Yes, as the natural world winds down to the deep sleep of winter, we humans ramp up plently of nerd friendly entertainments.  First, I am really excited for the Spiderman musical.  This is not to say I think it will be great, or possible even good, but roaring success, or catastrophic failure, I will be there to review it myself.  Apart from the seeming impossibility of putting almost any superhero on stage (yes, Toxic Avenger already got an off-broadway musical), Bono and U2 are doing the music.  And when I first moved to New York, Alan Cumming was going to play the Green Goblin.  Tragically, He has since left the show for other obligations, and considering it was supposed to start in Feburaury and is currently selling tickets for opening in November….who can blame him?  Since it looks like this is finally cast and snag-free, I look forward to trying to find an inexpensive, good seat…..hmmm, I may have to work a little harder on that.

Next, New York Comic Con is on its way in October.  I am going to try and go on my day off.  James Marsters and Kate Sarkoff, among many others will be present.  I keep checking for an updated event list, but that it must stil be under development, as I can’t find one.  I am sure many other great names will be there, but I should state here, that while I enjoy comic books I read mostly The Uncanny X-men in high school, and am sadly uninformed on most other comics and their related star writers and illustrators. 

Also, new television season brings with it the hope of another first season of Heroes….There is ABC’s offering of No Ordinary Family..Basically, family goes on vacation…freak accident…Fantastic Four…oh wait, copyright infringement…The Incredibles….Well anyways, family with superpowers, and everyday problems tries to continue living an ordinary life when they are anything but. 

NBC  has The Cape, about a cop and father who becomes his son’s favorite superhero, to fight the corruption he finds in his workplace and the city at large.

For you Zombie lovers out there, AMC is premiering a series called the Walking Dead.  Yes, an entire series about Zombies.  I wonder how they will create meaningful storyline or at least varying action sequences, but this network has held its own with Mad Men and Breaking Bad, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.  And it is based on a popular comic, which gives AMC something to work from.

Stephen Speilberg’s Terrnova may have potential, but as a midseason replacement, with little info, it is hard to tell. The synopsis has to do with humans trying to go back in time to reverse the damage we did to the planet, which made it unlivable.

I know there are many more new shows  out there.  For example, I really look forward to Running Wilde, the new comedy starring Will Arnett from Arrested Development.  It may be too quirky to last long, but if it is anything like Arrested Development, I will enjoy the ride as long as it lasts. 

 Enjoy the fall and all it has to offer, and let me know what if I have left out anything of interest, for I would hate to miss something out of ignorance of its existence.

Yes, they cancelled you too. Back to the big screen, Harold.

Wow, before I say anything else, let me say some of the Lost hate I’ve been glancing over everywhere (including on our site) is surprising. At this point I have to ask: did anyone actually believe all the plot would be tied up nicely and succinctly in the final season? I didn’t, but for what it’s worth they finished up with an ending that  - while not being terribly exciting – worked. I got (most) of my major questions answered, and saw some cast members pop in and take a final bow. I wasn’t even annoyed to see Shannon and Boone, who were pretty must useless besides bringing  in that uncomfortable hint of incest to Season 1. Like someone said on Scott’s message board, the show was mainly about the connection of the lives of all the characters involved, and they stuck to it right to the very end of a great show. The ending wasn’t out of this world, but who cares? It was good, and in fact, when was the last time a hit show lasting over 5 years had a fantastic conclusion? Yeah.

Ok with that said, let me get on to what is really annoying me today: Fuck the ABC network. Man, I feel better already. I don’t want to complain about ABC’s related networks and companies (Disney, ESPN, etc.), but mainly about their mind-blowingly impeccable plan to run their network into the ground with horrible programming. While I could argue that lately television in general has been suffering, but I could say that this channel right now is synonymous with impatience and bad decisions. Besides Greys Anatomy and Dancing With the Stars (neither of which I watch), all they have on TV is crap. The list of bad shows piling up is starting to look like the car pileup in the pilot of Flash Forward… speaking of, that too has been cancelled, and it was the only show I saw any potential in.

Through all of this, somehow V got renewed for a second season, a move that boggles me because really that show was pretty awful. I didn’t make it through three episodes of a remake of a show I loved as a kid, and that’s coming from a man who watched every last episode of NBC’s Knight Rider remake. Yeah, no shame.

Any saving graces here? Modern Family, which is getting some critical acclaim, seems to be the only thing worth watching on the network now, and No Ordinary Family, a show ABC officially picked up this month that sounds like a live-action version of The Incredibles seems interesting. Starring Julie Benz and Michael Chiklis, I still have no idea where this story is going to go but here’s the trailer:

What am I not looking forward to? Well, we could take this summer’s The Gates, a new show starring Rhona Mitra (aka Kate Beckinsale with a body) that ABC claims to be is “Desperate Housewives meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer“. I don’t know who told them anyone was waiting for that combination to come along:

Other than that, I fear my time with ABC is coming to an end. The way things are going right now, I can’t say I’ll miss it.

In case you’re in the dark, A Game of Thrones is the first novel in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, which centers around a few fateful decisions that forever shake up the kingdom of Westeros – and that’s only the beginning of the story. There are so many side plots and deceptions of note that I will simply leave it there. Every chapter is told from a different character’s perspective, so devil’s really in the details when it comes to the casting. People who love these books are really aligned on certain characters, and it is near impossible to pick out someone who’s going to be a universal crowd pleaser.

There is only one character for certain who is perfectly cast – Peter Dinklage (Hollywood’s favorite dwarf) as Tyrion Lannister, the smartest, most complex and most misunderstood character in the series… obviously I’m a big Tyrion fan, and why shouldn’t I consider Dinklage tailor-made for the role? The guy does humor and drama well,  so HBO would be smart to ride that pony for every scene they can get. Lena Heady (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 300) and Sean Bean (LoTR, Equilibrium) are also solid casting choices, something this show is definitely going to need to stay afloat.

If anything about this show will work, it will be him.

The worst person cast? Hell, I’m not really sure. There are too many unknowns here to speculate, but all I can say is that some of the youngsters are carrying as much weight as the vets here. Tamzin Merchant is going to have to deliver, because Daenerys Tarygaren is a character who feels tacked on in the first book, but her tale is necessary and an enormous part of the overall story. Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams should get their fair share of work as Sansa and Arya Stark, respectively.

Sansa checklist: pretty? check. really fucking annoying? we'll just have to wait and see.

I really hope A Game of Thrones can pull it off. As a book it really is a magnificent accomplishment in regards to fantasy storytelling, but as a TV series I really have no idea where it’s going to go. There are only so many story lines and details that can possibly be included into 10 episodes of a show that will be fighting to earn a spot on cable television. Writing and dialog are going to have to be informative, concise, AND still not sound forced. Ouch. The only positive thing I can say in that regard is that HBO’s name carries a ton of weight, and if they give it a good amount of promotion (the way they beat us over the head with The Pacific), then they have a good chance of sharing a great story in a new medium.

If you’re looking for something to keep you busy and you’re not afraid of a novel where just about anything can happen, then definitely check out the written version of A Game of Thrones. As for the show itself – which probably won’t even be out this year – I’ll be watching this thing like a hawk, so believe I’ll be throwing up a trailer as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.