which many PSPers are envious. Games such as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Trauma Center: Under the Knife, and, of course, that killer app that has Sony more nervous than the Master Chief himself, Nintendogs.

So my open letter to Sony is this: Stop putting out press releases bragging about how many UMD movies you’ve sold, and start giving us games to play on our game console. After all, that’s why we bought the PSP, right?

But I hear the hordes of people out there saying, “oh, how easier said than done.” After all, how can you create games out of, well, nothing? It is quite easy, and here’s my suggestion: Beat Nintendo at their own game. Get a localization group together and bring some Japanese titles over to the US tout de suite.

I can peruse the list of import titles currently available in Japan from sites such as PlayAsia.com and National Console Support and find more than a handful of titles I’d be interested in playing stateside. One of which is Adventure Player from From Software, where you can create your own adventure game or digital novel by importing your own digital photos. Heck, it even comes with the original Echo Night, so you can’t complain that it isn’t a “game”. Also as homebrew apps are probably the best thing available for the PSP, wouldn’t it be nice to create a community of aspiring game designers to share their creations among the console’s user base.

Bleach is another one that would appeal to the gaming crowd. After all, it’s a game based on an anime based on a manga. Or how about finally giving us some of those dating sim titles which are so popular in Japan? And while you’re at it, why not try the market by finally releasing Sakura Taisen stateside (which was just announced to be released sometime in 2006 ).

The RPG genere is a little light to put it kindly, so why not give us some titles like Legend of Heroes, which is a port of an RPG trilogy, or Tales of Eternia? I know a lot of people complain that the PSP has too many PS2 ports, but can you classify a title as a port if the original title never came out in the US to begin with?

A couple classic series are seing pint-size installments in the Land of the Rising Sun. Tenchu Shinobi Taizen hasn’t been announced for the US yet but is already proving itself as a worthy successor to the series. And then there’s my personal favorite, Shutokou Battle, another in the great racing series from Genki.

So as we US PSP owners stock up on UMD video titles and stare enviously at those Nintendo DS owners who are thinking they have the last laugh in the portable console race, we can also point the finger at Sony for not filling the PSP software void with import niche titles. Well at least we can watch movies and listen to MP3s…oh wait, the DS can do that too.

Jessica Chobot is a babe.

Jessica Chobot is not the perfect Game Girl.

There, I said it. And I am still enamored with the new flavor-of-the-month geek magnet. She plays games. She loves anime. She immerses herself in Asian pop-culture. And yes, she looks pretty too.

But as I read her weekly columns on IGN and Red Assed Baboon and watch her guest spots on G4, I think, she’s not perfect. Let me break it down for you:

Looks: She obviously has the looks. Or does she? I lived in Manhattan for a couple of years and was surrounded by models. Even the wannabees who couldn’t make it as models were unbelievable. If I spotted Jessica in the middle of a crowd on the streets of Midtown, odds are the girl next to her would be just as hot, if not hotter. Then I think maybe she’s just “Geek Hot”. Let me explain this theory – you know how Sarah Michelle Gellar isn’t that hot, but yet every geek in the world thinks she’s the most beautiful woman ever created, just because she was Buffy? Or how geeks love redheads just because of Gillian Anderson? So maybe Jessica isn’t as good looking as we think, but just elevated to uber-babe status because the geeks haven’t seen a chick that hot in their parents’ basement since Baywatch got canceled. Give me 30 minutes in Manhattan and I’ll pick five women off the street that would make her look average. Still, if she bought me a drink I wouldn’t say no, far from it… Eight out of Ten

Personality: So maybe looks and personality don’t work independently, but rather as a compound. And as she spews on about which MMORPG is better, Guild Wars or WoW, our nose bleeds go from a drip to a firehose. But let me ask you, guys. Would you really want your hot girlfriend to blab incessantly about her passing knowledge of anime, preaching why you shouldn’t buy Ninja Scroll 2 (FYI, Jessica, there wasn’t a Ninja Scroll 2)? No way. I’m not even sure she’s any good at playing games, maybe she’s only good at talking about them. Let her talk about politics, religion, or the last good book she read, something to compliment her physical attraction. Herein lies the “Common Denominator” rule – to explain another theory, a girl is only as hot as the words coming out of her mouth. A hot girl automatically loses points the minute she starts debating whether the Xbox is better than the PS2. Video games are cool, not hot, and talking about them in public makes you a geek. And no one wants to date a geek, because they are annoying, lack social skills and smell funny. See? Jessica isn’t that hot anymore. Three out of Ten

The name: Jessica Chobot. Girls with a name like that aren’t born, they are manufactured and sold for copious amounts of cash to the highest bidder. That is why regardless of I just said about her, she will never be in any of our price ranges. Ten out of Ten.

So on average, her Game Girl ranking is a Seven out of Ten. Not bad, but not perfect. Maybe I have a shot when her fifteen minutes of fame are over…